Byllelrldl:e Bro.,.
COl7Ul--
�._..HARBOR -During the
Monday, February 12, Benton
Hubor ty Commission meet­
ing, Commi sioner George
Wysi accused City gel
S eve Manni of lying about Lt,
Marvin Fiedler being releaved of
his duties r the tragic booting
on January 18, bere, Fielder, a
29 year 'Veteran of t Benton
HaIbor Police Department, shot
and killed 21 year-old Norris
Step � Maben.
Wysinger stated that he saw
Fiedler at the police department
working, ith unifonn and wear­
ing hi service revolver while
I Manning said be was supposed to
be uspeDded.
� denied the accusa­
tion, and told Wy in er he would
put his job on the line by resigning
if Fiedler bad been bac towork.
"The officer that was involved in
tbe hooting has not wor ed for
Benton Harbor Police' Depart­
ment ince minutes after the
shooting," be aid.
. "There is a lot of unanswered
que lions in ·thi thing," aid
Wysinger (referring to the 19-
P ge press release on the ruling of
the Ma n shooting).
"I k Mannin ha
W ison, (public Safety Di
to come to thi . . g 10
q tio, but arming id be
couldn't make it," Wysinger 'd.
Watson � up duriDg
Commission' pre-meeting. but
Manning bcckoDed him to leave.
"I belie� in an eye for an eye
and tooth for a tooth·, said
Wysinger. The entire Benton
HaIbor City Police Department
hould be investigated, be added.
CITY RESID»ITRICKEY
Hi� 646 COlfu, told Mayor Wil­
liam Wolf that he wanted to gi�
him some suggestions when ad­
dressing community groups.
"Whenever you come before
community groups, I wou d like
for you to tal to us with dignity
and respect," said Hill.
Hill said he was referring to a
previous meeting where the sub­
ject of getting more Black police
officers to work for the city.
Mayor Wolf had made a state­
ment about "lowering standards
and quality" to hire Black of­
ficers.
"I my elf, resent that state­
ment", said Hill, "because I know
in my genes flow the blood of
some of the greatest people in the
history of America. I know some
of us act like we are off and crazy
at times, but the majority of us is
till here and we are human - and
have very high standard . We
don't ant anybody to lower any
s for us use it i an
·We ould ppreciate it
wbeDever you addIess us, that you
would address us on a level of
high slaDdalds, that's bat e are
looking for," Hill added.
Mayor Wolf responded,
clarifying his statement about the
hiring 01' Black police officers,
saying that "If e can't attract
them and e can't bring people up
and train them to be officel'S, then
we can't find qualified applican
out there that are willing to come
and work for the city of Benton
Harbor, - then what am I sup­
pose to do? My conclmio'n to that
was, if you force us to hire Bl ck
officers right now, what i
presenting it elf to the City
Manager, we would ha� to drop
our standaIds and we simply as a
city cannot afford to do 'that right
now." .
"NO WAY DID I mean to
imply that there are 00 qualified
Blac candidates out there, I'm
simply saying, they h ve not
stepped forward to apply for work
for the City of Benton Harbor.
Manning said of the years he
have been with the city four Black
officers has been hired.
Hill also said as long as he
could remember whenever a
crime is brought again t any
police officer fo hooting a Blac
�"�JDIle, since the 60' it has always
been "j uSd ab homicide".
"Everybody in the community
knew the verdict of it (referring to
I.
- THUR 1G-7:30 F
WCHARTERS
I C.
WILLIAMS
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GRAYU G L WlLUA S
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Maben sbooting), - irdidn't take
a month and we didn't have to
read a 19-page report to )mow it
justifiable homicide," said
Hill.
"I thought it ould be justifi­
able homicide, but t the end -
with an apolOgy, and I feel that the
community hould get an apol­
ogy," he said.
Manning said the decision w
not by the Attorney General, but
by the County Prosecutor and the
city had no part in the investiga- .
tion.
MANNING SAID THE city
tarted it's own investigation on
Thursday, February 8, and should
be completed at the end of that
week. "I don' tthink it is necessary
for the city to make an apology for
an investig lion and a decision
that was made at random outside
our juridiction," Manning aid. "I
don't think - and I'm not speak­
ing for tbe commi ion - that the
city owes an apology for the in­
vestigation or the findings that
was ruled 'by the prosecutor' of­
fice. "
Hill continued saying that
Black men are known to run from
the pol ice - "that' nothinp
new", s id Hill. "The police
haven't caught on to that yet. I just
hope in th future that they
(POlice) would use better judge­
ment"
AJ 0 Monday night Commi -
sioner Wy inger voted against
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WILLIA
1490ll
several resoluliom the otbr c0m­
missioners approved.
� COMMISSION voted
to reject a previo bid of $5,000
for the old Hennes Building, lo­
cated at 136 Pipestone and ap­
proved the sale of the same build­
ing to businessman and developer
R Hadley for $1.00. I
City Manager Steve Manning
said the commi ion approved the
sale of the building about six
months ago to Maurice Dod­
dington for $5,000 but he was not
able to meet all the requirements.
With thesaJ ofthc.property IQ
HadJey for $1.00, Manning said
Hadley wouJd use the building for
the patro of the Soup Kitchen,
located on Pipestone, n xt to the
Benton Harbor Senior Citizen
Building.
The patrons of the Soup
Kitchen will have a place to go
inst d ofloiteringaround in front
of other busin ses downtown.
Also th ci ty would be able to use
a parking lot owned by Hadley, on
tbe comer of Colfax Avenue and
Main Street, (next to 100 Curren­
cy Exchange).
Previou Iy the Downtown
Development Authority (DDA)
have I ed the parkin lot from
HadJey for 250 a month. The
leased expired in December, c-­
cording to n Anthony, DDA
Directo
Wys'
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