LAST RIGHTS

The council seems to agree. "It's really ironic," notes Councilman Guman, "that the Human Relations Commission is supposed to be reaching out to the community, and they can't even reach out to each other."

At an informal meeting early last week, councilors agreed that the HRC ought to take a break from itself. A vote on whether or not to suspend the panel's operations for up to six months while lawmakers examine the HRC's mission was scheduled for this week. The consensus among most observers is that city officials will pull the HRC's plug.

"That kind of fighting and jostling for position we like to feel is reserved for elected officials," says Councilman Hazlehurst. "I mean, we're expected to act like jerks. Politicians like to create their own trouble. We don't like to appoint people to do it.