Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 December 2002 — Page 1

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INDIANA'S GREATEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

VOLUME 107 ■ NUMBER 49 ■ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2002 ■ PHONE 317/924-5143 ■ www.lndlanapollsrMorder.com ■ 754

Middlebrook gets to ‘The Bottom Line’

By SHANNON WILLIAMS Recorder Editor He’s come a long way from adding numbers in the dirt while his mother picked cotton on Jagers farm in Mississippi, but he’s still the same grounded, down to earth, and even abrasive person that many people just don’t seem to quite understand. That man is Willie Frank Middlebrook, host of WTLCAM’s "The Bottom Line.” Educated in South Bend, Ind., Middlebrook excelled in academics. He was the top male student upon graduating from Benjamin Harrison grade school. Middlebrook’s hard work and tenacity resumed throughout his high school years, which led hfm to gradu-

ate in the top five percent of his class. He earned a master of science degree from Indiana University over three decades ago and has even taught at four colleges and served as the dean of men at another. So how exactly did all this lead to his nearly 10 years in the radio industry? “My going into radio was kind of emblematic of the way that I am,” said Middlebrook as he began to tell the story of how he was volunteering at die NAACP office in Oklahoma City, when he first heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio. “When I heard it, I was incensed because he was really belittling Black people - the way we talked and everything about us.” “I went to the radio station

and told the director that T heard Rush and I came to see if I could get equal time to rebut the stuff that they were airing, m Middlebrook explained. Shortly thereafter, he had his own show in the 8-11 a.m. time slot With his own program, Middlebrook had the opportunity to let his voice be heard and serve as an advocate fbrthe community. “I serve as a conduit for the dissemination of information. I recognize that peoplethat have the greatest need for anything, usutdly have the least means to fulfill that need. I have been blessed to be able to fulfill my needs, so consequentially, I think it’s my duty and my calling to help others,” said Middlebrook.

“If I can help you. I’d be glad and I ain’t charging you nothing and I ain’t asking you for nothing. I perform random acts of kindness because every opportunity to serve than is an opportunity to serve God.” — Willie Ennki Middlebrook

It’s that calling that has made iddlebrook’s “The Bottom ne” the No. 1 rated talk show it serves the Black commuity. Every day, faithful listentune to WTLC-AM’s 1310 rom 4-6 p.m. to hear iddlebrook’s no-holds barred comments on the latest local and

national news.

Middlebrook says his blatant

honesty and

realness is what has made the show such a huge suc-

cess.

“I say what everyone knows (and) be-

Carl Drummer (left) and Willie Frank Middlebrook

See MIDDLEBROOK, Page A2

Cute Monai Miller (left) and ers were crowned this Ebony Fashioa &ur king and queen after a Wcent contest held at the Indiana Convention Center.'Hie event was sponsored by Alpha Chi Pi Omega Sorority, Delta Chi Delta Chapter. (Photo/C. Guynn)

BRIEFS Visit with Black Santa Fabulous Photos will be sponsoring a visit with Black Santa at Eagle Trace Village on 4214 Village Trace Blvd. Dec. 7 from 4 to 9 p.m. and Dec. 8 from noon to 6 p.m. Children will be able to get their photos taken with Santa and $1 from every photo'will go to the Fall Creek YMCAfor its BackTo School Block Party that provides school supplies for children returning to class. For more information call (317) 328-9266. Education town hall mooting The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) will host an education town hall meeting from 3-6 p.m. on Dec. 9 at University Plaxx Center on the campus of IUPUI, 830 W. Michigan St. from 36 p.m. The meeting will compare and discuss I ndiana’s progress toward the goals in NBCSL’s

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Checking ‘yes’ on the felony box An ex-c£flender returns borne to a challenge By FRAN QUIGLEY NUVO News Weekly The felony question is located about midway down the front page of the application. Ormeshia Linton checks the box marked ’Yes” and neatly prints "Tippecanoe County, 1995” on the line asking for details. Then she marches into the Glendale Mall tuxedo store. Linton asks for the manager, and gets right to the point. In the two months since she was released from the Rockville Correctional Facility, she has applied for dozens of jobs. She has learned something in the process. The store may have a help wanted sign on its display window, but they may not want to get that help from an ex-felon. "Sure, I could lie on the application," Linton says. "But eight years is a big gap to explain. So I tell the truth. But that doesn’t

