GA Councilman Who Objects To Interracial Marriage To Resign

HOSCHTON, GA — A city council member in a tiny town northeast of Atlanta who said that interracial marriage "makes his blood boil" plans to resign ahead of a recall election that could oust him from office. Hoschton City Councilman Jim Cleveland told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he will resign rather than risk being booted from his position next month.

Racially offensive comments by two town leaders earlier this year ultimately led to the recall election. An African-American candidate for city administrator in Hoschton was withheld by Mayor Theresa Kenerly because of his race, the AJC reported.

Cleveland defended the mayor's decision to derail the only black finalist for the job, and went on to say that he disagreed with interracial marriage and that "makes my blood boil because that's just not the way a Christian is supposed to live."

Hoschton residents have a different view of race than people in Atlanta, he seemed to say.

"Things are different here than they are 50 miles down the road," Cleveland said, according to the newspaper.

Members of the Jackson County Republican and Democratic parties called for Cleveland and Kenerly to resign, and encouraged residents to file ethics complaints against them.

Hoschton is a city of 1,377 in Jackson County.

Cleveland would not tell the newspaper when he plans to resign.

Mayor Kenerly has not said if she will resign or wait for next month's election results.

Nearly 300 Hoschton residents signed a petition to force the recall vote. Kenerly took her case to the Georgia Supreme Court, which declined to hear her appeal.

Fox Atlanta reports that more than 80 ethics complaints were filed against the two city officials.

"You and you do us a favor and don't ever utter the words I love my city because it is abundantly clear you do not," Erma Denny, a Hoschton resident and former mayor, told Kenerly and Cleveland at a town meeting earlier. She urged both to resign.

"I'm not racist, but I do not believe in interracial marriage," Cleveland said in a debate with a resident.