The Palmyra Volunteer Fire Company in Central Virginia is back operating following a brief suspension over a convicted sex offender’s connection to the fire company. That person has been identified in a statement as Sammie Gene Morris. Morris apparently was not a member but had been hanging around the firehouse and various incidents over the last six months and possibly for as long as a year. The details are in the statements below.
I have no inside information or knowledge of why this ugly situation went on for so long, but what I have seen over the past few days is an excellent example of an agency handling some very bad news.
It appears the Fluvanna County Volunteer Fire Department and its chief, Andrew Pullen, took decisive action and let the public know about it. The best I can tell is they told on themselves, releasing a very detailed statement before the bad news made news on its own. Doing so provides a much better look than a reporter or news organization saying they discovered the problem. It improves the chances of an organization having some control of the narrative. It’s also the right thing to do for the people they serve…