Haymarket's Troubles Get More Public

The incident caused her to question the reliability of information provided by Roop. "I should make it clear that I am not stating that the Chief would bring false information, only that I cannot be certain that the facts are accurate," she wrote.

Dupray could not be reached at her private law practice.

When reached, Stutz said she would call back to discuss the issue but did not. She could not be reached after the initial call. Attempts to reach Roop were unsuccessful.

In her letter, Stutz said that legal counsel advised town officials that Dupray's letter should not be disclosed publicly. "Despite an opinion to that effect from legal counsel, a member of the Town Council has elected to disseminate the document," she wrote.

Council member James E. Tobias said he got the letter from Dupray through an e-mail Monday and gave it to other council members. Tobias said that he talked to Stutz about the letter at length and that he thought it should be made public.

Tobias said he had followed the advice of counsel and planned to discuss the letter with council members in a proper forum at the May 1 council meeting.

"It's unfortunate that the letter has somehow been leaked out and placed on a Web site for all to see," he said. "I did not put it there."

Benjamin said the distribution of the letter is not the issue. "Somebody put a stack of them in town hall prior to the candidates' forum" on Thursday night, he said.

Stutz did not make the letter public at the April 3 meeting because she did not want bad publicity so close to the election, said Benjamin, one of the auxiliary officers who lost his volunteer position after the program was suspended.