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I VOLUME 16 No. 812
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Burau fingered
in overpayments
B Personnel director Pat Burau personally re
viewed payments to substitute teachers, docu
ments reveal. Questionable payments were
brought to her attention, accounting personnel
charge. Also, approving payments to substitute
nurses was also the responsibility of her depart
ment. Records show that some nurses received
nearly twice the base pay for emergency fill-ins.
While no evidence exists of widespread abuse in
the payment for replacement nurses, they operated
under similar guidelines as substitute teachers.
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Fill-in nurses, along with sub
stitute teachers, may have been
overpaid in the past, as the inves
tigation into tens of thousands of
dollars of overpayments tothetem-
POlary Tooßnaraunwings,
On \ednesday, the Board ad
ministration okayed the release of
documents which showed that Pat
Burau, former assistant superin
tendent of personnel, not only was
aware of the overpayments, but in
many instances, either personally
requested them or approved them.
Among the documents released
—most of which showed correspon
dence between Ms. Burau and the
bookkeeping department — was a
1995 request from Carol Rountree,
then director of the department of
Guidance-Counseling and Nurs
ing, to Ms. Burau for increased
pay for asubstitute nurse who was
expected to complete the school
year for the regular nurse, but did
not. Apparently, Ms. Burau ap
proved the $68.00 per day pay
ment. Pay for substitute nurses
starts at $35 according to school
officials. While there have been no
allegations of widespread abuse of
the school board policy in the pay
ment of nurses, the document
clearly suggests that any pay above
the ordinary had to have the bless
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- Augusta Focus
Serving Metropolitan Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
“There was'no
‘communications
problem.’ Every
‘process for substi
tutes’ was done
according to the
policy given to the
Payroll Department
from then Assistont
Superintendent
Patricia Burau.”
— Viola Jefferson,
bookkeeper, Richmond
County Board of Ed.
ings of Ms. Burau or her staff.
Last week, Ms. Burau absolved
herself from responsibility of the
substitute teacher overpayments
by appearing to shift the blame to
the accounting department.
“Substitutes were overpaid, but
that was the responsibility of the
payroll accounting department,
not personnel.”
That view, however, is directly
contradicted by Viola Jefferson,
Bookkeeper/Substitute Payroll
Clerk for the Board of Education.
In a letter addressed to Board
President Adna Stein, Ms.
Jefferson said, “Every process for
Get
ready
for Tommy
Chong.
Appearing
this week
in Augusta
Story on P. 6A
substitutes was done according to
the policy given to the Payroll De
partment from then Assistant Su
perintendent Patricia Burau.”
According to Ms. Jefferson, the
accounting department must fol
low a base pay scale set at the
beginning of the year. “If there
were ever a deviation to that scale,
I would go directly to Mrs. Burau
for approval,” Ms. Jefferson wrote.
Apparently, there have been
plenty of deviations.
Perhaps the most egregious vio
lation of school board policy in the
payment of substitutes occurred
when Ms. Burau instructed the
payroll department on several oc
casions to pay certain substitute
teachersaccording to their experi
ence and certificates “from day
one” on longtime assignments in
stead of “day 21” as the policy
dictates.
For instance, until recently, a
retired teacher with so many years
of -xperience and a certain level cf
teaching certificate was supposed
to receive $45 per day until they
reached the 21th day of an assign
ment. Ms. Burau apoarently in
structed the payroll department
“IMs. Jefferson in particular] to
pay some substitutes retroactive
to their first day on an assign
ment.
A particularly striking depar
ture from school board policy in
volved the payment in 1995 to Mr.
James Stallings, a 25-year teach
ing veteran who possessed a T-5
certificate. Ms. Burau’s signature
accompanies a request to pay Mr.
Stallings for his certificate and his
experience. According to Ms.
Jefferson, “He should have been
paid $55.00 until his 21st day and
then on his certificate. However,
not only was he paid on his certifi
cate as a regular substitute, he
was also paid on his years of expe
rience, over $13,000 in three
months.” '
Ms, Jefferson also let the retired
See BURAU, page 3A
FBI reopens case of 1963
Birmingham church hombing
[ Only one person had
everbeen convictedinthe
crime that took the lives
of four black girlsranging
in ages 11 through 14.
The FBI believes at least
three other people were
involved.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
(AP) New and credible informa
tion into the 1963 bombing of the
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church,
an act of racist terror that killed
four black girls, has led the FBI to
reopenmits investiga ti(;n. _
- review
of themth’;" killed ongthe girls
on a Sunday morning at the
church, the FBI agents and Bir
mingham police on July 9 began to
interview witnesses to the crime.
