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Uity Region
Georgia Dems: New name for pork doesn’t take away the sizzle
By DICK PETTYS
Ai:‘ Political Writer
ATTANTA (AP) - When a
top lawmaker put $25,000 in
the state budget five years ago
to replace drought-damaged
azaleas in Richmond County,
Republicans mocked the proj
ect with a “stuck pig” award,
calling it an example of Demo
cratic pork-barrel spending run
amok.
Another “stuck pig award
poked fun ata $40,000 appro
priation to reduce stress among
state prisoners. “We know pris
oners are stressed. But guess
what? So were their victims,” a
Republican senator said at the
tume.
The take awards were intend
ed to underscore the criticism
Republicans long had aimed at
Democrats — that they were
NAACP challenges Myrtle Beach travel restrictions on black biker
Special to the NNPA
WIILMINGTEON ,
N.C.(NNPA) — The National
Association tor the Advance
ment nf ('.ulnrcd I)Cnplt‘
(NAACP) has asked a US.
District Court in South Car
olina to stop the (fi})' ot Myr
tle Beach from using a restric
tive one-way traffic pattern
along a major City boulevard
over Memorial Day weekend.
This 1s the only weekend each
year when the majority of
tourists in the city are African-
American and the only week
end each year when the city
implements a restrictive traffic
plan requiring all traffic o
travel one-way for 60 blocks.
Each year, in May, two large
motorcycle rallies are held in
the Myrtle Beach area. In
mid-May, thousands of pre
dominately white motorcy
clists and tourists come to
Myrtle Beach for an event
known as “Harley Week.” A
week later, over Memorial
Day weekend, a similar num
ber of black tourists attend a
similar motorcycle rally in the
Myrtle Beach area, known as
“Black Bike Week.” The treat
ment of the tourists for each
event is starkly different.
The White Harley Week
tourists are wholcheartedly
welcomed by the Myrte
Beach government, business
Davidson, Johnson receive national award
Davidson Fine Arts
Magnet School along
with A.R. Johnson Heath
Science and Engineering
Magnet High School
have been named
National Magnet Schools
of Distinction.
School representatives
will be awarded a plaque
at the first general ses
sion of the 23rd Magnet
Schools of America Con
ference hosted by the
Miami-Dade Public
School District in
Miami, Florida April 17-
CAPITOL ROUNDUP
using their majority power in
the Legslature to fund projects
of special interest to individual
legslators but of little benefit to
the state.
But now Republicans are
running the show and writing
state budgets after 130 years of
Democrat control, and the
projects they have induded in
the budget tor next year look
very much like the local proj
ects Democrats used to fund.
In the new Republican era at
the statchouse, such projects are
no longer called local assistance
grants but rather grants for eco
nomic, education or human
resources development.
A new name tor pork doesnt
take away the sizle, said Rep.
Dußose Porter of Dublin, the
House Democratic leader.
The Republican-crafted
budget tor next year includes
es, and community leaders.
When the black tourists
arrive, restaurants close, hotels
implement special policies,
and the city restricts travel
along the main drag of Myrtle
Beach Ocean Boulevard,
which is converted into an
oppressive one-way traftic
pattern that restricts trathic
with limited exit points. The
ays police department also
deploys triple the number of
police officers to enforce a
one-time “zero tolerance” pol
icy aimed at black tourists.
The plaintft’s motion for a
preliminary injunction is the
latest court action taken by
the Conway (5.C.) Branch of
the NAACP and other
African-American tourists
since filing the civil rights law
suit against the city in 2003,
In advance of Memorial Day
weekend in 2005, the motion
for preliminary injunction
tocuses on the traffic pattern
along Ocean Boulevard and
asks the court to stop the city
from using this restrictive one
way traffic pattern for Memo
rial Day weekend.
Dennis Hayes, the
NAACP’ interim president
& CEO, said: “The NAACP
has been fighting for public
accommodation laws since
the 1930 s and we're going to
continue to fight until we
21, 2005. Attendees will
include over 1,000
school administrators
and teachers from mag
net schools and districts
across the nation.
Both Davidson and
Johnson were selected as
Magnet Schools of Dis
tinction from a national
field of candidate mag
net schools based on cri
teria that includes deseg
regation diversity goals,
innovative instructional
strategies, student
achievement, and par-
several dozen projects that law
makers requested for their
hometowns. Among them are
grants to replace water lines,
renovate parks, improve senior
centers and equip volunteer fire
departments.
The pricetag is $3.5 million,
a relatively modest sum by past
Democratic standards. But
that’s not all.
In addition, the new Repub
lican budget would add s4l
million in debt-financed con
struction projects for colleges
and technical schools that a few
lawmakers wanted to fund,
even though they werent rec
ommended for funding by the
g()\'l’rn()r.
Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans,
the new point man for House
Republicans on the budget,
says the projects were only
included after key House lead
make democracy work for all
under our constitution.”
The Rev. Kenneth Floyd,
president, the Conway (5.C.)
Branch NAACP said: “The
only thing that we are secking
is equal justice for all people
regardless of race, creed or
color. Closing the restaurants
and certain parts of the streets
when the majority of tourists
in town are Black is simply
wrong. That is racism at its
worse and we will not tolerate
i.”
Angela Ciccolo, NAACP
Interim General Counsel,
said, “African-American
motorcyclists and tourists
deserve the same rights
accorded all citizens.”
According to the memoran
dum in support of the motion
for an injunction, “A number
of direct statements made by
city officials show that race
played an illegal role in the
city’s decision to deploy a one
way traffic pattern” during
Black Bike Week.
Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark
Mcßride testified during his
deposition that the city “wel
comes” white tourists during
Harley Week, and tries to
“discourage” the Black Bike
Week tourists from visiting,
Mcßride said he does not
consider the African-Ameri
can tourists to be law-abiding,
ent/community involve
ment in the magnet
school.
