Newspaper Page Text
Vnl. 7, No. 35
Grady Abrams finds
a new life in Christ
By Mallory K, Millender
For more than three years
now former City Councilman
Grady Abrams has.deliberately
stayed out of public view. He
says he’s been rejected and it
hurts.
He still has friends and goes
where he is “genuinely
invited,” but he is a changed
man. He says that he has found
Christ.
He remembers vividly how
he has stood on street comers
and denied the existence of
God. “The reason I got on the
platform and denied His
existence was that I hadn’t ever
known Him, hadn’t ever met
Him,” he said.
“To get that real feeling of
what Christianity is about I
had to be driven there. I had to
be driven to understand.”
What changed Grady
Abrams? “It started when my
nephew got killed.” His
nephew was released from jail
on Christmas eve 1969.1 t was
to be the family’s Christmas
present. He was shotgunned to
death the same day a few feet
from Abrams.
DIED IN MY ARMS
“Prior to that point 1
thought I was a little
superman. That I could do
things. That 1 had power.”
“And the day he died in my
arms... He lay there and looked
up at me gasping and seemingly
asking me to save him. And I’m
Ruffin asks Tiller to ignore
Daniel’s ‘‘political advice’
Atty. John H. Ruffin Jr. has
gotten into the controversy
over the proposal to make the
Human Relations Commission
(HRC) an official deferral
agency for employment
complaints.
In a letter dated Dec. 16,
Ruffin urged County
Commission Chairman Harold
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VIVIAN JEAN EVERSON
Beauty of the Week
Vivian Jean Everson is a
student at the Medical College
of Georgia, working towards a
master’s degree in nursing.
Ms. Everson, who is
originally from Abbeville, Ga.,
is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Northern Everson Sr. Bom
under the sign of Leo the Lion,
she enjoys sewing, riding
horseback, traveling and
meeting new people.
Augusta Nruts-Kntjrut
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GRADY ABRAMS
“One prayer can bring about miracles"
looking at him and I couldn’t
do a thing in the world. With
all the power I thought I had, I
couldn’t do anything to help
him. And I felt powerless.”
His conversion, however, did
not corne insl.mtly aud he still
is not without sin, he said. He
fought the conversion for three
Tiller to reject the latest
“political advice” given him by
Robert C. Daniel Jr., the
county attorney. Daniel has
advised the County
Commission to rescind the
ordinance.
The dispute began last
month when the Commission
She is a member of the Mt.
Olive Baptist Church in
Abbeville and Alpha Kappa
Alpha Sorority.
Ms. Everson is an honor
graduate of both the Wilcox
County High School and
Albany State College.
Her plans for the future? Ms.
Everson hopes to eventually
become a professor and teach
nursing at the university level.
P.O. Box 953
or four months. “I began to
challenge God. I said if you
exist, show me something.
Come into my life. And certain
things just started moving into
place.”
MAKES $9.25 PER HOUR
One of the tilings that fell
passed the ordinance aimed at
alleviating the backlog of
complaints before the Equal
Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), located
in Atlanta. The HRC, under
the proposal, would take over
the job of investigating and
Former Augustan
Dr. Screen says his
book surpressed here
Dr. Robert Screen, a former
Augustan and author of a new
novel, “With My Face to the
Rising Sun”, says that his book
is being supressed in Augusta.
He said the daily newspapers
have refused to review it and
most of the local book stores
won’t order it.
Dr. Screen said the daily
newspapers said they would
not review his book because
the first scene in the book
portrays Augusta in a “negative
light,” and because the book is
set in Augusta 30 years ago and
does not give an accurate
picture of Augusta today.
S unday Chronicle-Herald
Editor Keith Claussen said she
had not seen the book but felt
that a book written by an
Augustan should be reviewed,
whether the review is good or
bad.
A check with area
bookstores revealed only one
that had ordered copies of the
book. Annette Rawlins at the
Book Comer was familiar with
the book but the store did not
have copies. She called the
Book Comer in Daniel Village
and found that six copies of
the book had just arrived and
five of them were sold that
day.
into place was that he got a
job, something he hadn’t had
for more than five years. He is
now a journeyman iron worker
making $9.25 an hour.-and
expects to get a raise soon that
will put his hourly salary at
$lO.lB.
When Abrams started
working, the foreman, whom he
said read the Bible all the time,
would bring certain scriptures
to his attention. Abrams said
he’d go home and read up on
the scriptures just so he could
talk to him and “let him know
that I’m no dummy”. But.
