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 ...
Indeed. The line for public suicides is over to the left.
I'm sorry for the guy, but I have a lot more sympathy for the people who watched him blow his brains out.
Me too. Suicide is the ultimate cowardly act.
There are a lot of rural cities that “annex” farm property out several miles. That puts those farms and small business operating under county rule, directly under the city zoning board authority.
Creeping socialism. Creeping authoritarianism. He may very well have been annexed, then denied commercial zoning afterward. I suspect that’s what happened.
I can deal with anything. Zoning problems? I can figure that out. It might mean Everything changes, but that’s how it goes.
No need to go Cobain in public.
Seriously
So, people should kill themselves in private, where nobody who destroys them will have to see the nasty consequences of their acts.
Got it.
And frankly he could have offed himself privately if he was so despondent, instead of doing it in public. Sorry, but any sympathy I could have had for him went down the tubes because of that.
Don't be impressed by me, read the Book of Job. Lots to learn there for all of us.
Well, aren’t you the hero. Too bad the poor guy didn’t have your perfection.
Have a great life.
How did the council "destroy" this man?
Was it a setback to the man, yes. But destroyed him, hardly.
I cant name them all but, I think there are eight signs that point to suicide. A few of them are, A history of suicide in the family, recent loss of a loved one, substance abuse, I can’t remember the others. If you exhibit three of these signs its trouble, if you exhibit five of them it’s probable. What I’m saying is this, this guys loss of a zoning issue is only one, not three or five. He may have had other issues he did not deal with too.
So if you can't handle the decision, what do you do? Kill yourself?
C'mon - that's not very constructive.
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.
Perfection I am not.
If you cack yourself in public, that’s an aberration. I’ll walk into hell with you, but this dude should be ridiculed for what he did. He blew his brains out in Public. That is WRONG.
I agree that he got screwed over, but at least self-cack with some self respect.
I agree, but it appears as though we in a significant minority here on “Free Republic”.
I agree with you that in general I disagree with zoning ordinances as they grossly fail to respect private property rights. Tennessee and especially an area across the Street from Fort Campbell main gate has historically defended property rights fully.
WRT Bo’s suicide, I first place faith through Christ, recognizing He has first created Man, then after man was lost to God and unable to return on our own, He paid a price for all of us, essentially buying us twice.
Bo has manifest by his past reported history of his own sacrifice for his fellow man, that he believed in helping his fellow man at nearly any cost, perhaps even his suicide followed that thinking. Where Bo slipped in his thinking, though, is that we aren’t saved by good works, but instead by our faith through Christ, lest any man should boast.
Bo thought the actions of others had reduced his entire value, but what Bo didn’t accept was thinking through faith in Christ, that God Himself had already provided a mechanism for Bo from eternity past to have a relationship with Him. Bo’s actions stole something most valuable from God, namely the very life which He had already paid the price to redeem.
This is the reason Bo’s action was actually very selfish. His action in suicide, was not focused on God through faith in Christ, it was directed on Bo, his circumstances, and considered the world made by men independent of faith through Christ as his order.
I sympathize the government around him failed to remind him of his proper perspective. Nevertheless, Bo had volition to make his own decisions, regardless if he was right or wrong.
This entire incident manifests how any worldly system will ultimately fail when exercised independent from faith through Christ.
So in other words the council or the council’s decision killed him — not his own hand?
If someone is overweight, is it the food’s fault too?
Well, he lost the ability to conduct business in his home. But let's list some of the alternatives to suicide:
1. Find a different job
2. Establish your current job at a different location
3. Sell your home and move to a different town
4. Begin a recall petition to remove the board
Maybe they were petty autocrats, but this is hardly cause to end one's life. He still had plenty of options.
Actually, I'll turn that around. If you're going to take that drastic a final exit, then my kudos for a guy who will do it in a way that makes his political point.
Well, yes, he may have felt like that -- but I have to think more as an excuse. As you pointed out, he likely was in a bad way, financially, anyway.
His picture is suggestive -- something about that expression is just ... sad. Depressed. It reminds me of the "tavern guys" in my hometown, when I was growing up.
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