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VOLUME 14 NUMBER 5
Inner city homes may
still be out of reach
by Theresa Minor
The city of Augusta and a local
realtor are waiting for word from
the Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) on
whether they should start “mixing
the mortar” for an inner city
housing development to be con
structed in the Twiggs Street Ur
ban Development Area.
Mayor Pro Tern Charles
Devaney boosted the plan during a
recent council meeting as one that
would make new homes available
“to someone who perhaps has not
been able to afford a house in the
past.” The target group, according
to Devaney, is the low-to-moderate
income family.
The ambitious plan would call
for a marriage between the public
Allgood nursing homes receive
$2.5 million from medicaid
State Attorney General Mike
Bowers and lawyers for Senate
Majority leader Tom Allgood will
face off today in the Georgia
Supreme Court over whether the
ft w*
Man, 88, shoots driver
who hit his wheelchair
NASHVILLE, TENN. An
88-year-old, one-legged, born
again Christin knocked from his
wheelchair by a car backing out of
a driveway, says he shot and
wounded the driver because he
would “rather be dead than
mistreated.”
Johnny Pitts, a former
Mississippi sharecropper confined
to a wheelchair, was charged with
assault and attempted murder after
the incident last Friday. He was
released on $2,000 bond.
“I’m 88 years old and han
dicapped,” Pitts said. “And I’d
rather be dead than mistreated. I
and private sectors of the com
munity. In outlining the proposal,
Devaney said a local bank would
put up the money for the first mor
tgage; approximately $35,000.
The city would back the second
mortgage up to SIO,OOO through
the anticipated Urban Develop
ment Action Grant (UDAG) from
HUD.
The mayor points out that even
with the city’s assistance, the
average house payment on the
estimated $45,000 homes would
still make the monthly payment
around S4OO, out of the reach of
many low-income families.
“That might be high for some
people, but of course, the answer
we try to tell is that this is a lot of
people’s only opportunity to own
their own home,” explained
state’s conflict-of-interest law
prohibits legislators and their
spouses from owning nursing
homes or pharmacies funded
through the state.
Augusta girl
wins Australian
literary prize
Augusta’s Katato Cassandera
Conway has won second place in
the Worldwide Edwin Dickenson
Memorial Literary Competition in
Australia.
She has also done a TV commer
cial for WMAZ TV in Macon,
where she is a Fifth grader at the
Georgia Academy for the Blind.
A graduate of Bethlehem Com
munity Day Care Center in
Augusta, she was queen of the cen
ter in 1978-79 and first runner-up
in 1979-80.
She is the daughter of Mrs.
Minnie Conway of Augusta.
don’t want to be bothered and
won’t bothr anyone.”
Authorities said Napolean Mid
dlebrooks, 27, backed out of a
driveway and hit Pitts’ wheelcharr,
spilling the elderly man into the
street. Witnesses who tried to pick
Pitts up said they saw a gun fall
from the chair.
When Middlebrooks got out of
the car and apologized, Pitts
reached for his gun and shot a .32-
caliber bullet into the man’s chest.
Middlebrooks was listed in serious
condition at a hospital.
“I don’t regret it,” Pitts said,
adding that he would not worry if
Devaney. “We felt that it was wor
th exploring.”
In agreement with the mayor is
realtor Bernard Johnson, who ad
mitted he has a lot at stake in the ven
ture. Johnson has purchased the
large tract of land, contingent
upon the city obtaining the UDAG
grant. He remains confident that
the plan will work in the Twiggs
Street area despite the fact the
development would be centered in
a blighted part of the city.
“We’ve proven that life in the
inner city does not affect sales,”
said Johnson. “Right next to those
shotgun houses you might find a
$50,000 home and that’s all over
the city.
“That’s a unique situation in
Augusta,” he concluded.
Johnson said without the
If the court rules that sucn
ownership constitutes a conflict of
interest, three legislators, including
Allgood (D-Augusta), will have to
choose between their positions in
the General Assembly and their
family business holdings.
“It is an extremely important
issue because it deals with the spirit
in which government will be
motivated namely for public ser
vice or self-service,” Bowers said.
“I’m out on a limb again, but I
believe in it.”
Bower has ruled that the law
does not allow lawmakers of their
spouses to transact any business
with the state which he interprets
to include receipt of funds from
Medicaid, the state and federally
funded health care program for the
poor.
This year General Assembley,
which sets Medicaid rates for nur
sing homes, passed a bill that
exempted Medicaid providers from
the conflict-of-interest law.
Leaders of the House and the
Senate have described Bowers’
ruling as too extrem. They said
legislators with a financial interest
Middlebrooks died. “There’s no
use grieving over spilled milk.
When it’s spilled in the sand you
can’t pick it up.”
“I’m too old to tell a lie. I tell
policemen I’d rather they catch me
with a gun than those boys around
here catch me without it. Those
boys would beat my brains out,”
Pitts said.
Pitts said he came to Nashville in
1944 and was “born again” about
a year later.
“Now, I’m living right and I
joined a church,” he said.
Pitts said he lives on a Social
Security check totaling about $273
a month.
June 1,1984
proposed method of financing the
development, the same homes
would mean a $525 monthly
payment. He confirms that under
the plan the income restrictions
would be in the low to moderate
range. But, the definition of low to
moderate is based on a 1980 census
suvey, indicating a salary range of
$16,800 to $23,000 would fall un
der that category.