Abrams added,“Thatwas the
only reason I was looking at
those scriptures.”
“During the time I was
reading the scriptures, new
knowledge was coming to me.
And I started looking at things
differently. That man, a white
man, was instrumental in my
taking the time to find out
what these words were all
about.”
The other man
“instrumental” in his new
found success was Joe Jones,
former field representative for
the Labor Education
Advancement Program
(LEAP).
“He asked me about going
into construction and I told
him I’d give it a try. Joe was
instrumental in everything that
has happened «■ me
successfully,” Abrams said.
“Joe is one of those persons
holding hearings on complaints
related to such matters as
discriminatory employment
practices.
Before the ordinance
actually becomes law, the City
Council would have to adopt
the ordinance. To date it has
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Dr. Robert Screen
Tom Abbott of Home Folks
said he had not heard of the
book. A spokesman for Book
World said he had absolutely
never heard of the book.
“With My Face to the Rising
Sun” is published by Harcourt,
Brace and Janovich.
Dr. Screen is a professor of
speech communications at
Hampton Institute where last
year he coached the school’s
tennis team to the national
collegiate championship. It was
the first time a Black college
has ever won the national
tennis title.
December 22, 1977
who stuck his neck out for me
when it was unpopular to do
so, when people tended to take
their hands off me.”
, After a brilliant beginning in
1968 as an outspoken,
articulate 27-year-old
Councilman, Abrams became
the subject of much negative
publicity. Rightly or wrongly
he was accused of both using
and selling drugs The Rev.
Arthur Sims accused him of
taking money in political
payoffs. After several threats
to do so, Abrams resigned as a
city councilman in July of
1971. In December, 1971, he
announced that he would be a
candidate for mayor. Five days
later he was arrested along with
John Young and charged with
armed robbery and aggravated
assault with intent to murder.
FRIEND SHOT TO DEATH
He was acquitted, but his
close friend, Young, was shot
to death before the case came
to trial. Abrams did run for
mayor in 1972 but received
less than a thousand votes.
In 1974 Abrams found his
girlfriend, Carol Greggs, in her
apartment, dead. She had been
strangled and no one has ever
been arrested for the murder.
In an article in die
News-Review, Abrams asked
the police to clear the “cloud
<•' suspicion" that made him
See “ABRAMS”
Page 6
not done so.
At the heart of tlie issue is
whether the ordinance should
contain a criminal penalty. As
adopted by the Commission,
the law would penalize
employers who violate it, if
they are convicted in state
court. The penalty would be a
fine between 525-SIOO or up
to 30 days in jail.
Normally, the failure to
comply with EEOC
employment guidelines is only
a civil offense, carrying a
possible fine. However, Daniels
advised the Commission last
month that a state court is
authorized to hear only
criminal matters. Therefore, a
criminal penalty
(imprisonment) was added to
the ordinance.
After Daniels advised' the
Commission to rescind the
ordinance, Ruffin objected.
“It is indeed regrettable that
the attorney for the
Commission has involved
himself in political
considerations rather than
basing his opinion on the legal
aspects of the question under
consideration,” Ruffin wrote,
adding “I am certain that it
was never the intent of the
citizens of Richmond County
to have a ‘sixth Commissioner’,
and most assuredly the County
Attorney who is not popularly
elected, should not function in
this capacity.”
Ruffin said if Daniel’s
opinions cannot be supported
legally, he should not “attempt
to support them politically.”
The Commission, he said, is
saturated with “too much
politics as it is and the delving
into political considerations by
the County Attorney does not
improve matters.”
Ruffin said that the
ordinance is “legally sound or
See “RUFFIN”
Page 2
Less Than 75% Advertising
V- im -L_rrni W J i B-I -1 *
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WHY ME LORD? this 6-year-old Joseph seems to be wondering, as he made his
acting debut in the Greater Mt. Canaan Baptist Church production of “Bethlehem
Treasures” last Sunday. By the lime the hosts of angels, wise men ami shepherds had
paid homage to the Christ Child, however, Joseph - Kevin Fletcher - probably
understood the true meaning of Christmas. He and the other <0 children
participating in the play perhaps learned the meaning ot the praises PEACE ON
EARTH, GOOD WILL TO MEN.”
