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Dayton blacks saying
Estabrook got raw deal
B The newly appointed city manager
is a veteran and, possibly, a victim of
big-city infighting. Was he insensitive to
the African-American community in
Dayton? Many blacks there say he did a
good job and was committed to fairness.
By Frederick J. Benjamin
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
William J. Estabrook is a
hard-nosed bigot and should
fit in well in Augusta with
all of the other hard-nosed
bigots on the city commis
sion. William J. Estabrook
isalsoafair-minded no-non
sense administrator who is
not afraid to promote
women and minorities to
key positions in govern
ment.
Whichis the true picture?
Come November 1 when he
assumes the title of city ad
ministrator, Augustans will
be able to decide for them
selves.
The widely published rap
on Estabrook is that he has
been less than sensitive to
the needs of the African-
American community when
he ran things in Dayton,
@hio. This, according to
some of his detractors on
the county commission.
€ommissioners Lee Beard,
Willie Mays, and Moses
Todd resisted the Estabrook
dppointment until the elev
énth hour when it was clear
that he had the votes to ac
¢ept the position.
= Messrs. Beard, Mays and
TPodd cited concerns about
Mr. Estabrook’s less-than
stellarrelationship with the
black community in Day
ton, Ohio, his last assign
ment.
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Blacks in Dayton, how
ever, are not in total agree
ment on the merits of Mr.
Estabrook vis-a-vis the Af
rican-American commu
nity. Infact, talkingto mem
bers of the civil-rights com
munity and black press in
Daytion, one comes away
with the impression that
Mr. Estabrook is a fairly
down-to-earth chap and not
your garden variety white
collar racist. Some have
even praised him for his
commitment to diversity.
Perhaps the most damn
ing indictment of Mr.
Estabrook comes from Jesse
Gooding, president of the
Dayton chapter NAACP.
“I loved to see him go,”
Mr. Gooding said. “There
was a strain between the
black community and Mr.
Estabrook.”
In fact, there was a strain
between the black commu
nity and the white commu
nityingeneral, manyblacks
in Dayton will tell you but,
according to Mr. Gooding,
strained race relations cer
tainly did not improve un
der Mr. Estabrook’s leader
ship.
When pressed for specific
instances of Mr. Estabrook’s
racial indiscretions, how
ever, Mr. Gooding could of
fer none, but did say, “I've
heard grumblings,” and “We
were quite concerned about
some of his proposals,” and
“He would listen, but not
(AP) A court motion filed six
years ago alleged that sheriff’s
deputies turned up a link be
tweenthe ClAand drugdealers
in Los Angeles, echoing new
allegations that have spawned
federal inquiries.
However, evidence of that link
mysteriously disappeared from
the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department, accord
ing to the lawyer who filed the
motion.
And although the motion was
publicly reported at the time, a
judge ordered lawyers not to
discuss the alleged CIA connec
tion on grounds it was not re
lated to the case in which the
motion was submitted, a cor
ruption trial involving sheriff’s
deputies.
Similar claims of a relation
ship between the CIA and drug
dealers were made in a recent
series of articles by the San
Jose Mercury News, which al
leged that the CIA funneled
profits from domestic sales of
crackcocainetoagroupofNica
raguan Contra rebels.
The Justice Depariment is
investigating the claims, as are
OCTOBER 3-9, 1996 VOL. XV NO. 771 | l
Augusta
" i METRO AUGUSTA'S FINEST WEEKL NEWSPAPER
Local Commissioner has doubts
E“m B A] Commissioner Lee Beard
i o, resisted the appointment of
.| Mr. William J. Estabrook, but
.; 8 ’J in the end gave him a posi
+HN | five endorsement in the at
- SR | tempt o forge a united front.
B Mr. Beard’s concerns were
" z prompted by discussions with
.| B & = civil rights and labor leaders
1 s & 1 in Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Beard,
act.”
Mr. Gooding feels that the
overall view of the black
community toward Mr.
Estabrook was negative. .
Not everyone in the civil
rights community, however,
McKinney-Farrakhan link
alleged in Mitnick debate
By Russ Bynum
ASSOCIATED PRESS Staff Writer
ATLANTA
Rep. Cynthia McKinney,
Georgia’s first black con
gresswoman trying to win
re-election in anewly drawn
majority white district, was
accused by her Republican
opponent on Sunday of sup
porting “the bigotry of Louis
Farrakhan.”
McKinney, D-Lithonia,
denied the charge by 4th
District challenger John
Mitnick, who is white, and
said she was defending free
speech when she voted
againsta popular resolution
in 1994 denouncing a lieu
tenant of the fiery Nation of
CRIME
CIA-cocaine link revealed
six years ago, but covered up
LOS ANGELES
shares Mr. Gooding’s views
toward Mr. Estabrook.
The Reverend Raleigh
Trammellis president of the
Dayton chapter of the
Southern Christian Lead
ership Conference and had
.i
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McKinney: | support free
speech.
Islam leader for making
anti-Semitic statements.
“That speech was indeed
a horrid speech,” she said.
“But I voted against that
resolution because not in
the history of our country
has Congress passed areso-
Six years ago, officers discovered films
of military operations in Central
America and numerous documents
indicating that drug money was being
used to purchase military equipment
for Central America. The evidence |
mysteriously disappeared.
members of Congress.
Rep. Julian C. Dixon, a Cali
fornia Democrat and member
of the House Intelligence Com
mittee, said Friday that he had
reccived a copy of the 1990
motion but had yet to review it.
The motion was filed by law
yer Harland W. Braun, who
represented one of several
deputies accused of skimming
money from drug deals and fil
ing false tax returns.
His motion claimed that
deputies found evidence of the
CIA link in 1986 at the home of
an alleged money launderer
believed to have ties to a major
drug ring.
“Officers discovered films of
military cperations in Central
however, told Augusta Fo
cus he would be the first to
apologize if his assessment
were inaccurate.
Mr. Beard also expressed
concern that Mr. Estabrook
is currently engaged in a
S7OO-million lawsuit of his
former supervisors —the
city council of Dayton, Ohio.
some nice things to say
about Mr. Estabrook.
The reverend told Au
gusta Focus,“Mr. Estabrook
See ESTABROOK, page 15
lution to condemn speech.”
Mitnick, a Decatur busi
ness lawyer, pushed the is
sue, saying “Mrs. McKinney
has buddied up with Louis
Farrakhan and his cronies
on many occasions. ... She
supported the bigotry of
Louis Farrakhan and his
senior lieutenant.”
McKinney touted her sup
port for the minimum wage
increase and a bill tobolster
police forces nationwide as
reasons she should be re
elected.
Despite having her ma
jority-black district dis
mantled by federal judges
earlier this year, she hand-
See McKINNEY, page 2
America, technical manuals,
information on assorted mili
tary hardware and communi
cations, and numerous docu
ments indicating that drug
money was being used to pur
chase military equipment for
Central America,” the motion
said,
The motion alleged the depu
ties also encountered a man
whoidentified himselfas a CIA
agent.
Braun said the deputies
bookéd property they had
seized as evidence, but federal
agents later removed it.
“Mysteriously, all records of
the search, seizure and prop-
See CIA-COCAINE, page 2
Otis Smart
court date set
See Page 3
Bell-Norwood
Debatse wrapup
ee Page
Norwood
blasted for
failure to
hire blacks
B Norwood office admits no blacks are
on staff; plans to do better in future.
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
A spokesman from con
gressional candidate
David Bell’s campaign
blasted oppo
nent Con
gressman
Charlie
Norwood for
his failure to
hire blacks on
his staff.
“They have
no record of
promoting
blacks at all,”
charges Bell
“Black
conservatives
are a commodity
right now. They
can write their
own ticket.”
— Norwood
spokesman
campaign manager Matt
Bodman.
Mr. Bell, a Democrat, is
trying to unseat the Repub
lican incumbent.
Norwood press secretary
John Stone told Augusta
Focus that the Congress
man will try to resolve the
matter in the future.
“There are no paid Afri
can Americans on staff and
we’re trying to correct that,”
Mr. Stone admitted.
Attracting committed
black Republicans is diffi
cult, he said. Furthermore,
once those individuals are
targeted as up-and-coming
GOPers, they’re often
swooped up by individual
lobbying groups, the
Norwood spokesman said.
“Black conservatives are a
commodity right now. They
Bond issue draws
fire from public
B Many residents
are wary of any
thing likely to
raise taxes.
Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
As November closes in,
voters become increasingly
vocal about their views on
issues like the bond refer
endum. In addition to put
ting halfoftheir number up
for re-election, Richmond
County School Board trust
ees will be petitioning vot
ers for permission to bor
row slls million for school
construction and renovation
projects. Inorderto pay back
the money, the Board is
looking at higher property
taxes and the possibility of
an additional 1-cent sales
tax. Though they profess to
wanting a better education
for Richmond County’s
youngsters, voters are con
cerned.
Richmond County resi
dent Julia Lee said she will
vote in favor of the bond,
but really doesn’t want to
give any more of her money
BULKRATE
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
NO. 302
AUGUSTA,GA
can write their own ticket,”
he added.
Mr. Bodman says excuses
are unacceptable.
“For a district that has a
34-percent African-Ameri
can population, there’s just
no excuse.”
In contrast,
the Bell staff
boasts blacks in
key positions,
including cam
paign finance
director Kevin
Howard, field
divector
R arriem
Holman. Mr.
Bell also employs Roberta
Bush, a chief paralegal in
Mr. Bell’s law office. The
candidate is a trial lawyer.
Despite the lack of diver
sity, Mr. Stone, however,
praised Mr. Norwood’s
record of assistance to the
African-American commu
nity. 3
“Charlie has done a ton of
things to protect the black
community.”
He pointed tofederal edu
cation funding for
Morehouse College and ad
ditional funding which
helped sustain the exist
ence of five historically
black medical colleges in
cluding Meharry College in
Nashville.
“We’ll stand behind that
all day,” Mr. Stone said.
to the government in taxes.
Shesaid, “... raising taxes is
a bad way [te get money].
Everything’s getting so ex
pensive these days. ... They
keep on raising and raising
and raising.”
McKinley Rogers, who is
new in Richmond County,
approves of the measure.
“They (government officials
in general) spend so much
money to build prisons and
jails ... They need to put
some more into education.”
Richmond County resi
dent Gloria Bowden de
clared she would not vote in
favor of the bond, because
the trustees have a talent
for “wast[ing] more money
than they know what to do
with.” She blames “asinine
paperwork” and says sala
ries need to be cut.
Kathy Bell, whohas a pre
school-age daughter, had
been under the assumption
that money garnered from
the Georgia lottery was sup
posed to take care of those
needs. “Ain’t that what it’s
for?” she asked. “I think the
money is going somewhere
else.” ‘
Ira Davis, who heads the
See BOND ISSUE, page 15