Newspaper Page Text
'VOLUME 17 No. 828
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USPS in center of Kwanzaa
marketing controversy * 2A
Roberson faces
retrial after
jury deadlocks
BDue to conflicting testimony on
the part of Augusta police, jury
could not decide on assault charge.
By Miranda Gastiaburo
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
Due to conflicting tes
timonies, the trial of
Larry Roberson ended
with a hung jury on the
charge of aggravated as
sault of a peace officer.
Roberson, however, was
found guilty of theft by
receiving, of possesssion
of a firearm by a convicted
felon, of failing to stop at
a stop sign, of failing to
stop after striking a fixed
object, of not wearing a
seat belt and of driving
without a valid driver’s
license.
Roberson was charged
with these crimes follow
ing his arrest on March
20, 1997. At the time of
his arrest, Roberson ran
from police officers be
cause he was scared of
being charged with driv
ing on a suspended li
cense. Roberson wasshot
Trio sentenced
to life for drive-by
shooting of woman
By Miranda Gastiaburo
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
On Tuesday, Terry
Holmes, Lorenzo Lindsey
and Theodore Allen were
each sentenced to life in
prison forthedeath of Rosa
Lee Barnesduringadrive
by shooting in July. Last
week, the three were con
victed of felony and malice
murder of the elderly
woman. The three were
also sentenced an addi
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Literary
Contributions:
To be explored
in Laney Museum
lecture program.
See 1B
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four times in the leg and
foot.
Roberson stated before
the jury that he felt he
had been beaten and shot
for no reason. “I was just
running because I didn’t
want to get caught for a
suspended driver’s li
cense,” hesaid. “Thecops
just came after me and
said, ‘Stoporl’ll shoot.’ I
didn’t stop, so he shot
me in the leg and I fell
face down. Then I heard
the other officer run up
and they were kickingme
and punchingme and one
of them hit me in the
back of the head with his
gun. Then they shot me
inthe back of the legand
my foot,” he said. “Of
ficer Vincent kept call
ingmeall kinds of names.
Then they asked me if I
could walk and I told
them no. He said, “Well
See JURY, page 3A
tional 20 years for the
conviction of aggravated
assault.
Lindseyand Allen were
alsosentenced to 10years
in prison for the charge
of criminal damage to
property in the first de
gree, which will run con
currently to the life sen
tence, and five years in
prison for the conviction
of possession of a firearm
during the commission of
See TRIO, page 3A
Music: Bill Withers at Camegie nan - rage B |
Commentary: Watching the Promise Keepers - Page 124
Augusta Focus
Serving Metropolitan Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
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Model Naomi Campbell wears a cashmere tulle T-shirt and
a silver-grey pleated skirt, from the Spring 1998 collection
of Mark Jacobs, as she makes her way down the runway in
New York Monday night, Nov. 3, 1997. (AP Photo/Todd Plitt)
King elected to run SCLC
By Chelsea J. Carter
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
ATLANTA
The eldest son of civil rights leader Mar
tin Luther King Jr. sounded like his father,
standing before the Southern Christian Lead
ership Conference as its new president and
preaching racial equality.
Martin Luther King 111 recited a part of his
father’s “I Have a Dream” speech, in which
the slain black leader expressed the wish
that his young children would someday live
in a world without discrimination.
“As one of those four little children, I must
remind you that while my father clearly had
a dream that one day is not today. The day
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Jazz trumpeter Wynfon Marsalis belts out his
rendition of Duke Ellington’s “The Black and
Tan Fantasy” as President Clinton, center,
looks on during an East Room performance
Monday night, Nov. 3, 1997, for the 10th
anniversary of National Public Radio’s “Per
formance Today” program which will air Dec.
1. (AP thzdo Lee)
NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 1997
that my father dreamed of has not been
realized,” King said Saturday to a cheer
ing audience of about 200.
At 40 — an age that his father never
reached — King was elected Saturday by
the civil rights organization’s board of
directors as its fourth president. King will
take over on his father’s birthday Jan. 15.
King faces high expectations as he takes
over an organization that has failed to
recapture its prominence since his father’s
assassination in 1968 at age 39.
“He is picking up a hell of a responsibil
ity, because Dr. King’s movement in
America today is deader than he is,” said
See MLK Jr, page 12A
®Center continues work
of preserving African
culture in the Sea Island
regions of Georgia and
the Carolinas.
ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C.
