INATIONALI
BRIEFS^
Cops arraigned in Louima case
NEW YORK - Two plain-clothes police officers were free on
SI60.000 bond Monday after appearing in court on federal charges
they lied about what they knew of the torture of a Haitian immi
grant in a Brooklyn police station.
The bail was set for Rolando Aleman. 28. and Francisco Rosario,
34. three weeks after a Brooklyn jury convicted a patrolman,
* Charles Schwarz. in the bathroom assault on Abner Louima on
Aug. 9. 1997.
Schwarz also was in court Monday for a routine hearing follow
ing his'-trial, where jurors concluded he held down Louima while
another officer. Justin Volpe. sodomized the prisoner with a broken
broomstick
Volpe pleaded guilts during the trial. Both await sentencing.
Aleman and Rosario were accused in an indictment last week of
repeatedly lying .to, federal insestigators about what they saw in the
station house the morning Louima was attacked. Both have been
assigned desk duty. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.
Innocent pleas were entered into the record on their behalf dur
ing a brief appearance Monday before Magistrate Judge Roanne
Mann.
Rosario declined to speak to reporters outside court but his
lawyer. Richard Levitt. said his client was innocent.
Aleman's attorney. Edward Jenks, has said his client had nothing
to do with Louima.
Judge dismisses BCR suit
ORLANDO. Fla. - A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit contest
ing Dayton? B6ach s traffic plan for Black College Reunion, saying
nothing is left to decide because the event is over.
However, U.S. District Judge Patricia Fawsett said in Monday's
ruling that plaintiffs may ask the court to reopen the case if the city
attempts to implement a similar traffic plan in future years.
In April. Fawsett ruled that the city's traffic management plan for
Black College Reunion was unconstitutional because it unfairly sin
gled out the event and restricted the First Amendment right of those
intending to assemble.
City attorneys later asked the judge to dismiss the case, saying it
had no intentiort to resurrect the controversial traffic plan, which
limited access to beaches and forced beach residents and workers to
carry passes for parking and beach access.
Cities to receive help in HIV crisis
According to Donna E. Shala, Health and Human Services Sec
retary, Detroit, Philadelphia and Miami will be the first of. 11 U.S.
metropolitan areas to receive special technical assistance from fed
eral Crisis Response Teams for eight to 10 weeks to help combat the
spread Of H/V/AIDS among racial and ethnic minority popula
tions. ?,
Shalala said HHS targeted cities with the largest minority popu
lations affected by HIV/AIDS. To be eligible for assistance, cities
? had to have populations of at least 500,000 people and at least 1,500
African-American or Hispanic people living with HIV/AIDS.
Other areas scheduled to receive help from the Crisis Response
Teams are Atlanta, Ga ; Baltimore, Md ; Chicago; Los Angeles;
Washington, D.C.; Newark, N.J.; New Haven/Bridgeport/Dan
bury/Waterbury. Conn.; and West Palm Beach/Boca Raton, Fla.
Lesbians and gays apply for NYPD
The Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center, in conjunction
with the Gay Officers Action League, recently mailed more than
55,000 New York Police Department applications to Center mem
bers and supporters in an effort to diversify the NYPD. The recruit
ment campaign is aimed at attracting more lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender recruits.
The deadline to submit applications is July 27. A multiple-choice
test is scheduled for Sept. 25. The application fee is $35. For further
information, contact The Center at One Little West 12th Street, New
York, NY 10014. 212-620-7310, Fax 212-924-2657, E-mail: news @
eavcenter.org.
INTERNATIONAL
C aribbean leader passes
ST. JQHN'S, Antigua - Verc Q Bird. who brought indepen
dence to Antigua and founded a political dynasty that continues to
rule, died Monday. He was 89, i
Bird rose from poverty and overcame a lack of formal education
to become a union leader who defied British colonizers in the 1950s
hy demanding higher wages for sugar cane cutters.
Bird led his country to independence frqm Britain in 1981.
Although Antigua began rapid development under Bird, in
recent years the nation, has became known as one of the most cor
rupt in the Caribbean. . ? . ?
The dominant figure in Antiguan politics for more than 50 years.
Bird retired in 1994. A son, Lester, was elected prime minister and
reelected this year.
As leader. Bird introduced free secondary education, island-wide
electricity service and building projects such as an international air
port and interior village roads. He aggressively promoted tourism,
making Antigua a leading Caribbean destination.
The island gained international notoriety in the late 1970s for
allowing the testing of weapons for South Africa, then under
apartheid. It was in the news again in the early 1980s for harboring
fugitive U.S. financier Robert Vesco.
INDEX
OPINION A6
SPORTS ?!
RELIGION B6
CLASSIFIEDS ?9
HEALTH C3
ENTER. C7
CALENDAR CIO
This Week In Blaeh History...
?July 1, 1991 - Clarence Thomas is nominated by President
George Bush to the U.S. Supreme Court Thomas' confirmation
hearings will be the most controversial in U.S. history and include
charges of sexual harassment by former employee Anita Hill.
July 6,1868 ? Eighty-five black representatives join 70 white
ones in Columbia, S C., for the opening of the South Carolina
General Assembly. It is the first and last majority blade legisla
ture in the nation's history.
I ?
