DesertFox
11-22-2006, 03:12 PM
It seemed like a slam-dunk when the Los Angeles City Council made a near-unanimous decision to pay black firefighter Tennie Pierce $2.7 million to settle a racial harassment lawsuit that claimed he had been tricked into eating dog food by station mates, then taunted for months.
But almost immediately, other voices in Los Angeles demanded to be heard.
The talk show team on KFI-AM (640)'s "John & Ken Show" wasted no time making the case a cause celebre, pumping up listeners with daily drive-time diatribes against the settlement. Council members began backtracking. The fire chief intensified his push to toughen department discipline. And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tried to offer something for everyone — vetoing the settlement but demanding an end to the kind of hazing that led to the headlines. ...
Firefighters, angry that their department was being maligned, began calling in to the radio program, and several sent along old photos of Pierce — shirtless and beaming — participating in crude firehouse pranks that involved half-naked men, shaving cream and what appeared to be mustard. ...
Councilman Dennis Zine, a reserve Los Angeles police officer, was the lone council member to oppose the settlement, contending that the price tag was too high for what he believed to be a prank.
Pierce "has been a firefighter for 20 years, and now all of a sudden he wants to throw in the race card," Zine said. "They didn't feed him dog food because he was African American. It was because he called himself the 'Big Dog.' "
More (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire22nov22,0,89629.story?page=1&coll=la-home-local)
But almost immediately, other voices in Los Angeles demanded to be heard.
The talk show team on KFI-AM (640)'s "John & Ken Show" wasted no time making the case a cause celebre, pumping up listeners with daily drive-time diatribes against the settlement. Council members began backtracking. The fire chief intensified his push to toughen department discipline. And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tried to offer something for everyone — vetoing the settlement but demanding an end to the kind of hazing that led to the headlines. ...
Firefighters, angry that their department was being maligned, began calling in to the radio program, and several sent along old photos of Pierce — shirtless and beaming — participating in crude firehouse pranks that involved half-naked men, shaving cream and what appeared to be mustard. ...
Councilman Dennis Zine, a reserve Los Angeles police officer, was the lone council member to oppose the settlement, contending that the price tag was too high for what he believed to be a prank.
Pierce "has been a firefighter for 20 years, and now all of a sudden he wants to throw in the race card," Zine said. "They didn't feed him dog food because he was African American. It was because he called himself the 'Big Dog.' "
More (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire22nov22,0,89629.story?page=1&coll=la-home-local)