Newton Mayor Refuses to Answer Outraged Citizens

Newton Mayor Refuses to
Answer Outraged Citizens

By Ed Oliver
January 23, 2001

Pro-family leaders confronted Newton’s Mayor last night over his recent totalitarian-sounding remarks that were reported in the local paper, but the Mayor declined to answer.

Mayor David Cohen was quoted in the January 18 Newton Tab saying, “Groups have arisen in Newton that attack and interfere with the practice of human rights in our city. We will stand up to them until their voices are heard no more.”

Both Sam Washburn of “Newton Parents for Moderation” and Brian Camenker of the “Parents Rights Coalition” saw the mayor’s remarks as directed at them because of their vocal opposition to the homosexual agenda in the schools. They wanted the mayor to tell them precisely which groups he intended to silence.

Washburn demanded an apology from the mayor whose statement he said would have a chilling effect on free speech. He said, “Newton Parents for Moderation demands that the mayor identify exactly which groups he is referring to and that he document specifically how each of these groups ‘attack and interfere with the practice of human rights,’” and whether it was his group that should be “heard no more.”

When Washburn concluded by asking the mayor which groups he was referring to, the chairman interrupted, however, and said there would be no dialogue back and forth. The mayor sat grim-faced scribbling notes.

Camenker said he was “utterly shocked” that such a “horrid” statement could be made by anybody in a free society about groups in a community. “Especially,” he said, looking at the crowd of liberals surrounding him, “in a situation like this where there is an ongoing interest in trying to intimidate people who have a different opinion.”

Camenker blasted the ongoing assault against children by the Newton schools, which routinely host homosexual speakers and activities such as “Bi-sexual awareness day.” Among several examples, Camenker said a mother called him in tears after she pulled her daughter from a play that mocked Christian beliefs in incredibly vulgar language.

“We don’t have to sit here and beg you to not do this to our children. We have the right to raise our children the way we want to. We don’t care who doesn’t like it. We don’t care if you don’t like it. We don’t care if every limousine liberal in this town doesn’t like it. We have rights too and we’re not going to be intimidated.”

Outnumbered by Liberals
On Sunday, Washburn and Camenker had circulated an e-mail to their supporters pleading: “We need as many people as possible to come and not allow this un-American act by a public official to go unanswered.”

Word must have leaked out about their plans, however, because dozens of liberals showed up instead to fill the School Committee room and crowd into the hallway.

Not a single person applauded after family rights crusaders Washburn and Camenker talked. However, after a trio from the newly formed “human rights” group named “P.E.A.C.E.” called for more vigilance in implementing the gay agenda in the schools, the room erupted in thunderous applause.

The gay agenda was, of course, carefully disguised in political rhetoric such as “respecting differences,” “tolerance,” “diversity,” and “safety,” while “sexual orientation” was equated with race, gender and ethnicity.

P.E.A.C.E. said its goal to “monitor” the schools to “ensure respect for human differences continues to be a priority.” The liberal group said they would monitor “inaccurate information” that is disseminated in the schools that “obscures” and distorts the “school system’s value of respect of human differences.”

Not Allowed to Speak
Len Mead, president of the Newton Tax Association told MassNews he could not get through the crowd to speak. He said the mayor’s comments in the Tab were “frightening.”

Camenker echoed that sentiment for MassNews adding it was “un-American” and meant to scare people. “Something needs to be done about this,” he said.

One of the few parents there in support of Washburn and Camenker was Mary Clossey. “I think the Newton School system is totally disgusting. We have no rights,” she told MassNews.

Another Newton resident, Maya Golom, told MassNews she came because she was alerted that the P.E.A.C.E. group in favor of “diversity” and “tolerance’ would be there.

When she was shown the mayor’s statement about silencing groups, she said, “You know what? I kind of agree with the mayor. I think they are destructive groups without a constructive purpose.”

Asked if she would really want to silence them, she said, “I think basically they’ve been heard. I think everybody’s aware of their dissent. They are in the minority. I think they need to make their peace. This is the way that Newton is going to have its educational system. Either support it or not support it, but to continually raise the issue and make it unpleasant, and spend so much time focusing on an issue that’s not supported by the majority of Newton residents and Newton parents is a waste of time. We don’t have that kind of time. We need to be focusing on better education.”