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Romney asks for resignation of recreation commissioner

By Associated Press, Friday, February 4, 2005

BOSTON - The state recreation commissioner resigned Friday at the request of Gov. Mitt Romney [related, bio] after four high school students were struck by a pickup truck on a road maintained by the department.

The accident occurred Friday morning near the entrance to West Roxbury High School in Boston. School officials had complained that the sidewalks along the VFW Parkway in front of the school had not been cleared of snow, forcing students to walk in the busy street.

Romney said that was unacceptable. He said he asked Katherine Abbott, commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, to resign.

``Our focus has to be on public safety. That comes first,'' Romney said. ``I'm obviously very unhappy to hear that there were sidewalks that were not cleared and that's just inexcusable.''

Joe O'Keefe, a spokesman for Abbott, said she declined to comment on the resignation.

Romney said the problem with snow removal on roads maintained by the department, which was created to replace the former Metropolitan District Commission, has been building since last week's blizzard dumped about two feet of snow on the region.

Romney said his office was told that some roads and sidewalks had been cleared when they had not. In some cases the state highway department was forced to step in and plow some of the roads to keep them clear, he said.

Romney's decision to ask for Abbott's resignation followed a series of ``frank discussions'' between the two about the problems clearing the roads and sidewalks, Romney said.

None of the injuries to the four students were life-threatening and the worst injury was a broken leg, said Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for the Boston School Department. The accident happened at about 7:30 a.m.

State police said a 15-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl were the most seriously hurt. They were taken to Children's Hospital along with a 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl whose injuries were minor. Their names were not immediately released.

Palumbo said counselors were on hand at the school and the hospital to help students.

No charges were filed Friday against the driver, identified by state police as Brian Sheehan, 45, of Boston. He told WCVB-TV he was distracted by his 2-year-old child before he hit the teens.

Romney appointed Abbott to be the first commissioner of the newly created department in 2003, after the MDC was eliminated.

Before being named to the post, Abbott had worked at the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and as president of the Island Alliance, a consortium of public and private groups that support the Boston Harbor Islands National Park.

Even as he asked for her resignation, Romney praised Abbott's work to maintain the parks under the commission's control.

Romney named Steve Pritchard, chief of staff of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, as interim commissioner.