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Barbara Jones was among those calling last night for James Stokes to resign from the Lawrence School Committee. (Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe) |
LAWRENCE - Outraged veterans, school employees, and residents called last night for new School Committee member James F. Stokes to resign from the board following his arrest for allegedly forging a military discharge document.
Stokes, who said he was a US Marine Corps veteran during his campaign last fall, did not show up for last night's meeting, the first for the board in a new two-year term. But that did not stop people from directing their ire toward his name plate and empty seat.
"I'm appalled that you think it's OK to falsely claim that you are a veteran," said Daniel J. Hanneken , principal of Guilmette School and a 20-year veteran of the US Air Force. "You have disrespected the veterans of this country and the citizens of this city with your dishonesty and lack of integrity. How can anyone trust you?"
Stokes, 63, was arrested Wednesday by FBI agents and arraigned on a federal charge that he had forged a military discharge document that described him as the recipient of numerous medals.
Outside the courthouse, Stokes said he planned to return to Lawrence for the first School Committee meeting.
But Stokes, who is scheduled to appear in court again on January 29, did not attend the meeting and did not return a call for comment. A child who answered the door of Stokes's apartment last night said he was not home.
Mayor Michael J. Sullivan, who is also chairman of the School Committee, has called for Stokes to resign. If he does not, Sullivan said, he will try to force Stokes from office.
"If he doesn't step down, he's harming the integrity of the city," Sullivan said in an interview before the meeting. "He is focusing all energy on him, his personal issues, and he's taking away the energy and the focus away from the children, and that's who we're supposed to be serving by being elected to the school board."
Residents hoping to force Stokes from the School Committee with a recall petition would have to wait until the second and last year of his term, Sullivan said.
However, the city could try to persuade the district attorney to pursue an election fraud case.
Stokes indicated that he was a veteran on election paperwork he filed with the city last summer, prompting him to be listed as a veteran on the primary ballot, Sullivan said.
The mayor said a Boston election law attorney advised him yesterday that if Stokes's assertion is false, it could be grounds to overturn the election.
Some in Lawrence had questioned Stokes's military claims in the past during his unsuccessful bids for city office.
To counter the questions, Stokes supplied the city's Director of Veterans Services in November 2006 with a document that said he served with the Marines in Vietnam in the late 1960s and received half a dozen medals, including a Purple Heart.
Scrutiny of Stokes intensified recently after he defeated incumbent Greg Morris for the District F School Committee seat in November.
When Stokes volunteered to play Santa Claus at a recent celebration, city officials ran a routine criminal background check. They learned that Stokes had served short sentences in 1964 and 1986 for larceny and forgery.
Soon after, family members at odds with Stokes contacted city officials and the media and urged them to look into his military service statements.
City officials gave the FBI a copy of Stokes's discharge paper and investigators determined that it was phony, authorities said. They arrested Stokes at a doughnut shop early Wednesday.
Last night, several veterans and community members protested outside the meeting. The mayor allowed a handful to speak at the meeting.
Carlos Vieira, commander of a Marine Corp veterans motorcycle group that rides at veterans' events, said Stokes lacked the integrity and honor to serve the public.
After calling for Stokes to step down, Vieira asked veterans in the room to rise. More than a dozen stood and the crowd applauded.
Kevin McCarthy, director of facilities management for the Lawrence schools, said his cousin, First Lieutenant Edward William Argy, was killed in action in South Vietnam 40 years ago this week. His name is listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington with more than 50,000 other casualties.
Stokes "is living on their blood," said McCarthy, who said he was 14 when his cousin died. "I think this committee, if he sits on this board, needs to get up and walk out until he resigns."
After the public portion of the meeting, several people continue to express their outrage on the sidewalk in front of the school administration building.
Then, Vieira, a former Marine corporal, went to his
Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitz@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
