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Michigan Acts to Block ABC Operation in State Civil Rights Group Against Clause Baring Negro Bowlers LANSING, Mich.. May 6 UP.— The Michigan-Committee on Civil Rights today asked Attorney General Stephen Roth to bar the American Bowling Congress from operating in Michigan. The action was asked because of the ABCs membership restriction to "white males." Michigan is the fourth state in recent months in which the ABC has run into trouble for alleged discrimination against negro bowlers. In Illinois, Superior Court Judge John A. Sbarbara fined the organization ,500 for racial discrimination and threatened to bar the ABC from operating in the state. Similar cases are pending in Wisconsin and New York. Governor G. Mennen Williams last year notified the organization it would be refused use of Michigan property while restricting membership to whites only. In a formal complaint handed to Roth, the committee charged the "the Detroit Bowling Association of the American Bowling Congress has forfeited its charter by violating principles of the Michigan Civil Rights Act." It said that the ABC held a "monopoly over the sport" through its affiliations with womens and childrens bowling organizations, barring all non -whites from the sport. Roth accepted the petition and said he would take it under advisement.
