On August 31, 1942 just four days after the arrival of the first
evacuees a Community Council was selected to serve as a
temporary liaison unit between the evacuees and the project
director 1960: 51). The council with the approval of the project
officials proposed a democratic government for the camp. The
central executive and legislative body of the center was to be a
Community Council composed of one representative from each of
the twenty-nine blocks. Members were to be elected by popular
vote from the block where they lived by all who were eighteen
years of age. "The WRA barred the Issei from holding elected
office within camps and put greater authority in the hands of
the Nisei, who were eligible to become block leaders and council
1996: 51). Five of the twenty-nine elected representatives were
to be chosen to be members of the council's executive committee.
This council was responsible for the ordinances, regulations,
and laws governing the center. Furthermore, a judicial
commission was comprised of eigh