Tuesday, October 02, 2007

The Other Shoe Drops In St. Louis Fire Department Saga

Sherman George (left), and his replacement Steve Kotraba (right)


St. Louis Fire Chief Sherman George Loses His Job.

George (the city's first African American Fire Chief) has been demoted and replaced by a deputy Chief, Steve Kotraba.

Hear Audio Blurb From KMOX Radio

Report on Chief George and his response from KTVI TV

Hear a more detailed discussion on the removal of Sherman George, via the Paul Harris radio program.

Paul Harris talks with Wayne Luster of FIRE and Chris Molitor of Local 73 about the demotion of Sherman George to Deputy Chief of the St. Louis Fire Department.

LISTEN HERE

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Previous Postings on The St. Louis Fire Department Controversy

Fire Department Entrance Exam Thrown Out

Update- Mayor Gives the Chief an Ultimatum. Promote or else.

Fire Chief Defies The Mayor

3 comments:

rikyrah said...

This is very interesting. Glad you're keeping us up to date on this, AI.

Anonymous said...

[Deputy} Chief George stepped down a while ago. So the demotion is more of a gesture, and perhaps a dig into his retirement pension. Ouch! That's gotta hurt.

I think it is rare to see someone stand up and take the heat for something they truly believe is right. He took a big hit. But he knew he was taking a hit. It's about integrity. He really believes that those promotion tests were unfair (& so did at least one court decision) and thought promoting from that list would be wrong. I mean he did REFUSE a direct order. You don't get off scott free no matter how justified you feel.

And he never flinched or whined about the pending punishment. Not even now. So, I think all of the uncle tom belly aching by the so-called black community leaders should stop (members of the NAACP, the Clergy Coalition, the Black Roundtable, St. Louis Urban League President, and even some political leaders). George knew what he was doing, seemed willing to take the heat and is taking it.

Support him..Okay..Complain and threaten political retailization...come on and get back to work. Haven't they all got some pockets to fleece and economically-disadvantaged citizens to distract.

Brian said...

Thanks Rikyrah...

I am not firmly on one side or the other. I just wanted to show the racial divide that plagues St. Louis. It's one of the most segregated cities in the United States unfortunately.