Newspaper Page Text
- VOLUME 19 NUMBER 956
‘. N N " Government, King family haggle
e | over $22 million price tag ~st 14
Congress
balks on
price of
MLK Jr.
archives
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
The proposed S2O million con
gressional purchase of Martin
Luther King’s late archives is ei
ther a bargain or a rip-off, de
pending on which expert you ask.
And Congress asked both. |
So now the sale has screeched
to a halt 25 lawmakers decipher
opposite conclusions reached by
King’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bi
ographer and a 30-year appraiser
of historical documents.
David Garrow, an Emory Uni
versity professor who wrote the
biography of the slain civil rights
leader, told congressional Repub
licans the collection has little re
search value — let alone enough
to justify making it the most ex
pensive purchase ever for the Li
brary of Congress.
“It makes perfect sense for the
Kings to want to get out of the
historical archives business, but
the King Papers are not worth
S2O million,” Garrow said. “I think
the Library of Congress is start
ing to realize that.” -
Iflibrary officials have new con
cerns, they’re not expressingthem
publicly. But earlier this month,
the library dispatched a group to
Atlantatore-examinethe papers.
While King’s early papers and
artifacts are at Boston Univer
sity, most of the post-1960 docu
ments are housed at Atlanta’s
See MLK ARCHIVES, page 2A
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Aykayla Walker, 15, graduates from the Saturday Learning program last weekend (May 20).
She is among scores of local students who are preparing for careers in the medical field.
Aykayla is in her first year of the program for advanced students. Photo by Eileen Rivers
Serving Metropolitan g Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
Lewis trial underwa
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Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Lewis, center, is framed
by defense attorneys as he watches proceed
ings during his murder trial Tuesday, kay 23,
2000, in Fulton County Superior Court in At
lanta, Ga. Lewis is a defendant along with two
A-NIC names executive director
mßobert Cooks of
Atlanta considered
“perfect” for the job
of administering initial
$lO million of A-NIC
community
development funds.
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
The stoic setting of a corporate
board room had no effect on little
Dallas Cooks’ ability tojump into
her father’s arms and offer what
became a big, congratulatory hug.
Fittingly, it wasifthe 18-month
old girl realized that her dad,
MAY 25 - 31, 2000
other men in the stabbing deaths of Jacinth
Baker and Richard Lollar in a post-Super Bowl
street brawl in the Buckhead nightclub district
of Atlanta in January. Story on page 3A
(AP Photo/Kimberly Smith, Pool) M
” ’; 2
S <
o,y
‘%.’
/
Robert Cooks
is to be the
executive
director of
A-NIC by mid
July.
Photo by Tim Cox
Robert Cooks, had just been
named executive director of the
Augusta Neighborhood Improve
ment Corp. (A-NIC), effective
mid-July. In his fiduciary role,
Mr. Cooks will serve as adminis
trator over S3O million of state
funding with $lO million ear
marked to improve Augusta’s in
ner city, along with other projects
including tourism and the devel
opment of a biomedical research
facility. The announcement was
made at A-NlC’s monthly meet
ing, May 22.
Accompanied by wife Sara and
their infant daughter, Mr. Cooks
received raves from A-NIC board
members. Chairman Bernie
Silverstein welcomed the new ex
ecutive director and told his co
horts the best man was selected
for the position. Member Julian
Osbon said he was “very im
pressed” with Mr. Cooks’ back
ground and experience. Sen.
Charles W. Walker, also a board
member, called Mr. Cooks a “very
capable young man.” In a refer
ence letter, Michael H. Dulan,
president of Bank of America
Georgia, described Mr. Cooks as
“quite knowledgeable.”
See A-NIC, page 3A
Public academy
nurtures leaders
BLeadership institute
housed at Laney High
prepares students for
medical schools; fund
ing sources may be
threatened.
By Eileen Rivers ‘
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
: AUGUSTA
A program that started in ’96
with a handful ofteachers and only
32students, graduated 100 on Sat
urday, May 20, at Lucy Craft Laney
High School — all from inner city
schools, all with grade point aver
ages in the upper percentile.
“This program proves that if you
have high expectations of students
they will meet and often exceed
them,” Wilma Sykes-Brown, coor
dinator of the Saturday Learning
Academy, said. “We try to tell
students that they can be more
than they think, ifthey expect alot
Is Young still -
Independent?
Despite being named
a delegate to the
Republican National
Convention, Augusta
Mayor Bob Young
declares his
independence.
Is anyone buying it?
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
The City of Augusta Mayor’s
position is noppartisan. Not
Democratic. Not Republican. Re
cently, Augusta Mayor Bob Young
announced he’ll become a delegate
at the Republican National Con
vention in Philadelphia this sum
mer.
Does the mayor feel his newly
announced GOP standing and
interest to help elect Texas Gov.
George W. Bush as president will
cause ill feelings among local
Democrats who helped him get
elected to the city’s top slot?
“I don’t think so,” responded
the mayor who took over office in
January 1999. “Yes, this is a non
partisan office but ourissues cross
party lines and boundaries.” For
example, he said the ongoing is
sue of water shortages in south
Augusta and other parts of the
county is not a partisan concern.
“It doesn’t matter if you're Demo
cratic or Republican — you’re
worried about your water,” he
said.
“I'll continue to run the city as
One Augusta — it’s not an issue
of party,” he said. The mayor was
comfortable making those state
ments even though the majority
of Richmond County’s African-
American registered voters typi
cally vote Democrat, according to
from themselves.”
TyjaunMarcquell Williams, 17,
is a prime example of high expec
tations at work. Next month he
will graduate from Laney High
School with a 4.0 grade point
average, attend Paine Collegein
thefall, and alreadyhashis sights
set on enrolling in the Medical
College of Georgia’s dental
school, four years later.
“This program helped me a lot
because it’s taught me critical
thinking, and helped meimprove
my math skills,” Williams said.
“I'm more communicative now
than I used to be. I'm able to
speak very wellin front of agroup
of people, and I feel more confi
dent to go into' a job interview
than I did before.”
The program also persuaded
him to pick dentistry as a career
field, something he was on the
fence about before, Williams said.
“I was thinking about major-
See ACADEMY, page 3A
50 CENTS
BULK RATE
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
NO. 302 AUGUSTA, GA
% A
Augusta Mayor Bob Young
declares he is “an indepen
dent voter.” Mr. Young was
recently named a delegate to
the Republican National
Convention.
the Richmond County Board of
Elections. Mayor Young defeated
former Augusta Mayor Ed
Mclntyre, an African American,
in November 1998. Even though
the contest was split along racial
lines, the mayor said subse
quently, he has committed him
selfto his constituency —regard
less of ethnicity.
“Ihaven’t been amayor for white
people or black people. I don’t
think people vote for party, they
vote for the issues,” he said from
See REPUBLICAN, page 3A
IN CHARLESTON
deadly force -
CHARLESTON, S.C.
Blackleadersin Charleston are
askingactivist Jesse Jackson and
the U.S. Justice Department jo
review the state investigation
into a fatal police shooting heré
last week.
“They always have an alibi,”
said James Johnson, who is the
leader of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference chapber
in the Charleston area. o™
Kenneth Coaxum Jr., 20, wes
shot by Charleston County n%
cotics agents during a drug sting
last week. Authorities sdid
Coaxum knocked one officer to
theground and ran over anothér’s
foot before the first shot wasfiréd.
Both officers have recovered.: -
Police said Coaxum’s Toyata
hit two police cars. Sheriff’s
spokesman Mitch Lucashassaid -
police have a videotape of the
See BLACK LEADERS, page 2A