Friday, Dec. 24, 2004

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Exchange leads ejection from Tourism
Association meeting

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A former member of the Peachtree City Tennis Center was thrown out of a meeting of the city’s Tourism Association last week after a brief shouting match with board members who tried to calm him down after interrupting his comments.

David Burnett was originally calm as he spoke during the public comment portion of last Wednesday’s meeting. But his demeanor changed after several board members cut him off mid-sentence when he made a reference to the wife of board chairman Steve Rapson.

The fireworks began after Burnett said, “I find it ironic that your wife—” upon which he was cut off by several board members.

“It’s a public record,” Burnett shouted back.

Presumably, Burnett’s comment referred to Kristi Rapson, the former amphitheater director who unsuccessfully sued the city’s Development Authority in federal court for unequal pay. The tourism association now runs the amphitheater and the Tennis Center, a role previously handled by the Development Authority.

After Burnett lost his cool, board attorney Caryl Sumner Black and board vice chairman Murray Weed threatened to call the police. Burnett ultimately left the meeting voluntarily after Black asked him to leave.

Before the heated exchange, Burnett said the process of filling the positions at the Tennis Center had created dissension there for the past two or three weeks. He claimed there was a “personal agenda” behind the actions, and, “It’s made a lot of people and a lot of families sick.”

Black said Tuesday that she approached Burnett during his tirade in an effort to calm him down. She declined to say whether she thought it was appropriate to remove Burnett from the meeting.

“What you have to worry about at a public meeting is an escalation,” Black said, adding that she’s never had such a situation happen before.

Rapson said Friday that the irony is that his wife “would kill me if I did anything to hurt those facilities,” referring to the amphitheater and the Tennis Center.

Burnett’s beef was largely due to the way the Tourism Association handled the re-hiring process at the Tennis Center, he indicated.

All of the Tennis Center employees were told early in the year they were serving on an interim basis after management of the facility was switched over to the new Tourism Association in January from the former agency that managed it, the city’s Development Authority.

Just this month, the association announced it had rehired all former employees with the exception of Tennis Center manager Sean Ferreira and general manager/director of operations Mary Dillon, both of whom were passed over for the Tennis Center director position. Dillon’s position was eliminated under a reorganization of the Tennis Center by the Tourism Association, officials said.