SPRING HILL, Tenn. - The Spring Hill Mayor has come under fire after taking to social media and referring to his constituents as "gullible sheep."
Mayor Michael Dinwiddie made the comment on a public Facebook page during a debate about the city's controversial crematory. The plan has been fiercely opposed from the very beginning by residents and consistently supported by Mayor Dinwiddie.
On Sunday, in a Facebook discussion about the issue the Mayor called residents "gullible sheep", but insisted the comment was taken out of context.
"If I stepped on someone's toes, well I can apologize for that, but the intent was stop following people just because of what they say to you. Do the research, ask the questions, try to find out both sides of what's going on, that's the only way to make an educated decision," said Dinwiddie.
The crematory issue was once again the focus of Monday's meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
In November of 2011, the aldermen voted eight to one against a proposal to build a crematory at Spring Hill Memorial Funeral Home on Main Street. At that time, the mayor was the only one to vote in favor of the plan.
So many were shocked when the Spring Hill Planning Commission approved a site plan last month for the crematory that effectively over-rode the board of aldermen.
"Constituents have asked me more than once what can we do about it? How can elected officials vote eight to one not to allow something, and it happens anyway?", said Eliot Mitchell, Spring Hill Alderman.
The members of the planning commission are appointed by Mayor Michael Dinwiddie. When asked about the planning commission vote, he said that any suggestion that he controls how the commission votes is simply inaccurate.
