I NATIONAL]
Coast Guard cutter named for Alex Haley
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The late author Alex Haley, who won the
Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Roots," will soon have a distinction earned
by no other journalist: His name will adorn a Coast Guard vessel.
The Alex Haley, formerly a 283-foot Navy ship named the USS
Edenton, has received a $20 million overhaul at the Coast Guard's
shipyard in Baltimore. On July/10. Transportation Secretary Rodney
' Slater, who oversees the Coast Guard, will commission the vessel along
with Adm. James Loy, commandant of the Coast Guard.
A number of actors from the TV miniseries "Roots" have been
invited to the ceremony at the shipyard.
While Haley is best remembered for the novel, he spent 20 years in
the Coast Guard, rising from ship's steward to become the first head of
the Guard's public affairs office.
His shipmates, realizing the quality of his writing, wopld pay Haley
50 cents to ghostwrite love letters to their girlfriends.
Francine Everett, early film star, dies
NEW YORK - Francine Everett, an entertainer known for her roles,
in the all-black films of the 1930s and '40s. has died at a nursing home
in the Bronx.
Ms. Everett became familiar to audiences for her play in low-budget
independent black films like "Keep Punching" in 1939, "Big Timers" in
1945 and "Dirty Gerty from Harlem U.S.A." in 1946. She also worked
with Sidney Poitier in "No Way Out," her final film, in 1950.
The entertainer was Well known for her vocal abilities, which
brought her featured voice roles in more than 50 short musical films of
the 1940s. She also modeled. *
Everett retired from show business in the 1950s and worked .until
1985 as a clerk at Harlem Hospital. She died May 27.
USDA may establish committee on small farms
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary' Dan Glickman has proposed
establishing an Advisory Committee on-Small Farms to gather and
analyze information on small farms and ranches and advise him on
actions to strengthen U.S. Department of Agriculture programs.
The USDA is actively seeking nominations for 15 members to the
committee: five members to one-year terms, five members to two-year
terms and five members to three-year terms . ' f.
Minorities, women, persons with disabilities and members of low
income populations are invited to apply. v
Nominations, due June 25. should include: name, title, address, tele
phone number, organization and a completed Advisory Committee
, Membership Background Information Questionnaire (form AD755).
The form is available on the * Internet at
http://www.usda.gov/oce/osfsd/advisorynotice.htm. Nominations
- should be sent to Alfonzo Drain, Office of the Chief Economist, U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Jamie L. Whitten Building. 1400 Inde
pendence Ave. SW. Washington. D.C. 20250. For information call (202)
720-3238 or (202) 6S>0-0878.
Attorney Johnnie Cochran takes Tyisha Miller case
LOS ANGELES - According4o Los Angeles' KNBC-TV, attorney
Johnnie Cochran filed a "wrongful death" lawsuit on June 1 against the
- city of Riverside and the Jour police officers who fired into the car
killing Tyisha Miller Dec. 28. 1998.
"We made available .to the authorities in Riverside a witness who
observed these police officers high-fiving one another in joy and glee
moments after they killed tlhis young lady,'"said Cochran.
The officers shot into Miller's car as she sat unconscious with an
unloaded gun in her lap. - Minneapolis Spokesman
' " ?- k
Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali among Time's Top 100
Rosa Parks , the; mother of the civil rights movement; world boxing
champion Muhammad Ali and baseball legend Jackie Robinson were
named among TIME Magazine's Top 20 Heroes and Icons of the Cen
tury. This list is the fifth in a series of six special issues profiling the 100
most influential people of the century.
The list, published in the June 14 editi'on. also includes Princess
Diana, the Kennedys and Bruce Lee. The final issue. Person of the
Century, will be published in December. Washington A FRO-Ameri
can , , ' . ? ?
* * .
