Tarrytown justice won't resign over 'terrorist' remark

The Journal News ^ | May 23, 2003 | ROBERT MARCHANT

[TaxRelief]

...Sitting in an office decorated with photographs of him meeting and greeting national dignitaries such as Nelson Rockefeller, George H. Bush and Richard Nixon, Crosbie said yesterday with a rueful smile, "I seem to have drawn a lot of flies" because of his remark. A television news crew had just left his office.

Crosbie, 79, who has served on the bench in Tarrytown for 17 years, said the remark was prompted by Khoder's behavior in the courtroom, which he described as "berserk." He was trying to call attention to what he regarded as her unusual manner in a humorous way, he said. Crosbie denied he made a second remark about terrorism, which Khoder insisted that he did.

[RWG]

You would think that 20 years in this country is long enough for foreigners to learn how to laugh.

[Herodotus]

It is never okay to make fun of someone's last name, and certainly not from the bench in advance of proceedings, regardless of your origin or the length of time your family has been in this country.

You think it is okay to do this?

[RWG]

I think it's good to laugh. I think too many are too sensitive.