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I House sends King holiday back to committee by Jim Davenport Associated Press The S.C. House of Representatives wrapped the Confederate flag around a holiday to celebrate Rev. Martin Luther King’s birthday Thursday and sent it back to committee. Divided along racial and party lines, House members amended a Senate-passed bill with protection for Confederate mon uments and a statement that the Con federate battle flags located on the State house dome and in the House chamber are not racist symbols. The amendment also stripped King’s name from the hol iday, renaming it Civil Rights Day. “The prevailing sentiment here was that there would be no holiday honor ing a black person in this state,” said Rep. Joe Neal, D-Hopkins and House leader of the Legislative Black Caucus. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Cen ter for Nonviolent Social Change in At lanta said South Carolina is the only state that does not recognize a King holiday for all state employees. Under existing law, state employees can choose to take Martin Luther King Jr. Day off, or one of three Confederate-related holidays. To “link the issue to the Confeder ate flag obviously is an attempt at racial politics of the lowest kind, and that’s ex actly what happened,” Neal said. House Republicans saw Thursday’s tangle differently. Rep. A1 Robinson, R-Easley, had tried to send the bill back to the Judiciary Com mittee when debate resumed Thursday. When members rejected that, interest grew in his monument and flag amend ment. While Republicans want to ac knowledge the civil rights struggle, “there is also a need to acknowledge that the War Between the States is of... signifi cance to many South Carolinians as well,” Robinson said. Democrats, “quite frankly, got too greedy in what they were trying to pass today and it just backfired,” said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville. House Democrats missed a chance to pass the bill on Wednesday by rejecting the House Judiciary Committee’s ver sion. Wilkins suggested to Judiciary Com mittee Chairman Jim Harrison, R-Co lumbia, that he call for the House to send the bill back to committee. That is the only way to get the bill back to the form it was three weeks ago. Rep. Bob Sheheen, D-Camden, said the King bill was doomed from the start because Judiciary Committee Republi cans were responsible for it. “The Re publican Majority is not really for the bill, so they had no plan and it was screwed up from day one,” Sheheen said Confederate flag and monument sup porters claimed victory. “It shows that the will of tltis body is going to be to protect the monuments,” said Rep. Harry Cato, a Travelers Rest Republican who spoke passionately about the Confederate flag at a rally at the State house in January tltat attracted about 6,000 people. Neal stud the House can’t change peo ple’s minds on the flag. “The Confederate flag is racist. It has been perceived as racist by millions of people across tltis country and around the world. This body, today, can’t change that,” he said. -1 Mich, seeks manslaughter charge by Randi Goldberg Associated Press MOUNT MORRIS TOWNSHIP, MlCH. — Prosecutors Thursday brought an involuntary manslaughter cliaige against a man they believe possessed the stolen gun later used by a 6-year-old boy to kill a classmate. “We were not looking for scapegoats in this case; we’re looking for justice for i Kayla,” said Genesee County Prosecu tor Arthur Busch. Busch said investigators believe the .32-caliber semiautomatic gun used Tues day to shoot 6-year-old Kayla Rolland had been left, apparently loaded, under Jamelle James’ blankets in a bedroom at the house where the boy stayed. Investi gators also found a stolen 12-gauge shot gun and drugs at the house, the prose cutor said. James, 19, was arraigned Thursday on the manslaughter charge, which carries a possible 15-year prison sentence. He sim ply replied “yes” when the judge asked whether he understood the charge and possible sentence. Judge Richard L. Hughes set James’ bond at $100,000. James made an ob scene gesture toward news photographers as he was led out of the courtroom. His lawyer, Jeffrey Skinner, said af ter the arraignment he thought the bond “is a little high,” but he had no oth er comment. Skinner did not return a tele phone message left later at his office. In the complaint read in court, prosecutors alleged that James kept the pistol loaded, had twirled it in front of the boy, failed to keep the gun secure, and created "an atmosphere of reckless circumstances.” The charge requires prosecutors to show gross negligence that