This black Baltimore fireman did a bad thing:
Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. said Maynard had admitted to “conducting a scheme meant to create the perception that members within our department were acting in a discriminatory and unprofessional manner.”
He planted a noose-with-threatening-note in the fire house when he felt his job was in jeopardy because of his incompetence.
“I’m extremely upset, as well as hurt. I believed the person who told me [that the incident was legitimate] was telling the truth,”
said the head of the black firefighters’ organization. The local NAACP head remained stuck on protest, however:
“It really saddens us to hear that evidently things have reached a stage that even an African-American does an injustice to himself and his own people as a result of a negative culture in that department,” Cheatham said when asked to respond to the unions.
He could at least have said the devil made him do it.
Blithe Spirit 