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Black College Sports Page
See Page 12
Vote November 7
A Voteless People Is
A Hopeless People
Commissioners Fire County
Manager George Williams
Ms. Musgrave, "Miss NCCU
Black Candidate Makes
Louisiana Election Runoff
Louisiana voters have chosen for a runoff election the first black
candidate for governor since Reconstruction. Rep. Cleo Fields (D),
the 4th District’s Congressman since 1992, will face State Sen. Mike
Foster (R) on Nov. 18 after finishing second to Foster in an open pri
mary field that had 16 people running. The general election winner
will succeed Gov. Edwin W. Edwards (D), who is retiring. Fields, a
32-year-old African American, captured 19 percent of the 1.4 million
votes cast. His Republican opponent, Foster, is 65 and ran first in the
polling with 26 percent of the votes cast.
President Clinton Names Leon
Higginbotham to
Commission on Civil Rights
Former
NCCU Grad
is Named
Assistant
FBI Director
A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., a former Circuit Court and Court of
Appeals judge, has been nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve
on the U.S Commission on Civil Rights. Higginbotham, former
president of the Philadelphia NAACP and a former commissioner of
the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, has received over
60 honorary degrees. He retired in 1993 after serving as a Circuit
fonheTVH Chief Judge Emeritus of the U.S. Court of Appeals
® College (Ohio)
in 1949 and a LL.B from Yale Law School in 1952.
Castro Gets Warm Greeting In Harlem
NeTvofk M ^ reception President Clinton and
New York Mayor Rudolph Guilani held for heads-of-state from
Sed for the 50th anniversary of the
^UmownTh'r, f President Fidel Castro was warmly welcomed
Uptown. Thirty-five years after his last visit to Harlem where he
S R ‘ r Street, Castro ventured to Abys
sinian Baptist Church on '(Vest 138th Street. He was greeted there
with cheers of "Viva Cuba!" Warmly embraced by Rep Charles B
ro was hailed as one of the great leaders in the world today " In
tas speech, Castro railed against the U.S. embargo on his islandVcall-
1" the chil-
H an “7 ‘==>'“"8 “ colonialist
d an anachronism^ David House, an attendee at the Harlem church
aid, I don t see why we need to punish children and sick people in
llie name of a Cold War that’s been over for 10 years "
Heard’s Ex-Lawyer’s Trial Continues
rile lawyer who represented former Congressman Mel Reynolds’
Revnol'dr accused of assisting
teiim evidence. Beverly Heard, whose
estimony of having sex with Reynolds when she was 16 years old
I Reginald Turner as
lawyer before Reynolds’ five-week trial began. Now Turner
justice obstruction of
jusuce, and one count of perjury.
Black Publisher Elected President of
Dlinois Press Association
lewsnlT publisher of the Chicago Citizen
4e African American elected president of
»e 30-year old Illinois Press Association (IPA). The IPA is the na
lion of t ? ^ Publishers Association and the Chicago Associa-
Ameficaf ele^LX
WASHINGTON (AP) - Carolyn
G. Morris, who supervised the
rapid use of hi-tech tools during the
Oklahoma City bombing investiga
tion, became the highest ranking
black woman in FBI history when
she was promoted to assistant
director.
Morris, 56, who joined the FBI in
1980, is the first non-agent to head
the Information Resources Division
and the first black woman ever
named as one of the bureau’s eight
assistant directors.
As acting assistant director last
April, she oversaw the quick
employment of advanced technol
ogy, including computers to keep
track of a mountain of evidence, in
the nationwide investigation of the
bombing that destroyed the Alfred
P. Murrah Federal Building in Ok
lahoma City.
FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said
Thursday that Morris will supervise
2,000 employees, all the bureau’s
automated data, investigative and
research systems and will over see
the design of the next generation of
the National Crime Information
Center, or NCIC.
The NCIC is a nationwide com
puterized database that all levels of
law enforcement use to check in
formation, primarily about wanted
people and stolen property.
A native of North Carolina,
Morris has a bachelor’s degree
from North Carolina Central Uni
versity and a master’s from Har
vard. She replaces William Baugh,
who retired.
Durham County Commissioners
fired Durham County Manager
Georp H. Williams Tuesday
rtiorning. The vote against Wil
liams was 4-1, with Commissioner
MaryAnn Black casting the one
dissenting vote. The four were
Commissioners Becky Heron,
Tommy Hunt, Ed DeVito and Elleii
Reckhow.
