Accusations of racism are flying in Cobleskill this week, after Cobleskill Highway Superintendent Tom Fissell sent out a late-night, town-wide email blasting Mayor Mark Nadeau and Supervisor Tom Murray for using the N-word. Yes, that N-word.
From the Schoharie Times-Journal, which quotes from Fissell's email:
Mr. Fissell’s email—also sent to the rest of the village and town boards—went out at 11:07pm last Wednesday following an unadvertised town workshop meeting. In it, he charges:
• That Mayor Nadeau “mocked President Barack Obama’s slogan of ‘Change,’ stating that the ‘N’ stands for ‘nig-er,’ ” and describing himself as “being treated like a ‘nig-er’ ” at the town barn.
• That Mr. Murray called Martin Luther King Jr. Day, “that nig-er day,” and called several African-Americans waiting at a Cobleskill bus stop “spooks.”
• That Mayor Nadeau has repeatedly confronted longtime Highway Department employee Donald Dawson, an African-American, pressuring him to take more time off.
The major strenuously denies being racist, producing an amazing quote:
“If there’s racism, it’s racism against the working man,” Mayor Nadeau said.
Murray denies the charges as well:
Mr. Murray refused to even name Mr. Dawson, but said he’s asked the Joint Highway Committee to meet with town attorney Mike West. “I have not received a complaint from the employee,” he said. “I can’t take action if there is no complaint. He [Mr. Dawson] and I are great friends.”
But Fissell is sticking to his guns, and threatening to file formal charges, as well as appeal to the NAACP about what he is calling "an ingrained culture of bigotry and racism."
