Newspaper Page Text
April 24-30, 2003
V0L.22 No. 1107
FIFTY CENTS
Fort Stewart |
soldier, media
members probed
over Iraq art,
other war loot
By Jingle Davis
Atlanta-Journal Constitution Staff
Writer
: ATLANTA
A soldier from Fort Stewart
Army post in south Georgia and
others, including media repre
sentatives, are being investigated
in apparent efforts to smuggle
items looted from Iraq into the
United States, according to the
Bureau of Immigration and Cus
toms Enforcement (ICE), the
investigative arm of the Depart
ment of Homeland Security.
Among items seized was a
cache of gold-plated weapons the
soldier, who has not been identi
fied, mailed from Kuwait to
someone in the Fort Stewart
area, according to Kevin Bell,
spokesman for the bureau.
Bell said Customs was tipped
off by its counterpart agency in
Great Britain and followed the
package to its South Georgia des
tination. Bell said no arrests in
that case have been made but the
investigation has been turned
over to the Army’s Criminal
Investigation Division. He
declined to name the soldier or
the package recipient.
Customs officials in Atlanta
displayed some of the weapons
seized at their offices near Harts
field International Airport
Wednesday. There were two
handguns, a high-powered sniper
rifle, an AK-47 and a curved
knife with a scabbard, all packed
in custom cases. All but one of
the weapons, a pistol featuring
Arabic writing indicating it was a
gift from a leader in Yemen, bore
ornate gold plating. Instruments
used for cleaning the weapons
were also ornamented ‘with gold:
The weapons were looted from
an Iraqi government facility by a
member of the U.S. military,
according to Michael J. Garcia,
acting assistant secretary of ICE.
The sprawling Army post in
Hinesville has sent 15,000 troops
with the 3rd Infantry Division
(mechanized) to the middle east.
Division soldiers led the ground
invasion of several Iraqi cities,
including Baghdad. Most of the
troops are still in Iraq.
So far, the only person to be
charged in any of several inci
dents is Benjamin J. Johnson, 27,
of Virginia, a technician with Fox
News. He has been charged with
unlawfully smuggling goods into
the US. and with making false
statements to agents with the
Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection. He allegedly arrived
at Dulles International Airport
in Virginia on April 17 aboard a
London flight connecting from
Qatar.
Home daycare insurance
bill heads down to the wire
By Theresa Minor
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Georgia lawmakers are set to
tighten up on state licensed home
daycares in a pair of proposed
bills —the culmination of a
nearly two year battle by Augus
ta resident Jackie Boatwright.
Boatwright aggressively lob
bied legislators to require liabili
ty insurance for these private
child care establishments follow
ing her son’s near fatal accident
at a home daycare That accident
has left Dejuan Boatwright in a
semi-coma. The state is picking
up the tab for his medical needs
because the home daycare carried
no insurance on the business.
Boatwright learned that most
home daycares carry no insur
beiis. edg s hose
: : says it’s been
an uphill battle to get lawmakers
to act on the legislation that
would mandate the coverage.
Augusta Focus
rlaggers lail in €Tlort 16 svowuiv
Confederate hattle emblem
By Shun Norris
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
In spite of efforts by
some local lawmakers to
pass legislation that could
have resulted in the Con
federate battle emblem
being restored to promi
nence on the state flag, the
measure appears to have
all but failed in this session
of the General Assembly.
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Sharpton woos locals
By Theresa Minor ;
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writey -
. AUGUSTA
If there was any doubt among
local voters that the Rev. Al
Sharpton is serious about a pres
idential bid, they were undoubt
edly eliminated during a cam
paign swing through Augusta.
Sharpton, a well known civil
rights activist, put all the politi
cal cards on the table as he
addressed a crowd of about a
hundred spectators who attend
ed his impromptu campaign
address at Tabernacle Baptist
Church.
Sharpton wasted no time in
taking the Bush administration
to task, in particular regarding
the preemptive strike against
Iraq and the post war policy.
“You cannot justify giving uni
versal health care to people in
Iraq and you don’t want to give
universal health care to our sol
diers when they come home to
this country. You cannot say you
want to see democracy in the
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“I came across lawmakers who
didn’t even want to hear it. I
heard every objection in the
world, especially the one that it
would put daycares out of busi
ness. But my feeling is if you
Rep. Sue Burmeister
(R-96), Rep. Pete War
ren (D-99) and Sen.
Don Cheeks (R-23) all
voted to pass Governor
Sonny Perdue’s flag
proposal that would
have put the racially
divisive rebel emblem
to a vote on a state wide
referendum.
