Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 18 NUMBER 924
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Battle for control of black music radio intensifies as ~ e eil
Cumulus assault nets key
Foxie 103 sales, on-air talent
@Stung by rash of
defections to cash-rich
newcomer, Davis
Broadcasting may
seek legal action to
prevent deejay from
working for competitor.
By Timothy (ox
AUGUSTA POCU S Staf! Writer
AUGUSTA
After 12 years of helping posi
tion Foxie 103 as the top radio
station 1n the Augusta market,
Minnesota Fatts has signed off and
joined its newest competitor, Power
107
Is Fattz switch to a new station
a signal that major troubles are
occurning between Foxie manage
ment and staffers ultimately
thgeatenng the station’s ranking
as Augusta’s premuer stationin the
highly competitive local mrwaves”
In an exclusive mterview with
the Augusta Foeu Fattz who's
real name 15 Tim Snell, was reluc
tant to say whether his reasons for
leaving the station were based on
adverse conditions at the station
o problems with management
“It was a very tough decision for
me to leave Twelve vears with a
great company. hey, 1 thought
about it. shed tears over it and
Tiscussed it with myv wite | helped
suild the station, and had reserva
aons about walking away Hut
wmetimes vou have to face new
shallenges,” saud the man whocered
ts “Godfather of Soul” James
Brown for encouraging him to get
nto the radio business Fatts
started working at Brown's
WRDW .AM station in 1981
In his agreement with WUUS
Power 107 71, Fattz will serve as
wogram director and continue his
m-mr morning shift In the pro
wss of leaving, Fattz isbring along
Shutting off water
has social costs
BWater managers
nust weigh need to
wllect on past due
accounts with public
safety.
1y Eileen Rivers
AUGUSTA POCUS Staff Weiter
: AUGUSTA
When the Richmond County
Nater Department decided to cut
ol services for tenants st Hale
Street Apartments, they probably
hidn't take the suffering of res
lents like six-vear-old Tony
Nallace into consaderation. Tony.
aer mother Heather, and her four
sear-old sister Patrice were stuck
‘n a substandard, rat infested
wpartment for several hours with
20 water to bathe, cook, or wash
Jheir clothing. They, like many
sther residents, were forced to
suy bottled water on a budgeted
‘nonthly income that barely cov.
rs expenses for rent.
“l was ready to take my chil
dren out of school for the day.”
stated Miss Wallace. “We were
afraid they wouldn't have been
Sports Ryder takes hike on Hawks Page 12{ ¢
World Rebel leader returns to Sierra Leone Page 21
_Augusta Focus
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Tim Snell, a.k.a. Minnesota Fattz (L) and Cher Best (R) have been for years the voice of i
morning radio on Foxie 103. The duo have joined forces with Power 107.7 in o direct bid for |
Foxie listeners. A 0 A f fie pt
his WFXA (Foxie) sidekick of five
vears, Cher Best, who nas been
hired by the new station as mar
keting director and Fattz' morning
cohort
The departure of Fattz and Cher
frons Fosae's hneuap marks the third
major personality Foxie has
watched exat its North Augusta
studios
In August, Gena lLevigne re
signed from her afternoon drive
time position after working for the
Davis Broadeasting-owned station
eight vears Although Fattz, Gena
and Cher, a five-vear emplovee,
farled to speak negatively about
Davis Broadcasting, inside sources
revealed that money, in the form of
salary increases, mayv have been
an Issue
Considering that Foxie has
rewgned atop the local market —
weathernng numerous unsuccess
ful format changes by stations, and
marked by the fall of WBBQ and
morning man
Mark Summers - Foxie's per
sonalties never reaped the rewards
that should have rendered by a No
1 station’s advertising windfall
Umquely talented lin his own
able to bathe or put on clean
clothes !
City officials are often torn be- |
tween their obhigation to collect
on overwhelming debts, and the
need to keep citizens from suffer
ing through the dangerous public |
health hazards that collection may |
bring i
Water services at the apartment |
complex were turned off last)
Thursday. September 30, in re-|
sponse to an unpaid water ill,|
that one of the building caretak- |
ers. Maurice Steinberg, neglected |
to pay for two months. Mr |
Stemnberg does not live in the build- |
ing. but legally represented the |
owners during the building's con- |
struction, and now handles all
utility payment responsibilities.
