Residents of small Ky. city rally around IR couple

updates

Berea police investigate after racial slurs painted on car
Berea police are investigating an alleged bias crime after racial slurs were spray-painted on the vehicles of an interracial couple in Berea.
The couple — a black man and a white woman — filed a report Thursday morning after their cars were vandalized in the parking lot of their Commerce Drive apartments, Berea police Lt. Daniel Brewer said.
Brewer said most of the language on the car was directed toward the woman, "asking her to get out of town."
The man "is the owner of one of the vehicles that had some slurs put on it, but most of the language was intended toward her," he said.
Some of the words on the vehicle were "severely misspelled," leading police to think the vandals were young, Brewer said. Police are increasing patrols in the area.
The police department considered the action a bias crime rather than a hate crime because no explicit threats were made. The case will be sent to the FBI, which will choose whether to investigate it as a hate or bias crime. Berea police are investigating it as a criminal-mischief case

Berea plan to create human rights commission criticized as inadequate

BEREA — A proposed ordinance creating a human rights commission in this Madison County city would endeavor to eliminate religious, racial, sex, age and physical-disability discrimination, but it does not mention discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The omission disappointed people at Tuesday night's Berea City Council meeting who had hoped it would include language for gay, lesbian or transgender people. The council gave the ordinance a first reading but did not vote on it. A second reading and vote were not scheduled.
Meta Mendel-Reyes voiced her disappointment to the council after the ordinance was read publicly by City Attorney J.T. Gilbert.
"I can be protected because I am a woman, I can be protected because I'm Jewish, I can be protected because I'm old, but I can't be protected because I'm a lesbian?" Mendel-Reyes asked. "What it sounds like to me is that the council wants this issue to go away."
The city held public forums this year on whether the city should have a human rights commission and whether that commission should have "extended jurisdiction" to cover sexual orientation.
Mendel-Reyes asked whether the city council at a later date would consider a fairness ordinance — such as those in Lexington, Louisville and Covington — that would protect gays, lesbians and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace, housing and public accommodations.
"Is that the end of it? Is that the end of the fairness ordinance?" she asked the council. "If this goes through, does that mean you will no longer consider a fairness ordinance?"
Mayor Steve Connelly responded that Berea does not have a human rights commission. Connelly said the commission "will be in position to monitor activities in our community" that would include discrimination against gays and transgender people.
And city council member Truman Fields said the ordinance could be amended later to include gays, lesbians and the transgendered.
But those answers didn't please Mendel-Reyes.
"I'm very troubled by the fact that my area of discrimination — and I have been discriminated against in terms of medical benefits in this city — is not good enough, not worthy enough to be considered a form of discrimination," Mendel-Reyes said.
David Shroyer, a member of Bereans for Fairness, said "our position has to be going forward that we are going to strongly support and rally for a fairness ordinance. ... We certainly support everything that's in the human rights commission proposal. It's just that not enough is in it."
The ordinance presented Tuesday was the recommendation of a committee chaired by Fields. He and council member Billy Wagers presented the ordinance at a council work session held before the regular meeting.
City council member Richard Bellando wondered aloud during the work session whether the council was opening itself to criticism by not including language for gays and transgendered people.
"That's such a volatile part of this whole thing," Bellando said. "All I'm saying is, will people see this as backpedaling, or will they see it as a real, honest commitment by this council to move forward in the area of human rights?"
"I imagine that people will see it differently," Connelly said.
In addition, Connelly said, there is an opportunity for Berea to have an interlocal agreement with Richmond and Madison County to establish a countywide human rights commission. Versailles, Midway and Woodford County have had such an interlocal agreement since 1995.
City council member Violet Farmer said the ordinance would be "a good first step."


Read more: ***********003399]http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/20/1817314/berea-city-council-considers-ordinance.html#ixzz1TRlPbrVS[/color]



Racism to be Addressed at City Council Meeting ***********999999]Posted: Jul 17, 2011 9:22 PM [/color]
A group called Bereans For Fairness is calling on people to attend a city council meeting to address racial slurs directed towards a bi-racial couple last week.
Damon Dunson and his girlfriend, Melanie Stamper, woke up one morning to find offensive statements etched in spray paint on their cars.
The city council meeting is scheduled for 6:30 Tuesday evening at the Berea Police and Municipal Building.
http://www.lex18.com/news/racism-to-be-addressed-at-city-council-meeting/

this is all i could find....