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VOLUME 18 No. 883
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Cochranenters
Hampton case
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Attorney Johnny Cochran, left, and attorney Faye Hardy-
Lucas, who will assist Cochran, face reporters, in Hampton,
Va., Monday Dec. 7, 1998, where they announced that they
will represent Hampton University women'’s basketball coach
Patricia Bibbs, her husband and an assistant coach in a
awsuit against police in Lubbock, Texas. The police wrong
fully accused the three of being part of a scam on Nov. 16 at
a Wal-Mart. The basketball team was in Lubbock for a game
lagainst Texas Tech.
Story on page 2A. (AP Photo/The Daily Press, Dave Bowman)
‘Judge approves raising
‘Alabama scholarship
. - n
requirements for whites
4 MONTGOMERY, Ala.
" (AP) Alabama State University, which sought to
‘attract more white students by giving them schol
arships if they have a 2.0 grade point average, now
plans to make whites have a 2.7 grade point aver
_age, the same as for blacks seeking scholarships.
The university plans to raise the minimum re
quirements for whites applying for the Diversity
Scholarship Programstarting spring semester. High
school senigrs with the minimum GPA qualify for
. tuition scholarships, ASU officials said. Other cat
egories within the program have more stringent
requirements and offer more money, up to full
tuition, room and board and books for students with
a 3.76 GPA.
' Only the minimum-level scholarships in the pro
gram had different requirements for white stu
dents and for black students, officials said.
“We want to have no differential by race because
it does cause some problems, and it is unfair on the
face of it,” said Alabama State Vice President for
Academic Affairs Roosevelt Steptoe. |
~'The Diversity Scholarship Program was started
in 1995 as part of the settlement of Alabama’s long
running college desegregation lawsuit. U.S. Dis
trict Judge Harold Murphy ordered the Alabama
Legislature to set aside $1 million annually to help
" integrate ASU and Alabama A&M.
The scholarship program quickly brought a record
10 percent’ white enrollment to the Montgomery
campus, but the 2.0 minimum GPA caused some
* resentment among traditional, or black, ASU stu
-dents. 4 A
Micah Johnson, 18, an ASU freshman, said high
school graduates with a 2.0 GPA are “dumb.”
“If I'm dumb and you’re dumb, you shouldn’t get
free tuition just because of the color of your skin,”
Johnson said. G
«A 9.7 is still too low,” said Shimika Brooks, an
ASU student who won a scholarship with a 3.5 high
~“hool GPA. R
HBO PRESENTS *See 2B
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WARTA-~ /T i N
DECECEMBER 10 - 16, 1998
Massage anyone?
DEAD ON ARRIVAL
A grandmother
searches for the
truth in the tragic
death of her 3-
year old grandson.
Police say the killer
~ was her daughter,
- but she maintains
her daughter is a
RN ([« 20
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
When Robert Clark carried his
three-year-old stepson, Elijah
Ray, into the Emergency Room,
the child’s body was limp and his
little head dangled over the man’s
arm. An emergency room atten
dant noted that the child was not
breathing and his heart was still;
the pupils of his eyes were fixed
and dilated; his hands had no
pulse and his feet were pale and
cold. Black vomit guarded the
mouth and nose area and ugm']
_small bruises were on hisfummy.-
It was 3:30 a.m — at -4/08 &m.;’
Elijah was pronounced dead. His
mother, Tahiti, sat nearby, stiff
and crying.
That was April 30, 1997. At the
time, Clark was a private-first
classin the U.S. Army and he had
brought Tahiti and the child from
Augusta to be with him at Fort
Irwin, California. They lived on
post.
Shortly after the child’s death,
Robert and Tahiti became sus
pects. Both requested the services
of an attorney and refused to talk
to San Bernadino County sheriff’s
INSIDE
High
School
Sports:
Take a
Peek
See 6a
TN YTICY R IGTN
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Elijoh Ray: a happy child.
detectives. Asheriff sdepartment
report noted that the child had
apparently been normal and
healthy. It further stated that,
according to Clark, the child fell
playing football four days prior to
his death. He said at that time,
however, that he was not injured.
