Lexington: Soul searching needed
A cancer may have been eating away at the heart of Lexington for years
Editorial by Kent Ostrander, executive director of The Family Foundation
From Kentucky Citizen Digest, March/April, 2000

In the midst of the swirl of activity in Frankfort, a painful andtragic story is scarcely being noticed in the flagship city of the Bluegrass State, Lexington. Though newspaper reports dutifully give account of the various trials of a once-celebrated city employee and black leader, Ron Berry, it appears that the full magnitude of the destructiveness has not even been told, much less tallied. 

The concerns certainly focus on whether Berry is guilty or innocent of the charges he presently faces, but new allegations suggest that those charges are but a fraction of the transgressions that he initiated or allowed to take place over a 30-year period.

What is commonly known is what has been reported in the newspapers — that Berry is accused of a number of accounts of sodomy by the young teens he oversaw in his Micro City Government program.

Other Accusations

But other accusations that have surfaced suggest that there may be many times the number of victims that have come forward to date.And some of his most recently alleged activities are far more outrageous than Lexington’s citizens could imagine.

One deposition for a civil action had testimony which disclosed allegations of an overnight out-of-state trip where a bus load of homosexuals were granted access to a dormitory of Lexington black teen males.The testimony went on to describe ongoing harassment through sexual verbiage, which intimidated both male and female teens.The interpersonal relational dynamics depicted in the account are similar to what has been reported from those who have survived dominate religious cults.

Federal grant funds given to Berry’s agency were stopped in the ‘70s after one serious complaint and an ensuing investigation, but the city of Lexington continued to fund his work.

Broader Implications

Even more serious is the suggestion that some city officials may have been warned on repeated occasions about the alleged crimes of Berry and, yet, for whatever reasons chose not to intervene.Some allege that several mothers went to the police on behalf of their sons, reporting the allegations that their sons had been sexually abused.To their horror the counsel they perceived was “How will the accusations of your son (a young black male) stand up against a well-known city leader?”Could this be an example of racial profiling?

Others report that they had in fact spoken even with the mayors of previous administrations about the concerns but no investigations were initiated.Still others maintain that they were terminated from employment in the city government because of their repeated attempts to question Berry’s activities.Even proposed settlements now with plaintiffs could be a way of using taxpayer dollars to buy their silence.Some city officials have admitted privately that the settlements could conceivably reach millions of dollars if the allegations are true.

Questioning the Questions

Finger pointing suggests that the whole issue is nothing more than a Republican conspiracy to bring down Central Kentucky Democratic leaders, current and past, including a former Lexington mayor, Scotty Baesler.Others express concern that it is a witch hunt rooted in the personal ambitions of some city officials. On the other side, some question whether city leaders kept Berry in place and kept his program heavily funded to keep the black community on its “political plantation.”

Homosexuals fear the concerns are designed to disparage their lifestyle and give a explanation for the 13-day blitz where gay rights laws were introduced and passed hastily in Lexington last summer.Black families, who claim to be victims, feel abused by the city and the political structure that would keep them under such an official while other black leaders believe Berry did so much good that his work outweighs any bad he may have engendered.Still others suggest that Berry is indeed guilty and that members of his family in key places of city government have helped him deflect charges for years.

Conclusion

It is my conviction that the citizens of Lexington, white and black, in city government and in the private sector, spiritual and secular, must process the full story.

Three obvious objectives can and must be reached: 1) find the truth, and thereby vindicate or convict Ron Berry; 2) extend compassionate care to those victims who have been traumatized and; 3) create a healthy system of checks and balances in city government so that this — the allegations or the realities of these crimes — may never happen again. 
May God help this city.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst