Lubbock County Emergency Management Coordinator Reinstated After Controversial Obama Facebook Post
Late last week, Lubbock County Sheriff Kelly Rowe placed Emergency Management Coordinator Clinton Thetford (pictured) on leave. The leave was due to a controversial post made by Thetford on his personal Facebook page.
KAMC News reported that the post in question was an editorial cartoon showing Elmer Fudd shooting at President Barack Obama.
A statement released on Tuesday by Sheriff Rowe said that the Secret Service conducted an investigation into Thetford's Facebook post. No wrong-doing was found, and that led to Thetford's reinstatement.
The full statement from Lubbock County can be read below:
Effective today July 7th, 2015, and in consultation with Lubbock County Judge Tom Head, Emergency Management Coordinator Clinton Thetford was reinstated. This follows an internal review by the Sheriff’s Office as well the United States Secret Service of a cartoon graphic Mr. Thetford uploaded to his personal Facebook page.
The Secret Service concluded after their interview that no laws had been violated with regard to the image itself, and subsequently notified us of their findings. However, it was determined that there were violations of Lubbock County and Sheriff’s Office policy with regard to professional conduct and acceptable social media usage. As a result, appropriate direction and disciplinary action was taken with him to ensure this or any similar incident does not occur in the future.