Newspaper Page Text
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April 28, 2005
National World
Five-year-oild
handcuffed
and arrested
BET.com staff
The attorney for the
family of a S-year-old girl
who was handcuffed by
police after she acted up
in class is saying that the
city should never have
arrested a child.
A videotape document
ing the March “arrest”
was aired on local televi
sion after a teacher caught
the action at Fairmount
Elementary School on
camera.
The girl threw punches
at the assistant principal,
tore papers off her «fcsk
and Eullctin board,
refused to participate in
class and climbed on tables,
the St Petersburg Times
reported Friday.
The vice principal report
edly called tic girl's mother,
but the mother said she
could not come to the
school.
Crisis Prevention Interven
tion was called. When three
Death sentences fall to record low since 1976 reinstatement
By JANCARIOSRODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -
The number of people sen
tenced to death last year fell
to the lowest level since the
U.S. Supreme Court rein
stated the penalty in 1976.
There were 125 people
sent to death row in 2004,
down from 144 the previ
ous year and the sixth con
secutive annual decline,
according to figures com
piled by the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund. In 1998,
300 people received death
HBCU students compete for business
By JANELLE WILLIAMS
N’i\lPA S&' Contributor
WASHINGTON
(NNPA) -~ From an oil
recycling company to a
spiritually-based clothing
line, student participating
in Ford Motor Company’s
first annual HBCU Busi
ness Classic shared their
visions of entrepreneurial
success with a panel of
African American entrepre
neurs at the National Asso
ciation for Equal Oppurtu
nity in Higher Education’s
national conference in
hopes of winning SIOO,OOO
in scholarship prizes.
The competition,
launched in the fall of
2004 by Ford, involved
more than 400 teams from
80 percent of the HBCU
community to use their
classroom knowledge to
develop an authentic busi
ness plan comprised of
business type, product or
service, pricing considera-
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A S year-old girl cries out as officers slap on the handcuffs.
St. Petersburg Police — two
new — arrived later, officers
handcuffed the child as she
cried out. She was released to
her mother after being
detained.
In 1998, a five-year-old
sentences.
Miriam Gohara, assistant
counsel at the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund, said
one major cause for the
decline is high profile exon
erations based on DNA evi
dence. She said that jurors
are less willing to impose
the penalty when they see
that the system occasionally
fails.
“I think people are more
concerned about the irre
versibility of the death
penalty. Once somebody is
executed, you can't bring
them back,” Gohara said.
tions, target market, com
petition and general opera
tion. These 10-page plans
were judged on the basis of
overall presentation, viabili
ty of success and benefit to
the community.
Darlene Pollard, director
of Volunteer Services at
SCORE “Counselors to
America’s Small Business,
the company in charge of
narrowing the applications
from 400 to 10 in the first
round and five in the sec
ond, thinks that programs
like this are vital in expos
ing minority students to
“the real-world.”
“The final five teams had
a unique plan and what was
most important was the
benefit to the community,”
said Pollard following the
“Entrepreneur in You”
Brcakffst at the Marriot
Wardman Park Hotel in
Washington, D.C. “Each
team was putting some
thing back into tic com
munity, and the minority
AUGUSTA FOCUS
kindergarten student in
Florida, Chaquita Doman,
was arrested after allegedly
scratching and biting an
associate teacher. She was
charged with felony bat
tery of an educator or
Dianne Clements, presi
dent of Justice for All, a
pro-death penalty victim
advocacy group, offered
another explanation.
“Not only has the murder
rate declined, thank good
ness, but the types of killers
eligible for the death penal
ty have been redefined by
the Supreme Court,” she
said.
The high court has issued
a series of decisions narrow
ing the death penalty, put
ting a stop to the execution
of juveniles, the insane and
the mentally retarded.
community in particular.”
Student finalists included
teams from Howard Uni
versity, Florida A&M Uni
versity, North Carolina
A&, Texas Southern Uni
versity and Xavier Universi
ty. Their plans were judged
by seasoned professionals
including, Mark Scoggins,
president of business sgvcl
opment at Magic Johnson
Enterprises, Inc., Earl G.
Graves, Jr., president and
chief operating officer at
Black Enterprise Magazine,
Diane WcatEers. soon-to-be
retired editor-in-chief at
Essence magazine, David
Bing, chairman of The Bing
Group, Renee Cotrell-
Brown, executive vice presi
dent, PRO-LINE INTER
NATIONAL, George Fraser,
chairman/ceo of l-srascrth
and Dennis H. Boston, sen
ior vice president of the
Johnson Publishing Compa
ny.
Scoggins, who has been
prcsicfig:t of the business
SCLC secks to regain its footing
By ANDRE COE
Special to the NNPA
DESOTO, Texas (NNPA) —
National board members from
the Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference met in Dallas
recentdy to announce ambi
tiow, plans for the recendy
embarded avil rights organiza
ton that Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. founded in 1957.
