Newspaper Page Text
4
JAN.-3.1974
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER (* ,'
NATIONAL BLACK NEWS SERVICE \ \\ J J
member <.£„•'
Vol. 3
PAINE COLLEGE ~
White Teachers At Josey Charge
Discrimination-Call For Racial Balance
The News-Review recently learned of a controversy at
predominantly Black T.W. Josey High School wherein
some white teachers wrote a letter to Richmond County
School Superintendent Harvey Duncan complaining that
they are discriminated against. The teachers charged
that Black teachers get preferential treatment in transfer
assignments, have lighter class loads, and called for racial
balance among teachers at Josey if not among students.
The call for racial balance is particularly striking since
most whites have been fighting racial balance in public
Jones Found Guilty Gets 2 Life Sentences
And 27 Years In Assault - Kidnap Case
By R.L. Oliver
Seventeen year old Alfonzo
Jones was found guilty of all
charges against him and was
sentenced to two life sentences
and twenty-seven years late
Tuesday afternoon.
Richmond County District
' Attorney Richard Alien had
requested the death penalty
for Jones’part in the July 26th,
armed robbery, shooting and
kidnapping of Mrs. Diane
Ramon the former owner, of
the Kitten’s Corner Club.
An all white all male jury by
passed the death sentence and
recommended the lesser of the
two penalties. Jones was
sentenced to life on the armed
robbery charge, life on the
Former WRDW DJ -
Freddie Gavin - Seeks Equal
Employment At MCG
In mid-July, the Medical
College added a new Assistant
Personnel Director for Equal
Employment Opportunity to
its staff. Freddie Gavin fills the
new position, coming to MCG
after retiring from the Army.
His job on campus will be
implementing and overseeing
the EEO policies.
In an interview with MCG’s
Intercom newspaper, Mr. Gavin
talked about progress, plans
and goals in the area of equal
employment opportunity on
campus:
Intercom: Who exactly
receives the assistance of the
EEO officer? Gavin: Minorities
and women are who I deal with
mostly. In Augusta, minorities
.mostly mean blacks.
Intercom: How do you help
these people? Gavin: My job is
to make the hiring forces at
MCG aware of the available
working force who are black or
female, and point out why any
inconsistencies in their
policies if they are not
following the EEO guidelines.
But more importantly, I will be
working toward getting a good
‘affirmative action’policy
going.
Intercom: Could you
explain ‘affirmative action’?
Gavin: It deals with the
attitudes of employers. You
see, equal employment
opportunities will not come
about simply by following
some set of government rules
and regulations. It requires an
affirmative attempt on the part
of the hirer to give minorities
the same opportunities for job
kidnapping charge, ten years
for the charge of aggravated
assault, ten years for criminal
attempt and seven years for
motor vehicle theft.
Mrs. Ramon was a former
partner in the now defunct
Kitten’s Komer, scene of the
incident.
On the stand for more than
one hour, Mrs. Ramon
said that after she gave
the accused and his juvenile
friend a drink of icewater, he
shot her in the head, kicked
her, robbed her of over SSOO,
and forced her by gunpoint to
accompany as he fled in her
auto.
“I was afraid he was going to
openings as those in the
‘majority’.
So, while I’m spending a lot
of time finding out statistics
and percentages of employees
right now, my goal in
affirmative action is to make
the employer say: ‘Hey, there
are a lot of blacks and women
out there who are qualified,
that I haven’t even talked to
for this job’.
Intercom: You mentioned
working with figures a lot at
present. What has been the
bulk of your activities since
coming here? Gavin: I’ve been
compiling data that roughly
illustrates the percentages of
qualified minorities in he
potential job forces, and the
percentages of minorities now
employed by MCG. What we
would like ideally is to have
those two percentages be the
same. I’m also working with
the Provost, Dr. Robert A.
Liebelt, to set up an
Affirmative Action Advisory
Committee. There will be 18
members on the committee
from all areas of the campus,
and they will monitor the EEO
program and recommend to
the departments ways of
solving deficiencies in their
personnel management and
hiring policies.
