Newspaper Page Text
Richard Pryor
will no longer
use word ‘nigger’
Page 1
VoL 9 No. 12
Electrocuted
Augusta community mourns
Silas Norman, Eddie Gant
Augustans were shocked
Thurday evening by the death
of insuranceman Silas Norman
and Eddie Gant, an electrician.
Gant was apparently
electrocuted while he worked
on an air conditioning unit
beneath Norman’s home at
1440 Forest St.
When the electrician took an
unusually longtime to
complete the job and did not
respond to Norman's calls,
Norman, according to a family
member, put on a pair of
coveralls and went under the
house to see what was wrong.
He is believed to have died
when he touched Gant.
No one was aware of the
fate of either man.
When Norman did not
return from beneath the house,
Norman’s wife asked a
neighbor to go under the house
to check on the two men. The
neighbor reportedly received
electrical shock when he
Miles Motel hit with
$700,000 civil rights suit
An Augusta man who says
the Miles Motel fired him
because he refused to
discriminate against blacks
filed a $700,000 civil rights
suit against the manager and its
parent company, Midland
Motor Inn.
Jerry Collins, who worked at
the motel, 2000 block of Old
Savannah Road for 10 years,
filed the suit in U.S. District
Court along with Kelley
Faison, a black motel guest.
Collins was fired May 19, a
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -
Spending a night in jail on a
charge of shoplifting food to
keep from starving on this
earth. 91-year-old Mattie
Schultz wants to suffer on this
earth.
“I pray and pray every night
for the Lord to take me out,”
the white-haired widow said
after her release from the
Bexas County jail last week.
“You would too, if you were
in the same condition.”
Schultz who told reporters
she had been living on cereal
SACREMENTO-A $f
million fund for California
public schools has been
established by Bank of
America to encourage creative
local projects designed to
improve the quality of
education.
The special fund was
announced by Arthur V.
Toupin, bank vice chairman
and a trustee of Bank America
Foundation, and Dr. Wilson
Riles, superintendent of public
education, in a joint news
Augusta Krnts-ißptijm
touched Norman. The man,
who was not identified, was
not seriously injured, however.
Funeral services for Norman
will be held Thursday at 2 p.m.
at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church
where he was chairman of the
deacon board and
superintendent of the Sunday
School.
A native of Washington, Ga.,
he lived in Augusta for 41
years and was a candidate for
City Council in 1971. He was
an insurance agent for North
Carolina Mutual Insurance Co.
He was 65.
Survivors include his wife,
Mrs. Janie Norman; two
daughters, Ms. Jessye M.
Norman, London, England;
and Mrs. Elaine Sturkey,
Atlanta; three sons, Dr. Silas
Norman Jr., Detroit; James H.
Norman, Lansing, Mich.; and
George E. Norman, Augusta;
three sisters, Mrs. Louise Calvin
and Mrs. Cleo Farell,
week after The News-Review
printed a story outlining
alleged discrimination at the
motel.
The motel manager, Jack
Ruffin, is white. Collins, who is
also white, will be represented
by black atty. (John) Jack
Ruffin.
The suit charges that the
motel manager ordered Collins
to charge double rates to
blacks regardless of occupancy;
reserve certain sections of the
4 I pray for the Lord to take me’
and milk and “having problems
with my heart,” spent 24 hours
in jail on a charge she
shoplifted $15.04 in ham,
sausage and butter from a
supermarket.
Night Magistrate Mary
Elizabeth Ladd had ordered
her jailed in lieu of S4OO cash
bond.
The elderly woman was
bilked out of her life savings -
$4,000 - in 1973 in a “pigeon
drop” scheme in which a band
of criminals left her with only
$lO. Townspeople gave
Bank of America backs education
.onference at the State
Capitol.
Toupin said every school in
the state-large and small-will
be eligible to apply for a grant,
through its respective district,
for a deserving project in the
coming year. The grants will
come from the foundation and
are expected to range from
$2,000 to $50,000.
“The program is one small
step toward strengthening the
partnership between public.
schools and private business,”
137-y ear-old
black man loses
his only leg
Page 1
P.O. Box 953
Philadelphia; and Mrs. Camille
Jordan, Lennoach, N.J.; and
one brother, George Nonnan,
Philadelphia.
Williams Funeral Home will
be in charge of services.
