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Augustan Killed Over $lO Bet
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Vol 3
Arson Suspected
Fire Strikes Bethlehem
Center - $ 5,000 Damages
By Michael Thurmond
Bethlehem Community
Center, an agency that has
served the underprivileged in
Augusta for over 60 years, was
struck by fire on the afternoon
of June 7.
The fire caused an estimated
damage of $5,000. Luckily the
center was officially closed last
Friday because the Center’s
staff was attending its annual
workshop and picnic.
The fire apparently
originated in a food storage bin
in the office of the Center’s
Director, Verlyn C. Bell. The
office sustained the greatest
amount of damage while the
rest of the facility suffered
from extensive smoke and
water damage.
Although city fire inspectors
Jack Anderson Column
Rescues Augusta Soldier
Pulitzer Prize winning
columnist Jack Anderson
wrote in his column about the
plight of Augusta Sergeant
Charles Anthony who suffered
a nervous breakdown after the
Army refused to give him a
compassionate reassignment to
Fort Gordon to be near his
suicidal wife and eight children
(NEWS-REVIEW, APRIL 25th).
Anderson’s column, which is
carried in over three hundred
newspapers, appeared on June
6th. That same day, Anthony
was notified that he was being
reassigned to Fort Gordon.
Only three days earlier, Dr.
Peter G. Cranford, Anthony’s
wife psychologist, had been
informed by the Army that the
reassignment could not be
made.
Maddox Squashes
Rumor Os
Involvement In
Lieutenant
Governor’s Race
Lieutenant Governor Lester
Maddox said today, “I have
not given and will not give my
endorsement and support to
any candidate for Lieutenant
Governor during the primary
or primary run-off, and I
positively will not get involved
in the political campaigns of
other candidates for other
offices.”
Maddox states that a
number of reports have come
to him that several candidates
for the Office of Lieutenant
Governor are stating that
Lester Maddox is supporting
their candidacy. “I want to
bring to a complete halt any
such reports and rumors,” he
said, and added, “any
candidate for Lieutenant
Governor who claims to have
my endorsement or support is
simply not telling the truth,
and the people hearing this
statement from any candidate
should consider it as untrue.”
Deadline
Mondays,
Please
P.O. Box 953
could not elaborate on a
definite cause of the fire, an
unidentified Bethlehem Center
employe informed the
News-Review that the Center
has been the scene of four
previous fires. On two
occasions, community children
were found responsible for the
arson attempts.
When questioned about the
probable cause of the fire,
Director Bell stated, “I would
not rule out the possibility of
arson since witnesses report
that two men were alledgely
seen leaving the facility prior
to the fire.” He also confirmed
the report that four other
minor fires had been started in
the building in recent weeks.
The director hastened to add,
Under the heading “THE
FORGOTTEN SERGEANT”,
Anderson wrote: The Army’s
slick new advertising campaign,
promising enlistees they’ll be
treated “with respect and
dignity,” doesn’t mention wnat
happened to Sgt. Charles
Anthony.
He’s a 14-year Army veteran
with a wife and eight young
children. His wife is seriously
ill and one of the children has a
critical heart ailment.
He received a routine
transfer from Ft. Gordon, Ga.,
to Ft. Belvoir, Va. He didn’t
balk at the orders until ti*e
condition of both his wife and
child grew worse. The doctors
said they couldn't be moved.
So Sgt. Anthony asked the
Army’s Compassionate Review
Black Press Head Wires President Nixon
Protesting Government Advertising Bias
- Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett,
president of the National
Newspaper Publishers
Association and
editor-publisher of the San
Francisco Sun-Reporter, wired
President Nixon last week
protesting the placement of
Defense Department
advertising in the white media
and denying it to the Black
Press.
The message reads:
“Mr. President:
The 7-column, 17-inch
Army Opportunities ads
appearing currently in the
To vote in primaries,
you must
register
before
June 21st. V
however, that “Community
Centers, because of their very
nature, are in perpetual danger
of being vandalized and set
afire because of their programs
and because they are located in
volatile low-income
communities.”
