Newspaper Page Text
Did Franklin’s
Murder Trial Start
In Doraville
Page 1
Volume 10 Number 50
An Analysis: m®, w®*
Media Focus On
Atlanta Killings
By Vincent McCraw
Atlanta Daily World
During the past 20
months Atlanta’s tragic
case of more than 20
murdered and one missing
Black children has become
the final focal point and in
some cases top priority for
media coverage for news
organizations throughout
the world.
Many of the media
members have made the
crisis front page headline
stories or top stories in their
broadcast. In the print
media headlines of the
largest point size have
proclaimed such sen
timents: “Atlanta Held
Hostage as Killings Con
tinue”, “Blacks Deny Riot
Threat in Wake of Teen’s
Death,” and other sen
sationalized heads.
Furthermore, some
have even reported that
racial tensions in Atlanta
are at its highest level
because the prevailing
thought seems to suggest
that a non-Black faction or
factions are responsible for
these henious crimes.
"... the big problem,
states one editorial from a
mid-western newspaper, is
that I do not believe it
would have taken this long
to find the killer or.killers if
the victims were white.”
Another northern
publication implies that this
rash of killings targeted at
the Black community is a
"measure being utilized by
the city’s’ white community
to discredit its Black ad
ministration.”
Different Versions
....Ail of these accounts
and others have given a
number of citizens outside
of Atlanta and Georgia a
totally different, if not
slanted version of the
factual occurrence in the
city.
While refuting many of
the allegations made by
Perverted Sex Links Mass Killings
By Charles S. Taylor
A common element •
perverted sex - links the
nation's three big mass
murder cases of the past
decade, a connection some
authorities believe is a
factor in the slaying and
disappearances of 22
Atlanta Black children.
The three other mass
murderers also preyed on
boys and young men, they
favored strangulation over
all other forms of killing,
their deed were streteched
out over years, and until
they were caught they
appeared above suspicion.
At least one of the
decade's mass murderers
kept mementos of many of
his victims-rings, drivers
licenses • a Personality
quirk attributed to Atlanta’s
mass slayer.
The three killers also
were men in their 30s and
40s. a fact that fits the
profile of the Atlanta
slayer, as drawn by a
psychiatrist.
Two of the murderers,
who between them took the
lives of 58 boys and young
men. are still in
jail awaiting final
Augusta Xeius- w "-‘
the various media it will
not be refuted that tension
does reside among the
citizens of the community.
However, these tensions
are not of racial or violent
nature.
In every instance the
Black and white com
munities have pulled
together in a valiant effort
to bring to justice the
perpetrator(s) of these
crimes.
To be sure, anger and
disgust are present, but all
of this anger, disgust and
frustration is focused upon
those person(s) who've
taken the lives of the city's
children and by virtue of
these acts threaten the
future of the city’s
remaining youth.
While support from the
entire community has been
overwhelming, via financial
contributions to aid in the
investigation and to aid
the families of the slain
children, other support has
also been established by
members of both the white
and Black communities.
For instance, programs
addressing themselves to
the mental needs of the
city’s youth, some who
have experienced un
fortunate mental frustration
due to the crisis, have been
established throughout the
metropolitan area in an
attempt to allay the fears
harbored by the kids and
their parents.
Moreover, city officials
and other community
leaders have cautioned their
constiuents to refrain from
suggesting all these crimes
are racially motivated in
order to avoid racial,
polarization in this most
strenuous situation. In one
instance a mid-western
newspaper columnist stated
in ;t March 12 edition of his
paper that neither Reagan
disposition of their cases,
although they were found
guilty. The thrid was killed
in a fight with a second
man who had taken part in
the murders.
Unlike the Atlanta
case. however. the
horrifying sequence of the
mass murders in the 1970 s
in Chicago. Houston and
Sutter County. Calif., did
not come to light until after
the murderer had been
arrested. There was no
rising public outcry as in
the Atlanta cases and no
question of a racial motive.
The Chicago. Houston
and Sutter County killers
buried the bodies of their
victims. whereas the
Atlanta killer, or killers,
have simply dumped 24
dead children near roads,
sometimes in heavily
populated areas and in
most cases making no effort
to hide the crime.
John Wayne Gacy, 38,
was arrested in December,
1978, in Chicago and
charged with the slayings
of 33 young men and boys -
the largest number al
murder charges ever
brought against any in
dividual in U.S. history
Perverted Sex
Links Mass
Killings
Page 1
nor the government of
Georgia had provided any
assistance.
“....There is a lot of
rhetoric that the U.S. is
discussing some funds, but
none as of this date, been
fir warded," the article
said. On March 5 the
Federal government
allocated $979,000 to the
city to provide after school
care for the children in
those areas where most of
the crimes occurred. Too, it
will provide counseling for
parents and housing of
deprived youth. Moreover,
on March 11 Georgia
Governor Busbee signed a
am tract allocating over
$200.00 to the city to cover
soaring overtime costs.
