Newspaper Page Text
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—— R . : , ; : [ ressmerans Serving Metro Augusta,
— O/ i South Carolina and The CSRA
June 28- July 4, 2007 Vol. 25, No. 1291
INSIDE
N i
Young pilot close to fin
ishing record solo flight
around globe
I'l(g(.’ll\
Violence unrelated to
Juneteenth celebration,
organizer says
Page 2A
Teen gunman's final
words: %"]ve just killed 2
Cops.
Page 2A
City and S.C oflig:ials :}
in te handling
dadlx Elare
Page 3A
l!kec; hgisenfw In Six
accident
Page 9A
OPINION
“‘ ," .
Indictments on the
way... Does it matter
how Marion Williams
makes his money?
Page 5A
m@“’” o cry
&
On the Real with
Miss Monique
...Stoi) wasting time
Page 1B
Victory Productions
resents 'Judgement
Bay 3: Redemption
Song'
Page 1B
azz it up at Super C
{light Cfub witfle
g_nto and Michael
rs
Page 18
Put your
'BngOGHT" on Him
R
Are you a replica of
libert?,? 4
Page 1B
GOOD NEWS
B
Puge A
-
Page 6A
Annual SRS Golden
INDEX
ARTheat ..........18
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Classifieds ......58
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By DEBORAH MOODY
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
There is a strong argument
that many black males have few
positive adult male influences
and limited opportunities to
learn fundamental social skills
and values. Neely Lovett has
the solution through his Posi
tve Boys Positive Men Men
toring Program. This Hephz
ibah High School Special Edu
cation teacher, along with his
committed comrades, is deter
mined to instll discipline,
transmit values, and provide
positive role models to the city’s
most vulnerable youth. Seven
year-old Elijah Thompson said
Article of Analysis and Interpretation
How Gangs Work Part One
Gangs are a problem in
every major city in the
U.S. and membership is
consistently’ on the rise.
Therefore, the first item
on the agenda in eradi
cating the gang presence
is to look at why individ
uals join gangs. There
are numerous reasons
given for joining gangs,
but let us examine what
we will address a few
main reasons.
Gangs address poverty.
Most kids join gangs
thinking that it can be
lucrative. Through steal
ing and selling drugs,
members believe they
can make relatively large
amounts of money.
Youth who grow up
poor, turn to crime if
they can’t earn money by
other means. This will
explain why gangs exist
in low-income and run
down areas. Yet not
everyone who is poor
joins and not every gang
WWE and USA Wrestle with fallout from Chris Benoit case
By LISA DE MORAES
Associated Press
Washington, DC (AP)
~-WWE Chairman Vince
McMahon issued a non
apology last night for his
orianization's three-hour
tribute to pro wrestler
Chris Benoit that aired
Monday night on the USA
Network. USA itself had
no comment on having
telecast a three-hour trib
ute to a man who, accord
ing to authorities, over the
weekend bound and stran-
Elcd his wife, suffocated
is 7-year-old son and
www.augustafocus.com
it best, “1 think they give usa lot
of discipline. It is a good thing
because if I get out there in the
world and don't have discipline
[ wont make good choices.”
Lovetts emotional support
system cast him into a man of
purpose and compassion.
"\‘(’Lcn I was seventeen, my
mother Faith passed away. | was
fortunate o have a very sup
portive family and school
coaches to nurture me,” he stat
ed. After having a.very success
ful college football career at
Savannah State University and
briefly pursuing a professional
sports carcer, Lovett returned to
Augusta with the determina
tion to give back to the com
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member is poor.
This brings us to the
subject of peer pressure.
Most gang members are
young. The reason is
that gangs intentionally
recruit youngsters, and
kids are most susceptible
to peer pressure. If they
live in low-income areas
and go to school with a
strong gang presence,
the student will find
many of their friends are
joining gangs. The stu
dent sees no apparent
harm in joining. There is
laced Bibles next to their
Eodics before hanging
himself with a weight
machine pulley several
hours and possibly as long
as a day later.
The bodies of the long
time WWE wrestler, his
wife and their son were
found in their Fayetteville,
Ga., home Monday after
noon and reports said
police were treating it as a
double murder and sui
cide.
