Newsjat
a\^Jbe
Spellings: 'Serious lapses' in publicity
WASHINGTON ( AP) - Education Secretary Margaret Spellings
said last Friday thai senior agency officials
showed "serious lapses in judgment" and a
disregard for taxpayer money in the hiring of
conservative commentator Armstrong
Williams.
Spellings, responding to an independent
investigation of the hiring, appeared to put
blame for the controversy on her predecessor.
Rod Paige, though she didn't name him.
"My personal observation is the Office of
the Secretary carries weight," Spellings said
in a statement. "When the secretary, his/her
chief of staff and other senior officers urge.
Williams
hint, suggest or recommend anything, it can start a chain reaction
within the building to carry out the request, such as what occurred
beginning in March 2003. As a result, it is the secretary who must be
careful about and is ultimately responsible for the signals that his/her
office sends,"
The report by the department's inspector general was to be
released later that afternoon.
Teacher resigns after appearing
in blackface at basketball game
MACON, Ga. (AP) - A high school teacher who wore blackface
at a student-faculty basketball game has resigned, saying, "It was poor
judgment and will never happen again."
Greg Dougherty said the school had offered to renew his contract
for the fall, but he turned it down. The deal would have seen him sus
pended without pay and barred from school property and events for
the rest of the current academic year.
Photographs from the Central High School game on March 25
show Dougherty wearing an exaggerated. Afro-style wig with brown
ish makeup covering his face and arms. A student also is pictured
wearing brown makeup on his face and arms.
"I offer an apology to anybody I offended." Dougherty said last
Thursday. "My intent was never to offend. I was trying to generate
laughter. It was poor judgment and will never happen again."
In 1999 Dougherty was accused of miking sexually inappropriate
comments to female students. Bibb County Schools Superintendent
Sharon Patterson said.
"There's a pattern now of judgment issues," Patterson said.
'Little Rock Nine' stamp due in August
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Commemorating a historic
moment in the country's race relations, the U.S. Postal Service will
issue a "1957 Little Rock Nine" stamp this summer.
The stamp will be part of (he Postal Service series To Form a
Bates
More Perfect Union, which commemorates
nine other civil rights milestones. The Little
Rock Nine stamp will become available with
a ceremony at Little Rock Central High
School on Aug. 30.
The school became internationally known
Sept. 2, 1957, when Gov. Orval Faubus sent
Arkansas National Guardsmen there "to
maintain . . the peace and good order of the
community" and directed the Guard to pre
vent nine black students from entering the all
white school.
President Dwight Eisenhower later feder
alized the National Guard and sent the 101st
Airborne Division Troops to the school to enforce court-ordered
school integration. The black students attended school the rest of the
year under federal protection.
Although the series of stamps will be available at post offices
across the country. Little Rock postal officials will offer a special can
cellation on the day of issuance and for 30 days afterward. Stamp col
lectors, historians and those connected to commemorative stamps
often seek the cancellation, which adds to the collector value of the
stamp, said Leisa Tolliver-Gay. a customer relations coordinator for
the Postal Service in Arkansas.
The Little Rock Nine stamp is based on George Hunt's 1997
"America Cares" painting.
It depicts nine children, a soldier, and another adult who repre
sents the black students' mentor. Daisy Bates, and the parents and
other adults who worked behind the scenes.
Gates to step down as Harvard
African-American studies chairman
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Harvard professor Henry Louis .
Gates Jr. said Friday he will resign as chairman of the African and
African- American studies department in 2006 and intends to remain
at the university.
Gates, 54, said his plan is not related to the loss of three of its
scholars this year, or to university President
Lawrence Summers, whose leadership has
been criticized this year. Gates said he has no
plans to leave Harvard after stepping down as
chairman July 1 . 2006. and intends to contin
ue teaching and directing Harvard's W.E.B
Du Bois Institute for African and African
American Research.
"Fifteen years is long enough for any
chair." Gates told The Boston Globe. "I
would never leave the chairmanship if I
thought the department was vulnerable in any
way." >
Gates
When former Harvard President Neil Rudenstine recruited Gates
from Duke University in 1991 . the program had only two professors.
Gates is credited with growing the department and raising the profile
of African and African- American studies.
The program lost high-profile scholars in 2002, when Cornel
West left for Princeton after a disagreement with Summers. Another
celebrated professor. K. Anthony Appiah, also left for Princeton that
year.
Last fall. Lawrence Bobo and his wife, Maicyliena Morgan, went
to Stanford after Morgan was denied tenure, and Michael C. Dawson,
a close collaborator with Boho, left for the University of Chicago.
