WELCOME HOME, AMANDA SMITH!

Removing mom's signs brings scorn to Cape

People from across the United States and as far away as Nova Scotia spent Wednesday telling Cape Coral officials they're un-American, communists and Nazis — among other things.

The name calling came in an onslaught of e-mail that blasted a city worker for removing signs and yellow ribbons a mother had posted to greet her U.S. Army daughter as she returned home from Iraq.

After receiving more than 100 e-mails, city officials went into damage control.

"We now have to try to defuse the situation and prevent an effigy of our part-time employee, an 82-year-old WWII veteran, from being burned across the country," public information officer Connie Barron e-mailed.

...Mayor Eric Feichthaler answered the angry e-mails with an explanation.

"The actions that occurred on Tuesday were not a malicious attempt to dishonor or slight a local soldier, whose service we admire and appreciate beyond what words can express," Feichthaler said.

On Monday evening, the mayor will read a proclamation in Amanda's honor during the regular city council meeting. He has invited the Smiths to attend.
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This is a textbook example of a PR disaster.

Yesterday, city officials did not make known that the worker was an 82 year-old part-time employee. The city is responsible for failing to make it clear this was an old man, one that had served his country in WWII. It appears he believed it was his duty to remove the sign and ribbons. He was following the letter of the law. Of course, before he tore the things down, he should have checked with his superiors as to what he should do regarding the homecoming decorations.

I think, given the information that the News-Press put out yesterday, the response should not have been a surprise to city officials. The torrent of e-mail was completely appropriate, based on what was printed in their story.

However, using terms like "communist" and "Nazi" to voice complaints about Cape Coral's actions is inappropriate. Such inflammatory rhetoric is not necessary to voice displeasure about the removal of the decorations.

In sum, those e-mailers were as wrong as the city.

I suspect that Pfc. Amanda Smith never expected her safe return from Iraq to get so much attention.

In the final analysis, all that really matters is Amanda is home.