“You’re not going to be able to
put somebody in the house making
SB,OOO. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s
impossible,” said Johnson.
Devaney says he should hear
word from HUD on the grant in 30
to 60 days. If the grant is ap
proved, he says construction
should start by the end of the year.
in legislation can abstain from
voting if they feel they have a con
flict of interest.
Rowers, meanwhile, has main
tained that legislators who receive
the state funds violate the public
trust they hold.
Bowers’ opinion spawned three
lawsuits by legislators or their
spouses, which have been com
bined into a single appeal to be
argued today. In each case, lower
courts have held that the exem
ption for Medicaid providers is
constitutional.
The plaintiffs in the case are
Allgood’s wife, Thema, who owns
for nursing homes that received
$2.5 million in Medicaid payments
in the last fiscakl year; Rep. Bobby
Parham (D-Milledgeville), who
owns a 50 percent interest in a
pharmacy that received $129,000
in Medicaid payments; and Rep.
Troy Athon (D-Conyers), who
owns interests in six nursing homes
that drew Medicaid payments of
more than $3 million.
Michael Jackson ’s fake articles
worth $50,000, probers say
NEW YORK Federal agents
seized up to $5 million in fake
Michael Jackson merchandise
from posters to sunglasses in raids
on warehouses, department stores
and flea markets last week,
authorities said.
Investigators began raiding the
outlets last Saturday. By Tuesday,
they had seized 500,000 articles
worth up to $5 million, said
Stephen Huff, Jackson’s New
York City lawyer.
Jackson and two California
companies that market the singer’s
licensed merchandise, Enter
tainer’s Merchandise Management
Corp, and MJJ Productions, filed
a civil suit Friday in U.S. District
Court in Brooklyn.
Less than 75 percent Advertising
Killed by incompetence
County Police Chief
Freddie Sanders and Cap
tain Ray Myers should be
fired from their respective
jobs in the Richmond
County Police Depar
tment—Myers for un
necessarily killing a man,
and Sanders for suppor
ting him and trying to
justify the dastardly deed.
It is significant that the
dead man, Willie Lee Bur
ch, was Black and that
Myers and Sanders are
white, for Burch’s race is
the only reason that he is
dead today. He was killed
because of the lack of
value that certain whites
place on Black life.
Burch was armed with
only a knife, while being
surrounded for an hou p by
six carloads of policemen,
and they could not disarm
him without taking his
life. Such incompetence
should not be tolerated.
Even more serious is the
way that Burch was killed.
Sanders said police
followed Burch 259 feet
across an open field
repeatedly asking him to
drop the knife, before
Burch turned and backed
the officers up 47 feet,
refusing to drop the knife.
It is unclear what
“backed them up” means
since no one accused Bur
ch of threatening the lives
of any of the officers until
he allegedly “lunged at”
Myers who at that point
shot him to death.
Burch’s wife, who wit
nessed the shooting, gives
a very different account.
She said that he ap
proached the officers with
his arms outstretched and
Judge Marc Constantino gran
ted a temporary restraining order
and seizure order for sale and
manufacture of the fake goods,
which included T-shirts, posters
and sunglasses bearing the star’s
likeness.
Huff said the order was sealed to
prevent publicity before the raids.
“Michael’s been told about the
seizure. He has no comment,”
Huff said. “The department stores
have been extremely helpful and
cooperative.”
Lawyers for many of the stores
claim their clients did not know the
products were phony.
Constantino authorized A-Z In
vestigators, a private firm, to con-
Editorial
at that point she saw no
knife.
She said Myers ordered
her to shine a flashlight on
her husband, then he
shouted: “Everybody
stand clear. Everybody
clear out.” And within a
few seconds, Myers filled
Burch with buckshot.
Why did Myers ask the
woman to shine the light
on her husband? Why did
he ask everybody to stand
clear? Because he thought
Burch was going to lunge
at him? Or because he
wanted to make a prophet
out of Burch who shouted,
“Kill me. Kill me. You’re
going to do what you want
to with me anyway.”
Granted. There are two
sides to the story. But even
if we accept Myers and
Sanders’ version, they
should still be fired. Myers
is the head of the Police
Training Department.
What if the trainees follow
his example? And how is
he going to tell them to
handle such situations —by
telling them: Don’t do as I
do, do as I say?
Os course the whole
scenario is ludicrous. But
it is no more ludicrous
than the fact that these
men not only continue to
hold their jobs, they are
not punished and they are
free to repeat their heinous
acts. And the community
does nothing about it. It
should be borne in mind
that silence gives consent.
And to the extent that the
community remains silent
about this killing, to the
same extent we bear the
responsibility for Willie
Burch’s death.
fiscate unlicensed items bearing the
likeness, logo or any marks of the
singer.
Machinery and photo negatives
were impounded at four factories
in Brooklyn making most of the
counterfeit items, said Al Zaretz,
president of the investigating firm.
Owners were not arrested or fined
but could be charged with contem
pt of court if they resume the coun
terfeit activities.
“This New York raid was the tip
of the iceberg,” Zaretz said.
“There is a minimum of SSO
million in fake Michael Jackson
products in the country.”
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