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2 Galesbur g Register-Mail Galesburg Th. Thursday, June 7, 1973 By ANDREA FERRETTI (Staff Writer) The Galesburg Human Re lations Commission (HRC) has lost its chairman and may lose its executive director in August. Mrs. Caroline Goltermann Wednesday in a 3-page state ment resigned as chairman of the commission. She gave as reasons the “inilerant nature’”’ of those ‘in the fore front of civil rights work” and the “ineffectiveness” of the commission itself. Last night, following a reg ular section, Mrs. Louise Wilder, executive director of the HRC, revealed she may be stepping down as director in August in order to attend Knox College. SHE SAID she would like to continue to serve the com mission on a part-time basis but could not stay on as di rector. ‘Everything is going professional these days,’’ she said. “I want to get an aca demic background.” Mrs. Wilder added that she under stands Mrs. Goltermann’s ap parent frustration as HRC chairman. ‘You get a lot of pot shots taken at you in a job like this.” The manner in which Mrs. Goltermann resigned brought praise from HRC members. But Larry Hendricks, presi dent of the Galesburg branch of the NAACP, labeled Mrs. Goltermann a “middle-class rabble-rouser.’’ In her letter of resignation Mrs. Golter mann had charged Hendricks with irresponsible leadership. ‘Although I have admired his courage in standing up to those in authority on behalf of minority people, his meth ods of dealing with both blacks and whites, many of whom agree with his goals, have included threats, intimi dation, mame calling and so of false rumors,” Mrs. Jermann charged. MRs. GOLTERMANN, charged that Larry Hendricks has interferred with the oper ation of the Equal Opportuni ty Office, where his wife, Iona Hendricks, is director. Mrs. Hendricks denies that he has interfered. Mrs. Goltermann last night also said Hendricks had been “bad-mouthing the work of the Human Relations Commis sion all over town,” “He called me a racist to day. I deeply resent this. If you are white and you dis agree with Larry you are a racist. If you are black and you disagree with him you are an Uncle Tom.” Jim Harris, a black com mission member, told Mrs. Goltermann she had done a ‘tremendous job’ as head of the commission. “I have to congratulate you on the beau tiful way you stepped out, I think Larry has done you an injustice in labeling you. I'd say Larry, if he continues to talk and conduct his cam paigns can easily take us back to 1910,’ Mayor Robert Cabeen today said he was sorry to see Mrs. Goltermann resign from the commission. ‘She does raise some interesting questions,” he added. ASKED IF he thought both agencies had been operating effectively, he said no. He added that both offices should be reexamined and both should be independent of the city manager. ‘We need to define their functions more clearly,” Asked if he thought a new director would be hired if Mrs. Wilder stepped down he said he was not sure, “I think we should look at the whole picture.” A month ago the City Coun cil decided to hire a coordi nator for both the HRC and the EOO. Mrs. Wilder said this idea appealed to her be cause she thought it would ease competition between the two agencies. She said a co ordinator would be able to “tell the true story,” Caroline Goltermann Louise Wilder
Newspaper Details
Galesburg Register Mail
Galesburg, Illinois, US
Thu, Jun 07, 1973
Page 1
Full Page
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Kim T.
USA 13 Feb 2026
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