The Reformer, January 26, 1969

              HiST. & ThA

WNDU Hires * SEND,

Seven Blacks

WNDU Television and Ra-
dio, the Notre Dame Sta-
tions in South Bend-Elkhart,
Indiana, are among those
broadcasting operations
which have taken positive
steps toward fulfilling their
responsibilities in the realm
of minority group employ-
ment. The stations have in-
stituted their own on-the-
job training programs on a
trial basis and are achieving
notably successful results.

In outlining the background
of the programs, Wm
Thomas Hamilton, Vice
President and General Man-
ager, referred to a memor-
andum from News Director
Harry Kevorkian. Basing his
conclusions on the results
of WNDU-TV's workshop in
April 1968 for local media
("Reporting the Urban Cri-
sis: The Role of the Press,
Yesterday, Today and To-
morrow" ), Kevorkian ad-
vised that local news media
were not trusted by the black
community and that the
Negro was suspicious of a
conspiracy to present only
that news desired by the
"white establishment."

Satisfied that mere adher-
ence to non-discriminatory
hiring practices was insuf-
ficient response to the prob-
lem, WNDU set out upon a
more positive program.
Working in close coopera-
tion with the Urban League,
the stations made a con-
certed effort to recruit po-
tentially-qualified Negroes
to fill vacancies in the staff.
In the space of a few months,

seven Negroes were hired:
two in secretarial positions,
one in television production,
one in television sales, two
in news and the seventh in
radio programming.

While most of the new em-
ployees were being trained
in the usual fashion, the News
Department had a special
program leading to a specific
goal: an Urban Affairs team,
composed of a reporter and
a news cameraman, whose
responsibilities would be to
become thoroughly knowled-
geable with the city's urban
core areas. Freed from the
day-to-day routine of dead-
lines and regular assign-
ments, this team was formed
to produce documentary pro-
grams and brief reports for
regularly - scheduled news-
casts. The first young man
to join the news staff began
a thirteen-week on-the-job
training program in photog-
raphy and reporting. At the
conclusion of his training
program, he was made a per-
manent member of the staff,
and a second Negro was hired
to take the training course.

The station is now begin-
ning to display the first bene-
fits of this new plan. At
the end of December, the
Urban Affairs team, work-
ing under the supervision of
producer Jim Floody, as-
sisted in the production of a
five-part color examination
of South Bend's Hansel Nei-
ghborhood Center, a com-
prehensive social services
center operating in the city's
(Continued on Page 2)

VcL PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SOUTH
122 WEST WAYNE STREET
SOUTH BENDt IND. 46601

BEND

ONITBD STATES

KtFORMER

Vol. 2, No. 14

South Bend, Indiana 46625 15C

January 26, 1969

YOUTH, POLICE BEGIN TALKS

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Part of the group attending the meeting on police community relations at the
Hansel Center. Left to right: Councilman William Grounds, Human Relations
Director Winston Vaz; Second from right, David Andrews; Far right, Jerry Szweda,

both of the patrolmen's organization,
ground. Photo by Milton Herring.

Some black youth are pictured in the fore-

UNDERWAY

PROGRAM

Public Hearing Feb. 3rd More on Page 7

Director Charles F. Lennon;

FoUowing their appoint-
ment by Mayor Allen on Jan-
uary 15th as director and
assistant director of South
Bend's Federally sponsored
Model Neighborhood Pro-
gram, Charles F. Lennon
and Ralph W. (Moon) Mul-
lins got things off to a good
start by holding two press
conferences, opening an of-
fice in the neighborhood at
the Hansel Center, and
meeting with leaders of the
West Washington Associa-
tion and the Hansel Center.

At 7:00 P.M., Monday,
February 3rd at the Hansel
Center, 1045 West Washing-
ton Street the first public
hearing will be held to ac-
quaint residents with the
aims of the Model Neigh-
borhood Program. The
neighborhood to be aided
by the program is bounded
by Olive Street on the west,
William on the East, Lin-
colnway on the north, and
the Penn Central tracks on
the South.



Assistant Director Ralph W. (Moon) Mullins.

Family Lounge Opens on Chapin

C and M Red Carpet
Lounge opened this month
at 317 South Chapin Street.

