Board Reprimands Library President : Monterey Park: Panel reacts after official made racially tinged comments at a meeting. She is asked to apologize to the community or resign.

Monterey Park’s library board called on its president to apologize or resign Thursday after she threw a cup of water at a Chinese American activist and threatened others with her walking stick.

“Watch out. I have a club and I am apt to use it,” board President Kathleen Brzozowski warned as she left the crowded meeting room after throwing the cup in the direction of Laura Lee, chairwoman of the Chinese American Civil Liberties Organization.

Lee later filed a police complaint against Brzozowski.

The board president was under attack for racially tinged comments she made in July concerning fellow library board member Marina Tse, a prominent member of the city’s sizable Asian community. According to the 1990 census, 56% of Monterey Park’s residents are of Asian descent.

The incident was the latest in a racially charged dispute that began in April with the resignation of Jeanette Cheng, the city’s first Chinese American librarian.

The dispute escalated in July when the board president denied allegations that trustees were trying to oust Tse for her lone opposition to Cheng’s resignation.

At that time, Brzozowski said Tse had been misrepresenting her position, adding that Tse had a “problem understanding English,” was not suited to be a trustee and should take a “low position until she can speak the language.”

Tse is a special education teacher with a master’s degree from USC. She was recently appointed to a state special education commission by Gov. Pete Wilson. “This is the worst insult I have ever had,” she said Thursday.

About 30 members of the city’s Asian and Latino communities attended Thursday’s meeting to hear the debate over the racial issue. But when the board came to that item on the agenda, Brzozowski said she could not stay. A member of the audience accused her of trying to “chicken out.” At that point, she threw the cup and stalked out, wielding her stick in front of her.

Several police officers later arrived at City Hall to question witnesses. Police are investigating Lee’s complaint, Capt. Jim Strait said Friday.

After Brzozowski’s departure and speeches from community activists demanding her resignation, a motion was approved stating that the president’s comments were not the board’s view and that she should be asked to apologize or resign.

“She owes an apology to the community and if she can’t bring herself to do that then she should resign,” said trustee Joseph Ruben, who authored the motion.

Brzozowski did not answer calls to her home Friday.

“Does she want (Tse) to be a maid, a cleaning lady, a bus girl?” Lee asked. “This kind of remark is not only an insult to Ms. Tse, it also offends me and many hard-working, first generation immigrants.”