Newspaper Page Text
Diana Ross
concert ends
in youth violence
Page 1
Augusta Ams -iteutm
Volume 13 Number 17
$2,500—5100,000
Ex-chemical workers urged
to refuse settlement offers
About 50 former employees of
re Augusta Chemical Co. who
'ere exposed to a known cancer
kusing agent were urged at a
leeting at Bethlehem Center last
hursday night not to accept set
ements of less than SIOO,OOO.
ome of them have already accep
xi settlements of $2,500.
“What’s a cancer worth? asked
t. William Johnson, a former
jpresentative of the National In
itute for Occupational Safety and
lealth (NIOSH).
“Legally, I don’t know. But I
link it’s at least worth six
gures,” he told the Betanap
lylamine victims and their
unilies.
“What’s $2,500 worth on
day's market to the doctor and
ring followed up for the rest of
Diana Ross concert
ends in youth violence
NEW YORK—A sultry Diana
Loss electrified 350,000 fans in a
ree Central Park concert, but the
jmmer serenade turned violent as
jving gangs of youths snatched
old chains from people leaving
le park and stormed an elegant
ark restaurant.
One youth was stabbed while
ssisting a robbery and his
ssailant was shot by a detective,
olicesaid.
About 350,000 Diana Ross fans
unmed the park’s great lawn for
re second night in a row as the
>rmer lead singer of the Supremes
erformed for free in what she
died her gift to New York City.
"The world is watching us ... it
good the sun is shining," Miss
oss said over a loudspeaker
'stem from backstage shortly
jfore showtime.
The star then walked onstage
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Diana Ross
Eldridge Cleaver
backs Reagan,
hits Jesse Jackson
Page 1
your life?’’ he asked.
Wilbert Allen, president of the
Committee of Concerned Citizens,
said SIOO,OOO would be an
inadequate settlement.
Allen reasoned that a room in
intensive care costs $lB5 per day
and $5lO a day for minimum care,
with the prices going up at 12 per
cent per year. In the final stages of
their illness, some of the men could
be in intensive care for months,
Allen said.
Although the former chemical
workers have health insurance, it is
SIOO,OOO for 13 and a half years,
when it goes up to $150,000, then
back to SIOO,OOO after 27 years.
“When the need is greatest, the
insurance drops back to
$100,000,” Allen said, noting that
it sometimes takes decades for the
wearing a purple leotard and
bright red cape, singing "I’m
coming out.” She ended the con
cert with "For One and All.”
“It was a benefit to New York.
It met the needs of what the people
need, bringing a sense of tran
quility.”
The tranquility was shattered,
however, as gangs of youths
descended on the departing fans
and stormed through the elegant
Tavern on the Green, located near
the site of the concert in Central
Park.
"Fifty youths overran the place,
terrorizing the patrons,” a police
department spokesman said.
A patron of the restaurant was
carried out on a stretcher and
taken to a hospital, but details
about his injury were not im
mediately known.
An unidentified youth was stab-
cancer to develop.
Some victims said that they had
been offered as much as SBO,OOO
and turned it down.
Allen complained that in most
instances, the former workers were
called in and found a check for
$2,500 already made out to them.
“If those were white workers, I
think they would be asking much
more, and would be getting much
better settlement,” Allen said, ad
ding that 17 of the men are known
to have bladder cancer.
The Augusta Chemical Co. pur
chased or manufactured betanap
thylamine, which causes bladder
cancer, between 1949 and 1972.
The company ceased production of
the chemical in 1972 after an in
vestigation by NIOSH, spurred by
Ralph Nader.
bed as he fought off a teenager
who tried to steal his gold chain,
police said.
A Transit Authority detective
ordered the teenager to drop his
weapon, and when the youth
refused, the officer shot him.
The suspect was arrested and
taken to St. Luke’s hospital where
he was reported in stable con
dition. The condition of the stab
bing victim was not immediately
available.
Thirty-five people were arrested
during the concert mostly for
possession of marijuana. Six were
charged with robbery and one with
grand larceny.
Authorities said 23 people were
treated for minor injuries and
seven were taken to area hospitals.
The concert had been scheduled
for the proceeding night, but a
thunderous electrical storm sent
fans scattering for cover and the
show was postponed.
More than 100 people were also
injured that night, including one
person who was stabbed and two
pregnant women who went into
labor, the emergency medical ser
vice said.
City refuses
to reinstate
bus driver
City Council refused to reinstate
a fired bus driver who was dismiss
ed, he said, because he “misunder
stood” a railroad flagman at 15 th
Street and Railroad Avenue.
