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LOUISIANA
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—DECEMBER, 1962—PAGE 5
Battle To Control Orleans Board Moves
NEW ORLEANS
T he battle for control of the
Orleans Parish School Board
moved from the ballot box to the
court room last month. As certi
fied by the parish board of elec
tion supervisors, results of the
Nov. 6 election returned incum
bents Louis G. Riecke and Lloyd
J. Rittner to the board.
However, before promulgation of the
results by the Louisiana secretary of
state, three court attacks were mounted
to invalidate the election results.
The first came on Nov. 9, three days
after the general election, when con
tender James L. Earhart acquired a
temporary restraining order in civil
district court against certification of
the results until an inspection of the
voting machines could be made to veri
fy the vote totals. The order was grant
ed by Judge Alexander E. Rainold after
a check of three machines used in the
election had showed substantial dis
crepancies in the tabulations.
On the basis of this finding, Earhart,
who ran third in the field of six seek
ing the two school board seats, con
tended that a complete retabulation
might show that Rittner had failed to
receive 25 per cent of the vote as re
quired by law and that a runoff would
be necessary.
Machines Inspected
Accompanied by the four leading
candidates, their supporters, and rep
resentatives of the League of Women
Voters, Dan Haggerty, chief clerk for
the voting machine custodian, inspected
the voting machines on Nov. 10. Tabu
lations were taken from each of the
machines used Nov. 6, but no totals
were computed. The data were locked
in a safe for presentation in Judge
Rainold’s court on Nov. 12.
At that time, Judge Rainold denied
Earhart’s request for a preliminary in
junction to halt promulgation of the
returns, holding that the information
he had sought had been provided by
the Nov. 10 inspection.
The recheck had showed some dis
crepancies, but they widened rather
than narrowed the margin between
second-place Rittner and third-place
Earhart. As promulated by the secre
tary of state, the school board election
results were as follows (with the re
sults recorded in the recheck in paren
theses) :
Riecke 53.265
Rittner 52.591
Earhart 47.517
Rayon Stevens ....42,119
Charles Gendusa .. 8,280
Theodore George .. 4,381
New Suit Filed
However, immediately upon denial of
he preliminary injunction to Earhart,
a new suit was filed in Judge Rainold’s
j*>urt seeking to nullify the school
oard election. Brought by Anthony
ngelo and 22 others, this action
Mended the school board election
^as illegally constituted under a state
(53.693)
(52,797)
(47.479)
(42.055)
( 8,025)
( 4,386)
h behalf of D’Angelo, attorney Cyr:
• Gracianette contended that the elec
°n was held under Louisiana Revise
hsh a ° ^'^ 2d of 1950, which estab
and 6 i Procedures for nominatin
. electing school board members i
^ eans Parish. This legislation, th
0 f ,, h^erted, was repealed by Act 2
. 6 e Sislature’s first extraordinar
Dla t° n ° f 1959 ' Act 25 in turn was sup
s-_ . ed hy Act 4 of the third specis
^?° n of that year.
$ch(vj r t Sent ' n§ Hiecke and Rittnei
he board attorney Samuel I. Rosen
been *J r ®'J ed that the acts cited ha
c° Urts ecda red invalid by the federa
C 0Ur t , and the Louisiana Suprem
On n °* contra dicted that rulim
t heTYA° V ' Judge Rainold dismisses
^Angelo suit.
Another Look at the Voting Machines
James L. Earhart looks over shoulder of Orleans election board representative.
Background: Louis G. Riecke (with hat) and Lloyd Rittner (bearheaded, in front of
woman).
Incumbent Riecke countered by stat
ing that the present board “had been
in court 42 times in the last six years
fighting integration of the schools. The
federal judge ordered us to submit a
plain for desegregation and we refused.
“The judge then gave the school
board his plan and we fought it all the
way to the United States Supreme
Court, before we were ordered to fol
low it.
“In April of 1962 we were ordered
to integrate all six grades. This we re
fused to do also, and we fought that
in the courts.
“I can only ask, if we were furthering
integration, why would we do all
this?”
‘Infiltration’ Charged
In the final days of the campaign,
the emphasis shifted to charges of
“Communist infiltration.” Candidate
Stevens scored what he called “the Or
leans Parish School Board’s soft policy
on communism,” although he said “I
am not accusing anyone of being a
Communist and I am certainly not
calling my opponents Communists.”
School Board President Theodore H.
Shepard, himself not a candidate,
labeled the accusations “utterly false.”
Candidate Riecke declared, “If these
people have any information they can
prove they should go immediately to
the FBI and not wait until the eve of
the election to make such a charge in
a vain effort to sway votes.”
The district attorney’s office con
ducted a hearing on the question of
communism in the public schools. The
conclusion was that “the facts indicate
no knowledge by the Orleans Parish
School Board of this situation (Com-
What They Say
Louisiana Highlights
Struggle for control of the Orleans
Parish School Board continued, in
the courts and in sharp debate, after
the Nov. 6 general election.
