Editorial: I love my home, Dubois County
First off I want to personally commend Mayor Spinner and the great city of Huntingburg for the way this matter was handled. What Mr. Summers did was wrong in every sense of the word. He has publicly apologized and has removed himself from the boards he served on in response of his actions. There is really nothing more Mr. Summers can do at this point, but there is something that we can do.
We as citizens can make sure it is known that this type of hate, intolerance, and bigotry is not welcome in this area. I love my community and honestly believe that Dubois County is an amazing place to live and work. That being said there are some things that need and have to happen to make it even better.
What Mr. Summer’s actions did was publicly expose a very well known problem in this area. Unfortunately Mr. Summers isn’t the only one who lives in our community that still thinks this way. Racism and intolerance still runs rampant and in order to truly be the amazing place I know we can be, it has to end.
Dubois County as a whole needs to work hard to change some of that negative reputation it has unfortunately gained as a community that isn’t very welcoming to those that are different from the norm.
Every generation becomes more tolerant than the last and as that happens we naturally become a better people. We need to embrace and welcome with open arms everybody regardless of their sex, race, color, and sexual orientation not only because that’s what is right, but because that’s how you grow.
We have so much to offer here. Great schools, great businesses, a safe environment to raise a family…etc. Whether it’s our children graduating college and moving back home to raise their family or new people moving here and opening up new businesses and creating new jobs, if we can change that perception of intolerance I have no doubt we will reap the benefits.
I truly hope we can…because there is nowhere else I’d rather live than here. This is my home.
Ty Hunter Jasper
good point Tye, some ppl. may dislike some nationality or races, but it doesn’t need to be publicly on display in a town or city, but i too commend the man on his courage to display his opinion publicly, takes real courage but may still be wrong.
It doesn’t take courage to display racism – it takes ignorance. Oh, btw, Jason, your “courageous” businessman took his courage down within 3 minutes and has been crying ever since. What a guy!
I may not agree with it but this is America and he is entitled to his opinion, If you don’t like it don’t look at it. And frankly who is the mayor to say he can’t put up his opinion whether it is socially acceptable or not. I don’t agree with it but absolutely think it is his right to voice it!
Good Point TYE, For a business man to post what ever he said is one thing, I might not agree with It. Thats his American Right. like what An American said, It will take years for people to change, especially in our county to change. I’m talking about gerarations. I remember a sign that use to sit outside of Jasper that said don’t let the sun shine on your backs etc…….. If you look around our little county, why isnt there are other color than white (if thats ok to say) familys live in the all white comunity? You can figure it out on what town I’m talking about. They might not have a sign to put up and say “your not allowed” but it obvious if you look into there schools. Most of the other schools systems have to deal with the extra expense of hiring teachers to teach them. The landlords won’t rent to these folks.We can go on and on and on about this issue but whats the point. Turn off the idiot box and go out and enjoy being with family and friends.
Since I have no clue what was said or posted how can a reader even make an informed comment?
Part of the Mayor’s job is to protect the image of his city. That is exactly what Mayor Spinner did and for that I commend him. Those comments were posted on a business sign in the high traffic of US 231 and definitely do not reflect the views of the City of Huntingburg. Mayor Spinner never told Mr. Summer to take it down…he asked him too. What was written on his sign was hurtful to the image of Huntingburg.
I wanted to correct myself…Mr. Spinner never asked Mr. Summers to take the sign down as it was already taken down by the time Mayor Spinner got there.
Your correct Dcinformer. Mr summers statement said he took it right back off with in 3 min after he put it up. The mayor didn’t tell him. Thanks to Pam Jackson who made the big commotion about it. Why didn’t she stop and ask Mr Summers directly his reason for putting it on his sign to begin with instead of running home and posting it on fb?
I can scarcely believe what I have just read. I think those of you who have indicated you believe it to be essentialy OK – even courageous – as a matter of free speech to publicly display the most visceral form of hate and racism in the N-word, let alone such disrespect to our president (of whom I am not a fan but he is still our president), are, one, very misguided (wrong) in that thinking and, two, missing a few links to history between yesteryear and today. Moreover, you are little different than Mr. Summers. Shame.