Newspaper Page Text
I LR 2R I
! *”
Frank }{‘
Foster ' > O
e ]
p. 17 o L
Cuts devastate hus service
By Rhonda Y. Maree
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
First it was city employees.
Then it was water bill payers.
Now it's Augusta Public Transit riders who
say they are unfairly bearing the brunt of Au
gusta’s financial shambles.
Just weeks after ordering Transit Depart
ment Director Bill Revelle to lay off 17 of 81
employees to reduce expenditures, city council
voted Monday to cut the department’s operating
budget by another $500,000.
For bus riders, this means the elimination of
some routes and an increase in bus fare.
CONSOLIDATION
Transition team
funding sources
B State grant for consolidating
municipalities should shoulder
brunt of expenses. City, county
to share expenses.
By Rhonda Y. Maree
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Although the Augusta-Richmond County
Transition Task Force has begun mapping out
the new government, they haven't yet secured
funding for anticipated expenses.
But according to Sen. Charles Walker, as
much as $250,000 in grants from the state are
expected to foot the bill.
During the 1993 General Assembly, legisla
tors approved $750,000 for Georgia cities and
counties undergoing a merger, Mr. Walker said.
In addition to this source of money, the city
and county could be required to contribute, as
allowed for in the consolidation bill.
Mr. Walker said each government’s share
See TASK FORCE, page 3
INSIDE
)
- ”L. ’ v ‘ |
a 7
Grover comes to Squeaky's. See Artßeat.
B NARIONEE TNOWE ... ouisviuiiinssinsinsisismasins
.M Local News .........ccccounnsuisnnsinsirssnsnninios 3
MR b bRy B
O WUHUBMAL i ananiaia B
il A Clonep Look ...ciiiuiiiiaviinin 9
B LIVINE o v i A
CIE RIARER DNOWE. s ccaoniimisiiriisssmensgibsnsionse 58
-zl Business News ............ccnnvsivssnnnsnninns 14
MAMBERT . aaaiindiinpaniines ST
S ERIOnARE ...k s i s sgieiiod S 8
B BRI s b i G N
O CIRRRITOAR i iiiihesnnasinsinss 2N
ee e e e e ee e S
. i i % 2
W BRE B :
Y B T £
e S N i
i JULY 20 - 26, 1995 VOL. XIV NO. 709 l
22815
| Metro Augusta's Finest Weekly Newspaper |
Ak W
|M” ir a,
L “j;‘
Bill Revelle:l can't
speak to the city’s
financial shape, but
this is devastating to
public transit.”
Kalimba to record at BL’s
B Diners get to be a
part of a recording
session in progress.
Live jazz in the Laney-Walk
er Historic District is a rare
event, but for the past several
weeks BL's Restaurant has been
featuring some of the area’s fin
est jazz talent.
" This Friday nightatß:oo p.m.,
patrons can experience the ex
citement, the intensity, and the
hype that goes into a recording
session when Kalimba, featur
-ling Ari Brown will lay down the
tracks for their latest CD. The
‘first 100 diners will be an inte
gral part of the session. Their
names will be included on the
liner notes for the recording.
Kalimba features Ari Brown
on vocals, David Webb on pi
ano, J. Larry Tilbey on the up
right bass, and Not Gaddy on
percussion. The CD will be re
leased in November.
BL'sislocatedat 1117 Laney-
Walker Blvd. Reservations are
not needed — just get there
early enough to be included.
Author uncovers rare justice
during Southern slavery days
M Black heiress
chose Augusta to
live after inheriting
a fortune. She
purchased a home
on Telfair Street.
By Angela Cummings
The Union Recorder
~ SPARTA, Ga.
(AP) In southeastern Han
cock County, just off Shoals
Road, there’s nothingmuchbuta
few homes, pinetreesand an ante
bellum plantation homebelonging
toanabsenteeowner.
This quiet land, once so fer
tile and luxuriant with cotton
and corn that agricultural schol
arsstudied its success, was also
the object of one of Georgia’s
most extraordinary legal bat
tles.
In 1885, Amanda America
Dickson —the mulatto daugh
ter of white landowner David
Dickson, and Julia Frances
Dickson, his slave — dared to
fight for what was legally hers:
her white father’s wealth and
Your local newspaper sponsored by your local grocer.
In addition to elimi
nating Saturday ser
vice and cutting the
Barton Chapel and
Southgate Plaza
Routes, the transit de
partment is also plan
ning to cut Central
Avenue, Delta Manor,
Sandhills/Berkman
Hills and the medical
complex routes as ear
ly as mid-August.
Also, one of four bus
es will be taken off of
the Regency Mall
s ol
£o. b 4
‘W »F 5 P ' " o .)”‘
Sie : Q
k BWL - - s . i
r'g' . ‘ ~SN _ ,‘,'
AR N W ? . !
- afi i ! » i b Y
9? o ‘ 4t‘ \
, ig.
"w -
W o |
- A - ¥
KALIMBA wiil record live at BL's on Friday. Pictured are
(L-R) Not Gaddy, Ari Brown, J. Larry Tilby, and David Webb.
.
5 7z 4 Wi,
: wg . o
Amanda America Dickson
his heritage.
It was a war between Aman
da Dickson, who had inherited
her father’s $500,000 estate,
and his white relatives who
wanted the fortune for them
selves. And despite the preju
dices of the era — a time when
the planters’ ill-kept secret of
“co-mingling” with the slave
women was officially consid
ered a crime —the Superior
Court of Hancock County and
the Georgia Supreme Court up
held the will.
It made Amanda America
Dickson the wealthiest black
person in Georgia — perhaps
the wealthiest black woman in
the nation. The ruling said, if
only for a short time, that Geor
route, and the downtown shuttle will operate for
only eight hours instead of 15.
This leaves only 15 buses to serve a daily
average of 5,000 riders, according to transit
planner Kenneth Rountree.
On top of the cuts, the city will raise bus fare
from 75 cents to $1 and eliminate transfers. For
passengers needing to ride more than one bus to
reach their destination, this means they will
have to pay the full cost of another bus ride
instead of the original 35-cent transfer fee.
Senior citizens and students will see an in
crease in fare from 35 cents to 50 cents.
“They’re steadily cutting routes and making
See CITY BUS SERVICE, page 3
gia’s right to private property
superseded its institutionalized
right to hate.
Amanda America Dickson’s
unique story is told in a recently
published, meticulously re
searched book, Woman of Color,
Daughter of Privilege ($29.95
University of Georgia Press), by
Kent Anderson Leslie, an assis
tant professor of woman’s stud
ies at Oglethorpe University
near Atlanta.
In telling of Amanda America
Dickson’s childhood and the le
gal battle over her father’s will,
Leslie portrays the ambiguities
often found in the slave South.
Using old census data, court
records and other sources, Leslie
recreates the social and econom
ic forces that shaped Hancock
County in the 1800 s — a time
when Hancock and the sur
rounding region represented the
pinnacle of the old South’s “cot
ton kingdom.”
Leslie probes the conditions
such as wealth and power which
made it a common practice for
white men to father “outside”
families, even though relations
between the races was socially
See AMANDA, page 9
MR, 808 HENNEBERGER
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER m
UNIVERSITY OF GA U.S. POSTAGE
ATHENS GA 30602 12/31/99 ”;A&
o | AUGUSTA, GA
On Magic Johnson
See Page 20
R. A. Daniels
On Michael Jackson
See Page 9
coping well in
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
According to epidemiologist Sheronda Buchanan, it
could happen over the course of several days, causing
dizziness, gradually weakening the body until fatigue
sets in. Or it could happen in minutes, causing disorien
tation, delirium, leadingto
coma and death. Only two cases of
The people of Chicago, heat exhaustion
111. have, these past few
days, become intimate reported at
with these symptoms of
heat exhaustion and heat local hOSp“OIS.
stroke. But, despite Augusta’s propensity for high tem
peratures and humidity, sources from the University
Hospital report only two cases of heat exhaustion, and
those from construction workers. Neither Saint Joseph
nor the Medical College of Georgia report any heat
related illness.
Dr. Tom Jackson, director of geriatric services at MCG,
attributes the difference to Augustans simply being used
to hot weather. “Even elderly people become acclimated
tothe heat,” he said. Part of that is the gradual warming
throughout the spring, with temperatures climbing just
a few degrees at a time, giving the body a chance to
adjust.
Another part of it, he said, is that people who grow up
See HEAT, page 3
U.S. agency to
be all-whi
probe all-white
lawmen’s picnic
B ATM agents reportedly attended
‘Good ol’ Boys Roundup where racist
slogans and t-shirts were displayed.
WASHINGTON
(AP) The Treasury Department is conducting its own
investigation into alleged racial bias at an all-white law
enforcement picnic, and a leader of the Congressional
Black Caucus welcomes the probe.
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said the gathering
— featuring racist T-shirts and slogans — appears to
justify the doubts minority groups have in law enforce
ment. A thorough investigation overseen by a panel of
outside experts is de
signed “to get to the “An enduring legOCY
truth, period,” Rubin of American racism is
said at a news confer- .
ence Monday. 'he be"e', lusflfied in
Rep. John Conyers, ma
D-Mich., said he and too ny i!\S'OnCGS
other members of the AMONQG African-
Congressional Black Americans and other
Caucus applaud thein- ~ .
quiry. Conyers, who Minorities, that justice
had spoken to Rubin to
urge the investigation, at “'_“es is enforced
said it should be far- agalnsf themina
reaching and deter- g -
mine whether racismis d'sc”"mina'ory sash
widespread inthe Trea- iON.
sury Department’s Bu- __ sury
reau of Alcohol, Tobac- R g::R bisecreta'y
co and Firearms. 0 übin
“Were any background checks conducted of those law
enforcement officials? Were the agents’ superiors aware
of these activities?” Conyers said.
According to news reports, a former agent of ATF
helped coordinate the gathering, known as the “Good O’
Boys Roundup.” Described as a weekend of relaxation for
police officers, it was held May 18-20 in Polk County,
Tenn. The weekend was said to include the sale of T
shirts with Martin Luther King Jr.’s face behind a
target, O.J. Simpson in a hangman’s noose and white
police officers with a black man sprawled across the hood
of their car under the words “Boyz on the Hood.”
Rubin said the Treasury will take whatever action is
appropriate after the four-month probe is concluded.
But it was unclear whether any federal agents who may
have attended the gathering can be punished if they did
See TREASURY PROBE, page 2