ion for
o er t 0 ours, onday ev n­
. g, the Be ton Harbor City
Commission voted to gi pay
to City ager Ellis
itchell, department head, and
deputy department heads.
Th commi . on lOted 5 to
2, with Commissioner chael
Govatos abstaining, to grant
. tcheU a salary increa to
round 50,000, from his pre-
nt S46 000. tchell' eon-
tr ct as extended to February
1, 1986.
Commissioner Charles Hen-
derson and yor ilee Cooke
t th t 0 di nting votes.
v add $7 ,000 annually
e meeting, Hender n
that the commission is
"giving away the shop, as
we'-ye al ay done."
, e're paying, right now,
over about 10,000 more than
hat that po tnon calls for,
and I don't think the people
of this community can afford
to continue paying those out­
r geou wage ," Henderson said.
"If 1 were to recommen
anything to the City Manager,"
Henderson continued, "I would
recommend a fi-ye percent cut­
bac in his salary . .. e just
can not afford it; and it's high
time that thi commission do
something about it. 1 don't
thin the people would under-
stand it - I don't understand
· "
Coo e said that e believe
that the commi ion should
have 'held salaries. . . for at
least another months or
o - then I probably would
have gone along with the vote
· .. 1 didn t think the city could
afford it at thi time."
Gov: to said that "he doesn't
buy the hole p c ge" con-
cernin itchell's pact, which
ould allo Mitchell to involve
himself in out . de busin ven-
tures.
'I can live with the fact -
the $4000 incre for the
manager ... but. .. e need his
presence here. Somebodys got
to run the ship here and be
here," said Govato .
Commissioner Juanita Echo
accu a some member of the
.commi ion of politicing, but
did not· single out a specific
commi ioner. Henderson re­
sponded that he "probably
won't be rving on this com­
mi ion by the time election
time (does) come up."
· After the meeting, Hender-
n said that his vote had
"ab lutely nothing to do with_
me politicing. Politicing for
what? job that pays me
25 a week? 1 have nothing
to politic for. . . I· wa ju t
very concerned that we could
not afford it."
itchell was reportedly
ing for a salary of S2,ooo.
He refu d to comment after
the me tinge
Coo e Henderson, and
Govato commend d itchell
for his fIne work but felt that
Contin on p 2
TURN TO PAGE 10
25.
lift
Every
Voice: '.
and fng.
BI ck History onth gets underw y th inspiring
melody of "The egro ational Anthem" will be
ec oing cro western Michigan from church m ting
halls to school mblies to college convocation center .
Who gave African-American this inspring son of
unity?
The words ere compo d by James .eldon John-
son in poem, "Lift Ev ry Voice nd Sing. '
John n' brother, J. osamond Johnson, wa one
of America' famo .� u icians in the po t-Recon ruct­
ion period. It w J. Rosamond Johnson who put his
brother' ord to mu ic.
The popularity of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"
endured fo alrno t a century a generation after
generation of Black Americans found in piration for
the struggle in its melody and ord.
John n wanted to create a poem to reflect the
til tory, heritage and future of frican-American in
thi country.
Thi ong i a pecial tribute to t e many BI
.American who gave their Ii enerations go, that
the freedom th y dreamed ut uld become reali-
ty_
Out of re pect to the brave forefathers and
m ther , audi nee stand whenev r h aring the ng
ng or played.
Jame eldon Johnson w
and a diplomat. or many years h
cretary of the ational clation
mem of Colored People AACP.
Johnson often traveled