The “Voices of Diversity” signs that disappeared from the Easton Public Library lawn over the holiday weekend have been returned and are now on view near the library’s community room.
They were delivered late Tuesday afternoon to Town Hall by June Logie, who is organizing Easton’s 20th anniversary 9/11 “Day of Remembrance” observance.
First Selectman David Bindelglass said that Logie and a group of volunteers were sprucing up the 9/11 Memorial on the library green over the Labor Day weekend.
“They thought they needed to pick them up to clean up the area and do some of the work they needed to do Sunday and Monday,” Bindelglass said. “The library and Town Hall weren’t open, so they did the work themselves.”
Bindelglass said the the entire green stretch from the library to the Town Hall, including the 9/11 Memorial, has been re-invigorated with a lot of private support and hard work.
Lynn Zaffino, library director, discovered the signs were gone when she arrived back at work after the holiday weekend and reported the missing signs to the Easton Police Department.
During a meeting about the 9/11 memorial ceremony, she had agreed to remove them temporarily on Sept. 10 in advance of the ceremony.
Zaffino was concerned that they had been destroyed and was glad to get them back in good shape. The signs will remain near the community room during the fall. The exhibit will conclude and they will be taken down when the winter comes and the ground freezes.
A few residents tried to stop the exhibit from the beginning, and Zaffino was dismayed that someone had removed them without her knowledge. The quotes on the signs were submitted by students, town employees, and other community members, Zaffino said.
Now that the signs have been returned, Zaffino has relocated them to an area near the community room. She removed them last night when high winds were forecast and returned them to the new site this morning, she said.
People walking into the library can see them and the space devoted to the memorial is now newly-planted and prepared for Saturday’s event.
“There has been a lot of debate around the signs since they were set up that predates the 9/11 ceremony,” Bindelglass said. “I will continue to do everything I can to involve all members of the community and hopefully find ways that we can work together for things like this ceremony.”
