Witnesses wrestle with public suicide

Dark Knight

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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Few city council votes escape scrutiny and debate after the fact, but there may never be a council decision analyzed in the same way as Thursday's vote that prompted a man to take his life in front of the Clarksville City Council.

Ronald "Bo" Ward fatally shot himself in the head after he was denied a request to rezone his Madison Street home to commercial. Ward, owner of Bo's Barber Shop on Fort Campbell Boulevard, had said the rezoning would increase his property value, allowing him to secure a loan to offset debt he incurred when he expanded his shop.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/COUNTY05/710060345
 
Omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wtf!!!
 
People probably felt a real connection to the dude... people talk to their barbers / hairdressers. Think of how bad the city counsel people feel.
 
This is very sad. If it was already a barber shop wouldn't it already have been commercial? I know zoning laws vary from city to city and they didn't say how long he was in business.
 
Geez...how terrible. I feel for the man that did this and his family, but my goodness, how I feel for the poor people that had to witness this. That's something that I imagine will take a long time to recover from.

Didn't something like this happen several years ago??? Maybe a local government official or something? I sort of remember something like this happening.
 
Years ago, a woman killed herself in the restroom of a hotel after a National Marine Fisheries meeting attended by a family member of mine. They weren't allowing permits to transfer to spouses when death occurred, thereby preventing the surviving spouse from earning a living. After that, the law changed.

Things like this are really sad. When your livelihood is threatened and you feel desperate, death sometimes seems like the way out. I really feel for those that feel they have no other option.
 
I remember the description of the scene from ABC Radio the night this happened. A Councilman said the man stood up with a gun, causing some to take cover, and simply waved with his gun saying "I just wanted to say "Bye" before placing the gun in his mouth. The Mayor yelled "NOOOO!" right before he pulled the trigger.
 
How sad that this man chose to effect the lives of so many others with his suicide.

So this was an intraoral gunshot? I would be interesested in knowing how much blood spatter there was.

The other public suicide - one that was filmed and can be seen on the internet - was a Pennsylvania politician Bud Dwyer. He had been accused of wrongdoing regarding taking bribes. At a press conference that was being broadcast live on the news, he pulled a gun out of a large manilla envelope and shot himself.

Making the situation worse, many schools were closed that day and lots of children were exposed to seeing it on the TV.

It happened in 1987. The film is graphic, I googled "Bud Dwyer suicide" during the Phil Spector trial, only because I wanted to see the trajectory of the blood. (Didn't appear to me much spatter and there were people standing very near to him.)
 
This man had problems way beyond his rezoning request. While I feel sorry for his family, it's the city council that really has my sympathy.

This man was looking for an "out" from his own mistakes and the city council was only doing their jobs. They had no responsibility in changing codes or ordinances because one man went way beyond his own means.

The council members now have to live with this horror because of one man's selfishness... that's the real sad part about all of this.
 
My best friend's husband is in the Army and they were just transferred away from Fort Campbell this past summer. She says everyone knew Bo and adored him. His business, made up mostly of soldiers, had already suffered tremendously when so many soldiers were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, but he'd managed to stay open for the people who were left. This rezoning issue, he must have felt, would be the death of his business. My friend's husband said that Bo was a great guy and was never the type, he thought, to do something like this and do it in such a way as to damage so many people, so Joe thinks Bo must have just snapped.
 
Things like this are really sad. When your livelihood is threatened and you feel desperate, death sometimes seems like the way out. I really feel for those that feel they have no other option.

I agree with you :(

The poor man must've felt completely hopeless to take his own life :(

Prayers for his soul and for his family.
 
This man had problems way beyond his rezoning request. While I feel sorry for his family, it's the city council that really has my sympathy.

This man was looking for an "out" from his own mistakes and the city council was only doing their jobs. They had no responsibility in changing codes or ordinances because one man went way beyond his own means.

The council members now have to live with this horror because of one man's selfishness... that's the real sad part about all of this.

gosh, your posts seems a bit cold.
When we walk a mile in someone else's shoes, then maybe we can criticize. Until then, who knows the reasons behind his choice.
 
gosh, your posts seems a bit cold.
When we walk a mile in someone else's shoes, then maybe e can criticize. Until then, who knows the reasons behind his choice.

I don't think MagicRose was commenting on the man's decision to kill himself, only that he chose to do it in front of the entire city council. The council members were doing their job. Not only was the suicide public but very horrific for those who had to witness the shooting.
 
I don't think MagicRose was commenting on the man's decision to kill himself, only that he chose to do it in front of the entire city council. The council members were doing their job. Not only was the suicide public but very horrific for those who had to witness the shooting.

Thanks Cali!
 
I don't think MagicRose was commenting on the man's decision to kill himself, only that he chose to do it in front of the entire city council. The council members were doing their job. Not only was the suicide public but very horrific for those who had to witness the shooting.

I agree.
 
There was an insurance adjuster in Dallas who jumped off the roof of his office building some years back. What a selfish thing for these folks to do!!!!!!
 

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