Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 18 No. 893
The Art | 2t
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Jackie Robinson
stamp unveiled e
Jackie Robinson, who broke o % 1
baseball’s color barrier 52 ) ¥ = SEEEEN :
years ago, will be honored |© % b ,;'
onacommemorativestamp p .0 ;
to be issued Feb. 18,1999. F §
The stamp will be one of 15 ‘ =
honoring the 1940 s as part ;
of the U.S. Postal Service’s P 4
“Celebrate the Century Pro- ¢
gram.” (AP Photo/USPS)
High cost of politics
mutes influence
of minorities
RCivil rights leaders
declare importance of
campaign reform.
By Paul Shepard
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
WASHINGTON
Racial minorities’ influence on
American politics is muted be
cause they contribute less to po
litical parties than whites and
have less to spend on campaigns,
civil rights leaders said Friday.
“We are at the start of Bde:*
cades-long civil rights movement,”
said John C. Bonifaz, executive
director of the Boston-based Na
4jonal Voting Rights Institute,
awhich sponsored the conference
‘where the leaders gathered,
“Campaign Finance as a Civil
Rights Issue.”
_The institute, the NAACP and
other civil rights organizations
are seeking to portray the cam
paign finance issue as a new fron
tier in the nation’s civil rights
debate.
.. They argue that public financ
'ing of elections would help level
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Black History Special kdition
Augusta Focus
Serving Mefropolitan Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
the playing field for candidates
who might be long on vision and
ability but short on funding.
“We are making the argument
that the lack of wealth ought not
to be an obstacle to participate
fully in the (political) process,”
said Willie Abrams, NAACP leg
islative counsel,
Bonifaz contended the political
finance system violates the equal
protection and First Amendment
rights of low-income voters and
candidates, whoare disproportion
ately members of minority groups.
" "Because studies show minori
ties don’t donate to candidates in
the same measure as whites, their
influence is reduced, Bonifaz said.
Additionally, since minorities have
less income and wealth than
whites, the high costs of running a
successful campaign dispropor
tionately hurt their chances of run
ning.
The institute and the NAACP
have filed suit against officials in
Georgia who supervise elections.
It suit argues that the state’s po
litical finance system places an
unfairburden on blacks and other
minorities. .
Mcilniyre: ,
“Narrow minds” have
opposed appointment
®#Commission nixes
lobbyist role. Mayor
Young says ex-mayor
could serve in advisory
role.
By Frederick Benjamin
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
The November runoff election
victory of Bob Young as Augusta’s
new mayor was apparently com
petitive enough that the new
mayor is now considering his chief
opponent as an advisor.
In Ed Mecllntyre's bid to reclaim
his seat as Augusta’s top admin
istrator, the former mayor gar
nered a more than respectable 45
meent of the electorate while
yor Young won the elm
with a 55 percentcount. In rece
tion last month, talk has centered
on utilizing Mclntyre as a lobby
ist for the city - specifically focus
ing on state-level issues in At
lanta andhel:tl)w they impact
Augusta’s local c SR
Hclntm‘ lobbyist or any lob-
Melntyre not being selected in
- February 18 - 24,1999
Proposed bill would
abolish embattled office
®OEO chief Brenda Byrd Pelaez is not worth
her $40,000 salary, Mayor Pro Tem Lee Beard
said. A bill is being prepared in the state sen
ate would abolish the office.
By Adrienne Turner
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Though granted abriefreprieve,
the one-woman Augusta-Rich
mond County Equal Opportunity
Office, directed by Brenda Byrd-
Pelaez, is still faced with the pos
Job discrimination in state hits
women & minorities, report says
BAugusta fares well
when compared with
the rest of the state.
By Adrienne Turner
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Arecentstudyhasrevealed that
“one out of every three workplaces
in the State of Georgia discrimi
nates against minorities, and one
out of four workplaces discrimi
nates against women.” This
means that more than 103,000
women and 160,000 minorities in
Georgia are being deprived of job
opportunities because of inten
tional discrimination,” according
this capacity, Mayor Young said
it was a decision made by the
commissioners that was appar
ently warranted because the an
nual state General Assembly ses
sion in Atlanta has already
started.
