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Trammell convicted of property code violation

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By Lynn Hulsey, Staff Writer Updated 9:45 AM Thursday, August 19, 2010

DAYTON — The Rev. Raleigh Trammell pleaded guilty Wednesday, Aug. 18, to violating the city’s property maintenance code.

He was fined $150, with $75 suspended, and court costs after assuring Dayton Municipal Court Judge Deirdre Logan that he would complete cleanup of his property at 3631-3637 Stanford Place.

Trammell pleaded guilty to the minor misdemeanor violation for failure to maintain the premises of the vacant apartment building. He was briefly jailed after leaving Logan’s court and not returning for a hearing July 28. Trammell apologized to Logan and said he did not return because he had a reaction to his insulin.

Trammell is the disputed chairman of the national Southern Christian Leadership Conference and its Dayton chapter and the executive director of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Dayton.

Prior to the trial, Trammell spoke of the troubles he’s had since a February FBI raid on local SCLC headquarters, his home and that of his daughter, Angela Goodwine, who ran some of the SCLC programs. Dayton Daily News investigations raised questions about the handling of taxpayer money given to the SCLC and IMA, including funding for a food pantry and domestic violence shelter that closed after receiving Federal Emergency Management Agency funding. Federal and local criminal investigations are ongoing.

Trammell said he returned some of the final $11,500 FEMA allocation for the SCLC shelter because it closed in August 2009. He did not return the money until this year, after the local board overseeing the money learned the shelter and pantry were not open. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general is investigating.

Trammell said closure of a food pantry at the SCLC did not stop the group from delivering bags of groceries to the needy. And he said the shelter that was to serve 19 women and children per week may have had fewer than that and closed because funders did not provide him with enough money to keep it open year-round, as his application promised.

Trammell could not explain why his applications continued to claim that the service was being provided even though county records showed little water usage at the shelter since mid-2006 and none between August 2007 and July 2008.

While the IMA and SCLC received about $3.9 million in public funding since 1999, Trammell said it was not enough to properly fund the programs. He resorted to opening a restaurant, Chris’ Kitchen, and selling barbecue on the street to subsidize his programming.

“I’ve been feeding people for 30 years. Why should I take anything,” said Trammell. “You come make a budget and see how much we have left to steal.”

He also said Montgomery County was incorrect in saying he did not feed everyone he claimed in a meals program and that he could not prove that he provided case management and counseling services.

“They know those people were served,” said Trammell. “You know why they went with it? They were so sure that as chairman I took money from the national.”

County spokeswoman Cathy Petersen declined comment because of the pending criminal investigation.

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