Your kidding! Braintree councilors blast Comcast after man defecates in yard NEAL SIMPSON PUBLISHED: APR 2, 2014, 7:00 AM UPDATED: APR 2, 2014, 7:00 AM BRAINTREE – Braintree town councilors are calling for tougher rules on workers who drop off fliers at homes after one was caught defecating in a resident’s yard this winter. Councilors grilled a representative from Comcast on Tuesday about the company’s use of a contractor that acknowledged picking up homeless men from a shelter and paying them $60 a day to drop off advertisements at Braintree homes. Several councilors demanded Comcast change its policies and others said they would be pushing for an ordinances that would require companies who distribute fliers in Braintree to get a permit and run criminal background checks on anyone they hire.“I’m very troubled by what happened,” said Councilor Sean Powers. “As disgusting as the act was, it could have been a lot worse, and I don’t even want to speculate on what could have happened.” Gerald Buckley, a senior government affairs manager for Comcast, apologized repeatedly to councilors Tuesday and said the company had fired the California-based contractor that hired the man.“This is not who Comcast is in this community,” he said. “We take these allegations very seriously.”The meeting was called in response to a complaint from Maryellen Fleming, a Highlands residents who said she looked out her kitchen window early one morning in February and saw a man squatting in her side yard. Police eventually determined that the man had been part of a group of homeless men hired by a contractor to drop off advertisements at homes in Braintree, according to a police report.Police charged the man spotted at Fleming’s home with disturbing the peace and arrested two others who had outstanding warrants, according to the report. One, who had a warrant out of Maine, was charged as a fugitive from justice.Councilor Dan Clifford, whose District 6 includes Fleming’s neighborhood, said he will push for an ordinance that requires companies to seek a permit and conduct background for all employees before distributing fliers in town. He said he also wants to impose penalties against companies that allow its employees to break the law while canvassing Braintree’s neighborhoods.“Frankly, I don’t think we’re going to let Comcast off the hook with just a couple of kind words,” he said.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 12:24:04 +0000
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