Judge rules against breakaway SCLC faction

[NovaSkegee]

Judge rules against breakaway SCLC faction

By ERRIN HAINES
The Associated Press

ATLANTA — A judge ruled Wednesday against board members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who formed a breakaway faction with the group's embattled treasurer and chairman.

The ruling issued Wednesday from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey effectively places control of the group with the faction siding with the Rev. Bernice King, who was elected last October to lead the group.

The SCLC was co-founded by King's father, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, Joseph Lowery and others in 1957 and was a leading force in the civil rights struggle of the 1960s.

Last fall, federal and local authorities launched an investigation of allegations that the SCLC chairman and treasurer mismanaged at least $569,000 of the group's money. The two denied the allegations and have continued to challenge their dismissal by some board members.

Chairman Raleigh Trammell and Treasurer Spiver Gordon have not been criminally charged, but the SCLC has spent nearly a year in court, wrangling over control of the organization. Separate factions that both claimed to be the SCLC's board of directors met hundreds of miles apart earlier this year, and each claimed to make moves on the group's behalf to save it from its legal woes and infighting. Last month, both sides held their annual conventions in Atlanta.

Meanwhile, Bernice King has declined to take office, delaying her installation until the SCLC's legal issues could be resolved.

The 37-page order favored the plaintiffs in the case, recognizing their meetings and actions as legal and valid, including the appointment or removal of any officers during that time period by that group.

The court banned the defendants — including Trammell, Gordon and the Rev. Markel Hutchins, who was acting as the SCLC's interim president and chief executive officer — from representing themselves as board members unless they are elected, reinstated or appointed by the board of directors recognized by the court in Wednesday's ruling.

The order also found that the defendants illegally interfered with the SCLC's downtown Atlanta headquarters, which Hutchins padlocked in May.

"Just like the first page of this order where 'judgment' is misspelled, everything in it is in error," Hutchins said, adding that he would hold a news conference on Thursday to discuss it in detail.

Plaintiff Bernard LaFayette, who worked alongside King during the civil rights movement and is a long-serving SCLC board member, said he was not surprised by the judge's decision.

"We had no doubt that the judge would rule in our favor," LaFayette told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We have followed our constitution and we did the proper things in order to maintain the integrity of our organization. We expected this outcome. We believed that justice would prevail."

LaFayette said it's time for healing the rift between the groups.

"We believe in nonviolence," he said. "We believe in forgiveness. But we are very firm that the mission and purpose of our organiation will include people who share that mission ... and are willing to work toward those goals."

LaFayette said he had not yet spoken to Bernice King about the ruling, but looked forward to her taking office now that the case has been resolved. A message left on King's cell phone was not immediately returned on Wednesday.

Sylvia Tucker, who was also a plaintiff and was appointed chairwoman to replace Trammell, said the group can now get back to its mission of helping the underserved.

"People are in need in this country and we're going to do what SCLC is supposed to do," she said. "This has taken a toll, where we could've been really out there in the community, doing the things we do best."

[NovaSkegee]

King-led group in control of SCLC

By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A faction of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led by two men under criminal investigation is out and the group that opposed them is officially in control of the once-premier civil rights group, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling issued from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey effectively places control of the organization with the faction siding with the Rev. Bernice King, who was elected last October to lead the group.

The SCLC was co-founded by King’s father, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, Joseph Lowery and others in 1957 and was a leading force in the civil rights struggle of the 1960s.

Last fall, federal and local authorities launched an investigation of allegations that the SCLC chairman and treasurer mismanaged at least $569,000 of the group’s money.

The two denied the allegations and have continued to challenge their dismissal by some board members.

A public struggle for control was taken to court where both sides hoped to have the final word. The judge ruled it belonged to the group that tried to push out the leaders under investigation.

Dempsey said in his order that the board, led by former Chairman Raleigh Trammell of Dayton, Ohio, former Treasurer Spiver Gordon of Eutaw, Ala., and President Markel Hutchins of Atlanta, does not have a role any more.

The order also found that the defendants illegally interfered with the SCLC’s Atlanta headquarters, which Hutchins padlocked in May.

“Just like the first page of this order where ‘judgment’ is misspelled, everything in it is in error,” Hutchins said, adding that he would hold a news conference today to discuss it in detail. It was not immediately known if the losing faction will challenge the order.

