Newspaper Page Text
Tony Brown,
Alvin Poussaint
to speak here
Pages 3,6
Vol. 9 No. 41
Paine Lions
forfeits games
and playoffs
By Mallory K. Millender
The Paine College Lions --
the top team in District 25,
with a season record of 26-8,
and all set to host the district
championship and hopefully
head for the national
championship in Kansas Gty --
has been eliminated for all
post-season tournaments
due to an ineligible player on
the team.
A college official called it
just a “human error.”
Paine’s first-ycar head coach
Robert Eskew, said Tuesday,
“This means that our
basketball season ended with
our last game. This is the worst
way a season can end. It just
leaves you so imcomplete.
“I feel so badly for the
players. When I told them,
some of them cried.”
The error reportedly
Community rejects
city’s mini - parks
By Fannie Flono
Residents of the Bethlehem
community say they will not
accept “mini-park” city
officials said was 95 percent
complete at a hearing last
week.
The park so far is simply a
cleared off lot, barely large
enough for two houses, (one
behind the other) with two
light fixtures, they said.
The dirt lot is a muddy mess
after a rain when water collects
in rivulets and gulleys on the
land.
The park, one of three
scheduled for construction in
the area, is bordered by narrow
streets on the front and back.
Maple street is at the front and
Railroad Street, so named for
the railroad just behind the the
park.
Members of the Bethlehem
Neighborhood Association say
they have objected to the mini
park idea from the start and
for the city planning and
development commission to
say the “park” is 95 percent
complete is an insult.
“We told them we were
against it from the start,” said
Mrs. Annie Gardner, a member
of the neighborhood
association whose house is very
near the park. She can look out
on the park from her back
yard.
“We asked for a playground.
Ulis area is not big enough for
a park.”
Mrs. Gardner’s comments
are echoed by several of her
neibhbors, especially Mrs.
Annie Cummings, whose house
borders the park on one side.
“It’s too close to my
house,” she said. “The children
are just so bad.”
The residents also feel that
the park, being located in a
Aumtsta Nma-lUu jem
occured in the Registrar’s
office. ..Angelo Crimes, a
transfer student from Waco
Junior College and one of the
teams key players, was
ineligible because he brought
with him only 23 credit hours
from the junior college. He
needed to have 24.
The error was not
discovered, according to
Eskew, until last week when
the district eligibility chairman
called and said there was a
discrepancy in Crimes’
transcript and the NAIA
regulations.
Grimes would have been
eligible in any event after the
fail quarter ended Dec. 10,
Eskew said.
Paine will forfeit its five
victories prior to that date
including two against Georgia
College, and one each against
Clark, Georgia Southwestern
and Flagler College.
.I \ I 'xfs
■ |
SITE of proposed mini-park
densely populated area,
squeezed in among homes off
the main streets, will become
hazardous, with criminals, drug
pushers and the like being able
to take refuge there.
Mrs. Addie Scott Powell,
also a member of the
neighborhood group, said the
lot is already used as a drag
strip and has served as an
escape route for prisoners who
can jump the fence just behind
the “park” to the railroad
track and trains.
The park is also located too
close to a bar and nightclub in
the area, she said.
“Jacksonville (Florida) has
had a similar problem with
mini-parks, and because the
residents did not complain,
they’re stuck with it,” Mrs.
Powell said.
“But we have complained
from the beginning. We said we
didn’t want it when it was
being planned.
“Tlie next thing we knew,
they were out here clearing off
the land,” Charlie Griffin,
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top selling
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Pagel
Paine s record for the season
will be officially recorded as
21-13. F inding consolation in
the fact that his team did win
26 games, Eskew said, “You
can’t take those games back.
We beat them.”
“We are going to be a better
basketball team as a result of
this. We’ll come back next year
to prove that we deserve to
represent District 25 in the
national championship.
“There is a lesson to be
L arned from this,” the athletic
director said.
“I will never again assume
any official records as being
official. 1 will check them
myself.
