, Benton Harbor
Week of Dece ber 30, 19 0
'. I
MICHIGA CI lZE
Page 13
een city, town I hip
fou -phase plan of the par to II: an Interpeted Center and a
the ity commission. nature wal and educational
ockow said the hearing space; Pha e III: retreat cen-
was a pre-presentation of the ter and phase IV: Great
mas er plans for Jean Kloc Lake Aq
Par and to ge itizen input Com
on he project efore it i Yarbrou h as ed about the
fi a ized ', Com nts will be fee to aintain the p-ar
take until J�nu ry 7, 1991. _ which is question asked by
I luded m P ase I of th many of be city residents.
$1 . illion proj ct will � "Will be fee be 100 high
par ng, gate ho e, ecurit for city idents to· pay to
fcnc ng, dunes r reared ob enter the ar ."
serv ti o n tow r , picni Anyon with questions or
tabl s, she� t�rs and grill, commen can call the City .
orne utihty ork; Pba e Engineer at City Hall:
- Annexetion will split tax revenues bet
By Beratce Bro D
At Monday night's
December 17, Benton Harbor
City Commission meeting,
three Public Hearings were
held for the. Annexation of
the Dunlop project, Con-
olidated Cablevision and
the Master Plan of Jean
Klock Park.
The . ty commission ap
proved a contract wi th Ben
ton Charter Town hip for the
annexation of 45 acres' of
land, north of the Twin Cities
Ro Field Airport and east
of C y tal avenue for 'the
Dunlop Automotive Com
posite plant.
Sue Lackey, Director of
Planning for the CEDC said
the 5-10t Industrial Park will
be "major sset" to Benton
Harbor and Benton
To n hip. "It will be
landscaped, well signed, was present at the Hearing to
well lighted and well thank the City Commission
monitored," she said. for working with Township
She said the anne ation on the project and others.
will last for a period of 50 "We're .all really excited
years and will provide taxes, and we believe that the con
being split between the two tract annexation is a fair
communitie . And it will agreement to both com
allo CEDC to bring .other munities," ielsen aid.
businesses into the C01ll-' C ·
munity which will provide. ttY. unveils Jean
tax bases to both Benton Har- Klock Park
bor and Benton Township' At the Public Hearing r
. and provide job for the re i- the Ma ter Plan for Jea
dents of Bent n Harbor nd Klock Park, City Engineer
Township. Roland KJockow presented a
Lac ey told the. (1\mi - _#
sion that tax revenues w'lll]e _.
spli t be ween the City and
Benton C.hat:_tu Townshi P.'
the City ill receive
$200,000 in tax revenue and
the Town hip, $180,000 .
Larry iel en, Supervisor
of Benton Charter Town hip
A ault victim says' pollee don't
help; add- racial In ult to Injury ,
Dy8e
Oro n
Correspond�nt
During Citizens Com
ments at Monday night'
Benton Harbor City Commi -
sion meeting, Dec. 17, a city
re ident cl imed that when
she called the Benton Harbor
Police Department iand told
them that she had been
threaten to be killed by her
ex-boyfriend and she needed
protection and they refused
to give it.
To add insult to injury,
Ta ha Palmer, 23. said one of
the officers who answered
the call m de racially insult-
. ing remarks.
Palmer appeared before
the city commis ion with a
swollen and bruised face with
bite marks on her cheek,
saying she w s beaten by her
ex-boyfriend and hi family
after he filed a complaint
against him Cor stealing her
TV nd other per onal item
from her ho e.
She id er ex-boyfriend
told her th t si nee he had
filed a comp l int against
him. "he might s well kill
her."
Palmer aid be had talked
to Officer O'Brian at the
pol ice department about the
matte r on numerou o.c -
ion. nd he told her he
couldn't do anything unril the
complaint a filed, but be
aid she still pleaded with
him for protection.
She id fter the attack by
her ex-boyfriend and his
family. Sunday evening
December 16, the police were
called and Officers Pace and
O'Brian came out.
