Secretary of the Interior Should Invite Dr. Robert Hayling, DDS to Serve on 450th Committee

Last night, St. Augustine City Commissioners discussed inviting a noted African-American scholar to serve on the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission, whose members will be appointed by the Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar. The only problem is that the honoree died five years ago. See City newsletter correction (below).

Publicly discussing appointing someone who has been dead for five years says a lot about our City Manager, WILLIAM B. HARRISS, and his level of intelligence, scholarship and leadership.
HARRISS is an autocrat and unethical, and not very smart.

The newsletter correction (below) should be signed by HARRISS, along with a letter of resignation.

What an enormous embarrassment just before our Mayor goes to Washington, D.C. to lobby for Commission appointments.

It makes our City Hall look unsophisticated, hickish and sloppy to the world. This is a true picture -- this is the same bunch that dumped 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste in our Old City Reservoir, dumped semi-treated sewage effluent for years in our saltwater marsh, mocked those of us concerned about environmental racism for reporting sewage spills to the National Response Center, and dumped 611, 294 gallons of raw sewage in our San Sebastian River, rendering Lincolnville into the Pollution Peninsula.

Our City Manager needs to resign. Now. Go on, git.

Meanwhile, who should take the place of the deceased scholar?

No matter who our City recommends, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar should invite a true hero, civil rights activist Dr. Robert Hayling, DDS, to serve on the panel.

Fair is fair. Right is right. Dr. Hayling activated local and national activists, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Andrew Young. The rest is civil rights history. Our fellow townspeople endeded segregation and helped bring about the 1964 Civil Rights Act.


right to left: Dr. Robert Hayling, DDS, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Andrew Young in St. Augustine in 1964 -- their leadership and the civil rights foot soldiers here helped end Jim Crow segregation and adopt the 1964 Civil Rights Act.