BRISTOL, Conn. -- Tuesday night the Bristol community spoke up during a council meeting about banned breast cancer fundraiser shirts, but the mayor stood by the ban.
Photos: Firefighters Wear Pink for a Cause
Embarrassed that her city is embroiled in a political squabble over T-shirts promoting awareness of breast cancer, resident Tracy Beland made a request to the audience at a council meeting Tuesday night.
"Would you rise if you have an aunt or an uncle you lost to cancer," she said, waiting as several people got to their feet.
Conversation stopped as Beland asked for more to stand: Anyone who'd lost a parent or a child to cancer. Perhaps a dozen audience members, several councilmen and Mayor Art Ward stood.
By the time she'd included caregivers, nearly the entire audience -- taxpayers, politicians, department heads, city lawyers -- was on its feet. The only sound was the squeaking of hinges as seat bottoms sprang up.
"I think the numbers stand for themselves," Beland told Ward and the council.
But the dramatic exercise brought no compromise.
Ward held firm that he won't allow unionized firefighters to wear pink T-shirts to work this month to support breast cancer research. The city already supports the United Way, and firefighters already raise money for muscular dystrophy research. Adding new causes would create "difficulties," the mayor said.
"We all want to stand up for the cause that's dearest to us," Ward said. "The potential exists for conflicts in which causes each department will select at a given time. I don't for a second want you to think there's not concern and compassion. I hope I've explained sufficiently."
"No," two people replied from the audience.
"Unacceptable," Beland said.
But the discussion was over, and Ward's order stood: no pink T-shirts in Bristol firehouses.
In dozens of communities, firefighters are wearing similar T-shirts during October to support research into the disease. The T-shirt campaign is endorsed by the International Association of Fire Fighters, which also happens to be the national union that voted this summer to censure Ward over his use of pension fund money to pay for retiree health care.
Bristol firefighters had planned to take part this month in the IAFF's "Care Enough to Wear Pink" campaign by wearing pink T-shirts to work every Thursday. But Ward ordered them to stick with the traditional blue uniform shirts instead, a decision that has widened the ongoing rift between him and the union.
"This has really galvanized everybody here," Local 773 President Sean Lennon said Tuesday. "We were trying to do something nice and he turned it into political mockery."
Fire departments in cities ranging from Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale to Bradenton, Fla., and South Bend, Ind., are letting firefighters wear the pink T-shirts to work this month.
In most of the arrangements, firefighters, themselves, buy the shirts at $20 each, with proceeds benefiting cancer research. In many communities, firefighters also sell shirts to the public -- often from firehouses -- to raise more.
Stratford, Middletown, Ridgefield, Greenwich and Wilton are among the Connecticut fire departments where pink shirts are OK in October.
After his decision to block firefighters from wearing the shirts was publicized Friday, Ward circulated a statement over the weekend saying he was the target of "untruths." He proclaimed his strong support for breast cancer research and accused the union of trying to embarrass him.
"I believe this is less about breast cancer and more about my relationship with the fire union," Ward wrote, adding that the union has censured him at its state and national conventions and is suing the city over his plan to pay for retiree health care with surplus money from the pension fund.
In her remarks Tuesday, Beland said that "motives were decided with politics" and added "we need to show humility and be kind to each other."
Lennon said Tuesday that the breast cancer initiative should have nothing to do with Ward's dispute with the union. Lennon said firefighters decided not to rally at the council meeting Tuesday night to publicly challenge Ward.
"That would just be politicizing this, and in a sense, make hypocrites of us. This isn't about us, and it isn't about him -- it's about cancer awareness," Lennon said.
Bristol firefighter Chris Hayden, whose aunt is a survivor of two cases of breast cancer, designed the shirts for Bristol's department. He reported that sales are up after the controversy arose, saying, "That's the one positive in all of this."
Copyright 2012 - The Hartford Courant
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
