Newspaper Page Text
Patrie College Library
1235 15th St.
Augusta, GA 30901
Man Shoots Self To Prove Point
Woman Charged With 10 Counts Os Forgery
Suspect Held In Murder Os Marvin Collins
Vol. 6
Citizens Still Question Jail Death, Arresting Officer
Gives His Account Os Clayton L. Oakes Suicide
By G. R. Wright
The July 9 suicide of
Clayton Lee Oakes in the
Richmond Jail has left
questions on the minds of
many Augustans. Some ask
why he committed suicide.
Others question whether it was
suicide.
This reporter talked with
A.D. King’s Daughter
Tragedy Again
Visits King Family
Ester Darlene King, 20, the
fourth chUd and second
daughter of Mrs. Naomi B.
King and the late Rev. Alfred
Daniel WiUiams King Sr., was
eulogized in Atlanta Monday
as a quiet, placid, congenial
young lady who was the spirit
of the famUy.
Miss King, who would have
begun her junior year at
Spelman CoDege in tJie next
term, coDapsed July 9 whde
jogging with friends around the
track at Southwest High
School. Firemen’s efforts to
revive her about 7:50 pan.
were futile and she was
pronounced dead at Grady
Hospital at 9:12 p.m.
Atlantans poured out their
sympathies to the King famUy
which has, since 1968,
experienced four tragic deaths.
In 1968 Miss King’s uncle, the
late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
was assassinated. A year later,
her father drowned in the
famDy swimming pool at their
Braemar Avenue, S.W. home.
On June 30, 1974, her
grandmother, Mrs. Alberta
WiDiams King, was slain as she
played the organ at Ebenezer
Baptist Church.
Dr. Jospeh Roberts, pastor
of Ebenezer Baptist Church
where Miss King’s funeral
services were held last
Monday, eulogized Miss King
as the “spirit of the famDy and
said life is not bounded by
birth and death. “We had seen
her go around the bend of the
river,” he said.
Democratic presidential
candidate Jimmy Carter and
his fam Uy called the Kings
Saturday to express their
sympathies.
The funeral program profile
SCLC Charges
White Woman Murders
Black Man, Goes Scot-free
Scotland Neck - On March
11, 1976, in a small
community 100 miles east of
Raleigh, a tragedy occured.
Harry Lee Dickens, a 21 year
old Black man (and ex Marine),
was murdered as he stood in
his front yard by Mrs. Sandra
Dupree, a white woman and
wife of a baptist minister.
Mrs. Dupree was quoted as
saying that she shot Dickens in
the head at close range because
she thought he had been
involved in an argument with
her son, a newspaper carreir.
She shot the wrong man, her
son later admitted that he
didn’t know Dickens, never
had any kind of altercation
with him but with another
Black man that he doesn’t
remember.
The incident touched off
demonstrations by Blacks who
demanded that she be arrested
immediately for murder.
Finally she was apprehended
by the authorities and placed
under a $75,000 bond. First
degree murder is a capital
offense and never in the
history of this state has a Black
person been released on bond
after being charged with a
capital crime. This prompted
P.O. Box 953
Larry Hendrix, the arresting
deputy, and District Attorney
Richard Allen to get answers to
these questions.
Oakes was charged with armed
robberies in Statesboro, Ga.,
and Richmond, Aiken, and
Columbia counties.
Oakes was specifically
ESTER DARLENE KING
of Miss King noted that her
devoted mother described her
“as busy as a bee” and one
who “never let summer pass
without finding gainful
employment while
simultaneously using her
leisure time fer activities that
gave pleasure, joy, recreation,
loveliness, and spiritual
enrichment to her life.”
Miss King attended pubHc
schools in Birmingham,
Ala., i and LouisvUle,
Kent, i where her father
pastored churches. When the
fam Uy came home to
Ebenezer, she entered West
Manor Elementary School and
completed her high school
education at Southwest where
she was vice-president of her
freshman class and earned
varsity letters in track and
softball.
After her 1973 graduation
from Southwest, she entered
Tuskegee Institute where her
talents directed her to the male
dominated study of
architecture.
An active member of
Ebenezer Baptist Church, she
the Black community to call
on Golden Frinks, SCLC’s
national field secretary.
Frinks organized daily
jail-ins to protest this tragic
miscarriage of justice.
When the trial of Mrs.
Dupree began in Henderson,
N.C., Frinks organized
Ressurection City No. 4 to
dramatize the issue.
Mrs. Dupree was acquitted
Saturday, July 10 by a jury of
11 whites and 1 Black in the
Vance County Superior Court
in Henderson, N.C. * According
to the Associated Press: Cheers
and applause from whites
greeted the verdict as Mrs.
Dupree sat quietly, showing
virtually no emotion.
Milton Fitch, a Black lawyer
from Wilson, N.C., who was a
member of the prosecution
team said: “I believe there is a
God upstairs who will whip her
the rest of her life. This is a
thing she has to live with.”
Golden Frinks of SCLC said:
“This is typical North Carolina
justice. If a Black person looks
at a white he or she gets the
electric chair. If a white
murders a Black he or die is
applauded and given a pat on
the back. But SCLC will
charged with the February
robbery of the Piggly Wiggly
store on Lumpkin Road. In
this robbery, the manager’s
wife and child were held
hostage as the robbers forced
the manager to go to the store
and hand over his money. He
was also charged with the June
was a member of the Concord
Choir, an exceDent fund raiser
for youth activities and a 1970
Children's Day speaker. She
had also been studying at
Atlanta University this summer
untU her untimely death.
Honorary Pall Bearers were
Alfred D. Williams King 11,
Rev. Derek B. King, Vernon C.
King, Martin Luther King 111,
Dexter Scott King and Isaac N.
Farris Jr.
Interment was at Southwest
Cemetery.
Survivors, in addition to her
mother, include three brothers,
Alfred D. WiDiams King 11,
Rev. Derek Barber King,
Vernon Christopher King; one
sister, Mrs. Alveda King Ellis;
nephew, Jarrett Ellis;
grandparents, Dr. M.L. King
Sr., and Mrs. Bessie Bailey,
Cleveland, Ohio; aunts, Mrs.
Christine King Farris and Mrs.
Coretta Scott King; uncle, Mr.
Isaac Farris; cousins, Yolanda
Denise King, Martin Luther
King 111, Dexter Scott King,
Bernice Albertine King, Isaac
Farris Jr., Angele Farris, Mr.
and Mrs. Jerome Brown, Mrs.
Lenora Walker and Mr. and
Mrs. Henry King and famUy. all
of Detroit, Michigan; Mr. and
Mrs. James A. King and famUy,
Rev. and Mrs. Joel L. King and
famUy, Mansfield, Ohio; Mrs.
Cleo Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Johnnie
Jordan and famUy, Mr. and
Mrs. John Anderson and
famUy, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer
Ross and famDy, Rev. and Mrs.
Toussant HUI and famUy,
Detroit; Miss Clara HiU, Las
Vegas, Nevada; Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Hill and famUy, Miss
Betty Ann HiD, Detroit; and
host of other relatives and
friends.
continue until justice is granted
in this case, no matter what or
how long it takes. We wUI
overcome.”
By Tracy Williams
"If you’re gonna sweep a
floor and if you’re educated,
you should sweep it better,”
John M. Tutt used to say to his
pupils at Haines some years
back. And almost always the
classroom would yield its
utmost attention to the gentle
giant
What he preached, he meant.
One of the area’s foremost
educators, “Prof Tutt' - as
they used to call him - devoted
an entire life to upbuilding
youngsters into well-rounded
men and women.
