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rAtob 2—AUtoUbl, IV6Z—bUUIMbKN SCHOOL NEWS
DELAWARE
Judge Quoted as Warning
Against Uniracial School
DOVER
^laware’s attorney general
has warned the State Board
of Education that a federal judge
will not hesitate to close a pro
posed school if pending litigation
proves it was meant as a segre
gated facility.
Attorney General Januar D. Bove Jr.
expressed that belief in a July 26 letter
to the board, in relation to construction
of a school at Milton-Ellendale-Lincoln-
Slaughter Neck (MELS).
The proposed $543,000 school, for
which money has been appropriated by
the General Assembly, would serve as
a consolidated school for the four
small Sussex County towns.
An opinion poll conducted by the
state board in February, 1961, showed
that residents favored the consolidated
school by a 441-19 margin.
Biracial Policy
But the state board, while admitting
the building is to be built in a region
with a predominantly Negro popula
tion. has steadfastly declared that the
school will accept all qualified students
of all races.
While the contract for the school has
not been let, Reese Smith, Georgetown
(Del.) contractor, has been notified that
he submitted the low bid, according to
Dr. George R. Miller Jr., State Super
intendent of Public Instruction.
Attorney General Bove himself, ap
parently, is not certain what action the
board has taken to award the contract
to begin construction.
Bove’s letter, which sums up a meet
ing held with Federal District Judge
Caleb M. Wright and with Louis L.
Redding, who seeks to prevent con
struction of the school, makes two men
tions of the contract:
• “I advised the Court fully con
cerning the State Board’s proceeding
with the award of a contract without
consulting . . . my office . . .”
• “Will you please advise me fully
concerning what, if any, action the State
Board has taken to award the contract,
including such comments as are neces
sary for me to determine whether or not
the Board has incurred any substantial
risk of liability by the action it has
taken without the advice of counsel,”
Bove stated in his letter.
‘Shocked to Learn’
Bove, in an exchange of correspond
ence in June, wrote that he “. . . was
shocked to learn . . . that the state
board has let this contract in the face
of this law suit without prior consulta
tion . . .”
In the July 26 letter, Bove tells of
the meeting with Judge Wright and
Redding, the Negro attorney from Wil
mington who successfully brought about
full desegregation of Delaware’s public
schools.
Redding, after the state board an
nounced plans to construct the MELS
school, filed a supplemental petition
with the federal district court in Wil-
Delaware Highlights
A federal judge has told Dela
ware’s attorney general he will not
hesitate to close a proposed school
if he is convinced it was meant as
a segregated facility.
A member of the House of Rep
resentatives in Delaware’s General
Assembly has asked the State Board
of Education to release $200,000 ap
propriated for construction of a Ne
gro school. But Rep. John Annett
said he could give assurances that
both Negroes and whites would at
tend the school.
A white professor at a predomi
nantly Negro college has withdrawn
from a race for a seat in the Gen
eral Assembly after the Delaware
State College board of trustees ruled
he would have to take a full leave
of absence.
Consolidation failed, for the sec
ond time, in the Dover and Caesar
Rodney districts, which followed
different desegregation paths.
mington, holding in essence that its
construction was a continuation of seg
regation.
“Judge Wright expressed some strong
views about any attempt to avoid the
effect of his previous orders in the case
of Evans v. Buchanan, et al.,” Bove told
the board.
Asked ‘Safeguards’
“I asked the Court to permit us to
build the school and to place safeguards
in the Court’s order to prevent it being
a segregated school,” Bove continued.
“Mr. Redding took the position that
the whole plan for the school is to
make it a segregated school and that he
has asked the Court to prohibit its con
struction. He therefore objected to the
entry of any such order.”
The court, Bove told the board, will
confer further with Redding and Bove
on Aug. 14, after Redding has had the
opportunity to complete his examina
tion of the state board’s records con
cerning the school.
Also to be discussed at the August
meeting will be possible future further
proceedings in the case, including the
taking of evidence at a trial.
“Judge Wright made it very clear
REDDING
Schoolmen
Legislator Asks Fund Release
To Construct Biracial School
A member of Delaware’s General As
sembly has asked the State Board of
Education to free $200,000 originally
appropriated in 1961 for a Negro school
at Greenwood to build a biracial school
in that southern Delaware town.
Rep. John Annette (R-Staytonville)
told the board he could give assurances
that both Negroes and whites would
attend the school.
The money was appropriated to
Greenwood District 222, which in the
past was attended only by Negroes.
Annett said this school, built about a
half-century ago, is in dilapidated con
dition.
On the other hand, Greenwood Dis
trict 91, used only hy white students
until last September when more than
two dozen Negroes enrolled, is over
crowded, Annett told the board.
Money Held
But the money, according to Dr.
John G. Parres, director of research
and publications, has been held at the
request of Delaware’s attorney general,
Januar D. Bove Jr.
Parres proposed one possible solution:
consolidation of the two districts.
“You just tell me what you want done
and we’ll get it done,” said Rep. Annett.
The legislator told the board that
many Negroes have to travel nine miles
each way each day to other schools
because they will not go to the Negro
school and cannot get into the white
school because of lack of room.