On its Web site, World
Wrestling Entertainment
said it had asked authori
ties to check on Benoit and
munity, ‘T love Augusta... |
know that some people dont,
but it is the best place for me,”
he stated. Giving back, he has
impressively done. “With
many summer camps, you
dont sce the counselors and
persons who influence your lite
again or at least undl the next
summer. One thing that we
offer is a year-round program.
When school starts in August,
we meet with the kids on the
first and third Saturdays of the
month,” he expressed.
Ower one hundred five-year
old through eighteen-year-old
males attend the two month
long summer sessions. “We
started out with twenty five
a fear in losing friends.
This is the number one
reason gang membership
is increasing in different
areas.
Gangs speak to bore
dom. With nothing else
to occupy their time,
kids turn to mischief.
Morcover with gangs
already present in the
community, gang activi
ty can be an easy outlet.
Also, youths might form
their own gangs. This is
Sec Gangs, page 9A
his family after being alert
ed by friends who received
“several curious text mes
sages sent by Benoit early
Sunday morning.”
But WWE and USA
Network officials also wete
reported as saying they
were not aware of the cir
cumstances when the trib
ute was put together to air
in place of the scheduled
live “Monday Night Raw”
program — an “investiga
tion” into the faux death of
McMahon. (In the script
ed story line, McMahon
had been “blown up” in a
bomb explosion in a
kids three years ago and now
they serve 125," Lovett offered.
Each summer for the last three
years, children from around the
CSRA have come o Positive
Boys Positive Men Camp 1o
take part in recreation and o
learn principles. “We offer
swimming, bowling, skating,
mentoring group sessions, life
skills and fundamental of vari
ous sports in the summer.
These are some of the things a
dad would show his son,” he
conveyed. Lovett believes in
mentoring with a mission.
During the school year the
youth participate in a program
of life skills building, tutoring,
and social experiences o
DA rebuts claims that
DNA tests inconclusive
in Williams case
By HARRY R. WEBER
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - A prose
cutor Tuesday rebutted defense
claims that DNA testing of ani
mal hairs found on some of the
bodies in the notorious Atanta
child killings case are inconclu
sive, and he insisted the evi
dence links Wayne Williams to
the slayings.
But the director of the Uni
versity of California, Davis, lab
that conducted the testing, Eliz
abeth Wictum, told The Asso
ciated Press that while the
results are “faidy significant,”
they don't conclusively point to
Williams' dog, Sheba, as the
source of the hair.
“ We didnt individualize,”
Wictum said.
Wictum’s report, released
Tuesday, June 26 says that 1 in
100 dogs in a database kept by
the UC lab share the same
DNA sequence in the hair
found on the vicims bodies
stretch limo.)
Last night, at the top of
“Extreme Championship
Wrestling” on Sci Fi Chan
nel, which, like USA, is
owned by NBC Universal,
McMahon mentioned the
previous night’s tribute
show.
“However, some 26
hours later,” he said, “facts
of this horrible tragedy are
now apparent. Therefore,
other than my comments
there will be no mention of
Mr. Benoit’s name tonight.
On the contrary, tonigfin’s
show will be dedicated to
everyone who has been
FIFTY CENTS
Photo by Renee Norris
include outings. The program
emphasizes conflict resolution,
career development, health and
fitness, self-esteem, community
involvement, cultural aware
ness, and reading skills.
Lovetts interest in cultivating
young leaders and mentors
came from his own experiences
as a boy growing up. He admits
that his success is attributed to
many sources. “First, my great
est influence 1s God, because
He has carried my family,” he
shared. He credits his mother
the late Faith Reese and his lace
grandmother Dorothy Sims for
instilling a deep and abiding
¢ Positive, page 8A
and the hair shed by Williams'
dog. The database contains
more than 1,200 dogs assem
bled from the last 10 w 15
years, Wictum said.
Ideally, the lab would want its
database to include dogs from
the dme period of a murder
and the location of a murder,
but that isnt always possible,
Wictum said. The murders
Williams was blamed for
occurred more than 25 years
ago.
The lab conducted a type of
testing on the hairs called mito
chondrial DNA testing. Wic
tum noted that there wasnt
enough chromosomal DNA in
the samples to conduct a more
definitive type of testing called
nuclear DNA testing,
Whether District Attorney
Paul Howard is right that the
results should remove any
doubt that Williams is the killer
_ or defense lawyers are right
that Howard is exaggerating _
Sec DNA, page 8A
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Chris Benoit
affected by this terrible
See Benolt, page 10A