Controversy erupts over Trump flag at West Boylston, Massachusetts police headquarters
By Mary Saladna
Click here for updates on this story
WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. (WCVB) — Controversy erupted over a Trump flag in the town of West Boylston, Massachusetts, on Wednesday night between the West Boylston police chief and the town manager.
“A political flag is not appropriate for one of our town buildings,” resident John Sullivan said.
It started when the Trump flag was found hanging in the workout room at the West Boylston Police Department headquarters, which sparked a topic of town debate.
“I appreciate what all the police officers do, and I’ll support them 100%,” resident Bill Dufault said.
However, what really fired up the town was how this issue escalated.
According to the town select board, Town Administrator James Ryan asked Police Chief Dennis Minnich to take that flag down but later sent an employee into the police station without the chief’s knowledge to check whether he had complied.
Minnich said he personally did not put up the flag, and he did take it down when asked to, but he points out he never had any internal complaints about the flag from his officers about the flag.
In fact, Minnich said his officers put up a second Trump flag in their workout room when the original one was removed.
He also said he was unaware of the second flag until Ryan confronted him about it.
“There may be differing opinions on the flag, to me that’s immaterial, it was more about how the matter was handled,” resident John Decarlo said.
“I feel there are better things Mr. Ryan can do to enrich our community,” resident Barbara Cardarelli said.
The Select Board is withholding comment for now, because the Minnich has filed a formal complaint against Ryan, which the town will hold a hearing on that on Friday.
Additionally, the Select Board said the town doesn’t really have any bylaws regulating flags, but they’re still looking into it.
NewsCenter 5 reached out to Ryan for a comment but was unable to reach him.
Minnich’s own son, Dennis Minnich Jr., tried to restore perspective.
“I just want to ask if, before this happened, have you ever felt afraid of your police department or ever felt as though they didn’t stick up for you?” Minnich Jr. asked residents during a town meeting Wednesday night, to which the majority responded, “No.”
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
