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VOLUME 18 No. 884
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world's oldest * See 2A
history with
appointment
#Penny Brown
Reynolds named
executive counsel. She
will be the first African-
American in state’s
history to hold such a
key position.
» ATLANTA
Governor-elect Roy Barnes has
appointed Penny Brown
Reynolds, a 37-year-old Louisi
ana native, as executive counsel
in the Georgia Governor’s Office.
She will become the first African-
American in Georgia history to
hold the position of attorney to a
Georgia governor.
“I am honored to name Penny
as my executive counsel,” Gov
ernor-elect Barnes said. “Her
previous experience in the Lieu
tenant Governor’s office and her
extensive knowledge of the leg
islature and the legal process
will help her do the job well. I
am confident she will serve the
citizens of Georgia above and
beyond the normal call of duty
as she has always done in the
past.”
As executive counsel, Reynolds
will provide legal advice to the
Governor on policy and legisla
tive issues, as well as work with
state agencies on behalf of the
governor.
.- Reynolds became the first Afri
‘can American and the first woman
to hold the position of chief of staff
in the Lieutenant Governor’s of
fice. In addition, she served as
former assistant attorney general
for the state of Georgia. She is a
member of the Georgia Commis
sion on Women, an organization
created by the Georgia Assembly
See REYNOLDS, page 3A
INSIDE
. B B
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. trumpeter’s best
- classical outings.
2 ARTbeat on page 58
i mNational/International .................. 2A
" @Local/Regional News .................. 3A
. @People AR 1
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* MEditorial/Opinion .................. BA-9A
;'; lChurch 12A-13A
_ BBUSINeSS ..o, 14A-15A
" MARTbeat/TV listings ............... 18-5 B
" @Classifieds/Emp10yment.......... 68-TB
Thelaw: -85 g Ti Page 2A
Health: sent | sickle s “ Page 10A
Senving Metropolitan %O,South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
Harvard professor of philosophy Cornel West address a
political rally against the impeachment of President Clinton,
sponsored by the Harvard Radcliffe Democrats and Harvard
law professor Alan Dershowitz, at the Science Center on the
Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass., Tuesday
night, Dec. 15, 1998. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
Impeachment foes
mobilize for battle
WASHINGTON
(AP) President Clinton deserves
a public reprimand, but Congress
should find a way to do it “without
partisan exploitation or mean
spiritedness” and without booting
him out of office, his Washington
pastor said Tuesday.
thing like this, without discarding
a person who really is a very gifted
public leader and who in so many
aspects of his life has been morally
sensitive and committed,” said the
Rev. J. Philip Wogaman.
Also Tuesday, feminist leaders
Betty Friedan and Eleanor Smeal
spoke against impeachment and
urged House members to oppose it.
But they found their appeal for cen
sure rather than impeachment
roundly rejected in a hastily sched
uled meeting with House Speaker
designate Robert Livingston, R-La.
JOSEV’S “Sonic Boom” headed for the Sugar Bowl
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WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO, call on Dr. Charles Smith’s “Sonic Boom of the South.” The awad-winning band will represent the city (and
state) at one of the nation’s most lws post-season bowl games.
mAfter raising $40,000, the band
still needs about $20,000 additional
to be able to afford the trip.
The T.W. Josey High School “Sonic Boom of the
South” Marching Band, under the direction of Dr.
Charles Smith, will be performing in the 1999
Nokia “Sugar Bowl” in New Orleans, Louisiana on
January 1. .
The band will perform in the pre-game and half
time activities with the Texas A&M and Ohio State
University bands. They will also perform at Jack
son Square Riverwalk. The once-in-a-lifetime trip
for these mostly inner-city youth includes historic
tours of New Orleans, a riverboat cruise, an awards
banquet, a dinner dance on New Year’s Eve and a
visit to Mardi Gras World. The band will also
v dda T R YRR AT LT
“He compared Clinton to (Rich
ard) Nixon and said Clinton was
worse,” Smeal, president of the
Feminist Majority Foundation,
said after the meeting. “After this,
the impression you have is there’s
no stopping and there’s no paus
ing” e:ln the way to impeachme:;,
Smeal added. A
Livingston difinot mk—
ing comment.
Wogaman is pastor of the
Foundry Methodist Church, which
Clinton has attended since becom
ing president six years ago.
He said he doesn’t condone the
president’s admitted actions with
former White House intern Monica
Lewinsky, but he added, “I view
the sexual sins of the president
and the resultant efforts to cover
them up as an expression ofamuch
more pervasive looseness about
sexual life in our society.”
Budget impasse
Commissioners struggle to find an additional $2 million to
fund indigent care. After Wednesday’s adjournment without
a budget, they were still $1 million shy.
By Frederick Benjamin
‘. MQA FOCUS Staff Writer
P AUGUSTA
- Commissioners were not in a very agreeable mood
this week, starting with Tuesday’s marathon slug
fest, following up with the sequel on Wednesday, the
lawmakers will try again on Thursday to hammer
out a budget. Getting six of the nine commissioners
ta vote in harmony was no easy task when it came to
deciding how much money to offer University
Hospital for its certified indigent care program. The
hospital wants $3.5 million to care for the county’s
poor and infirmed and the city has been able to
scrape up only $2.5 million. It was a measure of
frustration experienced by some of the commission
ers when Commissioner Bill Kuhlke said, “We’re
lettingindigent care dictate the budget of this county.
