Southpinellas: Chief's grilling hotter than = usual

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Chief's grilling hotter than usual

Two Uhuru members lash out at police Chief Chuck = Harmon during=20 a heated Tiger Bay Club appearance.

By = LEANORA=20 MINAI, Times Staff Writer
Published February 25, 2004

[Times = photos:=20 Cherie Diez]
Tami=20 Simms-Powel, left, executive director ot the St. = Petersburg=20 Tiger Bay Club, tries to quiet Uhuru members Abasi = Baruti and=20 Penny Hess as Hess shouts a question to St. Petersburg = police=20 Chief Chuck Harmon on Tuesday.=20

Lee DeCesare, who invited two Uhuru members = to the=20 Tiger Bay Club luncheon, listens as Chief Chuck Harmon = answers=20 questions at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.=20

St.=20 Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon

ST. PETERSBURG - After dining on chicken breast in an = artichoke=20 cream sauce, two Uhuru members stood up in the ballroom of = the St.=20 Petersburg Yacht Club.

They shouted questions at St. Petersburg police Chief = Chuck=20 Harmon, who finished speaking Tuesday to the Suncoast Tiger = Bay Club=20 crowd.

"I want to ask about the case of Keith Stewart, who faces = five=20 years in prison," shouted Uhuru member Penny Hess, 58. = "There's=20 police brutality. ... "

"Out of order! Excuse me! Take it outside!" Tiger Bay = Club=20 members cried.

Soon, people were standing, and the political club = luncheon,=20 known for "Fang & Claw" questions of guest speakers, = turned=20 raucous. An undercover police detective escorted Hess and = fellow=20 Uhuru member Abasi Baruti out of the ballroom.

"If you can't even pretend to be civilized, we can't = accommodate=20 you, I'm sorry," Doug Fairbanks, Tiger Bay Club president, = told the=20 Uhuru members as they were ushered out.

The meeting resumed with Harmon fielding questions on = issues such=20 as the death penalty and homeland security. His visit was=20 interrupted a second time by two other Uhuru members in the = back of=20 the room. They also were escorted out of the ballroom.

"It wasn't unexpected," Harmon said later. "It's about = trying to=20 get attention for a cause, and I think that's what they were = trying=20 to do."

The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, an = activist=20 group that raises social and economic issues affecting = Africans and=20 African-Americans, has accused police and BayWalk security = of racial=20 profiling and harassing blacks.

As Tiger Bay Club members arrived at the yacht club, = Uhuru=20 members were standing outside, picketing on behalf of = Stewart. He is=20 one of three black men arrested at BayWalk in October on = charges of=20 inciting a riot at the entertainment complex.

"We're calling for charges against this brother to be = dropped,"=20 Baruti, 23, said outside. "We recognize that Harmon is part = of the=20 ruling class in St. Petersburg, which is why he's here at = the yacht=20 club."

Moments later, Lee DeCesare, a Tiger Bay Club member and = wife of=20 Madeira Beach Mayor Tom DeCesare, invited Baruti and Uhuru = member=20 Hess inside as her guests and bought their $20 lunches. They = sat at=20 a front table with St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Tish Elston. =

Only Tiger Bay Club members are allowed to ask questions, = and=20 some seized the chance to ask Harmon about the Stewart = case.

Diane Bailey, a St. Petersburg attorney who has sued the = Police=20 Department on behalf of clients, asked Harmon why he has not = initiated an internal affairs investigation of Stewart's = arrest.=20 Stewart, 34, has alleged excessive police force during his=20 arrest.

"It's tough to do when I have the police unions on the = other side=20 saying, "You can't be the complainant in this. This is a = force case,=20 where the person's capable of making this complaint,"' = Harmon=20 replied.

Tiger Bay Club members didn't appear too upset over the = Uhuru's=20 protests. Fairbanks, the club president, called it "great = fun."

DeCesare, who invited the Uhurus, approached Harmon as = people=20 left the yacht club.

"I had no idea they would do that," she told Harmon. "But = I'm=20 delighted they did."

- Leanora Minai can be reached at minai@sptimes.com or = 727=20 893-8406.

[Last modified February = 25, 2004,=20 01:31:45]

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