Black leaders in Houston
call for DA to resign
t
HOUSTON (AP) - Embattled Harris County Pistrict
Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is facing renewed cries for his resigna
tion, this time from prominent black leaders in the Houston area.,
A coalition of black ministers and commuifity ieaders said
Friday that Rosenthal had misled them and should immediately
resign.
"I feel jilted," said Robert Jefferson, a
pastor and member of Houston Ministers
Against Crime. "He was smiling with us
in one place" and stabbing 41s in our backs
in another."
The district attorney has been under
fire since the revelation of e-mails he had
sent and received that included love notes
to his secretary, racist jokes and videos of
men sneaking up to women and tearing
tneir domes on in public. ~ ? ~ ~
Rosenthal declined to discuss the latest Roseni a
calls for his resignation. Earlier in the
week he said he would not resign despite admitted poor judgment.
The Texas Attorney General's office is investigating whether
Rosenthal should lose his job for sending and receiving inappro
priate messages through his county e-mail account. Republican
officeholders and party leaders have been calling for the GOP
prosecutor's resignation. ?
Rosenthal also used his county e-mail account to plan his now
aborted re-election campaign. Such messages may violate Texas
laws barring the use government property for political activity.
The 860 e-mails emerged as part of a federal civil rights law
suit against the Harris County Sheriff's Department.
Redding portrait returned to city hall
MACON, Ga. (AP)' - Former Macon Mayor Jack Ellis has
returned a portrait of soul legend Otis Redding moved from city
hall along with Ellis' personal belongings when he left office in
December.
Ellis says he noticed the portrait at his home a few weeks
after he returned from a vacation in the Caribbean at the end of
the month. He says he did not supervise when his office was
packed.
'Andrew Blascovich, a spokesman for current Mayor Robert
Reichert, called the incident an "internal miscommunication."
The city commissioned the painting in 1975, eight years
after Redding, who was raised in Macon, died in a Wisconsin
plane crash with members of his band at age 26.
Cause of West's death still unknown
>
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The exact reason why Kanye
West's mother died shortly after undergoing plastic surgery
could not be determined but there was no sign of "surgical or
anesthetic misadventure," according to a coroner's report
released last Thursday.
- t"wa west, 38, aiea nov. iu ai a i.ui>
-AngeTei^area hospital, a day after she had
breast reduction, tummy tuck and lipo
suction procedures.
The report noted coronary artery dis
ease and multiple post-operative factors
that could ha\? played a role, but said the
exact contribution of each factor could
not be determined.
"The final matter of death could not
be determined," the coroner's office said
Donda West in a statement.
The coroner's office had said early
indications suggested she died from surgical complications.
Studies have shown serious complications from plastic surgery
are rare, with death occurring in 1 in 58,810 procedures.
Dr. Jan Adams, who operated on Donda West, has denied
any wrongdoing. Adams has repeatedly suggested other causes
of death including heart attack, pulmonary embolism or acci
dental overdose of painkillers prescribed after the cosmetic sur
gery.
The state medical board is investigating whether Adams'
license should be revoked or suspended after two alcohol-relat
ed arrests in the past four years.
Donda West was found unresponsive at her home a day after
her surgery. In emergency 91 1 tapes released earlier this month,
two unidentified women told a dispatcher that West suffered a
heart attack and unsuccessfully tried to revive her.
TSU Regents pick John Rudley
to replace fired Priscilla Slade
HOUSTON (AP) - Texas Southern University regents on
Friday named John Rudley as the sole finalist to succeed
Priscilla Slade as president of the troubled historically black
school.
Rudley, who is currently serving as interim president at the
University of Houston, is now poised to becomeTSU's first
permanent president since the university fired Slade amid a
spending scandal in June 2006.
TSU regents^chose Rudley by a 9-0 vote, the Houston
Chronicle reported on its Web site last Friday. State law
requires the regents to wait 21 days before finaliz|pg the
appointment.
Slade was accused of misspending university money to
decorate her homes. She was indicted but avoided conviction
when the jury in her trial deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial.
The allegations against Slade coincided with reports that
revealed a pattern of financial mismanagement at TSU, the
state's largest historically black university. Gov. Rick Perry
called for a state takeover of the university that was later put
on hold, and the entire board of regents was replaced.
Rudley was TSU's chief financial officer and internal audi
tor in the 1980s, and his wife is currently a law professor at the
university.
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, N.C. 27101. Periodicals
postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual subscription price
is $30.72. . .
