Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 22, 1994                   TAG: 9412220111
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOUSING AGENCY CLEARED

Herbert McBride had demanded his $77,000-a-year job back, along with $1,375,000 in damages, in a lawsuit that accused the housing authority of slander and violation of McBride's right to free speech and his right against unreasonable firing.

In an opinion filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Judge James Turk granted a motion by the housing authority to dismiss the suit.

Turk noted in the opinion that McBride worked "at the will and pleasure" of the authority, and that some of the remarks the former director said should have been protected by his free speech rights were "insensitive, at best."

McBride's firing in May 1992 came after he and Robert Glenn, chairman of the board that oversees the authority, had spent the previous year sparring over the authority's operation. Glenn - who also was named in the lawsuit - wanted residents of the city's 11 housing projects to have a greater voice in their living conditions, while McBride favored centralized control.

In his lawsuit, McBride claimed he was fired because of two comments he made that were published in the Roanoke Times & World-News - remarks that some say showed his insensitivity to the poor.

In one article, McBride responded to a resident's fear that her ceiling might collapse by saying that it was only constructed of drywall, suggesting she would not be hurt if it fell.

In another article about poverty in Roanoke, McBride said the city was not a bad place to be poor. Not only could poor people take advantage of all the public housing and social services, he said, but they also could go to the trash bins.

"You might have to take one-half of the banana and throw it away," McBride was quoted as saying, "but you can eat the other half."

McBride later claimed in court that he was misquoted, but Turk noted that the newspaper never was asked to retract the statement.

Turk ruled that the housing authority had good reason to be concerned with McBride's comments. "A perception of an individual charged with overseeing the daily operations of the authority as insensitive to the plight of the poor unquestionably would hinder the efficiency of the public service it performs - providing housing to low-income individuals," Turk wrote in a 14-page opinion.

Clinton Morse, a Roanoke lawyer who represented the authority, said he was pleased with the finding that the authority and Glenn did not violate "any legal duty owed to Mr. McBride." He declined to elaborate.

McBride, who had worked 28 years with the Roanoke housing authority, now works for the housing authority in Charleston, W.Va., his attorney said at a previous hearing this month.