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Walking With Dignity
By AL IRBY
Mighty Nigeria Is Heading Toward
Its Rightful Place In The Sun
Nigeria, the expected gem of the African nations, has
eventually come around in handing the reins of government back
to the people. The Western World will be watching with great
interest, this important transition. Nigeria’s military government
will soon make public the text of a draft constitution as part of
its avowed plan to return the country to civilian rule by October,
1979. The draft, submitted to Head of State Lt. Gen. Plusegun
Obasanjo recently by a hand-picked 49-man committee, is certain
to recommend an American-type executive presidency to replace
the British-type parliamentary democracy adopted at
independence in 1960, that has been suspended since the military
seized power in 1966. Nigerians are waiting for public debate on
the draft constitution to be opened. Heated discussion is clearly
in the offing, as the constitution drafting committee itself split
into two factions. University lecturers Segun Osoba and Yusuf
Bah Usman presented their own separate reports to General
Osasanjo. They said the report prepared by the other 47 members
of the committee “has failed to provide for true democracy and
does not provide for the politics of consensus.”
A temporary constituent assembly with both elected and
appointed members are expected to accept the new constitution.
The assembly’s work as well as public debate on the constitution
will last until October, 1978. This will represent the second stage
of a five-year plan to transfer government back to the civilians.
The first stage was the formation of seven new states, bringing the
total to 19, and the drafting of the new constitution. In drawing
the new state boundaries, officials tried to cater to the country’s
minority tribes which had asked for their own states even before
independence. But not everyone is happy about the outcome.
General Obsanjo recently reprimanded a new group of agitators
and warned them the military authorities were in no mood to set
up any more states.
The establishment of the new states and the reorganization of
local government councils are almost complete. In all 19 states,
local governments are being organized along guidelines issued by
the federal government in consultation with traditional rulers and
a cross-section of the populace.
yfafifwneM Meattk
By Otto McClarrin
New Invention May
Revolutionize Treatment
Os Diabetes
A team of scientists says a tiny sensor and teaspoon-sized
plastic pump have cured dogs of diabetes and that the devices
may give people the same relief within a few years. Doctors at
Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center have invented a tiny
pair of devices that measure the amount of sugar in die body and
then pumps the proper amount of medicine automatically.
Dr. Samuel Bessman, who built the machinery at home in his
garage-shop, believes the invention is about to revolutionize
treatment of diabetes. The devices are a glucose sensor and a tiny
pump with a pulsating crystal that has been used to trigger land
mines and letter bombs. They have been implanted
experimentally in dogs, and Dr. Bessman believes they could give
an extra 20 years of life to human diabetics as well.
“I think there’s no question that it’s going to be applicable to
humans,” Bessman said “We’re almost 100 percent sure that this
can be done now commercially because this is a very simple
technological thing.”
AFFECTS 10 MILLION
Diabetes affects more than 10 million Americans, and in 1974,
38,000 persons died directly as a result of the disease. The
National Commission on Diabetes says the actual number of
death at least partially attributable to diabetes probably was close
to 300,000 that year.
Bessman said Dr. Lyle Thomas designed the teaspoon-capacity
pump and Dr. Ennis C. Layne designed the revolutionary glucose
sensor that tells the tiny computer whether “Tissue sugar is too
high or too low” in the patient whose pancreas has stopped
functioning properly.
One dog, a mongrel named Mambo, has the pump installed in
his chest muscle and the sensor underneath the skin of his back.
The sensor also can be used to measure the oxygen in people
withing taking blood samples, Bessman stated.
Medical theory has held that when a pancreas stops producing
insulin, the blood sugar increases, causing diabetes. “Out theories
about diabetes are a little different,” said Dr. Bessman. We
believe blood sugar isn’t the problem but only a signal that
something is awry in the tissues. The blood is just a conduit. It s
where the sugar arrives that counts.”
When a pancreas fails to produce insulin, he said, ‘ the rest of
its functions usually remain normal.” But if necessary, the team s
invention can also counter Hypoglycemia, the overproduction of
Letters to the Editor
Praises To Janies Brown
Dear Editor:
We must at sometime pause
to say something good about
someone who greatly deserves
it
Our native son, James
Brown, has contributed so
much to our society. He has
been recognized by the highest
officials in our nation.
