The Daily Blog

Jun 29

Is Clarence Thomas’s Humble Georgia Museum a Huge Ethics Issue?

A quaint historical museum in Pin Point, Georgia, that is set to open this fall has become the target of an exhaustive ethics examination by the New York Times. Why would the Times devote almost 3,000 words to a community heritage museum? Pin Point, as it turns out, is also the birthplace of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and it was Thomas who introduced Pin Point residents to his friend Harlan Crow, a Dallas real-estate tycoon and major conservative donor, who would ultimately fund the museum. According to some legal analysts, Thomas’s role in Crow’s decision to donate may have troubling ethical implications.

Pin Point lies along the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor designated by Congress, a passage of coastal fishing towns settled by the descendants of slaves. Algernon Varn, whose father ran the fishing cannery there, long hoped to save the site from development, but it wasn’t until he bumped into Thomas, who was in town promoting his memoir, that the project began to move forward. Thomas introduced Varn to Crow, a longtime friend. Through an exhaustive paper trail review, the Times confirmed that Crow is the anonymous donor behind the $1.3 million restoration of the property and forthcoming museum project. Varn was told to keep Crow’s identity anonymous.

The question of ethics violations comes down to whether Thomas misused “the prestige of office” to persuade Crow to take on the project, said Raymond J. McKoski, a retired state judge in Illinois. (Supreme Court justices are not explicitly bound to the complex code of conduct for federal judges because it is enforced by lower ranking judges. That’s right, they are literally above the law — though the Times points to several justices who said they adhere to it regardless.) “Some of it depends on the conversations that took place,” McKoski told the Times of the ethical quandary. “Who brought up the idea? How willing was Mr. Crow to do it? What exact questions were asked by Justice Thomas?”

This isn’t the first time Crow has donated to projects directly or indirectly honoring Thomas. (According to the federal ethics code, judges are not supposed to know who makes a donation in their honor.) The Times gathers an exhaustive list of shady gifts and donations, including Mr. Crow’s financing of a Savannah library dedicated to Justice Thomas and his gift of a bible that once belonged to Frederick Douglass. Thomas also received a $15,000 bust of Abraham Lincoln from a group affiliated with Crow.

So, after all this commotion, what will the museum actually look like? The modest, almost astonishingly unglamorous-sounding Pin Point Heritage Museum will be housed in the A.S. Varn & Son Factory, a former seafood cannery that was the economic backbone of Pin Point — and where Thomas’s mother worked as a crab picker — until it closed in 1985.

Each structure on the property — including the oyster factory, can storage building, and marshfront dock — will be stabilized and restored. A patio area will host live demonstrations of crabbing, canning, and shrimp net making. Inside, 3,000 square feet of exhibition space — modest by museum standards — will house educational exhibits, live demonstrations, interactive displays, and a 30-minute documentary film, all devoted to the generations of residents in Pin Point.

Apr 1

Angie Stone Arrested on the Way to Church.

Angie Stone was in one heck of a rush to make a joyful noise last weekend. Cops pulled the neo-soul singer over in Georgia for speeding while she was on her way to church, then arrested her when they realized she was driving with a suspended license.

Stone’s rep told TMZ that she had no idea that there was a warrant out for her arrest. According to the rep, “Angie had a prior speeding ticket which went unpaid because she changed addresses recently … and never got the physical ticket in the mail.”

The singer was booked on both the speeding and suspended license charge, but released an hour later. No word on if she ever ended up making it to service, but at least this weekend is another chance to slow down and turn it all around.

Feb 4

Fabolous Sued for Assault by Atlanta Busboy.

Fabolous is in trouble. The New York rapper, who made a recent trip down to Georgia, has been sued by an Atlanta busboy named Octavious Butler, who claims that the ‘Body Ya’ MC assaulted him with a glass bottle at ATL’s Fox Sports Grill.

While working at the restaurant, Butler, who filed the lawsuit on Jan. 31 in Fulton County Superior Court, alleges that the Brooklyn native hit him with not only a glass bottle, but with his fist. He claims that Fab joined another attacker and assaulted him unprovoked. The financial terms of the lawsuit have not been disclosed.

This isn’t the first time that the 31-year-old rapper has gotten into trouble. Back in October 2006, he was arrested for carrying an unlicensed weapon after getting shot in the leg, and the following year, he was suspected to have been involved in the fatal stabbing of a childhood friend. In February 2009, police discovered 500 pounds of weed on his tour bus, though he dodged charges since he wasn’t aboard at the time.

Fabolous and Def Jam have yet to comment on the incident and lawsuit. The rapper is currently focusing on recording his upcoming mixtape ‘The S.O.U.L. Tape,’ set for release later this month.

Jan 8

Authorities in Georgia have arrested the supervisor of the wife of a slain Atlanta businessman in connection with his killing outside a preschool, adding another twist to a case that has police still searching for a motive.

Hemy Zvi Neuman, 46, was arrested late Tuesday on charges of felony murder in the November slaying of Russell “Rusty” Sneiderman, 36, of Dunwoody.

Neuman made his initial court appearance Wednesday in the Magistrate Court of DeKalb County. He was not required to enter a plea and was ordered held without bond in the county jail. His next court appearance has been scheduled for Feb. 8.
An employee of General Electric Energy in Atlanta, Neuman was reportedly the supervisor of Sneiderman’s wife, Andrea Sneiderman, but their exact relationship remains unclear. Contacted by various news agencies, authorities have declined to comment. Calls to the Dunwoody Police Department by AOL News were not immediately returned.

While a connection between the accused and the victim has allegedly been established, a motive remains elusive. The accused’s background does not suggest he has ever been involved in any prior criminal activity, and he appears to have lived a very successful life as a businessman and father of three.According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Neuman, a native of Israel, immigrated to the United States in 1980, following graduation from Hadassim, one of the largest residential schools in Israel. Neuman settled in the Atlanta area and enrolled at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he studied engineering and graduated with honors in 1984.

Following graduation, Neuman worked for Lockheed Martin until 1999, when he went to work for General Electric. Neuman owns a home in the upscale community of East Cobb, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Sneiderman was also a successful businessman and the father of two with an MBA from Harvard. He had worked as a financial consultant for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Atlanta before becoming the CEO of a Georgia-based daycare network called Discovery Point.

On Nov. 18, according to police, Sneiderman was gunned down outside his son’s preschool in broad daylight. The homicide was a “cold and calculated” slaying, police said.

Sneiderman had just dropped off his 2-year-old son, Ian, at Dunwoody Prep Preschool in suburban Atlanta when a man came up from behind and shot him four times at point-blank range, then fled in a silver minivan with no license plates, authorities said. Sneiderman died at the scene.The manner of the homicide suggested it was not a random act of violence but rather a professional hit, police said. The revelation shocked members of the affluent community where the crime occurred.

Neither the gun used in Sneiderman’s homicide nor the getaway vehicle the perpetrator used have been located. What led to police to Neuman remains a mystery.

Authorities remain unusually tight-lipped about the case. An explanation could lie within a statement made to the Journal-Constitution, in which police reportedly said additional arrests might be forthcoming.

“There’s still a lot of questions that we need answered,” Sneiderman’s brother, Steven Sneiderman, told The Associated Press. “But we’re grateful for the hard work of the Dunwoody Police Department, and we look forward to seeing this case through to a conclusion.”

Sep 26

Accused megachurch pastor to talk to congregation.

ATLANTA -Sunday’s services at a Georgia megachurch will give its famed pastor the chance to address the congregation for the first time since allegations surfaced that that he lured young men into sex with gifts and travel.Bishop Eddie Long is scheduled to speak at services at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, several days after the lawsuits were filed accusing him of exploiting his authority to push four former members into sexual relationships when they were 17 or 18 years old.The lawsuits claim Long — who is an outspoken opponent of gay marriage — lured them into sexual relationships with gifts including cars, cash and travel.Long has denied the allegations through his lawyer and a Twitter posting but has not spoken publicly about them.Over the last 20 years, Long became one of the most powerful independent church leaders in the country. He led New Birth as it grew from a suburban Atlanta congregation of 150 to a 25,000-member powerhouse with a $50 million cathedral and a roster of parishioners that includes athletes, entertainers and politicians.Three of the young men who filed lawsuits this week live in Georgia, while the other was a member of a satellite church in Charlotte, N.C., run by Long.Two of the plaintiffs were once members of a youth program called the LongFellows Youth Academy, which teaches teenage boys lessons on financial discipline and sexual control. In their lawsuits, the men say Long used the program to groom them for sexual relationships and lured them into trysts with cars, jewelry and cash.The other two plaintiffs make similar claims that Long served as a mentor, gave them gifts, then convinced them to engage in sexual acts.

Sep 22

(Sept. 22) — A third lawsuit has been filed accusing Bishop Eddie Long of coercing young men in his Atlanta megachurch into having sex in exchange for cash and cars.

The suit was filed today in DeKalb County Superior Court, in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Earlier today, a spokesman for the pastor said the two other young men who have filed lawsuits against Long are out to stake their claim on his fortune and called the allegations baseless.

The allegations against the leader of a 25,000-plus-member church are particularly explosive because of Long’s outspoken views on homosexuality. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader “one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement” and noted that he has referred to homosexuality and lesbianism as “spiritual abortions.”

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in DeKalb County, Ga., the two men accuse Long of exploiting his influence to coerce the then-teenagers into sexual relationships with him for years.
The lawsuit says Long, 57, has a long pattern of “singling out a select group of young male church members” and using his influence to engage in “sexual acts and relationships for his own personal sexual gratification.” The suit says the pastor — leader of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta suburb of Lithonia — referred to the teenagers as “spiritual sons” and instructed them to follow their “master.” In exchange, they claim, Long introduced them to celebrities like film director Tyler Perry, according to The New York Times.Art Franklin told CNN the claims are nothing more than “a case of retaliation and a shakedown for money by men with some serious credibility issues” and are “definitely without merit.”

Franklin noted that one of the accusers was arrested earlier this year and charged with breaking into the church’s offices and stealing an iPad and an iPhone. The attorney for the men, Brenda Joy Bernstein, says the June 23 break-in was committed out of anger, when one of the plaintiffs discovered that Long had similar relationships with other young men in the congregation.

“He lashed out,” Bernstein told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But if it weren’t for that act, we wouldn’t know about this. He talked to his friends and learned Long had other ‘spiritual sons.’”

But not all of the church’s members see it that way. Samuel Midgette, 40, said he doesn’t believe the allegations, in part because of often Long speaks about his wife in glowing terms.

“A man who talks about his wife as much as he do…I can’t see it. Unless I’m blind,” Midgette told AOL News today in a phone interview. He said the men making the claims are likely after Long’s money. “People don’t believe this,” he said. “I think this is all about money.”The lawsuit charges that the abuse began when one of the men was 16. According to the suit, Long put the teenager on the church’s payroll, bought him a Chevy Malibu and took him on trips to Turks and Caicos, New York and New Zealand. In New Zealand, Long “regularly engaged in sexual touching and sexual acts” with the teenager, the lawsuit says.

Long “categorically denies the allegations,” his attorney, Craig Gillen, told The Associated Press. “We find it unfortunate that these two young men would take this course of action.” Gillen did not immediately return a call to AOL News.

Bernstein says church officials knew about the abuse and failed to stop it. “They would do everything to protect the most powerful church in the Southeast,” she told the Times.Long’s church hosts a program titled “Out of the Wilderness” that claims to help cure its participants of homosexuality.

In 2006, when the family of Martin Luther King Jr. chose New Birth Missionary Baptist Church as the location for Coretta Scott King’s funeral, civil rights leader Julian Bond refused to attend. Bond said King’s widow supported gay rights and never would have wanted to be in the presence of Long.

“I knew her attitude toward gay and lesbian rights. And I just couldn’t imagine that she’d want to be in that church with a minister who was a raving homophobe,” Bond told told AOL’s Black Voices in 2006. “And I couldn’t see myself in my church either.”

Sep 14

‘My Neck, My Back’ rapper Khia was arrested once again this past Wednesday, Sept. 8. The self-proclaimed “Thug Misses” has a history of run-ins with the law, and a collection of mugshots to rival Ma Barker, yet this most recent charge has to be one of the most confusing. Khia, 32, was arrested in Gwinnett County, Georgia on Wednesday evening, charged with “endangering security interest,” and released after posting $1,300 bond, just a few hours later. Apparently, the obscure charge refers to an incident whereupon an automobile owner has defaulted on their vehicle’s financing and then refuses the repo company to take back the vehicle.

Aug 25

Two extremely obese Georgia children who were removed from their home last week have some people saying their weight is a form of child abuse, but experts disagree.

ABC News reports that James and Anne Cardona of Marietta, Ga., were arrested and charged with felony child abuse after their two daughters, ages 5 and 4, were removed from their home.

Not only were their living conditions squalid, but the two girls are dangerously obese. The 5-year-old weighs 158 pounds and has trouble walking, the news station reports. The 4-year-old weighs 89 pounds — a typical child that age should weigh about 40 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, experts say having an overweight child isn’t child abuse, in and of itself.”Obesity is usually part of a much bigger problem. In a child protective services capacity, it would be seen as medical neglect, and that’s just part of the whole picture,” Linda Spears, vice president of policy and public affairs at the Child Welfare League of America, tells ABC. “The question is what’s going on with the family that’s causing the situation in which you have an obese child with health consequences that are not being addressed.”She adds that as the national “epidemic” of childhood obesity continues to grow, social services departments are likely to see more and more obese kids when investigating child abuse claims.

“There’s a good likelihood that you will see a larger percentage of these cases becoming part of the child welfare caseload,” Spears tells ABC.

Aug 12

Dozens Injured in Rush for Georgia Housing Aid.

(Aug. 12) — Police showed up in riot gear. People collapsed from the heat. And emergency vehicles ferried victims to the hospital.

That was the scene Wednesday at the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center in East Point, Ga., after 30,000 people showed up to apply for government housing assistance, sparking chaotic scenes in which dozens were injured.

Today everything appeared under control as Section 8 hopefuls returned their applications. In a bid to reduce crowding, authorities accepted applications from people’s cars as they drove by. Separate facilities dealt with applicants on foot. Trouble began Wednesday when three times as many applicants as expected arrived at the suburban Atlanta location and tempers began to flare among the crush of people waiting in the intense heat.

“It was terrible,” witness Thaddeus Brookins told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Lot of people. People pushing people, knocking people over. People getting hurt.”Authorities originally planned to have applicants come into the front entrance of a cafe to get their applications. When they saw the size of the crowd, they set up kiosks in the parking lot.

As the day wore on, applicants began cutting into lines, and police tried to move large groups of people around to maintain order. The groups, many of whom had been waiting in line for hours, reacted angrily.

“It could have been better organized,” applicant Renee Gray, who was on the scene with her 1-year-old daughter, said. “A lot of adults lost focus.”

The crowds were there to apply for federal subsidies to rent or buy a home. This was the first time since 2002 that the East Point Housing Authority has offered the applications.

The crowd was equal to about three-fourths of East Point’s entire population. Authorities blamed the disorder on the fact that many applicants brought along several family members and even dogs, swelling the crowd, CNN reported.

As many as sixty-two people were injured, with 20 taken to the hospital, including one baby that had a seizure. There were reports of two small children being trampled in the pandemonium, according to the Journal-Constitution.

Still, authorities said they handled the situation competently, even if some people were shaken by the experience.

“As you can imagine, this large of a crowd did have some instances of ‘being out of control,’” City Councilman Lance Rhodes said in an e-mail to residents, CNN reported. “However, the police and fire were in control. This is evidenced by the fact that no arrests were made.”

There are currently 15,000 Georgians who take advantage of Section 8 housing, and thousands more are on waiting lists.

The situation is aggravated by the closure of several large public-housing projects and the fact that the recession has pushed many formerly middle-class families into a position where they need government assistance to put a roof over their heads.

“It’s heartbreaking to see what the economy has done,” Housing Authority Executive Director Kim Lemish told The Associated Press.