Thursday was the Wheeling mayoral debate with Denny Magruder, Rosemary Ketchum, Chad Thalman, Beth Hinebaugh, JT Thomas and Carl Carpenter. Each candidate had an opportunity to pitch themselves as the next mayor of Wheeling but one comment by a candidate received a mix of applause and boos and hisses.
That comment came when Denny Magruder said he does not support the CROWN Act, a law which prohibits discrimination based on hair style and hair texture. He then doubled-down on this by expanding his answer to say Wheeling will never become a sanctuary city.
The rest of the candidates discussed their support for the CROWN act.
Magruder answered this after discussing how Wheeling was so well for him as a white straight cis male. His answer received many boos and hisses from the audience with a few older folks cheering his racist answer.
As an executive director of WesBanco Arena, Magruder brought in white-dominated sports like hockey and Professional Bull Riders. It wasn’t until he retired that WesBanco started booking larger acts to the Friendly City.
