MCBC 8 page 26

 wall. That was never a statement that was made.

B: Could you comment on any sort of interaction with African-Americans that you
 had during the Manatee County situation. Were they present at all?

H: Very few, really. I had interaction with black police officers in the sheriff's
 department, and I had no problem there whatsoever. I think everybody
 understood, from my standpoint at least, that forced bussing was the issue. It
 was not anything else. That is not the perception of all the people out in the
 community, of course. In fact, that is the one thing I feel like I have always had, a
 good relationship with the black community, even to this day, in Manatee County.
 I mean, I supported black school board members who are on the Democratic
 ticket, and I have been Mr. Republican in one sense in Manatee County,
 because I have always felt like they deserve the same kind of support and
 treatment if they are honest and good at their job as anybody else. I do not let
 party lines step in the way of that.

B: I understand there was some picketing going on by those who were present?

H: Yes.

B: Was that ongoing, or was it just a particular moment?

H: It was off and on. I was so busy inside and what have you, I really could not see
 how much it went on because, like I said, I was almost like in prison myself, and
 the only way I could get out at times was for them to put me in a patrol car and
 dash me out and change me into someplace else. So, I was outside very little,
 most of the time inside the school office.

B: Are you familiar with any sort of influence of the desegregation center based at
 the University of Miami?

H: No. I am sure Maloy and others would be, but I was not.

B: How do you feel about the comparisons that the press made of Governor Kirk,
 comparing him to Ross Barnett, Orval Faubus, George Wallace [segregationist
 governors of Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama, respectively]?

H: I really felt like that was not a fair comparison, at least from where I sat as the
 governor's chief of staff. I felt like Claude Kirk was trying to do what he thought
 was right. I am sure the others felt they were doing the same thing, but I do not
 think he intended, starting out, that we were going to face federal marshals and
 what have you. That was just a byproduct of how the situation unfolded. I do not
 think he really saw himself standing in the doorway. I do not think that was his
 motive whatsoever. I do not even like the thought of him being presented that