November 2010.qxp - The AmericUSumter Observer

Sumter County s Finest www.americusumterobserver.com 50 CENTS 

PRSRT STD 

U.S. Postage 

PAID 

Permit #440 

Americus, GA 

History Fact: 

W.E.B. Du Bois, activist, 

author and educator, 

published the first issue 

of the NAACP monthly 

magazine, Crisis on 

November 1, 1910 

The AmericUSumter 

OBSERVER 

OBSERVER 

NOVEMBER 2010 AN EYE FOR US Vol. XIII No. 10 

INSIDE 

Pless 

HAPPY 106th 

Barbara Davis will celebrate 

her birthday on Nov. 26. 

Page 4A 

OBITUARIES 

Ms. Otha Jewel Linder, age 

83, of Desoto, Georgia passed 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010. 

Page 5A 

WISE GOES OFF 

Author Tim Wise writes a letter 

to conservative white 

Americans, saying election victories 

will be short-lived. 

Page 5B 

LIL WAYNE RELEASED 

Rapper Lil Wayne, recently 

released from prison after 8 

months of a one year sentence. 

Page 4B 

MOVING MOSS 

Wide Receiver Randy Moss has 

moved again! After starting in 

New England, then to 

Minnesota and now Tennessee. 

Page 6B 

Editorial ..............pg. 2A 

Local ....................pg. 4A 

Obituaries.............pg. 5A 

National ..............pg. 8A 

Lifestyles ............pg. 11A 

Send announcements, weddings, 

anniversaries, corrections, 

story ideas and letters by 

the 25th of the month at: 

obsvrj@bellsouth.net 

NAACP president Matt Wright meets with Wal-Mart leaders on behalf of Sumter County. 

Wal-Mart Partners with Sumter 

NAACP President at District Meeting 

MILLARD K. IVES 

Staff Writer 

On Thursday October 

21, 2010 President Mathis 

Kearse Wright, Jr. was the 

featured speaker at Wal- 

Mart's Southern Market 33 

District meeting. Mr. 

Donald Chavis the current 

local Store Manager asked 

President Wright to come 

and speak to the group 

about "Diversity and Job 

Discrimination." 

District Manager Gerald 

Hendrickson welcomed 

Staff Writer 

ALBANY - In a rare win for 

Southern Democrats, U.S. Rep 

Sanford D. Bishop Jr., 63, 

pulled off a win in Georgia's 

Second Congressional District. 

Final results left Bishop with 

51.4 percent of the vote, edging 

out Republican challenger 

and state lawmaker Mike 

Keown with 48.6 percent. 

"Voters looked at the candidates, 

examined my background 

and record, and came 

to the conclusion that I was the 

better person to represent them 

in the Legislature," Bishop 

told the Americus-Sumter 

Observer. 

Wright and the Branch 

Secretary, Minister Linda 

Wright to the Marriot conference 

facility in Cordele, 

Ga. The Market 33 area 

store managers are: Byron 

Fenton (Albany), Dexter 

Long (Fitzgerald), Mike 

Harris (Cordele), Alonzo 

McCauley (Tifton), Val 

Shipp (Perry), Donald 

Chavis (Americus), and 

Romona Keener (Eastman 

- not present) and several 

assistant managers were in 

attendance. 

The presentation was 

It was practically an uphill 

battle for the long-time incumbent 

to win a 10th term in 

Georgia's 2nd District - a black 

man in a district narrowly outnumbered 

by whites, where 

political races are usually 

divided along racial lines. 

A man who was the chairman 

of President Obama's 

state campaign, and voted for 

the stimulus and the health 

care overhaul in a hostile anti- 

Washington climate. 

A man campaigning in a 

region where on Nov. 2, more 

than half of his fellow Blue 

Dog Democrats would lose, 

Republicans would win every 

senate race and all but one 

governor's race. 

focused on how to prevent 

job discrimination in the 

workplace. Wright gave 

several examples of how a 

manager could have good 

intentions and still create a 

job related discriminatory 

act. The speech lasted 

about 30 minutes and 

afterwards Wright 

answered questions from 

the managers. Wright said 

that he was very happy 

with the response he 

received from the managers 

because they had 

plenty of questions about 

However, Bishop said his 

record of delivering jobs 

pushed him over the top, with 

AMERICUS - Even with illegally 

appointed officers by the 

State NAACP, leaders of the 

Albany-Dougherty Branch 

remain adamant that they are 

the legitimate officers and proceeded 

with a successful 33rd 

Annual Freedom Awards 

Celebration Banquet. 

Yvonne Reese, branch secretary, 

said the Oct. 30 banquet 

at Monroe High School went 

off well. 

how they could improve 

on what they were currently 

doing. District Manager 

Hendrickson wanted to 

know more about the history 

of the NAACP and 

how Wal-Mart might be 

able to help in the future 

with the Civil Rights organization's 

mission. 

It was discussed that 

Wal-Mart would help the 

NAACP food donation at 

Thanksgiving and 

Christmas this year. Also, 

the Retail Leader agreed to 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

voters being more concerned 

about his ability to bring jobs 

and construction projects to 

Fort Benning in his home of 

Columbus as well as the 

Marine Corps Logistics Base 

in Albany. 

"They knew how involved I 

was at helping with jobs, agriculture, 

education and health 

care," he told the Observer. 

Bishop said that he wasn't 

concern with losing influence 

among the Republican 

onslaught, adding he would 

continue to fight for jobs and a 

stronger economy. 

Bishop this election was a 

once-in-a-life time experience 

for him. 

Enveloped by supporters at 

Reese said the event presented 

good food, a great 

impromptu keynote speech, 

great entertainment and welldeserved 

presentations of community 

awards, including one 

to President William Wright. 

"I think we did a pretty good 

job with it, considering the 

State NAACP tried to tie our 

hands," Reese said. 

The Albany Officers decided 

to go ahead with the planned 

banquet, despite attempts to 

remove the branch officers and 

replace them with those 

Americus Middle School Panthers go 

UNDEFEATED.................See page 6B 

Wins! 

Kevin Pless wins Sumter County District 3 

School Board seat. 

AMERICUS - Community leader Kelvin W. 

Pless defeated incumbent Donna D. Minich to 

win the District 3 seat in a race for Sumter 

County Board of Education. It was Pless' first 

run at political office. Minich had served the previous 

eight years, two terms, on the board. "I 

believed the voters wanted a change that would 

make fresh the future of our educational system. 

SEE WAL-MART l 6A SEE PLESS l 6A 

Bishop defeats Keown in close race 



Staff Writer 

the Albany Civic Center on 

Election Night and into the 

morning, The Associated Press 

prematurely called Keown, a 

Southern Baptist minister, the 

winner. 

But Bishop said he knew 

that Columbus and Albany had 

not reported in full and could 

push back Keown's 6,500-vote 

lead. 

"I knew those were my 

strongholds," he said. 

And, he had his faith. 

His election-season tour 

included more than 30 mostly 

black churches with an anointment 

at Evangelical Faith 

Ministries in Albany being his 

final church stop before 

SEE BISHOP l 6A 

Albany Banquet a Success despite Dubose 


Staff Writer 

appointed by the Georgia State 

Conference of the National 

Association for the 

Advancement of Colored 

People (NAACP) in October. 

The strife stemmed from 

dues the State NAACP argued 

the branch owed. 

"It seemed like everyone had 

a good time," Reese said. 

Missing was keynote speaker 

Michael Thurmond, Georgia 

Commissioner for the 

Department of Labor, who was 

running as a Democrat for U.S. 

SEE BANQUET l 6A

2A November 2010 The AmericUSumter Observer 

State NAACP versus 

Local NAACP 

Members Disgusted 

with Edward Dubose 

The Albany NAACP Branch had a very successful banquet 

on Saturday, October 30, 2010, in spite of the GA State 

President Edward Dubose and his Third Vice President 

Ezekiel Holley's efforts to destroy the branch. Holley is the 

State Coordinator for the 21st District. Dubose and Holley 

tried to stop the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet from 

being held at Monroe High School in Albany. Their actions 

have been an-on-going public process to shut down the 

Albany Branch. The energy and the intensity of these two 

officials fighting so publicly to close down a much needed 

local branch is without precedent in GA and in the national 

organization. 

All this negative energy to close a branch down for $400 

has to be seen as insane. Never before have we seen such a 

public display of animosity from the state level directed 

toward a local branch. Sadly, the National NAACP has 

turned a blind eye to this escalating and embarrassing, situation. 

The National Board knows about the efforts of 

Dubose to close down the branch in Albany because the 

branch's lawyer, Attorney Maurice King, an experienced 

attorney, has spoken with National NAACP lawyers. 

Albanians, other branches in GA, as well as members 

around the nation, share the disgust with Dubose's vendetta 

being publicly played out against the Albany Branch. 

Georgians just had an important mid-term state election 

and getting out the Black vote was crucial. Apparently, the 

outcome of the election was not at the top of Dubose's list 

of concerns. Instead of galvanizing branches to get out the 

vote, Dubose busied himself with grand-standing in Albany 

by "appointing" a new slate of officers at a press conference. 

The attempted ouster of the current officers did not 

stop Albany from operating; and they have rejected all the 

efforts by Dubose to stop them from operating. 

For a state president to have had only 61 adults at his 

State Convention last month, Dubose and Holley's immediate 

goal should be to increase their membership. Dubose 

and Holley have a problem as their state conference is not 

in "good standing" according to NAACP bylaws. National 

requires that a state branch must have a minimum of six 

branches, six youth chapters, and six college chapters to be 

in compliance. The GA State Conference meets only the six 

branches requirement. Luckily, the National Office has not 

assessed the basic requirements of the GA Conference. If 

they had, Dubose, Holley, and other officers would have 

been suspended and the office padlocked. Therefore, 

instead of shutting down a branch, Dubose and Holley 

should be trying to keep as many of them operating in order 

SEE NAACP l 7B 

MISSION STATEMENT 

The AmericUSumter Observer chronicles the social, political, 

economic and cultural realities of the Black community, 

locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. 

The AmericUSumter Observer distributes news that is 

truthful, relevant, educational, and motivating to our entire 

community. 

The AmericUSumter Observer will practice journalism of 

enlightenment and empowerment. Truthful information is 

the key that unlocks the cell door to ignorance, the weapon 

that will free our minds from the shackles of mental slavery. 

The AmericUSumter Observer encourages readers to participate 

in the life of this newspaper. Readers opinions and feedback are 

vital to this publication s success. 

AmericUSumter Observer 

P.O. Box 1755 

217 Forrest Street 

Americus, GA 31709 

(229) 924-0880 

FAX:(229) 924-7080 

E-Mail -Obsvrj@bellsouth.net 

JOHN D. MARSHALL, M.D. 

Publisher 

SYBIL PATTERSON 

Office Manager 

TRAVIS WALKER 

Web Site Designer 

MILLARD K IVES 

Staff Writer 

CHRISTOPHER DAVIS 

Layout 

BREANCA DENMARK 

Staff Writer 

SAMUEL CHRISTIE 

Contributing Editor 

Founders: 

Rev. Fer-Rel Malone 

Rev. Ernest Davis 

Mary Williams 

John D. Marshall, M.D. 

AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER 

EDITORIAL 

EDITORIAL 

What’s behind the Mad Tea Party? 

By Eugene Robinson 

The first African American 

president takes office, and 

almost immediately we see the 

birth of a big, passionate national 

movement - overwhelmingly 

white and lavishly funded - that 

tries its best to delegitimize that 

president, seeks to thwart his 

every initiative, and manages to 

bring the discredited and moribund 

opposition party roaring 

back to life. Coincidence? 

First, I'll state the obvious: It's 

not racist to criticize President 

Obama, it's not racist to have 

conservative views, and it's not 

racist to join the Tea Party. But 

there's something about the 

nature and tone of the most vitri- 

By Sister Anne Mu min 

Muhammad 

Our idea in the Ministry of 

Agriculture (MOA) is to develop 

a chain of cooperatively owned 

supermarkets in the black community. 

We intend to build our 

own brand name and franchise. 

We believe that the cooperative 

corporation lends itself to the 

development of businesses and 

an economy based on freedom, 

justice and equality. 

But first the co-op will have to 

depend on the masses or grass 

root people in their community 

to go through the stages of food 

buying club to cooperative corporation 

to supermarket ownership. 

As we have been discussing 

and working on for the last four 

years in the MOA, the strategy 

is: after the buying club reaches 

25 to 50 members, it should 

incorporate as a “Cooperative 

Corporation”. 

When the membership in a 

given location reaches a level, 

say 500 (that can support a 

store), the internal finances of 

the co-op can be augmented with 

additional debt financing in the 

form of loans, non-voting preferred 

stock, bonds or other private 

placement instruments to 

either rent or purchase a store. 

olic attacks on the president that 

I believe is distinctive - and difficult 

to 

explain 

without 

asking 

whether 

race is 

playing a 

role. 

O n e 

thing that 

struck me 

from the 

beginning 

COMMENTARY 

EUGENE ROBINSON 

about the Tea Party rhetoric is the 

idea of reclaiming something 

that has been taken away. 

At a recent campaign rally in 

Paducah, Ky., Senate candidate 

On Thursday, September 9th, I 

attended a meeting sponsored by 

a community in Macon, GA. 

Called the College Hill Corridor 

Group, in conjunction with 

Davis farm where they discussed 

organizing a co-op. The Davis 

farm began a co-op using space 

in a church located in the College 

Hill community as a distribution 

point. Church leaders and 

Mercer University (which surrounds 

the church) faculty saw 

the response of the people to 

fresh-locally grown products so 

now they are partnering with the 

Davis farm to plan for a grocery/co-op. 

Research has shown that it 

takes three to five years to start a 

co-op and $1.5 to $2 million dollars. 

Feasibility analysis of the 

College Hill community showed 

that it could not support a fullscale 

supermarket with floor 

space of 46,000 square feet, but 

could possibly support a smaller 

store of 11,000 square feet. This 

assessment was based on the fact 

that the College Hill community 

spends $6.6 million on food 

annually. Of this amount $4.5 

million in food is purchased outside 

of their community. If a grocery 

store could capture this $4.5 

million, this would represent 

Rand Paul, a darling of the Tea 

Party movement, drew thunderous 

applause when he said that if 

Republicans win, "we get to go 

to Washington and take back our 

government." 

Take it back from whom? 

Maybe he thinks it goes without 

saying, because he didn't say. 

On Sunday, in a last-minute 

fundraising appeal, Republican 

presidential hopeful Mike 

Huckabee implored his supporters 

to help "return American 

government to the American 

people." 

Again, who's in possession of 

the government, if not the 

American people? The non- 

American people? The un- 

$409 per square foot annually for 

an 11,000 square foot store. On a 

weekly basis this would mean 

that each square foot would have 

to sell $7.87 of food each week. 

The national average in 2009 

was $8.31 per square foot which 

means that the proposed store of 

11,000 square feet has a good 

chance of staying open if the 

community supports the operation. 

The weekly sales for such a 

store should be about $86,570 

for a profitable operation. This 

means that if an average customer 

spent $50 per week, this 

store would need 1731 customers 

per week to be successful. 

The College Hill Corridor 

group used the Sevonanda market 

located in little 5 points in 

Atlanta as a model. Sevonanda is 

a natural foods market whose 

mission is “To empower the 

community to improve its health 

and well-being.” They began in 

1974 and now have 3,000 members 

who pay $120 per year in 

membership. The market generates 

$9 million dollars in sales 

per year and strives to support 

farms within a 200 mile radius 

from the market. On their website 

they state that since Georgia 

has no statutes providing for con- 

American people? 

There's an obvious answer, but 

it's one that generally comes 

from the progressive end of the 

political spectrum: Americans 

must fight to take back their government 

from the lobbyists and 

big-money special interests that 

shape our laws to suit their own 

interests, not for the good of the 

nation. 

That may be what some Tea 

Partiers have in mind, but the 

movement hasn't seen fit to make 

campaign finance reform one of 

its major issues. And the establishment 

Republicans who are 

surfing the Tea Party wave - 

while at the same time scheming 

SEE TEA l 9B 

Owning Community Supermarkets: A Growing Trend 

sumer cooperatives to be incorporated 

as a cooperative corporation, 

they reincorporated in 

January 1995 under the state of 

Wisconsin’s cooperative statutes. 

Now members buy one class “A” 

share (consisting of six individual 

shares) in the co-op. 

The organizers of the proposed 

cooperatively-owned grocery 

store in the College Hill community 

realize that they must get 

“community” support if they are 

to be successful. By definition a 

community is a group of “people 

with common interests living in a 

particular area.” The two parts of 

this definition are very important 

for business development. First, 

the people must have common 

interests. A divided community 

cannot be expected to support a 

community owned business. 

Secondly those people who have 

common interests must live in a 

particular area, because if they 

live too far away you cannot 

expect them to support a grocery 

store on a regular basis. 

Let us give you an example. In 

the Hyde Park Co-op Market of 

Chicago, Ill., a cooperatively 

owned food store started near the 

University of Chicago in 1932 

and after many years of success, 

SEE TREND l 9B

The AmericUSumter Observer November 2010 3A 

Latino Vote Prevent 

Republicans From Seizing 

Control of the Senate 

Robert Creamer 

Huffington Post 

Republicans won control 

of the House November 2, 

but their hopes of controlling 

the Senate as well were 

stymied by a firewall of 

Latino voters who were outraged 

by Republican demonization 

of Latino immigrants, 

their Arizona "papers 

please" law, their proposal to 

repeal the 14th Amendment, 

and their overall opposition 

to comprehensive immigration 

reform. 

The consequences of the 

Republican anti-immigrant 

rhetoric will likely spread far 

beyond last Tuesday's election. 

The fact that 

Republicans have alienated 

the fastest-growing ethnic 

group in America will have 

far-reaching consequences 

for the party's ability to win a 

Presidential election and 

compete nationally over the 

long term. 

A quick look at the numbers 

tells the tale: 

Senator Harry Reid was 

trailing Tea Party icon 

Sharron Angle going into 

Tuesday's election. In fact, 

Reid beat Angle by over 6 

percent.. The big difference 

was the Latino vote. Reid 

beat Angle among Latinos a 

whopping 90% to 8%, and 

Latino turnout was up from 

12% of the electorate in the 

2006 Mid-Terms to 15% in 

2010. 

In Colorado's Senate race, 

the consensus polls showed 

Democrat Michael Bennet 

losing by about 1% in a close 

race. Instead he won by 1%. 

His margin among Latinos 

was 81% to 19% and Latino 

turnout was up from 9% of 

the electorate in 2006 to 13% 

in 2010. 

In the California Senate 

race, Barbara Boxer beat 

Carly Fiorina among Latinos 

86% to 14%, and Latino 

turnout was up from 19% of 

the electorate in 2006 to 22% 

in 2010. Fiorina lost despite 

having spent a record-setting140 

million of her own 

money on the campaign. 

Latinos also made the difference 

in critical Governors' 

races that will affect the 

playing field shaped by 

redistricting. 

In California, Jerry Brown 

won Latinos 86% to 13% 

over Republican Meg 

Whitman, who had endorsed 

the Arizona law during the 

primary and whose 

hypocrisy on immigration 

became an issue when it was 

revealed she had hired an 

undocumented immigrant to 

be her maid, and then treated 

her badly. 

John Hickenlooper won 

the Colorado Governor's 

mansion in a contest with 

arch anti-immigrant Tom 

Tancredo and rightwinger 

Dan Maes. Among Latinos 

he got 77% of the vote, compared 

with 14% and 9% for 

Tancredo and Maes. 

And in Illinois, Democrat 

Pat Quinn was re-elected by 

a margin of fewer than 

20,000 votes. Latinos voted 

for Quinn 83% to 13% for 

his opponent. Even at 6% of 

the voters, the support of the 

Latino community was decisive. 

According to election-eve 

polling of Latino voters conducted 

in eight key states 

(AZ, CA, CO, FL, IL, NM, 

NV, TX), Latinos overall 

voted for Democrats over 

Republicans by approximately 

75% to 25% -- a 3 to 

1 margin. That is a stark contrast 

to six years ago when 

Latinos voted for Democrat 

John Kerry over George 

Bush by only 59% to 40% -a 

3 to 2 margin. There has 

been a massive swing toward 

Democrats and away from 

Republicans in this fastestgrowing 

group of voters in 

the country. 

