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Lommentary
GUEST COMMENTARY By Joel Samuelson
Government of, for and by the government
Freedom in our country
is speeding toward extinc
tion at the hands of those
who swore to serve us -
the politicians. All one
has to do to witness this
is to take a look at a
growing problem in our
government known as
eminent domain abuse.
Eminent domain is the
power that government
gave itself, under the
Fifth Amendment, to
take private property with
the prerequisite that it
must be taken for public
use. The Fifth Amend
ment states, “...nor shall
private property be taken
for public use without
pust compensation.” The
root of the problem lies
in the politicians’ inter
pretation of “public use.”
Legally speaking, “pub
lic use” refers to high
ways, post offices, public
libraries, etc. These are all
GUEST COMMENTARY By Ron Walters
Is Kerry good for black America?
Whether John Kerry is
good for blacks is a fair
question now that he has
all but clinched the
Democratic nomination
for president. By handily
winning both the Vir
ginia and Tennessee pri
maries, Kerry illustrated
that he is the only candi
date in the race who has
won in all regions of the
gountry, making him a
truly national candidate.
v What will begin now is
the serious vetting
process of focusing on the
Aominee-in-waiting to
see if his policy posture
matches up with various
constituencies. This
process is complicated by
the fact that there was not
much difference between
the candidates to begin
with. That’s one of the
reasons why the issue of
which candidate is “elec
table” surfaced early as a
criteria for voting.
smerry, - like other
Democrats, would inter
nationalize the war in
Iraq, bringing the United
Nations back into the
Senators
failed
Augusta,
YDC worked
‘Many of the former
employees of Augusta YDC
are stll unemployed. Some
people feel that local employ
érs and neighboring counties
dre discriminating against
them because of the slander
and lies told by the former DJ]J
Commissioner, Orlando Mar
tinez.
. Our local elected Senators,
Cheeks and Hall, have not
taken the time to investigate
The views expressed on the Augusta Focus edimdpagzamtbmeqf‘tbeedimnhlbmdflwnwmflym#hpub&m
things that are generally
needed in any communi
ty. However, the political
connotation of “public
use” has evolved to enve
lope any use of a property
that will increase the
monetary resources in the
money vault of the gov
ernment.
In the private sector, if
one person or corpora
tion wants a certain piece
of property, they negoti
ate a price with the
owner, though the owner
may not want to sell. At
this point, that is the end
of the matter.
In the event of the gov
ernment utilizing emi
nent domain, the owner
does not have that
option; the government
just takes the property
and pays the owner “just
compensation.” At least it
is “just” in the govern
ment's eyes. When such
picture and restoring the
honor of the United
States in the international
arena. He would roll back
the tax cut enacted by
George Bush to focus on
a tax cut for the middle
class, not the wealthy.
Howard Dean would
eliminate the entire tax.
Kerry would fully fund
the federal share of public
education and reduce the
emphasis that Bush has
placed on dissembling
public education. He has
pledged to support a ver
sion of health care for
Americans that would not
guild the pharmaceutical
companies and private
insurance HMOs, but
insure coverage of all
Americans with an effec
tive plan similar to that
which members of the
House and Senate enjoy.
Finally, Kerry struck a
protectionist cord similar
to other populists in the
race — Al Sharpton and
Dennis Kucinich — when
he pledged to eliminate
from the tax code any
provision that gives rich
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
the damages endured by many
families surrounding the dis
missal of former YDC
employees, all of who are resi
dents and constituents within
their voting districts. We may
not see the two Senators now
but they will be breaking
down our doors in November
and using our tragedy as apart
of their political platform. If
they did anything at all, “it was
probably discussed behind
closed doors.” We did not see
anything then and we cannot
measure any degree of success
now. Is this representation or
not, let’s vote today! This com
munity needs news voices that
will represent all people. The
privatization of Augusta YDC
AUGUSTA FOCUS
cases arise, an agent pro
vided by the government
appraises the property,
usually in favor of the
government. There is
nothing the owner can do
about it - his property is
gone.