“This is a lesson well
learned. It will stay with me
the rest of my life. I’ll never
forget this.
‘ Behind every dark cloud,
there is a silver lining. I’ve just
got to find it.”
vice-president of the
association, said.
Griffin said they would
prefer a fenced in, supervised
playground for the smaller kids
and they’ve told city officials
that. So far the suggestion has
been ignored.
But Bob Thurmond, on the
association’s executive board,
expects city officials will make
an adjustment when they
realize the residents will not
accept the park and will fight
the idea.
Residents also said it was an
insult to their intelligence for
the planning and development
commission to say the “park”
was 95 percent complete. “We
don’t even have the five
percent,” Mrs. Gardner said.
About $40,000 was
supposed to have been
allocated for park, money
given by the federal
government for distress areas in
the inner city. As residents
viewed the area, they said it
was no way even S2OO could
have been spent on the site.
Augustans urged to go ’extra mile’
to help black controlled businesses
There is a need for
black-on-black affirmative
action program to show our
people the importance of
supporting our own businesses,
Robert E. James, former
president of the National
Bankers Association said here
Saturday.
“We must go an extra mile
to support black controlled
businesses. We must create a
circular flow of our own
capital among our own people
and within our communities,”
he said.
James, who is president of
the Carver Federal Bank in
Savannah, told a Patronize
Black Business Month seminar
Boggs A cade my president was
among history-making black pilots
Editor’s Note: February is
Black History Month, and the
following first-person account
recognizes an important event
in black history. This is part
one of a two-part installment
to be continued next week.
By Dr. Yenwith K. Whitney
President, Boggs Academy
Four, three, two, one
take-off!
A P-51 engine roared into
life and steel corrugated
runaway, picking up speed
until it leaped into the blue
sky. Close upon its tail
followed another and another,
until the sky was filled with
the sleek silver airplanes
making a lazy circle around the
Ramitelli air strip.
I was one of those who
piloted a beautiful Mustang
fighter, which I called “Lovely
Lady,” on that historic
mission. It was my 32nd
mission during the war.
Rendevous was at 32,000 feet
over Berlin with the mission to
protect the 15th Air Force
B-17 and B-24 bombers which
were pounding that battered
city into final submission at
the twilight of World War IL
As the crew in the bombers
looked out and saw the
glistening Red Tails, their
protection against the angry
swarms of German jet fighters,
there was reassurance in their
hearts because they knew that
they would not be abandonded
by the all-black fighter
squadrons before the battle
was joined.
But it was not ever thus.
Those historians conversant
with the struggle black
Americans have had in U.S.
history, know that we have
always been asked to prove our
courage and skill again and
again when it came time to
bear arms for our country.
World War II was no exception.
Forgotten was the bravery of
the black soldiers like Peter
< LOOK FOR THE I
COUPON INSERT
1 IN THIS ISSUE
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March 1,1980
held at Paine College, that
more than 90 percent of the
SBO billion spent by blacks in
this country each year is
“spent with merchants who
invest their funds outside our
communities.”
That, he said, is
compounded by a lack of
understanding by the general
population of the importance
of our developing strong
minority business communities
within our societies as a
method of improving the
economic growth and social
well-being of the entire nation,
he said.
“It is good for the country
for black people to control
/ n
■ 4-
Dr. Yenwith Whitney
Salem at Bunker Hill during
the Revolutionary War, the
heroism of black sailors who
served under Commander Perry
during the Battle of Lake Erie
in 1813, the black regiments
under General Grant at
Miliken’s Bend in the Civil War
and the valor of the black
soldiers of the 369th in World
War I.
Old stereotypes fueled by
prejudice, were revived and
“scientific” data was drawn
upon to give full credence to
our incompetence. In the late
1930’s when, despite the
United States isolationism, the
pundits knew that we would be
at war, the armed forces were
being strengthened as never
before.
The U.S. Army Air Corps,
the most elite and glamorous
of the services, was mobilized,
but they did not allow blacks
to enlist. A civilian pilot
training program was instituted
because our strategists knew
that air power was to be the
new and definitive weapon.
