Firefighter fired for putting Barack Obama toilet paper in the fire station bathrooms

A firefighter has been sacked for putting toilet paper with Barack
Obama's face on it inthe bathrooms of the fire station where he
worked.


Clint Pierce had previously been warned against posting politically
inflammatory material in the workplace.
And after the latest incident, he sparked a massive outcry in the town
of Pompano Beach in south Florida, with some residents accusing Pierce
of racism.



The 50-year-old had worked for the local fire department for 19 years,
during which time he had occasionally clashed with colleagues over
politics.
But his strong Republican views first appeared to interfere with his
work last November, when he posted a derogatory bumper sticker about
Obama on his workplace locker.


A co-worker objected to the political statement, but Pierce would not
remove it until instructed to do so by the fire chief.


He was then told not to use municipal property to advertise his
political views any more.
Three months later, according to an investigation into Pierce's
behaviour, he was seen at work drinking from 'a coffee mug with a
picture of the President portrayed as aclown'.


But the final straw came less than three weeks before this year's
presidential election,when several fire service employees
reportedseeing toilet paper with Obama's face on placed in the station
restrooms.


After an internal investigation, he was dismissed for insubordination last week.
The local fire chief said Pierce had 'caused significant divisiveness
within the department and community' and brought about 'a community
outcry' with his actions.


African-American activists said the firefighter's disrespect to the
President was evidence of racial prejudice and demanded he be
dismissed.


However, the colleague who had complained about the toilet paper said
he had never heard Pierce say anything racist and insisted he was not
bigoted.
And the official investigation concluded therewas 'no evidence to
indicate that Pierce's actions were racially motivated, but rather
they were politically motivated'.


While the firefighter did apologise for for disoveying the order to
remain neutral, his chief said the apology 'does little to undo the
widespread damage to the reputation of the city and the fire
department organisation'.


And a spokesman for the city told the Sun Sentinel: 'It was clearly a
case of insubordination.
'He had a similar situation of posting political messages on city
property, and he was given a free pass at that time and told to cease
and desist - and he did it again and really exacerbated the
situation.'