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Thursday, July 11, 1996

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Human Rights budget slashed

By TOM RUE


MONTICELLO -- The only municipality in Sullivan County to have a Human Rights Commission pared that organization's budget to a mere $150, under the Village of Monticello's budget adopted last month.

A major role of any HRC is to place a check on police abuses, officials say. Monticello's commission was created in 1993 in response to public outcry after reports surfaced that Nazi emblems were found on the lockers of some Monticello police officers.

HRC expenditures in 1995-96 amounted to $8366 -- vastly over its budget of $500 -- most of which consisted of fees paid to an unlicensed private investigator from Queens to write a 23-page report about remarks made by the former mayor to the police chief, according to village treasurer Robin Seward.

The regular budget of the HRC was set at $500 last year after an black man was brutalized by over-zealous cops when he came to the police station to pick up his daughter's bicycle. James Tomlinson, 32, has filed suit against police for multiple injuries.

The same budget which slammed the HRC boosted salaries of village department heads by about $2000 each. Board members would not answer questions from the public about the priorities this contrast seemed to reflect.

Contacted on July 3rd, HRC chair Clifford Moore said he had not been consulted and was unaware the cuts had been made. Moore said he had been led to believe the HRC budget would be increased to $1000 for 1996-97.

"I think it was the wrong thing to do. Many things have been getting better. Now we're just setting ourselves up for the same situation to happen again," Moore predicted.