Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 16 No. 816
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'BACK TO SCHOOL IN UNIFORM
FASHION * See Page 9A
Experts: Crime clans on the rise
B Authorities report that a significant
number of juvenile and adult inmates are family
members. The trend crosses race and class lines.
By Carmela Thomas
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Trinity Jones, 24, served time
for his involvement in the 1991
Laney students will
stay put, Larke says
B Some trusteesreport they were
unaware renovations would not
be completed by opening day.
By Harvey Wright
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
To look at it, Laney High School is in a
state of physical chaos. Workmen and build
ing supplies are everywhere. Wires dangle
precariously from unfinished ceilings; en
RN T e " Opening day
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IR i A i R A. Photo by H. Wright
Reparations for slavery?
IRS denies reported payments
B Rumors that the .
IRS is making good on
reparations for slavery
has many calling to
request special tax
forms.
PHOENIX
(AP) A rumor that blacks can
collect slave reparation from the
federal government has raced
through other parts of the country
and is now circulating here.
Black churches on the south side
of the city have begun circulating
fliers encouraging people to file for
reparations and at least 24 Arizo
nans have.
According to the rumor, blacks
can pay $25 to $l2O for someone to
prepare a tax form and mail ittothe
Internal Revenue Servicetoreceive
money. But officials say the rumor
is utterly false.
In fact, the only thing applicants
for the “black taxes” will receive is
a rejection letter and a warning
thatanother “frivolous return” will
result in a SSOO fine.
“Legislation for reparations has
not been enacted,” said Bill
Brunson, spokesman for the IRS.
“Any tax claims filed on this basis
will be denied.”
Still, Phoenix accountant Orves
Morrison said he’s charged 100
Health: U.S. babies at risk of chronic illness- r.loa
Politics: Blacks in Guba: A special report- p.sa
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murder of 60-year-old Phillip
Wong, owner of K.F. Wong’s Gro
cery store, and his 79-year-old
mother, Ruby Wong. He was out
by 1996. Now he’s in prison for
molesting a 10-year-old girl. His
tire areas need to be cemented, and gaping
holes dot the campus awaiting attention.
In addition, windows are broken, pipe
fixtures need to be replaced, and networks
of wires are exposed within the ceiling.
“Right now, Laney is an accident waiting
to happen,” commented one instructor.
“Would you want your children in this
place? Look atit!” the instructor concluded.
The state of affairs has spawned rumors
that Laney students will be bused to other
_See LANEY RENOVATIONS, page 2A
Phoenix accountant Orves Morrison said
he’s charged 100 people SBO each to file
IRS Form 2439, and he insists the repara
tion is legitimate. He said a few clients
were paid $9,792 each within three weeks.
people SBO each to file IRS Form
2439, and he insists the reparation
is legitimate. He said a few clients
were paid $9,792 each within three
weeks. _
Morrison said that all he knows
is that his clients are receiving
money.
“I went down to the IRS, and
they said it’sjust a hoax, but Idon’t
believe them,” he said. “They just
don’t want people to know about
this.”
The president of the Maricopa
County Chapter of the NAACP
agrees and is urging blacks to claim
the reparations he says they were
promised after the Civil War.
“I don’t believe that it’s a fraud,”
said Charles Fanniel said Wednes
day.
Many others apparently agree,
because the IRS reports that it’s
receiving a lot of requests for the
obscure tax form, which actually
has nothing to do with blacks or
reparations. It’s a form for paying
taxes on investments.
Rev. Oscar Tillman, the presi
dent of the Arizona state National
AUGUST 14 - 20, 1997
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson marches with striking United Parcel Service workers
outside UPS in San Francisce, Sunday, Aug. 10, 1997. Approximately 125
workers picketed the facility at the end of the first week of the strike. (AP
Photo/Dwayne Newton)
UPS, uniontoresumetalks
By KEVIN GALVIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Striking Teamsters and the United Parcel
Service agreed to return to mediation today,
but the meeting was billed as a discussion,
not negotiations, indicating the two sides
remained far apart.
“While there is no reason for optimism at
this point, we will be there, ready to negoti
ate,” Teamsters President Ron Carey said.
The two sides agreed to return to the table
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, said the rumor is
a scam on the hlack community.
“Those folks charging money to
fill out these forms — it’s just an
other way of bilking our people,”
Tillman said. “And it creates false
hopes.”
Tillman said he does believe
blacks are entitled to reparation,
but it will have to be done by Con
gress.
“We should denounce anything
that’s not done legitimately, openly
and aboveboard. You should not
have to pay to fill out a form to get
what’s rightfully yours,” he said.
