<font size="+2"><font size="2">Sounds like our Mayor and everyone handled this well...sorry they had to handle it at all.<br><br></font><b>Two Suspended After Noose Incident</b></font><br><p><font size="-1">By Avis Thomas-Lester
<br>Washington Post Staff Writer<br>Friday, December 14, 2007; B03<br></font></p><p>Two <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Riverdale?tid=informline" target="">Riverdale</a>
Park town employees were suspended yesterday in connection with an
incident in which a noose was found hanging in a town building,
officials said.</p><p>The noose was found dangling from a television
Friday in an employee lounge at the Department of Public Works, said
several employees who did not want to be identified because of the
sensitivity of the incident. Workers discovered it after returning from
a job outside the building, the employees said.</p><p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Michael+Scott?tid=informline" target="">Michael Scott</a>, acting director of the department, would not identify the suspended employees or discuss the incident.
</p><p>"We
have suspended two employees pending the completion of the city's
investigation," he said, adding: "Yes, it is in regards to a noose, but
I cannot get into any of the specifics about who or what or any of
that."</p><p>Mayor Vernon Archer said town officials took action
Wednesday after being notified of the incident. He said that it is
being treated seriously.</p><p>"Not under any circumstances will this
kind of thing be tolerated," Archer said. He would not say who notified
town administrators or why they were not notified sooner.</p><p>The employees who did not want to be named said that a man and a woman, both white, said they hung the rope.</p><p>"People
were really upset about it," one of the employees said. "Two people
admitted they did it. They said they were just joking around, that they
were trying to be funny. We didn't think it was funny. We told them it
represented people being lynched and killed."</p><p>More than 4,700 people died by lynching in the 19th and 20th centuries, most of them black men.</p><p>Several
nooses have been found elsewhere recently, in the Washington area and
other parts of the country. In August, one was discovered at the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/University+of+Maryland?tid=informline" target="">University of Maryland</a> near the black cultural center. Near
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Jena+%28Louisiana%29?tid=informline" target="">Jena, La.</a>,
the site of recent racial tensions, two men were arrested in October
after being accused of driving with nooses attached to their pickup
truck. Also that month, a noose was found on the office door of a black
professor at <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Columbia+University?tid=informline" target="">Columbia University</a>.</p><p>Archer said that relations are usually positive among races in Riverdale Park, an ethnically diverse community of 6,500 near
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/College+Park?tid=informline" target="">College Park</a> and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Hyattsville?tid=informline" target="">Hyattsville
</a> in northern <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Prince+George%27s+County?tid=informline" target="">Prince George's County</a>.</p><p>"Right
now, we are trying to deal with the incident itself, and from there,
how to counsel anyone who was offended or hurt will be part of the
consideration," he said. "People here generally get along very well.
That's why something like this is extremely unusual."</p><p><i>Staff writer Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.</i></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>"A budget is a moral document." --Jim Wallis <br>
"Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value." --Sen. Joe Biden<br>Riverdale Park Community Wiki<br><a href="http://rpwiki.wetpaint.com/">http://rpwiki.wetpaint.com/
</a>