Dillard v. Crenshaw Hardback 3 Index

    1986 

  

27/12 

2/13 

2/18 

2/20 

2/20 

2/20 

2/20 

2/21 

2/21 

2/21 

DILLARD V. CRENSHAW 

HARDBACK #3 

Letter to Y.G. Samford, Jr., Esq. 1 
from J.Blacksher re: conversation 
with Jerome Gray that Lee County 
Commission and Auburn City Council 
met and two members are not willing 
to approve single member district 
election plan voted on. Suggestion 
made at time file Lee County papers 
that proposed settlement agreement 

be made between Lee County and 

plaintiffs. 

Rrief in Response to Defendants' Motions 2 
to Dismiss and/or Sever and/or Transfer 
and in Support of Plaintiffs' Motions for 
Preliminary Injunction and Class 
Certification 

Plaintiffs' Second Discovery Request 3 

Response to Interrogatories by Defendant, 4 

James D. Taylor 

Response to Interrogatories by Defendant, 5 

Timothy A. Hawsey 

eo
) Response to Interrogatories by Defendant, 

Martha Kirkland 

Response to Interrogatoriesk by Defendant 7 
Escambia County 

Letter to W.0. Kirk, Esg. from James 8 
Blacksher enclosing a draft of proposed 
consent decree and Consent Decree between 
Plaintiffs and Pickens County Defendants 

Letter to Warren Rowe, Esq. from J. 9 
Blacksher enclosing a draft of proposed 
consent decree and Consent Decree between 
Plaintiffs and Coffee County Defendants 

Order plaintiffs' 1/16/86 motion to change 10 
identification of parties is granted; 
plaintiffs' 2/6/86 petition for preliminary 
injunction and class certification order and 
all of defendants motions to dismiss, transfer, 

 



  

2/21 

2/21 

2/21 

2/21 

2/21 

2/2] 

2/272 

# Ee 

sever and similar motions are set for 
evidentiary hearing on 3/4/86; parties to 
file proposed findings of fact and conclusions 
of law by 2/18/86; that parties are to exchange 
by 2/24/86 lists of witness and exhibits to 
be used at the 3/4/86 hearing 

Letter to H.D. Jones, Jr., Esg. from J.U. 11 
Blacksher enclosing a draft of proposed 
consent decree and Consent Decree between 
Plaintiffs and Calhoun County Defendants 

Letter to Jack Floyd, Esa. from Ed Still 
enclosing a written proposal of settlement 
and Consent Decree regarding Etowah County 

No
 

Letter to D.L. Martin, Esg. from Ed Still 1 
enclosing written proposals of settlement 
and Settlement between Plaintiffs and 
Lawrence County Defendants 

Letter to J.W. Webb, Esg. from J.U. 13 

Blacksher enclosing draft of a proposed 
consent decree and Consent Decree between 
plaintiffs and Escambia County Defendants 

Amended Answer to Request for Admissions 14 

of Defendants, Etowah County et als. 

Motion by Defendant Richard Proctor 15 
requesting to be excused from the 
participation in the proceedings 

Answer to Etowah County Defendants to 16 
Plaintiffs' Second Discovery Request 

 



  

vor benefits through 
0c 1 Security could det 

its hy combining his railroad 
1 Security earnings, Gore said. 

ed earnings are payable by either 
Railroad Retirement Board or the 1 

ional SR Inc, the 
ompany of American Fami y 
iblishers Choice, has advised its 1 
arehouse to reship the Christy Lane 
bum and book you ordered. It should 
‘rive soon if it has not been received | 
ready. To Jerome F. of Tuscaloosa: 
uman Potential Magazine gave youa 
orated refund on your subscrip 

To Christine S. of Brit 
ear Shoes is sending you a refund for | 
9.71 for the pantsuit you ordered but 

. To Christine F. of 
rent: Claudia Collette Inc. is sending 

never received. 

an her shipment of the perfume sam- 
ler you ordered. It asked that should | 

receive its original shipment to 
. To Mrs. Joseph P. 

f rattville Sears Roebuck has issued 

e on your Sears accoun 
e the charges ¢ on that merct 

Mail complaints and questions to on 

Box 2553, Birmingham, Als. 
35202. Include your name, address, 

| phone number and photocopies of docu- 
ments related to your case: a canceled 

check, a money order or a credit card 
statement. Letters used in the column 
may be edited for brevity. Sorry, tele- 
phone complaints cannot be accepted.     

you re right. 

