Attorney
General
strikes
residency
rule
A provision in the Ben­
ton Harbor City Charter fen
last ee as result of an
Attorney General rulling.
City charters in Michi­
gan requiring candidate for
office to have lived in the
city for 0 yean violate
equal pro ection under la ,
Attorney General Frank
elley ruled 1 Thursday.
The opinion ren-
dered in re ponse to a que -
tion from Rep. ic Ciara­
mitaro, D.-Ro ville. He
ed hether pro pective
candidate's rights under the
ichigan Constitution were
violated by a city charter
requirement of 0 years'
r . dency to be eligible for
electi or appointed pub­
lic office.
Benton Harbor City h
such provision in its char­
ter.
Kelley . d ell a d -
mand ould violate both
the state and federal co
tutio He cited a Supreme
Court ruling hich said that
·dency requiremen
could be impo on voters
- but only to the extent
that they could be justified
for administratM purpo .
A 3�y residency re­
quirement ould not
necessarily vio te a poten­
tial candidate's ri&ht , the
hish court had ruled.
c
In what as described
a cost-cutting move, the
Benton Harbor Board of
Education voted 5-1 at a
meeting, Tuesday, August
28, to clo Columbus,
Spinks Comers and Sodus
schools for the current
school year.
The closings are ex­
peeted to save the District
124,200.
The plan will the
294 students in grade -3
from Columbus bused to
Sorter, F airplain est and
Johnson hools.
The 30 -3 studen
from Spinks Comers will
be bused to Sorter while
the 30 -4 from Sodus
will go to airplain East.
The plan will incre
the integration of the dis­
trict according to admin­
istrators.
The other schools un­
der con . deration for closing
ere Pearl and illburg. It
appears that they will re­
main open for this year.
The poor physical con­
dition of the 80�year old
Columbus as cited as the
reason for closing it.
Voting against the
closings was James Dud­
ley who h d campaigned
on a neighborhood
schools platform in last
June's election.
Voting for the plan
ere President Arthur
Crump, Freddie oore,
Elveyn Quevillon, Larry
ielsen and Jacqueline
Pearson. Board member
Brenda Taylor as bsent.
Details of the plan call
for the following:
- The transfer of 60
kin de rgarteners and 67
cond gr den from olum-
bus as ell 30 tudent
in grad K-3 from Spi
omen will increa the
enrollment at Sorter from
225 to 382. The racial
compo . tion will be 38
percent Blac .
- Fairplain est's en­
rollment will go from 118
to 217 students ith the
busing of 99 first graders
from Columbus. This mo
will mean a 52 percent
Bla enrollm nt.
- Enrollment at Fair­
plain East will be 54 per­
cent Blac with the trans­
fer of 30 K4 students
THE Cf IZ
PAGE 3
from Sod , eight kinder­
garteners from Stump, and
83 . th grader from Sterne:
Brunson. Th total enroll-
ment at Fairplain twill,
go from 169 to 290 stu­
den.
- John n 00 will
e a ri in enrollment from
115 to 183 with the transfer
o 68 thrid grader from
Columbu . The ne tudent
body at John n will be
50 percen t Blac .
The overall result of
the mo will be the
cut of 2* teachin 0,
on principal, t 0 c to-
dians and one cretary,
The gro of
146,084 are reduced by
th 21 884 in busing co ts.
a
e
S-112.
during th
t 0 cl "Stre
and 'Child Ab ' meeting
as ee end or op.
Senior Citizen 62
years and older may regis­
ter for course tuition free
at estern ichigan Uni r-
ity, both on and off
campu. Th m y
be graduate or undergr -
uate, 'and for credit or
non-credit.
The Regional enter
has further information on
Senior Citizen tuition free
d
a
e tern ichigan Uni-
versity, through the Benton
Harbor Regional Center, an­
nounces that registration for
the Fall Semester is no
taking place.
Stephen isbet, Re-
gional Center Director say
that enty four cl s,
both graduate and under­
graduate, are being offered
on the Lake ichigan Col­
leg campus with cl
starting the eek of Sep­
tember 17.
Admission and regi tra­
tion materials are available
through the Regional Cen­
ter (925-7059), located at
Coo e b a es ayo
for city's derni se
ayoral canidate ilce
Coo e charged ayor Joel
Patterson and "his voting
bloc"with contributing to
the city's demi .
Coo e' remarks cam
in response to the city's
approval of a 12 year,
50 percent tax exemption
to Twin City eta} Finish­
ing ho· currently in
default 20,599 for p t
due ter bills.
The text of Coo e'
statement follo :
"Qu tion: arne the
city in Berrien County that
re d busin for non­
payment of debts? Answer:
The city of Benton Harbor.
The abo may sound me-
hat facetious, but no -
thel it· true. During
the A 27, 1979 city
commission meeting the
mayor d commissioners
patio y consented to
grant Twin City eta!
Finisher a (12 ear,
fifty percent tax exemption.
This done despite the
fact that City
F·· er are i debit to the
city in the amount of
$20,5999.06 for delinquent
ter bills ha
accumulated ince Feburary
of this year. Such tion
on the part of our local
official is totally incompre­
hen ible in vie of the city's
financial c . . . This· but
another myriad of egislati e
blunder that is all too com­
monly exhibited by the cur­
rent administration he ded
by pre nt yor, Joel
Patterson."
'It is certain th t any
inquiri reg ding this mat­
ter will either elicit the
ayor' no infamous "no
comment" or blame will be
p ced squarely on the g­
ging shoulders of cit)' man-
r, el Farmer. Ho un­
fortunate, rather than v­
ing for Ib e revitaliza­
tion of the city of Bento
Harbor, the mayor and his
otin bloc are more than
willing ccomplic in the
city' demi. It can no
longer be b lieved that th
elected leade err through
ignoran . It ould no be
painfully clear th t their
acts e willful and deli -
rate.