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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 11, 2002
Miss North Carolina winner returns to state to testify
A beauty queen trying to stay in the Miss America pageant told a federal judge Tuesday that the state pageant gave her the option of resigning or being fired when rumors of topless photos surfaced.
Rebekah Revels testified before U.S. District Judge James Fox in Wilmington, N.C., that she not only submitted her resignation, but she also had signed a termination letter.
Revels, 24, said she and her mother, Deena Revels, at first decided she should go along with termination, but later decided to submit the resignation to save face.
"We had to explain to everyone back home what happened, and that was the easiest and most graceful way to do that," said Revels, her voice breaking. "I would rather for people to say she resigned than she was terminated."
At issue in Revels' request for an injunction to keep her in the pageant is whether she resigned under duress, her attorney said.
Revels' testimony Tuesday was similar to that she gave last week in a state court, where a Raleigh-based judge restored her contract from the Miss North Carolina pageant.
That ruling meant there are two North Carolina contestants; the other is Misty Clymer, 24, the state runner-up.
Both women are competing in the pageant preliminaries while Fox sorts out the issues. The case was moved to federal court last week by Miss America lawyers.
Revels was called to court from rehearsals for the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., where she spent the weekend. After the hearing ended, Revels left the courthouse to fly back.
The hearing is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. today, when the pageant lawyer can present evidence.
The order keeping Revels in the pageant expires tonight and her lawyer, Barry Nakell, said he would ask that it be extended if the judge says he can't rule right away.
Oprah Winfrey will be the first to receive the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to be given at the 54th annual Emmys.
Bryce Zabel, chief executive of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, described Winfrey as a "truly qualified individual ... whose deeds and actions have had a lasting impact on society."
The award was established this year and will be presented by Tom Hanks at the Sept. 22 ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium.
The award recognizes Hope's pioneer status in the industry and his humanitarian efforts.
Winfrey is the supervising producer and host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which has won 35 Emmy awards and is the highest-rated talk show in television history. The 48-year-old, who starred in the films The Color Purple and Beloved, launched O, The Oprah Magazine, in 2000.
She established her own private charity, the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, in 1987 to support women, children and families throughout the world.