Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 November 2000 — Page 5

'BMPAY, NOVEMBER 24,2000 ' THE INPIAMAPOU8 BECORPER

Ttailblazing Women featured on calendar

Indiana’s Trailblazing Women 2001 is the second publication in a series of engagement calendars by Indianapolis author Judy SingleI ton. The spiral-bound weekly calendar features stories and photographs of the year’s trailblazers who began breaking gender barriers in 1933 and range in age from l>to 101. This year’s trailblazers include: • Anita L. DeFrantz, who was the first African-American woman and the fifth woman elected to the International Olympic Committee (fOC) and the first woman vice president of IOC. ' • Vicky A. Bailey, the first Afri-can-American woman appointed to the Indiana Utility Regulator

Commission, the first AfricanAmerican woman appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the first woman president of PSI Energy Inc. (Indiana’s largest electric supplier). • Dee Dee Strum, who is the first executive director of the Indiana State Housing Board. A portion of the sales from the calendar will be contributed toGirls Scouts of Indiana. Many of the trailblazers featured in die 2001 calendar were Girl Scout members or leaders. The 2001 calendar retails for $14.95 and is available from Amazon.com, the Indiana Historical Society toll free at 800-447-1830; and many local bookstores.

Coca-Cola to pay discrimination settlement

By JUSTIN BACHMAN AP Business Writer ATLANTA (AP) — The CocaCola Co. agreed to pay $ 192.5 million to setde a racial discrimination suit by black workers. The settlement, announced tfmrsday, includes $113 million in cash, $43.5 million to adjust salaries, and $36 million for oversight of the company’s employrrifcnt practices. Coke also will pay $20 million in attorneys’ fees and agreed to create an ombudsman post and have its employment practices reviewed by an outside group. Shares of Coca-Cola were up 12.5 cents to $61.63 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock

Exchange. tions and performance evaluations, The settlement was approved was a centerpiece of the settleby U.S. District Judge Richard ment. The task force will recomStory, in whose court the suit was mend changes and ensure they are filed in April 1999. Details of the carried out; Coke retains the opsettlement will be sent to about tionofchallenging changes it feels 2,000 current and former employ- are not financially or technically ees beginning next month. feasible. The lawsuit claimed Coca-Cola A toll-free telephone line will discriminated against salaried be established to receive complaints black employees in pay, promo- 24 hours a day. tions and evaluations. The com- The task force is modeled after a pany denied the claims. The settle- similar group established four years ment covers salaried black employ- ago in the settlement of a discrimiees in the United States who worked nation lawsuit against Texaco, for Coke between April 1995 and Coca-Cola’s will include former June 2000. government officials in labor and The seven-member watchdog civil rights, professors, lawyers and group, charged with making sure diversity consultants. Coca-Cola is fair in pay, promo-

Ken Brewer new weatherman at WISH-TV

Special to The Recorder Ken Brewer is the new WISHTV meteorologist. He does the weather on weekend 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. For nearly 10 years Brewer has been studying, reporting, forecasting, and experiencing the often severe and volatile weather conditions of the state of Florida, from its northern to southern borders. He began his broadcast career as a meteorologist for WFOR-TV, the CBS affiliate in Miami, where

he was extensively involved in the forecasting and reporting of the active 1996 hurricane season. He later joined WCTV, the CBS affiliate, in Tallahassee as a meteorologist/reporter where be worked for the next three years. His severe weather experience in northern Florida includes anchoring as Hurricane Earl made landfall in 1998, and live coverage of the F-3 tornadoes that hit his station’s coverage area last February. Brewer has a bachelor of science degree in meteorology from

Florida State University, with a double minor in mathematics and physics. He received his American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval in 1998, and is an active member of the AMS. A native of St. Louis, he said is pleased to be returning to the Midwest with his wife Wendy. WISH-TV, a CBS affiliate, is a LIN Television station — LIN Television operates 15 television stations across the United States and Puerto Rico.

National News

U.S. Rep. McKinney asks for probe of absentee ballot process ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney has asked Elections Supervisor Linda Latimore to conduct an investigation into absentee ballot mailings that included a marked sample ballot. “We have a report from a constituent that he received an absentee ballot application that included a marked sample ballot,” McKinney said. “This is improper and goes right to the heart of the integrity of the voting process.” In the letter, McKinney wrote, “Mr. Cedric Jackson contacted my campaign office yesterday concerning the absentee ballot he received. The sample ballot that comes in the absentee ballot packet had check marks next to certain candidates’ names. Including a marked sample ballot in with the absentee ballot form gives the unfortunate appearance that the county voter registration office is suggesting that voters vote for specific candidates.” McKinney asked that the investigation include: The process of how the sample ballot forms in the absentee ballot was mailed; the number of marked sample ballots that were sent out with absentee ballots, and the measures that will be taken to ensure that bogus absentee ballots are invalidated. With reports of heavy absentee ballots being cast, McKinney suggests an immediate investigation into the issuance of fake ballots. Unprecedented efifort for reparations for slavery descendants WASHINGTON (NNNPA) — A group of civil rights leaders and class-action lawyers, which include Johnnie Cochran and civil rights leader Randall Robinson, have joined forces to fight for the compensation for Black descendants of slavery. The project, Reparations Assessment Group, appears to be the most serious effort yet on behalf of African Americans. i' 1 “We will be seeking more than monetary compensation,” Harvard

