The Blair County NAACP’s ongoing complaints against Operation Our Town, local police departments and at two area school districts were the focus of a presentation by President Andrae Holsey to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission during the group’s May meeting.

Holsey and other members of the local branch of the NAACP were in Harrisburg to talk about the county’s race relations, with Holsey stating, “We have this deeply embedded culture of hate in the area.”

Holsey urged the commission to investigate his claims of discrimination.

“We’re more than happy to coordinate to make that happen, that this commonwealth agency may be able to come to us and make a public spectacle out of these violations,” Holsey told the commission.

The state Human Relations Commission enforces state laws that prohibit discrimination.

Holsey’s presentation was listed on the commission’s agenda, and he used that opportunity to speak before the group about the dozens of discrimination complaints the Blair branch of the NAACP responded to over the past three years, in not only Blair County, but also in Bedford and Huntingdon counties.

“I must emphasize, we are at a do-or-die point in this fight,” Holsey told commission members. “I urge each and every one of you not to take this solely as informational. It is a heartfelt and desperate plea for the enforcement of human rights.”

Tracking problems

Holsey said the local branch was tracking “serious problems across at least four different law enforcement agencies within Blair County” that entailed alleged federal reporting fraud to “substantiated allegations” that the Logan Township Police Department was performing targeted arrests.

Holsey also made the allegations, that he said were substantiated by current police, that for more than 20 years, a township supervisor “actively created an environment of discrimination” and was responsible for targeted arrests and direct abuse of several criminal defendants in the early 2000s.

Logan Township Chief of Police David Hoover said “without any specifics with what he’s talking about,” he couldn’t comment on the allegations.

Hoover added that Holsey hadn’t reached out to the department regarding these claims.

Holsey also talked about alleged retaliatory practices by the Altoona Police Department.

“At the same time, we have Altoona Police Department, which we have multiple substantiated cases of them actively pursuing minorities, who engaged in civil lawsuits against the county or their departments,” Holsey told the commission.

APD’s press officer did not return messages for comment regarding those claims.

DA funding cited

The local NAACP’s biggest concern — as Holsey believes it has the biggest impact on race relations in Blair County — is the funding of the Blair County District Attorney’s Office.

He detailed the report the NAACP branch published in mid-November 2023 on Operation Our Town, a nonprofit organization aimed at combating Blair County’s drug-related crime.

Holsey said the report gave specific bank account numbers “that showed our district attorney, from 2006 to now, received somewhere in the range of $1.2 to $4.6 million in unaudited money” from “namesakes of former mafia-associated families.”

In an email, Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks said Holsey was provided with a complete accounting of how OOT funds are used by local law enforcement and that Holsey was “making statements that are simply not true.”

“The account he is referring to is utilized as a pass-through account to provide police departments with the operational funding donated by OOT in a way that ensures OOT cannot, and does not, have input on what, and, or whom the police investigate,” Weeks wrote. “While the county has been provided with grant funding by OOT over the years for an assistant district attorney position, we have not received any funding for the past several years due to our critical shortage of prosecutors.”

Holsey made further allegations against the Blair County court system regarding OOT, with some predating 2006.

“We found direct connections going back even prior to 2006 … that showed racially derogatory comments in a condescending nature by judges in the transcript of targeted arrests, applications of arrest by a former district attorney, legislating from the bench that was addressed by our Superior Court that all comes back to these same months,” Holsey said.

Weeks, who became district attorney in 2020, wrote that he has “always believed in prioritizing community safety as a prosecutor” and his “office does so without regard to race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.”

“If Mr. Holsey believes there are truly incidents of racism within Blair County law enforcement deals with members of the public, I would certainly hope he would bring those to our attention,” Weeks wrote.

School districts mentioned

Holsey also spoke about alleged incidents in area school districts, telling the commission about how a student with high-functioning autism and an Individualized Education Program at Juniata Gap Elementary was assaulted by two classmates.

He then alleged the child had his hand stepped on by a principal while being told, “You aren’t going to tell them any of this.”

When contacted for comment, Altoona Area School District Superintendent Brad Hatch said administrators, including the principal, were “unaware of any situation at Juniata Gap Elementary School.”

Hatch speculated that Holsey might have been referring to an incident at Juniata Elementary, when a mother indicated that she would bring a representative from the NAACP.

However, Hatch said the mother met with them without the representative and “the meeting went well,” with the student having no further incidents.

“There was nothing involving a principal or an adult stepping on a student’s hand,” Hatch said.

After a report in January, Hatch said they met with the NAACP and felt that they were moving in the right direction. He said he expressed an interest in having a collaborative relationship, but Holsey hadn’t “reached out directly” regarding these alleged incidents.

“(Holsey) did indicate that he was extremely busy,” Hatch said. “Our experiences with the NAACP have always been open-door in the past. With (Don) Witherspoon, incidents that were racially motivated — he would always meet with us and collaborate.”

Hatch said the district welcomed and desired a collaborative relationship to “resolve any issues to better our community.”

Holsey brought up a more recent incident as well, this one involving the Spring Cove School District. He told the commission that administrators alerted the Spring Cove Middle School chorus director that the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” would be cut from its program the night before its concert.

“We’re going to host a public music session and not only teach people how to play the song, but teach them what it means and how it stands for unity in our community,” Holsey said.

Aggressive approach requested

In finishing his presentation, Holsey asked the commission — and the commonwealth — to take the “most aggressive and public response possible.”

“We deal with these things every day,” Holsey said. “All we ask is for a day or two or three of your time.”

Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission Executive Director Chad Lassiter told Holsey that the commission is “not friends with anybody” and “all of the school cases clearly fall under” its jurisdiction.

Lassiter explained that the 2023 Aviation Inn incident, in which a racial slur was printed on a Black customer’s receipt, and those involving schools are within the HRC’s jurisdiction, but courts and police are under the Supreme Court, though the HRC could hold investigations about alleged discrimination.

Lassiter told Holsey that the commission would work with the Blair County NAACP.

“What I would say is you’ve come to the right place,” Lassiter said.

Holsey and Lassiter could not be reached for additional comments or clarification.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.