{"id":90656,"date":"2020-01-18T00:38:36","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T00:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-officials-facebook-post-spurs-city-council-discussion\/"},"modified":"2020-01-18T00:38:36","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T00:38:36","slug":"cortez-officials-facebook-post-spurs-city-council-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-officials-facebook-post-spurs-city-council-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez official\u2019s Facebook post spurs City Council discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Planning
Planning and Zoning Commissioner Lance McDaniel faces backlash regarding a Facebook post he made in mid-December.<\/span>The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Cortez official\u2019s Facebook post in December has sparked heated exchanges on social media and at a recent City Council meeting.<\/p>\n

The thread was initiated Dec. 11 by city Planning and Zoning Commissioner Lance McDaniel, who also is a board member for Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1. It references proposed names for the park project on the south side of Cortez, at the former site of Montezuma-Cortez High School.<\/p>\n

In the post, McDaniel expressed disappointment that South Park had not been chosen as the official name for the park, and in comments under the post wrote, \u201cDamn veterans won again,\u201d referring to the recent renaming<\/a> of City Park as Veterans Park.<\/p>\n

He later said he mistakenly thought Veterans Park was the name of the south side park site.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was meant as a lighthearted comment, it was in no way meant to be disrespectful to veterans,\u201d he told The Journal Thursday.<\/p>\n

As of November<\/a>, five names were considered for the south side park: Panther Park, Parque del Sol, South Park, Mountain View Park and Southside Community Park.<\/p>\n

McDaniel\u2019s post drew outrage from other Facebook users on McDaniel\u2019s thread, and they shared versions of his original post.<\/p>\n

McDaniel also angered some residents with his comments about critics of the Planning and Zoning Commission\u2019s proposed land use code. He warned his Facebook followers he was being \u201cFB stalked\u201d and comments on his page were being shared with the \u201clocal crazies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post that referenced the park\u2019s name came up at the City Council meeting Jan. 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just appalled when it was brought to my attention,\u201d said Ray Goodall, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Korean War.<\/p>\n

A few councilors thanked Goodall for his service and addressed the issue too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this posting was most unfortunate,\u201d said Mayor Karen Sheek. \u201cIt was not done in good taste. And I think that this is a prime example of some of the pitfalls of social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilor Mike Lavey, also a veteran, said he believed the post was taken out of context.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that Mr. McDaniel felt antagonistic toward veterans,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that he respects veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca Levy, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission alongside McDaniel, also spoke at the City Council meeting during a public comment period. Her comments appeared in the Facebook thread, and she was a target of some of the Facebook backlash. In one exchange in the comments thread, she called out other commenters, who had suggested that McDaniel be \u201ctarred and feathered,\u201d and she chastised commenters for talking about \u201clynchings and murders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levy on Tuesday apologized for her part in the thread and claimed McDaniel\u2019s comment was an inside joke that was misconstrued and a \u201chorrible social media lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

She lauded McDaniel\u2019s participation on Montezuma County Flag Watch, a Facebook page that notifies users when flags are ordered to be raised at half-staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the most patriotic, sweet people I know,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n

She added, though, that the backlash got out of hand. She pointed to the Facebook references about hanging and \u201ctar and feathering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been so much hatred,\u201d Levy said. \u201cIt\u2019s palpable, and I just want it to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDaniel said he was tired of how long the controversy has circulated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed in the rancor and the hate and discontent that\u2019s been caused by this,\u201d he told The Journal.<\/p>\n

He too highlighted his work monitoring flags and said his comment had been directed to a veteran friend of his, who had no problem with the joke.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, faced with opposition to the proposed land use code, Cortez City Council is considering pausing the code update.<\/p>\n

The update was set for a second reading and potential approval on Jan. 28, but city staff have asked to delay the process and restart it with a dedicated focus group.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, staff wants to hit pause on this train,\u201d City Planner Tracie Hughes said Jan. 14<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planning commissioner McDaniel: \u2018Lighthearted comment\u2019 not meant to disrespect veterans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,318,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-90656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-cortez-municipal-government","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90656"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=90656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}