Carl E. Singley, MOVE Commission counsel

THE DAY THE CITY bombed the MOVE compound, lawyer Carl E. Singley was home for some long-forgotten reason.

But he'll never forget the stunning scene unfolding live on TV.

"I remember that day like I remember the days John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. died, or 9/11 - it was one of the events that sticks out in your mind," said Singley, now 64. "But it never occurred to me then that I would somehow play a role in it."

Long after the flames and smoke dissipated on Osage Avenue, authorities approached Singley, then dean of Temple University Law School, and asked him to be counsel to the commission investigating the MOVE disaster.

1985: Singley questioned many people - from city officials to witnesses - about the incident during the extensive commission hearings. Things got so heated that a shouting match erupted between Singley and a police lawyer during a court break. Singley invited the man to "step outside" to settle matters, though he says now, with a laugh, that he wanted "discussion, not a fistfight."

Quote: "Osage Avenue speaks of miscalculation, it speaks of misjudgment, and it speaks for mistakes."

2010: Singley works at the Center City law firm of Ciardi, Ciardi & Astin, and specializes in commercial litigation and bankruptcy.

An Alabama native, Singley came of age at the height of the civil-rights movement. He remembers hurling rocks at hooded Klansmen who rode regularly through his neighborhood, participating in the Selma-to-Montgomery march and hearing King at Brown A.M.E. church.

That background kept him committed to ensuring racial equality throughout his life. At Temple, he headed the law school's minority-recruitment efforts (one famous recruit was future mayor John Street, who then worked in a lunch truck outside the law school).

Now, the father of two and grandfather of three lives with Rose, his wife of 42 years, in Melrose Park, Montgomery County, where he indulges his passion for cooking (casseroles are a specialty), golf, photography, and gadgets, and reading biographies and historical novels.

His MOVE experience underscored his belief that bigwigs often bungle big time.

"Over the years, I think it has shaped and confirmed a theory I have about something Machiavelli said: 'How often men are wrong on matters of great importance . . . Catastrophic consequences often come from a series of poor decisions that seem to make sense at the time . . . Hindsight adds brilliant clarity."

-Dana DiFilippo