Published June 13 in the Lebanon Enterprise

Officials don't show up for rescue meeting

Lebanon Enterprise

LEBANON — Scott Lawson and some members of the Marion County Rescue Squad believe the volunteer organization is back to business as usual.

Lawson and 14 other members of the squad showed up for Sunday's regular monthly meeting.

County and city officials and others who had been invited to the meeting did not.

Lawson, who believes he is the squad's current commander, said he was disappointed at the no-shows but wouldn't let that stop the squad from moving forward.

An invitation to the meeting was sent to more than 20 various county and city officials, members of the media and leaders in the field of emergency services.

The letter, which was unsigned, listed "current conflict" as the subject of the meeting. Lawson said he did not send the invitation and did not know who did.

"The Marion County Rescue Squad is experiencing a conflict with our EM Director [J.T. Whitlock], county judge, and the Marion County EMS," the letter states. "Several unjust acts have taken place between the rescue squad and these agencies. These acts have caused tension and or confusion between the above agencies and our dispatch."

The letter was sent to, Judge-Executive Dave Hourigan and Marion Fiscal Court, Mayor Gary Crenshaw and Lebanon City Council members and County Attorney Joe Mattingly. It was also sent to State Rep. William Scott, Area 5 Emergency Services Director Gene Logue, Lebanon Police Chief Shelton Young and Ron Padgett, the state's top emergency services coordinator.

The conflict the letter refers to began when Vice Commander Dan Lawson was removed from the squad by Whitlock for allegedly faxing an anonymous letter contradicting an order from Whitlock concerning the squad's "Signal 8" policy.
Lawson claimed the letter was merely some ideas he and other members were kicking around. Later, he produced a fax log that showed his letter was sent before Whitlock issued his order. However, Whitlock refused to reinstate him.
The remaining officers gave Scott Lawson a letter, which said he was being removed as commander.

Scott Lawson said those officers do not have that authority and he has continued acting as the commander with the support of a majority of the squad.
Since then, one member has been dismissed and three others have resigned.
Lawson said former commander Donnie Knopp has been voted in as captain of the squad and Dan Lawson was reinstated by the membership. Dan Lawson will retain the title of vice commander, Lawson said.

Lawson said the main reason for the invitation was, "to get magistrates there and solve that problem, to make it clear that Dan was still with the squad."

"We've proved that Dan did not do what (Whitlock) said he did," Lawson said. "I wanted to prove to them that we could work together and resolve this. Arguing gets you no where.

"What I'm surprised about is that all the people we invited didn't show up. What really disappointed me was that J.T. didn't live up to his promise."

At last month's meeting, Whitlock agreed to meet with the squad again, this time with fiscal court members, to discuss the conflict further.

Whitlock said Monday that he changed his mind.

"The last meeting I showed up at accomplished absolutely nothing," he said. "They ran around with cameras and shouted and acted like a bunch of kids."
Whitlock said the anonymous invitation was the last straw.

"It's gone beyond the realm of believability," he said. "It didn't make sense to invite all of those people. All this was a way to draw more people into this and stir it up and keep in boiling.

"They are acting like juveniles. It scares the heck out of me. If they act like juveniles at a wreck scene, someone's life could be in danger. I don't think the public has been hurt by this, yet. I don't want anyone hurt or killed by this juvenile behavior. It's become a push and shove situation."

Hourigan said he was not impressed with the invitation and was aware of the tone of the previous meeting.

"If we're going to have a meeting of that nature, certain protocols have to be established beforehand," he said. "You need an agenda, what will be discussed, and decide who will be in charge of the meeting.

"The last meeting was just a beat-up fest. Few public officials would expose themselves to a situation like that."

Young, who recently issued a memo that said his dispatchers would only recognize requests from Whitlock or Marion County Emergency Medical Services Director Paula Coyle until the conflict was resolved, said his feelings had not changed.

"My memo said I would recognize only things coming from J.T. Whitlock or his designee, which is (Deputy Emergency Services Coordinator) Chris Coyle," Young said. "The invitation I got was not signed and had no time on it."

BACK TO NEWS INDEX

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

COMMENTS

Copyright © 2001 The Kentucky EMS Connection. All rights reserved. News stories may be copyrighted by another organization. Original material may be reproduced provided source is credited.