Maryland Attorney General Francis B. Burch has found that the Bethesda Country Club outside of Washington has discriminated against Jews. His finding announced last week also said the club has discriminatory procedures that operated to keep out Blacks.
Unless the club changes its practices it will risk the eventual loss of a major deduction in property taxes that Maryland gives to country clubs. Burch’s 15-month investigation began after the Maryland Legislature passed an amendment to the law allowing tax breaks for country clubs which required an end to discrimination or a loss of the tax break. The 1974 amendment mandated investigation of the clubs.
According to Burch’s report, seven applications for membership by Jews were rejected in secret ballots between 1972 and 1976 while no other persons were rejected. The club has 771 men and 41 women members, including 15 Jews.
At public hearings on the issue. Earl Tyner, the club’s president, denied there has been any discrimination against Jews or Blacks. He said that no Black had ever applied for membership. But Fred Oken, the Assistant Attorney General, who wrote the opinion, said that the fact that all seven who had been rejected were Jews “cannot be explained by coincidence or by any credible reason unrelated to their being Jewish.”
Six other Maryland country clubs have been cleared and decisions on four others are still pending. Eight clubs have not yet been scheduled for public hearings.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