"A lot of people who get out of jail just fall back with the same friends and the same lifestyle that got them locked up to begin with. I’ve been lucky." • Ormeshia Linton I seem to get me very far." The tuxedo store manager says she is not sure of the company policy about hiring applicants with criminal records, but she does give an approving onceover to the neatly dressed and well-spoken Linton. 'You don’t look like that to me," the man-

ager says. But she also tells Linton the job available is only 10 hours a week at $6.25 an hour. "A job for a high school kid, really," the manager says with an apologetic shrug. Linton already has a job like that, making $6.50 an hour for part-timework fund raising over the telephone. She thanks the store manager, leaves the application, and walks down the mall to the athletic shoe store. There she politely informs the salesman in the striped referee shirt about the tax credits and bond-

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Security vs. Civil Liberties Black figures express misgivings about Homeland Security By BRANDON A. PERRY Staff Writer In front of an overflowing White House crowd on Nov. 24, President Bush signed a congressional bUl that will lead to the creation of the new Department of Homeland Secu-

rity.

“We’re doing everything we can to protect America,” Bush stated as he signed the proposal, which had to pass both houses of Congress before receiving his signature. “In a free and open society, no department of government can completely guarantee our safety against ruthless killers who move and plot in shadows,” Bush added, as he outlined the department’s uphill battle to secure Americans. “The continuing threat of terrorism, the threat of mass murder on our own soil, will be met with a unified, effective response.” Many leaders in the AfricanAmerican community agree that terrorism still poses a threat, but they are also concerned that the increased security could lead to the threat of mass violations of civil liberties on U.S. soil. Black voices from Tavis Smiley to the NAACP and the National Urban League Presi-

Rav. Al Sharpton dent Hugh Price have expressed doubt as to whether or not the department can prevent domestic terrorism withouf invading the privacy and stepping on the rights of American citizens, especially minorities. This sentiment comes in conjunction with national poll numbers released by the Gallup Agency that indicated only 13 percentofAmerkanaAf all races have confidence that the new Department of Homeland Security will make them “a lot” safer. Four in 10 Americans expect that the new department will not make the country any

safer.

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Using DMA testing ta free the innocent

By NICOLE C. COOPER Recorder Correspondent The forensic science of DNA testing made accessible in the 1980s has forever changed the criminal justice system. DNA testing has offered irrefutable scientific evidence that the incidences of wrongful convictions are not rare and isolated events. The Department of Justice published two reports detailing the use of DNA to exonerate wrongful convictions and the state of forensic science today. Mistaken eyewitness identification, conventional and unmonitored lab practices have largely contributed to the populationofthousands believed to be unjustlyincarcerated. Citing FBI findings,"... There may be thousands of innocent people currently incarcerated.'

Former Attorney General Janet Renosaid,"... DNA aids the search for truth by exonerating the innocent The criminal justice system is not infallible. Its infallible nature hasbeen felt first hand by Jerome Edmonds who was freed arid exonerated due to

pre-conviction DNA evidence testing. Edmonds was steadily employed as a church deacon, busband and father. He had no previous criminal record. But all that changed when he was arrested and spent over a year in a prison

onsuspick»ofa27-y«u--oki rape and murder case of a 13-year-old girl It is a crime Edmonds insisted he did not commit Edmonds was extradited to Hawai, where the crime occurred while he was stationed there while enlisted in the miHtaiy. The case

had been reopened in 2001 on the basis of new evidence, including a statement from a former solider that was stationed with Edmonds. There was no solid evidence to convict Edmonds. But using DNA testing the Hawaiian authorities got a sample of Edmonds' DNA determined to match him to their 27-year-old evidence. Over die next 12 or so months, it took three attempts from three different labs to provide the conclusive results that proved Edmond's innocence. Edmonds’ case is reflective of the thousands of cases where people are exonerated by DNA testing before they ever go to trial On Sept 11, Edmonds returned home to his family and friends. His ordeal is one many persons couldn't have endured, but

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