Weapon owned by famed attorney
Johnnie Cochran recovered by police
Police lasl week recovered a gun that famed Civil rights attorney
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. reported missing from his Wilshire Boulevard
office in 1997.
The ,38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver was tJuown out of a
Honda Civic while West Covina police were
.u.. ? ik-f ?
viia^iu^ uiv- v.cii cuny uim ;viv
according (o (he San Gabriel VallejHMBA <\
Officers grabbed the weapon aiwlvenfu- I
ally caught up w ith the Honda and Mar men I
inside the car Police identified iB gun
belonging to Cochran.
Two of the nien in the Honda. Michael. !
Ray Escoto, 18, and J. Nicholas Varclic Jm9||
both ol La Puente. pleaded mnocuri^Ad^^H
and weapons charges and resisting Brest, "f
The third man in the car, Daicn Obrecht,
35, of Diamond Bar, was held on sijapicion of
violating his oarolt* toJlaiiiMisr**
Coehmn
Police said they will eventuallyHrttrtt the weapon to Cochran
"I'm sure when the case is done, he'll gel the gun back, " Lt.
Wade Weischedel said.
Cochran did not return the newspaper's calls for comment.
Reports show the gun was stolen on Oct. 25, 1997. The suspect or
suspects apparently got in Cochran's office by prying open a back
door. The lawyer's briefcase also was pried open. Cochran reported
ly told police he had kept the gun in a drawer.
Georgia ends use of race in admissions
ATHENS, Ga. - In response to a federal appeals court ruling, the
University of Georgia announced a new admissions policy Wednes
day that doesn't consider race.
The admissions overhaul comes after years of lawsuits by white
women who argued they w ould have been admitted if they were black
or men. The school is predominantly female and favored male appli
cants for several years.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw out
UGA's policy last year. The school has now eliminated any consider
ation of race, gender or country of origin, as well as a tradition of
favoring applicants related to Georgia alumni.
This fall's freshman class of about 4.300 was admitted on the
basis of an interim formula combining high school grades with stan
dardized test scores.
Applicants for the 2003 freshman class will be placed into three
groups: academically superior, academically competitive and not
competitive. There will be no accounting for race. The former admis
sions plan gave some borderline students a slight boost if they weren't
white.
Students placed in the not competitive group will get a second
reading by faculty reviewers to see whether an "exceptional circum
stance" should let the student in. based on essays, community service
and recommendations.
CEO is Urban League trustee chairman
STAMFORD. Conn. - The National Urban League named Pit
ney Bowes Chief Executive Michael J. Critelli as chairman of its
board of trustees at its annual conference in Los Angeles.
Critelli has served as vice chairman of the
league since August 2000.
"1 am very proud to be named chairman of
the National Urban League," Critelli said Fri
day.As the premier community-based serv
ice and civil rights organization in America,
the National Urban League has consistently
delivered for over 90 years on a compelling
agenda of educational achievement, econom
ic self-sufficiency, and civil rights for all
African-Americans."
The National Urban League serves more
than 2 million people annually. The organiza
tion seeks to help blacks enter the economic
Critelli
uiiu auviai iiiauiautain.
"Mr. Critelli's long-standing commitment to diversity and com
munity development makes him an outstanding advocate and leader
for our organization." said Hugh B. Price, the league's president and
CEO. Pitney Bowes, based in Stamford, is a $4.1 billion mail and
document management company.
Postage stamp to honor first black
high court justice, Thurgood Marshall
The late Thuigood Marshall, civil rights activist and the first
African-American to serve oil the U.S. Supreme Court, early next
year will be commemorated on a postage stamp.
Marshall is one of the most well-known lawyers of civil rights era.
He led the legal team that won the 1954 Supreme Court decision,
"Brown v. Board of Education." which ended segregation in public
schools.
In 1967, Marshall was sworn in as a justice of the nation s high
est court. His 24-year term was marked by his dedication to protect
ing constitutional rights and affirmative action and by his adamant
opposition to the death penalty.
"My sons and I are so grateful that Thurgood Marshall joins so
many other Americans who have been previously honored, including
Roy Wilkins. with whom he worked so closely, who did their best to
make our country a living democracy." his wife. Cecilia Marshall,
told reporters.
Marshall was bom in Baltimore. Md., on July 2. 1908. He gradu
ated in 1930 from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and graduated
in 1933 from Howard University Law School in Washington. D.C.
Marshall died in Bethesda Md.. on Jan. 24. 1993, at age 85. He also
is survived by two sons. Thurgood Jr. and John.
"He was a man of action, a real player on the Constitution,"
said Digger Phelps, a member of the advisory committee that
makes stamp recommendations to the postmaster general.
The stamp will he issued in January.
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, NC 27101. Periodicals postage paid at Win
ston-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
INDEX
OPINION A6
SPORTS B1
RELIGION B6
CLASSIFIEDS BIO
HEALTH C3
ENTERTAINMENT C9
CALENDAR CI 1
Blacks still more likely to be jailed
BY LESLIE MILLER
THE ASSOCIATE!* PRESS
WASHINGTON - The U.S.
inmate population in 2001 rose at
the slowest pace in almost 30
years, with blacks still far more
likely to be incarcerated than
whites or Hispanics, the Justice
Department said July 30.