These plans s st attention
will bcp focuscl'jgaon solving
external problems rather than
dwell on some of the internal
issues that have dominated the
Ofganization in recent years.
Among the most ambitious
plans that the organization’s
new President Chafi%tcdc Jr.
announced are the establish
ment of conflict resolution cen
ters worldwide. The conflict
resolution centers would return
the organization back to King’s
principles of non-violence and
woul«.r broaden the scope of the
SCLC beyond the borders of
America.
Steele is the former Alabama
state senator who left politics to
help the SCLC and was
appointed president last year.
The SCLC has been working
to overcome i problems in
the aficmmdumf)?rimemal and
finandal turmoil and the resig
nations of its last two presi
dents, the Rev. Fred Shut
desworth and Martn Luther
King 111, last year.
Two conflict resolution cen
ters have already been estab
lished in Dayton, Ohio and
Dimona, Israel, Steele said. The
There also are more juris
dictions where jurors are
given options other than
death, said. Richard Dieter,
executive director of the
Death Penalty Information
Center.
“Juries are being given a
choice of life without parole
that they didn't have in the
early ‘9os,” he said.
Dieter also said increased
public attention has led to
better legal representation
for defendants who could
face the death penalty.
In his State of the Union
address this year, President
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HBCU Campus Recruiters making presentations on the SBC indi
ana Distance Recruitment Network @Crispus Attucks Middie
School
develop division for 18
months, noted the importance
of using entrepreneurship to
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center in Israel would not take
sides in the Israeli-Palestine
conflicc but would work to
eradicate the violence that is
taking place there, Steele said.
He added that the ultimate
goal of the centers would be to
achieve world peace.
Steele said (5’1(:'15(:1‘(: is no
longer a national organization
because it has moved beyond
the borders of Amenca. He
added that Naton of Islam
Minister Louis Farrakhan per
sonally told him the SCLC is
the only organization that can
achieve this mission of non
violence and that black people
in America are in a unique
position worldwide to achieve
this goal because of their histo
ry.
Despite a history of slavery,
black people do not want to be
terrorists or build bombs, Steele
said. Peace cannot be achieved,
he said, unul we come together
at the wble of bmthc:s\(x)d.
Steele also said that he has
already spoken to the Israeli
prime minister. The prime
George W. Bush called for
more training for lawyers
who represent accused
killers, tacit recognition
that not all suspects receive
an adequate defense.
As governor of Texas, a
state that executes more
inmates than any other,
Bush commuted one death
sentence and allowed 152
executions. The Texas gov
ernor can commute a sen
tence only if the Texas
Board of Pardons and
Paroles recommends it.
Texas sent the most people
to death row last year — 23,
affect change and promote
intergenerational wealth. He
applauded the increased focus
minister wanted to know how
African people survived the
trans-Adlantic slave trade and
then wondered why some
black people in America seem
to be afraid to ask about their
own history.
“Sixty-four years of our histo
ry have been left out of the
trans-Adantic slave trade,”
Steele said. “African Americans
through the SCLC will be
informed of our history.”
In additon to the conflict
resolution centers, the SCLC
said it will also focus on elimi
nating racism, encouraging
economic empowerment,
eliminating the use of taser
guns by police and the exten
sion of the Voting Rights Act of
1965.
After Steele’s announcement,
several SCLC members spoke
on issues affecting the Elgd(
community. National SCLC
Treasurer Spiver Gordon said
that he is not sausfied with an
act that would merely give
blacks the right to vote for a
period of time. A law needs
to be made that would keep
this from ever becoming an
issue ever again, he said.
“Even with the bill, the elec
tion was stolen in Florida,”
Gordon said.
“We need to fix this thing
so that it becomes perma
nent, not one that is renew
able every few years,” added
Jerome McCorry, national
vice president of the SCLC.
“It’s ume for us to ensure that
we come to grips with this
thing.”
followed by California,
which sent 11 and Florida
and Alabama, which each
sent 8.
There were 3,374 prison
ers awaiting execution at
the end of 2003, the latest
year for which figures are
available from the Bureau
of Justice Statistics. That
was 188 fewer than the pre
vious year, due largely to
then-Illinois Gov. George
Ryan granting clemency to
all 167 inmates on his
state’s death row because of
concerns about wrongful
convictions.
on entrepreneurship at colleges
and universities around the
country.
“I've noticed that more entre
preunuerial dasses and pro
grams are being offered to stu
dents,” said Scoggins as he
waited for a breakfast of scram
bled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns
and mixed fruit. “It has become
more of a focal point and that’s
great to see.”
Chuck Morrison, executive
vice president and general
manager of the UniWorld
Group, Inc., agrees. He adds
that students need to widen
their scope when entering the
work force; one should not be
focused just on getting a job,
but rather creating jobs, busi
nesses and wealth.
“I wish that when I came to
college that someone had
talked o me about entrepre
neurship,” said Morrison.
“So, if we can inspire kids
to build businesses then it’s
worth it.”