LATINO RESIDENTS DECRY RACISM

WILLIMANTIC - The town's municipal historian may be gone, but the
controversies that drove him from his unpaid office are still at full boil.

A strong contingent of Latino residents - many of them children - crowded
town hall Tuesday during the board of selectmen's regular meeting to
protest institutionalized racism that they claim was exemplified in
comments made by former Windham Municipal Historian Thomas Beardsley.

Pointing a finger at town officials, resident Juan Perez said racism haunts
town hall and helps "whites put the blame of social ills on a brown face."

Perez was one of several residents who took advantage of the public's
opportunity to address the board of selectmen Tuesday. The public comment
session was punctuated by frequent interruptions, screeds and arguments
between residents and First Selectman Mike Paulhus, as he tried to maintain
order over the meeting.

Perez and others were bent on proving to the board that Puerto Ricans were
not responsible for the presence of heroin in Willimantic, as was asserted
in the Hartford Courant's "Heroin Town" series in October.

Beardsley found himself at the center of the controversy when it was
learned that a passage in "Heroin Town" that claimed heroin arrived in
Willimantic on Union Street with Puerto Rican immigrants recruited in the
1960s to work at the American Thread Co. mills was attributable a statement
made by him to a Courant reporter.

Beardsley claimed that he was simply telling the Courant what he had heard
from retired police and old-time junkies, and that he implored the Courant
not to print such hearsay. In February, selectmen stripped him of his title
as town historian - a volunteer, unpaid position - citing his refusal to
appear before the board to explain his position. Following public outcry
against their decision, board members announced that they were willing to
reconsider their decision. However, Beardsley announced Friday that he
would not accept reappointment, saying that town officials had more
important issues on which to focus and that requirements such as signing on
to a public pledge of diversity and reporting to the board were
unacceptable conditions.

Despite Beardsley's refusal to pursue reappointment, however, the city's
Latino residents were not mollified, and were eager to convince selectmen
that Beardsley's reported allegations concerning the origin of drugs in
Willimantic were false.

"Sailors used to come in to buy drugs long before" the 1960s, Perez said.
"Until whites can put the blame for social ills on a brown face Š in the
meantime they're silent."

Perez's speech skirted from topic to topic, often in a loud delivery. He
claimed whites get jobs with the town over Hispanics, and was cut off by
Paulhus as soon as he mentioned "police brutality."

"You use us for votes!" he shouted. "Do you want another Watts? Do you want
another Los Angeles?" he asked, referring to the city-leveling race riots
that took place in those cities.