Opposes Small School
One board member, Harry Zutz, op
posed construction of another small
school:
“I am not in favor of perpetuating a
system of 75- to 100-pupil schools,” he
said.
“You’ve got to start somewhere; a
community begins with one home,” re
plied Rep. Annett.
The board deferred action until the
August meeting, but member Harold
English of Laurel commented:
“All right, we’ll defer it this time,
but let’s not put it off any further. We
can keep putting it off and it will be
Christmas by and by.”
J. Ohrum Small, re-elected as presi
dent of the board, told the staff to have
a concrete recommendation ready by
the August meeting.
Marvel O. Watson was elected vice-
president of the board.
that he would not hesitate to order
such a school closed, if he permitted
one to be built, and it was a segregated
school,” Bove said.
“He further stated that, because of
his schedule, even if the trial were to
be held in August, which it cannot be
because of his schedule, Judge Wright
will be unable to decide the case until
well into October.”
Bove further told the board that it
appears to be unlikely that the court
will enter an order permitting the con
struction of the school prior to the mid
dle of October.
"If Mr. Redding can prove his con
tention that the entire plan is for this
school to replace four Negro schools
and thus to be a segregated facility,
the court may never permit its con
struction,” Bove stated.
Delaware’s public schools are under
court order to admit pupils of all races
at all grade levels.
A grade-a-year program, previously
approved by a federal court, was re
versed on appeal, and all grades were
desegregated last September.
Among those schools where Negroes
are expected to enter for the first time
this September is Laurel, one of the
few large school districts still segre
gated. At least 22 Negro pupils are ex
pected to enroll in the elementary and
high school grades.
Political Activity
Professor Quits
Political Race
On Board Ruling
A white professor at a predominantly
Negro college has withdrawn from the
race for a Republican seat in the Gen
eral Assembly after a ruling by his
board of trustees that he would have
to take a full leave of absence to run
for public office.
Paul E. Mabry, Delaware State Col
lege professor, made his announcement
of withdrawal on the same day that
Gov. Elbert N. Carvel indicated a full
leave of absence would not be neces
sary.
Gov. Carvel, at a press conference,
said state agencies, including the board
of trustees at Delaware State College,
have the right to require the full leave
of absence, but added he thought the
agencies “should encourage those quali
fied people to run.”
The governor cited, as an example,
Sen. Allen J. Cook, who holds a job in
the State Highway Department, work
ing part-time as a state employe, part-
time as a legislator.
Gov. Carvel said he approved such a
setup.
Year’s Leave
The trustees ruled that Mabry would
have to take a year’s leave of absence
to seek the nomination. If he lost, he
could return for the next academic year.
But if he won he would remain on the
leave until he left office.
Delaware’s representatives are paid
$3,000 a year, and Mabry indicated he
could not afford to leave his present
job and live on the state salary.
John N. McDowell, president of the
board of trustees at Delaware State,
said the primary reason for the ruling
was that the board felt Mabry’s run
ning would interfere with his on-
campus duties.
McDowell pointed out further that,
as a member of the House of Repre
sentatives, Mabry would be in a posi
tion to cast votes on appropriations to
the college, which is supported 100 per
cent from state funds.
McDowell, a former Delaware secre
tary of state, said he felt a member of
the staff sitting as a representative
should not vote on such a matter.
★ ★ ★
A referendum to consolidate Kent
County’s two largest school districts,
which followed different desegregation
paths, again failed in July.
While Dover voters once more ap
proved merger, but by a much smaller
margin, Caesar Rodney voters this time
overwhelmingly rejected it.
Voters at the two Negro schools in
each district rejected the proposaL
Whites, however, were allowed to vote
at the two Negro schools—Star Hill and
Booker T. Washington—maintained by
the two districts.
At Caesar Rodney’s Star Hill the vote
was 232 to 71 against consolidation,
compared with 220 to 97 against it at
Dover’s Booker T. Washington.
The total Dover vote was 567 to 454
in favor of merger while the Caesar
Rodney vote was 1,417 to 691 against it.
Dover and CR, which suspended ath
letic relations when Dover insisted on
playing Negroes, resume the series in
football this fall. Dover desegregated in
1954, CR awaited the federal district
court order, the result of a suit en
tered in 1956. # # #
ALABAMA
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Desegregatidfr Suffers
Setbacks in Birmingham
MONTGOMERY
egroes seeking desegregation
of Birmingham schools suf
fered two court setbacks in July:
• U.S. District Judge H. Hobart
Grooms again refused to set an imme
diate hearing date for a suit filed by
T. M. Nelson June 13 in behalf of his
children.
• U.S. District Judge Seyboum
Lynne rejected July 27 a petition for a
summary judgment in the case of Arm
strong et al v. Birmingham Board oj
Education, filed June 17, 1960. He left
standing his earlier directive setting
Oct. 3 for a hearing on the motions and
merits of the case.