Firemen were amazed that
the entire structure was not
gutted by the flames. The heat
was so intense that metal
plaques hanging on the walls in
Bell’s office were melted and
warped.
Asked about the type and
amount of insurance coverage
carried on the Center, Bell said,
“We are insured, but we must
keep in mind that the property
and facility are owned by the
Womens’ Division Board of
Board to let him stay at Ft.
Gordon. But the board, its
name notwithstanding, was
lacking in compassion. Despite
letters of support from doctors
at Ft. Gordon, the sergeant was
turned down.
He was ordered to report to
Ft. Belvoir or take a hardship
discharge that would cost him
his retirement benefits.
Woefully, he obeyed orders
and traveled the lonely 600
miles to Ft. Belvoir.
Still, he believed the Army
he had loyally served would
realize its mistake and send
him back to his family.
Instead, he was informed flatly
that he was there to stay.
Dr. Peter Cranford of
Augusta, Ga., the psychologist
who attended the sergeant’s
wife, told us he warned tne
Compassionate Review Board
that she might attempt suicide
White Metropolitan Daily Press
are the most blatant examples
of economic racism
perpetrated by an insensitive
national administration against
the Black Press of America.”
“How can the Executive
Branch of our National
Government enforce equal
economic opportunity statutes
when the Federal Governments
permits its Defense
Department to openly
discriminate against the sole
Black-owned communications
medium of 25 million Black
Americans, a people more
Augusta, Georgia
Global Ministers of the United
Methodist Church. They have a
package program where 80
centers like ours are insured
under a “blanket” program.
The insurance is SI,OOO
deductible on property damage
and SI,OOO deductible on
facility contents. This simply
means that we must pay the
first SI,OOO in repairs before
the insurance company will
help us.”
Bell woefully admits that he
and the Center have
experienced some trying times
during recent months. An
estimated $6,000 worth of
damage has been sustained by
Bethlehem Center during the
last two months due
if iier husband were force to
leave.
The board wouldn’t listen
and Mrs. Anthony attempted
to take an overdose of sleeping
pills just as the doctor had
feared. Fortunately, she was
stopped in time.
But the sergeant, alone and
despondent 600 miles from the
family who needed him,
suffered an emotional
breakdown. As we write this,
he is hospitalized at the Army’s
Walter Reed Hospital in
Washington.
Footnote: When we made
inquiries at the Compassionate
Review Board, we heard a loud
voice in the background shout:
“Don’t answer that!” But later
the board explained that
Anthoy was assigned to Ft.
Belvoir because of job openings
and the nearness of Walter
Reed.
numerous than the populations
of 157 other nations?”
“The expenditure of Federal
advertising dollars without
observing an equitable
advertising policy is the gravest
form of institutional racism
and economic criminality. We
demand that the Defense
Department be force to obey
the Equal Economic
Opportunity statutes and its
fair minorities procurement
policies.”
A copy of the meassage was
sent to James R. Schlesinger,
Secretary of Defense.
principally to vandalism and
minor fires. He also confesses
to having been the target of
threats and pranks by
unknown community
residents.
But even in the wake of
Bethlehem Center’s most
recent losses, Bell has pledged
to continue and increase the
Center’s community services.
“We’ll redouble our efforts to
reach the community teenagers
by offering recreational
programs, jobs, job placement,
counseling and by sending
more staff members into the
community.”
Plans are already being
implemented so that funds can
be raised to repair the damaged
facility. The fund raising
k
RAY CHARLES
Ray Charles To Highlight
Fort Gordon Concert
The legendary Ray Charles
will be performing in concert
at Fort Gordon on June 19th.
Ray Charles and his Revue
ww: perform three times for
Post audiences during his
two-day stay. On June 19th, a
reception will be held for Ray
and other concert entertainers
at the NCO Club. The
reception will run from 5-7
p.m. and is open to all NCO &
Meredith Leaves
Democratic Primary
JACKSON, Miss.--James H.
Meredith, the Black man who
integrated the University of
Mississippi a decade ago,
withdrew yesterday from the
Democratic run-off election for
the House of Representatives
and said he would run as an
independent in the fall.
