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Show Al4 = L The Salt Lake TribuneNATION Friday, May 26,1995 Activist Seeks Dayof Recognition to Honor Rosa Parks By Elizabeth Atkins Bowman THE DETROIT NEWS DETROIT — Sarella Johnsonis on a mission to get the governmentto officially recognize her idol and inspiration — Rosa Parks. For months, the Detroit community activist has been traveling the country seeking signatures and support to create Rosa Parks Day on Feb. 4, Parks’ birthday. “She deserves a day of national recognition,” said Johnson, 36, founderof Saving Our Black Youth Network. Johnsonis planning a parade through downtown Detroit on Friday, June 23. Theeventwill include a re-enactmentof the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus scene in which Parks refused to forfeit her seat to a white passenger. Her actof defiance triggered a bus boycott that is a landmark in the civil-rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. Johnsonsaid she plansto take a million signatures and proclamations from 50 states to Congress in September, hoping that a group of representatives — black and white, Republican and Democratic — will sponsora bill “We're hoping our Congresswill say, ‘Yes, she deserves a day.’” Johnson wants to avoid the messy politics that challenged the national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. “This is on behalf of a person whotook the risk of standing up for the bettermentof the country,’ Johnson said. “She didn’t stand up for Democrats or Republicansor liberals or King Center to Direct King Day Operations THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA — A federal commission that got $300,000 a year to promote the observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is turning over conservatives. She stood up for humanbeings and changed the mentality of the nation.” It is a goodidea, but polities in the conservative Republican Congress will inevitably come into play, said Ray Plowden, chiefof staff and press secretary for Rep. John Conyers, D‘ich. Plowden noted that in 1968, Conyers sponsored a bill to establish a national King holi- its operations to the private King Center. The commission votedto disband Tuesday at a meeting in Washington, largely because Coretta Scott King, the slain day, but it did not pass until 1983. John Truscott, spokesman for Governor John Engler, who signed Johnson’s petition, said getting Congress to approve a Rosa Parks eivil-rights leader’s widow, wanted to step down aschairwoman, said member W.Stewart Minton. Day could be easy. “As long as you don’t have to give people a day off and there isn’t a cost involved,thisis onethat’s easy to do,” he said. The Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission was established by Congress in 1984. Minton said the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change will continue many of the federal panel's functionsafter 1996. King asked the commission in January to stop using her husband’s likeness, saying it confused corporate donors into giving moneyto the federal agency instead of the King Center. Video Lobby Makes Case REMINGTON, GIFT PAC For $1 Coin 22 LONG RIFLE AMMO * TWIST FLASHLIGHT Games Score Points With 45 Lawmakers REG. 19.99 GE NMG,ID By Brigid Schulte (o KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSSERVICE WASHINGTON — Meet the most popular lobbyists for a dollar coin: X-Men; Belly Bomber; Swamp Stomp; Theatre of Magic pinball, with the requisite buxom temptress on the machine; Sonic the Hedgehog; virtual reality Daytona USA. On Tuesday evening, the makers of video games, vending machines and juke boxes turned the drab cafeteria of the Longworth House Office Building into a video-game arcade. And with the games free, the place was packed. Forty-five members of Congress showed up, along with scores of staffers, family members and the occasional Capitol Hill policeman. Children — and someadult congressional aides — wore balloon animal hats and slurped orangeice-cream bars. “Six or seven years ago, when we talked about a dollar coin, people thought we were crazy,” said Randy Chilton of Wichita, Kan., incoming president of the Commercial Amusement, Music, Entertainment and Vending Industry. “But now it’s in the House budget resolution. People are finally interested.”” CLOSING IT’S DOORS IN SANDY! (9425 So. 700 E.) Millions in Savings: The reason thedollarcoin is in the budget plan and the reason the industry wants to eliminate the paper dollar is simple: Money. budget cutters say replacing doliars that last 18 months with coins that last 30 years will save the U.S. Treasury millions in the long run. And the vending industry says ditching those temperamental dollar-bill changers in favor of cheaper coin mechanisms on vending machines will save them bundles. Last week, the industry had 89 lawmakerssignedon to the doliar coin legislation. And Tuesday night, they picked up a few more, after a week of intense lobbying. After a few rousing games of foosball, Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., said he wasa believer. ‘I don't see any negativestoit,” he said, “except thatit'll put printing people out of work.” Likewise Rep. Don Manzullo, R-IIL., signed on to the bill, despite the fact that he was beaten badly by his 11-year-old son at “Primal Rage,” a video-game battle of dinosaurs. Just More Loose Change: But others were less enthusiastic about the proposed smoothedged, gold-colored $1 coin. “Wecan't do anotherSusan B. Anthony,’’ said Rep. NT ALLIED IS MOVING TO A NEW SANDY LOCATION WITHOUT J OUR HARDWARE, | HOUSEWARES OR PLUMBING, BUY NOW FOR INCREDIBLE DISCOUNTS BECAUSE YOU | WON’T FIND THESE ITEMS AT ALLIED IN SANDY ANYMORE! F 77 HOUSE WARES ve 70 Tom Latham, R-lowa, referring to the failed 1979 dollar coin that onetoo-many people plugged into parking meters and pay phones 50% o: thinking it was a quarter. Rep. made off with a big plastic bag SALE!: USED SALE! CONSOLE PIANOS Toei110) KING’S MUSIC 2233S, 700 E | ALLIED IN SAND WILL CLOSE —— [> 0 yak AT 5 p.m. HURS. MAY 25th TO DISCOUNT ALL MERCHANDISE IN THE Nick Smith, R-Mich., full of Slinkies, toys and an autographed photo of former Washington Redskins linebacker Monte Coleman. But he remained unmoved. “Who wants to carry around more change?” he said matter-of-factly Opponents of the Coin Coalition, the Save the Greenback Coalition, complain that they can't compete with an event that routinely is voted one ofthe top five receptions on Capitol Hill “We did send out press kits with a real dollar bill on the outside, saying, ‘This is not a bribe, this is an endangered species,’ said Tim Hackler, a spokesman for the greenbacks. “But I guess we need to get alittle more creative ... maybe somebody dressed up like a big dollar bill?” fe ootNom \A | STORE! DON’T MISS THIS SALE! WHEN IT’S GONE + IT'S GONE! = Ry) RANCE STARTS 7a.m. - FRIDAY, MAY 26 AT THE SANDY ALLIED ONLY! * |