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VOLUME 16 No. 813
e Living: Bed-wetting remedies- P.iun “~ -="
oPy % | Opinion: Should Pratt should be compensated? - P.9A
B-Rock - The BIZZ :
s, Augusta Focus
IV ReunionN Serving Metropolitan Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
Details + See Page 6A
continues
fight for
day in court
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Rosena Reid loves teaching
math to high school students,
but the 20-year veteran of the
Richmond County school sys
tem is ready to sit out indefi
nitely until she gets a hearing
either before the full school
board and/or a federal judge.
Ms. Reid filed an EEO dis
crimination suit in May in an
effort to get the board of educa
tion to act on her past com
plaints. In the previous month,
she had been denied a contract
renewal and was (in effect) fired
from teaching. Despite prom
ises and at least one canceled
hearing date, Ms. Reid is still
seeking satisfaction. - ‘vi%
“They can take this job and
shove it,” Ms. Reid told Ay--
gusta Focus. “I want justice,” "
Ms. Reid’s problems with the
board began over a year age -
when she filed complaints
against then Westside prinei~-
pal Gayle McGhee. She com
plained of harassment, unfair
evaluation procedures, and un
professional conduct on the part
of Ms. McGhee. She also com
plained that Ms. McGhee un
fairly discriminated against
black teachers. Her first com
plaint was filed on March 15,
1996. Subsequent complaints
were filed shortly after — on
March 22 and again on April 4,
1996.
Ms. McGhee, however, never
responded to any of the com
plaints as required by school
board policy. Neither did then
acting superintendent, Dr.
‘CI-arles Larke.
in May 1996, Ms. McGhee
sent a copy of all three griev
“ances to each of the school board
i
See TEACHER, page 2A
Search ends
for serial killer
MIAMI BEACH, Fla.
(AP) A body resembling suspected serial
killer Andrew Cunanan was found with a
self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday
night after SWAT teams stormed a house-
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released by FBI during manhunt.
Motorist who died during police
chase was shot by police in 1995
B Augusta man who
died mysteriously
was critically
wounded by a police
bullet in 1995.
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Vice President Gore applauds Valerie | she was honored for her essay in which she
Ambroise, 15, of Bridgeport, Conn. during a | called for the Mars Pathfinder rover 1o be
recent ceremony at the White House where /| named after Sojouner Truth. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
Reach for the stars, Gore urges
WASHINGTON cently, Gore about 100 mem- when it began, and now there are
(AP) Vice President Al Gore bers of the leadership organization more than 30 women astronauts.
unveiled a photograph of Mars Girls Nation “fwantyoutodream.” He told the young women that
takenby the MarsPathfinderand “Youareyogngwomenwhohave one of them could be the first
used the opportunity to encour- a lifetime of achievement ahead of person to set foot on Mars or
age a group of teen-age girls to you,” he saidk “Not even the stars become president.
reach for the stars. are your li g “The only thing holding you
Standing next to amodel ofthe =~ Thevicepresidentsaidtherewere back isthe limits you set for your-
Pathfinder’s Sojourner rover, re- no women in the space program self,” Gore said.
boat just 21/2 miles from the spot where
Gianni Versace was gunned down.
“There is a similarity in the description
of the victim that was found,” Miami Beach
Police Chief Richard Barreto said at a
hastily called news conference. “Beyond
that, there is nothing else to indicate at
this time it is him.”
CNN reported early Thursday that it
had confirmed through two law enforce
ment sources that thebody was Cunanan’s.
Barreto said late Wednesday night that
officials were awaiting forensic tests to
confirm the body was that of Cunanan,
whom residents had reported seeingin the
area since Versace was slain July 15.
Barreto came out again at 1 a.m. Thurs
day to say investigators in the houseboat
were still processing the scene with the
body inside.
“The general feeling is that this very
well may be Cunanan, but the official word
hasn’t come down yet,” said Miami Beach
Mayor Seymour Gelber.
. FBI spokeswoman Coleen Rowley said
agents were still awaiting confirmation
but added, “I think everyone is breathing
a m;z of relief, and I think prob
ably the is as well.” :
JULY 24 - 30, 1997
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Moses Powell, the motorist who
died on Tuesday after he fled from
police after being pulled over, had
had his share of encounters with
-
Mourning Versace
Salay o .
Mode! Naomi Compbdlshodsfimddwildtuflumr
ward at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, outside
Johnannesburg, South Africa, Monday. Campbell visited the
children in the largest hospital in the Southern Hemisphere as
part of her short stay in Johannesburg. At a news conference
Monday, Compbell, wept when asked about the killing of
fashion designer Gianni Versace in South Florida recently. (AP
Photo/Menner Frankenfeld)
Be a winner! Watch for
our Back-to-School Trivia
contest on August 14
police in the past, and may have
had plenty of reason to be nervous
about being arrested. Mr.
