Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 November 1997 — Page 33

The Muncie Times, November 6,1997 • Page 33

Special Pull-Out CHIEFS continued from page 29 not been there long enough. In the officer appointment round that followed that meeting, white firefighters with 3 years on the department were promoted. Since retirement, I have talked with him about it and he seemed shocked at what had taken place. I thought Wilber Shimer was, by far, the worst chief I served under. •Chief Ronald True, 1968 to 1975, was boss for 8 years during my tenure on the department, longer than any other. True was a fair administrator. He was not around the stations that much. I liked him but one episode I will share will give the reader an insight to the Muncie Fire Department and its operation in those days. As I sat around inside the fire station all day and as a member

of the Muncie Community School Board, I thought we could be doing something with our time to better ourselves. I was aware of outreach programs at Ball State University to Grissom Air Force Base and to Pendleton Reformatory, where they sent instructors into the facility and taught students for college credits. I knew Professor Joe Rawlings, who was in charge of Community Education Programs for Ball State. I approached him about teaching classes for credit at the fire houses to fill some of our idle time. He agreed to work with me. I began to lobby True and Assistant Chief Ed Teal for permission to poll the department to see how many would be interested. I kept running into roadblocks and could never get their permission. I grew frustrated after about a year of trying and gave up. A

few years later, department instructor David Jones failed to get a promotion. He came to me and said, “Goodall, do you know why you could not get an answer from Chief True on college credit classes at the station houses?” I said, “No.” He said, “Because neither Chief True nor Assistant Chief Teal graduated from high school and they don’t want anyone to know it.” I was flabbergasted, to say the least, because we were told that one of the requirements we had to meet to be appointed to the department was to be a high school graduate. Still, after Shimer I liked True. He was like a breath of fresh air. • Chief Bing Crosby, 1976 to 1978, would be the last chief I would serve under before retiring with 20 years of service. Crosby was not my choice for chief and I told Mayor-elect

Cunningham so. Unfortunately, he told Crosby I had tried to sidetrack his appointment as

chief.

I will give Crosby credit though, we discussed the matter and I was frank with him about how I felt. After that conversation he never brought it up again. Neither did I. One conversation I had with Crosby and Teal was the absence of new appointments of African American firefighters in the Cunningham administration. I pointed out the Negro community had voted for Cunningham two to one over Mayor Cooley. I was retiring. John Blair was retiring. Charles Sanders was gravely ill and not expected to return to active duty. The department would go from nine to six black firefighters. I told them if they did not appoint some young blacks to the department, I would not support Cunningham’s reelec-

tion. They did not appoint any. It took a lawsuit several years later to get anything done. I completed my tenure on the Muncie Board of Education under Crosby with his full support. I retired on April 1, 1978, leaving behind a completely changed department from the days in 1958 when John Blair and I first entered those doors. TIME continued from page 32 return was the fourth Tuesday in November, 1975. • 1978—April 1, 1978, I retired after 20 years service on the Muncie Fire Department. In May 1978,1 was nominated on the Democratic ticket as State Representative in District 34 Delaware County. In November 1978, I was elected to the first of seven terms to the Indiana House of Representatives.

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