Violence has no home in Snohomish County
By Erin Freeman | Lynnwood Times Staff
Snohomish County Councilwoman Megan Dunn has apologized after calling an image of a stitch work project featuring a Molotov cocktail a “good reminder.”
Posted to her personal Facebook account, now deleted, the image shows a cross-stitched Molotov cocktail with the saying “be the light you want to see in the world” embroidered into the design.
“While not my stitch project, but a good reminder,” read Dunn’s caption.
A Molotov cocktail is essentially a bottle bomb, and when thrown it ignites its target, engulfing it in flames. Recently, Molotov cocktails have had reported use at anti-police protests, sparking in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
“My post of a counter-culture cross-stitching project was in no way intended as a call for violence or encouraging violence, it does not reference police or violence against police and has no imagery of police,” said Dunn in a statement. “I have removed the post, which was on my personal Facebook page, and is not representative of the Council as a whole or of my sentiments towards law enforcement officials. I do not condone or support using violence.”
While Dunn, the representative for the county’s 2nd district, has since removed the post, it wasn’t before local law enforcement took notice. In response, the Everett Police Officers Association (EPOA) initially called for the resignation of Dunn but have since rescinded the resignation request.
Dunn told the Lynnwood Times that she has been communicating with the EPOA and that they’ve accepted her apology.
President of the EPOA, James Collier says that while they accepted Dunn’s apology, “the county culture of violence against our law enforcement and law-abiding citizens that we are witnessing daily can never be accepted.”
“Although the apology contained some “yeah buts” it is not our place to dictate her apology,” said Collier. “To the degree of the sincerity of the apology, only Councilmember Dunn knows that in her heart. We hope to see her actions in the future demonstrate that sincerity moving forward.”
Dunn says that the Everett Police Chief and Snohomish County Sheriff Fortney have also accepted her apology. The Everett Police station reiterated the EPOA’s comment when the Lynnwood Times reached out for a statement. Sheriff Fortney does not have a statement to provide at this time, said Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe but confirmed that Councilmember Dunn did call him to apologize.
The EPOA is requesting that Dunn work closely with line-level law enforcement officers for solutions and understanding on how to represent all under her leadership.
In her statement, Dunn explained she has recently signed a resolution supporting law enforcement to find common ground.
“I regret that my actions have impacted that effort,” said Dunn.
Author: Mario Lotmore
3 Responses
Is she too stupid to read the cross stitch? In which case she should tender her resignation. Otherwise I cannot come up with a viable excuse for her. There is no way you could read that and not know what she meant to say. A molotov cocktail is not a symbol that can be interpreted in more than one way I am sorry her apology makes no sense and anyone accepting it is just turning a blind eye to a blatant call for violence. I understand that the police are being put into a very difficult position here but I think they should remain silent as a means of shunning this person who deserves nothing from any of us.
Wow, y’all’re a bunch of snowflakes, huh?
Using a Molotov cocktail as a symbol for anything leaves NO interpretation other than Violence. It’s 1 step from civil war, that simple.