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Joseph Robert Puetz is in big trouble with the law. Despite
being charged with ‘intent to kill’ a police officer, he was
not the victim of deadly force. Many are asking why?
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Joseph Robert Puetzled police
on ahigh-speed chasetohishome
in North'Augusta. He’s alive.
Alfaigo Terrell Davis led police
onahigh-speed chasetohishome
in south Augusta. He’s dead.
The ensuing question: Was
race a factorin determiningboth
men’s fate at the hands of pursu
ing law enforcers?
° Somerespondents tothisquery
believe, without a doubt, that
Davis, who was black, was shot
to death by Richmond County
Sheriff's Department deputies
just because of his skin tone.
Conversely, it’s also believed
that for Puetz, who’s white,
deadly force was not even con
sidered partly because of his
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Commentary Why are churches still burning? Page $A
Augusta Focus
Serving Metropolitan Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
physical features, where he lives
and because of who his father
happens to be — Augusta attor
ney Martin C. Puetz.
“If he (Puetz) were black would
he have been more aggressively
pursued? Probably so. It just seems
to be different interpretations of
deadly force when it comes to
black and white suspects,” says
Bert Maxwell, alocal activist who
came to prominence while sup
porting the convictions of Nicho
las Capobianco and Gary Clark
Jr., the deputies who shot Davis.
Puetz (pronounced pitts) is the
18-year-old North Augusta resi
dent who, on Friday, July 9 at’
about 2:50 a.m., evaded Richmond
County deputies, crossed the 13t
Street Bridge into South Carolina
and failed to stop when North
Augusta Public Safety officer Mike
Raffield flashed his blue emer
gency lights and clicked on his
In a similar encounter, an
Augusta man lost his life.
Was it sup
erior training
lousy shoot
ing or racial
profiling in
reverse?
siren, according to Lt. Tim
Pearson of the North Augusta
Public Safety Department.
In reaching speeds up to 130
miles per hour, Puetz continued
for about 10 miles up Georgia
Avenue onto Martintown Road
just past the Interstate 20 junc
tion. :
Puetz, wholivesin the Windtree
subdivision near the North Au
gusta Country Club, then pulled
intothe driveway at his residence
on Fox Creek Drive whére he was ™
blocked in the rear by Raffield’s
patrol car.
According to authorities, Puetz
reversed his 1996 Honda, ram
mingthe driver’s side of the police
car, while knocking Raffield to the
ground, Puetz then jumped into
another vehicle parked in his
driveway and sped off, again es
caping arrest. Lt. Pearson and
North Augusta Public Safety chief™
Lee Wetherington confirmed that -
while Raffield did fire a single’
round at the scene, the shot was
meant to “disarm” the vehicle,:
James Farmer Jr.,
civil rights
advocate,
dead at age 79
James Farmer Jr. is shown
wearing the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the
‘ nation’s highest civilian
award, the day he received it
Jan. 15, 1998. Farmer, who
served alongside Martin
Luther King Jr. and other civil
rights giants of the 1950 s and
'6os, died Friday, July 9, 1999.
He was 79. (AP Photo/The Free Lanc
e Suzanne Carr, File)
Aiken city council annexes land
to construct new Ryan’s restaurant
/By Timothy Cox )
AUGUSTA'FOCUS Staff Writer y
In the wake of the construction of a new restau
rant on Whiskey Road, public pressure to save a
number of trees was apparently strongly consid
ered during the July 12 Aiken City Council meet
ing.
Although council unanimously approved the
annexation of 2.25 acres of property to be used to
build a new Ryan’s Steak House, the decision
didn’t come without some initial residential dis
sent. According to a letter to council from Sally
Perrine of Spring Valley Drive in Aiken, she
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Davis: Was
he killed
because
of his race?
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‘Alfaigo Davis
was shot to
death in 1998
by Richmond
County depu
ties who
‘feared for
their lives”
when he
backed
up his
vehicle.
said Lt. Pearson. “He (Raffield)
had to jump out of the way to
avoid being run over,” the lieu
tenant added.
