Supplemental Answers of Plaintiff Sherman Smith to Defendants' Interrogatories

    SOUTHERN DIVISION 

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WILEY L. BOLDEN, REV. R. L. HOPE, 
CHARLES JOHNSON, JANET O. LeFLORE, 
JOHN L. LeFLORE, CHARLES MAXWELL, 
OSSIE B. PURIFOY, RAYMOND SCOTT, 
SHERMAN SMITH, OLLIE LEE TAYLOR, 
RODNEY O. TURNER, REV. ED WILLIAMS, 
SYLVESTER WILLIAMS and MRS. F. C. 
WILSON, 

Plaintiffs, CIVIL ACTION 

VS. NO. 75-297-H 

CITY OF MOBILE, ALABAMA; GARY A. 

GREENOUGH, ROBERT B. DOYLE,' JR., 

and LAMBERT C. MIMS, individually 

and in their official capacities 

as Mobile City Commissioners, 

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Defendants. 

SUPPLEMENTAL ANSWERS OF PLAINTIFF 

TO DEFENDANTS! INTERROGATORIES 
  

Undersigned plaintiff submits his supplemental answers 

to defendants' interrogatories propounded to each plaintiff 

on or about August 25, 1975, as follows: 

2. See Appendix A. 

3. See Appendix A. 

4. See Appendix A. 

31. Plaintiffs do not claim that the City of Mobile's 

form of government has discriminated against any of the groups 

of persons referred to in interrogatories 6-30, except for the 

black citizens of Mobile. 

32. When the City of Mobile's form of government 

was instituted in 1910, it was the design and intention of 

those persons who constructed and participated in the Mobile 

veEATRE to dilute the votes of black citizens and deny 

them equal access to the political processes. Thus, the 

first discriminatory action was the institution of the City's 

 



  

fo!
 resent form of government: the names of the particular per- 

sons having the described discriminatory intent are unknown 

to plaintiffs. Since the institution of the City's present 

form of government, the failure to alter or amend this form 

of government consitutes a continuing discriminatory omission. 

The names of all those persons who have supported this form 

of government, with its discriminatory effect, are unknown 

to the plaintiffs, and, indeed, it would be impossible to 

know and list the names of all such persons. A recent act 

evidencing the subject intentional discrimination was the 

opposition exhibited by Messrs. Doyle and Mims to the refer- 

endums that would have altered the City of Mobile's form of 

government. Additionally, all three of the present City 

Commissioners are parties to the continuing discriminatory 

omission, described above, of failing to alter or amend the 

City's form of government. 

41. (c)=-(y) Plaintiff has no opinion. 

43. Yes. Since blacks are generally poorer than 

whites, the filing fee required of candidates is a greater 

percentage of disposable income of potential black candi- 

dates than of potential white candidates. 

45, See Appendix A. 

50. The only factor mentioned above in No. 49 

which should be retained in a constitutional system is elec~- 

tion by a majority vote. As to other factors, see my ori- 

ginal answer to this question. 

51B. (a) The Commission form of government implies 

a multi-member panel with (Executive and Legislative) powers. 

If such a panel were to have individually-assigned powers 

which were not jointly-held under the applicable law, then 

any plan of Commission government would still be an at-large 

1 . 3 

system and thus unconstitutional given the prevailing political 

and racial situation in Mobile. 

 



  

(c) Not necessarily. 

(3d) The Executive may be elected at-large. 

I know of no limitations of the Executive powers which con- 

Arm my pe wy cern this action. = 

(e) The legislative body must have a suffi- 

cient number of members so that there is no invidious 

discrimination against political or racial minorities. At 

this point I do not know the exact minimum number. 

(f) In my opinion all members of the legis- 

lative branch should be elected from single-member dis- 

tricts. The principles for division would be lack of 

invidious discrimination against political or racial mi- 

norities. For the minimum number, see (e) above. 

(g) In my opinion, the requirement of a 

majority vote, isolated from other factors such as multi- 

member districts, is not unconstitutional per se. 

53. Yes, the use of at-large elections denies 

blacks a meaningful voice in city government and dilutes 

their voting power. 

53.(c) The problem with the type of election 

system proposed in (a) is the at-large voting factor, 

not the number of districts. Allowing all the residents 

of a political unit to decide who shall represent each 

district provides nothing but geographical dispersion, 

not locally chosen representatives. 

59. (a)-(b) Plaintiffs do not presently 

possess sufficient information on which to base an opinion 

on this matter. Plaintiffs may form an opinion when they 

acquire such information, in which case, defendants will 

be supplied with a supplemental response to this inter- 

rogatory. 

(c)-(u) Plaintiff has no opinion. 

 





  

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CRAWFORD & BLACKSHEE 
1407 DAVIS AVENUE 
MOBILE, ALABAMA 36603 

EDWARD STILL, ESQUIRE 
SUITE 601 - TITLE BUILDING 

AVENUE, NORTH 2030 THIRD 
BIRMINGHAM, 

STATE OF ALABAMA ) 
SS 

COUNTY OF MOBILE ) 

Persona 

in‘and for id County and 

2 - 

lly appeared before the unders Tae me, ignedr authority 

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St ote ol A 4 hor. {tL 

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on oath known to me, who upon being first duly sworn by me, 

deposes and says that /i¢/ is informed and believes, and on 

such information and belief states, that the foregoing answers 

to interrogatorie 

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Before me on this the 

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propounded by the defendants are true. 