It is owned by Charles
and Morris Green of'South
Bend. Mr. Stanley Plump
is bartender and Mrs. V iv-
ian Patterson Moore is bar-
maid.

The lounge is open 8:00
a.m. to 1:00 a.m. every day
except Sunday.

Mr. Charles Green hopes
that couples in the neigh-
borhood, both black and
white, will consider the
C and M Lounge one of
their places of entertain-
ment.

Left to right: Mr. Morris Green, Mr. Stanley
Plump, and Mr. Charles Green. Photo by Milton Herring

A committee of the West
Washington Association pre-
pared a leaflet to inform
residents of the program,
and with the help of United
Community Services and
the Hansel Center, 5,000
copies were printed for
distribution. Mrs. William
Dillon, 234-4372, was the
person listed in the leaflet
to call about further inform-
ation. She is a member of
the WWA committee.

The Model Neighborhood
Program calls for a one-
year planning period to be
followed by a five-year per-
iod of implementation. The
budget for the planning per-
iod is $167,000, an amount
which includes $134,000 in
federal funds and $3 ,000 in
local contributed services.

Objectives are to improve
the environment of the neigh-
borhood, including the so-
cial, educational, health,
employment, cultural, rec-
reational and housing as-

pects.

A citizens advisory board
is in the process of being
organized.

The board may have as
many as 24 members, half
of whom must be from the
neighborhood area and half
from other organizations in
the city.

Names of persons to be on
the board are being submit-
ted to Mayor Lloyd M.AUen,
who wiU make the appoint-
ments.

The board will act in ad-
visory capacity to the mayor
who has full responsibility
for carrying out the object-
ives of the program.

Lennon, 30, is a 1961 grad-
uate of the University of
Notre Dame. He also holds
a master of arts degree in
guidance and counseling
from Notre Dame and has
done doctorate work at the
University. For five seasons
he served as Notre Dame's
(Continued on Page 2)

Wednesday evening, Jan-
uary 15th, leaders of the
newly formed patrolmen's
organization and leaders of
Afro-American youth on the
west side met for the first
time to discuss their dif-
ferences.

The meeting was called
by Mr. Winston Vaz, execu-
tive director of the South
Bend Human Relations and
Fair Employment Practices
Commission because Afro-
Americans have expressed
suspicion of the intentions
of the new police organiza-
tion. Mr. V az, himself, has
received provocative mail
on police-community rela-
tions.

About forty people at-
tended the meeting which in-
cluded business and civic
leaders in addition to the
youth and members of the
patrolmen's organization. It
was held in an upper room
of the Hansel Center.

Behind the meeting were
a long list of grievances.
Black youth have been mis-
treated by some policemen
for many years in South
Bend. This mistreatment has
included indiscriminate ar-
rest; personal injury to
blacks resulting from the
improper use by police of
firearms, clube 2nd
harrassment; and beatings
while in jail.

Some black youth for their
part, have been guilty of
breaking the law, resisting
arrest andassaultingpolice-
men.

The patrolmen's organ-
ization was formed in part
because two policemen had
been attacked by youth on the
west side. The patrolmen
called for more freedom to
use dogs in crowd control,
less interference during ar-
rest, and more prosecution
of offenders by the courts.
According to the youth, these
are the very things which
have led to injustices against
black youths in the past.
Dogs, too often, attack in-
discriminately and terrorize
a crowd. Intervention by Mr.
Vaz during times of arrest
has prevented mistreatment
of the youth, and many black
youths are constantly being
arrested while the County
Prosecutor and the Courts
refuse to prosecute because
of bad arrests.

As happens in most is-
sues of dispute, both sides
seemed to have part of the
truth.

Civic leaders at the meet-
ing called for better under-
standing. They said the po-
lice should be more dis-
criminate in applying the law
and not put all black youth
in the same category, and
the black youth should be
more cooperative in help-
ing the police enforce the
law.

David Andrews and Jerry
Szweda spoke for the pat-
rolemen. Silas West, Mel-
vin Easton, A1 Williams of
the Hansel Center, and Cas-
sel Lawson of the Urban
League spoke for the con-
cerns of the youth. More
meetings of this type are
planned.