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Rap industry pros fear
media hype will spur
violent reactions
Rapindustry officials are mourning the loss of
another of its top performers. The artist known
asthe Notorious 8.1. G., Biggie Smalls was slain
on Sunday following the Soul Train Awards in
Los Angeles. .
Media accounts suggesting a shooting war
between East Coast and West Coast performers
have been numerous. Industry insiders fear that
the media feeding frenzy will only exacerbate an
already difficult situation.
The following item which appeared in the
Philadelphia Daily News gives a good account
of the mood within the industry:
Industry leaders long tried to dismiss a sim
mering feud between West Coast rapper Tupac
Shakur and his East Coast counterpart the Noto
rious B.L.G. as just an overblown publicity stunt.
Now both are dead, victims of almost identi
cal drive-by shootings six months apart, leaving
fans and investigators wondering if the coastal
Center funds stalled over legal matter
From page one
present, contain language cloaked in
ambiguity. According to these documents,
“the property is owned by Bethlehem
Community Center, Inc., in trust, to be
maintained and disposed of for benefit of
the United Methodist Church and sub-
Ject to usage and discipline of the United
Methodist Church.”
If the Center can obtain a quick-claim
deed from the Methodist Church, the
Walker: Political skills prevail
From page one
conflict of interest when he presided over
a Medicaid rate increase for a health
screening program with which members
of his family were trying to do business.
The question was never resolved, but
Attorney General Michael Bowers said
Walker hadn’t broken any laws.
While Ms. Robertson, head of the Geor
gia Citizens Coalition on Hunger, said
Walker has written off poor constituents,
Walker insisted he hasn’t lost touch with
voters. He spends up to SB,OOO a year
mailing each registered voter in his dis
trict a gold-foil-trimmed birthday card
with his name and office telephone num
ber.
He also fought to change the welfare
overhaul bill that passed the Senate, pro
March 18 go to the
polls and support the
One-cent Sales Tax
A Closer Look
rivalry is more than an act.
No arrests have been made in the September
shooting of Shakur, 25. The Notorious 8.1.G.’s
killing Sunday moring also shows little prom
ise of a quick arrest.
Shakur was in Las Vegas with Death Row
Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight on Sept.
7 when he was shot while siting in the passenger
seat of Knight's car. He died in the hospital a
week later. Knight, who was slightly injured,
has been described as uncooperative by Las
Vegas police.
The Notorious 8.1. G., whose real name was
Christopher Wallace, had just left a party cel
ebrating the Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles
when he was shot by someone in a passing car as
he satin a parked GMC Surburban. The 24-year
old was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Las Vegas police say they have no indication
the two shootings are related.
process could be started that would re
lease the funds. According to Mr. Wall,
the quick-claim deed would let county
officials know that the UMC no longer
has any interest in the Bethlehem Com
munity Center property.
Even after proof of ownership has been
established, the proposal must go back
before the city council for the proposed
contract of $285,000 in funds to be ap
proved, according to Mr. Wall.
If that happens, however, some com
missioners feel that the proposal will be
approved without any complications.
hibiting punishment of welfare recipi
ents for minor missteps and guarantee
ing hearings for those who say they were
punished unfairly.
“I consider myself to be one of the best
negotiators in the Senate,” he said.
Fellow senators describe Walker as a
behind-the-scenes dealmaker who can
negotiate with cajoling charm or fright
ening fury.
“He can use persuasion of the sweetest
kind and he can use a feigned disappoint
ment,” said Senate President Pro Tem
Sonny Perdue, Walker’s predecessor as
majority leader. “And he moves between
all these emotions with ease.”
Walker also was the Legislature’s most
formidable fund-raiser of the last five
years, pouring $316,679 into his cam
paign war chest even though he had no
“I think it’s time that the authorities got seri
ous about recognizing that the East Coast/West
Coast thing is dangerous, and it’s legitimate,”
said Don Cornelius, creator and executive pro
ducer of the Soul Train music show.
But Phyllis Pollack, a publicist with Def Press
in Los Angeles who has represented several rap
stars, said it’s unfair to speculate that the deaths
were the result of a coastal feud.
“Sure, there’s been thiscompetition, but that’s
been since day one,” she said. “We don’t have
artists on the West Coast saying, ‘Let’s kill off
all of those East Coast rappers so we can sell
more records on the East Coast’.”
In a statement yesterday, rapper Chuck D.
said, “We have to be careful about hysteria and
overhyping of this term East Coast and West
Coast confrontation that s being projected in the
media.”
“If clear proof of title is established by
the center, the proposal should pass with
out any problems,” said commissioner
Robert Zetterberg.
The center has been a part of Augusta’s
African-American community since 1912,
and is an important cultural landmark
and historical site for the area, according
to Bethlehem Community Center, Inc.
executive director Leamon Grier. There
fore, upkeep and reconstruction of the
buildings and property is vital.
