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VOLUME 18 No. 907
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JAZZ FESTS * See Section C
CIVIC CENTER REVERSAL
BColiseum Authority majority
now feels that the new manage
ment team at LMI should receive
a fair shot at resolving problems.
By Adrienne Turner
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority
members decided Tuesday to give Leisure Manage
ment International a little more time to get its act
together after voting unanimously on April 27 not to
renew with the Houston-based firm’s management
contract.
The Authority reversed its decision with a 7-4 vote
and has until July Ist to notify the company if it will
renew the $85,000-a-year contract set to expire
January 31, 2000.
Joe Scott, assistant chairman of the Coliseum
Authority, was not happy with the fact that the vote
was held in the absence of several members and
without his knowledge. He does not believe that
this was an arbitrary move. “If authority members
were as dissatisfied with LMI as they claim to be,
when Pat Cumiskey was fired, they should have
voted to terminate the contract then. Being vice
chairman, somecne should have run it by me and
the other members,” Mr. Scott said. 7
Roorie Williaris, goneralimensager tEthd Qivid:
Center and Bell Auditorium, said that he met with
Chief Willie Maddox after the April 27 meeting to
express his concern about not being given a chance.
“I find it flattering that those both pro and con
wanted me, however, lam LMI. I would like the
opportunity to restore their trust and confidence in
the company,” Mr. Williams.
Mr. Scott echoed Mr. Williams sentiment in his
remarks at the meeting. “We need to give Reggie
Williams and LMI a chance,” he said. According to
Mr. Scott, “I am not saying that nothing is wrong,
but we need to try to work with Reggie Williams.”
Mr. Williams was only hired one month before the
authority cast the vote not to renew LMl’s contract.
- Authority member Bonnie Ruben, who voted to
maintain the decision, argued that the company
played the race card to maintain the account. Ms.
Ruben said she felt that LMI knew that by hiring a
black person they would gain the support of the
black authority members.
Mr. Scott, however, did not agree with any part of
Ms. Ruben’s assumption. “We gave Pat Cumiskey
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Natio: New York cop admits attacking Haitian Pag 1A N 9
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(ommentary: Did LAPD get away with murder Pagßl o v
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Grammy award-winning Lauryn Hilt is among the big winners -
in the 1999 Essence Awards which will aif on Fox June 2. -
For Details, see page 18. b v R
ample opportunity. LMI fired Pat.
They saw him as the problem, we
didn’t,” Mr. Scott said. As for
LMTI’s tactics, Mr. Scott stated
that LMI headquarters advised
Mr. Williams and his staff to be
have as if nothing had happened.
“We could have lost more money
having them sit around and do
nothing, knowing that their jobs
were about to end.”
Furthermore, black authority
members were not the only sup
porters LMlhad. David Bell, who
issued the motion to reverse the
decision, and Jack Usry both voted
in favor of LMI and both of these
authority members are white. Mr.
CRIME ON THE BEAT
By Bob Hays |
ASSOCIATED PRESS' Writer
NEW YORK
For three weeks, it was Officer
Justin Volpe’s trial. '
Aparade of witnesses took turns
implicating Volpe in the torture of
a Haitian immigrant in a brutality
case that shocked the city and
shattered the “blue wall of silence”
_ the solidarity that keeps police
officers from testifying against each
other.
Somesaid the burly, stone-faced
officer bragged about the attack.
Others said he waved a piece of a
broom stick used to sodomize his
prisoner. The names of the other
four police officers at the defense
table rarely came up.
But when the jury returns to
Brooklyn federal court today, the
lead defendant will be conspicu
ously absent.
On Tuesday _ with his mid-trial
bid for'a plea bargain rejected and
chances of an acquittal obliterated
_ Volpe pleaded guilty to violating
the civil rights of the prisoner,
Abner Louima. ‘
“There came a point in time i
where the evidence became over
whelming,” said Volpe’s attorney,
Marvyn Kornberg.
Volpe's dramatic decision could
land him in prison for the rest of
his life. What it meant for his
codefendants wasmuchlessclear.
MAY 27 - JUNE 2, 1999
Bell stated that he changed his
vote because he felt rushed at the
last meeting and that he didn’t
want to jeopardize the future of
the coliseum. When I realized we
didn’t have a back-up plan, I be
came concerned,” Mr. Bell said.
Authority member Austin
Rhodes, who sat in opposition of
LMI, said that he had been receiv
ing calls from other management
firms that would like an opportu
nity to run the Civic Center and
thought that further investiga
tion into those companies would
See LMI, page 5A
cop admits torture
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Defense attorney John Patten
said he intended to ask for a mis
trial. Volpe'’s departure creates “a
prejudice that adheres to everyone
NAACP chief says ~
Dump Webster!
BWSome sectors of the black
community feel that the
entire sheriff's department
is less than responsive to
issues that are important to
African Americans
— including police brutality
and lack of professionalism.
Calls mount for new agency.