He called the runoff “a
senseless and useless election
for me since the Mississippi
Regular Democratic Party will
not support me if I win.
The Regular Democrats are
one of two competing factions
within the Mississippi
Democratic Party.
“Yesterday’s election proved
two things to Blacks,’’Meredith
said. “Number 1- we don’t
need white folks’ money to
win. Number -2 - Black people
can win without white folks
niggers, white folks colored
people and white folks
June 13, 1974 No. 13
program will consist of 1)
appealing to the entire Augusta
Community for help 2) request
that the churches who have
already made generous
donations will continue to
make donations 3) ask for
assistance from the Black
Community. (Less than 1% of
the Center’s operating budget
comes from the Black
Community).
Finally Bell said, “1 don’t
really view the latest fire as a
set-back for the Center,
principally because we have a
dedicated staff and board. We
have a mandate to overcome
obstacles so that we can
continue to provide the type of
services that the people need.”
Officer Club members.
Later that evening, Ray
Charles and Revue will present
two shows at the NCO Club (9
& 11 p.m.). Reservations for
these shows are available at the
Club office.
June 20 will be the big day,
however. That’s the day when
he will put it all together for an
afternoon of music on Barton
Field.
Negroes.
Meredith finished first in
Tuesday’s five man primary
election with 31.8 per cent of
the vote. In the June 25th
runoff he was to meet Jackson
television excutive Kenneth
Dean.
“My victory yesterday was a
milestone in our struggle for
self-determination and full
freedom,” Meredith said. “It
proves what a determined
people can do. My total
contributions in this campaign
were $31.50.
Meredith said his job for the
general election campaign was
simple. “Forty-four per cent of
the Fourth Congressional
District is Black,” he said.
Meredith ran unsuccessfully
for the Senate in 1972 and for
the Jackson City Council in
1973.
Woman raped, robbed of cash
and food stamps.
Bizarre Shooting leavessoldier
wounded.
Stories in the Police Report
' 4 FBI 1 I
h V - A'. «
■ lilHft cBSJaSSHI /U
Br&
Ki H
N*?w>Review Staff Photo Bv Roscoe Williams
Bethlehem Center Director Verlyn Bell {joints to
gutted area near his office.
Gubernatorial candidate Burt Lance meets with local
leaders at the Thunderbird Inn.
Josey Teacher
Receives Doctorate
W. R oger Sharrock of
Edgefield, South Carolina, was
one of thirty-six who recently
received a doctoral degree from
the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro.
His degree is in Educational
Administration with
coursework concentration in
management and research at
the community college level.
His dissertation topic was
“Members of Boards of
Trustees of N.C. Community
Colleges: Their Selected
Personal Characteristics and
Attitudes Toward Institutional
Role and Governance.”
Dr. Roger Sharrock is a
native of LaFayette, Georgia,
where he attended high school.
He received the B.S. degree at
Union University, Jackson,
Tennessee, and the M.Ed.
degree at University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill. He has
had additional graduate work
at the North Carolina State
University in Raleigh and at
the Southeastern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Wake
Forest, N.C.
He pastored churches in
Tennessee and Georgia from
1951 to 1959. In public school
work, he taught in Tennessee
and Georgia, served as guidance
counselor in North Carolina
and is presently guidance
counselor at T.W. Josey High
School in Augusta. In the
post-high school education
field he has been student
personnel director and director
of adult education in a
technical institute of the
community college system of
North Carolina. He worked in
the Concentrated Employment
Program for the Ex-Offenders
for the N.C. Department of
Correction in its first year of
operation.
Drs. Roger and Ruth
Sharrock moved to Edgefield
in October of 1972. They have
two sons, Barry of Louisville,
Kentucky and Mark of
Manchester, Tennessee, and
two daughters, Ms. Susan
Marshall of Atlanta, and Renee
of Edgefield.
Thy are members of First
Baptist Church of Edgefield
where Dr. Roger Sharrock
teaches an Adult Men’s Sunday
School Class. He is an officer in
the Richmond County Civitan
Club and the charter secretary
of the CSRA Phi Delta Kappa
Education Fraternity.