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DRUG WAR ZONE
B The battle lines are
drawn, but fear and lack
of resources ensure that
law enforcement forces
are in for a long struggle.
By Sarena James
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
A drug war is raging in many of the
city’s inner-city neighborhoods and
according to local law enforcement
authorities, there is no relief in sight.
“Aslong as thereis a profit in selling
drugs, it [the war] will never end. Re
alistically, we’ll never get drugs out of
the community,” Chief Deputy Ronnie
Strength told Augusta Focus this week.
By most accounts, the drug dealers
and users are community based, mak
ing it exceedingly difficult to eradicate
the problem completely.
According to police, they are using
every weapon available to control the
situation. “We’re locking them up —
dealers and users. We know who they
are on both sides,” Chief Deputy
Strength said.
Most of the illegal substances recov
ered are powder cocaine, crack cocaine,
and marijuana, police confirm.
Residents complain that the crimi
nal activity is more prevalent than the
law enforcement presence.
Unlike police protection, one resi
dent said, drug-dealing and prostitu
tion is a 24-hour affair. Wary of retali
ation, most residents keep to them
selves.
Sonya Hopgood, a resident of Ninth
Avenue in the Turpin Hill area, site of
some of the worst drug violence, says
she’s seen the selling, buying, and us
ing of drugs on the street corners near
her home, but don’t ask her to identify
the criminals.
“We know who’s buying and selling
drugs, but we’re scared to say who it
is,” Ms. Hopgood said.
Because of the violence, she won’t
allow her five-year-old son to sleep in
the back bedroom anymore. Earlier
this month, a July drive-by shooting
claimed the life of 83-year-old Rosa
Lee Barnes, a neighbor. She fears for
her son’s safety.
“Bullets can fly anywhere,” Ms.
Hopgood said. “When the sun starts to
go down, me and my son come in the
house and stay there until the next
morning,” she said. She has tried to
move several times, but “the money’s
never right,” she said.
Mary Ann Favors, another Ninth
Avenue resident, is experiencing the
same fear, only multiplied by five.
“I have five children and I don’t
want them exposed to a life of drugs,”
Ms. Favors said. “I see people selling
and using drugs, some of them only
fifteen years old. They know each other.
MCG black enroliment plummets
From page one
has happened. We have the data to
support that. The African Americans
appear not to have kept pace. I don’t
think that’s the case. I think more likely
they’ve chosen other fields. We’re not
sure. We're trying to find out,” he said.
“I think with all the court’s grum
bling in Texas and California, a lot of
pressure has been put on schools across
the nation to be very cautious with
affirmative action programs. That may
have made a lot of people wonder about
applying to different places. There’s a
perception because of the previous at
torney general’s action here that this
state was not minority friendly,” Dr.
Tedesco said.
California recently placed a ban on
considering raceand ethnicity in admis
sions and, in Texas, the number of mi
nority medical school applications de
clined nearly 50 percent after successful
court cases challengingrace-based pref
erences in college admissions. There
have been no such challenges in the
predominantly white state-run institu
tions in Georgia, prompting critics of
the Georgia Board of Regents — which
has appeared to abandon any affirma
tive action initiatives — to suggest that
politics and not law is the cause of the
current crisis. Formerattorney general
Mike Bowers, now a candidate for gov
ernor, appears to have made blatant
overtures to white conservatives in the
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If they want to sell and buy crack, they
know who to go to,” Ms. Favors said.
She, too, plans to move when she has
enough money to do so.
Moving is not an option for many
residents like Agnes Matthis who own
their own homes. For her, moving out
of the neighborhood would mean say
ing good-bye to over 50 years of life
spent on Martin Luther King Boule
vard.
“Webuilt this house from the ground
up,” Ms. Matthis said. She has a tre
mendous amount of pride in her cor
ner house of red bricks, trimmed in
white, with healthy shrubbery and
flowers all around. “The shooting and
the drugs make me very nervous, but
I'haven’t thought about moving.” Just
last week, she found herself stretched
out on her floor because she heard gun
shots.
She reminisces a lot about the old
days. “It wasn’t always like this. All
this shooting and killing goingaround.
The neighborhood wasn’t always like
this,” she said. “In the ’6os people took
pride in where they lived, and kept
things nice — people were nice. It
wasn’t always like this,” she said.
“Drugs are being shipped here. Idon’t
know by who or from where,” said
Matthis, “but I know it doesn’t just
state when he wrote a letter to the state
board of regents suggesting that admis
sions committees could be held liable if
race remained a factor in admissions to
the state’s institutions of higher learn
ing, critics say.