Finally, it would be
remiss to say that all of the
members of the media
have miscontrued the crisis
in Atlanta, for this is not
the case. A number of
mediums have taken ex
treme caution in efforts not
to practice overt sen
sationalism; on the other
hand, however, some news
agencies have not been
totally accurate in reporting
the affairs surrounding the
crimes, causing persons
outside of the city to
construct different and
sometimes horrorfying
portraits of the situation.
In the future it is
hoped that the continued
coverage of these activities,
while not covering up,
should be more careful and
attempt to accurately relay
the accounts in the city.
Relay to readers that
Atlanta has pulled together
and has become a family of
one in an all-out charge to
not only apprehend the
responsible person(s) but
also in efforts to strengthen
as well as further the
development and character
of the city’s youth.
Gacy. a construction
contractor, was 30 when he
killed his first young man
in 1972.
He was seen with a
boy who later vanished and
that started a police sur
veillance that led to Gacy's
arrest. The motive was
sex. police said.
Gacy enticed some of
the teen-age boys and
young with promises of
jobs with his contracting
company. others with
drugs, sometimes he
cruised gay areas in his
black, official looking car.
posing as a cop.
The murder spree went
on for seven years, though
a majority of the killings
were clustered shortly
before his arrest. Most of
the victims were strangled,
with Gacy demonstrating
his "rope trick." and
catching his victims off
guard.
All of the murders
apparently took place at
Gacy's suburban home and
most of the corpses were
buried under the house.
At his trial. Gacy was
portrayed by the state as
an intelligent man who got
along well in society and
LEON SULLIVAN CHALLENGES 97 TH CONGRESS - A reception held on Capitol Hill
by the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan and his OICs of America drew strong bipartisan at
tendance by senators, representatives and other high government officials sharing OlCs’
concern for the nation's untrained and unemployed. In the photo, the Rev. Sullivan and
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who has been a co-sponsor of OICs legislation,
exchange greetings at the reception.
....Hie Rev. Leon Sullivan challenged the U.S. Congress to assure the economic
security of the poor even as federal spending cuts are made so that the truly needy will
not drop through the holes oi any Administration budgetary “safety net.” He also
stressed the particularly severe plight of America's unemployed youth and the vital role
that OICs and other community-based training organizations of demonstrated ef
fectiveness can play in working with government and business to help solve the
problem.
Social Security Cutbacks
Members of the House
social security sub
committee, on April 1,
changed the date of the
annual social security cost
of-living increase from July
3 to October 3, to help
achieve budget savings.
The change, which
would reduce payments by
carried out his murders in
accordance with a rational
plan. These same things
have been slid of the
Atlanta killer.
Gacy was sentenced to
death but the sentence has
not been carried out.
Houston’s mass killer
was known as the "Candy
Man" because he ran a
candy store known as
"Corll's Candy Kitchen."
Dean Allen Corll. 33. was
the "Candy Man" who
gave candy to youngsters at
his store. He also had a
pool table and played pool
with them. In August of
19 _ 3 he was posthumously
accused as the killer of 27
boys. Elmer V\ ayne Henly.
1”. a Corll sidekick for
three years, said he fired
six .22 caliber bullets into
Uorll at the end of a sex
orgy.
Henly told police he
killed Corll in self-defense.
He also revealed after
questioning that for three
years he. Corll and David
Owen Brooks, 18. had been
involved in luring young
boys with the promised
excitement of sex, liquor
and marijuana. One by
one. the boys were sexually
Reggae Music
Becoming Popular
With American Blacks
Page 2
April 25, 1981
S7OO million in fiscal 1982
will be implemented in two
stages. Instead of receiving
a single cost-of-living
adjustment on July 3. social
security beneficiaries will
get half the adjustment on
May 3. and the other half
on October 3. This system
will apply to 1982 only.
abused - some held for
days at a time • and then
strangled or shot to death.
Police dug up the bodies in
a barn, on a beach and in
some pine backwoods.
Corll lived quietly and
until the whole grisly tale
was told by Henly he had
not teen suspected of
Did Franklin’s Trial Os Murder
Start In Doraville?
Reprinted from the Atlanta
J ournal
It was nearly 11 p.m.
when Harold Mclver, a
cheerful. hardworking
father of two. left work.
But even at that late hour,
he told his employees at
the Taco Bell in Doraville
that he would let them
know where he would be
later.
"Later" was only
about 20 feet and a few
seconds away. The first
shot entered his chest, near
aJCSS than 75 percent advertising
Alter the date, the
adjustment will be paid
once a year in October. The
panel also voted to round
down monthly payment
checks to the nearest dollar
estimating that this would
save about 545 million in
1982 and around SSOO
million bv 1986.
wrongdoing.
