Historical October 1977 letter. Opinions and allegations remain attributed to the original writer; the archive does not independently establish those allegations.
After reading your letter of August 25th, I feel that you are due a reply. You remind me of a little boy playing ball and when he doesn’t get his way, he takes his ball and bat and goes home. Since in your letter you said, “I am through holding my peace. I plan to take every opposition head-on this year and let happen what must,” so will I.
Your past reign as President has been one of deceit, lies and double talk. You have made decisions without the consent of the Board and Community and then tried to shove them down our throats. I get the feeling you would like to see Washington-Heights pull out of the (Skinker-DeBaliviere Community) Council. Everything has not been above board and that is the reason for some of the opposition. You have not dealt fairly with certain issues and have made decisions which should have been brought before the Board for approval. Also, you have on many occasions, for your convenience, thrown the Rule Book out at your meetings.
In regards to your statement of not having done anything for WashingtonHeights, I have worked very hard in this neighborhood in various aspects and am still working for its improvement. I was working in the neighborhood even before you ever heard of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Washington-Heights and Waterman Avenue. During that time, we may not have agreed on all proposals, but we all were working for the .Common Goal of the neighborhood.
As a leader, you should not want a Rubber Stamp Organization. We all live and contribute to this neighborhood, each in our own way and have a right to voice our opinion whether it is to your liking or not. This is what it is all about. Leaders should have an open mind, listen and weigh both sides of the issue.
You do not run a meeting stating that there will be no discussion of anything unless it pertains to a motion. That’s short of being “GAG RULE!” This is a neighborhood and we are elected by the people. So everyone has a right to be heard;
If you are so upset about oppositionand this seems to be it—then run a fair above the board meeting.
I would hope that those you wrote your insulting letter to will not step aside as you wish but stay and fight for what they believe in. I have no plan to step aside, “knuckle under,” be a rubber stamp or a yes man for you and your ideas. At present I have no plans to resign and if I did, as a member of this community,
I would still fight you or issues that I do not feel are beneficial to this neighborhood.
Sincerely, Virgil J. Wright
Originally published in The Paper, October 1977.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1977_10.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