Foundation laid for mosque in Ghana
The first bricks for the Nation of Islam's mosque/school and train
ing center were laid May 18 by Mother Khadijah Farrakhan. Nation of
Islam Chief of Staff Leonard F. Muhammad, a delegation of Nation
of Islam officials, and chiefs and imams from nearby Muslim commu
nities.
The facility will be located in a community called Galilea on the
edge of Weija Lake on the outskirts of Accra, an area of development
where the population of Muslims is increasing.
"The timing of this ground-breaking ceremony could not have been
better," said Dr. Mohammed Chtfmbas, Ghana's deputy minister of
education, citing the opening of the fifth African-African American
Summit, which began a day earlier. "Our ability to take advantage of
expanded trade and business relations will depend on the education
and training we give to our people, particularly our youth. That's why
this project is important." ? Final Call
Internet site on reproductive health launched
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Harvard School of Public Health
recently announced the formal launch of a new Internet site designed
to provide continuously updated information and a global debate
about major reproductive health issues.
The Global Reproductive Health Forum site, http://www.hsph.har
See Briefs on AIO
INDEX
OPINION A6
SPORTS tl
RELIGION ; B6
CLASSIFIEDS ill
HEALTH C3
ENTER. L C7
CALENDAR CIO
This Week In Black History...
June 24, 1896 - Booker T. Washington receives an honorary
master of arts from Harvard University.
June 26, 1960 - The first African American delegates are
seated at the American Medical Association's annual conven
tion.
Volpe's other 'victim' lost in Louima scandal I
By TOM HAYS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ,
NEW YORK - He was there,
too.
Patrick Antoine was inside
the 70th Precinct station house
bathroom with Officer Justin
Volpe only moments after Volpe
had tortured another prisoner in
a grimy stall - one of the most
notorious brutality cases in city
history.
An unsuspecting Antoine
had asked to use the bathroom,
and then listened as Volpe
admitted to him that he'd lost
control that morning while
quelling a Brooklyn riot.
Despite the encounter with the
notorious patrolman, few people
have heard of Antoine, '
"I love my private life,"
Antoine, 38, said at the modest
Brooklyn home he shares with
his cousin. "I don't want anyone
to know anything about me."
Antoine has gotten his wish.
He is the forgotten victim in a
case dominated by the well-pub
licized ordeal of another Haitian
immigrant. Abner Louima.
Antoine was the victim of
what his lawyer, Alan Abram
son, calls "garden variety"
police brutality - a "beating that
never would have come to light if
not for Louima's horrific allega
tions.
' Without Louima, no prose
cutor would have spent, the time
to develop the case," Abramson
said.
Allegations that abusive cops
routinely, escape punishment
have fueled an ongoing federal
investigation of the( New York
Police Department. Records
show that only a fraction of the
thousands of complaints filed
against police each year result in
disciplinary action.
Louima's case was another
matter.
In the midst of a federal trial.
which ended last week, Volpe
made headlines by confessing in
a guilty plea that he had rammed
a stick into a handcuffed
Louima's rectum inside the
Brooklyn police station's bath
room on Aug. 9, 1997. Volpe and
an accomplice in the assault,.
Officer Charles Schwarz, are in
custody awaiting possible life
sentences.
Volpe said he was in a blind
rage because he thought - mis
takenly - that Louima had
punched him as police tried to
disperse an unruly crowd outside
a nightclub. Few people noticed
that Volpe also pleaded guilty to
beating Antoine on the street
and falsely arresting him to
cover it up.
Like Louima, Antoine is a
recent Haitian immigrant. Both
/i
are natives of Port-au-Prince
and have filed multimillion-dol
lar lawsuits against the city.
But the similarities seem to
end there.
Louima. who suffered severe
internal injuries, has hired O.J.
Simpson lawyers Johnnie
Cochran Jr., Barry Scheck and
Peter Neufeld. He's appeared at
anti-brutality rallies with the
Rev. A1 Sharpton. And he's
received $2,000 a month from
the government as it has pursued
his case.
Antoine testified last month
at the federal civil rights trial of
Volpe and four other officers but
has otherwise kept a low profile.
He agreed to a brief interview
last week but refused to be pho
tographed.
Sitting in a small white stuc
4
co house, a set of porcelain
Pharaoh busts in the living roojm
window, Antoine acted like a shy
child trying to shake off a bad
dream.
He spoke in a near whisper
and broken English about "try
ing to get myself free of what
happened." He prides himself on
working at a Queens deli, whi<fh
requires him to rise at 3 a.m. for
a long commute.
"Two buses each way," be
said. "Every day."
At work, Antoine fends off
most questions about whetUer
he's the other victim in tfce
Louima case.
"Some people, I say, 'It's not
me,"' he said. *
Antoine lost some of his pre
cious anonymity after what he
See Louima on AJ3
Abnor Louima, far loft, totrilm* during tfto trial aguuat fauw New York City Modern Officer Mh Volpo, far rigfrt.^
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Louima was nor me onry prisoner ronurea oy volpv, soys mnck mikwnI/ onomsr namm rihi^ihri r*""ul JM,W
i-? Ijij, . , ,r., I, - ,,?, ,, * '*- ' - - ?*- *? - j-Ijj. |-||?,;m- .1 In fill ,f, if I || I i L ? J I, ? , ?(?,, I ,t. J..?.
ne too wos oeawen oy votpe. votpe aiso aaminva to rxnncic mor ne naa nearen Louima.
Police can search cars for drugs, court says
By LAURIE ASSEO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Police gener
ally do not need a warrant to search a
par they have reason to believa is car
rying illegal dnigs, the Supreme Court
said today.
The court ruled in a Maryland
case that a search warrant is not
required even if police had plenty of
time to get one after receiving a tip
that a car would be carrying drugs.
The court reinstated Kevin Dar
nell Dyson's conviction of conspiracy
to possess cocaine with intent to dis
tribute.
Dyson was arrested early in the
morning of July 3, 19%, in St. Mary's
County. At 11 a.m. on the previous
day. police received an informant's tip
that Dyson would return to the county
that night in a rental car after going to
New York City to buy cocaine.
The informant gave a description
and license number of the rental car.
and police confirmed with the rental
company that the car had been rented
to Dyson.
Police stopped Dyson and
searched his car at about 1 a.m., find
ing 23 grams of crack cocaine in a bag
in the trunk. Dyson was convicted
after a trial judge ruled the police
could search his car without a warrant
once they had reason to believe it con
tained evidence of a crime.
A mid-level Maryland appeals
court reversed, saying the search was
-w
unlawful because police would have
had time to get a warrant.
Today, the Supreme Court ruled in
an unsigned opinion that the police
did not need a warrant.
The Constitution's Fourth Amend
ment generally requires police to get a
warrant before conducting a search,
but the court established an exception
in 1925 for automobile searches.
The justices noted they ruled in
1982 and 1996 that once police have
reason to believe a car contains con
traband, they can .search it without
having to show some emergency
existed. ,
All nine justices agreed the police
did not need a warrant in Dyson's
case. But Justice Stephen G. Breyer
dissented from the result, saying the
court should not reverse the lower
court without hearing arguments in a
case where the defendant's lawyer did
not file a response to prosecutors'
appeal.
The case is Maryland vs. Dyson,
98-1062.
P.'
Lyons
ordered
to pay
$5 million
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA, Fla. - The Rev.
Henry Lyons, former president
of one of the nation's largest
black church organizations,
was ordered to repay $5.2 mil
lion Friday for bank fraud and
tax evasion.
Lyons,
already I
serving 5 I
in
state prison I
for bilking I
companies I
and steal- |H
from
charities,
als? Wa* Lyons
sentenced
by a federal
judge to four years and three
months behind bars. But the
.Srr Lyon* on A13
? ?
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