Cecil L Murray

'The grass is kinda long, the course is kinda wet and the greens are kinda slow, but who the hell cares?' -Ted Johnson, Pasadena golfer, on soggy end of a seven-year drought. * 'I do believe I remember you saying, "I dare you."' -Ted Danson, wearing blackface makeup and gobbling watermelon, to paramour Whoopi Goldberg during infamous routine at Friars Club. * 'I know people are saying 'I hope we find another Dr. King, another Cesar Chavez.' I'd say stop hoping and start organizing.' -Larry B.

Michael Woo, the first Los Angeles City Council member to call for Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to resign over the Rodney G. King case, made the rounds to several churches in the black community last weekend in what one influential minister described as an apparent prelude to a run for mayor in 1993.

The circular stretch of a South Los Angeles road that runs by First AME Church was named for minister Cecil L. "Chip" Murray on Sunday morning, in appreciation for a man who is retiring this month after reinvigorating the city's oldest black congregation and helping Los Angeles heal after the tumult of the 1992 riots. Murray, 74, alluded to those two accomplishments at a ceremony in front of the new street sign bearing his name.

As the pastors of two of California's largest inner-city African American churches, we are perplexed at the focus of "Inspirer Banks on Inner City" (Dec. 22), on Operation Hope. Your article appears to ridicule a small nonprofit's failure to make more than 50 home loans a year in South-Central L.A. You are correct that this is indeed quite modest. But this one small nonprofit makes far more minority home loans than any financial institution. According to verified data filed by the major financial institutions with the Federal Reserve (1997 data, compiled with the help of Robert Gnaizda and the Greenlining Institute)

The Rev. J. Edgar Boyd delivered his inaugural sermon Sunday as the new pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in L.A., seeking to unite and heal a congregation that had become fractured over the troubles of its former leader. Addressing worshipers, a seemingly nervous Boyd used parables to talk about forgiveness. But to the thousands in the packed room, the message was clear: A new leader was at the helm to restore the image of the oldest black pulpit in Los Angeles.

The Rev. John J. Hunter of First African Methodist Episcopal Church is receiving forgiveness from at least some of his parishioners for failing to pay federal taxes and for using church credit cards to buy personal luxuries. But Hunter and other members of the clergy must remember that Congress and the Internal Revenue Service may be less charitably inclined when preachers stray from the path of fiscal righteousness. In 2004, Hunter succeeded the legendary Rev. Cecil L.

What's wrong with City Atty. James K. Hahn and City Councilman Michael Woo? Why are they tiptoeing around the biggest event in City Hall in many decades--the Bradley investigation? They are natural rivals. Both have high-profile roles in the investigation. Both are potential candidates for mayor at the next election. Both are hungry with ambition. In this era of high-intensity combat politics, you would expect them to vigorously attack Tom Bradley.