GROUPS TRY TO DELAY EVICTIONS

Community and civil rights activists met Tuesday night to try and delay the
eviction of eight families from the Warrington Village Apartments, a
federally subsidized housing development.

The eviction notices were served after at least two people were arrested by
Escambia Sheriff's deputies following searches by armed security guards
hired by the Columbia Management Group, the company that runs the complex.

The first evictions are to begin Thursday.

Before the searches, residents received a letter announcing that a routine
maintenance inspection was scheduled.

Resident Marquita Floyd said she was wearing her nightgown when she
answered the door and five uniformed security guards told her they were
coming in to search her apartment. They pulled up seat cushions, broke
glasses and pulled out diapers from her bathroom, in front of her child,
she said. They found a rolled cigarette with what they said appeared to be
marijuana. She faces eviction by Sunday.

"We can't just sit back and watch some of these ladies get evicted with
small children," said Ellison Bennett, an executive board member for the
Escambia County NAACP. "Some of these ladies weren't doing anything wrong.
Some of them weren't even home."

Bennett said he filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of
Justice in Atlanta concerning the incident, which took place last month.
He's also planning to file a complaint with the U.S. Attorney General's Office.

Local representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference attended and vowed to help.

Though invited, representatives from the State Attorney's Office, the
Escambia Sheriff's Office and Columbia Management, did not attend.

Columbia Management could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Bennett said he will try to meet today with State Attorney Curtis Golden to
see what can be done to delay the evictions.