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Wizard comes to trial Justice may finally be served in Dahmer killing By TIMOTHY R. BROWN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Mississippi confronted one of the ugliest episodes from its segrega tionist past Monday, putting a former Klansman on trial for the fifth time on charges of ordering a 1966 firebombing that killed a Civil Rights leader. Samuel H. Bowers Jr., a 73 year-old former imperial wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. is charged with mur der and arson in the death of Ver non Dahmer, who prosecutors say was killed for helping blacks regis ter to vote. "It's time for justice to be done," District Attorney Lindsay Carter said as he walked to the courthouse. - By Monday night, a jury of six whites, five blacks and one Asian was chosen. The panel was select ed from about 400 potential jurors, called from voter registra tion records. Bowers was tried by three state juries and one federal jury in the late 1960s, but each one dead locked. He eventually served six years in prison for one of the most notorious crimes of the civil rights era: the 1964 "Mississippi Burn ing" slayings of three civil rights workers - Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerrier and James Chaney. In Mississippi's first latter-day attempt to convict a white man for crimes against blacks during the 1960s, Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty in 1994 in the 1963 assassination of NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Like the De La Beckwith trial, the Bowers case will dredge up Mississippi's segregationist past, when blacks who dared to chal lenge white control were killed with impunity. "Just the fact that the state is pushing these trials is very good. It means a change has taken place in the official climate of the state," said Charles Sallis, a college histo ry professor who co-wrote a Mis sissippi textbook on the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. The trial, and possibly future ones, "will go a long way to coun tering the negative image Missis sippi has," Sallis said. Four Klansmen were convict ed in Dahmer's murder, but Bow ers went free. For the killings of the three civil rights workers. Bowers and six others were con victed on federal charges in 1970. He was released in 1976. Prosecutors have said Bowers and fellow (Clansmen were upset after Dahmer (pronounced DAY mer) announced that blacks could pay their poll tax at his grocery store. The tax, since outlawed by the federal Voting Rights Act, was designed to discourage blacks from voting. The firebombing of Dahmer's home and store reportedly had been planned for at least three months in advance, including a "dry run." Citing new evidence and under renewed pressure to reopen the long-dormant Dahmer case, state and Forrest County prosecutors revived an old indictment against Bowers, Charles Noble and for mer Klansman Deavours Nix. Noble is charged with murder and arson, Nix with arson. Trial dates for Noble and Nix have been not been set. All three say they are innocent. "It's certainly never too late for people to have justice." said Bea Branch, former Mississippi presi dent of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "How can the Dahmer family go on with their life until somebody is brought to justice for what they did to this husband and father?" While defense attorneys claim that too many years have passed since the original trials and that memories have faded, Branch said: "These people who say it's been too long need to put them selves in the Dahmer family's shoes and see how they would feel. Would they think time has any thing to do with it, with bringing justice for what was done to their loved ones?" African continent an easy target PhowSayyid Aznn The Aaaoortai Ph Thm injured arm hmlpmd to an ambulancm aftmr an mxplotion rippmd apart a buUktg and hmavdy dutnaymd thm US. bnbatty In downtown Nairobi. Nora than 40 mw IciMmd in thm bantbinp which obtmrvmrm may mould morh thm bmpta* By JUDITH ACHIENG and LEWIS MACHIPISA Special to THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION . NAIROBI, Kenya ? Africa's weak security is increasingly ren dering the continent a much easier target for international terrorism, African analysts say. "The intensity of terrorism is shifting from Europe and America toward Africa where there are still many weak points," Okoye Obosi of the University of Nairobi says, commenting on the Aug. 7 bomb attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Obosi, a lecturer at the univer sity's department of government, 'says recent cases in Algeria, Egypt and the recent twin bombings in the East African capitals, are indi cations of a new trend of interna tional terrorism making its way into Africa from Europe and America. "Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were weak points where terrorists knew they could cause the greatest damage," he says. "They (terror ists) are trying to look for other places apart from Europe and America, which recently have tended to be forewarned and pre pared." The two bombs estimated to weigh six tons each, exploded simultaneously near U.S. embassies in the two countries, killing at least 210 and injuring 5,000 people. There is little information about the reasons behind the attacks, although fingers are pointed toward Islamic funda mentalists. One suspect of Arab origin has been arrested in Kenya, while in Tanzania, authorities have report edly detained 12 people in connec tion with the attack. Their identi ties have qot been revealed, . In Kenya, anti-Arab and anti Islamic sentiments are beginning to emerge. In buses, bars and the marketplace in Nairobi, discus sions are centered on the attack with some people calling for stiff action against Arabs and Muslims. Muslims account for about 10 percent of Kenya's approximately 30 million people, while in the United Republic of Tanzania, Muslims are 35 percent of the population of