Louisiana’s white teachers in an
nual convention heard state Supt.
Shelby Jackson denounce what he
called three dangers to public edu
cation in the state; Negro teachers
heard a report that Negro children
are showing marked improvement in
school achievement.
The State Board of Education was
engaged in a controversy with the
Legislative Budget Committee over
control of education expenditures.
A state legislator predicted in
New Orleans that James Meredith
would leave the University of Mis
sissippi or be killed. He then was
engaged in a debate with the Ameri
can Association of University Pro
fessors over his use of legislative
scholarships in state colleges and
universities.
munist infiltration),” and that “the at
torney general’s office lacks jurisdic
tion.”
Both sides claimed vindication. “The
Orleans Parish School Board was
cleared of all charges,” asserted Shep
ard. Stevens replied that the board
members seeking re-election had de
liberately misinterpreted the DA’s re
port.
Two days after the election, Nov. 8,
Mrs. William W. Mosely, president of
the New Orleans branch of the Amer
ican Association of University Women,
denounced “the demogogic attacks
upon our independent nonpartisan
school system.” In a statement Mrs.
Mosely said:
“The use of deceitful, emotionally
charged and unscrupulous techniques
of campaigning probably reached a new
depth in this election, but the good
common sense of the New Orleans
voters asserted itself in an election
which will not require a runoff. This
is high tribute indeed to the clear
headed judgment of those who under
stand the profound importance of our
public school system.
“The whole field of public education
has indeed been a troubled one in New
Orleans for more than two years and
we undoubtedly will face many more
problems in the future. We do believe,
however, that our city has been led +
the brink of educational disaster b
false and distorted issues and that we
have decided, by our action on Tues
day, to walk away from the brink.”
Rebuttal Statement
Next day, Earhart and Stevens said
in rebuttal:
“. . . During our campaign . . . we
fully discussed all valid issues, includ
ing the presence of Communist influ
ences in the school system and the
Negro bloc vote.
“We know that further investigation
will fully reveal the extent of this in
fluence and the results certainly proved
the NAACP Negro bloc vote charge.
“In a sampling of 10 predominantly
Negro precincts, our opponents carried
5,254 votes to our 171 votes. One Negro
precinct showed Riecke with 359 Negro
votes to zero for Stevens.
“This type of result cannot come
from a decision democratically arrived
at, but from voters who are controlled
by the NAACP. We question if this is
a good influence for our public school
system.
“The AAUW knows fully well that
we, too, are for open schools and
therefore Mrs. Mosely can only be de
liberately engaging in falsehoods when
she says that the education system in
New Orleans has been led to the brink
of disaster. Because we openly dis
cussed valid issues, these political
matrons call it ‘unscrupulous.’
“This dowager group has shown de
ceit and has used unscrupulous tech
niques by their perverting the objec
tives of this national organization into
a cheap political front group to serve
the ends of the NAACP and their indi
vidual political ambitions.”
★ ★ ★
Segregation Already Looms
As 1963 Eleetion Issue
Although the next governor’s race is
still more than a year away, Louisiana’s
1963 gubernatorial campaign is taking
form. There are as yet no formally
announced candidates, but the field is
already studded with hopefuls. And
the segregation issue is assured a role
in the proceedings.
Latest entry in the race is C. E.
“Cap” Barnham, lieutenant governor
from 1952 to 1956, whose “tentative
announcement” included this state
ment:
“. . . Barnham stated that he did not
intend to use segregation as an in
flammatory issue because it was well
known by all that he would stand more
calm, firm and resolute in all questions
confronting the South and the Southern
way of life than any other avowed
Speaker Says Meredith To
Quit or Die
Similar Action
t0 Cv n S’ howev . er ' on Nov
suit in ,i rac * anette had filed a
^kirm f ® aton Rouge distric
res train ■ and winnin S a tei
Nation O ?l ord - to Prevent ]
turn s b scbocd board elec
action 1 tbe secretary of sta
Joseph A as su bniitted in the i
That • Graffin of New Orle
tfict r .„ SUlt was dismissed in 1
su Prem P * ° n Nov ‘ 21 ■ and 11
c ' ea rinc L° Urt derded writs on
ll) e elect; n 6 Way for P romul g ;
The JT n retur «s.
*as a . C 'j 001 board election c;
*h, RgIe °Egedly fought as th
^fore th^U followe d it. In tl
Ve nise m ® Nov - ® voting, a ra
y C v 6 n n ‘ la behalf of James
gleans Stevens charged 1
eSe greg a t e board “made a
the public schools
James Meredith will leave the Uni
versity of Mississippi or be killed, State
Rep. Wellborn Jack of Shreveport pre
dicted at a meeting of the Citizens
Council of Greater New Orleans.
