'The People v. Leo Frank' to Premier

Memorial plaque near the the site of the lynching. Click for larger image.

A television documentary about the lyching of a Jewish businessman after the death of a teenage girl will premiere in the county where he was hanged in 1915.

"The People v. Leo Frank" will premiere April 30 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, which is just a few miles from where Frank died.

The $100-a-ticket event will benefit the Anti-Defamation League, which is sponsoring the event.

Frank was convicted in the 1913 death of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, who worked in the pencil factory Frank managed in downtown Atlanta.

Gov. John Slaton commuted Frank's sentence from death to life in prison, but he was kidnapped from the state prison in Milledgeville in 1915, taken to Phagan's hometown of Marietta and hanged.

The documentary is scheduled to air on PBS late this year.

(AP)

Ft. Benning soldier discharged in trainee beating

The Army has kicked out a soldier for beating a Jewish trainee who complained about religious harassment in their basic training unit, a Fort Benning spokesman said Monday.

Citing federal privacy laws, the Army had previously refused to discuss how it punished the attacker of Pvt. Michael Handman, 20, of Atlanta, other than to say the case had been handled as an administrative matter rather than as a crime.

That changed after the southeast director of the Anti-Defamation League met Fort Benning officials Friday. Col. Charles Durr, chief of staff at Fort Benning, told the ADL's Bill Nigut the assailant had been discharged.

"The soldier that was punished for the assault on Pvt. Handman has been processed for discharge from the Army," Fort Benning spokesman Bob Purtiman confirmed Monday.

The Army says Handman was beaten Sept. 24 by a fellow trainee in a laundry room near his barracks. Handman was treated at an Army hospital for a concussion and bruising to his face. He has since been transferred to another basic training unit at Fort Benning in Columbus.

Four days before the attack, Handman was interviewed by commanders of his basic training unit about complaints he'd made in letters to his parents that he had been harassed by two drill sergeants because he's Jewish.

The Army later acknowledged one drill sergeant had ordered Handman to remove his yarmulke, which he wore with his uniform, as he ate in a dining hall. Another drill sergeant had called him "Juden" - the German word for Jews.

Officials said last month that Handman's attacker had been punished administratively but refused to release further details, citing federal privacy laws.

Click here for previous GPB News coverage of this story.

(AP)