Former Vice President
Hubert Humphry awarded Mr.
Brown personally for making
“Don’t Be A Drop Out” which
was an inspiration for kids to
stay in school
It’s evident that Mayor
Johnny Ford of Tuskegee, Ala.
had love in his heart for the
“Godfather of Soul” when he
choose to rename the street on
which he resided to James
Brown Dr.
I for one would like to
thank Mr. Brown for having
such an informative Future
Shock TV Show. Some kids
had never been to Atlanta until
he made it possible for them to
do so. On his dance contests he
gave away lots of cash trying to
better our youth.
Yes, he’s a wonderful man
that has a lot to give so let’s
give him a little recognition in
his ole home town, Augusta,
Ga.
Dorothy Sutton Young
601 Monte Sano Ave.
Augusta, Ga.
Perform*
death-defying
Exercise regularly.
A
Oecegle Heart Association ,T /
Elections for local councils will be held in about half of the
states this December. The other states have opted for indirect
elections and will elect their leaders in November. Some former
politicians have critized the system of indirect elections. Alhaji
Aminy Kano, leader of the banned Northern Elements Progressive
Party and a powerful leader in the coming civilian government,
argues that such a system “has taken Nigeria back 20 years.” He
expresses concern that councils will be filled with “yes men and
errand boys” of some rulers. The system renews the attitude that
one part of the country is more developed than another, he says.
Nigerians have not shown much interest in what has been
described as “elections without political parties.” When voter
registration closed in Lagos State, only 5 percent of those eligible
had registered.
The federal guidelines for local reorganization are broad. As
the government of Sokoto State, Col. Umaru Mohammed said in
an address to his constituents: “The aim is to agree on the basic
essentials for a free, democratic, and effective local government
system, and to allow each state choice to implement this system
in a manner appropriate to its culture and history.” The cultural
disparity in the various tribes had made integration very difficult
in the past. One question at least, remains to be answered; Will
women in the Muslim-dominated northern states be allowed to
vote in the coming elections? The third stage of the projected
transition from military to civilian government is reactivating
political parties in preparation for state and federal elections. The
ban on political activities is to be lifted in October, 1978,
allowing only one year for political reorganization before the
election. The relatively short time allocated for political activity
and general elections has given rise to speculation the country
might emerge with only one or two parties instead of the many
allowed under the old constitution. The fourth and final stages of
the power transfer are to be the actual elections for state and
federal legislatures. This timely transition will be watched with
great understanding and sympathy; because Westerners, especially
Blacks had hoped so diligently, that “mighty” Nigeria would set
the pace for real progressive growth for “MOTHER AFRICA”.
insulin, Bessman said.
HEART OPERATION ALLOWS SOME RETIREES TO RESUME
WORK
Aortocoronary bypass surgery, a popular operation that’s
successful 85 percent of the time, is also proving successful in
getting patients back to work. A study of 893 men who underwent
the operation found that 83 percent returned to employment
afterward, and about one-fifth of them were retirees who
resumed working.
The investigation, reported recently in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, was conducted by researchers at
the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for 14 months
after the operations. The results show that patients “are probably
better off’ - medically and socioeconomically - “if they have the
operation,” said Joseph J. Barboriak, professor of pharmacology
at the medical college and one of four authors of the report.
Bypass surgery relieves and often ends crushing chest pain
called angina pectoris. A new blood vessel, taken from some other
part of the body, is grafted to the heart so that it takes blood
from a large artery and pipes it around an obstruction in one of
the tiny coronary arteries. It’s estimated that more than 50,000
Americans undergo bypass surgery annually.
TO BE EQUAL
By Vernon E. Jordon Jr.
Cities--The Hidden Issue
We've managed to get this far in the election campaign without
anyone really pressing the big hidden issue -- the fate of the cities.
Except for the growing metropolises of the so-called “sunbelt”,
most major American cities are experiencing loss of jobs,
deterioration of housing stock, poor transportation facilities, high
rates of inner-city poverty, and extreme fiscal crisis.