“The legislative session is half
over and the commission hasn’t
received any need for a lobbyist. I
feel they (commissioners) are do
ing a good job at this point,” said
the mayor. “Ayear ago, there was
more talk about having a lobbyist
but I don’t think there’s a reason
to send anyone to Atlanta at this
time.”
The mayor, however, was
clearly optimistic that if an op
portunity exists, he will possibly
utilize Mclntyre in some type of
. advisory role. ; :
. After confirming that he and
ERR R pponent 1 last yeRS
~hotly-c mayoral race had
. participated in conversations re
garding Mclntyre’s proposed role,
- Mayor Young said he’d be remiss
not to consider Mclntyre’s experi
ence as his predecessor.
_“We've talked,” said the mayor.
<Td be Rolish ot toconsider hi
of our former m
have done an effective job (as lob
byist) based on his background,”
he said. On previous occasions,
SR L Y y"i th big: :
sibility of being abolished by leg
islation being prepared in the
Georgia Senate. The proposed
legislation sponsored by Senate
Majority Leader Charles Walker,
Sr., D-Augusta was not properly
advertised to the public which
prevented legislators from being
able to consider the bill on Tues
to Proefessor Alfred W. Blumrosen
of the Newark Law School of
Rutgers, the State University of
New Jersey, diréctér of the study.
Released on February 17th at
the State Capitel in Atlanta the
study, shows some very troublihg
figures regarding Georgia’s
standing in the race to end dis
crimination. Augusta, however,
seems to be doing best when com
pared to other areas in stamping
out discrimination in the work
place.
Columbus, with 22.3% of pre
sumed discrimination, is the
worst locality in terms of gender.
The CSRA is best with 13.5%.
See STUDY, page 3A
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson, was the keynote
speaker at a fund-raising dinner and
vigil to benefit the family of Tyisha Miller,
Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1999, at the University
of California, in Riverside, Calif. Miller
Dismissal of charges sought for
men plotting whites-only nation
: LITTLE ROCK
(AP) Prosecutors have asked a federal
judge to dismiss two robbery and weapons
counts against two men slated for trial
March 1 on charges of murder and plotting
to set up a whites-only nation.
~ The request Wednesday by the U.S.
attorney’s office 2::::11 affect the rgnlx‘rder
nd conspi rges against Chevie
fiq«&{:;{e. Wash., afi,‘fiam: Lee of
Yukon, Okla. The government is seeking
the death penalty for both men on the
murder charges. e
day. Senator Walker states that
the legislation will be reintro
duced as a separate bill next week
next week. The portion of the bill
which was introduced on Tues
day calls for a special election to
be held to fill Augusta Commis
sion seats that would be vacant
for more than twelve months.
Senator Walker said that he
sponsored the bill at the request
of Commissioners Henry
Brigham, Jerry Brigham and Lee
Beard. These commissioners feel
that the office is “not working
out,” Mr. Walker said.
It is clear that the “playing
field” for working women and
racial and ethnic minorities is
not level in Georgia. 25 percent
of Georgia companies is cur
rently discriminating against
women and 33 percent are dis
criminating against minorities.
~ Conclusion of study done by Rutgers Newark on em
ployment-discrimination against women and minorities.
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Meet §he‘pioneers
of the black film
industry * Section D
Commissioner Henry Brigham
isnotsureifthe House has enough
votes todo pass the bill. However,
if the bill does pass he says it will
save the city about $40,000.
Mayor Pro Tem Lee Beard is
also suppertive of the bill. Mr.
Beard says of Ms. Byrd-Pelaez,
“She is not good enough to occupy
aposition making $40,000 a year.
She is not keeping good records or
contact with the Human Resource
Commission. Since the Mayor is
looking to cut back and make ev-
See OEO, page 3A
was the 19-year-old Rubidoux woman
who was fatally shot by Riverside police
Dec. 28, 1998, after she sat unrespon
sive in her locked car. (AP Photo/The Press
Enterprise, William Wilson Lewis )
Kehoe and Lee are charged with mur
der in the 1996 slayings of William and
Nancy Mueller and her 8-year-old daugh
ter, Sarah Powell. Their bodies were found
in the Illinois Bayou near Russellville.
They had also been charged in a grand
jury indictment with conspiring to rob
the Muellers in January 1996, and with
use of firearms in the robbery conspiracy.
On Wednesday, the U.S. attorney’s office
asked that those two counts be dropped.
See MURDER, page 7A