Town Employees Suspended Over Noose
posted 3:53 pm Fri December 14, 2007 - Riverdale Park, Md.
Riverdale Park Public Works Department said the employees are suspended with pay, pending an internal investigation. On December 7th, African-American workers walked into the break book to find the noose hanging over a TV screen. Acting director Michael Scott said, "We have zero tolerance for this kind of activity. We're surprised. We have a very diverse town. It's appalling. We're dealing with it." The two employees, a man and a woman, reportedly said it was all just a joke.
"I don't take that as a joking matter, I take that as serious, especially with all the incidents we have going around in this area," said former pubic works employee Markel Day.Day said the noose wasn't the first racist incident. Public works fired him, he said unfairly, last summer and filed a grievance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Day claims blacks at DPW have long had problems and suspending the two employees isn't enough. "I think that they should get fired and it's a hate crime, I think, and if anything come about they should at least get locked up."
Nooses have turned up elsewhere, including one in August at the University of Maryland near the black cultural center.
So far, Riverdale Park Police are not involved in the public works incident, saying no victim has come forward to warrant a criminal investigation.
Not a member yet? Click Here to sign up.
Please leave your comments below:
Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or
advertising content or inappropriate links may be removed and may result in the loss of your posting privileges.
Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly.
Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.
© 2007 NewsChannel 8, a division of Allbritton Communications Company-
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The 'RUNNING MAN' icon is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc.
NewsChannel 8 to leave comments on news stories.