Dr. Tedesco asserts his commitment
to diversity, but clearly states the insti
tution has never had set-asides. He points
to the widening gap between African
Americansand otherapplicantsinterms
of qualifications. He stressed that he
wculd not tolerate the acceptance of
unqualified applicants under any cir
cumstances.
But according to Dr. Carter, Dr.
Tedesco is part of the problem.
“I’mnot convinced that he wantsmore
blacks [at MCG],” Dr. Carter said. “I've
been at the school for 24 years through
four presidents and I've yet to meet with
him on this issue. It has been traditional
for me to be on the president’s calendar
at least once a month. When he first
became president, I wrote to him telling
him that and he never responded. Obvi
ously, there is no commitment at the
top. Dr. Tedesco has the black commu
nity fooled,” Dr. Carter said.
Dr. Tedesco, however, denies ever
being asked to meet with Dr. Carter.
“I categorically deny that. I've never
received any such request,” Dr. Tedesco
told Augusta Focus.
According to Dr. Carter, his efforts to
enroll African-American students in
percentages that reflect their state-wide
numbers have been unsuccessful for a
Local & State
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Residents move a coffin through the streets of Augusta during an
anfi-drug March last weekend in the Turpin Hill area. Drug violence
has taken a heavy toll there recently. Photo by Charles Jones
land on the corner.”
Her sentiment is echoed by commu
nity activist Arthur Smith.
Mr. Smith, vice-president of One In
A Million, an organization resulting
from the 1995 Million Man March, says,
“The true drug dealer is the one you
never see on the corner, or even in the
community. We need to deal with the
drugs longbefore they get tothe corner
of Eighth Avenue,” Mr. Smith said.
Investigator Dale Pittard, narcotics
division of the Augusta-Richmond
reason.
“] was met with open resistance
throughtheyears,” Dr.Cartersaid. “The
main reasons for the lower enrollment
are: lack of full financial aid packages, a
bad image of the institution, late accep
tance, and the so-called unattractive
ness of beingin Augusta for four or more
years,” he said.
“In some instances, there are some
college advisors who openly tell their
students not to apply here [at MCG]
because they are wasting their time,”
said Dr. Carter, whose duties required
him to travel the state and talk to per
sonnel at various colleges.
It is the admissions process, and not
the recruitment effort that is the prob
lem, according to Dr. Carter. The admis
sions committee at MCG has shown
their gross insensitivity to the accep
tance of black students, Dr. Carter said.
MCQG is getting qualified applicants, Dr.
Carter says.
“There are students who apply here
who have been accepted to schools all
over the country — some have multiple
acceptances — yet many of them were
not even selected to be interviewed here,
much less considered or reviewed for
acceptance,” Dr. Carter said.
He cites two examples of how the
admission process at MCG eliminates
talented black students.
“A student at Albany State College,
our sister institution, who was valedic
torian of her class and who earned a 3.9
grade point average, and applied to nine
A culture of violence has emerged.
Ay A é A
(Above) Accused in the shooting dea of Rosa Lee
Barnes are Marcel Theodore Allen (L) and Dexter
Lorenzo Lindsey (C). Corey Jackson (R) is accused in
the AK-47 killing of Sherod Cunningham on July 4.
The police have not revealed a motive for that crime.
“As long as there is a
profit in selling drugs, it
(the war) will never end.
Realistically, we’ll
never get drugs out of
the community.”
— Chief Deputy Ronnie Strength
(Left) The Rev. Andrew Johnson, pastor of First
Mount Moriah Baptist Church has been leading
anti-crime marches through the Turpin Hill area
for years. The residents are doing all they can to
stem the criminal element, but the problem
persists. (Photo by Charles Jones)
County Law Enforcement Center,
agrees. “Drugdeals happen way before:
[any drugs] reach Augusta,” he said.
Commissioner Freddie Handy, who
represents the Turpin Hill area, feels
that the problem is too great for local
authorities to contain. He is working
with U.S. Congressman Charlie
Norwood to get a “specialized team” in
Augusta trained to deal with the drug
activity.
“We need professional help,” said
commissioner Handy.
schools. She was accepted at eight schools
and not accepted here,” Dr. Carter said.
