In his new role, Hayes will be assisted by the department’s only uniformed Negro employee, Fireman Earl J. Lindecker was alleged to have stated at a city meeting that the reason the Fire Department doesn’t have more Negroes is that “they don’t have the guts they’re afraid of fire.” Lindecker has issued a public apology. City officials and civil rights leaders were angered recently by remarks attributed to the department’s second-ranking officer, Deputy Fire Chief William Lindecker. Civil rights leaders have accused the department of discrimination against Negroes in employment interviews. The establishment of the Bureau of Community Relations and Hayes’ appointment came as the department was attempting to mend its relations with San Francisco’s racial minorities. It will be his duty to help make members of minority races aware of opportunities in the department. He is Battalion Chief Christian Hayes, 62, who has served in the department for 28 years.
June 26: Fire Chief William Murray yesterday named the department’s first director of community relations. There’s a line that should not be crossed. I can understand their anger but what I cannot accept is their disruptive actions. “I will give them credit for that,” Sullivan said, “but there is a limit to the effectiveness of this. Federal officials have given grudging credit to militants for helping bring about changes, particularly in liberalizing federal policies on drug tests. He added that he “will know very soon if other groups” took part as well. The militant AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power sponsored the protest. Sullivan said his ban on cooperation with those who disrupted his appearance applies to “ACT-UP” specifically. Persisting in delivering the speech for the benefit of television microphones that could pick it up, Sullivan was pelted with wads of paper and condoms. They have shown they are not worthy of trying to form a coalition.” As the top administration official appearing at the conference, Sullivan faced a deafening roar of shouts and whistles that made his speech inaudible to those in Moscone Center. “I personally resent it,” he said “and I will not work with those individuals.
“What they did was not only un-American, it was inappropriate,” Sullivan said in an interview with The Chronicle after returning to Washington from the International AIDS Conference. June 26: Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan vowed yesterday that he will not work with the “chaotic and disorganized and irrational” AIDS protesters whose jeers drowned out his speech Sunday in San Francisco.