She believes Williams needs to be taken "to task for misusing the power of the office and the name and not respecting those before her. It just breaks my heart to have this happen and her continued leadership. The community would be much better served with someone new at the helm, someone like Charles (Henderson) and Larry (Houston) and Alberta. I challenge you to find someone who believes Jeanetta embodies the values of a leader of the NAACP. It's more about personal gain and notoriety that she serves and not as instrument to bring change."

Dew was one of four board members who resigned within weeks of each other in 1997, along with Leslie Reynolds, Henry and Houston.

"Jeanetta has done some good things in economic development and putting time in the national arena," says Houston, "but I disagree with the way they're serving our community. In our community, African-Americans have been abandoned by the NAACP."

Unlike others who spoke on the record, Josie Valdez says she had "a productive experience" with Williams while serving on the NAACP board for five years. As assistant director of the Small Business Administration at the time, she joined the NAACP to facilitate the creation of business opportunities for minority-owned businesses.

"We got a lot done," she says. "Jeanetta was very instrumental in making that happen."

Valdez notes, "She is and was very controversial. I knew that going in. I had heard a lot of negative things. But my experience was a good one, even though I saw firsthand the tremendous division that exists between Jeanetta and the rest of the black community. I saw her as an effective leader with the limitations of a divided community. ... I must have been one of the few. She never rubbed me the wrong way."

Also rising to Williams' defense, Lewis says, "There's only one side; there's the NAACP side. These people who are complaining don't come to the meetings and don't participate."

Lewis says the Salt Lake branch is "one of the best in the NAACP and by far the best in my tri-state area."

Several consistent themes emerge as Williams' critics speak out:

• One claim is that Williams and company will not grant NAACP help to people who are not dues-paying members of the organization.

"That's totally false," says Williams. "That's how people start lies. You don't have to be a member for the NAACP to help you. You get people who always want to be negative and stir things up."