Judge Who Pushed Desegregation Dies at 86

[Rose Siding]

RICHMOND, Va. - Robert R. Merhige Jr., a federal judge whose rulings forcing schools to desegregate made him so unpopular that for a time he required 24-hour protection, has died. He was 86.....
Named to the federal bench in 1967 by President Lyndon Johnson, Robert R. Merhige Jr. ordered dozens of Virginia's school systems to desegregate.

After a 1972 decision to consolidate public school systems in Richmond and neighboring counties for the sake of integration, his dog was shot to death, and a guest cottage on his property was destroyed by arson.

Last year, Merhige told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he was still amazed, disappointed and angry at the public reaction to his rulings.

"I thought people would say, 'We don't like the little S.O.B., but he's following the law,'" he said. "That didn't happen."
...
Merhige also ruled in 1968 that the conflict in Vietnam was a war, whether or not it was a declared war. That ruling came in a case in which 96 Army reservists tried to avoid serving in Vietnam. Merhige denied their request.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050219/ap_on_re_us/obit_merhige

[TacticalPeek]

1. That was a mighty time, and he stood up.

RIP

[demnan]

2. Well

Sometimes the good don't die young.