Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.) 198?-current, December 19, 1996, Image 1

Augusta focus., December 19, 1996, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextDECEMBER 19 - 25,1996 VOL. XVINO. 782 3L AUGUTA'S INEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ‘ Bus driver dismissal B An Augusta Transit worker, summarily dismissed after a urine test turned up positive for marijuana, says he’s clean. An independent test backs him up. City officials, however, say it’s not possible that they’re wrong. By Frederick Benjamin Sr. AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer AUGUSTA A former city bus driver is wondering what could have gone wrong. A 13-year career with an excellent driving record came to an abrupt end recently when a routine post-accident urine sample showed traces of THC —the active ingredient in marijuana. Under the city’s zero-tolerance drug policy, there was no alternative but to dismiss Keith Wells, 37, despite his untarnished record. “If a positive result comes up, the employee must be terminated,” said Heyward Johnson, Augusta Transit manager. “It’s out of my hands at that point. As far as second chances, I have no control over that.” ’ Mr. Wells was tested on November 20 after a motorist drove into the side of his bus. Mr. Wells was not at fault. While seeking medical atten tion, urine samples were taken according to city policy. After getting a physician’s clearance to return to work a few days later, Mr. Wells was notified that he tested positive for marijuana and discharged. Mr. Keith, however, is convinced that a mis take has been made. “I know for a fact that I'm clean,” Mr. Wells said. “I'm a straight up and down man. I'm not going to step out there and throw away my livelihood. I've got a family to support.” After securing the services of an attorney, Mr. Wells had a second test done. The urine and blood samples were drawn by his personal phy sician and sent for testing. They returned nega tive, but it’s not likely to change anything. “The employee has 72 hours toreturn and ask for a retest,” according to Sandy Wright of the county’s Risk Management Department. Mr. Wells’ test was done some ten days after the initial test. He didn’t request a retest after the first because he didn’t want the same lab See BUS DRIVER, page 4A o by’ o ,_ e R iy : 4 '.- 4% - i w. i 2 e ; el ’“*’ j ~«s')’ ’;9!( 3 N o M First Kwanzaa show set to air. See p. 1B B World/National New5..........ce............ 2A B Local/Regional New 5........................ 4A B People il ssk ol W EGRSIAL . i s e BWACIoser Look ............o..laiiaiiong IR BRI LV TOA TAR Gl e S L | MARTDRGL ... 088 3B BOsesaßr . . R i 2 B OB NEWE .. s hiansissssageis B B Classifiods .......c.oci. ivinniiimisivess OB 1B i R i R i Aoy & % A Tg’,f- S ‘g\‘;_ | 4 4 . e % ' s ‘\%‘» b % o 5 B 2. g i 4. *’&"’ e ;i\%ﬁw 4" 0, oo i . . .::"%g: R i o E?ﬁg ‘ f&%ﬁi‘é - B M& e '& B (A B ) t g I Y LR i iR E i ""f;.'fﬂt-f%);é.%i" N~ I e S WO 1 f%ﬁ' ) ,w?‘ '* / g,} L~ W o H kW i " £ N R * ’:; i o : ¥ gA : . .4‘: ' [ Demand high for slavery documents, artifacts B Trade in slavery memorabilia has gone through the roof as collectors attempt to outbid one another for relics of the peculiar institution. By Rachel Zoll ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer PROVIDENCE, R.I. It once was hidden in family vaults and back rooms of an tique shops — too sensitive to display, too valuable to discard. Now American slave memo rabilia is coming out of the closet, as dealers supply a de mand for everything from bills of sale to shackles. “Slavery has become Ameri cana. It has taken on a new prestige,” said Charles Blockson, who donated 20,000 items on black history to Temple University in Philadelphia, and oversees the collection named for him there. KWANZAA After3oyears, the black celebration has arrived By Timothy Cox Special to AUGUSTA FOCUS : AUGUSTA Sala Adenike vividly recalls when “Kwanzaa” was simply considered a new word for black Americans to add to their growing Africanvocabulary. The term seeped into the consciousness of black intellectuals in the late 19605, a time of turbulent social and political upheaval which found the cul tural vanguard of African Americans look ing to Africa for solutions. Very few Augustans, black or white, had ever heard the term, much less gleaned its true significance. Today, nearly 30 years later, Kwanzaa, which means first fruits in Swahili, has become a vibrant part of Americanaboth culturally and commercially. Shunned at first as a marginal oddity with little popular ap peal, its resiliance has at tracted the attention and the financial resources of Madison Avenue and corporate America. While many black Americans experienced aninner glow asthey contemplated the seven life-affirming principles of Kwanzaa againsf the backdrop of an in¢reasingly crass com mercialism of Santa and Christmas shop ping, merchandisers were scrambling to dump Kwanzaa-related products onto the market in ever-increasing numbers. Books, wrapping paper, calendars, greeting cards, straw mats, candles and red, black and green liberation flags, tapes and videos are every where. ' The success of Kwanzaa has not delighted everyone. “l have mixed emotions about the new emphasis the celebration is generating,” said Ms. Adenike, who operates Ambasa Gift Shop with her husband, Paul Allen. “It’s good to see that Kwanzaa is being recognized widely, but I just wish more African Americans had more control over where the dollars are flow ing. “Ithasbecome big businessin recent years. Now, it’s time for blacks to recognize who’s producing many of the items that are being sold in the name of Kwanzaa. It’s time for us not only to be consumers, but producers and distributors as well,” Ms. Adenike said. See KWANZAA, page 4A “It has always been a problem for black people to buy slave documents. They're almost always in the hands of white people, they control them, own them and pass them down within families.” — Ray Rickman, book merchant Last March, New York-based Swann Galleries held an auc tion called the “African-Ameri cana Sale” of slavery documents and other items, among them a manuscript written in Arabic by a slave that sold for $21,850. It was the first such auction for Swann, the oldest American rare-book auction house, and was so successful similar events will be held annually, spokes woman Caroline Birenbaum T Indians Hip Hop Logic and Soul by Madison Smartt Bell See BOOKS, page 14A N g i 5 -‘.:Y,V i 3 S, e R S e T R Sk b 5 W : : : M’* w L ¢ £ A # 1 ;i gl B p y e P :7;3‘8-;?«;' i . B R S 3 e PR R B e R O > a‘%ﬂ ah ) RE e b RS T e A ae R b oG Y % i RR & o PR » g A 400 R HLEET i W i S p L o Local Kwanzaa pio neers: Sala Adenike (above) and Willie Knox (left). Before their ef forts, little was done in the area to celebrate Kwanzaa. u The Fourth. Annual Kwanzaa Affair Thursday, Dec. 26 at the Julian Smith Casino. Featuring Sala Adenike & Soul Enlightenment Band. There will be drum mers, dancers, and vendors. ® An Evening Ceremony For Kwanzaa Thursday, Dec. 26 at the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of ' Black History. Keynote speaker, Willie Knox. See Calendar, 2B for details. said. A slave collar expected to bring about $3,000 will be among the items sold in Feb ruary, she said. “If you're able to look at it as animportant historical record, it’s very much like Holocaust material or any kind of situa tion that’s horrendous,” Birenbaum said. While black collectors like Joseph Young are not offended by the auctions, they are upset that citizens, rather than mu seums or universities, are pur chasing items. “I don’t have any problem with the sales, but I'd prefer they be collected by institu tions and put in the proper context,” said Young, a Wash ington, D.C., elementary school teacher who has a 500- piece collection of black memo rabilia in his home. Ray Rickman, who owns Cornerstone Books in Provi dence and is black, remem bered how in 1989 a Richmond, See SLAVERY, page 2A : ;R/808 HENNEBERGER \ BULK RATE : L | U.S. POSTAGE GEORGIA NEWSPAP \ PAID ek NO. 302 UN‘:::E‘ GA 30602 12/31199“) AT //,_,4<~-’"‘, Y e Musketeers L playing above -the rim early i —— The lowdown by Tony C | See page 12A Atlanta gas to buy out home owners B Settlement ends environmental struggle. Cleanup remains. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) The Atlanta Gas Light Co. would pay more than 200 property owners, including a historic black church, in a lawsuit settle ment over pollution from the company’s plant. Alawsuit against the com pany was filed last year by ’l‘rinity C.M.E. Church and its neighbors arguing that black, tar-like muck from the plant was seeping through the soil and into the ground water. “On behalf of the church and the local community we are glad to have reached common ground with the gas company,” said Rev. J. Ronzell Maness, pastor of the Trinity CME Church and a representative of the plaintiffs. “We can now fo cuson the cleanup ofthe old gas plant site and work with the gas company to keep the community informed about the clean-up activi ties that will take place.” No dollar amount was spelled out in the settle ment. Company officials would not say how much it may cost. The court must approve the deal. The pollution comes from an old manufactured gas plantowned by Atlanta Gas Light that sits across the street from the pre-Civil War Trinity Church. The company used the plant and others across the state during the late 1800 s and the first half of this cen tury to make gas from coal. The coal was cooked at Soldier accused ot painting swastikas gets general discharge M Accused enlisted man is black and claims discharge is in retaliation for racial discrimination charges he had filed in the past. FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) A panel on Wednes day recommended that a soldier accused of painting swastikas onbarracks doors receive a general discharge, the soldier’s lawyer said. The administrative board of the special operations command at Fort Bragg decided that evidence showed that Sgt. Robert L. Washington painted the swastikas last summer, ci vilian attorney James A. Martinof Hoke County said. The discharge must be approved by the command ing general before it is fi nal, Martin said in a tele phone interview. extremely high heat to pro duce the gas. The process left behind coal tar, a by product containing benzene and other substances that may cause cancer and other ills. In October, the Georgia Public Service Commission prevented Atlanta Gas from usingaspecial clean-up fund to pay for lawsuit damages and settlements against the company because of the pol lution. The PSC also ordered the company to meet a strict schedule forcleaning up the pollution in Augusta, and at similar plants in Athens, Savannah, Valdosta, Grif fin, Brunswick and Waycross. “We are pleased that we have reached a workable solution forboth sides,” said Charles W. Bass, chief op erating officer of AGL Re sources Inc., the parent company of Atlanta Gas Light. Atlanta Gas Light Com pany will begin removing the 150-foot gas holder on the site in January 1997 as part of the overall program covering the three parcels of land that make up the site. The company held its second public meetingat the church on Monday to in form residents about the holder removal process and toreceivecommentson that process. Atlanta Gas Light Com pany is the largest natural gas distribution company in the Southeast and the larg est subsidiary of AGL Re sources Inc. The company servesnearly 1.4 millionresi dential, commercial and in dustrial customers in Geor gia. Army officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. A general discharge falls somewhere in the middle between honorable and less than honorable, Martin said. The evidence consisted of “very weak forensic evi-- dence finding paint par ticles on his shoes,” Martin said. : Washington, a member of the military intelligence company in the 7th Special- Forces Group, maintains: his innocence. ; Soldiers in Fort Bragg's’ Ist Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, found the’ Nazi symbols on July 16. They were painted on eight doors to black soldiers’ rooms. Washington, who is black, lived in one of those rooms, Martin said. : Washington, 31, of Tifton, Ga., believes that investi gators castsuspicionon him - because he had filed charges of racial discrimination against fellow soldiers in: the past, Martin said. :