The delinquent account totaled
more than $1.200 and had not
been pawd for the months of Au-|
gust and September That was in|
addition to the $15,300 debt that|
had already been accumulated
with the city water department
over almost a vear. In February of
this year Steinberg signed a
promisory note stating that he
See WATER CUTOFF, poge 12A
R R
rnight, it's been said the manage
ment structure at Davis failed to
show Fattz real love by fattening
hus pavcheck — until Power 107
went on the air Friday, Oct 1
Although the Davis group rey wt
edly made Fattz a counter-offer o
stay with Foxie, by then, it was too
late and Fattz had already made
the decision to fly the coop
An unnamed source said Davis
Broadcasting 1s contemplating le
gal action to keep Fattz from start
ing his new job. However, Fattz
said Cumulus took the imtiative to
seek out his services, therefore
nulhfving any efforts by Davis to
dismantle Fattz' abilities to start
working for his new emplover
Cumulus general manager Gary
Pizzati 1s not fazed He's satisfied
with his company's decision to
quickly build Power 107 into an
established station with famihar
personalities
“We're proud and honored to have
Fattz and Cher as part of our broad
casting family They will finally
get the marketing awareness, sup
port and respect they have deserved
for many vears. They are atremen
dous broadcast team. and we look
High Court passes on Abu-Jamal
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MUMIA ABU-JAMAL is led into court in Philadelphia’s City
Hall in this July 14, 1995, file photo. The former rodio re
porter convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 killing
of o Philodelphic policeman lost o Supreme Court appeal
Monday, Oct. 4, 1999, in Washington. The court, without
comment, turned away orguments that Abu-Jomal was
denied a foir trial. (AP ProwSieven M Fal Pool Fie
forward to a jong-term relation
ship.” saud Pizzati
In addition to hinng Foxie's top
morning personalities, Cumulus
Broadcasting. which purchased
classye soul station K 596 4 last
spring, has also landed the ser
vices of Foxie general sales man
ager Cal Thornton According to
msiders, i less than two vears
with Dawvis Broadcasting —
Thornton s credited with bringing
in the largest amount of advertis
ing revenue among all Augusta
area radio stations
In efforts to confirm reasons why
three top deejays and its top sales
man would leave Foxie's fold, the
Focus called Davis owner Greg
Davis at his Charlotte office at
WOCC] radio Nesither Davis nor
Foxie general manager Bill Jaegar
returned calls by press time
Meanwhile, Fattz describes hus
contract as comfortable “l would
not have made the decision to leave
if 1t wasn't,” he added
While he feiled to disclose terms
of the contract and salary figures,
Fattz, 36, made sure It's a career
See RADIO WARS, page 3A
Blacks along Savannah River
hit with highest cancer rates
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOUUS Staf Writer
AVGUSTA
Cancer rates for black women
and men hving along the Savan
nah River are the highest in the
nation, according to a researcher
from the Medical University of
South Carolina
Based on a five-year study
headed by Dr Damel Lackland,
an associate professor at Charles
ton-based MUSC, black women
suffer significantly from cervical
cancer while esophageal cancer is
most prevalent among black men
The findings were released at a
press conference held at the Sa
vannah River Site
Tre study, » hich was conducted
by e Savannah River Region
Health Information System, tar
geted 15 milhon residents in 22
Georgna and South Carolina coun
ties located downstream from
SRS Richmond and Aiken coun
ties were included in the report
which was released Sept 28
A public relations official at SRS
said the report had no affihiation
with the site which 15 noted for its
trittium and plutonium produc
tion capabilities “It was not a
site-specific study and unrelated
to the site,” smd Will Callicott,
public relations spokesman for
Westinghouse Savannah River
Company, a contractor at the site
which 158 owned by the Depart.
ment of Energy
However, said Dr Lackiand, the
study was developed because of
growing concerns about cancer
rates for people who either work
at the nuclear plant or reside
within proximity of SRS The
Commissioners go
slow on ethics code
By Eileen Rivers
AUGUSTA POCUS Staf! Writer
AVGUSTA
On Tuesday. Richmond County
commssioners delaved the pas
sage of an ordinance designed to
spel! out what constitutes illegal
activity by county government
workers The proposed ordinance,
which would also set higher eth.
ics standards for pubhic officials,
may violate current ethics codes,
commssioners decided
Commssioners voted unani
mously to send the ethics ordi
nance, presented by Mayor Bob
Young, back to adminmistrative
services for further review, and
possible changes
“We don't know what s 1n this
code.” stated commssioner JB.
Powell who seemed to be ardently
agamnst the ethics proposal. “It
was never presented to admims
trative services and may contain
regulations that are in violation
of the state code of ethics that we
already follow ~
But, according to Young, cur
rent ethics standards aren't
enough. He requested that city
attorney Jim Wall write a new
50 CENTS
Clouds, sun,
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See Page 6B |
U S POSTAGE PaD
O IO AGUS SA G
study was performed between
1991 and 1996
Regarding a digect correlation
with SRS and exprbitant num
bers of cancer cases n the local
region. Dr Lackland said, “We're
able 1o say (cervieal, esophageal’
cancer rates are hagher in this
region Whether it’s because of
SRS, | can't really say,” said Dr
Lackland Leukemin and thyrod
cancer are cancerstypicaliy found
wn paty nts who live in and around
‘:dw rfacihities like SRS he said
In the positive side, the report
conflicts with national and metro
Atlanta studies which conclude
that overall cancer rates are
higher in the local region Accord
ing to Dr Lackland, hus report
clearly shows that cancer occur.
rences i the savannah uver re
gion are lower than expected
In response te why cervical can
cer and esophageal cancer are
culprits for black women and men,
respectively, Dr Lackland said
more women should seek out Pap
smears “No woman should die
from cervical cancer,” he said Poor
diet, smoking and alcohol are com
mon causes for throat-related can
cers in black men, he added
Of 1 5 mulhon people ressding in
the study zone, the report tracked
patients diagnosed with cancer -
automatically placing them on a
registry to monitor their progress
or death rates, smid the physician
who graduated from the Umver
sity of Pittsburgh’s medical school
of public health His speciality 1s
epidemiology or the study of epr
demics No abnormal cancer oc
currences were found in children,
he said
code. after a recent grand jury
probe criticized possible conflicts
of interest by Richmond County
COmMISKIONers
“Apparently what we have 15
not enough.” stated the Mayor
“We need something more com
prehensive that will specifically
detar] how things should be run
in the government ~
Wall based the ordinance on
the statewide ethics code that
has regulated the behavior of
government officials for the past
several months. The proposed
Richmond County ordinance
would prohubit any person in
government service from: accept
ing pfts, from any person, com
pany or lobbyst; it would also
restnict behavior behavior that
could lead to a conflict of interest
or the appearance of a conflict.
The concern for ighter restnc:
tons comes 1n the wake of a two
month investigation by the sum
mer grand jury. That grand
jury’s report, seemed to imply
that Richmond County officials
were guilty of unethical, and il
legal behavior. A newly con
o
See COUNTY ETHICS, page 2A