
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 2, 1994                   TAG: 9411020078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BALTIMORE                                LENGTH: Short

DEBT FORCES MASSIVE LAYOFFS OF NAACP STAFF

The NAACP is laying off most of its 100 employees because of a $3.5 million deficit it blames on former Executive Director Benjamin Chavis, a board member said Tuesday.

Many of the staffers are planning to work without pay, so the nation's oldest civil-rights group won't shut down, said the board member, Joseph Madison, a Washington radio personality.

Calls to the NAACP's national headquarters in Baltimore were not immediately returned.

NAACP board members have accused Chavis of running up the deficit. Chavis has said he inherited the debt from his predecessor, Benjamin Hooks, who has denied that.

Chavis was ousted in August after it was disclosed that he had agreed, without the board's knowledge, to pay $332,000 in NAACP money to settle sexual-discrimination charges brought by a former employee.

``This is a very drastic move,'' Madison said. ``This isn't a move anybody would take lightly.''

The layoffs will affect at least 80 employees in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's national headquarters in Baltimore and seven regional offices throughout the country, Madison said.

The NAACP has regional offices in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and St. Louis.

by CNB