Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 21 NUMBER 1033
WEARE WACHNG
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Serving Metropolitan glAulgusm, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
Voters retum Beard, Mays,
Shepard; J. Brigham hounced,
Hankerson in Dist. 5 runoff
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
Nearly 24 hours after receiv
ing the verdict from the voters,
District 7 commissioner Jerry
Brigham sat in his chair in the
Commission chamber still try
ing to digest the news of his 2-
to-1 defeat at the polls by chal
lenger Tommy Boyles. Hisquiet
commentswere punctuated with
lengthy pauses.
“Basically my plan now is
wide open. Anything can hap
pen. As for what happened (last
night) — I’m not sure exactly
what happened,” he said. “I'm
trying to assess the situation.
... Yeah, I thought I'd do a lot
better than that. ... I thought
I'd have done a lot better than
what I did.”
Asked ifhethought he might
run again sometime, Brigham
said, “Maybe. You don’t ever
say never, because you never
know.”
Ifhe does climb back into the
ring, though, it won’t be any
time soon, he said.
Boyles won with 2,493 votes
to Brigham’s 1,153.
As for the other Brigham,
District s’s “Mr. Henry,” as
county clerk Lena Bonner calls
him, theelection isn’t over. His
The Ninth Street Parking Deck:
Beauty or Beast?
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff
Writer
AUGUSTA
For the quarter of a cen
tury that the Parking Deck
has been looming darkly on
9th Street, it has gone virtu
ally unused. The Richmond
County Board of Education
aims to change that.
On Wednesday, Nov. 7, the
Augusta-Richmond County
Commission voted to allow
the school board to lease the
structure through the Down
town Development Corpora
tion, which acts as the
county’s managing agent fo#®
the deck. In lieu of paying
monthly rental fees for its
use, the board will provide
maintenance.
Structurally speaking,
says Board of Education
spokesman Justin Martin,
the deck is sound. It just
needs a little TLC.
Consulting and engineer
ing firm Johnson, Laschober
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AUGUSTA
752 votestothe Reverend Bobby
G. Hankerson’s 599 was not
enough of a lead to avoid a
runoff.
At least two of his other four
opponents have expressed their
support for Hankerson.
Charles Evans, who received
242 votes, is adamant about
wanting some new blood in the
county seat. “I’'m not going to
support Henry Brigham be
cause he hasn’t done anything
for this community. He hasn’t
done a thing for this side of
town. I'm goingtotellmy people
to support Bobby Hankerson,
simplybecause Brigham hasn’t
made a difference in the com
munity.”
Jimmie Lee Sullivan Sr., who
received only 29 votes, said,
“The only way for Augusta to
get back on its feet, for the
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This parking deck at 9th and Greene is set for renovations. Photo by Jimmy Carter
& Associates are working out
just how much TLC the park
ing deck needs. Consulting
engiheer Joe Johnson ex
plained some ofthe problemsit
NOVEMBER 8 - 14, 2001
AFGHANISTANUPDATE ==
. African nations
el gl allles i
anti-terror campaign
See Page 2A
District 5
candidates
incumbent
Henry
Brigham
(left) and
Rev. Bobby
Hankerson
will meetin
a runoff.
nation to get back on its feet, is
to have men of God in promi
nent and influential positions
to vote on things that are right
for the community. Not just
votingbecause of popularity or
majority. Augusta needs more
men of God on the commis
sion,” Sullivan said. “I’m not
saying that Henry Brigham
isn’t aman of God. I just know
that Bobby Hankerson is.”
Steve Shepard, whodefended
his District seat against Ben
Belcher 2,205 to 586, is glad for
thevoteofconfidence. “I'mgrati
fied that the people of the 3rd
District would send meback for
a second term.” He intends to
continue supporting projectshe
feels will increase efficiency in
Augusta — like extra switches
on railroad tracks to speed up
train traffic through town, the
courting of Amtrak and reno-
is having, which basically boil
down to age and security, he
said.
The structural joints need
to be maintained, Johnson
vations to Augusta Regional
Airport.
Lee Beard defended his Dis
trict 1 position with a tally of
1,713 to George Sanken’s 914.
“It’s just a little, small vic
tory,” Beard said, and then
talked of the trials of the cam
paign trail. “Campaigning is
always kind of rough because it
consumes a lot of your time,
and I was dealing with kind of
an unknown. I think I worked
harder this time than I've
worked in any other campaign,
and I've had four so far.”