Penn Center, one of the
country’s oldest and most histori
cally significant African-American
cultural and educational institu
tions, is sponsoring its 17th An
nual Penn Center Heritage Days
Celebration, to be held Nov. 6 -8,
1997. The theme for this year’s
celebration is “Sea Island Cultural
Survivals: Linking the Past and
the Present for the Future.”
Founded in 1862, as one of the
first schools established in the
south to educate former slaves,
Penn Center’s unique leadership
position gained national and in
ternational attention and became
a model for rural education. Penn
Center maintained its position as
the principal source of formalized
education for African Americans
throughout the 19th and most of
Incumbents’ “sweep”
bodes well for the
mayor and his allies
Analysis and Interpretation
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
One of the most interesting
things to arise from Tuesday’s elec
tion is the willingness of some
media analysts to suggest that the
election was in some way a politi
cal expression of the 24-month
long “Dump Sconyers” mantra.
The chanting could be heard loud
est in the precincts haunted by
Commissioners Jerry Brigham
(District 7) and Rob Zetterberg
(District 3).
Brigham’s rude handling of
Tommy Boyles in the District 7
contest is being called the begin-
ning of the end for the Mayor Sconyers
and his “Southside Mafia” cronies. Boyles
‘was tagged as Larry’s boy and a lot was
made of it, but who can say the outcome
wouldn’t have been the same without the
mayor around Boyle’s neck. Incumbents
had it made in most of the area elections.
The significant thing is Larry Sconyers
was not hurt in the least by a Boyles
defeat. On the contrary, Sconyers had
nothing to lose with a Boyles defeat, but.
everything to gain.
The mayor has not been hit where it
hurts — in his power base. A lot of folks
are fooled because the mayor has been
making a lot of noise about wanting a
larger voice in setting policy. In point of
Penn Center hosts 17th Annual
Heritage Days Celebration
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Richmond County Commissioner Henry Brigham
(L) easily outpointed challenger Melvin Ford in
Tuesday’s election. His election, along with that
of Lee Beard, and the return of Willie Mays is not
a political defeat for the mayor. Photo by Jimmy Carter
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SCLC President-elect Martin Luther King 111, right, along with
SCLC President Rev. Joseph Lowery, center, and E. Randel
Osburn, sing “We Shall Overcome,” at a special convention
on Saturday, Nov. 1, 1997, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)
the 20th century, until the state of
South Carolina began to provide
public education for African
Americans in 1948.
In the late 1950 s and 19605, as
the only center in the south with
bi-racial accommodations, Penn
Center became a key strategy plan
ning site for the civil rights move
ment, hosting Dr. Martin Luther
KingJr.and members of the South
ern Christian Leadership Confer
ence (SCLC).
Today, Penn Center is recog
nized worldwide as a leading insti
tution in the preservation and
study of African-American culture.
At present, programs at Penn Cen
ter strive to preserve sea island
history, protect lands for coastal
native landowners and support
education of area children.
Heritage Days Celebration is a
joyous three-day event that cel
ebrates the rich African-Ameri
can folk culture of the Sea Islands
with special focus on religion, food
and traditional arts and crafts.
Attracting more than 10,000
people from across the nation, the
celebration has been recognized
fact, Mr. Sconyers has learned how to play the
game so well, his adversaries —and all of
them are supposedly smarter than him — are
starting to realize that traditional tactics no
longer work.
The tricky tides of Augusta politics have
gotten tricker in the last decade, especially in
the light of consolidation and the redistrict
ing decisions starting around 1987. During
this period, Augusta politics became increas
ingly a Southside and central city affair.
The victories of Commissioners Henry
Brigham (District 5) and Lee Beard (District
1) ensure that the mayor should do no worse
in the coming months than he hasdone in the
See ELECTION, page 2A
by the Southeastern Tourism So
ciety, as one of the “Top Twenty
Eventsin the Southeast.” Consis
tent with the theme of the 17th
Heritage Days Celebration, “Sea
Island Cultural Survivals,” an
ancient funeral song in the Mende
Language of Sierra Leone, that
was preserved by the family of
Mary Moran of Harris Neck, Geor
gia, will be highlighted at this
year’s celebration. The song,
passed down from mother to
daughter for generations, is al
most certainly the longest text in
the language known to have been
preserved by an African-Ameri
can family in the U.S., “This is a
continuation of our efforts to pre
serve the cultural heritage of the
Gullah people,” said Emory
Campbell, Penn Center, executive
director. Other scheduled events
will include:
8 An art exhibit, a photographic
collection of arts and crafts from
the archives of Penn Center’s York
W. Bailey Museum.
® Nyam Em Op will be held all
See HERITAGE, page 8B
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