Bom in Augusta in 1886,
Tutt received his early
education at Haines Institute
and after entering Lincoln
University (Pa.) as a
sophomore, he earned his
bachelor’s and master’s
degrees. It is said that he
A. CANDLER
LIBRARY
cln Aitynsta
AN OPEN FORUM FOR PEOPLE WHO CARE n o ?.
Augusta, Georgia
robbery of Hank’s Bar in
Blythe, Ga. The owner of the
bar was shot and all the
patrons were robbed.
Oakes was also charged with
the June robberies of Ye Olde
Watch Shoppe in Windsor
Square, Hills Food Store,
Southern Milling Co. and the
Bon Air Hotel.
Hendrix said, “We came up
with Oakes’ name in March but
all we had was street talk and
nothing really to go on.”
However, he said, “we stopped
him on Greene Street, advised
him of his rights and asked him
and his brother for a picture.
L.K. Reese
T.W. Josey Principal Retires
After 36 Years Os Teaching
By G.R. Wright
After 32 years of working
for tile Richmond County
Board of Education, which
includes 12 years navigating a
course for Josey High School,
Llovd K. Reese has decided to
give up the helm and go in a
semiretirement.
Reese, 64, wUI become
attendance coordinator for the
Richmond County Board of
Education. Exemplifying his
dedication to education he
said, “you look forward to
retirement and when you get
there and find out that you are
needed in another capacity,
you do it. Reese added that
attendance played avery
important role regarding a
student fading or succeeding.
A native of MiDen, Ga. and a
graduate of the 1934 class of
Paine College, Reese began
working for the board in 1940
as a teacher and principal.
During his tenure he has
worked as a coach and has held
the principalships of
Welfare Violator Returned To Ga. To Be Prosecuted
For the first time, an
accused welfare fraud violator
has been arrested outside
Georgia and returned to the
state for prosecution,
according to T.G. Morgan,
assistant legal services officer
for the Department of Human
Resources.
Mrs. Margaret L. Ries was
brought back, tried and
convicted of fraud in Muscogee
Superior Court in Columbus,
Ga. in June and sentenced to
three years in the State
Penitentiary. The sentence was
suspended upon payment of
Professor Tutt: Legend In His Own Time
established the highest
academic record of any
Lincoln student in its history.
By age 20, he was an instructor
at Lincoln and was being asked
by many other schools to come
and teach. But because of his
loyalty to Miss Lucy Laney
and Haines, he decided to
come back to Augusta.
His faithfulness to Miss
Laney, he felt, was his
gratitude for her guidance
during his childhood years.
Tutt’s father had died when he
was only three or four and Miss
Laney immediately “took him
under her wings”. It was she
who helped him to believe in
himself.
When he came back to
Haines, he became its assistant
principal and a teacher of
mathematics, physics, and even
Latin and Greek. There was.
which he agreed to take.”
The investigation started
closing in on Wednesday and
Thursday, July 7 and 8,” he
said. He added, an informat
told them he knew the group
that was responsible for the
robberies. The police picked up
a subject but he was later
cleared.
But, according to Hendrix,
through information gained
from the informat and after
Oakes was identified from a
picture, that gave the police
enough probably cause to pick
up Oakes. “From Thursday on
elementary and junior high
schools. “1 felt that one
position complemented the
other,” he said. Talking about
what he tried to accomplish at
Josey, Reese said, “We tried to
Barnes Receives Promotion
Marion Barnes, principal of Tubman Junior High School,
will become the princioal of T.W. Josey when Principal L.K.
Reese retires in September.
Tracy Williams, assistant principal at Josey, will become
principal at Tubman.
Fred Sadler of Murphy Junior High and Frank Simmons of
Lucy Laney High wUI become assistant principals at Josey.
prepare the student for
anything he may encounter
after leaving us.” But, he is
quick to add, “all the success
we had can be attributed to the'
staff.” Out of the 36 teachers
that came from A.R. Johnson
Junior High with Reese in
1964 there are still 18 left in
the school.
