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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.