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What blacks should know about sports Page 3 VoL9No. 49 Jay Bell, Danny Renee fired by WTHB radio By Mallory K. Millender Two black disc jockeys at radio station WTHB were fired last week. Another quit a month ago. And the firing of another will come at anytime, according to the fired jocks, Jay Bell and Danny Renee. Renee told the News-Review two weeks ago that the station’s new program director, Jerry Lavelle, had threatened his life. “Levelle said he was a “dangerous person,” that he had a gun, and if he saw me in the dark he would kill me,” Renee said. At that time, Renee said he planned to notify area law enforcement officials of the threat and that he would arm himself. Bell told essentially the same story. “For sure, Lavelle told me that he was getting a gun for Danny Renee and Howard Wade (Wade quit the station),... and that if necessary he’d fly somebody in - and out - to take care of the matter. He told me this over the telephone and I will swear to it." Bell said the incident that led to his firing occurred after a staff meeting last Tuesday. At the end of the meeting, Renee to use proceeds from new record to establish home for the underpriviledged Editor’s Note: Story was written prior to Danny Renee’s firing last week. By Fannie Flono Radio station WTHB’s “Disco King,” Danny Renee, may soon be playing one of his own recordings during his weekly stint as a local disc jockey. The DJ has recorded his first single, “Space Rap,” and it ofl A ' ■ K 1 CHARISMA CREW - (1-r) Otis Johnson Jr., Marty Williams, Danny Renee, and Theresa McKie. Augusta Nms-Hrojw Lavelle, who is black, “stood up in front of station manager Walter Brumbeloe, who is M /■ Jay Bell white, and told me to ‘shut up, nigger. “When we got outside the door, I asked him to kindly repeat it. He repeated it. I went to my car where my shotgun may lead to a whole new career for him which has nothing to do with music. Most of the proceeds from the record will go towards establishment of home for the underprivileged, a project Renee hopes to direct once the building is constructed. Part of the proceeds will also go for scholarships for disadvantaged students and to the United Negro College Fund, he said. Danny Renee plans home for needy with record proceeds Page 1 was laying on the seat. Then 1 asked him to repeat it, and he did not.” Bell said he was asked the next day by Brumbeloe if he could work in harmony with Lavelle. “1 said as long as he doesn’t bother me or say what he said last night again. Walter then told me 1 should find myself another job.” During the Tuesday night meeting, Lavell reportedly denied making threats. Bell said Brumbeloe took advantage of an opportunity to “get back” at him for an incident at the station’s annual picnic in May Park a year ago. “He spoke to me in an unmanly manner in front of my two kids. My 5-year-old daughter asked me why did that man talk to me like that. “Upon seeing a 5-year-old notice this, I retaliated by grabbing him in his collar, hoping that he’d hit me. But he didn’t.” Brumbeloe did fire him on the spot, but later rehired him. Bell said there have been a series of efforts to pressure him into quitting. Several times he was accused of taking money, he said, and even flower pots. “1 let that go, after it was proved that I was not guilty,” The home will be on a three acre plot of land in Bath, S.C. that Renee owns. The idea grew out of the disc jockey’s desire to reach youngsters at an early age to “teach them how to resist peer pressure” and get on the right road to a good life, he said. “I’m categorically convinced that if you want to reach kids, you must start at an early age.” Renee’s own childhood was a good one, he said. “My he said. “Last week a couple of tickets to the Whispers concert ■ Danny Renee were missing, and they came straight to me.” What annoys Bell the most is that “they want me to sound white on the air, and I refuse. “I cannot and will not be parents were very religious and always pointed out to me how to live right. “I feel like I am a very lucky person. My parents were a great influence on me. They’re both dead and gone now.” Renee said he wants to reach out and help others something like Mother Teresa of India who won this year’s Noble Peace Prize. “Mother Teresa didn’t want the money (the funds that went with the prize) April 26,1980 something I’m not. “I say things like ‘How y’all is? How is you?’ I know that it’s incorrect English. On the air my name is ‘Mcßean Jody B-’ Fm from the country. I depict that on the air. I don’t ever want to lose that. “I’ve stood in the ratings and have come up to number three jock in the area. Why should I change now?” Bell is also annoyed that the station continues to run commercials using his voice. “They want people to think I’m still on the air. They are telling people I’m on a leave of absence. I want folks to know Fm fired. I want my clients to knowj’m fired.” Brumbeloe told the News-Review Bell was fired because of a personality conflict with “everybody including me.” He said Bell nor Wade was pressured into quitting. “If you ask a person to do his job, that’s not pressure.” Brumbeloe said of the incidents where Bell said he allegedly took money, “I have no idea what he’s talking See “DJ’s” Page 3 but she accepted it in the name of poor people. People like her are perfect examples of people loving each other. Renee is already involved