_,
The group organizing
the recall of Benton Harbor
ayor Joel Patterson and
Commissioners Arnold B0-
lin and orval e an­
nounced their ,oala and pro­
gre at a onday morn­
ing p conference at the
Library.
, e have 520 of the
required 538 petitio :"
Milen Gray told The Cit­
izen, "and expect to col­
lect well over 600 by the
. end of the wee .n
Gray said the r can
effort. as not the ork of
anyone group, but r ther
of concerned citizen .
He also in . ed that
the group had tried to
eep the recall out of the
until after the mil­
election, ' e didn't
ant to combine the two
es,.' e sai .
The text of the state­
ment· ed by the recall
committee follows:
In an effort to re tore the
integrity and good name of
the City of Benton Harbor
th Citizen Recall Com­
mittee has found it
sary to exercise their co ti­
tutional rilhts, eoncer­
. ned citizens, to acmely
the recall and rem<ml from
office of ayor Joel Pat-
terson and COD'lIDiJIionen
orval ei and Amo d
Bolin.
As stated in the recall
petition J • this commit­
tee' po ·tion that ayor
Patter n and - Col1ll1lilsio­
ner Weiss d Bolin are
guilty of malfeasance in
pub· office by virtue of
their individual and col­
lective apptempts to en­
cro ch upon the po en
and respon ibilltie dele­
gated/ ogmed to the of­
fICe of the City anager
by the Charter for the
City of Benton Harbor.
They ha persistently, wil­
fully, and intentionally
sought to interfere with the
administrame functioning
MlClUlJlIl' fir B Congressman, Char
, wiD. retire t the end of his current term. of the city's go rnment
goe he ys with a "clear ." The 26 and city penonnel in the
Year house veteran as convicted of defrauding the perfonnance of ir dut-
hich h by king to both
go nunent in a payron ' back achem w· e directly and indirectly in-
is no appealing. . ho represents Detroit.. fluence the operating face
founded d chaired the Congre 'onal B Caucus of city g roment. They
the fUlt Co to be censured by the are guilty of conJCiously
, S8 y for . b and wilfully encoura�g
A prepared tement J ed by hospitalized
St. Joseph Town pervisor Char T, illiam-
n and read t the onday night Township Board
meeting indicated out-of-court negotiations with
Benton Harbor 0 "increued ater rate had failed,
iDiamJon' statement announced that the Town­
ship ill return to court. ' e have no choice but
to as quickly posslble restraining order pre-
tina the impolition this proposterou rate in-
ere d, for the I g term, to . other alter-
natives to proYiding iter, to our F airplain re .-
dents," The tement 'd. illiam feels BH'
rate increue is cfu to mismanagement and not
bued on ctual co s and the amounts to a tax.
IthOUt court intenention the te will become
effectift June 1.
JUDGE TO DECIDE DESEG RETRIAL
U.s. District Jud Douglas • Hilhnan an-
nounced on ay he will make a decision "thin
30 day on bether to grant a ne trial in the Ben­
ton Harbor desegregation it. en Judge oel
Fox tepped down in February, the switch to Judge
Hillman allo ed Coloma and Eau Claire attorneys
to peti 'on for a Be trial. In the mean bile, Judge
HiIhnan has agreed to stay a court-ord red survey
for' of r ' discrimination· other Berrien
County 001 districts until after the on 0
a n trial. Hilhn has eduled ugus 4 the
date for either the De trial, or remedy hearing
if n trial is not ar red.
YSB: extend
Th Benton Harbor
Youth Service Bureau
(ySB) Office will extend
their in e hour tomorro
and Thund y for Benton
Harbor youth to pply for
IUIIIIIler jo sccordm to
YSB �or D,O. Spence.
Spence . d the YSB
Office at 145 . ain will
be open on Tue ay
20 and Thursday, ay 22
from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
He said the applications
for the Summer Youth Em­
ployment Program (SYEP)
funded by CETA will still
be accepted onday
through Friday during re­
gular office hours from
8:30 to 4:00.
EftD though th Ben­
ton Harbor youth will be in
:hool longer this year,
FOOD ST BILl PASSES
The thr t of June cut-off in the federal food
p program disappeared I Thursday Co
ve dy final pptoval to fundin extension.
Th 2,56 billion appropriation authoriz the pro-
gram thr September 30.
Republican Congre an, D �d Stockman
ho rep ts South e Michigan voted against
th bill. The pproval p d the Ho 316 - 56,
and th Sen te 57 - 17.
CITIZE
JeT
G OUP
OVES TO
SH
PRO-
r
o objectio ere heard to Benton Township
development project for Urband Avenue from
me 80 people who cro ded into the ay 14
hearing. A unanimous vote of approval from the
Citizen' Distrkt Council eave only the formal
pproval from the nton Board of Trustees to
unch the pr· which will acquire property, demo-
b-ltandard buildin and rele1l the land for
indu rial use. A small Citie Housing and Urban De-
lopment grJIlt will finance the project hich in­
clude both of Urbandale from Territorial Rd.
to East aiD t. and the e side only of argarette.
ign-up hours
Spence ·d it . e ntial
for the youth to apply for
summer job no ,
SYEP will begin in
Jun and run eight to ten
ee , Youth will or
25 hours a eek for mini­
mum e at non-profit
and other public encies.
In order to be eli -
ible, youth mu t be 14 to
21 year old and re . dent
of Berrien County. Youth
are ed to brio their,
social curity card and do-
cumentation of their
family's incom hen they
pply. Youth under 18
years old mu bring their.
p ent or guardian hen
they pply.