Power of Positive Students was developed 
by Fairfield native William Mitchell, a for- 
mer Birmingham teacher who served as 
superintendent of schools in Athens. Mit- 
chell formed his theory of education — 
which applies the positive thinking princi- 
ples made famous by Peale, Robert Schuller 
and others — while attempting to revamp a 
school system in shambles in Sumter, S.C. 

Mitchell wrote “The Power of Positive 
Students,” published in 1985, which chroni- 
cles the effect of his positive approach. 

“lI saw the book in a bookstore and I 
brought it back and my class started read- 
ing it,” said Mrs. Hart, who teaches at 
Minor. 

The book’s positive thinking approach 
worked so well in marketing classes that 
Mrs. Hart took the concept to Principal 
Judson Jones, and sold him on expanding it 
to include the whole school in November. 

It’s not a formal program. 
It’s more an attitude of caring spread by 

Mrs. Hart and students who caught the fire 
from her. 

Leas PC A SLUR C1I- CS LECT, 

vandalism drops}. : . suspensions drop, grades 
come up,” Mrs. Hart said. 

“It will be very interesting to compare 
their achievemerit test scores from last year 
with this year,” said Nez Calhoun, spokes- 
woman for the Jefferson County Board of 
Education. 

While Minor High wasn’t a bad school 
before the program began, people on both 
sides of the teacher’s desk say something 
was needed. 

“We knew we had excellent teachers 
doing everything they could to teach and 
help the kids, but something was missing,” 
Jones said. 

Bart Terry, a junior, said, “I hated school. 
I was miserable.” 

Then came Mrs. Hart. 
When she began teaching at Minor last 

fall, she had been away from teaching for 
Seven years. She had taken care of two chil- 
dren, now 2 and 4 years old, worked as a 
fashion buyer for individual clients, and 
helped her husband with a professional 
cleaning service. 

But hearing that Minor’s distributive edu- 
cation teacher was taking a maternity 

Fant: i 
Wdlll everyone hid. 

As students meand m one 
day last week, a stereo sy® ed Patti 
LaBelle, who was singing: 

“I'm feeling good from my 
shoes, 

I know where I'm going, and I know what 
to do, 

I've tidied up my point of view, 
I've got a new attitude. 
Ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh.” 
Communications teacher Pat Purcell took 

the microphone and imitated Miss LaBelle. 
“Actually she oohs better than I do,” he 
said, drawing giggles from the students. 

The giggles were important. 
“It’s like Dr. Ruth (sex therapist Ruth 

Westheimer) said the other night, ‘What’s 
learned in humor remains,’ ” Mrs. Hart 
said. 

The program hasn’t cost millions. Jones 
said printing 1,200 stickers reading “... is 
going B.AN.AN.AS.” and bumper stickers 
that say, “I feel terrific,” and providing 
paint and paper for marketing students to 
make banners decorated with positive slo- 
gans cost less than $200. 

And there was $8 for the Patti LaBelle 
tape. 

d to my 

Sth 

graphed i in 30 minut 

Not all the students — 0} 
— share the enthusiasm of Nirs. H 
Jones. 

“It’s OK for the kids who make;goo 
grades,” said one teenager, poking at the 
french fries on his cafeteria tray. 

“It’s stupid,” another said. 
But that’s to be expected, Mrs. Hart said. 

“It’s not something you catch; it's something 
you teach people.’ 

Terry said, “You're always going to’ have 
negative people with negative attitudes.” 

Sophomore Marcia Murray agreed. “More 
than likely, the whole school will get in on it 
before it’s over with.” 

Mrs. Hart and Jones would like to see the 
program spread beyond Minor, to other 
county and city schools. 

At the assembly, a slender blond girl 
turned to Mrs. Hart, who is slender and 
blond, and said, “Mother, I think this is 
going to be the best one yet.” 

A reporter misunderstood and asked, “Is 
she really your mother?” 

“She’s like my mother,” the girl replied 
That’s one more child for Mrs. Hart. 

New South strives for identity, unity 
By Ted Bryant 
Post-Herald Reporter 

The personality of the new kid in state 
politics, the Alabama New South Coalition, 
was still taking shape when more. than 600 
coalition delegates and alternates concluded 
their organizational convention in Birming- 
ham during the weekend. 
Mayor Richard Arrington, who was 

elected coalition president, pictured the 
coalition as primarily a political group, 
although he said it was formed to address 
issues and not to glorify individual candi- - 
dates. 

