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I A CLASSIC AFFAIR |
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hails out
hails out,
-8 Bowman sidesteps ouster
attempt while General Manager
Oglesby cites “hostile work
environment.”
By Rhonda Y. Maree
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Efforts by two Augusta-Richmond County
Coliseum Authority mem
bers to oust Chairman
Ernie Bowman failed at an
8 a.m. Tuesday meeting.
‘Authority member
Bonnie Ruben, who is
known to have a poor rela
tionship with Mr. Bowman,
made a motion to have him
removed as chairman. Au
thority member Dick Frank
seconded the motion, add
ing that Mr. Bowman be
allowed to stay on the Au
thority in other capacities
because he’s “very knowl
edgeable” of the civic cen
“ter.
At the advice of Authori
ty attorney Sam Nicholson,
“however, acting chairman
William Cathoun ruled the
motion out of order.
According to Mr. Nicholson, the Authority
isn’t empowered to ask for Mr, Bowman’s resig
nation. Ifhe were to be removed before his term
#&nds in April 1996, it would have to be action
taken by the local legislative delegation, which
@ppointed him to the Authority, Mr. Nicholson
Baid.
= Overshadowing the defeated motion to re
fove Mr. Bowman was civic center General
‘Manager Wendy C. Oglesby’s resignation.
= According to most members of the Authority,
See CIVIC CENTER, page 3
INSIDE
See Artßeat, page 7
!l Local News ... it 2-3
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“’ 5
Embattled civic
center General
Manager
Wendy Oglesby
wants out, but
with cash.
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By Rhonda Y. Maree
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Law enforcement officers
and fire fighters aren’t the
only city employees who risk
their lives daily in the line of
duty.
It’s not in the act of protect
ing citizens, but in the act of
“transporting passengers, that
a group of Augusta Public
Transit drivers says keeps
them in constant danger.
“Our jobs may look easy,
but it’s not easy at all,” said
Sandra Cofer, who has driven
for APT for three years.
Strapped in a seat belt at
the head of a 45-passenger
bus, unarmed and often with
out immediate communica
tion to headquarters, Ms.
Cofer and her coworkers must
RACE MATTERS e
High-school student granted
transfer after racist incident
B Black student
threatened by white
student brandishing
noose and tire iron is
granted a transfer.
MARTINSBURG, WV
(AP) Hedgesville High School
officials granted a request by
the parents of a black student
to transfer their son after he
was threatened by a white stu
dent brandishing anooseand a
tire iron.
Phoebe Brent said her 17-year
old son, Mike Brent, has refused
to return to Hedgesville High
since last week, when a white
student pulled the noose and
tire iron out of a car in the school
parking lot.
The student yelled, “We’re
gonna kill you ‘nigger’,” Mrs.
Brent said.
“The more I think about it, the
madder I get,” she said. “My
kid’s not going back to
Hedgesville.”
She and her husband, Ber
nard Brent, approached school
officials late Monday, asking for
their son’s transfer to
“All kinds of
things go on. It's
a dangerous job.
Anything is subject
to happen, and
the only thing we
can do is just
pray.”
= Dugusig duiver
open the doors freely people
from all walks of life who want
to ride the buses.
“Some of them come on ine
briated. Some of them have
weapons. All kinds of things go
on. It’s a dangerous job. Any
thing is subject to happen, and
the only thing we can do is just
pray,” Ms. Cofer said.
And certain routes, such as
Delta Manor, East. Boundary,
Turpin Hill and Regency Mall,
request was approved.
About 1,180 students attend
Hedgesville, including about 25
minorities, said Principal Frank
Aliveto. :
Aljveto said two white boys
were involved in the parking-lot
incident but he was not sure
what was said.
- “One boy displayed a noose at
another boy,” he said. “Nothing
occurred in the parking lot other
than that.”
Aliveto also said he was not
sure if the incident was racially
motivated.
“Wasit racial on the black kid’s
part?” Aliveto asked. “Was it ra
cial on the white boys’ part? Or
did they just not like each oth
er?”
Both of the white students
involved were suspended, he
said. Mike Brent also was sus
pended for a pushing match that
took place in school when ad
ministrators were meeting with
one of the white students.
Martinsburg Assistant Vice
Principal George Michaels said
“a couple” of other students
were transferred from
Hedgesville to Martinsburg in
the past because of racial prob
can create an even more dan
gerous work environment,
drivers said.
Leon Kemp said he has had
to physically remove disorder
ly riders from his bus and has
gotten numerous threats.
“These issues have been
brought to management’s at
tention plenty of times but, in
my opinion, they just don’t
care,” Mr. Kemp said.*" -
It’s this lack of response from
management about these is
sues and others;, such as long
hours and lack of raises and
promotions, that have prompt
ed transit workers to form a
labgr union.
Acting Transit Director
Heyward Johnson said he
keeps an open door policy, but
often undocumented complay
See BUS, page 3
lems. He refused to elaborate.
Aliveto, who has been at
Hedgesville for 12 years, said no
students had transferred for ra
cial reasons in his tenure.
Arthur Hairston said his son,
Arthur Hairston Jr., also was
granted a transfer last year be
cause of racial problems at the
school.
“It was the ‘nigger-calling’ and
theracial tension,” Hairston said.
But Aliveto said Hairston told
him last year his son wanted to
transfer hecause he would have a
better opportunity for extracur
ricular activities.
Mrs. Brent said a school official
told her that somebody spray
painted “KKK” on a wall at the
school last year.
Taylor Perry, director of pupil
services for Berkeley County
8 *hools, said he had heard about
the Ku Klux Klan’sinitials on the
wall but did not see them.
“] went out there one time, and
a student said he saw ‘KKK’ on
thewall,” Perrysaid. “I dontknow
what was on the wall.”
Aliveto said anything written
on the school walls is immediate-
See STUDENT, page 2
MR. 808 HENNEBERGER
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER
UNIVERSITY OF GA
ATHENS GA 30602 12/31/99
YA N 1
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LAY
T RMALER
IR
Trustees still
deadlocked on
school chief
B Focus shifts
to ‘interim’
superintendent.
Larke, Maczyk
choices debated.
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
“Nothing much.”
That; according to trust
ee Barbara Padgett, is
what’shappening with the
“superintendent stale
mate” the Richmond Coun
ty Board of Education has
gotten itself into. Rarely
do two little words say so
much.
Trustee Adna Stein
blames it on School Board
President Kenny Echols,
and the fact that he hasn’t
called any meetings to try
to work through the issue.
“He’s not providing any
leadership,” Mr. Stein
said.
Mr. Echols concedes that
“nothing’s getting accom
plished,” and that the Rich
mond County school sys
tem may very well lose the
four candidates for the
superintendent seat and
be forced to begin the whole
process again. And he still
doesn’t foresee any special
meetings. :
“We’re hoping to come to
some resolution by Decem
ber.”
Sois the superintendent
issue on the agenda?
New VA director
set to take control
:‘.j."‘:""- [
. ; |
David Whatley, Director
of the VA Medical
Center in Augusta
David Whatley, former
Regional Director of the De
partment of Veterans Affairs
Central Region in Ann Ar--
bor, Mich., has been appoint
ed by the Secretary of Veter
ans Affairs to direct the VA
Medical Center in Augusta,
effective October 29.
As director, Whatley will
serve as chief executive of
ficer with overall responsi
bility for one of the largest
VA medical centers in the
nation. The VA Medical
Center is a two-division,
912-bed health care facility
serving the veterans of east
ern Georgia and western
South Carolina. The Augus-
BULK RATE
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PAID
NO. 302
.| AUGUSTA, GA
Malcolm
X
The
Spiritual
Side
.See page 7
Eer ‘ - »; b »’i_v' o
Lo Y
% e
Trustee Adna Stein:
No leadership from
Board president.
“It won’t be in Novem
ber,” he said.
According to Mrs.
Padgett and trustee Jeff
Annis, December is when
Dr. Charles Larke’s term,
as interim superintendent,
ends.
“Something might come
up in November to give Dr.
Larke an extended con
tract,” Mr. Stein hinted,
and assured the Focus that
Dr. Larke is interested.
Something. “Something
has to happen sometime,”
was the prodding statg
ment used on Mr. Annis.
“No it doesn’t,” he said.
Six people have to agree,
and “we can’tdoit,” he said.
From his understanding
of the rules, if no decision is
reached by the end of No
vember, “the charter will
kick in” and Assistant Su
perintendent Willie
Maczyk will take over.
He wasn’t sureifthechar-
See SCHOOLS, page 3
ta VAMC offers a full range
of inpatient and outpatient
health care services to area
veterans, employing more
than 2,100 people.
In his previous position
directing VA’s central re
gion, Whatley oversaw op
erations at 42 VA medical
centers, 16 outpatient clin
ics, 32 nursing homes, 10
domiciliaries and various
other VA programs and of
fices in 13 midwestern
states, serving more than
6.5 million veterans. He is
credited with many signifi
cant contributions that were
made to the Central Region.
Whatley has also served as
director of the VA Medical
Center in Hampton, Va.,
associate regional director
of the Central Region, and
Associate Director of the VA
medical centers in
Northport, N.Y.
Whatley is a graduate of
Texas Southern University
and attended graduate school
at Howard University and
George Washington Univer
sity in Washington, D.C. He is
an active member of the
NAACP, the National Urban
League, the American Col
lege of Healthcare Executives
and Alpha Phi Alpha Fratern
ity, Inc. -