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: .
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
. Winston-Salem. NC 27102-1636
MGM Photo
Oscar winners Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington in " The Great Debaters." ' s
'Debaters' leads Image Award nominations
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beverly hills
"The Great Debaters," a film
based on the real-life victories
of a black debating team in
the 1930s, topped the list of
nominees for the 39th
NAACP Image Awards.
"Girlfriends" and
"Everybody Hates Chris" led
TV nominees honored by the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), America's
oldest civil rights organiza
tion.
"The Great Debaters" col
lected eight nominations,
including outstanding motion
picture and both outstanding
actor and outstanding director
tor Denzel
Washington. The
movie also garnered
three supporting
actor nominations
for Forest Whitaker,
Nate Parker and
Denzel Whitaker.
Other best-pic
ture nominees:
"American
Gangster," "I Am
Legend," "Talk to
Me and "Iyler
Perry's Why Did I Get
Married?"
Other outstanding-actor
nominees were Columbus
Keys
Short for "Stomp the Yard,"
Don Cheadle for "Talk to
Me, lerrence
Howard for "Pride"
and Will Smith for
"1 Am Legend.",
Nominated for
outstanding actress:
Jurnee Smollett for
"The Great
-Debaters,"
Angelina Jolie for
"A Mighty Heart,"
Halle Berry for
"Things We Lost In
the Fire, Jul Scott
for "Tyler Perry's Why Did I
Get Married?" and Taraji P.
Henson for "Talk To Me."
In TV categories,.
"Everybody Hates Chris" and
"Girlfriends" had seven nom
inations each, including best
TV comedy.
In music categories, the
nominees for outstanding
album were Alicia Keys' "As I
Am," Chris Brown's
"Exclusive," Kanye West's
"Graduation," "Growing
Pains" by Mary J. Blige and
"System" by -Seal.
The Image Awards honor
those who promote diversity ?
in the arts. Awards in 44 cate
gories, including literature,
will be presented Feb. 14 in a
Los Angeles ceremony broad
cast live on Fox.
Trial of alleged male rapist is set to start
Only one in 33 men in
US. have been
victims of sexual assult
BY JUAN A. LOZANO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HQUSTON^A jury was
case against a 20-year-old man
accused
of rob
bing and
raping
other
young
men in a
nearby
refinery
town.
Keith
. Hill is Hill
accused
of stalking, sexually assaulting
and robbing five young men in
Baytown during an eight-month
spree in 2006. Opening argu
ments were set to start Monday.
The case not only spread
fear in the oil-refining town of
70,000 people about 30 miles
east of Houston but also piqued
the interest of those who study
the criminal mind, because the
attacker preyed on men, some
thing of a rarity in the world of
crime.
The U.S. Justice Department
says one in 33 men in the United
States has been a victim of a
rape or attempted rape, com
pared with one in six women.
Experts say men are far less
likely to report a rape to author
ities, because they fear being
perceived as weak or see the
i. attack as an assault on their mas
culinity.
All the alleged victims were
white. Hill is black. The jury
chosen on Friday is made up of
10 white women, two blacks
and one Hispanic in the panel of
12 jurors and one alternate.
The trial is only focusing on
one of the alleg'sd attacks, which
authorities say occurred in May
2006. Hill is accused of forcing
a man to perform oral sex at
gunpoint.
Prosecutor Spence Graham
said authorities will decide how
to proceed with the four other
cases after Hill's trial.
"The families (of the vic
tims) are all relieved the process
is coming to a conclusion," he
said.
Graham would not comment
on why prosecutors decided'the
alleged May 2006 attack would
be the first one to go to trial,
saving he would not discuss evi
dence in the case before testimo
ny began.
Laine Lindsey, Hill's attor
A
ney, said his client was innocent
and declined further comment.
Posters wer^ plastered
around Baytowif showing a
sketch of a yourig man identified
as a serial robber-rapist. The
attacks occurred over various
months La 2Q06. and local chat
rooms and bulletin boards were
flooded with postings reflecting
worry.
Graham said prosecutors
were not focused on the rarity of
this type of crime.
"We see a lot of tragedy. A
victim is a victim,'; said.
' - -
If convicted, Hill could
receive anything from five years
probation to life in prison. ,
In the other cases. Hill,
besides aggravated assault, also
faces charges of aggravated rob
bery with a deadly weapon and
aggravated kidnapping.
Steve McFadden
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