CITYWIDE

Hiring Practices Of Advertising Industry Anger City Council

Madison Avenue hoped to avoid an embarrassing series of hearings during Ad Week examining the advertising industry’s alleged racist hiring practices by agreeing in a settlement with the city’s Commission on Human Rights to set goals to hire minorities. But the City Council held its own hearing yesterday on the issue, and the ad agencies pro voked the ire of several council mem bers when industry executives sent a representative and declined individual invitations to testify. “Every one of them was sent invites, and a number of them…decided to run like chickens with their ass plucked clean and they didn’t show up,” Council Member Larry Seabrook of the Bronx said. Another council member, Letitia James of Brooklyn, added, “It was sort of disrespectful to all of the constituents that we represent, both black, white, Latino and all in between that they should have been here to defend themselves and to defend their poor advertising record.” The council members criticized advertisers for not giving contracts to minority-owned ad agencies and for not advertising with minority newspapers and radio stations.

— Special to the Sun

Barron Says He Agrees With Chavez Remark

Most elected officials from both parties couldn’t line up fast enough to criticize President Chavez of Venezuela for calling President Bush the devil last week before the United Nations but City Council Member Charles Barron, a former Black Panther who often takes contrarian political positions said yesterday that he agrees with the Venezuelan leader. “President Bush is a devil,” the Brooklyn politician said “He’s a devil, devil, devil to the third power.” Mr. Barron also said he is grateful to Mr. Chavez for giving deeply discounted heating oil to poor people in Harlem.

— Special to the Sun

Female EMS Workers Suing FDNY

Five female Emergency Medical Service employees filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing the fire department and city leaders of gender discrimination in promotions. They and other women in the Fire Department of New York face a “glass ceiling” once they reach the rank of lieutenant, according to their lawsuit in Manhattan state Supreme Court. Fire department spokesman Farrell Sklerov released a statement defending the promotion process, the number of women in the department and efforts to attract more of them “The fire department is proud of the contributions made by women in our EMS work force, and we believe the promotional system is fair,” the statement said.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Man Posed as Officer, Detained Teenager

A Queens man who posed as a police officer and detained a 16-year-old was charged with criminal impersonation and other charges, prosecutors said yesterday. Gazi Abura, 21, of White Oak Court in Astoria allegedly stopped the teenager last July and questioned him in a purported robbery, demanding the teenager turn over his identification and raise his hands over his head, the Queens District Attorney said. Prosecutors said Mr. Abura and two others taped the scene and later posted the incident on YouTube.com, an Internet site for self-broadcasting. Prosecutors charged Mr. Abura with second-degree criminal impersonation, second-degree coercion, and second-degree unlawful imprisonment. If convicted, Mr. Abura faces up to a year in prison and possibly a $1,000 fine.

— Special to the Sun

Workers Rescued From Scaffolding In Separate Incidents

Two pairs of workers were rescued yesterday after their scaffolding perches gave way under them in separate incidents. The first incident occurred just after 7:30 a.m., when rescuers were called to Manhattan’s WorldWide Plaza office building on Eighth Avenue after a scaffolding 47 stories from the ground dipped dangerously to the left side, authorities said. Firefighters from Rescue One pulled two window washers to safety, a fire department spokesman said. Then, around 10:30 a.m., the same rescue squad responded to a residential building on West 75th Street on the Upper West Side when one end of a scaffolding’s supporting line snapped, fire department officials said. Two workers were brought to safety through a fifth-floor window. No injuries were reported in either case.

— Special to the Sun

Man Struck Twice, Killed on FDR

A homeless man was killed yesterday after police said he was struck twice as he was attempting to cross FDR Drive. Police said around 4:30 a.m. the man was crossing the eastbound side of the highway near the East 96th Street exit in Manhattan when an unidentified vehicle struck him and fled the scene. A taxi subsequently hit the man a second time, but remained on the scene, police said. Authorities said the man, who was not immediately identified but who police believe is homeless, was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.

— Special to the Sun

Ex-Cop Convicted Of Murder

A former police sergeant was convicted of murder yesterday after a jury found him guilty of killing the mother of his children in January 2001. Martin Peters, 42, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree intimidating a witness, and first-degree assault and faces 25 years to life in prison, the Brooklyn District Attorney announced. Prosecutors said Peters shot Juliet Alexander, the mother of the couple’s two children, inside her Brooklyn home in January 2001 after a dispute over child-support payments. Prosecutors said Peters also shot a witness, Nigel Calendar, threatening to kill him and his family if Mr. Calendar reported Peters to the police.

— Special to the Sun