Galveston

Bern Ewert made several comments on Saturday, February 25, in Danville about his work in civil rights (especially in the Charlottesville area). But, when I started looking into his time in Texas, a statement in a 1996 local Galveston paper struck me as odd. It said,

In an unusual arrangement, City Council decided Thursday to keep Ewert on as interim manager for a full year longer than planned when the Virginia-based consultant was hired in January to straighten out the city's serious financial problems.

Rather than name Ewert permanent city manager, council extended his contract 12 months beyond May 3.

Attorneys for the local League of United Latin American Citizens and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had sought a court order earlier Thursday to prevent Ewert's appointment as permanent manager.

Why would two minority groups be trying to prevent him from being hired permanently? While I don’t know all the details of this right now, it makes me wonder what I’ll find out by doing more digging.