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
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POSTMASTER: Send Address changes to:
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Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
? 1
Sharpton: FBI probe is 'bogus' ;
BY HERB BOYD
AMSTERDAM NEWS
NEW YORK (NNPA) -
Angered by a headline in the
New York Post, the Rev. Al
Sharpton called a press confer
ence in from of the paper's
headquarters and charged that
the story was "bogus."
The Post's story, as Sharp
ton explained, was based on
one that appeared in the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
One of the most damaging
assertions in the Post's story
states that "an FBI wiretap
picked up (La-Van) Hawkins
telling (Ronald) White he
believed they had raised more
than $140,000 for Sharpton in
the previous quarter ? but
Hawkins fretted because Sharp
ton had reported only about
$50,000 on his federal election
filing." He's a train wreck ? a
plane crash waiting to happen,"
Hawkins told White about
Sharpton, according to the
paper.
"That's a very important
sentence," Sharpton said. "And
tince they used this as the basis
of their story, they should tell
the whole story."
Sharpton then recited the
part omitted by the Post, quot
ing from the Inquirer: "(La
Van) Hawkins apparently was
referring to news reports that
Sharpton had raised $54,000 in
the second quarter of 2003. It is
unclear whether Hawkins
understood the details of the
campaign-finance reports,
because Federal Election Com
mission records show that
File Photo
Al Sharpton is defending himself against serious allegations.
Hawkins and his associates
made major contributions in the
first quarter of 2003."
Sharpton then related that
several weeks ago the Post
erroneously reported that he
and William Thompson, the
city's comptroller, were under a
federal probe for a scheme to
defraud the pension fund,
which is overseen by Thomp
son.
"A prosecutor stood in fed
eral court and said there was no
wrongdoing," Sharpton contjn
ued. "In fact, they dropped Our
names from the situation. The
Post didn't report that. I
challenge not only the Post to
come forward and print the
See Sharpton on A4
BET to cancel its nightly newscast
BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY
NNPA CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
- Black Entertainment Televi
sion has axed its only remain
ing public affairs program,
"BET Nightly News," landing
another blow to the nation's
black news and information
sources.
"People had been hopeful
that there would be some
shred of information relevant
to the black community left on
BET," said Ron Daniels, exec
utive director of the New
York-based Center for Consti
tutional Rights. "But clearly
there is more of an emphasis
on entertainment than educa
tion. This is a tragic loss and
not a very hopeful sign."
BET President and Chief
Operating Officer Debra L.
Lee announced the program
ming change last week, saying
the network will revert to
hourly news updates through
out the day instead of one set
program in the evening.
"Strategically, this new
approach strengthens our news
product by responding directly
to the changing needs and
preferences of BET viewers,"
said Lee in a news statement.
"When combined wffiTpTans to
expand our news specials,
we'll have news programming
that's fast, flexible, accessible
and timely.
"There are other news cov
erage options at our disposal
which we're also considering,
including the possibility of a
weekend news magazine or
analysis show."
BET founder and CEO
Robert L. Johnson, who has
undergone much criticism
after the cutting of other news
oriented programming, was
quick to explain the new pro
gram format.
"News and public affairs
have always been historically
important parts of the BET
lineup, and have earned
numerous awards over the
?years. But it's now time to
enhance our delivery' of that
product in a way that's more
engaging," he said in a state
ment. "By no means is this a
lessening of our news commit
ment, but instead an improve
ment of our overall news
offering."
What BET officials are
calling a "new approach" is
actually an old one that BET
INDEX
OPINION. .A6
SPORTS. BJ
RELIGION. 86
CLASSIFIEDS 89
HEALTH. C3
ENTERTAINMENT.. ,.C7
CALENDAR. C9
Debra Lee
used in the 1990.
BET viewers see the new
format, set to start this sum
mer, as a continued disman
tling of substantive programs
for black viewers that started
with the cutting of "Lead
Story," "BET Tonight" and
"Teen Summit," all in late
2002. "BET Nightly News
was the last major news source
to leave the station since BET
was purchased by Viacom, one
of the largest global media
empires, in 2000.
However. Johnson and Lee
have repeatedly stated that
program decisions have been
made by them, not Viacom.
"I wasn't surprised," said
Ed Gordon, former host of
BET's "Lead Story" and now
host of "News and Notes with
Ed Gordon" aired each week
day on National Public Radio.
"I think that the news show
had been diluted over the
years and the show that they
produce now, while all of the
people were very hardworkfpg
and well-intentioned at putting
See BET on A5
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