in helping others. “I have custody of three children, my nephews and niece.” The disco jockey has high hopes that his new record will enable him to do more. “Space Rap” is on the Shurfine Record label and is due to be released this week. The record is a talk song like “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. ' “Robots come on and introduce the record with an intergalactic message,” Renee said. Marvin Roberts Knight, a Los Angeles DJ, is the robot. Renee said he decided to make a “rhyming” song because they were so popular. He asked the listeners to his radio program to submit their rhymes and “I was bombarded with telephone calls. As a result, his group, the Charisma Crew, was formed from among some of those callers. The group is composed of teenagers in the Aiken-Augusta area. They include Otis Johnson Jr. (known as ToTo), Theresa McKie (Theresa T.), and Marty Williams (M.C. Divine). Even though Renee is hopeful his new single will be a nit, he has no aspirations for stardom. In fact, he plans not to record again. “If the Charisma Crew wants to record again, I might manage them,” he said. Renee said he would like to devote his time to.the home for the underprivileged. Lynne Clark Miss Augusta Black Festival Page 1 Larry Lamar Pettigrew, an Augustan and National Committeeman for the Young Democrats of the State of Georgia, participated in a Foreign Policy Conference for Young Political Leader at the U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. April 17 and 18. The Secretary of State and senior officer of the department and other governmental agencies, conducted briefings on U.S.Soviet Relations, UJS. International Trade Policy, United Nations, Human Rights Less Than 75% Advertising r 4- -XS-*' Ik I Eighteen-year-old Lynn Clark, daughter of Mr. and .Mrs. Clinton <1 >; :.i became the new Miss Augusta Black Festival Sunday. Ten young I. <t v»< i tor the title at a pageant at Augusta College. TRW chairman visits Paine, wants to strengthen colleges Dr. Ruben F. Mettler, new National Chairman for the 1980 annual drive of the United Negro College Fund, visited a UNCF school, Paine College, last week. Mettler, chairman of the board of TRW, Inc., got a chance to talk with various college administrators including Paine president Julius Scott about the local UNCF drive. “As a businessman and as a citizen, I am deeply concerned with the soaring unemployment of minority youngsters,” Mettler has said. “The black colleges supported by the United Negro College Fund have traditionally offered minority and financially needy young people a quality education and the foundation for a secure future. We are at a point in the history of our nation when we must not only assist in the survival of the schools, but we must see that they are strengthened. We cannot afford to do otherwise.” The United Negro College Fund is the largest national Pettigrew participates in D.C. policy conference Season ends early for baseball team at Paine College Page 8 black fund-raising organization in the United States. Its 41 private, predominantly black colleges and universities enroll some 50,000 students annually. Mettler was elected Chairman of the Board and CEO of TRW, Inc. in December 1977, after serving as President for eight years. In June 1978, he also became Chairman of the Executive Committee. He is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, from which he also received his M.S. degree and Ph.D. in Electrical and Aeronautical Engineering. Dr. Mettler recently served as National Chairman of the National Alliance of Business, an organization to help train and find private jobs for the disadvantaged. Previously, he was on the Advisory Committee for the UNCF’s Cleveland campaign and he continues to serve in many other national and local capacities: Board of Advisors of the Council for Financial Aid to Education, Trustee, National Safety Council, the Larry Pettigrew and Refugees, Southwest Asia, East Asia, Strategic Balance, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and the National Fund for Minority Engineering Students, member of the Policy Committee of the Business Roundtable, the Business Council, the Board of Trustees and Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development, the Emergency Committee for American Trade, and the Rockefeller University Council, among others. The money raised by the UNCF’s annual fund drive is used to help operate and maintain the organization’s 41 member colleges and universities. According to a recent survey, half of the students at these schools come from families earning $9,000 or less annually. Graduates of the UNCF schools include such noted public figures as U.S. Treasurer Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Solicitor General Wade H. McCree Jr., Washington D.C. Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr., Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, and New Orleans Mayor Ernest Mortal. and Sub-Saharan Africa. While in Washington, Larry attend a national committee meeting of the Young Democrats of America. On April 16, the Young Democrats of America sponsored Congressional Awards Dinner where ten Congressmen were honored in Washington. The Honorable Elliott Le Vitar of Georgia was among the ten. The Young Political Leaders were also invited to attend a reception with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance on Friday and at the White j House on Thursday. 25 c