Warren has repeated
ly crossed over to vote
with republican law-
AUGUSTA
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The Reverend Al Sharpton hopes to win the Democratic pri
mary. Sharpton addressed supporters on Monday at Taber
nacle Baptist Church. Photo by Dr. Ralph Watkins.
Middle East and you have not
made democracy work in Florida
where your brother is governor,”
stated Sharpton referring to the
2000 presidential election deba
daycare bflineés;”‘, . said
Boatwright. | e
The operamtza Hephzibah
home daycare "agrees. . Regina
See DAYCARE, page 3A
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Warren -
By Shun Norris ,
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
The age-old benefit of overtime
pay — Ifi times the hourly rate —
may soon come to an end under
new rules issued by the U S.
Department of Labor.
The proposed changes would
allow overtime to 1.3 million work
ers but yank it away from a num
ber of white-collar employees.
While the proposal will indeed
assist people in the workforce, mil
lions of workers would be exempt
from qualifying for overtime. And
according to Tammy McCutchen,
administrator of the Wage and
Hour Division, 22 million workers
There are hun
dreds of children
being cared for in
home daycares
that are not cov
ered by insurance
against accidental
injury. Pending
state law is set to
change that. Photo
by Ebony Brown.
can’t afford liability
insurance = when
you're taking care
of someone’s chil
dren, maybe you
shouldn’t be in the
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M e
Burmeister
Many workers now receiving overtime
pay may be left out in the cold if new
department of labor proposals are adopted.
will ultimately be affected.
“We are not trying to redraw the
line between who is exempt and
who isn’t exempt but we are trying
to update the salary test,” she said:
That update by the Department
of Labor includes raising the qual
ified pay rate of receiving overtime
from $155 a week to $425 a week.
So, those workers who earn up to
$22,000 are automatically quali
fied for overtime‘:j'hose who make
above that amoufit are subject to
requirement tests that may or may
cle in Florida which resulted in a
court ruling declaring Bush the
winner over Al Gore.
See SHARPTON, page 2A
Religious pioneers reinterred
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Pastors look on as Bishop Othal H. Lakey speaks of two local reli
gious pioneers, Rev. James Harris and Rev. Edward West of Trinity
CME. The ministers’ remains were moved to a new resting place
during a reinterment ceremony on April 23. Rev. Harris had been
born into slavery. His freedom was purchased by the congregation
who then installed him as the church’s first African-American pas
for in 1843,
Rev. West succeeded Harris and led the church until his death in
1887. The graves were moved to Westover Memorial Park after it
was learned that the church and graves were located on/'politted
property that required an environmental cleanup at the site locat
ed at Bth Street and Walton Wur. Trinity CME has been moved to
Augusta’s southside on Glenn Hills Drive. Pictured left to right are:
Rev. J. Ronzell Maness, Bishop Lakey, Rev. Donald Jordan, Rev.
Robert Duncan Fain and Rev. Larry Fryer. Photo by Shun Norris
.- i :?;ffi_ i
.
Cheeks
not conclude that you are eligible
for overtime pay.
For example, if you are an execu
tive employee who manages two or
more employees, you do not quali
fy to receive overtime. If a job deal
ing with computers pays $27.63 an
hour and the duties include ana
lyzing or programming computer
software, overtime is not granted.
The flip side of this rule is that
those who may have formerly been
See OVERTIME, page 3A
Democrats get
fired up early
for coming
elections
By Theresa Minor
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
The political prelude to the upcom
ing election season is on, at least that’s
the indication from the Richmond
County Democratic Party.
Local democrats got a jump start on
the 2004 campaign season, firing up
party members at the annual Good Frri
day Breakfast, one of the most heavily
attended in years and most likely an
outcome of a poor showing in Novem
ber. Party leaders are determined to
prevent a repeat of last year’s political
upsets.
“We will be inquiring of all democ
rats if they will be seeking reelection so
we can start early to help them, said
Dr. Lowell Greenbaum, chairman of
the Richmond County Democratic
Party. “We will be insisting that all can
didates give us reasons why they think
they should be on the democratic ballot
and why they think they could win. In
See DEMOCRATS, page 3A
PRSRT% A
US POSTAGE
PAID
AUGUSTA GA
PERMIT NO 302
makers on issues of racial
sensitivity. Warren did not
immediately return phone
calls made by the Augusta
+ Focus for comment nor did
Cheeks.
Burmeister explained
that her vote was for her
constituents in her district
rather than personal opin
ion.
“People indicated to me
See FLAGGERS, page 2A