Newspaper Page Text
HAPPY NEW YEAR
S' Nrwa-Brvinu
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER
Vol. 1
Telephone Co. Denies
Discrimination Charges
In a report filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the Equal
Opportunity Commission charged The Bell Telephone Company with discrimination
against women, blacks and Spanish-surnamed people.
The job-bias commission said that “the Bell monolith is, without doubt, the
largest oppressor of women workers in the U.S.” The agency also accused Bell of
proposing artificially high educational and testing requirements for Blacks. “The
failure of the Bell System to provide real equality of opportunity must be
considered a national tragedy,” the agency concluded.
Blacks in the nation as a whole lose over $225 million annually in wages because
they’re “not employed in AT&T’s Bell System in numbers proportionate to their
percentage in the population and because those who are employed work in
low-paying jobs.
News-Review interviewed Southern Bell district manager, John Owen, concerning
employment practices on the local level.
News-Review: To what
extent does the local telephone
company meet employment
standards set by the federal
government, particularly in
regard to women and minority
groups?
Owen: We, at Southern Bell,
in Augusta, think that we have
done a real fine job in this
respect. This is evidenced by
.the number of Blacks you will
find working in the offices in
Augusta. We feel we have done
a good job and with the
program that we have in mind
the things we anticipate that
we will do, we think it’s even
going to be better in the
months to come.
News-Review: What is the
percentage of Blacks and
women employed at the local
company?
Owen: At the present time, I
believe that this figure is
somewhere in the
neighborhood of fifteen
percent.
News-Review: "Is that for
Blacks or for women?
Owen: That is for minority
groups.
News-Review: What about
women?
Owen: Most of our
employees are women. We have
somewhere in the
neighborhood of between
500-600 women operators.
In the commercial
department, we have. . .1
would say that we add up all
the employees that we have in
Augusta men and women
the women would outnumber
the men by about two to one.
ALPHA PHI ALPHA
Each year Alpha Phi takes
pride in offering to the public
an evening of entertainment
bringing in the New Year.
Some have been invitational
and some have been pay
affairs. Yet we have never
neglected our responsibility in
offering the public the feeling
of togetherness on our Award
New Year’s Eve Ball.
This year the public will be
fpvored with another gala
affair-10-2a.m. at the National
Guard Armory, Dec. 31,1971.
Admission will be $5.00 per
couple. Tickets on sale at the
door or from any Alpha Brother.
News-Review: What
percentage of these women are
in the higher paying managerial
and supervisory positions?
Owen: For each working
group, you have so many
supervisors and we have been
able to employ and to train
competent people.
In my organization, here in
the Georgia Railroad Bank
Building, in the commercial
department, I have about
forty-five people and we have
about 8 or ten women
supervisors. We have two male
supervisors myself and one
other man. The rest of them
are women. So really, women
run our business, I guess, if you
really get down to it.
News-Review: To what
extent are minority group
employees employed in
supervising and managerial
positions?
Owen: I don’t have any exact
figures on that, but over in our
traffic department, where I’m
going to take you later, you’ll
see that we have some service
assistants who are of the
minority race that are training
people and telling them how to
do their job. So we are
developing these people and
bringing them along rather
well, we think.
News-Review: What is your
procedure for recruiting and
employing minority groups?
Are there any particular skills
that prospective employees
have to have or do you train
them on the job?
Owen: We have what we call
“entrance” jobs. As you know,
we have a union in this
company. And there are
certain jobs that are entrance
jobs-jobs you can hire people
off the street and bring into
without posting bids.
When we need employees,
and as you know, we just
recently cut over to direct
distance dialing in Augusta,
which in itself gave a surplus
of people. So at t present
time we are mon or less
dormant on our hiring, because
we are trying to use up this
surplus. We didn’t want let
anybody go. To get specifically
to your answer, we will
advertize that we need certain
people and we will give them
some simple tests that
determine their qualifications.
930 Gwinnett St.
Then we hire the most
qualified persons of those
groups.
Working in traffic and in
certain places you have to have
good speech, and talk where
people can understand. We’d
not be in a position, in that
particular type job, to handle
anybody that might have an
impediment in his speech.
News-Review: Some
employers now feel that the
“most qualified man” theory is
valid only when there has been
equal opportunity to become
equally qualified for the job.
What are your views on this?
Do you feel that this is a valid
consideration and do you offer
specific training programs in
light of this consideration?
Owen: Yes; when we bring
people into the organi
zation—be they white or
Black—all of them have an
equal opportunity to go
through the same training
procedures in that given
department. And as they apply
themselves and as they absorb
the knowledge of that
department, then they are
given the opportunity to go
into other areas. And as I
explained earlier, one of the
best things we think about our
organization is the fact that
when we have a better job
available, we post a notice on
the bulletin board saying that
in such and such department
SEE OWEN
Page 3
Clean Air
Committee
To Meet
Captain James G. Beck of
Augusta’s police dept, and
Sheriff William Anderson will
meet with the Richmond
County Clean Air Committee
on Thursday night, January 6.