Kevin is the son of Staff Sgt. and Mrs. Jerry Fletcher. Matilda Bennett, the
6-year-old Mary, is the daughter ot Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Bennett.
Man, 80, robbed in graveyard
An 80-year-old man was
robbed at gunpoint last week
as he visited a grave, according
to police.
Can teen pregnancy
epidemic be halted
By Michael Castleman
Pacific News Service
An estimated 11 million
teenagers are sexually active in
the U.S. today. Studies show
that more than half of them
used no contraception the last
time they had intercourse.
And while the overall birth
rate continues to decline in the
UJS., the birth rate among
teenagers is rising steadily -
with the most dramatic
increases among mothers 13
and under.
Teen mothers have more
children, more premature
children, more miscarriages,
and more stillbirths than
non-teen mothers. They have
higher rates of death during
childbirth and infant death
during the first year than older
mothers. The suicide rate
among teen mothers is 10
times the national average.
Teen mothers tend to drop
out of high school and survive
on welfare. They rarely
develop marketable job skills,
and children who raise children
are involved in an inordinate
amount of child abuse and
neglect.
Hoping to combat this
“epidemic of premature
pregnancy” across the U.S., the
federal Department of Health,
Education and Welfare (HEW)
plans to ask Congress for S2OO
million for a four-year
campaign to provide
contraceptive methods and
education to three million
teens - or about 575 per teen
served.
While federal funds have
been spent in the past on
contraceptive programs for
teenagers, to avoid opposition
they were funnelled through
drug abuse programs or under
the carefully vague heading of
“youth services”.
But now HEW is “becoming
a little bolder about teen
contraception,” says a
department official in San
Francisco. “There is no
question about the agency’s
long-term commitment to the
reduction of teen birth and VD
rates.”
And Congress is expected to
go along because federal funds
are no longer available for
Medicaid abortions, which
were disproportionately used
by teens. The federal emphasis
is shifting to teen
contraception.
Mr. Thomas D. Jones told
police a man approached him,
pulled a pistol and threatened
to kill him if he did not turn
“There'll be big bucks in
teen clinics and programs,”
says a San Francisco family
planning staffer.
But how effective will the
new HEW campaign be in
combatting teen pregnancies?
Many informed observers,
including several HEW
consultants, contend that
unless HEW goes beyond
standard approaches to
reaching teens - clinics and
school-based educational
program -- then more money
won’t make that much
difference.
TOO LITTLE,
TOO LATE?
“Although clinics contribute
the major source of birth
control for teens, they are not
reaching large numbers of
sexually active teens, nor are
they reaching them soon
enough,” said a 1975 report by
a consulting firm contracted by
HEW to evaluate teen clinics
funded under Title X of the
1970 Family Planning Act. “In
many cases,” the report adds,
“they also fail to promote
effective contraceptive use
among teens they do reach.”
Family planning researchers
from the San Francisco-based
Urban and Rural Systems
Analysts (URSA), interviewing
423 teen girls at 40 climes in
eight cities including New
York, Atlanta, San Francisco -
Oakland and Seattle,
discovered that 94 per cent of
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RECOGNIZED - Fireman Carl M. Scott was honored by
the Augusta City Council Monday for going “beyond the
call of duty” and saving three lives Dec. 11. He is pictured
with Fire Chief William Maddox.
over his money.
Jones said he gave the thief
his wallet, which contained
around S4O.
those teens were sexually
experienced before they visited
the clinics, and that 75 per
cent had been sexually active
for at least one year before
first visiting the clinics.
One-third of the girls had
already been pregnant. (The
average age of puberty for girls
in the U.S. has dropped to 12 -
and is decreasing')
URSA’s findings were
echoed by the respected Johns
Hopkins research team of Drs.
Kantner and Zelnick, who
recently reported that among
teens there is a “pattern of
having sex, becoming pregnant,
and then going on to use birth
control.”
The URSA report also said
that many teen clinics “do not
reflect a knowledge of their
patients’ lives and feelings.”
Clinics are often inaccessibly
located, with inconvenient
hours, long waiting times and
inadequate guarantees of
privacy. And teen clinics rarely
advertise enough to attract the
attention of potential clients.
The USRA report went on
to criticize the Title X program
for limiting funding strictly to
contraceptive services and not
to such necessarily related
services as pregnancy testing,
problem pregnancy counseling,
VD testing and treatment and
emotional and sexual
See “TEEN PREGNANCY”
Page 6
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