Newspaper Page Text
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. February 13 - 19,2003
-~ VOL 22 N 0.1097
Sparring
continues
on fire HQ
relocation
By Shun Norris
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
' AUGUSTA
The battle lines are apparently
being drawn between two neigh
borhoods, both sites vying for the
placement of the fire department’s
administrative office building. And
* leading the charge are fire chief Al
Gillespie and city administrator
George Kolb.
The officials are being accused of
covertly pitting the mostly black
Laney-Walker area against the
largely white Highland Avenue
community. Gillespie, Kolb and
recreation and parks director Tom
Beck recently attended a meeting
of the Highland Avenue neighbor
hood association, inciting residents
to attend an upcoming county com
mission meeting to lobby for the
project. That commission meeting
is expected to determine where the
fire department’s administrative
offices will be located.
- The Highland Avenue meeting
was held on Tuesday, February 11.
Only one day after Kolb caught
heat from commissioners for jump
ing on Gillespie’s bandwagon to
move the fire offices directly to
Highland Avenue instead of into
the new Augusta Neighborhood
Improvement Corporation (ANIC)
building being constructed on
Laney-Walker Boulevard.
- According to commissioner Mari
on Williams, whose attendance was
not expected at the Highland
Avenue meeting, shocked faces
greeted him as he entered and it
was obvious an agenda was being
played out.
“They are trying to divide a com
munity, going out there like that,”
said Williams. “They didn’t talk to
me or tell me about it. I was sur
prised to see them there.”
Williams added that Kolb’s
action is obviously a plot to handle
the city’s business in his way, not
the commissioners.
“He is doing things the way he
wants it to be done,” replied
Williams. “And the fire chief should
not be worried about where his
office is going to be. He should be
worried about fires. His job is not
to promote the location or anything
like that. The bottom line is it’s a
black-white thing and they (fire
department officials) don’t want to
go down there (Laney-Walker).”
The ANIC building, with a price
tag of $1.4 million and a total of
17,000 square feet, would house
Housing and Neighborhood Devel
opment (HND) and the fire admin
istrative offices. The decision to
move the fire offices in the building
was to boost economic develop
ment and revitalize a blighted area.
Though the project is slightly
behind schedule, construction
See ANIC, page 3A
Perdue wants 2004 referendum on flag
By Jim Galloway
‘The Atlanta-Journal Constitution
. ATLANTA
. Gov. Sonny Perdue Wednesday
proposed an up-or-down vote on
the current state flag for March
2, 2004, in time for the next Leg
islature to act on the results that
year. .
+ Voters also would be asked to
, math:eoond choice fla—g
§ previous state
with its Confederate battle
_emblem and the flag that flew
. until 1956,
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Thus, if voters reject the 2-
year-old flag now flying over
public buildings, the winner of
the second question con the bal
lot would be offered to the Legis
lature as the choice of Georgia
voters. :
The governor said he wants
the vote — which is non-binding
— to coincide with the state’s
March 2004 presidential pri
mary. The Legislature could
then use the results to help
them decide whether to take up
the flag issue again. A binding
referendum on the flag would
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violate Georgia’s Constitution.
Black leaders have said they
would again call for an economic
boycott of Georgia if the state
returns to a flag dominated by
the Confederate symbol. The
boycott threat was one of the
main reasons many legislators
supported changing the flag in
2001.
As hundreds of protesters
marched around the Capitol
Wednesday, state NAACP presi
dent Walter Butler said, “If they
think we’re playing, they should
try us. They’ll see.” -
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Perdue said Georgia is some
what a divided house over the
flag and that a referendum
would allow the people of Geor
gia to settle the matter once and
for all, He called it “an issue that
should be healed as soon as pos
sible.”
Democrats have repeatedly
said a flag vote would be more
divisive than helpful, -
“We must not jeopardize the
‘progress our state has made in
Jhuman rights,” said House
Speaker Terry Coleman (D-
See FLAG VOTE, page 2A
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S L. | concerts ~18
Cheeks
snared
In crime
scandal
By Theresa Minor
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
As the saying goes, ‘lt’s not what you know, it’s
yho you k_now.’ Forty-two year old Bobby Clark
Brassell Jr., a confessed
child molester and drug
trafficker, knows Sen. Don
Cheeks (R-23). And now
that relationship is being
called into question by
some who charge Cheeks
used the power of his
elected position to try and
influence court officials to
go easy on Brassell.
The Richmond County
Democratic Party is call
ing on the Georgia Ethics
Commission to investigate the issue and
demanding an apology or resignation from
Cheeks. :
Reading from a letter addressed to the embat
tled senator, Lowell Greenbaum, democratic
party chairman, stated to Cheeks that, “You have
not only violated the public trust but you have
opened deep wounds in the family of the victims;
yet you claim you have done no wrong.” Green
baum went on to say that Cheeks is demonstrat
ing “an arrogance of power.”
“This is a scandal. What we are dealing with
here is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
The issue boiled over after Superior Court
Judge Carl Brown reversed a decision requiring
Brassell to be registered as a sexual offender. The
turn about took place after Cheeks called the
judge challenging that aspect of the sentence. At
this point the story becomes murky and changes
depending on who is telling it. : ;
See CHEEKS, page 3A
Hill celebrates
30 years
at helm of
Mzt. Calvary
By Shun Norris '
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
At the mere age of 12, a
young boy by the name of
Clyde Hill moved an
audience with his words.
Now, years later he is cek
ebrating his 30t
anniversary with Mount
Calvary Baptist Church
and he simply feels
“blessed.”
“'m grateful, elated,
humbled, and honored,”
said Rev. Hill. “It’s been
a blessed 30 years.”
Rev. Hill says he knew
early on that God was
calling on him to become
a minister, but instead of listening he tried hard
to lfinpre that feeling until he couldn’t fight it
any longer. s Wl
“The ministry is not something that I picked
See HILL CELEBRATES, page 2A
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
AUGUSTA GA
PERMIT NO 302
Don Cheeks
AUGUSTA
Rev. Clyde Hill