Potential ‘candidate’ says firefighters aren’t heroes — complains about using fire trucks for chief’s funeral

(Thanks to Bill Rehkopf and others for sending this.)

Update: Rhonda Appelgate tells TV reporter we can’t handle the truth

Rhonda Appelgate of Nevada, Iowa describes herself as a “potential city representative”. Reading about her today I would say a better description is “gadfly”. The definition of a gadfly is “a person who stimulates or annoys especially by persistent criticism.” An ancestor of today’s Internet trolls.

In the past Appelgate has dumped horse manure in front of Nevada’s City Hall, fought for years to keep her miniature pony “Putt Putt” on her property and became an “expert” on the town’s sewer system. Appelgate seems to speak her mind on every hot topic in Nevada and many others that are so cold no one else really cares about them.

In a Facebook post and video yesterday (Wednesday) Appelgate takes on the fire service. In particular Appelgate didn’t like that fire apparatus was used in the procession to honor Colo Fire and Rescue Department Chief Mark Farren who died of cancer Sunday morning (read news coverage here).

Nevada, IA firefighters post helmet-cam video of fireworks display mishap

I don’t know if Appelgate is actually a candidate for office when she says she’s a “potential city representative”, but this post seems to help her with name recognition. The video has more than 100,000 views with the post being shared almost 1500 times along with more than 500 comments.

Reading her reaction and how she has handled previous battles, I don’t expect Rhonda Appelgate to back down from her position. In fact, Appelgate doubled down today with a post that begins this way:

To all of you people who think that firefighters, cops, soldiers, etc, are HERO’S…. I will remind you of the MANY people that they did NOT SAVE! Yes, there are MANY people that they failed.