DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997              TAG: 9704120290

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   41 lines

VIRGINIA FARMER SETTLES 1ST RACIAL SUIT AGAINST USDA FEDERAL OFFICIALS UPHELD HIS CLAIM THAT HIS LOAN WAS DELAYED DUE TO RACE.

A southern Virginia farmer has become the first of a group of blacks to settle one of a backlog of racial discrimination complaints against the Agriculture Department.

Willie L. Chute, 38, of Baskerville, Va., had filed an administrative complaint charging USDA officials with delaying his loan application because of his race.

Attorney James Myart said Chute became the first to settle his case on Thursday and received a ``substantial payment'' from the department. Myart declined to disclose how much Chute received, or how much he had sought.

The settlement was confirmed Friday by Tom Amontree, press secretary for Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

Glickman announced in February he intended to eliminate within 120 days a longstanding backlog of 875 discrimination complaints involving farm loan programs.

Other discrimination lawsuits are pending in federal courts.

At the same time, Glickman pledged to eradicate all discrimination within his department.

Chute had sought a $119,000 USDA loan in 1993 to build a poultry house to raise chickens under contract with a major poultry business.

His application was approved but far too late to win the contract. Federal officials upheld his complaint that the loan was delayed for a year because he was black.

USDA investigators found that white farmers in Chute's county typically waited 84 days for loan decisions, while black farmers had to wait an average of 222 days. They also found that 84 percent of white farmers had their applications approved compared to only 56 percent of blacks.

Black farmers long have complained that discrimination by local USDA officials is the cause for their dwindling numbers. They now represent fewer than 1 percent of the nation's 1.9 million farmers.

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