For every 100,000 people in
the United States, 3,535 blacks
were locked up. compared with
Qf62 whites and 1,177 Hispanics.
Ten percent of black men
between 25 and 29 were incar
cerated on Dec. 31, 2001, while
only 2.9 percent of Hispanic men
and 1.2 percent of white men in
the same age group were in cus
tody.
0 The Sentencing Project, a
group that supports alternatives
to incarceration, says the black
U.S. inmate population is
unprecedented. "If black male
inmates in local jails tire added,
the proportion rises to nearly one
in seven." said Marc Mauer. Sen
tencing Project spokesman.
One reason the number of
black inmates continues to rise is
the government's war against
drugs. Convictions for drug
offenses accounted for 27 per
cent of the increase in black
inmates, compared with 7 per
cent for Hispanic inmates and 15
percent for white inmates, the
report said.
States are more likely to lock
up people for violent offenses
than for drugs, the report said.
But the federal government is
taking up the slack, with drug
crimes accounting for 59 percent
of the increase in federal prison
inmates - even as the percentage
of violent offenders dropped to
10 percent from 17 percent, the
report said.
"We're still seeing the impact
of the drug war and mandatory
sentencing," Mauer said. "As
long as there is a commitment in
the White House and Capitol
Hill, we're not going to see any
change."
0 The number of state prison
inmates grew in 2001 by only
3,193, or 0.3 percent, to
I,249,038, while the federal
prison population expanded by
II,577, or 8 percent, to 156,993.
The overall increase was I. I per
cent. the lowest annual rate
recorded since 1972, the report
said.
States facing budgetary
shortfalls are now more sensitive
to the cost of imprisoning people
who break the law. Mauer said.
The three states with the
highest r^s of incarceration -
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi
- in the past two years have tried
to limit the growth of their prison
populations, according to The
Sentencing Project. Louisiana
eliminated mandatory minimum
sentences for nonviolent crimes,
Mississippi eased its "truth in
sentencing" law and Texas
increased the number of inmates
paroled by nearly a third in 2001
over the previous fiscal year.
"The cost arguments are
finally hitting home," Mauer
said.
Last year, 10 states had sub
stantial decreases in their state
and federal inmate pqpulations,
led by New Jersey (down 5.5 per
cent). followed by Utah (down
5.2 percent). New York (down
?3.8 percent) and Texas (down 2.8
percent), the report said.
I iic Photo
Ten percent of black males 25 and 29 years old were incar
cerated in the United States on the last day of 2001.
Former mayor has jumped into new arena
BY MAYNARD EATON
THE All ANTA VOICE
AIT \\T\ - With his char
acteristic coolness, verbal com
mand and cutting criticism, for
mer Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell
has hit the radio air waves as the
new morning talk show host for
Atlanta's WAOK-1380 AM.
Campbell served eight years as
Atlanta's mayor. Now he is the
star hosting a new topical talk
radio show with co-host Jean
Ross.
"Being here is an opportunity
to continue doing what I've done
for the past 25 years, and that's be
a part of public service," he
replied to an on-air question from
this reporter. "I'm just moving to a
different arena. I've always loved
radio. I did a lot of black radio
shows (as mayor) because I
thought it was a great venue for
me to talk directly to the black
community. So. I view it as a nat
ural progression."
Campbell didn't disappoint.
During his first show, he slammed
singer Michael Jackson for crying
racism in the music business while
continually altering his facial fea
tures to look nonblack and sur
rounding himself with an all
white business team. And he
ridiculed Atlanta Journal Constitu
tion editorial page editor Cynthia
Tucker as "the Michael Jack
son/Clarence Thomas" of journal
ism.
"She is a person who has tried
so hard to eliminate any vestiges
of her blackness, and really is a
pawn of the right-wing zealots,
and yet wants to portray herself as
black," Campbell charged,
Campbell weighed in on a
range of topics from the recent
rapes at local subway stations, to
the Sidney Dorsey murder convic
tion, to the Atlanta City Council's
tepid salute to outgoing Atlanta
Police Chief Beverly Harvard and
the lack of national acclaim she
n a s
received.
Campbell
refuted
a 11 e g a -
tions that
he over
shadowed
and hand
cuffed
Harvard
by. in
effect.
Campbell
running tne cop snop himself.
"Beverly Harvard was the
chief of police and did a terrific
job,' Campbell emphatically told
his listeners. "In all the stories I've
read about the Atlanta Police
Department in the past six
months, not once has it been men
tioned about the great job she did
or what is the essential function of
a police chief - and that is lower
ing the crime rate.
"When she took over, Atlanta
was. in the throes of a crime crisis.
We were viewed as the crime cap
ital of the United States. During
her tenure, crime went down
greater than any other single era in
Atlanta's recent history - the last
40 years. That kind of remarkable
decline should have allowed her to
be viewed as one of the top chiefs
in the country were it not for the
sexism, the racism of the newspa
per; because of the failure of them
to appreciate what a good job she
did. and because of this ridiculous
notion that I ran the Police
Department.
"What you hear about is that
See Campbell on A9
j
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