SCLC Won't Pay

ATLANTA--The Southern Christian Leadership Conference doesn't plan to pay a $71,000 bill presented by the Federal government for the cost of cleaning up the government-owned site of Resurrection City, headquarters of last June's Poor People's Campaign.

"We feel that we don't owe it," Rev. Ralph Abernathy, SCLC president, said yesterday. "We were not given ample time to tear down Resurrection City and restore the area to its former status. We had only a few hours notice."

The Interior Department, which cleaned up the site, has threatened to take the SCLC to court if the bill isn't paid. Abernathy, in turn, said he has instructed SCLC attorneys to prepare a suit against the government for $100,000 damage allegedly done to property of poor people when Resurrection City was closed.