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Au u S MS_IEAN NS SEBTORD GWE WSPAPE
PROJ CITHFS BREE MEAIN LI SGA
ATHENS, GA 3060 Z-164%
Serving Metro Augusta,
South Carolina and The CSRA R e g
September 2-8, 2004 Vol. 23, No. 1174
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Only in America
The Grand Old
Party is seriously court
ing African Americans.
Boxing promoter Don
King is apparently
buying in. Page 2A
Up, up and we’re out
of here ;
Continental Airlines
is calling it quits in
Augusta after 19
months. Page 3A.
Medicaid privatization
Georgia Governor
Sonny Perdue is look
ing to privatize the
, state’s Medicaid Pro
gram as a cost cutting
measure. Page 3A
Tough times, tougher
schools
Richmond County
school superinten
dent, Dr. Charles
Larke apparently gets
it. In spite of decreas
ing state funding, he’s
upped the ante and
Richmond County
schools are excelling
any way. Page 8A
ARTBEAT
M2M3 showcases
young performers
Youngsters are show
ing off their star power
in the third annual
From Mozart 1o
Motown performance.
Page 1B
O O eOAR e S S R
GOOD NEWS
Masters City Tourney
prep
The annual Masters
City Golf Association
is prepping for its
annual golf tourna
ment. This organiza
tion is celebrating 21
years. Page 4A
A R R PA S SHIPS R Re e
INDEX
ARTbeat .......... 1B
8u5ine55..........6A
City/Regi0n......3A
Classifieds ......6B
Good New5......4A
Happenings ....2B
LM“’ l'..ll'll'll“A
Nation/World ..2A
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SPLOST V talks gridlock over
arena and road improvements
By HALEY A. DUNBAR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
Months of political
wrangling and debate
over how SPLOST V
funds should be spent
came down to two issues
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Photo by Theresa Minor
Davidson Fine Arts High School seniors, Latasha Louis (left) and Kristen Rouse, bone up for the
SAT test that they will be taking this year. The pressure’s on the ciass of 2005 to better the score
of 1178 attained by the class of 2004.
Richmond County schools
join the SAT ‘4600’ club
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
The board of education con
ference room was packed and
ripe with anticipation. Super
intendent Dr. Charles Larke
could hardly contain a smile. It
was easy to discern that he was
about to make a big announce
ment concerning local SAT
scores. It was equally obvious
that he wanted to milk the
moment.
“We have some good news
that Georgia is no longer
50th,” he began, referring to
the fact that Georgia edged out
South Carolina to become
49th in the nation in SAT
scores. “So now I'm going to
release some great news. Our
SAT scores have reached
1,000.”
With that, the room of
school board members, admin
istrators, principals and teachers
exploded in applause. The SAT
is widely used to determine a
student’s ability to succeed in
college. But it has also become
the proof of performance for
educators under pressure to
improve public education.
“T'm proud of all of our
A focus on labor: Overtime pay changes, who benefits?
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
Labor law es —the likes
of which hasll.emr:%t been seen
since the industrial era— have
human resources administra
tors scratching their heads, try
ing to understand what to
make of them.
“They appear to be cut and
dry. But (EIC to the nature of
the changes and making sure
they're implemented correctly,
that’s where the challenge lies,”
said Dorothy Cummings,
Human Resources Directol?gr
the Walker Group.
James Allen, a labor law
Subscribe to the Augusta Focus, Call (706) 722-4222, extension 225
for county commission
ers, how much money
should go to projects for
two of the county’s
largest departments and
at what cost.
Members of the Augus
teachers, administrators and
board members. Without your
su;()ipon we would not be here,”
said Larke.
This is the second consecu
tive year that Richmond Coun
ty scores were above the state
average. The state average this
year is 987 out of a possible
1,600. Four out of 10 public
schools have even exceeded the
national average of 1,026.
They are Davion Fine Arts,
AR. Johnson Health Occupa
tional, Westside and Hepfii—
ibah. In fact, Davidson was
touted as being the top school
in the state by Georgja Superin
tendent of Schools, Cathy Cox
during a news conference on
Tuesday, August 31.
“I was real pleased that we
were being recognized as a top
school for the state,” said
Davidson Assistant Principal,
Renee Kelly.
She says the consistendy high
performance is even more
notable since Davidson is a fine
arts school whose students are
chosen based on their talent
and not their academics. Kelly
says the student’s creativity
strengthens their academic abil
-Ity.
attorney sees the updated over
time law from another perspec
tive. Unlike labor issues such as
discrimination, he says the
revamping of the overtime law
is a more sweeping change.
“It applies to more employers
and employees than any other
labor law;” said Allen.
