The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 21

Saturday April 29 2006 -They worked at die station at 1 and Crump The first five or so years spent cleaning up after die fires Barbara Cooper said Some who couldn't endure ha-rasament quit uut8nesaia racist commema and actions only made her husband more out- One of first African-- Capt Mm Cooper one to back down- from a challenge And he conftaated many in his day as one of the first black firefightere hired in Memphis When he saw what he thought was injustice he did something about it those dose to him say He helped pave the way for other Hack firefighters and fought for equality in the department' Mr Cooper retired firefighter and the husband of 55 years of state Rep Barbara Cooper D-Memphis died of complications from prostate cancer Thursday at the Memphis Veterans Medical Center He waa 76 Mr Cooper was one of 12 black firefighters to join die Memphis department in 1955 American firemen struggled to overcome racial issues Attorney Richard Fields represented black firefighters in the 1977 promotions lawsuit He remembers how vocal Mr Cooper was and how his experiences inspired younger fire- fighters took people like John to stand up to racism and really what he Fields said Mr Cooper also leaves two daughters Joan Cooper Burnett of New Haven Conn and Thnya Cooper of Memphis a son Carl Cooper of Las Vegas three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren Services will be at 11 am Friday at St Augustine Catholic Church with burial in tire lUt-i HV 1T1 A XT I -1 vVcoi iennessee vciciaiis nKwry nj iviu Sons Funeral Home has charge Sktiri Drain: 5293510 Mr Cooper often tolda story about an in-! ddent that happened not long after he was mica knew they had black she said were heading to a fire and the police stopped them -They thought they had stolen a He retired as a captain after 32 years Before joining the Fire Department Mr: Cooper who was born in Mason Item and raised in North Memphis played football for LeMoyne-Owen College and served in the Army He also drove a tow truck for the Memphis Police Department After die was elected in 1996 her husband traveled with her every week to Nashville Barbara Cooper said He continued to do so even recently when he was undergoing chemotherapy They couldn't stop my Barbara Cooper said Her husband was fired in the mid-1960s for intimidating a fellow firefighter but hired back two years later she said He helped ornize die Pioneer Black Fire Fighters Association and in the 1970s played a mjor role in a lawsuit that got black firefighters promotions husband was always verystrong and Barbara Cooper said was so proud erf his accomplishments I 3 Jt IS 3 a a 4 3 a 5 3 a A IS ft REGION IN BRIEF i he had any Idea that GOP Marketplaca a company ha helped finance would engage kiNqd mjeAGulGuf luyB flcuviiy iwo yean later Thomas Budar Commerce Apped file photo MISSISSIPPI i- TENNESSEE Tornado victims io recaVB ninos rfOtHUmrrTUi OWMSI Federal grants totaling almost $1 million have been approved iesmatwei '4h for famifies fa counties declared disaster areas after this month tornadoes Grants for home repain or temporary housing totaled and avenged $2300 per household Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Randy Welch said The other grants for replacing furniture or vriiides and coming medical or funeral $392901 Welch said FEMA has registered 940 households fa West Ttemessee A9 At A A counnesinacreponea from the April 2 twisten and 604 fa Mkkile Tennessee counties struck by the April 7 storms -y Gibscm County fa West iennessee nas iua Ok uj08C iennessee uaa nau uk ukm househdils to register with 602 Sumner County near Nashville had VC Not all tiiose who registered will qualify for a FEMAgrant which is intended to hebthoae 1 intended to help those who have insurance If THE Katrina evacuee was sentenced to more than three years fa prison after pleading guilty to counterfeiting US District Court Judge Tfan Vkilra sentenced Steven Mark Ridge to 39 montiu just two montiis less tiian the maximum term -Ridge had sought a fighter 1 because he already faces lengthy terms for other crimes including his September escape from River Correctional Iferifity fa Ferriday La where he was serving time fortheft bank -fraud rad forgery ARKANSAS Man gets 60 yean In munlef for hive MOUNTAIN A man accused of offerings pontoon boat and $10000 fa exchange for the murders of two people was convicted Friday and sentenced to a total of 60 years fa prison A Baxter County jury found 1 Thurman Russell of Henderson guilty of trying to hire a Viola man to kill Garry Kriton and Patti Honeycutt Russdl and his wife Carolyn had sold a house and entered into a lease-purchaae agreement on a boat-storage focifity with Kdton and Honeycutt Carolyn RuBseQwasnotdiarged Barbour denies TENNESSEE EMT Is charged nulMgm wim crara rape A paramedic has been charged with nearly 200 counts of child rape sml molestation Edward Raven Odom 29 appeared fa court briefly this week and faces a daylong -preliminary hearing next month because of tiie number of charges prosecutor HoOyn on tiie number of Jin I viaum navenr Pccti rocMco but an arrest warrant indicates they are boys-V t-' The warrant says Odom fajected something believed to be morphine into one boy arm he would be helpless to fight off tiie -'I Same of the afiegtiohs date back five yean The Bedford County Emergency Medical Services put Odom on administrative leave TENNESSEE' -r- liauilia TlOlKI MIS 4mhmb ynsitnnf-n An escaped inmate from Louisiana who conned his way into a conned Ua way into 1 Ifafaentfy of Tfameasee