.NTM5Mg.NTM5Mg

1607 Orlando St., SW Atlanta, Georgia September 8 , 1966 Mayor Ivan Allen City Hall Atlanta, Georgia Dear Mayor Allen: WhilE the Atlanta Journal raves on about the courage of our Mayor in a time of stress, while this newspaper media continues to condemn the city firemen for their stand, taken after many, m~ny years of hardships brought about by low s alaries and poor working conditions - while the propaganda continues to fly a bout how the cit i zens of Atlanta are appalled and disgu s ted wi t h the strikin g f i r emen, I think i t be hooves you, The At l a nta Journa l, C i e f C.H. Hildebrand, Chief Jenkins au your Aldermanic Board to really get out and take stock of how the general public feels, and then face up to the fact that you are not as popular as you might have been - none of you. When you speak of peopl e losing re s pect, you might start with t he Mayor a n d go on down the li st of p e ople above mentioned - many of whom I have h ad the utmos t re s pect fo r in p ast times . sure, I come from a Fire Department family. Since I was two years old we have had from one to six members of our family on the Department. Today I c a n walk in Greenwood Ce metery and s ee a fireman's grave - a fire man who wa s my hus ba nd - a fi reman who HAD t o wor k t wo jobs to make a livin g for his fami l y - not affor d luxur i es mind you, but jus t make e n ds mee t. Many people ask ed why h e s t ayed on t hi s j ob wi t h s uch a l ow salary a nd lon g hou rs ~ ~ , .an d t h ere i s b ut one a n s wer - h e wa s LOYAL AND DEDICATED, the t h i n g s h is f r i end s are accused of not being now - these friends who have been LOYAL AND DEDICATED to the cause of fire f ighting for a s many as thirty years. I believe as h on e stly a s I know I a m wr itin g thi s letter t h a t the s hor t life he li ved can b e con tr ibu ted in part t o the l on g hours h e work ed a nd the pressure of h a ving t o work t wo job s . I f he were her e t od a y , I am s u r e h e would join his fri e nds a n d f e llow f ireme n i n t h eir eff ort t o better a conditi on that s hould h a ve been c orrected ma ny y ears a go . I h a ve l i ved t o see me n tha t h e respected a nd admi r e se l l these f ire men down the river , a nd thi s wou l d h a v e b ee n h eart b reakin g to him, f or h e be l ie v e d in brotherhood, a nd c ertainly h e wou l d h a v e wa nted a Ch i ef tha t wo u ld ha ve s uppor t ed his me n, rat her tha n turn fr om the m. How does the unbiased ge n e r a l public fee l? Li sten to t he ba nk t eller t h a t open ly b r ou ght t h is s u bjct up yesterday , wi thout me a pp roaching i t in any way: " I am s o disgu sted wit h the gr eat Ivan Allen a n d hi s supe rior a t titud e . Th e policemen of t hi s city s hould fi rs t h a ve wa lke d off t h e i r jobs when the Ha nk Aaron c ase was at i ssue, a nd now they are being made, i n this s uppo sedly land of t h e free - to work fireme n' s jobs while they are ' fired ' Th ey need t o come ou t in s uppo rt of these firemen, instead of working their job s at t h e direction of Chief Jenkin s . I hear £hat they a re being p a i d ext ra to wo r k and the police that a re takin g c are of regular polic e du ties ha v e a n ext ra load on t h e m at no ext r a p ay. If there's money to pa y these police extra, why i s n't t h ere more £or t he firemen. Our _trou ble here in Atlanta is that ou r Mayor was b orn with a silver spoon in his mouth and it's notRmecessary for him to be interested in the little man. Then Chief �2. Jenkins has gotten rich since he became Chief of Police and he's more crooked than the crooks his men catch." And the florist just today "I'll be so glad when things get back to normal in Atlanta if they ever do. Maybe i£ Allen had gotten his headbusted the other night, everybody would have been better 0££. He sure did boast about running this city and it is apparent that he does and not to the best inteEmst 0£ the people. The firemen ought to walk 0££ and the police should have walked 0££ when this nasty Aaron situation developed. That's repulsive to every citizen in th::is town." Now, can you say that ALL public sentiment is against these firemen? You and Chief Hildebrand insult the ·intelligence 0£ Atlanta citizens when you say we have adequate £ire protection. Why have we needed all these £ire stations and men all these years - why haven't we just gone along with the some 200 now working and paid them 9009, decent salaries. Evidently we thought we needed the other men and other stations. And we question the calibre 0£ men you are now hiring £or £ire£ighting jobs when in just recent days you have not even been able to £ill vacancies - nobody wanted to be firemen. The stations are being manned by Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs, Pire Prevention Bureau personnel and some £ew good, real firefighters, but i£ you would be honest, and Chief Hildebrand would be honest, and we wQnt -t:g. get into name calling, many 0£ these many now working are men who have not been responsible, capable £ire£ighters £or many years and have been carried so to speak by these ~firemen they have now betrayed. Remember , I said some of them still workl~a\ e GCX)D, CAPABLE MEN - but what about the one who was on suspension and was called back to work - what about another who has had all kinds of o££enses against him and has been hanging by a thread and the others that are physically sick .... don't sell your Atlanta Public short , Mr. Mayor. We're not as stupid as you think and much 0£ our knowledge comes £rom personal e x perience and personal knowledge - not from heresay, nor £rem propaganda. I'm on the Firemen's side, Mr. Mayor. I have yet to £ind many people who are not - e x cept those in our city government who choose to make a big deal over a new stadium rather than see that their employees are paid decent wages. You've never known what it was to not have enough to eat and not be able to take care 0£ your family, but believe me, there's many "fired" f iremen who have been in that position, although I £eel that some who have taken a stand against their brother fireman have forgotten this . I 'm sure you have received many such letters and they do not bother y o u, as long as you a r e carrying your point, but I could not live with myself i f I didn't say to you that when you , and the others in a u thority , lie d own at n i ght , I hope y ou are able to s leep well with you r conscience a nd that y ou c a n cont i nue to l ive wi t h the injustice you a r e doing t hese good me n . Tod a y we dete rmined in our off ices to not buy office s upplies in t he f uture fr om your c ompan y, not t hat it would a ff e c t your p r ofi t t o ~ny gr e at exte nt, but b ecause t h e n ame on va r ious things he r e i s r e p u lsive t o us in v iew o f the position you h a ve t a ken a gainst our f i r eme n. t1, An 143.215.248.55 16:04, 29 December 2017 (EST) Since rely, CC: Chief Hildebrand, Ch i e f J e nkin s , The Atlanta Jourmal �