Abner Louima battles his former
defense team in New York courtroom
Special to the NNPA - New York City police torture victim
Abner Louima has been in court once again, this time to settle a
claim with former attorneys that have laid claim to his $8.7 mil
lion settlement.
Forced to travel from his home in Florida to a federal court
hearing in Brooklyn last week.
Louima wasted his tormer attor
neys for making racist remarks,
leaking information and resigning,
which paved the way for Johnnie
Cochran and his legal team.
Attorneys Brian Figeroux, Carl
Thomas and Casilda Roper-Simp
son resigned from his legal team
and, by doing so, forfeited any
claim to the fees. Louima testified.
The lawyers are now fighting over
a share of nearly $3 million in
fees.
"I don't think thev are entitled
to any money," Louima said at the Louima
hearing before Magistrate Judge
Sheryl Pollack. "They resigned
the case, and, by doing so, they let me down."
Louima also testified that he was frustrated when Figeroux
was quoted in a newspaper article about the brutality Louima suf
fered at the hands of police in 1997, despite his request to the
lawyers that no one comment without his approval.
Figeroux and Thomas were hired soon after Louima was
sodomized with a broken broomstick at the 70tb Precinct station
house on Aug. 9, 1997. Cochran, Sanford Rubinstein, Scheck and
Neufeld replaced the team in September 1997.
Cochran testified that Figeroux and Thomas had called him an
"Uncle Tom" for bringing white. Jewish lawyers into the case
and had used a slur to refer to them. A decision in the case is pend
ing.
Convicted Birmingham church bomber
says that he is a 'political prisoner'
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - In a letter from prison, former
Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry declares himself a "polit
ical prisoner" and blames the federal government for the 1963
church bombing that killed four black girls.
Cherry, who was convicted in
me uomuiiig in may anu is serving
a life sentence for murder, called
himself "an innocent man" in a
three-page letter to The Associated
Press, his first public comment
since his imprisonment.
"I am a political prisoner in
Ala.," the 72-year-old Cherry
wrote on the envelope, delivered
this week.
The prosecutor dismissed
Cherry's claims. "It's ludicrous,"
Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney
now in private practice, said Fri
cherry day.
Klan members and their sym
pathizers have maintained for
years that the federal government or blacks were behind the bomb
ing, which they often portrayed as an attempt tu win sympathy for
the Civil Rights Movement.
A powerful bomb went off at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
on Sept. 15, 1963, as Birmingham's public schools were being
racially integrated for the first time.
The blast killed four girls inside the stone-and-brick church,
which was a gathering spot for demonstrators seeking an end to
legalized segregation in the city.
Cherry did not testify during his trial. He was the third ex
Klansman convicted in the bombing, and prosecutors said no more
suspects are alive.
NAACP, farmers want trade with Cuba
Special to the NNPA - The NAACP and Cuban President
Fidel Castro are interested in creating trade links between Cuba
and thousands of black farmers, by taking advantage of a U.S. law
that will allow agricultural transactions.
A delegation including
iNAALr leader Kwetst Mtutne
and John Boyd, president of the
National Association of Black
Farmers, met and discussed the
issue with Castro for more than
four hours last week. The talks
are intended to open the embar
goed island nation to more that
12,000 growers in 48 states.
During the visit, the NAACP
delegation also met with govern-,
ment, American diplomats in
Havana and representatives of the
National Assemblv. Cuba's nar
liamen) Mfume
"President Castro seemed
very interested and had around him all the people in the govern
ment who could make that happen." Mfume told reporters. "We
hope to build a bridge between the NAACP and the people of
Cuba, many of whom are descendants of Africa."
The Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act,
passed in 2000, erodes the trade embargo imposed by the United
States in the early 1960s, soon after Castro came to power. So far,
Cuba has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars worth of
American food.
? Compiled from staff and wire reports
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest
H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published
every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co.
Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Peri
odicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual sub
scription price is $30.72.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
INDEX
OPINION. JK6
SPORTS. B1
RELIGION. B5
CLASSIFIEDS. B9
HEALTH. C3
ENTERTAINMENT. C7
CALENDAR. C9
Study: Coal pollution affects blacks
more than whites in South Carolina
Blacks with asthma
greatly suffer because
of output from plants
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBIA, S.C. -
Blacks in South Carolina are
disproportionately affected by
pollution from coal-fired
power plants, according to a
new study on the impact of the
state's 12 facilities.
The report, "Air of Injus
tice," was released nationally
last week by a coalition of
civil rights, public health and
environmental advocacy
groups. It shows increased
asthma attacks and consump
tion of mercury-contaminated
fish by blacks and other
minorities.
"What that means is when
this report says African-Amer
icans have asthma attacks that
send them to the hospital at
three times the rate of white
folks, and that our death rate
from asthma is twice that of
(whites), it gets personal,"
said Mildred Myers, executive
director of South Carolina
Environmental Watch, one of
the groups that met last Thurs
day in Gadsden near the
Wateree power plant to publi
cize the report's findings.
Myers is black and is a
chronic asthma sufferer. "It's
talking about our families, the
people that make our lives
worth living," she said.
The study shows that
blacks have 174.3 emergency
room visits per 10,000 popula
tion because of asthma
attacks, compared with 59.4
visits per 10,000 for whites.
There are 38.7 deaths per mil
lion from asthma among
blacks compared with 14.2
deaths per million for whites.
Blacks also eat more fish
and in larger portions than
whites, increasing their expo
sure to mercury, which is
emitted by the power plants.
While some evidence
shows heredity plays a role in
the incidence of asthma in
blacks, activists say heavy
pollution from coal-fired
power plants near black com
munities aggravates the prob
lem.
The state Department of
Health and Environmental
Control says seven of the
state's 12 coal-fired plants
operate under less-stringent
rules that were in effect before
the federal government tight
ened air pollution standards in
the past 20 years.
South Carolina Electric
and Gas, the state's largest
utility, operates in compliance
with state and federal air pol
lution laws, spokesman Brian
Duncan said.
File Photo
There are 12 coal-fired power plants in South Carolina. A new report says that African-Amer
ican residents in the state are paying the price for the toxins the plants produce.
Ballance to head Democratic freshmen
SPECIAL TO THK CHRONICLE
On Nov. 5, Frank W. Bal
lance Jr. was elected to.Con
gress from the 1st Congres
sional
rv.
UIMI It I
of North
Carolina,
succeed
ing Con
g r e s s -
woman
Eva M.
Clayton.
On Nov.
I A r?.. i
it, d m - ??????
lance Ballante
once
again followed' Clayton by
being elected president of the
Democratic Freshman Class
of the 108th Congress.
The election took place
during the 10-day New Mem
ber Ori
CllliU Kill
Session
held in
Wash
ington,
DC.
Also
during
this
time,
p a r h
Clayton political
party
selected its leadership team
for the 108th Congress.
Ballance was quoted as
saying: "I am honored that my
colleagues in this Freshman
Class had enough confidence
in me to elect me president. I
am certain that my 18 years of
legislative experience and my
six years of service as deputy
president pro tempore of the
North Carolina Senate were
influential in my selection. I
look forward to working
closely with the Democratic
leadership."
The New Member Orienta
tion for the 108th Congress
will continue through Nov. 21.
Ballance will take the oath of
office in a ceremony Jan. 7,
2003, at the U.S. Capitol.
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