Race rift deepens for firefighters as bias trial looms

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/09/01/s1a_fire_0901.html

By THOMAS R. COLLINS
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 01, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH — The letters scribbled onto the not-so-freshly-washed hood of firefighter Rick Curtis' Nissan were tough to discern.
In the sun's glare, Curtis thought they might spell Dad.

But a closer look revealed the word was Dead. Followed by Man.

Several hours earlier, Curtis had found a pink urinal deodorizer tablet tucked into his blankets at the fire station. It looked like it had been used.

Curtis had no doubt that the July incidents were a response to claims of race discrimination in hiring and promotions that he and three other black firefighters lodged in a lawsuit filed in 2004.
"That kind of took a turn toward the dark side," said Curtis, a lieutenant who's been with the department since 1995. "Do they really hate me that much?"

After simmering for years, tensions in the department are boiling over.

A recent argument between a white firefighter and a black firefighter grew so ugly that they had to be temporarily assigned to separate stations.

Black firefighters expressed frustration when a white man was hired in July to replace a retiring assistant chief who had been the only black member of fire administration.

The "Dead Man" and urinal tablet incidents are under investigation by the city's police department. So are two other troubling acts.

The union posted a "Scab Report" in August listing the names of four white firefighters who left the union late last year after the union said they didn't qualify to take a promotions test. Quoting Jack London, the posting says no one has "a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in."

In July, tires on a vehicle belonging to one of the firefighters listed as a scab were slashed at the fire station on South Dixie Highway.

Adding to the tension, the black firefighters' discrimination case is scheduled to go to trial in October.

Frankel denies race bias

The biggest source of friction within the department is the discrimination claims.

The black plaintiffs say they've been ignored by Mayor Lois Frankel, city administrators and the politically powerful and white-dominated fire union, which has supported Frankel. The union prevailed in August over a threat to rescind firefighter raises to help make up for money lost to state-mandated property tax cuts.

"I would not tolerate any type of race discrimination," Frankel said, pointing to her staffers, who include a Hispanic female assistant, a black female assistant and a black male assistant.

She dismissed any suggestion she has caved to union pressure.

"You make the opportunity for everybody and then you hire by merit," she said.
Fire union President Tom Sheppard said the union supports diversity. But the union has no role in hiring and the applicant pool is often short on minorities, he said.
Still, the department is becoming more diverse.

In a city that is 35 percent black, according to the 2005 Census, about 14 percent of the city's firefighters are black, the same as in 2003.

But in 2003, just 6 percent of lieutenants and captains were black. That's up to 22 percent today. The number of lieutenants and captains of any racial or ethnic minority has jumped from 12 percent to 31 percent.

Overall, 24 percent of firefighters were minorities in 2003. It's 29 percent today.

Plaintiffs claim unfair tests

Yet the black plaintiffs offer a list of incidents that they say shows a pattern of discrimination that continues today. Among them:

• In 2002, Curtis and the other plaintiffs took promotions tests.

The scores for the oral half of the lieutenant exam, graded by an outside panel, were thrown out.

When it was given again, an all-white panel of high-ranking department firefighters did the grading. Ten of the 15 white male firefighters who had failed the test the first time passed the second time. The three black firefighters who took the test failed both times.

Since then, the city has returned to an outside grading system.

Three of the plaintiffs have since been promoted. Leonard Smith has retired.

Assistant City Attorney Jacob Rose, who is representing the city in the suit, said you can't draw any conclusions from the test results because only three black firefighters took the lieutenant test.

"Those numbers are just a little too small to be statistically significant," he said.

• Smith said he visited the fire station a week before that lieutenant test and found one of the fire officials responsible for preparing the test - a "subject matter expert" - leading a test-preparation class of white firefighters. Smith and the other plaintiffs hadn't been notified of any test-prep opportunities.

When the test was given, it involved a high-rise fire scenario - the exact subject of the test-preparation class. Moreover, Curtis said, the high-rise scenario wasn't in any of the study materials.