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/king-led-group-in-604732.html

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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Lawsuit: Ex-SCLC figure taped sex
Lawsuit claims Trammell taped sexual encounters with employees

By Lou Grieco, Staff Writer
Dayton Daily News

DAYTON – A former Dayton SCLC employee who has claimed the Rev. Raleigh Trammell repeatedly sexually harassed her has filed a lawsuit, detailing numerous allegations against Trammell, including that he videotaped sexual encounters with several female employees.

DaMisha Douglas filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, Aug. 31, in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. Those named as defendants include the SCLC’s offices in Dayton and Atlanta, the Ohio Baptists General Convention offices in Dayton and Columbus and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance offices in Columbus and Dayton. It asks for damages in excess of $1 million for sexual harassment, retaliation, assault, battery, emotional distress, libel, slander, wrongful termination and other charges.

Trammell’s attorney, Mia Wortham Spells, declined to comment. So did the Rev. Sylvester Walker of St. Luke Baptist Church in Dayton, who is executive secretary of the Ohio Baptist General Convention. Trammell did not return messages left at his office and at home.

In June, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission found probable cause that the SCLC allowed discrimination against Douglas, who filed her complaint with the OCRC in November, claiming Trammell “made numerous unwanted sexual advances toward her and subjected her to unwelcome sexual contact,” the commission said.

The lawsuit complaint goes into significantly more detail, describing alleged events that started when Douglas, now 34, was 13. At that time, Douglas’ mother had been assigned to perform community service at the Dayton SCLC after her release from prison. Douglas said she walked in on Trammell and her mother having sex at the office, but her mother, who was married, asked her not to tell anyone.

Her mother sent her to live with Trammell when she was 14 “so she could attend summer school,” and she told Trammell that she had been sexually abused by two family members. Later, when Douglas worked for the SCLC, Trammell would tell her he wished he was one of those family members and said he would have had sex with her, too, according to the lawsuit.

She started working for the Dayton IMA and SCLC when she was 16. Her mother approached her and told her the family had money problems, but that Trammell would give them money if she agreed to have sex with him. She reluctantly agreed, and had sex with Trammell, according to the suit.

During her employment with the IMA and SCLC, Douglas claimed in the lawsuit that she was repeatedly harassed and propositioned by Trammell. One female co-worker told Douglas that Trammell wanted to watch them have sex. While Douglas declined at first, she agreed on a limited basis when offered $1,000, according to the suit, and taped encounters between him and the other woman

Douglas also found videotapes of Trammell engaged in sexual activity with employees or former employees of the organization, including one involving a mother and daughter, according to the suit.

During the spring and summer of 2009, Douglas complained of Trammell’s behavior to SCLC’s general counsel, Dexter Wimbish, and to Wilbert Shanklin, the group’s compliance officer. But, according to the lawsuit, the harassment continued. During one incident , Trammell came into Douglas’ office and complained about her failing to give him attention . He touched her and exposed himself, but she pushed him away.

Four days later, Trammell and Douglas had a disagreement about documentation concerning another employee’s work hours, in which Trammell wanted her to indicate the employee worked more hours than she actually had. She also reported these concerns to Shanklin and Wimbish, who told her to put her grievances in writing . To resolve the issues, Trammell agreed to allow her to work from home, but come to the office “once or twice a week to avoid Mr. Shanklin having to report it to Defendant SCLC.” Despite not working in the office regularly, she said she still had problems with Trammell.

According to the suit, she loaned $2,500 to Trammell to cover trip expenses for the SCLC national convention. To pay her back, he gave her permission to use one of his accounts to pay her utilities in July, August and September 2009. But when Trammell learned Douglas had sent Wimbish a letter about her complaints, he had the payments reversed and her utilities were shut off.

Wimbish informed the SCLC board about Douglas’ sexual harassment claims on Oct. 29, months after her initial complaint.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/lawsuit-claims-trammell-taped-sexual-encounters-with-employees-895046.html

[NovaSkegee]

The SCLC doesn't do anything that impacts anyone anylonger. They just need to get ride of this group. They've already made a mess it and who would want to even be a member now after this mess?