FAIR LAWN, New Jersey -- Police say what appeared to resemble a noose in front of a home in a residential neighborhood in Bergen County on Saturday night was not intentional.
Fair Lawn Mayor Kurt Peluso said that he was notified by the family, saying that they discovered the twine hanging from a tree outside their house. The family also contacted police.
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"It's really upsetting to see - we have a very diverse town here in Fair Lawn, and I do believe there are some people who don't like that, you know, they don't like the diversity and they don't like the fact that we celebrate diversity," Peluso said, "and sorry to them - this is their community, because we're proud of who we are, and we're proud of where we're going today."
Peluso said at the time that some may not embrace diversity, and that mindset needs to stop.
"Throughout Jersey, in the nation, we're seeing a lot of hate crimes - and we have to speak up against. And that's something that, you know I'm doing as mayor, and what I've heard from people in other towns who have seen similar things," he added.
Fair Lawn police say the rope in question was closer in size to twine and is regularly used by utility companies to either tie cables together or pull new cables from pole to pole.
"The loop on the end of the twine, that was apparently formed by the twine having been twisted in the wind, was approximately the size of a silver dollar and the twine was tied to a branch that was approximately 1 inches thick," police said.
Officials say it appeared that the portion of the twine attached to the overhead cables had become detached, possibly during the windy conditions, and had fallen, becoming entangled into the branches of the tree.
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