Hughestown 
Mayor Says 
It's All Over 
Martin Miglionico Cites Friction With The Police 
Department As Reason For His Decision To Resign

Workers Compensation Solution Will Be Found, Says Casey

Friday, December 18, 1992 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1D QUICK WORDS: MAYOR NAMEY 





Mayors cancel &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Colorado conference &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wilkes-Barre Mayor &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lee Namey had plannedto attend the meeting thatthe U.S. Conference of &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mayors decided not to hold in Colorado Springsbecause of a recent statevote
enacting anti-gay rights legislation &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Staff and wire reports &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 WASHINGTON -- The nation's mayors on Thursday canceled plans to hold their
annual conference in Colorado next year because of that state's passage of an
anti-gay rights law. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The U.S. Conference of Mayors' executive committee said it would select a
new site for its June 1993 meeting in the near future. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Before the decision to cancel the conference was known, Wilkes-Barre Mayor
Lee Namey said he was planning to attend the meeting despite a call for a
boycott by Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Namey, who sits on the conference's economic development committee and
arts/recreation committee, said he wasn't familiar with the details behind
Colorado's anti-gay vote. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But he questioned Rendell's decision to politicize the conference, saying
it was unfair to penalize Colorado Springs for action taken by the entire
state. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "They select these sites five or six years in advance," said Namey, who is
the only mayor in Luzerne County who attends these conferences. "These cities
spend a lot of money to put the event together. I'm not necessarily sure it's
fair to say six months before the conference that `we're not going to your
city because we don't like how your state voted on a given issue.' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I think you can make a statement saying you disagree with the results,"
Namey said. "But does that mean you should not attend something which deals
with the important issues impacting the country?" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Colorado Springs' mayor, Republican Robert Isaac, is a past president of
the U.S. Conference of Mayors and had pushed for years to have the group meet
in his city. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The week-long conference regularly attracts the elected leaders of the
nation's largest cities. Next year's meeting had been thrown into doubt in
recent weeks when several big-city mayors said they would not go to Colorado
Springs because of the passage of the anti-gay Amendment 2. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 New York Mayor David Dinkins, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Seattle Mayor
Norm Rice and Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell each said in recent weeks they
would not attend because of the law, according to conference officials. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In addition, the Atlanta City Council voted to ban official travel and
spending in Colorado, a move that could have prevented Mayor Maynard Jackson
from attending, and the Los Angeles city council passed a resolution urging
that the meeting be moved. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 CUT HERE &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 J. Thomas Cochran, executive director of the conference, called the
decision "a moral one" and said it was reached in an "emotional" private
meeting of the executive committee. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He said it was based on an eight-year-old conference policy that says the
U.S. Conference of Mayors "recognizes the right of all citizens, regardless of
sexual orientation, to full participation in American society, and recommends
that all levels of government adopt legal protections for the rights of gay
and lesbian Americans." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The group plans its meetings far in advance, and Colorado Springs had been
selected in 1989 as the site for next year's meeting, Cochran said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Colorado's law has been challenged in a lawsuit. And a coalition called
Boycott Colorado has been formed to encourage tourists, corporations and
associations to stay away until the law is rescinded.

Mayors Cancel Colorado Conference Wilkes-barre Mayor Lee Namey Had Plannedto Attend The Meeting Thatthe U.s. Conference Of Mayors Decided Not To