Immigration was the major 

issue driving these vote 

totals. In some cases 

Republican candidates 

depicted Hispanics as gang 

members and criminals in 

ads that were meant to whip 

up fear among Anglo voters 

about immigration. That kind 

of rhetoric is not understood 

as a difference about a policy 

or issue. It directly offended 

the Latino community's 

sense of identity, pride and 

self-worth. That drove voter 

decisions as well as turnout. 

The Las Vegas Sun quoted 

Gilberto Ramirez, a firsttime, 

recently-naturalized 

voter from Reno, Nevada, as 

he explained how Sharron 

Angle's anti-Latino ads influenced 

the fact that he turned 

out and the fact that he voted 

for Harry Reid: "She was 

depicting me as a gang member. 

I served seven years in 

the Marine Corps." 

Fiorina and Whitman got 

on the wrong side of the 

immigration issue in order to 

win Republican primaries. 

Angle, Tancredo, Maes and 

Colorado Republican Senate 

candidate Ken Buck overtly 

trumpeted their anti-immigration 

positions to whip up 

fear and anti-immigrant 

votes. Turned out that was a 

bad call. And it will likely 

turn out to be a worse and 

worse call that will effectively 

prevent Republicans from 

winning control of the White 

House. In fact, demographers 

tell us that another 1.25 

million Latinos will reach 

voting age between now and 

2012. 

A major organizational 

effort by Latino and immigration 

rights groups helped 

galvanize voter turn out. The 

level of organization is only 

likely to grow over the next 

several years. 

The fact is that as the 

Latino population continues 

to grow, it will rapidly 

become impossible to put 

together an electoral majority 

of 270 electoral votes with 

that kind of Hispanic opposition. 

EDITORIAL 

EDITORIAL 

America - He’s Your President for Goodness Sake! 

Senior Living Magazine 

There was a time not so long 

ago when Americans, regardless 

of their political stripes, rallied 

round their president. Once elected, 

the man who won the White 

House was no longer viewed as a 

republican or democrat, but the 

President of the United States. 

The oath of office was taken, the 

wagons were circled around the 

country’s borders and it was 

America versus the rest of the 

world with the president of all the 

people at the helm. 

Suddenly President Barack 

Obama, with the potential to 

become an exceptional president 

has become the glaring exception 

By FinalCall.com News 

(FinalCall.com) - What will 

happen the day after the 2010 

elections and the results are in? If 

the political clashing and shouting 

matches that have followed 

Barack Obama taking office are 

signs, America can look forward 

to more acrimony, more strife, 

more insults, more division and 

more leaders playing on fear to 

manipulate people and wield 

power in Congress and state legislatures 

around the country. 

Few recent elections have been 

as acrimonious and ugly and 

inflammatory rhetoric may be at 

an all-time high. Compromise is 

a dirty word and the political 

leaders are at such odds that it 

took comedians to draw some 

250,000 people to the National 

Mall in Washington, D.C., and 

call for a return to sanity and civil 

discourse Oct. 30. 

Slogans like “don't retreat, 

reload” and questions about 

whether the president is really a 

citizen show how crazy things 

have become in the United 

States. 

Voices of reason are drowned 

out and it seems the louder the 

voice and the more extreme the 

position, the more people seem to 

listen or the more media airtime 

seems to come. 

to that unwritten, patriotic rule. 

Four days before President 

Obama’s inauguration, before he 

officially 

t o o k 

charge of 

t h e 

American 

governm 

e n t , 

R u s h 

Limbaugh 

boasted 

publicly 

that he 

hoped the 

COMMENTARY 

WILLIAM THOMAS 

president would fail. Of course, 

when the president fails the country 

flounders. Wishing harm 

Tea Party loyalists clamor 

about taking the country back 

and Republicans seized on that 

sentiment while repeating accusations 

that the president is a 

tyrant and government is out of 

control. Though most Americans 

would be pressed to define the 

words and why they matter, 

President Obama has been called 

a Marxist and a Socialist. One 

“respected” GOP leader accused 

the president, whose father was 

Kenyan, of having a Kenyan 

anti-colonial mindset—playing 

again to the narrative that the 

president is not a true American. 

Though the president ran on a 

platform to clean up Washington, 

D.C. and pursue politics that put 

the country first, he hasn't gotten 

very far. 

Actually what he has gotten is 

called a tyrant and portrayed as 

someone who is jeopardizing the 

country's future. 

The GOP harped on a remark 

by the president, a day before 

midterm congressional elections, 

who urged Latinos not to kowtow 

to enemies of their political 

issues and to make a strong 

showing at the polls. The president 

quickly backtracked saying 

he should have used a different 

word, perhaps opponents. 

“Sadly, we have a president 

upon your country in order to further 

your own narrow political 

views is selfish, sinister and a tad 

treasonous as well. 

Subsequently, during his State 

of the Union address, which is 

pretty much a pep rally for 

America, an unknown congressional 

representative from South 

Carolina, later identified as Joe 

Wilson, stopped the show when 

he called the President of the 

United States a liar. The president 

showed great restraint in ignoring 

this unprecedented insult and carried 

on with his speech. Speaker 

Nancy Pelosi was so stunned by 

the slur, she forgot to jump to her 

feet while clapping wildly, 30 or 

who uses the word ‘enemy' for 

fellow Americans, fellow citizens. 

He used it for people who 

disagree with his agenda of bigger 

government,” House 

Minority Leader John Boehner 

declared in prepared remarks 

before an election speech in 

Ohio. 

Interesting that Mr. Boehner 

finds such language objectionable 

when there seems to have 

been no limits on insults heaped 

on the president and no tradition 

of decorum that is inviolable— 

remember the “You lie!” outburst 

from a South Carolina congressman 

during a State of the Union 

address in January 2010? 

Or do you recall the number of 

40 times after that. 

Last spring, President Obama 

took his wife Michelle to see a 

play in New York City and 

republicans attacked him over the 

cost of security for the excursion. 

The president can’t take his wife 

out to dinner and a show without 

being scrutinized by the political 

opposition? As history has 

proven, a president in a theatre 

without adequate security is a 

tragically bad idea. 

Remember: “Apart from that, 

Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy 

the play?” 

At some point, the treatment of 

SEE AMERICA l 7B 

Election Day 2010 and its aftermath 

Republican lawmakers who 

would not simply say, “Yes the 

president is a citizen,” or 

“Certainly the president is a 

Christian” when both these questions 

arose? 

There seems to be no limit to 

what politicians will say or do 

simply to stay in office—so the 

GOP stuck with the politics of 

no, simply opposing Democratic 

policies, and the Democrats were 

too afraid to decide on and move 

an agenda that they felt was good 

for the American people. Instead 

of bringing change based on principles 

and national needs, the 

Democrats straddled the fence 

and stood for virtually nothing. 

SEE ELECTION l 7B

LOCAL & REGIONAL 


Electric Hike Yikes! 

What price electricity? Georgia Power seeks $1 billion rate hike 

By: Don O’Briant | from: AARP 

Bulletin 

Mary Pitts of Macon was shocked 

when she got a July electric bill of 

$273 for her two-bedroom house. It 

was more than a fifth of her and her 

husband's combined monthly income 

of $1,348. 

She was even more upset when she 

learned that Georgia Power Co. was 

seeking a $1 billion rate increase. 

"My husband and I are on a fixed 

income for disability, and we didn't 

get a cost-of-living [increase] this 

year," said Pitts, 53. "We only have so 

much money each month and that's 

it." 

Pitts walked door-to-door collecting 

98 names on a petition opposing the 

rate hike, and presented it to the 

Georgia Public Service Commission 

at a hearing in Macon. 

Lauretta Jackson, 60, a clerk at the 

Bibb County Courthouse, told the 

commissioners her electric bills were 

$606 in January and $549 in February 

even though her house is well insulated 

with double-paned windows. "I 

never set my thermostat over 70 in the 

winter or under 80 in the summer," 

Jackson said. "I'm opposed to the 

hike. It's going to hurt." 

The phased rate increase initially 

would add about $11 to a typical 

monthly residential bill in January. 

Five smaller increases through 

February 2013 would eventually add 

up to an extra $18 a month. 

In response to the $1 billion 

request, AARP Georgia called on the 

PSC to hold hearings, which drew 

hundreds of Georgians. The PSC is 

expected to vote on the proposal Dec. 

21. 

"The rate increases would be a big 

blow, especially to older Georgians 

who pay a large portion of their budget 

for medical and health costs," said 

Will Phillips, associate state director 

for advocacy for AARP Georgia. 

One former member of the PSC 

agreed the request is ill-timed. 

"The company is asking for one of 

the biggest rate increases in history 

and asking for more profit during one 

of the worst recessions since the Great 

Lauretta Jackson speaks out against 

a $1 billion proposed electric rate 

increase at a Public Service 

Commission hearing in Macon. 

AARP opposes the Georgia Power 

proposal. Kendrick 

Brinson/LUCEO 

Depression," said Angela Speir 

Phelps, now executive director of 

Georgia Watch, a consumer advocacy 

group. "Most people are just trying to 

survive the best they can right now. 

They don't have extra cash to send to 

Georgia Power to pad their profit 

margin." 

This increase would come on top of 

a legislature-approved hike of $3.73 

per month, scaling up to $9 over four 

years, to pay for Georgia Power's 

nuclear expansion. 

Georgia Power serves 2.3 million 

customers in all but four of the state's 

159 counties. Georgia Power 

spokesperson Lynn Wallace said the 

increase is necessary to recover a $5 

billion investment in capital costs and 

to meet environmental regulations. 

For those over 65 with household 

income of less than $14,355, a $14 

discount a month is available. Apply 

online for the Georgia Power Senior 

Discount or call 1-888-660-5890 tollfree 

and choose option 8 for more 

details. 

"We understand that higher costs 

are a problem for people who are 

financially challenged," Wallace said. 

Nationwide, the average cost of residential 

electricity was 11.32 cents per 

kilowatt hour for the first six months 

of this year. In Georgia, it was 9.8 

cents, ranking the state 31st, according 

to the U.S. Energy Information 

Administration. 

Mary Pitts said she would have to 

cut other expenses to pay higher electric 

bills. 

"You still got to pay for your water, 

your taxes, your mortgage, your insurance 

on the house and the car," Pitts 

said. "And you have to eat." 

The LIHEAP Clearinghouse offers 

information on programs to help those 

who are having difficulty paying their 

Georgia Power electric bill. 

AARP Georgia hopes members 

who oppose the proposed $1 billion 

rate hike request by Georgia Power 

will contact the Georgia Public 

Service Commission online, by e-mail 

at gapsc@psc.state.ga.us or by telephone 

at 1-800-282-5813. Or you can 

write to the PSC at 244 Washington 

St. SW, Atlanta, GA 30334-9062. 

Albany NAACP Branch 33rd Annual Freedom Fund Banquet 

President William Wright Former Legislator Lawrence Roberts Branch Secretary Yvonne Reese 

County Commissioner John Hayes 

Jossie M. Meadows, Co-Founder 

C. L. Meadows, Secretary/ Treasurer 

William Roger Young, Attendent 

Attorney Maurice King 

Banquet Attendees 

Oglethorpe Funeral Chapel, Inc. 

P.O. Box 8 - 607 Kaigler Street 

Oglethorpe, Georgia 31068 

Telepone: (478) 472-6118 

Fax: (478) 472-7964 

Gretha Meadows-Young, President 

Thomas E. Meadows, Attendent 

Clara Williams, Admin. Assistant

Mrs. Jessie Mae Anthony 

Williams was born in Sumter 

County, Georgia on October 

17, 1947 to the parentage of 

the late Mrs. Lee Decie Neal 

Anthony and Mr. Cicero 

Anthony, who survive. She 

received her education in the 

public schools of Sumter 

County. At an early age, she 

joined the Union Tabernacle 

Baptist Church. She was 

employed by the Sumter 

County Correctional Institute 

as Dietary Supervisor. 

In addition to her father, Mr. 

Cicero Anthony, Americus, 

GA, she leaves cherished 

memories to three daughters, 

Ms. Melanie Anthony, Mrs. 

Angela (Gregory) Brown, 

Americus, GA and Mrs. 

Kimberly (Sylvester) Baisden, 

Atlanta, GA; one son, Mr. 

Dewayne Carter, Americus, 

GA; one brother, Mr. Clyde 

(Connie) Anthony, Americus, 

GA; three sisters, Ms. Artie 

Scott, Atlanta, GA, Mrs. Hilda 

(Glenn) Williams, Lithonia, 

GA and Ms. Janet Jackson, 

Miami, FL; ten grandchildren, 

three great grandchildren; one 

aunt, Ms. Annie R. Landers, 

Columbus, GA; and a host of 

nieces, nephews, cousins other 

relatives and friends also survive. 

Mrs. Willie Ruth Wright 

Peterson was born in Lee 

County, Georgia on September 

3, 1953 to the parentage of the 

late Mr. Wardell Wright and 

Mrs. Willie Pearl Smith 

Wright, who survives. She 

received her education in the 

public schools of Lee County. 

She is preceded in death by 

three children, Mr. Jamal 

Williams, Mr. Dexter Peterson 

and Ms. LaShonda Peterson 

and a sister, Ms. Walter Mae 

Brown. 

In addition to her mother, 

she leaves to cherish her memories, 

her companion, Mr. 

Willie Curtis Burton, Plains, 

GA; one son, Mr. Willie 

Peterson, Albany, GA; seven 

daughters, Ms. Dorothy 

Brown, Mrs. Carolyn 

(Kenneth) Mann, Mrs. Kathie 

(Brian) Mercer, Mrs. Laketrice 

(Willie) Banks, Ms. Laquita 

Peterson all of Americus, GA, 

Ms. Darlene Wright and 

friend, Mr. Thomas Ross, 

Smithville, GA and Ms. 

Katherine Peterson, Plains, 

GA; two brothers, Mr. Wardell 

(Emma) Wright, Jr., 

Smithville, GA and Mr. Calvin 

(Bettie) Wright, Americus, 

GA; four sisters, Ms. Ira 

Thomas, Smithville, GA, Ms. 

Rose Marie Thomas, Plains, 

GA, Mrs. Mary Jane (Willie) 

Williams and Mrs. Vestella 

(Leon) McCoy, Americus, 

GA; thirty-eight grandchildren, 

six great grandchildren; 

her aunts and uncle, Ms. 

Bertha Mae Grimes, Mr. 

Sonny Martin and Ms. 

Carolyn Bacon; her sisters-inlaw, 

Ms. Orrie Peterson, Ms. 

Izora Hall and Ms. Annie 

Lloyd Jones; two brothers-inlaw, 

Mr. Evans Peterson, Jr. 

and Mr. Willie B. Peterson; 

and a host of nieces, nephews, 

cousins other relatives and 

friends, including devoted 

friends, Ms. Erica Eagles, Mr. 

Wallace Bradley, Ms. Yvonne 

Tyson, Mrs. Doris (Rudolph) 

Hurley and Mrs. Ivy (Oscar) 

Lester, Mrs. Angela (Eric) 

Gilyard, Mrs. Eloise (R. L.) 

Tyson and Mrs. Geneva 

(Ernest) Banks also survive. 

Mr. Johnny Jones, Jr. was 

born in Sumter County, 

Georgia on August 14, 1945 to 

the parentage of the late Mr. 

Johnny Jones and the late Mrs. 

Savannah Bell Jones. Johnny 

received his education in the 

public schools of Sumter 

County. He accepted Christ at 

an early age and joined the St. 

Paul A.M.E. Church, 

Smithville, Georgia. Johnny 

worked at Redman, Inc., 

Champion Homes and 

Williams Furniture for many 

years. He was a devoted 

father, a loving and caring man 

to his children. 

He leaves to cherish his loving 

memories, one daughter, 

Ms. Linda Diane Jones, Cobb, 

GA; two sons, Mr. Jamie 

Baker and Mr. Christopher 

Baker, Americus, GA; two sisters, 

Ms. Minnie Jones Caple, 

Brooklyn, NY and Mrs. 

Rosetta (James E.) Laster, 

Virginia Beach, VA; one 

brother, Mr. Kenneth Jones, 

Americus, GA; two grandchildren, 

Rashun Jones and 

Shantressa Wilson; one great 

grandchild, ; and a host of 

nieces, nephews, cousins, 

including devoted cousins, 

Ms. Thelma Seay, Ms. Tine 

Seay Davis, Ms. Beulah 

Carter, friends, including a 

special friend and cousin, Ms. 

Doris Pope also survive. 

Ms. Evelyn Belinda Taylor, 

age 50, of Americus, Georgia 

passed Monday, October 25, 

2010. 

Graveside service was conducted 

4:00 P.M., Saturday, 

October 30, 2010 at Eastview 

Cemetery Ashby Street, 

Americus, Georgia. 

Evelyn Belinda Taylor was 

born in Americus, Sumter 

County, Georgia to the late 

Fred Lee Taylor and Mary 

Ruth Milliner Taylor. She was 

a 1978 graduate of Americus 

High School. 

She was preceded in death 

by one brother, George 

Bernard Taylor. She accepted 

Jesus Christ as her personal 

Savior and joined the 

Inspirational Church by Faith 

under the leadership of her 

uncle, Elder J.T. Taylor. 

Linda, as she was affectionately 

known, was a caring and 

loving person. She was known 

for her spunky ways and her 

robust personality. 

She leaves a legacy of love 

Obituaries 


and memories to her beloved 

siblings: Dr. Dorothy Hooks, 

Leesburg, FLA., Freddie Mae 

Reagan (Marvin), and Willie 

Fred Taylor (Felicia special 

friend) of Americus, GA. 

Nieces and nephews she 

helped rear; Chandra Garry 

(Cassius), of Atlanta, GA, 

Deborah Oates (Orinthius), 

and Tameka Nesbitt of 

Americus, GA, Hikeem 

“Trey” Garry, Atlanta, GA, 

Mikita Milner, Diamond S. 

Taylor, Crystal Tookes, and 

Lawanda Ross of Americus, 

GA. Great nephews Javin 

Baker, Shadtavius Nesbitt, 

Wartavis Nesbitt, Alaysia and 

Cassius “CJ” Garry Jr. Uncles 

and aunts: Bishop John T. 

Taylor (Lois), Americus, GA, 

Deacon James Sellars, 

Ellaville, GA, Ethel Lee 

Milner, Tommie Brown 

(Alex), Lady B Sims, Celoa 

Roberts, Elnora Girven, Lillie 

Mae Cladd ( Robert), James 

Milliner (Betty), Johnnie B 

Thomas (Freddie Mae) all of 

Americus, GA, Woodrow 

Wilson (Lizzie) of Chicago. 

She also leaves a host of 

beloved nieces, nephews, and 

devoted cousins Betty 

“Nicole” Tyson (Carl), 

Jeanette Clark (Curt), James 

Milliner III (Patsy), and Lynn 

Reagan (Thomas). A host of 

beloved friends among whom 

are Mary Lou Taylor, Mattie 

Waters and Leola Carter. 

Mrs. Bellezorie Lucas 

Kleckley, age 79, 505 Mayo 

Street, Americus Georgia died 

Thursday, October 28, 2010 in 

the Phoebe Putney Memorial 

Hospital, Albany, Georgia. 

Funeral services was conducted 

1:00 P.M., Tuesday, 

November 2, 2010 at Mt. 

Pleasant Baptist Church, 

Georgia Highway 118, 

Smithville, Georgia. 

Interment followed in the 

Church cemetery. 

Mrs. Bellezorie Lucas 

Kleckley was born December 

4, 1930 in Americus, Sumter 

Co., Georgia to the late Green 

Lucas, Sr. and Sarah Johnson 

Lucas. Born in a family of 

eight children, she was preceded 

in death by six siblings: 

Essie Mae Armstrong, John 

“Bo” Lucas, Willie B. Lucas, 

Eddie Lucas, Cora Lee Lucas 

and Green Lucas, Jr. She was 

educated in the public school 

system of Sumter County and 

received her Christian training 

in the local churches. At an 

early age she joined the band 

of Christian believers at the 

Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church of 

Lee County, where she rendered 

her services on the 

Usher Board Ministry, 

Hospitality Committee, 

Women Missionary Auxiliary 

Board and for a number of 

dedicated years she served as 

Mother of Mt. Pleasant Baptist 

Church. Being a follower of 

Jesus Christ, she also joined 

the Rahoma Chapter No. 200 

Order of Eastern Star. 

