Evening star., 1952-03-12
Fight Renewed
For Playground
ControIb'yU U. 5.
End Of Segregation
Policy at More Than
50 Is Sought
By Colt Hendley, Jr.

AhC 4LAICA1OA 0CPdI CILICLlL HAS
started a new effort to get con-
troll Of more than so of the city's
Fairgrounds and enforce a nom
segregation policy on them.
The move was revealed yester-
day at the regular meeting of the
District Recreation Board. Harry
s. Wender. board chairman, dis
played "a thick legal brief prepared
by the Attorney Generals Office
and declared:
They want to take everything.
BY a novel Interpretation of the
law, they claim they have juris-
diction over most of the play
grounds in the District"
The whole thing goes back to
q suit filed last summer in which
a group Of colored parents asked
District Court to declare segrega-
ton unconstitutional and to en-
join the Recreation Board from
enforcing it on Fairgrounds. Also
named as defendants were Interior
Secretary Chapman, the District
Commissioners, Edward Kelly, su-
perintendent of the Interior De-
partment's National Capital Parks
ONCE, and A. E. Demaray, former
National Park Service head.
Brief Defends ID. C. Officials.
The District corporation coun-
sells Office filed a brief, on behalf
OF the city officials concerned, ask
ing the suit be dismissed. It stated
that the segregation policies of the
District are constitutional.
The Attorney Generals Office
came into the picture as defense
counsel for the Interior Depart
ment employees and Secretary
Chapman. This brief was signed
by Holmes Baldridge, Assistant
Attorney General, and United
States Attorney Charles Irelan.
It declares the Interior Depart
ment has jurisdiction over all land
purchased in the District by the
National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission since 1924 and
turned over to the Commissioners
for Fairgrounds. It said the juris-
diction has been in dispute for
some years and that, although
the Recreation Board does control
the Fairgrounds now, the Interior
Department does not concede this
is legal.
"The defendants do not in any
way approve or ratify the de facto
control exercised by the Recrea-
ton Board over the Fairgrounds,
and they further state that they
would make this area (the Trini-
dad Playground which was the one
specifically mentioned in the
suit), as they have all others un-
der their control. open to all re-
gardless of race, color or creed"
the brief declared.
Dismissal of the suit against
Mr.. Chapman, Mr.. Kelly and Mr..
Demeray was asked. -..
Case Still Pending.
The case is still pending. But,
what enraged the Recreation
Board was a letter sent to it from
Secretary Chapman. This letter
stated that. in view Of the opinion
of the Attorney Generals Office
that the Recreation Board does
not have jurisdiction. a confer
ence should be held.
Mr.. Chapmans letter said the
Interior Department has the legal
jurisdiction and the Recreation
Board will have to sign agree
mentS with the Federal agency, if
it is to continue to use the city's
Fairgrounds.
Any such agreements with the
Interior Department would con-
tain Q clause outlawing segrega-
ton.
The indignant Recreation Board
yesterday voted to tell Mr.. Chap
man that any action at this point
would have to await the legal de-
termination of the controversy.
Mr.. Wender said the Corporation
Counsel's Office is preparing an
opinion on this latest move of the
Interior Department to get control
Of the Fairgrounds.
Several Hundred Acres.
The brief from the Attorney
Generals Office estimated the
Fairgrounds in dispute total 333
acres of the city's playground
system. ALI of the disputed land
has been purchased since 1924,
when the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission was
created.
Recreation officials said the 333
acres include some so Fairgrounds
known to have been purchased in
the last % years and probably al
good many others. The depart
ment controls some 125 play
ground units now.
At least 80 of the affected play
grounds are tied in directly with
public schools-that is, are ad-
jacent or across streets and used
by the schools as their play
grounds.
Mr.. Wender said the implica-
tions Of the move by the Interior
Department are far-reaching. 1t
would wreck the entire city's
recreational setup, he added.
The legal argument presented
by the Interior Department goes
back to 1924, when a law was
passed by Congress creating the
National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission. The Planning
Commission was authorized to ac-
quire land within the District for
parks. parkwayS and Fairgrounds.
Such lands would be under the
jurisdiction of the. Chief of En-
gineers, United States Army.
Later, the Interior Departments s
National Park Service was given
this jurisdictional control.
Could Assign Areas.
The law said areas suitable for
V1Iox,oroiindS could ha ocSionod h1,