Newspaper Page Text
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__See Page 12
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
For almost a year, Linda Roberts, acting gen
eral manager, has been making the rounds, the
calls, and the decisions needed to keep the
embattled Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum
Authority operating. A few weeks ago, she was
one vote away from being elevated to the top
spot, but she was denied the position by an
eleventh-hour defection by a former supporter.
This week, things were set in motion to ensure
that she never again gets too close to the prize.
See CIVIC-CENTER, page 3
Bomb suspect,
local man share
polygraph guru
3’4:’: d e f: l
Richard Jewell:
Will polygraph
results clear
him?
=Mr. Jewell, considered to be a prime suspect
m the July 27 pipe bomb explosion at Centen
nial Olympic Park in Atlanta, secured the
gervices of Mr. Rackleff’s firm, Federal Poly
g}aph Associates of Norcross, Ga., on August
4:to administer two days of polygraph tests.
=As the security guard first credited with
d@tecting the explosive device and helping
See POLYGRAPH, page 2
INSIDE
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By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
: AUGUSTA
. Besidesbeing from Geor
gia, security guard Rich
ard Jewell and Atgusta
athletic coach Otis L.
Smart Jr. have something
in common.
Both have utilized the
‘services of the same man
o prove theirinnocence —
lie detector expert and
former FBI man, Richard
“Dick” Rackleff.
AUGUST 22 - 28, 1996 VOL. XV NO. 765
- METRO AUGUSTA’S FINEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
School coaches must be
wary of sex scandals
o . M e ; | -y
ke _'X Pe o gIR T
A W 4 teachers notto have
e -5 physical, psychological or
e . 2 . emotional contact with any
o . ‘ student. It’s sad, but it'sy
Bk % _ © better not to make friends
0 e with your students.”
o e — Todd Parks, attorney.
- hen areacoaches wel
: comed prospective
; studentathletes back
© on school campuses
this week, they may
not have been mindful of the .
peril in which they may be
placed if a young, impressions
able charge decides to point a
fipger at them and claim some
form of sexual misconduct. If
theyignore that possibility, they
dosoat theirown peril. Experts
say, their ri%ks havebeen rising
steadily. i
Sexual harassment cases
have increased significantly
since 1992 in the wake of the
Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill
héarings says Cheryl Thorpe,
an attorney for the Georgia As
sociation of Educators.
As the number of cases of al
leged sexual misconduct rise,
mefligation concludes
CIA aided crack plague
M Profits from tons of
cocaine sold in U.S.
cities went to raise
money for U.S. adven
ture in Nicaragua.
SAN JOSE, Calif.
(AP) Throughout the 1980 s, a
San Francisco Bay area drug
ring sold tons of cocaine to Los
Angeles street gangs and fun
neled the profits to some of the
CIA-run Contras in Nicaragua,
a newspaper reported.
Repeated attempts to pros
ecute the ring’s kingpin were
thwarted by the CIA, possibly
to cover up ties between the
traffickers and Contra leaders,
the San Jose Mercury News re
ported in a series of articles
after a year-long investigation.
The newspaper’s report,
based on recently declassified
federal reports, court testimony
and interviews, alsoalleges that
the drug network was partially
responsible for the ongoing
“crack” problem in Los Angeles.
The money pipeline was cre-
so do the risks for all school
staffers, but espeetally coaches.
This summer, Coach Otis L.
Smart, of Lucy Laney High
School, had to bear the indig
nity of arrest on the charge of
sexual battery m@de by one of
higfemale athlet@s. Despite the
factthat Coach Sgnart appeared
to be exonerated by success
fully passing alie-detector test,
his reputation suffered dearly.
Coach Smart h%s resumed his
duties c'oachinfg’:, but thematter
is not behind him completely.
“Even if you’te exonerated, a
cloud often remains,” Ms.
Thorpe said.
A child may lie about such an
incident. K
By Timothy Cox
Staff Writer ‘
“There is a saying that the ends jus
fify the means. So we started raising
money for the Contra revaelitions” =
— Oscar Reyes, anti-communist drug
dealer nid Pt W
ated after the CIA combined
several armies to create 5,000-
member anti-communist FDN
Fuerza Democratica Nicara
guense (Nicaraguan Demo
cratic Force) in mid-1981, the’
newspaper reported.
The same year, the drug ring
sold almost a ton of cocaine to
the Crips and Bloods, notori
ous Los Angeles gangs, for $54
million, former FDN leader and
government informant Oscar
Danilo Blandon Reyes said.
“There is a saying that the
ends justify the means,”
Blandon testified in 1994. “So
we started raising money for
the Contra revolution.”
The Mercury News identified
the primary buyer as Ricky
Donnell Ross, or “Freeway
Rick,” a notorious South-Cen
“I've had kids admit they
lied,” she said. Generally,
middle school children are
the culprits, according to
Thorpe.
Schoo‘lgsyabems almost al
ways ha%e guidelines de
signed to'prevent faculty
members f?&o)m the mere ap
pearance of sexual impropri
eties. Dr. Curtis Dixon, as
sistant director of the Geor
gia Professional Practices
Commission, said educators
should always demonstrate
responsible behavior with
school-aged children. A copy
of the Georgia Code of Eth
ics is handed to all new staff
members, he said.
In the Richmond County
School District, copies of the
See COACHES, page 3
tral Los Angeles dealer who
bought powder cocaine, turned
it into crack and sold it whole
sale throughout the city and
the nation.
Blandon spent 28 months in
U.S. prison for dealing drugs,
theMercury News said. He was
released from prison in 1994
to become a full-time infor
mant for the federal Drug En
forcement Administration, a
job which has since paid him
more than $166,000.
. Howmuch ofthedrug ring’s
profits went to the FDN before
it disbanded in 1988 still is
unclear. But in his testimony,
Blandon said, “whatever we
were runningin L.A., the profit
was going to the Contra revo-
See CIA POLICIES, page 2
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o
Auto detailers
Ep e
mostly legitimate,
L
biz owners say
B In the wake of the tragic slaying
of a detail shop owner, and whispers
of drug involvement, auto detail -
professionals speak out in defense of
their livelihoods.
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Owners of area detail
shops want to put to rest
suggestions that they ply
an illegitimate trade and
are fronts for illegal activi
ties. The August 8 murder
of Darrell Xavier Rouse, a
Walton Way detail shop
owner, fueled speculation
about criminal activity at
the shop. Such speculation,
however, has remained un
founded.
In fact, Mr. Rouse has
been hailed as a savior of
sorts.
“He really did a commu
nity service,” said Joe
Owens, 29, owner of Detail
Doctor’s Cleaning techni
cian, on the 1100 block of
Laney-Walker Blvd. “The
shop was about to close. He
took over the shop and kept
the guys working. A lot of
them have families and
that’s the type of work
they’re good at. There were
no other jobs for them, at
that time,” Mr. Owens said.
“Shaq (as Mr. Rouse was
known)had a good business
mind.
Mr. Owens admits, how
ever, that at one time or
another, car detail busi
nesses have been used as
fronts for illegal activities
— often drug sales.
“It happened more back
inthe’Bos,” said Mr. Owens,
a graduate of Lucy Laney
High School. “But legiti
mate businesses far out
number illegal ones,” he
Some whites
mmune to AIDS
Researchers have
discovered that
some white people
carry genes that
ward off HIV.
BOSTON
(AP) Scientists have un
raveled one of the myster
ies of the AIDS epidemic --
why some escape infection
despite thousands of risky
sexual encounters.
The answer, for many,
appears to be inborn. They
have genes that make it
extremely difficult to catch
HIV, the AIDS virus, ac
cording to findings pub
lished Friday in the journal
Cell.
The discovery opens new
possibilities for treating and
preventing the disease. If
scientists can find a way to
mimic the effects of this in
born genetic shield, they
believe it may be possible to
create a pill that will keep
people from becoming in
fected with the AIDS virus.
Scientists made the dis
covery with the help of two
gay men who volunteered
atthe Aaron Diamond AIDS
BULKRATE
U.S. POSTAGE
PAD
N 0.302
AUGUSTA,GA
“When | first
opened, they
(police) watched
me like a hawk.
I've been here
six years, and |
plan to be here.”
-— Larry Bussey,
Larry’s Detail Shop,
N. Augusta
said.
Larry Bussey, owner of
Larry’s Detail Shopin North
Augusta, agrees.
“You'll see some shops
open in the summer, and by
winter, they're closed,” he
said.
Does illegal car detail
business shed a negative
light on the credible shops?
“I don’t think so,” Mr.
Bussey said. “When I first
opened, they (police)
‘watched me like a hawk.
I'vebeen here six years, and
I plan to be here.” He’s now:
considered an essential part:
of the North Augusta busi
ness community, he said.
Good service and honesty
are key factors for success,
said the 44-year-old North
Augusta resident. “If a per
son leaves a SI,OOO bill on
the front seat, it’ll be there
when we'’re finished,” he
said with pride.
Mr. Owensrealizes many
people stereotype those in
his line of work.
“A lot of people pass judg-
See DETAIL, page 3
Research Center in New
York City.
The men, who said they
had watched 40 or 50 of their
friends and lovers die of
AIDS, wondered why their
own high exposure to the
virus had not also led to
infection.
The researchers discov
ered that both men carried
apair of genes that ward off
HIV. They were even more
surprised tolearn how com
mon these genes are.
“We originally thought
people with this would be
one in a million. Actually,
it's more like one in 100
white people,” said Dr.
Nathan R. Landau, one of
the Diamond researchers.
Only whites carry the
genes for reasons that are
not yet clear. ;
The key to warding off
HIV is a mutation in the
genes that direct the body's
defenses against disease. In
this case, a gene called
CCRS is missing a chunk of
information, so the body
fails to produce a particular
protein. This protein is one
of the docking points the
See AIDS, page 2