Community Corner

Station Fire Board Members Resign

Seven of nine members of the memorial foundation have stepped down.

Seven of the nine members of the Station Fire Memorial Foundation have resigned, Director Dave Kane, a Johnston resident, announced in an e-mail sent to news outlets on May 10.

"This move comes after it became clear to those resigning board members that there was surreptitious and conspiratorial activity by dissenting members," Kane wrote. "We believe that these members, who were against the majority vote to request that the West Warwick Town Council consider taking the Station Nightclub land by eminent domain, acted in a way to undermine and derail this effort."

Kane also explained that what he termed "a serious flaw in the organization's by-laws" would not allow the two dissenting board members to be removed.

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Since the organization's charter "basically prevents the removal of a Board member unless they have committed fraud or theft, the only recourse left was for the majority of the board to leave," Kane wrote, leading the seven other members to resign.

Along with Kane, those resigning from the board were: President Chris Fontaine; Vice President Sus Longiaru; Secretary Susan Rezendes; and Directors Carol Ramos, Jane Sylvester, and Mike Surtel.

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The foundation was started by family members of the victims of the 2003 West Warwick nightclub blaze, which killed 100 people and injured 200.


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