Gant, 49, of 2108 Cassell
St., was a member of the Ml.
Pleasant Baptist Church in
Grovetown.
Survivors include his wife,
Mrs. Prescolla K. Gant; and
son, James E. Gant, Thomson,
Ga.; his father, Joe Gant Sr.,
Thomson; three sisters, Mrs.
Ella M. Roberson and Mrs.
Rosa Barber, New York; and
Mrs. Sarah Schuley, Miami,
Fla; and eight brothers, Lloyd
Gant and James Gant, Augusta;
Johnny Gant, Dave Gant and
Joe Gant, Thomson; Julius
Gant and Robert Gant, Darian;
and Grady Gant, Lawrence,
Mass.
Funeral services will be
announced by People’s Funeral
Home.
motel for whites only; restrk
blacks to certain areas of the
motel, refuse rooms to racially
mixed couples; and refuse
rooms to blacks during Masters
Week.
He said that Ruffin hired
blacks only for menial
positions and that his discharge
was unlawful.
The plaintiffs seek $350,000
in general damages, $350,000
punitive damages, attorney’s
fees, interest and court costs.
donations that year so she
could have Thanksgiving
dinner.
As she walked out of jail
with the assistance of deputies,
she said she took the food
because, “I was desperate.”
She said her monthly
income amounted to $125 in
Social Security benefits and
sll3 in Veterans
Administration benefits. Her
husband, who died 11 years
ago, served in World War I.
Authorities said they found
he said. “A continuing
partnership between schools,
parents, and public and private
institutions, working toward
mutual goals, could produce a
major reaffirmation in public
education over the next
decade.”
Dr. Riles said, “I am pleased
that Bank of America is
making this contribution
available for public educational
projects. This kind of support
is evidence that Bank of
America recognizes the value
August 11, 1979
h I
I r Bl to ■ ■ " '
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. tai; ’Jw Ik
SILAS NORMAN with wife, Janie, and daughter,
Jessye.
Businessmen told:
Solution to crime is jobs
Crime is employment and
the solution to crime is jobs,
the Augusta National Alliance
of Business advisory board was
told Wednesday.
Diane Miller, director ot the
NAB ex-offender program in
Washington, D.C., asked the
assembled board members,
“how long could you exist
without any income or
investments? What would be
your alternative?”
The criminal’s needs, she
said, are real to him, and “if
there is no legitimate
alternative, he’ll turn to
$48.15 in Schultz’s purse when
they arrested her. but she said
she needed all of the money to
pay her $75-a-month rent and
utility bills.
Her 24 hours in jail were
“terrible,” she said. “I didn’t
close my eyes to sleep.”
One official said Schultz had
more than enough proof that
she could be trusted to return
to court for trial, and there was
no immediate explanation on
why Judge Ladd ordered the
cash bond.
of quality education to the
economic and social well-being
of the state. It’s a concrete
example of corporate
responsibility in action.”
While creative ideas for
improving education in all
areas will be considered, the
bank has a particular interest in
projects with the following
goals:
(1) To increase active
learning time for students. This
is the amount of time a student
spends on academic tasks,
Woman,9l, jailed
for shoplifting,
prays for death
Page 1
—j-
x\
Diane Miller
Misdemeanor charges such as
the one against Schultz usually
i arc dismissed after officials
I lecture the elderly suspects, the
official said.
Justice of the Peace Rudy
Esquivel finally ordered the
woman freed on her signature.
I “1 don’t know a dozen
people in the whole world,”
i the downcast widow said as she
s waited for her bond to be
1 processed. “1 wish God would
; close my eyes. I’m so tired of
living.”
while performing at a high
success rate.
(2) To teach work skills and
develop positive student
attitudes toward work.
(3) To help minority, female
and handicapped students gain
access to professional
occupations.
(4) To help superior
students achieve excellence in
See “EDUCATION”
Page 5
Less than 75% Advertising
A job is a ray of hope
We hope that area businessmen
were listening last week when Diane
Miller, an official of the National
Alliance of Business, said last week
that the businessmen themselves
benefit most from the hiring of
minority group employes and
ex-offenders. We couldn t agree
more.
Beyond that we leel that
businessmen, particularly those
serving on the metro advisory board
of the National Alliance of
Business, should be the first to
recognize the value oi affirmative
action programs will real teeth in
them.
