Following Barry around town was like being with a movie star. He always drew a crowd. He was steady fodder for the local media, too. He was always good for a quote or a quick television sound bite. But on the personal side, Barry had an annoying habit of hitting on any attractive woman in a receiving line. He routinely ran late for appointments as if the entire world worked on his schedule. We called it MB time. He was a likeable country boy who never lost his Mississippi slang and down home behavior.
My decision to leave Barry had been building for several months, after my closest friend in the administration resigned in the spring. When I looked around my foxhole, I saw different faces and wondered who had my back. I was
thinking about that during a post-Ramada Inn meeting in the mayor's office.
thinking about that during a post-Ramada Inn meeting in the mayor
Barry sat at one end of the long mahogany table with his wife, Effie. Barry tried to explain once again why he met the junkie at the hotel. His blue paisley necktie hung loosely from his open collar. He sipped a purple Dick Gregory health drink. “The question of my visiting Lewis should be made public,” he said after six days of silence on the subject. “The public has the right to know,” he said between sips. Of course some of us had said this for several days.
The Barrys looked like the king and queen of some small African nation during the meeting. Effie's hands were in her lap and she said little. Her right hand was a loose fist covered by the left hand, There was a hint of a mile around the corners of her mouth, She intently watched each of us as if she was noting our reactions for later use.
Also at the meeting were Carol Thompson, the deputy mayor and chief administrative officer, and the police chief, Maurice Turner.
“I didn’t ask Chief Turner why he
didn’t order the public integrity unit to investigate or why he
didn’t have the cops interview me at the scene.” said Barry. The man who had been questioned for several years about his possible drug use leaned forward and stared at his aides and said, “I’m not going to let my integrity be questioned.”
“Well, why do you all think?” he asked.
I remember muttering something about making a public statement, but that found no support.
"Maybe I ought to quit,” he said. His audience sat mute. Finally it was decided we would hold a press conference on Jan. 6
The press conference was a fiasco after reporters became livid when Barry refused to take questions.
Barry said he had been tried and convicted by some members of the media and the community. He pledged to fight for his integrity and to be more careful in his public life. As he spoke I decided that was the final straw. I didn’t sign up for a voyage on the Titanic. Less than two years later, he was arrested in an FBI cocaine sting at the Vista Hotel.
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