By Chuck Williams
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Ga.)
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The city’s Personnel Review Board on Wednesday upheld the firing of a Columbus firefighter for viewing sexually explicit material on a city computer.
Josh Alford was terminated in March after employees in the Information Technology Department discovered Alford had accessed classified advertising for prostitution on craigslist.org, an Internet site that offers goods and services for sale. He was terminated for viewing nude photographs and having obscene material on city property.
“There is no joy in this decision,” said Assistant City Attorney Jaimie DeLoach. “But we had the right outcome.”
Alford’s attorney, Ron Iddins, said he disagreed with the decision of the three-member panel that rules on city personnel disputes.
“We will contemplate a lawsuit in an appropriate court,” Iddins said.
Review board member Gerald Wyatt called Alford’s actions “clicks of curiosity” but said that the city’s zero-tolerance policy for viewing pornographic or obscene material justified the termination.
Alford, who had 4 1/2 years with the Columbus Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, was terminated for the March 6 incident.
He was looking for motorcycle parts on Craigslist. During the search, he clicked on a category labeled “erotics.”
“I thought it was exotics,” Alford said. “The next thing I knew, I was into that, realized what I was doing was wrong, and I clicked out of the site.”
DeLoach countered by showing some of the 14 Craigslist sites that Alford accessed while using a computer in an office at the Benning Road station. Most of the sites were advertisements for prostitution that showed nude or semi-clothed women. DeLoach also showed a consent page Alford had to click to enter the site.
While Alford was on Craigslist, employees in Information Technology monitored the firehouse computer from downtown, because a software problem with the computer had been reported earlier that day.
Battalion Chief Les Talley disciplined Alford the day of the incident. He lost computer privileges and his ability to swap shifts with other firefighters. Chief Jeff Meyer later terminated him.
Alford’s attorney argued that the material Alford viewed, while offensive, was not pornographic. Iddins showed pictures from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition to make his point.
“Pornography is in the eye of the beholder,” Iddins said. “It’s an unclear and vague definition.”
DeLoach countered that pictures of women in provocative poses with “their private parts” exposed was against city policy and could not be tolerated because of liability issues. She said other city employees have been terminated for similar offenses.
Alford comes from a family of firefighters. His father, Jerry Alford Sr., retired in 2005 as a battalion chief.
Copyright 2008 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer