Newspaper Page Text
N R L
R - fi i
&
"‘? & i o
B Nk Vs
e
VIR {3
Sk i Y
QOO AT S,
See ARTbheatv
Section C
Yy . ¥
5" : .
| t &g: % i
. 1 o :
: 3 R " A ” h“éfii ; F \
A member of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Kian corries an Americon fiog during rally in Nelson
Park in Decatur, lil., on Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999. The rally, which attracted about 200 people and about
15 robed klansmen, was held as counter demonstration to Rev. Jesse Jackson’s march in support of
seven expelied high school students. About 2,000 people participated in Rev. Jackson’s march. (AP Photo
Herald & Review Kelly J Huft
Jackson arrested
in Decatur protest
DECATUR, HL
(AP) The Rev. Jesse Jackson was led away
in handcuffs by police Tuesday after he, par
ents and ministers tried to force a confronta
tion over the treatment of six students ex
pelled for a brawl
Jackson and his followers fought their way
through a mob of reporters and cameramen to
the edge of the grounds of Eisenhower High
School. There an officer cuffed the hands of an
unresisting Jackson behind his back. Several
officers lead him away, while another video
taped the arrest
“We want the vouth to stand still knowing
that their parents and their ministers would
cross the line for them,” Jackson said shortly
before his arrest. At least four others were
arrested with him
Jackson and representatives from the Rain
bow/PUSH Coalition had met with school
See STUDENTS , page 2A
NAACP rejects Hodges’
King-Holiday “compromise”
By Eileen Rivers
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTE
South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges offered what
many African-American political and social officials are
referring to as an “insulting, irrelevant, and weak” at
tempt at compromise, in the face of rising statewide
' for the NAACP's call for economic sanctions
mSouth Carolina. Leaders believe sanctions will
eventually force legislators to lower the confederate flag,
asymbol long connected with racism, flying over the State
House dome.
! According to South Carolina National Association for
the Advancement of Colored Persons chairman, James
The (SRA Business League welcomes ot
Essence Magazine editor Susan Tavlor *
See Page 6 for details
' OVER ACHIEVER |-
Freddie Stallings brings Junior Achievement
earichment program (o the inner ity
. Clouds, sun
ERAT T AN "R * mid 60s
. }P_di ¥' " Bs i i See Page 6B
ServinglMetropulc o Auuu, South Caroling and the Central Sovonnah River Area
9 - . - )
'O” & 4
i B SN
" T
E
‘.&»o v -y ¥
\ ? . :; (' ;‘;, : ‘
The Rev. Cleo Willis of Saint Lovis drops to the pavement in
front of the Decatur police van corrying the Rev. Jesse
Jackson Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1999 at Eisenhower High Schoo!
in Decatur, 111. Willis was arrested on aggravated battery and
felony mob action. (AP ProtoDecatur Herald & Review Kelly Hulf)
Gallman, Governor Hodges has further “turned his back
on his black supporters” by issuing a statement in front of
the Columbia Urban League, on Thursday November 11,
proposing that the NAACP “suspend its boycott,” in ex
change for the immediate adoption of “a permanent state
holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday.”
South Carolina is the only state that does not recognize
the birthday of the slain civil rights leader.
“We are overwhelmingly insulted that he would attach
Martin Luther King's birthday to the flag coming down,”
commented Gallman. “They are totally separate issues,
and the holiday should be instated with no strings at
tached. Black folks that are supportive of him don't have
his ear.”
See FLAG FIGHT, page 2A
3L R IR ]
Commissioner Handy says ~
% ®
Young is behind
g 3
grand jury’s
s
ethics probe
@Mayor accused of using
public policy to make Handy
leok bad while supporting his
opponent in the November 23
runoff election.
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staflf Wniter
AUGUSTA
With just a few days before a special elec
tion that could determine his political future,
Commuissioner Freddie Lee Handy has fired a
few broadsides in the direction of Mayor Bob
Young.
In addition to accusing the mayvor of insti
gating the grand jury probes into the opera
tion of city government, the District Two
commussioner chided the mayor for attempt
ing to sabotage his chances of being returned
to office. Handy faces challenger Marion
Wilhams in Tuesday's(Nov. 23) special runoff
election. [See “Handy has cash edge,” page
3AI.
“He (mavor Young) wants me defeated He
wants a puppet, and I'm not that,” saiud Handy,
who was additionally perturbed because he
objects to his district being left out of the $1
million neighborhood development contract
approved this week by the county commis
sion.
Laney parents demand
action from Bd. of Ed.
By Eileen Rivers
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Parents of Lucy Laney High school students
rallied to get nd of negative, unqualified teach
ers, and called for school board administrators
to find solutions to Laney's low academic stand
ing, as they fielded questions to school board
members, during the American Education
Week forum pekl at the high school on Tues
day, November 16.
Overall the forum seemed to be a success, but
some parents left the meeting unsatisfied with
the school board's answers, as they referred to
data released in the annual “Report Cards for
Parents,” published by the Georgia Public Policy
Foundation (GPPF).
The “report cards” detailed the performance
of students in elementary schools, middle
the 1998-1999 school year, and ranked Laney
315 out of the 319 high schools in the state.
“You're telling me that our school is provided
with the same equipment that other schools in
the county have,” commented one parent. “Then
why is there such a marginal difference be-
The Community Development Block Grant
funding will be dispersed to the Augusta
Neighborhood Improvement Corp (A-NIC)
to help renovate dilapidated houses 1n a con
tained area of neighberhoods surrounded tn
Laney-Walker Blvd, Walton Way, Seventh
Street and 12" Street.
Handy questioned why the selected bound
aries do not fully include District 2 residential
zones
“Why stop at Lanev-Walker and 12" Street”?
The money 15 there from the state and the®
banks,” said the commissioner Handy said
the plan to renovate houses in what's called
the Lanev-Walker Historic Distnict should
have extended to Wrightsboro Road and con
tinued bevond 12" Street — including streets
hke Augusta Avenue which also include pock
ets of houses lin need of repair
Handy 1s convinced the mavor has used his
influence to exclude parts of his district
“There’s lots of controversy about the inner
cty (District 2) needing to be cleaned up
You're just one street over why were we
not included” Handy asked
“This was designed to make District 2 con
tinue to look bad They knew an election
campaign was upcoming and | think the mavor
did this intentionally,” Handy said
Handy also claims the mayor ils behind
grand jury probes and ethics reports that
have dogged the commissioners in recent
See HANDY, poge 2A
tween the way our students are performing
and the way students in other schools in the
county are performing”™
Another parent commented “Whenever these
reports come out there's always one school
that's the worst and it's measured by the better
school Maybe if you the board] treated Laney
the way you treat Davidson [the number one
ranked school in the state] we would have two
similar schools as far as academics " He ended
by asking: “What do you intend to do to bring
Laney, since it's at the bottom, on line with
Davidson™
It's not only impossible, but unfair to com
pare a magnet school like Davidson Fine Arts
High School, to any comprehensive school in
the county, answered Dr. Charles Larke, su
perintendent of Richmond County schools.
he continued. “They take only the best stu
dents in the whole county, then kick students
out if they don't cut it, and send them back t
one of the other nine schools.”
But board members assured parents that
See LANEY, page 3A
50 CENTS
