Post by richardkelsey on Dec 5, 2007 8:00:59 GMT -5
There is so much to say about this piece it is hard to find a place to start. Let's just say it completely misses the real issue -- and focuses on a bogus issue.
Suffice it to say, political appointees to a policy recommending government committee are subject to open, public discussion.
The only other thing I will add is that the inference that threats were made on this site to members is an outright lie -- and that comment is defamatory and calculated. Frankly, its embarrassing.
anyway -- the Transcript dropped the ball on this one. IMHO
This piece, the comments made, and the lack of reporting on the only real issue in the piece may cause me to travel to Freehold and address the issue in a Council meeting.
Human relations panel head expresses concern
Chairman upset over lack of diversity and Internet potshots
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD - As a result of declining membership that may be due to personal reasons as much as anything else, the Freehold Borough Human Relations Committee seems to be losing its footing. At least that's the way it appeared when the panel's chairman, the Rev. Frederick Parrish, raised the issue at a recent meeting of the Borough Council.
Parrish, who is the pastor of the AME Church, Freehold Township, chairs the panel which was created to foster communication among the town's ethnic groups. He came before municipal officials to ask where his committee was going and how it will get there.
"The complexion of our committee has changed," Parrish said. "There is no longer a balance and we are essentially a minority committee. There are no Jewish members, there are no white members."
Parrish also said he wanted to stop the "potshots" and Internet threats that have been aimed at committee members so they can get down to the business of doing their jobs.
"They criticize us and we are appointed to this committee by the mayor and approved by council. Do we continue to function or will we be cut off like shredded wheat?" he asked.
He said he was referring to certain comments made by individuals who have posted messages on an Internet site that belongs to a Freehold Borough organization known as PEOPLE (Pressing Elected Officials to Preserve our Living Environment). The citizens group has previously commented on the situation with illegal immigrants in the borough.
Parrish said the committee needs Mayor Michael Wilson's help to address its concerns, pay attention to the committee, appoint new members and better define the panel's mission."
"There is no sense having meetings if we are running around in circles and if we have to defend our representatives," he said.
Parrish asked Wilson for a response by the end of the year.
"If we are to continue, we need to make sure our membership is there and that it is balanced. We won't give up, we'll keep working as we have unless you tell us otherwise," the reverend said.
Wilson said Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins would meet with the committee members to discuss their concerns.
In a subsequent conversation with Parrish, he expressed his frustration at comments he said were written on the PEOPLE Web site about human relations committee members.
"If we are to function as a committee we need the support of everyone and we don't need people taking potshots at us," he reiterated.
Parrish, whose term on the panel will be up this month, worries about the fate of the committee that was put together by Wilson to address issues that affect residents.
"We need this committee badly. "There area so many important issues to cover. The No. 1 issue now in Freehold Borough is illegal
immigration," he said. "People need to be supportive of our committee; not just the mayor and council, but the whole
town."
Parrish also wants to ensure that there is a "good mix of diversity
representing the town, so that everyone has something
to contribute."
The ordinance that defines the committee confirms that goal when it states that "to the greatest extent possible, the ethnic composition of the committee shall be comparable to that of the borough."
According to the ordinance, the committee shall consist of not less than seven, nor more than 15 members, all appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of Borough Council.
The list of meeting notices sent out monthly includes the following committee members: Parrish, of Howell; Frank-Argote Freyre, Freehold Borough; Annette Jordan, Freehold Borough; James Keelan, Freehold Borough; Carol Lida, Freehold Borough; Rev. Andre McGuire, Freehold Borough: Sheryl Mott, Freehold Borough; Cecilia Reynolds, Freehold Township; Brian Sullivan, Freehold Borough; Ricky White, Freehold Borough; Juan Reyes, Howell; Borough Council liaison Jaye Sims, Freehold Borough; and Freehold Borough Police Department liaison Patrolman Ronnie Steppat.
A mission statement delivered at the meeting by Parrish cites the following members as current: Parrish, Argote- Freyre, Jordan, Lida, McGuire, Mott, Reynolds and Reyes, with Sims and Steppat as liaisons.
In response to an e-mail, Higgins said she met with member of the committee to discuss Parrish's concerns. When asked to discuss the comments on the Internet site, Higgins said Parrish was referring to the PEOPLE blog.