In particular, Arrington portrayed the 
organization as an effort to remove the 
“artificial ceilings” facing black politicians 
like himself whose color limits the political 
offices they can seek. 

He used Maynard Jackson, the first black 
mayor of Atlanta, as an example, saying 
Jackson was a “good steward” during his 
two terms as mayor, but was limited in 
running for a higher office. 

“The people of Georgia would have been 
saying Maynard was going to be the senator 
or he was going to be the governor of the 
state and he would have been running for 
it, but because of the barrier imposed by 
race, it placed an artificial ceiling on his , 
ambitions. He could not realistically aspire 
to be governor,” Arrington said. 

He acknowledged he was also talking 
about Dick Arrington, who is in the same 
position during his second term as mayor of 
Alabama’s largest city. Arrington has indi- 
cated he may not run again after this term. 

On the other hand was J.L. Chestnut, 
Selma attorney and civil rights leader, who 
said the coalition should reach beyond poli- 
tics. He warned against the “simple Simons 
who speak and act as if thg solution for all 
these complex problems lig exclusively in 
the ballot box.” 

  

  

  
because of the barrier imposed by 

The people of Georgia would have 
been saying (Atlanta Mayor Mayn- 
ard) Jackson was going to be the 

senator or he was going fo be the 

governor of the state and he would 
have been running for it, but 

race, it placed an artificial ceiling 
on his ambitions. He could not real- 
istically aspire fo be governor.’ 

— Birmingham Mayor 

Richard Arrington     

In an apparent slap at the Alabama Dem- 
ocratic Conference, the group that has 
organized the black vote in the past, Chest- 
nut spoke of “idiots who think they can 
deliver a whole race of people with sample 
ballots.” 

Chestnut resigned last week as vice chair- 
man of the conference, which is headed by 
Joe Reed, a Montgomery city councilman 
and executive of the Alabama Education 
Association. The conference traditionally 
has delivered the black vote by distributing 
sample ballots, usually through churches on 
the Sunday before elections. 

“I hope and pray this new effort being 
born here today will stretch beyond elec- 
toral politics,” Chestnut said. He suggested 
the coalition organize stud commissions on 
crime and justice in the state, to determine 
“why so many of our children are having 

children,” and to study economic issues in 
the black community. 

On political vs. economic matters, Chest- 
nut said that in counties where blacks are in 
the majority, “it’s not unusual to see blacks 
in control of a courthouse or a city hall sur- 
rounded by white merchants.” 

Chestnut and Arrington were the keynote | 
speakers as the delegates met to officially 
form the coalition. The formation occurred 
on a voice vote of delegates Saturday morn- 
ing with state Sen. Michael Figures, D- 
Mobile, presiding. Figures was elected first 
vice president of the coalition. 

Although there was a smattering of white 
delegates at the meeting, the organization 
did not appear onghe verge of cracking the 
probler of voting along racial lines. 

More than 90 percent of the delegates 

were black and most of the rhetoric was 
directed toward the problems facing blacks. 
“Maybe we have to do a better job at this 
point of affirmative action,” state Sen. Hank 
Sanders, D-Selma, said. 

But maybe not, Sanders said. “Once 
whites feel they can participate in this orga- 
nization, we won't have to deal with affir- 
mative action. ... There's no reason why 
white participation in this organization can’t 
be equal to or greater than that of blacks.” 

The organization is a statewide extension 
of Arrington’s political power that began 
with the Jefferson County Citizens Coali- 
tion and rapidly swallowed up the Jeffer- 
son County Progressive Democratic Coun- 
cil, an Alabama Democratic Conference 
affiliate, in the late 1970s to become the 
dominant force in Birmingham politics. 

But Arrington continued to maintain that 
the new organization is not a rival of the 
conference. Reed has said formation of a 
separate, group will split and dilute the 
black vote. 

“Our purpose is not negative, it’s posi- 
tive,” Arrington said. “We wish no individ- 
ual and no organization ill will ... we say 
walk with us and work with us.” 

“The lesson we learned in the (Jefferson 
County) coalition is that there’s more than 
one train going to the promised land,” 
Arrington said in his talk, which at times 
sounded more like an evangelistic sermon 
than a political speech. 

At the same time, Arrington said, the 
Alabama New South Coalition will share 
responsibility, power, resources and deci- 
sion-making. A theme throughout the meet- 
ing, including the adoption-of a-eonstitution 
and by-lays, was decentralizing power, giv- 
ing auton@my to local organizations at the 
county and congressional district level.