fraternity by posing ass' 3 i 1 GOP Marketplace New Jersey operation preceded file New Hampshire phone jamming and used a different tactic prosecutors said Raymond arrraged for annoying alls during' the 2002 Super BowL The ads attacked a Tteffinger opponent but appeared to come from a third candidate Tteffinger served spent 13 months in The Tteffinger indictment did not name Raymond but referred to a political consultant Lawyers confirmed' Raymond was the unnamed consultant mentioned in the indictment' Barbour -spokesman said Raymond in illegal conduct and was appropriately prosecuted and in the New Hampshire matter Raymond lawyer in New Hampshire said Barbour had no role in running the telemarket-ing company after arranging the financing Barbour is the latest prominent Republican to be connected to Raymond and GOP Marketplace President Bush former campaign chairman for New England has been convicted in the New Hampshire case and The Associated Press reported April 10 that key figures in the phone jamming had regular contact with tiie White House and 1 Repubficap officials as the scheme unfolded and once when the duplex where the family lived caught fire Officers suspected arson but the investigation stopped because Guerra did not cooperate police said Police and agents with the FBI and Tennessee Bureau of In-vestigation have been investigating tips and reported sightings of the giri Crews have conducted searches of neighboring apartments houses and can and combed a nearby creek and trash dump without turning up any evidence in a desperate aitua-turn right Hampton said a 2-year-old is out there by herself there something wrong Otherwise someone has Relatives and a pastor gath-: ered to console Eva Guerra her husband Nehemias Guerra from whom she has been sep-- anted for about 18 months ami the couple five other children Analyce grandmother Guadalupe Gonzalez said ahe had heard criticism from some fa the Hispanic community that the police doing enough to find the little gfaCbut Gon- zalez said the family believes the police are doing a good job Helped finance GOP telemarketing firm Bt Loir Kammax Pttss WASHINGTON Mississippi Gov Haley Barbour a former Republican Party chairman aiv ranged die startup financing for a GOP telemarketing-company implicated in two criminal cases involving election dirty tricks Virginia corporation records show Barbourfe investment company arranged a quartermillion dollar loan to GOP Marketplace in 2000 and also (pve a promotional plug to the telemarketer several months later A spokesman for the governor said Barbour had no idea the company would engage in criminal activity two years later The lawyer for the now-defimet company convicted president said Barbour was not consulted about its operations of the creditors had any role in the management or activities of the company In fact the loan' was not fully gubernatorial spokesman Buddy Bynum said has never been any claim that Governor Barbour or any of the other creditors knew of any illegal conduct or did anything unprop- Barbour who became Mississippi governor in 2003 praised Bt Bin Room AuociattdPrut SMYRNA Thnn Eva Guerra said the last time she saw her 2-year-old daughter Analyce was Sunday night When she woke at 4 am her daughter was gone and the door to her apartment unlocked Now the toddler has been missing for nearly five days Police are continuing to search for her and they are still interviewing family and neighbors about her disappearance But a Smyrna police spokesman said Friday they are getting contradictory stories from the mother of the tiling we heard previously the stories aren't matching up" Sgt Ken Hampton said Guerra is still being questioned but police say every person they have questioned so far including family and neighbors is considered a suspect intheinvestiption There are too many unanswered Questions fin it to be narrowed down to two or three Hampton said Guerra reported her daughter missing Monday morning and the potential of GOP Marketplace in a company press release in 2000 He predicted it would be profitable and Republicans an edge by using the Internet to buy and sell telemarketing services The loan made Barbour and his Washington business part-jrners part-owners of the compa-ny the incorporation papere ishow 1 By 2002 according to federal court records GOP Marketplace president Allen Raymond and the Alexandria VL-based pray were carrying out political dirty tricks in New Hampshire rad New Jersey Raymond who once worked for Barbour at the Republican National Committee is serving a three-month prison term after pleading guilty to arranging fin: hundreds of hatuMm in New The calls jammed Democratic phone fines that were offering assistance in getting to polling stations in a dose US Senate In a New Jersey indictment prosecutors implicated Raymond and his company in a separate scheme to make harassing calls to voters but did not charge either with crimes Rather the indictment charged the losing candidate who hired Raymond Ex-candidate James Tteffinger pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and mail fraud IgT 5- Michael Clancy Associated Press Police say Eva Guerra is giving conflicting accounts about her missing daughter said she saw her last around 10:30 pm Since then she has said it waa closer to midnight when ahe foil asleep in front of the TV Guerra also told police that Analyce has unlocked the door to the apartment before to go outside and play but police say a 2-yeatK)ld have gotten for from the house on her own Smyrna police have been to the family home before once cm a domestic disturbance call i.