In another case, Dr. Carter describes
an MCG student who earned a Ph.D.
degree at the school and who actually
tutored medical students in the basic
sciences. “Faculty in our graduate school
openly bragged she was one of the best to
come through the Physiology Depart
ment and she also won several honors
and awards in her research and present
ment of her papers throughout the na
tion. Sheis now a “top flight” researcher
for the Center for Disease Control... She
was accepted at four institutions (she
applied to five) and will enroll at Emory
University School of Medicine this fall.
Believe it or not, this lady was not even
invited to interview at this institution,”
Dr. Carter said. Dr. Carter is convinced
that MCG is systematically excluding
highly qualified black applicants.
Dr. Tedesco disagrees.
“We believe that diversity is very im
portant,” Dr. Tedesco reiterated. “We
have set up a committee to actually look
at our admissions process to see if we’re
reflecting our desire for diversity. An
other committee is looking at how we
can enhance our outreach, because I
think the key in the long term is to
increase the pipeline. How do we ensure
that our African Americans, no matter
where they are located, are getting the
right science and math background to
score better on these competitive exami
nations. Those are the two major things
we are doing right now.”
AUGUSTA FOCUS JULY 31,1997
w ETRO . .
Tle Briels
Z
Man pulled over by police,
locks car door and runs
An officer reported that on July 26, he stopped a
purple Chevy truck for excessive tint. The officer
asked the subject for his driver’s license and insur
ance card. The subject handed over his insurance
card but said he got a traffic citation in South
Carolina and he left his ticket at home. When the
officer returned to his patrol car, he saw the subject
get out of his truck, lock the door, and run north
along Gordon Highway. The subject was appre
hended in the laundry room of the Travel Lodge on
the 400 block of Broad Street. Upon searching the
subject’s vehicle the officer found a black pistol in
the glove compartment.
Woman accused of theft by
conversion
Mr. Stephens of Household Rental and Sales
reported to police, on July 25, that a resident of
Cedar Street rented a washer and dryer by
Frigidaire for $199, and had not made a payment
for the past two months. Stephens complained that
when he went to pick up the rental property, the
subject told him that the washer and dryer had
been stolen. Stephens asked the subject if she had
obtained a police report, and she said that she had.
When asked to see the report the subject said, “not
until the police arrive.” When law enforcement
arrived at the scene, the subject refused to open the
door. Stephens stated that he would take out a
warrant on behalf of household rentals.
Unknown person(s) take over
SSOO in drugs from Revco
On July 25, police officers were dispatched to
Revco on Gordon Highway in response to an acti
vated burglar alarm. Upon arrival, police discov
ered that the front door entrances were broken
out. The complainant determined that $575 worth
of Tylenol, Vicodin, Vicodin HP, and Vicodin ‘ES
were stolen. Damage to both doors were $350 each.
Yes, you can report
crime anonymously
Area residents can report information to the
police related to any crime without identifying
themselves if they fear for their safety. The
Richmond County Sheriff’s Department noted
that any information would be helpful and wel
comed by the police. Citizens can call in drug
activity information to (706) 821-1400 or 821-
1402, the Narcotics Division phone numbers,
during the daytime hours of 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Information about burglaries, robberies and
other non-drug crimes may be called in to the
Criminal Investigation Division (CID) at (706)
821-1020, between 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. People can
note that they wish to remain anonymous.
Ifacrimeisongoing, itis strongly advised that
people call in the information to the regular
police number of 821-1080 or to 911. Reporting
of an ongoing crime will require identification
of the caller but please note that officers of the
law cannot act to stop crime or provide protec
tion if they are not provided any information.
Utility exec
From page one
erty. I thinkit is predominantly colored.” According
to the Rev. Maness, Mr. Bradbury’s use of the term
was indicative of his racial insensitivity since he
used the term despite the testimony by the CME’s
Bishop Othal H. Lakey that the denomination had
changed its name from the “Colored Methodist
Episcopal” church in 1954 because the term “col
ored” was offensive to most blacks.
The Rev. Maness continued by saying, “The
mindset of Atlanta Gas Light executives remains
thesame. Mr. Bradbury might just as well have said,
“It’s just a nigger church and a bunch of nigger
shacks.”
Diversity
From page one
prompting the school’s dean to call the numbers “a
total wipeout.”
Richard Russell, one of three blacks on the 26-
member UC Board of Regents said, “It’s obvious
that the resegregation of higher education has be
gun.
While not all situations are as dramatic, it is a
growing trend. A recent Texas Supreme Court deci
sion led to the lone African American admitted to
the University of Texas law school to opt out
althogether because he did not want to be the only
member of his ethnic group in his class.
The ban on affirmative action in admissions will
be extended to undergraduates next year.
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