October5, 2012MayorWard Unreasonably Wields Power; Firefighters Can’t Wear Pink
AsI’m sure you know by now, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month; pink goesviral and the serious issue of breast cancer is front and center in the eyes ofthe public for 31 days. My grandmothersuffered from breast cancer and passed away several years ago, so this hasalways been an important cause to me and my family. As a Bristol resident, Iwas happy to see the teal ribbons pop up around town in September in order toraise awareness for Ovarian Cancer (there were even some tied around the treesat City Hall). I was also pleased to hear that the Bristol Firefighters hadtaken the initiative to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer.
OurBristol firefighters planned to sell pink shirts for $20 to fellow firefighterswho wanted to participate; they would then wear the shirt to work each Thursdayin October and the proceeds would be donated. The pink shirt was to be the sameas the navy shirt regularly worn by the firefighters. The InternationalAssociation of Fire Fighters urges firefights across the nation to take part inthis campaign. Instead of embracing this cause, when Fire Chief Jon Pose calledfor permission to go forward with the initiative, Mayor Art Ward declared itwould be an act of “insubordination” should any Bristol firefighters wear theirpink shirt to work. Really? Insubordination? For wearing a breast cancert-shirt? Seems a little outrageous to me, no?Ican’t for the life of me come up with a valid, logical or practical explanationfor the Mayor’s response to this initiative. Last time I checked, you can’t seewhat firefighters are wearing underneath their gear, so it can’t be that thepink shirt would be distracting to anyone or cause a safety issue (I’m going togo out on a limb and assume that wearing pink instead of navy blue does notmake you more flammable). I’m also guessing that it doesn’t violate any unioncontracts since union president Sean Lennon is in favor of the measure andbelieves the fundraiser is in line with the mission statement of the Bristolfirefighters. Mr. Lennon sent a letter to the Mayor on September 12 asking himto reconsider his decision; apparently Ward finally responded with a letter(which was received by the firefighters yesterday 10/4/12) saying he can’t“extend on-duty fund raising efforts, in any manner, by city groups beyond thecurrent organizations at this time.” Where’s the logic in this position? IsWard saying that all Bristol city groups are locked in to whatever fundraisingactivities they’ve done in the past? What could possibly be the reasoningbehind this position?
Iam not a firefighter and am not affiliated with the firefighters in any way; I onlyheard this tale through fellow Bristol residents. The absurdity of Mayor Ward’sresponse prompted me to try and share the story with the general public, whocertainly deserve to know what their Mayor is (and isn’t) doing for us whilehe’s on the job.
I’dlike to remind Mayor Ward that he failed to garner even half of the popularvote in the last election. He should keep that fact in mind the next time hedecides to arbitrarily and inequitably wield the power the people of Bristoldid not vote to give him.
Sincerely,
A PinkSupporter & Bristol Resident
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