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Police Investigating Noose Found At Town Park

A shocking display of apparent racism in New Hartford – a noose found near the office of a black candidate for first selectman. Dennis Minor may have been the m...

A shocking display of apparent racism in New Hartford – a noose found near the office of a black candidate for first selectman.

Dennis Minor may have been the man who was targeted. He’s the town director of recreation whose office is located at Brodie Park, wher ethe noose was found. And the park is where he anounced on Saturday that he’ll be running for first selectman.

Minor is from Washington, D.C. and played football at Grambling State University in Louisiana, but he’s called New Hartford home for the past 10 years.  But Monday morning came a reminder that perhaps not everyone welcomes him in the rural town.

“Got a call this morning from an employee who said ‘hey you might want to come up and see this – we’ve got a noose behind the back of the door in the bathroom,’” Minor said.

“…. I didn’t know if it was a joke or something at first…. you’re looking at it and kind of thinking…. I was speechless… that’s it, I was speechless,” Minor said.

Tthis isn’t the first incident in New Hartford or even at Brodie Park. About three years ago some racist slurs were spray painted on cabins at the park.

New Hartford resident Jeff Pierce says he hopes racist acts will stop and Connecticut’s NAACP says they’ll investigate this as a hate crime.

“Anyone that would have the audacity to do something like this… we want to make sure that they’re dealt with to the full extent of the law,” said Scott X. Esdaile, president of the state NAACP chapter.

As state police open their investigation, Minor remains steadfast in his role in the community, a community he still hopes to lead come November.

“It just strengthened my resolve – that’s all it did,” he said. “If somebody did that to make me get out of the race, that was probably the wrong thing to do because that’s certainly not going to happen.”

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