Bellezorie was united in 

holy matrimony to the late 

Washington Kleckley, Sr. and 

to this union they were blessed 

with thirteen children, six of 

whom preceded her in death: 

Tommy Charles Lucas, 

Washington Kleckley, Jr., 

Samuel Kleckley, Sr., Deborah 

KlecKley, Willie Edward 

Kleckley and Kenneth 

Kleckley. Bellezorie was a 

loving mother who followed 

the path of her parents in rearing 

her children. She reared 

them with love and understanding, 

teaching them spiritual 

love and how to trust in 

God for their needs and directions. 

“Trust in the Lord with 

all your heart and lean not on 

your own understanding.” 

She leaves a legacy of love 

and memories to her beloved 

children: Johnny Kleckley, 

Belleglade, Florida, Lynwood 

Kleckley (Marilyn Gail), 

Parrott, Georgia, Deleria 

Coleman (and friend, Allen 

Turner), Macon, Georgia, 

Willie Earl Kleckley, 

Belleglade, Florida, Lee 

Andrew Kleckley (Catherine), 

Charleston, South Carolina, 

Clifford A. Kleckley (Phyllis), 

Macon, Georgia and Barbara 

K. Fulks, Americus, Georgia; 

thirty six grandchildren and 

fifty one great grandchildren; 

one brother, three sisters-inlaw 

and one brother-in-law, 

Freddie Lucas (Dora), 

Savannah, Georgia, Rosie Lee 

Thomas (Clarence) 

Montezuma, Georgia, Cassie 

Nelson, Hartford, 

Connecticut; one sister, 

Josephine Harvey, Americus, 

Georgia; and a host of beloved 

nieces, nephews, other relatives 

and friends. 

Ms. Otha Jewel Linder, 

age 83, of Desoto, Georgia 

passed Wednesday, November 

3, 2010 at Phoebe Sumter 

Medical Center, Americus, 

Georgia. 

Wake services was held 

from 6:00-7:00 P.M., Sunday, 

November 7, 2010 at Zion 

Hope Baptist Church, Desoto, 

Georgia. 


11:00 A.M., Monday, 

November 8, 2010 at St. John 

Baptist Church, 244 Allen 

Street, Leslie, Georgia. 

Interment will follow in the 

Zion Hope Baptist Church 

Cemetery. 

Otha Jewel Linder, affectionately 

known as “Big 

Wheel,” was born August 27, 

1927 in Desoto, Georgia to the 

late Arthur Linder and the late 

Nellie Holloway Brown. She 

was reared by the late Luella 

Whitehead. Otha was educated 

in the public school system 

of Sumter County. She 

acknowledged Christ as her 

Savior at a young age and 

became a member of Zion 

Hope Baptist Church, where 

she served faithfully as 

Mother of the Church, Church 

Secretary, Sunday School 

Benevolence Treasurer, and 

Usher and Choir member. 

Also, Otha was a longtime 

member of the Zion Hope 

Association, where she served 

as secretary. In the community, 

she enjoyed spending time 

with the members of the 

Senior Citizens Group of 

Americus, Georgia. She was 

preceded in death by eleven 

siblings. 

Left to cherish her memory 

are her siblings, Joanne 

Roberts (Raymond), Miami, 

Florida, Kissie Wilburn, 

Decatur, Georgia, Beranclen 

Clark, Cordele, Georgia, Ollie 

Linder, Norfolk, Virginia, 

Bertha Linder, Atlanta, 

Georgia, Daricle Linder 

(Lois), Dothan, Alabama, 

Barbara Jones (Waymon), 

Sonny Brown, James Brown 

(Charmaine), Willie Brown, 

Bennie Brown (Anne), 

Mildred Scott, Pearlean Davis, 

all of Rochester, New York; 

devoted cousin, Addie Cutts, 

Desoto, Georgia; a host of 

other relatives and friends, 

including Lessie Reese and 

family. 

Willie L. Laster, Jr. transitioned 

from this life on 

October 20, 2010. He was a 

resident of Warner Robins, 

Georgia. Willie Laster was 

born in Sumter County where 

he attended public schools and 

joined Friendship Baptist 

Church as a young man. He 

worked during his early years 

as an employee of the Soil 

Conservation Service and later 

retired from the Sumter 

County Board of Education as 

a Bus Driver who was loved 

by many. Mr. Laster, as he was 

affectionately known, also 

worked at the Southside Pool 

as Manager and the Sumter 

County Retirement Village, 

Plains, Georgia as a Driver. 

He leaves to mourn his passing 

his wife Rena Canady 

Laster, Daughters Gloria 

(Tom) Brown, Lulean Laster, 

Diane Laster, and Gradine 

Laster; Stepchildren Hawa 

(Carl) Ross, Sherri Wiley, 

Hakeem Broomfield, 

Elizabeth Wiley and Omega 

Wiley; a sister Gladys Hughes 

and a host of relatives and 

friends. 

Deacon Dan Hollis, age 73, 

3579 U.S. Highway 19 South, 

Ellaville, Georgia, passed 

away on Thursday, November 

4, 2010 at Phoebe Putney 

Memorial Hospital in Albany, 

Georgia. 


11:00 A.M., Tuesday, 

November 9, 2010 at Ebenezer 

Baptist Church, 1908 

Dozier Road, Ellaville, 

Georgia. Rev. William Laster, 

Pastor, officiated. Interment 

followed in the Church cemetery. 

Deacon Dan Hollis was 

born to the late Tucker Hollis 

and Amzie Tookes Hollis on 

March 29, 1937 in Ellaville, 

Schley County, Georgia. He 

was educated in the Schley 

County Public School system. 

Reared in a Christian home, 

Dan acknowledged the Lord 

early in life and kept to His 

word. He was a devoted member 

of the Ebenezer Baptist 

Church family and served 

faithfully on the Deacon 

Board. 

Later on life’s journey, Dan 

met and married the love of 

his life, the former Vernice 

Collier. They declared their 

love and made vows before 

man and God to never part on 

May 9, 1959. Their union welcomed 

seven loving children. 

Dan was a hardworking man 

who usually worked two jobs 

to support his family whom he 

loved dearly. For a number of 

years, he was self-employed in 

the pulpwood cutting and 

hauling business. In addition, 

he worked for Stevens Peanut 

Warehouse during peanut season, 

as well as Carson 

Brothers Tractors in Americus. 

Before retiring in 2000, he was 

employed with the City of 

Ellaville. 

On November 4, 2010, Dan 

was called to take his rest. He 

now joins those who were 

called before him - his parents; 

siblings, Charles Hollis, James 

Ferrell Hollis, Kenneth Hollis, 

Juanita Hollis Thompkins, and 

Clarence Hollis; daughter-inlaw, 

Cynthia Renee Johnson 

Hollis; and nephew, Thomas 

Wayne Hollis. Left to cherish 

his precious memories are his 

devoted wife of 51 years, 

Vernice Collier Hollis, 

Ellaville, Georgia; his children, 

Nina Hollis Smith, 

Ellaville, Georgia, Randy 

Hollis (Pat), Americus, 

Georgia, Steve Hollis, 

Ellaville, Georgia, Becky 

Hollis DeLaney (Ben), Warner 

Robins, Georgia, Vanessa 

Hollis, Ellaville, Georgia, Ted 

Hollis, Sr. (Sandra), Americus, 

Georgia, and Kirk Hollis 

(Michelle), Albany, Georgia; 

thirteen grandchildren, Torell 

Barker (Arthtricia), Tameka 

Hollis, Bradley Johnson, 

Leticia Banks (Anthonio), 

Venus Hollis, Lee A. Edwards, 

Jr. (Falicia), Yashika Hollis, 

Tanisha Hollis, Melissa Hollis, 

Sandria Hollis, Ted Hollis, Jr., 

Cody Hollis, and Joy Hollis; 

twenty great grandchildren; 

siblings, Mary Ellen Curry 

(Charlie), Atlanta, Georgia, 

Virginia Hollis, College Park, 

Georgia, and Lemar Hollis, 

Jonesboro, Georgia; brothersin-law 

and sisters-in-law, John 

Collier, Akron, Ohio, David 

Collier (Doris), Albany, 

Georgia, Geraldine Collier 

Drone (Alphonso), Akron, 

Ohio, Mattie Walker, Buena 

Vista, Georgia, Lacy Collier, 

Rockford, Illinois, Glazella 

Collier, Miami, Florida, and 

Laura Hollis, Racine 

Wisconsin; aunts and uncles, 

Jennie Hollis Harper, 

Columbus, Georgia, Annie 

Maude Hollis, Box Springs, 

Georgia, and William Hollis, 

Midland, Georgia; his nieces 

and nephews, including devoted 

niece and nephews, Ethel 

Hollis Campbell, Darryl 

Aldridge, and Anthony Hollis, 

all of Ellaville, Georgia, and 

Christopher Hollis, San Diego, 

California; a host of other relatives 

and friends. 

Thanks to the 

Funeral Homes 

of: Oglethorpe 

Funeral Chapel, 

Inc., Barnum 

Funeral Home, 

Inc., West 

Mortuary, Inc., 

and J.W. 

Williams 

Funeral Home, 

Inc., for submitting 

the obituaries 

of your loved 

ones to the 

AmericUSumter 

Observer 

Newspaper.


WALL-MART 

CONTINUED FROM 1A 

have input with the $100 savings 

accounts given away to 

youth at the local Freedom 

Fund Banquet especially if 

these accounts are earmarked 

for educational purposes. Also 

was discussed was the 

BISHOP 


Election Day. . 

And, as the numbers were 

calling Keown the winner, his 

PLESS 


My connection with the community 

has given me this 

opportunity to serve," said 

Pless, president and CEO for 

AmeriGospel Inc. Minch 

attributed her loss to early and 

advance voting numbers, 

where Pless dominated. "I really 

appreciate and thank the 

various campaign supporters 

from the community," Pless 

said. Pless, a 1984 graduate of 

Reentry/Second Chance Prison 

Program which Wal-Mart is 

interested in helping the 

NAACP's implementation. 

District Manager 

Hendrickson told President 

Wright that the Wal-Mart team 

is looking forward to working 

with the NAACP. We are looking 

to have him come and 

speak at the Warehouse and to 

supporters broke into prayers 

and gospel songs. 

"I knew that God didn't 

bring me this far to leave me, 

and I wasn't conceding," he 

said. 

After 1 a.m., he and his sup- 

Americus High School and a 

graduate of Troy State 

University, said his priority 

during this term would be to 

start graduating more students 

within the Sumter County 

Schools. "We need to use 

every available resource to 

assure our children are educated 

and prepared for the next 

level of life." He added he 

wanted to examine some 

school policies, including the 

rigorous system of testing that 

leaves "no room for error." 

Pless is a quality coordinator 

for Norbord Inc., where he has 

some of the stores in the 

future. Wright told the managers 

that the best way to not 

commit job discrimination is 

"to do unto others as you 

would have them to do unto 

you!" The Americus branch 

has handled ten claims of job 

discrimination against Wal- 

Mart with three unresolved 

cases. 

porters - as well as the AP - 

learned he had taken 

Muscogee County by almost 

15,000 votes. 

"I felt confident those votes 

would push me over the top," 

he said. 

worked for more than 18 

years; however, he is extremely 

involved in the community. 

Aside from his award winning 

work with AmeriGospel, 

which brings together area 

youth and adults for gospel 

music and arts workshops, he 

is a member of Mentor Plus of 

Sumter County and other community 

groups as well as a 

broadcaster for Sumter 

Broadcasting WDEC 94.7 fm. 

He is a member of Allen 

Chapel AME Church. 

PUBLIC NOTICE!! 

The National Association for the Advancement of 

Colored People (NAACP) Americus/Sumter County 

Branch will hold their 2010 election for Executive 

Officers for the local unit #5160. On Monday 

evening, November 15, 2010 at the Allen Chapel 

A.M.E. Church the election will be held at 7:00 pm. 

All members (whose membership is current) are eligible to vote for the 

candidates of choice. If you have any questions concerning the election 

please call the NAACP office at: 229-924-0880. 

BANQUET 


Senate at the time of the banquet. 

Reese said he got held up in 

a political debate that night. 

State Representative Winfred 

Dukes of Albany, the emcee 

for the night, stepped in as a 

substitute and discussed various 

recent legislation that had 

been passed. 

With the mid-term elections 

three days away, Dukes, a 

member of the Georgia House 

of Representatives, District 

150, as well as Albany Mayor 

Willie Adams Jr. also urged 

people to get out and vote 

"With short notice, 

Representative Dukes did a 

great job as a stand in," Reese 

said. 

Shirley Sherrod, former 

Georgia State Director of 

Rural Development for the 

United States Department of 

Agriculture, was given the 

Freedom Award. She is a 

member of the Albany branch. 

"We have chosen to honor 

Shirley Sherrod with this 

year's Freedom Award," said 

Wright. "She had the ability to 

stand up and show the country 

and the world that we have not 

come as far as we think." 

Sherrod was unable to attend 

the ceremony. 

Bessie Graber and Easter 

Hardy provided the music 

entertainment. Reese said, 

there was over 120 people in 

attendance. 

Attorney Maurice Luther 

King Jr., gave the crowd an 

update on the branch's legal 

status, adding that the appointment 

of interim officers by the 

Georgia State violated the 

NAACP constitution. 

"You can't place people in 

office who aren't elected by a 

majority," said King, who 

reminded the audience that the 

Albany banquet had more in 

attendance than that of the 

Georgia State Conference 

Convention last month. 

King contends the State 

office, led by President 

Edward Dubose, expelled the 

officers in an attempt to place 

their own choices. 

King added, “The constitution 

does not allow the 

appointment of interim officers.” 

King and Reese said the 

group still consider themselves 

members and officers of the 

Albany branch. 

"Our attempted removal was 

unconstitutional, and we consider 

ourselves still officers of 

the branch," said Reese, who 

along with King - refuses to 

refer to the illegally expelled 

officers as "expelled." 

Reese added the current officers 

are still involved with the 

community. It wasn't clear in 

the interview with Reese or 

Attorney King how difficult or 

awkward it would be with the 

legitimate officers conducting 

their civil-rights work in the 

same area as the illegal interim 

officers. 

"We're not worried about 

that, we are only concerned 

with doing our duty in serving 

black residents," King said. 

The new illegal president 

appointed by Dubose is 

Marvin Jones, who previously 

served and he left owing the 

GA State Conference assessment 

money. 

“Why would Dubose replace 

the current branch president 

with someone who didn't pay 

the State NAACP assessments?,” 

said Matt Wright, 

Sumter NAACP president. 

Other illegal officers include 

David Williams, vice president; 

the Rev. Rogers 

Chatmon, second vice president; 

Tammy Green, secretary; 

Pricella Stegal, treasurer; Katie 

Couch, assistant secretary; and 

Mary James-Ingram, assistant 

treasurer. 

Send announcements, 

weddings, anniversaries, 

corrections, story ideas and letters by 

the 25th of the month at: 


ANNOUNCEMENT 

The Americus and Sumter County NAACP will be hosting the United States Equal 

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in February 2011. A full day will be 

spent in Americus, Georgia training and answering questions about job discrimination. 

COLUMBUS CARDIOLOGY 

ASSOCIATES 

DR. ALONZO E. JONES 

Board Certified 

in Internal Medicine & Cardiology 

For an appointment call: 

(229) 931-0446 

Dr. John D. Marshall s Office: 

905-B North Jackson Street 

Americus, Georgia 31709 

Affiliated with 

St. Francis Hospital 

and The Medical Center in Columbus, GA

RELIGION 


The Good News of The Gospel 

Who are The Real Children 

of Israel? The first time that the 

name “Israel” is mentioned in 

the scripture is in the Book of 

Genesis, where “Jacob” is 

wrestling with an angel. And 

they wrestled through the night, 

and when the morning came, 

Jacob had prevailed. So his 

name was changed from 

“Jacob” to “Israel.” 

Now, this may be controversial 

to you, but the Honorable 

Elijah Muhammad taught us 

that the name “Jacob,” in 

Arabic, is “Yakub.” Those who 

make mockery of what God has 

revealed to the Honorable 

Elijah Muhammad say Yakub 

was an “evil scientist.” Wrong! 

He was a Scientist of our people; 

he was an Original Man. 

When we join the Nation of 

Islam, we're just enrolling in 

The Classroom of our God; so 

we have a Student Enrollment 

that asks the question: “Who is 

the original man?” “Original” 

means “that from which all 

other humans come.” 

Black people were born 

Builders. We were born 

Architects of Civilization. But 

what are we building today? 

What has happened to the 

Original Man, that today people 

look at us narrowly, as though 

we never contributed anything 

to the onward march of civilization? 

As students of the Honorable 

Elijah Muhammad, we gave the 

answer to that question: “The 

original man is the Asiatic 

Black man, the maker, owner, 

cream of the planet Earth, God 

of the universe.” That's a heck 

of a description of you, but it is 

so far from your thinking about 

yourself, that you say, “This 

must be a dream that somebody's 

telling me that about 

me!” 

However, God says in the 

scripture that: “My Ways are 

not yours. My Thoughts are not 

yours. I am from above. You are 

from beneath. And as far as the 

heavens are from the Earth is as 

far away My Thinking is from 

your thoughts.” That has deep 

meaning. 

The Purpose for Yakub's New 

People 

The Honorable Elijah 

Muhammad taught us Yakub 

was a Scientist who saw in the 

genetic makeup of the Black 

man that he could bring out of 

us a New People who are the 

opposite of The Original. That 

is not “evil.” That is High 

Science! 

Yakub saw in the Original 

Man other nations: It is there in 

the Bible, the Book of Genesis, 

where it states: “from one blood 

came all human beings.” 

“Blood” is the life fluid of some 

living thing, so scholars didn't 

just say “from Black people 

came all human beings,” they 

said “from one blood”—and 

they left it to us to figure what 

blood is genetically powerful 

enough to produce the entire 

human family. Anthropologists 

cannot find the Black man's 

Origin! We are The Origin, and 

Our Originator is God Himself! 

The object of Yakub was to 

make a people unalike that 

would be attractive, because of 

the “Law of Unalike Attracts 

and Like Repels.” Yakub would 

teach a new people a new way 

of civilization that was in opposition 

to the Natural Order of 

The Universe and The Nature 

We welcome the opportunity to highlight 

upcoming Christian community events. 

Please submit your church/ministry 

events for the month of December 

to adoates731@yahoo.com. Thank you. 

South 

Georgia 

UROLOGY CLINIC, P.C. 

Dr. Rex O. Ajayi, 

Board Certified Urologist 

For prevention, detection, and treatment 

of all urologic conditions such as: 

Kidney Stones Infertility Bladder Cancer Vasectomy Kidney Cancer Impotence 

Prostate Tumors Frequent Urination Burning Urination Straining with Urination 

Bloody Urine Slow Urinary Stream Bed Wetting A Missing Testicle Bloody 

Sperm Sexually Transmitted Diseases Venereal warts Circumcision and much 

more. 

Visit Dr Rex O. Ajayi at his new facility: 

803 N. Jackson St. 

Albany, GA 31701 

Office Hours by Appointment 

Call: (229) 435- 0832 

of God in His Creation of Life. 

A new people; a new race: 

This is referring to the 

Caucasian people, called in the 

Bible “Adam.” And once Yakub 

was successful in making a 

New People, this New People 

would then come under the 

name “Israel”: A conqueror, one 

who prevails over an angel by 

God's Permission. Yakub was a 

great man, and he produced a 

great people. 

All of us are under “Israel.” 

All of us, Black people, Brown 

people, Yellow people, Red 

people, are under the rule of the 

Caucasian people, and all of the 

races have been affected by 

their rule. 

(Please study the words of 

Apostle Paul in the Book of 

Romans, from the New Living 

Translation Bible: Chapter 2 

under the section “The Jews 

and The Law”; and Chapter 3 

under the sections “God 

Remains Faithful” and “All 

People Are Sinners”.) 

The Usurpers of Our 

History 

Now, the first time we meet a 

major picture of “The Children 

CHURCH EDITOR 

ANDREA OATES 

Have you ever held on to 

things that you should have let 

go of a long time ago? Was it 

old clothes, wrong mindsets, 

negative attitudes, or certain 

poor relationships? Many 

times we have struggled carrying 

more than we have cared 

to mention. But there are 

times when, in our walk with 

God, we absolutely can go no 

farther until we lighten our 

loads. 

