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MS.JEANNIE LEDFORD GA NEWSPAP ,
PROJ CHIPS DEPT, MAIN LI UGA
ATHENS, GA 30602-1641
Sarvng Metrs Augusta. s’
Carsline and The CERA | K
November 4-10, 2004
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Victory for :‘,i |
~ Barack Obama
wins the Senate =
race in Illinois, .
becoming the sth.
black senatorin
history. :
Page 2A ,
NAACP and the
IRS ‘
The civil rights
organization is feel
ing the heat from
the IRS stemming
from Julian Bonds
fiery criticism of
George Bush.,
Page 2A e
Columnist George
Curry urges Ameri
ca to recharge and
to regroup for :
2008. i
Page 8A '
i
“Another sex upd g
Usher joins the
ranks of celebrities
who show itall on 2
sex tape. P
Pape 18, o 0 L 0
GOOD NEWS
The cqliqg}g'hpfisva:
successful Black.
Executive Exchange
Program:. .
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Happenings ....2B
Living .cccn 14
Nation/World .24
OPINION wevessenserßA
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Vol. 23, No. 1182
Walker wins, again
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
fl?;ltdl limos arfgdGel:)uses
i voters o
genatc ]u)pisuict 22 for m[c?x:
than a week, m them to
the polls. Hun of cam
pelnfn' volunteers worked fever-
Is 1’ registering new voters
and contacting existing voters
by mail, by phone or in person.
And the candidate, AW
Focus Publisher Charles Walk
er, left no stone unturned as he
met with ministers, the elderly,
union members and students
in gatherings large and small.
fiey were the grass roots ele
ments of an eleven month long
campaign that put Walker over
the top — handinfiea double
digit defeat to Republican
incumbent, Sen. Don Cheeks.
With 72 of 73 precincts
See Walker , page 12A
With little black support, Bush is
expected to continue rightward drift
%(&ELOM;E E. CURRY and
TRICE EDNEY
WASHINGTON (NNPA) -
Having won re-election with
lide Black political support,
President George W. Bush is
expected 10 appoint three or
four Right-wing judges to the
Supreme Court, a move virtu
ally guaranteed to eventually
end the use of affirmative
action programs in public inst
wutions, and preside over a sec
ond term that will be character
ized by cuts in domestic pro
grams to offset the $1.9 trillion
tax cuts over the next decade
and a $422 billion deficit from
his first term, political experts
and activists predict.
“He won' have any reason to
do anything for black people,”
explains Ron Walters, a polit
cal sdientist at the University of
Maryland. “There was a mas
sive Black vote against him.
However, second terms are
interesting because they
(incumbents) dont face any
competition. He doesn't really
have to play games in order to
get re-elected, so it’s conceivable
that he might, although I dont
expect that we would, go as far
as trying to make any common
Paine College students rejected
By JESSICA BAPTISTE
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
About thirty Paine College
students were enraged when
they were refused an opportu
nity to vote by poll workers.
They were among the hun
dreds of thousands of the so
called “jet set” generation who
were lured into the electoral
process for the first time by
celebrities like Sean “Puffy”
Combs and Russell- Simmons.
Their unfamiliarity with voting
procedures was in part what
caused the confusion.
Freshman Octavia Austin,
who was voting for the first
time, was shocked by her fellow
students not being able to vote.
“Im registered. I registered
because I come from Decatur,
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Photo by Rhian Swain-Giboney
Senator-elect Charles Walker (center) surrounded by his family revels in the moment after being declared the winner In the race
for Georgia Senate District 22.
cause with any centrist parts of
the black community.”
Former Democratic presiden
tal candidate Al Sharpton
doesn't think there is a remote
likelihood of Bush moving
beyond his tight dirde of con
“ Let’s all head ro the airport
and get out of the country,”
Sharpton says, facetiously. “I
think we are in for some serious
times. He will appoint judges
to the Supreme Court that I
think will try to erode some of
the gains we made under the
Civil Rights Movement and he
dearly will have economic poli
cies that will reward the rich. If
there ever was a time that we
had to gear up activism and put
pressure on Congress like we've
never done before, now is the
tme.”
