THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994                TAG: 9408210081
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY CHARLISE LYLES, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines

SOME LOCAL LEADERS DISAPPOINTED BY CHAVIS' REMOVAL BUT THEY SAY THEY ALSO UNDERSTAND THE BOARD'S DECISION.

Local NAACP leaders reacted with disappointment Saturday to the dismissal of the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. as head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

``The removal of Ben Chavis - I find it hard to digest,'' E. George Minns, president of the Virginia Beach NAACP, said in a telephone interview.

Chavis, who as a young civil rights activist once marched on the streets of Portsmouth, was fired Saturday during a meeting of the NAACP's board of directors in Baltimore.

``This decision should not be taken as a signal that Ben Chavis is so wrong, because it may just be an attempt to satisfy public criticism and he is the sacrificial lamb,'' Minns said. ``Either way, we have lost. We have lost a sincere, dedicated and humble man.

``I must respect the board and the board's decision,'' Minns said. ``But I can agree to disagree.''

Chavis has been embattled since a recent disclosure that he spent $332,000 to settle a suit by a former NAACP employee without approval from the NAACP board. The NAACP is a nonprofit agency funded by corporations, grants and individual contributions.

Paul C. Gillis of Suffolk, regional NAACP chairman, said Chavis' behavior was inexcusable.

``Maybe a corporation can do that sort of thing,'' Gillis said. ``But when you're talking about a volunteer organization where money is raised on the backs of people, that's different.''

The Rev. Bernard Spellman, president of the NAACP Norfolk, agreed. ``I sympathize with him, but business has to be carried on,'' Spellman said. ``I think the board acted responsibly. I really do feel that Chavis was leading us in the right direction to unify us, to bring us together. But there are decisions that people make that are damag-ing.

In 1972, as a young civil rights leader just out of jail for the cause, Chavis joined protests in Portsmouth to keep I.C. Norcom High School from being closed as part of the city's desegregation plan.

Chavis showed an uncanny ability to unite the masses around a cause. Gillis and other area NAACP leaders suspect that very ability may have led to his downfall.

Chavis drew the ire of the board and many longtime civilrights fighters when he invited the controversial head of the Nation of Islam, Minister Louis Farrakhan, to a leadership summit in June. Chavis was also criticized for attending a conference of Los Angeles youth gangs.

``I think that's one of things that may have led to the urgency of the removal of Dr. Chavis,'' Gillis said. ``He had an ability to unite those who felt left out and in doing so, he was going to bring the total black community together for once, and we were going to be able to make tremendous progress.'' by CNB