Mayor 'one hell of a good guy'

Press, 22 November 1978, Page 3

Mayor 'one hell of a good guy'

PA Wellington Black Power sources have revealed that the Mayor of Wellington (Mr E. M. C. Fowler) stood bail for gang members last week. Mr Fowler was “one hell of a good guy,” said a Lower Hutt Black Power leader, Witeria Ashby. Mr Ashby and two members of the Wellington Black Power chapter who declined ter give their names on an instruction from the national president (Mr R. Harris), told how Mr Fowler came to the rescue of seven Wellington Black Power members with bail amounting to $7OOO.

The seven were among 24 gang members arrested after a confrontation between the rival Black Power and Mongrel Mob gangs in Petone early last Friday morning, during which a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a police car.

The two anonymous members said the Mayor had responded to their call for help even after the police Opposed bail.

They said he “stuck his neck out” because they felt he had faith in their efforts to find work and attend a work-skills training course at Seaview run by the Maori Affairs Department. Mr Ashby said the other citizen to come to the gang members’ aid was a Maori Affairs employee, Mr Howard Morrison, with $4OOO bail for four Lower Hutt members.

He said that although Mr Fowler did not divulge his reason for standing bail, Mr Morrison paid out because he saw Maori boys in trouble. He said he would have done the same for Mongrel Mob members had they been arrested. Mr Ashby blamed the closing of the Maori Affairs Seaview work centre for last Week's confrontation. “The boys were idle, but things are quite cool now. We are not looking for a confrontation, but if they Want it they’ll get it,” he Baid. Six Lower Hutt Black Power members, including a solo father, were still held by the police, he said. “All those jokers bailed by Mr Fowler and Howard Mors frison had jobs. The others weren’t, allowed out because the police marked on their papers that they were unemployed and did not take any notice of the fact they w’ere on unemployment benefit and had been going to SeaView,” said Mr Ashby. When approached yesterday, Mr Fowler said he had nocomment to make. However, it is known that Mr Fowler has worked privately behind the scenes among members of various gangs, and youth groups. He is a founder member of the Taputeranga Maori Work Trust at Island Bay, which was formed to help and guide young Maoris.