Martins Ferry Mayor Apologizes For Racially Insensitive Comment

The Martins Ferry mayor has apologized for making a racially insensitive comment during a private conversation with other city officials.

Mayor Phil Wallace said he used the word "spook," a derogatory term for a black person, during a conversation he did not know was being recorded.

"Have I made racial slurs? Yeah. Am I in an elected position? Yeah. Should I have said it in an elected position? Probably not," Wallace said on Thursday's Bloomdaddy Experience radio show.

Wallace, who is not one to run from controversy, told NEWS9, "I used a racial slur. I admit to that and I'm not going to deny that."

He said he does not regularly use that type of language and the contex was within a private conversation. Wallace said he has painful feelings because a black man killed his granddaughter. He said that still hurts him, but that doesn't mean he's racist.

"That has no bearing on anything. That's just something that I remember and it hurts. It hurts every day," Wallace said. "I am not going to be prejudiced against anybody. I don't care (about) race, color, creed, whatever. I'm here to do a job and I want to be friends with everybody in this town and that's the way it will remain."

Despite the apology, some Martins Ferry residents said they are concerned and surprised that their city's leader made the slur.

"When you're in the public eye like that you really have to watch … what you say," said Emma Rosanksi, of Martins Ferry.

"As far as him apologizing, it's a start, but underneath it all, if he still feels that way personally, then that's not good. That's not good at all," said Gloria Richardson, another city resident.

People who live in the city said it doesn't reflect well on Martins Ferry, which has recently been in the spotlight for a number of negative incidents.

The city's former police chief, Barry Carpenter, is currently serving time in jail in connection with a celebrity surrogate scandal. Earlier this week, the lieutenant who was put in charge of the police department was for telling investigators he had pornography on a police department computer.

The leader of the local NAACP, Royal Mayo, is calling for Wallace to resign from his mayoral post. Wallace did not indicate that he has any intentions of doing so.