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VOLUME eNo » 872
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Johnson students:
‘““This is not over.”
BAngry parents and
students jeer school
board members and
bash Superintendent
Larke. ‘
By Frederick Benjamin S¢.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
[- & AUGUSTA
Of all the political bodies in
Augusta-Richmond, the school
board is probably the most battle
tested — and battle hardened.
On Wednesday night, at a PTA
meeting held in the A.R. Johnson
gymnasium, they needed that sea
soning.
Six school board members, in
cluding school board president
Adna Stein and deputy superin
tendent Gene Sullivan endured
‘insults, cat calls and boos while
.some five hundred students and
nts sought to convince them
bring back their former princi
al Horace Lamback. Mr.
; back was involved in a two -
‘principal swap that brought
ormer T.W. Josey principal
fivian Pennamon to Johnson
svhile Lamback assumed the reins
bt Josey. The switch was effective
‘that very morning.
'~2'While most of the venom was
Yeserved for superintendent Dr.
;gharles Larke, who did not at
Inside
Test
. Your
Jazz
- 19
See Page 1B
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tend the meeting, it did not ap
pear that any of the school board
members who supported the move
were moved by the crowd’s emo
tional appeals.
Six board members — Riley,
Adna Stein, Andrew Jefferson,
Y.N. Myers Jr., Jeff Annis, and
Mary Oglesby — all supported
the move. School board trustee
Barbara Padgett is the only board
member to actually vote against
the move on September 10 —
board members Ken Echols and
Cherie Foster actually abstained
from voting, according to a source
on the school board. In order for
the move to be reversed, at least
twoofthe six would havetoswitch
their votes.
Ms. Riley, undaunted by the
hostile crowd, stuck to her deci
sionand even suggested that there
wasavaluablelesson tobelearned
“Slammin’ Sammy” Sosa
is pride of Dominicans
BSosa’s a Hit in Big
Apple Joy in
Dominican Republic, too
By Caroling Gomalex cewd Gwen Mosits
Daily News Staff Writers
NEW YORK
Ashe took aim at a record-break
ing 63rd home run, Sammy Sosa
was the toast of New York yester
day — especially among the city’s
jubilant half-million Dominicans.
Never mind that the Dominican
born Sosa plays outfield for the
rival Chicago Cubs and is almost
single-handedly keeping them
ahead of the Metsin the nail-biting
National League wild-card race —
Sammy’s the man, especially with
the ladies.
“I want him to get to 70,” gushed
Sergia Irizarry, a hair stylist at
Estilismo Beauty Salon in Wash
ington Heights. “He still has 12
games to go,sol think he can doit.”
‘Sosa 62": Fans celebrated yes
terday in Washington Heights.
“I forgot the name of the other
guy, Mac something,” said Brigitte
Miranda, 26, of Long I:gnd.“hust
followSahxfiy. Wh;nhehiisfiv, the hairs on my arm
stood up.” i
The celebration that kicked off Sunday — when
Sosa smacked two round-trippers to pass Babe Ruth
and Roger Maris and tie him with Mark McGwire —
conti_nmdyesterdhyasfahshomdformhomemn
In Brooklyn, Los Primos, a meat wholesaler, painted
each of its 12 delivery vans with the slogan, “Go Sosa,
62.” Company officials said the number would be
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SEPTEMBER 17 - 23, 1998
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Playing a tough room
At a PTA meeting Wednesday
night, School board trustee
Kingsley Riley defends the
decision by the board of
education to swap she princi
pals of A.R. Johnson and T.W.
Josey high schools. Parents
and students were upset. Photo
by Jimmy Carter
T T s‘“ ,1,4’,‘,_ " E |
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Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa flashes a victory sign as
he steps into the dugout after hitting his 62nd home run of
the season in Chicago, Sunday, Sept. 13, 1998. Sosa is now
tied with Mark McGwire in the race to set a new single
season home run record. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)
despite the pain some of the chil
dren were experiencing.
“We have to help the students
and the parents understand that
you don’t always get what you
want. You will never get every
thing you want all the time. I just
want to let you know that we have
to deal with reality — life is not
fair. I want to thank you for
loving your principal. You don’t
have to agree with me, but trust
me,” Ms. Riley said.
The students, however, were in
no mood for sacrifice.
“This is wrong,” said 17-year
old Erica Jimenez, vice president
ofthe senior class at A.R. Johnson.
“We would be fightingjust as hard
to keep Ms. Pennamon here, if
she were the principal. It’s the
way it was done.”
The way it was done upset a lot
of people. Most people, although
unhappy with the proposed swap,
did not expect it to occur until
October 1. It occurred two weeks
earlier and that set off the stu
dents and their parents. Accord
ing to school! board president
Stein, however, no one said that
October 1 was supposed to be the
day. |
“The move was to be made at
the discretion of Dr. Larke,” Mr. ‘
Stein said. Other school board
members say that the move was I
See PROTEST, page 7A
In the Bronx, livery cabs were riding with “Sosa 62”
lettered on windows. e
In Washington Heights, residents recalled how on
Sunday, revelers ran into nearby bodegas, snapped
up rolls of toilet paper and unfurled them down the
blocked-off streets as impromptu streamers.
In the Dominican Republic, hundreds of fans sur
rounded the home of the slugger’s mother in San
Pedro de Macorfs. “I am so proud of my son,” said a
tearful Mireya Sosa. “From here I send him my kisses
and mv canoratnlatior~ ”
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IN LIVING COLOR: Antonio Gandy helps the fans at Rich
mond Academy celebrate the opening of their remodeled
stadium. Photo by Jimmy Carter
Don’'t miss
Aris in the Heart
ol Augusta
september 18-20. 1998
N 0.63
Sosa, who blows his mother kisses after every
homer he hits, was so poor as a child he made his first
baseball mitt from a milk carton, then shined shoes
and washed cars to help support his family. ;
Yesterday, the international baseball sensatiqn
fielded congratulatory phone calls from two Presi
dents: Bill Clinton and Dominican leader Leonel
Fernandez.
“This was the greatest sporting feat by a Domini
can athlete in our entire history,” Fernandez said,
“We congratulate our great Sammy Sosa in the name
of the Dominican people.”
Sosa’s personality has won over fans as much as his
home run-hitting prowess has.
Irizarry cited Sosa’s classy performance last week
after McGwire became the first of the sluggers to
“When he hugged McGwire when he hit 62, I was
very touched,” Irizarry said. “Things like that make
him verv sexv. apart from his looks.”
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