JACKSON – Business Administrator Terence Wall called out what he said was misinformation on the part of a local media site during the lengthy Township Council meeting.
“During our work here in administration we are charged with delivering value every single day to everyone in the community,” he said.
A recent article by an online news source attempted to “light a false fuse of a religious division.” Wall went on to say the site posed an effort to “stoke further animosity between Christians and Jews. It won’t work. In the article dated March 2, it references that the administrator, Terence Wall singled out complaints about the Orthodox Jewish faith. Not true.
“It stated that most of the offenders are Orthodox Jewish residents who are new to the community. Not true,” Wall said. He added that the article includes a quote by him that “appears accurate and fair: ‘The goal is compliance. There are people not following the laws that are on the books. It doesn’t matter where you come from, where you live or your faith that you follow the same rules as respectful neighbors.’ That’s fair.”
Wall said there was a third falsehood “that some aren’t following the rules by some he meant, members of the Orthodox Jewish community. Not true. Not tracked. Not known. Fake. Lastly, it references that if someone doesn’t follow the rules they go to court. Well, that is true. That is how it works. It follows on saying ‘Wall said referring to Orthodox Jewish prayer groups operating in the township,’ – flagrantly, divisively and miserably false. It won’t work.
“Some may try to light the false fuse of division and stoke religious animus in our fantastic, diverse and inclusive township of Jackson. The politics of religious division has no home here. Should a continual pattern emerge of purposeful and malicious religious hate baiting I’ll ask to join together with concerned religious folks from all faiths so we can together express our shared concerns with appropriate county, state or federal agencies,” Wall added.
The administrator said township residents are “the lifeblood of the community and speaking on behalf of myself and staff we are here to serve you. The doors of town hall are your doors and they are always open and available to you and your family. All families.”
During that same meeting the township hired Steve-Brand Strategic Communications LLC to perform public relations work for the township noting that in the past, the township has been the victim of false information.
At prior meetings, Mayor Michael Reina urged residents that had questions about matters of the municipality to come directly to either his office, Wall’s office or the appropriate body and not to rely on what they might be reading on certain social media sites.
In 2020, television commercials that also appeared on social media targeted Reina and two former council meeting accusing them of having an anti-religious bias toward the Orthodox Jewish community. Each of those officials denounced the content of the commercials, calling them an effort to smear their reputations and vilify the township as a whole.
