ROPOULO
(AP) - L ni
NAVY
ANNOUNCEMENTS
By PAUL NOWELL
A •• ocl.ted Pr ••• Wrlt.r
GREEN BORO N.C. CAP) - A
department store that was the
ite of a historic protest by
Blacks against racial segrega
tion will be reborn as a civil
rights museum. Officials of Sit
In Movement Inc. said Thu day
they hoped to open the museum
by Feb. 1, 1995, the 35th anni
versary of a lunch-oounter sit-in
at the F.W. Woolworth store,
which is slated to close this
month.
In 1960, four Blac college
students t down in the action
of the store's lunch counter re
served for whites. The prot t i
considered a key event in the
civil rights movement.
One of the four students, .
Franklin McCain, spoke at
Thursday' ne conference.'
"I always felt this place was
more than just another five-and
dime, " McCain said. "From here,
rine Corp
S Di go, rui ugh
the b i ofb ttlefield urvival,
introdu d to typical military
daily routin , and pe onal nd
prof ional nda
Th 1989 graduate of Muske
gon H igh High School, Mus
egon Heights, joined th
Marine Corp in April, 1993.
a clarion call as sent out for
justice, brotherhood and equal
ity.-
LAST YEAR, Woolworth an
nounced that the Greensboro
store, which opened in 1923,
would b among nearly 1,000
across the country to close.
Sit-In Movement official
said they need to raise between
dlrs 3 million and dlrs 5 million
to purchase and renovate the
store. They said they have raised
INSURANCE REFORM
doctor-will have the final say
about what treatment is appro
priate Rr .tl)�1l1 �p,d to add insult
The state' most, inj rv it we d for cci
sur ce compaai on' ttim··�lrno"'· e .�/ ..
�top trying to ite.a�. ute .. I 0 appeal first to he v' ry eam
insurance law for their own pany that denied them coverage
benefit according to Rick Stod- in the first place" Stoddard ex-
dard, secretary of the Michigan pressed '
Citizens Lobby and a member of .
the Committee for Fairness and
Accountability in Insurance Re
form (FAIR).
-A little more than a year ago
Michigan voters overwhelm
ingly rejected AAA's Proposal
D," Stoddard said. "We rejected
it because it dramatically re
duced our benefits, did not guar
antee lower rates, and meant
more mpney for insurance com
panies:"
Now voters are faced with re
jecting yet another law written
to benefit the state's insurance
companies.
Stoddard says they will have
to do it again because the Legis
lature and Governor just didn't
understand they meant by their
"no" vote last year.
The new law will go into effect
April 1 unless enough signa
tures are gathered to force a
public referendum.
By CRAIG HILL
JUST WEEKS AFTER vot
ers rejected Proposal D, legisla
tors gave in to the Governor and
insurance company lobbyists
and passed into law a bill based
on exactly the same principles as
Proposal D-significant cuts in
consumer benefits and no guar
antee of lower rates for Michi
gan drivers, says Stoddard.
"The new law, Public Act 143
of 1993, is even worse than Pro
posal D because it gives insur
ance companies even more ways
to deny ooverage," said Stod
dard.
Stoddard explained that the
new law takes away the full cov
erage for medical bills that peo
ple have today if they are injured
in an auto accident and it allows
them to buy back their old cov
erage, "but of course it will east
them more and they won't be
able to buy back the coverage
they have today a any pri ."
Even more devastating for
consumers is the fin prin tha
gives insuranc companiews
much' more control ov r your
treatment and arbi rarily limi
, many rehabilitation services to
a fixed time period, "no matter
whatcareyourdoctord temines
that they need, says Stoddard.
"Under this new law, your in
urance company-not your
•
ering 12�,OOO signatures for a
petition so the law can be de
layed until the November elec
tion so th t can Teject it
in," Stodd "said,
roups like the NAACP De
troit Branch, Michigan Con
sumer Federation, Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, the Ad
vocacy Organization for Pa- _
tients and Providers, the
Michigan State AFL-CIO and
the Michigan Head Injury Alli
ance are asking voters across
the state to sign petitions sup
porting the referendum, says
Stoddard.
Stoddard warned that the in
surance companies aren't about
to give up their fight to k p
voters off the ballot.
"They know voters will reject
it just as they did AAA's Pro
posal D so their lawyers are pre
paring to go to court to take
away the people's right to vote, "
he said.
Stoddard urged consumers
thi is a "fi h we can't afford to
los ." .
This is a fight about the pub
lic's right to vote, theinsurance
company control over lives, and
the arrogance in Lansing-the
kind of arrogance that led Gov
ernor Engler and many legisla
tors to ignore two-and-a-half
million voters who said no to the
insurance companies and will
say it gain, expressed Stod
dard.
"I talked to a couple of legis
lato about this bill," Stoddard
said. "One legislator said they
didn' car and wo said they
wer n't bound."
about dlrs 450,000, including a
dlrs 50,000 chec presented
Thursday by John Franci , th
vice president of First Citizens
Bank, which owns th building.
"We ha ived numerou
offers for this building," Francis
aid. "Weknowofnooth rcause
more worthy ... than th p r
vation of the F.W. Woolworth
tore where the civil rights
movement began."
Plans for th two-level mu
seum call for a variety of exhibits
dealing with human and civil
rights. The famous lunch
counter will reopened.
Marin Cpl. Bobby M Cow n,
on of Viola McCow n of u k
gon, ntly rived th Good
Conduct Medal and wa pro-
moted 0 his p nt rank. Th
medal recogniz as rvi mem-
r's honest and faithful rvi
during a three-year p riod.
H is currently igned with
He dquarte B t alion, 2nd
Marine Division, Marin Co
B , Camp Lej une, .C.
Th 1990 gradua of u k -
gon High School, Mu kegon,
joined th Marin Corp in June,
1 O.
TODDARD ASKED THE
question: What are consumers
suppo ed to get in return for
these cuts in benefits?
He explained that the law
contains something called a "six
teen percent average rate reduc
tion" but it applies only to those
who choose th minimum bene
fit levels while extra coverage
would be available but at a
higher price.
"Insurance companies can
, even request waivers from all or
part of the rollback and are free
to raise their rates again after
just six months," Stoddard
claimed.
, According to Stoddard, AAA's
Proposal D had the sam loop
holes in its fine print.
"I beHeve AAA had a lot to
with this new law but they are
keeping a low profile," he said.
THE AIR COALITIO
believes that Michigan citizens
should be allowed to xercis
their Constitutional right to ask
for a referendum(means some
thing provided in .constitution
Article 2 Section 9 that guaran
tees the right of vot rs to vote on
something the legislature did
before it take affect) on this
law, Stoddard says.
"We are in the process of'gath-
Young�o
teach, lecture
atWSU
ernors.
u Marx Smock, n ofth
CoIl ge of U rb n, Labor nd
M tropolitan Aff irs, says
Youngs r ponsibiliti "will in
clud t chingand pa icipation
in writing and cholarlyendeav
ors as may b appropriat ."
She says Young will giv ev
eral lectur ,both in specified
class and for the student body
in gener 1.
"His pr
State," she no , "will giv
den nd facul y th privil
learning abou governan
poli ics from on of th nation'
mos xperien prof; ion Is.
Mayor Youn halo to of r,
and w w n 0 k optimum
dv nt of this opportuni y by
having him h his knowl ge
nd experience through t ch
ing and luring."
eights man
compl t
training
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MARTI. I nIH· R KJ, '() ,
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