Pembroke Park commission pardons "Tom the turkey" ahead of Thanksgiving

The Town of Pembroke Park commission granted a ceremonial pardon to "Tom the turkey" at a Nov. 24 proceeding held as part of the town's Thanksgiving activities.

The event, attended by local residents and children from several schools, included a brief hearing in which the record notes Vice Mayor Musfica Kashem served as Tom's defender and Acting Clerk Commissioner Eric Morissette presided, according to statements read into the record. During the proceeding, a speaker asked whether, at approximately 0500 hours on Nov. 20, 2024, Officer Mcfeather had identified Tom driving a John Deere tractor at 120 miles per hour on Gravy Boulevard. The record includes the reply, "That's correct, sir." (transcript attribution is to a meeting speaker; the record does not name the replying official.)

At the close of the brief hearing, a meeting speaker pronounced a pardon. "I hereby, by the power vested in me, do hereby proclaim that Tom the Turk is pardoned and set free for all the Turks," the speaker said on the record. The commission's decision allows Tom to live at a local petting zoo "if he can keep his beak clean," according to remarks summarized in the record.

The proceeding was cast in a ceremonial, seasonal tone and was presented as part of the town's Thanksgiving programming. The transcript does not record a formal roll-call vote or a named mover and seconder for the proclamation; the outcome recorded in the meeting is the granting of the pardon. The record also notes that Tom had been pardoned previously the prior year and that the Pembroke Park Police Department had earlier taken him into custody on an alleged violation of that pardon.

The meeting closed with a holiday greeting recorded in the transcript: "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone."