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TED SUES SLAVE KIN OVER LAND

Just call him Ted "40 Acres and a Jackass" Turner. The media mogul has sued a group of elderly black residents - direct descendants of slaves - on St. Helena's Island off the coast of South Carolina, claiming they are trespassing on his land.

"It's a shame. He owns that much property, and he wants to take 68 acres from the poor people," said Harry Coaxum, 79, who claims he owns the patch of land along with 46 other residents of this island paradise.

Turner's lawyers argue the heirs should have spoken up in 1973, when his survey was drawn, or in 1979, when Turner filed his deeds.

Turner, the vice chairman of AOL Time Warner, declined comment on the case, which has not been set for trial.

Residents said they won't let Turner bully them out of the land left to them by their once-enslaved ancestors.

"[The land] means everything to me," Coaxum said. "Everything."

Clemente Lisi and Post Wire Services

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002