MARION, Ill.—Monday night’s Marion City Council meeting (July 28, 2014) saw the hot-button topic of a reappointment to a board of directors of a very popular facility for many of Marion’s children and their families.
The reappointment of Andre Baker Sr. to the Boynton Street Community Center (BSCC) was on the city council agenda Monday…and this was denied again until Baker agreed to the city’s background check. This is the same background investigation the city uses for employment; however, board members are not city employees, merely appointees. All that has ever been used for BSCC appointees (and presumably the volunteers) has been a check through DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) which makes sense because of BSCC’s work with children.
At Monday’s meeting, Ron Gibson told mayor Bob Butler, “This (city background checks of appointees) has never happened before.”
“We’ve never had anyone with drug charges before,” Butler retorted, referencing the situation with Baker.
The whole thing unfolded upon the July 14 city council meeting, which is covered in depth in the current (July-August 2014) edition of Disclosure on stands now, entitled Boynton Street Center board member’s reinstatement at issue for city council, and which you can Read the Lead of right here for our mid-afternoon RTL offering:
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MARION—Ron Ferguson, chairman of board of directors at the Boyton Street Community Center in Marion, is working diligently to get his friend and former board member Andre Baker Sr. reappointed to the board.
The center, established in 1987 by the city of Marion, is a popular location for many of Marion’s kids and their families, and promotes itself as being “dedicated to education, development, and building self-esteem in a secure and comfortably environment.” They also make the building available for people to become “involved with the diverse programs and/or rent the building for special events.”
Boynton Center offers meals for kids, which meet high nutrition standards, provides educational plans set to age level for after-school programs, conducts educational crafts and art projects for kids attending those programs and also provides “quiet time” so that after-school kids can get homework done, or focus on reading a good book.
Other programs include After School All Stars, Boys to Men Mentoring, At Risk Supper Program, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Adult Socials, Ball Field Rental, Family Events and Alcoholics Anonymous.
But an incident dating back to two years ago has impacted the facility in a negative way, and now, the board, lead by Ferguson, is attempting to get things back on track with one of their valued members.
May of 2012 changed it all
On May 23, 2012, Andre Baker Sr. found a considerable amount of marijuana in his garage that belonged to Andre Baker Jr.
Like any good parent, the elder Baker brought the marijuana into his home and planned to confront Jr. about the weed.
But before he got the opportunity to do just that, his home was raided and Marion Police assumed it….
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It’s unclear why the city, aware of the fact that the county prosecutor’s office took the time to consider the lack of “background” in Baker’s history when it came to imposing sentence on him, won’t just get with that office and double check, then be done with it. It seems to be yet another incident of what appears to be bias on the part of the all-white board toward black people, including the situation with Angelo Hightower, who is now considering filing suit against the city for refusal to promote him (more on that in an upcoming post.) Whatever the case, you can read the article on the Boynton Street Community Center, and the mess surrounding Baker’s prospective reappointment, by clicking the headline link above the excerpt if you have an online membership to the e-Edition; or, if you don’t simply click this link here to get started. If you’d rather hold a paper in your hands, you can still get out to one of our many vendors in the area, including in Marion ROC One-Stop on West DeYoung, Hunter’s Cove Barber Shop on West DeYoung, and Pit Road Racing downtown on the square. Hurry…in just TWO WEEKS this one will be gone, replaced by the August-September issue…keep up with what’s REALLY going on with the Boynton Street Community Center and lots more in the city of Marion!