Newspaper Page Text
Augusta Woman
Charged In
Husband’s Murder
Page 1
Volume 11 Number 11
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Jo An Lewis
Jo Ann Lewis Gets Grant To
Research Laney-Walker
Churches
JoAnn Lewis, a senior
at Augusta College, has
received a $2,493 grant
from the National
Endowment for the
Humanities to research the
history and contributions of
churches in the Laney-
Walker area.
She said she plans to
begin with Trinity C.M.E.
Church, Tabernacle Baptist,
The House of Prayer, and
Immaculate Conception.
When her research is
completed Ms. Lewis will
Racist Believed To Be Stalking
Black College Students In LA
LOS ANGELES
Threats followed by a fire
has prompted some Black
students at San Bernadino
State College to make
plans to do their studying
elsewhere.
At least one parent,
Mrs. J. Carol Jones,
mother of 19-year-old Kelli
Smith, thinks the threats
and fires are the work of
racists because the school
is near Fontana, Calif,
where the Ku Klux Klan
reportedly is active.
Miss Smith received
this note a few days before
Waterman Hall where she
resides was set on fire: "K
is for kill which is what I'm
going to do
“E is for embalm
which is what will happen
to you
“L is for late what you
will soon be
“L is for last rites
what I am waiting to see
“I is for incasing you
in a cheap box of wood.”
Kelli sprained her
ankle when she jumped
from the second floor of the
dormitory. The fire
destroyed the lounge area.
Three other girls also
suffered foot and leg in
juries.
Mrs. Jones said that to
her knowledge there had
been no added protection
for the threatened students.
Mrs. Jones who said
she talked with the dean of
students, campus security
and the dean erf bousing
said she was not satisfied
with the way the officials at
Augusta NEWB-iSnuicw
write a paper to help
develop an awareness of
the significance of these
churches to IKe Laney-
Walker area and the
contribution they have
made to Black history.
A sociology major, Ms.
Lewis learned of the
National Endowment for the
Humanities Youth Grant
trbough an urbanism class
at Augusta College.
A native of Aberdeen
Maryland, she has lived in
Hepzibah since 1975.
the college were handling
the situation.
■'All of them assured
me back in February that
they would be watchful,
investigating and that Kelli
would be protected," the
distraught mother said.
Kelli told the Los
Angeles Sentinel that the
investigation of the incident
was being handled by
campus police officer Pam
Stewart. Stewart refused to
comment on the matter but
directed all inquiries
concerning the incident to
Edna Steinman of the
college's public relations
office.
Steinman denied that
Kelli may have been a
target of the threats and
fires because she is Black.
"There is nothing that
indicates that this is a
racial issue," Steinman
said.
San Bernardino College
dean of students, Kenton
Monroe, classified the
threats Kelli received as
"crank kind of stuff" but
did not discount the
possibility that the person
who set the fire to the
dorm also sent the
threatening notes.
Dean Monroe said that
the matter of the death
threats is “being in
vestigated. They (campus
police) have not yet suc
ceeded in finding the
author of the notes,” he
added.
Kelli Smith is not the
only student in Waterman
Hall to receive threatening
Racists Believed To
Stalk Black
College Students
In Los Angeles
Page 1
Post Office Custodian Is A Successful
Businessman
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is
the first in a series of
articles on young Blacks in
business.
...James Riles is one of
12 children. He works as a
janitor at the post office.
But is also a successful
businessman.
He owns a liquor store,
a grocery store, and more
than a half dozen other
pieces of property.
A 1966 graduate of
T.W. Josey High School, he
saved money while he was
in Viet Nam and went into
the liquor store business in
1973 with one of his former
teachers at Josey when he
got out of the Army in
1970.
That, he said taught
him a few things. In order
to acquire the business, he
and his partner had to
come up with a little over
SIB,(XX). Whites, he said,
tried to block the loan.
“But we came up with
money in cash.” he added.
“It showed me that to
get money you have to
have collateral. “I’ve
bought about six or seven
pieces of property since
then because of that.
Earlier this month, he
opened his grocery store,
J.R. Stop and Shop, on
Milledgeville Road. The
store was formerly owned
by a Chinese merchant,
vChang W. Woo, who used
to chase Riles and other
kids who congregated in
front of the store.
notes. Pam Middleton and
Glodenia Ewell, both Black
Los Angeles residents,
reported that they too got
threatening and derogatory
notes which they believe
were written by the same
person who threatened
Kelli's life.
