Citizens Try to Silence Cooke

Yesterday was a peaceful one for Branford resident and retired teacher Richard Figaro who frequents . Sitting outside at the café table, he said Wayne Cooke, the source of his frustration, had toned it down.

For months, Cooke, a Branford resident, has been towing behind his wood-panel Jeep Cherokee, billboards with messages against Town Hall while playing patriotic music (read the New Haven Register story about it here). He normally parks his truck in front of Town Hall for two hours in the morning­–usually 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.–and then takes 10 laps around the Green playing "Anchor’s Away" and the "Marine’s Hymn" from loudspeakers attached to his truck. Yesterday, said Figaro who is behind a citizen’s petition with Branford resident Glenn Mallory to stop Cooke from parading with music around town, Cooke only took a few laps with his music on as opposed to his normal 10.

Wednesday night at the regular Representative Town Meeting, Figaro and Mallory attempted to present a petition to the RTM asking the body “to restrict the public display… by resident Wayne Cooke to the public parking area directly in front of Town Hall and to discontinue parading through the downtown shopping district so as not to disturb the peace.”

Though Mallory and Figaro were able to obtain 82 signatures–mostly from owners and patrons of the downtown business district–the petition was not valid according to .

Since June of last year, Branford Town Meeting Rules (A236; see attched PDF or search online here) have included the rule that citizens obtaining a petition signed by 50 electors can have an item added to the RTM agenda. Kelly said there is also a form to be filled out to create a petition. It’s Kelly’s job to cross-reference the signatures and addresses to confirm that those who signed the petition are, in fact, electors in the town of Branford. The petition brought forth by Mallory and Figaro had just 38 signatures that could be verified. In the time that this rule has been in place, Cooke is the only Branford citizen to create petitions­–13 of which were added to the RTM agenda since October. The petition against Cooke playing his music around town was the first petition brought to the RTM from someone other than Cooke.

At the meeting, Mallory was told that the petition would need to be re-done to make the agenda; he was offered the option to wait until the end of the meeting to state his case during the public comment time. After waiting nearly three hours to speak Mallory said, “I have no problem with Mr. Cooke’s grievances. I don’t know what they are and either do these people [the petitioners]. I’d like to ask Mr. Cooke to recognize this as your neighbors–we’d like you to stay near Town Hall. That’s who you are having a problem with, not us, I hope. We don’t have a problem with you.”

Mallory went on to say that he likes quiet time to talk with friends at Common Grounds and the noise is disturbing. He also mentioned the elderly people have changed their walking time to the afternoon when Cooke is not around and children, he added, cup their ears when Cooke drives by with his music playing.

Without much tension, Cooke said that he thinks the kids march to his music and that it is his opinion that most people like it.

To Mallory’s request, Cooke said that he could possibly take fewer laps around the Green but would not be shutting the music off. “These issues,” he said of his grievances with Town Hall, “are not being resolved because I go around the green five more times.”

Cooke noted his parading as “American.” He said it’s a reminder that citizens can speak their minds and disagree. He closed stating, “If my signs said Branford is the best town in America and I was going around playing all these songs, do you think we’d have this problem?” Gesturing to Mallory he said, “Not this fellow, but some of the petitioners, just don’t like what I have to say. If they say Branford is the best town in America... they’d say, ‘Look at that Cooke guy.’”

After the meeting Mallory told Figaro that a handshake and agreement took place between himself and Cooke. The two citizens will not be pursing a second petition and Figaro said had Mallory and Cooke not reached an agreement of fewer laps, they might have taken the matter to the Branford Police Department.  This morning, by 10 a.m. Cooke had not shown at Town Hall for his daily spin.

Check back for more additional reporting of the RTM meeting, which includes the contested transfer of BOE funds to pay for the Mary T. Murphy oil tank project.