Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005030327
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA PARKER THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: BROOKSIDE, ALA. LENGTH: Long
"It was when the Pratt Mining Co. went down. Quite a few people around here had stills," she said from her kitchen, smiling just a trace as she recalled the 1950s and 1960s when moonshining was so big it was practically respectable. "You were not an outcast if you made it."
Given the history, it seemed, at the very least, a little hypocritical when Sokita, 46, and several others launched a crusade to rid this sleepy hamlet of its mayor because he has a moonshining rap on his record.
But that is precisely what is happening in Brookside. Citing a seldom-used Alabama law that prohibits convicted felons from holding elective office, opponents of Mayor Rolen "Pete" Burr have raised his 1962 conviction for "attempting to distill whiskey" as evidence that he cannot legally hold office.
In a lawsuit filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, the anti-Burr contingent hopes to strip him not only of his title as mayor, for which he is paid $500 a month, but also his jobs as superintendent of the Brookside Water Department and of the Brookside Gas Co., each of which pays Burr an additional $600 a month.
The struggle has polarized Brookside as never before. City Council meetings, which rarely attracted more than two or three spectators, play to overflow crowds. Twice in six months, fistfights have erupted outside Town Hall.
"It's got kinfolks against kinfolks and friends against friends," said Lois Hodges, 71.
"It has torn this town apart," said Paul Schaffer, 69, a former gas station owner and Burr's predecessor as mayor.
Burr, 61, is perplexed that some people would turn against him after 10 years. "They all knew all about this when I ran for mayor, and they keep re-electin' me," he said. "So why are they bringing it up now?"
Brookside (pop. 1,409) is one of those dying towns whose main asset is its memories. It was settled in the late 1800s by Czechoslovak miners, who built neat frame houses along the banks of the brook that meandered through town. In its heyday, Brookside had two movie theaters, two clothing stores, two groceries, a skating rink, a public swimming pool and several saloons.
"We had everything here," said Sokita, who moved to Brookside when she was 11. "I thought I had died and gone to heaven."
Then, one by one, the mining companies pulled out. Brookside slowly shrank. Over the years, the stores and the movie theaters went out of business. Brookside recovered some of its population when Birmingham's sprawl pushed residents into the suburbs, but the business district never quite revived.
Burr was elected mayor in 1980 and has been re-elected twice. In the last 10 years, his administration put up street signs, numbered all the houses and painted the water tower. Brookside bought a new fire truck and acquired a community hall for $1.
But Burr's detractors said plenty of questionable things have happened in the last decade. Water bills have shot up, they said, yet the town is slow to repair leaks in aging pipes. Bonds for the gas system are paid off, but the rates have not dropped.
Burr's daughter was hired over 46 other applicants as secretary at Town Hall, and his son worked as a town maintenance man.
The anti-Burr forces also question Burr's methods for managing Brookside's financial affairs. Whenever the town needs money, Burr transfers funds from the Gas Department account to the town's general fund, which is entirely legal but has raised questions about accountability.
"They have had as high as $2,000 in the miscellaneous fund," Schaffer said. "For a town this size, that's a lot of stamps and paper clips."
Burr said his detractors have attempted, unfairly, to portray him as a dictator. "They say, `Well, he's getting rich down there.' Well, I make $300 over the poverty level."
Before his election as mayor, Burr said, he was in the home-improvement business, painting and repairing houses. He was born in a town three miles away but lived most of his life in Brookside's housing project across the railroad tracks from Town Hall.
He went into the mines for the first time at age 12. During a coal strike in the 1950s, he got into the business that threatens his political career.
In July 1959, Burr was arrested for attempting to distill whiskey in a basement still that held 2,250 gallons. It was so big, even by Birmingham standards, that its picture was featured in the Birmingham News, with the caption: "Special officers close giant still." The case eventually was dismissed because police had seized the evidence illegally.
When arrested again in 1961, Burr was running a smaller still in another house. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year and a day in jail. He served five months and six days at a work camp before being paroled.
Afterward, Burr wrote to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles for a pardon. He received by return mail a certificate stating that he is "fully rehabilitated and is now a law-abiding citizen." It also said his civil and political rights had been restored.
When Burr ran for the City Council in 1976, he had the certificate read aloud at a council meeting, in case anybody had doubts. He explained the pardon when he campaigned door to door. The issue never arose again - until the lawsuit last October.
by CNB