"Did I Make a Mistake? Yes"

It was a painful admission for the man who has been a bright star among the nation's black politicians, yet Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode swallowed hard last week and faced it straight on. In a return appearance before a commission of investigators that he had appointed to look into the police helicopter bombing of a radical, back-to-nature cult's row house last May, the mayor acknowledged some degree of culpability in the events that left eleven dead, 61 houses destroyed by fire and 250 people homeless. "Could [I] have made a better decision?" the mayor asked the commission. "The answer is yes. Did I make a mistake? The answer is yes. I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry."

Despite the mayor's apology, the eleven-member panel adjourned after five weeks of testimony from 88 witnesses without clearly defining who was to blame for what Goode called "one of the most devastating days in the history of our city." Goode continued to insist that he was misled by subordinates who provided him with imprecise information. Contradictory statements by the mayor, Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor, Fire Commissioner William Richmond and City Managing Director Leo Brooks, who has since resigned, were not resolved. At issue was whether the mayor knew that police intended to use explosives on Move's fortified compound as part of their original assault plan, and whether he also knew that a police helicopter would be used to drop a bomb. Goode claimed he knew little or nothing of either scheme, but Sambor and Brooks said they had informed the mayor. Said Goode: "If anyone had come to me and said, 'We're going to drop a bomb on your house,' I would have rejected that out of hand."

At issue, too, was why a fire ignited by the explosive was allowed to consume Move's building until it was too late to prevent it from spreading to adjacent homes. Firemen stood back in hopes that the blaze would destroy a bunker on the building's roof. Arson Expert Charles G. King, a former New York City supervising fire marshal, said the flames could easily have been extinguished up until 6:15 p.m. But by the time the hoses were turned on at 6:30 p.m., the fire had spread below the roof line and was out of control.

Other disturbing questions were raised by Dr. Ali Z. Hameli, chief medical examiner of the state of Delaware and the forensic expert who identified the six-year-old remains of Nazi Josef Mengele last summer in Brazil. Retained by Goode's commission, Hameli found what appeared to be buckshot fragments in three of the bodies among the six adults and five children who died in the Move house. The Philadelphia police had testified that they did not shoot at Move members trying to escape the fire. Hameli's testimony, based on his findings, was that the cause of the deaths in the assault was either suicide or homicide, not accidents as police have contended.

While the commission's formal report will not be out until early next year, one certainty is that Goode's sparkling reputation has been badly tarnished by the tragic events on Osage Avenue. About 400,000 Philadelphians watched the hearings daily on public television and many obviously did not like what they saw. A poll by the local CBS affiliate, WCAU, showed that the 64% approval rating the mayor received last spring for his handling of the Move incident fell twelve points just during the hearings. In municipal elections last week, Ronald D. Castille became the first Republican in 16 years to win the race for district attorney, trouncing Goode's candidate, Robert W. Williams Jr., 60% to 40%.