“The entire MSA Board
of Directors applauds the
efforts that brought you
and the staff and students
of Augustus R. Johnson
Heath Science & Engi
neering High School this
prestigious honor,” said
MSA Board Chair Mary
Arbogast. “The same ded
ication that yielded the
Magnet Schools of Dis
tinction award will contin
ue to make a lasting differ
AUGUSTA FOCUS
ers determined that they met a
legitimate need.
“You won't see any band uni
forms. You wort see any ball
field lights,” he said, azu\m
to Democratic budgets of the
past that helped this school or
that purchase uniforms or
hd;ur some local communi
ties light their playing fields.
Just as Democrats used the
budget to reward members of
their own party, the Republican
spending plan is more generous
to lawmakers with an “R”
beside their name.
“That just follows who the
voters elected,” said Republican
Leader Jerry Keen, R-St.
Simons Island. Too, he said,
“There’s been a lot of pent up
demand from Republicans, as
you can imagine.”
Harbin said Democrats got a
share, too. “We've been very fair
He testified: “They want to
disregard the law and sit on
the tops of their car and
smoke dope and drink and do
whatever they want to and
disregard everything.” In con
trast to the Black Bike Week
tourists, Mcßride testified
that “when you, you tell a
group of White youth to
behave or you're going to jail,
for the most part, they
behave....”
Last year, the NAACP also
filed a federal civil rights class
action lawsuit against four
Myrtle Beach area restaurants
accused of discriminating
against African American
tourists. According to the law
suit, the restaurants closed
Memorial Day weekend
when a large number of
African-Americans visited
Myrtle Beach.
The lawsuit against the City
of Myrtle Beach was filed on
behalf of the NAACP Con
way Branch by the law firms
of Derfner, Altman &
Wilborn, LLC; Steptoe &
Johnson, LLP; and the Wash
ington Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights and Urban
Affairs.
ence for our students.”
Magnet schools were ini
tially developed during the
1970’s as a strategy to
eliminate the inequity of
segregation in public
schools across America.
Specially designed curricu
lums with unique educa
tional themes were placed
in minority-dominated
schools to attract majority
students to improve the
racial balance of the
school and to increase
the quality of education.
the way we have done this
process.”
The power to award local
assistance grants gives House
leaders a potent tool for ensur
fifilehwnnkmlikctoboast
of their ability to “bring home
the bacon” in their election
campaigns.
When Democrats were in
charge, careful note was kept of
those voting for and against the
budget. Those casting **nay”
votes often saw their projects
disappear late in the game dur
ing House-Senate negotiating
sessions, or were skunked the
following year.
House Republicans haven't
held a majority long enough for
anyone to know whether they
eventually will follow the same
course.
It they do, everyone will
Georgia beauty queen
goes on trial for murder
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
SAVANNAH, GA (AP)
- A beauty queen shoots
and kills her two-timing
boyfriend in a confronta
tion outside the other
woman’s home - it’s a
story of soap-opera
drama with a key ques
tion unresolved.
Did Miss Savannah
Sharron Nicole Red
mond fire in a jealous
rage or in self defense?
A jury will be asked to
determine the answer.
Jury selection began
Monday, March 10 in
the murder trial of Red
gond, 23, who has
admitted firing the shot
that killed boyfriend
Kevin Shorter on Dec.
16, 2003. Her attorney
says Redmond pulled the
gun because she was
threatened.
Finding an impartial
jury could prove impos
sible in this coastal
Georgia city. Redmond’s
story lept from front
pages of the Savannah
Morning News to
national news wires,
Internet blogs, websites,
and CNN’s scrolling
tickers.
In that case, the trial
would be postponed and
moved to another city.
Before the shooting,
2003 had been a year of
success for Redmond,
who grew up in a mid
dle-class neighborhood
on Savannah’s west side.
She had graduated
summa cum laude from
Spelman College, a his
torically black women’s
school in Atlanta, earn
ing her degree in an
impressive three years.
She returned to Savan
nah to work as a high
school teacher.
March 10, 2005
know about it, thanks to ‘a
1993 antislush fund law
authored by Porter that requires
budget writers to list every pork
project separately in the bud&
o .
The law was the result of an
Associated Press investigation
that found top House leaders
had used a secret slush fund for
SIX years to pump state money
into pet projects in their owr
districts and those of close alliés.
Few lawmakers knew about
the money because it was never
shown on budget spreadsheets;
and it wasnt spent until after
lawmakers had gone home. |
The slush fund was an issué
in Porter’s failed bid to unseat
then-Speaker Tom Murphy in
1992, but he succeeded in pass
ing the slush fund measure the
following session.
I 5 &
. 4 3
Sharron Nicole Redmond
Redmond also finishéd
runner-up in the 2003
Miss Savannah pageant.
Winner Andrea Bailey
passed the crown to Red
mond in August after
winning the Miss Geor
gia pageant, a prelimi
nary to the Miss America
pageant. :
Four months later,
Redmond was charged
with murder, posting a
$25,000 bond to stay out
of jail. She faces an auto
matic life sentence, if
convicted. ‘
shorter, 25, had
returned to Savannah to
pursue a career as a
music producer, after
playing football at the
City College of San
Francisco. He had dated
Redmond since she was
in high school and had
given her an engagement
ring.
But Shorter also hqd
given a ring to Rachel
Hall.
""We were supposed o
get married in July this
year,” Hall, 24, testified
at a preliminary hearing
in February 2004. ,
Hall said Redmond
learned in 2003 that she
was also dating Shorter.
On Dec. 16, Hall was at
home when Shorté;r
called with a warning.
“*He just called to tell
See Murder, page 10X
3A