The Augusta news-review. (Augusta, Ga.) 1972-1985, July 18, 1981, Page Page 3, Image 3

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    Drowning Os 3 Youths Causes Texas Uproar
Black residents here
are steaming over the
deaths of three youths who
drowned while in the
custody of officers who
saved themselves when
their boat overturned.
A conflict has arisen
over whether the teenagers
arrested during a civil
rights celebration had been
handcuffed and questions
are being asked about what
efforts were made to save
the trio.
The NAACP has
stepped into the case and a
special prosecutor has been
appointed.
About 150 people
attended the first hearing
last week of an inquiry to
determine if the drowning
cases would be referred to
a grand jury.
The victims were Carl
Baker, 19; Steve Booker,
19; and Anthony Freeman,
18, who were arrested for
marijuana possession at
nearby Lake Mexia last
Martin Luther King: Has The Truth Been Told?
Charges were made
that there were probably
informers within Dr. Martin
Luther King’s organization
prior to his death. Also, a
commanding 83 percent of
a television opinion poll
conducted by Tony
Brown’s Journal did not
believe that James Earl Ray
acted alone in the shooting
of Dr. King.
On a special television
program, • Host and
Executive producer Tony
Brown examines the new
impetus of the questions
surrounding the death of
Martin Luther King on
"Martin Luther King: Has
The Truth Been Told?” and
asks the QUBE audience if
anything that was going on
SCLC Convention
Set For August
Discussions of serious
issues that confront the
nation and threaten the
well-being of Blade and
poor Americans will'be the
priority of the 24th Annual
Convention of the Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference this August fl
-14 in New Orleans, La.
Convention delegates
will be joined by
professionals in the fields
of education, economics,
psychiatry, politics,
government and the
ministry who will help them
devise concrete strategies
for countering the physical,
economic and political
assaults on the Black and
poor.
A paramount issue to
be addressed is the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 and its
extension. It is scheduled to
expire in August of 1982.
The Reagan
administration’s deep
budget cuts and excessive
allocations for military
buildup are an economic
assault on the poor whose
very survival depends on
regular employment or
either government
leadership and assistance.
SCLC joins
organisations and
individuals in opposing
Reaganomics with the firm
conviction that the
president and Congress
could develop a more
equitable budget, such as
the “constructive
alternative* budget"'
presented to Congress in
March by the Congressional
Black Caucus.
U.S. Congressman
Charles Rangel, a member
of the U.S. House Ways
and Means Committed will
lead a discussion on
economic alternatives 'on
Thursday, August 13, and
"The National leathering of
Black Clergy” will expire
methods by which to
counter the assault.
Rev. James Lawson,
pastor of Holman United
Methodist Church in Los
Angeles, will consider the
"theological response” to
economic and physical
assault.
Dr. Kelly Miller Smith,
president of the National
Conference of Black
Churchmen; Dr. Alvin
Poussaint, noted
osychiatrist and professor
Friday night during a large
celebration of Juneteeth, a
holiday commemorating the
day slaves in Texas heard
about, the Emancipation
Proclamation.
Probation Officer
David Drum mon said he,
Deputy Kenny Elliot and
reserve deputy Kenneth
Elliot and reserve deputy
Kenneth Archie of the
Limestone County Sheriff s
Department were
transporting the prisoners
across the lake to a
sheriffs department shelter
when the 15-foot
alumninum boat got
swamped.
Elliot and Archie,
called to the stand after
drummond, refused to
testify.
State Judge P.K.
Reiter had said before the
inquiry began any refusal
to answer questions would
not be considered
incriminatory because he
could not guaranteed the
inside Martin Luther King’s
own organization, The
Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, can
now be considered
significant.
Recently,the House*
Assassinations Committee,
headed by Rep. Louis Sokes
(D-OH.), was attacked by
outside »'”jrces who
believe that information on
the deaths of John
Kennedy and Martin Luther
King was withheld from the
public.
Tony Brown discusses
the issue with Mr. Gene
Johnson, who acted as the
Deputy Chief Counsel for
the (House) Select
Committee on
assassinations investigating
of psychiatry at Harvard
University; and Dr. Negail
Riley, assistant general
secretary for the Board of
Global Ministries in the
United Methodist Church,
are others leading
significant discussions on
ways to counter the assault
from a theological
approach.
The issue of police
brutality has again found
its place among the top
priorities of the Black
community and will be
addressed also.
SCLC will set plans in
motion for monitoring
reapportionment and
redistricting activities, and
will* strategize for making
sure the Voting Rights Act
is extended.
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testimony woulo not
guarantee the testimony
would not be used in
federal investigations.
Jay Wallace of Mexia,
testified there were no
drugs in the car the four
young Black men were
sitting in when the three
were taken into custody.
Wallace said that
plainclothes officers
approached the car, shined
a flashlight into it and
arrested his friends, on
charges of smoking
marijuana.
