National
? ? : 1
James Brown's Got a Brand New Bridge
? Bridge dedication brings bucks - and controversy - to western town
STEAMBOAT SPH!\GS Colo
< AP , _ Everything's turning up
Broun in this western ski resort
Since the dedication of the
James Broun Soul Center of the
Universe Bridge, local merchants
have cashed in with James Broun
Roast coffee. Jame^ Broun Ale.
James Broun T-shirts and e\en
cheu\ Jarc^ Brownies.
"I'm interested in seeing if
there's going to be a pilgrimage to
the bridge," said Brandt \ ogt.
wholesale manager at Mocha
Molly's Coffee Saloon, "so people
can stop in for a cup of James
Broun coffee."
Despite the controversy over
naming the bridge for Broun, a con
victed felon who had never been in
Steamboat Springs before the Sept.
1 5 d education, his ap pe arance
charmed man\ townspeople, inspir
ing food ^p;r: t ^ in a receptee sec
men: or the communit;. .
"Much or the cortro\ers\ has
died dour., and people are having
run with it." said Sharon Roman,
wfco ser\e^ up the James Brownies
at w hat she now calls Sharon's Soul
Center of the L ni\ erse Cafe.
"The name iait stuck." she
said. "At first, it was just a fun thing
for that da\. but I*\e left the name
up. The response has been good ?
even from a lot of cowboys."
The bridge was built to
replace an old span across the
Yampa R:\er used to drive cattle
from ranches uest of town to stock
>ards along the Rio CJrand Railroad.
Man\ old-timers wanted the
replacement to be called the New
Stock bridge ? or at least a name
that honors the community's ranch
ing and mining heritage. The name
James Brown Soul Center of the
Universe Bridge was proposed as a
joke, but it caught on and outpolled
other names in a community vote.
Historically, the economy of
the town, named for the chugging
rhythm of steam escaping from a
geyser, was based on coal and cat
tle. But since the opening of the ski
'mountain 30 years ago. Routt
County has transformed itself from
Old West to New West, with
tounsm generating 80 percent of the
economic base.
"My father was instrumental
in having the original bridge built."
said \N llliam .May. of. a rancher.
"This has always been my home
town. and I guess it always will be.
but r certainly" miss the old ranch
neighbors 1 used, to have. Things
like this James Brown bridge don't
seem to belong here."
W ith Brown's announcement
that he wants to perform annualls in
Steamboat Springs, tans envision a
soui-music festival of the already
crowded calender of summer
events.
?it's an unlikely place for a
soul festival, but what does that
matter?" said David Brereton of the
Steamboat Brewery & Tavern,
which brews Brown Ale ? and
can't keep up with demand for
James Brown T-shirts.
"1 think this will play into
something big. like the Telluride
festivals." Breretun said. "It's tunt
ing out that there are more James
Brown fans than anyone dreamed
"of.1
James Brown
Florida Faces Cultural Powderkeg
TALLAHASSEE. Fla. ( AP ) ?
Some pans of Florida are as unsafe
as many Third World nations and
are sometimes more dangerous ? a
problem black leaders say won't
disappear without big and expensive
changes.
"Across the nation in every
metropolitan area there is a Third
World community." said state Sen.
James Hargrett, D-Tampa.
-The ghettos. Hargrett said.
resemble "a little Somalia, with peo
ple running around in the stTeet with
guns ? and people afraid to report
the violence for fear of their lives."
The threat of armed, roaming
violent youths can't be fenced off.
And that threat will continue to
spread from inner-city ghettos if not
checked by soettty . r* ?? -
"Florida is going to be the
place where we learn to make it
work," Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay
said last week at Florida A&M Uni
versity, addressing the first meeting
of the Conference of Black Elected
Officials.
tourist in urban Miami and an Eng
lish tourist near rural Monticello
within a week focused attention on
the problem, said Rep. A1 Lawson,
D-Tallahassee. "But what happens
every day out on the street?"
More and more youths lack
stable homes to teach discipline' and
"We have packs of stray ani
mals that are running around grow
ing themselves up, without benefit
of families," Hargrett said.
Dade County Commission
Chairman Arthur Teele Jr. said lead
ers must look at the big picture, not
focus only on one solution such as
education, jobs, or law enforcement.
"Crime is a symptom of the
problem, which I would suggest
education, family values, lack of
-discipline and lack of self esteem all
are part of," Teele said.
HargTett said change will take
massive investment in the black
communities, and a redefinition of
heroes as people who work hard and
invest in the well-being of the com
munity rather than simply accumu
lating fast wealth. * s
Delinquent youths aren't
deviants, but conformists to the
ghetto world, said Dade County
Juvenile Court Judge Tom Peterson,
one of the few non-black partici
pants in the meeting. Haitian chil
dren moved to Miami's inner-city
_ neighborhoods quickly adopt the
same habits, Peterson said.
