Letter from Blacksher to Samford RE: Single-Member District Plan Approval

Correspondence
February 12, 1986

Letter from Blacksher to Samford RE: Single-Member District Plan Approval preview

2 pages

Cite this item

  • Case Files, Dillard v. Crenshaw County Hardbacks. Letter from Blacksher to Samford RE: Single-Member District Plan Approval, 1986. 89b058a5-b9d8-ef11-a730-7c1e5218a39c. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/43235211-7d94-47aa-b8ec-828280168200/letter-from-blacksher-to-samford-re-single-member-district-plan-approval. Accessed April 06, 2025.

    Copied!

    » 

BLACKSHER, MENEFEE & STEIN, P.A. 

ATTORNEYS AT LAw 

405 VAN ANTWERP BUILDING 

P. 0. BOX 1051 

MOBILE, ALABAMA 36633-1051 

JAMES U. BLACKSHER TELEPHONE 

a ir o 
LARRY T. MENEFEE February ih 1986 (205) 433-2000 

GREGORY B. STEIN 

WANDA J. COCHRAN 

7 

; H / J 

inl 

Yetta G. Samford, Jr., Esq. 2-12 
Samford, Denson, Horsley, Pettey, 

Martin & Barrett 
P. 0. Box 2345 
Opelika, Alabama 36801 

Re: Lee County Commission Election System 
  

Dear Mr. Samford: 

This letter is a follow-up to our phone conversation last 
week. Today, Jerome Gray told me by telephone that as a 
result of a joint meeting between the Lee County Commission 
and the Auburn City Council last Monday, two of the members 
of your local legislative delegation are unwilling to approve 
the single-member district election plan previously voted on 
favorably by the county commission. It appears, therefore, 
that we reached the impasse that I was concerned about when 
we spoke last week. 

Since time is of the essence, with qualifying deadlines 
approaching, I have advised Mr. Gray that we should wait no 
longer than next week to apply for relief in federal court, 
if we hope to get district elections by 1986. At the same 
time, we are genuinely interested in minimizing unnecessary 
expense for the county commission and the citizens of Lee 
County. Accordingly, 1 propose that, at the same time that 
we file papers seeking to add Lee County to the eight-county 

v. Crenshaw County, Alabama, we attach a proposed settlement 
  

agreement between the plaintiffs and Lee County specifying the 
single-member district plan approved by the county commission 
and agreeing that elections should be held in 1986. We could 
then ask the Court to enter a preliminary injunction requiring 
the agreed upon plan to be implemented in the 1986 elections 
pursuant to a temporary court order, pending final action by 
the Alabama Legislature. 

 



  

Yetta G. Samford, Jr., Esq. 
February 5, 1986 
Page Two 

Please let me know no later than next Wednesday, February 12, 
1936, if this proposal is acceptable to vour clients. If it 
1s, we could work out the details of the court proceedings 
over the telephone, or 1 would be glad to discuss them with 
you earlier. 

For your information, I am attaching to this letter copies of 
the motion for preliminary injunction and supporting brief 
that we are filing today in the Dillard v. Crenshaw County case. 
It will familiarize you with the legal claims that we are pro- 
ceeding under and the procedural plan we are pursuing. 

  

Best regards. 

Sincerely, 

| FLACRSIER. JENEVES 2 P.A. 

vn (laches i 

James U. Blacksher 

JUB:pfm 

-Encls. 

cc: Mr. Jerome Gray (w/encl.) 
Dr. Joe L. Reed (w/encl.) 
Edward Still, Esq. 
Deborah Fins, Esq.

Copyright notice

© NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.


Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Return to top