In August 2003, emi
nent domain abuse reared
its ugly head in the small
town of Alabaster, Al. A
private land developer
named Colonial Proper
ties Trust intended to
build a Wal-Mart shop
ping center, but Colonial
did not possess all of the
land it needed. The own
ers, low-income families,
who had lived in the
houses for generations,
refused to sell their land,
forcing Colonial to take
another route - govern
ment.
It seems Colonial had
some powerful friends on
the Alabaster city council.
corporations the incen
tive to take American jobs
abroad.
The problem here is
that few people seem to
be paying attention to the
issues because of the over
riding focus on “electabil
ity.” They are weighing
whether Kerry has the
right stuff in terms of his
military background,
presidential
deportment, ability to
communicate and his
willingness to aggressively
confront
Bush on the issues.
The applause lines in
Kerry’s stump speech
seem to arise from his
challenging rhetoric: “We
have not yet begun to
fight,” and “If George
Bush wants to make this
campaign about national
security, bring it on!!”
Recognizing that individ
ual rights are under
attack, Kerry promises “to
appoint an Attorney Gen
eral that is not John
Ashcroft.”
Looking at Kerry’s new
found aggressive posture
hurt Columbia County as
well, and that is why Repre
sentative Pete Warren stood
up in support of state employ
ees. Representative Alberta
Anderson from Burke County
was extremely supportive.
Representatives Quincy Mur
phy and Henry Howard from
Richmond County were also
consistently lending solid sup
port. If I missed any names, it
is only because you were nei
ther vocal nor visible in your
support.
The former Captain of secu
rity, Larry Butts was one of the
six officers accused of miscon
duct. If you chose to believe
the lies told by the Depart
ment of Juvenile Justice, you
Since Colonial was
unsuccessful in its bid to
acquire the needed land,
local politicians were per
suaded to use the one
right government has that
Citizens do not have —the
right to use force to
accomplish its goals —and
seize the land under emi
nent domain and sell it to
them so the shopping
center could be built. The
payoff would have been
more tax revenues in the
form of sales taxes and
higher property taxes
rather than considerably
less in property taxes
alone.
Wal-Mart has surfaced
as the centerpiece in
another eminent domain
abuse situation. In Den
ver, Colo., Wal-Mart
found an ideal piece of
real estate to place a store.
The problem existed that
there was already a strip
and willingness to carry
the fight to Bush as few
Democrats have done in
recent history, it also
looks like his issue profile
would produce a change
in the White House were
Kerry to win it. Never
theless, championing the
issues raised above and
others still does not
answer the question of
whether he would be
good for blacks. The
problem is that Kerry has
laid out a series of gener
ic fixes to the mess that
Bush has made and he
could well accomplish
them and blacks remain
substantially where they
are today.
Kerry and other Demo
cratic presidents must
return to the view that
disproportionably, the
black community needs
targeted investments to
be able to achieve the
American dream in edu
cation, community devel
opment, minority busi
ness development, home
See Kerry, page 15A
also need to believe that Cap
tain Butts is currenty awaiting
a $55,000 setdement for the
slander that he and his family
endured. Captain Butts was
the first to be falsely accused,
the first to sue and the first to
win. It is not much money,
but it is victory for all of us
that were publicly out their
offices and kicked into the
unemployment lines of
Augusta. It was not a good
fecling Brett. The laws were
violated when he smiled upon
his new contract, but he
allegedly had no comment
when the media contacted
him because he was watching
See YDC, page 12A
mall at the location and
no one wanted to sell. So,
off to the city council
where Wal-Mart sought
to convince the politi
cians to seize the property
and sell to them.
Costco, the retail super
store, also engages in uti
lizing eminent domain as
a tool for corporate
expansion. According to
the book, Mugged by the
State (author, Randall
Fitzgerald), Costco regu
larly petitions local gov
ernments to seize desired
properties for the devel
opment of new stores.
