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Miss America sought only money, exposure Page 1 ® 1 ’ c AuguHta ■Nma-Uteutew Volume 13, Number 23 Drug Smuggling Conspiracy Ex-chief deputy charges district attorney took bribe to protect Red Evans pilot A former Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy told the News- Review this week that convicted in ternational drug smuggler Larry Doug “Red” Evans told him on several occasions that Kenneth Goolsby, district attorney for the Toombs Judicial Circuit took a payoff tb protect a member of the drug operation. Goolsby’s office closed at noon Wednesday and he could not be reach for comment prior to press time. Willie Glaze, 29, served as chief deputy of the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department until June when he was fired after his under cover work and court testimony convicted ten of the men involved in the operation and sent the leader, Evans, to jail for 40 years without probation, plus a $285,000 fine. Glaze refused to testify in court until he was guaranteed immunity from prosecution. At that time, Glaze also fingered another prominent Lincoln Coun ty figure, Paige Prater, who was released on $600,000 bond and has not yet been sentenced. First Black Miss America sought only money, exposure It was never Vanessa Williams’s dream to become Miss America —she wanted to be a Broadway star. Saturday night the 20-year-old Miss New York contestant won the pageant she had to coaxed to enter, the first Black ever to be crowned Miss America. Overnight, Miss Williams, who was supposed to begin her junior year at Syracuse University this fall, became a celebrity, trailed by chaperones, dogged by reporters and telephoned by President Reagan. Part of Career Plan “It’s a jolt,” she said. “I guess I still haven’t been albe to realize it yet. It’s interesting to know I’m making history.” Black leaders across the country applauded her selection and the choice of another Black con testant, Miss New Jersey, as first runner-up. The new Miss America entered the pageant not as a crusader, she said, but as a realist, for the money she will be able to put toward her education and the push she hopes it will give her career as a Broad way singer, dancer and actress. Miss Williams won $25,000 in Charles Evans enters 6th Ward race A half hour before the deadline Monday, Educator Charles Evans qualified for the 6th Ward City Council seat held by Oscar Baker. Evans will also face businessman Tom A. Myer who ia also seeking to unseat Baker. A graduate of Lucy Laney High School, Evans earned his bachelor’s degree from Albany State College and has done further study at Georgia Southern Univer sity. He said that one of his concerns is recreation. “I’m getting sick and Man robbed of more than SSOO in his home Page 3 Glaze said that Evans told him “on several occasions” about a pilot whose plane crashed in Lin coln County on April 12,1979 and how the pilot went to a well-known lawyer in Thomson along with Goolsby. According to Glaze, Evans told him that he paid Goolsby a large sum of money so the pilot wouldn’t have to come to court. Glaze said that he secretly taped seven or eight of his conversations with Evans. Glaze also raised questions about bond money stemming from the incident that the county, he said, never received. “Lincoln County received $25,000 of the cash bond that was put up. But that was only half of it. The question that I’ve been asking all along is what happened to the other half,” Glaze said. Glaze, who worked at the same time as an informant for Evans as well as for the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said that Evans told him, “If we get caught you do something to mess up the warrant and we’ll pay Mr. Goolsby off and we’ll get out of it.” scholarship money, and is expected to earn more than SIOO,OOO in ap pearances across the country, said Albert Marks, the pageant’s chairman of the board. “I needed the scholarship money,” she said. “I thought even if I didn’t make it, I would get some money and exposure out of it. So far it’s paid off tremen dously.” The exposure so far, she has found, has focused less on her dancing and singing talents than on her race, a situation she said she alternately laughs at and resents. Her most vivid memory of the pageant, she siad, is of lining up with the three other Black con testants for endless photo sessions and answering endless questions about what it felt like to have a chance to become the first Black woman to win the crown. It was not until 1970 that the fir st Black woman entered the Miss America pageant, Cheryl Browne from lowa. In the pageant’s 62- year history, two Black contestants have become finalists, Mr. Marks said. This year, four Black women en tered die contest. Two became finalists—Miss Williams and Suzette Charles, Miss New Jersey. tired of kids playing in the street when the (Wood) park is closed and the kids don’t have anywhere else to play.” He said that with adequate recreation, elderly people in the area could have something to do in arts and crafts and cer amines. wood Park, located in the 6th Ward, has only one light in it, he said. The summer is the only time a park is open. A Richmond County teacher for 17 years, Evans said that anyone on the Augusta police force should Willie Glaze Miss Charles, as the first runner up, received a prize of $17,500. Her home is in Mays Landing, 15 miles west of Atlantic City. “I was chosen because I was qualified for the position,” Miss Williams said. “The fact that I was Black was not a factor. I’ve always had to try harder in my life to achieve things, so this is regular.” The pageant’s judges this year were Rod McKuen, the poet; Christopher Little, a freelance photographer; Marion McKmght Conway, Miss America in 1957; Lois Geraci Ernst, president of To Woman, Inc., an advertising con cern; Tandy Rice, president of Top Billing, Inc., a musical booking agency; Jerry Vale, an entertainer; Marguerite Piazza, a former mem ber of the Metropolitan Opera; and Jeanne