Rope dangling from library was mistaken for a noose

Sheriff ’s inquiry traces object to pulley system used in maintenance

A Black librarian has been offered counseling after discovering a rope Tuesday that resembled a noose dangling from the side of a library building.

The sheriff ’s department investigated the incident and the rope was ultimately found to be used in maintenance work.

Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman said the rope, secured to a pipe vent on the roof with a loop at the end, was left on top of the Phyllis Bornt branch library six months ago by work crews from the county’s facilities department.

He said windy conditions apparently blew the rope, used to lift air vents up and down from the building for cleanings, from its resting place around the roof vent on top of the State Street building.

“It’s kind of like a little rigged pulley system that they have so that they’re not walking up and down a ladder holding these large air vents, and these guys leave it up there, and unfortunately the wind blew the rope over, and so I absolutely can understand how a person walking up to where they work and sees that could get upset,” Fluman said.

Fluman said he understood the librarian’s concern about the discovery and said she’s been offered counseling. Nooses have come to symbolize brutality against African Americans, a stark reminder of the country’s dark history of lynching and other forms of racial violence.

The unidentified woman,

Fluman said, stopped by the Bornt library to pick up items before heading to the Mont Pleasant branch for her shift. Bornt was closed Tuesday.

Fluman said Wednesday the sheriff ’s office is wrapping up their probe into the incident and that the head of the facilities department “is very apologetic about obviously how this could be observed.”

The incident has prompted the county to immediately end the practice of leaving the makeshift pulley system in place on top of its library buildings.

Arthur Butler, the county’s human rights commissioner, is involved in the matter to make sure “he’s satisfied with the county’s response,” Fluman said.