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Colin Powell's parents came from Jamaica

 
Published Sept. 21, 2001|Updated Sept. 10, 2005

Question: A recent article said Colin Powell was the first African-American secretary of state. I thought he was Jamaican. What was his early background?

Answer: Colin Luther Powell was born in 1937 in the Harlem section of New York to Maud and Luther Powell, who had emigrated from Jamaica more than 20 years earlier. Both worked in New York's garment district.

In about 1940, the family moved to the Hunts Point area of South Bronx, where Powell graduated from Morris High School in 1954.

At City College of New York, Powell majored in geology and got his first taste of military life as a cadet in the ROTC. Upon graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army, launching his illustrious military career.

Disappointing rebate

Question: We originally received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service stating that our rebate would be $600, but we just received a check in the $200 range. Any explanation?

Answer: The advance payment checks being mailed may be subject to what the IRS calls "offset" reduction _ the same as any federal tax refund _ if the taxpayer has delinquent federal tax, federal nontax or state income tax debts. The key word is "delinquent," said IRS spokesman Mark Green. The taxpayer will receive less than the maximum amount or no check at all.

However, Green explained, the advance tax credit payment checks won't be offset for taxpayers with child or spousal support obligations and/or federal student loan obligations if they are current with their payments and haven't been notified by the responsible agency that they were delinquent and being referred to the Treasury Department for collection action.

Green added that, if taxpayers receive less than the maximum amount or no check at all, they may be able to claim the difference between what their check amount was and what their maximum amount could be as a credit on their 2001 federal income tax return. The IRS suggests that taxpayers keep a copy of the advance payment notification letter and some record of the amount actually received.

More information about the advance payment can be found online at www.irs.gov.

Acts of Congress

Question: Is there a time limit on an act of Congress? Specifically, will the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 expire after a certain period?

Answer: There's no time limit on an act of Congress, but some bills have time limits written into them. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 contained a provision, Section 5, that was set to expire in five years, therefore Congress had to pass legislation to extend Section 5 if lawmakers wanted it to remain in effect.

The subsequent voting rights acts in 1970, 1975 and 1982 extended Section 5 of the original bill, and each added new language, expanding the scope of the original act.

Section 5 will be expiring in 2007, so Congress will decide whether to extend it again. Section 5 prohibits some state or local governments from enacting any change that affects the right to vote without first submitting the change to the U.S. Department of Justice or the federal courts for approval.

The civil rights acts of 1960 and 1964 did not extend the original Civil Rights Act of 1957. Each additional bill added new provisions, so the original measure never needed to be extended; it was just expanded.

For more information online, check these links:

www.brook.edu/gs/cps/50ge/

endeavors/vote.htm and www.

usdoj.gov.

The debate tape

Question: Juanita Lozano, a former aide to George W. Bush's media adviser, was fined $3,000 and sentenced to a year in jail for mailing a video of Bush's practice debate to Al Gore's campaign. She was charged with mail fraud. Why was that considered mail fraud?

Answer: Mail fraud is defined as an act of fraud using the U.S. Postal Service. The first count of Lozano's indictment charged her with a scheme to defraud the Bush campaign of its "confidential and valuable work product" and to defraud her employer, Maverick Media, of her "honest services." Maverick Media was formed by top Bush media adviser Mark McKinnon to develop Bush's political ads.

Lozano admitted that in September 2000 she mailed the Bush videotape, strategy book and other papers to former Rep. Tom Downey, D-N.Y., a Gore adviser, before Gore's first presidential faceoff with Bush.

A lifelong Democrat, Lozano, 31, also was charged with making false statements to the FBI and with perjury, based on her statements to a grand jury.

She pleaded guilty in June to mail fraud and perjury. She told the judge that she stole and mailed the videotape, then lied about it to a grand jury. In her plea, Lozano said she used a Maverick Media credit card to buy postage for the package. Although the return address on the package was bogus and listed a phony name, Amy Smith, Lozano immediately came under suspicion when a post office security camera showed her mailing a package.

Highways in Hawaii

Question: What are the criteria for a highway to be considered an interstate highway? How can Hawaii have interstate highways?

Answer: A roadway can be designated an interstate in either or both of two ways, the Federal Highway Administration says: either it connects to an existing interstate highway or it's built to interstate highway standards.

In Hawaii, the latter is the reason. Hawaii has three interstate highways, designated H-1, H-2 and H-3, with the H to distinguish them from the I designation for interstate highways in the continental United States.

Have a question about the news? Call Colin Bessonette at (404) 222-2002 or write him at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, P.O. Box 4689, Atlanta, GA 30302, or e-mail him at q&aajc.com. Please include your name and hometown.