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ity Region 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 ’,‘ " ‘34‘?&‘ ; +} ‘A:r'x b 00l Z {A"%‘f‘ ?fl“ "§‘=;:A.t;"' g ‘ P ::“;",-. bst L i & 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 :;] 7 - % ‘ TR Y bt ‘ Gy T Y v n‘{‘s ¥ E e A T e - & & b '\: ; _ ; A e . o - o ‘\\. )\ 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. 3A