Free Republic

Voters in Parma, Missouri voted in their first African-American female mayor. Tyus Byrd will be sworn in as mayor on Tuesday evening, April 14, at the Parma Community Building. According to Mayor Randall Ramsey, five out of six police officers resigned this week, effectively immediately. Mayor Ramsey said the clerk and the waste water treatment plant supervisor also turned in resignation letters citing “safety concerns.” …

A tiny Mississippi delta town has elected its first black mayor after the white incumbent, unopposed for 30 years, faced a young challenger inspired by President Barack Obama's feat in winning the White House. In a shock result in Alligator (population 220), Tommie “Tomaso” Brown, 38, defeated Robert Fava, the mayor since 1979, owner of the general store and once his opponent’s boss, by 37 votes to 27. Mr Brown’s surprise victory was a milestone for Alligator, which is named after the curving lake nearby rather than the alligators that once occupied it. Although the only three businesses in the...

Black Mayor Oks Confederate History Monday April 1, 2002 12:40 AM SUFFOLK, Va. (AP) - The mayor of Suffolk is the great-grandson of slaves, but didn't hesitate to grant a request to declare April Confederate History Month. ``We have rendered proclamations for other groups,'' Mayor Curtis Milteer said. ``It's a matter of recognizing and respecting everyone's heritage, even if it is not the same as our own.'' The NAACP said Milteer could be inviting discord. Milteer's stand is not shared by Gov. Mark R. Warner, who last month decided not to issue a proclamation honoring Virginia's Confederate heritage in April....