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us MSJEANNIE LEDFORD GA NEWSPAPER | PRSRT STD
'PROJ CHIIPS DEP T, MAINLIUGA US POSTAGE
»)(,\SSTA H;f}(,\ CTHENS, 4 10602-1641 i l[‘\\li)\ &
A 5 PERMIT NO 302
-~ MY R eBIS SAR Serving Metro Augusta,
: - ; % South Carolina and The CSRA
March 22- March 28 , 2007
T
i o o
Walgreens sued for
job bias against blacks
Page 2A
Jurors find parents
Szailty of murdering
eir eight-year-ol
son '
Page 2A
Prorosed moritorium
could cut funding in
black communities
Page 2A
Naming Flaccs after
living politicians can
be embarrassing
Page 3A
OPINION
II
-‘"'« ; li‘ws
Now we know
Page 5A
Department of Injus
tice
Page 4A
oalt’,
On The Real with
Miss Monique
He is straight up suspect
Page 1B
Omarion comes of age
"21,’ a successful album
Page 1B
The Truth Concern
ing Sin
By Mary Sullivan
Page 113'
Augusta Buffalo Sol
- ders hold Annual
MLK event
Page GA
Cole Bros. Circus of
the stars: World-Class
Berformen ‘
age GA
Mocha Sisters organi
zation secks p(:sgx:;e
women for change
Page 6A
INDEX
ARTbeat .......... 1B
Business.........TA
City/Regi0n......3A
Classifieds ......5B
Good News ......6A
SPlrit cceenesesns 2B
Vol. 25, No. 1282
Conflict of Best Interest
Envirosocioclassicism’ and the
South Augusta Resicdent
Presendy in Augusta, it is not
the fear of a strip club, adult
bookstore or toxic industry that
has the south Augusta residents
in an uproar. [t is the new resi
dents and the thought that
public housing could be mov
ing very dose to (h('ir commu
nity. Concetvably the phrase
could be actually ‘will be mov
ing’. Opponent of this planned
move are fighting tooth and
nail to keep the upcoming proj
ect fre m fruiti< n.
At a recent community
mecting, the residents were
invited thinking the topic will
Six-year-old hoy found dead in Georgia
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
A six-year-old boy who
vanished a week ago
while playing ncar his
trailer-park home was
found slain Thursday,
March 15 after a regis
rcrcd SCX nf.fcndcr and
three other su.spccts
stymied investigators for
days with conflicting
stories of the youngster's
fate.
Glynn County Police
Chief Matt Doering said
all four suspects would
probably be charged with
murder in the slaying of
Christopher Michael
Barrios. Doering said it
was obvious the boy had
been killed, but he
would not say how and
would not disclose how
long the body had been
there.
The body was found in
a black trash bag among
some trees and brush just
15 feet from a roadside
behind the Glynn Coun
ty Airport. A Depart
ment of Natural
Resources game warden
helping in the secarch,
Cpl. Jesse Cook, said he
and a co-worker stuppcd
Could Charles Walker Get Off?
By PHIL KENT
Could a high-profile legal
case about abuse of power be
derailed because of abuse of
P()w&'r?
Shock waves rippled
through Georgia Republican
circles when a preeminent
legal scholar declared that
the federal prosecution of
former state senator Charles
Walter, D-Augusta, can be
assailed on the basis of a legal
technicality. University of
Georgia Prof. Ronald Carl
son, a nationally recognized
expert on evidence and crim
inal procedure, underscores
there are narrow constitu
tional grounds — with case
rrcccdcnts — for Walker's
egal team to possibly derail
all or at least part of the 142
counts of corruption charges
against him.
Through his Charlie
McCarthyesque Augusta
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The grandfather of missing six-year-old Christopher Michael Bar
rlos Jr., Jose Rodriguez leans next to a photo of the slain child.
to investigate when they
spotted tire marks where
a car had pulled off the
r(md.
Once th(‘)’ g()t out to
look, they found the bag
in plain sight.
