Texas

Dragging victim’s son holds vigil for killer

The son of a black man dragged to death in 1998 by a white supremacist led a fast and prayer vigil to fight for the life of his father’s killer.

Ross Byrd’s father, James Byrd Jr., was tied to the back of a pickup with a logging chain, dragged and dismembered along a bumpy country road in Jasper.

White supremacist John W. King, who became the first of two white men sentenced to death for the 49-year-old Byrd’s slaying, has almost exhausted his state appeals. Byrd’s son, who initially favored the sentence, has since changed his mind.

Joined by dozens of supporters and anti-death penalty advocates that included Martin Luther King III, the younger Byrd traveled Wednesday to the state prison in Huntsville to lead the fast and vigil.

“When I heard King had exhausted his appeals, I began thinking, ‘How can this help me or solve my pain?’ and I realized it couldn’t,” Byrd said.

Byrd said he now believed the death penalty was wrong in all cases.

Philadelphia

Powell accepts medal for role against terror

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was awarded the 2002 Philadelphia Liberty Medal Thursday for his leadership in the war on terrorism, his efforts in the Middle East and his concern for human rights.

Powell said the ceremony at Independence Hall was proof the nation’s spirit had not been broken since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“The terrorists thought that they could keep us from celebrating the Fourth of July. They were wrong. We are here, and we will remain,” Powell said.

Powell also asked all Americans to devote more time to public service.

“Everybody can make the time to serve on a school board, volunteer at a local shelter, mentor a kid who needs someone to care,” he said.

The Liberty Medal is administered by Greater Philadelphia First, a regional business and civic organization, and comes with a $100,000 prize.

Washington

Bush expected to OK more anti-drug flights

The program to force down or shoot down airplanes suspected of carrying drugs in Latin America is expected to resume, a senior Bush administration official said Thursday.

The timing of President Bush’s decision remains uncertain, said the official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

The program was stopped after an American missionary and her infant daughter were killed in Peru last year when their plane was shot down by mistake.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer confirmed that administration officials had formally recommended that Bush “resume this program with new safeguards.”

The program permits the United States to identify and locate suspected drug planes and for Colombian and Peruvian military aircraft to down the planes if they ignore requests to land.

New Jersey

University offers to return sculpture

The Princeton University Art Museum has offered to return an ancient Roman sculptural relief to Italy after learning it was taken without an export permit.

The sculpture is a fragmentary Roman marble funerary monument that includes a Latin inscription and a bust of a bearded man named Aphthonetus. It dates from the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian.

The museum acquired the sculpture in 1985 from a New York dealer.

This week, representatives from the museum and the Italian government will meet to discuss the sculpture. The museum has asked Italian officials to keep it in Princeton on a long-term loan.