Newspaper Page Text
4A
FEBRUARY 28, 2002
Go, Bobby, go!
Amazing what just one
man with some leadership
skills can do for our county
government, isn’t it? For
months, Mayor Young and
a few others have said our
government structure is
broken. The proof, people
like Bob have said, lies in
our supposed inability to
hire a fire chief.
But then Bobby
Hankerson comes along,
miraculously fixing our
county government with
something our current
mayor lacks: leadership
A day late and
a dollar short ...
For months now, local
and state political leaders
have been looking at ways
to fine tune (right) or over
haul (wrong) our local
county government. From
the start, Senate Majority
Leader Charles Walker
took control of the situa
tion. He jumped into the
fray, analyzed the problem,
and came up with a solu
tion, a few simple modifi
cations, to cure what ails
our local government sys
tem.
Then, with just about ev
erything worked out .and.
consensus reached, Don
Cheeks (posing as an ob
structionist perhaps?)
Jjumps up and suddenly has
his own solution to our so
called government woes.
It’s a day late and a dol
lar short, Don.
There are many reasons
why Cheeks’ plan won’t
work.
First, at large voting for
all our county commis
sioners would not be fair
representation of our
county residents. Perhaps
more important, the U.S.
Justice Department would
NEVER sign off on such a
notion.
Six years ago, the people
spoke and political leaders
listened and came up with
a government based on
leadership, vision and de
termination. Cheeks’ pro
posal would destroy that
plan by taking the power
away from the full com
mission (and the people
who elected them) and in
stead put it in the hands of
a simple majority. That
would mean as few as four
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skills.
Within a few short
weeks, Hankerson was
able to gain consensus
on the commission, col
lect enough votes and
hire a chief.
And to think he’s only
been on the commission
for a month.
Only time will tell what
other good things will
happen now that we have
a true leader in the com
mission.
Keep up the good work,
Bobby!
commissioners could
control our government.
Bad idea, Don.
Making things worse,
Cheeks’ plan would put
the government issue on
a referendum ballot in
November, making Au
gusta unnecessarily con
tinue its stagnant pace
throughout the summer
and into the fall.
Worse idea, Don.
The best way to fine
tune the local govern
ment structure is to give
the mayor veto power
with a seven-vote over
ride by the commission,
give the mayor the power
to appoint the city ad
ministrator, maintain
the commission’s au
thority to fire the city
administrator, and main
tain the current six vote
minimum for the com
mission to pass a motion.
The city administrator
should also have the
power to hire and fire
with the exception of the
city attorney, clerk of
commission, equal op
portunity officer and in
ternal auditor and lastly,
prohibit commissioners
from abstaining.
The people of Augusta
have spoken, as have
their political leaders,
and everyone agrees our
government is not bro
ken. It works as well as
the people elected to run
it can make it work.
That, not a last ditch
obstructionist effort to
delay the process until
November, is what Au
gustaneedsand deserves.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
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WITNESS FOR JUSTICE By Bernice Powell Jackson ‘
Voter injustice and campaign finance reform
uring this Black His
tory Month, I’ve been
focusing on the impor
tance of all Americans
knowing African-American
history. Here’s another rea
son why.
Most Americans, no matter
theirrace, have never heard of
George Henry White. Al
though he was one of the most
nationally visible Afritan-
American political leaders at
the end of the 19th century,
George Henry White is one of
the least remembered a cen
turylater. Bornin 1852, White
graduated from Harvard Uni
versity and become a teacher,
principal and lawyer in east
ern North Carolina. In the
monthsimmediately following
the Civil War, African Ameri
cans in North Carolina began
to organize themselves to call
upon the upcoming state Con
stitutional Convention to end
racial discrimination. The
state legislature passed a new
“Black Code” that give the
former slaves the same rights
that free people of color had
(notice not the same rights as
whites) and in 1867 the U.S.
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price ;
Teaching the pursuit of excellence
‘ ‘ 0 one ever goes
back 10 years
N later to thank a
middlemanager,”
goes the pitch in stark white
letters against a black back
ground ofan adon New York'’s
buses and subways. They're
followed by words that are
both a plea and a command:
“Become a New York City
Public School Teacher.”
More people are apparently
getting the message, accord
ing to a story in the New York
Times. The New York City
schools have seen the number
of pepple from other careers
applying to be teachers qua
druple in a year — from 1,250
at this time last year to more
than 5,000 now.
And Gotham isn’t unique.
School systems across the
country are experiencing the
same phenomenon, and
schools of education and spe
cial non-profit programs, such
as Teach for America and the
New Teacher Project, that
train peopleseekingtomakea
mid-career switch to public
school teaching also report
substantial increasesin appli
cations and interest.
Some part of this great surge
was probably already in the
pipeline, so to speak - a conse
Congress extended the fran
chise to all men regardless of
race or whether they owned
property.
Around that same time, A
Republican party was founded
in North Carolina and most
African Americans joined.
George Henry White was one
ofthem. He was elected to the
N.C. House in 1880 and the
N.C. Senate in 1884. In 1896,
he was elected to the U.S.
