Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 15

15 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1977 Hartford Wethersfield Windsor East Hartford Glastonbury Bloomfield Rocky Hill West Hartford Newington South Windsor Gaines' Backers Gird for Fight Most of the questions from the audience were requests for advice on how to support her, Johnson and other speakers intercepted such questions, and advised organizing support in conjunction with the Urban League, NAACP, High Noon, PTAs, and other groups. A few questions concerned improving transportation for school children and getting more parents involved with the schools. Before Mrs. Gaines' brief talk, George Goodman, former Hartford Times columnist, told the gathering stories from his childhood in the Hartford school system of 50 years ago. He said a school principal told his parents, George has done well and he a little better than average but George is black and there's no reason to waste his time sending him on to.

high school." "The community wasn't exactly like it is now," he said. "That's right," and r'Praise the Lord," people shouted back from the crowd. didn't come to Hartford as a stepping stone to anything. We've got it all, if we only knew it," she said. She asked for support for the school budget to avoid a possible $4 million cut in "the solid part of the school program," but said she cannot comment publicly on her differences with the school board without hurting the dignity of the superintendent's office.

The board has reprimanded Mrs. Gaines for withholding information on management of two city scholarship programs. Some members are dissatisfied with the superintendent's accom- Elishments in the first year and a half of her con-ract, which runs to 1978. Most of Mrs. Gaines' comments Sunday were on education and on her warm feeling for the community and its apparent support of her.

"I've made, I'm certain, extraordinary mistakes, but every one was made trying to do right," she said. By ROBERT B.STEPNO Black community leaders told about 150 supporters of Hartford School Supt. Edythe J. Gaines Sunday to start finding candidates and registering North End voters for November's school board election. They also suggested writing letters, attending board meetings, and working with community groups to build support for Mrs.

Gaines, who attended the session. "The bottom line is, you don't want the black superintendent of schools to be run out of town," Arthur Johnson, director of the Hartford Human Relations Commission, told those meet-ingat the Charter Oak Lodge of Elks Club No. 67 onBlue Hills Avenue. Mrs. Gaines, who was greeted with a standing ovation, maintained her public silence on her problems with the school board but said she doesn't intend to leave Hartford.

"I'm here and I ain't going nowhere I 1 I 5 I I Teacher Vows To Stay 'Tieless' 1... By MIKE SHERIDAN When East Hartford English teacher Richard P. Brimley tells his students about individuals who have stood up for what they believed in, he sometimes uses himself as an example. For the last six years the 37-year-old Penney High School teacher has been fighting a school edict that male teachers must wear ties and jackets in the classroom. In fact, Brimley today wears turtleneck pullovers to class in lieu of a tie, and says the practice hasn't elicited a negative response from school administrators.

"I've only worn a tie once this year," he adds. Brimley believes the dress code is an infringement on his rights. tie in ruling that Brimley must have a full U.S. District Court hearing on whether he can teach without a tie. In 1975 U.S.

District Court Judge T. Emmet Clarie ruled that the East Hartford dress code requiring male teachers to wear a tie was not an infringement of Brim-ley's rights. "If plaintiff Brimley does not wish to observe the board's rule," Clarie said in the decision, "he is free to go elsewhere and find a school system where conformance to a dress code is not required." Brimley's fight to teach tieless began in 1971, when a high school principal told him to wear a tie to class. Brimley put one on, but also filed a grievance within the School Department. The grievance was denied by the principal, the superintendent of schools and Board of Education.

The case then went to arbitration former Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox was one of the arbitrators and finally to the courts. Brimley doesn't know whether the Board of Education will continue to fight the case. The matter is expected to be discussed by the board next week. "Right now, I'm really tired of it all, but if I didn't follow this thing through, I'd feel hypocritical," says Brimley. Brimley says he is prepared to continue his which has received national attention.

"In my mind, it's an individual against the system," "I object to big brother telling me that I have to wear a tie," explains the bearded Brimley. "I wear a tie to places that require it, such as a dinner. But I don't think the classroom requires it." During the 10 years Brimley worked summers as a milkman in the East Hartford area, he wore a uniform that included a cap and a tie. And he didn't object. "I didn't mind because the job required it," he explains.

"I knew I would be wearing a uniform when I took the job. It's just that teaching doesn't require a uniform." Brimley notes that the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals this week sugges ted he may be able to teach more effectively without a RICHARD P. BRIMLEY said Brimley. "The idea that society is imposing certain things on individuals is something I can't agree with." So don't expect to see Richard Brimley teaching with a tie.

I 1 Pastor from 4Bible Belt' Sees Challenge Ahead hp' not been as receptive to the evangelical mesage as other areas. "I have never thought in terms of ministering in this area," he said in an interview, "but there is an ever-increasing indication that there is a real evangelical move throughout the New England area." Theology aside, the Rev. Mr. Hubbard said he has actually found Hartford area residents friendlier and more respectful to ministers than those in the Midwest "There's no respect for clergy out there," he joked. "There's just too many of them." The Rev.