gave the boy access to the gun, Busch said. He said prosecutors also would allege that James contributed to the delinquency of a mi nor. “I hope this prosecution can send a message to America that those guns that you think can make you safer can make our community more dangerous,” Busch said. The prosecutor said he doesn’t have grounds to charge the boy’s uncle, Sir Marcus B. Winfrey, with involuntary manslaughter. Police arrested Winfrey, 21, late Tuesday on unrelated charges of receiving stolen property. James also was taken into custody on unrelated charges. The boy himself is too young to un derstand what he was doing and proba bly won’t be charged, Busch said. Busch said the house where the boy and his 8-year-old brother were staying with Wmfrey was frequented by strangers. And the boy’s father, Dedric Owens, who is in jail, said people at th#house traded crack for guns. Owens, who is jailed on a parole vi olation related to 1995 drug and burglary charges, apologized for the shooting but said neither he nor the boy should be held responsible. “The only thing I feel responsible for is not being there in his life like I’m sup posed to be like a father, every day,” said Owens said in an interview broadcast Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” According to court papers related to a custody issue, the state’s Family In MlCHIGAN see page 4 Serbs drive back Albanians trying to return to homes by Elena Becatoros Associated Press KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia — With a hail of stones, Seihs drove back ethnic Albanians try ing to return to their homes in the Serb sector here Thursday, ruining the first step in a NATO-U.N. attempt to end the division in Kosovo’s tensest city. A leader of Koso vska Mitrovica's ethnic Albanian community said a new attempt would be made Friday to have the displaced people cross a footbridge separating the two ethnic enclaves. U.N. officials also said they were not abandoning their plan to return the ethnic Albanians as a first step to reuniting the mining and industrial city. Forty-three families had been due to return to their homes Thursday, U.N. spokeswoman Kirsten Haupt said. They were to cross a footbridge built by NATO across the Ibar Riv er, which divides die city between die majority Serb north bank and ethnic Albanian south. However, 150 Serbs, mostly women, assembled at the northern end of the bridge in a driving rain. When two ethnic Albanian men tried to cross, they were forced back by volleys of stones. French and Cana dian troops rushed to die area butniade no arrests. After meeting with Bernard Kouchner, the top U.N. official in Kosovo, Bajram Rexhepi, the leader of Kosovska Mitrovica’s ethnic Al banian community, said a new' attempt at a crossing would be made Friday. Serb community leader Oliver Ivanovic also met with Kouchner. He expressed regret over the stoning, but said Serbs were angry because ethnic Albanians were returning home while KOSOVO SEE WGE 4 News Briefs ■ Diallo protest targets Justice Dept. WASHINGTON (AP) — Black activists and the parents of Amadou Diallo met Thursday with the No. 2 official at the Justice Department and urged him to file civil rights charges against four New York City police officers acquitted in the shoot- „ ing death of the West African immigrant. After the meeting, nearly 2,000 demonstrators marched around the Jus * tice Department building chanting, “No justice! No peace! ” and waving placards and flags. Many protesters were bused in from New York and New Jersey. Diallo’s parents, along with the Rev. A1 Sliarpton, former New York City May or David Dinkens, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People leader Kwesi Mfume and others, expressed optimism following the two-hour meet ing with Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. ■ McCain protests Bush advertisements LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fighting anew over negative ads. Republicans George W. Bush and John McCain struggled for a late advantage Thursday heading into their final debate before next week's multi-state “Super Tuesday” presidential primaries. McCain protested an ad suggesting he op poses breast cancer research and called on Bush to “get out of the gutter.” Bush said the ad only described a pro posal on McCain's own Web page, and he said. “It sounds like Senator McCain is becoming increasingly angry as the campaign goes on.” Joined by conservative commentator Alan Keyes, the two presidential con tenders were meeting for an hourlong de bate sponsored by CNN and the Los Angeles Times. It was being broadcast na tionally by the cable network. 0 E