Lakewood Mayor Criticizes Brick Mayor Over Tweet Reply: Report

LAKEWOOD, NJ — As Twitter users continue to blast Brick Township Mayor John Ducey over his response to an anti-Semitic tweet, Lakewood Mayor Raymond Coles added his criticisms, calling for "harmony not hate."

In a letter from Coles to Ducey that was published first by the Lakewood Scoop and then by the Asbury Park Press, Coles questioned the intent behind a snippet of a tweet Ducey sent replying to a Brick man's tweet.

The man, tweeting under the user name simms10471 read: "@Mayor Ducey, can we please do something about our parks and beaches. They are being invaded by the hasidic and orthodox jews and being ruined. Our tax paying residents are being forced out while politicians sit and do nothing." Ducey's response said: "Our parks security has started already. Just call police with any problems and they will send them out."

A number of Twitter users were angry that Ducey did not call out the anti-Semitic comments of simms10471 immediately. But an equal number interpreted Ducey's reply to mean residents should call the police to have members of the Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities removed from the park.

Ducey on Wednesday said that was not the case.

"Legally everyone has a right to these parks, just as we do when we go to Central Park or Myrtle Beach or any other public place," he said in a phone interview. "All members of all communities, including the Orthodox and the Hasidic communities, are welcome and present in our parks." Read more: Twitter Blasts Brick Mayor's Reply To Anti-Semitic Tweet

Coles apparently believed otherwise, with his letter citing a clipped portion of the tweet: "security has started ... call police and they will send them out." (You can read Coles' letter in the Press report.)

"I trust you did NOT mean that law abiding citizens of a particular faith would be ejected merely because of their religion," Coles wrote.

A telephone call to Coles' office requesting a copy of the letter was not returned Thursday.

Ducey's follow-up tweets to simms10471 make it clear that he explained the parks are open to everyone. "You are asking me to do something illegal," he said to simms10471, who later deleted all of his social media accounts. The man is a Brick Township resident, a Patch search found.

The township's parks are open to everyone because they were purchased with Green Acres funding — money from the state that allows municipalities and counties to preserve open space for recreation.

Apparently that response wasn't sufficient, however, because people have continued to rail about the tweet and the idea that people, particularly members of the Orthodox or Hasidic communities, would be forcibly removed from the park.

And Twitter users continued to direct angry rants at Ducey on Thursday, including epithet-laden rants and calling Ducey crude names.

Ducey said he spoke with the Lakewood mayor on Thursday and made clear he never implied that anyone should be forcibly removed from the park just because of their religion.

"Our parks are open to everyone," he reiterated.

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