Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies and Police Chief John McFarland took quick action today.
They removed a 16-year city police officer of duty. They didn’t do so lightly. The two held a news conference on the steps outside the city building late Wednesday afternoon. It was in response to a social media posting of Officer Tim Starkey that was a disparaging meme of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the posting, a dog is pictured in the process of defecating on the ground. The phrase “hold on, I got Black Lives Matter Movement Right Now,” is depicted on the picture.
“We in the administration deem it inappropriate and feel we have taken proper steps to resolve the issue,” Davies said. “That being said, this administration will not, in any way shape or form, allow this type of posting or speaking or product to be put out by the administration, or city officials.”
Davies then turned the microphone over to McFarland.
McFarland detailed how he learned of the posting late Tuesday night. He spoke with Davies and city law director Paul Stecker about the incident Tuesday and again Wednesday after gathering additional information.
The three came together with the decision to move forward with the termination.
“These posts and activities will not be tolerated,” McFarland said. “There is no room in our city or department for that and hopefully we don’t have any more dealings with it.”
The Chief then responded to a question about any additional disciplinary action for other officers related to the post.
“We gathered information on the other officers and made that available to the law director for possible disciplinary action against them,” McFarland said. “No one else is being terminated now. The (reason for the) termination today was more severe than the other ones we gathered.”
St. Clairsville Situation
This news conference came less than 48 hours following a contentious beginning to the St. Clairsville City Council Meeting on Monday night.
During that meeting as first reported by The Times Leader’s Robert DeFrank, Councilwoman Linda Jordan relayed to Mayor Thalman two inquiries from city residents.
The first was a question as to why the mayor hadn’t either commented or acted on the disparaging Black Lives Matter post made on Facebook by Councilman Perry Basile in June.
Jordan then motioned to remove Basile from office, a motion that was seconded by Councilman Frank Sabatino. In reaction, Basile motioned to remove Sabatino, sparking a brief back and forth.
Thalman began to respond to Jordan, starting, “Well, let me ask you this Linda, can you …” but was cut off by council president Jim Velas.
Velas wished to clarify with law director Elizabeth Glick on the legality of Jordan’s motion.
Glick explained that, unless through an illegal act, or moving out of district, council does not have the authority to remove a fellow council member. Only through a recall vote could Basile be removed.
Council could vote to issue a former condemnation of the comment. The mayor could make a similar move through proclamation. But as far as actively removing Basile, aside from encouragement, council has no legal authority in that regard.
Thalman then finished her original comment, asking Jordan if she would, “please give me the theology and credo of Black Lives Matter.”
Jordan responded by stating she was reached out to by citizens about the situation and one of the questions was why the mayor did not address or comment on the issue.
Basile did apologize at the previous meeting for the post, countering with he supports Black Lives Matter.
Jordan’s Second Question
The Councilwoman then relayed a second question she’d been asked, as it pertained to a social media post by Jim Behl, owner of ESV Teleproductions who is contracted with the city to provide the audio-visual recordings of the council meetings.
Jordan read the post, then gave her impression of its contents.
“The consensus of citizens that reached out is that (Behl) feels superior to people of color and he feels that people of color are stupid and lazy,” Jordan said. “The citizens are away the city paid Jim Behl and continues to pay him and they don’t want a person who feels superior to a person of color (working for the city).”
Thalman explained that contracting Behl was an administrative decision and expressed that she is allowed to make administrative decisions. Glick stated she agreed, and that the mayor is within her right to do so.
Thalman then stated that “I was asked what I was going to do, and I’ve been brought into this. What do you expect me to do? I did send a reply to the original letter. As far as I’m concerned, the incident is finished.”
“That is your comment,” Jordan asked?
“It certainly is,” replied the Mayor Thalman.
The mayor then restated her question about Black Lives Matter, but Velas moved to cut off any further discussion and move on the meeting. He talked briefly on social media and its impact and role, but then moved forward.
The full audio of the meeting can be found here.
One Final Issue
Martins Ferry wasn’t the only department to have an officer make a disparaging post online.
Late in June, a St. Clairsville police officer posted a video showing a black male bashing in the rear windshields of multiple cars with what appears to be a large tree branch. A quick view of the video shows this action did not take place in the United States as the license plates on the vehicles are more European in nature.
Below the video was the phrase “Black Lies Matter.”
One resident took issue with the post and commented on the officer’s page about it. The officer explained that he hadn’t noticed the “Black Lies Matter” portion of the post when he shared it and immediately apologized and took it down.
No further issue has been made since.
LEDENews.com attempted via email to contact St. Clairsville’s police chief for comment on the posting with no response.
A request for comment from Basile wasn’t answered. Neither were multiple requests to Mayor, both via phone and through text.