We think they should not only
implement their affirmative action
policies, but use their prestige and
influence to encourage local
government officials to do the
same.
We believe that these men
recognize that their responsibility
calls for giving more than lip service
to the unemployment problem.
Thev can solve it, if they have the
crime.
Jobs make the difference
between the ex-offender and
the repeat offender, she said,
noting that almost 30 million
Americans have arrest or
convictiopn records.
The private sector can
provide the jobs, Ms. Miller
said, adding, “When you get
involved, you will be the major
beneficiary.”
She said it costs between
$12,000 and SIB,OOO each
year to maintain each prisoner.
Crime costs private businesses
about $16.5 billion a year and
Man, 13 7, loses leg
LAKELAND, Fla. Charlie
Smith, who says he was
kidnapped by slave traders in
Liberia in 1855, was in stable
condition Thursday following
amputation of his remaining
leg.
Smith - who celebrated what
was said to be his 137th
birthday July 4 - underwent
surgery Tuesday for removal of
his left leg below the knee.
He’d had poor circulation in
the limb. His right leg was
amputated in November. 1977,
after gangrene developed in a
toe.
“He remains in stable
condition,” said Ralph
Holthauser, assistant
administrator of the Lakeland
General Hospital.
Smith had had circulatory
problems with his left leg and
foot for several months and
was hospitalized for one week
last May for treatment.
Ruth Cassick, a nurse at the
Bartow Convalescent Center
where Smith lives, said he also
had been receiving treatment at
the center.
“He’s not a person to
complain at all,” she said. “But
it was known his circulation
Dr. Mays 7 portrait
to hang in
Carolina Capitol
Page 2
Editorial
will.
And again, they are the primary'
beneficiaries. Their jobs will not
only reduce crime, which costs
businesses $16.5 million each year,
they will put dignity and
self-respect in men whose
unemployment strip them of their
dignity and self-respect.
Jobs will not only reduce welfare
rolls, they will put money in the
pockets of the poor, and dollars in
the coffers of merchants who are
victims of impoverished
communities.
All of us are aware of the ravages
of unemployment. But few of us
are in a position to do anything.
The unemployed are too often
viewed as society’s greatest burden.
We think of them as society’s
greatest resource. We hope that
they provide jobs which will plant
seeds of hope in people who see
their lives as hopeless. If the
renewed hope is the only reward,
we think it is worth the effort.
taxpayers about $9 billion she
said.
NAB plans to set up
clearinghouses in Augusta and
Atlanta to help employers with
jobs and ex-offenders with
skills get together, according to
Ms. Miller.
Locally NAB has nearly met
its goal in private sector
employment of the
disadvantaged, veterans and
ex-offenders. It has done
poorly, however, with finding
summer jobs for youths.
The goal for hiring the
disadvantaged in the Augusta
Charlie Smith
was not good there (left leg).
That’s why he was in Lakeland
General Hospital the last time
he was there.”
For years Smith lived alone
25*
area is 2,000 jobs and 1,922
have been filled, according to
metro director Robert E.
Stagg-
The program set a goal of
hiring 400 summer youths.
Only 82 were hired.
Stagg said the minimum
wage is a contributing factor.
“When you’re paying the
minimum wage, and the
employer has a choice of hiring
an adult or hiring a kid for the
same money, he will almost
always hire the adult. It makes
it very tough to get jobs for
youths,” he said.
at Bartow, where he sold soft
drinks and candy and talked at
length to visitors about being
kidnapped at the age of 13 and
brought to this country where
he was sold at a New Orleans
slave market to a Texas rancher
named Smith. He said the
rancher let him go after
Abraham Lincoln freed the
slaves.
Smith claims to have known
Jesse James and in his younger
years Smith fancied himself as
a real-live cowboy. He always
wore a Western string tie, a
Western hat and a cowboy belt
and told stories about living in
the West.
Smith said he didn’t know
his birthdate so he adopted the
nation’s birthday as his own.
Although no precise proof
ever has been found to
pinpoint his age, social security
officials have generally
accepted his version of his life.
Smith first came to the
attention of officials in 1955
when he applied for a Social
Security card so he could
continue working as a fruit
picker in central Florida’s
citrus groves. He gave his age at
that time as 113.