Carnival owner's claims are false; here's what happened

To the Editor:

I would like to respond to the letter that was on the opinion page of the May 15th, 2012 issue of the Daily American Republic submitted by Mr. Delmar Giles.

I was the Fire Chief for the last 14 years of my 34 years with the fire department and was involved first hand with the situation that he claims, was discrimination against him.

Mr. Giles states that "The City called a special meeting to adopt new conditions (more to their liking) with rules and regulations on the operation of a carnival even though we passed those rules and regulations."

COMPLETELY FALSE! No special meeting was held and no new regulations were required. Mr. Giles also states that they had passed the states inspection which is TRUE. However, his rides passed that inspection, at that point in time, and in no way ensures that after months of use, that those same rides will still pass inspection. That is why the State Fire Marshall's office assigns local fire departments to inspect those same rides before allowing them to operate in their respective jurisdictions.

Here are the FACTS as they happened.

Upon inspection, the Fire Department personnel found some of his rides to either not have seat belts or the ones that were there, were non operational. These seat belts were provided by the manufacturer. His requirement was to either not operate those particular rides or replace and repair the seat belts. Upon being told this, he called me at home and said, "no dumb ***** like you is going to tell me what to do."

I returned to work, picked up the building inspector and requested the Police Department to meet us at Mr. Giles location, which did occur. The situation was once again explained to Mr. Giles when he became belligerent and had to be physically restrained and handcuffed. This was after several warnings by the Police for him to calm down and step back, but he refused.

The next day I called the State Fire Marshall, explained the situation to him and he said that Mr. Giles had already called him and that he was told that each jurisdiction is responsible for the public's safety and that if he wanted to operate in Poplar Bluff, he should cooperate. He also went on to tell me that this was an old story that he had heard several times from other cities about Mr. Giles and that in one city, he had even assaulted the inspector, breaking the law.

WE, (the Police Dept., Building Inspectors office and the Fire Dept.) all reported this verbally, and later, in writing to Mr. Bagby. (The Fire Department also sent a report to the State Fire Marshall's office.) Mr. Bagby agreed that our first concern was for the public's safety and he stood behind the decision that we made, not to allow those particular rides to be operated.

I might also mention that we have not had any problems with any of the other carnivals complying with the safety regulations.

In summary, Mr. Giles is not operating his rides in Poplar Bluff by his own poor decisions, not those as he claims from City Officials or City Departments. Apparently, he would prefer to put his profit ahead of the public's safety.

Randy Hastings

Poplar Bluff, Mo