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To Be Equal The Gift of Christmas Page 4 Volume 10 # j.. sos> ° 7 J^K \zJF *f * \ A ** lIOBBBnI *<'> ; ' EJerry Christmas . r Vs %‘,=«*S - ' ' I I f IT ' ■ ' "■ — , ’ I , ". 3 Wadley Gets Black Mayor Second Black Councilman WADLEY, GA - Elementary School Principal B.A. Johnson has won election as mayor of Wadley. He won by 93 votes. Johnson is use to close races. He lost his bid for mayor in 1977 by 50 votes. In 1978, he ran for city council and lost by three votes. He challenged the latter vote count all the way to the Supreme Court. The High Court agreed with him that there were voting irregularities, but did not oust the mayor who had by then been in office over a year. This time, however, Johnson said he knew two days before the election that he would win. A poll taken for his white op ponent, Jack B. Smith, showed that Smith needed 150 Black votes to win. Tambourines To Glory By Fannie Flono Breaking into show business may have been a little too easy for former Augustan Patricia Moore. Daughter of Mrs. Fannie Moore of Brooklyn, N.Y., she talked of her entry into professional acting and singing during a recent visit to her aun‘ Mrs. Adam Flono, in Augusta. A friend told Ms. Moore of the casting for a new off-Broadway production of Langston Hughes play “Tam bourines to Glory” at the Billy Holiday Theater in New York. Friends had told her before that she should try out for musical being staged in the New York area. This time she decided to do it - and the same day she was told she had won the part of one of two back-up singers called the Gloriettas. Yes, it was all too easy for the 26-year old Auausta Nwa-Snifwu Number 31 B.A. JOHNSON “I knew that he wasn’t pulling that well in the black community. I knew he couldn’t get 150 black votes. Wadley has a population of ap proximately 2,000 people. Johnson finished with 614 votes to 521 for Smith. There are 710 black registered voters in Wadley and 595 white. Johnson figures that he received about 35 white votes. Patricia Moore Augusta native who moved to Brooklyn with her family 13 years ago and didn’t recognize her singing talent until five years ago. She began singing in her church’s choir (Bethel Baptist Church) shortly after moving to New York. One of the choir directors heard her voiced mingled amongst the others and com mented that she had a Blacks Conspire with White Printer to Control News - Review Page 1 He said he wants to improve city services, lower water bills, bring the millage rate down to a level people living on fixed income can live with, improve race relations, and bring in dustry into Wadley. He will be sworn in at City Hall Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. Also winning election in Wadley last week was Willie R. Strowbridge, a black businessman, who was elected to the city council. The Wadley City Council will have two blacks on the five-man council, in addition to the mayor. Strowbridge received 536 votes, while his two white opponents white opponents had 355 and 261. The 33-year-old Strowbridge is married to the former Jeanette Green. They have had three children, Tuwanda, 10; Gary, 7; and Latash 6. really good voice. “Then the usher board (at her church) got interested in my singing and paid for voice lessons,” she said. She’s had voice training with Dr. Chauncey Norther at the Norther Vocal Arts school in New York City. At first soprano, Ms. Moore has had ample opportunity test her mu sicai ability. She appeared as a pit singer in Raymond Ashley’s production of the “Brooklyn Wiz” at the New York City Community College in 1977. She has sung with the concert choir of Bethel Baptist who debuted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, made numerous singing appearances for various churches and organizations, and is a member of a well-known (in the New York area) musical trio known as God’s Choice. continued on Page 3 December 20 1980 TWO BLACKS CONSPIRE WITH White Printer Tries for Control of News-Review Many of you are aware that there is an in ternal power struggle at The News-Review that threatens the continued existence of the paper. The current crisisbegan on Nov. 18 when the printer, L.D. Waters, who is white, refused to print the paper because it contained a cartoon he said was in “bad taste.” He said the cartoon was aimed at Sheriff James G. Beck and that Beck was a friend of his. The cartoon was not in bad taste. It simply showed an unnamed person sitting at a desk considering various job possibilities. Beck, as you know, was defeated in the November elec tion. The question of whether the cartoon was in good taste is irrelevant. The editor approved the cartoon, and the printer has absolutely nothing to do with what can and cannot go into the newspaper. His job is to print, period. The reason that The News-Review was established was to enable Black people to get information that is not controlled by white people. And we would rather not have a newspaper at all than to have one where whites tell us what we can and cannot put into it. Accordingly, The News-Review told he printer that if he could not print the paper-as approved by the editor—we would have no chbice but to seek another means of getting the paper printed. Reprinted the paper, but substituted a cartoon of his choosing. He had no right to do that. We got a black printer from out of town to print the paper. However, The News-Revie v . rented office space, from L.D. Waters, the printer. And two days later, he padlocked our offices although we had paid rent through November. We then sued him for $250,000. When we got to court for a hearing last Monday, we learned that two of our black stockholders were there to testify in behalf of the printer. And w< expanded the suit to include them as defendants. The black stockholders are Charles McCann, president of the CSRA Business League, and George Thomas, a postman. We were surprised that they chose to join forces with the printer in this attempt to deny us our First Amendment right to freedom of speech. But we were appalled that they would join a white printer trying to silence a black newspaper. But they have that right. And we have the right to let you know who they are and what they're doing. The News-Review has operated for almost ten years almost entirely on a volunteer basis so that you, our readers, can get uncontrolled in formation. But our survival, and yours, is threatened. We believe that you need your newspaper. When white people can control the information we get, then they control us. This we cannot toleate. We solicit your support and your prayers. But whether the paper lives or dies, we will do it standing up for black people, standing up for right, speaking out truthfully and forthrightly, and opposing anyone who would deny any man his freedom. Wadley Elects Black Mayor and Councilman Page 1 iL li St fl ■ill il-rf Ji t MMBPBmSCTf mK I I If JUJ <\ 11 Os IhOkMM . Jl ■ MISS ALPHA-The Alpha Chi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. culminate its Annual Scholarship Drive at the National Guard Armory with a Black and Gold Dance, and the Ex-Bethlehem Director Rev. Verlyn Bell Dies The Rev. Verlyn C. Bell, former director of the Bethlehem Com munity Center in Augusta, died at his Atlanta home Firday. The medical examiner’s report may not be available for several days but family members believe he died of a heart attack. He was 41. He was found lying on a bed by his wife and children as they returned from work and school Friday. They thought he was sleeping. A native of Ex-Bethleham Director Verlyn Bell Dies in Atlanta Page 1 'idvertising crowning of Miss Audrey L. Gantt as Miss Alpha for the year 1980 -81. Miss Gantt is the daughter of Mr. Robert and Elease Brinsono f Augusta. Gainesville, Bell received the bachelor’s degree from Savannah State College, the master’s from Atlanta University, and a master of divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in May, 1980. Since June, he had been serving as pastor of Georgia Oliver United Methodist Church in Atlanta. He served as past board chairman for the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center in Augusta. He was a member of the Omega Psi Phi Frater nity, the Augusta chapter 25C of the National Association of Social Workers, Saint Mark United Methodist Church, and was a candidate for the Richmond County Board of Education in 1974. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, daughters, Sherrie, 13, and Valecia, 11; his mother, Mrs. Dora Lee Bell, Gainesville; his grandmother, Mrs. Maybell Arnold, W’inder; two sisters, Mrs. Mamie Young and Mrs. Marilyn Dearing; and two brothers, Robert and Frank all of Gainesville.