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http://courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/...04120-3484.html
Card sent to judge included swastika
Pennies, hand-drawn symbol mailed to Family Court jurist
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By JASON RILEY
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Jefferson County sheriff's office is investigating a message bearing a hand-drawn swastika and containing two pennies that was mailed to recently appointed Family Court Judge Louis Waterman.
The drawing and coins were on a card that was among more
than 100 replies that Waterman and his campaign staff received from local attorneys who received invitations to a reception last week honoring Waterman on his appointment.
Waterman, who is Jewish, w
as
ppointed in February to fill a Family Court
vacancy created when Juda Maria Hellmann resigned in December for health reasons. Waterman is up for election this year, and some local attorneys sent campaign contributions.
One of the solicitation responses had two pennies taped to the area marked for donation amounts, a swastika drawn in the middle of the card and an image of a donkey looking over its shoulder.
"I was flabbergasted," Waterman said. "You just don't expect to get something like that in the mail."
There was no name on the card; a rubber-stamped message said, "From Far Far Away."
Waterman notified the sheriff's department, which turned the card over to the FBI, the judge said. The FBI did not immediately return telephone ca
lls seeking comment. Authorities also have been given a list of the more than 2,000 attorneys who received the invitations, Waterman said.
Lt. Col. Carl Yates of the sheriff's office
sai
d of
ficials ha
d no reason to believe this was a serious threat.
The sheriff's department provi
ded extra security for Waterman last week, the judge said.
"I sort of downplayed it," he said of the situation. "I didn't view it as a threat to me. I view it as intimidation in the campaign or to me as a judge."
Waterman was a partner in the law firm of Fore, Miller and Schwartz, specializing in domestic-relations cases, when Gov. Ernie Fletcher appointed him to the judgeship.
Waterman called the anonymous message an act of cowardice and said it was the second anti-Semitic incident since he began his election campaign. At a recent campaign function, Waterman said, a man made a comment about Waterman's skin color and a racial slur about Jewish people --alt
hough the judge said the man probably didn't know he was Jewish.
http://courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/...04120-3484.html
Card sent to judge included swastika
Pennies, hand-drawn symbol mailed to Family Court jurist
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By JASON RILEY
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Jefferson County sheriff's office is investigating a message bearing a hand-drawn swastika and containing two pennies that was mailed to recently appointed Family Court Judge Louis Waterman.
The drawing and coins were on a card that was among more
than 100 replies that Waterman and his campaign staff received from local attorneys who received invitations to a reception last week honoring Waterman on his appointment.
Waterman, who is Jewish, w
as
ppointed in February to fill a Family Court
vacancy created when Juda Maria Hellmann resigned in December for health reasons. Waterman is up for election this year, and some local attorneys sent campaign contributions.
One of the solicitation responses had two pennies taped to the area marked for donation amounts, a swastika drawn in the middle of the card and an image of a donkey looking over its shoulder.
"I was flabbergasted," Waterman said. "You just don't expect to get something like that in the mail."
There was no name on the card; a rubber-stamped message said, "From Far Far Away."
Waterman notified the sheriff's department, which turned the card over to the FBI, the judge said. The FBI did not immediately return telephone ca
lls seeking comment. Authorities also have been given a list of the more than 2,000 attorneys who received the invitations, Waterman said.
Lt. Col. Carl Yates of the sheriff's office
sai
d of
ficials ha
d no reason to believe this was a serious threat.
The sheriff's department provi
ded extra security for Waterman last week, the judge said.
"I sort of downplayed it," he said of the situation. "I didn't view it as a threat to me. I view it as intimidation in the campaign or to me as a judge."
Waterman was a partner in the law firm of Fore, Miller and Schwartz, specializing in domestic-relations cases, when Gov. Ernie Fletcher appointed him to the judgeship.
Waterman called the anonymous message an act of cowardice and said it was the second anti-Semitic incident since he began his election campaign. At a recent campaign function, Waterman said, a man made a comment about Waterman's skin color and a racial slur about Jewish people --alt
hough the judge said the man probably didn't know he was Jewish.
