Augusta has new protester regulations
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - A divided Augusta-Richmond County
Commission has created new regulations for protests against the all
male membership at Augusta National Golf Club.
The law, approved by a 6-5 vote Tuesday,
requires protesters to apply for a permit 20
days before a demonstration. If denied, the
protesters can appeal, and the city has seven
days to respond.
Augusta expects the National Council of
Women's Organizations and the Rev. Jesse
Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to
protest during the Masters tournament in
April.
The city's lawyer said the old ordinance,
which gave the sheriff
Burk
auinoniy 10 approve
or deny protest permits, could be too vague to
withstand a court challenge.
Martha Burk, chair of the National Coun
cil of Women's Organizations, had previously
denounced the regulations as an attempt to sti
fle free speech.
Twice in the past month, a racial stalemate
stopped the commission from adopting the
new regulations. The five white con..nission
ers supported the new law; all five blacks
- aonnosed it.
Jackson
Augusta Mayor Bob Young, who is white,
cast the deciding vote Tuesday to break a 5-5 tie. In the earlier votes.
Young was not able to break the tie because one black commissioner.
Marion Williams, abstained.
Commissioner Bill Kuhlke said the successful vote was the result
of a compromise that puts the city's Fire Department in an inner-city
office building. In exchange, Williams agreed to vote against the reg
ulations, setting up a tie for the mayor to break. Kuhlke said.
St. Louis is home to largest archive of
slavery lawsuits filed in the 19th century
ST. LOUIS (API - Hundreds of lawsuits filed by freedom-seek
ing slaves passed through St. Louis in the 19th century. Now, those
suits can be seen in an online archive that offers a glimpse at what
might be considered the genesis of America's Civil Rights Move
ment.
The archive, available at www.stlcouttrecords.wustl.edu. was
unveiled last week during a news conference at the Old Courthouse,
where history's most significant slavery lawsuit - the Dred Scott case
- initially was heard in 1846. The Supreme Court eventually ruled
against Scon, saying in a ruling that pushed the country closer to Civil
War that no blacks, free or slave, could be U.S. citizens. t
Though the most significant, the Dred Scon case was just one of
hundreds filed in St. Louis by slaves seeking their freedom in the
1800s. The St. Louis Circuit Court Historical Records Project consists
of some 280 legal documents filed between 1814 and 1860.
Committee gives awards to honor civil
rights champion Daisy Gatson Bates
LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Civil rights activist Daisy Gatson Bates
has been remembered with awards given in her name to those who
work to evoke social change.
The Daisy Gatson Bates Holiday Committee distributed the
awards on Monday, which was declared Daisy Gatson Bates Day by
the state Legislature in 2001.
Bates provided major assistance to nine students who were the
first blacks to attend Little Rock Central High School in 1957. After
ward. she continued as a major civil rights activist in Arkansas. She
fiiin 1 QQQ ;it hop fiA
....... ... . . . . ...
Speaking at the ceremony at Little Rock's
Doubletree Hotel. Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller
said Bates had compassion for all she came in
contact with.
"With Daisy Bates, you have a woman
who displayed such tremendous courage and
tremendous wisdom." Rockefeller said.
Magnolia school principal Rucker Clay
ton won the education award for decades of
service. Little Rock National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People chapter
president Dale Charles was honored for indi
Bates
j viauai courage.
Arkansas Department of Human Services ombudsman Pat Bell
and her husband, Harvey, won the family award for foster parenting ,
their son Daniel after he was brought to the hospital 15 years ago suf
fering from severe abuse.
And the nonprofit Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids won the
award for community service. The after-school program offers chil
dren in junior high and high school help on their homework.
C3 0
Officials resign over alleged racial remark
IRWIN, Pa. (AP) - Two planning officials in a western Pennsyl
vania borough said they will resign after being accused of making a
racially insensitive comment during a public meeting.
Officials in Irwin said they had planned to ask Planning Commis
sion member Tom Poppa to resign over the comment allegedly made
at a Jan. 27 public hearing on a proposed housing development in the
borough about 15 miles east of Pittsburgh.
At least three Irwin officials, including a fellow commission
member, said Poppa told residents that a proposed 17-lot develop
ment contained pricey homes and the borough wasn't "trying to slip
blacks into your neighborhood."
Poppa, who has been on the planning commission for seven years,
said he would resign, although he doesn't recall making the statement.
"Maybe I said something the wrong way. If I said something, they
took it out of context. If I said something by mistake, I am sorry," said
Poppa. "This is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me."
Claire Halucka said she would resign because she did not con
front Poppa about his comment and the borough took more than a
month to ask him to resign. The Jan. 27 meeting was her first.
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest
H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published
every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co.
Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Peri
odicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual sub
scription price is $30.72.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
Flag fight threatens city's reputation
BY KR1STEN WYATT
THH ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA - Georgia's capi
tal city may be the only place that
ever turned into a booming
metropolis by keeping itself out
of the news. Business leaders in
Atlanta are fretting that could
change because of a bitter racial
battle over the Confederate battle
emblem.
Through decades of civil
rights turbulence. Atlanta was
both the cradle of the movement
and untouched by race riots.
While the nation watched violent
showdowns in Alabama and Mis
sissippi. Atlanta leaders enticed
Yankees and their businesses with
a simple message: We're the city
that's too busy to hate.
