Tim Boyd, the mayor of Colorado City, Texas, announced on Tuesday that he had submitted his resignation amid backlash over his Facebook rant about those seeking assistance from the government amid recent statewide power outages caused by a brutal snowstorm that have left people without electricity and heat.
Boyd claimed in his announcement via Facebook that he had already resigned from his post by the time he posted his inflammatory remarks, which he said had been “taken out of context” and that he “would never want to hurt the elderly or anyone that is in true need of help to be left to fend for themselves.”
“I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout,” the official wrote. “I apologize for the wording and some of the phrases that were used!”
Boyd stated that he should have used “better wording.”
The resignation came several hours after Boyd posted a typo-ridden screed on Facebook asserting that the government “owes you NOTHING!” during the crisis.
“If you were sitting at home in the cold because you have no power and are sitting there waiting for someone to come rescue you because your [sic] lazy is direct result of your raising! Only the strong will survive and the week [sic] will perish,” he wrote.
The mayor ranted “I’ll be damned if I’m going to provide for anyone that is capable of doing it themselves!”
“Bottom line, quit crying and looking for a handout!” he wrote.
Local news outlet KTXS has published the full text from both posts.
Millions of Texans have been suffering power outages for more than 24 hours as a result of the extreme weather that has overwhelmed the state’s power grid, which runs primarily on natural gas. At least 10 people have died due to the storm, according to the Texas Tribune.
Ed note: This post has been updated to clarify that Boyd said he had resigned as mayor before writing the initial inflammatory post.
