Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 30, 1993 TAG: 9304300309
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIENNA LENGTH: Medium
But it took three votes and intervention from Moose International to win admission for the 13th man Bast brought before the Vienna lodge.
Preston Blackwell, a Fairfax police captain, now is the 34-year-old Vienna group's first black member.
Blackwell said Bast assured him there would be no trouble admitting him to the fraternal, civic and philanthropic organization.
"I told him racism is alive and well, and I may not be accepted the first time," Blackwell said. "He said, `No, not in 1993.' "
Bast and Blackwell said the group's membership twice voted down Blackwell because of resistance from a few members who did not want a black to join. In the second vote, 51 members voted to admit Blackwell but five objected. Three votes against a nominee are enough to reject him.
Ray Bush, governor of the Vienna Moose Lodge, would not comment on the situation.
"It doesn't make sense in 1993 to have to go through the same things we went through in 1963 or 1953," Blackwell said.
Bast said he was astonished by the rejections and by the treatment he received from other Moose Lodge members.
Bast said he was removed from a lodge office and claims members stopped referring clients to his plumbing business.
A few members threatened him, Bast said.
"Somebody said to me, `You'll never get a nigger in here,' " Bast said. "I said, `It ain't over yet.' "
Bast said he recruited Blackwell after two lodge members said they were interested in adding minority members. Bast said he is convinced most lodge members share that view and said the lodge's board of directors unanimously approved Blackwell's application on the first try.
But when the board presented the application to the general membership for a vote Nov. 4, Blackwell was rejected.
Bast said he contacted the group's national headquarters in Mooseheart, Ill., to plead Blackwell's case. The group's operating laws prohibit racial discrimination.
Usually a rejected nominee must wait six months before reapplying. But the national organization authorized a special vote a month later because of the racial nature of the case, Bast said.
The national group also sent Dan Corcoran, a state Moose representative, to monitor the vote.
When Blackwell was again rejected Dec. 3, Corcoran said he told lodge members "they'd made a terrible mistake."
On learning Blackwell had been rejected a second time, the Moose organization authorized a third vote. In the meantime, Blackwell prepared to file a civil lawsuit accusing the lodge of rejecting him because of his race.
"At that point, I was really disgusted with the whole situation," Blackwell said. "I think they realized I had gotten fed up and I was going to sue."
But in early March, the Moose lodge told Blackwell he was in. The lodge would not release results of that vote. Bast said he was never notified of the vote and was not present.
Kurt Wehrmeister, spokesman for Moose International, said the national organization cannot be sure Blackwell was rejected on the basis of race. But Wehrmeister said Moose officials could see no valid reason to reject Blackwell.
"Every impression I got from him is that he is an intelligent and very gentlemanly individual, certainly the kind of person I would like to sponsor into my lodge," he said.
Wehrmeister said he is not aware of another case in which the national group intervened to admit someone to a local lodge. He said there are many blacks among the organization's nearly 1.3 million members, but exact figures are not kept.
Blackwell said the experience has not soured him on Moose membership.
"There are a lot of nice people there and they work on some worthwhile projects," Blackwell said.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.