Aug. 4, 2010 News Clippings

Bernice King asks reconciliation for SCLC

Associated Press

Published: August 3, 2010

ATLANTA (AP) - After sitting silent for nearly 10 months amid bitter infighting in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev. Bernice King is calling for reconciliation among the group she was elected to lead.

At a news conference on Tuesday, King spoke about her desire to lead the SCLC and her hope that recent rifts could be healed so that the group could resume its mission of addressing social injustice.

King will lead a prayer vigil for the SCLC on Friday as the group prepares to host dueling conventions over the next week. She has not decided whether she will attend either event.

The SCLC is awaiting a decision from a Fulton County Superior Court judge as to which of two factions of its board of directors is in control of the organization.



The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


Bernice King to hold SCLC prayer vigil

By Raisa Habersham

6:46 p.m. Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Bernice King addressed the controversy surrounding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Tuesday while reaching out to the factions involved in an effort to ease tension between the parties.

King, surrounded by her supporters, announced that she was holding a prayer vigil Friday at 6:30 p.m. in light of the turmoil fueled by a heated court battle over who is in charge of the SCLC. The vigil will be held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Horizon Sanctuary.

The power struggle began after questions were raised about $569,000 spent by then-chairman Raleigh Trammell and then-treasurer Spiver Gordon from SCLC accounts. The money issue is still being investigated, and the Trammel-Gordon group has sued to stay in control of the SCLC. The other group is being led by Sylvia Tucker, who had been second under Trammell.

King has chosen to remain relatively silent about the situation, stating that as a minster, she can only follow the word of God.

“I have called for the prayer because keeping together is important in a movement,” she said.

Whether or not the Trammell-Gordon group will attend the vigil is up in the air.

King said she has nothing to do with the lawsuit, adding that she isn’t sure about the facts surrounding the case.

“I wouldn’t say it’s disturbing. I would say what I hear indicated that work needed to be done,” King said of the situation.

Throughout the case proceedings, King has continued to meet with her transition team to discuss the current state of the SCLC.

“I am the first president that will have to come into this organization amidst confusion and rebuild it almost from ground zero,” King said.

King was elected president in October last year. She would be the first female president of the organization.

King said she wanted to know everything before she took over, adding that she was ready to take over in April.

She didn’t address if she considered Markel Hutchins the interim president of the organization. Hutchins was named president by the Trammell-Gordon group.

King also tiptoed around questions about if she was going to take over the SCLC by force or even when the situation is settled.

Charles Mathis, lawyer for the group opposing the Trammell-Gordon backers, told the AJC that he expects a decison on the court case later this month. He said final proceedings are due Aug. 16.

Despite the turmoil, King maintains that the SCLC remains relevant. King's father, Martin Luther King Jr., was co-founder of the organization.

“Regardless of people who think it’s a dead organization, what it stands for is not,” she said.

King supporters will hold their SCLC convention Aug. 8. King, who has been invited, said she doesn’t know whether or not she will attend. A vice president will be elected at the convention and will serve as acting president until King takes over.

King has not been invited to the convention hosted by the Trammel-Gordon group at a later date.

The challenge, King said, will be getting the organization back to its roots.

King said the situation isn’t about one person, but about the organization and what it represents.

“The most important thing if we are going to uphold the legacy of Dr. King is healing and reconciling,” she said.

Find this article at:

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/bernice-king-to-hold-584030.html




Daily Report

Ray won’t seek Court of Appeals post



12:59 pm, August 3rd, 2010 by Alyson Palmer

Gov. Sonny Perdue thinks highly enough of Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge William M. Ray II that he had Ray sit in on interviews when the governor was vetting candidates for an open state Supreme Court seat in 2005. And Ray made the Judicial Nominating Commission’s short list for a spot on the Supreme Court last year.

But Ray won’t fill one of two vacancies on the state Court of Appeals created by the retirement of Judge G. Alan Blackburn and the death of Judge Debra H. Bernes. Read more »

Contributor: Alyson Palmer





The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Increased security at Cobb courthouse construction site yields two arrests

By Janel Davis

6:11 p.m. Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Sheriff’s deputies arrested two construction employees working at Cobb County’s courthouse project on Monday when background checks revealed the men had outstanding arrest warrants.

