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VOLUME 21 NUMBER 1049 MARCH 7 - 13, 2002 ey o /50 CENTS
,‘ A \ k e GA 30802 /309
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State lawmakers huddle with
citizens over proposed changes
By Shun Nerris
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
‘ AUGUSTA
¢ Citizens of the commu
nity, businessmen, and
political leaders filled the
Municipal Building’s com
mission chamber on Mon
day, March 4, to listen to
state legislators discuss
how proposed legislation
could makechangesin the
city government.
g Thecause of the debate
8 Rep. Sue Burmeister
whose bill proposes a leg
islative and executive
branch to give the mayor
more power. S erven
“When I put it (the bill)
in, I knew it wasn’t going
to be the bill that passed.
Ididn’t expect it to be. It
?.s a starting point to
Eawmakers waiting for ‘other
shoe’ —redistricting— to drop
3 DICK PETTYS
Associated Press Writer
i ATLANTA
~*Forget predatory lend
ing, budget cuts, natural
gasre-regulation and the
other topics that have
seemed to occupy Georgia
lawmakers the last two
months.
=The other shoeis about
tadrop _thereal deal that
many legislators think
this session is all about
anyway: redistricting.
A decision is due soon
from a federal court in
Washington on whether
the Legislature must re
draw any or all of the
state House and Senate
and congressional maps
they designed during a
fiercely partisan special
session last year.
‘lThe issue is of the ut
rr';i)st importance to law
makers because their po
litical careers, and per
ggs even control of the
tatehouse, could hinge
1 g
AUGUSTA
' Inspiteofseveral criti
©al appeals for blood do-
Hations, a large portion
of the CSRA eligible-do-
Tor population has not
‘responded. Since many
‘blood centers across the
intry areexperiencing
itical shortages, the
RA must become self
reliant and createits own
‘blood supply. A critical
blood shortage could
mean the difference be
een life and death for
tients in CSRA hospi
s. This is especially
frue of burn victims or
Serving Metropolitan glAulgus’m, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
. ];?‘ ki 4 " 4 .
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STATE REPRESENTATIVES Ben Allen (L) Sue Burmeister (C) and Don Cheeks
(R) join the debate over proposed changes to city governmant. Photetw Shun
Norris
give us a dialogue, and a
working bill to address
someoftheseissues,” she
said.
And the issues are in
on how the election lines
are drawn.
Right now, Democrats
who control the Capitol
think the maps they
pushed through over Re
publican opposition last
year will help them turn
back GOP gains over the
last decade.
Republicans hopearul
ingagainst the mapscould
force the drawing of new
districts more to their lik
ing.
On the surface, there’s
been little evidence that
redistricting is of such
high concern, although
Republicans have raised
complaintsaboutthe $l.B
million the governor put
in his midyear budget to
pay legal costs of defend
ing the plans in court.
But in fact, redistrict
ingis “the 300-pound go
rilla that sits over
everybody’s head,” said
Sen. Rusty Paul, R-
Alpharetta.
trauma patients. This
critical shortage could af
fectanyoneat anytimeand
we must be prepared for
theunexpected. Blood that
isdonated today cannotbe
used for 48 hours due to
FDAtestingrequirements.
All blood types are needed
immediately.
Anyoneat least 17 years
of age weighs at least 110
pounds, and has not do
nated within the past eight
weeks may be eligible to
donate. Shepeard Commu
nity Blood Centers’ loca
tions and hours of opera
deed being addressed.
There are now two bills
thathavebeen introduced,
threeunofficial proposals,
and one amended bill in
Forrest green
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WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION Vernon Forrest gets support from.q'bair of
military fans on his day, Saturday, March 2. On that day, Augustans
turned out in force to honor their native son who is currently on top of
the fight game. Photo by Jimmy Carter - g
tions are as follows:
-Shepeard Community
Blood Center, 1533
Wrightsboro Rd., Mon
day - Friday, 9 am. - 6
pm;
-Shepeard Community
Blood Center West, 112
Davis Rd., Martinez,
Tuesday - Thursday 10
a.m.- 6:30 p.m, and Fri
day - Saturday 10 a.m. -
3p.m,;
-Shepeard Aiken Com
munity Blood center,
1019PineLogRd., Thurs
day - Friday, 10 am. - 6
p.m. and Saturday, 10
am. - 3 p.m.
the works, All recommend
changes to the structure
of Augusta’s géverriment.
