Dear Editor:
In a recent Letter to The Editor, I was accused of being a disgusting person by a fellow citizen. The reason for the lady’s outburst was that she claimed I shrugged when Councilman Carifi was speaking of the murder of Laken Riley. At first I was going to ignore what was said about me but that is so far off the mark I felt the need to reply.
Yes I did cast my eyes at the ceiling when the Councilman began speaking to me, because I knew what would be coming from the Councilman. And right on queue, the Councilman replied to my statements that he did not agree with, with questions, knowing full well the person he is directing them to is prohibited from answering. He did the same thing to a woman sitting next to me at the previous council meeting, shouting at her at times. Does he not realize his comments are coming across as questions that places him at distinct advantage? I don’t know the answer to that. Maybe Council rules can be redefined to prevent council members from asking questions of the member of the public to avoid cross talk between the council members and the public. Council members making their statement is one thing, holding court is another.
Let me inform the lady in question what I do know, is that anyone that knows me or has taken the time to speak to me knows I am certainly not the type of person I was stereotyped as. If the lady had taken the opportunity to speak to me after the council meeting I could have explained my gesture to the councilman. In the future should she have an issue with something I said, I would be willing to have a civil discussion with you. Rather than have my character assassinated by someone that to the best of my knowledge has never met me, does not know anything about me or what I believe in.
I know the loss of a loved one is a life changing event no matter how it comes about. The death of the young lady in question, Laken Riley, was certainly heart breaking to those who loved her. Just as the deaths of Ms. Renne Good and Mr. Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE Agents were equally as devastating to people that loved them.
Rich Suarez
Parsippany
