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2A August 26, 2004 National World Blacks offer lukewarm support for N.J. governor By JAMAL E. WATSON Special to the NNPA NEW YORK (NNPA) - Gloria White says she isn't vindictive, but these days the Trenton mother of three is glowing over the resignation of New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, who said that he would step down from office in November because he is gay and had a sexual relationship with another man outside of his marriage. “'m not a mean-spirited person, but I strongly believe that what goes Experts fear Hurricane Charley aftermath may prove as dangerous as the storm itself By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press Writer PUNTA GORDA, Flori da (AP) — Health officials are worried there could be more deaths and injuries in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley than during the storm itself. The hurricane caused billions of dollars in damage across Florida, and power outages and debris are creating hazards for residents. At least 21 U.S. deaths have been linked to the storm. Charley also killed four people in Cuba and one in Jamaica. “We’re seeing lacera tions, injuries post-hurri cane,” said critical care nurse Karen Mulvaney. “A lot of people are coming here now %ecausc people are now returning to their homes.” In addition to injuries, residents are being sick ened by eating spoiled food and contaminated water. They are skipping their prescription drugs and, with no air condition ing and with window screens blown away, expos ing themselves to mosqui toes carrying diseases such as West Nile virus. On Wednesday, August 18 Sanibel Isf;nd was reopened to permanent residents for the first time since it was evacuated before the hurricane. Roads had been cleared of storm debris but there was no power or drinkable water on the barrier island of about 6,000 residents. Sanibel Mayor Marty Harrity said most of the One-year suspension recommended for judge who wore racial costume By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A white Louisiana judge who appeared at a Hal loween party in shackles, an afro wig and blackface makeup last year should be suspended for a year with out pay, a state commission said Tuesday, August 17. The recommendation by the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana goes to the state Supreme Court, which will make the final decision on the punishment for around will eventually come around,” said White, 56, who was one of thou sands of New Jersey resi dents who lashed out at McGreevey last year when he publicly chastised poet Amiri Baraka and then fired him from his post as the state’s poet laureate after Baraka wrote what some have called an “anti- Semitic” poem. “I'm stifi mad at what he (McGreevey) did to Bara ka, so 1 have very little sympathy for him art this time,” said White, who has followed Baraka’s work closely over the years. damage to the island’s homes was cosmetic, involving missing shingles and shutters and loss of shrubbery and other land sca}lJ)ing. “People are smiling - they’re getting the oppor tuniti; to come back and see their homes,” Harrity said by phone. Insurers are likely to pay an estimated $7.4Y billion in' claims for ‘damage to homes, businesses an§ per sonal possession such as cars, Insurance Informa tion Institute chief econo mist Bob Hartwig said Wednesday, August 18. That estimate doesn’t included uninsured prop erty and flood damage or huge agricultural losses. I% the estimate holds, Charley would be the sec ond most expensive U.S. hurricane after 1992’ Andrew, which caused $15.5 billion in insured losses, he said. State offi cials had estimated earlier that damage to insured homes alone could be as much as sll billion. About 493,000 people remained without power, state officials said, hold ing to predictions it could take weeks to fully restore electricity. Nearly 100,000 still lacked local phone service. Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Wednesday that Charley’s 233 kph (145 mph) wind could have crestroyed even more homes if not for the stronger building codes enactef after Hur Timothy Ellender, a state district judge in Terrebonne Parish, southwest of New Orleans. “Judge Ellender’s integrity and his ability to be fair and impartial towards African- Americans who appear before his court as defen dants in criminal and other proceedings will be forever in doubt,” the commission said in a 26-page report. “Every decision he makes and judgment he renders concerning an African- American may be ques- AUGUSTA FOCUS “God just does not like ugly.” Reaction in the black community to McGreevey’s resignation has been mixed, with some blacks calling for the governor’s ouster, while otEers have remained staunch support ers of the 47-year-old politician, who quickly rose through the ranks of New Jersey politics. “Family members and friends stick together dur ing tough times, and I con sicfcr myself a friend of Jim McGreevey,” said State Senator Wayne R. Bryant (D-Camden), an African- ricane Andrew 12 years ago over the objection of some contractors, who said they were too costly. He described seeing new buildings that were rela tively undamaged next to older buildings that were destroyed. “Governor (Jeb) Bush said it best — If anyone in Florida starts minimizing the building code, that idea should have been obliterated by Charley,” Brown said. The official death toll rose from 19 to 20 Tues day when an 86-year-old man who had evacuated his home fell and died in a motel, state officials said. The state count did not immediately include a carbon monoxide death, confirmed Wednesday, August 18 by Lee County officials, of a man run ning a gasoline-powered generator ¢in a shed attached to his home since losing power in the storm. For thousands of Floridi ans, Tuesday, August 17, was a day when services cut off by Charley’s ram page Friday, August 20 were being gradually — and sporadically - restored. Federal disaster assistance money began flowing, state officials cracked down on price gouging and postal work ers handed out mail. Free food, ice and water were distributed across the region. tioned and second guessed.” Ellender was not immedi ately available for comment when The Associated Press called his office in Houma. The commission said Ellen der cooperated fully with its investigation and made it clear in testimony “that he will take great care not to exhibit racial bias or to pro mote racial stereotypes in the future.” Accompanied by his wife, who was dressed as a police officer, Ellender showed up American who chairs the powerful Senate