Time to play nice

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Time to play nice

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Time to play nice

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Friday, 25 May 2012 08:26

Malcom Thompson returned to his post as the Osceola County Clerk of Court Monday after a three-month suspension during which he went on trial for alleged workplace violence.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing. Now, it’s time for everybody to play nice.
For the good of the Osceola County residents who need Clerk’s Office services, we believe Thompson and his staff need to put this ugly episode behind them and move on.
We would expect nothing less than for Thompson to act as a professional and not hold any resentment toward anybody in the office whom he believed wronged him. That’s not how government should work. Because taxpayers should not have to suffer any disruption in service because some Clerk’s Office staff members are distracted by the fear that Thompson will retaliate and fire them. They deserve better than that. They did nothing wrong.
Gov. Rick Scott suspended Thompson without pay from his elected post in January after two female employees accused him of battery and assault.
Administrative aide Latifa Ramdani accused Thompson of pushing her into the doorframe of his office after an argument about when to remove holiday cards from his office door.
Human resources director Kimberlee Zander accused Thompson of assault after he allegedly lunged at her and pointed his finger in her face during a discussion about an internal investigation of the alleged battery.
Thompson was found not guilty of battery by a jury and was acquitted of the assault charge by Ninth Judicial Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. in separate trials in April.
Scott reinstated Thompson on May 18 to the position.
It’s over. It’s done.
We don’t need any more negativity coming from a local government entity. We already have the Osceola County School Board.
Thompson in a recent press release said the Clerk’ Office plans to move forward toward continuing to be the finest Clerk’s office in the nation. We like that positive outlook and we would hope that staff members would try to work with him to achieve that goal.
That would be a win-win situation for everybody.