"Had we taken these people
and put them in Iowa, they'd be act
ing like people in Iowa. It's learned
behavior," he said. "The tragedy is
the ghetto. The tragedy is the places
where kids leam that behavior."
Social programs lack role
woman Anita Davis said. "Most of
the funds go to white folks to tell
black folks what's wrong with
you."
Gov. Lawton Chiles has got
ten more members of minority
groups involved in government and
the courts through appointments
he's made. MacKay said.
But he said. "Leadership in
the black community has got to be
black. I cannot be the role model for
to be you."
"I think we need to have more
African-American people sitting"
around the table." Willie Johnson,
an administrator at Miami's Family
Health Center, told one conference
workshop. "In Dade County we are
beginning to invite ourselves to
meetings. We are beginning to tell
what we need in our communities,
as opposed to them telling us."
, "Nobody can save our chil
dren but us." said Georgia Avers,
founder and executive director of
The Alternative Program Inc. in
Dade County . which tne> to involve
families in rehabilitating delin
quents.
Peterson said a 50-pupil
school he's launched at Dade
County's Juvenile Justice Center
proves children from the ghetto can
favorably influence one another.
Tammi T vague, of Sashville, right, talks with recruiter Jill Tow send during a job fair that was part of the 15th
Annual National Black MRA Association Convention in Atlanta last Friday. .Attendees say they are encour
aged by corporate America's gradual recognition of the importance diversity , but worry that downsizing by
once-reliable employers will keep the harriers to the highest levels of management firmly in place.
Man Who Said He Was Set Afire Dies
C/\'Cl\'XATI (AP) ? A man
who told police he was set afire by
stranded motorists after he tried to
help them has died, authorities said.
Milton Metcalfe. 30. of Love
land died Sunday at University of
Cincinnati Hospital, the hospital
said Metcalfe had been in critical
condition after being burned over 75
percent of his body Sept. 21 .
He said he. was attacked when
he tried to help two men and a
woman whose pickup truck ran out
of gasoline. He said he brought
them some gasoline, and they
splashed it on him and set him afire
Loveland police have not
been able to find any such
assailants. Chief Howard Espelage
said last week that it was possible
Nljtcalfe accidentally set himself on
fire, then lied about what happened.
Metcalfe was convicted in
April in Hamilton County Common
Pleas Court of making a false report
after he told police that two men
kidnapped him at knifepoint. He
was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Earlier this month, two white
men in Florida were convicted of
setting a black man afire. The man
was seriously injured. One of Met
calfe's friends said Metcalfe, who
was black, might have been the vic
tim of a copycat crime. Metcalfe
said his assailants were white.
Tobacco Company
presents - .
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View the progress as artisans create
T local scenes and images. J
DKIECI^SICFAIR
Oct. 1-9, 1993*
One Month After Eruption of
4
Violence, County Ponders Future
u AY\ESBORO. Cm. (AP) ?
One month after the death of a black
man set off two nights of violence,
residents of Burke County in east
Georgia are trying to determine how
to avoid similar unrest in the future.
On Aug. 15. a fight between a
white man and three black men at a
service station downtown escalated
until a crowd of about 50 people
broke store windows, fired shots in
the air and hurled rocks at
passersby.
The next night, the violence
moved to Sardis. about 15 mile*,
southeast of Waynesboro, where a
beauty shop and a city garbage truck
were set afire. About 20 people were
arrested, including four v. ho arc
charged with arson.
Burke Count) NAACP offi
cials said the death of Curtis Boyd,
killed when his motorcycle slid
under a police car during chase,
reinforced the feeling among black
residents that young blacks are
treated unfairly by the police. Police
officials said Boyd's death was an
accident and deny bias against
blacks.
Boyd's death "was the straw
that broke the camel's back" in a
community divided by race and
socioeconomic status, said Leon
Bynes. president of the Burke
County National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
"There's not a quick fix for it.
but we're going to have to come up
with some kind of Band-Aid to all
the problems we have right nosv."
B\ ncs said.
lor the past month, the civil
rights group has been holding
ueeklN meetings i c ? listen lo resi
dents' concerns. Bynes s od one
problem p. the lack ol activities lor
young people. Waynesboro has no
movie theater, and tew recreation
facilities. '
Several business owners have j
started staying open later to give
teen-agers a place to hang out. said
Waynesboro Police Chief H.L. Ivey.
Many residents of Burke
County ? one of the poorest coun- j
ties in Georgia ? can't find good- !
paying jobs because they are unedu- j
cated, local officials said.
"Over 50 percent of our resi
dents haven't finished high school."
said Jack Willis, principal of Burke
County High School.
The lack of economic op|H>r
tuniiv increases tension IxMween the
races, Bynes said.
"I don't loresie an end to this
because we're not only l.tlkiiiv alxnil
educatiue the child. we'ie talking I
alnuit educating the parents and try
ing lo enlighten oilier inemheis ol
the c i >i in iiiii nl y lo Ik sensiiive to the
plight ol others."