Newspaper Page Text
MSJEANNIE LEDFORD GA NEWSPAP
Serving Metro Augusta, PROJ CHIPS DEPT,MAIN LI UGA
South Carolina and The CSRA ATHENS, GA 30602-1641
October2l-28, 2004 Vol. 23, No. 1181
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~ Jackson and Jackson
It’s not a law firm
but rather the father/
son tag team of Rev.
Jesse Jackson, Sr. and
his congressman son
Jesse, Jr. making the
‘ campaign rounds for
John Kerry.
Page 2A
Batrow bashes ‘Max
TaX
Candidate for the
- Congressional
District, John Barrow,
is taking a swipe at a
national sales tax pro
posed by his oppo
nent, Congressman
Max Burns.
Page 3A
Black recrits decline
.In spite of the poor
economy, the number
of blacks enlisting in
the military has
declined. Opposition
to being an occupy
ing force is why and
not a lack of patriot-
Page 8A :
ARTBEAT
Political revolution- -
_ary and playwright
Amiri Baraka comes
out of retirement for a
| provocative interview
with the NNPA.
Page 1B '
A regal pair
Alana Wells and
‘ Ron Mahone are :
Paine College’s new
~ queen and king.
They will be crowned
during a coronation
on Oct.
Page 4A
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Citizen ‘watchdogs’ take on county leaders
By JESSICA BAPTISTE
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
A group of area resi
dents fed up with the
direction Augusta-Rich
mond County is heading
and blaming much of
that on the county com
mission is taking matters
into their own hands.
Broken down into three
Local writer published in ‘Chicken
Soup for the African American Soul’
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
“They should have called it
chicken soup with a dash of hot
sauce or chicken gumbo for the
soul,” says Jayme Washington
Smalley followed by one of the
most generous laughs you'll
ever hear — you know, the kind
that comes from deep down in
the belly.
The joy is well deserved.
Smalley, an Augusta native, is
one of 101 authors whose lit
erary works have been chosen
for the newest of the Chicken
Soup installments, Chicken
Soup for the African American
Soul. There were more than
3,000 entries submitted by
authors all over the country.
White Water, is one of Small
ey’s short stories that chronicle
her life in segregated Augusta
during the 1950%. It is a first
hand account during - which
Smalley, while on a shopping
trip with her mother at H.L.
Green's Department Store,
sipped from the whites only
water fountain when no one
was looking. She writes about
how her youthfully vivid imag-
Clothesline Project airs dirty
laundry of domestic abuse
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
The youthful art drawn on
the tshirt is compelling. A
child is in a bed that has been
set on fire. The child is scream
ing for help. Then there’s
another with a rainbow colored
home drawn on it and the
scribbling of a child, “I love you
mama. Where’s dad?”
These graphic t-shirts dis
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Photo courtesy of Verizon Wireless
This graphic exhibit on domestic violence will travel across the state.
separate committees, the
Commission Advisory
Board, Citizen’s Council
and the- Citizen’s Eco
nomic Development
Authority, the group
wants to set plans in
motion to revitalize
Augusta.
Other than reconstruct
ing the Augusta area, one
of the committees’ pri
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Jayme Washington Smaller holds a copy of Chicken
Soup for the African American Soul in which her story
is published.
ination tormented her and
made her believe thar she
would either die or tum white
from the so called ‘white water.
played on an old-fashioned
clothes line, created by sur
vivors of domestic violence and
their loved ones, are touring
Georgia during National
Domestic Violence Awareness
Month. The Clothesline Pro
ject is sponsored by Verizon
Wireless which is working in
conjunction with Safe Shelter
of Augusta and the Richmond
County Sheriff’s Department.
“In the last two months in
Subscribe to the Augusta Focus, Call (706) 722-4222, extension 225
mary concerns 1s to
advise and act as a watch
dog group for the Rich
mond County Commis
sion. The move resulted
from the commission’s
much debated decisions
on SPLOST V, among
other things. Another
objective of the group is
Sec Watchdogs, page 12A
The humor woven through the
story is a tool that Smalley says
she uses in all of her writings.