"I went to a meeting," Higgins wrote in an e-mail. "They were upset that their names were on the PEOPLE site, that the posters on the site had negative things to say about the Human Relations Committee and its members. There were no actual threats, but some members were castigated.
"I advised (them) that Freehold Borough has no control over the PEOPLE site and that a review of the postings did not reveal anything criminal. The opinions expressed on that site, as long as they don't threaten violence, are protected by the First Amendment. If there is defamation, members could pursue that," the attorney said.
Higgins said she suggested that the committee members contact the PEOPLE Web site's moderator, Brian Sullivan, to express their concerns.
In a conversation with Sullivan, he said the comments on the PEOPLE site (the message board is now known as Freehold Voice) were "in no way meant as a putdown to the Human Relations Committee."
Sullivan, who said he did not bring up this topic on the site, disagreed that the comments were aimed as "potshots" at members.
"Someone definitely misread those comments," he said. "The comments were made referencing the recent appointment of Mr. Reyes to the committee. Questions arose when they saw that the mayor appointed someone who lives out of town and is a member of Casa Freehold, a group that has been publicly hostile to our town. People wanted to know why the mayor would do that."
Sullivan said he believes that appointing someone to the committee who represents Freehold's day laborers is a good idea. But he said he did not understand why that was a person who belonged to a group that had publicly criticized the town and its governing body.
Wilson said he did not know whether or not Reyes was a member of Casa Freehold, but said he believes it is a positive step to have someone who represents Freehold's day laborers on the Human Relations Committee. He said Reyes is a man who was willing to donate his time to an important issue in Freehold.
Wilson said it does not matter to him if all of the committee members are borough residents.
He said the entire issue arose because of the PEOPLE Web site message board, which he called "nothing more than a Republican political Web site with a handful of malcontent bloggers."
Casa Freehold, a group formed to protect the rights of immigrants in Freehold, has had run-ins with the governing body and has publicly and in print denounced Wilson and the council members as being "anti-immigrant."
Sullivan said that as the moderator of the Freehold Voice he tries to keep things on the Web site as accurate as he can, but he said with an open forum that can be a very difficult task.
Suffice it to say, political appointees to a policy recommending government committee are subject to open, public discussion.
The only other thing I will add is that the inference that threats were made on this site to members is an outright lie -- and that comment is defamatory and calculated. Frankly, its embarrassing.
anyway -- the Transcript dropped the ball on this one. IMHO
This piece, the comments made, and the lack of reporting on the only real issue in the piece may cause me to travel to Freehold and address the issue in a Council meeting.
Human relations panel head expresses concern
Chairman upset over lack of diversity and Internet potshots
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD - As a result of declining membership that may be due to personal reasons as much as anything else, the Freehold Borough Human Relations Committee seems to be losing its footing. At least that's the way it appeared when the panel's chairman, the Rev. Frederick Parrish, raised the issue at a recent meeting of the Borough Council.
Parrish, who is the pastor of the AME Church, Freehold Township, chairs the panel which was created to foster communication among the town's ethnic groups. He came before municipal officials to ask where his committee was going and how it will get there.
"The complexion of our committee has changed," Parrish said. "There is no longer a balance and we are essentially a minority committee. There are no Jewish members, there are no white members."
Parrish also said he wanted to stop the "potshots" and Internet threats that have been aimed at committee members so they can get down to the business of doing their jobs.
"They criticize us and we are appointed to this committee by the mayor and approved by council. Do we continue to function or will we be cut off like shredded wheat?" he asked.
He said he was referring to certain comments made by individuals who have posted messages on an Internet site that belongs to a Freehold Borough organization known as PEOPLE (Pressing Elected Officials to Preserve our Living Environment). The citizens group has previously commented on the situation with illegal immigrants in the borough.
Parrish said the committee needs Mayor Michael Wilson's help to address its concerns, pay attention to the committee, appoint new members and better define the panel's mission."
"There is no sense having meetings if we are running around in circles and if we have to defend our representatives," he said.
Parrish asked Wilson for a response by the end of the year.
"If we are to continue, we need to make sure our membership is there and that it is balanced. We won't give up, we'll keep working as we have unless you tell us otherwise," the reverend said.