Powellsurvived a gunshot wound
to the chest in December 1995
after being fired upon by a Rich
mond County Sheriff’s deputy. At
the time, he was hospitalized in
critical condition. Witnesses at the
scene then said he should never
have been shot.
Powell died mysteriously on
Tuesday after a Richmond County
Sheriff’s deputy stopped him be
cause the vehicle he was driving
had windows tinted too dark. Ac
AtlantaGasLightseeks
way out of settlement
By Sarena James
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Atlanta Gas Light, stung by a
recent superior court ruling up
holding a mediator’s decision to
award Trinity Christian Method
ist Episcopal Church $3 million,
appealed on Tuesday to the Geor
gia Court of Appeals.
Ross Willis, a spokesperson for
Atlanta Gas Light, said Tuesday
the utility was just exercising its
rights.
“Itis our right,” said Willis. “We
felt that the ruling in the Trinity
case was not solely based on fair
market price but on someone’s
idea of historic value.”
The utility is seeking to back out
of an agreement it made toyield to
the decision of an impartial um
pire. Atlanta Gas Light’s move is
ironic because it was they who
suggested the out-of-court rem
edy.
The Rev.J. Ronzell Maness, pas
tor of Trinity CME church, claims
the company is just spinning its
wheels. According to the Rev.
Maness, Atlanta Gas Light is
bound by the agreement it initi
ated.
“Atlanta Gas Light wrote up a
settlement agreement that stated
that both parties would agree to
the umpire’s ruling with one op
Federal judge wants
clearer picture of
college bias lawsuit
SAVANNAH, Ga.
(AP) Afederal judgesays
alawsuit claiming there is
racial discrimination in
Georgia’s public universi
ties and colleges cannot go
forward until the plain
tiffs’ lawyer makes a
clearer case.
Thelawsuit, filed March
3 by Atlanta attorney A.
Lee Parks Jr., is “a vague
prayer forrelief,” U.S. Dis
trict Judge B. Avant
Edenfield wrote in a court
order filed last week.
Heordered Parks to bet
ter explain the race-related
problems the suit alleges.
And he set a July 28 dead
line for Parks to explain
specifically how the court
should address the prob
lems, beyond an abstract
call for court-ordered de
segregation.
Parks, who successfully
broke up majority-black
political districts in Geor-
Sl
ago, is reviewing
thejudge’sorder and plans
to meet the deadline.
The suit, filed on behalf
M. BB HeMvtnagqen ‘-
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER. ' RaTE 1
UNIVERSITY OF g |
cording to the Richmond County
Sheriff’s Department, Mr. Powell
fled from the vehicle and was later
found dead.
Medical examiners at the scene
said their were no marks on the
body.
tion to appeal,” said Maness. He..
called the company’s second ap«:
peal, “pointless.” L
Mr. Willis defended the utility’s*
action arguing that the $3 million
ruling in was “excessive.”
But according to the Rev.
Maness, the only thing excessive
is the company’s “bull-dog atti
tude.”
“The Atlanta Gas Light com
panyisalying, deceiving, mislead
ing public utility company,” said
the Rev. Maness. “The commu
nity worked with the Atlanta Gas
Light company in good faith to
come to an agreement, and now,
they don’t want to cooperate,” he
said.
Mr. Willis denies the appeal is
an effort to cheat anyone out of
money, and emphasizes that they
have the, “interest of the commu
nity” in mind. He pointed out that
the company has already paid over
one-half million dollars in 84 simi
lar cases.
The utility was sued by the
churchinaclass-action suit churg
ing decades of chemical contami
nation on the site of its forme: gas
manufacturing plant located in the
inner-city neighborhood.
“We were the ones who told ev
erybody about the contamination,”
Mr. Willis said. Hoping to dispel
See UTILITY, page 3A
of black and white stu
dents and educators
against the state Board of
Regents, claims that re
versediscrimination hurts
white applicants’ chances
for admission to the Uni
versity of Georgia.
It also alleges that black
students are steered to
inferior educations at his
torically black colleges in
Savannah, - Albany and
Fort Valley and that ad
missionsarerigged to keep
white enrollment at a
minimum in those schools,
Some civil rights activ
ists say the suit seems
weak.
“Mr. Parks’ lawsuit is
full of ambiguities and
vague references to prob
lems that supposedly ex
ist in Georgia colleges,”
said Howard Alls, a Sa
vannah lawyer who helped
the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund file a motion to in+
tervene in the case.
“Normally, what a law
suit does in federal court
See BIAS SUIT, page 3A