The reparation rumors may stem
from an article in the April 1993
issue of Essence magazine in which
journalist L.G. Sherrod encouraged
readers to claim $43,209 in “black
taxes,” which issupposedly the cur
rent value of property Congress
planned to give to freed slaves after
the Civil War.
Theplan, however, never became
law because President Andrew
Johnson vetoed it.
two younger brothers, Charles, 23,
and Jermaine, 17, are now in jail
charged with murder and robbery.
Police say one of the two struck
Glen Love, 42, of Luckey Street
with a brick while robbing him
last June 4. More and more, offi
cials say, they are seeing crime
run in families.
“It’s becoming very common,”
said Chief Deputy Ronald Strength
of Richmond County’s Sheriff De
INSIDE
Motown T
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B GRIBNARY - hhGa g naiassiinie T
partment. He estimated that 20
percent of those arrested in the
county are relatives.
“It’s a cycle much like welfare;
one reason is because often-times
family situationsdon’t change just
because one family member gets
into trouble and is taken away
because they are being punished.
There still must be changes made
See CRIME, page 3A
on Day 11 of the strike at the urging of
Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, who was
expected to open the discussion. But
Herman said John Calhoun Wells, direc
tor of the Federal Mediation and Concilia
tion Service, would continue to guide the
talks.
“I am pleased both sides have agreed to
come back to the bargaining table, and I
urge them to stay at the table until they
reach a settlement,” she said. “The key
See UPS, page 2A
Jackson
may enter
race for
governor
B Sam Nunn definite
about staying out of race,
but former Atlanta mayor
won'’t rule out possibility.
By Dick Pettys
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
ATLANTA
(AP)Sam Nunn, one of Georgia’s
most popular Democrats, won’t
be running for governor in 1998,
but former Atlanta Mayor
Maynard Jackson might.
The Democraticrace was turned
upside down this week when Lt.
Gov. Pierre Howard, the
frontrunner, bowed out, saying
he miscalculated the degree to
which the campaign would keep
him away from his young chil
dren.
Since Howard’s exit, state Rep,
Roy Barnes, D-Mableton, who had .
been running for lieutenant gov-'
ernor, and Secretary of State Lewis .
Massey, Howard’s political pro-,
tege, have jumped in. :
Nunn, who retired this year af
ter four terms in the U.S. Senate,
was mentioned by some as a pos
sible candidate, but he issued a
statement Thursday closing the
door. :
“Colleen (his wife) and I have:
enjoyed our seven months in the
- sector and I have no plans
to run for governor or return to:
political life any time in the near
future,” he said.
However, Jackson let it be
known he might enter the race.
“He’s still consideringit but has
not made adefinite decision,” said
a woman who answered the tele
phone at Jackson’s office Friday.
See JACKSON, page 2A
Rights groups
contest campaign
finance in Georgia
ATLANTA
A coalition of civil rights
groups and low-income
votersfiledsuitinthe U.S.
District Court in Atlanta
on Wednesday charging
that the campaign finance
system for Georgia’s state
senate elections violates
the equal protection and
First Amendment rights
of nonwealthy voters and
candidates. The plain
tiffs, including Georgia’s
chapter of the NAACP,
the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference,
and the Georgia Rural
Urban Summit, say that
the current system of pri
vate money in elections
undermines the rights of
nonwealthy citizens to
vote and to run for politi
cal office.
“Thirty years ago we
won the fight to bring
down the poll tax,” says
Walter C. Butler Jr., a
longtime civil rights
worker and Georgia state
president of the NAACP.
“The campaign finance
system in Georgia today
isthe newest votingrights
barrier, preventing ordi
nary citizens from equal
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AUGUSTA, GA
participation in the elee
tion process.”
In addition to civil
rights groups, the plain
tiffs include low-income
voters who say the sys
tem of financing Georgia
State senate campaigns
today operates as a
“wealth primary,” ex
cluding non-wealthy vot
ers and decisively influ:
encing the outcomes of
elections. They argue
that, like the unlawful
white primaries of the
past, today’s wealth pri
mary violates the consti
tutional guarantee for
equal protection for allin
the political process. The
plaintiffs say that the cur:
rent campaign finance
system undermines theiy
constitutional right to an
equal and meaningful
vote, and will continue to
do so in future elections,
The filing of this law
suit follows the release of"
a study in the campaign
contributions for all can
didates for Georgia state
senate seats in 1992,
1994, and 1996. Compiled
See LAWSUIT, page 3A