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March 21, 1996 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Ogleshy defends School-Board move
From page one
The superintendent of schools
controversy that had first reared
its head in September with a
mighty roar and gnashing of
teeth, trotted out on lamb’s feet
last Thursday with the quiet
reading of the motion by Ms.
Oglesby. The motion — which
also gives Dr. Larke power to
overhaul the entire power struc
ture — was designed to be ac
cepted in its entirety.
The March 17 editorial, en
titled “The Larke coup,” accuses
Ms. Oglesby and “her rainbow
coalition” of “hold(ing) the public
in contempt” by keeping them in
thedark, and of wasting the time
and $30,000 it took to conduct
the national manhunt for super
intendent.
Ms. Oglesby defended her mo
tion and responded to the critics.
“Everybody has a right to their
opinions,” she said, and chal
lenged the contention that the
NAACP seeks prosecuti
SUMTER, S.C
(AP) Testimony from four wit
nesses should be enough to prompt
the prosecution of a white Sumter
County sheriffs deputy for killinga
black motorist, a civil-rights group
says.
William Randolph Lawson, 21,
tried to flee in his van during a Feb.
6 traffic stop. As he drove away,
Deputy Harold Van Thames Jr.
jumped in through the driver’s side
window and fatally shot him, offi
cials said.
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search money had been wasted.
Shesaid, “Theintent of the Board
from the very beginning was
pure,” that “quite a few” of the
trustees had invested a lot of
time studying the candidates,
that no one foresaw the dead
lock. She chalks it up to educa
tion. “It was a hard lesson that
we learned.”
Ms. Oglesby said constituents
have been calling with opinions
from both sides of the fence.
“As the public,” she said, “they
have a right to express that.”
Ms. Oglesby also addressed
concerns that the motion could
be a budget breaker. She said
some people would retire during
the course of restructuring, and
that it would take a year to com
plete.
But trustee Jeff Annis is more
sure about the budgetary impli
cations.
“Yeah,” he said, “that motion
spends some serious bucks. It’s
the most sweeping single motion
that’s ever been made in Rich
Lawson was unarmed and was
no threat to anyone, said Carl
Holmes Sr., presidentofthe Sumter
County branch of the National As
sociation for the Advancement of
Colored People
But the witnesses said that as
Thames hung on the van with his
left arm, he drew his gun with his
right hand “then shot Lawson at
point-blank range,” Holmes said.
Policeinvestigators said after the
shootingthatas Thameshung from
the van, one of his legs was injured
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Regional News
mond County ... the first layer of
a total reorganization.”
Though he doesn’t know where
inthe budget the money will come
from, Mr. Annis is confident the
new budget will begin taking
shape in the next 30-90 days,
most notably during May, June
and July.
One of the four who didn’t vote
in favor of the motion, Mr. Annis
immediately called for a vote of
confidence. Mr. Myers protested.
Mr. Annis later said he made it
to give the still-divided Board an
opportunity to show solidarity.
“I'd rather [Dr. Larke] feel like
an eight-to-two superintendent
KKK shop must close
From page one
been thrown at the store win
dows.
William Howard Jr., a black
man who came from Anderson to
visit the store, spent about 45
on of sheriff’s deputy
when it hit a steel post.
During the traffic stop, another
deputy tried toserve Lawson with a
bench warrant for failing to appear
in court, speeding and violation of
theopencontainerlaw,officialssaid.
State Law Enforcement Division
agents found crack cocaine in
Lawson’svan afterhisdeathbutdid
not find a weapon, authorities said.
The witnesses were interviewed
by alawyer and a private investiga
tor hired by Lawson’sfamily, Holmes
said.
than a six-to-four superinten
dent. ... I want all those people to
know we'’re behind him all the
way.”
But Mr. Myersand Ms. Padgett
still did not back the decision,
though Mr. Myers insists Dr.
Larke has his “wholehearted”
support. “I could not divide Dr.
Larke from the package,” he said,
but “I did not feel very comfort
able with some parts of the mo
tion.”
When asked if he’d had any
idea such a motion would be
made, he said there had been
“some talk.”
minutes talking with the owner
and called it a learning experi
ence.
“This is part of our (black)
history, too,” he said. “It’sgood to
see past enemies ... a lot of these
things have been suppressed. It’s
good to see it open.”
The family’s lawyer, Ed Brown,
said five witnesses wereinterviewed
but did not want their names re
leased for fear of reprisals by the
sheriff’'s department.
Holmes has criticized the depart
ment for past racial insensitivity
and said SLED is taking too long to
investigate the shooting.
“I think we're close to wrapping it
up,” SLED spokesman Hugh Munn
said Monday. SLEDhasinterviewed
four witnesses whose names were
provided by the Sumter NAACP.
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Districtsdebated
From page one
Georgia’s history of racially po
larized voting, requires creation
of a second majority-black con
gressional district if one can be
drawn without violating tradi
tional redistrictingcriteria, such
as keeping counties intact. Geor
gia had only one majority-black
district prior to 1992.
But Bowers, who chose not to
jointhe appeal of the court-drawn
map on behalf of the state, said
the Supreme Court ruling
changed the Voting Rights Act
so that it can be used only to
maintain majority-black districts
that existed before this decade’s
redistricting wars began.
The new legislative maps re
jected by the Justice Department
dismantled 11 majority-black
districts—eight House and three
Senate — that were created by
the General Assembly in 1992.
In the petition to the three
judge panel Monday, the state
acknowledged that the old legis
lative maps are unconstitutional
because race was a prime factor
in the creation of their majority
black districts.
Black leaders decried Bowers’
action.
“Itis absolutely despicable, offen
sive, racially divisive and polarizing
to even imagine that the leaders of
this state would join this white re
sistance movement,” said Rep.
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Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta.
Laughlin McDonald, an attor
ney with the American Civil Lib
erties Union, said supporters of
majority-black districts will fight
the state’s bid to win court ap
proval for the new legislative
maps.
“It’s incredible that they are
conceding the unconstitutional
ity of the plans,” he said. “There’s
absolutely no pretense on the
part of the state to safeguard the
interests of minority voters.”
McDonald said the three-judge
panel in Augusta cannot even
accept the state’s petitionlegally,
since the Voting Rights Act spe
cifically requires that all appeals
of Justice Department rulings
on election law changes must be
heard by the federal courts in
Washington, D.C.
If the Augusta court accepts
that argument, the state would
be in the unprecedented position
of having legislative candidates
qualifying forelectionindistricts
that the state itself contends are
unconstitutional.
“The law is clear as of this
moment,” said McDonald. “The
latest plan cannot be imple
mented because it doesn’t com
ply with the Voting Rights Act.
The pre-existing plan is in place
and the elections should go for
ward under that plan. For that
not to happen, the court would
have to intervene.”