Representatives of the United Methodist
Church could not be reached for comment
campaign oppositign.
“Why does he need that kind of money
as an unopposed politician?” said David
Moretz, who unsuccessfully challenged
Walker in the 1992 Democratic primary.
“It makes those who donate money to his
campaign look like they’re paying for
favoritism.”
Walker said he gives campaign money
to Democratic candidates in contested
races — a tactic often employed by Re
publicans. He also uses the funds for his
annual birthday card mailings.
Walker dismisses his critics and points
to what he’s accomplished.
“I’'m a black, African-American male,
someone who has crawled his way from
theditch on theside of the road to achieve
what I have achieved,” he said. “That’s
no small thing.”
LOCAL VOICES
DR. CHARLES LARKE
Sales tax option is
good for education
Georgia voters passed Constitu
tional Amendment 2, which gave
school districts the option of pass
ing a special purpose local option
sales tax to be used for school facili
tiesimprovements or toretirebond
debt, November 5, 1996. Prior to
the passage of thisamendment, the
only local source school districts
had for funding of school facilities
was from property taxes through
bond issues.
Richmond County voters also ap
proved a slls million dollar bond
referendum to fund forty-seven
construction projects that included
several new schools and major reno
vations and modifications to exist
ingschools. This will require a 2.47
mill increase for property owners
over a period of thirty years. Sixty
two percent of the voters supported
the bond referendum. During the
campaign, voters were promised
that the Richmond County Board
of Education would appoint a Citi
zens Oversight Committee to moni
tor the bond construction projects,
hirea Project Management Firm to
manage and supervise construction
to ensure that all projects are com
pleted on schedule and within bud
get and give voters an opportunity
tovote for asalestaxin March 1997
to pay off the bonds early if the
statewide amendment passed in
November 1996.
On March 18, 1997, the voters of
Richmond County will have the
opportunity to vote for a one cent
local option sales tax to be collected
for a period not to exceed five years
and not to exceed $l5O million in
funds. The ballot calls for $124,
755,000 to be used to pay off the
1996 bonds and $25,245,000 to.con,
struct a new middle school and a
new elementary school and to add
to and repair existing school build
ings whose costs were deleted from
the November 1996 bond issue in
order to reduce the amount from
$135 million to slls million.
The sales tax option is seen as a
fair way to finance school construc
tion because it will broaden re
sponsibility from the property own
ers of Richmond County to include
those who work in, shop in or visit
the county. It has been projected
that 33-40 percent of retail sales
are from non-Richmond County
residents. While these figures are
projections, there is no question
that many nonresidents pay sales
tax in Richmond County.
‘?% ?’" f
\ A et D
1117 Laney-Walker Blvd.
Augusta, Georgia 30901
(706) 828-7799
Private
affairs
AUGUSTA FOCUS MARCH 13, 1997,
|§ 7 % “
Dr. Charles Larke
tax decrease to home owners in
Richmond County:
B The tax increase on a house
valued at $75,000 at 2.47 mills will
be $74.10; at 1.0 mill, the increase
will be S3O; a reduction of $44.10.
B The tax increase on a house
valued at SIOO,OOO at 2.47 mills
will be $98.80, at 1.0 mill, the in
crease will be S4O; a reduction of
$58.80.
B The tax increase on a house
valued at $200,000 at 2.47 mills
will be $197.60, at 1.0 mill, the
increase will be SBO.OO, a reduction
of $117.60.
These reductions are required
by the sales tax amendment.
The ballots to be used in the
March 18 election shall have writ
ten or printed substantially
thereon the following:
Shall a special 1 percent sales an
use tax be imposed in Richmond
County for a period of time not to
exceed 20 consecutive calendar
quarters for the raising of not more
than $150,000,000 to retire previ
ously incurred general obligation
debt of the County Board of Educa
tion of Richmond County outstand
ing as of the date of the election, at
a maximum of $124,755,000 as de
scribed in the Notice of Election;
for the construction of two new
schools, the renovation of existing
school buildings and other facili
ties of the Couny Board of Educa
tion of Richmond County and the
acquisition of the necessary prop
erty therefore, at a maximum cost
of $25,245,000 as described in the
Notice of Election?
This information should explain
the purpose of the one-cent sales
tax, how it is to be used and the
potential savings to property own
ers; and will help voters to make an
informed decision March 18. Vot
ers are encouraged to vote YES to
pass the one-cent sales tax to re
duce the tax burden of financing
school construction.
If the one-cent
sales tax passes
March 18, then
the 2.47 mill in
crease approved
by voters in No
vember will bede
creased to a 1.0
millincrease. The
following ex
ample will show
the impact of the
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