NUMBER 17 Mayor Townsell, Hubris or not

I seem compelled to speak out a bit on an issue that has troubled me for quite some time now. In august of 2007 I presented a portrait bust of Mayor Townsell down at the city hall for the purpose of honoring the mayor as a part of the history of Conway. I did not say specifically that the bust was public art nor did I say that it was a personal gift to Townsell.

Townsell told the newspaper reporter, without me being present, that he planed to take the bust to his parents home, that he did not want the people to perceive it as public art. I only discovered that this was his intentions after his comment was published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

I then called his office three times at reasonable intervals and expressed to his secretary to please ask him to call me, but I never got a response. So I then called his wife and asked her to relay my request to him. This also got me no response. Later I ran into his father and expressed to him my request. He was rather rude to me and likewise I got no response from the mayor.

This is when I decided to write a letter to the mayor explaining both, my intentions and the intentions of the donors. I sent the letter by Certified Mail with the US Postal Service. This also got me no response. Below please find the letter I wrote to him Word for Word:


Sept. 24, 2oo7


Dear Tab,

I Hope that I have not offended you in any way; I do respect your position.
This is why I produced a likeness of you as Mayor; so that for years to come the
people of Conway and others might see that we wish to venerate our leaders
that have striven to make this a better place to live.

I, along with all the donors that made this possible, were under the impression that
your bust would be kept in public view to show respect for you as a leader and in
the hopes that future mayors and leaders, that make great differences for the people
of Conway, may also be venerated.

Leadership is the crux of growth and betterment within any community, and it is my
belief that these leaders need not be dead nor out of office before they are recognized. This is an old tradition, but with your help a new tradition will emerge by merely placing your bust in the public view. This will not only honor you, but it will also honor the donors that helped make this happen.


Sincerely,

Finton

This was, I admit, a goal of mine to venerated our mayor by producing a likeness of him in a bust and to have it displayed in public view.

I produced a bust of our former mayor, David Kinley. That bust did not satisfy me so I am going to sculpt another bust of him soon. I will be presenting it to the city of Conway when it is completed, and I will seek out the most appropriate ways so as not to create any confussion.

My whole intentions of producing a bust of our mayors, starting with Mayor Kinley, was to establish a tradition within the City of Conway of venerating all of our future mayors regardless of their performance. If they were duly elected or appointed under special circumstances then we citizens should have a bust or statue erected in his or her honor.

I believe that this would be exemplary of the communities gratitude for their mayors service to the community. I believe that these mayors deserve a high degree of recognition. While in office they are at the helm of our city government and when things go wrong the fingers point directly at them, but when things run rather smoothly they get little or no praise.

This should become a tradition that would daily give notice to the memory to our mayors that effected the history of our community. They are a major part of this history and should not be easily forgotten, rather, they should be long remembered.

The bust that I produced of Mayor Townsell was intended to be gifted to the city of Conway and be exhibited as part of the history of the office of the mayors of Conway. I did not intend that the bust become a personal gift to the mayor.

Later in an article in the of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette dated December 16, 2007 Mayor Townsell stated that he did not want to appear HUBRIS. I understand what hubris means and I think Townsells disregard, to the intent and wishes of the donors of this bust, is exhibiting a high degree of being hubris. He is placing his wishes far above the donors of the bust. If the bust was intended to disrespect the Mayor I would completely understand, but, this is not the case. Our intentions were to honor him.

He continually exhibited a high degree of hubris and disrespect toward me personally by deliberately choosing not to return any of my phone calls, and choosing not to respond to the certified letter I wrote to him. In effect he, without a word uttered, deemed me unworthy of a moment of his time. This is unacceptable to me, and I owe it to the donors and myself to do all I can to right the wrong that Mayor Townsell has exacted against us. His actions are unbecoming a public servant. Perhaps he thinks himself loftier than a servant.

I truly believe that he, at the very least, owes to the donors and myself an explanation and return the bust to the appropriate location at city hall for public viewing.

I personally can do without an explanation, but I will demand that the bust be returned to Conway City Hall.



Finton