A supporter of Kendrys Vasquez salutes the community during the Dominican Parade. I blurred the center because I didn’t want to offend my audience. If you want to see the picture unedited, please send me a message.
Retraction
No sooner did my column go out last week than I started receiving phone calls telling me that I misread the Mayor’s Municipal Lien Certificate. Thankfully I printed the certificate right next to my column. I erroneously stated that Mayor Daniel Rivera owed 2016 taxes and also his 2015 water and sewer charges, and they were paid the day before he sold his home. Well, I was wrong, I misread the document on record at the Registry of Deeds. His prior taxes and water and sewer charges were paid, and paid well before the closing. At least I had the foresight to print the actual municipal lien certificate on the opposite page. Anyone reading my column and the certificate can see my error.
Freedom of Speech
The most precious guarantee in this country is the freedom we all enjoy, particularly when it comes to expressing our views. No wonder our forefathers made it the First Amendment to the Constitution. Through the years it has been highly respected but, in recent times, it’s under assault. People are so afraid of being “offensive” with simple words and fear seems to have instilled in all facets of our lives.
Take for instance how political correctness has taken a new height. With all the turmoil of taking down statues representing a past that offends certain people by today’s standard, after the events of Charlottesville ESPN removed an announcer from calling a University of Virginia football game because his name is Robert Lee. Mr. Lee was sent to cover a game in another state and a replacement was brought in. This Robert Lee is Asian.
ESPN was afraid that having an Asian football announcer named Robert Lee would offend some viewers, was their excuse.
Robert Edward Lee was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865.
Then, there is the story of a Catholic school in San Domenico School in San Anselmo, California, removing the statues of Jesus and Mary and a number of other smaller Catholic icons from the campus to become more inclusive. Some parents have raised their concerns to the administration saying that an inclusive foundation appears to mean letting go of San Domenico’s 167-year tradition as a Dominican Catholic school and being both afraid and ashamed to celebrate one’s heritage and beliefs.
According to one parent, the word ‘Catholic’ has been removed from the mission statement, sacraments were removed from the curriculum, the lower school curriculum was changed to world religions, the logo and colors were changed to be ‘less Catholic,’ and the uniform was changed to be less Catholic.
What’s next? Catholic schools going underground?
It all started with the removal of statues of Confederate soldiers in the southern states. My take on this is that when we erase past history, we are bound to repeat it. There are people today saying that the Holocaust never happened and that was just less than 80 years ago.
In recent years, David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and former member of the American Nazi Party was elected to Congress in the State of Louisiana in 1989. He has continued involved in political campaign and in 2016 he lost his bid for U.S. Senate in Louisiana. People tend to forget and eliminating the reminders of their wrongdoings would only allow future generations to commit the same atrocities from the past.
Treasurer’s office head cashier still on leave
The beginning of June, Gabriel Soto, the head cashier in the Treasurer’s Office at Lawrence City Hall was placed on leave with pay suspected of larceny.
Gabriel Soto was hired in 2014 and was earning $47,992 each year in a position he held since January. We understand that he is entitled to an investigation and fairness but it is difficult to understand why it has to take this long to come up with an answer. We have been paying him to stay home probably more than what an outside investigator would cost for this “forensic accounting.”
Salute to the Dominican Community
A supporter of Kendrys Vasquez salutes the community during the Dominican Parade. I blurred the center because I didn’t want to offend my audience. If you want to see the picture unedited, please send me a message.
