Local News in Brief : Foundation Condemned

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday blasted one of the agencies created to spend surplus funds from the 1984 Olympic Games for failing to take a position against investments in South Africa. The council voted 15 to 0 to condemn the U.S. Olympic Foundation and request that the agency’s board of trustees change their minds.

“This is ridiculous, that this city generated this money, and we have such a strong stand against apartheid, and they’re taking the money and doing business with South Africa,” said Councilman Nate Holden, author of the motion.

The Olympic Foundation, a private agency, was created to allocate about $90 million in surplus funds to the Olympic Committee for its activities and to use the rest of the money to promote amateur athletics. The trustees voted 4 to 3 on June 30 against a policy that would have prohibited further investment in South Africa.