He said the most important
thing a candidate can do is
simply to get out and talk to
people. .
Marshall Steve Smith won
nearly 60 percent of the vote
with 10,803 to the 4,608 votes
generated by his closest com
petitor, Moses McCauley.
Though none of the school
board trustees’ heads were on
the chopping block this go
round, they were holding their
breaths on election night, wait
ingto hear the status of arefer
endum designed to ask taxpay
ers for a penny tax to continue
school construction and im
provements. The yeas won it
with a vote of 13,520, against
3,868 nos.
said, because of the wear that
accompanies the expanding
and contractingthat the park-
See PARKING DECK, 3A
SISTER MAYOR
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Atlanta Mayor elect Shirley Franklin (right) greets can
didate Robb Pitts (left), while candidate Gloria Brombell-
Tinubu looks on Sunday, Nov. 4. Franklin will become
Atlanta’s firstwoman mayor. She avoided a runoff with
Pitts by less than 200 votes. AP Photo/Atlanta Joumal Constitution, Jean
Shifnn
New mayor faces big job
By D.L. Bennett
ATLANTA JOURNAL
CONSTITUTION Staff Writer
ATLANTA
Atlanta’s soon-to-be first
woman mayor celebrated vic
tory on Wednesday, but
tough times and hard deci
sionsawait Shirley Franklin.
The first order of business
for Atlanta’s next mayor is
simply getting some sleep.
Franklin has been buzzing
around the city without rest
since Sunday — a 56-year
old dynamo powered by pre
election anxiety.
Franklin had to wait until
6 a.m. Wednesday to be cer
tain she had avoided arunoff
— by less than 200 votes. So
she just kept going through
another sleepless day.
The magnitude of her
achievement —coming from
Link Deposit program seeks
to boost local businesses
By Kimberly Bush
Special to AUGUSTA FOCUS
AUGUSTA
Nearly every business in
Augusta has felt the shake in
our nation’s economy since
the September 11th attacks,
especially the smallbusinesses
whohavebeen stretchingwhat
little funds they have all the
whilejust to make ends meet.
Now the city of Augusta
wants to lend a hand out to
helpthesecompaniessucceed.
Its mission is not just to help
get these area businesses off
the ground, but to make sure
once they’re off the ground
that they are running rock
solid.
“Thisisthe year we need to
be serious about the growing
of our economy. People should
look at this program as a
opportunity to help theirbusi
nesses grow. Augustans
spend about a million dollars
a day. We just need to get
some of that money trickling
down through the small busi
nesses in our area,” Mayor
Bob Young said.
So how does thecity plan to
do this?
Well for starters, the city of
Augusta has deposited $4.4
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PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE PAID
AUGUSTA GA
PERMIT NO 302
virtual unknown to winning
outright on Tuesday — is just
starting to sink in. Second
place finisher Robb Pitts said
he would not challenge the
vote tally after it is certified
today.
“It is an awesome responsi
bility,” Franklin said. “The
voters of Atlanta have en
trusted me with their hopes
and their dreams and their
frustrations.”
Franklin won the mayor’s
election with 50.24 percent of
the votes cast. Pitts was a
distant second at 33 percent.
Third-place finisher Gloria
Bromell-Tinubu took 16 per+
cent.
Franklin’s supporters are
already calling the city’s first
female chief executive Sister
Mayor, Madame Mayor and
Mayor S.
million into two banks,
SunTrustand First Bank. These
accounts havebeenset uptoaid
small businesses in Richmond
County in a program called
“Link Deposit.”
What is Link Deposit? Link
Deposit is a financial outlet
designed to improve banking
opportunities to small and mi
nority businesses in Richmond
County.
The city of Augusta is spon
soring this program as a way of
increasing business in the Au
gusta area. o
To get started, Geri Sams,
purchasingdirector for thecity
of Augusta, says all you need to
do is to first fill out a contract
with the city.
“As long as you have a con
tract you canbeeligible for this
program. Wealso want to make
sureweget youregistered asan
equal business opportunity firni.
because as an EBO, you will in
turn have a better opportunity
of getting a loan,” she said. .
Qualifying for a loan can bé
thebiggest obstacleforany small
businesssincemany companies
have a credit history that falls
short of being perfect. In fact
business owners in many cases
See LINK DEPOSIT, 2A