Leadership Conference

The subject was discrimination. The discussions were honest, personal and sometimes painful.But those who attended the Multicultural Leadership Conference Western Maryland College yesterday believe that such discussions are necessary for tolerance and understanding to flourish.More than 300 local high school students participated in the conference, the second sponsored by Carroll Citizens for Racial Equality and the Carroll County public schools, where minority enrollment is 4 percent.The daylong event featured dramatic presentations, small group discussions and a "stepping" performance based on African dance movements by a group from Bowling Brook Preparatory School, a residential facility near Westminster that is licensed by the state Department of Juvenile Services.

Superintendent Brian Lockard got a $6,200 raise from the school board yesterday and gave it back to help pay for two programs he said he believes in: a student leadership conference about racial equality and increased efforts to recruit minority teachers."

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a lobbying coalition, has named Wade Henderson, director of the NAACP Washington bureau, as its executive director.Mr. Henderson, 48, has been the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Washington lobbyist for five years. He was a candidate to head the NAACP -- a job that went instead to former Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Baltimore."I don't consider myself in any way leaving the field," Mr. Henderson said yesterday."I'm really drawing on a broader canvas."

Mike Shay of Mount Airy has been selected to attend the National Young Leaders Conference Oct. 24-29 in Washington.The conference is a leadership development program for high school students who have demonstrated leadership potential and scholastic merit.A senior at South Carroll High School, Mike will be among 350 students to attend the annual conference.The theme will be "The Leaders of Tomorrow Meeting the Leaders of Today." Students will interact and meet with leaders and news makers from the three branches of government, the media and diplomatic corps.

BALTIMORE -- More than 400 business, professional and governmental leaders and scholars will be in Baltimore next weekend for the 25th annual leadership conference of the Center for the Study of the Presidency.Senator Larry Pressler, a South Dakota Republican, will deliver the keynote address at a reception and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Hyatt Regency hotel, 300 Light St. Eleven panel discussions on public policy, ranging from civil rights to security, will be conducted at the hotel Saturday and Oct. 16.Reservations for public sessions must be received by Wednesday.

WASHINGTON -- After more than a decade of battling Republicans in the White House and then working with their Democratic successor, one of the nation's most prominent civil rights figures announced yesterday that he would step down.Ralph G. Neas, the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights for 13 years, said that he would resign when his replacement is chosen next year.The announcement signaled a significant change in the vanguard of the civil rights movement and followed by two weeks a similar decision by Benjamin L. Hooks, the former executive director of the NAACP, to retire as chairman of the leadership conference.

More than 200 academicians and business and government leaders turned their backs on the gorgeous fall weather yesterday to ponder such weighty issues as public policy, the bully pulpit and the media and the presidency at the Inner Harbor's Hyatt Regency.White House adviser Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, the scheduled keynote speaker, was not able to attend the 25th annual Leadership Conference.Instead, Philip Lader, head of the Small Business Administration, spoke, focusing, among other things, on what he termed the "kaleidoscopic phenomenon of policy making."

Black leaders vowed yesterday to rise above their philosophical differences to help their people, as a national summit opened under heavy security at NAACP headquarters in Northwest Baltimore."

Black leaders vowed yesterday to rise above their philosophical differences to help their people, as a national summit opened under heavy security at NAACP headquarters in Northwest Baltimore."

Joseph L. Rauh Jr., 81, a prominent lawyer and founder of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) who often championed civil liberties causes, died Thursday night in a Washington hospital after suffering a massive heart attack. In 1946, he was one of a small group of people who proposed the anti-Communist but liberal organization that became the ADA. The Harvard-trained lawyer was the ADA national chairman from 1955 to 1957 and was on the executive board of the NAACP. In addition, he was the partner of Clarence Mitchell when the two served as co-chairmen of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

South River's Lyndse Hokanson, Poly's Martha Jacobs and Kenwood's Paige Puller returned from this summer's National Federation of State High School Associations Leadership Conference brimming with ideas about what they, as team captains, could do to bring their teams, their schools and their communities closer together. Their ideas ranged from forming captains clubs in their schools to community service to organizing a statewide leadership conference, but they also learned more about their own individual roles as leaders.

