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Controversial Facebook post costs Marion man position on county board

A controversial post on Facebook cost a volunteer his seat on a Marion County advisory board.

Marcel "Butch" Verrando came under fire for posting a message on the Marion County Political Forum Facebook page.

In the post, Verrando wrote, "The only time a black guy applied for work, it was because they were on probation and had to have a real job."

After learning about the post, Marion County commissioners removed him from the Industrial Development Authority Board.
 
"We don't condone it as a commission, we don't allow our staff to talk that way, and we're not going to have it," commission chair Stan McClain said.
 
Verrando was a volunteer on the board and not a county employee.
 
Channel 9's Myrt Price asked McClain about Verrando's right to free speech.
 
"If he is not representing us on our board, then he has a right to free speech, and we would support that. But as a member of our advisory, these remarks he made were unacceptable," McClain said.

Price learned it's not the first time that Verrando's choice of words have gotten him in trouble with the community.

Last year Verrando allegedly said a U. S. military veteran who has post-traumatic stress disorder, saying the man's service as a military firefighter was not as worthy of recognition as those in combat.

Following that comment, he resigned from the Fire Advisory Board.
 
Price was told that after looking at Verrando's latest comment and previous comments, they felt they had no choice but to remove him from the board.

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