Councilwoman rescinds resignation over Christmas tree

The council of Roselle Park, a borough of Union County, N.J., voted on a seemingly innocuous matter last Thurs.: the renaming of its annual yearly “Tree Lighting” to “Christmas Tree Lighting”.

After the two met on Saturday, she rescinding her resignation, although “Christmas” will remain in the title of the tree lighting ceremony.

However, The Huffington Post reports Storey later rescinded her resignation.

Why do we reward behavior like this? “I think if you’re using municipal funds, you have to be careful to be representing as large a part as the population as possible”, said Storey. Storey, who said she was unaware the vote had been on the agenda, made a decision to take a stand after her fellow legislators voted 4-2 in favor of the change. And I like Christmas trees and the happy spirit that usually pervades this season.

Across the country, fire departments responded to an average of 210 home structure fires per year that began with Christmas trees in 2009-2013, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

A Christmas tree lighting ceremony is inherently a religious event, of course, though whether that religion is Christianity or capitalism is up for debate.

Roselle Park, NJ, has become the latest battleground in what some call the “War on Christmas”.

Storey submitted her letter of resignation to Hokanson on Friday at 8:30 a.m.

Storey claimed that changing the name of the event “clearly disrespects them all and hijacks the tree lighting for one religion”. He said everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but also noted that each town can use whatever title it wants to use for the ceremony. “There are more important things going on in this world”.

“It’s not a street, it’s not a building, it’s a Christmas tree”, Hokanson added.