Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner isn't a household name; but thanks to the Internet, he does get national attention for his antics.
For the second time in about a month, I find myself writing about him.
In my first post about Finkbeiner, he was personally cutting the grass in Toledo parks to save money.
This time, Finkbeiner is back in a Toledo park. He's breaking up a fight among some teens. That's good. Unfortunately, he uses some questionable language.
Should Toledo's mayor being calling kid "fatso" and a "fat ass"?
From WUPW, FOX Toledo:
A video clip posted on YouTube.com is making the rounds on social networking Web sites allegedly showing Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner scolding a teenager at Highland Park in the city's south end.
The 90-second edited clip, posted June 3 on the abchoward's profile on YouTube.com, shows Mayor Finkbeiner allegedly calling a kid "fatso."
...According to the person who posted the clip, Mr. Finkbeiner was walking in Highland Park and saw some kids fighting, so he went to break it up.
When reached, Mayor Finkbeiner's spokesperson Megan Robson said he was walking around Highland Park about two or three weeks ago and noticed a fight between a group of teenagers.
Mr. Finkbeiner saw the scuffle as a highly charged situation and took decisive action to diffuse it.
Robson told FOX Toledo News Mr. Finkbeiner didn't want the apparent scuffle to get out of hand, so he tried to resolve it. He used that tone of language as his way to diffuse the situation, she said.
Watch the video.
It's clear that at the end of the clip Finkbeiner realizes he's being taped. His tone changes significantly and he looks directly into what's probably a cell phone camera.
The mayor should not call a kid "fatso" or "fat ass." That's totally inappropriate.
However, I do give him credit for getting involved. It's an amazing act.
I can't imagine Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett personally stepping into the middle of a fight and attempting to break it up, unless he had some major, MAJOR security in tow.
I can't imagine New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg walking around Central Park by himself, noting a group of disruptive teens, and then taking it upon himself to stop the fight.
This video actually makes Finkbeiner look rather good, in spite of his very poor choice of words.
2 comments:
I don't think he was out of line. Using such language may be inappropriate but it did diffuse the situation. At a seminar I attended, the speaker was a child psychologist who worked with inner city kids with severe antisocial behaviors. He said that sometimes when dealing with this type of behavior you've got to do something unexpected to catch those involved off guard and diffuse the situation without escalating it.
Honestly though, I have little sympathy for today's youth, especially kids at this age with this kind of behavior (pretty bad for an educator to say, I know). The kid who shot the video (probably taping the fight before it was broken up), the kids fighting, and the kid you can overhear yelling "Watch out, he's going to molest you!" are all punks or wannabe punks (which is probably worse).
Geez, I sound old typing this (I'm only 24) but kids today have no respect whatsoever.
Finkbeiner should be commended for doing what most larger city mayors would never consider doing.
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