Newspaper Page Text
T News-Stevinn
Vol. 1
Bth Ward Residents Angry
over Garbage Pick-Up
and Speed-Trap
Last Monday, April 12,
1971, this reporter listened to
a young lady (who wishes to
remain anonymous) who
complained about the safety of
her children waiting for the
school bus in the mornings on
the corner of Monte Sano at
Wheeler Rd.
The irate mother stated that
ignore the stop sign
on that corner, and that she
had called the police several
times to report it but nothing
has been done.
The following day 1 took a
ttek into the area interviewing
residents. I found that most
complaints center around the
lack of garbage pick-up, and
the high rate of speed traveled
on Wheeler Road from Monte
Sano to Jackson Road. It was
also pointed out that Wheeler
Road has only one traffic light
and two stop signs on it’s
entire length. The following
excerpts are from residents of
the Bth ward:
Mrs. Josie M. Sanders of
2822 Wheeler Rd. heads the
list of property and personal,
injuries suffered from
speedsters in the area. Last
September Mrs. Sanders-auto
was hit at the corner of Monte
Sano & Wheeler Rd. by a
youth who failed to stop for
Part 3
Interview: Dr. Lucius Pitts
President-elect Paine College
On March 12,1971, News-Review interviewed Dr. Lucius Pitts,
President of Miles College for the past ten years and President
elect of Paine College. This interview was broadcast live on
“Voice of the People” at radio station W.T.H.B.
News-Review: Do you feel that the federal government has the
interest of Black colleges at heart, that is to say, are they really
interested in improving Black colleges? There are some people
who feel that Black colleges ought to be phased out, that you
ought to just have “colleges”? What’s your feeling on this?
DR. Pitts: If you take the record of the Federal Government in
terms of what it has done for Black colleges, I would have to say
that I am not convinced that they are interested in Black colleges
nor even interested in equal opportunity. Now, I think the
Health, Education, and Welfare Department has indicated better
than any other department that they do have some concern, that
they are willing to make some grants that are little better than
token, but my own belief is that there is a belief is that there is a
conspiracy in this country, intentional or unintentional, to phase
out the Black colleges or to let them die, is a part of this, that the
whole question of now that we have desegregation begins to have
people ask certain other questions. So I think in some
departments that the Federal government is interested. In many
of the others they have shown no interest. The President has
made a nice statement in his “State of the Country” (address),
but we’ve got to wait, as he said, and see what he is going to do.
And if he doesn’t move faster than he has been moving, then we’ll
still be waiting twenty-five years from today to become the kind
of colleges that this country needs, that are the Black colleges.
News-Review: You seem to feel that Black colleges should not be
phased out. That implies that you feel that Black colleges have
something distinctive to offer, just what do you think is the
uniqueness of the Black college and why should it not be phased
out?
Dr. Pitts: Let’s see if I can say it succinctly and quickly. Now
number one, the public education for Black students in America,
particularly in the South, has been so inadequate that these
students, in many cases and in most cases, will not be admitted to
some of the prestigious institutions and even some of the state
institutions - because their scores are going to be so low. So one
of the reasons you need a Black college is to do the job we have
been doing for one hundred years, i.e. to serve these people
whom I call “gifted non-achievers,” who have all of the ability
and capabilities aad who have not been able to achieve because of
a lack of the kind of innovation that the Black colleges have been
doing all of our life.
The other reason for the Black college is that we know more
about teaching the disadvantaged, meaning here the culturally
disadvantaged, the economically disadvantaged; we know more
than any other group of institutions, not only for Blacks, and I
think that we’ve got a job of teaching the White colleges how to
deal with the poor White people. You know that I know that as a
matter of record that more than seventy percent of the Black
college graduates in America last year came to the Black colleges.
Some of the White institutions take them on Federal funds and
say that they are going to do something great for the minority
group. They get them in and get the money (Federal money), and
after a year they are flunked out. We have the expertise of getting
See Dr. Pitts Page 5
the stop sign there, causing
$520.00 damage to her car,
and $175.00 in doctor bills.
