Posted on 10/05/2007 5:49:29 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A business owner shot and killed himself during a City Council meeting Thursday night after members voted against his request to rezone his property, witnesses said.
Ronald "Bo" Ward, owner of Bo's Barber Shop, had told the council his business would go under if he couldn't get his home rezoned as commercial. After the 5-7 vote Thursday night, Ward stood and walked toward the council.
"Y'all have put me under. ... I'm out of here," he said before shooting himself in the head with a small handgun.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
But their decision was based on HIS prior decisions, was it not?
Again, I’m shocked that FReepers would have no sympathy for this guy.
Apparently none of you have ever lived in a small town all your lives, and been subject to local politics, where decisions are indeed life and death, often used to drive people out of town.
To all of you who consider this a minor setback, losing your home and business over a freaking zoning commission decision, well, it’s my opinion y’all are young, not that conservative, and unaware of what can happen.
I can tell you right now, that what goes around, comes around.
“He who would judge, let him perforce,
As a fine balance, weigh pound for pound.
May he judge lightly, lest by decree
He judge himself, eternally.”
After the suicide, I think the Council should have immediately reconsidered the issue and granted the variance.
I think the haircut story is pure mythology.
How many times do you assume broke veterans stumble through the door looking for a free haircut? Even if it did happen, I don’t imagine paying customers were getting bumped out the door.
Would you like to bet that a city council member will now buy his property at a very cheap price, and put up a realtor/developer office? Or a chain video store?
At least he didn’t kill anyone else.
and again,
and again,
and again . . . . .
He seemed like a good guy. But what he did is the result of mental illness. I’m sure the many friends he made would have found a way to help him out. Sad.
All of you jerks who are FReepmailing me or thinking about it, knock it off.
If you have something to say, put it on the thread, cowards.
You posted: He lost his business and his home due to their decision. I’m sure that would be no problem for you, just a “setback.”
Frankly, in these little towns, the liberals are on the boards. Ask me, I’ve lived in two, and know of many others. They are autocratic, and when they are in the majority, they can make life a living hell for anyone they disapprove of, particularly conservatives.
I know rural politics, and this man WAS destroyed. I’m so sorry NOT! that the petty dictators got to see what they did.
In real life/death.
***
This man did not lose his home and business due to the acts of the city’s ruling. He was seeking to increase the value of his property by rezoning, a legitimate effort. But he did not get what he wanted and reacted violently. I have sympathy for him and his family, as well as those forced to witness his act. Unless you know a lot more about the facts of this case, I don’t understand how you can firmly take the position you have here. You may be right, but the facts don’t make it clear.
I represent small towns, and, at least here in NC, more conservatives than liberals are willing to volunteer their time (and lots of time it is, I was in a town council “briefing session” last night from 6 to 10:30) at zero pay because they care about the town they live in. It is unfair to pigeon hole these locally elected officials as liberals out to destroy citizens such as this barber.
It may very well be that this guy had garnered some hatred or distrust by his stances, or maybe he was just so loud that he made enemies. I don’t think you or I or anyone else not in that town can comment for sure.
I do understand the position of those who say that if you own land you should be able to do anything you want to with it. I disagree, but it is a legitimate position.
Finally, I think it is unfair, without more facts, to say that the city destroyed this man. We don’t know his mental state, other than he was sufficiently disturbed to take his own life. If the rezoning decision caused him to do this, it says more about his mental state than it does about the city council, no matter what their motivation may have been.
Zoning laws are theft. They are always theft. If you own something, you have the absolute, inalienable right to use it as you please, with the only restriction being that you must not violate the rights of others.
Assume one did. That still does nothing to vindicate his decision to kill himself in public.
I think you're having a hard time understanding that it's possible to feel he get a raw deal and that killing himself in public was wrong. The two are not mutually exclusive notions.
Is that about right?
So it appears to me that he was just trying to get his property properly zoned. I don’t pretend to know the total story, but to condemn him (as some on this thread have done..not you) is very disrespectful to say the least. If the property around him was already partially zoned commercial I suspect there was much more to this story than meets the eye. Perhaps a councilman or commissioner, or their agent, wanting to pick up a piece of property at a bargain and resell at a profit, a not unheard of ploy.
As far has it being his home I personally believe the zoning that keeps business owners from living in the same quarters as their business has contributed to the rot of the inner cities and the death of “downtown” as a shopping mecca. I have said for years that if you want a viable downtown you’ll have to let people live there! Seems my line of reasoning is finally being given a bit of credence as many cities are converting former offices etc to lofts. But now they cry that there are no grocery stores and other necessary support businesses, of course they are still refusing to allow the owner’s to live above the businesses. If this were to change I think you’d see a rapid revival of our city centers.
Interstingly enough, most of the Islamic world would agree with that general statement.
I wonder if he still would have killed himself if the numbers were different - but still not in his favor.
For example, the final vote was 5-7, which is pretty close (why did they have an even number voting, which could have very easily resulted in a tie?) but what if the final vote was 0-12 or 1-11.
He may not have acted so rash if MORE were against him, which would be a bit ironic.
The closeness of the vote may have been especially painful.
Nowhere did I say his decision to kill himself was not wrong. Instead, I found it reprehensible that very few FReepers have any sympathy for this man, but condemn him as a weakling. Big strong FReepers!
Instead, most of them are backing the zoning council, or saying that such a minor setback wouldn’t have unhinged THEM, or complaining that suicide is wrong, or wringing their hands over the poor innocent council having to witness this dreadful sinner’s act.
I’m off this thread. I’ve made my point. I question the thread participants’ humanity.
A sad story. These petty tyrants forget they are affecting people’s lives with their sometimes arbitrary decisions.
You, sir, are witless.
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