Large sections of some cities look like bombed-out wastelands
as housing abandoment spreads. Crime makes many
neighborhoods unsafe and the schools are laying off teachers in
the face of the special needs of poor pupils.
Such a situation calls for a Domestic Urban Marshall Plan that
would harness the vast powers of the federal government, state
and local governments and the private sector for a full-scale effort
to save the cities and restore urban vitality.
But neither candidate has endorsed such a program, or even
come close to it. Caution seems to be the byword, as both
candidates fear scaring off voters with proposals for bold new
programs.
But this assumes a conservatism among the electorate that’s
not justified. True, many public opinion polls show more people
willing to call themselves “conservative.” But at the same time
most people favor social programs like national health insurance
and expanded efforts to cut unemployment.
One national poll on federal priorities found only 3 percent
concerned about “excessive spending on social problems.” The
same people who parrot the common complaints about
Washington and “big government” also say they want the
government to do something about jobs, housing and other issues
that affect their lives.
So there’s little reason for candidates to misread the polls and
assume they’ve got to soft peddle the issues that really concern
the people. Both candidates are being cautious, saying that only a
little tinkering will do the trick and shrink from programs of the
scale of a Domestic Urban Marshall Plan. Meanwhile, supporters
of both imply that once the elections are behind us the winner
will take a bolder stance.
But why mistrust the people? Everyone knows that poverty is
eating away at the cities like a cancer, and that the numbers of
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"GOING PLACES”
Anniversary Edition To
Recapture Rich Augusta Black History
As there’s wide agreement that Blacks have been largely
committed from American and Augusta history, the forthcoming
Part 11, Fifth Anniversary edition of the News-Review will
attempt to put some of it in place. Yes, before it is lost forever,
with those who remembered it. Our October 28 edition will
attempt to so some of this.
1 am asking all of our readers and friends to assist in these
endeavors. Our May 31 edition coupled with the Fourth of July
paper captured some of these people and events on paper and
preserved for our history.
SOME OF THE BLACKS WHO HELPED BUILD AUGUSTA
Again we are featuring a panel of people living today and
others who have passed.
the poor sharply increased last year - an additional 2.5 million
people became poor, largely through loss of jobs and the end of
their unemployment insurance coverage.
Not enough people are aware that the federal government takes
a disproportionate amount of urban resources in taxes and then
redistributes much of it to other sectors. Hard pressed New York
City, with 7.6 percent of the population paid 11.4 percent of all
federal income taxes in 1974 and now is shutting down hospitals,
schools and day care centers.
The federal government has been running an unofficial
Marshall Plan program for the suburbs for years, with
road-building programs, housing mortgage subsidies, and tax
breaks, and the private sector has cooperated by a wholesale
movement of plants and offices away from the inner-city.
No one labeled this a as a special program, but that’s the result
of a multitude of federal and private actions. As the financial
magazine, Business Week, put it: “Restoring the cities to
self-sufficiency” would mean “the kind of investment that has
reproduced pieces of the city, including whole business districts,
in the suburbs over the past several decades. Neither Carter not
Ford is talking about such investment. Anything less is not likely
to make much difference to cities.”
The candidates know this. They know that whoever wins the
election will have to deal with an urban crisis that can largely
determine the future of the nation.
So why not level with us now? Why ask people to go to the
polls unsure of how the candidates will deal with this hidden
issue? The candidate who goes to an inner-city slum to see
first-hand what’s happening to our cities and uses it as a forum to
unveil his plans for a Marshall Plan for urban America will do
more than spark a lacklustre campaign, he’ll take a giant step
toward victory in November.
ft THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW g
Mallory K. MillenderEditor-Publisher
Frank Bowman General & Advertising Manager ft
ft Stan RainesManaging Editor & Circulation Manager X
Audrey Frazier Editor-At-Large
Al Irby News Editor
Michael Carr Chief Photographer ft
ft Mary Gordonßookkeeper X
¥ Mailing Address: Box 953, Augusta, Ga. Phone 722-4555
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We’d like pictures immediately in small glossy finished black
and white, but no larger than a silver dollar if possible.
