What People Were Afraid To Say About The Dive Team: They Abandoned The Public –

Shelby Co., Ill. (ECWd) –

The manufactured public outrage about the Shelby County Dive Team continued at last night’s Shelby County board meeting by the same select few. The county board has continually been blamed for the resignations of the dive team members, when the former commander and team members are to blame and if the public has been put at risk, it is the poor decisions of the team members putting them at risk.

Bottom Line:  The Dive Team Members Abandoned The Public

• If the Dive Team members cared about the residents, they would not have quit
• If the Dive Team members cared someone was in the middle of the river, they wouldn’t have quit
• If they cared about people on the lake, they wouldn’t have quit
• If they cared about the Dive Team, they wouldn’t have quit
• They abandoned the public

Opponents of the board majority were once again screaming about the dive team, the alleged and proposed intergovernmental agreement with Shelbyville, and other issues.

Last fall, the Dive Team was officially formed through a county board resolution, which brought near-unanimous approval by the board and the public in attendance, to include appkause from dive team members. Immediately after its approval, the dive team commander demanded the resignation of a county board committee member, and failing to get the resignation, the commander and team members all gave their prepared resignations and even left their dive team shirts on the board table. This was apparently pre-arranged as each member also wore another shirt under their team shirt.

Since them, each meeting has been contentious, and the Shelbyville City Council even “authorized” a city dive team, which does nothing more than enabling their bad behavior. The city has no equipment for a dive team, but that doesn’t stop the naysayers.

This appears to be nothing more than the team’s former commander getting his feelings hurt and talking or coercing all of its members to resign with him. We understand some team members did not want to resign but were bullied into resigning by other team members. During last night’s meeting, a county board member stated that even previous team members were being harassed when it was found out that there was discussion of their joining the now-vacant county dive team.

During public comment, one commenter falsely stated the dive team was shut down “while somebody was in the river” – there is a claim that a woman was stranded in the river and a deputy was “risking his life” to save her (a major exaggeration considering the deputy “walked” her back across the river while she was in a kayak). The fact is the dive team was not shut down “while somebody was in the river” needing help.

Watch the entire meeting below: