Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 May 2002 — Page 3

FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2002

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

PAGE A3

HOPE Continued from A1 break in the case. “It’s a good day for the city of Martinsville,’’ Mayor Shannon Buskirk said after the arrest was made. Martinsville, located about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, remains an almost exclusively white community. Like many Indiana towns, its hub is a courthouse square ringed with shops and restaurants, its population of 12,000 fervently supports the high school basketball team and the state highway bordering the city is lined with car dealerships, gas stations and a mobile home park. It’s a prime stopping point between Indianapolis and Bloomington, the home of Indiana University. But many minorities in the state, fearful of the city’s reputation, say they refuse to ever stop in Martinsville. Along with the murder in 1968, there were reports of Ku Klux Klan activities through the 1960s and 1970s. In 1998, players on a visiting high school basketball team from Bloomington claimed they were met by a crowd chanting “Here come the darkies.” And last year, the city’s assistant police chief made national news when he sent a letter to the city’s newspaper mocking non-Christians and homosexuals with the terms “Buddy Buddha,” “Hadji Hindu” and “queers.” Joanne Stuttgen, a Martinsville resident, said she doesn’t think the recent arrest will make a difference in how the town is perceived. “It will always go back to, ‘Well my friend was stopping for gas and this happened,”’ she said. “It will always be these personal stories that keep the legend going.” Frye laments that, and wishes people could learn the truth about what she calls “a real nice” community. “When you’ve been here all your life,” she said, “it’s kind of hard to take.” Bette Nunn, the managing editor of The Reporter-Times, wrote a column the day after Richmond’s arrest. ‘This case has been terrible for Martinsville, and we wonder if the outside news media will let us forget it even now or even if there is a conviction,” she wrote. “Will they ever write a favorable story about us without adding something negative? Or will they continue to bring up all the accusations of the past?” Stuttgen and others believe that remains to be seen. “There’s all this history that still can’t be undone with one new fact,” said Christy Wareham, a Presbyterian minister and member of a city group that promotes diversity. “But I think this allows us to turn a comer.” And Nunn, who has often written columns defending her city, hopes that comer is not too far away. “Maybe someday, the outside world will know the hearts of Martinsville people,” she wrote. “Maybe someday, it wiH get better for all of us.”

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER USPS 262-660 Published weekly by: The George P. Stewart Printing Co., Inc., P.O. Box 16499, 2901 N Tacoma Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46218. Entered as Second Class Matter under Act of March 7,1870. Periodicals paid at Indianapolis, IN. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Indianapolis Recordw P.O. Box 18499,2901 N Tacoma Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46218 Subscription price by mail or earner: $39 per year; $29 lor 6 mos ,75 cents per copy National advertising representative: Amalgamated Publishers Inc., 45 W 45th St., New York, NY 10036. Member: National Newspaper Publishers Association, Central Indiana Publishers Association, Hoosier State Press Association. SUBSCRIBERS BY MAIL: We are not responsible lor replacing issues missed due to change ol address or late renewals Please allow two weeks when placing a new subscription or change ol address order. Call (317) 924-5143.

Jefferson descendants exclude Sally Hemings’ kin

(Special to the NNPA) — Descendants of Sally Hemings, a slave owned by Thomas Jefferson and reputed to have borne several of his children, will not be welcomed into the organization for Jefferson relatives or the ancestoral graveyard. In a closed meeting, the Monticello Association voted to continue to restrict membership to Jefferson’s descendants through his daughters Martha and Maria. This excludes Hemings’ descendants. Hemings was a slave at Monticello. The association cited a panel of scholars who concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish that. Jefferson fathered Hemings’ children. Lucian Truscott IV, a supporter of the Hemings

claims, displayed a photograph of a Black man with a zipper across his mouth, which he said John Works Jr„ a former Monticello president, e-mailed to him during the meeting. Works later said he regretted sending the photo, which he called insensitive. He says his intention was to remind Truscott of a pledge association members made not to discuss the Hemings issue with the media. “I just sent that as a reminder to keep his mouth shut,” Works says. “I regret that it was a Black face. If it had been a white face I would have used that instead.” DNA tests have shown a male in Jefferson's family fathered Hemings’ son Eston. But the 24-page study,