Wallace testified he did
not hear the officers read
the three their Miranda
rights, but he also said he
did not see the officers put
handcuffs on is friends.
He said he was left
with the car, which
belonged to Freeman,
while two officers took the
suspects to the lake to load
them into a boat.
Special prosecutor
Larry W. Baraka, appointed
the King assassination, and
Rev. Hosea Williams, a
confidant of Rev. King and
a former staff member of
SCLC.
In asnwering the
QUBE poll results, Mr.
Johnson maintained that
“We have not been able
during the two years that
we investigated the
assassination, to come up
with any corroborative
evidence to support the
conclusion that in fact there
were co-conspirators.”
However, Rev.
Williams, who was at the
Memphis motel where Dr.
King was shot, did not
believe that Ray pulled the
trigger. Williams said he
was certain that Ray did
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Were They Handcuffed
While In Police Boat?
at the recommendation of
the NAACP, said the fact
the officers approached the
car and shined a flashlight
into it without apparent
"probable cause” was an
unconstitutional invasion of
privacy, but otherwise he
could find no criminal
intent in the deaths.
He said there was
nothing wrong with the
officers failing to give a
Miranda warning since the
charge would have been a
misdemeanor.
A number of people
who watched authorities
drag the lake for the bodies
claimed the prisoners were
handcuffed and that
searchers removed the cuffs
before the bodies were
brought to shore.
An NAACP official
not act alone and thought
that “the investigation was
a whitewash.” Williams
also contended that
although the investigation
stated that Ray escaped
from Memphis in a White
Mustang, he firmly
believed that Ray’s car
never left Memphis.
The allegation that a
power struggle was going
on inside SCLC and that
certain members of the
organization were guilty of
misusing SCLC funds was
also discussed. Atty.
Johnson responded by
stating that he and all of
his distinguished collegues,
which included Chairman
Stokes, gave the
investigation everything
disputed Mexia Fire Chief
Aaron Thompson’s
testimony that the bodies
showed no signs of being
handcuffed.
Thompson said all
three bodies were found
frozen in rigor mortis with
their arms spread forward,
palms out, ad through
relaxed in water.
But regional NAACP
director Richard Dockery of
Dallas said he had
examined Baker’s body at a
Mexia funeral home and
found the hands rigid, with
the fingers drawn in and
wrists together, as if they
had been handcuffed.
Drummond said after
the three were arrested,
Booker and Baker were
handculfed together.
Freeman was not
they had and that there
was no evidence to support
the claim.
On the other hand, the
Rev. Williams again flatly
stated that the
investigations were not
true; that he himself, a top
official of the SCLC and a
witness to the crime, was
not throughly questioned.
Williams said that he had
information which he tried,
repeatedly to get to the
authorities but was
unsuccessful in his
attempts.
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handcuffed, he said.
“They only had one set
of cuffs between them," he
said. When the six went to
the boat, Archie removed
the handcurfs from Baker
and Booker, he said.
“We were sitting with
Archie in the bow. Freeman
and I were on the next
seat. Booker and Baker in
the middle, and Elliot in
the rear by the engine,” he
said, adding their combined
weights were more than a
half ton.
“The bow was about 4
to 6 inches out of the
water. Water washed in
when Elliot turned the
boat around. 1 shouted at
Elliot that we were sitting
low in the water. The first
time he didn't hear me
over the motor; the second
time, he placed the motor
in idle.
“At tha point the blow
dipped into the water and
water started pouring in.
We all started going into
Tony Brown’s Journal,
the longest running national
Black television series, is
sponsored by Pepsi-Cola
Company. It can be seen in
the Augusta area on
Sunday on channel 12 at
12:30 p.m.
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The Augusta News-Review-July 18,1981-1
the water. Archie and I
stayed in the boat, and I
think Freeman. I don’t
recall him jumping out. I
heard someone behind me
say ‘Man, I can’t swim,’ I
think it was one of the
prisoners. We were about
35 or 40 yards from shore
when we capsized.”
Drummond siad he saw
Freeman go under about 8
feet from the boat. He tried
to pull him up by the hair,
but Freeman grabbed his
legs and pulled him under.
"I pushed him toward
the boat. Archie pulled
Freeman up on top erf the
boat. I stayed in the water.
Freeman looked to be all
rieht, and Archie looke like
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Page 3
he had the situation under
control and I then began
swimming toward shore.”
Elliot also swam to
shore, Drummond said, ano
standing waist- deep in
water, he pulled his
revolver, fired one shot in
the air and called for help.
They both then walked to a
nearby road and
commandeered a car, drove
to the sheriff’s shelter and
asked for assistance.
FBI special agent Greg
Rampton in Austin said the
agency was conducting a
“limited investigation’' at
the incident, collecting
offical documents but
conducting no interviews at
the time.