Four months later Mrs. Sanders
lost the same vehicle on the
same corner, by another
speedster who caused her to
rue into a light post.
Ihe following month Mrs.
Sanders reported to the
Augusta Police Department
that an auto racing at a high
rate of speed lost control of his
auto and rammed right through
her front yard, which sits off
of Wheeler Road some 25 to
30 feet. The driver damaged
shrubbery before taking off at
a high rate of speed.
Fuming that her two
daughters may have been in the
yard playing-and if they had,
there could have been a serious
injury-the irate housewife
called city-councilman Harry
Steine only to have someone
on the other end of the phone
state that Mr. Steine did not
live there.
Mrs. Mamie Young, wife of
the Deputy Grandmaster
-Prince Hall Masons,
complained of the garbage
pick-up; “They just don’t pick
up our garbage enough, once a
week is surely not enough,
surely for the taxes we pay.”
Mrs. Young has also been a
930 Gwinnett St. Augusta Ga Phone 722-4555
victim of the speedsters who
rampage on the Wheeler Road
artery; she had an auto ram her
mailbox, and bricked-flower
lined driveway.”
There have been numerous
complaints about the city
service to blacks in the Bth
ward. Some say it is because
the city councilmen of the Bth,
“just doesn’t care about us up
here. It seems as if SIOO,OOO
night clubs are of more interest
than the services we get.”
Mr. Frank Caldwell of
Jefferson Drive quipped that
they have only picked up
leaves up here once the entire
fall “Why 1 can’t rake the
leaves out of my yard because I
have no place to put them.
Another resident in the Bth
Ward, Mr. Oliver of Jefferson
Drive states: “They say we
lower the value of their homes,
that we deteriorate
neighborhoods, and that we
don’t take care of our
community. What I’d like to
know is, how can we keep our
community pretty and clean
when we don’t get the services
we pay taxes for?”
This reporter witnessed
autos drag racing right down
the middle of Wheeler Road,
bringing the interview to an
abrupt halt.
Unified Government
Discussion Aired
The young adult group at
the Williams Memorial C.M.E.
Church, on 15th Street, has
invited Nancy Anderson, L.B.
Wallace, Field Yow, Jerry
Sweeney, Rev. Arthur D. Sims,
John H. Ruffin, and James
Hinton to discuss the Unified
Government proposed charter
and its ramifications to the
public Sunday, April 25, 1971
beginning at 5:00 p.m. The
program is designed to give the
public an opportunity to ask
questions and hear the
discussion as presented by
some of those directly involved
with the writing of the
proposed charter, indirectly
involved with it and those who
have studied it and are
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(L - R) Ernest Evans, Laugh von Brown, Mrs. Mamie Carter and Joseph Green.
The Black Student Union of Augusta College paid a visit to the Shiloh Orphanage last Monday.
While there the President of the Union, Joseph Green, presented the Orphanage with a $30.00
check and a small box of can goods.
Mrs. Mamie Carter, who received the gift, expressed appreciation on the part of Shiloh. Mrs.
Carter related that the Shiloh Orphanage was especially in need since the last fire destroyed part of
the storage room.
Registion
Dead Line
Richmonc County voters
have until 5 p.m. Tuesday
afternoon, April 27, to register
and be eligible to vote in the
May 25 referendum on unified
government, according to the
Registrar, Mrs. Lucy Barnard.
Mrs. Barnard’s announcement
cleared up earlier confusion
concerning the cut-off date for
the referendum.
Newcomers to Richmond
County are eligible to register
provided they have lived in
Georgia for a year and in
Richmond County for six
months. Voters who have
failed to vote during elections
for the past three years were
purged from the registration
books earlier this year and
were notified by the Registrar
that they would have to
re-register in order to be able
to cast ballots in any future
elections. Mrs. Barnard has
stated that in many cases,
notifying cards were returned
to her office for lack of a
forwarding address, and that
she will be glad to let voters
know their status if they are in
doubt. They should call her
office at 724-1831, Ext. 281.