Kelli reported that her
roommate. Sheila Newell,
who is white, also received
a note.
Middleton, a freshman,
said of the writer of the
notes “somebody's touched
in the brain."
I’n like school
authorities she is sure the
notes and the fire are the
work of the same person.
Mclntyre Says Color Won’t Be A
Factor In Mayor’s Race
Former Richmond
County Commissioner
Edward Mclntyre officially
announced his candidacy
for mayor at a news
conference last Wednesday
night.
Mclntyre, who twice
served as chairman of the
county commission, said it
will be a long time before
his record as a com
missioner is matched.
He said there was a
surplus of more than 2
million each of the years he
served as chairman of the
commission, and the two
years he served as.
June 6,1981
Janes ROe*
"We weren’t bad
kids," Riles recalled. And
we come to be just like
neighbors.
Woo was impressed
with Riles when he saw
him go into business for
himself.
“It’s a fine thing
you’ve deme,” Riles said
Woo told him.
And after Woos wife
dies, he tried to lease the
grocery store out, but
nobody wanted to pay what
"Whoever is doing this is
so obessed with this feeling
that they want to hurt us,”
she theorized.
Glodenia Ewell, a
criminal justice major, said
that she got a note telling
her to leave San Bernadnm.
"The note said I wasn't
ready for San Bernardino
and threatened me to get
out," she said.
"It's frightening,"
Ewell said. "We had two
threats before the fire."
Glodenia. who reports,
"I don't walk at night by
myself" said that some of
the older Black students
on the campus had offered
to protect her.
chairman of the Finance
Committee. "We ended
each of those two years
with a surplus and one of
those two years with a
surplus of more than two
million dollars."
Mclntyre said he
dosen't believe race will
be a facotr in the mayoral
race. "I don’t believe the
people of Augusta look at a
man's color or hair texture,
but his contributions.
"I have the ex
perience and know-how to
move this city firward fir
all people."
Mystery Clouds
Shooting Os
Jo Ann Little
In Brooklyn
Page 1
be thought it was worth.
"He wanted me to
have it. 1 thought about it
for a long time. 1 made
him an oiler and he ac
cepted it. Riles said.
"He wanted me to
have it. For what be sold it
to me for he could have
gotten a lot more for it. 1
brought all the property he
owned. 1 bought a piece of
property on Milledgeville
Road and another on
The three coeds in
terviewed agreed that the
person who set the fire and
wrote the threatening notes
is a schoolmate and maybe
a resident of the same
dormitory.
"I think it's somebody
who knows me." Kelli said.
The fact that a faculty
door at Waterman could
have given access to
almost anyone is not
reassuring. Middleton said
that one door in the dorm
requires extra effort to
close completely and is
often left unlocked by
residents of the ball.
According to her. com
plaints about the dtxtr were
Mclntyre said he would
not release his full platform
yet. He focused on three
issues that stand out.
"One thing Augustans
want is to feel safer in their
homes. The first thing I
will do is to strengthen the
police department and
make people safer."
He said he would also
increase the salaries of city
workers. "It's embarassing
to live in the second
largest metropolitan area in
Georgia and have 100 or
more employees eligible fir
fixxl stamps. 1 intend to
Less than 75 percent Advertising
Magnolia Avenue. It was
practically a give away--
53.5(X) for those two pieces
of property.
Perhaps an even
greater give away was the
grocery store and the house
next to it. For 515,000 Riles
got a four-bedroom house
with two baths, the store
and all of the equipment
in it, including the meat
counter, a Walk-in cooler
and scales.
“He even financed it
for me," Riles said. "I
gave him $5,000 and he
financed the rest for 10
years." Woo died earlier,
this year.
In spite of his business
income Riles continues to
work elsewhere. Until 1967,
he worked for Lily Tulip
Co. ..- ’ce then he has
worked at the post office.
He said that the problem
with many Black-owned
businesses i that owners
"try to sap the money out
of the business.”
Riles' parents, Jasper
and Catherine Riles, live
five houses from his
grocery store. They have
lived thers since 1955.
Riles is married to the
former Ella Rouse. They
have one son, James
Davison Riles.
