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Obama Delegate Resigns After Remark
by The Associated Press
Posted: April 9, 2008 - 8:00 am ET
(Carpentersville, Illinois) An Illinois delegate
for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama resigned after using the word
"monkeys" to describe black children playing in a tree, the Obama
campaign said.
Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a trustee in the Chicago
suburb of Carpentersville, was issued a $75 ticket for disorderly conduct after
neighbors complained to police. She says the word wasn't meant racially and she
will fight the ticket.
"Given the incident, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski
is stepping down as a delegate and will be replaced," said Obama
spokeswoman Amy Brundage.
The incident occurred Saturday, when two children
were playing in a tree next door to Ramirez-Sliwinski's house.
She said the parents were outside supervising the
children, but she went over and told them to get out of the tree because she was
concerned about the boys' safety and because the small magnolia tree was being
damaged.
The father of one of the boys told her it was
none of her business, she told the Chicago Tribune, and "I calmly said the
tree is not there for them to be climbing in there like monkeys."
The mother of one boy called police.
Cmdr. Michael Kilbourne said Tuesday a ticket was
issued because the ordinance bans conduct that disturbs or alarms people. One of
the boys told police he was scared by her comment and a mother said she was
disturbed, he said.
Ramirez-Sliwinski does not have a listed
telephone number. She did not respond immediately to an e-mail.
Ramirez-Sliwinski says she doesn't plan to run
for another term on the village board. "In the eyes of the public, this is
wrong," she told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
©365Gay.com 2008
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