Newspaper Page Text
The Augusta News-Review May 5,1984
Mallory K. MilieirderEditor-Publisher
Paul Walker Assistant to the Publisher
Theresa Minor Administrative assistant/Reporter
Juanita BealOffice Manager
Rev. R.E. Donaldsonßeligion Editor
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Charles Beale,..Jenkins County Correspondent
Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Correspondent
Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Correspondent
Mrs. Jleen Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor
Wilbert Allen Columnist
Roosevelt Green Columnist
Al IrbyColumnist
Philip Waring-Columnist
Marva Stewart Columnist
George Bailey....,Sports .Writer
Carl McCoyEditorial Cartoonist
Olando HamlettPhotographer
Roscoe Williams Photographer
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Unacceptable verdict
from page 1
tyre SIOO,OOO, not Mcln
tyre who asked for money.
So who was the victim of
the crime? There was no
victim and Mclntyre extor
ted from no one.
Interestingly, the gover
nment asked no city coun
cil member to show how
Mclntyre influenced the
awarding of contracts.
And two former
mayors—Newman and
George Sancken —testified
that he had done nothing
to get them to do anything
unlawful, or to extort
from Newman.
Joe Jones’ case was dif
ferent. He admitted his
guilt, adding: “It took me
a long time to really learn
this game and to really
learn it for what it’s wor
th—and that is everything
is a deal. And if you don’t
have one, then you’re
going to just be helping
somebody else with one.’’
He also admitted, “I
was the one that was
leading Ed (Mclntyre).’’
Jones violated his public
trust. He continued to ser
ve on City Council while
living in another state
(South Carolina). He
misled the public by accep
ting contributions for his
defense, knowing that he
was guilty, and even after
having reached a plea
bargaining agreement with
the prosecution. He misled
his bank where he served
as branch manager by not
resigning until April sth
when he had secretly
reached the plea
agreement March 7th. The
tape recordings also
revealed that he discussed
customers’ personal
business.
And if former Mayor
Newman testified truth-*
fully, Jones also commit-
Church battles toxic pollution
The United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial Justice has
begun a one-year national pilot
program to address the needs of
Black, minority, and poor people
who are struggling against toxic
pollution in their communities.
The program, the Special
Project on Action Against Toxic
Pollution in Poor Communities,
will function as a national resource
an information center for church
and secular organizations. Charles
Lee, special consultant to the
Commission, will head up the por
ject.
In announcing the project, Dr.
Charles E. Cobb, Executive Direc
tor of the Commission, stated,
“We have been forced to initiate
this toxic waste project because of
the absolute contempt which both
federal and state governments have
Page 4
ted perjury. Yet the jury
apparently chose to believe
his testimony.
If Mclntyre had been
found guilty of any one
count of the indictment,
we would have been
disappointed, based on the
weak evidence presented.
But to say there was
enough evidence to find
him guilty on all three
counts is a travesty.
Mclntyre, in just two
years, used his vision,
organizational skill,
imagination, and contacts
to do more for this city
than any two mayors in
our lifetime. He is not a
criminal and should not be
treated like one. At the
very worst, he may have
knowingly accepted some
money that he shouldn’t
have. And if that’s the test
of a criminal, then we
could imprison just about
everybody in this money
hungry, capitalistic
society.
If Richard Nixon, can
escape prison, and go to
China and other countries,
meeting with heads of
states, then certainly there
is a role for a man of the
brilliance and energy of
Edward Mclntyre. If there
is any truth to the slogan
“A mind is a terrible thing
to Waste,” then sending
Ed Mclntyre to prison for
any length of time would
be the measure of that
waste.
We sincerely hope that
U.S District Judge Dudley
Bowen will take these fac
tor’s into account before
sentencing a man who has
given so much leadership
to this community, and
one whose leadership gave
Augusta’s future so much
hope.
shown for the rights of minority
and poor communities. A recent
government study states that in
three out of four surveyed com
munities where toxic landiflls were
recently sited, ‘most of this
population is Black* and *26 per
cent of the residents in all four
communities have incomes below
the poverty level.’ These sites
threaten not only the lives of
present residents, but the well
being of all future generations.
Our continued struggle against
toxic aggression in Warren Coun
ty, N.C. has proven that in order
to win this fight we must have the
tools to defend ourselves. Through
this project, the United Church of
Christ Commission for Racial
Justice intensified its on-goint
commitment to organize and arm
our citizens with the legal and
scientific information needed to
free us from those who dump
1 i don’t think
\ \THE PRESIDENTS
I \ economicplan
\ \IS FORKING ! J
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BQAIW \ [fllll fl ■ 1 '
BLACK RESOURCES \
To Be Equal
What kind
of tax
reform
by John E. Jacob
It is generally agieed triat there
will be far-ranging tax legislation
in 1985, and
support is
building for
reform of the
tax system to
raise more
revenue in a
fairer way.
But what’s
fair to one per-
i I
son may be very unfair to others.