Think about it.”
It was all.anyone could think about. An obvious
questign igißow did the county allow itself to get so
strapped 'for cash. In the pre-consolidation county
government, a measly $1 million would not have
caused too much of a stir and University Hospital
would have been spared the perception that they are
the heavies. The financial baggage the consolidated
government incurred from the old City of Augusta
has been considerable: The Morris hotel deal, the
airport diversion of funds, the Old Towne real estate
fiaseo, the HUD miscues adds up to millions that will
never be used for any city program. It is money the
county could sure use in its budget battle. -
Commissioner Mays reminded Mr. Kuhlke that it
wasnofin:ligehteq’e”thatismemlembhm—?flw
county Has not been financially responsible in all its
decisions. “We allowed one person’s priorities back
when we gave away $7.5 million in this city when we
could have negotiated to get us $3 million dollars.”
In the three years since consolidation, the millions
the county had socked away as a surplus has seem
ingly vanished.“ln the past we had something to
come back to,” Mr. Mays said. “We had money. Now
we have a budget that’s locked tight.” Mr. Mays was
responding to a suggestion that a budget be passed
now and modified later if necessary.
Anyone who doubts the city’s precarious financial
situation has only to wonder why the city feels
compelled to consider gutting its cultural enrich
ment program and short-circuit its vital link to the
attend the Sugar Bowl game in the New Orleans
Superdome.
Toget to New Orleans, the band raised s4o,oooin
just three weeks, mostly from generous donations
from the Augusta/CSRA community. However, the
band s still short of approximately $20,000 to reach
its expected goal. According to Dr. Smith, director
of the award-winning band at Josey, “This will be a
great opportunity for the members of the band and
the citizens of Augusta-Richmond County to re
ceive more national recognition.” ‘
On December sth, the band performed in the
Atlanta Macy’s/Egleston Christmas Parade for the
Festival of Trees which benefits Egleston’s
Children’s Hospital for Cancer research.
The band received a standing ovation at the
reviewing stand in the parade and was given the
Egleston’s “Flag of Honor” and pin. The “Sonic
outside world via the shows that come ir'through the
Bell Auditorium and the civic center, to raise cash for
University Hospital. g
To the casual observer, University Hospital comes
off as Scrooge in this Christmas story. Unhappily for
the hospital administrators, who have been pleading
with the city commissioners for years to be more
generous around contract time for indigent care, the
problem has been framed in a rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul
context. The city has closed the gap to within $1
million of the amount the hospital says it must have.
But to do so, the city fathers have had to do some belt
tightening. They say they’ve tightened all they can,
but according to University Hospital spokesman Ri
chard Parks, the $2.5 million the city is offering is not
even close.
“A two and a half million contract is unacceptable.
I will take that (offer) to my board tomorrow, but I
think I know what their response will be.”
Mr. Parks suggested that the commissioners ante
up the money they had set aside for capital improve
ments, but Mr. Oliver countered that a shortfall could
resultifthat happened. In the case of such a shortfall,
the only way to make up the loss would be to raise
taxes, he said.
To find the extra money, the city has decided to
slash the Coliseum Authority allotment by SIOO,OOO,
and redirect $510,000 in salaries that the Sheriff's
Department is no longer paying. Those two items
have not caused much dissension among the commis
sioners. Those amounts are to be augmented by
expected revenue increases as a result of hikes in
building permits and inspection fees. The projected
ina'eammsz’»oo,mtmnmm e commi s figure to
raise a little more by tinkering with the mayor’s and
commission’s discretionary funds — about $30,000
worth (or about one-third of the total fund). Those add
up to $940,000. Added to the ongim\l amount bud
geted for indigent care — about $1.6 million —the
total comes to about $2.5. That's about $1 million
short of University Hospital’s stated needs:
That next million could cause much weeping and
gnashing of the teeth. On the chopping block are the
Arts Council ($145,000), Historic Augusta ($16,000),
the Central Avenue bus service and all bus transfers
($168,000), the Golf Hall of Fame ($68,000), youth
employment ($39,000). Even with all those cuts en-
See BUDGET, page 9A
Boom” also performed at the Easter Seals Founda
tion Festival of Lights at Pendleton King Park on
December 11th and received another standing ova
tion.
Active throughout the CSRA, state and nation,
the band performed in the CSRA Classic’s Battle of
the Bands; earned “all-superior” ratings at the
Southern Invitational Marching Band Festival in
Marietta, Ga. for band, majorettes, drill team, danc
ers, percussion, drum line, feature twirler, and
drum major and won seven trophies for an out
standing performance; participated in the 100 Black
Men of Atlanta College Fair; performed in the
homecoming parade at Voorhees College; played in
the Children’s Week Parade and the Gracewood
Christmas Parade; and was voted “Best School
See JOSEY, page 2A ‘
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