For further informat­
ion, call the YSB Office at
927-4427.
role in placing our city in
the condition we fmd it in
today, As elected officials
they ha e failed in their
public duty to protect the
public pe ce, moral , health,·
safety, and general elfare
of the citizen they ere
elected to repre nt.
Another re n that
has prompted this recall is
the di tisfaction with Ben­
ton Harbor government as
it is currently being operat­
ed. There ha been de­
liberate c of conununi­
cation and an active effort
to block any citizen in­
volvement except for indi­
vidual who have supported
ayor P tterson and Com­
mi loner Bolin and We'
in their cl d door secret
meetings. This deliberate
refusal to e tablish an hon­
e flow of information and
the effort to discourage the
participation of citizens in
their own government h
degraded the City Charter
and has almo hopele
contaminated the political
and social environment of
this city.
Th of any type
of positive and hone effort
on the part of Patterson,
Bolin, and e· ha only
served to accelerate the
city" decline and decay.
This ituation has not only
had a demoralizing effect
on the City of Benton
Harbor, but has p ced this
city in an embarruing po it­
ion in its relationship with
other local municipalitie
and tate and federal agen­
cies. If Benton Harbor .
to prosper it Can only do
, so hen the entire com-
mi . on and citizenry are
ab e to p the elfare
of the city before any
political or economic gains
that misht accrue becau
of their e ted office. -
To more !early de­
fine the po 'tio that the
Citizens Recall Committ
hu outlined aboft the fol-
to· specific examp
given hich m� be
con 'dered u repreten tive
of types of improper
political manipulatio
hielt have placed this city
in the po ·tion it no
fUlda i '. For pie:
(1). bnproper Ie-
LAYOFFS
FI
S
Both Equipment Co. and the Whirlpool
Corporation - two of the area", largest employers -
announced additioned lay - offs last eek. Clark
laid off 35 to 40 sa1uied employee at its Buchan­
nan general office and Credit Corporation. Clark'
de . not to fiB other 35 to 40 vacancies will
bring total layoffs of offICe n to 10 percent.
. ationally Clark . off some 1,400 hour�y em- .
p oyees according to a Clark spa esman. Whirlpool
announced the declining sales of automatic w rs
will force a '�y t do of the manufacturing
operations beginning ay 26. So 1,500 people
will be affected. Currently 400 division employ
are on indeftnite lay-off.
DIGGS RETIR
wrm CLE
CO SCIE CE
th existence of 'tuations
in this community hich
ituation create improper
and illegal conflicts of inter­
est. Th key word hi
ould be noted in par­
ticular is "malfeasance" ,
They have, in effect vio­
lated the public trust and
duty which is inherent in
their po ition . elected
officials.
It is not the inten­
tion of this recall com­
mittee to jeopardize the
functioning of city govern­
ment by king either the
recall of th entire com­
mission or a majority of
its members. After care­
ful consider tion it is felt
that th actions of Com­
rrusaoners ells, Covatos,
Yarbrough, Eaman, Kirby,
and Echols ere not of an
intentional and deliberate
nature ere ayor Pat­
tenons or Commi . oners
Bolin and Weiss. These
commissioners, we feel,
were mislead into pport­
ing the actions of the
individuals. Ho er, it
auld be understood that
if indeed the abo e ment­
ioned commissioners have
deliberately ed apin
the best interests of the
community they will also
be subject to recall.
It should be clearly
understood that this com­
mittee ' not attemptin
to undermine the govern­
ment of Benton Harbor.
It . acting to restore
faith in city government.
nus recall is needed to
create an environment that
wiD bring the city b
economically and spiritual­
ly. This recall can very
en be the turning point
in the revitilization of the
city. If the citize of
Benton Harbor do not e
this opportunity to repin
control it can only �t
in the final breakdown of
Benton Harbor. The im­
mediate reality is tliia: that
poverty, crime" delin­
quency, and unemployment
have increued in city
at a fri&hteniD& rate, and
that the If aerving
io of ayor Pattenon"
with the active cooperation
of Conuniai Bolin and
, have p yed am· or
structuring of city depart­
ments in violation of the
City Charter, It ould
be noted that Patter n,
Bolin, and We' were th
chief authors of this re-
ructuring.
(2). The continued
in inappropriate and in­
flammatory comments by
Patter n, Bolin, and ei
regarding among others:
(a). The poor and mi­
nority citizens of this
city.
(b), Attempts at cha­
r ter . ation in
an effo t to discredit
anyone that may hold
an opposing viewpoint
or that m y be in
position to expo
their political chican­
ery.
(3), The determined
effort made by th in­
dividual to that the
part-time City Attorney re­
ceived his 85,000 plus re­
tainer despite the fact that
the city w facing critical
fmancial problem The
only justification being
Commi . ner Bolin stated,
"a difference between �
pi and oranges".
(4), The m.lSDWlaIte­
ment of th Community
Development Block Grant
Program which the Depart­
ment of Ho ' and Urban
Development hal placed the
City of Benton Harbo
under federal coo.
(S). The denial of
any knO'Wledge of the city'
fmancial tatus by yor
Patterson despite the f
that such information
available for his J1 and
planning. In point of fact
the new media and private
citizens, axcording to th
ayor, kne more about
the city' fmancial probl
than he did.
(6), Th continued
viola . oDS of the MlCllJgJlD
Freedom of InformationAct
. regar th reque by
citizens for fmancial d
other inform tion.
If Benton Harbor .
tum i If aroond it
require th direct invo �
ment of i citize
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