Maxwell, former president of Dance masters of America. Marks said Miss Williams’ crowning as Miss America “should prove that you can be tops in America without regard to your color, as it should be.” “I can assure you that this young lady got there on her merits,” he said. If there are any lessons to be drawn from her capture of the have at least two years of college, and offiers should be paid for their education so they will have an in centive to go to school. “If you know how to talk to people, you would not have some of the problems that you have. “When money is tied to education you’ll get quality people. “As it is, you are putting perhaps the greatest question—when or whether to take a life—into the hands of some of the least trained people.” Charles Evans runs for 6th Ward city < x „ ' ■ C.T ■ , ''- 4/f September 24,1983 Miss America crown, Miss Williams said, they are those of the value of hard work and education. “It shows that all things are possible,” she said. “To make it for any minority or any person, you’ve got to have a good education. I want people to respect me and think I’m better. I’m am bitious, I have a lot of drive, and I work hard to get somewhere.” Parents Are Teachers Her work started as an elemen tary school student in the West chester County town of Millwood when she started taking dance lessons. Her parents, who are both elementary school music teachers, taught her piano, French horn and singing. Her father, Milton A. Williams Jr., said it was a family rule that both Vanessa and her younger brother, Christopher, now 15, study music until they were 18. Once, he recalled, his daughter ran away (into the woods in the back yard) in a futile effort to per suade him to let her quit. He told her to continue, he said, because he was convinced of the value of a musical education. (From the New York Times) The Morgan Road Elementary School physical education teacher said that poor lighting in the city encourages rapes and other crime. He also favors downtown redevelopment. “Many Blacks,” he added, “can’t get to the malls, but they can get a bus and go downtown.” He said he would also explore the possibility of using block grant money to establish tutoring centers for deflcient students. Babcock product among top 100 in the world Page 3 Less than 75 percent Advertising Glaze said his iob would have been to make an error in the preparation of the warrant so that the case would be thrown out of court. According to the FBI Evans’ operation funneled more than 77,000 pounds of marijauna and unknown quantities of cocaine and quaaludes into Lincoln County from South America over a four year period. Asked l if he is concerned for his safety, Glaze said, “I’m not worried right now about Mr. Evans because he is not the type of person that kills anybody. He likes to break bones.” He said that Evans often bragged about people he had “messed up.” He said that his only concern is for his wife and two boys. “I have always had to watch my back. I’m not depending on anybody to look after me, not even the FBI, because I feel like I can take care of myself. That’s the reason I’m fighting to put that badge back on, because there are still somethings in that county that ain’t right.” Miss America Editorial We were surprised and delighted to see Vanessa Williams become the first Black Miss America Saturday night. We were delighted but not surprised when Susette Charles was announced first runner-up, for we’ve grown accustomed to seeing Blacks whose talen ts qualify them for first place wind up second. One still hoped that Miss Williams would win the crown but dared not assume it. With all the credit that she is due, we believe that the judges deserve equal credit for having the courage to award her the title that her talent and beauty earned her. We regret, however, that Miss Williams ap pears not to have a full appreciation for the significance of her achievement. She said that she won because she was qualified and that race was Charles Evans He said drugs are still being traf trafficked in Lincoln County and there is “just another form of segregation going on there.” Glaze worked for the Augusta Police Department in 1976 prior to becoming the first Black law en forcement officer in Lincoln County in 1978. “The only people who are bothering me up there with then propaganda are the county com missioners and the people on my job. And the reason is that they still believe that I could win that sheriffs race (in August of 1984). “I still believe to the day that I can, too.” Glaze noted that Georgia has never had a Black sheriff. And he said Lincoln Coun ty political leaders “can’t stand the thought of a Black sheriff in the county. And my goal is still to run regardless of what they say.” Editor’s note: Next week Glaze talks about how he gained the con fidence of Red Evans and how he brought down the multi-million dollar drug smuggling operation. not a factor. She reportedly resented the attention giving to the racial factor. What she seemingly does not under stand is that she is not the first Black woman who was qualified to win. Historically, it has not mattered how qualified a Black was. The applicant was rejected because he or she was Black, period. Race was the only factor. We are, of course, hap py to see the apparent progress. But discrimination in the pageant is not dead. A Black contestant will still find discrimination at the local and state levels, if not at the national level. And for that reason we still need the Miss Black America pageant and other institutions in the Black community that have given us a means to develop our skills, express our aspirations and realize our goals. Harris to go to White House Paine College President William H. Harris will join other presidents of historically Black colleges at the White House, Sept. 26, to par ticipate in Black Colleges Day.' Throughout the country a series of seminars will be held on issues of higher education and the role of the Black College in the larger realm of American higher education. 30c