Newspaper Page Text
Bethlehem Center
gets first black
woman director
Page 1
Augusta A’euis-ffieuteui
Volume 12 Number 27
Augusta bids farewell to ‘Papa’ Dent
Augustans said good-bye Wed
nesday to the man they affectionately
knew as “Papa Dent” at funeral ser
vices at Tabernacle Baptist Church.
Dent died Oct. 1. He was buried in
Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Dent, the only black from Rich
mond County to serve in the General
Assembly, was elected in 1966 and re
elected each term for 16 years. Ill
health prevented him from running
this year.
Speaker of the House Tom Murphy
eulogized him as a “gr'eat Georgian, a
great American, and a good human
being.”
Murphy, who appointed Dent
chairman of the Human Relations
and Aging Committee —the first time
a black has chaired a House Commit
tee since Reconstruction—said Dent
was a man that “all could emulate
with pride.”
R. A. Dent
Editorial
R.A. Dent, the gentle spirit who
represented the 85th District in the
State House for 16 years, accom
plished what few people can—he
earned the love and the respect of
virtually all who knew him. “Papa
Dent” not only was well thought of,
he thought well of everybody. He
radiated sunshine. His presence ten
ded to make everyone feel better.
And as a result of his death, all of us
will feel the loss.
While he will always be remem
bered as the lone black legislator to
vote for Lester Maddox for Gover
nor 1966, no one who really knew
him, ever thought of him as an Un
cle Tom. Dent had the ability to
draw as much support from
segregationists Roy Harris and
Lester Maddox as he did from
Julian Bond or Horace Tate. He
didn’t talk race relations. He lived
it.
Ist black woman named
director of Bethlehem Center
When Edythe Dimond became
executive director of the Bethlehem
Community Center Sept. 20, she
made history. She is the first black
woman to hold that position.
She comes to the center from Pain?'
College where she served as coor
dinator of Admissions since 1980
Although she spent 21 years working
with the Department of Human
Resources in New York City, she is
not a stranger to Bethlehem Center.
She is native Augustan, and worked
at the center as a group worker while
she was earning her bachelor's degree
at Paine College.
She later earned a master’s degree
in social work from Columbia
University, and began a career in
social work, moving up the latter
from a case worker to prgject director
in staff development for the Depar
tment of Human Resources.
The Bethlehem Center is historic in
its own right. According to Ms.
Dimond, when the center was foun
ded in 1912, it was the first black
community center in the United
States founded by a church
group—the Women’s Division of
Global Ministries of the United
Methodist Church.
Ms. Dimond succeeds Stewart B
Gandy, who was director of Bethlehem
Center since 1977. Gandy will be
“I don’t believe he ever met a man
he didn’t like or that a man met him
that didn’t like him,” Murphy added.
Mayor Edward Mclntyre, who said
he thought of Dent as his father, said
Dent “found something good in
everybody. And he tried to bring that
goodness out of them.”
The mayor said Dent will “live
forever through those he touched.”
The capacity-crowd that filled the
balcony of the huge sanctuary heard
County Commission Chairman Bill
Hiers say that Dent believed in justice
and his only weapon was “persuasion
through an appeal to the truth as he
saw it.”
Dr. C.S. Hamilton, pastor of
Tabernacle Baptist Church, said Dent
stood for that which was right. Dent
was a trustee and a deacon at the
church, a tenor in the choir and
worked with the boyscouts.
While he could hardly be called
an activist, he was able to move
people when activists could not. He
is said to have been the most respec
ted man—black or white—in the
state legislature. And his most out
standing trait was his integrity.
In an era of political chicanery
and scandal, where wheeling and
dealing is the order of the day, Papa
Dent was never willing to com
promise where his integrity was in
volved. And if there is a single
quality that ought to be required of
those entrusted with the public
welfare, it ought to be that they
have unquestionable integrity.
Papa Dent, at 77, had grown old.
His health forced him not to run for
re-election this year. But for these
times in which he served, he was the
perfect legislator and a model
citizen.
Edythe Dimond
returning to Paine College where he,
too, has a footnote in the college’s
history.
Gandy, who served as vice
president for Development at Paine,
was the first chairman of the Interim
Committee which operated the
college between the resignation of
President E. Clayton Calhoun in May
of 1970 until Dr. Lucius H. Pitts took
over in July of 1971. As chairman of
the Interim Committee, Gandy was
the first black to head the college on a
day-to-day basis. He will be a resear
;h assistant in the Development of
fice.
Caucus leader
supports PUSH
Budweiser boycott
Page 1
Hamilton praised him for his
generosity. He said Dent often said,
“I’d rather be on the giving end than
on the receiving end.”
