The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 03, 2000, Page 3, Image 3
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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.
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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.
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