The Registrar’s Office is
located on the first floor of the
Municipal Building in the 500
block of Greene Street, and is
open from 9 until 5 each day
except Saturday. The office
will also be closed on Monday,
April 26, which is a state
holiday.
concerned about its
ramifications. The Young
Adults are hopeful that this
discussion, those which have
preceeded it as well as others
which will no doubt follow
leading up to voting day, will
enlighten the public and charge
all with the desire to be as well
informed on an issue which
will affect the entire
community, now, and
generations to come. The voter
will decide, whether he votes
or neglects to vote the fate of
his government. The program is
scheduled to be aired live over
Radio Station W.R.D.W.’s
program “Face To Face”,
Beginning at 5:00 p.m. The
public is encouraged to attend
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The home of David Daniels Sr., of 1753 Mulherin Street, burned in a flash fire last Saturday morning.
Daniels, an employee at Paine College for the last fifty-one years, was sitting on his front porch about 10:30 Saturday morning
when he noticed smoke coming from the side of the house. He said he called the Fire Department and by that time “the blaze had
spread all around the house.” The house was a total loss.
Daniels was reared in the house which was one of the original boys dormatories at Paine College, built about 1910. The dormatory
was located west of Haygood Hall. (Haygood Hall was lost to a fire in 1968).
In 1918, Daniels’ father rolled the house to its present location on logs drawn by a horse.
According to Daniels, he had household insurance and most of his belongings were protected. Living with Daniels at the Mulherin
Street address were his son William and his nephew Eugene Williams.
Commenting on his loss, Daniels said, “I didn’t know I had so many friends. I want to thank those who expressed their sympathy
during the disaster.”
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Good Samaritan
of the Week
Mrs. Ethel Jackson,
employee at Talmadge Hospital
discovered a pocketbook on
the counter in the snack bar.
After picking it up she found
that it belonged to an
out-of-town patient who had
apparently mislaid it.
But to Mrs. Jackson’s
surprise she also found that the
or listen via radio. Persons at
home will be able to call in
with questions. The telephone
number will be 733-9430.
purse contained $30.00 inside.
The mother of one child
promptly turned the purse and
its contents over to the
hospital security department
who in turn found the owner.
One remarkable aspect of
this story is the situation that
Mrs. Jackson just came
through. This was her first day
back on the job following an
extensive bout with Pneumonia
that sometimes found her
barely able to obtain her
medicines because of a lack of
funds.
$12,000.
Token
In
Local
Robbery
Business tycoon Charlie Reid’s Easy Way Pantry Food Mart on Gwinnett Street
Extension was robbed Wednesday night at 11:45 P.M., in what was probably the
largest robbery ever of a local Black businessman.
According to policemen Eugene Seigler and Edwin Sherrod, two bandits took
approximately $12,000 in cash and jewelry.
Mr. Reid was not able to name the two culprits although he said he had seen them
earlier.
April 22, 1971 No. 5
Black and White
Hill Residents
Fight Rezoning
Combined efforts of black
and white Hill area residents
(Bth Ward & Hillwood Circle)
defeated a bid of Swift-Gregg
Associates on the behalf of
Jennings Murphy to have their
residential area rezoned to a
multiple family area.
Some four hundred or more
persons signed several sets of
petitions to defeat the
zone-changing bid.
The homeowners led by
David Play ford pointed out
that when the property owners
in that area purchased their
homes, it was with the
understanding that the area
was a residential zone (Zone
R-1A & Zone R-l) and that it
would remain that way.
However, according to the
homeowners, Murphy and
w A I
Reporters R.L. Oliver (News-Review) and Jay Bell
(Radio Station W.R.D.W.) talk with policemen Edwin
Sherrod and Eugene Seiner.
Company had plans to have the
area ezoned to Zone R-3B
multip e family to permit the
construction of a housing
project.
The irate owners stressed the
point that there is already
another apartment complex in
that area with vacant
apartments, that new
apartments would only
generate more traffic thus
endangering the welfare of the
children; and last but not least
the elementary schools of the
area are already filled to their
capacity.
With these complaints
lodged against the rezoning
effort, the Richmond County
Planning and Zoning
Commission voted in favor of
the home owners.