NAACP leader Young responds to mayor's comments, says her motive for a shelter is to help black residents, poor and homeless

A concern for people in need, not a desire to link up with Rev. Larry Rice, led the NAACP's Cape Girardeau chapter to join the call to convert the Broadway federal building into a homeless shelter, NAACP president Deborah Young said Monday.

Because Rice was offering a program to provide shelter in emergencies and on long-term basis -- and because she said she believes the city has long neglected problems of blacks, the poor and the homeless -- Young said she decided to prove that a need exists. Cape Girardeau needs a place where the homeless, whether they are blacks, teen mothers, homeless veterans or poor families, can find shelter to rebuild their lives.

After a lunch meeting with Rice last week, Mayor Jay Knudtson said Young was making a mistake by aligning the organization with Rice and the New Life Evangelistic Center. "He is not the one she should be working with," Knudtson said. "She should be working with local officials and holding us accountable. I understand feelings of frustration from the African-American community, but let there be no mistake, any association with Rev. Rice will deal those relations a severe blow."

Young said those words show that raw politics is at work as city leaders try to present a united front of opposition to Rice.

"It was not my intent to reactivate the NAACP to settle a score, be your friend, a part of your good-ole-boy network or seek your approval," Young wrote in a news release.

Rice's application to convert the federal building to a homeless shelter was denied May 29. He has said he intends to sue the Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to reverse the decision.

Knudtson, in an interview Monday, said he was commenting on Young's decision to associate with Rice, not trying to punish her for doing so.

He added that he wants Young to join a weekly meeting group that formed after Rice applied for the federal building. The group is discussing how to provide long-term transitional housing and is beginning discussions that could lead to the establishment of a short-term emergency shelter, Knudtson said.

"I want Deborah sitting at that table," he said.

For updates, check back at semissourian.com or read Tuesday's Southeast Missourian.