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 ...
I'm not so sure I would say that stress in optional - it is however controllable, when it occurs, regardless of how devastating the situation may be.
Again just my opinion - I know some would disagree with me by saying "Well, but you don't know what I've been through - my situation is different - my situation is impossible."
If someone thinks it's impossible, then they're right.
Martyrdom is from the Greek word MARTOOS, which meant witness or record witness. It is possible to be a faithful martyr or a false martyr.
The same God who created everything, also provides for man today and has revealed Himself in a multitude of examples.
Some of those who are aware of Him and remain faithful to Him have been targeted even unto a physical death, still remaining in fellowship with God, even unto their physical death, thereby manifesting their faithful witness of Him.
In the Word which He has provided, we are not directed to murder ourselves, but we are to remain obedient to legitimate authority and remain in faith through Him.
The goal of facing adversity isn’t martydom, but to remain in faith through Him in all things, even unto martyrdom if others refuse that faith.
There are many counterfeit substitutes for what God provides to man which are introduced as systems of religion and deception. Some of those false systems of thinking attempt to redirect our attention from remaining in faith through God and instead refocus on anything other than God.
Suicide manifests a way of thinking which fails to remain in faith to God, because God Himself has already provided any and all sacrifice He requires. Instead, suicide ignores or worse belittles the sacrifice He has already made.
Some religions, such as Islam, mistakenly believe the practitioner becomes more righteous in works where the person makes sacrifice. Or that somehow the unilateral sacrifice by one party will result in Divine recognition of that loss as being righteous. This isn’t what has been revealed to us by God Himself. Instead He has revealed that such a loss implies an expectation of a paid debt rather than faith or grace. It also ignores the debt already paid for by God Himself, which was the only person throughout all of eternity past and future who had the perfect resources to offer an appropriate payment of anything to be accepted by His Perfect Holiness in Perfect Righteousness and perfect Justice.
There might very well be other spirits, other than the Supreme God, who will parlay any other sacrifice as a focus of man into a spiritual evil in the heavens.
IMHO, even though we all may find it beneficial to receive and provide good works, and promote sacrifice as a consequence of discipline in making order out of disorder, the only sacrifice we are required to perform is o sacrifice the old man, the natural man, upon our saving faith in Him, which He provides. All other sacrifice and good works are parlayed into evil by the Adversary who seeks to be worshiped as God Himself in a counterfeit substitute for what God Himself has already provided, once and for all.
In fact it is clear. Unfortunately, this is one of those issues that at first glance appears to fit the predisposed beliefs of many here, and so most folks are unwilling to look any further. If they had, they'd recognize the situation is exactly as you state.
Well, I think you both have a point that he may not have been a liberal. That doesn't negate the fact that he gives away free haircuts and then complains he doesn't have any money. If he isn't a liberal, than he certainly is a poor business man.
My sister lives in Clarksville. I will ask her about this.
I wouldn't say poor reporting. Just incomplete reporting, which is the nature of the beast.
A wire story is a few-hundred-word summary for a national or international audience*. In this case, the news of interest is that a man shot himself in a local government building during a meeting. 99% of the AP's audience doesn't want to read through a description of a local zoning dispute, and the addresses of the home and the barber shop would mean nothing to them.
The article is accurate in what it reports, but a lot of folks read into it a lot that the article didn't say. The article says that Bo Ward owned a barber shop and that he was trying to rezone his home to make it more valuable -- it does not say that the barber shop is in the house.
When I read a lot of posts on a lot of threads on FR, I hear every editor I had when I was just starting out -- "We don't know that!" Even good, fair and careful reporters sometimes make inferences that aren't supported by the facts available, and fighting against it is a constant part of the job and a critical skill.
For more detail, you have to go to the local paper, TV or radio station, writing for a local audience -- it's a bigger story to them, they devote more space to it, and to their audience Ft. Campbell Blvd. and Madison St. actually mean something.
In the Internet era, it's more important than ever to parse news stories, to take note of not only what they say but what they don't say. World Net Daily is notorious for getting the essential facts correct, but stacking them in a way that leads a lot of casual readers to become outraged, which is their goal.
Fortunately, it's also never been easier to find more detail. I searched Google News and found the story in the Clarkesville paper that had the Madison St. address; then I searched the white pages online for Bo's Barber shop, which had a different address. Didn't take a minute. Before the 'Net, it would have taken a trip to the public library, at least -- and only then if it's a big enough library to have all the white pages in the country -- and a half-dozen phone calls. Or a drive to Clarkesville.
Thanks for the catch!
Or just take the last train to Clarksville.
Ummm... someone should have taught him to aim better.
Putting condolences on an internet board without any connection to the principles is like blowing kisses in the wind. OTOH analyzing what happened and discussing errors in judgement and actions would be a better use of our time and may help mitigate such tragedies in the future.
Putting condolences on an internet board without any connection to the principles is like blowing kisses in the wind. OTOH analyzing what happened and discussing errors in judgement and actions would be a better use of our time and may help mitigate such tragedies in the future.
Oops. I meant to have a footnote (hence the *).
The AP does have wires for each state, and the stories there are more locally tailored. But they’re mostly for “rip and read” reports on local radio stations. The stories aren’t as polished as on the national wire, and most national media don’t use them.
I'll meet you at the station.
Thanks for getting the Monkees stuck in my head.
On the other hand, if he gave haircuts to anyone and everyone who wanted one, or if he gave non paying people haircuts and made paying customers wait, THAT would be a bad businessman.
Might as well bump this sad thread here.
I agree with you, he could have appealed and if lost, sued and publicized this injustice nationally. Bo seems to have been somewhat of a local celebrity already. A lot of Americans are in debt way over there heads in business or personal matters and the banks have begun shutting down credit. My bank slammed the door in my face and reniged on an additional $100k line of credit increase, despite having $500k in collateral and management hitting all revenue benchmarks. Was it unfair? Hell yeah! I didn’t shoot myself because I knew that 60-70 work weeks were going to be required to fix this giant gaping hole in the business. He perhaps suffered untreated anxiety or depression.
The political climate stinks from the federal government all the way down to city government. From justice to commerce beurocrats have a written self-laws to do whatever they want, whenever they want. The decisions that are made in judgment always seem to favor the beurocrats position which accelerates promotion or windfall cash.
In dealing with the government today in America, it is all about who you know to get fair treatment (or unfair preferential treatment as is so often the case).
I wouldn’t say that these people were *wrong* to vote against him, but far too often, local politicians are flat out callous. Maybe this will wake up some fat cats.
my guess is that if your city council voted the same way to your neighbors request, you’d be very happy. it’s all about your perspective.
The address of Bo's Barber Shop appears to be 2531 Fort Campbell Blvd, not 1517 Madison St.
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