I have also spent a good deal
of time working on the internal
advancement of employees;
that is people who are in
dead-end jobs and have been
for a good while. We will try to
form a means of educating
people in certain types of jobs
to enable them to move up.
P.O. Box 953 W ARREN A. CANDLER
schools.
The letter written to Duncan was dated October 1
and read as follows:
“Several concerned white teachers at T.W. Josey High
School feel they have a good question for the Board of
Education. Why have you stopped your recent effort to
achieve racial balance among the teachers at Josey? We
were elated to hear that Mrs. Mildred Handerson was to
go to Sego, and Josey in return was to receive a white
teacher in her place. Now a week has gone by since she
kill me,” she said.
Forced to her knees while
leaning on the front seat of the
passenger side of the auto, Mrs.
Ramon said, “1 knew when we
turned on Dean’s Bridge Road,
I had to escape somehow, right
away.”
Edward Ramon, the victim’s
husband, operates a business in
the general area of K-mart
where, according to Mrs.
Ramon, she flung herself from
the moving vehicle.
Witnesses reported seeing
the victim fall from the auto
and rolling for several yards
before she began screaming for
her husband. Mrs. Ramon said,
“I never lost consciousness, I
was too afraid.”
Late Monday afternoon.
And we’re also trying to see
that job openings are made
known within the institution
by posting them on bulletin
boards around campus.
Intercom: Would you like to
see word-of-mouth job
recruiting on campus ended
then? Gavin: We don’t want to
do away with word-of-mouth
recruiting entirely, but as far as
bringing minorities and blacky
into higher job positions it is
not working. Os course, we
realize that if somebody wants
to hire his buddy, he's going to
hire his buddy no matter what
we say. But, we are trying to
put some realistic limits on
how many of his buddies he
can hire.
Intercom: How will you
enforce the limits? Gavin: This
is where our advisory
committee will come in. We
will give recommendations to
each department on campus
about their deficiencies, if any.
Then the departments will
draw up goals and timetables
that they ill follow in meeting
the EEO recommendations.
The committee will make sure
that the departments are
meeting the government
standards, and will monitor the
efficiency of the program.
Enforcement will not be very
strict, because here again we
are dealing with attitudes to a
certain extent and that makes
for too many gray areas rather
than simple black or white.
Intercom: What will it take
for EEO and affirmative action
to become totally accepted at
MCG? Gavin: Well.. Jt will take
Jones took the stand in defense
of his life and said, “I went to
the club looking for a job and
found her shot. She asked me
to drive her to the hospital
saying her boyfriend had shot
her. On the way to the
hospital, she fell O'»t of *he
car.”
An earlier witness, Gerald
Curtis, of Augusta, testified he
had taken Jones and his
juvenile companion to the club
on his way to work. He told
the jury that he saw a lady
come to the door and he drove
away when the two youths
entered the building.
According to county deputy
reports, Jones was picked up
within minutes after the
incident in a woodshed. Mrs.
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FREDDIE GAVIN
cooperation from he top, more
than anything else. And
agreement with the principles
of the program. We have here a
Augusta, Georgia
was informed of this change and she is still at Josey.
Why are the blacks too good to be transferred? Many
years ago when integration was just beginning white
teachers as well as black were forced to leave schools
they had served for many years. They accepted the
change and made he best of it. Please explain why the
blacks at Josey are given special treatment concerning
being transferred. White teachers and parents feel the
least you can do is achieve racial balance among our
teachers if you are not going to do it among students.
Ramon’s auto was. later
recovered in a ditch.
Allen said of Jones’
testimony, “This is not
consistent with the testimony
given in an earlier hearing.”
In a surprise move during
the trial of Alfonzo Jones,
defense attorney Albert
Ingram asked that the jury be
removed and from the court
room. Then he asked for
dismissal of all charges against
his client.
Following removal of the
jury, Ingram told Judge Edwin
Fulcher, “Your honor, in going
down my list, I have just
discovered that the juror
selected to this jury by the
name Arthur Balk, Jr., is the
same Arthur Balk, Jr. who
situation similar to many
institutions over the country,
that is, a pyramidal
relationship of minorities--
served on the same Grand Jury
that indicted this defendant.