Budget and Appropriations Com mittee. “Jim McGreevey'’s leader ship has achieved many good things and helped many New Jerseyans improve the quality of their lives,” Bryant said. “He can count on my sup port and continued f}rlicnd— ship throughout this diffi cult time.” Polls suggest that African-Americans have traditionally adhered to the rrincié)lc that the personal ife of a politician should be separate from their Bush adviser counsels patience during “ups and downs” in Iraq By BARRY SCHWEID A¥‘ Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Defending President George W. Bush’s foreign policies, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice coun seled Americans to be “less critical of every twist and turn” in Iraq. “We nceg to be more patient with people who are making those early steps” towarc! a working multieth nic democracy, Rice said Thursday as U.S. troops fought a bloody battle with insurgents in the slums of Baghfiad and Iraqi forces searched for ways to subdue insurgent militias in Nf)af Rice said it took the Unit ed States a long time to achieve democratic goals. And so far, said &ice, an African-American, Iraqs postwar leaders have not made a compromise com ?arable to the one by the ramers of the U.S. Consti tution, who “made my ancestors three-fifths of a man.” She was referring to the provision in the éonstitu tion that designated slaves as three-fifths of a person in calculating the population of states for elections to Congress. The slaves also were denied the vote. DemocracK does not hap pen overnight, Rice said in a speech and news confer ence at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a government-fund chthink ta(ilkß ; rompte a_question about glose lzurds(-lin Iraq who seek an independent state, Rice said democracies tend to lessen needs for a “full break” between the various ethnic groups in the “country. ~ “If I'could say one thin ‘to all of us in the Uniteg at the party last Halloween dressed in a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs borrowed from the local sheriff, as well as the afro wig. “Judge Ellender testified to the commission that when his costume did not provoke the amusement he thought it would, his broth er-in-law, dressed as ‘Buck wheat’” from the ‘Little Ras cals show, and wearing blackface paint, offered the judge some of the paint to enhance his costume and to try to garner more laughs,” political duties, which is why many unabashedly supported l};rmcr President Bifl Clinton during his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky Even Rev. Jesse L. Jackson quickly received a warm embrace from blacks after it became known that he cheated on his wife and fathered a child out of wedlock. But some say that the lack of support for McGreevey, wfio has said that he is gay and had a relationship with a man, has much to do with the uneasiness that many States of America, who live in a democracy that is 230 years old, it is that we need to be both more patient with Ecoplc who are mak ing these early steps, less critical of every twist and turn, less certain that every up and down is going to collapse the process, and more humble on about long it has taken us to get to a multiethnic democracy that works,” Rice said. The White House offi cial, considered a potential secretary of state if Bush wins a second term, said Americans ought to be “less certain that every up and down is going to collapse the process.” H}c)r appearance followed a series of cable television interviews in what appears to be a campaign to employ the usually offstage and sometimes off-the-record senior official as a spirited campaign spokeswoman for the president. On the Arab-Israeli con flict, Rice called for an end to Israel’s “occupa tion,” without specifying whether she meant givin up East Jerusalem and afi o?the West Bank and the Golan Heights on top of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s planned with drawal from Gaza. The State Department, meanwhile, indicated the administration would support Iragi Prime Min ister Ayad Allawi if he dccidcc( to direct Iraqi forces to storm a mosque in Najaf that insurgent militia are using as a sanc tuary. “It’s unacceptable in a democratic Iraq, in a sov ereign Iraq, that groups such as these take over the commission report said. “When asked if adding the black-face paint resulted in his getting more laughs, Judge Ellender told the commission “it was more humorous, yes,” the report said. It was a private party but it was held at a seafood restaurant in view of other patrons. The commission said about 15 people were present and testimony indi cated that, except for a black cook, everyone pres ent was white. B s e % GeW, L 2 & gfl; . Q\“ T T ‘-;;’&’. ’ e o e :; » par B sis & A A p b bl -=r'v' £ & i g e i e z T : -:»:%‘ James E. McGreevey blacks feel toward homo sexuals. Rev. Jacques DeGraff, a political consultant who See Governor, page 13A holy sites, fire on inno cents and arrogate for themselves the power of the central government,” deputy spokesman Adam Ereli saic{l.J “Our role is to support Prime Minister Allawi and his government as they work to establish govern ment control over the ter ritory of Iraq and against those elements such as the Mahdi militia who “are intent on using violence to pursue their objec tives,” Ereli said. He also read a statement by Secretary of State Colin Powe]}i, who was away on vacation, mark ing the first anniversary of the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian diplomat who Powell cafied a “dear friend,” was among the victims. “The international com munity will not be deterred by the immoral act of a year ago,” Powell said. “TKe United States remains steadfast in its support for the United Nations mission in Iraq. We will continue to wofl( side by side as partners.” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at an anniversary ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, said the United States was con ducting an investigation of the attack and that *‘we are still waiting for answers.”’ “However long it takes, I pray that the perpetra tors are held to account and do not get away with this cold-bfooded mur der,” Annan said. Word of Ellender’s cos tume reached Houma NAACP leaders, then made local, state and national news. A complaint was filed with court officials, result ing in the commission’s investigation. Ellender at first called the resulting furor “a tempest in a teapot” but later, in testi mony before the commis sion, admitted that his behavior had been offen sive, the report said. There was no indication when the Supreme Court would make its decision.