The Luftwaffe had already
proven its effectiveness, but
Community
rejects city’s
mini-parks
Page 1
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Robert E. James
black Americans were
delegated to play secondary
roles - construction, supply
and cooking. No pilot training
for these citizens, as people
with high blood pressure were
not acceptable as flyers.
They said blacks did not do
well in World War I “due to the
emotional characteristics of the
race.” The Army War College,
the ultimate scientific
authority on strategy and
soldiers in 1925, said the
“cranial cavity of the Negro is
smaller than the white.” The
college concluded that blacks
did not have the mental ability
to compete with whites.
Obviously, people of lower
intelligence could not be
properly trained in the
complex skills demanded by
the modern complicated
instrumention of the war
plane. But the clincher was,
“what would we do with them
if they could fly? What white
pilot would fly with them?”
The stony road that blacks
have trod through history had
J. B. is top-selling black singer
Less Than 75% Advertising
James Brown
Boggs president
among first
black pilots
Page 1
enterprises. A business owner
becomes a better citizen. He is
more concerned about politics,
crime and the community
generally.”
Unemployment, James said,
must be a priority item in all
our discussions. “We musn’t
forget that 13 percent of our
people are employed, twice the
rate of whites.”
In addition to the
black-on-black affirmative
action program, James
recommended that local black
businessmen: set up a
mechanism to bring more
investment capital into the
community.
*That a small business
taught them much, however.
They were well aware of the
plans being made and the
strategem to be used against
them. They had organization
and were equipped to fight for
their freedom where and
whenever necessary.
Furthermore, they had friends
in high places.
Sen. Harry S. Truman, yes,
the piano player from Missouri,
was one of such friends.
Everett Dirkson and Eleanor
Roosevelt also played
significant roles in getting
blacks into the air.
When two black airmen,
Dale White and Chauncey
Spencer, who had flown for
two and a half days from
Chicago to Washington, D.C. in
an ancient biplane, appealed to
Sen. Truman, he responded by
using his influence to get
Congress to enact laws
permitting blacks to participate
in civilian flight training at
segregated facilities.
The Selective Service Act of
1940 theoretically opened
investment corporation be
established within the next 12
months funded with a
minimum of $500,000.
*Tliat black businesses and
professionals lead the fight to
make sure blacks are not
bearing the brunt of the
community’s unemployment.
*Urge major firms in the
Augusta area to buy more
goods and service from
minorities.
* Establish a minority
purchasing council.
*Push for increased
purchases from all levels of
government.
doors to blacks in all branches,
but it took publicity and
political pressure to put the
law into effect. Tire late Judge
William Hastie, one of the early
influential blacks in the
Roosevelt administration, was
an aide to the Secretary of
War. His continued fight to
make Uncle Sam keep faith
was one of the reasons that
barriers were finally removed.
Mrs. Roosevelt went down
to Tuskegee, Ala., where one
of the programs for black
civilians was in operation, and
took a flight in a Piper Cub
with Chief Anderson, the black
head of the operations. Her
report to the president, that
blacks really could fly, was one
of the wedges that opened the
Air Corps doors.
At long last, after much
maneuvering and the
construction of an air base at
See “PRESIDENT”
Page 8
Recording star artist James
Brown is the number one rated
black performer in the
category of singles sales,
according to “Top Pop Artist
and Singles 1955-1978,” a
record book published by
Record Research Inc. On the
over-all list of singles sales,
Brown rates No. 4, behind
Elvis Presley, the Beatles and
Pat Boone.
In addition, the February,
1980 issue of Ebony Magazine
carries a feature entitled “Top
Record Sellers of AH Time, ’
compiled by Joseph Murrells,
that ranks James No. 3 in
All-Time Record Sales for a
black artist. Brown is tied with
the Supremes at 50 million
units sold, preceded only by
Nat King Cole’s 75 million sold
and Fats Domino’s 65 million.
On the combined list of units
sold, Brown holds down the
No. 19 position.
25 e