“It’s a crime that has gone un
solved except for one local convic
tion and it remains a sore part of
like to heal,” lflmm
FBI special agent in charge of the
Birmingham office. “We feel we
have an opportunity to do so this
JULY 17 - 23, 1997
time and we want to tuke one last
shot at it. This is the last grand
hurrah we’ll have.”
Lewis would not identify wit
nesses or suspects, but said au
thorities have no new players in
the case, only new information.
He said agents spent the past year
poring over dozens of volumes of
information and evidence.
The FBI on Wednesday notified
the family members of the four
dead girls that the investigation
was being reopened.
“Aninvestigation is under way,”
Attorney General Janet Reno told
her weekly news conference in
Washington today. “We received
newinformationand‘ri?nminc‘
it in every way possible.”
She declined to say what the
new information was. Justice
the information was received more
than six months ago and the
department’s civil rights division
reopened the case at that time.
“When something that horrible
mn. 1 auost want to make sure
we humanly
ponibk.nnddo’&fln%’ way, to
see that people who do that sort of
thing are held accountable,” said
1
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NAACP Chairman Myrlie Evers-Williams, right rear, talks with Coretta Scott-King, left rear,
following a speach by NAACP President/CEO Kweisi Mfume, front, during the first session of
the NAACP’s 88th Annual Convention in Pittsburgh Monday, July 14, 1997. The man at
center rear is unidentified. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
NAACP takes up police
brutality issue, activism
By Paul Shepard
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITISBURGH
The 1995 death of a black mo
torist while in the custody of sub
urban Pittsburgh police is a rally
ing point for both delegates inside
and protesters outside the
NAACP’s 88th annual convention.
“Police brutality — a commu-
Reno, whogavea civil rights speech
at the church last Jan. 15 and met
with some parents of the bombing
victims.
Lewis denied that the timing of
the investigation was sparked by
last month’s release of film direc
tor Spike Lee’s documentary,Four
Little Girls. The documentary is
an account of the bombing, told by
survivors, witnesses, defenders
and prosecutors.
Ku Klux Klansman Robert Ed
ward Chambliss was convicted in
the case in 1977, but authorities
always said at least three other
men were involved in the blast.
One of the most shocking inci
dentsof racial terrorism duringcivil
rights unrest in the South, the
bombing took place Sept. 15, 1963,
on a Sunday morning. The blast
killed Denise McNair, 11, and
Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson
and Addie Mae Collins, all 14.
g et b 1 o
years ago at age serving a
life sentence at St. Clair Gunoz
tional Facility, never admitted
participating in the bombing. But
witnessesidentified seeinghim near
the church during the early morn
ing hours before the bombing.
nity response” was a workshop
topic this week at the gathering of
the nation’s oldest and largest civil
rights organization.
“We can’t afford to sweep the
issue under the rug,” said Leroy
WarrendJr., aboard member of the
National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People who
was to lead the discussion.
No recent issue has struck the
A long, hot, murderous summer —
Three killings
in two weeks
By Sarena James
AUGUSTAFOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Even before Officer
Michael Stephens of the
Richmond County Schools
police detachment was
gunned down early
Wednesday morning, Au
gustans were suffering
throughamurderousdJuly.
The past 14 days brought
about a rash of shootings
including a mobile drive
by which took the life of
Sherod Cunningham and
another driveby in which
82-year-old Rosa Lee
Barnes was killed.
Police have tightened
security in the Turpin Hill
areawhere Ms. Barnes was
gunned down and commu
nity organizations are
mobilizing take back the
Chief Deputy Ronnie
Strength of t.hegnhmmd
County Sheriff’s Depart
ment explained what the
police are doing differ
ently. “Wehave a syppres-
city’s black community like the
death and subsequent dismissal of
manslaughter charges against two
Brentwood police officers accused
of killing Jonny Gammage in a
fight after a traffic stop in October
1995.
Gammage, 31, of Syracuse, N.Y.,
was stopped by police for flicker-
See NAACP, page 15A
Bryan Tyrone Williams
was apprehended late
Wednesday. He is
charged in the killing
of Richmond County
Schools security officer
Michael Stephens. Mr, |
Willioms was only one
of four suspected kill
ers still ot large for ho
micides here commit
fed since July 4. '
sion team in the area
[Turpin Hill] now and the
team will stay in that area
See¢ HOMICIDES, P.3A
v "