Deaths elsewhere

February 23, 2008 at 2:54AM

The Rev. James E. Orange, 65, an aide to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose arrest in Alabama in 1965 is considered one of the catalysts for the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march, died Feb. 16 in his hometown of Atlanta.

Orange was organizing a voter registration drive in southwest Alabama in early 1965 when he was arrested in Perry County on charges of disorderly conduct and contributing to the delinquency of minors.

That arrest was just one of dozens that he had faced while organizing protests in Alabama.

"The children's demonstrations in Birmingham had transformed James Orange from hulking high school drifter to precocious minister of nonviolence," the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch wrote in his 2006 book, "At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68." (Orange weighed 300 pounds and stood 6 feet tall.)

Evan Mecham, 83, the Arizona governor impeached in 1988 for misuse of state funds and his inflammatory racial opinions, died Thursday. He had been in deteriorating health with symptoms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases for years.

Mecham, a millionaire automobile dealer, unsuccessfully ran for governor four times before he won a three-way race in November 1986 with 40 percent of the vote.

The state attorney general quickly began investigating allegations that Mecham had lent his auto dealership $80,000 from his inauguration fund and had tried to stop the investigation of a death threat against a former lobbyist.

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