Selection may defy voting act

Leighton's town council has been put on notice that its failure to appoint a black resident to the town council after the death of Bill Eastep could amount to a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Eastep, 76, died Sept. 19, forcing the council to appoint someone to serve the remainder of his term. The council selected L.C. Lenz. Both Eastep and Lenz are white.

Tuscumbia attorney Billy Underwood sent a letter to Mayor Lawayne Harrison advising him that because the council did not appoint a black person, the town could be in violation.

The Voting Rights Act was signed into law Aug. 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson and outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many Southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

"If you have 40 percent blacks in that city, you should have a black representative on the council," Underwood said.

There are no blacks serving on the council.

The Web site City-Data.com showed Leighton's population as 55.1 percent black and 43.5 percent white. Leighton has no council districts and elects its mayor and five council members at large.

Underwood said Carolyn Bailey Jones, who is black, had been interested in serving on the council. She is a former member of the Leighton Water Board who filed a petition in Colbert County Circuit Court after she was removed from the water board. The petition asks the court to reinstate Jones to her position as chairwoman of the water board.

Underwood said the matter would be turned over to the U.S. Justice Department's civil litigation branch for "appropriate sanctions."

One outcome could be the creation of council districts in the town, with one being a majority black district.

The town's attorney, Nathan Johnson, said he has received a copy of Underwood's letter.

"What I assume is going to happen, is (the Justice Department) will review the letter and probably contact the town and do an investigation," Johnson said.

After the 2004 elections, Leighton's mayor and five council members were white. Before that, the mayor was black, as were four of the five council members. Teresa Lanaman, a current councilwoman, was the only white member of the previous council.