There is a man in the Bible 

that needed Jesus to help him 

lighten his load. What was he 

carrying? A heavy load of 

guilt. So much guilt that it 

kept him literally flat on his 

back. The scripture says it like 

this: 

"And, behold, they brought 

to him a man sick of the palsy, 

lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing 

their faith said unto the 

sick of the palsy; Son, be of 

good cheer; thy sins be forgiven 

thee." (Matthew 9:2) 

Palsy, in the original language, 

meant one that is paralyzed, 

weak, and disabled. It 

is interesting to note the Jesus 

did not pray strength to his 

limbs. He got right down to 

the root of the problem-not 

having received the forgiveness 

of his sins. You see, the 

sin itself wasn't an issue anymore. 

It was a thing of the 

past that was crippling his 

present and threatening his 

future. The result is that he 

lost his joy, his health, and his 

will to live. He began to live a 

life of depression, sadness, and 

sorrow. 

In fact, the man didn't go to 

of Israel” is in the Bible when 

they are in “The House of 

Pharaoh.” In many places they 

are called “The Israelites,” but 

there they are described as “The 

Children of Israel” who were 

living in a nation that was not 

theirs, in a land that was not 

theirs, under subjection, under 

oppression and under tyranny 

of Pharaoh and his people. 

How long were they there? 

God told Abraham that his seed 

will be in bondage in a strange 

land, among a strange people, 

for 400 years. “After that 

time”—God talking—“I'm 

going to come. I'm not sending 

anybody. I'm coming!” He said, 

“And I will raise up from 

among them a prophet.” Moses. 

Now Moses was not an “integrationist”; 

Moses came to separate 

The Children of Israel 

from Pharaoh and his people 

because God had a Purpose for 

The Children of Israel, and that 

was to go into a land that had 

already been carved out for 

them! But they had to break 

away from Pharaoh in order 

that God may fulfill His 

Promise to them, which was to 

Jesus of his own accord even 

though Jesus called him His 

son. He had a right to God's 

forgiveness, but perhaps he 

was ashamed of the mistakes 

he had made, didn't think he 

deserved to be in God's presence, 

or didn't think that God's 

grace was sufficient for him. 

It was this man's friends that 

took him to Jesus. They 

bridged the gap and interceded. 

Because of their faith, he 

received exactly what he needed 

to get that huge weight off 

of him and restore his life. 

What was it that he needed? 

He needed to know that his 

sins were forgiven!!! So if I 

may, I would like to intercede 

for you today. 

The only option we have as 

believers when we sin it to 

repent. Repentance means to 

turn away from something that 

is not pleasing to God. But it 

does not mean to turn back the 

hands of time and correct your 

mistakes. In fact, God was so 

adamant about His people continuing 

to go forward and not 

being bound by their past that 

He sent Jesus to die for our 

sins. Why is that important? 

Hebrews 10 says that God was 

not pleased with animal sacrifices 

for sin because the people 

were bound in a cycle of sin 

consciousness that prevented 

their growth. Every year they 

would be stuck in the same 

position. But God's perfect 

will is for us to forgive and 

forget-not just with others, but 

also with ourselves. And like 

God does, according to Psalm 

103, we are to let it go. 

So what is it that you're still 

holding on to? How long have 

you carried the guilt? How 

much time have you lost 

mulling over things that you 

simply cannot change? The 

Bible commands us to forget 

those things that are behind us 

and turn our focus to our 

future in God. Again, the 

Word says to lay aside every 

weight and sin that would get 

us off track. 

Don't get the message 

wrong. By no means am I 

advocating sin. In fact, the 

Bible forbids us from using 

By the Honorable Minister 

Louis Farrakhan 

take them through the 

Wilderness into a land of their 

own. Isn't that interesting? 

Now, the Jews say: “We fulfill 

that”—but Egypt has the 

oldest recorded history; and we 

don't find that in history at all, 

that some people named “Jews” 

were in Egypt. They like to 

claim that “they built the 

Pyramids when they were 

SEE GOSPEL l 9B 

LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY: 

Let It Go…Arise and Walk 

God's grace to justify remaining 

in sinful behavior (see 

Romans 6:1-2). This message 

is for those that have truly 

changed their ways, but have 

allowed the devil to condemn 

them for past mistakes. God's 

beloved-realize this. You cannot 

change the past. But you 

can live for God in the present. 

Don't let anything keep you 

from growing in God and 

accomplishing His will in your 

life. None of us are without 

sins of the past. But, by the 

grace of God, we can rise up 

again-even after failing numerous 

times-like just ones do. 

And it is all to the glory of 

God. 

Don't be bound another 

moment. In fact, let's pray 

now: 

"Heavenly Father, we both 

know that I am not perfect. 

And there are some sins of my 

past that I have had a very 

hard time forgiving myself for. 

Lord, I confess not forgiving 

myself as sin. Jesus, You died 

for me so that I am no longer 

bound by past mistakes. 

Therefore, I forgive myself, as 

You have also forgiven me. 

Now help me to walk in Your 

love and grace with myself and 

with others. May I never 

allow my past to separate me 

from Your love or calling upon 

my life. Today, at this very 

moment, I choose to be free 

from the pains, ghosts, skeletons, 

and hurts of my past. I 

declare that I am set free by 

the precious, ever-living Blood 

of Jesus Christ. I boldly 

declare that I am the righteousness 

of God in Christ Jesus. In 

Jesus' Name I pray. Amen." 

Now, my brother or sister in 

Christ, your sins are forgiven. 

God has not covered or concealed 

them. He has literally 

taken them away. Now I 

encourage you to let it go. 

And arise and walk… 

MEDITATION SCRIP- 

TURES Psalm 103; Proverbs 

24:16; Matthew 9:2,5; Mark 

2:5,9; Luke 5:20-26, 7:47; 

Hebrews 9:14, 10:1-39, 12:1; 

Philippians 3:13 

Join NAACP Today

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A 

Republican Congress would seek to 

remove funding for Israel from the 

foreign operations budget, a GOP 

leader said. 

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the 

Republican whip and the only Jewish 

Republican in the House of 

Representatives, told JTA that a GOPled 

House would seek to defund 

nations that do not share U.S. interests, 

even if it meant rejecting the 

president's foreign operations budget. 

Cantor, of Virginia, said he wants to 

protect funding for Israel should that 

situation arise. 

"Part of the dilemma is that Israel 

The Huffington Post | Nick Wing 

Karl Denninger, an original organizer of the 

Tea Party, is out with a livid blog post blasting 

current leaders of the conservative movement and 

the apparent hypocrisy in their views of the economic 

issues that originally catalyzed its creation. 

According to Denninger, "Sarah Palin, Newt 

Gingrich, Bob Barr, and douchebag groups such 

as the Tea Party Patriots" are to blame for the bastardization 

of a movement that now seems 

focused on "Guns, gays, God," instead of the Tea 

Party's original mission: to castigate the federal 

government for supporting the "rampant theft" of 

taxpayer dollars that went toward "propping up 

FAILED private businesses." 

Here's the down and dirty of what Denninger 

believes the Tea Party was all about: 

In short, The Tea Party was and is about the the 

corruption of American Politics and the blatant 

and outrageous theft from all Americans that has 

resulted. It is about personal responsibility and 

enforcement of the law against those who have 

robbed, financially ****d and pillaged the nation. 

Denninger's analysis of the movement now led 

by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and represented 

by GOP candidates such as Sharron 

Angle, Rand Paul and Christine O'Donnell is biting: 

NATIONAL 

NATIONAL 


Republicans Win by Blocking Obama s Jobs Plan 

The Editors | The Nation 

There's no disguising it—the results 

of the midterm elections were, with a 

few exceptions, grim, as candidates 

who are intent on rolling back decades 

of economic and social progress were 

swept into office. But this is no time to 

despair. It is time to stand and fight for 

a real debate about ideas and for smalld 

democracy. 

This was an unearned win for the 

Republican Party. The election was 

overwhelmingly about the lousy economy 

and high unemployment, and 

Democrats paid the price as voters 

expressed their discontent with the 

party in power. Conservatives of both 

parties are just plain wrong to claim 

the vote represented an ideological 

shift to the right. 

The quickly congealing conventional 

wisdom claims that President 

Obama tried to do too much and was 

too liberal. Wrong. The reality is that 

the administration and conservative 

Democrats were too timid in tackling 

the dire economic crisis inherited from 

George W. Bush. The public was alienated 

not because of Obama's overreaching 

but because his team hasn't 

fought aggressively enough against 

well-funded and entrenched interests. 

For thirty years the working and middle 

classes have seen their incomes 

stagnate as the top 1 percent have 

accrued a staggering percentage of the 

nation's wealth. By rescuing instead of 

reforming the big banks, the White 

House economic team, led by Wall 

Street–tainted Larry Summers and Tim 

Geithner, ceded populist energy to the 

Tea Party and its corporate funders. 

The inadequacy of the president's 

recovery program, largely a result of 

concessions to the GOP, became a 

political and economic catastrophe for 

the White House. 

In the end, the Democrats suffered 

because the anemic economy hasn't 

been generating enough jobs—and the 

president failed to convince voters he 

was piloting a consistent course that 

would turn things around. 

Furthermore, the absence of a forceful 

and sustained explanation of how conservative 

policies have failed and will 

continue to fail enabled a right-wing 

narrative of empty slogans, fearmongering 

and outright mendacity to gain 

traction. Obama's decision to abandon 

his smart argument about building a 

new foundation for the economy and 

his premature embrace of deficit 

reduction only left voters confused 

about the White House's program for 

recovery. 

The president must lay out a clear 

and bold plan to create jobs, jobs and 

has been put in the overall foreign aid 

looping," he said when asked about 

the increasing tendency of 

Republicans in recent years to vote 

against foreign operations appropriations. 

"I'm hoping we can see some 

kind of separation in terms of tax dollars 

going to Israel." 

Cantor's statement was a sign that 

the Republican leadership was ready 

to defer to the party's right wing on 

this matter. Some on the GOP right 

have suggested including Israel aid in 

the defense budget, and a number of 

Tea Party-backed candidates have said 

they would vote against what is 

known in Congress as "foreign ops." 

Tea Party my ass. This was nothing other than 

The Republican Party stealing the anger of a population 

that was fed up with The Republican 

Party's own theft of their tax money at gunpoint 

to bail out the robbers of Wall Street and fraudulently 

redirecting it back toward electing the very 

people who stole all the ****ing money! 

more jobs and get the economy 

going—and fight with conviction for 

those plans against anyone standing in 

the way. He should take the advice of 

the more than 300 economists who 

have urged his administration not to 

focus prematurely on deficit reduction. 

Joining the GOP embrace of Social 

Security and Medicare cuts and meanspirited 

austerity makes for bad policy 

and bad politics. The Democrats 

should fight for sensible investments, 

especially in infrastructure, greenenergy 

initiatives and research and 

development. Obama should suspend 

However, until now at least, the 

GOP leadership has backed deferring 

to the executive branch when it comes 

to foreign spending, albeit after it has 

completed budgetary negotiations 

with the Congress. 

The GOP looks set to win at least 

the House in the upcoming Nov. 2 

elections, partly because of the recent 

surge in conservative activism. 

The pro-Israel community has 

always backed the president's final 

foreign aid budget as a whole and 

strongly resisted proposals to separate 

funding for Israel for a number of reasons. 

Among them, pro-Israel activists 

his National Commission on Fiscal 

Responsibility and Reform, which has 

laid out an unrealistic and counterproductive 

proposal to reduce the federal 

deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2015. 

The president might consider the 

dramatic use of executive power to 

rebuild the economy. This would be 

smart politics, as it would energize key 

and core constituencies. And it wouldn't 

hurt if the White House fused a bold 

economic program with a clear, concrete 

and, yes, passionate message. 

Maybe it's time for the first lady—who 

spoke so powerfully on the stump in 

the election's final weeks—to explain 

to her husband that bloodless, analytical 

detachment just doesn't cut it. 

Obama might also seek counsel from 

Elizabeth Warren, who as head of the 

new Consumer Financial Protection 

Bureau is standing with beleaguered 

families versus predatory banks. 

Robust support for Warren would convince 

voters that the government is not 

on their backs but on their side. 

As he made clear in his first postelection 

press conference, the president 

remains committed to a politics of 

civility and common ground. Fine, but 

if he meets with Republican obstruction, 

Obama should channel Harry 

Truman and come out fighting against 

a know-nothing and do-nothing GOP. 

Take Israel out of foreign aid 

Karl Denninger, Tea Party 

Founder, Blasts Palin, Gingrich & 

’Douchebag’ Tea Party Groups 

Have you had a Check-up Lately? 

Call (229) 931-0446 to 

schedule an Appointment! 

Tim Geithner, White House economic 

team 

see aid for Israel as inextricably 

bound with the broader interest of 

countering isolationism; elevating 

Israel above other nations might be 

counterproductive in an American 

electorate still made up of diverse ethnic 

groups; and such a designation 

would make Israel more beholden to 

U.S. policy and erode its independence. 

Pro-Israel officials before the interview 

with Cantor had told JTA that 

the priority in January would be making 

the case to newly elected 

Republicans for backing a holistic foreign 

assistance package. 

$3.99 

If he's determined to pursue a politics 

of common ground, why not define it 

as one of economic dignity and social 

justice, one that ends the corruption 

and special entitlements that have 

allowed the very richest to amass great 

fortunes while the vast majority of 

Americans struggle to make ends 

meet? Common ground, if it means 

making the government more responsive 

to the needs of the majority. 

Common ground, if it means public 

investment in people, in our deteriorating 

infrastructure, in research and 

development that serves human needs 

and rebuilds America's competitiveness 

in the world. Common ground, if 

it means ending a wasteful and 

destructive war in Afghanistan. 

Common ground, if it means campaign 

finance reform that levels the playing 

field so ordinary Americans' voices 

aren't drowned out by more and more 

covert and corporate money. And common 

ground, if it means listening to 

and remobilizing a base that is the 

heart and soul of a renewed and 

revived Democratic Party. A rising 

American electorate—young people, 

Latinos, African-Americans, single 

women, union members—would be an 

effective counterweight to the assaults 

of an emboldened GOP and its corporate 

funders. 

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican 

whip and the only Jewish Republican in 

the House of Representatives. 

Join the NAACP 

3 PIECE FISH DINNER 

Limit one dinner per coupon, 

Not good with any other specials, 

coupons or discounts offers at 

participating Captain D’s. 

OCTOBER 2010


BBllaacckk HHiissttoorryy 

Scandals At The Altar: 10 Black Church Leaders 

Who ve Incited Controversy and Doubt 

The Black Church is back in the spotlight; unfortunately, it s not for reasons related to sound doctrine. Controversy has once again 

pushed the organization to the forefront in popular culture. But it s not the first time. African-American congregations have 

endured controversy and scandal for decades. Here s a short list of the stories that made headlines. 

By The Atlanta Post 

Bishop Eddie Long’s case is one of 

the most damaging scandals to hit the 

Black church. He’s currently being 

accused for coercing four young men 

into sexual relationships. While 

Bishop Long is fighting those charges, 

he has since become a media sensation 

and the newest poster child for “what 

is wrong with the black church”. As 

pastor of the 25,000 member New 

Birth Missionary Baptist Church in 

Lithonia, Georgia, he has also endured 

criticism from fellow clergy who challenged 

his teachings which pushed 

that homosexually is “spiritual abortion”. 

Ten years ago Bishop Clarence 

McClendon was known as one of the 

most dynamic preachers in the 

Foursquare Gospel denomination. But 

he claimed the organization was racially 

biased and pulled his 10,000-member 

Church of the Harvest International out 

of the denomination. It was around the 

same time in 2000 that Bishop 

McClendon divorced his wife of 16 

years and married for a second time just 

one week after the divorce was declared 

final. According to Charisma Now, a 

Christian publication, his ex-wife 

Tammera said Bishop McClendon told 

her that God revealed to him who he was 

supposed to marry. She said she then 

asked him: “How could God show you 

another woman when you already have a 

wife?” 

Fellow Georgia Resident and Senior 

Pastor of the mega-church World 

Changers International, Creflo Dollar 

has seen his share of controversy. He’s 

been painted as the face of the 

“Prosperity Gospel”, preaching messages 

of wealth to his congregation 

and followers. At the same time, 

Pastor Dollar has had his own fortune 

called into question. In 2007 he 

refused to hand over financial documents 

ordered by the U.S. Senate 

Finance Committee. At the time Pastor 

Dollar lived in a $2.5 million mansion 

and drove a Bentley. 

Bishop Thomas Weeks III became a 

household name in Black Christian circles 

when he married Prophetess and televangelist 

Juanita Bynum in 2002. 

Together they built Global Destiny 

Ministries based in Duluth, GA into an 

influential ministry. Five years later, the 

best selling author of No More Sheets 

filed for divorce from her husband. 

Shortly afterwards, the battle went public 

as Weeks attacked his estranged wife 

in the parking lot of Atlanta’s 

Renaissance Concourse Hotel. Bynum 

revealed in a Divorce Court interview 

that she had battled with depression and 

thoughts of suicide after separating from 

her husband. Dr. Bynum has gone on to 

form a recording label, SonFlower 

Records, as a joint venture with 

Matthew Knowles’ Music World Gospel 

West Mortuary 

and 

Limousine Service 

731 N. Lee St. 


(229) 924-2343 

Reverend Jeremiah Wright s name 

almost became kryptonite for President 

Barack Obama two years ago when the 

out-spoken preacher said African- 

Americans should not sing “God Bless 

America” but “God damn America.” In 

the sermon the Reverend said the 9-11 

attacks were done to an America that 

didn’t embrace all of its citizens. The 

media firestorm that followed the 

expose of the 2003 sermon proved to be 

too much of a strain for the pastor and 

his most prominent church member. 

Wright retired in 2008 and President 

Obama moved on from that church. The 

President said, at the time, that although 

he did not always agree with the 

Reverend, he did have “affection” for 

him like any member of his family. 

The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter 

II, the flamboyant minister better known 

as the Reverend Ike, was one of the originators 

of the “Prosperity Gospel”. At 

his United Church Science of Living 

Institute in New York he would tell his 

congregation “close your eyes and see 

green. Money up to your armpits, a 

roomful of money and there you are, just 

tossing around in it like a swimming 

pool.” His lifestyle and prosperity message 

raised the eyebrows of more than a 

few. He was investigated by the Internal 

Revenue Service and the United States 

Postal Service. Rev. Ike passed away in 

2009 at the age of 74. 

Dave’s Floral-Gift and 

Limousine Service. 

229-942-2667 

In 2007 mega-church Senior Pastor, the 

Rev. Frederick K.C. Price, agreed to be 

a part of a 20/20 story in which he was 

asked to speak about money and religion. 

The segment portrayed Reverend 

Price in an unsavory light using a quote 

that declared “I live in a 25-room mansion, 

I have my own $6-million yacht”. 

That declaration proved damaging to 

both the Pastor and ABC. Apparently the 

network used the quote out of context as 

he prefaced it by saying “I was pointing 

out that there is such a thing as bad success.” 

Airing the piece in its edited state 

which also showcased the Reverend 

Price’s 22,000 member congregation 

was, in the pastor’s opinion, damaging 

and he sued ABC for defamation. The 

network made a full retraction. 

Known to many as the “Hip Hop 

Pastor”, Bishop Hezekiah Walker hosts 

Diddy and Lil’ Kim in his church and 

ministers with a type of music that rap 

artists embrace. But a few years ago, 

Bishop Walker had more than his musical 

taste questioned. His marriage to 

wife Monique dissolved and a rumor 

emerged claiming he was homosexual. 

The Grammy award winning gospel 

artist vehemently denied the allegations 

releasing a statement which read, “the 

enemy seeks to steal, kill and destroy. 

Character assassination is one of the oldest 

weapons.” Shortly thereafter, the 

Bishop received a public apology from 

the source. 

Reverend Jamal Harrison Bryant of 

Balitmore, MD was the subject of 

ridicule two years ago after his wife 

Gizelle filed for divorce. She alleged 

that her husband committed adultery, 

and that he displayed “excessively 

vicious conduct” that caused “reasonable 

apprehension of bodily suffering so 

as to render cohabitation unsafe.” The 

controversy, however, has not put a 

stronghold on his ministry and popularity. 