Mr. Hubbard was ordained by the Assemblies of God, the largest of the nation's Pentacostal denominations, but he is taking over a church that is officially unaffiliated. Faith Center changed its name from Hartford Gospel Tabernacle and dropped its Assemblies of God membership in 1973 when it merged with Faith Center of Glen-dale, the owners of WHCT-TV, Channel 18 in Hartford. The tie to the television station has since been severed, and the Rev. M.

Hubbard said his congregation never strayed far from its Assemblies of God learnings. "It's a very thin line be- By LAURENCE COHEN To the evangelical wing of Protestantism, New England is a missionary area, with much potential for growth. To the new pastor of Faith Center on Prospect Avenue, the Hartford area "presents its own unique challenge." That challenge, says the Rev. George Hubbard, is to bring the conservative Protestant message to an area long dominated by main-line denominations like the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ. The 57-year-old minister comes to Hartford from the Belt" country around Springfield, and he admits that New England has iff tween what we are now and being an Assemblies of God church," he said.

The Rev. Mr. Hubbard, who was a professor at Central Bible College in Springfield before he took the Faith Sulpit, replaces the Rev. ack Mackay, who is doing evangelism work of the "700 Club, a national Christian program on Channel 18. Dancers in 'Dusk' Martha Purl and Bradford Roth of the Hartford Ballet Chamber Ensemble perform the selection "Dusk" for an audience at Wethersfield High School Sunday afternoon.

The pro- Eram was sponsored by the Wethersfield Committee on Culture and the Arts (Courant Photo Joseph Cannata THE REV. HUBBARD For These Two East Hartford Men, Life is a Series of Obstacles By CONSTANCE NE YER Two young East Hartford men, each paralyzed from his chest down one from a gunshot wound and the other from a job accident have met more than just physical obstacles in their pursuit of normal lives. For Riccardo Oliver, 23, and Eugene MacLure, 22, both of 35 Ginger Lane, their paralyses cost them a year in the hospital each. Yet all the therapy and help in hospitals weren't enough to prepare them for life's problems, MacLure said. They met in New Britain Memorial Hospital, playing cards.

Their similar problems led them to become friends. Riccardo was shot by a .22 rifle in Bridgeport after a car accident. The car driver wanted $100 to pay for damages right away. Riccardo didn't have the money, so the man shot him four times in the back. Riccardo says.

MacLure was injured four years ago when he was a tree surgeon for a landscaping firm. Standing in a truck's hydraulic "bucket," he was lifted up 45 feet high, he says. Then the truck boom snapped and sent Gene falling backwards. When the two left New Britain General Hospital in the summer, they both started looking for an apartment. They had to check fixtures, doors, and the heights of cabinets and drawers to make sure all were in reach.

Confined to wheelchairs, they had to measure doors' widths to ensure their chairs could pass. In the fall they applied at Tudor Village for an apartment, and in January they moved in. They can use the laundry located on the first floor, which is the same as that of their apartment But for food, they must depend on friends going out to the grocery. When friends can take them, they enjoy going back to the hospital and visiting. They also are members of the New Britain Memorial Hospital's wheelchair basketball team, and they want to go to the Wheelchair Olympics in Springfield, Mass.

this year. They both enjoy meeting people, but often can't because they don't have transportation. On a typical day, botu mostly clean up the apartment talk and listen to music. On one attempt to leave, Riccardo fell on the driveway exist from his apartment building and chipped a bone in his leg. He spent five days in the hospital.

Riccardo bought a van last fall, on which he makes' payments of $70 a month. He said that the state Depart-: ment of Vocational Rehabilitation told him if he bought the van, the state would pay for a hydraulic lift and hand con' trols. The state still hasn't paid for the extra equipment needed, however, and he is discouraged as a result. The rehabilitation department pays for the van. But he will feel much freer if he can operate the van, he said.

As it is, he must use a taxi to attend college classes twice a week. MacLure's dream was to be a policeman. He had all his job applications filled out in Willimantic, but his accident interrupted his plans. Now he is interested in counseling. He became" interested in counseling about a year after his accident when he had a mental breakdown and tried to commit suicide.

He said his depression resulted from the fact that he lived in a "filthy" flat in New Britain, and was upset about his physical condition. Now he has hope, he said. "For living expenses, Riccardo received $276 monthly from Social Security disability payments, while MacLure gets $144 in Social Security and an additional $74 in state aid. After pooling their resources and paying expenses, they only have $110 monthly for food, clothing and necessities. At this point they only have $6 to last them until March 3.

MacLure is applying for federal Supplemental Security Income. On his first attempt to get it though, he wrote to the state and received a notice that he was listed as "terminated and deceased." Hell keep trying along with Riccardo to join the outside world ana be accepted. He said they will still face prejudice and "people laughing at you" because of their injuries. "We sit around and clean up. But you can't clean up everyday," Riccardo said determinedly.

it Jz hiJk I ff ft ri v- if I Sharing Life's Challenges Riccardo Oliver, right, and Eugene MacLure, left, met over cards at New Britain Memorial Hospital. Both share the housework and the problems of life in a are members of the hospital's wheelchair basketball wheelchair at their East Hartford apartment They Team (Courant Photo by Annan G.Hatsian)..