Judge Grooms was directed June 30
by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap
peals to answer a petition for manda
mus filed by the plaintiff Nelson in the
later case. Grooms had ruled in June
that he would not set a hearing for the
new case until after Judge Lynne had
heard the 1960 case in October. Nelson
appealed to the Court of Appeals in
New Orleans, which on June 30 or
dered Grooms to answer Nelson’s man
damus action demanding an immediate
hearing (SSN, July). Grooms was giv
en 15 days to answer.
“Useless and Wasteful’
His answer came July 10, when he
told the Court of Appeals that taking
time to hear the second suit before the
Armstrong suit had been heard by
Judge Lynne in October would be a
“useless and wasteful consumption of
time and needless expense.”
In June, he had said that the issues
and allegations in the two suits were so
similar he would not set a hearing until
the case in Judee Lynne’s court had
been heard. Nelson appealed to the
Court of Appeals on the grounds that
the postponement was “tantamount to
a refusal to hear and determine” the
Lter suit.
In his Julv 10 answer mailed to the
Court of Appeals. Judge Grooms com
mented that there appeared to be a
“race between the plaintiffs” and their
sponsors in the two suits. Furthermore,
he said. “This court has a heavv burden
of work and this burden should not be
multiplied by duplicate efforts of its
nidges.”
He said he would not have time to
hear the case ahead of other cases on
the docket unless ordered to do so on
his vacation in August. The remainder
of Julv and all of September had al-
readv been scheduled for other cases,
he said.
Judge Grooms said the Nelson suit
should be heard on its merits, on evi
dence taken in regular course, and not
disposed of on a motion for preliminary
iniunction.
Nelson’s attorney said an appeal was
planned.
No Summary Judgment
Judge Lynne ruled July 27 that he
would not issue a summary judgment,
as remiested by the plaintiffs in the
Armstrong case, directing the Board
of Education to take immediate steps
to desegregate public schools.
Ernest D. Johnson, attorney repre-
Alabama Highlights
A Birmingham federal judge re
jected July 10 a demand for an im
mediate hearing on the second of
two school desegregation suits pend
ing in Birmingham.
U.S. District Judge H. Hobart
Grooms, replying to a mandamus
petition seeking an immediate hear
ing in an action filed June 13 by
T. M. Nelson in behalf of his chil
dren, told the U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals that there ap
peared to be a “race” on between
Nelson and the plaintiffs in a suit
filed in 1960. Judge Grooms said
allegations and issues were so simi-:
lar in the two suits he would not
hear the later one until Judge Sey-I
bourne Lynne had heard the 1960
case in October.
Judge Lynne denied July 27 a
plea for a summary judgment in the
earlier (Armstrong) case, leaving
Oct. 3 as the hearing date on mo
tions and merits.
senting the plaintiffs in this case, asked
the court to order the school board ti
submit “some plan for reorganizing the
present school system into an integrated
system.”
In his rejection of the plea, Lynne
observed that in setting a hearing on
the case for Oct. 3, he was giving pre
cedence to the suit over other pending
matters. (SSN, July, 1960.)
Teachers Involved
The Armstrong action seeks not onlj
desegregation of student enrollment
but also desegregation of teaching and
administrative staffs.
Grooms and Lynne are the two U.S
district judges in Birmingham. The
cases in their courts are the only public
school desegregation suits now pending
in Alabama. The state’s public school
system remains segregated throughout;
no plans have been announced to de
segregate any school or system in the
coming school year.
Lesislative Action
Gov. Patterson Kills
Bill to Establish
Segregation Probe
Gov. John Patterson July 25 pocket-
vetoed a legislative bill providing fo:
the establishment of a segregate
study commission.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Hugh A
Locke Jr. of Birmingham, passed tb
House and Senate by a substantial mar
gin. It would have instituted a 15-mai
“Commission on Constitutional Gov
ernment” with four members from tb
House, four from the Senate, four frofl
(See ALABAMA, Page 5)
What They Say
Governor-Nominate Says Use
Of Militia Being Considered
Alabama’s govemor-nominate, George
C. Wallace, revealed July 28 that he is
considering the formation of a state
militia to meet any racial problems that
may arise in his administration.
In his successful spring campaign for
the Democratic gubernatorial nomina
tion, Wallace pledged unyielding re
sistance to any desegregation attempts
if elected gover
nor. He promised
to “stand in the
school house door”
if necessary to
prevent a single
school from being
desegregated by
federal court or
der. (There is no
desegregation in
any of Alabama’s
114 school dis
tricts, although
two cases are pending in Birmingham.
While expressing admiration for the
Alabama National Guard, Wallace said
July 28 that it could be federalized t
a racial emergency, as happened in Lit'
tie Rock. A militia, state supported a®
controlled, could not, he said.
Wallace said he would have the mili'
tiamen trained in law enforcement
judo and other methods of self-defens*
He added that he would call on sheriff
and other local law enforcement office 1 "
to help train recruits.
With a well-trained force standW
by, Wallace said, racial trouble woiff
not occur.
Wallace promised during his can 1 '
paign to ask the legislature to give hff
personal authority to intervene whe 1
and if federal desegregation orders
issued.
★ ★ ★
State Republicans declined to offer &
opponent for Wallace in the gener®
election in November. The former leff
islator and circuit judge will take ofi(
in January for four years.
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