Well, those who live by the social media sword can also die by the social media sword as Republican Dean Chamberland apparently decided to step off the East Hartford Republican party ticket after derisive posts he placed on the Facebook page he administrates about Juneteenth celebrations were brought to light.

The post mocked Junteenth, or June 19th 1865, two and a half years after the signing of the emancipation proclamation when federal troops brought word to the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas that they were free following the end of the Civil War. Chamberland contended that he simply reposted the commentary suggesting Juneteenth would be celebrated with riots and looting. But others quickly took to the posts Chamberland made on his Facebook page and discovered a history of such posts he apparently made on the local crimewatch site.

In an image shared by fellow Republican Council candidate Matt Lauf, Chamberland announced he was “resigning from the Republican Town Council” due to threats made against his family. He claimed he had apologized and was moving on. However on Friday he attended a GOP fundraiser for Republican mayoral candidate Matt Harper at the One Wood Golf Course with former gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski.

Owing to incumbent Republican Town Councilors Pat Harmon and Esther Clarke declining to seek re-election, five of the six GOP candidates are new this year.

Dean Chamberland, 45, came to the public eye as the administrator of the East Hartford Crime watch Facebook page. He helped organize a community meeting with the mayor and town police at East Hartford Middle School in July after a spate of juvenile crime incidents, including one where a repeat offender fatally ran over a marathon runner in New Britain and others where shots were fired at a homeowner in Glastonbury, outraged many.

Chamberland began the Facebook effort after his landscaping business was hit by a thief who stole thousands of dollars in landscaping equipment. He turned to the internet to warn others in his neighborhood. As it turned out, he was not the only victim of a criminal who was committing widespread theft to support a drug habit. Chamberland was determined to follow up on the matter and did through the court system after the man was caught by police.

Four years later, the increases in reported juvenile crimes and car thefts further galvanized him and those he “friended” on Facebook to do more to change the status quo, to run for office. However many others quit the Crimewatch page due to the politics posted there, and some former followers of the site told the Gazette that their posts were deleted or they were blocked if they disagreed with the East Hartford Crimewatch posts which Chamberland oversaw is the site’s administrator.

But as Chamberland’s posts attracted controversy last week, not only did he remove all the posts going back months or years, some who relied on the site for information were also banned from the East Hartford Crime Watch and Neighbors Helping Neighbors FaceBook page.

“When thing were brought to light, past arrests, racist social media post, they removed anything opposed to them, banned long time members such as me,” wrote Nancy to the Gazette. “The FB group was important for me, it gave current crime issues, referrals to local businesses and community events.”

Nancy feels used by the Republicans running for office. “They USED a community FB page for their own agenda,” she wrote.

Chamberland grew up in East Hartford, then moved south to run a landscaping business with his dad, then came back north from Conway South Carolina back to town to establish his own landscaping business.

“I love the snow. I moved back for my family and love of the snow,” said the owner of One of a Kind Landscape and Design. For Chamberland the town has been good to him. He started mowing lawns when he was just 16.
“I delivered the Courant, and when I noticed the grass was long and wet I would go back and ask if they wanted the lawn cut. Soon I had 40 customers. That’s how it all started.”

Chamberland also is a supporter of the Safe Streets group, a Glastonbury-based group pressing for reforms to what they say are lax juvenile justice laws contributing to the rise in break-ins and vehicle thefts. But they also are heavily political in campaigning on an anti-Democrat, anti-crime agenda.