Rev. Bryant continues to pastor 

Empowerment Temple AME Church, 

which is the church he and his wife 

founded in 2000. He is also the spiritual 

adviser to reality television star 

Omorosa Manigault-Stallworth and 

appeared as a counselor on her TV One 

dating show “The Ultimate Merger.” 

Terry Hornbuckle, the pastor from 

Texas who founded the Victory 

Temple Bible Church in Arlington 

with only 15 members in 1986 and 

grew it to a large congregation that 

could fill an 8000 square feet stadium 

by 1992 (it was renamed Agape 

Christian Fellowship) fell dramatically 

from grace as he was convicted of 

drugging and raping three women. 

He’s now serving time and expected to 

be released in 2020.

NATIONAL/WORLD 

NATIONAL/WORLD 


Tea Party Republicans Can t Shake off the Stink of Bush 

Richard Kim | The Nation 

In the first and signal victory speech 

of election night, Kentucky Senatorelect 

Rand Paul took to the podium and 

declared himself the leading edge of a 

"Tea Party tidal wave." That wave, 

Paul made clear, is poised to crash 

down on the very idea of government 

itself. In his compact, loaded address, 

Paul pilloried government on at least 

ten occasions while zipping through 

the Tea Party's trigger words: 

Constitution, individual liberty, freedom, 

entrepreneurship, capitalism, balanced 

budgets and an end to the slavery 

of debt. But there was one word 

conspicuously missing from his 

remarks: "Republican." 

On a night when Republicans pulled 

off the largest shift in party power 

since 1938, converting at least sixty 

seats in the House, they also seemed, 

paradoxically, to be an endangered 

species. In absurd remarks coming 

from a ten-term incumbent, incoming 

House speaker John Boehner pointedly 

declined to acknowledge this elephant 

in the room, pledging instead to take "a 

new approach that hasn't been tried 

before in Washington—by either 

party." And when the R-word was 

uttered, it was usually in a bizarre ritual 

of self-flagellation. As victorious 

Sebastian Jones, ProPublica: 

As of now, 20 New Democrats have gone 

down in defeat while six others are locked in 

races that are too close to call. Many of those 

who lost come from conservative districts and 

are members of the Blue Dog Coalition, another 

conservative House coalition, but other New 

Democrats also fared poorly. Vice chair Melissa 

Bean, a critical player in the group's efforts to 

weaken the overhaul of the financial services 

industry, is trailing a Tea Party-backed opponent 

in her suburban Chicago district. Mike 

McMahon, who authored the group's derivatives 

proposal that was criticized for having big loopholes, 

was defeated. (A list of the New 

Democrats who have lost can be found below.) 

Like the New Democrats, many Americans 

who went to the polls were focused on economic 

matters. However, exit polls reveal voters were 

more likely to blame the economic crisis on Wall 

Street than on either President Obama or former 

President Bush. Of those who blamed the banks, 

a solid majority voted against the Democrats, 

suggesting that despite having passed financial 

reform legislation, the party couldn't shake off 

the notion it was too close to the banks. 

In January the new House will be overwhelmingly 

Republican, so much so that the new majority 

may not always need the votes of conservative 

Democrats. When it does, however, Republicans 

Florida Tea Partyer Marco Rubio 

bluntly declared, it would be "a grave 

mistake" to believe that "these results 

are somehow an embrace of the 

Republican Party." 

If the GOP didn't win—according to 

the GOP—then just who the hell did? 

The expedient answer for a party that 

still can't shake off the stink of George 

W. Bush's crony capitalism and profligate 

wars is the Tea Party. As a branding 

technique, it allows the right to sell 

a narrative of rediscovered conservatism, 

a story of how a movement of 

libertarian true believers got lost in the 

corridors of Halliburton and the quagmires 

of Afghanistan and Iraq but 

found their way again thanks to an 

uprising of "the people" awakened by 

Obama's government takeover. A lot of 

inconvenient truths and players get 

dropped along the way (pro-war security 

hawks; Astroturf-seeding billionaires; 

the Christian right, whose definition 

of individual liberty doesn't 

extend to women and gays; Bush's 

Wall Street bailout), but obviously historical 

and factual integrity isn't really 

the point. It makes a good slogan, and 

along the way it ups the rhetorical ante. 

Reagan's small-government revolution 

now sounds like a full-fledged no-government 

revolt; not since the British 

Blue Dog Democrats 

lose big in Midterms 

Vice chair Melissa Bean, Blue Dog 

Democrats Coalition 

will likely court the New Democrats, since the 

other major group of conservative Democrats -the 

Blue Dog Coalition -- lost half its members 

last night, leaving only 26. Even if the New 

Democrats lose all six of their undecided races, 

the group will still have 36 members -- more than 

enough to act as a critical swing bloc on close 

votes. 

Now White Folks are Mad 

Folks: Lets keep a copy in 

our pockets for quick reference 

when speaking with our ... 

'friends' on the other side. 

After The 8 Years Of The 

Bush/Cheney Disaster, Now 

You Get Mad? 

You didn't get mad when the 

Supreme Court stopped a legal 

recount and appointed a 

President. 

You didn't get mad when 

Cheney allowed Energy company 

officials to dictate Energy 

policy and push us to invade 

Iraq . 

You didn't get mad when a 

covert CIA operative got outed. 


Patriot Act got passed. 

You didn't get mad when we 

illegally invaded a country that 

posed no threat to us. 


spent over 800 billion (and 

counting) on said illegal war. 


Bush borrowed more money 

from foreign sources than the 

previous 42 Presidents combined. 


over 10 billion dollars in cash 

just disappeared in Iraq . 

You didn't get mad when you 

found out we were torturing 

Bill O Reilly 

people. 


Bush embraced trade and outsourcing 

policies that shipped 6 

million American jobs out of 

the country. 


government was illegally wiretapping 

Americans. 


didn't catch Bin Laden. You 

didn't get mad when Bush rang 

up 10 trillion dollars in combined 

budget and current 

account deficits. 

You didn't get mad when you 

saw the horrible conditions at 

Redcoats has an army come to 

Washington with so explicit an intent 

to burn it to the ground. 

Underneath the "Tea Party 

Triumphs" headlines, however, lies a 

fractured, incoherent party whose 

short-term strategy for electoral success 

is every bit as dicey as the formula 

for New Coke. Paul's, Rubio's and 

Pat Toomey's wins were more than offset 

by defeats for Christine O'Donnell, 

Walter Reed. 


let a major US city, New 

Orleans , drown. 


gave people who had more 

money than they could spend, 

the filthy rich, over a trillion 

dollars in tax breaks. 

You didn't get mad with the 

worst 8 years of job creations in 

several decades. 


over 200,000 US Citizens lost 

their lives because they had no 

health insurance. 

You didn't get mad when lack 

of oversight and regulations 

from the Bush Administration 

caused US Citizens to lose 12 

trillion dollars in investments, 

retirement, and home values. 

You finally got mad when a 

black man was elected 

President and decided that people 

in America deserved the 

right to see a doctor if they are 

sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, 

torture, job losses by 

the millions, stealing your tax 

dollars to make the rich richer, 

and the worst economic disaster 

since 1929 are all okay with 

you, but helping fellow 

Americans who are sick...Oh, 

Hell No!! 

Rand Paul 

Sharron Angle, John Raese, Ken Buck 

and, most likely, Joe Miller. Likewise 

in the House, Tea Party candidates 

picked up victories in Arizona, 

Arkansas and Florida, but in 

Pennsylvania, a hotbed of local Tea 

Party activism, they went 0 for 2 in 

races in play while non–Tea Party 

Republicans went a perfect 5 for 5. 

Although you wouldn't know it from 

the media coverage, ordinary 

Republicans constitute the majority of 

the new GOP class. Moreover, a number 

of successful candidates are only 

nominally or opportunistically associated 

with the Tea Party; these TINOs 

(Tea in Name Only) include Ron 

Johnson, who knocked off Russ 

Feingold in Wisconsin but whose success 

was largely driven by his personal 

wealth, and Steve Chabot of Ohio, who 

rebranded himself early on as a Tea 

Partyer in order to reclaim a seat he 

first won in 1994. 

So far, the Tea Party zealots haven't 

forced most of these TINOs and non- 

Tea Republicans to take the purity test, 

as they did with Mike Castle in 

Delaware, to disastrous effect. But if 

firebrands like Paul and Rubio get their 

way in crafting legislation, all bets are 

off. Ask newly elected moderate 

Republican Nan Hayworth of New 

York's 19th District how she feels 

about privatizing Social Security or 

eliminating the Department of 

Education. Then ask Senators Susan 

Collins and Olympia Snowe how they 

feel about their new colleague Toomey, 

who thinks it's cool to jail doctors for 

performing abortions. The possibilities 

for wedge issues that highlight the 

antigovernment extremism of the Tea 

Party (as well as its religious right tendencies) 

are ample, and Democrats 

should have no qualms about exploiting 

them—if the Tea Party doesn't go 

there on its own. 

But there's a bigger lesson for 

Democrats than just divide and conquer. 

As much as the Tea Party's 

"throw the bums out" mentality represents 

a scary, anti-intellectual 

nihilism—there's an undeniably 

refreshing zing to its claim that 

Washington needs new faces. Sure, 

there's tons of hypocrisy and insincerity 

when folks like Boehner mouth 

these anti-establishment lines. But at 

least he had the smarts to ape the mood 

and in some cases actually accommodate 

it. The Republican Party wrestled 

this past year—often bloodily and 

clumsily (just ask Lisa M-U-R-K-O- 

W-S-K-I)—to co-opt, absorb and redirect 

the new energy on their side. 

PUBLIC NOTICE!! 

The National Association for the Advancement of 

Colored People (NAACP) Americus/Sumter County 

Branch will hold their 2010 election for Executive 

Officers for the local unit #5160. On Monday 

evening, November 15, 2010 at the Allen Chapel 

A.M.E. Church the election will be held at 7:00 pm. 

All members (whose membership is current) are eligible to vote for the 

candidates of choice. If you have any questions concerning the election 

please call the NAACP office at: 229-924-0880.

LIFESTYLES 


Happy Birthday 

Tara Taylor will celebrate her 

birthday on Nov. 19. 


Minister Albert Miller will celebrate 

his birthday on Nov. 16. 


Emmanuel C. Thompson celebrated 

his 23rd birthday on 

Nov. 3. 

November Birthdays 


Barbara Hawkins celebrated her 



Mother Dorothy Hawkins celebrated 

her 85th birthday on Oct. 

16. 


Elder Sharon Williams will celebrate 

her 50th birthday on Nov. 

24. 


Annie Chambers celebrated 

101 years on Oct. 15. 


Latoya Green celebrated her 



Mary McCray will celebrate her 



Daylon Leary celebrated his 



Alpina Sweet celebrated her 

birthday on Oct. 31. 


Maxine Pines will celebrate her 



Breanca Grant will celebrate 

her birthday on Nov. 27. 


Beverly Davis will celebrate her 



Joe Clark celebrated his birthday 

on Nov. 6. 


Connie Walters celebrated her 



Lindsey Edge celebrated her 

birthday on Nov. 2. She is the 

first lady of the Restoration 

Church of Americus. 


Chasity Collier will celebrate 

her birthday on Nov.20. 


Barbara Davis will celebrate her 


Send announcements, weddings, anniversaries, 

corrections, story ideas and letters by the 25th of the month at: 



Ian Grey Mitchell-Edge will 

celebrate his 3rd birthday on 

November 25. 


Stacey Edge will celebrate her 

40th birthday on Nov. 22. 


Adline Robinson celebrated her 

80th birthday on Nov. 9. 

Love from your husband and 

children


DEER SEASON IS IN! 

““AAcccciiddeennnntt wwiitthh aa ddeeeerrrr??”””” 

Welcome to the World’s Finest in 

Deer Accident Repairs 

24hr.. Towingg 

Tystanic offers the following services: 

*Paint and Body Repairs 

*Rentals of Autos and Trucks 

*Custom Detailing Work 

AIR CONDITIONING NOT WORKING? 

TINT INT DROPS ROPS INSIDE NSIDE TEMPS EMPS 15 0 

YOUR OUR ONE NE STOP OP SHOP HOP FOR OR 

LEGALIZED EGALIZED WINDOW INDOW TINTING INTING 

REMOVAL EMOV 

& REPLACEMENT 

EPLACEMENT 

AL & R 

CALL ALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT PPOINTMENT 

WALK ALK-I -INS NS WELCOME ELCOME 

229.931.6343 

102 Hwy 19 N, Americus, GA 31709

The AmericUSumter Observer November 2010 1B 

Tyson of Tystanic Customs reminds 

all citizens to shop at home 

when at all possible. 

“Local businesses are closing down... We 

need to come together as a community and 

shop with each other. Businesses helping 

businesses and people helping people.” 

www. TYSTANIC.com

By Nisa Islam Muhammad - 

Staff Writer- 

WASHINGTON - The 

“African Americanization” of 

menthol cigarettes may be coming 

to a halt as the Food and 

Drug Administration considers 

what, if anything, to do about 

menthol flavoring in efforts to 

reduce cigarette smoking. 

Cigarette smoking remains 

the leading preventable cause of 

death in America. 

According to researcher 

Phillip Gardiner, in the 1960s 

“through the use of television 

and other advertising media, 

coupled with culturally tailored 

images and messages, the 

tobacco industry ‘African 

Americanized' menthol cigarettes. 

The tobacco industry 

successfully positioned mentholated 

products, especially 

Kool, as young, hip, new, and 

healthy,” he explained. 

“During the time that menthols 

were gaining a large market 

share in the African 

American community, the 

tobacco industry donated funds 

to African American organizations 

hoping to blunt the attack 

on their products. Many of 

these findings are drawn from 

the tobacco industry documents 

disclosed following the Master 

Settlement Agreement in 1998 

(an agreement between the four 

largest tobacco companies to 

settle Medicaid lawsuits).” 

Last year FDA banned candy 

and fruit-flavored cigarettes in 

attempts to reduce the number 

of children who start to smoke 

and become addicted to tobacco 

products. Now the agency is 

looking at menthol and flavored 

tobacco products other than cig- 

arettes. As many as 80 percent 

of Black and 30 percent of 

Latino smokers prefer menthol 

cigarettes compared to only 22 

percent of non-Latino Whites. 

The FDA's Tobacco Products 

Scientific Advisory Committee 

is investigating whether menthol 

covers tobacco's bitter 

taste—making it easier to 

smoke and harder to quit. 

“It is no secret that Blacks 

have long been targeted by marketing 

campaigns for menthol 

cigarettes, a strategy that has 

been proven disturbingly effective. 

Almost 50,000 Blacks die 

each year from smoking related 

diseases and thousands more 

are crippled by smoking related 

ailments. More Black women 

get lung cancer than breast cancer 

and Black men are 50 percent 

more likely to get lung 

cancer compared to White 

men,” said Dr. Louis Sullivan, a 

former secretary of health and 

human services. 

According to research done 

by Mr. Gardiner in “The 

African Americanization of 

Menthol Cigarettes,” Blacks 

smoke fewer cigarettes per day, 

take fewer puffs per cigarette, 

but maintain higher blood levels 

of cotinine, the major 

metabolite of nicotine, and have 

higher carbon monoxide concentrations 

in their blood, compared 

with other racial and ethnic 

groups. 

Over the past 40 years, lung 

cancer rates among Blacks have 

increased significantly compared 

to White Americans, 

according to the Centers for 

Disease Control. A jump in 

1990 lung cancer death rates for 

Black males reflects a 20- to 

HEALTH HEALTH 

2B November 2010 The AmericUSumter Observer 

Mergers between insurers and hospitals expected to accelerate 

Analysts say the trend may be pushed 

further by health system reform and 

greater access to financing the acquisitions. 

By Emily Berry, amednews staff. 

Health system reform, in combination 

with economic factors and trends 

in play, is expected to speed consolidation 

of health insurers and hospitals, 

leaving physicians to figure out how 

they should adapt. 

The prospect for mergers and acquisitions 

throughout the industry is high 

thanks not only to health system 

reform, but also more access to financing 

to buy up other companies. In addition, 

a change in the 2011 capital gains 

tax means privately held companies 

will do better to sell this year, said Bill 

Baker, a Dallas-based health care 

transaction consultant. He is a partner 

at the consulting firm KPMG, where he 

leads the health care sector transaction 

advisory group. 

"The overall outcome of the health 

care bill across numerous sectors is 

that it creates models that incentivize 

health care companies to be very large 

-- larger for the sake of driving efficiency," 

Baker said. "There is going to 

be less reimbursement available, less 

cash, and you're going to have to have 

scale." 

Analysts expect to see the major 

health plans buy small regional health 

insurers rather than try blockbuster 

mergers of large companies. They said 

small insurers might want out of the 

business because of the capital needed 

to update technology and otherwise 

comply with minimum coverage and 

spending rules under health system 

reform. For large insurers, such deals 

can pass antitrust muster much more 

easily than mergers with big plans, 

analysts said. 

One model for these deals is 

Coventry Health Care's purchases in 

2010 of two Midwestern plans owned 

by small Catholic hospital systems. 

Analysts said that while the Coventry 

deals were not expressly driven by 

health reform, they are indicative of 

how mergers will go. 

WellPoint executives have told 

investors they expect consolidation 

because of health reform. 

UnitedHealth Group executives have 

expressed the same sentiment to their 

investors. 

Mike Mikan, executive vice president 

and chief financial officer at 

UnitedHealth Group, speaking to 

investors at a Morgan Stanley 

investors conference Sept. 14, said he 

sees not only mergers but also large 

The end of killer menthol cigarettes? 

Once aimed at Blacks, menthol cigarettes 

may be banned in effort to reduce smoking 

plans taking on membership from 

companies that drop their health business 

or pull out of a market. The model 

he cited was United's deal to acquire 

the membership of Health Net when it 

pulled out of the Northeast in 2009. 

A few weeks after Mikan's comments, 

United announced a similar 

arrangement with Principal Financial 

Group, which announced Sept. 30 that 

it would leave the health insurance 

market. 

Larry Zimpleman, Principal's chair, 

president and CEO, said the company's 

25-year period, which corresponds 

to increased use of menthol 

cigarettes by this population. 

“Masking the harsh flavor 

and burn of tobacco with a cool 

minty taste is a surefire way to 

get children to begin to smoke, 

which is particularly troubling 

because 45 percent of smokers 

aged 12 to 17, and 82 percent of 

Black or African American 

smokers age 12 or older are 

smoking menthol cigarettes, 

and we know that 90 percent of 

adult smokers were hooked as 

teens,” said Joseph Califano, of 

the National Center on 

Addiction and Substance Abuse 

at Columbia University. 

A FDA panel will meet and 

prepare a report scheduled for 

release in March 2011. 

Menthol cigarettes account 

for roughly one-third of the $70 

billion U.S. cigarette market, 

according to industry figures 

and Blacks smoke 75 percent of 

menthol cigarettes. 


Subscribe Today 

$15 a year in Sumter County 

$25 a year outside the County 

Call 

(229) 924-0880 

medical business had diminished in 

comparison with its retirement and 

asset management business. 

"The medical business continues to 

be one that undergoes rapid change, 

which would mean investing additional 

capital into the business to be able to 

offer competitive products," he said in 

a company news release. "For us, that 

just does not make sense." 

When Principal's 14,000 employer 

clients' policies, representing 840,000 

employees, expire during the next 

three years, United will get first rights 

to match them with similar coverage 

and "renew" those policies. 

Effect on doctors 

For physicians, an increasingly consolidated 

insurance market is generally 

bad news, experts say. 

Even before health reform, insurance 

companies argued in favor of 

consolidation by promising efficiency 

of scale, but the resulting efficiencies 

typically lead only to better profits, not 

lower premiums, said J. James 

Rohack, MD, immediate past president 

of the American Medical Association. 

Dr. Rohack is a cardiologist from 

Bryan, Texas, who practices at Scott & 

White, a physician-led health system 

that also operates a health plan. He is 

director of Scott & White's Center for 

Healthcare Policy and medical director 

for system improvement of the Scott & 

White Health Plan. 