This man has already expressed
an opinion against the
defendant, he voted for a true
bill.”
Richard Allen, district
attorney, charged that Ingram
could have turned the juror
* down, that he could only
motion for a mistrial not
dismissal.
Ingram refused, “1 am saying
that this jury cannot try this
defendant.” “I am moving for
a dismissal of all charges
against my client,” he argued.
Ingram was overruled.
Jones is charged with several
felonies including armed
robbery and kidnapping of a
white night club owner, Diane
Ramon.
-blacks and women-with white
males. At the bottom of the
employment ladder there are a
majority of blacks, as in
December 13, 1973 No. 39
“The majority of the black teachers at Josey have only
four classes, some only three. Many of the blacks do not
have a homeroom, nor are they assigned special duty
like detention hall. The reason for this is the fact that
these blacks have been together for ‘X’ number of years
and have formed a group which puts the teaching load
on the white teachers. We feel you are not aware of this
because we have felt that anything that goes to the
Board concerning teacher load is ‘padded'.
“Please help the white teacher and white pupil at
Josey. Please visit our school and interview white
teachers who aren’t afraid of telling the truth. We seek
your help to develop a better school.”
Sincerely yours,
Concerned White Teachers at Josey.
Duncan told the News-Review that he had received
the letter and “the situation is being investigated” and
that an additional assistant principal has been assigned
to the school to look into the problem.
Duncan said the charges were vague and the letter was
unsigned. He did say though that the class loads could
have been balanced better in certain instances.
Racial balance, he said, was never ordered for Josey.
Some of the Black students in that area were assigned to
Butler and some whites were assigned to Josey. But
racial balance was never ordered.
He said he plans to meet with the Josey faculty this
week. Asked if the meeting stems from the letter, he
said, “We try to make ourselves available to all kculiks.
This office is always open to hear any complaint. So far
we don’t know who is making the charges.” lie added that
the persons making the charges should have been willing
to sign the letter.
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The Richmond County Barber’s Association
presented its annual Christmas donation to the Shiloh
Orphanage Sunday. Mrs. Ollie Brown, (director of the
orphanage) accepts the check troni the association’s
president Verdery Tutt (L)and L. McNeely, secretary.
The orphanage’s slogan is, “Because you give, we live.”
Seminar Held On
Reality Therapy
A two-day Seminar on
Reality Therapy was held at
the Performing Arts Theatre at
Augusta College last Friday
and Saturday. The Seminar was
conducted by Dr. William
Glasser Founder and President
of the Institute For Reality
Therapy in California.
Over 600 people from the
Southeast region attended the
seminar. These included:
clergymen, educators,
counselors, doctors, nurses,
social workers, mental health
workers, studets and other
interested persons.
Dr. Glasser stated that the
manual labor, and women in
secretarial jobs. The higher you
get, the more the ratio swings
around, until you get to the
top and you find very few
women or blacks. And at the
top is where cooperation is
most necessary.
It also requires a
communication system linking
the bottom with the top, to
make the system work well.
That certainly is a 50-50
proposition, but I think if
communication is started from
the top, it generally is more
purpose of psychotherapy is to
help people choose some kind
of acceptable behavior as an
alternative to behavior defined
as unsatisfactory by society.
Among those attending the
seminar from the Veterans
Administration—Lenwood
Division were: Mrs. Margaret
Beard, Instructor of Nursing;
Mrs. Jacqueline Millender,
Social Worker; Mrs. Pearline
Moton, Social Worker; Mrs.
Wildred Williams, R.N.; Mr.
Floyd Wimberly, Jr.. Nursing
Service; and Ms. Gwendolyn
Coleman, Social work student.
efficient and effective. As
everybody knows, when
problems arise in institutions
these days, nine times out of
ten the cause is a breakdown in
communications.
Intercom: Are you
optimistic about the program
here? Gavin: Very. We have
already seen examples of
people going all out to make
our program work. And, with
Dr. Liebelt and the other
members of the committee, I
feel that the EEO program here
will become very successful.