NIAGARA FALLS -- A truck driver for the city Public Works Department told a judge today

that putting up a racially motivated "whites only" sign on a water fountain last summer was

"the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life."

James R. Curtis was then sentenced to three years of probation, 50 hours of community

service and mandatory cultural diversity training.

City Judge Mark A. Violante also ordered Curtis to submit to random alcohol and drug

testing, and pay a $200 surcharge.

"This is a very racist act which was done for no good reason," Violante told Curtis. "It

isn't a joke and it shouldn't be a joke . . . Niagara Falls is a very diverse city. The people in this city shouldn't have to put up

with this."

Curtis, 52, of 80th Street, admitted putting up the handwritten "whites only drinking

fountain" sign in the city's public works garage last Aug. 13.

The incident drew national attention when he was first charged.

Curtis originally faced a much more serious felony hate crime charge until last October,

when the Niagara County district attorney's office agreed to reduce the charges against him

after interviewing his fellow public works employees.

He pleaded guilty Nov. 11 to second-degree aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor.

Harvey F. Siegel, Curtis' defense lawyer, said his client was not "mean-spirited" and

pointed to support from 44 of his co-workers, including several who are African-American.

"He wants to work," Siegel said after the sentencing, outside the courtroom.

Curtis remains on paid administrative leave and is facing a disciplinary proceeding.

Racial tensions have been heightened in the city Public Works Department since a

discrimination lawsuit was first filed against the city by six African-American public works

employees in 2003. That lawsuit has remained in court, and a judge in September allowed the

workers to add new allegations of racial discrimination to the original complaint.

Curtis, who has worked for the city for 26 years, told police investigators when he was

charged Aug. 29 that he quickly realized that posting the sign was a bad idea. He has told The

Buffalo News that he threw the card away and that "no one was ever supposed to see it."

The sign — handwritten on the back of a time card — was later found by an

African-American worker and prompted a weeklong investigation into the incident that involved

the state attorney general's office.