Newspaper Page Text
SR
KM JUS f
ll‘RSß'l' STD
ST S POSTAGE
*,OO g PAID
V> o~ e AUGUSTA GA
3 Pl ) m 808 Nl{_\\'[Bl{R(;!’. PERMIT NO 302
UGA LIBRARY m
- Y RSN | GUSTA, GA 309 G o
: Ty e = m Metro Augusta,
: South Carclina and The CSRA
March 29- April 4, 2007
L o 8
a 8
Rachel Smith crowned
Miss USA in Hollywood
Page 2A
The sad state of Wal
ter Reed Hospital
Page 2A
Dozens protést ordi
nance requiring per
mit to preach on street
Pag(‘ 31‘\
w'mmmmunnu
What's .done in the
dark always comes to
the light
Page 5A
In Sports, of all
K}laces. Race Suill
atters
Page 4A
1 ?;' fi
-. i J
. A
On The Real with
Miss Monique
Your virginity, HOLD
ONTOIT!
Page 1B
R&B singer Luther
Ingram dies at 69
Page 1B
A reason to celebrate
By Mary Sullivan
Page 1B ?
!ohn Bradley PhD is
as first African-
American student at
&Ota Southern
Page
- Jamin Stocker puts heart
“and sole into l\g“mdmn
Page GA
“I am a Gift” in honor of
Women's History Month
Page 6A
INDEX
ARTbeat ..........1B
8u5ine55..........7A
City/Regi0n......3A
Classifieds ......5B
Good New5......6A
Happenings ...4B
SPlriteeccscosnces. 2B
Vol. 25, No. 1283
> b ;!- g
Py :"v“v T » g
~? SR k
" he SR T
1T EEEE B B
o RS e’ 3 = RS,
Ee. s m
k’, Bi el k "
¥ ; Ts T o »
A s *Y‘%r e .
e
’ e
"y b
W it - N
g.' B
Vi
Sherift sues Ryan B. over comments made on air
Sherrif Ronnie Strength
Tuesday filed suit against
radio talk show host Ryan
B. and the Rejoice Radio
Station. The suit claims that
on March 19, Ryan B.
made slanderous and mali
clous statements about the
sheriff in his morning pro
Colon checks
rising but
not enough
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
A¥’ Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Sam Monismith was
repped and ready to begin
Lis colonoscopy ~ when
health workers brought the
university professor awk
ward news: His insurance
was not going to cover the
colon cancer check. They
wanted a signed promise to
pay, or the test was off.
Kdunismith hesitated only
briefly - and the test uncov
ered nine polyps, precancer
ous growths 1n Eis colon.
Evcn%'»cttcr, because doctors
removed them on the spor,
the bill switched from a
cancer screening that insur
ance would not pay into a
surgical procedure it did.
“fi'hc irony of it is if | had
n't had any polyps, I would
have hac{ to pay,” says
Monismith, 54, who has
Bishop Charles E. Blake becomes Interim Presiding Bishop of Church of God In Christ
By EVAN BARNES AND
NIELE ANDERSON
hial to the NNPA
As reaction begins to
pour in from the passing of
Bishop Gilbert E. Patter
son, the Presiding Bishop
of the Church ofg God in
Christ (COGIC), the Sen
tinel has obtained an exclu
sive interview with Bishop
Charles E. Blake of West
Angeles Church of God in
Christ.
In addition to presiding
over his membership of
over 24,000, Blake is the
Prelate of the First Jurisdic
tion of Southern Califor
nia, which oversees more
than 250 churches, and
knew Patterson for over 50
years.
“Bishop Patterson was a
great man of God. He was
an anointed preacher,
visionary leader, innovative
in his organizational style
www.augu&afocus.mm
Strength
VS,
Ryan B,
gram on WAAW.
A transcript of the state
ment is cited in this lawsuit.
Freddie Sanders, Strength’s
attorney, stated Ryan B.
called Sheriff Strength “a
murderer” and accused him
of using drug money to buy
a membership in the coun
had additional polyps
removed in the four years
since that first check. “I'm
just glad I got the test.”
Insurers insist Monismith
is a rarity and that most
insurance does cover colon
cancer screening once peo
ple hit age 50, when the
risk starts to rise. Sull, can
cer advocacil] groups have
begun a push to ensure the
last holdouts cover all four
government-recommended
options _ from the S2O
annual stool sample to
once-a-decade colono
scopies that can exceed
SI,OOO.
Fifteen U.S. states are
considering legislative man
dates, by the American
Cancer Society’s count; 19
other states have long had
such laws.
The legislative tussle actu
ally highlights tougher
See Checks page 10A
and approach and he
brought a season of positive
vitality to the Church of
God In Christ,” Blake said.
Since November 2000,
Patterson, who died Tues
day from heart failure, has
led COGIC, which at 6.5
million members is the
largest Pentecostal congre
gation in the world.
With his death, many are
assuming that Blake, the
Ist Assistant Presiding
Bishop, would be next in
line to become the next
Presiding Bishop. He has
already received calls all
over the world from people
looking to him for guid
ance.
Blake reluctantly con
firmed to the Sentinel that
he is indeed the interim
Presiding Bishop, but he
wanted to use this moment
to focus and reflect on the
legacy and fond memories
oF Bishop Patterson that
try club.