Let’s start off with some of our dedicated public school
administrators which would include Raymond Jenkins, Music
coordinator Shaw, Marian Bonds, Tracy Williams,ll, Albert
Greenlee, H.H. Brigham, Lee Beard, Rev. Luther Neal, Jimmy
Starks, Wigham Raybom and Herbert Evans.... (did we miss any
administrators?)
We’d like pictures of L.B. Wallace, one of Augusta’s
outstanding business and civic leaders.... From Pilgrim Life we’d
want; Walter Hornsby, 111 and Solomon Walker, H.R. Scott and
retired executives C.O. Hollis (a past president of NIA) and John
Barrington.... Let’s remember A.M. Carter (Ed, could you get a
small photo of him? Thanks).
THE BLACK CHURCH TO BE FEATURED
Base-spring of Black History is the Black Church. This edition
will highlight several including their pastors. It will include those
now carrying weekly announcements in the N-R.
We will attempt to show several buildings and institutions
which have been built during the past 15 years.... Examples of
new structures are: The new Pilgrim branch office down on
Laney/Walker Blvd., the CSRA Business League, Williams Funeral
Home, the new Paine building and Bethlehem Commuinty
addition.... N-R staff photography will show office buildings
occupied by Attorney Ruffin and Doctor 810unt.... Churches
which have made structural renovations will be viewed.... The
idea here is to show that millions of dollars have been spent in the
Black community over the years on new and renovated
structures, labor costs, furnishings and the like.... Any economists
will tell you that a Black community the size of Augusta feeds
money back into its local economy, in this case Richmond
County.... Take Tabernacle, with its quarter of a million dollar
renovation j0b....
PUBLIC OFFICIALS OUT FRONT
Local Black elected and appointed officials will be featured....
Thrust is to encourage citizens to register, vote and make then
civic contributions.... We have a paucity of public officials and
the ballot is one route towards advancement....
Still another section will present a number of Black and white
political officials (outside Augusta) who are helping to shape
political change in the South....
We’ve invited a number of prominent Augusta Black leaders to
write special articles for this edition... This should aid greatly as
this edition will be around the nation and advance the image of
Augusta....
Now for the health field - Would physicians William Griffin and
Randy Watson and Dentists Arthur Keller, Maurice Thompson
and Lattimer Blount kindly forward their small black and white
pictures....
The same for Attorney John Watkins, head of the local
Conference of Black Lawyers. Civil Rights lawyer Jim Hinton and
Attorney Davis....
Photos are needed of Mrs. A.W. Gardiner, Dean of Black
Social Workers”, Prof. M.B. Braxton, outstanding educator,
Lonnie Hamilton, “Dean of Housing Professionals”, Mrs. Ora
Thompson, co-founder of the Women’s Civiv Club, Mrs. Ophelia
Donahue, Mrs. Charlotte H. Watkins, Mrs. Evelyn Green Screen,
outstanding military recreation specialist, insurance executive
Ronald Loftlin, Mrs. Jerrylyn Dent, Civic worker.... Also Mrs.
Geneva F. Scott.
Our readers want views of Mrs. Gwen Cummings, head of the
Wallace Branch Library* Mrs. Addie Scott Powell, curator of the
Black Heritage. Commission, Ms. Laura Garvin, retired educator,
Dr. Vivian Robinson, Paine College dean, Mrs. Rosa Tutt, and
Mrs. Ruby Jenkins, both music educators.
REACH BACK IN HISTORY- LEADERS REMEMBERED
This edition will reach back into history with photos of:
Deacon H.B. Garvin and Deacon Walter Harris, two famous
leaders and editors, Willie Wilburn and Louis Bohler, Masonic and
religious leaders, J.C. McNatt, all-time great athlete, Earl
Pickerton, one of the first Black theatre managers, Mr. A. Green,
owner-operator of one of our first mattress factories (his daughter
is Evelyn C. Screen), Clarence Wigfall and insurance man George
Johnson.... Would relatives of these persons kindly forward
pictures to the N-R office at once....
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