After two days on the lam,
Puetzturned himselfin to Rich
mond County Sheriff's Depart
ment authorities.
In reflectirig on the Feb. 21,
1998 Davis scenario, similari
ties vhgl Puetz exist — espe
cially with Jngcidents that ol’;‘!'s
curred, immeghiately~after the:
‘29-yé‘sfd;%‘%§;l_l--was pinned
within a cul-de-sacat his Apple
Valley subdivision. Reports
statethat when four patrol cars
had'reached the scene,
Davis, like Puetz, proceeded
to back his Ford Tempo into a
patrol car.: .
- The difference? Unlike
Puetz’s North Augusta pursuer
who tried to shoot out a tire,
Capobianco and Clark shot to
kill —firing 10 shots from their
.40 caliber glock. Witnesses from
See DEADLY FORCE, page 13A
i Fsm
_ questionm&
ing a new location would
result in the destruction of
‘aging trees, whichhave long
been a part of the Whiskey
Road site, she said. The new
business is to be located
near Wal-Mart and
Bojangles, across from
Ryan’s existing site on prop
erty currently owned by
Mildred Tyler Owens of
1953 Whiskey Road. In her
correspondence, M«
Perrine told counci!,
Anti-gun offensive
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Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO of the NAACP, gestures
during his keynote speech at the 90th annual convention in
New York, Monday July 12, 1999. The NAACP plans to sue
handgun manufacturers, distributors and importers, seeking
restrictions on the marketing and sale of firearms in hopes of
keeping guns from criminals. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Largest Baptist
denomination is
broke, pastor says
ST. Louls
(AP) A pastor wantingtobe presi
dent of the nation’s largest black
denomination claims the organiza
tionis having trouble makingends
meet.
The Rev. W. Franklyn
Richardson, 50, of Mount Vernon,
N.Y., is one of 12 pastors vying for
the head position of the National
Baptist Convention. Candidatesfor
president are addressing the Mis
souri Missionary Baptist Congress,
which is meeting in St. Louis until
Friday.
“We must first fix a flawed, out
of-step, imperialisticinstitution that
leaves out the participation of the
people of God,” said Richardson.
As many as 30 percent of former
member churches of the conven
tion have stopped paying dues and
aredropped from membershiprolls,
he said.
The denomination will elect a
new president in early September.
Much of the blame for the
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church’s problemsfalls on the Rev.
Henry Lyons of St. Petersburg,
Fla., Richardson said.
Lastmonth Lyonswassentenced
in federal court in Florida to four
years, threemonths for lying, bank
fraud and tax evasion. He alsowas
ordered to pay $5.2 million in resti
tution. :
In a plea agreement March 17,
Lyons pleaded guilty to five counts
stemming from his business deal
ings as convention president. He
admitted failing to pay taxes on
$1.3 million in income, defrauding
a bank and making false state
mentsto afinancial institution and
to federal housing officials.
In February, Lyons was sen
tenced in state court in Florida to
five years in prison for racketeer
ing and grand theft for swindling
corporations seeking convention
business and stealing nearly
$250,000 donated by the Anti-Defa-
See BLACK BAPTISTS, page 2A.
“ ... I love Aiken. Bulldozing the last lot of
majestic magnolias and pecan trees on the
southside of Whiskey Road will be a step in the
wrong direction.” Council member Lessie Price;
said she anticipated more opposing views at th‘q““
meeting, but the only speaker who addressed:
council was Ryan's roprqqentativg Jim Price of *
Aiken-based Wyatt Development, who said the
county will be “proud,” once oo;ptruction is com
plete. A local couple had plans on purchasing and
moving the house whiclfifimo’n the new
p;roperty, but Ryan’s reportedly said no to the
Nntter
50 CENTS
Cloudy, hot
showers, 90s
See Page 68
0. 302 AUGUSTA G