Wilson said Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins would meet with the committee members to discuss their concerns.
In a subsequent conversation with Parrish, he expressed his frustration at comments he said were written on the PEOPLE Web site about human relations committee members.
"If we are to function as a committee we need the support of everyone and we don't need people taking potshots at us," he reiterated.
Parrish, whose term on the panel will be up this month, worries about the fate of the committee that was put together by Wilson to address issues that affect residents.
"We need this committee badly. "There area so many important issues to cover. The No. 1 issue now in Freehold Borough is illegal
immigration," he said. "People need to be supportive of our committee; not just the mayor and council, but the whole
town."
Parrish also wants to ensure that there is a "good mix of diversity
representing the town, so that everyone has something
to contribute."
The ordinance that defines the committee confirms that goal when it states that "to the greatest extent possible, the ethnic composition of the committee shall be comparable to that of the borough."
According to the ordinance, the committee shall consist of not less than seven, nor more than 15 members, all appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of Borough Council.
The list of meeting notices sent out monthly includes the following committee members: Parrish, of Howell; Frank-Argote Freyre, Freehold Borough; Annette Jordan, Freehold Borough; James Keelan, Freehold Borough; Carol Lida, Freehold Borough; Rev. Andre McGuire, Freehold Borough: Sheryl Mott, Freehold Borough; Cecilia Reynolds, Freehold Township; Brian Sullivan, Freehold Borough; Ricky White, Freehold Borough; Juan Reyes, Howell; Borough Council liaison Jaye Sims, Freehold Borough; and Freehold Borough Police Department liaison Patrolman Ronnie Steppat.
A mission statement delivered at the meeting by Parrish cites the following members as current: Parrish, Argote- Freyre, Jordan, Lida, McGuire, Mott, Reynolds and Reyes, with Sims and Steppat as liaisons.
In response to an e-mail, Higgins said she met with member of the committee to discuss Parrish's concerns. When asked to discuss the comments on the Internet site, Higgins said Parrish was referring to the PEOPLE blog.
"I went to a meeting," Higgins wrote in an e-mail. "They were upset that their names were on the PEOPLE site, that the posters on the site had negative things to say about the Human Relations Committee and its members. There were no actual threats, but some members were castigated.
"I advised (them) that Freehold Borough has no control over the PEOPLE site and that a review of the postings did not reveal anything criminal. The opinions expressed on that site, as long as they don't threaten violence, are protected by the First Amendment. If there is defamation, members could pursue that," the attorney said.
Higgins said she suggested that the committee members contact the PEOPLE Web site's moderator, Brian Sullivan, to express their concerns.
In a conversation with Sullivan, he said the comments on the PEOPLE site (the message board is now known as Freehold Voice) were "in no way meant as a putdown to the Human Relations Committee."
Sullivan, who said he did not bring up this topic on the site, disagreed that the comments were aimed as "potshots" at members.
"Someone definitely misread those comments," he said. "The comments were made referencing the recent appointment of Mr. Reyes to the committee. Questions arose when they saw that the mayor appointed someone who lives out of town and is a member of Casa Freehold, a group that has been publicly hostile to our town. People wanted to know why the mayor would do that."
Sullivan said he believes that appointing someone to the committee who represents Freehold's day laborers is a good idea. But he said he did not understand why that was a person who belonged to a group that had publicly criticized the town and its governing body.
Wilson said he did not know whether or not Reyes was a member of Casa Freehold, but said he believes it is a positive step to have someone who represents Freehold's day laborers on the Human Relations Committee. He said Reyes is a man who was willing to donate his time to an important issue in Freehold.
Wilson said it does not matter to him if all of the committee members are borough residents.
He said the entire issue arose because of the PEOPLE Web site message board, which he called "nothing more than a Republican political Web site with a handful of malcontent bloggers."
Casa Freehold, a group formed to protect the rights of immigrants in Freehold, has had run-ins with the governing body and has publicly and in print denounced Wilson and the council members as being "anti-immigrant."
Sullivan said that as the moderator of the Freehold Voice he tries to keep things on the Web site as accurate as he can, but he said with an open forum that can be a very difficult task.
