Intimidation in Highland?

By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED — An incident at the June Town of Highland Town Board meeting has some residents seeking clarification from town officials.

As she spoke about a zoning problem during the public comment portion of the June 12 meeting, Yulan resident Rose Paolini was tapped on the shoulder by a town constable and asked to step outside. Constable Robert Maas then moved to the door and held it as he motioned toward Paolini.

Paolini is a would-be Republican candidate for the town board, which now seats five Democrats.

Paolini ignored Maas, but the constable’s intervention prompted another audience member, John Kamp to rise, complain and demand an apology to Paolini from the board.

Supervisor Allan Schadt responded, saying no one would be removed from a meeting unless they were “unruly.”

Councilman Ed Van Tuyl said everyone has a right to public comment “without rambling on.”

While she was recognized earlier, Paolini had not been recognized by Schadt before speaking on this occasion, which at the time prompted Town Attorney Andrew Boyar to suggest that the public comment period had ended. He added, “You can’t run a meeting like this.”

Recalling the incident this week, Boyar thought Kamp was “quick on the trigger with an assumption.”

Boyar said he spoke to Maas later. “Bob wanted to suggest it would be better to be recognized. It was polite and friendly. It was more a neighborly thing. These people have known each other for years. It wasn’t a law enforcement issue… I thought it was just a misunderstanding,” Boyar said.

Schadt agreed this week, saying Maas was just trying to help. He added that Maas had spoken to Paolini about speaking at meetings without recognition earlier, after the May board meeting.

Paolini denied that. “He never spoke to me about that. I’m not unruly,” she said.

Paolini said, “He said ‘excuse me, can you come outside for a moment.’ I just assumed that they [the board] wanted me out of the meeting. I totally ignored him,” she added.

“This was intimidation and an intolerable situation,” said Myra Rappaport, who also witnessed the incident.

“The board had the opportunity to explain it; rather then act as if it is okay to remove people for voicing their opinion… I don’t think that any of us can sit back and allow such inappropriate behavior to occur,” she concluded.