"Officer Pace went off on
me about a commpl int I a
suppo ed to ign t 0 month
go," he aid. and "he w
talking 0 rude to me and so
bad to me and said' I can't
keep on writing O\1t com
plaints and h wa tired of
coming over here."
She said she told him
omeone was going to end up
dead if she didn't get ome
help.
Roshanda Robitl on 18,
who I ivcs at the same address
as Palmer, aid. she asked the
officer, "what are you going
to do when somebody hurts
omebody or someone kills
somebody" .
She said O'Brian laughed
and aid, "Well Roshanda,
I'm goi ng to tell you like this,
whatever y'awl Black folk
do, that's y'awl. If y'awl kill
one another, that's ju tone
more of y'awl niggers off the
streets. "
Ro handa said all the of
ficers did wa a. k when. was
Palmer birthday.
"I h ve made. 0 many
reports of charges of being
abused and jumped on, and
nothing ha been done" S id
Palmer.
Public Safety Director
Sam W, tson in a phone, inter
view Dec. 18, told the
Michigan Citizen that O'
Brien w shift commander
th t night. but his name did
not appe r on tbe report filed
by officers Henry Pace and
Tim Volt.
Wat on said he did not
kno hether or not O'erien
wa at the scene.
atson aid the incident
was under inve ugauon.
Palmer told the City Com
mi sion that, Officer Pace
and O'Brian need to be taken
off the Benton Harbor Police
Department. .
City Manager Steve Man
ning aid he wH I have the
police offieial look int9 the
incident.
Commissione
hara sing his
By Bernice Brown
Benton Harbor City Com
mis ioner George Wysinger,
accu ed City Manager Steve
Manning and Mayor William
Wolf of harassing his wife.
Wysinger accused M n
ning and Wolf of ordering a
Benton Harbor Police Officer
to go to his home and is ue
two traffic tickets to hi wife,
Ernestine for running red
light and fail ure to stop Cor a
police officer when sig
nalled. "It's just nothing but
pu e harassment," he said.
According to a police
report, Patrolman Scott
Quick, who ha been With. the
department for only a short
time. said he saw Mr .
Wysinger driving llorihbound
on Britain Avenue at Pipes
tone, ben. e drove tbrough
a red ligbt. Quick said he
turned on bi. overhead
&iahts. Wysiftger did not
stop, but continued to er
residence on Washinaton
Street.
In tbe report Q\lict .aid he
asked Wysinger for iden
tification and learning that
she was tbe wife of Commis
sioner George Wy inger,
didn't give her a ticket be
cause he didn't want any
negative publicity. In tead,
he gave her a verbal warning.
tell your
men, hat if they ot a prob
lem w th me to de I witb me
perso ally and no my rami-
ly," Inger told Mannina.
"Ju t keep you d mn hands
orr m wife and fa ily.
"l d n't appreci te it w n
you a tack my wi e and y
family for my acti os here on
MoneJ y night ," he aid.
"And f you got problem
with e," - you deal with
me personal I y. I ave never
attacked your wi e , never
said anything out r the way
to your wi te, I treated her a
your wife and only your
wife," Wy Inger aid.
MR. W Y 'I G R, who
was present at the eeting,
aid the officer cam b ck to
her home, at 10:45 pm., five
hours later to i ue her the
tickets.
She 'aid Offiee
told her, "he cho e n
her a ticket", but he
back to i sue the ti
Detective Lt. Milt
if he didn't he w
uspended.
"If the police oCfi
ran a .red light a.n
obeyed hi light, wh did he
ask me what kind of Ir did I
have and what make my car
was", aid Mrs. Wy i ger. "If
you kno omeone rna red
"lbt and you were behind
them. you don't as them
what kind of c r th y were
driving," .
Mr . Wysinger s id , e
told the officer that she
would be at Monday nilht's
City Commi ion meeting to
talk about the matter.
After the meetin Man
ning said he and Wolf eren't
con ulted about the ticket,
they didn't kno a ything
about the tic ct un it they
were issued,