S. Harrison mayor steps down over racism

Charles Tyson has decided not to serve a third term as mayor of South Harrison Township, saying he and his family have endured death threats and racist vandalism since he became the town's first black mayor two years ago.

At a township reorganization meeting on Monday, the 66-year-old Tyson declined a nomination to continue serving as mayor but agreed to be deputy mayor. The five committee members in the Gloucester County community fill the leadership positions each year from within their ranks.

Tyson said he stepped aside "because of the threats and the personal attacks, and the fact that I don't want to put my family, my wife, and my wife's family through this."

"It's time. I'll continue to serve the residents, but not as mayor," he said.

Soon after Tyson, a retired computer technician, was elected mayor in this rural community of 2,700, he said he received a dozen phone calls and several e-mails warning he was being watched and labeling him a dead man, using a racist epithet.

No arrests were made, and investigators said the caller or callers in 2007 used untraceable disposable phones. His tires were also slashed and his lawn sign was defaced with "KKK."

Last month, a member of a neo-Nazi organization from Virginia was indicted on charges he made several threatening calls last year to Tyson and other African Americans. Tyson, a lifelong resident and a grandfather, said he had never experienced racism in the town before he held the top job.

"It's not that the whole town is racist. It's just that a certain group of people in the town were trying to get to me," Tyson said.

In recent months, the town has been embarrassed by nasty political fights and racial tensions that spilled into meetings attended by nearly 100 people. Charges and counter-charges have been filed in municipal court against several officials and a police officer.

In two separate incidents, Tyson has accused Patrolman Nicholas Barbetta and newly elected Committeeman Bob Diaz, the lone Republican on the committee, of harassing him.

Diaz and Barbetta have denied the charges.

At Monday's meeting, the committee elected Robert Campbell as mayor and Tyson as deputy mayor. Campbell, who is white, last month expressed concerns about racism in the town and said that he and other officials were committed to stopping it.

Some residents said he was wrong. They said the real problem in the town is political, not racial, and that Campbell was playing the race card to advance an agenda and deflect criticism.

"Everything that's gone wrong has been racially motivated?" Michelle McCall asked at a Dec. 10 meeting after Campbell said many of the recent controversies have racial overtones.

McCall, the wife of former Mayor Jim McCall, said the accusation was unfounded. "You have a lot of people very upset," she said.