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Uity Region
Former Rep. McKinney rips fellow Democrats for supporting war
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)
- Former congress
woman Cynthia McKin
ney ripped her fellow
Democrats in a fiery
sEccch Saturday, June 30
that accused them of
failing to stop the Iraq
war, ignoring the victims
of Hurricane Katrina and
failing to impeach Presi
dent Bush.
McKinney, who lost
her House seat last year
after becoming the first
black woman elected to
Congress from Georgia
14 years carlier, took aim
at House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, the Democratic
presidential candidates
and even the Congres
sional Black Caucus in
an address to 350 people
at a Georgia NAACP
fundraising dinner in
Cost keeps college out of reach for many minority students
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) -
Cost is one of the top barriers
cited as a reason South Caroli
nas largest colleges and univer
sities have trouble increasing
their percentages of black stu
dents.
Across the state as a whole,
blacks made up 28 percent of
campus enrollment in 2005
and 30 percent of the state’s
population, according to a new
report released by the Southern
Region Education Board.
But at the state’s rescarch
campuses, such as Clemson
University, the numbers are
lower. At Clemson, for exam
ple, around 7 percent of its stu
dent population is black.
“Cost is becoming a bigger
and bigger barrier for that con
stituency,” said Byron Wiley,
director of access and equity ar
Clemson.
Charleston Fire - SC fire scene to become
park, memorial for 9 fallen firefighters
By BRUCE SMITH
Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON, S.C.
(AP) The mayor said
Wednesday, J that the city
will buy the site of a fatal
furniture store fire and cre
ate a park and memorial to
the nine firefighters who
died in the blaze.
“The land is sacred. It’s
where nine people died,”
Mayor Joseph P. Eilcy said.
The Sog Super Store
showroom and warehouse
were gutted by the June 18
blaze, the worst single loss
of U.S. firefighters' lives
since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Riley sanr he spoke on
Tuesday to store owner
Herb Goldstein before the
mayor traveled to Indiana
for the last of the firefighter
funcrals.fu :
“We support this
idea,” Golcf;tcinpl:nid in a
;mmn:_‘.) “We have been
ooki r ways to honor
the fircfi&!\u:rs in a perma
nent way.
The land, about 2.5 acres,
is on a busy commercial
x’p lined m"hd; car dafl:r—
ips, repair and fast
food chains. e
Riley said the land should
never contain another struc-
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Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
Savannah.
She accused Pelosi of
failing to address Katri
na's devastation in her
agenda for the Democra
tic Congress' first 100
hours in office. She
bashed the Congression
al Black Caucus for vot
ing to continue fundin
for the war in Iraq. Ang
Wiley said the increase in
tuition coupled with few need
based financial aid options is
hurting the university’s efforts
to recruit more black students.
“A lot of kids I work with
would love to come here,” said
Levon Kirkland, Clemson's
coordinator of minority recruit
ment initiatives. “Its always
heartbreaking when the reason
they don't come is the financial
reason.”
Among Clemsons efforts to
attract more black students are
summer programs, such as an
SAT workshop aimed at top
minority students and a science
and engineering summer camp
for rising cighth-grade girls
from diverse backgrounds.
Lander University in Green
wood has had greater success
diversifying its student popula
tion since an initiative pushed
ture.
“This should be a passive
place in memory OF these
nine heroes. It will be a
place for our citizens to
come, for firefighters (and)
for friends and relatives of
our deceased firefighters.”
Federal officials have
traced the fire to a trash area
on the loading dock, but
they have not released a
cause. On Tuesday, a city
official said a roof above the
loading dock was built
without a required permit.
Riley said he did not
know what the city would
have to spend, but it would
be for the unimproved value
of the lot. The store is now
surrounded by a chain link
fence and yellow police
tape.
Goldstein, who has set up
a college fund for the fire
fighters' children, paid $1.3
million in 1993 for the
property, which was a
supermarket, according to
Cg:rleston County proper
ty records.
Since then, there were
additions to the showroom
and a large warchouse was
built _ more than 60,000
st}ua:e feet in all at the time
of the fire.
The fire is being investi
she criticized the major
Democratic presidential
hopefuls, as a group, for
fairing to staie out a
clear policy on Iran.
