TOWN OF COLTON, New York (WWNY) – A member of Colton’s town board says he has been placed under investigation for comments that he wrote on an online publication.
According to him, the investigation is unjustified.
“It’s absolutely uncalled for. It’s absolutely uncalled for.”
That’s what town board member Kevin Beary said after the town supervisor had ordered an investigation into Beary.
“Again, I said, ‘I would still like to know exactly what I am being investigated for. What rules did I break? What code did I violate,’” he said.
According to Beary, the investigation was launched in regards to an opinion piece he wrote on North Country This Week.
Beary writes: “Parents who want to give their children a religious education must send them to a religious school or homeschool while they are forced to support the public schools through taxation.”
Beary also criticized school values that promote LGBTQ+ ideals and not traditional heterosexual family values.
Beary writes: “Religious parents want their children to learn traditional values and morality and do not want them homosexualized and transgenderized in the public schools.”
A Facebook post put together by a Colton resident criticized Beary’s piece, which Beary said prompted the launch of the investigation two days later at a town board meeting.
Beary said that he wrote the piece as a private citizen and not as a member of the town board and feels like people who are free to express their opinions are being targeted by the Colton town supervisor.
“I think it’s meant to intimidate the residents of Colton, town employees, and town officials into silence when they express any opinion that the town supervisor does not agree with,” said Beary.
7 News reached out to Colton Town Supervisor Ronald Robert and the town attorney. Neither wanted to comment on the investigation.
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