House of Representatives and
wasthelast Atrican American
to serve in the Congress dur
ing the post-Reconstruction
period. It was 30 years before
another African American
from the South would servein
Congress.
Fast forward 100 years from
thetimeof George Henry White.
In the post-2000 Census North
Carolina state redistricting,
there is the potential of losing
seven of the 15 seats held by
African Americans I the state
legislature and possibly one of
the two Congressional seats.
Moreover, in the presiden
tial election of 2000, African
American voters in Florida
were nearly 10 times as likely
quence of the intensive public
discussion of the schools’ prob
lems during the last decade
and more intensive efforts to
recruit more people to teach
ing. .
But there’s widespread
agreement that the major
forces behind these noticeable
spikes are the economic reces
sion and the September 11 at
tacks.
The recession has thrown
out of work workers in not
only low wage service-sector
jobsand theirblue collar skilled
and semi-skilled counterparts,
but hundreds of thousands of
white collar workers as well.
According to school officials
and education school admis
sions officers, the new cadre of
prospective teachers include
more people than usual with
significant administrative ex
perience, and alsoincludemore
with strong mathematics and
science backgrounds.
There’slittle doubt, too, that
theterribledestruction of Sep
tember 11 —the takinginone
blow of so many lives of people
who seemed worth knowing —
has led many Americans to
question just what are they
themselves working for and
what are they living for.
Some educators justifiably
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tohavetheir ballots discarded.
In addition to the well known
voting machine problems
which occurred not only in
Florida, 47 percent of disabled
voters across the nation en
countered physical barriersin
voting. Thousands of voters
were not allowed to vote even
with provisional ballots. Many
first time voters were turned
away from'the polls bécause
theirregistration had beenlost
or not transmitted to the ap
propriate precinct.
As Congress has sought to
fixthe election problems, they
have so far continued the phi
losophy of allowing standards
for voting to be left up to state
and local election officials. As
a result, the House bill on
election reform has focused
primarily on voting machines.
TheSenate, however, is tak
ingamore proactiveapproach.
Senators Dodd (D-Conn.),
Bond (R-Mo.), Schumer (D-
N.Y.), McConnell (R-Ky.),
Torricelli (D-N.J.), McCain (R-
Ariz.) and Durbin (D-I11.) have
crafted acompromise, biparti
san bill that includes several
anti-fraud provisions. This
worry that many of the pro
spective teachers are driven
more by the realities of the job
market and see teaching as a
temporary haven, or will find
their altruism no match for
therealitiesof teachingday in
and day out.
Sandra Feldman, president
ofthe American Federation of
Teachers, cautioned that “it’s
very hard to hold onto people
who come in mainly out of
altruism orthesensethat there
is nothing else out there for
them at the moment.”
Nodoubt there will be some
falloff, but I'm cheered by the
story of one educator I know,
Ron Ross, the brilliant, dedi
cated superintendent of the
Mount Vernon public schools
in suburban New York.
Ross told a workshop at the
Urban League’s annual con
ference last August that he
initially went into teaching in
order to make enough money
tocompletehis law school stud
ies. “lintended togoback and
finish law school,” he said,
“but now I'm in my 33rd year
of teaching, and if they made
me dean of Harvard's law
school, I would not go back.
This is a calling.”
I've no doubt that there are
some significant number of
bill also provides that all vot
ers must be given provisional
ballots and begins to address
theinequities of the disenfran
chisement of former felons.
Meanwhile, with the dust
barely settling with the Enron
case, Congressis lurching for
ward with campaign finance
reform legislation, the Shays-
Meehanbill. Like votingrights
reform, campaign finance re
form is crucial to re-franchis
ing the American voter. Yet,
the political parties and many
members of Congress and the
administration seem to be do
ing everything in their power
tosabotage thisimportant leg
islation. Watch closely to see
if the Shays-Meehan bill gets
lost in parliamentary proce
dures or is so watered down
that it becomes meaningless.
Ayearagoorsotherewasin
incorrect story going around
the Internet that the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 was set to
expire in 2007. That is not
true. But if meaningful
changesin election reform and
campaign finance reform are
See VOTER INJUSTICE, 5A
people in this new crop of pro
spective teachers tojoin those
like Ron Ross already in the
profession - people who are
committed to excellence and
committed to helping young
people learn how to pursue
excellencein theclassroomand
in their broader lives.
We know far too well that
things are difficult in many
public schools, particularly
those in poor neighborhoods
ininnercities, in suburbiaand
in rural areas. But the situa
tion is far from hopeless.
Not when we have such ex
amples of the stunning turn
around in reading scores the
Mount Vernon schools have
shown in the space of three
Yyears. \
Not when a massive study
released last month by the
Education Trust, a Washing
ton-based research organiza
tion, found nearly 4,600 public
elementary schools that en
rolled mostly black and His
panic pupils, or mostly poor
pupils, or both - and scored
among the top third of the
schools, in their statesin read
ing and mathematics.
What is necessary, on the
part of teachers and school
See TEACHING, 5A