Williams, 52, has been county
manager since 1991 after having
been elected in a 3-2 vote of the
then-County Commission which
was chaired by William V. Bell and
of which Commissioner Deborah
Giles was a member, both African
Americans. Bell and Giles, both
Democrats, lost their seats in the
1994 election to Republicans Hunt
and DeVito. The two com-
i-'issioners who votsd against
hiring Williams at the time were
Commissioners Heron and Reck
how. At that time, the two dis
senters raised questions about Wil
liams’ experience and ability to
handle the Job as county manager.
A native of Durham, Williams
worked in Gary, Indiana, Oakland,
California and Richmond, Virginia,
after service in the U.S. Air Force,’
specializing in economic develop
ment.
Under Williams’ management,
construction of the new jail was un
dertaken, as well as tax revaluation,
privatization of some county ser
vices and discussions concerning
merger of city and county govern
ments.
After the 1994 elections. Repub
lican influence on the commission
turned to tighter fiscal restraints,
which demanded no new taxes for
the 1995-96 budget. This decision
by the commission left Williams in
a no-win' situation. However, a
budget efficiency committee found
Williams "able and competent" in
an April report. They added that he
was "maybe too lenient on sub-
i ,
^ ■ ■. «.,.
GEORGE WILLIAMS
ordinate staff— which may be seen
as a lack of leadership." This com
mittee was appointed by the com
missioners.
Speculation of employees and
some others is that the most recent
action resulted from a 1990 matter
when an .$800,000 surplus from the
county health care plan had been
mistakenly returned to the general
fund. lather than being earmarked
for future health insurance costs.
The result was that the health plan
budget fell $1 million short, and
Williams is reported to have
recommended cutting employee
benefits. This caused an uproar
among over 100 county workers,
and commissioners ordered Wil
liams to devise another plan,
Michael Palmer, also ah African
American, was appointed interim
manager by the commissioners. He
had been demoted from assistant
county manager to internal audit
director.
/s the Glow Off Powell?
Conservatives Say He’s Not
‘Conservative Enough’
Take A
Friend
To Vote
Nov. 7
By Rita Beamish
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
potential presidential candidacy of
retired Gen. Colin Powell has got
Republican conservatives scrapping
among themselves, flinging charges
of character assassination and
hypocrisy.
Some conservatives are anxious
to keep Powell - who hasn’t said
whether he’s running - out of the
GOP primaries because of his mod
erate views on such issues as abor
tion, affirmative action and school
prayer.
The battle bubbled onto the air
waves when two anti-abortion lead
ers used a l,5(X)-station conserva
tive radio show to accuse former
Education Secretary William Ben
nett and other Republicans of aban
doning the cause of the unborn for
political expediency.
Bennett’s recent statement that he
could support a pro-choice candi
date "was deeply disturbing to me,"
said James Dobson, president of the
Colorado Springs, Colo.-based
group that produces the Focus on
the Family show. Dobson said he
took that to mean "it is necessary to
become more moderate ... in order
to win. That’s the worst form of
hypocrisy.' Joining Dobson’s
broadcast was Gary Bauer, presi
dent of the Family Research Coun
cil, who said: "This mess wouldn't
have come this far if some Wash
ington based conservatives hadn’t
forgotten who brought them to the
dance." While Bennett has not
endorsed Powell, he angered some
GOP conservatives by praising him
as a potential candidate who could
run strongly against President
Clinton and give the party "triple
crown" control of the House
Senate and White House.
Powell "deserves a very serious
look. He’s a very impressive man.
The country is looking for a role
model. He seems like a hell of a
good candidate for it," Bennett
said. He accused Dobson of
"character assassination" and
wrongly portraying him as aban
doning the anti-abortion effort.
But Dobson recently wrote to
Bennett that abortion foes feel they
"are being told to go to the back of
the bus again." He threatened to go
on the road and hold rallies "to ex
pose that sellout" by Republicans.
Powell has told some associates
he may wait unlil just before
Thanksgiving to make up his mind.
But several , of those who have
spoken to Powell this week have
urged him to decide more quickly
for several reasons.
Among them, according to GOP
sources familiar with the talks, is
the loll being taken by .criticism
from conservatives. In their view,
complaints from influential GOP
activists, particularly social conser
vatives, not only could take hold
among Republican voters but might
also make some GOP operatives
reluctant to sign on to a Powell
candidacy.
The rancor follows several recent
developments:
- Paul Weyrich, president of the
Free Congress Foundation, told
Bennett in an Oct. 5 letter that even
considering supporting a Powell
candidacy was "incomprehensible
in light of Powell’s support of abor
tion."
- The American Conservative
Union declared Powell outside the
GOP mainstreara and "un
acceptable to conservatives."