“It was obvious,” Cook
said. “But if you weren't
looking for it, you prob
ably would've thought it
was just a trash bag.”
About 60 volunteer
searchers, many wearing
As appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
newspaper and lawyers,
Walker has derided the
charges against him as politi
cal in nature, stemming from
his status as the influental
Democrat state Senate
majority leader until his
dcfcat two years ago. The
Augusta Democrat (who is
running again for the Senate)
points to the resignation of
the Southern District U.S.
Attorney as validation of his
contentions. Republican
appointee Rick Thompson,
the prosecutor who initiated
the g)(’alker robe, abruptly
resigned afft’cr the U.S.
Department of Justice, in
writing, sternly rebuked him
for abusing the power of his
office in order to influence a
state election in favor of a
Republican and against
another state senator, who
was a Democrat.
Everyone has a right to an
impartial prosecution. As
Subsg:ribe to the Augusta Focus, Call (706) 722-4222
www.augustafocus.com
Article of Analysis and Interpretation
T-shirts printed with the
boy’s photo, hugged and
wept as Doering con
firmed Christopher’s
death to reporters.
"You suspected .il
along in your heart, it’s
just not the outcome you
want, said Mari
Charnock. “At least we
know, though. At least
It'S OVer.
E‘.lr“cr rhis wcck,
Sce Georgia, page 9A
Y ‘ &
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"
Charles Walker
such, a scparate defense of
political bias has been carved
out. [tis a developing area of
the law and Carlson notes
that, with this letter from
DOJ in hand, a panoply of
options is availa&c to the
Walker defense. Those
include but are not limited
to wide ranging discovery in
order to see just how far the
Joe McCormick
is honored
Photo by Eric Samuels
Joe McCormick receives the Joe Pond
Award from Super C's Sports Bar owner,
Charles Cummings. This award is given in
honor of the late Joe Pond, former owner of
the area’s Budweiser Distributorship. Mr.
Pond, who was very active in the communi
ty, made distinctive contributions and the
award is given in his honor.
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D S R, SN S DsWL T (v SRRt ely
trail of tears related to
Thompson's political influ
ences travel. Disqualification
of the entire Southern Dis
trict federal prosecutor’s
office that has nurtured and
grown this case is also a
potentiality. So, Carlson
opines, is a dismissal of the
indictment itself.
The thought of the poten
tal depositions of Gov.
Sonny Perdue and U.S.
Reps. Jack Kingston and
Charlic Norwood in order to
determine what, if any, pres
sure to prosecute Walker
might have been brought to
bear on Thompson is natu
rally unsettling to Republi
cans. Imagine that the entire
DOJ file on the Thompson
matter could be ()pcnccf up.
Questions concerning what
Thompson's staff attorneys
were doing while he was
allegedly manipulating the
political ~ process will
FIFTY CENTS
be discussed as a prospect and
not presented as a done deal. To
ther surprise, the project has
already been discussed and con
firmed — whether they liked it
or not. This pronouncement
has many auzens linking the
concern to Senator Tarver.
Tarver could no longer fight the
Medical College of Georgras
hostile takeover of the Gilbert
Manor public housing project.
This will displace hundreds of
sentors and other residents con
venient to their jobs and other
needed services. It is allogcd
S Confllict, page 9A
inevitably be asked. Were
they situng idly by? If so,
that will not be viewed well
by a jury and could give cre
dence to Walker's conspirato
rial claims.
As the editorial page editor
of The Augusta Chronicle
during the 1980 s and ‘9os, |
frequently decried Walker's
perceived and actual abuses.
So it is bitterly ironic that
political collusiveness and
bias on the part of his
Republican nemesis is now
being cited as the source of
Charles Walker's salvation.
Georgians who want to see
an end to Walkers political
career can only hope Profes
sor Carlson’s prophecy does
n't come to pass.
Phil Kent is an Atlanta
public relations consultant
and author of The Dark Side
of Liberalism (Harbor
House)