The book also exposes the
intentions of the compa
ny citing a comment
made by a legal officer of
Costco. The officer
admitted to a shareholder
that, “‘there are probably
dozens’ of Costco expan
sion projects nationwide
‘wWhere eminent domain
GUEST COMMENTARY By George E. Curry
Freedom Summer
revisited
During the height of the
Civil Rights Movement in the
19605, protest leadets liked to'
tell the joke about a Chicigo
seminary student who was
suddenly awakened at 3 a.m.
by a voice imploring him: Go
to Mississippi! Go to Missis
sippi!! Go to Mississippi!!!
The student said, “Lord, you
said that you will be with me
always, even until the end of
the earth. If I go to Mississip
pi, will you go with me?” The
heavenly voice replied, “T'll go
as far as Memphis.”
The idea, of course, was
that if God was afraid to go to
Mississippi, mortals had no
chance of surviving.
Without a doubt, virulent
Mississippi racists were the
most brutal in the nation.
Bob Moses and his comrades
at the Student Non-violent
Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) decided to launch a
campaign against fear in vio
lence by organizing Freedom
Summer in 1964, a project
designed to create a show
down between Mississippi
authorities intent on main
taining segregation and a fed
eral government obligated —
at least on paper — to protect
the rights of African Ameri
cans, who were denied their
right to vote and live as full
citizens.
Moses favored what he
called an “annealing process.”
He explained, “Only when
metal has been brought to
white heat, can it be shaped
and molded. This is what we
intend to do in the South and
the country, bring them to
white heat and then remold
them.”
Key to remolding the South
was arranging for white col
lege students from around the
nation to descend on Missis
sippi.
Clayborne Carson, in his
book, “In Struggle: SNCC
and the Black Awakening of
the 19605,” said that Moses
February 19, 2004
or the threat of it has
been involved in acquir
ing land for redevelop
ment.”” Allegedly, some
Costco officials have
threatened local govern
ments saying they would
move existing stores out
side city limits if the city
would not cooperate with
the property seizures.
There are politicians in
our government who do
not believein the concept
of individual property
rights. Recently, Presi
dent Bush appointed Cal
ifornia Supreme Court
Justice Janice Rogers
Brown to the D.C. Cir
cuit Court of Appeals in
. Washington. The
appointment was met
with disapproval by many
in Congress, mainly
because she is conserva
tive and a strict constitu-
See Abuse, page 15A
and Allard Lowenstein, a
white activist who had partic
ipated in ' Southern protests;
came up with the'idea of
Freedom Summer.
“They assumed that Missis
sippi officials could not crush
such a massive force of civil
rights workers and that
national sentiment would not
tolerate assaults against white
students, especially those
from leading colleges and
prominent families,” Carson
wrote.
It became clear very early
that there wouldnt just be
assaults on visiting activists —
some would be killed.
On June 21, 1964, SNCC
workers learned that three
civil rights workers — James
Chaney, a black Mississippi
an, and two whites, Michael
Schwerner and Andrew
Goodman — did not return
from a trip to Meridian, Miss.
to investigate the burning of a
black church. The three had
been arrested in Philadelphia,
Miss. and released at night
without being permitted to
place a telephone call.
Responding to the mount
ing public outcry, President
Lyndon Johnson authorized
200 Navy servicemen to help
in the search for the missing
workers and assigned 150
FBI agents to the case.
On August 4, the bodies of
the three civil rights workers
were found in an earthfill
dam near Philadelphia, Miss.
Seven white men were even
tually convicted and sent to
prison.
Freedom Summer played
an important part in the pas
sage of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, the 1965 Voting Rights
Act and other groundbreak
ing federal legislation.
Because of that early work,
Mississippi now has more
Black elected officials than
any other state.
Last weekend, many of the
See quor, page 15A
9A