Advocates for the poor have to be
especially watchful that tax reform
doesn’t degenerate into yet another
round of soaking the poor. The
1981 tax reform wound up doing
just that squeezing more from
the poor while providing windfalls
for the affluent.
That tax cut, combined with
drastic cuts in federal domestic
spending, took some sl7 billion
from poor people between 1983
and 1985, while affluent families in
the SBO,OOO-and-up brackets got
$55 billion worth of tax benefits.
The same tax legislation, even
though it was modified the
following year, vastly increased
special tax gains for wealthy in
dividuals and corporations. Three
of those items—the accelerated
cost recovery system, preferential
treatment for capital gains, and the
investment tax credit—will cost the
Treasury over SSO billion in 1984.
Without considering whether
such tax breaks are economically
justified, we can question their
fairness. The capital gains tax was
cut to a maximum of 20 percent,
which is actually lower than the
marginal tax rate and social
security tax rate paid by a working
head of a family of four who earns
$12,000 a year.
death in our backyards.”
Through the toxic waste project
the Commission will hold seminars
in selected communities nation
wide to provide training and sup
port, as well as legal advocacy. In
cooperation with community
organizations, the project will also
develop national networks and a
variety of resources which can be
adapted to any local toxic waste
struggle. These resources will be
easily accessible to communities
and usable with a minimum of
professional guidance and exper
tise.
A local model for the program is
now based in East Orange, N.J. at
the Legal Justice Clinic, under the
direction of Attorney Fred Brooks.
The Clinic’s program will provide
legal workshops, monitor
legislation, and initiate litigation
And fairness is the issue when
taxes paid by the poor have risen
while those for the affluent were
cut. One recent study showed that
in 1978 a family at the poverty line
paid $269 in combined income and
social security taxes.
But in 1964, that same family at
the poverty line paid over SI,OOO in
income and social security
taxes—a jump from 4 percent of
that family’s income in 1978 to
over 10 percent this year.
The reason is that Congress
tilted the cuts toward higher in
come brackets and didn’t take such
simple steps to protect the poor as
increasing personal exemptions,
standard deductions or the earned
income tax credit.
So we have to wonder just how
concerned Congress will be for
poor and low income taxpayers
when it considers more sweeping
tax reforms. Some of the reform
ideas now surfacing suggest that
“reform” could wind up hitting
the poor again.
- For example, there is renewed
talk of a value added tax (VAT), in
effect, a form of national sales tax.
Unless such a tax is carefully
framed to exclude food and low
cost items that are likely to be part
of a poor family’s consumption
package, that would soak the poor
with a vengeance. Sales taxes
always do that because poor
people have to spend everything
they earn, so they are dispropor
tionately affected.
The VAT would hurt those least
able to pay, as would another plan
for a consumption tax. That would
allow taxpayers to deduct savings
from income so only their spen
ding would be taxed. Poor people
can’t save so unless it is framed to
exempt amounts equal to those
needed to maintain basic living
standards, the poor would get it in
the neck once again.
Considerable support is also
building for some sort of flat rate
tax that would get rid of most of
the present loopholes and apply a
single—or, in some versions, two
or three—income tax rates on all
income.
That could be a promising route
providing the loopholes are really
closed and the basic exemptions
are high enough to ensure that low
income families are protected.
A overly complicated, loophole
ridden, unfair tax system should be
reformed, but unless low income
families are shielded, reform could
wind up being another way to soak
the poor.-
on behalf of New Jersey residents
who are victimized by toxic
aggression.
For further information on how
this program assist your com
munity, contact: The United
Church of Christ Commission for
Racial Justice, 105 Madison Av
enue, New York, NY 10016.
The 1.7 million member United
Church of Christ is a 1957 union of
the Congregational Christian
Churches and the Evangelical
Reform Church.
Its Commission for Racial
Justice has been actively involved
in human rights issues for the past
years, including the case of the
Wilmington 10, the many cases of
racially motivated violence around
the country, and the continuing
protest against toxic waste sites in
Black and other minority com
munities.
Walking With Dignity
Jesse’s wife
Jacqueline Davis Jackson is an
activist in her own rights. She
W| i ■-*» I
has traveled to
foreigh nations
and met their
leaders.
She took
part in sit-ins
during the civil
rights struggles
of the ‘6os,
and has been making speeches for
years. She is also married to one of
the most famous men in politics,
and Jackie Jackson is tired of
hearing that people don’t know
about her. She has grown weary of
remarks that she is “new on the
scene” or that she is making a
“rare appearance.”
The wife of Rev. Jesse L.
Jackson has been making many
appearances for a long time, the
attractive lady said during an in
terview in the nation’s capital as
she took a few days to prepare for
a speaking engagement in the
Baltimore area.
Lovely Mrs. Jackson’s presence
is convincing proof that she has
indeed been overlooked amid the
glare of publicity surrounding her
illustrous husband’s run for the
Democratic presidential
nomination.
Mrs. Jackson may be diminutive
in height (“I’m about five feet and
On allegiance to
the Black community
by Earl Walter Jr.
