THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Man sues police
after G2O protest
By Jennifer C. Yates
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITTSBURGH A man has
accused police of being overly
aggressive and beating him with
a baton during last year's Group
of 20 economic summit in the first
of at least two federal lawsuits
related to the event to be filed
against authorities.
Frank Beal, 57, of Pittsburgh,
said in the suit filed Monday that
he was acting as an impartial
observer to monitor the protest
ers and police for any misconduct
on Sept. 24 at an intersection in
the city's Oakland neighborhood.
Beal said he was obeying an offi
cer's order to move to a different
corner when officers grabbed
him from behind, sprayed pepper
spray in his face and hit him in
the knee and shin with a baton.
- He's just standing there,
watching, - Sam Hens-Greco,
Beal's attorney said Tuesday.
Beal had to undergo surgery for a
fractured kneecap.
The American Civil Liberties
Union said it represents several
people who it believes were also
mistreated by heavy-handed
police during the two-day sum-
Stimulus costs to
exceed estimates
By Julie Hirschfield Davis
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON Barack
thama's massive stimulus meas
ure has created or saved as many
as 3.3 million jobs and continues
t , ) boost economic growth in the
econd half of 2010, but it's come
,tt a higher pricetag than original-
R - billed.
Congressional analysts
rel eased new figures Tuesday
.estimating that the law enacted in
.January of 2009 - then projected
cost $787 billion over a decade -
,ould cost $Bl4 billion. That's still
lower than the Congressional
idget Office estimated in
.ianuary when it said the meas
.' c would cost $862 billion.
The report comes 10 weeks
H , ,sfore midterm congressional
leetions in which Republicans
:re hammering Democrats and
Kama on the economy, charging
'ye pushed runaway spend
ing without creating jobs.
93%
of Penn State students agreed
that the ( - list: ibution racks
re conveniently located.
Ad :erti;e in The Daily Collegian
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mit. The ACLU plans to file a law
suit next month.
"It certainly appeared to be an
overreaction by the police. They
ended up hurting or arresting
hundreds of innocent people who
were engaged in no criminal
activity," said Witold "Vic"
Walczak, the ACLU's legal direc
tor in Pennsylvania. "Many were
students, not even involved in the
protest."
In all, police made nearly 200
arrests during the summit, most
ly when protesters and marchers
clashed with police in
Lawrenceville and near the
University of Pittsburgh campus
in Oakland.
Beal was charged with resist
ing arrest and failure to disperse.
Those charges were dropped
Jan. 20.
"At no time did the plaintiff
struggle with the police or
attempt to flee," the lawsuit said.
"Rather, at the time of his assault
by the defendants, plaintiff was in
the process of peacefully comply
ing with a police directive."
Beal's suit names the city of
Pittsburgh, Harrisburg police
officer Edward Grynkewiz 111 and
four unknown officers.
The analysis credits the stimu
lus measure with increasing the
number of people employed
somewhere between 1.4 million
and 3.3 million jobs between April
and June.
It's also boosted the gross
domestic product by as much as
4.5 percent, according to the
analysis.
The figures are slightly less
rosy than the picture
Obama's economic advisers
painted last month, when they
said the stimulus law had "raised
employment by 2.5-to-3.6 million
relative to what it otherwise
would have been" during that
period.
In May, the nonpartisan office
estimated the law had created or
saved between 1.2 million and 2.8
million jobs during the first three
months of the year.
The measure has lowered
unemployment as much as L 8
percent in the second quarter of
the year, according to the report.
[11%!1:11;11nc
E i lLe....v O .)
I
....
- 11 1 ,
VII
Two-Minute Warning
STATE & NATION
Manuel Bala net a Asso c ate F -
Former Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, left, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Sherrod rejects new job offer
WASHINGTON Shirley
Sherrod, ousted from the
Agriculture Department during a
racial firestorm that embar
rassed the Obama administra
tion, rejected an offer to return to
the USDA on Tuesday. But at a
cordial news conference with the
man who asked her to leave -
Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack - she said she may do con
sulting work for him on racial
issues.
She was asked to leave her job
as Georgia's director of rural
development in July after com
ments she made in March were
misconstrued as racist. She has
since received numerous apolo
gies from the administration,
including from Obama himself,
and Vilsack asked her to return.
But she said at the news confer
ence with a clearly disappointed
Vilsack that she did not think she
could say yes to a job "at this
point, with all that has happened."
Vilsack said she may work with
the department in a consulting
capacity in the future to help
improve outreach to minorities.
look forward to some type of
relationship with the department
in the future," said Sherrod, who
is black "We do need to work on
the issues of discrimination and
race in this country"
Vilsack had asked her to
become the deputy director of the
Office of Advocacy and Outreach,
a new position designed to bolster
the department's shaky record on
civil rights. He had also given her
a chance to return to her former
job. Both of them said Tuesday
Sherrod may return to the
department as a consultant once
an ongoing review of the depart-
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~~.:.
By Mary Clare Jalonick
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
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"I look forward to some type of relationship
with the department in the future. We do need
to work on issues of ... race in this country"
ment's efforts on race issues is
completed.
"I think I can be helpful to him
and the department if I just take a
little break and look at how I can
be more helpful in the future,"
Sherrod said.
The two appeared friendly as
Vilsack expressed his regret that
Sherrod wouldn't return to
USDA. He put his arm around her
at the news conference and said
he leaned on her hard to return.
"I did my best, I think it's fair to
say," he said. "There's no one bet
ter suited in the country to help
us than Shirley."
He said a consulting job may
work better for Sherrod, who was
concerned about assuming
administrative duties like budget
ing. She said she was reluctant to
be responsible for the weighty
duties of the position she was
offered.
Sherrod was forced to resign
after conservative blogger
Andrew Breitbart posted an edit
ed version of a March speech in
which said she was initially reluc
tant to help a white farmer save
his farm more than two decades
ago, long before she worked for
USDA. Vilsack and others, includ
ing the NAACP condemned the
remarks before grasping the full
context of her speech, which was
meant as a lesson in racial heal
ing.
The incident proved embar
rassing for the Obama adminis
tration, and President Barack
Obama called her personally to
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 25, 2010 I 7
Shirley Sherrod
former Agriculture Department offiria
express his regret. The NAA(7I'
also apologized for its reaction.
Sherrod, who said she has goi
ten thousands of pieces of
supporting her, repeated Tuesdir. -
that she plans to sue Breitbars.
But she declined further clue,
tions on the subject.
As he had in the past, VilsacL.
said he took complete respond
bility for Sherrod's ouster
Though the department had con
versations with the White Hotly'
at the time and Sherrod said sh , _
was told it was the White Hells('
who wanted her gone, Vilsack has
said the decision was his.
"I know that I disappointed thi
president, I disappointed thi.
administration, I disappointed the
country, I disappointed Shirley
he said.
"I have to live with that ..
Maybe, just maybe, this is an
opportunity for the country to
have the kind of conversation
Shirley thinks we ought to have.-
Vilsack said he talked to
Sherrod for an hour and a hail
Tuesday morning.
The two discussed a settlemenl
for black farmers who have been
victims of racism pending in thy_•
Senate and other civil right.•.
issues facing the department.
The USDA has a long history (
discrimination of black farmer.-:
who sought out loans and other
aid.
The government this year set
tied a second round of damages
stemming from a class-action
lawsuit originally settled in 1999.
111 Authorized Campus Store