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SCLC board sues co-founder Lowery, wife
ATLANTA (AP) - The
board of the Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference has accused
co-foundér Joseph Low
ery of violating his
financial responsibility
to the civil rights group
by leasing office space to
an organization run by
his wife for $1 a year.
The board, chaired by
Detroit physician Claud
Young, also names the
Rev. Lowery’s wife, Eve
lyn, and SCLC
W.0.M.E.N., which she
founded in 1979, in a
Superior Court lawsuit
filed last week in
Atlanta.
The SCLC claims
Greenbaum, Cottemond
are Kerry delegates
Dr. Lowell M. Green
baum, Chairperson of the
Richmond County Democ
ratic Party and Ms. Mtesa
Cottemond, Secretary of
the Righmond Co
Demogg;c Party, ~=:>2’:§
elected Aptil 17 a’s 12th
Congressional ~ District
Kerry delegates to the
Democratic National Con
vention to be held July 26 -
29 in Boston.
The election was held ata
caucus of 12th Congres
sional Democrats in
Athens Representative
Lester Jackson of Savannah
was the third Kerry dele-
Paine College students in
All-Star Challenge
Paine College students
participated in the Honda
Campus All-Star Challenge
National Championship
Tournament in Orlando,
Florida, where they com
peted to determine who
among the 320 scholars
from 64 Historically Black
Colleges and Universities,
were the best and the
brightest.
Georgia State fraternity denies
discrimination at hearing
ATLANTA (AP) - A
Georgia State University
fraternity under criticism
after two of its members
appeared at a party wearing
blackface on Wednesday;,
April 14 denied charges of
discrimination.
The Pi Kappa Alpha fra
ternity members attended a
school hearing on three stu
dent conduct violations
dealing with harassment
and discrimination after
members of Phi Beta
Sigma, a historically black
fraternity, complained
about the blackface at a Jan.
24 party.
Lowery did not seek the
board’s approval before
entering into the lease
agreement in 1994. The
suit also claims SCLC
W.O.M.E.N. incorpo
rated in 1989 without
approval of the SCLC
board.
A spokesman for the
Lowerys said Thursday
that Evelyn Lowery’s
mother died this week,
and they have been
unavailable for com
ment. Lowery will
address the allegations in
the lawsuit after the
funeral next week, the
spokesman said.
“The forces led by
Young are the same ones
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Dr. Lowell M. Greenbaum
gates elected.
Edward delegates elected
were Brian Murry of the
Athens and Ms. Barbara
Sims of Athens.
Selected members of the
college’s varsity team
attended the national com
petition where topics,
including philosophy, liter
ature, history, the arts and
world affairs, were the high
light of the tense competi
tion. As a result of their
being selected, the varsity
team took. home a $3,000
award.
“Our intent was not to
harass. Our intent was not
to discriminate,” Pi Kappa
Alpha chapter president
Dan Forrester said at the
hearing before the Universi
ty Senate Committee on
Student Discipline. “We
had no intention whatsoev
er of hurting anybody at
One-third of the school’s
student population is black.
Last month, 200 students
gathered for a rally on cam
pus demanding that the fra
ternity be kicked off cam-
Forrester said Pi Kappa
who sought to destroy
young Martin Luther
King 111 and drove him
to leave the organization
his father founded with
Lowery and Abernathy,”
said the Rev. James
Orange, another civil
rights leader.
The SCLC was estab
lished by Lowery, the
Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. and the Rev. Ralph
David Abernathy in
1957. King was the first
president. Abernathy
took over when King
was assassinated in 1968
but resigned in 1977.
Lowery, now 81, was
vice president from
1957-67, chairman of
Court of Appeals rules against
Augusta protest ordinance
} The United States Court
of Appeals for the 11th
Circuit has found that the
Augusta- Richmond Coun
ty protest permit law that
prevented Martha Burk
and Rainbow RUSH Coali
‘tion_ from protesting near
the site of tfiq ,Masgc;s..Gplf
Tournament in 2003 was a
violation of the First
Amendment.
In a highly publicized
case, Burk and Rainbow
PUSH sued the Augusta
Richmond County Consol
idated Government claim
ing the Ordinance was
enacted to restrict protests
during the Masters Golf
Tournament at Augusta
National Golf Club. The
district court refused to
order an injunction and
Burk and Rainbow PUSH
were forced to hold their
several hundred yards away
from the Augusta National
entrance.
In its decision today, the
11¢th Circuit found that the
Ordinance violates the First
Amendment by impermis
sibly discriminating on the
basis of content of speech.