Ryan B. said that he was
only giving his opinion
based upon comments
made by a caller discussing
a 1974 shooting incident
that occurred on Olive
Road in Augusta.
The lawsuit quotes Ryan
Cities see rise in black Muslims
in wake of Sept. 11 attacks
By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) -
Allahu Akbar, the Muslim call
for prayer, ings out on a recent
Fricfily and a group of black
men and women gather to cel
cbrate the Islamic day of rest.
The wooden house in Pitts
burghs rundown Homewood
ncighburh(x)d ](X)k\‘ likc any
other on the block. But the sign
at the door, Masjid Mumun,
and the rows of shoes lined up
inside on gray, plastic shelves
hint of the brand of Sunni
Islam its members practice.
The mosque is one of seven
in Pitsburgh, home to a
vibrant community of about
8,000 to 10,000 Sunni Mus
lims — some 30 percent of them
black.
Following what appears to be
a trend in ctes natonwide,
religious leaders in Pitesburgh
say there has been a rise in black
conversions to Sunni Islam
since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
No national surveys have
g’"’ E AN
R T ‘
4 : g
3 o
w
a 4 l
Charles E. Blake
started when they were
teenagers.
“He and [ were young
teenage preachers that con
ducted revivals “together
occasionally and he was
alw.‘l)'s a V('r)' Scri()us y()ung
man focused on his min
istry,” he said.
He went on to relate one
story about how Patterson
gave him his high school
graduation picture and
§ iil - L .
‘.',f;«.- -
g
P v
.
e ;
o 5% : o
b y %l B,
B S Sy
‘ . o EA VBS w 0 53 %
T R
e ,‘_ e
e oy .
- R Rl R
v TR e g
;i p B ':f To :fi ‘
$ ecout | HIRETTRE et |
3 S R ¢
s 7 o 4
' O ,
' P 3 5
£1 o
3 - %ggfl‘“ i
1 i i
o s
] T -
T ol | s
!
' 4
B. saying on a live broad
cast, “When you go back
and look at his history, he is
a murderer. The sheriff,
Ronnie Strength is a mur
dcrcr. Ht‘ Sh()[ snmcb()d)'
;md lcft thcm n the wor )d.\.
so he is a murderer, in my
humble opinion.”
o ] ¥ g -
\A B p e
, g - ¥
) i - <4
;?‘;1";‘»\ e *'v 3
i 4 N (-
g T ‘,.JZTX‘\ " o & “ e A% 3
e . i \
‘8 TR T
%¥ . *"V,;»Y‘ ltf" e4e ww 4
. 1‘? L : : }m‘ ; ~ [ | ; :
it , o A \ot LYY
been taken to confirm the
increase, but Islamic religious
leaders in Chicago, Cleveland
and Detroit have also reported
growth, said Lawrence
Mamiya, a professor of religion
and Africana studies at New
Yorks Vassar College. Experts
estmate that 30 percent of the
6 to 7 million Nfislims in the
U.S. are black, with only South
Asians making up a larger
number at 33 percent.
The Sept. 11 attacks have
“cut both ways, positively and
negatively,” Mamiya said.
E‘i‘chard Turner, coordinator
wrote on the back “Bishop
Patterson,” although nei
ther had been ordained yet.
“It gave an indication of his
aspiration to ministry and
to serve in the life of the
church,” he said.
Bishop Patterson served for
over 30 years as the leader
of Temple of Deliverance
church in Memphis, Ten
nessee, and he also estab
lished Bountiful Blessing
Ministries, a popular televi
sion ministry tlEat was fre
quently shown on BET.
“We have a lost a great
leader, a man of great vision
and motivation. He prom
ised to take us to greater
heights and we shall miss
him dearly,” said Bishop
Wilbur Hamilton, the Sec
retary on the General
Board of COGIC who is
the Prelate of the North
west Ecclesiastical Jurisdic
tion of California.
[t is unclear at this moment
FIFTY CENTS
The attorney for Strength
said that, “You cannot
make a comment like ‘this
is my opinion’ at the end.”
“That’s defamation of char
acter,” commented a local
legal analyst and “Ryan B.
might have some issues
coming up in court.
of the African-American stud
ies program and an expert on
Islam among blacks at th Uni
versity of lowa, said since Sept.
11, Muslims have been
attempting to “disseminate
positive in’f-ummtinn about the
rcligi()n, SO (h&' ()hvi()us out
come of that would be more
conversions.”
Sunni Islam is the world’s
most prominent branch of
Islam. 'ic Nation of Islam and
the Moorish Science Temple,
other Muslim groups Lfiat
See Muslims page 10A
how COGIC, which had
been planning its Centen
nial Celebration, will pro
ceed in the near future
“COGIC church will now
have to pull itself together,”
said Hamilton, “We've
always responded with new
leadership equal to the task
but we will miss Gilbert E.
Patterson greatly.”
Bishop Blake, who will
face the daunting task of
presiding over COGIC for
now, wants to remind all
that no matter what, “"God
is still alive and He sull
rules in the affairs of men.”
“Whenever there is the loss
of a leader, an organization
is tremendously impacted.
He (Patterson) was a spiri
tual father and pastor to all
of us and we believe that
with the Lord’s help we
will be able to move on,”
he said.