Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 17 February 2000 — Page 5

The Muncie Times, Febuary 17, 2000, page 5

NEWS BRIEFS

or putting it elsewhere on Statehouse grounds. In the poll, 49 percent favored moving it to a memorial, 21 percent said it should be removed altogether, 25 percent wanted to keep it flying, and 5 percent were undecided. Mason-Dixon, an independent polling company, was hired to conduct the poll by the (Charleston) Post and Courier and several South Carolina television stations. The poll has a margin of error of plus/minus 4 percentage points. Black serviceman remembers bad; old racist days SANTE FE, N.M.—Most Anglos in America don’t know what it takes to be

ordered to the back of a bus because of their skin color. Jerry Byrd knows, forced in the 1940s and 1950s to move with his family behind the “Colored” line on buses. Byrd knows, like other Black U. S. Air Force servicemen in the late 1950s, how it feels to serve your country yet be denied access to certain restaurants, movie theaters and restrooms. Jerry Byrd knows. It is because he knows about the past that every year Byrd is asked to speak to Eldorado school children about life for blacks before the Civil Rights movement. “I experienced all that stuff, separate bathrooms, sitting at the back of the bus,” he said. “This 21st century is a time when I think we’re going to move forward.” More should be

taught in schools and at home about other cultures so people learn to live with each other.” Supreme Court might reconsider Miranda law The U. S. Supreme Court could consider the Miranda law, which established basic rights for those arrested. Legal experts are wmtching to see if it will reverse it. The Miranda ruling was established in 1966. It provides that suspects be advised of their rights to remain silent, have a lawyer present during questioning and told that what say could be used in Court against them. Failure to adhere to Miranda guidelines have led to reversals in many

cases. The ruling became an issue early last year when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina and West Virginia—decided that prosecutors could rely on confessions from suspects who police had not informed of their rights, if the suspects voluntarily admitted their guilt. The appellate decision upheld a 1968 law passed by Congress that allows statements to be used at trial if federal judges are assured that any guilty admission is not the result of law enforcement .coercion. New York City leads nation in 1999 murders

New York City led the nation in murders in 1999, despite the much-criticized aggressive tactics of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner Howard Safir to combat crime. According to reports, the city had 667 murders in 1999, up from 629 in 1998. That represents a 6 percent increase. However, the Big Apple did see an overall drop in crime, police officials said. According to New York Police Department spokesperson Marilyn Mode, crime dropped by 8.5 percent last year. She said this meant that strategies to wipe out such crimes as domestic violence, gang violence and auto theft are working. Mode said most of the increase in homicides had come in the first 6 months

Preparing for your higher education??? Don't want to limit yourself to Indiana college??? Operation P.R.I.D.E. 3rd Annual Black College Tour Spring Break 2000 Colleges to be visited include: Tuskeegee • Alabama State • Stillman University Miles College • Martin Luther King Center Total cost for lodging and transportation will be $300.00. A non-refundable deposit of $150.00 is due immediately with final payment due on March 4th, 2000. Students must pay for their own food and souvenirs. Chaperons will be provided. Contact person: Sam Long 765-289-4556 or Antioch Missionary Baptist Church 765-288-4992 Join us on this wonderful tour!!!