Newspaper Page Text
.
Local attorney blasts “legal” looting
By Frederick Benjamin
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Jill McCoy'’s stuff was put out in
front of her apartment building at
the Ridge Crossing Apartmentsin
Martinez. There was living room
furniture, bedroom furniture,
clothing, food, the belongings of
her three adolescent sons —in
cluding a treasured baseball card
collection — pots, pans, suitcases,
CDs, records and lots of other stuff.
Shortly after it was placed along
the roadway, Jill McCoy’s neigh
bors and apartment complex staff
ers began helping themselves.
They took what they wanted, in
cluding a washer/dryer appliance.
Black buyers impact national, state economy
From page one
tractive and dynamic markets.
According to the study, Georgia
surpasses Florida in a third mea
sure of market potential, the con
centration of black markets. The
market share claimed by blacks is
important because the higher the
From page one
struggle to capture black spend
ing power.
Kiysha Preston, owner of
Kiysha’s Designs in downtown
Augusta, has been a black busi
ness owner for 15 years, eight of
- which havebeen spent in Augusta.
~ “About 15 percent of my con
sumers are black. People com
plain and ask for better business
owners, and never stop to think
that they need to be better con
sumers,” Ms. Preston said.
- Preston added that too often black
businesses get “nickled and dimed”
by black customers expecting a
“‘hweak’ hecause “you’remy sister
or you're my brother.”
But black buying power would
have more of an impact on black
businesses if the dollar stayed in
the community longer, experts
suggest.
According to Joseph Green,
Cree-Walker Professor of Business
Administration at Augusta State
University, and author of the book
Matters of Money, the African-
American community has the fast
est exit dollar than any other eth
nic group.
“Theblack dollar circulates only
twice within its community before
it exits. This leaves no opportu
nity to create a capital base,” Mr.
Green said. “The Asian
community’s dollar circulates up
to eight times before it exits.”
“Black people are the only group
of people who don’t realize that
our dollar makes a difference”,
added Robert Gordon. “We have
saved the businesses of whites and
Asians, but not our own busi
nesses. When you talk about black
businesses its not the way we sell,
its how we buy.”
Other black business owners
propose that the key to a success
ful business, black or white, is to
provide a service that is unique
and in demand.
Larry Jones, local owner of Uni
versal Plumbing, says blacks sup
port his business because of the
quality service he provides.
“The bottom line is that we are
professionals and people come to
us because we provide a profes
sional service, and we want an
opportunity to provide our service
toanyone whoneedsit,” Mr, Jones
said.
Augusta is the second largest
black metropolitan market. Stud
ies predict that Augusta’s black
buying power will increase from
$1.2 billion in 1990 to more than
1.8 billion in 1997. :
Local merchants hope that their
business income will reflect the
positive results of this prediction
because, in many cases, the life of
black businesses lie in the palm of
black consumers.
Grant
From page one
D —
Said Commissioner Brigham, “Iwas
not on the city council when it (ap
proval of funding] was
decided... Everything was done le
gally.”
They loaded Ms. McCoy’s stuff into
vans, autos and nearby apart
ments. They did not leave the base
ball card collection. Oddly enough,
no one felt what they were doing
was wrong. You see, Jill McCoy
was evicted.
But there was something wrong
about it, according to Shawn
Hammond, who learned about the
looting from a client of his who
lives in the complex and witnessed
the thievery.
“Just because stuff'is put on the
side of the street doesn’t mean you
can steal it,” Mr. Hammond said.
“It’s evil to steal children’s toys.”
Mr. Hammond, an attorney with
a private practice in the Augusta
area, was outraged at the thiev
ery, but even more outraged at the
share, the lower the cost of poten
tial buyers.
Demonstrating the strength of
the black consumer in Georgia,
the study reveals that African
Americans spend one of every
six dollars spent. For many busi
nesses, the ability to capture
black spending can make the dif
ference between success and fail
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North Augu§ta ~Augusta Martinez
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fact that noone—not the Sheriff’s
Department, nor the district
attorney’s office — felt strongly
enough about the larceny to do
anything about it.
“There is an eye witness who
can tell the police who stole what.
We know what went into each
apartment,” Mr. Hammond said.
The eye witness told Augusta
Focusthat two maintenance work
ersat the complex were amongthe
lootersand one even bragged about
how he furnished his home goods
obtained off the streets from evic
tion victims.
“The Columbia County Sheriff’s
Department has refused to act on
this information,” Mr. Hammond
said.
Deputys did arrive on the scene
ure.
While the Atlanta arearemains
the state’s largest black metro
politan market, the Augusta area
is home to the second most vi
brant African-American con
sumer market. Augusta’s black
buying power will increase from
$1.2 billion in 1990 to more than
$l.B billion in 1997, a percent
after Mr. Hammond alerted them
later that evening. They told him,
after some back and forth with a
supervisor, there was nothing they
could do.
According to Mr. Hammond, a
resident of the complex, Deputy
Brian Jones, allegedly alerted the
thieves that Mr. Hammond had
called in the police.
“By doing that, they had the
opportunity to remove the stolen
goods. I wanted them to get a
search warrant and arrest some
one. What they did was a felony,”
Mr. Hammond said.
Accordingto Hammond, Deputy
Jones told him to “mind his own
business.”
The next day Mr. Hammond
called on District Attorney Danny
age gain of 57.7 percent. In 1997,
black buying power in the Au
gusta area (including the South
Carolina segment of the metro
politan area) will comprise 21.4
percent of the area’s total buy
ing power. Columbia and
McDuffie counties will post per
centage gains exceeding those
shown for the state as a whole.
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Craig, but was told nothing could
be done.
“Everyone wants to just accept
that what happened was legal, but
that’s not the point,” Mr.
Hammond said. “It may be legal,
but it’s still wrong to take people’s
belongings.”
The apartment complex man
ager would not comment except to
> (The following information is based
g onarealaw enforcementreports and
A # I J press releases.)
Thief bags steaks
A woman was seen shoplifting 6
packs of steaks from Kroger on
Washington Road. A witness re
ported that he saw the women
place the steaks in her grocery
cart and walk off. Later, he saw
her without the cart and asked her
where the steaks were. She re
plied that her friend had them.
The witness observed the friend
leaving with no belongings. The
steaks were recovered in the of
fenders bag.
Man steals beer and
cigarettes
On June 7 an unknown man
entered Depot Food Store on
Dean’s Bridge Road and stole two
s
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AUGUSTA FOCUS JUNE 12, 1997
say that they carried out the letter
of the law. t
Mr. Hammond plans continue
his campaign for justice despite
the apparent apathy of his cos
leaguesin the criminal justice sys
tem. Ms. McCoy has a new apart
ment, but she has taken a heavy
loss. “What I feel worst about is
my son’s baseball cards,” she said.
18 packs of Budweiser Beer valued
at $13.00 each and a carton jof
Newport cigarettes valued at
$14.00. Theoffender was described
as a black male wearing a gre¢n
shirt with the number “91” on the
back of it. The suspect was lgst
seen running south on Dean’s
Bridge Road. !
Hushand accused as
reckless conduct
J. Smith of 2482 McDowell Strdet
complained that in an attempt ito
stop her husband from driving 6ff
she grabbed on to the vehicl¢’s
trunk. Her husband sped off ary
way, causing her to fall to the
ground. The Rural Metro Ambu
lance service transported J. Smith
to an area hospital for treatment.
3A