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ROT Ss PUBLIC, MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA 

Bly Comm, Expires March 8, 1977, 

 



  

  

IIT TOAD ale TINT TY ™% 

EA NUE RE EW ae ad oo ne Ea BEL AG TT 

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wpe - 2 ot SpE 2 * IT ov d=} Cd vr AL ~E ie me 

T do hereby certify that on this tne day of January, 

1076 T oF ad YC YEYTINT oF +e Tor Croan SID] emen t ANSwWwSTrsS t+ 
Lo, Lise rve & Copy Oi vine 1oreqg ing oupplemental ANSWSIS CO 

Charles Arendall, Esguire 
David Bagwell, Esquire 

Post Office Box 123 
Mobile, Alabama 36601 

S. R. Sheppard, Esguire 

Legal Department 
City of Mobile 
Mobile, Alabama 36001 

  

Je Ue BLACKER 

GREGORY B. “STEIN 

CRAWFORD & BLACKSHEL 

1407 DAVIS AVENUE 

MOBILE, ALABAMA 356503 

EDWARD STILL, ESQUII 

SUITE 601 ~ TITLE BUIL 

2030 THIRD AVENUE, NORTH 

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA 353203 

JACK GREENBERG, ESQUIRE 

JAMES NABRITT, ESQUIRE 

CHARLES WILLIAMS, IIXI., ESQUIRE 

SUITE 2030 

10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE 

NEW YORK, N. Y. 10019 

Attorneys for Plaintiffs 

 



  

  

2. Yes. Clara Smith, 465 Belsaw Avenue; Age: 75 

. Myself: (a) Answered in original answers. 

(b) Corner of State St. and Davis Ave. Rented 
201 N. Cedar St. Rented 
465 Belsaw Ave. WI 

(c) Answered in original answers. 

(d) Up to 1940: the voting district en- 

compassing 201 N. Cedar St.; voting place was at the site of 

the present Dunbar School. 1940-1975: District No. 10; voting 

place on Lafayette Street. 

(e) Democrat; ever since I started voting. 

Wife: (a): 1815; 1932 

(b) My recollection of this is as follows: 

Franklin Street Lived with her parents. 
201 N. Cedar Street Rented 

465 Belsaw Avenue Owns with me. 

{c) Ves, 
(i) Mobile Co.; approximate date--1933. 
(ii)-(iii) A Mr. Snell, who was in 

charge of registering voters, tried to keep Negroes from vot- 

ing, including my wife, by requiring them to recite the Con- 

stitution. 

(d) Same as "myself", above. 

(e) Democrat; ever since she's been voting. 

45. La) Yes. 

(b)-(c) About 1973 I went to see Mr. Mims about 

needed repairs in Belsaw Avenue. He sent me to the head of the 

street maintenance department. The street was eventually 

patched but not repaved. 

During one of the campaigns, I talked to Mr. Doyle about 

police behavior--during this time A)
 white policeman had been 

shot by a black man and in the weeks following the shooting 

police harrassed and arrested blacks for the slightest viola- 

 



  

lation in such all blacks areas as Davis Avenue. There was 

no change whatsoever in police behavior following my meeting 

with Mr. Doyle. 

64. My knowledge and opinion of these matters is as 

follows: Dr. Gilchrist heads the NAACP in Mobile: Mr. LeFlore 

is more or less the head of the Non Partisan Voters League. 

These two groups currently compete for leadership roles in 

the black community, including political leadership roles. 

The Neighborhood Organized Workers (NOW) is now not in 

operation, but when headed by Mr. Beasley was a devisive in- 

fluence in the black community--I have no knowledge of the 

particulars the NOW organization. 

67. Yes. 

63. N/A 

£9, - Yes. 

70.“ "N/A 

7i. I have no opinion, 

72+. 8/5 

73. Yes. 

74. N/A 

75. I have no opinion. 

76. N/A 

77. .Yes. 

78. N/A 

79. I have no opinion. 

80. N/A 

Sl. Yes, 

82. N/A 

83. I have no opinion. 

84. N/A 

85. {a) Yes. 

{h) Yes. 

(c) I have no opinion. 

 



  

N/A 

I have 

N/A 

no opinion. 

no opinion. 

Since 1932 
Last 15 years 

ne: 

 



  

134. 

135. 

Partisan 

date). 

Johnson 

Janet LeFlore 

John LeFlore 

Maxwell 

Purifoy 
Scott 

Tavior 

Turner 

E. Williams 

S. Williams 

Wilson 

No 

Yes. Mr. Jom L. Leflore 

Voters League; last year 

3 or 4&4 years 

20 years 
Since 1929 

3 yrs. 
0 years 
Since 1729 
12 or 14 years 
12 or 14 vears 

in the office of the Non 

{I don't recall the exact