The sheriff’s office began performing criminal background checks on workers at the project as the new courthouse construction was ready to connect to the existing judicial complex. Last month the county announced the increased security efforts were also to allay ongoing concerns that illegal immigrants were working on the construction site.

Monday’s arrests involved Derick Santran Riley, 26, of Atlanta, who had an outstanding Fulton County bench warrant for aggravated assault and driving without a license. Eddie Richard Bell, 24, of Stone Mountain had a probation violation warrant issued by DeKalb County.

The sheriff’s office plans to have criminal background checks completed on all workers by Aug. 20.

Find this article at:

http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/increased-security-at-cobb-584327.html





Crime Report

Magazine Cites Three Flaws In Prison-Happy American Justice

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 7:35 am

In a package of stories, The Economist magazine concludes that justice is harsher in America than in any other rich country. About 2.4 million Americans are behind bars, roughly one in every 100 adults. If those on parole or probation are included, one adult in 31 is under “correctional” supervision. As a proportion of its total population, America incarcerates five times more people than Britain, nine times more than Germany and 12 times more than Japan. Overcrowding is the norm. Federal prisons house 60% more inmates than they were designed for. State lock-ups are only slightly less stuffed.

The system has three big flaws, say criminologists. First, it puts too many people away for too long. Second, it criminalises acts that need not be criminalised. Third, it is unpredictable. Many laws, especially federal ones, are so vaguely written that people cannot easily tell whether they have broken them. In 1970 the proportion of Americans behind bars was below one in 400, compared with today’s one in 100. Since then, the voters, alarmed at a surge in violent crime, have demanded fiercer sentences. Politicians have obliged. New laws have removed from judges much of their discretion to set a sentence that takes full account of the circumstances of the offence. Since no politician wants to be tarred as soft on crime, such laws, mandating minimum sentences, are seldom softened. On the contrary, they tend to get harder.

Link: http://www.economist.com/node/16636027



Right-Left Coalition Could Reduce U.S. Incarceration, Blumstein Says

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 7:33 am

A relatively low national crime rate combined with a government fiscal crisis could provide an opportunity for a left-right coalition to reduce incarceration in the United States, says criminologist Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie Mellon University. Speaking to the annual forum of the National Criminal Justice Association, which is ending today in Fort Myers, Fla., Blumstein said the political right’s concern about the high costs of prisons and the left’s criticism of the nation’s “punitiveness” could produce some kind of agreement on more-rational sentencing policies.

Blumstein said that many “excessively long sentences” imposed in recent decades, especially in drug cases, have wasted tax money. He said incarcerating drug traffickers could be counterproductive if their replacements in the drug market proved to be even worse criminals. Noting that national crime rates now have dropped to the level of the 1960s, the start of the modern-day crime boom in the nation, Blumstein said it is not yet clear whether crime has bottomed out or can go much lower. He questioned whether the decreases for 2009 in crime reports compiled by the FBI are a “blip or a new turning point.” Also at yesterday’s conference, former Florida corrections chief James McDonough called for spending more money on inmate rehabilitation and less on prison building. He said stepping up substance abuse treatment for prisoners could have a “major impact on recidivism.”


Link: http://thecrimereport.org/




These news articles were compiled by the Superior Court of Fulton County, Office of Public Information as a service to the Fulton Judicial System. The purpose of this service is to keep judges, court staff and other interested parties informed of the latest developments affecting the practice of law, the administration of justice and public perceptions of the judiciary. News stories are selected after the consideration of certain criteria, including if the article contains news about the Superior Court of Fulton County or the judicial system. News stories will not be included if they contain profanity or vulgarity or come from a publication that defines its circulation and audience in terms of a special interest. Exclusively political stories will not be included, except for stories about the announcement of a candidacy for judicial office, major editorial endorsements of candidates for judicial office, or the outcome of judicial elections.


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