In 1971. California
authorities discovered the
bodies of 25 itinerant farm
workers buried in shallow
graves along the father
river on various fruit
ranches. Migrant labor
contractor Juan Corona. 46.
the heart. Mclver must
have grabbed at his chest,
and he spun to his left. The
second shot slammed into
his right side, just under
his armpit. before he even
hit the ground.
Harold Mclver. 29, a
man with no known
enemies, was dead. A
sniper, lying in wait about
150 feet away with a 30-30
rifle, hit him twice with two
very quick shots.
There was no plausible
motive. and almost
everyone will argue to this
day that there was no sane
motive. But investigators
Cuban Is Born
Again With
New Freedom
Page 3
Lung Cancer
More Common
Among American
Blacks
Lung cancer and cancer
of the prostate are the two
most common types of
cancer and they are more
commonly found in Black
American males. These
same two cancers have
their lowest rates among
Black Africans, with the
white American male falling
somewhere in between,
according to the immediate
past National President of
the American Cancer
Society. LaSalle D. Leffall.
Jr.. M.D.. chief of surgery
at Howard University in
Washington, as its keynote
speaker.
Black Americans have
he'd! noticed to have in
creased incidence in cancer,
according to Leffall. and
yet 17 percent of Blacks
think that whites are more
likely to get cancer than
they are. Medical statistics
indicate that Blacks are just
as likely as whites or even
somewhat more likely to
get cancer.
Black women however
are less likely to get cancer
than white women, but
cancer in women overall is
decreasing." said Leffall.
"And in the next three to
four years, you will see the
same in Blacks as you do in
whites.
"Os the 22 known
cancer types. 18 are more
common in Blacks than in
whites," said Leffall.
Six out of 10 Blacks
discovered to have cancer
believe that they are
sentenced to death, with no
chance of a cure," Leffall
said. There are many more
Blacks with cancer than
with sickle cell and 15 to 20
different cancers can be
cured.
Leffall explained that
several of the most common
cancers which if detected
early enough, can be cured.
They include advanced
cancer of the ovum, ad
vanced cancer of the testes
and bone cancer.
"It's a myth to say aw.
I’ve been smoking too
long." Leffall said,
"because if cancer has not
developed, and you stop
was arrested and tied to
the crimes because of his
association with the
workers. A list of the
victims, allegedly written
bv Corona. was also
discovered.
The killings apparently
1 had homosexual overtones
now have proposed a
motive, and are trying to
gather enough evidence to
build their case.
Il they are right,
Joseph Paul Franklin, one
of America's most infamous
racists in recent years,
gunned down a Black man
in the parking lot of the
fast-food place at 5164
Buford Highway.
Harold Mclver, who
almost undoubtedly never
heard the man’s name,
m. n tve been Franklin's
first victim July 22, 1979,
investigators now say.
Franklin has been called a
25<
smoking, the lining in the
bronchial tree can
regenerate."
I arlv detection was
stressed, simply because
most Blacks are not aware
of the seven warning
signals or tend to ignore
them, thinking once they
have contracted cancer they
are doomed.
According to a 1980
American Cancer Society
study. 22 percent of Blacks
compared with 9 percent
of whiles think that even
with early detection, there
is "not much chance" or
"no chance at all" of
curing cancer.
Blacks are twice as
likely as w hites to want Ito
avoid knowing they have
cancer with 33 percent of
Blacks compared with 16
percent of whites saying
they would "rather not
know."
Less than one-half of
the Blacks surveyed are
aware of cancer's seven
warning signals, with only
one out of four Blacks (25
percent) compared with one
out of two whites (54
percent! being able to
correctly identify five or
more of cancer's 7 warning
signals. Blacks are also less
likely than whites to see a
dix’tor if they do experience
such symptoms.
Breast and lung are
the two most common types
of cancer thought about by
Blacks and whites, but both
exhibit little awareness of
the two forms of cancer
that have been rising
significantly among Black
Americans, prostate and
esophageal.
Lower class Blacks
were less knowledgeable
about cancer and less likely
to see a doctor or to
protect themselves from
cancer than higher income
Black Americans.
"Many believe that
cancer is a white and not a
Black problem." says
Leffall. "but we’re always
emphasizing that it can be
cured and this is the in-
Continued On
Page 2
but went unnoticed for a
long period of time because
the victims were itinerants
with no family ties and thus
were not reported missing.
Corona was found
guilty in 1973 on all 25
counts but appealed and
won a new trial.
suspect in 10 other killings
and in the shooting of
National Urban League
President Vernon Jordan,
as well as a number of
bank robberies here and in
other states.
Now jailed in Salt
Lake City, Franklin faces a
trial in June on charges
that he murdered two Black
joggers there last Aug. 20.
He has been convicted,
and received two life
sentences, on federal
charges of violating the
Continued On Page 6