By Adrienne Turner
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
~ AUGUSTA
Sheriff Charles Webster stated Tuesday
that he will definitely make a move regard
ing the Civilian Review and Advisory Board
this week. However, for some in the com
munity, this move may be too late. Sheriff
Webster has been sitting on his hands re
garding the 30 candidates for two months
and Alexander Smith, president of the Au
gusta chapter ofthe NAACP, for one, is tired
of it. He would rather see a new sheriff
elected than continue to try to deal with one
he feels is drunk with power,
“I call out to the leadership of Augusta to
think seriously about bringing ~omeoneinto
the community that is going to work in
behalfofit’s people. As a community leader,
we khioW he (Sheriff Webster) is ineffective
and unresponsive to the needs of the com
munity. Heis not functioning on behalfofall
citizens, especially minorities with real prob
lems. If he is going to exercise this kind of
power when the board is in commission, it
will be ineffective. We need a new sheriff.”
The Augusta-Richmond County Human
Relations Commission and members of the
community have been eagerly awaiting the
appointment of 10 board members by Sheriff
Webster since March 15 when Nadine Horne
personally delivered the names of the 30 top
candidates interviewed by HRC.
Though Sheriff Webster declined to say
what direction his intended move would
take, long time political observers have pre
dicted that the sheriffwill not appoint any of
the 30 candidates and will, instead enlist the
HRC board members to serve as the commit-
(LEFT)
New York City Mayor Rudolph
Givliani gestures as he ad
dresses the media Tuesday,
May 25, 1999, on the guilty
plea of officer Justin Volpe to
federal civil rights charges in
the attack on Haitian immi
grant Abner Lovima, in New
York. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey)
else at the defense table,” said
Patten, who represents Sgt.
Michael Bellomo.
Other defense attorneys said it
was more likely Judge Eugene
Nickerson would resume the trial
after briefly informing the 12 ju
rors that Volpe had pleaded guilty
. and say no more.
Volpe, 27, admitted ramming a
stick into the handcuffed victim’s
rectum, pullingitout and putting it
up to his face. He said he mistak
enly believed Louima had punched
him while police tried to quell a
disturbance outside a nightclubon
Alg. 9,1997.
ickerson asked Volpe: “You in
tended to humiliate him, did you?
Youthoughtyouweremad athim?”
Volpe relied: “I was mad at the
time, yes.” :
WithoutVolpe,theapoflgrcould
shift to Officer Charles Schwarz,
who is accused of holding down
See COP, page 2A
tee.
There are mixed views regarding the
necessity of the board as it stands to be
enacted. That is, it will only serve to
evaluate the actions of the sheriff’s de
partment after a caseis closed and make
suggestions that may or may not be
acted upon by the department. How
ever, after the fatal shooting of Alfaigo
Davis, an Apple Valleyresident trying to
avoid arrest by two deputies, the
community’s outcry for such aboard was
overwhelming. Despite thedifferencein
views surrounding the structure of the
board, most agree that thereis a need for
one to exist.
HRC board members, though not 100
percent satisfied with the structure of
the board, will be pleased to have the 10
member board brought to fruition. They
have expressed that the reality of the
board, in the present political climate, is
that it is better to have something in
place that has little to no power than to
hold out for complete power and never
get anything.
However, both the NAACP and the
area concerned clergy agreethat thereis
an extreme need for a board. A board
with power.
“This board is no different from what
thesheriffalreadyhas,”saidJ. R. Hatney,
pastor of Good Hope Baptist Church.
“There is no purpose in having two.” He
feels that it would do no good to have a
committee in place that does not possess
subpoena power. Rev. Hatney would
like to see a Civil Service Review Com
mittee put in place to oversee the actions
of all civil service agencies.
According to Rev. Hatney, the con
cerned clergy and the NAACP presented
local legislators with a proposal last year
that would change the constitutionality
of that position. “It has to be done
legislatively to have any effect,” Rev.
Hatney said.
As it stands, according to Mr. Smith,
all checks and balances are done by the
sheriff. He would like to see Augusta
have a Police Commission instead of a
sheriff.
Because the sheriff is a constitutional
See SHERIFF, page 5A
Blacks accuse hotel
of discrimination
during college reunion
ORLANDO, Fla.
(AP) Five black vacationers who went to Daytona
Beach for its Black College Reunion have sued their
hotfsl, claiming they were singled out as security
risks.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges the Adam’s
Mark Hotel made black guests wear orange wrist
bands and used security guards to intimidate them
during the annual spring break weekend last monfi.
Thesuitalsoalleges the hotel gave black guests
without phone service and basic housekeeping. Pictures
were stripped from hotel room walls, and minibars were
kept locked, according to the lawsuit.
“This is yet another wake-up call to white America
and white folks who don’t think discrimination hap
pens,” said John Relman, an attorney for the Wash
ington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and
Urban Affairs, one of the groups representing the
hotel guests.
Fred Kummer, chief executive of the 21-hotel chain
and its parent HBE Corp. of St. Louis, responded to
the lawsuit with a statement rejecting its “irrespon
sible claims.”
The plaintiffs — mostly professionals in their 20s —
also claimed they were overcharged for rooms, re
fused valet parking, and were limited in the number
of people they could have visit.
The wristband, prepayment and deposit require
ments had been used before with other events,
Kummer said. He said the hotel’s status as the
unofficial gathering place for Black College Reunion
“severely chaflenfid" the staff.
“Adam’s Mark Hotels have a corporate-wide com
mitment to diversity not simply because we believe
it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes good
business sense,” the hotel said in a statement.
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