BH CITY HELPS CADlLL C DE LER
The Benton H rbor city commi "on ppro d
resolution t its April 21 meetin tran ferring
jurisdiction 0 er an economi development proj ct
from th Benton H rbor Econorni Development
Corp. to the Berri n County Economic Development
Corp. According to the re lution the BH group h
be n unable to me t for 1 c of quorum and th t
qu rum ems unlikely in the ar future. State
demand the transfer. Richard leValley toner
of leV All y Old dillac, Inc. h ed the Berrien
County EDC for the' ce 0 tax-exempt bonds to
Ip him pur buildin h no rents. The
building' owned by Burton Pearson, of Pear n
Con tructi Company.
re tore th
POLICE P COURT F GHT AGAINST LA Y -OFF
The rgeant and lieutenan i tion of the
Benton Harbor Police d partment announced that
it will court injunction blocking the lay-offs
of " of their member by the city in co t cutting
effort. S hedu d for I y-off effective the cond
ee in ay are Harry Lenardson, Alfred Ed rd,
and Philipp Schneider, all lieutenant; and Char e
Ham n Dwight Clau re and Elmer Rhode, r-
eant. ccording to city personnel report, the
salaries of the lieutenant re S23,165 e ch and
th r an S20,999 e ch. Th figure do not
include frin . City anager Paul cCauley lso
. announced lay-offs 0 II more raj employee .
The city reduced its payroll from 0 er 200
in 0 ember to 114 currently.
d
April 23, 19 0
Editor:
Did you kno that
there are people who have
sustained a positive atti
tude for over fifty years
even in th face of poli
tical campaign divi ivene ?
ould you like to know
ho they did it? I would!
I'm riting .to call your
attention to a resource that
can tirnulate your paper's
circul tion a t very lit tl
co t. Your of thi
re ource can open the op
portunity to giving and
learning the vital pects
of our herita .
The re urce i our
older m turer, and wi r
people. Th have a posi
tive rol to play in our
, Am clean w y of life,"
a ound ork ethic, and
the ability through their
remini to commit
SA
their energy to ustaining
th vitality of our nation
and building togetherne in
our ci ty.
Illinois Representativ
Paul Simon recen tly ugges
ted that e take dvantag
of the marvelous blessing
of our older citizens by
getting them to trace their
family history or to recall
-much of their live a
they can - just remini -
ing either on paper or on
pe recorders. The' recol
lections, be ides being in
tete ting, give our heritage
vitality that cannot be
found in history boo .
Shall e t e this oppor
tunity to build communi
ty spirit?
Ho can you u this
re urce? Devote a ingle
column of your n wspaper
to uch inform tion. You
could for and get letter
or t pe 0 you ouldn 't
e en h ve to n re
port r to g therin it -ju t
edit it a lit . Your edi-
torial could . CIVIC'
group churche, youth
group and e en th Sen
ior Citizens th m lve to
gather the inform tion. T
80rrega Spring, California
High School did it
project last year and it
attracted much interest
that they continu d it this
year and are publishing a
booklet. I have an ddre
for anyone who ants to
cont ct tho hool for fur
ther inform tion.
Here ar som stimula
ting que tion for Letter
to-the Editor writers: at
do you rem mb r of your
childhood? 0 is the fir t
President you recall? t
do you remember of th
beginnings of any local in-
D STO TED LETTE
mann r in which you have
taken editorial censorship
libertie as regard my re-
ent tter comparing the
Guyana tragedy ith the"
City of Benton Harbor.
It had been my under
andin that the ' ditor'
ailbag - was for the pur
po of allowin your rea
der hip th opportunity to
express their vi and
opinions a long a th ir
Continued on P 10
THE CITIZE
ditor following letter in the April 23 i ue.
letter a addre d to the
Herald-Pall dium by Carl Editor:
Brown after th t paper I wish to express my
edited th I tter written di ti f tion ith the
by r. Brown concernin
the sirnilari ti bet een the
Guyan tr dy and B nton
H rbor. The Citizen carrl d
the full te t of r. Brown's
parent
I co
did I
t is th
of yo r
tion: re
from? Or
g t in there?
outstanding
life?
Gorge ashington said
in hi ircular to til
St tes" dated Jun
17 3: t tho u pic u
period, the ni ted S te
cam into e istence
ation, and if their Citi
zen uld no be com
pI tely fr and happy the
fault ill b entirely their
LETTE
c
Editor:
I have been a re ident
of Benton Harbor for some
time and kno veral peo
ple ho work t City HaU.
I folio the commission
and or shop meetings in
the new paper. I am be
coming more and more
concerned wi th th way
the city is being run. I
a very disturbed to e
that the city h to in
validate th residency or
dinance due to poor
managem nt and poor legal
advice in enforcing it. But
it angers me to e that
th city administration pays
lip rvice to a policy of
employing city residents
whil in fact ignoring it
completely.
They lay-off .the rub
bish truck workers and then
contract tr pic -up to a
firm in Benton Township.
If th Y had properly ad r
ti d th t they ould fur
nish two or three trucks
nd pay t balance of
.the bid for year contract,
me enterprising city resi
den ts could ha e tarted a
n busine. The city ad
mini tration and commi
on con tantly talking
about ho to encourage
busine and indu by to
come into the area. Then
in thi . tua tion they on t
give local citizens chance.
I very conf d <Wer
the fi that r. Fr e
p
E
c
•
d r. Schults u d in
persuading the City Council
to contract out the trash
pic -up. The City's Finance
Director even admitted that
their figures did not coin
cide with his. How did they
arrive at the figures?
ere did r. Schults ho
is an engineer obtain 11
thi accountin no ledge?
Or perhap they ju t jiggled
th figure around until
they said hat th y wanted
them to! I question r.
Sch.ults involvement in this
. tuation. As I understand
it, his firm w contracted
( t around 20.00 per hr.!
to perform certain duties
of the former City Engi
n r. Why he is in 01-
ing him If in trash pick-
up and preparing budgets
is beyond my comprehen-
on. I fail to hy
th t job as not advertised
d filled fter r. Henry
left, nearly a year ago.
Certainly they could have
found a qualified engineer,
and at a much cheaper
price, r ther than hire a
fum from. out . de th
city.
I don't unders d ho
a city that broke
that they have h d trouble
meeting the payroll can
afford to hire a consultant
TS. Z. orris - for
25.00 per hour! I ve
heard from peop City
Hall that n.
not a resident of Ben
ton Harbor or surrounding
are. It em that the
City support the re i-
dency clau hen it
comes to hiring a janitor
or ler s but hen an
important position with big
pay come along it goes
to non-re "dents. I am not
implying th t r. orri
is not qualifi d and ha
not made u f ul ugges
tions to th comnu on
but are they ju tified p ying
her 2� time the City
sal ry; 4 tim s
an aver ge r er's salary?
They h e been discussing
I ying off policemen
th t th city desperately
need till p ying this
person a salary t t ould
cover 0 to three police
officers.
The City Commi 'on
t wee gave the Finance
Director a rai , appro ed
a SI00 per month car
allo ance and him
trip the amount of life
insurance th t a normal
city emp oyee receives, d
then practically in the ne t
breath I yin off
more 0 en to e
money. The City Commis-
on and the department
h d are perfectly willing
to 1 y off their employee
but I haven't h ard any
of them offer in to make
y iKl1tton
to help