The purpose of the session,
according to Clean Air
Chairman, Dick Ransom, is to
discuss ways of helping to
implement 1971 state
legislation concerning exhaust
emissions on streets and
highways. The meeting will be
held in The Respiratory Center
of the Medical College on
Harper Street, and will begin at
8:00 p.m.
F
John Owen
James Brown to star
in Ossie Davis film
According to Jet magazine,
Soul singer James Brown will
play the lead role in an
upcoming film. The film will
be made in Nigeria and will be
directed by Ossie Davis.
Brown is featured on the
cover and in an eight page
spread in the current issue of
Jet Magazine.
Essayist Mel Watkins
described Brown as “an artist
and entertainer. James Brown
is the personification of
Blackness, the embodiment of
the Black life style...He is a
Black troubadour.... What his
songs characterize is the
physical, emotional and
downfront nature of Black
life.”
In Africa Brown is heralded
Arbor Day
plans start
Planning for Arbor Day,
1972, is underway with a
meeting scheduled in the
County Commission Chambers
of the Municipal Building at
10:00 Thursday morning,
January 6. Mrs. Herbert
Youngblood, chairman of the
Beautification-Conservation
Committee which is sponsoring
distribution of trees on Arbor
Day, observed on February 18,
states that all local
organizations interested in
taking part in Arbor Day
should send a representative to
the January 6 planning session.
Augusta Ga Phone 722-4555
along with boxer Mohammad
Ali as “the most respected and
the most-asked-about Black
American personalities.”
Comparing the Black
American with his African
counter-part Brown told Jet
after a recent trip to Nigeria
where he was made a freeman
of Lagos, “We’re all the same.
Take the suits and the collars
off and everybody’s the same,
here and there. Over there, the
brothers have the land and the
potential, over here , we have
the education and the
experience. All of us can be
freemen as soon as we find a
way to hook things up.”
Jet states that “Brown’s
commitment to Blackness is
more than just moral and
verbal. Through James Brown
Enterprises, he provided jobs
for hundreds of ghetto dwellers
in businesses that are in and
part of the Black community.
In cold cash, it adds up to
around $250,000 a year.
Money earned, around $25,000
from a special benefit at the
Apollo in December, 1969, was
left in Harlem through various
community Agencies and the
year before, Brown received a
list of 3,000 needy New York
families and presented them
with gift certificates.
A percentage of his earnings
goes into a James Brown
Scholarship Fund to enable
Blacks to attend college, which
adds a certain poignancy to his
‘Don’t be a dropout’
admonition.”
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Faces of P.C students express different emotions as they await the beginning of
coronation activities.
Rollins’ Letter To Judge
Stirs Controversy
C&S realty
investors
will meet
projections
Citizens and Southern
Realty Investors expects to
meet or exceed its projections
for 1972, according to an
announcement made today by
Philip S. Barrett, president of
the Atlanta based real estate
investment trust.
“Our recently published
annual report showed primary
earnings of $1.84 per share,”
Barrett reported, “and our
present portfolio plus
commitment backlog of $244
million indicates that we will
top next year’s projections.”
When asked to comment on
statements by Trustee and
Secretary Durand A. Holladay
of Continental Mortgage
Investors that his trust
expected lower earnings for
1972, Barrett replied, “1 do
not foresee this problem at
C&S.” He added that “bank
sponsored trusts will continue
to perform in the construction
and development lending field
because of their low borrowing
costs and ability to produce
profitable investments.”
December 30, 1971 No. 41
School superintendent Roy
E. Rollins’ recent letter to U.S.
District Court Judge Alexarder
Lawrence urging Lawrence not
to implement the integration
plans developed by the Rhode
Island experts has caused much
controversy.
The daily newspapers
printed excerpts from Rollins
letter in October. The
News-Review responded
editorially in the October 28th
issue. Since that time many
persons have requested that the
entire letter be printed. It reads
as follows:
Dear Judge Lawrence:
Even though the time
alloted to us was too limited to
do justice to the subject, I do
appreciate your thoughtfulness
in permitting our board to
submit this list of difficulties
which we will encounter in
implementing each of the plans
as submitted by Mr. Herman
and Dr. Munzer. Aside from
the official reply by our Board
of Education, I would like to
take this opportunity to make
a personal plea for our schools
and our community.
First, I would like to say
that after reading the speech
you made on November 12,
1958, to the Magna Charta
Dames, which was lauded so
highly by the late Senator
Russell and entered in the
Congressional Record, and
when I recall the many fine
things Judge Scarlett said to
me about you prior to your
appointment to the judgeship,
it is difficult for me to picture
you as one of those social
extremists who you and 1 and
most of the people of our
country know are destroying
our nation.
I can assure you that if
either of the plans submitted
by the two gentlemen from
Rhode Island are imposed on
our community another small
part of our great country will
be destroyed. The education of
36,000 boys and girls will be
sacrificed for a radical social
experiment which will serve
only to multiply the bitterness
SEE ROLLINS
Page 4
The News-Review is
very eager to have news
from Athens as well as
other areas wherein the
News-Review is circulated.
Persons in Athens wishing
to have news printed in
the News-Review should
send their news items to
Mr. Roosevelt Green, P.O.
Box 321-N-R, Athens, Ga.
Announcements of events
should be sent in at least a
week in advance.