Recently Town Councilor, Rose Van Dover, in a private, irregular, one-on-one board applicant interview, used a racially descriptive word that she didn’t know was unacceptable. When advised of that, Councilor Van Dover immediately apologized and pledged not to repeat the word.

The applicant, April Dinwoodie, then made this public and said she was harmed by the word. Dinwoodie correctly called for better education and for changes in Westerly’s interview procedures. Council President, Chris Duhamel, upon being made aware of the event, apologized again to Ms. Dinwoodie. And he committed to produce a better applicant interview process. But, for some, that wasn’t enough.

One Dinwoodie supporter called for permanently prohibiting Ms. Van Dover from ever being on an appointments committee. Exclu

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