“My thought was if I can get
Richmond County two of our
homicide cases have been as a
result of domestic violence. The
sheriff’s department feels very
strongly about this. We want
victims to take control of their
lives,” said Grace Wittke,
Augusta-Richmond County
Sheriff’s Department Investiga
tot.
This year alone, Wittke says
there have been 2,393 cases of
domestic abuse reported in
Richmond County. More
than 300 women and children
have had to find refuge from
violence at Safe Shelter of
Augusta, nearly 200 of them
were children.
“These t-shirts were created
by women and children in
Augusta. | want to encourage
the community to view the
exhibit and the real words of
courageous domestic abuse
survivors who have beaten
insurmountable odds,” said
Sandra Johnson, Executive
Director of Safe Shelter of
Augusta,
The exhibit is being dis
played in the Augusta Mall
through October 22, near the
Dillard’s entrance.
www.augustafocus.com
&
Budget battle begins
!! By: JESSICA BAPTISTE
- Augusta Focus Staff Writer
Homeowners and law enforcement are among those
feeling the sting from county budget cuts under a pro
posed spending plan submitted by Interim County
' Administrator, %rcd Russell.
! There is a $9.3 million budget deficit and Russell
the word out and get people
laughing ... you remember
what you laugh about. So we
wont forget and slip back into
that pattern,” she said. “And
when you read them you figure
out that the times werent all
bad. Yes there were lynchings
and horrible things. But no
matter what went on, there was
a sense of ‘Yes we can get
through this.” As a family we
It’s the only time during the
interview that Smalley is seri
ous. A short time later she
reverts back to the by now
familiar hearty laughter as she
talks more about her literary
works. White Water is one of a
collection of stories written by
Smalley in her first published
book called, As the Busterbeans
Boils, and yes the title is a take
off on some well known soap
operas. The stories, all inspired
by growing up during segrega
tion, as the granddaughter of a
Southern Baptist minister talks
about the “escapades” of the
church folks and the always
plendful food in the church
community. The stories lived
Jones' run for Solicitor,
history in the making
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
On paper, it appears
that Harold Jones has
been groomed for the
position of Solicitor
General his entire life.
But what his career track
could not have envi
sioned is that the move
would be history mak
ing.
Jones, who is currently
the Chief Assistant
Solicitor General, would
become the first African
American to hold the
position in Richmond
County if he emerges the
winner in the November
2 General Election.
~ “I think it brings a
‘sense that the criminal
justice system will be fair
to everybody. I think
that any system, not just
the criminal justice sys
tem, in order to have
credibility in a diverse
community, public
I offices should be diverse.
It gives the people a
sense that the office rep
resents them as wclf"
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
AUGUSTA GA
PERMIT NO 302
FIFTY CENTS
Sec Budget, page 12A
because Smalley told them
often to her son as a child in the
oral tradition of African story
eling
“Fortunately he had no con
cept of the whole ‘colored’ and
‘white’ thing, having those signs
and being told where you
could go. Of course he didnt
believe it. He told his friends
and that started me going to
school story telling,” recalls
Smalley.
She was encouraged by those
who heard her story to publish
them. And neady 14 years
later, a published book has been
born.. :
The notoriety she has gained
from being published in Chick
en Soup for the African Amen
can Soul (the book has already
sold over 100,000 copies) will
undoubtedly help sales of As the
Butterbeans Boil. Smalley says
she is currently negotiating
with some book stores to have
her it placed on their
shelves. In the mean
time, copies of the book
are. available at the
Ramada Inn Hotel gift
shop and on line at
www.jaymesmalley.com.
‘ '
¥ §
Harold Jones
said Jones during a
recent interview with the
Augusta Focus.
Jones says he has
learned while on the
campaign trail that many
people are unfamilig
witl{) the Solicitoé
office. So in addition to
campaigning for their
vote, Jones, who is also
an adjunct professor at
Georgia Military College
and Paine College, finds
himself in familiar terri
tory as a teacher. He
talks about the cases
Sce JON@S, page 12A