SSO per month restitution,
beginning July 1,1976.
From June 1972 until
December 1974, Mrs. Ries
received a monthly check for
Aid to FamHies with
Dependent Chddren, Food
Stamps and Medicaid benefits.
Over the 2!6 year period, she
received $6,947.66 as benefits
for which she was not eligible
because she falsely claimed
that she was not married. The.
woman had stated she was
married on employment
records and she was married in
the city directory.
too, another side to “Prof
Tutt”, that being his
contributions in athletics. He
first became a coach in 1908
and while in Haines, he
coached every sport the school
offered - football, tennis,
baseball, basketball, and
“racing” (track).
If anything, Tutt is often
considered one of the greatest
coaches Augusta has ever had.
Athletics, he believed, made
intelligent men and women
sound and sturdy. He himself
once wrote, “Athletics have
always been one of those
happy diversions that has made
students anxious to linger at
Haines, or in summer when
being seemingly punished by
the powerful rays of the sun,
they (athletics) have made
them leam to return to their
haven of joy and sadness, to
he (Oakes) had been identified
several times," he added.
Oakes was picked up and
committed to jail on July 8 at
about 3:40 p.m., Hendrix said,
and placed in a one-man cell on
the main floor.
Hendrix said at 9 p.m. he
met with two city detectives
and they informed Oakes of
the charges and what they had
on him. At this time, according
to Hendrix, Oakes confessed to
all of the charges and agreed to
testify for the state. Also,
Oakes supposedly informed the
police about the other men
involved in the robberies.
Reese cited the start of an
accelerated program for
advanced youths, a special
education program, a
vocational program and
enabling students to work in
part-time jobs related to the
type of school work they were
doing as some of the things
they were able to accomplish
at Josey.
But, Reese describes his
most memorable moment as
being in 1971 when Josey
started a Junior Reserved
Officers Training Corp
On December 31, 1974, the
suspected fraud was discussed
with Mrs. Ries and the
possiblity of prosecution was
mentioned. Within a few days,
Mrs. Ries and her family left
the state and moved to
Chicago, 111.
Georgia’s 1973 law states
that any person who by means
of false statement obtains any
type of public assistance shall
be punished. If the fraud is
over SSOO, the case shaD be
tried as a felony and sentencing
can be from one to three years.
Because of difficulties in
their home of thrift and
peace.”
“Prof Tutt” won
championships, too, in every
sport and amazingly without
the aid of assistant coaches.
Before he handled the coaching
reins of Laney High School, he
was Haines’ trainer, its business
manager, and head coach. He
himself sewed up tom
uniforms or made
arrangements for out-of-town
trips. His teams were so strong
that he often played colleges.
A typical schedule carried such
schools as Claflin, Benedict,
Voorhees, etc. Stories are still
told about how Haines often
times whipped Paine College
on the grid iron or how the
Haines five was invincible in
the old Bethlehem Center Gym
where they played basketball.
He stuck faithfully to the old
Julv 22, 1976 No. 16
“We took the confession
until about 11 or 11:30 p.m.,”
Hendrix said, “then we left to
try and apprehend another
suspect.”
“1 was very' surprised when
he confessed,” Hendrix said.
“There weren’t any deals
made,” he added.
As a result of Oakes'
confession, Hendrix said,
warrants were sent out for five
men. Anthony Lewis Williams,
Charles Williams and Joseph
Williams (no relation) were all
arrested in Boston, Mass.
Hendrix said that all three were
r
LLOYD K. REESE
(ROTC). “The white schools
alwats had them," he said,
“aNd when we got it, it jsut
added more pride and dignity
to the school.
Reese said the ROTC
enrollment was very high
during the Vietnam conflict.
“Many looked on it as being if
they had to go in the service,”
he said. And, he remembers
with a chuckle that Josey had a
very high number to enlist the
year after the draft stopped.