“We are very pleased with
the decision today and we
Alpha apologized for the
incident a few days after the
party. The fraternity also
suspended the two mem
bers, who already have faced
hearings with the university.
Officials have declined to
release the outcome of those
hearings, saying federal stu
dent privacy laws prevent
them from doing so.
The committee was
expected to make a recom
mendation to the university
officials within the next few
days on possible sanctions
against fraternity which
continues to be on suspen
sion.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
the board of directors
from 1967-77 and presi
dent for 20 years begin
ning in 1977.
Martin Luther King
111 took over in 1998.
Three years later, the
board instructed him to
do a bertter job or lose
his position after chair
man Young, the brother
of former Detroit mayor
Coleman Young,
accused him of being
insubordinate and fail
ing to raise enough
money for the civil
rights organization.
The rift was patched
up, but King stepped
down late last year to
replace his brother, Dex
very grateful to the ACLU
for talking the case,” said
Martha Burk, Chair of the
National Council of
Women’s Organizations.
Commissioner Marion
Williams_was among the
county commissioners who
spoke out against the ordi
nance. Williams says he is
not surprised by the rulil
ng.
“I think the ruling came
back just like we said. This
town has a history of doing
things differently and that
hast to stop,” said
Williams. “The city of
Augusta has no say in who
is allowed at the Augusta
Nationals and I think some
of us got wrapped up in
that.” 4
County commissioners
have voted to appeal.
Gerald Weber, Legal
Director for the ACLU of
Georgia, believe that the
Court’s decision will have
far-reaching impact.
“This ruling will rever
berate southward to the G
-8 Summit,” said Weber.
“The local government
near the G-8 Summit used
Augusta’s now defunct law
as their model for laws to
Suicide signs less likely among blacks
By DANIEL YEE
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - A study
of suicides in Fulton County
found that blacks who com
mit suicide arent as likely as
whites to display telltale sui
cide risk factors such as
depression, health officials
said Monday, April 19 .
The Georgia Division of
Public Health studied 1,300
suicides in Fulton County
between 1988 and 2002 and
found blacks were less likely
than whites to have known
sion, chronic disease,relation
ship or money problems.
than whites to leave a suicide
note or have previously talked
ter, as president and
chief executive of the
King Center for Nonvio
lent Social Change.
The SCLC board law
suit said SCLC
W.O.M.E.N. committed
fraud by using the SCLC
name and an image of
Martin Luther King Jr.
in fund-raising efforts,
yét refiised ta be
accountable to the
SCLC board.
For several years, the
SCLC has asked to
review the women’s
organization’s budget
and corporate minutes,
but it has not complied,
the lawsuit said.
The SCLC brought a
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restrict protesters”
Debbie Seagraves, Execu
tives Director, ACLC of
Georgia, agrees.
“I hope this decision
makes it clear makes it clear
to all jurisdictions in Geor
about suicide, health officials
said.
“Risk factors associated with
white suicide may not be pre
dictive of suicides among
blacks,” health officials said,
adding that more needs to be
done to eliminate cultural
stigmas against talking about
mental health issues.
Only 15 percent of the 348
blacks who committed suicide
left behind a suicide note,
compared with 36 percent of
784 whites. About 63 percent
of whites and 42 percent of
blacks had a history of depres
sion leading up to the suicides.
Both groups frequently
used firearms in suicides.
Guns were used 62 percent of
the time for black suicides and
59 percent of the time for
April 22, 2004
similar suit against the
Lowerys and the
women’s organization
last year but dropped it
within three weeks.
State Rep. Tyrone
Brooks of Atlanta, a
member of the SCLC,
defended the Lowerys.
“The Lowerys are in
the twilight of their
years and they should
not have to be worried
about lawsuits coming
from within the organi
zation that they have
given their lives to,”
Brooks said. “Here you
have Claud Young doing
what the Ku Klux Klan
and FBI couldn’t do -
destroy the SCLC.”
Martha Burke
gia that right to speak up
and speak out is Funda
mental to what makes us
Americans. They cannot
take steps to muzzle some
one’s speech just because
the message is unpopular.”
whites.
Fulton County was selected
because a similar number of
blacks and whites live there
and health officials do not
have as much data on suicides
of blacks as they do for whites.
Nationwide, there are about
30,000 suicides each year,
according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven
tion, which released the study
~at its Epidemic Intelligence
Service conference in Atlanta.
Although suicide is more fre
quent among whites than
blacks, blacks age 25 to 34
have higher suicide rates than
whites in the same age group.
Suicide is more common
among elderly whites age 75
to 84 than blacks, health offi
cials said.
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