The child fell again, the day
before he died. This time, he fell
offa curb and hit his shoulder, but
reportedly told the father that he
Death penalty opponents plead
for Canadian’s life in Texas
By Renae Merle
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
AUSTIN, Texas
Pleas from an international delegation might not
beenough tosave thelife of a convicted murderer who
this week could become the first Canadian executed
in the United States since 1952.
Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright and oth
ers have asked Gov. George
W. Bush to prevent
Thursday’s execution of Jo
seph Stanley Faulder, 61, who
confessed to killing the ma
triarch of a wealthy oil family
in east Texas.
Rick Halperin of Amnesty
International on Monday
cited what he called outra
geous trial procedures, a lack
of qualified attorneys and a
flagrant disregard of inter
national treaties.
“Just about anything that
you can think ofthat is wrong
with the death penalty as an institution is in place in
this state,” Halperin said.
Bush seemed unaffected by the criticism.
“No one is going to threaten the governor of the
state of Texas,” he said during an appearance in San
Antonio. “We’re not going to let people come into our
state, commit capital murder and get away with 362
Linda Edwards, a spokeswoman for the governor,
said he will not make a decision about Faulder’s case
until he receives a recommendation from the Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles. :
If the board suggests clemency, Bush can either
accept or reject the recommendation. If they recom
mend execution, Bush’s only alternativeis togrant a
30-day reprieve.
Victor Rodriguez, chairman of the Board of Par
dons and Paroles, did not return a telephone call
Maonday.
\
Elijah’s mother Tahiti
Clark (R) and his
step-dad, Robert
Clark, have been
convicted of murder.
was okay. Later that day, wit
nesses interviewed by the sheriff's
department reported that Elijah
did not look well and seemed up
set. According to the step-father,
he child complained about stom
ach pain throughout the day and
twice had vomited blood, the fa
ther said. Shortly after, they had
lunch at Taco Bell, still on April
29. ~
The night he died, Elijah was
sleeping with his stepfather who
reported the child was restless
and still complaining about stom
ach pain. By about 3:30 a.m., the
child was taken tothe Weed Army
Community Hospital on the base.
Eighteed months later, Elijah’s
grandmother, Beatrice Burns of
Augusta, whowas three thousand
helpless miles away, the night
Elijah died, now finds herselfhur
tling headlong inte the depths of
frustration, unanswered ques
tions, and fear, as she contem
plateslife withouther only grand
son — and just@scruel —without
her only daughigr, Tahiti, who
along with herhusband, was
charged and convi¢ted of the mur
der of the three-year-old.
But although a California jury
found herdaughter and Mr. Clark
“Just about
anything that
you can think
of that is
wrong with
the death
penalty as an
institution is in
place in this
state.”
— Rick Halperin,
Amnesty
International
guilty of the same offense, felony
murder and assault on a child,
Ms. Burns is convinced that her
daughteris innocent and the U.S.
military is withholding informa
tion.
“My daughter did not get a fair
break at that trial,” Ms. Burns
said Tuesday in Augusta. “The
military knows more than what
they are saying.”
Ms. Burns neither trusted, nor
liked Robert Clark from the very
beginning.~She had known him
only six months hefore he had'
spirited her dn_u,fihber away tothe ~
other side of the country. “He
never came to me to say he was
taking my daughter,” Ms. Burns
said.
Ms. Burns wonders why Robert
Clark had asked a friend about
legal advice less than 24 hours
before Elijah’s death. Police re
ports state that the child’s bruises,
were a topic of a discussion m
tween Mr. Clark and a friend of
See £LUJAH, page 13A
5g
Former boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter speaks
during a news conference on Monday, Dec. 7,
1998, in Austin, Texas. Carter is executive direc
tor of the Association in Defense of the Wrongly
Convicted, from Toronto, Canada. He is partof
Canadian delegation that traveled to the state to
moke a plea for the life of Texas Death Row
inmate Stanley Faulder. (AP Photo Harry Cabluck)
* Albright said Texas may have violated the Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations by not notifying
Faulder, a former mechanic from Jasper, Alberta,
that he could have contacted Canadian consular
officials after his arrest.
Texas officials said they did not know Faulder was
a Canadian because he was carrying a U.S. driver’s
license when arrested. He was imprisoned for 15
years before his whereabouts were discovered by the
~ v «~vernment and his family, who said they
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