ern Scott
BE TO H aBOR - The city
comrnis . n ot d to rap the t 0 aw
firm it ·no re in in favor of an in
hou attorney in lit te onday
night.
me t bite now member of the
..
fum repre ntin the city, will leave
t fum to ume his 30 000 a year
in city hall.
Comrni ioner Randall Juergen n
ho voted ains the in hou attorney
confirmed after the meeting that the
ide of ite becoming an inhouse
attorn y fir discu at clo d
. n of the co .. n held for the-
purpo of "personnel matter .
In other are cornmi . oner approv
ed the borro ing of 500,000 from the
teo
Commi ioners amended ithout
public bearing the 1980 Community
De Jopment BI Grant budget. T .
85 ()()() from ho . rehab d 85,000
from terl er tre tment, the commis-
"0 allocated the fund to demolition.
Th money ill be u d to t r do n
the omac Hotel, comer of Fifth and
Territorial; and th ilner Hotel com r
of in and Fifth Str
illiam Lilly, Community Develop-
. ment Director, in memo to commi
e feel that your reporting of Rev.
n's objec ives h been fair, c-
cur t and comp ete. e e cannot
for u -Buseh, Inc., e
re quite proud to be the local hole
er for all Anh user-Bu h product .
•
1
Editor' note: 1'he following i II
copy of II letter by first ward city com
mi ion CIIndidlzte Amold Smith to the
South Bend Tribune. It is in �1Ue to
tl ptlge one opildon column entitled
"Benton HfII'bor eed tl Savior" appear
ing June 26 in tlult paper,
Dear Editor:
The prob em ith the he dlin art' le
of Sunday, June 26 1983 . that it
completely 0 rlooks simpl f ct:
pproxim tely 17 000 human being
live in Benton Harbor. Some of the
people might e en object to being
plowed up.
The Tribune u d me clearly
racist term in th article: 'no-hope t,
pi ce rue -named "Benton Harlem";
or the question about Benton Harbor,
"Can a sillc pur be m de of a sow'
r?" Ha the Tribune ever printed this
rt of thing bout, rity-white '
community.
One fm point - Profe r E. erric
Dodd from a quote in the Harvard
Ta s hab
for d molition
oner stated, hen the city b gins to
e pand Fi al Year 1982 fund we will
recommend the funds be tran erred
from demolition to housing rehabilita
tion in the same amount e pre ntly
recommended for transfer.'
ccording to Lilly the recommen
d tion to reallocate the funds were made
by HUD officials visiting the city.
In other busin , the city termina
ted Glen Yarbrough a the Recreation
Division Chief in Public and Recreational
Service Department, and rehired him a
an ind pendent contractor for 5 an
hour .
The move irt the city charter
prohibition on nepotism. Yarbrough
i the brother of Commissioner Charles
Yarbrough and accord" to the charter
cannot be hired bile his brother i a
commis " ner.
ayor WHce Coo e denied that the
move a an attempt to skirt the charter"
Commissioner will meet with the
St. Joseph city commi 'on July 6 in the
St. Jo ph library at 7 p.m. to discu
dispo ition of the airport.
Commissioner also set a public
h arin for July 13 at 12 noon on the
plan to red' riet the w rd . The hearing
is the result of a la it fil d by four
re " ent .
oc
co
•
rl
e hope that in the n future you ill
co ider g' . me to fair,
ccur te and complete reporting of our
go they relate to the Blac commu
ni y in Benton Harbor. e belie e the
f cts for them lves, and e
ould . ppreciate your telling "the other
'de of the tory" to your reader .
uth End � the fir
beer d" tributor in Berrien County to
hire a Blac driver. Gary Harmon a
our fir B ck dri r, back in 1980
(consider bly before the Operation PUSH
boycott and since that time e have h d
•
r IC
La Revie, ay 8, 1932, id, 'Busi
ne .." hich i the economic organiza
tion of society . . .' private property
only in qualified sen , and society
may properly demand that it be carried
on in such a ay a to fegu rd the
intere of tho who deal with it
employee or con umers." Do you
believe that the leaders of K- art (mov
ing out of Benton Harbor for no good
reason or leaders of other businesse
are living up to their cial responsi-
bilities leaders in society of free
d equal people?
r. Zollar say leadership is mo ly
to blame. I y that the lac of leader
ship in busine and industry " mo tly
to blame. For example, ho many
example can you find of profitable
busin closing down even after thou-
nds of people, mostly nior citizen ,
petitioned them to tay.
Sincerely
Arnold E. Smith
191 Searle Street B.M.
15 Blac employee. At tn pre nt time
we have " Blac employee one of
whom i serving in a supervi ry cap -
city, and one Hispanic employee who i
our Office anager.
- 0 other beer distributor in Berrien
County ha e en one Bl k employee,
and yet e are singled out being th
"bad guy." here i the commitment
on the part of the local iller, Pabst
and Schlitz wholesalers? (The com
panie h not employed a Blac pet-
n in the past ten years.
-South End Beverages has provided
financial support for the local Police
Athletic League and for Coach arson's
girls' track team compri d mostly of
inner city Blac youth.
-South End Bever g ha hosted
and sponsored the folIo ing events for
our Blac community organization nd
our involvement again began long before
the Operation PUSH boycott:
-South est ichigan Sports
ciati n' Invitational Golf
Tournament - e have been their
sponsor and host since 1979,
Including ho pitality rooms and all
01 ponsor of la t year s First
nnual Benton Harbor Invitation
al Golf Tourney.
- ctive in the planning and pro
motion of River Fe t I and II in
an ttempt to create community
pirit and bring ummer time
recreation opportunities to the
city' resident .
-Personally, Shirley and I ctively
pport the following community en
deavor :
ember of F' t Presbyterian
Church on orton Hill in Ben- .
ton Harbor, and actively invol d
in ch project the "com-
munity rd . en of
the orton Hill area· the church'
food b n for needy famili .
the umrner employment pro
gram for local teen ers (la n
care, Jean Kloc Par refre -
ment stand, and community
rvice projects; and the after
school and summer program
which offer tutoring recreatio ,
mu . c and t to the children
in the orton Hill ea.
-Financial upport to 4-H and
Boy Scout in th inn r city
providing holarship to urn
mer camp for an inner ci y child
through the Department of Soc' I
S r ice and pro 'din fin ncial
id for local B1 c udent to
attend Lake ichigan CoUeg .
-Acti ly promoted ithin the
bu . community n are
ne of the campaign to" e
tlanta' Children.' U of our
company vehi I s rried bumper
tic er indo ating our con ern
nd commitment to d the
effort to raise money to put
n end to uch nsele mur-
der.
Th li t could belabor ted e n
more, but that ould rve litt p -
po . In conclu "on we're proud t
a part of Benton Harbor nd to do bu '-
ne in this community. ddition y
e are totally commi t d to the el-
fare of the many peopl ho live d
, or in our city.
Th nk you for allo in
opportunity to' expr our
and concerns on this matter. pefull
e can or to ether for be ter
more viable city futu e unfold .