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Tucker's libel lawsuit dismissed HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last Thursday dismissed a libel lawsuit by a critic of violent rap lyrics who said two newspapers had mischaracterized her dis pute with the estate of slain rapper Tupac Shakur and others. C. DeLores Tuqker, who led a national campaign against rap music witn violent lyrics 111 tne lyvos, nail sued over lyrics in which Shakur rhymed her name with an obscenity. Her 1997 law suit alleged, among other things, that her husband, William Tucker, had suffered loss of "consortium." The Philadelphia Daily News and The Legal Intelligencer, a daily newspaper cov ering legal affairs in Philadelphia, were among the news organizations that reported on the lawsuit and interpreted loss of con sortium to mean harm to the Tuckers' sex life. Tucker said the claim had nothing to do with sex, but with "advice, society, com Shakur panionship, i.e., defendants' effect upon the 'family union."' Last Thursday's ruling said the Tuckers can plead their case again only if they assert that the newspapers had been told unequivocally that the loss of consortium claim was not about sex. In 1991 , the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider Tucker's libel case against Newsweek and Time. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said she was a public figure and had to prove that reporters wrote the stories with actual malice, and there was no proof of that. The original lawsuit against the estate of Shakur, who was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996, was also dismissed. King becomes Mississippi's first black chief judge of Court of Appeals JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Leslie D. King of Greenville on Friday became the first African-American chief judge of the Mis sissippi Court of Appeals. King, 55. a former member of the Mississippi House of Rep resentatives, was appointed by Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice James W. Smith Jr. King will fill a seat vacated by retiring Judge Roger H. McMillin Jr. King's term will run through Dec. 31. 2006. While King said that his appointment shows that Mississippi has changed for the better, he said he was offered the position because of the contributions he can make to the state's judiciary system. Smith agreed, saying King's 15 years of experience as a for mer legislator and his nine years on the Court of Appeals are valu able assets to the judicial system. The chief judge of the Court of Appeals appoints two presid ing judges. The Court of Appeals hears appeals assigned by the Supreme Court. It was created to relieve a backlog of cases before the Supreme Court. James Brown's legal troubles continue to delay statue unveiling in hometown AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - City officials have delayed the unveiling of a statue honoring James Brown, planning to keep it under wraps until the singer resolves his legal troubles. Officials originally had scheduled the unveiling for May 7 to coincide with the Godfather of Soul's 71st birthday, which is Monday, and the downtown music festival that bore his name until recently. The once-dubbed James Brown Music Festival reverted to its original name, the Garden Citl Music Festival, in February because of t^y>ublic backlash after his Jan. 28 arrest for allegedly hitting his wife, Tomi Rae Brown. Brown has denied the allegations Brown Thai backlash now has prompted officials to postpone the stat ue unveiling. "We need to let Mr. Brown settle those issues in his private life before we move forward with a very public recognition of his pro fessional life," Mayor Bob Young said Friday. Young also cited production delays. The $40,000 statue still is in its clay model stage and waiting to be cast in bronze, a process that will take at least six weeks. Workers at black-owned Coca-Cola plant in Philadelphia settle strike PHILADELPHIA (AP) - About 450 striking employees of the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co. began returning to work last Thursday, following the approval of a new four-year contract. The members of Teamsters Local 830 approved the deal by a 264-152 vote, union President Joe Brock said. Workers had walked out 1 0 days earlier over wages and ben efits, and voted down two earlier Coca-Cola proposals. Union officials had also claimed that management was unfair to employ ees who complained about work conditions or were hurt on the job. Under the terms of the new contract, wages and benefits will not be reduced, though Brock said he did not have immediate" access to the specifics of the agreement. The new contract also includes a faster grievance process, he said. The plant's chief financial officer, Francis X. McGorry, said the strike was unnecessary. "The company entered into negotiations seeking a fair result for everyone. In the end, we achieved our goal," McGorry said. "Getting there should not have been as difficult as it turned out to be." The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co., located in North east Philadelphia, is the country's third-largest black-owned busi ness and fourth-largest distributor of Coca-Cola products, with annual sales of $400 million, according to the company's Web site. 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. Peri odicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual sub scription price is $30.72. