Donor steps up to keep art at Fisk
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee attorney general on Friday said a donor has come forward with enough money to allow Fisk University to keep its Stieglitz art collection and display the works on campus at no cost to the school.
Fisk is asking the court for permission to sell a 50 percent share in the collection, donated by the late painter Georgia O’Keeffe. The historically black university has argued it could face bankruptcy without the $30 million the sale to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville would generate. The school has also argued it is a financial burden to maintain and display the 101-piece collection.
Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle last month rejected a plan from Attorney General Bob Cooper that would have relocated the collection to Nashville’s Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
In court documents Friday, Cooper introduced the new proposal, writing that Fisk alumna Carol Creswell-Betsch has established a fund that would pay the maintenance and display costs of the collection, subject to the court’s approval.
The fund is named in honor of Creswell-Betsch’s mother, Pearl Creswell, who was the first curator of the Stieglitz collection, which includes works by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Marsden Hartley and Diego Rivera as well as O’Keeffe and her husband Alfred Stieglitz, an art promoter and photographer.
Fisk spokesman Greg Bryant said he expected the school to issue a public response to the new proposal on Saturday.
A separate brief, also filed by Cooper on Friday, argued that Fisk’s plan to sell a share in collection would void the protected status the artwork enjoys as a restricted charitable gift. The brief argued the works could then be seized by creditors if Fisk were to declare bankruptcy.
“There is little doubt that the sale would ultimately result in the collection being lost to Nashville forever,” it reads.
As it is, the collection is held in trust by the university for the citizens of Nashville and the South in general for the study of art, according to the brief.
The attorney general is involved in the case because his office has jurisdiction over charitable giving in Tennessee. Cooper has argued that allowing Fisk to sell a donated art collection would deter future gifts in the Volunteer State.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Man gets 14 years in plot to kill Obama
JACKSON, Tenn. - A Tennessee man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for plotting a 2008 killing spree that included the intended assassination of thenpresidential candidate Barack Obama.
Daniel Cowart, 22, of Bells, Tenn., pleaded guilty in March to eight federal charges related to a plot to kill 88 black people and behead 14 others before trying to assassinate Obama.
Another man charged in the plot, Paul Schlesselman of Helena-West Helena, is serving a 10-year prison term on his guilty plea. In January, Schlesselman, then 19, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, one count of threatening to kill and inflict bodily harm upon a presidential candidate and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Cowart nodded his head Friday as the judge gave his reasoning for the 14-yearsentence. Cowart apologized to prosecutors, the judge and his family. He also apologized to the black community, Obama and his family.
Federal investigators say Cowart and Schlesselman are white supremacist skinheads.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS11 arrested in drug probe
Authorities charged 13 people in Van Buren and Searcy counties with drugrelated counts as a result of a multiagency investigation, and all but two had been arrested as of Thursday evening.
Among those taken into custody Wednesday in Van Buren County were Rolando Garza, 25; Desiderio Solon, 21; Inocencio Estrada, 33; and Betuel Barrayas, 20. The four were living at a Van Buren County home and were in the United States illegally from Guatemala, Prosecuting Attorney Marcus Vaden of Conway said in a news release.
Each is charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver.
Additionally, Rodolfo Melendez, 25; Michael Cassidy Mallaney, 27; and Randall E.
Passmore, 29, were charged in Van Buren County with delivery of methamphetamine. As of late Thursday, authorities had not arrested Francisco Reyes Zambrano Jr., 43, who was wanted on one count of methamphetamine delivery.
Arrested Wednesday night in Searcy County were Beauford Clark, 21, on two counts of delivery of hydrocodone; Deloris Richardson, 46, on two counts of delivery of morphine; Lawrie Brewer, 48, on two counts of delivery of morphine; and Santiago Rodriguez, 31, on one count of delivery of methamphetamine.
As of Thursday evening, authorities were still seeking Deborah Cooper, 46, on three counts of delivery of Xanax, Vaden said.
Agencies involved in the investigation were the 20th Judicial District’s Drug Crime Task Force, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the Arkansas State Police, the Arkansas Highway Police, the Van Buren County sheriff’s office and the Searcy County sheriff’s office.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/23/2010