A piece on the billboards from ABC 24 in Memphis includes comments from Mayor Wharton:
When Wharton took office in 2009, he promised to clean up the troubled shelter. While there have been changes, Wharton admitted there are still issues.
“We have a new shelter opening up in a couple of weeks,” he said. “Mark my words, you all will be standing in front of me with another situation.”
Yeah. That’s what we’re afraid of.
Another Memphis TV station quotes Mayor Wharton as follows:
“I wish we could be so selective that we could do a background check and just make sure that everybody has a demonstrated record of having loved animals.”
Woah. Dude. You’re saying the city of Memphis doesn’t do that? So the folks who fail to pass the basic background checks required for employment at fast food chains or gas stations can waltz into a city job without a care? Wow.
And what do you mean you wish you “could be so selective” as to hire people who can pass a basic background check? Isn’t there a serious unemployment problem in Memphis, like the rest of the country? Aren’t there way more applicants for city jobs than there are positions available? Cause it sounds like you’re basically saying, “We have to accept any animal hating freak who is willing to don the uniform because we are just that desperate and pathetic”.
More from the mayor:
“Matthew Pepper is doing the best he can under some horrible circumstances,” he said. “You wouldn’t believe that the threats and all that have been directed against him.”
You’re right, I wouldn’t. Because I believe that the overwhelming majority of letters and phone calls from pet lovers concerned about MAS have been civil in nature. But if you have any evidence of threats or people showing up at workers’ homes, I assume you’ve turned that evidence over to the police for investigation. Phone calls, e-mails and most certainly visits to someone’s home can be tracked down. I’m all for weeding out crackpots who threaten violence. I’ll support your efforts to prosecute these idiots 100%. Just let us know if we can help.
But in the meantime, I hope you are not just using these alleged “bomb threats” as an excuse to draw a cloak over the killing at MAS. You said, “Mark my words”, Mayor Wharton. Here are your words after the raid on MAS in 2009 when you announced the installation of the webcams:
“This will be the ultimate transparency,” Wharton said at the time. “I want to dispel the image that the animal shelter is a despicable place where all these horrible things go on.”
Dispel away, Mayor Wharton.
The city will reportedly decide on whether to hide the killings at MAS by removing the webcams today.
[City of Memphis Chief Administrative Officer George] Little advises that even if the web cams are shut down there will still be security cameras in the animal shelter.
Well I’m totes reassured, how about you? If there is any government agency who has earned the right to hide its actions from the people and police itself, it’s definitely MAS.