Os his businesses Riles
said. "It’s gave me some
kind of goal and motivated
my life. Coming from
nothing to trying to have
something. It haven't made
me rich, but one day it may
secure my future."
made to school authorities
by students of the dorm
before and aft er the fire.
Glodenia Ewell is
leaving the campus for
certain after the semester is
completed and Kelli and
Pam are seriously con
sidering doing the same.
"Alter the quarter is
finished I'm enrolling in
another schtxil." Ewell
said.
Pam echoes those
sentiments when she says,
"I won't be back, there’s
tix> much controversy. I
wasn't taught to give up
hut then again I was never
involved in anything like
this before."
change that immediately.
He said the other key
issue is downtown
revitalization.
Mclntyre. who has
moved back into the city
said he doesn't think his
residency should be an
issue. "If you love Augusta
like 1 love Augusta then
you know that Blacks who
have moved into the county
should be moving back to
the city to provide
leadership. I don’t see why
residency should be an
issue with a native son who
has moved back into the
city.”
Important Colored
Folks Or
Why Blacks
Can’t Unite
Page 4
Sock It To ‘em ,
Ronnie
Editoral
.... Many white Americans are beginning to find out
that they were had in the November Presidential
election. They were had by both Ronald Reagan and
the news media.
.... Reagan won the electon on a platform endorsed
by the KKK. But he was ably assisted by the news
media, nationally, which created the climate in which
Reagan was able to exploit the racism in many of the
voters.
....For instance, when the news-media reports on
welfare, almost invariably most of the welfare
recipients shown are Black. That suggests that most
of the people on welfare are Black. And many
whites , who already think that Blacks are lazy and
won't work, feel that their tax money is being wasted
on these lazy Blacks.
....Most of the people on welfare (two-thirds in fact)
are white. But the news media rarely emphasizes
that fact.
....When the news media reports on "weakened"
American military, the show a large number of Black
soldiers, which suggests, if the sources don't state it
outright -■ that the military is weaker because there is
an increased number of Blacks in the military.
.... Many whites voted for Reagan because of his
appeals to their racist instincts. Indeed, many of the
people who voted for Reagan intended that he cut off
the benefits of Blacks and other minorities, but not
themselves. What they are now finding out is that
when Reagan fulfills his pledge to cut social
programs, he is taking them and their relatives off
welfare. He is reducing their social security benefits.
He is reducing the chances that their children will get
a college education.
.... But Reagan cannot be so obvious as to make his
budget cuts along racial lines. And as a result, he is
hurting many whites who never suspected that they
would be the victims of their own racism.
.... The primary job of the media is to present the
truth, not to perpetuate the nations racist stereotypes.
When the people turn on Reagan, they should also turn
on the media for failing to tell them the whole truth.
Woman Charged In
Husband’s Murder
An Augusta woman
was charged with the
murder of her husband last
week following a domestic
dispute.
Mrs. Patricia Oliphant
1020 Kent St. told police
that she and her busband,
Henry argued last Wed
nesday. and she left their
home to make a phone call.
VX hen she returned her
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Augusta
News-Review
Funeral Services Held
For Dr. Davis
Funeral services were
held Tuesday for Dr. Frank
R. Davis, professor of
biological research at Paine
College. He was 77.
The feneral was held at
Trinity C.M.E. Church with
the Rev. Jerry Poole of
ficiating.
Dr. Davis was a native
of Richmond, Va., and had
lived in Augusta for 38
years. His career as biology
instructor and professor of
biological research at Paine
spanned 33 years. He was
a member of numerous
organizations, including the
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity,
the American Association
for the Advancement of
Science and the Georgia
Academy of Science.
He received his
bachelor's degree from
Virginia Union University,
his master's degree from
the University of Michigan,
and his doctorate from St.
Andrews College of Applied
25C
husband was standing
behind the door to the
living rixim with a knife,
she said, and threatened to
kill her.
The two fought and
Oliphant was stabbed in the
chest and stomach. He was
pronounced dead at
University Hospital.
Mrs. Oliphant was
charged with murder.
KI
frl
Frank R. Davis
Science in London.
Survivors include his
wife, Alice R. Davis; a
daughter, Ave Marie Davis,
Philadelphia, Pa,; a son.
Frank R. Davis Jr.,
Philadelphia; and two
sisters, Ruth D. Hill and
Alma Jackson. Richmond.