more than 29 mil lion. "These cowards should be tracked and dealt with severely," said one Nairobi resident. "If the U.S. was the target, it was stupid of them; because Kenya was the loser at the end of the day," added another man. Norman Nyazema, of the Uni versity of Zimbabwe, says Africa should not become the new play ground for terrorism against the United States. "I can't understand the wanton destruction of human life. We are so poor here in Africa. We are bat tling with HIV/AIDS and the next thing we don't want is some people coming to fight their wars on our continent. They should take their wars somewhere else," says Nyaze ma. The United States and Israel have indicated that the bombings could be linked to a wealthy Saudi Arabian businessman, Osama bin Laden, who has threatened a holy war against U.S. Zimbabwean political analyst Thomas Deve, also believes Islam ic fundamentalists are behind the bombings "Naturally these guys (Muslim fundamentalists) are behind it," says Deve. "Kenya and Tanzania were considered soft tar gets.. "The problem lies at the doorstep of the countries con cerned. Tanzania and Kenya have a strong presence of Muslims, so the involvement of locals cannot be ruled out. The attack would not have been possible without local assistance," Deve adds "Muslims are quite strong in Kenya and Tanzania. There is a possibility that the attacks could have been engineered from the other end (the U.S.). This could be a way of pitting Muslims against Christians" another observer, who declined to be named, said. But Deve believes the attacks may not necessarily lead to a wors ening of Muslim Arab/Christian relations in Africa. "It's hegemony politics inspired by Islamic values What is happening is Muslims using force tp drive out Ameri cans just like the Americans do to the Arabs "These two countries were tar geted for not doing enough to be anti-American like some of the Muslim countries are, so I don't think Christians will see it as a clash of religions The two do business together." "The message has been sent to the U.S. that they need to be care ful when dealing with other coun tries The fact that those responsi ble could target and cause such damage, shows that we are headed for tougher times" the Zimbab wean political analyst said. Obosi of Kenya says while countries like the United States may take a hard line to bring the culprits to justice, there are diplo matic issues at stake in tracking down those who were behind the bombings "Handling Arabs is a risky business They are unpredictable. It needs tact and diplomacy," he says cautioning that no one is really sure that the actual sponsors of the bomb attacks were Muslim Arabs. 1 in 5 teens carries weapons or drives after drinking By KAREN HILL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA - Black and His panic high school students are more likely than their white counterparts to be a threat to others by carrying weapons or fighting, while whites are more likely to hurt themselves by dri ving after drinking alcohol, a government study found. The similarities among teen agers were equally stark: About one in three are involved in Fights. Almost one of every five carries a weapon or drives after drinking. Almost one in 10 attempts suicide. The findings, based on a sur vey of 16,262 high school stu dents nationwide, were released last Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The lesson here is that too many youth continue to practice behaviors that put them at risk - for injury or death , now and chronic disease lateT," said Laura Kann, a chief researcher for the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The 1997 survey looked at behavior leading to injury, and surveyed teen-agers' use of alco hol, tobacco and drugs, and their sexual and physical activity. Hispanic high school students were most likely to arm them selves, with 23 percent carrying a gun, knife or club, compared with 22 percent of blacks and 17 percent of whites. Blacks were most likely to have fought in the previous year, at 43 percent vs. 41 percent for Hispanics and 34 percent for whites. Whites were most likely to have drunk five or more glasses of alcohol on at least one of the 30 days before the survey: 38 per cent of whites said they had, compared with 35 percent of His panics and 16 percent of blacks. Blacks were least likely to mix alcohol and drivipg. Nine percent drove after drinking, compared with 19 percent of whites and 18 percent of Hispanics. The differences could be "a marker for socioeconomic stai tus" and urban living, Kann said. White teen-agers were nearly twice as likely as Hispanics to smoke frequently or chew tobac co, with 20 percent of whites say ing they smoked frequently, com pared with 11 percent of Hispan ics. Among blacks, 7 percent smoked frequently and 2 percent chewed tobacco. Six percent of Hispanics had used cocaine in the 30 days before the survey, double the number of whites and nine times the number of blacks. Hispanics also were more likely to have used steroids or injected drugs. Nineteen percent of whites and 18 percent of Hispanics had tried other illegal drugs such as LSD, PCP, Ecstasy, mushrooms, speed, methamphetamines or heroin. Only 3 percent of blacks had. Asked whether they ate the minimum five daily servings of fruits and vegetables recommend ed for good health, only 29 per cent of whites and 28 percent of Hispanics and blacks said they did. Teen-agers at 151 schools filled out confidential question naires for the survey. The margin of error, which differed for each question, was as high as 4 per centage points. Subscribe today. 722-8624 f 4 II The Chronicle's N e-mail address wschron@net unlimited.net | beware!!! Termite Season I I Can i Triad Pest Control 1535 S. Martin Luther King Drive Winston-Salem, NC j 788-3020 fn HAMS MALL BLVD. DEAD MAS ON CAM15 (K) INUtiiT-JU BTIWIDMADKID UtiTtBt* EYBtflDlK-IJ) Wti57:BM ISMASffZOnXK-n ?4tB7*MS SiDimiD.... 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