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I VOLUME 16 No. 812 "4 4 " L %8 ’ | B A E § el SHPE 1P:; { ] i ' FIVR : 2 ), i S T e Pl 6 2 6.0 T 2 4 rOICLCC - T2k 471913 : N i' e e L e 1/. ¥ ; : RSN E R 3 \ ‘ ‘ QSiory on page 12A X » 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 INSIDE E;:“}' s ¥ :m b x » ! & : . o g “\,\% — k. a i R KJi _\ Q \\b‘ ; i, - \ | National/lntemntional B bbb A ot N . [ People 4A-5A B Aveßasd is i ek 09 Eitorial/OpHion .b, SAGR BRLAVIRG .....ccivmivmrionssstiaironsssserssonsins lOALIA B CRIBOART 1o ciadienserirsnsssassrsasorassisssossscss T B Church Nows oot niciaiinns 4B =6B e o - am :fi:’m OléG‘;w 3:'502 Izmr;>- lfixog'?m : Religion: Baptist leader answers accuscis - r.ion™| =~ | Africa Report: S. Africa reeling at crime spree - P.BA | l - 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 B s L .L 3 o e P e e LR e . ¢ *}’ LSR . L ‘' - . F... e T B - e LB el e e 3 b o aaaEße T - v e R [ v ;i f -[o R : 3 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 "