Accusations lodged against the director of the Habersham County Parks and Recreation Department stemmed from a misunderstanding, according to the man at the center of the controversy.
Kurt Cooper says he did not turn off the air conditioning during Stacey Abrams’ visit Tuesday to the facility.
Lequeda Scott complained in a Facebook post circulating online that Cooper had “turned the air condition off in the area we were in, so the people of the Democrat party would leave.” A number of people responded angrily to her post which has been circulating since September 17.
“I would never do something that hateful.”
“No, I never turned off the air condition for any units in our facility,” Cooper said when contacted by Now Habersham about the allegation. Cooper explains that a Democratic Party member asked if he could adjust the temperature down for the two rooms they had rented for the gathering which was held Tuesday, September 17, in the Parks & Rec building. “I went to my office and adjusted the temperatures in hopes it would push out cooler air.”
Both of the rooms occupied for the meeting were at maximum occupancy and it was a very hot day. Cooper adds that “with that many people, the units were struggling to keep up with its demand. Certainly making our facility warm.”
He says a misunderstanding led to the complaint.
On Wednesday, Cooper says “a misunderstanding on my part took place when Mr. Victor Scott asked me if had turned the air condition off to the rented rooms. I spoke with him (Wednesday) and he was able to tell me that I had responded with a ‘Yes’ to his question. I have apologized to him for misinterpreting what he asked and reiterated that I would never do something that hateful.”
Clearly disturbed by the misunderstanding, Cooper adds “in no way did I mean to be disrespectful to him or anyone else. I apologize to anyone that I have upset. I would never turn off our climate controllers for any event to make anyone uncomfortable. I stayed to oversee the event specifically for the purposes of making sure the event went off without a hitch.” Which it did.
Despite the large number of people who turned out to hear Abrams speak and the ones who showed up to protest, Cooper says there were no major problems. “There was civil protesting but nothing ever was out of hand.”
Now Habersham has attempted to contact the Scotts for comment but has not heard back from them.
Controversial visit
The Abrams’ visit stirred controversy when critics and members of the Republican Party took issue with the former Democratic gubernatorial candidate coming to Habersham. She was in Clarkesville to promote her Fair Fight 2020 campaign which aims to promote voters’ rights and fair election policies ahead of the 2020 election.
Abrams lost the Georgia governor’s race in 2018 to Republican Brian Kemp, who was then the Secretary of State. The close race spurred allegations of voter suppression, including aggressive purging of voter rolls and denying new voters’ registration. There were also complaints of long waits at the polls and malfunctioning voting machines.
Kemp has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
