TRUMBULL COUNTY Fire chief resigns over LPGA flap

The resignation has not been accepted yet.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- At least one trustee wants the township's fire chief to rescind his resignation.
Trustee Glenn Wireman says he thinks it is a mistake for Fire Chief Richard Brannon to resign.
Brannon resigned earlier this week after he was suspended for two days because of an argument with Eddie Thomas, Giant Eagle LPGA Classic executive director.
"I don't think he should resign; he has done an outstanding job," Wireman said. "I believe Brannon got the raw side of the deal."
Trustees have not yet accepted the resignation.
Trustee Mark Finamore said he "feels bad" about the whole matter.
"I'd like to sit down and talk about this matter calmly," Finamore said. "On Friday afternoon I got a call on my cell phone from Eddie Thomas, who was livid. He said our fire chief threatened to shut down the tournament immediately for minor code violations."
Finamore said he was unable to reach Brannon or Wireman so he called Trustee Jeffrey Dreves.
"We decided that the best course of action would be to suspend Brannon for the rest of the tournament," Finamore said. "We expected for him to return to work after that."
Dreves could not be reached.
Brannon said he spoke only about two sentences to Thomas and never made any threats.
"There was a fire hydrant that was blocked by Ford show cars and I asked for the cars to be moved about four feet so that we would be able to get a big truck in there," Brannon said. "Thomas said he had the keys but he wasn't moving them. I also asked that all the generators be grounded."
Brannon said he never even thought of shutting the tournament down.
"I have a little more character than that," Brannon said. "I wouldn't have attempted to shut it down. I certainly don't need this coverage. It was Thomas that became unglued but in his defense he was under a lot of pressure."
Response
Reached on his cell phone this morning, Thomas said Brannon waited until Friday, the day the tournament started, to do his inspection. He also noted that Brannon ordered him to have all the generators grounded in four hours.
"It was impossible to do that in four hours and we didn't even need to do that," Thomas said. "We were told that we were in compliance but because of the chief we did ground every generator; it took more than four hours but we did it."
Thomas also added that he had the keys for the vehicles and would have moved the cars had there been a need.
"There was still full access to the fire hydrant if he went a different way," Thomas said.