Human relations panel expects to continue work BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer FREEHOLD - The Freehold Borough Human Relations Committee has been told that the Borough Council wants it to continue its mission. At last week's meeting of the committee, Councilman Jaye Sims said the panel will continue to exist and asked the members who were present if they would be interested in staying on in 2008. Committee members the Rev. Frederick Parrish, Sheryl Mott, Carol Lida and James Keelan said they would like to return to the panel in 2008. Freehold Borough Patrolman Ronnie Steppat, who represents the police department, said he would also like to remain on the committee, but said that decision is up to Police Chief Mitchell Roth. Parrish, who chairs the committee, recently spoke to the mayor and council about several difficulties the panel was encountering. Among those concerns were comments being made about committee members on an Internet message board. Sims said Mayor Michael Wilson and the council were discussing the addition of new members to the committee and would be ready to make appointments in early January. In other business, committee members reviewed suggestions that were received when the panel staffed a booth at the borough's Latino Festival in October. There were about 40 suggestion forms filled out from among hundreds of people who attended the event. According to the committee, about 30 of the suggestion forms were written in Spanish and were translated by committee member Juan Reyes. In broad terms, the suggestion sheets referred to issues including public transportation in Freehold (or a lack thereof), day care for children, medical coverage and classes that teach English. Other comments referenced general problems with the interaction between some members of the borough's Latino community and the police department. Parrish asked Sims to address the comments on behalf of the council. In noting that some suggestions made reference to a desire for full-day children's care, Sims said the Head Start program is federally funded and that due to cuts in funding there is not much of a chance the half-day program will expand to a full-day program anytime soon. Other suggestions received by the committee included requests for better medical coverage for children and more communication and information as to charity cases. Still other suggestions referenced the lack of bus transportation to Freehold Borough elementary schools (the school district does not provide busing), and the lack of public transportation to local supermarkets and to CentraState Medical Center in Freehold Township. Mott said public transportation is available in the borough and that buses go past the supermarkets and to the hospital. In regard to additional English classes, Sims said he was meeting with officials from Hightstown, which also has a large Latino population, to discuss how they address the need for English classes for adult residents. Keelan, who is the president of the Freehold Borough Board of Education, noted that the school district currently provides English and Spanish classes for adults in the evening. Sims asked about weekend classes. Keelan said weekend classes are not offered, but suggested that Sims contact school district administrators to discuss that possibility. As to the claims of incidents that allegedly involved police officers, Parrish said the committee members were not in a position to address those issues since they had no information as to any specific complaints. He said there are two sides to a story and said he would need to hear both sides in this type of incident. Parrish asked Steppat to address these issues with Roth. "We need to get with the police department and find out how we can improve the situation and not make it worse," Parrish said. The purpose of the Human Relations Committee is to foster good relations among all the residents of the borough; to discuss and attempt to resolve the different circumstances brought before the committee and present them to the council; to set different goals or seminars, inform residents of changes, safety concerns, health concerns, and any other concerns that members deem necessary to present; and to seek any and all information from city, county and state agencies that might help the committee to function in an encouraging and productive manner.