“You always wonder if your
meeting the students needed,”
Reese said. “We always tried to
get tire student to come back
after he leaves and tell us what
else couidn’ve been done,” he
added.
In September, Marion
Barnes, who was principal at
Tubman Junior High, will be at
the helm at Josey. But, the
departing skipper, L.K. Reese,
will be missed and he will
always be remembered as the
first captain at Josey High
SchooL
locating the defendant and
court delays, it was May, 1976
before Mrs. Ries was arrested
in Chicago and returned to
Georgia by the Muscogee
County Sheriffs department
“In the past, people have
thought they could commit
fraud, skip the state and be
scot free,” says Morgan. “The
Ries case proves this is no
longer so. We have the
governor’s assurance that if
necessary we can use Georgia
Bureau of Investigation
personnel to return accused
violators to the state of
prosecution.”
Haines motto: “Red and Black,
Victory or Death” and didn’t
tolerate an “I can’t” or “1
quit” from athletes.
A few years ago, David
Dupree, a successful coach at
Laney in his own right,
mentioned at a “Dupree Day”
celebration, “Mr. John Tutt’s
belief in today’s youth has
inspired me to help build men
from all the boys with whom I
am entrusted.” Dupree became
Tutt’s first assistant at Laney
during the 50’s. He continued,
“My earnest effort to continue
the envious record which he
began is my tribute to him.”
His sermondike talks were
meant to be applied to most
any aspect of life. “You ARE
going to be somebody,” he
would lecture. “Don’t say you
See “PROF. TUTT”
Page 6
on their way back to Georgia,
they all waved extradition.
There are still two men at
large.
“We feel that these six men
were possibly joined in some of
the robberies by others.”
Hendrix said.
Approximately nine hours
after Oakes confessed he
allegedly committed suicide.
“He committed suicide Friday
morning after breakfast at
about 10 a.m.,” Hendrix said.
“There were only 10 minutes
or less from the time he put
himself up there and the time
he was discovered,” he added.
“When I heard the news my
legs became wobbly,” Hendrix
said, “it meant a lot of hard
work went down the drain.”
Hendrix said he had no idea
why Oakes would have killed
himself.
According to Hendrix,
Oakes w'as out on parole for a
burgulary committed in 1970.
Oakes was sentenced to 20
years. Hendrix said Oakes told
him he was released in
November 1975.
The sentence for armed
robbery is 5 to 20 years.
District Attorney Richard
Allen said. “Cooperating with
the authorities doesn’t always
put you out on the streets,”
Allen said. “He was probably
looking at some time,” he
added.
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A ’ \ V * 'A
Ai\ ’
CHARLES F. SMITH
Charles Smith
Is New Moton
Staff Member
Charles F. Smith, former
Title 111 coordinator at
Voorhees College, has joined
the staff of the Moton Institute
effective July 1. He will serve
as assistant director of the
Moton College Service Bureau
in Washington, D.C. Office.
Before assuming the position
at Voorhees in 1975, he held
numerous teaching and
administrative posts at Paine
College, his alma mater. He
directed the Academic Skills
Clinic from 1969-1973,
became federal relations officer
in 1971 and served as director
of Development until
1973-1975. He has provided
consultative services for the
Moton College Service Bureau
for the past three years.
Smith received his B.S.
degree from Paine CoDege in
1964. He attended New York
University as a Courant
Institute Fellow in
mathematics from 1965-67. He
has attended and participated
in numerous workshops and
institutes during the past
several years including those
sponsored by Moton, the
American Management
Association, the Association of
American CoUeges and the U.S.
Office of Education. He has
made numerous evaluative
visits for the U.S. Office of
Education, particularly in
Region IV and serves as a field
reader for various other
government programs.
In 1976, Smith was elected
president of the National
Association of Federal
Relations Officers, an
organization whose
membership includes
administrators involved in
federal program activities from
80 coDeges and universities
throughout the United States.
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