"How strange could it be that that identical scenario could be on that board?" Smith said. "It was done here ... on city property and wasn't open to everybody."

Rose said fire officials denied it happened.

"That's what they are saying," he said. "We have to deny that because the individuals who were involved say that wasn't the case."

Since then, the department has conducted test-coaching that's open to everyone, he said.

• Last year, the city didn't agree that Curtis was qualified to take a captain promotions test until the day before the exam, while the others had more than a month's notice.

Curtis crammed but failed by three points.

"I could have eaten nails," he said.

Rose said he couldn't comment on that claim, but that there are discussions about resolving the dispute.

• Black firefighters are concentrated in the fire prevention division, a six-firefighter group that is two-thirds black. Three of the 11 black lieutenants and captains in the fire department are in that division.

Because it's responsible for inspections and not putting out fires or rushing to medical calls, the division is seen as less prestigious.

Plus, there are fewer overtime opportunities in the fire prevention division and fewer chances to fill in for higher-ranking officials, which means higher pay and more experience.

Rose said working in fire prevention doesn't inhibit advancement. He pointed to Rhett Turnquest, who rose to assistant chief through the division.

Penalties rise for lieutenant

Curtis, who has led the charge in the lawsuit, had a clean discipline record before he lodged his first complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2001.

But since then, he's been disciplined at least three times, including a suspension and two written reprimands.

He was punished for taking a car home without his supervisor's approval; for leaving a helmet at a scene and taking the fire truck to retrieve it; and for a missing piece of equipment.

He was placed in a training program this year after he failed to properly insert a breathing tube into a patient. He has since lost thousands of dollars of overtime pay, hasn't had to perform a single intubation and often has to report to firefighters with less experience.

Curtis said he has been singled out unfairly; Rose, the assistant city attorney, said procedures were followed properly.

In 2003, in what his attorney admits was a serious misstep, Curtis was suspended for not knowing the best route to an emergency, causing a delayed arrival.

Rose said all disciplinary actions are reviewed to make sure they follow the right procedures.

"With all employees you have areas to improve," he said. "It's very difficult for something to just slide by without human resources or legal looking at it."

Curtis is often described in performance reviews as driven to improve his education. He recently completed his master's in business administration and was incensed that the July appointee to assistant chief doesn't have a four-year degree. Curtis also is described as a loose cannon who has trouble getting along with his co-workers and constantly grouses about something.

"He continues to take classes to further his education but appears to be mad at the world most of the time," a supervisor wrote in 2002.

New chief hired

Racial tension in the department isn't new. In 2001, then-Mayor Joel Daves announced that his choice for fire chief was Turnquest, then a black assistant fire marshal. The union was outraged, saying Turnquest wasn't qualified, and the city commission voted not to name him. A white chief, Ray Carter, was appointed, angering black firefighters.

In 2004, Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway was hired. The union president at the time praised the choice, saying he liked Ridgeway's communication skills.

Ridgeway said a committee examined allegations that the department wasn't doing enough to pursue minority candidates. Five of its six recommendations were put into place.
And they're showing results, Ridgeway said.

"As evident from the stats, racial diversity in the department, especially in the officer ranks, has improved significantly since 2003," he wrote in response to questions from The Palm Beach Post. "We continue to work with other city agencies to recruit a diverse workforce."

Barbara Cheives, who has led diversity training in the department each of the last two years, said firefighters are more open to talking about diversity issues this year. But she said the lawsuit is dividing the firefighters.

"In several training sessions it unfortunately overshadowed the training," she wrote in her report.

Curtis said he's on eight medications to deal with anxiety, depression and other problems. "I was a healthy guy, a bodybuilder, ex-college football player," he said. "It's taken its toll."

But Curtis, the father of two young sons, said a resolution in the courts is the only way to guarantee long-term change.

"If my boys want to become a firefighter," he said, "I would roll over in my grave if they fight what I have to fight."