By SCLC official accused of locking headquarters building
Atlanta, Ga – - Board members of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference say the civil rights organization's downtown
Atlanta headquarters has been invaded and vandalized.
Sylvia Tucker, chairwoman of the group's board of directors,
says the Rev. Markel Hutchins had the doors to the building on
Auburn Avenue welded shut and chained on Monday night. Hutchins is
a former candidate for president of the SCLC.
Last fall, federal and local authorities launched an
investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement of at
least $569,000 by the SCLC chairman and treasurer, who are fighting
the charges and their dismissal by some board members.
Hutchins says he has done nothing illegal and was acting in his
capacity as recently appointed interim president and chief
executive officer of the SCLC.