He said the AMA has been disappointed 

in federal authorities' recent 

failure to block deals, but there are 

signs federal regulators are looking 

more closely at proposed health plan 

mergers. 

Advocates of stricter antitrust 

enforcement were heartened when 

Christine A. Varney, assistant attorney 

general in the Justice Dept.'s Antitrust 

Division, said this year that the department 

would "not hesitate to block the 

merger or to require the settlement 

concessions necessary to protect consumers" 

if the deal would diminish 

competition. 

But some of the policy meant to 

improve the health care system will 

serve to further consolidate markets 

that the administration wants to see 

less concentrated. said John Callahan, 

a partner at the Chicago law firm 

McDermott Will & Emery who focuses 

on transactions in the health sector. 

"Health care reform policies are 

driving consolidation, and at the same 

time antitrust enforcement is scrutinizing 

consolidation," he said. 

Reform is triggering further hospital 

consolidation, analysts said. 


Call (229) 931-0446 to 

schedule an Appointment! 

James V. Palazzolo, MD 

Thomas J. Ungarino, MD 

Announce 

Pulmonary Associates and 

Sleep Apnea Center 

Specializing in: 

Intensive Care Medicine 

Lung Disease and Allergy 

Disorders of Sleep 

(229) 928-8511 

199 A Southland Road 


and 

214 E 4th Avenue 

Cordele, GA, 31010

HEALTH HEALTH 


Veterans Health Care: Why It’s the Wrong Time to Privatize 

By Maggie Kozel, MD 


In the wake of this midterm election 

season, with all its dramatic and 

rhetorical pledges to America, we 

should not lose sight of the pledges we 

have already made. We have promised 

as a nation to provide our disabled veterans 

with the best health services that 

modern medicine has to offer. We need 

to honor that promise to our veterans, 

and we need to pay the tab as readily as 

we funded the wars that harmed them. 

Calls for privatization of veterans' 

health benefits, touted by many fiscal 

conservatives as a way of tamping 

down big government, seems an odd 

way for us to try and meet those obligations. 

Our civilian health care system, once 

the envy of the world, has suffered at 

the hands of the modern free market. 

We in the U.S. have, by a huge margin, 

the most expensive health care in the 

world, and we rank fairly low among 

developed nations in what that health 

care has achieved. The gap between 

our remarkable medical resources and 

the delivery of that as health care is 

widening all the time. We shouldn't be 

surprised. The economic incentives 

that we have allowed to drive our 

health care are the same as those 

applied to brokerage firms and electronics 

stores. Our private, third party 

health care system, based on profit, is 

by its very free-market nature focused 

on minimizing services, cost-shifting 

to the "consumer," and achieving short 

term goals. Its simply good business. 

Clinical effectiveness and rational public 

health policy take a back seat. This 

is the club that privatization gets you 

into, complete with plenty of out-ofpocket 

expenses, denied claims and 

gaps in coverage. Recent health care 

legislation has applied little more than 

a bandaid to these ills. 

I learned firsthand about universal 

health coverage -- similar to what disabled 

veterans now receive -- by serving 

for eight years as a medical officer 

Sorority launches national 

asthma management program 

By FinalCall.com News 

Campaign to help asthmatic 

children lead productive lives, 

reduce hospital visits, stem 

school absenteeism 

CHICAGO - Alpha Kappa 

Alpha Sorority embarked upon 

a national multi-year campaign 

to educate and enlighten the 

community about how to manage 

asthma through its Asthma 

Prevention and Management 

Initiative. The program was 

launched in Tampa on October 

20 as part of National Head 

Start Awareness Month. The 

Sorority will then galvanize 

thousands of members who will 

fan out to the nearly 1,000 communities 

worldwide where 

Alpha Kappa Alpha has chapters. 

The initiative is expected 

to reach millions of people 

afflicted with the disease, with a 

particular emphasis on reaching 

minority children. 

This campaign is being carried 

out in partnership with the 

Eunice Kennedy Shriver 

National Institute of Child 

Health and Human 

Development (NICHD), a program 

under the National 

Institutes of Health. NICHD 

conducts and supports research 

on all stages of human development, 

from preconception to 

adulthood, to better understand 

the health of children, adults, 

families, and communities. 

Through AKA's Asthma 


Initiative and, in accordance 

with its collaboration with the 

NICHD and the National Heart, 

Lung and Blood Institute 

(NHLBI), Alpha Kappa Alpha 

will raise awareness among parents 

and childhood educators 

about the treatment of childhood 

asthma through educational 

activities, informational 

forums, health fairs and screenings. 

The NICHD will participate 

in the forums and educational 

outreach efforts and will 

disseminate information on 

treatment options as part of the 

thrust. 

According to Attorney 

Carolyn House Stewart, Alpha 

Kappa Alpha's newly-installed 

International President, Alpha 

Kappa Alpha was motivated to 

wage a public education offensive 

when the Sorority became 

aware of the pernicious effect 

asthma has on children's quality 

of life and on the nation's economy. 

According to the National 

Center for Chronic Disease 

Prevention and Health 

Promotion (NCCDPHP), asthma 

accounts for more visits to 

the Emergency Room, costs the 

nation $3.2 billion to treat annually, 

afflicts 5.6 million schoolaged 

children and can lead to 

death. Asthma disproportionately 

afflicts low-income, 

minority children, a population 

most vulnerable to the ravages 

of the disease but a population 

with few outlets where parents 

can be informed about the disease 

and how to manage it. 

Reaching this population is the 

core mission of AKA's Asthma 


Initiative. 

By definition, asthma is a 

long-term inflammatory disease 

in which the airways of the 

lungs constrict, causing wheezing, 

breathlessness, chest tightness, 

and coughing. It is a 

potentially debilitating disease 

that results in “episodes” when 

the disease is triggered. The 

NCCDPHP reports that tobacco 

smoke, dust mites, furred and 

feathered animals, molds, 

chemicals and strong odors in 

the school environment can 

trigger asthma attacks. 

However, according to the 

in that great bastion of socially progressive 

thinking known as the U.S. 

Navy. Health care priorities were set 

by -- I swear I'm not making this up -health 

care professionals, based on 

clinical evidence, rather than what 

insurance company executives decided 

in strategy meetings. Drug formularies 

were driven by pharmacists working 

with physicians, not by marketing 

executives. There was no incentive to 

create medical conditions just so we 

could implement expensive tests and 

treatments. And no money ever 

changed hands; just show your ID and 

you were in. Before any of us dismiss 

universal, single-payer health care on 

the basis that it is socialism -- or, even 

worse, European -- it is worth taking a 

closer look at what our own military 

and veteran systems have managed to 

accomplish. And before we take the 

VA health system away from veterans, 

we should look at the facts. 

The reality is that the VA health care 

system is one of the best in our coun- 

NICHD, children with asthma 

can lead full and productive 

lives through proper diagnosis, 

control of triggers that spark 

episodes and through overall 

management. This can be 

achieved through an aggressive 

public outreach effort, which is 

the purpose of the Asthma 


Initiative. 

Mrs. Stewart said Alpha 

Kappa Alpha was motivated to 

wage a public campaign 

because of her familiarity with 

the disease, because asthma 

was becoming an epidemic and 

because it is a disease that is 

manageable, with a few 

lifestyle adjustments. With this 

knowledge, Attorney Stewart 

contacted the National 

Institutes of Health for statistical 

support. As a result of this 

outreach, the partnership with 

NICHD and the National Heart, 

Lung and Blood Institute 

(NHLBI) evolved. With the 

data the agencies provided, 

Stewart galvanized the 

Sorority's membership around 

this program. The overarching 

goal of the campaign is to 

improve the quality of life of 

children afflicted, boost their 

attendance in school, and save 

the country money. 

The initiative is a major program 

under AKA's new administration, 

whose theme is 

“Global Leadership Through 

Timeless Service.” 

The effort is being spearheaded 

by the Sorority's Program 

Committee, which is chaired by 

Attorney Sharon Bridges of 

Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. Diane 

L. Adams, M.D., a member of 

the Sorority, is Project Director 

of the campaign. 

“Every child should be 

afforded the opportunity to live 

life to the fullest, including 

those with asthma,” said 

President Stewart. “By marshaling 

AKA's members around 

asthma management, we will 

impact the quality of life of all 

affected by the ravages of this 

disease. In so doing, Alpha 

Kappa Alpha will live up to its 

102-year mission of providing 

service to the community.” 


Call (229) 931-0446 

to schedule an Appointment! 

try, based on physician quality, clinical 

outcomes and patient satisfaction. We 

should be studying the effectiveness of 

the military's and the VA's healthcare 

systems rather than devising ways to 

dismantle what works. Why would we 

want to insert veteran care into an 

overpriced civilian system that by 

almost all measures performs less 

well? 

One particular danger of dismantling 

the VA system is the gap that would 

create in mental health services. Our 

civilian third-party-payer system has 

been particularly inadequate in dealing 

with psychological and emotional disorders 

for our population in general. In 

contrast, The VA, bolstered by recent 

funding increases, has been rising to 

the challenge of treating and supporting 

the growing number of our veterans 

who carry the invisible yet debilitating 

wounds of war in their hearts 

and minds. To release them into our 

civilian health care system, where psychiatrists 

get reimbursed for little more 

than monthly "med checks," and where 

talk therapy is a luxury that few can 

afford, would be unconscionable. As 

startling numbers of our troops return 

from war with emotional or neurocognitive 

disorders, overwhelming the 

VA's capacity, some indeed may be 

directed to civilian care. But even in 

those cases, it is important that the 

civilian psychiatrists be able to turn to 

a functional, experienced VA medical 

system for specialized training, guidance 

and support in the treatment of 

these uniquely military conditions. 

This is the wrong time for talk of privatization 

of the VA system. While our 

nation debates what we want from a 

civilian health care system and how we 

are going to pay for that, let us all 

pledge to continue providing disabled 

veterans with the best option currently 

available -- that provided by the VA -until 

we come up with something even 

better for all of us. 

Robert V. Glover, JR., 

M.D., F.A.C.C. 

Cardiology 

1909 Aberdeen Rd., 

Suite 101 

Albany, Ga 31701 

(229) 432-1818 

Board Certified In Cardiovascular Diseases 

Office Hours 

By Appointment 

Join NAACP Today

ENTERTAINMENT 

ENTER AINMENT 


Aretha Franklin Resting 

After Detroit Hospital Visit 

Aretha Franklin 

By Dior Noir, Bet.com 

Aretha Franklin is at home recuperating after a 

stay at Detroit’s Sinai Grace Hospital. The Queen 

of Soul’s rep said she was admitted to the hospital 

at the recommendation of her doctors, but 

wouldn’t elaborate on her medical issue. 

The past few months have been hectic for 

Franklin and the stress may be taking its toll. In 

August she canceled a string of performances 

after suffering two broken ribs and abdominal 

pain that resulted from a fall. September found 

her at the hospital again, when her son had emergency 

surgery after being severely beaten. 

Following her recent hospital stint, Franklin is 

said to be ”resting comfortably.” She’ll be sitting 

out of performances for the rest of 2010, so 

hopefully she’ll take all the time she needs to get 

back on her feet. ”I would like to thank my 

friends, fans and supporters for all the beautiful 

flowers and their many well wishes,” she said in 

a statement. 

The Peaches of Atlanta: Nene 

Leakes and Sheree Whitfield 

By Clay Cane 

Like it or worship it, "The Real Housewives of 

Atlanta" is a pop culture phenomenon. The 

ladies of ATL are back with a third season that is 

everything reality television should be: drama, 

over-the-top characters and a diva, Nene Leakes. 

This season, Nene is dealing with the pressures 

of fame, marital issues, tested friendships and the 

ongoing catfight with Kim Zolciak. 

Sheree Whitfield is not to be upstaged by the 

Athens Diva. Always confident in her own skin, 

she holds her own working on an aspiring acting 

career and dealing with being accused of letting 

Dwight Eubanks pump $30,000 into her fashion 

show. 

We here at BET.com had to get the scoop 

directly from the ladies themselves. In this interview, 

Nene and Sheree talk the new season, plastic 

surgery, and, why Kim Zolciak may not be as 

Black-friendly as we see. Only these peaches of 

Atlanta could give us an interview like this! 

When the media is all over you and you re 

having personal issues do you ever regret 

being on the show and how your life has 

changed? 

Nene: I don’t regret being on the show at all. I 

tell people all the time, had I not been on the 

show some of the things that have happened to 

me or my blessings, those doors would’ve never 

opened up. Now, I do miss having my privacy. I 

didn’t know it was going to be to this extent. I’m 

a private person, I really like to have my privacy 

but at the same time I understand that’s what happens 

when you’re on television. 

Do you feel the same way Sheree? 

Sheree: This show has allotted all of us, a lot 

of different opportunities and opened several 

doors for all of us. I don’t regret doing the show 

at all, but, again, you do lose your privacy and 

it’s not a good thing. Especially when you have 

kids, you’re trying to have dinner with your family 

and people want to take pictures. 

Now Sheree, today Wendy Williams said she 

thought you had butt implants or butt pads. 

Sheree: [Laughs] Anybody that knows Sheree 

knows that I work out, baby! 

Nene: [Laughs] I’ve been knowing Sheree for 

a long time and her butt been the same! 

Sheree: I’m trying to get it down! [Laughs] 

No, no implants! [Laughs] It’s called working 

out. Wendy is hilarious! 

When I told people I was interviewing Nene 

I got questions via Facebook and Twitter. The 

main question was about your nose job. I 

think you look beautiful either way. But, I m 

curious, what was the reason you decided to 

get a nose job? 

Nene: I’ve never said I had a nose job. I’ve 

never, anywhere, come out and said I’ve had a 

nose job. I’ve just been told that I’ve had one. 

[Laughs] I’m doing some things and everybody 

should just tune in to the show to see what I’ve 

had done. I know there’s been a lot of rumors 

saying I’ve done this and that – a lot of rumors 

are very false. What I have to say about plastic 

surgery is there’s nothing that has ever happened 

to me in my life that would make me do anything 

to myself because I love Nene. Whatever I do 

would just be for me, it wouldn’t be for anybody 

else. Nothing happened in my childhood. 

Anybody that wants to have plastic surgery and 

they can afford it – they should go out and get it. 

Sometimes we as Black folks get critical when 

someone gets work done. 

Nene: I know, it’s kind of funny in the African- 

American community. But, there are a lot of 

African-American women that have had things 

done. We want to be like anybody else. If you 

care about yourself – you want to tune up something 

here or there – it’s falling. Pick it up! 

Sheree, Lisa Wu said she left the show 

because they were trying to script her story. 

What s your reaction to that? 

Sheree: I know for a fact that’s absolutely not 

true. The show is totally not scripted. 

Personally, I think maybe she didn’t want to be 

the person she really is. Maybe that was the 

problem or she pretended to be perfect -nobody’s 

perfect. 

Nene, the first reunion episode you said you 

questioned why Kim assumed that you and 

your family were eating fried chicken. Then, 

on this season s preview you make a comment 

to her, "You better watch your tone and how 

you speak to people, especially when you talking 

to a sista !" Although Kim says she has a 

lot of Black friends, do you think there is any 

kind of prejudice with her or issues with Black 

folks in any kind of way? 

Nene: I don’t think Kim has a lot of Black 

friends. I’ve been knowing Kim a long time and 

I don’t know one Black friend she’s had other 

than me. Then, once we started doing this show, 

she has a lot of Black fans. But, Kim is very 

White. Let’s be very clear, she’s not a White girl 

that dates Black men or that even chooses to hang 

out at Black places like that. I’ve been around 

her a long time. There is some form of prejudice 

in Kim, I get that. I’ve had that around her. 

Some form of prejudice. 

Do you feel that way too Sheree? 

Sheree: I don’t know Kim. Nene knew Kim 

better than me. I don’t know of her to have a lot 

of Black friends like Kim’s saying. 

Nene: She has a lot of Black fans. Because she 

is on a show with Black people they just assume 

she must be a White-Black girl. You know, like 

the White girl who dates Black guys, but that’s 

not it. I know that’s how it looks on the show, but 

that ain’t it, child. 

People think she is kind of like a Teena 

Marie. That s what it looks like sometimes. 

Nene: Oh no! She ain’t nowhere near a Teena 

Marie. She don’t do that --that’s not her thing. 

I couldn t let this interview go by without 

asking about the gay men on Atlanta 

Housewives. Have you guys always been 

around gay men? 

Sheree: [Laughs] My best friend in high 

school was actually gay. I’ve known Lawrence, 

my hair stylist, way before the show started. 

What about you Nene? 

Nene: I love the gays - I’ve been called a man 

myself, honey! I’m alright with it. 

Is there a chance of you and Dwight reconciling? 

I have nothing against Dwight, I’ll speak to 

Dwight if see him anywhere. As far as a friendship? 

No ma’am! There is no chance at all. I 

just need to do me right now and he’s not going 

to be a part of me doing me. 

You both are in Atlanta. What s your take 

on Bishop Eddie Long? 

Nene: My first church and the only church I 

attended in Atlanta was New Birth. 

Lil Wayne 

Released 

From Prison 

By Carl Chery, BET.com Staff 

The Free Weezy movement is now reality. 

Lil Wayne (born Dwayne Carter) was released 

from Rikers Island in New York this morning 

(November 4) after serving 8 months out of a 

one-year prison sentence for gun possession. 

A guard initially told MTV Weezy would have 

to serve an extra day due to "miscalculated time," 

but a spokesperson from Rikers Island confirmed 

that the rapper was freed at 8:35 a.m. 

It's sure been an eventful jail stint for Wayne. 

The rapper reached a plea deal on drug charges in 

Yuma County, Arizona only weeks into his incarceration. 

Yuma authorities initially issued a bench 

warrant for his arrest despite him being locked up 

in another state. The case ended with Wayne getting 

36 months' probation. He also made news 

after getting caught with contraband when guards 

found him with earphones and a watch that doubled 

as an MP3 player. 

Needless to say, all eyes were on Wayne in 

Rikers. Back in April, news surfaced that a correctional 

officer was fired for allegedly spying on 

Wayne while another guard was investigated for 

special treatment five months later. Just last 

week, Captain Raphael Collazzo was suspended 

for 10 days without pay for paying an unauthorized 

visit to Wayne while the rapper was in solitary 

confinement. 

Wayne's also enjoyed his share of triumphs in 

the last eight months as his Young Money crew 

kept waving the flag proudly. Drizzy emerged 

into a full-fledged star with his "Thank Me Later" 

Forbes Names Michael Jackson 

Highest Earning Dead Celebrity 

By Carl Chery, BET.com Staff 

Icons typically continue to generate income 

well after their deaths, but Michael Jackson's taking 

things to new heights. 

Making his Forbes List debut, MJ generated 

$275 million this past year, more money than any 

other living star, minus Oprah, and out-earned 

every celebrity on the Top Earning Dead 

Celebrity list. 

Elvis Presley still makes loads of money 33 

By RONALD BLUM 

NEW YORK (AP) — Shirley Verrett, an 

acclaimed American mezzo-soprano and soprano 

praised for her blazing intensity during a career 

that spanned four decades, died Friday in Ann 

Arbor, Mich. She was 79. 

Verrett, one of the top opera singers of the 

1970s and 1980s, had been suffering from heart 

trouble, said Jack Mastroianni of IMG Artists, 

who was notified of her death by the 

Metropolitan Opera Guild. 

Born in New Orleans, she was renowned for a 

blazing intensity in her performances as a mezzo 

for much of her career and a soprano in her later 

years. She battled racial prejudice in a predominantly 

white European-centered art form during a 

40-year biracial marriage, according to her autobiography. 

Verrett studied at the Juilliard School in New 

York and was a 1961 winner of the Metropolitan 

Opera National Council Auditions. 

Known early in her career as Shirley Verrett- 

Carter, she made her professional debut in 1957 

and a year later appeared for the first time at the 

New York City Opera as Irina in Weill's "Lost in 

the Stars." She also appeared in the first televised 

Young People's Concert by conductor Leonard 

Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic from 

the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. 

A debut followed at London's Royal Opera in 

1966 as Ulrica in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera," 

and two years later she made her Metropolitan 

Opera debut in the title role of Bizet's "Carmen," 

a role she has sung to acclaim at the Spoleto 

Festival in 1962. 

debut, while Nicki Minaj has become the game's 

most buzz-worthy femcee in years, breaking several 

records in the process. 

