PENDLETON, Ind. (WTHR) - Signs of support are showing up across Pendleton for Police Chief Marc Farrer.
Farrer is on paid leave after his Facebook posts, which many are calling racist, but not everyone in the community agrees with that.
The signs are everywhere.
"It's your town, too," the signs read. "I stand with Marc. Get involved. Stay involved."
"In this community the vast majority of people have Mark Farrer's cell phone. When they go to sleep at night they absolutely sleep better knowing Marc Farrer is chief of police," Kirby said Friday in his tax office in downtown Pendleton.
So why did the Town Council vote to put him on administrative leave after 24 years on the force and 13 of those as chief? Because of a series of social media posts that some viewed as homophobic and racist.
Eyewitness News was told at the time of that decision, "This was not a decision any of us take lightly today. We have to look at the big picture of the town," Town Council President Jessica Smith told Eyewitness News.
It is a decision Farrer is now appealing.
"He has apologized for it. He knows he did something wrong. I know they might want to discipline him, but to just up and fire the man is a tragedy," David Shell, another Pendleton resident chimed in.
Now the community is planning a rally of support at Linnie B's Laundromat Friday night at 6:30.
"All we are hoping to do is touch their heart strings with the number of people who know Marc, grown up with Marc and his kids in this community. That they take a pause step back and go is there something else we can do as a community," Kirby explained.
"In my opinion, five days off the job is plenty. I don't think there is a mean bone in his body," another resident Mark Thomas added.
There are those who are asking "Does our town council serve the many or the few?"
There are 3,300 registered voters in the town of Pendleton and 1,700 have signed a petition to save the police chief's job. That's the quandary the folks at Town Hall find themselves in.
"Pendleton is a wonderful, inclusive community and there is absolutely no tolerance for the inappropriate social media posts on the Town Marshal's page. While the Town Council voted to fire Marc Farrer, he remains on paid administrative leave pending his appeal hearing," Smith said in a statement.
His original appeal hearing scheduled for Saturday has been postponed. A final appeal hearing date will be selected at the council's next regular monthly meeting on February 14.