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NAACP National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People

January 26, 2012 by · Comments Off on NAACP National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People 

NAACP National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous will deliver the keynote speech at a national conference on rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Jealous is scheduled to speak at the conference Thursday night in Baltimore.

Under Jealous, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People launched an equality task force for the LGBT community.

It’s the 24th national conference on LGBT equality.

There are some high-profile measures before the Maryland General Assembly this year relating to the gay and transgender community. For example, lawmakers will be debating legalizing same-sex marriage. Legislation to extend rights to transgender residents also is expected to come before Maryland lawmakers.

Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. (© NC Department Of Public Safety/AP)

January 26, 2012 by · Comments Off on Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. (© NC Department Of Public Safety/AP) 

Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. (© NC Department Of Public Safety/AP), A death row inmate accused of killing three women and dumping two of them in South Carolina said in a letter to his hometown newspaper that he’ll spend many years getting decent care and enjoying frequent naps before he meets his end.

“Kill me if you can, suckers,” Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. wrote in a letter to The Gaston Gazette .

“Is the public aware that the chances of my lawful murder taking place in the next 20 years if ever are very slim?” Hembree asked. “Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well-balanced meals a day?”

The 50-year-old is on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh for suffocating Heather Catterton, 17, in 2009. He’s also accused of the 2009 killing of 30-year-old Randi Dean Saldana, whose burned remains were found near Blacksburg, S.C.

Hembree admitted to taking drugs and having sex with Catterton and Saldana the day they died, but he told jurors he did not kill them or dump their bodies. He is scheduled to go on trial in March for Saldana’s killing.

Hembree also is charged with killing 30-year-old Deborah Ratchford, whose body was found in a Gastonia cemetery in 1992.

“It stirs up their pain. It deepens their grief. It makes it more difficult for them to feel that justice has been done,” said Tom Bennett, of the NC Victim Assistance Network.

He said letters like the one written by Hembree are hard for the victims’ families.

“His criticism, though it’s nasty and horrible for the victims, actually there’s some to truth to it,” said Bennett.

State Representative Paul Stam said the letter is a travesty of justice. He said Hembree is more than likely to die of natural causes than he is of execution.

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