·u.
•
OJ
-A group of'mi- A Baltimore City grand jury re­
DOrity buain claim in a port issued in 1992 criticized the
'110 million la uit that Mary- tate for not enforcing its minor-
land aDd feel 1 officials' rou- it)' busin goals.
tlo.ly circumvented law At least 10 percent of high­
-iped to increase minority way funding is normally set
perticipatioD in highway pro- aside for minority contractors
jecta. The suit, filed Wednesday unless a state receives 'a waiver
in U.S. Di trict Court, also from the federal government.
claims federal officials have al- States are also required to insti­
lowed llO businesses owned by tute a Minority Business Enter­
white contractors to pose as mi- prise program outlining their
DOrity companies. set-aside programs. The plain-
·&th federal and state high- tiffs claim Maryland has not up­
way ies top management dated its minority plan since
ofllciala have demonstrated to- August 1989, and set-aside quo­
ta! and absolute lack of commit- tas have been treated as limits
ent nd support for the for minority participation. Fed­
Lminority] partuup&.tion· pro- . ,era! off� have also approved
IJ'8m," la yer John Rhines aivers qn 200 co!lt.racts worth
atatee in court documents. Only more than 60 million over the
" percenl of the $250 million a past three years, eliminating
provided by the Federal minority contracting require­
Highway Administration since ments the suit claims.
1986 been awarded to mi- The suit asks the federal gov­
DOrity firms, the plaintiffs cla�. emment to freeze further fed-
•
eral funding for Maryland until
the state revises its minority
business development program.
The suit is also asking the courts
to force the state to establish a
set-aside program to reserve
contracts solely for black and
Hispanic companies, a minority
bonding and surety program', a
loan program, and a state
funded technical assistance pro­
gram to promote minority busi­
ness formation.
The plaintiffs in the case in­
clude the Maryland Minority
Contractors Association, two
other groups of contractors and
seven individual contractors.
Defendants include the state
r and federal and highway traas­
portatlon" departments, along
with Transportation Secretary
Federico Pena, state Transpor­
tation Secretary James
Lighthizer and officials working
for both secretaries.
urger King earmar s
100 mllllon for
'minority' franchi ses
Association for the Advance­
ment of Colored People, said the
Burger King program "sounds
pro-active. "
"It's a good program," he said.
"I hope they are able to achieve
it." .
The plan includes specific in­
itiatives to further improve mi­
nority representation including:
franchise development, opera­
tions, employment, procure­
ment, marketing and
advertising, corporate eontribu­
tions and banking.
In other steps:
• Restaurant Services 'Inc.,
the purchasing agency for the
Burger King system, will pro­
vide technical support and other
assistance to foster minority
supplier growth.
• Burger King has pledged
FRED RASHEED, national $500,000 per year for that same
director of the econotnic develop- period to support minority com­
ment program for the National munity and civic events.
Controversy surrounds
Trump move for Gary casino
BY LL LEsteR franchisees, who claimed that
Black franchisees were charged
MJAIII (AP) - Burger King up to twice as much as other
Corp. plana to invest $100 mil- Burger King owners to purchase
1100 to support 'minority' group a franchise. Both the company
fraDchi8es aneJ suppliers in its ' and Barrow said the latest pro.
urant system over the next gram isn't directly related to the
ft , lawsuit.
-rhia' a way of making sure The company settled with six
our franchisee community is of the plaintiffs and six plaintiffs
........ ntative of our consumer have separate lawsuits pending,
community," Scott Colabuono, said Burger King general coun­
the company's chief financial of- sel Mark Giresi.
and chainnan of the com- . Other restaurant chains such
pmly'. diversity action council, as Flagstar Corp., parent com-
eaid Monday. pany of Denny's, and Shoney's
Operation Push, a civil rights Inc., have offered multimillion
poup that had been negotiating financial incentive plans in the
with the fast food chain over mi- wake of discrimination lawsuits.
DOrity. u , praised the com- The NAACP entered into a bil­
pany for investing in the lion-dollar program this year
financial health of minority with Flagstar.
COIDJDuniti .
Buraar King announced the
plan on Monday. Of Its 6,000
·r_taurants in the United
, 720 are owned by minori­
the company said.
"Thia 11y helps the econ-
omy,. 'd the Rev. Willie T.
Barrow, chairwoman and chief
eXecuti of Operation Push.
� King has taken the lead
in rma of creating small busi­
nil .. in our community. "
•
lNDIANAPOUS (AP) -Willie
Harris, chairman of the Hoosier
Lottery Commission, has re­
signed because of a conflict of
interest, the commission's direc­
tor said today.
Donald R. Trump, who is
seeking a riverboat casino li­
cense in Gary, has hired Harris'
law firm.
Lottery executive director
John Dillon said today that Wil­
lie Harris left the post he ac­
cepted in July to avoid a "conflict
with what our goals are at the
Hoosier Lottery."
Harris did not attend the
commission meetmg where his
resignation was announced. Dil-
Ion said Gov. Evan Bayh is
searching for a successor.
AN INDEPE DENT audi­
tor gave the lottery's finances a
clean bill of health in a report
presented to the commissioners.
Dillon reported that lottery
sales halfway through the fiscal
year are ahead of projections.
Minority Affairs Coordinator
Vickie Presley said the number
of minority-owned busin ses
selling lottery tickets has in­
creased 15 percent in the past
six months. Five minority ven­
dors won contracts worth
$72,000 during the 'same period,
she said.
'IHE MIAMI-BASED com­
oy, ub idiary of Grand
politan PLC of Great Brit­
ain. will provide $10 million per
year for five years in develop­
ment money for minority fran­
chi. . An additional $10
mill on per year will be provided
in the form of loan guarantees
... or direct investments in mi­
nority suppliera to the Burger
King system.
Burger King waasued in 1988
for $500 million by 12 black
MONTGOMERY WARD
ays its Homeland line of cloth­
ing, designed to appeal to
Blacks, is lling extremely well.
Spokeswoman Sarina Butler at­
tribu that to being able to tar­
get 80 stores that serve a mostly
Black clientele.
COMMUNICATIO BAR­
RIERS, a longstanding problem
in lling to ethnic groupe.
falling a merch ndi in-
ingly vi cultural differ-
enoes as opportuniti , not ob­
tacl .
Spanish:spea Jring television
tiona ha b n inundated
with cis from old-line compa­
nies like Sears, McDonald' and
AT&T. And magazin like Es­
sence have proven that specialty
fashion magazine for Blacks
can be successful.
Many compani also are tak-
r of
'd
First Home?
First Home Mortgage?
. First Federal
I!l Loan tart Pre-Qualifies You. For ortgage Financitig
Before You Buy A Home.
The fir t tep toward buyin that h me i when you tep into any .
Fir t Federal office and apply for a free ill L an tart "Pre-Qualification Certificate."
nee you have it, it tell the eller you're a eriou buyer. That' a big edge.
And the ill Ra�e Protection Plan II k -in" your mortga e intere t
at a very competitive rate. That' pea e of mind. ee the friendly people
at Fir t ederal for details, he make financing your fir thorne
th la t thing you have to worry ab ut.
ta Loan tart Pr -Qualification. Another Big Idea from First Federal of Michigan,
On of Michigan' Bi t . In titutio � 1934.
G:r Main
liHiiR FDI I
: 1 1 WoodwardAv nu ,D trott, Mi higan 48226 Pbooe:(313)965-1400
, .
I • F'1t1t FtdftII of M' .