W.C. Ravenell, 48, said that he
had just discharged and picked up
a passenger then crossed a set of
railroad tracks to make a right turn
and that he thought the flagman
was signaling him on.
However, city officials said that
Ravenell was terminated for an al
most identical incident in 1982,
and was reinstated.
In that instance he said through
his attorney, Charles Wilkerson,
that he had stopped for a railroad
crossing, the lights were blinking,
but there was no train. So he
“pulled around,” Wilkerson said.
Burglars ransack
home, tai
in mere
Page 3
August 6.1983
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Michael Jackson
Cleaver raps Jesse Jackson
PORTLAND, Ore.—
Former Black Panther
Eldridge Cleaver says
that he is a supporter of
President Reagan and
believes putting the Rev.
Jesse Jackson in the
White House would be
“catastrophic.”
The one-time militant
of the 1960’5, now 47 and
with a scattering of
gray hair, said a presiden
tial campaign by Jackson
could lead to a “sellout”
of Blacks to the
Democratic Party.
“It would be
catastrophic for the
world in general and
America in particular,”
Cleaver said. “He is
unqualified and not
presidential in concept.
“I think he is a
prisoner of protest
politics, he comes across
to me as a bellicose and
menacing. He’s not ad
dressing America as a
K X >
ssss—Harvey Johnson smiles as city council approves
funding.
Less than 75 percent Advertising
whole... He’s still trying
to make a run around
right end for the civil
rights movement. I think
this is a dead end for
anybody with presidential
ambitions.”
Cleaver said many
Black people are “ab
solutely incensed” by
people who turn out the
Black vote for the
Democratic Party in
return for appropriations
fortheir programs.
He criticized “Black
preachers who are
nothing but political
pimps. They delivered the
Black vote to the
Democratic Party since
Roosevelt. They left
Black politicians standing
outside Tip O’Neil’s of
fice with hat in hand and
now Tip’s not able to give
anything to them.
“Jesse Jackson has
stated his candidacy
could result in registering
| City fails
Estate
c 9a r y
river
i 2
Jackson
to inaugurtate
his suite
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.-
Rock star Michael Jackson is
planning a return vacation to the
Hotel Royal Plaza to dedicate the
resort’s new “Michael Jackson
Suite.”
Jackson, who has stayed at the
resort four times, once for five
weeks, wants to be the first person
to stay in “his” suite when it’s
finished in September.
“We couldn’t be more
delighted,” said W. Garry Cross,
general manager of the 400-room
resort.
According to Cross, the new
Michael Jackson Suite will have a
theatrical them. Color scheme will
be grey, white and black, with
dramatic touches such as black
laquered mirrored furniture and
Tivoli lights.
A signed and framed Michael
Jackson platinum record will hang
in each of the suite’s three
rooms—two bedrooms and living
room —and the singer’s signature
will be etched on the door.
Daily rates through Dec. 16 for
the new “Michael Jackson Suite”
are $250 for one bedroom or $375
for two bedrooms.
millions of more Black as
Democrats,” Cleaver
said. “If this is the result of
his campaign, it would
not fulfill the wishes and
desires of the Black
community but would
fulfill the wishes and
desires of the Democratic
Party.
“I think history
demands a break with
this tradition. I think
there will be a strong
reaction in the Black
community to this
trading in Black
skin... The Democratic
Party is in a position of
buying Black votes
through this campaign by
Jesse Jackson. I think
it’s a cruel hoax and set
ting up the Black masses
for another sellout and
disappointment after a
long history of being sold
out and disappointed by
Black preachers.”
Cleaver said he is
League
to loan
SIOO 000
The CSRA Business League
Monday received $200,000 to help
create new businesses within the
city of Augusta and to expand
existing ones. The city gave
$150,000 and the state added
$50,000.
Half of the money will be used
for operating capital and the
remainder for the Revolving Loan
Fund.
Executive Director Harvey
Johnson said that the league is par
ticularly looking for franchises,
dealerships and investment groups
or existing businesses that have a
good chance of becoming more
viable and create some em
ployment.
“happy as a Black
American” and believes
that “when history books
are written they will look
back at the first and
second terms of President
Reagan as an era of great
progress for Black people.
He said he believes
Reagan will win a second
term.
Cleaver, in town for a
talk on the U.S. role in
Central America, said if
the United States fails to
stop communism from
taking over in El
Salvador, “I believe it
will open the door for a
sweep through Central
America and ultimately
around the world.”
As for his days as a
Black Panther, “A lot of
it is embarrassing,” he
said, but “I do think
there was a need for for
ceful action to stop some
of the things that were
being done to us.”
30C