The late Arch Riley, the
author of the Wheeling charter revision, would, I think, be shocked at the
apparent
hijacking of the legislative duties by two salaried employees of the
City. I refer to the recent front page story
about the City Manager and
the Chief of Police "instigating" a public hearing on Feb. 21st about
declaring American Legion Post 89 a "public nuisance".
To an old man reading
about these events some 50 miles to the south, it seems like the Chief Manager
and the Chief of Police are taking their cues from the Queen of Hearts in
"Alice in Wonderland", i.e. to find someone guilty and then hold the
trial afterwards. The same story said that the State had investigated the
Legion Post and cleared it of the accusations brought by the Chief and the
Manager. Are they taking a second crack at the apple?
Forty years ago when I
ran the federal legal aid program in Wheeling, Charles Steele, the then City
Manager, tried to shut down Post 89. The famed Justice Holmes of the U.S.
Supreme Court said "we should not ignore as judges what we know as
men" and the Chief and Manager have ripped a page from Richard Nixon's
"law and order" playbook: BLACK PEOPLE EQUAL CRIME and we need to do
away with they place where they congregate. As far as I can determine,
there hasn't been a single crime reported INSIDE AMERICAN LEGION POST 89.
That is what would make it a public nuisance, not what goes on outside.
If the Chief and Manager are concerned about what goes on outside, let
them do what Sheriff Robert Lightner did Marshall County in the day: GIVE
THE PLACE ''CURB SERVICE''. That will handle the problem if there is one.
Even if the allegations
are true, closing the only American Legion Post in West Virginia (and certainly
one of the few in the U.S.A.) run by an African-American (and, presumably, a
veteran) is a slap in the face of all those "colored" people who
fought for their country and were greeted by Jim Crow when they got home.
I was going to quote the
great slogan from the 60's and 70's dealing with the racism inherent in urban
renewal, but I test marketed it with two of my Wheeling friends, Terry Gosa and
George Lee, who have retired, respectively, to Columbia, S.C., and Dacula, Ga.,
and they told me that I should leave racism to the racists. However, if
anyone if interested, I included the phrase in my letter to the Mayor and
Council asking to speak at the meeting on Feb. 21st about this usurpation of
legislative power by paid City employees. I authorize Mayor
Elliott to tell anyone who asks.
Pax vobiscum,
H. John Rogers,
New Masrtinsville
455-3200
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