Wayne's music has also been ubiquitous 

throughout his incarceration. In addition to 

appearing on countless songs and videos, the rapper's 

own "I'm Not a Human Being," which hit 

stores on his birthday (September 27), debuted at 

no. 1 on the Billboard charts. Behind bars, Wayne 

made enough noise to rank 7th on MTV's Annual 

Hottest MCs in the Game list. He also ranked 2nd 

on BET's Top 10 Rappers of the 21st Century. 

According to the Cash Money/Young Money 

camp, Wayne will get back to work on "Tha 

Carter IV" upon being released. The LP's scheduled 

to hit stores in 2011. It's also been rumored 

that Wayne could be appearing on the final date 

of Drake's Light Dreams and Nightmares tour in 

Las Vegas on Saturday, November 6. Per MTV, 

Wayne is scheduled to celebrate his homecoming 

at a Miami Strip Club on the next day. 

years after his death. He comes in at no. 2 with 

$60 million. "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. 

Tolkien raked in $50 million, largely due to a 

two-movie adaptation of his book, "The Hobbit" 

going into production. Cartoonist Charles Schulz 

ranked fourth with $33 million and Beatles frontman 

John Lennon came in at no. 5 with $17 million. 

See the full list below. 

1. Michael Jackson $275 million 

2. Elvis Presley $60 million 

3. J.R.R. Tolkien $33 million 

4. Charles Schulz $50 million 

5. John Lennon $17 million 

6. Stieg Larsson $15 million 

7. Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) $11 million 

8. Albert Einstein $10 million 

9. George Steinbrenner $8 million 

10. Richard Rodgers $7 million 

11. Jimi Hendrix $6 million 

12. Steve McQueen $6 million 

Opera singer Shirley 

Verrett dies at 79 in Mich. 

"She is good-looking, and she has a beautiful 

voice that moves smoothly from low tones to 

high and plays around freely in the treacherous 

middle without audible shifting of vocal gears," 

Allen Hughes wrote in The New York Times. 

"She also has an attractive stage manner and personality. 

She laughs easily and convincingly, 

flirts beguilingly and registers changes of attitude 

and feeling without hamming or posing." 

A year later, she appeared at Milan's Teatro alla 

Scala in Saint-Saens' "Samson et Delilah." In 

1988, she opened the San Francisco Opera season 

with Placido Domingo in Meyerbeer's 

"L'Africaine." 

Verrett was part of the second generation of 

black opera singers who followed Anderson's 

breakthrough at the Met in 1955. Coming after 

Leontyne Price, she was in a small group of black 

headliners that included George Shirley, Grace 

Bumbry, Reri Grist and Martina Arroyo.

EDUCATION 

EDUCATION 


An Open Letter to the White Right, On the Occasion of Your Recent, Successful Temper Tantrum 

By Tim Wise 

*NOTE: PLEASE RE-READ THE 

TITLE OF THIS ESSAY BEFORE 

GOING FURTHER. NOTICE, IT IS 

AIMED AT THE WHITE RIGHT. 

NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE. ANY- 

ONE WHO THINKS THIS ESSAY IS 

ANTI-WHITE PEOPLE, AS 

OPPOSED TO THAT SEGMENT 

OF THE WHITE COMMUNITY 

THAT IS RIGHT WING, CANNOT 

READ PLAIN ENGLISH. PLEASE 

TRY AGAIN.* 

For all y’all rich folks, enjoy that 

champagne, or whatever fancy Scotch 

you drink. 

And for y’all a bit lower on the economic 

scale, enjoy your Pabst Blue 

Ribbon, or whatever beer you favor. 

Whatever the case, and whatever 

your economic station, know this… 

You need to drink up. And quickly. 

And heavily. 

Because your time is limited. 

Real damned limited. 

So party while you can, but mind the 

increasingly loud clock ticking away 

in the corners of your consciousness. 

The clock that reminds you how little 

time you and yours have left. 

Not much more now. 

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick. 

Tock. 

I know, you think you’ve taken 

“your country back” with this election 

— and of course you have always 

thought it was yours for the taking, cuz 

that’s what we white folks are bred to 

believe, that it’s ours, and how dare 

anyone else say otherwise — but you 

are wrong. 

You have won a small battle in a 

larger war the meaning of which you 

do not remotely understand. 

‘Cuz there is nothing even slightly 

original about you. 

There have always been those who 

wanted to take the country back. 

There were those who, in past years, 

wanted to take the country back to a 

time of enslavement and indentured 

servitude. 

But they lost. 

There were those who wanted to 

take us back to a time when children 

could be made to work in mines and 

factories, when workers had no legal 

rights to speak of, when the skies in 

every major city were heavy with 

industrial soot that would gather on 

sidewalks and windowsills like volcanic 

ash. 



take us back to a time when women 

could not vote, or attend any but a few 

colleges, or get loans in their own 

names, or start their own businesses. 



take us back to a time when blacks 

“had no rights that the white man was 

bound to respect,” – this being the official 

opinion of the Supreme Court 

before those awful days of judicial 

activism, now decried by the likes of 

you – and when people of color could 

legally be kept from voting solely 

because of race, or holding certain 

jobs, or living in certain neighborhoods, 

or run out of other towns altogether 

when the sun would go down, 

or be strung up from trees. 


And you will lose. 

So make a note of it. 

Tweet it to yourself. 

Put it on your Facebook wall and 

leave it there so you’ll remember that I 

told you so. 

It is coming, and soon. 

This isn’t hubris. It isn’t ideology. It 

is not wishful thinking. 

It is math. 

Not even advanced math. Just simple, 

basic, like 3rd grade math. 

The kind of math that proves how 

your kind — mostly older white folks 

beholden to an absurd, inaccurate, nostalgic 

fantasy of what America used to 

be like — are dying. 

And in the pantheon of American 

history, conservative old white people 

have pretty much always been the bad 

Now 

You Have A 

Choice 

What do you want from your bank? 

A variety of products and services to choose from - giving you the 

opportunity to make adjustments as your financial position 

changes. 

And then there s service. You want to be treated 

like a person not a series of numbers. 

Banking Solutions for Your New Beginning with People Who Care 

Ten Years of Solid Banking. 

Your wants are here with Capitol City Bank & Trust Companycompetitve 

products and quality service. For many years we have 

been establishing service - oriented branches and strngthening out 

foundation. Our Foundation includes enhanced banking services 

for out customers. At Caoitol City Bank & Trust our Customer 

Main Office Branch 

562 Lee Street, Atlanta. GA 30310 

Mon-Thurs: 9AM-4PM Fri: 9AM-6PM Sat: 9AM-1PM 

404 752-6067 

Albany Branch 

301 West Oglethorpe Blvd., Albany, GA 31701 


229 420-4557 

Tim Wise 

guys, the keepers of the hegemonic 

and reactionary flame, the folks 

unwilling to share the category of 

American with others on equal terms. 

Fine, keep it up. It doesn’t matter. 

Because you’re on the endangered 

list. 

And unlike, say, the bald eagle or 

some exotic species of muskrat, you 

are not worth saving. 

In forty years or so, maybe fewer, 

there won’t be any more white people 

around who actually remember that 

Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, 

Opie-Taylor-Down-at-the-Fishing 

Hole cornpone that you hold so near 

and dear to your heart. 

There won’t be any more white folks 

around who think the 1950s were the 

good old days, because there won’t be 

any more white folks around who actually 

remember them, and so therefore, 

we’ll be able to teach about them accurately 

and honestly, without hurting 

We Are Building A Legacy To Bank On 

Service Representatives believe and know that without quality 

service a bank has no future. We bring out devotion to the 

communties we serve. Control your relationship with Capitol 

City Bank & Trust Company for the reason that - Now You 

Have A Choice. 

CAPITOL CITY BANK 

& 

T R U S T C O M A N Y 

Cascade Branch 

2358 Cascade Road, Atlanta, GA 30311 

Mon-Thurs: 9AM-4PM Fri: 9AM-6PM Sat: CLOSED 

404 755-4254 

Hartsfield - Jackson International Airport Branch 

2000 Terminal Rd., Atrium, Suite S-4, Atlanta, GA 30320 

Mon-Fri: 9AM-6PM Sat: 9AM-1PM Sun: 2PM-6PM 

404766-8111 

Augusta Branch 

1268 Broad St., Augusta, GA 30901 


706 432-0537 

your precious feelings, or those of the 

so-called “greatest generation” — a 

bunch whose white contingent was 

top-heavy with ethical miscreants who 

helped save the world from fascism 

only to return home and oppose the 

ending of it here, by doing nothing to 

lift a finger on behalf of the civil rights 

struggle. 

It’s OK. Because in about forty 

years, half the country will be black or 

brown. And there is nothing you can 

do about it. 

Nothing, Senõr Tancredo. 

Nothing, Senõra Angle, or Senõra 

Brewer, or Senõr Beck. 

And by then you will have gone all 

in as a white nationalist movement — 

hell you’ve all but done that now — 

thus guaranteeing that the folks of 

color, and even a decent size minority 

of us white folks will be able to crush 

you, election after election, from the 

Presidency on down to the 8th grade 

student council. 

Like I said, this is math. And numbers 

don’t lie. 

Bottom line, this too shall pass. 

So enjoy your tax cuts a while 

longer. 

Go buy whatever you people buy 

when your taxes get cut: a new car or 

two, a bigger house, an island. 

Whatever. 

Go back to trading your derivatives, 

engaging in rampant financial speculation 

that produces nothing of value, 

that turns the whole world into your 

personal casino. Whatever. 

Play your hand, and for the love of 

God play it big. Real big. As in, shoot 

for the moon big. As in, try to privatize 

Social Security, and health care, and 

everything else. Whatever. 

At least that way everyone will be 

able to see what you’re really about. 

We’ve been trying to tell them, but 

nothing beats seeing it with your own 

eyes, so “Go big or go home,” Bubba. 

“Git ‘er Done.” 

“Cowboy up,” or whatever other stupid 

catch phrase strikes your fancy. 

Just promise you’ll do more than 

talk this time. 

Please, or as one of your celluloid 

heroes might put it, “make my day.” 

They know, but you do not, that justice 

is not for the sprinters, but rather 

for the long distance runners who will 

be hitting their second wind, right 

about the time that you collapse from 

exhaustion. 

They are like the tortoise to your 

hare. 

They are like the San Francisco 

Giants, to your New York Yankees: a 

bunch that loses year after year after 

year, until they finally win. 

You have had this confidence 

before, remember? 

You thought you had secured your 

position permanently after the overthrow 

of reconstruction in the wake of 

the civil war, after the elimination of 

the New Deal, after the Reagan revolution, 

after the Republican electoral victory 

of 1994. And yet, those you 

thought you had cowed and defeated 

are still here. 

Because those who have lived on the 

margins, who have been abused, 

maligned, targeted by austerity measures 

and budget cuts, subjected to 

racism, classism, sexism, straight 

supremacy and every other form of 

oppression always know more about 

their abusers than the abusers know 

about their victims. 

They have to study you, to pay careful 

attention, to adjust their body armor 

accordingly, and to memorize your 

sleep patterns. 

You, on the other hand, need know 

nothing whatsoever about them. And 

this, will surely prove politically fatal 

to you in the end. For it means you will 

not know their resolve. Will not fear it, 

as you should. 

It means you will take their greatest 

strength — perseverance — and make 

of it a weakness, called losing. 

But what you forget, or more to the 

SEE WHITE l 9B 

Stone Mountain Branch 

5674 Memorial Dr., Stone Mountain, GA 30083 


404 298-7711 

Savannah Branch 

339 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Savannah, GA 31401 


912 232-9670

Americus - The Middle 

School Panthers defeated the 

Ben Hill Purple Hurricanes 22- 

20 to finish an undefeated season. 

The Panthers got on the 

board first with a 68 yard 

touchdown run from Wesley 

Fields and a two point conversion 

from Brian Stone. Ben Hill 

tied the game up on the ensuing 

drive and two point conversion. 

Omar Barron then took the next 

kick off back for a touchdown 

and Stone again converted the 

two point play giving the 

Panthers a 16-8 lead. The 

Panthers forced a punt on the 

next Ben Hill drive and Isaiah 

Carter blocked the punt to for a 

turnover. The Panthers took 

over in Ben Hill territory and 

the drive stalled when Wesley 

Fields was slammed to the 

ground and forced to leave the 

game. The Hurricanes went to 

work and completed a long 

touchdown pass to make the 

score 16-14 to end the first half. 

With the game still in doubt the 

Panthers defense forced the 

Hurricanes to punt the ball. 

With Fields back in the game 

SPORTS SPORTS 


Posey wins World Series, Moss Traded Again! 

Buster Posey #28 of the San Francisco Giants 

looks on during batting practice against the 

Texas Rangers in Game Four of the 2010 MLB 

World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington 

on October 31, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. 

(October 30, 2010 - Photo by Christian 

Petersen/Getty Images North America) 

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick 

smiles as he runs off the field after an NFL football 

game against the Indianapolis Colts, 

Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010 in Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia won 26-24. (AP Photo/Matt 

Slocum) 

Portrait of Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles 

Lakers before the game against the Portland Trail 

Blazers at the Staples Center on November 7, 

2010 in Los Angeles, California. 

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss 

answers questions from the media during a press 

conference at Winter Park on October 7, 2010 in 

Eden Prairie, Minnesota. 

the Panther offense was able to 

keep the ball for the rest of the 

third quarter. Omar Barron hit 

Dwight Harris for 16 yards on 

3rd down with 9 yards to go, 

and Barron completed the next 

pass to James Davis for 10 

more yards. Then on 3rd down 

and 7 Omar Barron completed a 

pass to Sammy Luster for 40 

yards to set up a first and goal 

from the 10 yard line. On first 

and goal the Panthers ran a 

sweep with Fields who was 

tackled at the 3 yard line and 

had to leave the game because 

of a concussion. Brian Stone 

Dwyane Wade #3, LeBron James #6 and Chris 

Bosh #1 of the Miami Heat chat during a game 

against the New Jersey Nets at American 

Airlines Arena on November 6, 2010 in Miami, 

Florida. 

Donovan McNabb #5 of the Washigton Redkins 

warms up prior to the start of the game against 

the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on October 31, 

2010 in Detroit, Michigan. 

(October 30, 2010 - Photo by Leon Halip/Getty 

Images North America) 

scored on the next play to give 

the Panthers a 22-14 lead but 

the two point play failed. Ben 

hill took over down by 8 with 

6:35 to play in the fourth quarter. 

The Panther Defense forced 

Ben Hill to use too much time 

on the drive before finally surrendering 

a touchdown and 

stopping the two point play 

making the score 22-20 

Panthers. With only 2:07 left to 

play in the game and trailing by 

2 points with no timeouts left 

Ben Hill had to try an onsides 

kick which was recovered by 

James Davis. The Table was set 

for the Panthers as they began 

the drive for the 2010 Mid- 

South Conference 

Kevin Garnett #5 of the Boston Celtics celebrates 

his basket in the overtime against the 

Chicago Bulls on November 5, 2010 at the TD 

Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics 

defeated the Bulls 110-105 in overtime. 

Quarterback Vince Young #10 of the Tennessee 

Titans grimaces in pain during the first quarter 

against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the game 

at EverBank Field on October 18, 2010 in 

Jacksonville, Florida. 

Americus Middle School Panthers Still Undefeated 

Staff Reports 

Championship needing only to 

gain one 1st down. On 3rd 

down and 15 with only 32 seconds 

left to play Brian Stone 

was able to rip off a 50 yard run 

to seal the game, the undefeated 

season, and the Championship 

for the Panthers. The 

Championship is the first since 

2007 for the Panthers.


NAACP 


to not run the risk of having 

their own NAACP state office 

shut down by the National 

office. 

We are proud and pleased 

that the Albany Branch decided 

to fight and stand for what 

is right for Albanians. 

Branches throughout GA support 

them. And we are pleased 

that Attorney Maurice King 

represents the branch to seek a 

just resolution. Attorney King 

is working with the NAACP 

national office legal team. 

King says that the appointment 

of new officers by Dubose is 

illegal. 

Several branches are meeting 

to discuss the removal of 

Dubose and Holley. The 

recent unprofessional actions, 

poor judgment, and mindless 

decisions by the two clearly 

show that Dubose and Holley 

are ill-equipped to provide 

good, sound, leadership. Our 

leaders must be of sound mind, 

of unquestionable character, 

and with a vision for the future 

of our state conference. The 

GA State Conference, nor the 

National Office for that matter, 

can afford to continue to have 

the wrong leaders in control, 

especially those leaders who 

are mired down in unethical 

financial deals, who display 

vindictive behavior, and who 

are embarrassments as 

spokespersons. 

When you have an NAACP 

official as Dubose who gave a 

White racist newspaper, the 

Albany Herald, a derogatory 

"news story" about Blacks 

under his leadership, then he is 

no different than some of the 

hateful Tea Party Republicans 

CAMPBELL CHAPEL AME CHURCH (Rev. Lodenia Coleman), Americus 

Sunday, November 14th at 4 pm 

The annual Harvest Day Program will be held. Rev. Verconica Lewis of Butler,GA is the guest 

speaker. 

The public is cordially invited to worship with us. 

RESTORATION CHURCH OF AMERICUS (Rev. George Edge), Americus 

Friday, November 19th at 7 pm 

A "Spirit Night" event will be held. Activities include an age- appropriate Christian movie for 

children and 

a Rap Session for teens and parents. Wear your favorite team jersey or t-shirt. Youth that participated 

in 

sports or cheerleading are asked to wear their athletic attire. Door prizes will be given away. 

UNION TABERNACLE BAPTIST CHURCH (Rev. Larry Sims), Americus 

Friday, November 12th at 6 pm 

An Evening of Appreciation for Pastor Larry and First Lady Virginia Sims will be held. 

Sunday, November 14th at 8 am and 11 am 

The 17th Annual Appreciation Services for Pastor Larry B. Sims, Sr. will be celebrated. 

Pastor Melvin McCluster of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 

and Pastor John A. Porter of Huspah Missionary Baptist Church of Hampton, South Carolina 

will be in charge of the 8 am and 11 am services respectively. 

Saturday, November 20th at 11 am 

The Teen Parenting Support Ministry monthly meeting will be held. 

Saturday, December 4th from 8 am - 12 pm 

The Annual Clothes Giveaway will be held. This event is open to the public. 

All items are free: clothing (all sizes), shoes, purses, etc. 

Tuesday, December 7th - Thursday, December 9th at 7 pm nightly 

Annual winter revival services will be held. 

Mondays, 7 pm: Women's Small Group Fellowship meets. 

Mondays, 7 pm: Men's Ministry Fellowship meets. 

1st Saturdays, 10 am - 12 noon: Girls' Mentoring Program meets. 

2nd Saturdays, 10 am - 12 noon: Boys' Mentoring Program meets. 

in this country. 

Black Albanians are well 

aware of how racist the Herald 

is with its pro Republican 

agenda. To report a disagreement 

between the NAACP GA 

State Conference and local 

Albany Branch, as Dubose did 

with the Herald, has offended 

many Blacks in Albany. 

NAACP CEO Ben Jealous 

attacked the local Albany 

Branch in his letter that was 

sent to the Herald. Even if 

Jealous is misinformed by 

Dubose, Jealous' staff should 

have known not to send a letter 

to be published in an anti- 

Black, bias newspaper, like the 

Albany Herald. This is Jealous 

second "rush to judgment" 

when it comes to Albany. His 

hasty condemnation of Shirley 

Sherrod, an Albany resident 

and a member of the Albany 

branch, still haunts NAACP 

members everywhere. 

Join NAACP Today 

Christian Community Calendar 

We welcome the opportunity to highlight upcoming Christian community events. 

Please submit your church/ministry events for the month of December to 

adoates731@yahoo.com. 

In addition, please send your email address to be added to our contacts listing. 

Thank you. 

AMERICA 


President Obama went from 

offensive to ugly and then to 

downright dangerous. 

The health-care debate, 

which looked more like 

extreme fighting in a mud pit 

than a national dialogue, 

revealed a very vulgar side of 

America. President Obama’s 

face appeared on protest signs 

white-faced and bloodmouthed 

in a satanic clown 

image. In other tasteless portrayals, 

people who disagreed 

with his position distorted his 

face to look like Hitler complete 

with mustache and swastika. 

