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The Human Relations Com mission has charged that a city investigation into an al leged case of discrimination in the Equal Opportunity Of fice (EOO) leaves some ques tions unanswered. An HRC representative to day delivered the protest to City Manager Thomas Herring and asked that further dis cussion of the matter be con tinued. The actions stems from a complaint made by a Mexi can-American girl after she failed to receive a referral card from EOO for a job at the Social Security district office here. The girl made the complaint after she later learned a black girl was re ferred to the job. She said she was never contacted by Mrs. Iona Hendricks, executive director of EOO. Lupe Vasquez, HRC commis sioner, revealed the complaint at an HRC meeting last week. Vasquez said he attempted to question Mrs. Hendricks about the complaint but she refused to talk to him. The job opening at the Soci al Security Office is still open and probably will not be filled until Oct. 1, according to an office spokesman. In the meantime, the girl has applied at the office herself, HRC members were told last night. EOO is primarily a job re ferral agency to help minority group persons find employ ment. Herring investigated the charge and Monday said the problem was caused by a communications breakdown, “Upon checking into the mat ter one can readily see how the young lady felt she was discriminated against.’ he said. Herring reported he had dis cussed the matter with Mrs. Hendricks who assured him she did not knowingly discrim inate against the girl. The girl was not given a re ferral card because “it did not contain any information concerning the young lady’s training in typing and business education. Therefore, she was thought not to be qualified,” Herring explained. He said the alleged dis crimination charge was “blown out of proportion” and that the matter should have been investigated before it was discussed at an HRC meeting. The HRC letter delivered today said the girl contacted EOO at least three times, but “was never told her card con tained insufficient information nor was she ever asked about it.” The letter asked questions dealing with inter-depart mental cooperation with the HRC, policy regarding discus sion of HRC business at public meetings, a statement made by Herring that he felt the charge was blown out of pro portion, and what procedures were set to prevent a recur rence of the alleged discrimin atory action. The letter stated HRC ap preciated Herring's attempts to investigate the complaint, but that it wanted more thought and discussion. Herring said this morning he had not yet read the letter, and was not ready to com ment. He said he had handled the matter purely as a person nel problem; the manager added he would welcome more discussion with HRC members. Several Mexican-Americans attended last night's meeting to express their opinions. One said Mrs. Hendricks should be removed. “It's discrimination as clear as it can be,’’ she said. Mrs. Carolyn Golterman, commission chairman, today said the commission's con sensus is that the case is closed. She said HRC believes the matter was handled poor ly, and wants its questions answered. She said that when Herring released the findings of his investigation, an HRC mem ber should have been present. Some of the problems in the case reflect personality con flicts between Mrs. Hendricks and Mrs. Louise Wilder. HRC director. Mrs. Golterman add ed. “I really do not like to see our (the commissioners’) work hampered because of personality conflicts in city government.’ she added.
Newspaper Details
Galesburg Register Mail
Galesburg, Illinois, US
Thu, Sep 14, 1972
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Kim T.
USA 13 Feb 2026
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