Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 16 October 2008 — Page 32

Page 32 • The Muncie Times • October 16, 2008

continued from page 31 Gov. Bob Riley awarded grants totaling $347,480 to assist victims of domestic violence and child abuse in central Alabama. The grants were awarded to four nonprofit agencies that provide services to victims in Blount, Cullman, Jefferson and Shelby counties. The Blount County Children's Center is receiving a $42,535 grant to help children recover from sexual and physical abuse. As the only agency in Blount County that specializes in therapy for victims of abuse, the center also helps adults who were molested as children, domestic violence victims and victims of other traumatic crimes. A $92,699 grant will help the Bessemer Cutoff Advocacy Center reach out to children in west Jefferson County who have been physically or sexually abused. The center offers a safe, child-friendly facility where various agencies work together to help child victims and family members who are not abusers. Services include counseling and court preparation. Victim Services of Cullman will use three grants totaling $132,949 to continue offering emergency shelter and a

News Briefs

crisis hotline for victims of family violence and sexual assault. The center also provides outreach services to the community to prevent domestic violence through education and information. With a $79,297 grant, Owens House will assist child abuse victims in Shelby County. The center's services include crisis counseling, investigative interviews in a child-friendly environment, information on victims' compensation and support throughout the criminal justice process. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants which Riley awarded from funds made available by the U.S. departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. Riley notified H. Wendell Ellis of the Blount County Children's Center, Arthur Green of the Bessemer Cut-off Advocacy Center, Kenosha Davenport of Victim Services of Cullman and H.C. “Trey” Ireland of Owens House that the grants had been approved. Connor's tank returns to Civil Rights District BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - “This brings

back some tough memories,” remarked Leroy Johnson, Jr. He was across the street working at Jim Burke's Automotive Group when one of Bull Connor's armored vehicles rolled down a Birmingham street. It once represented the fear and intimidation that former Birmingham Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor's police department placed over Blacks in Birmingham in an effort to bar them from equal access. This time, the civil rights relic was not seen as a symbol of intimidation but instead a symbol of a city's past - this time pushed down the street on flattened tires by a crane. “I wish my son was here to see this,” Johnson reflected. “Bull Connor would have that tank all over this area trying to scare people. My sister went to jail because we were not scared.” The artifact is one of two armored personnel carriers recovered from the New Georgia Landfill serving as a “graveyard” for old city vehicles. Once restored, one of the vehicles will be featured in the Birmingham Civil Rights * Institute's (BCRI) “Expanding The Legacy” Campaign Renovation Project. Birmingham Mayor

Larry Langford transferred ownership of the vehicles to BCRI earlier this year. Other pieces of history are also scheduled for inclusion in the changes and minor upgrades planned for the exhibition. They include a chair from the barbershop of James Armstrong (his son's integrated Graymont Elementary School); shards of glass from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing; a cross and shovel used in a Huntsville hate crime; and recently uncovered civil rights era photographs from The Birmingham News. BAILED OUT! WASHINGTON - A $700 billion . bailout package designed to ease the nation's worsening economic crisis cleared Congress and was signed into law. After the House of Representatives approved a revised version of the bill that it had rejected days earlier. Some 32 Democrats and 26 Republicans switched positions to vote for the Senatepassed bill, pushing it through the House by 263-171. President Bush quickly signed the measure, praising Congress for rallying behind the rescue package. "By coming together on this legislation, we

have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country," Bush said during a five-minute statement in the White House Rose Garden. Later, he walked next door to the Treasury Department, where he thanked Secretary Henry Paulson and the building's employees for their hard work during the financial crisis. Stock prices slid on Wall Street despite the bill's passage as new data from around the world made it clear that the economic outlook is darkening rapidly. U.S. employers shed 159,000 jobs in September; the highest monthly number in five years, for example. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped another 157.47 points to close at 10,325.38. Friday's vote reversed the House's rejection of the bill Monday on a 228-205 vote, and came two days after the Senate passed a revised version of the original plan by 74-25, including $110 billion in unrelated tax breaks and other incentives aimed at converting House members into backing the bill. Over the past two days, Bush, top administration continued on page 33