NJ Transit fires Employee for Burning Pages of Koran

Derek Fenton was recently booted out of his work at NJ Transit after newspapers published his photograph ripping pages of the Koran and setting them on fire. He was escorted by the police out from the place of protest for questioning but was later released without charges filed against him.

NJ Transit has issued a statement with regards to Fenton's case by stating that their employee's action has violated their agency's code of ethics that severed his trust as a state employee, thus the need to dismiss him from service.

The police authorities who arrested Fenton were quoted as saying that the latter just wanted to stand up for his country and that he is a loyal American citizen exercising his right to protest. The police observed that Fenton has had second thoughts about his release and seemed nervous, as if he thought that what he did was not really a good idea. Police speculated that he was probably inspired by Pastor Terry Jones, who threatened to burn the Holy Koran, but then later withdrew from his plan.

Fenton worked with the NJ Transit for 11 years as an assistant train consist coordinator, which would ensure that a sufficient number of train cars were ready to be put to service. He also worked as a conductor.

Neighbors of Fenton in his Bloomingdale neighborhood were infuriated about what happened and said that Fenton was just exercising his right to express his anger over the 9/11 issue. Jacqui Marquez said that Fenton's action of burning Koran pages was good for him, and he is entitled to express his own opinion. When asked about firing him from work, she said that authorities are just sending the message that there is no more freedom of speech and their actions are completely wrong.

When interviewed, Randy McConnell, also a neighbor, said that Fenton is a family man who loves his kids and loves his work. He shouldn't have lost his job for expressing his right and opinion over these issues.