NAACP receives gift to help entrepreneurs I
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BALTIMORE - A foundation
established by the late owner of the
food conglomerate TLC Beatrice
gave the NAACP SI million to
continue training future budding
black business leaders.
The money will allow the
National Association (for the
Advancement of Colored People
to continue funding the NAACP
Reginald F. Lewis Youth Entrepre
neurial Institute for five years.
Lewis formed TLC Beatrice
International Holdings Inc. in a
$985 million buyout funded partly
by junk bond mastermind Michael
Milken in 1987. The deal made
Lewis the first black executive to
control a billion-dollar company.
He died of brain cancer in
1993,
This summer, 120 high school
students will take the four-week
course that bears his name, which
includes classes on finance, team
building and etiquette. The pro
gram, first started in 1994, will be
offered this year in Baltimore;
Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Charlotte.
N.C.; Columbia, S.C.; Fort Laud
erdale, Fl'a; Gary, Ind.; and Rich
mond, Va.
NAACP President Kweisi
^ ^ ^
Mfume said the program is needed
to bolster the number of black
entrepreneurs in the United States,
something that is "simply not
going to happen in a vacuum."
"This is a talent pool we're cre
ating here," he said.
Forbes magazine listed Lewis
among the 400 richest Americans
in 1992, when his net worth was an
estimated $400 million. After his
death the following year, the com
pany suffered both management
and shareholder turmoil.
Lewis' widow, Loida Nicolas
Lewis, took the helm of the com
pany. In May, she announced plans
to liquidate the largely European
food conglomerate her husband
oversaw. Management convinced
her it was the best course for
investors.
Throughout its short life, TLC
Beatrice has been hailed as a suc
cess story.
In 1987, when TLC Beatrice
reported revenue of $1.8 billion, it
became the first black-owned com
pany to have more than $1 billion
in annual sales
The company then began its
reign at the top of Black Enter
prise magazine's annual list of the.
country's 100 biggest black-owned
??
4 -4
companies. . associates, hit its peak in 1996
TLC Beatrice, which was close- when it had $2.23 billion in rev
ly held by Jthe Lewis family and enue.
4 4 4 ?* ?* ? f~\
.
Photo by Greg Nelson/The Associated Press
KmW Mfume, pmidbnt of the NAACP, and Loida Lewis sign documents
establishing a $ I nigcn endowment for the NAACP Reginald F. Lewis Youth
CiOiefMeneurial btstiMe a* a ceremony last week at Morgan Stale Uniemshy
in Duiiifiiwrc, branding ocfiffKi rnc rwo signers is Keyinoio icwij i moil kji, \aw^
otyn Fugett. The endowment ts a gift of the Reginald F. Lewis Famdy and Foun
111-year-old woman holds key to long lite ;]
BY USACORNWELL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CINCINNATI - Bessie Thomas
has spent 111 years living by a few
basic rules-principles she believes
will work for people of any age.
"Work hard, save your money
and mind your own business," said
Ms. Thomas, in a no-nonsense tone
of voice. "You treat everybody alike
and be as good to everybody as you
can."
Thomas, who was born in 1888,
said she learned those rules of life
growing up with two sisters and four
brothers on her parents' farm near
Macon, Ga.
She said her parents probably
were slaves early in their lives, but
they never talked about it.
"I had a good family, and they
brought me up right," she said. "We
picked cotton and raised cows, pigs
and chickens. When I first started
working alongside my father, I
worked for a stick of candy and 1
thought that was really something."
Thomas' siblings and parents
have been gone for many years, but
she still has nieces and nephews who
look to her for advice.
"She has always urged us all to
follow those rules, and it's been good
advice," said nephew James Thomas,
55, of Cincinnati. "When we would
stay with her as kids, she wasn't too
strict, but she would always keep us
under control - and she always
taught us to do the right thing."
While James Thomas said his
aunt was always there for her family,
she never married nor had children
of her own.
"It was hard enough to take care
of myself,. especially during the
Depression. I didn't want children if
I couldn't take care of them right,"
said the frail, slender woman, whose
.*
lively brown eyes still sparkle with
spirit and huntor. "1 always worked
hard and tried to do what I thought
God wanted. If I made a nickel, I
saved three cents of it, and I took
care of my house and garden. I did
n't go running around like lots of
folks,"
Thomas remained in her own
home until about six years ago. Now
she lives at the Amber Park Retire
ment Center in suburban Deer Park,
where she still makes her own bed
and keeps her small apartment neat
and orderly.
"I like a clean place," she said
"They bring me my medicine and
my meals, but I try to do as much as
I can myself."
Staff members at the center also
look to "Ms. Bessie" for advice.
"She is amazing," said nursing
assistant Patricia Andrews. "You
can tell her something, and a month
later she still remembers everything
you said. When you go to her for
advice and help with your problems. *
she tells it like it is. She doesn't spare
any punches."
Thomas never went past the
sixth grade in school, but she said
she never stopped reading ahd learn
ing. ' i*
"I read the newspaper every day.
but I mostly have to stick to the big
print, because my eyes aren't so
good anymore," she said.
She has a television that she
doesa't watch very often, and she
says she never cared much for
movies. ?
"I never had the time, and I don't
care much about that kind of frol
icking," she said.
When it comes to music, she
mostly likes the old hymns
"1 still sing hymns and fall on my
See Long life cm A10
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