Minister Lewis Farrakhan has
been under fire for threatening
death to those he has termed,
traitors to the Black community.
From this, two issues surface: what
constitutes a ‘traitor’ to the Black
community, and is death an ap
propriate punishment for such a
person.
Informants and provocateurs
have been effective poison for
legitimate Black organizations
even prior to Nat Turner. Certain
individuals have seen fit to help
destroy programs and movements
in order to fulfill some objective
exogenous to Black community
development.
Innocent lives have been disrup
ted and even destroyed by
deliberate attempts of some to
cause confusion and conflict in
community based groups.
Farrakhan should know about
traitors. He has spent the bulk of
his adult years in perhaps the most
government watched and in
filtrated Black organization, the
nation of Islam. That Farrakhan is
still with the ‘Nation’ is testimony
of his allegiance to the cause of
Black progress. Few deny his
seriousness and dedication,
motives notwithstanding.
What is less clear, though, is
who shall justly determine those
with allegiance to the Black com
munity? How does one, for exam
ple, measure the allegiance of a
person who occassionally volun
teers for community oriented
work, yet whose paycheck comes
from a white controlled in
stitution? Shall every Black person
be assumed to have automatic
allegiance to the Black com
munity? If not, how can one be a
traitor to something for which
allegiance has never been declared?
Farrakhan is shaking up Blacks
with formal ties to those white in
stitutions which thrive on collec-
leaning” she says with a smile), but
she is no shrinking violet. Her dark
eyes sparkles as she speaks with a
low-pitched, animated voice,
carefully formulating her answers
and then pelting the interview with
questions of her own. Women can
no longer have the luxury of
isolation in any single area,
whether it be children,
homemaking or world peace, she
says.
“All of these things are part of
the whole. If you are given to
raising children, you must be con
cerned about war and peace.” Her
feminine style of speaking almost
exactly matches that of her Baptist
minister husband. But when asked
whether she has been influenced by
him she shoots back with a broad
smile, “maybe vice versa.” “I
would say my husband and I are
basically of the same mind.” If her
husband has rhetorical skills, she is
no slouch behind a microphone.
To a recent gathering on Capitol
Hill, she delivered a stern rebuke
of United States policy in Central
America that went beyond the
usual amenities of a candidate’s
wife. “My heart is very heavy
when I discover that my country
has been participating in planting
mines and explosives on the shores
of Nicaragus,” she told the recep
tion for MADRE, a group that
proclaims itself “in solidarity”
with women from Central
America.
Mrs. Jackson made a tour of the
region last year with a group of
women leaders, protesting
President Reagan’s all-male Cen
tral America study commission. It
was one of her many forays into
the world’s trouble spots.
In fact, a close family friend and
supporter, Dr. Andrew L.
Thomas, credits Mrs. Jackson for
her husband’s involvement in the
Middle East. “She was the one
who opened doors to the Middle
East,” says Dr. Thomas, the
family physician. Many people are
unaware that the wife of the famed
“Country Preacher” was the first
to meet with the Palestine
Liberation Organization leader
Yasser Arafat, (not her illustrous
husband).
She first met Arafat on a trip in
1978 to see the effects of war on
women and children in Lebanon.
The next year, she and Rev.
Jackson traveled togehter to the
Mideast where Rev. Jckson met
with Arab leaders, and made his
first big splash on the internatiord
scene.
The youthful Jacqueline Davis
Jackson was born in Fort Pierce,
Fla. One of six children, the family
later moved to Newport News, Va.
Her memories include a strictly
supervised social life within the
confines of the Baptist Church.
tive disorganization in the Black
community. The communications
media is certainly one of those ex
ploiting institutions. Farrakhan is
perhaps saying, one day it will be
insufficient for a Black person to
have a casual association with the
Community and still be viewed as
committed. Something more for
mal will be necessary to demon
strate commitment to the people.
Threats of death, whether
general or specific, are unfor
tunate. They have proven ineffec
tive from the standpoint of win
ning public opinion. Ironically,
Farrakhan’s remarks came within
days after the U.S. Senate passed a
bill authorizing the death penalty
for treason and certain other
federal crimes. The Reagan Ad
ministration (which includes the
Justice Department) praises the
‘death to traitors’ idea. Most
democrats, including Jesse
Jackson, oppose this policy.
It seems Farrakhan’s motivation
for ostracizing journalist Milton
Coleman (for leaking Jackson’s
‘hymie’ remark to the media) is to
defend the hopes and aspirations
of millions who have an
evergrowing emotional and
psychological investment in
Jackson’s candidacy.
Coleman’s action had the effect
of increasing the danger to
Jackson’s life, which can be
viewed as a threat to the Black
public interest.
How can we discourage further
threats to the Black public interest,
if agreed, there is such an interest?
Farrakhan has taken his stand on
traitors, which he correctly claims,
echos the sentiments of most
national leaders.
Os the good things about the
Jackson presidential candidacy, we
can say it is getting us to think
about who we really are, and
where we really stand as a people.