Slur by club owner rankles city leaders

Hendy used derogatory word to refer to city in post to his Facebook

Local leaders were left deflated after a new business owner, opening a nightclub in the heart of the downtown, used a derogatory word to refer to the city on social media.

The Daily Gazette first reported on the situation, quoting Corwin Hendy of Ravena, who posted on his Facebook page Wednesday asking for prayers as he sought Planning Board approval in “Amsterrico.”

Reached Saturday, Hendy said he thought the word was an innocent nickname for the city.

“I talked to a few people that I knew, even people in the city, and heard the name plenty of times and didn’t take it in any derogatory way when people was using it, so when I thought about the word to myself and said the Spanish culture dominates the area so I looked at it as a nickname referencing it to Puerto Rico,” he said. “Not once did I mean it in any way of disrespect to the people or the city Amsterdam.”

He added that he deleted the post as soon as he learned it was a derogatory word.

“Once it was brought to my attention, I instantly fixed the problem and apologized on the Amsterdam rebuild page that I was alerted by,” he said. “Once again I apologize to the city of