If Bush's first term is any indi
cation, with Republicans con
trolling every branch of govern
ment - executive, legislative and
judicial - Bush will leave more
of a conservative legacy than
Ronald Regans eight years in
the White House during the
1980 s.
Nowhere will that be more
evident than on the US.
Supreme Court.
that's DeKalb County,” Austin
explains, “I registered up there
two years ago. I got down here
and re-registered because thar's
where I'm staying.”
Lynn Bailey, Director of the
Richmond County Board of
Elections, believes that two fac
tors could be the reason why
students were not allowed to
vote. One reason could be that
students came to vote, but
werent registered.
Another reason could be that
the students’ did not vote in
their designated precinct.
“In most cases, these students
are registered from another
address other than here.” said
Bailey.
However, Paine College Pres
ident, Dr. Shirley Lewis, says
some students felt they were
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George Bush
Bush is expected to fill three
or four vacandies on the United
States Supreme Court.
Of the nine justices, only
Clarence Thomas, 56, is
younger than 65 years old.
Speculation about possible
retirements from the court has
focused on Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist, 80,
who has been treated for thy
roid cancer, and Justices John
Paul Stevens, 84, and Sandra
Day O’Connor, 74. :
Seven of the nine justices
were appointed by Republican
presidents and most civil rights
victories, such as last year's Uni
versity of Michigan law school
affirmative action case, have
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: Photo by Jessica Baptiste
Ariel Cheese (right) and classmate talk about the Paine College stu
dents not being allowed to vote in this year’s election.
treated poorly Il workers
and lefipngombybol;?d of elec
tions. arrived with the provi
“l think they were very excit
www.augustafocus.com
been decided by 5 to 4 votes,
with Justice O’Connor usually
pledged t appoint judges in
the mold of Clarence Thomas
most conservative members of
a conservative -court. Because
long appointments, the court
for another half-century.
“Expect more Right-wing
hostility toward il rights and
sodial justice,” warns Jesse Jack
son, who ran for president
twice in the 1980 s. “Expect
more attempts to buy our lead
ership. We must resist at every
level attempts to stack the
courts with Right-wing judges,
when they seek to use FCC rul
ings to monopolize the media,
when they seek to make court
decisions against our interests.
We must be more vigilant,
more determined and more
resistant than ever. This will be
a difficult period, but we still
have resourceful people. We
have a lot to fight back with.”
Progressives will need that and
more. Although Bush com
plained about the Senate reject
ing some of his conservative
See BllSh 9 page 12A
ed, and they didn't feel their
problems were treated fairly.”
said Lewis
Lewis claims that_this is
contradicting the Help
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
AUGUSTA GA
PERMIT NO 302
FIFTY CENTS
Re:ublicans
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
Richmond County voters
reversed the national trend
to overwhelmingly supiort
the Democratic ticket,
including Sen. John Kerry
for president and the coun
ty’s first African American
Solicitor General, Harold
Jones, 11.
The reason for this appar
ent political contradiction
can be found in the num
bers. According to figures
supplied by the Richmond
County Board of Elections,
African American voters
came out in a precedent set
ting rate. There were
43,537 African- American
voters for 49.1 percent of
the total. It outpaced white
voters who cast 41,754 bal
lots or 47.3 percent. The
balance was split among
Asians, Hispanics, others
and unknown.
“It is fitting that 50
years after Brown and 40
years after the Civil
Sec Democrats , page 13A
at polls
America Vote Act, which is
designed to increase access to
the electoral process.
Bailey claims that she and
her staff have worked hard
and fairly. They will be
reviewing the provisional bal
lots to see if students are eligi
ble. The students who voted
by a provisional vote will be
notified if their vote counted
and why or why-not it did
not.
“Hopefully, we will be able
to count their ballots.” Bailey
concluded.
Austin expressed that her
family was = disappointed
about the incident.
“My mother was blown
away, though,” said Austin,
“She couldnt believe that we
couldn’t vote.”