Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
New York, Sep 18, (THAINDIAN NEWS) If Pastor Terry Jones proposed it, then a New Jersey train conductor Derek Fenton did it. However, the latter had to pay a heavy price for the condemnable action that he did no Saturday last week. The Bloomingdale resident, Derek Fenton was fired from his job at New Jersey transit for burning a Quran in front of the proposed mosque site near Ground zero. The New Jersey Transit agency although did not elaborate on the matter much, it held in its statement that Derek Fenton has violated New Jersey Transit’s code of ethics and broken the “trust as a state employee”. However, the firing has been questioned by many who have pointed at the First Amendment rights of the citizens of United States.

39-year-old and father of two, Derek Fenton worked for the New Jersey Transit for the last 11 years. He worked as a train conductor and later as an assistant train-consist coordinator. Following the proposed Quran burning by Pastor Terry Jones, who said that the holy book of Islam should be burnt to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Derek Fenton was filmed burning some of the pages of the holy book in front of proposed mosque site. Although the police came at Park51 and removed him there, he was released without charge. Police sources said to media that at police station Derek Fenton said that “this is America” and added that he wanted to stand up for it. His action was influenced allegedly by Terry Jones.

However the firing of Derek Fenton by New Jersey Transit has been questioned by many. New Jersey legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Ed Barocas said to media sources that a person cannot be fired by an agency “for off-the-job political expression”.