commissioned by Works, argues that Jefferson’s younger brother Randolph was the likely father. The association, created in 1913 to promote the nation’s third president and preserve the cemetery where he is buried, represents more than 700 lineal descendants of Jefferson and his wife, Martha. The association also rejected a proposal to create a separate group for descendants of slaves at Monticello. but has offered a separate burial plot on the Jefferson estate. Shay Banks-Young, a Hemings descendant, shrugged off the recent decision. “We’re not hurt by this,” she said. “Not being part of the association doesn’t remove us from this family.”

r ^

There's No Better Time Than Now to

Get R

for the

3' x S' American Flag with Pole (833983)

Black 4D-Cell Mag Lite with Batteries GS4DOX6 (580777)

Cutter* Skinsation • Lasts up to four hours • Contains 7% DEBT 54010(851578)

24 Pack 1/2 Liter Water Bottles (218340)

Rubbermaid 54 Qt. Ice Chest • Ergonomic thruhandles for easy lifting 1955(207565)

46 Qt. Wheeled Nestable Cooler • Ergonomic thruhandles for easy lifting 1858(207566)

6' Folding Utility Table • 72" x 30" polyethylene table •Will not crack, chip or peel • Stonger and more durable than wood • Exceeds commercial standards Lightweight • Indoor/outdoor •Ten year limited warranty 2900(484269) 1 "

•19.97

I j

riMHI

Corporate Canopy • Blue AQAIMI /WMfcOOV 0901UD [JXJ9X9J

Alkaline Batteries Duracell or Energizer • AAorAAA (887919X668893X364339X555992)

[Stop in t 0( * a V ^ register to win an autographed Tony Stewart leather racing jacket. See store tor details.

Charcoal HiO Smoker * 377 sq. in. cooking area •3 cooking levels 4654301(116406)

weber ?

JQA, 14.3’ (hookey Joe VT • 10-year limited warranty

• Porcelain-enameled

bowl and lid 10020(682573)

W' j^iuler *\& KSk

22(000 BTU Genesis Silver "A" LP Qas Grid * 22,000 BTU per hour output • 458 square inches of cooking area 2241411 (682587)

TWin Value Pack •0)20 lb. bags 71156(488061) 64 Ox. Charcoal Lighter Fluid (816899). *3.97

^18 Aim N' Flame

Torch Lighter

)(233966)

AF-380(

35,000 BTU 7000 Series Quickset Grid • 340 sq. in. of primary cooking area • Porcelain cooking grates (623678)

42 Oal. Contractor CtaanllpBaga •Extra-tough •Economy pack 32-count carton (690869)

lobody Beats pft&st Our Price Guarantee: > you NwukHInd a lowtr price on an MHilice Mmikm ilocfc from my otar local raWrarwel no! only mart tMl prica wo 1 * ba* ■ by 10% on tw spot just lor bringing M to our aOtntioc riri»rt99 domoutt anti

Open Every Day! Monday-Saturday 6am-9:30pm Sunday 8ant-8pm We're Dozens of Stores Eagle Creek E o ^^ woo f Po*tRoadG Under One Roof 3902n. school Rd. 222s n. poet vm. Tbol Rental c 317 ) 2 ®* 4256 taiosw-aoiy (317)8904791

Center

Castleton

^ ^ 9320 Corporation Dr. wwwJtomedepot.com (317) 915-8534

(317) 774-8087

(317) 780-8881

Oanarelmatchandbaptlc—wy wry mar 5/102002 8 Ihaw art martiatwla4tona(commodMa>a»dudad)

Lora, tuttm mM* icon nquM Wt iwn. *« fl?* to M quaM. 10 ft. ■ncun m«(«woyiMKiwcm(tonBtoXU»wioeiiiocuaoio» owliwirpwducl—m

i uow cro homer tic me w mini Ca*mxn

potartontotomi aoana .MrMtog I

n LEM. > HCMErrOMRH

•37633