So far, authorities believe James von Brunn, the Maryland man accused of killing a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, acted alone. But the anti-Semitic and racist views he has expressed in decades of rants - in court testimony, on his Web site and in a self-published book - represent the convictions of a deeply rooted community of extremists now taking advantage of technology to attract new recruits. At least 13 such outfits now operate in Maryland, according to trackers of hate groups.

Leon Day would not have minded seeing his grandson with a baseball in his hand. A book in his hand, however, would have impressed him more. "He always told us: 'Pick up a book and read. Get an education; they can't take that away from you. Knowledge is power,' " recalled Sarah Newkirk Clark, the daughter of the Hall of Fame pitcher and Negro league legend. Clark's 15-year-old son, Leon Day Newkirk, seems to have absorbed the lesson. He frequently picks up and reads honor-roll certificates, academic awards, college scholarship offers, and, last month, an invitation to attend the annual National Young Leaders Conference this summer on Capitol Hill.

ATLANTA -- The Southern Christian Leadership Conference managed to save itself from a self-inflicted death blow last week. After hearing from more sensible members, conference President Charles Steele retreated from his pledge to "honor" Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who stands accused of bankrolling a dogfighting ring, at its convention in Atlanta. The old-line civil rights organization closed out its annual gathering without doing anything so foolish. But the organization, like similar groups, is still dying a slow death.

Peer Leadership Conference set Howard County's school counselors will sponsor their fourth Peer Leadership Conference for young student leaders from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gathering Place in Clarksville. The theme of the conference for elementary school-age children is "Everyday Heroes." About 500 children from 29 elementary schools and their school counselors are expected to attend. Participants are selected for their involvement in school groups and committees such as peer mediation, safety patrols, peer mentoring, student government and Students for Safe Schools.

Anyone who meets Chelsea Everett, a 16-year-old sophomore at Howard High School, knows she is a natural leader. She is personable, loves to talk, and is very enthusiastic. She is also involved in her school. She was recently elected president of the junior class for the coming year, after serving in the same capacity for the sophomore class. She is a member of her school's step team, a member of the spirit squad and a member of the track-and-field team. No wonder the Columbia resident recently was selected to represent the state July 27 through Aug. 4 at the World Leadership Conference at George Washington University in Washington.

Savannah Wilhelm, 10, a fifth-grader at Thunder Hill Elementary School, is a peer mentor, meaning she tutors younger pupils at her school. She works with kids in second, third and fourth grade, she said, and she is proud of one fourth-grader in particular. "She needed a little help with math, and ever since I started working with her, she's been getting B's," said Savannah, who added that she feels comfortable helping pupils who are only slightly younger than she is. On Thursday, Savannah was one of about 500 Howard County elementary school pupils attending a Peer Leadership Conference being held at the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory near Laurel.

NEW ORLEANS - It was supposed to be a festive New Year's Eve celebration. Levon Jones and his teammates at Georgia Southern University were in town for a flag football tournament. So on their free time, they did what most college students do in New Orleans - they went to a bar on Bourbon Street. The evening turned tragic when Jones, 25, got into a scuffle with three bouncers outside a popular nightspot, Razzoo Club and Patio. When it was over, Jones, an African-American, was dead. The bouncers, who are white, held him down, causing his lungs to collapse, and he suffocated, an autopsy found.

Given the chance to reach more than 1,400 young people at the Baltimore Convention Center yesterday, organizers of the Youth Explosion 2004 leadership conference tried to impart as many positive messages as they could. Workshops focused on business skills, college preparation, spirituality, dating violence and hip-hop music. Speakers encouraged the almost completely African-American crowd to love, respect themselves, take care of and think for themselves. Keynote speaker Afeni Shakur, mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur -- who attended the School for the Arts in Baltimore in the late '80s.

SILVER SPRING - Spotlighting the role of female clergy in sexual abuse for the first time, a victims advocacy group said yesterday that it had identified about 100 people in the United States who said they had been assaulted by Catholic nuns, sisters and other female religious workers. At a news conference, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called for other victims to come forward so they could share their stories and receive help. The group also asked the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a national female clerical organization based here, to allow victims to speak at their annual meeting next month in Fort Worth, Texas.