Sheriff who fought civil rights dead at 84

ELBA, Ala., June 7 (UPI) -- James G. Clark, the former Dallas County, Ala., sheriff who opposed civil rights for blacks, died Monday at a nursing home at the age of 84.

Clark violently opposed civil rights, attacking marchers during the 1960s even if they were peaceful. He jailed hundreds of black citizens who tried to register to vote although Dallas County had a majority black population in 1965. Only 350 blacks were registered when the Rev. Martin Luther King began to lead protests.

Clark even set up a special "incarceration center" for arrested marchers, said The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

The sheriff gained notoriety across the United States when he punched civil rights leader C. T. Vivian in the face. Clark broke his left hand. TV crews filmed Vivian's bleeding face, showing the image on national networks.

In March, 1965, Clark and his deputies along with Alabama state troopers pushed marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge back into Selma. The incident became known as "Bloody Sunday."

The Advertiser says Clark remained committed to his beliefs until he died, calling King a "liar."

Clark had suffered strokes and he had heart surgery during the last two years of his life.

Tony Heffernan, a former United Press International reporter, said Clark was "reprehensible" but thanks to his actions Americans became so enraged that Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in August, 1965.