They'll Cut Off Your Project: A Mingo County Chronicle

Chapter 9

9 In the summer of 1967, the Mingo County Economic Opportunity Commission granted me a leave of absence for three months to work with the OEO in the development and implementation of a neighborhood center program that involved fourteen major cities throughout the United States. During that time, I was able to compare the urban community action programs with the developments in rural Mingo County. The problems of the poor were basically the same. However, the political machines of the big-city mayors were far more sophisticated than Noah's, making them that much more difficult to deal with. Whereas Noah had a direct line to Governor Hulett Smith and Senator Robert Byrd, many of the big-city mayors had direct lines to the White House. In many instances, one telephone call to a Presidential assistant could radically change the intent of a poverty program in a big city. Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago completely controlled the types of programs that were funded in his city. Although I was assigned responsibility for Chicago, I was instm cted by the OEO not to interfere between Daley and the White House. In fact, Chicago was really considered off limits to me. I was deeply disappointed by the OEO's inabili ty to deal directly with the local poverty boards and by the constam pressures the White House exerted on the agency. Nevertheless, it was an extremely interesting assignmelH, and the three months passed quickly. I returned to Mingo in mid-October. It fell good to be back. But I soon discovered that there was total confusion between the poor people in the county and the chairman of the EOC board, undertaker Jerry Chafin. From what the community people told me, Chafin had attempted to hire Howard Chambers, ex-sheriff and political boss of the county, as a community aide without the permission of the Board of Directors. He also had approved the Board of Education's Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) proposal without discussing it with the Board of Directors. The staff was of the opinion that Chafin had usurped his power as chairman of the board and president of the Commission and that the Commission itself, especially the poor people, should reprimand him. Calls came in from all over the county, many of them welcoming me back and many complaining about the behavior of Chafin. Several community people felt that Chafi n was using the Commission to build himself a political machine. It was rumored that his father, Jeff Chafin, was planning to run for sheriff of the county, and it was assumed that Jerry would run for the Board of Education. It was Gladoula White who suggested that we call a special meeting of all community action chairmen to discuss the problem with Jerry Chafin. I , too, felt that snch action was a good idea, and I notified the other chairmen. We all agreed to meet the following Wednesday at Mrs. 'White's ." house in Lenore, a small community fifteen miles north of Williamson. At this meeting, not satisfied with his response, the chairmen of the community action groups decided to make an attempt to oust Chafin. The by-laws had been amended recently, making all community action chairmen members of. the Commission, and there was also a provision approved that allowed the Commission by a two-thirds vote to veto any decision by the Board of Directors. Because more than two-thirds of the Commission consisted of poor people, they could now control agency policy. It was also assumed that the Commission could at any time choose its own officers or reprimand a member if at least two-thirds feillhat the member had overstepped his authority. The strategy was to move fasl. A special meeting of the Commission was called for the following Monday, which was five days away, to discuss Chafin's hiring of Howard Chambers and his authorized approval of the ESEA proposal . The poor had decided to test their strength, [or it was believed that Jerry Chafin would rally the establ ishment behind him. It was a major crisis for the community action agency. I felt as if I had never been a\vay. To further complicate matters, Joe Smith, Mingo County's field representative from the Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington, had recently resigned his office , so the county (and the agency) was without an experienced field representative. This could be...