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MEMORANDUM To IAJR From AD This is an effort to fill you in on what happen in the Peyton_harlan Road situation since you left Wednesday evening. 1. As a result of the 11 All Citizens rrmeeting the Atlanta Con stitution carried a story Thursday mo ~: ning that there was a split in the Negro leadership and that Leage and Empire would not send a repa,esentative to your committee but just let the "All Citizensrr represent them. 2. Apparently someone was floating a baloon, because C. A. Scott was at the meeting and carried the same story as the Consti. 3. Col. Walden called me Thursday morning and wanted to let us know the story was 1 rerroneousrr and that he was issuing a statement to correct it. The "corrected" story came out Thursday evening. • stating that the League and Empire would elect their own representatives, but would "support the main objectives of the All Citizens Corrurnittee. rr • • They were to have a joint meeting of the three Negro groups Friday afternoon, after which Col. Walden would advise me of the representatives' names. 4. Col. Walden, Dr. Borders both told me prior to the meeting that they thought things were shaping up as you would want, and they felt sure the negotiations could go ahead in spite of the barricade . . the papers carried this same fee ling . After the meeting Friday afternoon, that feeling did not pre vail, and the only thing they have v olunteered to me is that the joint group v oted 26 - 6 to ask you to their next meeting so they could 11 h_ear your side. n They are planning to have their next meeting on Wednesday, probably at 3:00 p. m. I am attaching the newspapers to wh ich I refer in case you haven't seen them, and I call your particular attention to Saturday's Consti and Gene Pattersons editorial. 5. To continue on the Southwest Citiz ens side. . as I told you previously, Virgil Cope land stated to me that they wante d to help remove the pressure on you and would do anything necessary to help the situation. • even to asking you to take down the rrwall". 6. When he came in, this was still the case, but they do not intend (at this point) to recommend the re9pening of the road itself. . and had phrsued the course suggested by our Law D epartment of getting the individial property owners who acquired the abandoned road to erect a fence. Let me stop he re for a few additional points : �a. First of all, the barricade is sitting on city property as we do not 4ave the legal right to barricade private property. b. There are signs at both efid of both streets stating Dead End 11 rr c. It is the feeling of Newell ~ Edenfield that our case in Fulton Superior Court will be sustained, but that the City has no ri g ht to block off priv ate property (the abandoned p!DIDtion) with a barricade. d. The residents in that secition seem willing to remo v e the w all, but w ant in some way to visually close the street, since they say w hite people won't buy if it is close d and neither wrotk w ill the colored people. e. I personally feel that the removal o f the barricade w ould satisfy the Negroes as it w ould rempen the street, at least temporarily untlil the property o w ners decided to either plow it up and plant it in cotton , or put up their own fence . 7 . The Southw est citiz e ns and express e d by Vir g il Copeland and Charles Edw ards (and by the w ay, Edwards seems to be e x treme ly competent) are hurried in their o w n individual probl e m of the protection of their hous e s and the necessity to close or keep closed the road. • they do not realiz e the terrific impact this has had from the stand point of National publicity. 8 . In talking to both Copeland and Edw ards (and Bill Ho w land sat w ith us) I pointed out this public i ty and the fact that we had two problems . • • (1) the emotional one w hich make s n ew s because o f the barricade, and (2) th e probl e m of actuall y w orking out a mutually satis factory solution. • and said ~ to them that we should r e mo v e the first problem in order to solv e the s e cond. . the y xlrleac reali ze this and w ill ~ p ii C7bably r e comme nt the 4 points which I ha v e m e ntione d to y ou : 1. R e mo val of barricade 2, Suppo r t o f r ez oning fo r hous i n g 3. R e ques t e nding to blockbu s ting t a tics 4. R erouting of stree t to f o rm the o rig i n al i d ea of th e d o u bl e h or s e sho e. 9. I received the names of four groups, which i s a ttac h ed, but ha v e not heard from Dr. M . L. Kingsr. as to t h e " e l ectedn repre s entati v es of the A ll Ctizens Committee (w hich Col. Walden to l d me they li!.Oul d ha v e . ) I l eft a call for him 2 �Saturday 1x:llrn:x but he hever returned it. letter to just the four groups. Therefore I addressed the attached 10. The Southwest Citizens Association is having their meeting Saturday night to decide what course of action they GO«XX would take and what they will recommend. • we will k n o w ~ Monday morning. • 11. Copeland will still wait to hear from this affice as to when the meeting should be called. • and Col. Walden and /or M. L. King Sr. will contact you probably Monday to state the willingness of the All Ctizens Comm. to 11 hear your side. After seeing what Copeland has to present to the bi racial group, we should let him know whether to call the meeting as origianlly discussed for Wednesday. or wait until you have met with the All Citznes group. One thing important to remember is that the suit comes up in Fulton Superior Court on Thursday morning. • and should the bi racial group meet wednesday and the white folkd recommend the removal of the barricade, then the court case would be easier. Another thought. . if somewhere the decision to reopen the road is mutually agreed, it would probably take a month to six weeks to do it. . as the Land Department will have to buy back the land (if they will sell it back) or condemn it, it will have to go before the PW#l Committee and the Board of Aldermen. Of course, this would be admitting a mistake, and a rerouting of streets upon mutual agreement seems better to my meager-thinking mind. Oh well, a ll of this is minor and will be satisfactorily resolved. . w hat worries me is the swimming pool situation which faces us shortly. every national news mei:lia with whom I have seen is rrjust waitingrr that should be the big story of the year, they say. �