law professor Charles Ogletree said.. “We want a change in America. We want full recognition and a remedy of how slavery stigmatized, raped, murdered and exploited millions of Africans through no fault of their own.” The group will target those entities which have benefited from slave labor which could include federal government, state governments and private entities, according to Ogletree. Tp develop their case, they will call on experts in education, politics, family development, health and economics to help trace the long-term impact of slavery on today’s society. The group includes: high-pro-file lawyers Cochran and Alexander J. Fires Jr., who won a $1 billion settlement for Black farmers who claimed discrimination by the Department of Agriculture; Richard Scruggs, who won the $368.5 billion settlement for states against tobacco companies; Dennis C. Sweet HI, who won a $400 million settlement in the “phen-fen” diet drug case; and Willie E. Gray, who won a $500 million judgment against Loewen Group Inc., the world’s largest funeral home operator. Cast a ballot, get a raffle ticket for a gun WASHINGTON (NNNPA) — In exchange for casting a ballot in Georgia, a voter could go to two gun shops in suburban Atlanta to fill out a raffle ticket to win a Benelli Super Black Eagle 12-gauge shotgun that sells for $1,000. All that was needed was the “I voted” sticker to participate. “The raffle’s purpose is to drive voter turnout, to get people who are interested in the Second Amendment to come out and to the polls,” said Steve Frank, president of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a conservative group that sponsored the raffle. The raffle is taking place in Georgia’^ 7th CongressionaWDistrict, whert the congressman is a staunch opponent of gun control. One advocate of gun control

PAQEA5 lambasted the raffle as a stunt and; predicted it would backfire. “What we have seen in other places with these gun raffles is that it upsets everyone else and makes them more likely to support other; candidates who support sensijbfcj gun laws,” said Naomi Pai^g; spokeswoman for Handgun C&y tool. license tags voice DCs statehood plight WASHINGTON (NNNPA Hundreds of Washington residebts headed for the Department of tor Vehicles to get new tags that display the lack of voting representation rights in the nation’sdipfc tal. About 30,000 of the “Taxation Without Representation” tags have been ordered, said city officials. As a federal city, Washington, D.C., cannot elect congressiokait representatives. The majority Bkaft, city can only elect a single delegkte in the House of Representattfpf, who can only vote in committed. The city, whose residents pay federal taxes regardless, gained the delegate in 1971. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams attached his new tag “Mayor" to his Black Ford Expedition. “This morning we putCongrfeis on notice: This is nodrive-by; we'W driving straight at you!” said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s Democratic delegate. “(We have) never before hadfo effective way to tell the story of our exclusion from democracy.” The focus of the campaign is to educate America about the unfairness of D.C. residents being re 1 quired to pay federal taxes without having a voice in Congress. ^ The District has been fightiftg for years for representation in the Congress to no avail, which teclude the unsuccessful 1978 constitutional amendment granting D.C. residents voting representation in Congress and the 1993 House rejection of D.C. statehood. “I hope that tyis license plate drives members df Cdkgress to a state of reason. It is tinie for tyranny to hit the road,” ttid D.C. Council Chairman Linda W.Cropp.

Magnequeach gives temrrm’s leaders the pom to succeed.

Now a student at Indiana University, Ms. Thompson is a graduate of Anderson High School. While in high school, she received the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence and served as both president of the local National Honor Society and captain of the girls varsity basketball team.

Currently a student at Ball State University, Ms. Brown is a graduate of Highland High School in Anderson where she received the United States Minority Leadership Award. While at Highland, she was listed in the Who's Who of American High School Students and a member of the Anderson Area Youth Leadership Academy.

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Regardless of grade point average, honors or awards, some of Madison County's brightest students may never find their way to higher education. Magnequench and the Madison County branch of the NAACP are committed to blazing that trail to help our local teens achieve their goals.

By awarding an annual $5,000 scholarship to an applicant pursuing education at a state university, our commitment to the future of Madison County is realized. The importance of education can not be underestimated. Smarter children strengthen a community and put it in a position for growth. This year, the scholarship

based on CPA, community involvement and financial need was shared between two outstanding students. One of which will be given the opportunity to have an internship with Magnequench

with the possibility of employment after college.

In recognition of their accomplishments, the NAACP and Magnequench would like to congratulate both young ladies and acknowledge the path they chose to make their dreams a reality.

Magnequuneh. Leading Magnet Innovation"

02000 Magnequench, Inc.