Out of all of the bills
and proposals,
Business conference will focus
on marketing and financing
AUGUSTA
Augusta mayor Bob
Young announced re
cently that the U.S. Con
ference of Mayors Part
ner America Small Busi
ness Conference will be
held on Wednesday,
March 20, 2002, 8 a.m. to
3p.m.attheJulian Smith
Casino in Augusta, Ga.
Thisisthesecond event
of its kind sponsored by
the mayor in an effort to
provide small business
owners with information,
education and network
ing opportunities on how
Burmeister’s brings the
most changes to the gov
ernment and for some,
change isn’t good. Brian
Green of Concerned Citi
zens of Augusta says it
isn’t fair to the citizens
forthedelegation tobring
about such a drastic
change.
“I don’t think things
should change. Are we
going to change the sys
tem every time there is
something that we don’t
agreewith? Thesystemis
finethe wayitis,” hesaid.
Mr. Green’s comment
brought aboutatleast one
agreement from the legis
lation, who all feel that
change is necessary.
“Everybody that is
See LEGISLATIVE, 3A
to do business with local,
state, federal and private
industry. This year’s
theme is “Smart Market
ing/Smart Financing.”
“We're proud to bring
this kind of information
to our business commu
nity. We recognize that
small businessistheback
bone of our economy and
we're committed to doall
we can to help provide
them with the tools tosuc
ceed,” says mayor Young.
Lou Mosca, senior vice
president of American
Management Services
A first! Miss D.C. lands Miss USA Title
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Newlycrowned Miss USA 2002 Shauntay Hinton
of the Disttict of Columbia waves to the audi
ence, Friday,March 1,2002, in Gary, Ind. Hinton
became the first winner from the District of
Columbia in 38 years. AP Photo/Stephen J. Carrera
NAACP starts S.Carolina
welcome center protests
State tourism official cites
“well organized” effort
By Kimberly M. Bush
‘ Special to AUGUSTA FOCUS
AUGUSTA
You may run into pro
testersifyou are planning
to catch some zzz’s at one
of South Carolina’s rest
stops. That’s because the
National Association for
the Advancement of Col
ored People (NAACP) has
started border patrol pro
tests to encourage travel
ers not to spend money in
South Carolina. It’s all a
part of the groups ongoing
economic boycott of the
stateoveritsdisplay of the
Confederate flag on state
house grounds.
South Carolina’s attor
ney general Charlie
Condon has threatened to
suethegroupifthepatrols
go forward saying law en-
(AMA), Inc., a partner of
the U.S. Conference of
Mayors, will discuss stra
tegic management and
profitability programs for
small and mid-sized busi
nesses. AMA has helped
over 5,000 small busi
nessesinthe easternpart
of the U.S.
Keynotespeaker for the
day is Shankar Balan,
president and CEO of
E2procure Solutions
Group, a web-based pro
curement center for the
education marketplace
and chairman of Palmetto
forcement officers will be
out in full force when the
protest begins.
He says the rest stop
protests violate a state
Supreme Court rulingthat
determined such activity
isillegal when the object is
to damage businesses.
Despite Condon’s
claims, the NAACP started
their protests last week
end stopping travelers at
thestate’s visitorcenterto.
remind them of the flag
controversyand todiscour
age them from spending
money in South Carolina.
" Rev. David Walker, presi
dent of the Aiken Branch
of the NAACP, says it’s
something that had to be
done and they’re in it for
the long haul.
See NAACP, page 3A
Industries International,
Inc., a manufacturer and
distributor of Flexible In
termediate Bulk Con
tainer with offices in Au
gusta, Ga., Puebla,
Mexico and Chennai, In
dia. : :
The Small Business
Conference will also in
cludeaninteractive panel
discussion to talk about
marketing and financing
for small business. That
amolwillinclude Russell
riffin, CEO of Griffin
See BUSINESS, page 3A