Among the dignitaries and gover
nmental officials attending the
funeral was Joe Frank Harris, the
Democratic nominee for governor.
Harris was recognized by Pastor
Hamilton, but did not make a
statement.
Dent was a strong supporter of
Harris in his gubernatorial bid.
The Rev. Luther R. Neal said Dent
was Christ-like in his humility, service
to humanity, trustworthiness, love
for mankind.
Dent was chairman of the Rich
mond County legislative delegation,
also a first for blacks. Rep. Jack
Connell said Dent was a “great leader
among leaders...capable of keeping
us a cohesive unit.”
Paine
awarded
$624,000
Paine College has been awarded a
$624,000 Title 111 Institutional Aid
grant by the U.S.Department of
Education to continue development
Cf a variety of academic, student se£
vices and administrative activities,
according to President William H.
Harris. The amount awarded is for
the first year (1982-1983) of an ap
proved five year grant.
Harris said the grant will be used to
fund the following eight activities
whose development and implemen
tation-extend over the next five years:
Information Computer Science
Program, General Education
Development Center, Pre-
Professional Science Programs,
Learning Resources Center/Com
prehensive Curriculum Lab, Student
Development Center, Student Finan
cial Aid, Strengthen Institutional
Management, and Title 111 IAP Ad
ministration.
The grant is funded under Title 111
of the Higher Education Act of 1965,
as amended, which provides federal
funds for a limited period of time to
see Paine page 5
(by Capitol News Service)
As approximately 8,000 tailored
and well-groomed Congressional
Black Caucus patrons ended their
12th annual “Legislative Weekend”
here last Sunday, the loudly
whispered, growing controversy over
PUSH versus Busch” symbolized the
obvious dangers of the shift from
political to economic issues facing
Caucus supporters.
Although the 18 black members of
Congress led community leaders,
bureaucrats and fashion conscious
participants in discussing numerous
issues from Capitol Hill to the
Washington Hilton, Rev. Jesse
Jackson, president of People United
To Save Humanity (PUSH)
repeatedly emphasized his call for a
national boycott of Anheuser-Busch
Brewery Co. products during the
three day CBC confab.
The long simmering economic
debate which began as a local dispute
over PUSH’S “Trade Not Aid” tac
tics in Budweiser’s corporate
Caucus head supports boycott of Budweiser
Suit cnarges
Charleston schools
still segregated
Page 7
October 9,1982
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Dr. C.S. Hamilton delivers eulogy.
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headquarters of St. Louis, Mo., now
threatens to become a major crisis
which may engulf black
organizations, leaders and beer
drinkers on all sides. Jackson
scheduled 41 press conferences
simultaneously last week as the
brewery stepped up its public
relations activities.
While the PUSH leader urged
boycotts at the Caucus affair, Busch
invited hundreds of CBC guest to a
lavish reception just before the
closing awards dinner. “We welcome
you and we are proud to have you
come,” declared Wayman F. Smith
111, vice-president for corporate af
fairs, before introducing other key
black executives to the assembled
congressmen, educators, business
leaders, etc.
Speaking at the CBC opening
session in the Rayburn House Office
building and at the Caucus annual
prayer breakfast in the Hilton, and
wherever reporters gathered, Jackson
declared “we want our fair share” of
Anheuser-Busch’s 950 distributor-
Less than 75 percent Advertising
ships, executives positions, employees
and $2 billion in capital investment
because “Blacks are 15 percent of A
B’s total market and (comprise) 22
percent or more in the top 50 markets
where nearly 70 percent of Black
people live...”
August A. Busch 111, president, has
refused to meet with the PUSH
negotiating team composed of CBC
Chairman Walter E. Fauntroy and
other civil rights leaders, Jackson in
sisted. “Plus, unlike other cor
porations we have negotiated with,
the company has gone out of its way
to undercut the push for economic
justice movement, to indeed stop it,
by assembling his black staff to
organize Busch to fight PUSH... said
the minister.
“Blacks, who have allowed their
ethics to sink beneath their ethnicity
will be exposed as the kind of Judas
goats that could, in effect, destroy
our people if they were allowed, but
our leadership is so
see Boycott page 6
Paine receives
$624,000 grant to
develop programs
Page 1
A ward to
memorialize
Alline Green
Mrs. Viola Elam will receive the
first Alline Green Memorial award at
the NAACP banquet Saturday night.
The award, which is to be presen
ted annually, is to be given to an
educator who has excelled in helping
the NAACP attain its goals.
The late Ms. Green, a retired
teacher, worked to get NAACP
memberships at a time when the local
school board prohibited black
teachers from joining the civil rights
organization.
She reportedly defied the board,
despite threats to fire her.
25'