GREENVILLE — What began as a simple warning about an unleashed dog at Unity Park has escalated into a 72-hour social media conflict that experts are calling "the most significant community schism since the Great Fountain Wading Debate of 2023."

The chaos began Sunday afternoon when park visitor Marcus Chen posted a photo of a large husky-shepherd mix that had cornered him against the Suspension Bridge while he was trying to reach the playground with his two children.

"Just a heads up — there's a large dog running loose near the treehouse playground," Chen wrote in the Unity Park Community Group, which boasts 12,400 members. "It acted aggressive and blocked our path for several minutes. Please keep an eye out."

Within four minutes, Greenville resident Tammy Burkholz identified the dog as her pet, "Sergeant Woofington," and responded with a comment that would be cited 247 times in subsequent replies.

"He's FRIENDLY," Burkholz wrote. "He has literally never done that before. He just gets excited around new people. Maybe if you hadn't made eye contact and acted scared, he wouldn't have felt threatened??? Also Unity Park is basically an off-leash park at this point."

It is not an off-leash park.

Community Divided

The post quickly divided the group into factions. The "Leash Law Coalition" demanded accountability and cited Greenville City ordinances, while the "Community Over Conflict" contingent urged members to "extend grace" and "remember this park was built to bring us together."

"This is exactly what's wrong with Greenville now," wrote longtime resident Patricia Knowles. "Everyone is so quick to post on Facebook instead of having a conversation. The old Greenville would have just handled this privately. Maybe you could have just talked to Tammy instead of trying to get her CANCELED????"

Chen responded that he did not know whose dog it was, and that he was primarily focused on keeping the animal away from his four-year-old daughter.

"Okay, well, I'm just saying," Knowles replied.

Escalation

By Sunday evening, the thread had expanded to include grievances unrelated to the original incident. One commenter questioned why Chen was at Unity Park "if he's so scared of dogs." Another posted a link to Chen's Yelp reviews, noting he had once given a local brewery two stars.

"I just think it's interesting that someone who gave Liability Brewing a 2-star review wants to talk about other people's judgment," wrote user Dawn M., whose profile photo is a close-up of her Yorkie wearing a Clemson bandana.

Local real estate agent Brandon Sims weighed in at 11:47 p.m. to note that "posts like this are why families are choosing to move to Simpsonville instead."

"The village of West Greenville didn't die for this," he added, without elaboration.

Collateral Damage

The controversy has now threatened the annual "Paws in the Park" fundraiser, scheduled for January 18th, after three board members resigned citing "irreconcilable differences" about whether the event sends "the wrong message."

Group administrator Heather Flynn locked the post Monday morning after it reached 847 comments, including 14 separate instances of someone typing "This is why we can't have nice things" and four uses of the phrase "I'll probably get attacked for saying this, but."

"I'm locking this thread," Flynn wrote. "I started this group to share photos of the sunset over the Reedy River and now I have a full-time unpaid job. Please remember: Be Kind, Be Respectful, No Politics, No Drama, No Selling."

Burkholz has since posted a separate thread announcing that Sergeant Woofington "will be on a leash for the time being," though she noted that "it's really sad that one person's overreaction means my dog can't enjoy the park he's been coming to since it opened."

Chen declined to comment further, noting that he has muted notifications and "will probably just go to Falls Park from now on."

At press time, a new thread titled "Did anyone else see a coyote near the cancer survivors garden or was that just a weird-looking dog?" had already accumulated 203 comments.