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636 Cummings: African- Americans are ready to end Republican reign BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY NNPA CORRESPONDENT WASHINGTON - Black voters will have an opportunity in November to play a major role in ending the Republican stranglehold on every branch of the federal government. Con gressional Black Caucus Chair man Elijah Cummings said. "Most of our constituents quite accurately understand that one-party Republican rule in Washington is not going to effectively address the concerns that are central to their everyday lives," said the Baltimore Democrat. "There is no check nor balance in Washington today - and that must change." He explained, "This year's House and Senate elections are at least as important in restoring our country to what 1 would term a more balanced course as is the presidential race that is receiving most of the journalis tic attention these days." Cummings made his com ments in a speech last week at the National Press Club. "This is a goal well within our power to achieve," he said. "Bill Clinton won the 1996 presidential race with 84 per cent of the black vote. Four years later, Al Gore received an even larger percentage of African-American votes and won the popular vote for presi dent by 500.000 votes. ...If the demographic trends and voting patterns remain the same as in the 2000 election, the presump tive Democratic nominee will File Photo Elijah Cummings speaks at W55U in February. win by at least,3 million votes." Currently, the House of Representatives is composed of 228 Republicans, 205' Democ rats, with one vacancy. In the Senate, there are 51 Republi cans, 48 Democrats and one independent. This means Democrats must gain at least 12 members in the House and two in the Senate in order to win control. In either chamber a Democ ratic win could mean significant political gains for black people. A majority Democratic House could mean first-time chairman ships for two veteran CBC members and at least 12 black chairs of subcommittees. Cur rently there are no black chairs. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is in line to chair the House Ways and Means Committee, which deals with issues such as tax breaks, unemployment compen sation, . Social Security, Medicare, pension benefits, international trade agreements and economic development incentives. John Conyers (D-Mich.) is See Cummings on A10 Feds and Cincinnati at odds over police policies THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CINCINNATI - The Jus tice Department's insistence that police further document use of force by officers would unnecessarily burden the police and divert them from fighting crime. Mayor Charlie Luken said in a letter to the government. The letter calls on Attor ney|Gen Luken eral John AshcrofI to help resolve the issue, which t h e mayor said could other wise lead to a court fight and detract from an agreement Cincinnati reached with Ashcroft in 2002 to reform police operations. The overall agreement resulted from a Justice Department investigation that Luken requested after a white police officer fatally shot a fleeing, unarmed black man wanted on charges in 2001. The shooting prompted three nights of rioting. The disagreement involves "hard hands" incidents in which police use physical pressure to fprce a person against an object or onto the ground, or inflict pain in order to force a suspect to comply with a police order. Luken wrote. Attention I lonuow ntrs Homes 1 year and older need to be checked for termites | "A flea circus is a ' good act but it takes termites to?bring a home down. " Call Triad Pest Control 1535 S. Martin Luther King Drive Winston-Salem, NC 788-3020 INDEX OPINION. *6 SPORTS. B 1 RELIGION. 85 CLASSIFIEDS B8 HEALTH. C3 ENTERTAINMENT.. ,.C7 CAUNDAR. C9 He said the Justice Depart ment wants a police supervi sor to investigate these inci dents and tape-record the statements of suspects, offi cers and witnesses. "If the police are burdened by reporting processes that add no value and take officers and supervisors off of the streets, the police contribution to the fight against violent crime is severely hampered," Luken wrote to Ashcroft last week, in a letter City Hall released on Friday. "I am requesting that you become involved in this issue and assist us in reaching a resolu tion." Cincinnati requires a supervisor's investigation and tape-recorded statements in all cases in which an officer actually strikes a suspect, Luken wrote. But the city proposes that for the lesser "hard hands" incidents, it would suffice to have a police supervisor visit the scene to investigate, take photographs to document See Polk* on A4 to you Peter Perret, Music Director I 0 ?o"' 0 5r H x 3 _! o>* 5 ? rt> E * T-T0" * 0 fti ~H * c s% 0 , 3 5 _? O ? Wf? 3 ? ur< ?? Tl O. _ O -oW "< . Jl" h <KJ w u _ Ul 3 > UJ . ? o> ui <o i U 3wN Ul o Ul Ul WINSTON-SALEMi SYMPHONY 03-04 seasonI Celebrating Maestro Perm's 25th Anniversary Season Tesseract Carlos Perez, guitar SATURDAY NIGHTS, LIVE! SERIES CONCERT: ";UNA CELEBRACION!" Saturday, May 15 at 7:00 pm Guest Artists: / Tesseract, former Cirque du Soleil acrobats Carlos Perez, guitar CLASSICAL SERIES CONCERT : "jUNA CELEBRACION!" Sunday, May 1 6 at 3:00 pm Tuesday, May 1 8 at 8:00 pm Guest Artist: Carlos Perez, guitar SPECIAL EVENTS MUSIC LOVER'S LUNCHEON Friday, May 14, 1 2:00 pm Piedmont Club. Guest Speaker: Joseph Pecoraro, resident guitarist at the North Carolina School of the Arts Reservations required - 724-7077; $12 per person KID'S CLUB Saturday, May 1 5, 6:00 pm Sunday, May 1 6, 2:00 pm Green Room of the Stevens Center TRY-IT-BEFORE-YOU-BUY-IT DRESS REHEARSAL Saturday, May 1 5, 1 :30 pm FREE and open to the public! Get a behind the scenes glimpse at your Symphony as they fine tune for the evening's Saturday Night's, Live! concert Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts & coffee. COCKTAILS & CONVERSATIONS Saturday, May 1 5, 6: 1 5 pm Sunday, May 1 6, 2: 1 S pm Tuesday, May 1 8, 7: 1 5 pm Twin City Club, 350 North Marshall St. All concerts at Stevens Center $20-$40. Non-reserved $ 1 0 "Rush" tickets are available in the balcony 30 minutes prior to each performance. Student, senior, and group discounts available. Saturday Night Live is a registered trademark of the National Broadcasting Company. &/. r/lt'/ feijs/ CoNVERQENT IIS AIKWAN S JOIKMI S The Music Place / exe''lt ouse
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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