“From the Democratic
Party to the Congres
sional Black Caucus to
those habitual Democra
tic voters, we've lost our
home team,” McKinney
by then-president Larry Jack
son when Lander became a
public university in 1973, said
Charlotte Cabri, a Lander
spokeswoman.,
At Lander, 24 percent of the
students are black,
"It was easy to get involved,”
said Anna Pinckney, a 2005
graduate working in the
school's admissions office. “It
wasnt about black and white.
Fach organization involved
everyone from every type of
culture.”
In South Carolina, total col
lege enrollment rose between
2001 and 2005 and black
enrollment rose at the state’s
teaching, two-year regional and
technical colleges, according to
the state Commission on
Higher Education.
But the percentage of black
students decreased at the state’s
gated by the Department of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives, the State
Law Enforcement Division,
city police and the
Charleston County Sheriff’s
office, Riley said.
“When the investigation
is done it will include the
issues of fighting the fire
and every aspect of it. That
will take quite a while,” he
said.
Riley was asked if the
cause might be released
before other aspects of the
investigation are completed.
“All of the public safety
agencies involved concur
the investigation is compro
mised if information is
released while the investiga
tion is ongoing,” he said.
The Charleston River-
Dogs, a minor league base
ball affiliate of the New
York Yankees, will play this
weekends homestand in
black armbands and
Charleston Fire Depart
ment caps. The team said it
will also create a permanent
memorial at the stadium.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
said. “Do we even know
ie?”
McKinney didn't say
whether she'll run in
2008 to take back her
House seat in metro
Atlanta.
Voters in the 4th Dis
trict ousted her last year,
several months after
McKinney's headline
grabbing scuffle with a
Capitol Hill police offi
cer. She had previously
made a successful elec
tion comeback in 2004
after losing re-election
two years earlier.
Though one of her last
acts in Congress last year
was to file a bill seeking
impeachment of Bush,
McKinney hardly men
tioned him in her 20-
minute speech to the
state National Associa
tion for the Advancement
of Colored People.
Scc War page 9A
research universities: Clemson,
the University of South Caroli
na and the Medical University
of South Carolina.
“We are making progress,
although it is somewhat easier
to make that progress in the
high-growth and lower-cost
institutions,” said Gail Morri
son, interim executive director
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Q © 2004 Coors Brewing Compeny, Golden, Colormdo 80401 « Brewer of Fine Quaiity Beers Since 1073+ BEER fl
Muslim woman barred
from Georgia courtroom
for wearing scarf
VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) -
A Muslim woman seeking
to contest a simple speed
ing ticket in tfiis south
Georgia city says she was
denied access to a munici
pal courtroom last week for
wearing a traditional Islam
ic heaf scarf,
Aniisa Karim, 20, said
she was stopped after enter
ing Valdosta’s municipal
court building Tuesday and
told she wouFd not be per
mitted to enter the court
room wearing her scarf.
“I said, ‘No, I'm Muslim
... I wear this for religious
reasons and if you don't
allow me in the courtroom
with my scarf on basically
you are violating my civil
rights and my rigfi'\t to a free
rjigion.’ “ Karim told the
Valdosta Daily Times.
of the state Commission on
Higher Education.
“We have a tremendous need
to help students coming from
impoverished backgrounds,”
Morrison said. “Unfortunately
in South Carolina, poverty is
often linked to race.”
That means those students
likely will need scholarships.
July 5, 2007
Karim said an officer told
her the denial was due to
“homeland security rea
sons” and that allowing her
to enter would show sisrc—
spect to Judge Vernita Lee
Bender.
She said she offered to
walk through a metal detec
tor and allow officers to use
a handheld metal detector
to scan the scarf.
A national Islamic civil
rights group has taken up
the case. In a letter to Geor
ia Actorney General
%‘hurbert Baker,- the Coun
cil on American-Islamic
Relations asks Baker to
“take appropriate action to
ensure tfiat the legal, reli
gious and civil rights of
Georgians of all faiths be
maintained.”
Scc Muslim page 9A
Of $276.2 million in state
scholarships and grants for the
2006-07 academic year, just
$50.3 million were provided
for need-based programs,
according to state Commission
on Higher Education figures.
The remaining $225.9 million
went to merit-based programs
3A