Public comments showed support for action against embattled fire chief

Public comments showed support for action against embattled fire chief

Morning..

Kezi has learned south lane county fire & rescue received nearly 200 comments leading up to a controversial meeting over disciplinary action against current fire chief john wooten.

Wooten was put on leave and later reinstated following inflamatory posts that appeared on his facebook.

Kezi 9 news reporter jacob roberts joins us live in lane county.

Jacob, you went through each of those comments.

What did you find?

These are emails, phone calls and letters all sent to the board of directors after those posts were made on facebook about shooting rioters.

A strong majority of the comments called for disciplinary action or outright firing.

Wooten maintains his facebook was hacked, but he has a history of similar posts spanning weeks.

The fire board never released information about their investigation and never confirmed whether his account was hacked.

Some argued the chief has a right to free speech and has done a good job as fire chief.

But one man who has interacted with the chief in the past, says the good does not outweigh the bad.

:16 kory weimer/cottage grove resident?yes he has done good for the community.

Yes he has turned around the department.

But at what point does merits outweigh how you would commit violence against the very populace youe been sworn to protec?

The board voted 3-2 in june to reinstate the chief with no disciplinary action.

Board member jennifer radcliffe resigned in protest after the vote.

Radcliffe cited many of the emails the board received as evidence the community supported disciplinary action.

No members of the board have returned a request for comment.

Live in eugene, jr, kezi 9 news.

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