True Tales columnist deserves praise, not criticism

Dear Editor:

The recent controversy regarding George Comeau’s Images on Glass article published in the September 18 issue of this paper is one that I’ve found to be quite sad. I’ve never met Mr. Comeau in person, yet I’ve thoroughly enjoyed his historical pieces, which regularly run in this publication. The article about the trolley service that ran through Canton about 100 years ago, for instance, was very interesting. The piece about the fire in Ponkapoag in the 1920s and the losses endured by the D’Attanasio family was especially fascinating because I went to school with a couple of Al D’Attanasio’s sons, and I remember what a fine man Al was. I had no idea he’d known such pain in his early life. I would imagine that anyone who has lived in Canton for a long time, or who grew up in Canton, would especially love George’s great and well written historical accounts.

I want to make it clear that I was not in any way offended by the “Images on Glass” article. Honestly, to me it was not as interesting as many of Mr. Comeau’s other submissions. I quickly breezed through the article. The fact that the name of the camera club was the Kanton Kamera Klub honestly did seem rather bizarre to me, but it never entered my mind that the members could have in any way been trying to emulate or praise the Ku Klux Klan or to express or promote a racist sentiment. The letter that appeared in the following week’s newspaper shocked me. I have never met Mr. Comeau in person, but I have always heard him spoken of in most positive terms. I know that he is a highly respected man who loves Canton and is committed to making it a great community. All of his writings and online postings indicate this is a man who cares deeply about Canton’s past, present, and future. The online edition of the Canton Citizen has added what I’ll call a “disclaimer/apology” to the beginning of the “Images on Glass” article, explaining that there has been found no connection of the Kanton Kamera Klub to the Ku Klux Klan and that nothing hateful nor hurtful was ever intended by publishing the article. It is too bad George didn’t include one sentence such as that, and it’s regrettable that the editor didn’t add something like that to the piece. In spite of that, the inferences from both the letter I have referenced and the letter from a Canton resident that appeared in the October 9 paper suggesting that Comeau is at best incredibly naive and at worst insensitive to Canton’s minority residents have left me feeling sympathetic to George and ultimately believing I had to weigh in on this matter.

I’m not saying that the letters that were critical of “Images on Glass” should not have been printed. On the contrary, presenting many and varied opinions in a town’s newspaper is something that’s very important to do. It’s far better that the critics wrote those letters rather than to privately and quietly brood. I majored in history at Stonehill College. History contains facts. As the old axiom says, “Facts are stubborn things.” The fact is, there was a Kanton Kamera Klub, and George Comeau has presented some important facts about it to us. I don’t know if the “History Detectives” from PBS or Professor Henry Louis Gates would want to tackle a detailed investigation of the Kanton Kamera Klub to settle once and for all the mysteries and questions about this group that have been raised over the past month. Whatever the outcome of such an investigation, George Comeau has done a service in bringing forth this material. His hard work deserves our appreciation.

Sincerely,

Rev. Bob Baril

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