COUNCIL TENSIONS RISING

LIMA -- Following the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old mother by
police, tensions are obviously running high in the city.

That includes City Council.

Sixth Ward Councilman Derry Glenn on Wednesday suggested the need for
a retreat after 5th Ward Councilman Tommy Pitts left the group's
meeting Tuesday night after he lost a committee chairmanship.

Glenn was quick to say he believes the council has communication
problems, not problems based on race. Glenn said Nixon should have
talked to Pitts about the committee change.

"I see division. Everybody has their own agendas and it needs to
stop," Glenn said. "Folks put us in office to do a job for them. That
will slow you down on getting your job done as a city
councilman."

Pitts lost his position as Safety Services Committee chairman when
council President John Nixon recommended a change and the council
approved it Tuesday. Pitts said he would not accept his new
chairmanship of the Human Resources Committee.

Pitts declined on Wednesday to talk further about why he left or
elaborate on comments he made during the council meeting Tuesday about
being stripped of the post because he's addressed concerns of the
black community.

Pitts said if city officials had listened to concerns he was airing,
the Friday shooting could have been prevented. He also spoke of an
investigation of him that city officials were aware of.

In the past year, Pitts has held public meetings on racial profiling,
and accused the court system of doling harsher penalties to blacks
than whites for drug crimes while his two sons were facing drug
charges. His sons' attorney, Ken Rexford, studied two years worth of
local drug sentences and produced statistics that blacks are sentenced
to nearly twice as long in prison as whites on drug charges.

He also had private conversations with another councilor and excluded
a member of the Safety Services Committee on a committee matter in
September.

Nixon stood by the reasons he gave Tuesday for the change, saying he
believes Pitts' interest about city hiring practices and increasing
diversity of the city's employees would be beneficial on Human Resources.

Nixon also declined to talk about what happened Tuesday night, saying
he believes now, because of heightened sensitivities of many in the
city, including officials, makes it a time for measured words.