MUNICIPAL UNION PRESIDENT STEPS DOWN IN WAKE OF DRUG CHARGES

WEST WARWICK -- Humberto "Herbie" Guerreiro, arrested at T.F. Green
Airport early Saturday for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs onto a
plane, has resigned as president of the union representing nearly 100
municipal employees.

John J. Tassoni Jr., a state senator and the union's senior business
agent, said Guerreiro resigned at his request by telephone on
Wednesday. The union's vice president, Elizabeth Costa, who is the
administrative assistant for Police Chief Peter T. Brousseau, has
assumed the top post.

"I asked Herbie to resign as president until this can be rectified,"
Tassoni, D-Smithfield, said yesterday. "He has agreed to do that."

Guerreiro, 45, a mechanic in the Department of Public Works, was
arrested by airport police after a metal detector at a security
checkpoint disclosed bags of cocaine and marijuana duct-taped to his
leg, according to state police Lt. Kevin Hopkins, acting chief of the
airport police.

The police charged Guerreiro with felony cocaine possession and
misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Guerreiro did not return a call for comment yesterday. On Tuesday, he
said he was staying with relatives out of state.

Yesterday, his sister-in-law, Jessica Bassett, described him as a
loyal town employee with a "heart of gold."

"I want people to remember what a good person he is. He's done so
much for this town we should stand by his side," Bassett, 25, of West
Warwick, said. "He's just a very good person, and he made a mistake."

Guerreiro was hired as a Fire Department mechanic on Nov. 1, 1988. He
later was assigned to perform fleet maintenance at the public works
headquarters. He has been on leave, receiving workers compensation,
for about a year with a shoulder injury.

For the past six months Guerreiro had been engaged in contract
negotiations for his union, Local 2045 of Council 94, American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The town recently signed new contracts with the police and
firefighters unions, but the Local 2045 members are still working
under a contract that expired last June. The slow pace of
negotiations was caused, in part, by a union boycott of the talks
last August in protest of comments made by Republican Town Council
member Leo J. Costantino Jr., a member of the town's negotiating team.

The two sides met more than 10 times under Guerreiro's leadership.
But when they next meet, he will not be at the table.

"I also asked him to resign off the negotiating committee," Tassoni
said yesterday. "He will be doing that when he gets home. He needs to
step aside and manage" his criminal case.

Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer was on vacation yesterday and unavailable
for comment. The public works director, Paul J. Thomas, said he
expects Guerreiro to be suspended without pay but did not know
whether his workers compensation payments would be curtailed.

Guerreiro's employment status will probably be on the Town Council
agenda for its meeting next Tuesday, council President John J. Flynn
said yesterday.

Union officials said Guerreiro will not be replaced on the union
negotiating team, which includes Tassoni, Costa, Russell Marsocci,
Paula Lemoi, Tracey Smeals and Kevin Reyes. "Our main objective right
now is to get through negotiations," Costa said yesterday.

The nearly 100 union members -- employees at the Department of Public
Works, West Warwick Civic Center and wastewater treatment plant --
will meet next week to discuss the leadership change, said Costa, who
served as union president for 10 years before Guerreiro's election.