Mayor Resigns Over ‘Watermelon’ E-Mail Message

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LOS ANGELES — As the mayor of the suburb of Los Alamitos recalled it, he was perusing his e-mail inbox last Sunday when he came across a photo of the White House that had been altered so that it appeared to be bordered by a huge watermelon patch. “No Easter egg hunt this year,” said the caption beneath the photo.

The mayor, Dean Grose, said he thought the photo had been sent to his private e-mail account in “humor,” and passed it along to a group of friends and associates.

To his surprise, not everyone was amused. The e-mail message was greeted with a flood of complaints to various city offices, and Thursday night, Mr. Grose announced that he would resign at the regular City Council meeting on Monday.

“The attention brought to this matter has sadly created an image of me which is most unfortunate,” he said in a statement. “I recognize that I’ve made a mistake and have taken steps to make sure this is never repeated.”http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/us/28resign.html?_r=1&ref=us&pagewanted=print

[Mrs. Overall]

1. I'm so glad this *sshole resigned. There was some discussion of this yesterday in LBN:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3759330#3759683

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2. just saw it today....racism has consequences...

[Mrs. Overall]

5. And the guy actually claimed that he had never heard of African Americans being associated with

watermelons.

Gee, the whole uproar over his email was just plain confusing to him.

I'm glad no one bought his fake explanation.

[spanone]

6. not only a racist, but a lying racist

if he didn't know (wink wink) that blacks were 'associated' with watermelon, why did he send the email on? and why did he find it humorous? LIES

[Lex]

3. That he was stupid enough not to know (or care) how offensive it was

that he forwarded it around just stuns me.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. How would that cartoon be humorous to someone unfamiliar with the association?

I'd love to hear the ex-mayor explain that.

[Karenina]

8. Slam dunk.

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[carlyhippy]

4. well, that will teach him

the taxpayers are paying him to "mayor", not sit at his desk and play on the computer and send racial emails anyway, shame on him all around.

[pinto]

9. Unfortunately, he didn't resign his seat on the City Council, just stepped down as Mayor.

Los Alamitos must have a rotating Mayor position. :shrug: