>  By ALLISON BARKER
>  Associated Press Writer

>  CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A surveillance videotape that shows white police
>  beating a black man has energized the black community in Huntington,
>  renewing calls for an end to intimidation and racism they say has long
>  haunted their Ohio River city.

>  ``This has to be the last type of incident of this nature,'' said Phil
>  Carter, a member of the NAACP chapter in Huntington. ``It's a matter of
>  justice and righting the wrong and stopping it now.''

>  ``We have bigoted folk here who display it every chance they get,'' said
a
>  black city councilman, the Rev. Larry Patterson.

>  Adonis Newsome, 22, says police punched and kicked him outside the
Midnight
>  Rodeo Club on Aug. 18 while he was trying to protect his cousin, Loveil
>  Wade, 19, during a fight at the bar in Huntington, a city of about 51,000
>  people some 50 miles from Charleston.

>  Both Newsome and Wade are black; the eight officers and an off-duty 911
>  dispatcher involved are white.

>  The FBI and the police internal affairs office are investigating police
>  brutality allegations. In the meantime, Huntington Police Chief Gordon
Ramey
>  II has refused to identify the officers involved. The dispatcher was
>  identified as Robert D. Bell.

>  Wade was charged with possessing drugs and Newsome was charged with
>  obstruction of justice and four counts of battery on a police officer.

>  ``We think this issue is bigger than race,'' said David Perry, Newsome's
>  attorney. ``It's basic humanity.''

>  The incident didn't surprise the Rev. Pat Whittington, the former rector
at
>  St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Huntington.

>  Whittington, who is white, said her family was a target of threats and
>  racial slurs when her granddaughter's black father and uncle visited last
>  year.

>  ``Our neighbors were screaming how they would like to burn niggers,''
>  Whittington said. ``I had to go over and ask them to please not say that.

>  The family has since moved.

>  ``Huntington, in general, is a different place, more of a southern
town,''
>  Whittington said. ``Our situation was never addressed.''

>  Police sent Whittington's complaints to the Cabell County prosecutor, who
>  never filed charges. It took a petition by the state Attorney General's
>  office for the family to obtain a protective order.

>  ``One would have to have his whole body - not just his neck - buried deep
in
>  the sand to say there are no racial problems in Huntington,'' said
>  Patterson.

>  Last year, a black teen-ager alleged that police used excessive and
deadly
>  force when he was shot in the back during a pursuit. Police called the
>  shooting accidental.

>  In 1996, two guards were fired after they staged a mock lynching of a
black
>  inmate at the Cabell County Jail in Huntington.

>  Cross burnings, a tactic of the Ku Klux Klan, also have been reported in
>  Huntington in recent years.

>  It's time to act, says Arley Johnson, a black former state legislator.

>  ``Since I was a child, I have been to so many community forums on racism
>  that after a while everybody gets tired of talking about the problem -
>  black, white and everything else,'' said Johnson.

>  ``At some point, the situation will die down and then it's back to usual
>  until the next time,'' he said. ``People are tired of that and I'm tired
of
>  that.''

>  The police chief said he is waiting for the investigations to be
completed
>  before taking any disciplinary action.

>  ``I have to be as objective as I can,'' said Ramey, who has been chief
for
>  five months.

>  Carter said he hopes Ramey follows through with his promise.

>  ``There are high expectations that Chief Ramey will pursue this and
pursue
>  justice even if it does lead to people being suspended from their post,''
he
>  said. ``We want the truth.''
> .,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

> "skipper popper" with a long lead for cpl <grin>

> The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness. - Dostoevsky

> Lots of Love, Don
> aka MAX
> http://www.wingsofanangel.com