Atlanta to Pay $1.2 Million to Former Fire Chief After Violating His First Amendment Freedoms

CBN News ^ | 10/16/18 | Steve Warren

[madprof98]

The City of Atlanta, Georgia has agreed to pay former fire chief Kelvin Cochran, $1.2 million after a Federal District Court ruled in December 2017 that the city's policies which led to Cochran's termination were unconstitutional.

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[I]n 2015 . . . the City of Atlanta fired him because he wrote a men's devotional book in his spare time – a book that briefly mentions his views on a biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality.

As CBN News reported, the city did not approve of Chief Cochran's book. After a 30-day suspension without pay, in order to complete "sensitivity training," and an investigation into his conduct (which showed he had never discriminated against anyone in the fire department), his career came to an end in Atlanta.

This led Cochran to embark on a three-year legal battle that he says was never just about him.

"The government can't force its employees to get its permission before they engage in free speech. It also can't fire them for exercising that First Amendment freedom, causing them to lose both their freedom and their livelihoods," said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot in a press release. "We are very pleased that the city is compensating Chief Cochran as it should, and we hope this will serve as a deterrent to any government that would trample upon the constitutionally protected freedoms of its public servants."

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

It was’nt their money so until such time as it is their money paying these settlements,nothing will change.I’m glad he won and it is tax free so good for him.

[cpdiii]

“Sensitivity training is just re-education or brain washing. It is used on people who are accused of wrong thinking. “

When I was management in the VA I was required to go to training relative to “Equal Opportunity” in the VA system. I engaged the trainer in a very heated debate about the Civil Rights Acts and in effect said that when race is considered in any opportunity it is a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

After much heated debate she admitted that race is incorporated in decisions. I told her that she had just violated the “Equal Opportunity Act” of the Civil Rights Act. Oddly she admitted this. I lasted one year in management and went back to staff pharmacist. I just could not put up with this insane political correct shit.

As a staff pharmacist I worked with pharmacists of all races and religions. Those that did the work worked well together. We just did our job. They are all my dear friends with the exception of one insane white progressive woman. She was a disruptor and always tried to inject politics and political correctness into everything she did. She was always filing complaints against other pharmacists. Oddly she was rewarded well. She was put in a position where she had little contact with other pharmacists and patients.

She was also an extreme left wing environmentalist. She had a monster SUV. I walked up to her in the parking lot when she was getting in her SUV and said, “your SUV is killing the environment and little children” She screamed at me, “I need it for my protection.” I just laughed.

Even funnier is she was in a traffic accident and her SUV needed towing. It was put on a towing carrier and was not properly secured and fell off with total destruction of her SUV. That was funny as hell.