Seattle Times staff reporter
The City Attorney's Office filed a weapons charge yesterday against the president of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, alleging that he brought a firearm onto school grounds.
In a written statement to police, James Kelly admitted carrying a handgun when he attended an evening community meeting at Rainier Beach High School on May 29.
Under state law, it is a misdemeanor to possess a firearm on school premises. If convicted, Kelly faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine. Kelly would also lose his concealed-weapons permit for three years.
Reached yesterday, Kelly, 47, said he had not seen the charges and would not comment about the case. "I trust the process. I believe in the system," he said.
Herman McKinney, an Urban League board member, said the charges took him by surprise. He said the board never discussed the incident, but he thought members would take it up later this month now that the City Attorney's Office has become involved.
"I do know that it was not a good idea to bring a weapon on school grounds,'' McKinney said. "But I would hate to see anything disrupt the leadership quality that he (Kelly) has."
In earlier interviews, Kelly said he and his family had received threats in recent months from people opposed to the Urban League's plans to develop a former Central Area school into apartments, offices and an African-American heritage museum.
On the night of the alleged violation, Kelly told police he had a run-in with Kwame Garrett, 25, son of Omari Tahir-Garrett.
Tahir-Garrett claims to be the true leader of the heritage-museum effort at Colman School, and he opposes the Urban League's plans.
The Colman School project has been mired in controversy for years.
Omari Tahir-Garrett was one of the activists who occupied Colman in 1985 to force the city to build a cultural center there. Now, Tahir-Garrett claims to be the true leader of the African-American museum, and he rejects Kelly's ideas for condominiums and a scaled-down museum on the site.
On July 8, Tahir-Garrett will stand trial for allegedly hitting Mayor Paul Schell with a megaphone during a community festival last summer. His first trial ended with a hung jury.
In his statement to police, Kelly wrote that the younger Garrett confronted him about the Urban League's proposals, and blocked him from leaving a hallway outside the school's performing-arts center. "I decided I needed to do something or I was going to be attacked," he wrote.
He said he placed his hand on a gun under his coat but did not pull it out or point it. Observers broke up the altercation, and Kelly left the building. He later called Assistant Police Chief Harry Bailey, who suggested that he get a "no-contact" order against Garrett and others.
Garrett and his father called a news conference June 4 at Colman School to discuss the Rainier Beach incident, and they lashed out at Kelly and the Urban League as "vampires'' unfairly taking over their project.
"I was completely shocked that someone who is supposed to be a civic leader would do something of that nature," Garrett said.
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