Jack said he based this prediction on
information he obtained from people
he had met in Mississippi. But he add
ed, he could not remember their names.
However, he said, Meredith is
“building up to leave” Ole Miss. The
Negro student is getting nervous, tak
ing a lot of sleeping pills and finding
U.S. marshals not very good tutors,”
Jack declared.
Meredith has not actually been “in
tegrated” at the University of Missis
sippi, Jack told his audience in New
Orleans’ Municipal Auditorium, he is
“just integrated with five U.S. mar
shals.”
The North Louisiana representative
also told the council that he has es
tablished a system of informers in
Louisiana colleges and universities to
alert him when liberal professors try to
“brainwash the students.” Jack said he
has put 250 to 270 students in state in
stitutions of higher learning on schol
arships he obtained as a legislator.
“I don’t give them the scholarships
unless they think like I do to begin
with,” he said.
In this way, he said, he has been
able to thwart integrated intramural
athletics at the University of South
western Louisiana at Lafayette. Jack
claimed that a liberal professor was
“let out” by USL after he learned of
the professor’s presence there.
This professor is now teaching at a
“huge private university in this city
(New Orleans),” he asserted.
The Louisiana conference of the
American Association of University
Professors took sharp issue with Rep.
Jack. In a statement, the AAUP said
that “no instructor or teacher has been
dismissed from the faculty of the Uni
versity of Southwestern Louisiana.” It
added:
“. . . We believe that the students
ought to be awarded scholarships on
the basis of their ability to learn,
rather than on the basis of their wil
lingness to act as spies or informers.
“. . . We believe that the effect of
such activities, if any, would be to
harass, intimidate, or bring about the
dismissal of professors who do not
think as Rep. Jack does, or who en
courage students to think for them
selves.
“This effect would tend to hamper or
suppress the freedom of thought and
speech on which all honest inquiry and
all successful teaching depend.”
Into Court
candidate. He pointed out that the real
problems confrontnig the people of
Louisiana lie in the hands of racial
agitators, vile people who can expect
no favorable treatment from him.
Barnham stressed the fact that Negro
citizens would receive equal, impar
tial and fair treatment in every re
spect, but he asserted that racial amal
gamation and compulsory association-
ism were detrimental to both races and
he would staunchly oppose movements
in that direction.”
Also definitely entering the race was
former Gov. Robert Kennon, who oc
cupied the mansion in 1954 when the
Brown decision was rendered. Kennon,
a self-styled Jeffffersonian Democrat,
who very nearly led Louisiana into the
Eisenhower camp in 1952, was among
the earliest voices to assert that the
U.S. Supreme Court lacked jurisdic
tion in the school cases.
Others reported testing the political
waters include John McKeithan, state
public service commissioner; William
E. Dodd, president of the State Board
of Education; deLesseps S. Morrison,
former New Orleans mayor and now
ambassador to the Organization of
American States; and State Education
Supt. Shelby M. Jackson.
Previously Morrison had acknowl
edged that “naturally, segregation still
will be an issue” in the gubernatorial
campaign. And in September, Jackson
had asserted: “I’m the next governor
—and I’M for segregation.”
The Democratic primary will be Dec.
7, 1963. The general election will be
April 16, 1964.
★ ★ ★
As of Sept. 30, a report from the
State Board of Registrars last month
indicated, there were 1,096,662 regis
tered voters in Louisiana. Of that num
ber 151,224 were Negroes, or 13 8 per
cent. That represented a slight decline
from the 14 per cent proportion held
by Negroes for the past year.
The registration figures also broke
down as follows: 1,081,814 Democrats,
10,139 Republicans, and 4,709 listing
other parties or no party affiliation.
Schoolmen
Teachers Convene
Separately; Hear
Opposite Views
Public school teachers by the thou
sands, white and Negro, gathered in
New Orleans in separate conventions
of their statewide professional associa
tions Thanksgiving week.
The 6,000-member white Louisiana
(See LOUISIANA, Page 9)
Oklahoma
(Continued From Page 3)
ination in the operation of its special
transfer policy.
The Dowell’s suit names as defend
ants besides the board its members
individually and top administrative of
ficers. One board member, veteran Otto
Thompson, had to be replaced as a
defendant after he resigned to devote
more time to his business. His place was
taken by his successor on the school
board, Melvin P. Rogers.
Political Activity
Negroes Oppose
Plan to Reseat
State Assembly
A plan to reapportion Oklahoma’s
legislature—issued by a commission set
up by a newly adopted constitutional
amendment—is under attack by Ne
groes.
They charge districting of Oklahoma
County under the plan was a “plain old
case of gerrymandering” designed to
keep Negroes from ever electing their
first member of the legislature.
It is agreed that Negro legislators, al
though they would be greatly outnum
bered, would be almost certain to
launch a drive to wipe remaining school
and other segregation statutes off the
books. The statutes are not being en
forced but the Negroes would like to
see them removed entirely.