But a simmering unrest over
the state Hag - and the election of
an outsider governor who prom
ised to let people decide if they
want a return to the old flag and
its racially divisive Confederate
symbol - has some business lead
ers worried the South's biggest
city is in store for an embarrass
ing. drawn-out fight that could
cost the state billions.
Already reeling from thou
sands of job losses in the indus
tries that made it big - tourism
and transportation - businesses
are skittish that the fight will scare
away conventions and new busi
ness.
"We could lose an extreme
amount of business over this,"
said Bill Howard, vice president
of the Atlanta Convention and
Visitors Board. "I don't think it's
exaggerating to call it a crisis."
The debate over Georgia's
flag is more than a public rela
tions pickle for Atlanta business
es. The rebel banner that won't go
away is a signal to some leaders
that Atlanta's recipe for success is
in serious danger.
Longtime residents of the city
know all about The Atlanta Way.
It's the cozy partnership between
industry and government, a mar
riage designed to portray Atlanta
as progressive.
In 1959, a reporter for
Newsweek magazine asked
Mayor William Hartsfield how
Atlanta managed to avoid racial
strife.
"We roll a red carpet out for
every damn Yankee who comes
in here with two strong hands and
some money," Hartsfield said.
The plan worked for decades,
helping Atlanta build a reputation
for Southern hospitality minus the
redneckedness.
"There was an effort to keep
the peace that was very much
business-related." said Ronald
Bayor. a Georgia Tech history
professor.
Thanks in part to its progres
sive reputation. Atlanta won brag
ging rights for more than just The
Coca-Cola Co. Coke was joined
by Delta Air Lines, UPS and four
major-league sports teams.
Homegrown businesses including
Citizens Trust Co. and The Home
Depot grew to national promi
nence.
In 1948, Atlanta was about
the same size as Birmingham.
Ala. By the turn of the century.
Atlanta was three times bigger,
with a metro population bursting
past 4 million.
Sam Massell, Atlanta's mayor
in the early 1970s, remembers the
city's efforts to avoid Birming
ham's reputation.
"You'd see them on TV over
there, and it was good ol' boys
talking. We decided when the
cameras were in Atlanta we want
ed to see the brightest, most pro
gressive leadership talking,"
Massed said.
Business didn't always get
along with Georgia governors
and.city mayors, but The Atlanta
Way held for decades, culminat
ing in the 1996 Summer
Olympics.
A few years later, when the
NAACP singled South Carolina
out for boycotts because the Con
federate flag flew on its Capitol,
business leaders in Atlanta were
See Atlontq on A9
File RioU)
Smog covers the peak of Atlanta's growing skyline.
Brooklyn's 'walking history book' dies at 100
FROM THE AFRO TIMES ,
1
BROOKLYN, N.Y. ,
(NNPA) - The devoutly reli- <
gious great-great-grandfather J
whose life story was told by t
major newspapers, radio sta- t
tions and national television <
networks has died in Brook- i
lyn. His face was]on the cover |
of the Sunday Daily News <
Caribbeat Magazine - "Cele
brating a Century." As usual, j
MacNeil Jordan was preparing .
for Sun
day
morning
church
service.
"He
was get
t i n g
ready to .
go to
church,
but when
he didn't
Jordan
g o
upstairs from his apartment, a
granddaughter, Vernita
Charles, went to find out what
had happened and she found
him dead," said Margot Jor
dan, another of his grandchil
dren and an Afro Times
Lifestyles writer.
"His clothes were there
ready, and everything was pre
pared for him to go to church.
But that was not to be. He
seemed to have died of natural
causes. He passed away
peacefully."
"He brought immense joy
to many lives," Margot Jordan
, said.
Just last week, he was
mobbed by hundreds of stu
dents when he appeared dur
ing a Black History Month
celebration at PS 219 in
Brooklyn. Jordan talked about
his life and answered ques
tions from the first- and sec
ond-graders who wanted to
know the secret of his
longevity, the details of his
life, his children and grand
children and daily routine.
"These children were
inspired! They mobbed him
and told him how much they
admired him and loved him,"
Margot Jordan said. "It was an
unbelievable event to see how
the children treated him and
how he responded to them
with his answers, his affection
and his interest in them."
Jordan's death came 10
lays before he was to leave
Vew York City to spend a
nonth with relatives in Barba
ios. Weeks before, Air
lamaica presented him with
wo first-class round-trip tick
its during a reception. On that
rccasion, he recited from
iiemory a 12-verse poem that
te had learned in elementary
school in Barbados at least 86
years ago. He was scheduled
to be the guest of honor at a
number of functions in his
homeland.
Jordan also was to be inter
viewed as part of an oral his
tory project at the Ellis Island
Immigration Museum. He was
21 when he came to New York
on the "Vauban," a ship that
left Bridgetown on March 7,
1924, and arrived at Ellis
Island seven days later.
Barry Moreno, Ellis
Island's historian, says it's
likely the ship stopped at
Havana, Trinidad. Jamaica
and other British colonies that
shipped tens of thousands to
New York in the early 1900s.
Like Jordan, most came for
economic opportunity.
"Things were very pros
perous here," said Jordan,
"better than my island."
Jordan credited his
longevity and good health to a
See Jordan on A9
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INDEX
OPINION. .A6
SPORTS. B1
RELIGION. B6
CLASSIFIEDS BIO
HEALTH. C3
ENTERTAINMENT....C7
CALENDAR. C9