Basically, the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FSLA) which
went into effect on August 23,
is an economic boom for work
ers making under $24-thou
sand-a-year. FSLA requires
employers to pay overtime
(one-and-a-half times their reg
ular pay) to these employees
ta-Richmond County
Commission spent much
of their September 1 spe
cial called meeting debat
ing whether or not the
more than S2OO million
in public works and parks
“Their talent makes them
want to work harder. It teaches
them discipline because they
have to practice over and over |
again. They understand you |
cant give up on the first try;” |
Kelly said. |
This is the second academic |
measurement this school year
which has shown significant |
improvement. Last month, |
school officials reported that |
the number of schools on the |
state’s needs improvement list |
had been cut in Ealf Larke says |
the goal now becomes to have |
every school making adequate |
yearly progress. He also has |
some ambitious plans for high |
school students to take both a |
vocational and college prep |
track in the near future. Larke |
is on record for refusing to
allow educators say that chel
largely urban student body |
cannot perform well aca- i
demically. He didn’t miss
the opportunity to reiterate
that point.
“A failure to set high goals
and to determine t.ghc stu- \
dent’s ability based on i
poverty ang skin color is
sinful,” said the superinten
dent.
who work more than 40 hours
aweek. It breaks down as $455
a week. Previously, employees
could make as little as $155 a
week and employers could
legally get away with not pay
ing overtime by designating
them as salaried workers.
On the upper end of the pay
scale, the labor law exempts
workers making SIOO,OOO
from overtime pay:.
The changes have been
brought about due, in part, to
inflation. But what has had the
most significant impact has
been the litany of dass action
lawsuits against companies over
www.augustafocus.com
and recreation projects
should be under funded
in order to pay for big
ticket items such as the
proposed sports arena.
“I'm going to make a
recommendation that we
remove two items from
the SPLOST V funding
list and those are the civic
arena and the amphithe
ater,” said Commissioner
Andy Cheek before
adding, “The bottom line
is that we don’t have
enough money to do
Image-conscious Atlanta
frets over former
mayor’s indictment
By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - If
there’s anything Atlanta
hates, it’s bad publicity.
So when federal investiga
tors announced Monday,
August 30, that City Hall
was rife with corruption as
recently as 2002, it sent
chills through Atlanta busi
ness leaders and politicians,
who worry the charges
would take some shine off a
city that has long called
itself the Capital of the New
South and an excellent
place to do business.
Former Mayor Bill
Campbell was charged with
bribery, fraud and racket
eering in a federal indict
ment unsealed Monday.
The indictment depicts a
rotten City Hall.
“Our image is so very
important,” said City
Councilwoman Carla
Smith, who was elected in
2002, the year Campbell
left office. “Our morals and
our ethics, that’s the South
ern way. We're all just sit
ting here with our jaws
dropping open, in total
shock.”
Campbell was under fed
eral investigation for five
years, suspected of taking
payoffs, dishing out con
tracts to friends and using
campaign money to buy
himself clothes and trips to
Disney World.
the wage issue. Allen feels that
even with the update, employ
ers may not be out of the
woods where lawsuits are con
cened. He says dlass action
lawsuits are still imminent
because of wage earners who
the new regulation fails to
include —the middle income
wage earner.
“In the middle it will gener
ate more lawsuits,” he said.
“We can't be clear on the effect
because it depends on what
judges say. The regulations are
clear. The effect is unclear.”
The middle-income wage
earners are in such a gray area
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AUGUSTA GA
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everything that we need
to do.”
The Engineering Ser
vice Chairman’s state
ment came early in the
day after he presented the
board with a list of pro
posed public works proj
ects. Cheek told the
group that he, Public
Works and Engineering
Director Teresa Smith
and other members of her
staff developed the list in
Sce SPLOST V, page 16A
" A
Bill Campbell
Already 10 people who
worked with Campbell have
been convicted on corrup
tion charges, including a
strip club owner who said
he gave Campbell $50,000
to push through a liquor
license application.
The FBI agent in charge
of the Atlanta office, Grego
ry Jones, said Campbell
oversaw “a pervasive pattern
of government corruption
which victimized the citi
zens of the city of Atlanta
and deprived them of the
honest services of their pub
lic officials.”
The indictment was
expected, but it still hit city
boosters hard.
This intensely image-con
scious has sold itself as a
progressive city of the New
South. It came through the
civil rights era with little
strife — and proclaimed
Sec Mayor, page 16A
that when surveyed, many of
the nation’s % corporations
say they would not make the
August 23 deadline. Some say
it would take nearly three
months to come into compli
ance with the law. Cummi
says she too will need a lil:r?e
more time.
“The issue I'm concerned
Bt oLo taEs
ent o! r r
the salaried people. I want to
e (ot ot it
e who are
S rat s
ustment. It
gll?t%ccrdnm to make sure we're
i;lidcjomplcte compliance,” she