Facebook post forces official to step down
EARL TOWNSHIP >> An Earl Township official has resigned his post following comments he made on Facebook regarding the death of a pregnant Douglass (Berks) Township woman who drowned along with her son in the July 11 flash flooding.
Supervisor John Hetrick stepped down from his appointed position as emergency management coordinator for the township on July 15 after many readers believed the post he penned insinuated that the woman was to blame for the tragedy.
“I know that nobody wants to hear this, but almost everyone who dies in their car in flooding did so because they made a very bad choice,” Hetrick wrote in the now deleted post to the Earl Township Emergency Management Facebook page that was preserved with a screenshot and obtained by Me
diaNews Group.
The post was taken down after about an hour when readers reacted by calling it insensitive and unacceptable. The entire Facebook page has since been deleted in response to the overwhelmingly negative feedback.
Hetrick said July 16 he’s still trying to figure out what has people so upset.
“As far as I can understand, the worst thing I said was that I felt that a bad decision was made,” he said. “And, honestly, I think there was. I certainly don’t blame that poor woman for what happened to her but we are trying to make people understand that we have to make better decisions in these circumstances.”
But the damage had already been done.
Hetrick said his colleagues on the supervisors board, William Moyer and Michael Marburger, suggested it would be best for the community if Hetrick were to resign from his post as emergency management coordinator. The resignation was announced July 15 on the Earl Township Facebook page.
“Please be advised that the comments posted on social media on behalf of Earl Township Emergency Management regarding the tragic event in Douglass Township were not made or authorized by the Earl Township Board of Supervisors,” the post read.
Moyer, who serves as board chairman, said he believes Hetrick had good intentions when he set out to write the post but failed to find the right words to convey his message. That was clear to him, he said, by members of the community who reached out to him over that weekend to voice their disapproval of the post.
“I was reluctant to support his resignation but I thought in the best interest of the township that he should,” Moyer said. “The man has done a lot of good for the township and it’s a shame that this one instance has caused all this turmoil. I feel bad about the whole situation.”
Marburger said Hetrick’s resignation was necessary.
“I thought his comments were insensitive and made at the wrong time,” he said. “The time immediately following a tragedy is not the right time to try to place blame or teach people lessons. Nothing needed to be said.” But Hetrick disagreed. “I felt like I needed to put something on there that was blunt and forthright to try to keep people from hurting themselves,” he said. “The reason I posted the comments when I did was to bring attention to this terrible tragedy to make sure that nothing like this happens again.”
In hindsight, Hetrick said he should have chosen his words more carefully. He said he learned a valuable lesson about how his comments can make an impact on the community — and not necessarily the impact he had intended.
“I did not mean that to be vicious in any way,” he said. “I was trying to make people conscious of what happened and a little more accountable for their own actions. And clearly that was a mistake.”
Hetrick, who has served as emergency management coordinator for the last 25 years, said that ultimately he agreed to resign from the position so that the township could move on from the matter. But, he added, he has no plans to step down from his elected position as supervisor.
Although some residents have called for Hetrick to be removed from the board, Moyer and Marburger stressed that even if they supported that effort the issue is out of their hands.
Under the state constitution, an elected official can be removed through impeachment, but that requires action from the state Senate and the signature of the governor. An official can also be stripped of office if convicted of a crime like forgery, perjury, bribery or the embezzlement of public money.
“John was elected by the people and it’s the people who would have to take action,” Marburger said.
The following comments, written by John Hetrick, appeared in a now deleted post on the Earl Township Emergency Management Facebook page.
A screenshot taken before the post was deleted was shared with MediaNews Group on July 16:
“Facebook has been full of posts about the tragedy on Thursday in Douglass Township. I feel as bad about the deaths as anyone but we need to get realistic. That poor woman probably thought she had no choice but to drive into that water for whatever reason. We’ve all done it. Let’s honor the memory of this mom and her two children by not letting it happen again.
This isn’t rocket science. When the road is covered with moving water or if it’s still water and you can’t positively determine the depth, STAY THE HELL OUT OF IT! I know that nobody wants to hear this, but almost everyone who dies in their car in flooding did so because they made a very bad choice.
(Unintelligible) blaming God or nature. We must be responsible for out (sic) own bad decisions. Let’s not forget about these deaths and continue our bad habits. Don’t let it happen again.”