Odd, that burning the flag 

makes Americans crazy, but 

depicting the president as a 

clown and a maniacal fascist is 

accepted as part of the new rude 

America. 

Maligning the image of the 

leader of the free world is one 

thing, putting the president’s 

life in peril is quite another. 

More than once, men with guns 

were videotaped at the healthcare 

rallies where the president 

spoke. Again, history shows 

that letting men with guns get 

within range of a president has 

not served America well in the 

past. 

And still the “birthers” are 

out there claiming Barack 

Obama was not born in the 

United States, although public 

documentation proves otherwise. 

Hawaii is definitely part 

of the United States, but the 

ELECTION 


Will things get any better? 

Not likely. 

“Gross vanity, greed, lust and 

inordinate self-interest have 

divided the country along the 

lines of class, race and sex,” 

observed the Honorable 

Minister Louis Farrakhan, in 

“Torchlight for America,” a 

book he wrote and published in 

1993. 

“Classism, racism and sexism 

are used to keep the people 

divided, and these three evils 

threaten to sink and destroy the 

entire country. America must 

deal effectively with these lines 

of division or face anarchy and 

revolution,” the Minister 

warned. 

There are too few voices 

willing to call for a different 

approach, a more respectful and 

healthier approach to solve 

Panama Canal Zone where his 

electoral opponent Senator 

John McCain was born? 

Nobody’s sure. 

Last month, a 44-year-old 

woman in Buffalo was quite 

taken by President Obama 

when she met him in a chicken 

wing restaurant called Duff’s. 

Did she say something about a 

pleasure and an honour to meet 

the man or utter encouraging 

words for the difficult job he is 

doing? No. Quote: “You’re a 

hottie with a smokin’ little 

body.” 

Lady, that was the President 

of the United States you were 

addressing, not one of the Jonas 

Brothers! He’s your president 

for goodness sakes, not the guy 

driving the Zamboni at 

“Monster Trucks On Ice.” 

Maybe next it’ll be, “Take Your 

President To A Topless Bar 

Day.” 

In President Barack Obama, 

Americans have a charismatic 

leader with a good and honest 

heart. Unlike his predecessor, 

he’s a very intelligent leader. 

And unlike that president’s 

predecessor, he’s a highly 

moral man. 

In President Obama, 

Americans have the real deal, 

the whole package and a leader 

that citizens of almost every 

country around the world look 

to with great envy. Given the 

opportunity, Canadians would 

trade our leader, hell, most of 

our leaders for Obama in a 

heartbeat. 

What America has in Obama 

is a head of state with vitality 

and insight and youth. Think 

about it, Barack Obama is a 

problems faced by a country 

suffering under crushing economic 

failure, war abroad, high 

deficits, few jobs, failing education, 

and huge amounts of 

suffering. 

With presidential elections 

coming in 2012, don't expect 

any renewed sense of national 

interest or acting in the best 

interest of the country any time 

soon. Don't expect thoughtful 

voices to urge debate and not 

denigration and reflection and 

not knee-jerk reaction. 

Don't expect political leaders 

to put the needs of their constituents 

and fellow citizens 

first, don't expect political leaders 

to get much done. 

You can expect more efforts 

to push President Obama, 

already careful on issues of 

race, to move to the political 

center. That means keeping a 

good distance from anything 

that might be construed as giving 

too much to Blacks, Latinos 

or the poor. 

You can probably expect the 

blame game, the who is the real 

American game, the who will 

fight terrorism game, and who 

will defend America game. All 

of these games are likely to stir 

the emotions of voters but don't 

expect substantive attempts to 

resolve many problems. 

Some pundits are saying a 

GOP victory in Congress may 

force Republicans to find a way 

to actually get things done, but 

many GOPers have already 

made defeat of the president in 

2012 their number one priority. 

When a political leader's 

number one mission is defeating 

an opponent and not pursuing 

an agenda, there is trouble 

ahead. And America it seems 

remains sadly headed toward 

harder times but blind leaders 

cannot see how their smallmindedness 

is steadily taking 

the country toward total ruin. 

Mann Dental Care 

WE WELCOME NEW 

PATIENTS 

902 South Slappey Blvd. 

Albany, GA 31701 

229-435-6627 

young Nelson Mandela. 

Mandela was the face of change 

and charity for all of Africa but 

he was too old to make it happen. 

The great things Obama 

might do for America and the 

world could go on for decades 

after he’s out of office. 

America, you know not 

what you have. 

The man is being challenged 

unfairly, characterized with 

vulgarity and treated with the 

kind of deep disrespect to 

which no previous president 

was subjected. It’s like the day 

after electing the first black 

man to be president, thereby 

electrifying the world with 

hope and joy, Americans 

sobered up and decided the bad 

old days were better. 

President Obama may fail 

but it will not be a Richard 

Nixon default fraught with larceny 

and lies. President Obama, 

given a fair chance, will surely 

succeed but his triumph will 

never come with a Bill Clinton 

caveat – “if only he’d got control 

of that zipper.” 

Please. Give the man a fair, 

fighting chance. This incivility 

toward the leader who won 

over Americans and gave hope 

to billions of people around the 

world that their lives could be 

enhanced by his example, just 

naturally has to stop. 

Believe me, when Americans 

drive by the White House and 

see a sign on the lawn that 

reads: “No shirt. No shoes. No 

service,” they’ll realize this 

new national rudeness has gone 

way, way too far. 


Subscribe Today 

$15 a year in Sumter County 

$25 a year outside the county 

OFFICE 

HOURS BY 

APPOINTMENT

By Jeff Mays 

Can I get a Big Mac and the key to 

the bathroom? 

That's what three black men are 

claiming happened to them when they 

asked to use a bathroom at a 

McDonald's in the Kips Bay neighborhood 

of Manhattan. 

Christopher White, Abdul Rasuul, 

and Leroy Johnson allege that they 

were told they had to buy food when 

they asked to use the restroom at a 

Third Avenue McDonald's. 

Meanwhile, they claim, a white 

woman who did not buy anything was 

allowed to use the restroom. The men 

say they suffered "shock, pain, emotional, 

psychiatric, psychological and 

mental injuries" as a result of the 

By Tennille M. Robinson 

Black Enterprise Magazine 

[1]How often have you 

thought about starting your 

own business only to have a 

doubt creep into your mind and 

keep you from taking any 

action? Well, here are two reasons 

you don't have to worry 

about when you're thinking of 

taking the leap and becoming 

an entrepreneur. 

You think you can’t leave 

your job. 

“Look for ways to supplement 

your income or save so 

you are able to do what it is 

alleged race-based slight. 

McDonald's declined to comment, 

saying it hadn't seen the suit. 

As a New Yorker, I can tell you that 

finding a decent restroom when the 

need arises can be difficult. Thank 

God I have a bladder of steel. My 

wife, however, is a different story. If 

we are out for more than a few hours, 

we usually have to run in to a store or 

restaurant. 

Some establishments have 

"Customer Only" signs posted, but 

many will let you use the bathroom 

without a purchase if you look sane. 

The problem is that so many bathrooms 

are so gross that you end up 

not wanting to touch a thing inside 

the restroom. 

that you love to do,” challenges 

Tiffini Gatlin [2], who 

launched her Atlanta-based 

concierge business, The 

Atlanta Go To Girl [3], with 

$5,000 of personal savings. 

Gatlin put her startup capital 

toward incorporating, PR, travel, 

and gas, among other 

things. And even after she left 

the corporate world – Gatlin 

worked for nearly seven years 

in the banking industry – as 

she got the business up and 

running, she sold insurance 

part-time. I know what you’re 

thinking. What spare time, 

BUSINESS 


Three Black Men Sue McDonald’s for ’Toilet Bias’ 

But if McDonald's is deciding 

which customers to let use the restroom 

based on color or ethnicity, 

right? But as Gatlin proves, if 

you really want something, 

you’ll do whatever it takes to 

get it. “I was able to get my 

revenue where it needed to be 

yet still sustain myself.” 

You’re scared you will fail 

There's a definite correlation 

between failure and fear, and 

Gatlin encourages those looking 

to take the leap to at least 

try. Because even if the outcome 

isn’t what you anticipated, 

“you didn’t fail, you just 

didn’t get the results you 

expected,” Gatlin rationalizes. 

To help combat those fears, 

determine early on what type 

of leader you are. Do you have 

attributes that will attract followers? 

Do you make sound 

decisions? It's all about selfdiscovery, 

and you often 

uncover these attributes in your 

job experiences (i.e., while 

working for others). A great 

boss sets expectations and 

understands the needs of 

his/her employees, customers 

and clients—a vital component 

in crafting the vision it takes to 

lead. 

that's McRacist.Are Latinos neater in 

public restrooms than Whites? Do 

Asians always flush? Last I checked, 

bathroom etiquette had more to do 

with manners, and manners have 

nothing to do with race. 

McDonald's didn't get to 999 zillion 

people served by doling out McRib 

sandwiches to only white customers. 

People of all races have increased 

their cholesterol by downing too 

many McNuggets, McFlurries and, 

uh, Mc "You fill in the blank." 

If establishments are going to 

reserve their bathroom for customers 

only, they should stick to the rule and 

not deny people based on skin color. 

In New York, though, where a good 

bathroom is hard to come by, they 

should eliminate the customer-only 

rule and be good neighbors. 

That said, I've often wondered how 

the bathrooms of people's homes look 

after using a public restroom. 

Sometimes, it looks like folks have 

urinated on the floor on purpose, 

decided that they don't have to flush 

the toilet after No. 2 or both. 

If folks treated public restrooms 

like the ones at home, more establishments 

would be willing to open their 

bathroom doors. 

But shutting those doors solely 

because of race is not good 

McMarketing. Maybe these three men 

should have went to Burger King and 

had it their way. 

Don t Let Fear Keep You From Becoming an Entrepreneur 

GOP, U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Push Outsourcing of American Jobs 

By Ryan Grim, Lucia Graves 


Senate Republicans beat back an 

effort by Democrats November 2 to 

end tax breaks for companies who 

send jobs offshore only to import products 

back into the United States. The 

House has passed a series of similar 

legislation over the past several weeks, 

as Democrats work to portray 

Republicans as in the pocket of Big 

Business at the expense of workers, 

the economy, the trade deficit and the 

budget deficit. That message was muddied, 

however, by the defection of four 

Democrats and Independent Democrat 

Joe Lieberman, who voted against the 

motion to end a filibuster. 

"I wish this election would be a simple 

referendum on this issue," Dick 

Durbin, the Senate's number two 

Democrat, said on the Senate floor 

"Who in the world believes that we 

should be rewarding corporations in 

our country for shipping jobs overseas?" 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is 

one powerful answer to Durbin's 

query. The Chamber, which represents 

businesses in the United States, has 

aggressively battled the effort to 

reduce outsourcing. During the debate 

over the stimulus, the U.S. Chamber 

fought efforts to include a provision 

that would encourage taxpayer money 

to be spent on products made by 

domestic companies. It opposed the 

outsourcing bill, arguing in a letter to 

the Senate that "the concept of eco- 

nomic growth is not a zero-sum game. 

Replacing a job that is based in another 

country with a domestic job does 

not stimulate economic growth or 

enhance the competitiveness of 

American worldwide companies." 

In 2004, Chamber head Tom 

Donohue made the case that outsourcing 

shouldn't be a concern because 

only "two, maybe three million jobs, 

maybe four" would be lost. "American 

companies employ 140 million 

Americans," Donohue said in a CNN 

interview that Chamber opponents are 

happy to remind him of. "They provide 

health care for 160 million Americans. 

They provide training in terms of 40 

billion a year. The outsourcing deal 

over three or four or five years and the 

two or three sets of numbers are only 

going to be, you know, maybe two, 

maybe three million jobs, maybe four." 

The bill included a payroll tax holiday 

for companies that bring jobs back 

from overseas, ended tax breaks for 

plants that shut down to go elsewhere, 

and blocked companies from deferring 

their tax bill year to year by keeping 

money out of the U.S. 

The U.S. Chamber, in a letter to the 

Senate, outlined its opposition to the 

measure and said that it may use the 

vote to rate how friendly to business a 

senator is in the lobby's annual scorecard. 

The bill, argued the Chamber, 

would "significantly curtail [tax] 

deferral [of earnings], reversing longstanding 

tax policy and subjecting 

American worldwide companies to 

Join NAACP Today 

EVENT PRINT PLUS, LLC 

Event Planning * Custom Stationery * Plus 

* PLANNING for all Events 

* FANS for memorials, weddings, and reunions 

* BOOKMARKS & INVITATIONS for all 

occasions 

*Baby Shower DIAPER CAKES 

ANDREA OATES 389-8692 

Chamber head Tom Donohue 

immediate double taxation on the earnings 

of their foreign subsidiaries. 

Limiting deferral would hinder the 

global competitiveness of these 

American companies, impede U.S. 

economic growth, and ultimately 

result in the loss of jobs - both at the 

companies directly impacted and companies 

in their supply chains." 

Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Jon 

Tester (D-Mont.) and Mark Warner 

(D-Va.) broke with their party to vote 

to continue the filibuster, as did the 

chairman of the Senate Finance 

Committee, Max Baucus (D-Mont.). 

Republicans argued that revoking 

the tax breaks would punish American 

companies and make them less competitive 

with foreign firms. But more 

broadly, they pressed the case that the 

vote was a political stunt since 

Democrats knew they didn't have 60 

votes to cut off the filibuster. The best 

thing to do, said GOP senators, is to 

get out of town. 

"I think that right now all concerns, 

the leader included, are to get this over 

with, get back home and campaign," 

said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). 

"To be honest with you, because of 

the election, we're not going to get 

anything done. We're just wasting-they're 

wasting time. My hope is that 

after the election we can come back 

here and get serious about some issues 

that need to be dealt with," said Sen. 

George Voinovich (R-Ohio). 

"They may be forcing it, but what 

we should be taking up right now are 

the tax cuts," argued Sen. George 

LeMieux (R-Fla.). 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pushed 

back on the GOP argument that the 

vote was political theater. 

"Republicans call this a stunt. You go 

and you speak to the millions of 

American workers who have lost their 

jobs, because their plants have shut 

down and their companies have moved 

to China, and you ask them if they 

think focusing on outsourcing and 

demanding that American companies 

reinvest in American companies is a 

stunt. I don't think they believe it's a 

stunt," he said. 

"We're hearing a lot of things thrown 

out to create a diversion," added Sen. 

Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). "The 

question is this: Do Republicans think 

that middle class families should pay 

through their tax subsidies for plants to 

close up and the cost of shipping jobs 

overseas to be on their back?" 

House Democrats are making a similar 

attempt to draw a bright line on 

jobs between Republicans and 

Democrats. At Tuesday's "Conference 

on the Renaissance of American 

Manufacturing," House Majority 

Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) laid out 

the agenda for the remaining floor time 

before the election. "[T]his week the 

House will vote on three additional 

bills," he said, according to his prepared 

remarks. "One will make sure 

that the government buys Americanmade 

American flags. Another helps 

ensure that American workers are 

given every opportunity to earn certifications, 

degrees, and qualifications for 

the jobs American industry needs to 

fill. And the third addresses China's 

unfair currency policy and its harms to 

American workers. By deliberately 

keeping the value of its currency low, 

China is able to sell its goods in the 

United States at an artificially low 

price--which helps put American manufacturers 

out of business. The bill we 

vote on this week will help level the 

playing field for American businesses 

and workers."


GOSPEL 


slaves in Egypt,” but they don't 

know how it was built today, 

and can't do it again. These are 

usurpers of our history! 

The U.S. Seal and The Star 

of David 

This is The Seal of the United 

States of America, where you'll 

find the Latin words E Pluribus 

Unum, which means “Out of 

many, one.” 

But the symbol is of an eagle. 

In one talon it has arrows representing 

“war”; and in the other, 

an olive branch representing 

“peace.” America talks peace, 

but she grows strong through 

war. 

The eagle has nine feathers 

that represent the Nine Jurists 

of The Supreme Court. And in a 

“halo” above the eagle's head 

are 13 Stars. If you were to 

draw with your finger over the 

six outermost stars, the points 

would make up The Star of 

David: 

This is Israel: The conqueror 

of the world, the conqueror of 

Space, the conqueror of the 

depths of the sea. The conqueror 

of the People of God! 

But the scripture teaches: 

“Though you exalt yourself 

above the stars of heaven, yet 

will I bring you down to the 

sides of the pit of Hell.” 

God has come after The 

Children of Israel. 

What is a “child”? A child is 

a “boy or girl,” “son or daughter,” 

“baby, infant.” A child is 

“any person or thing regarded 

as the product or result of.” 

Black people are not, now, 

“The Children of God”—you 

are “The Children of Israel”! 

You are not made, now, in the 

image and likeness of God, you 

are made in the image and like- 

ness of White people who have 

conquered you, mastered you, 

and made you into themselves! 

The symbol of the eagle in 

The Seal: The scripture teaches, 

“Wheresoever the eagles are 

gathered together, there shall 

the carcass be.” Now look at 

your condition. Who are you? 

You are the remains of a once 

Great People! 

When you go to a funeral 

parlor, you go to visit “the 

remains”: You see the form of 

the person that you once loved, 

but the spirit is gone out of that 

person. They have eyes, but 

they can't see! They have ears, 

but they can't hear! They have a 

tongue, but they can't speak! 

And they can't walk—somebody 

has to move them from 

here to there because life is no 

longer in them. 

You and I are like dust: Tiny 

particles of matter that have no 

form, no purpose. 

The Children of Israel: The 

preposition “of” means possession, 

so where you have “John's 

house”—the apostrophe and 

“s”—when you break it down, 

this means “the house of John,” 

or “the house belonging to 

John.” 

You and I are “The Children 

of Israel,” possessed by another 

people! Mastered by a stranger; 

living in a strange land! Being 

made other than ourselves! So 

if The Man of Sin made us after 

himself, then he made us in 

rebellion to The Way of God. 

Children of Israel: You are 

the product of White people. 

Don't be mad at me. That's what 

we've been! So when the 

Honorable Elijah Muhammad 

said, “Accept Your Own and Be 

Your Self.” 

Well, who is “Your Self”? 

You're not a White person. “My 

Self” is a Righteous Muslim! 

The Good News, Our Goal & 

The Enemy's Plan 

The Four Gospels tell you 

about Jesus—not the Jesus of 

today, but the historical Jesus 

who spoke in parables. This 

Jesus spoke in parables so that 

the people would get a picture 

of The Future through the parable. 

The Honorable Elijah 

Muhammad said 75 percent of 

what you read in the scripture 

for Jesus is about a Future Man 

that comes at The End of The 

World of Satan. 

I am saying to us, as 

Muslims, Jesus is the most 

important person that we have 

to understand if we're going to 

see it out of this present world. 

Study Holy Qur'an, Chapter 

3: Al-Imran (The Family of 

Amran). Through verses 44-53, 

we're getting a picture of the 

angels revealing to Mary that 

she is going to have a child, and 

that child is going to be named 

“The Messiah”: “When the 

angels said: O Mary, surely 

Allah gives thee good news 

with a word from Him (of one) 

whose name is the Messiah, 

Jesus, son of Mary, worthy of 

regard in this world and the 

Hereafter, and of those who are 

drawn nigh (to Allah).” 

Is “Messiah” a “name,” or a 

function? His name was Jesus, 

the son of Mary, The Messiah. 

“And he will speak to the people 

when in the cradle and 

when of old age, and (he will 

be) one of the good ones.” 

Some of the commentators 

say, “Well, every child learns to 

speak when they're young in 

the cradle; or two years old, 

they learn how to talk …”—this 

isn't talking about that, or when 

of old age! Jesus died, according 

to the Bible, when he was 

33 years of age. He never lived 

among the people to get old, 

with the hoariness of his hair. 

This is talking about “The 

Messiah.” 

ANNOUNCEMENT 

The Americus and Sumter 

County NAACP will be hosting 

the United States Equal 

Employment Opportunity Commission 

(EEOC) in February 2011. A full day will 

be spent in Americus, Georgia training 

and answering questions about job discrimination. 

If you have any questions please call: 

229-924-0880 point 

Buy Your Copy Of ASO AT 

The Following Locations: 

Americus 

Petro, Forsyth St. 

Wood’s Swinging Wings, 

MLK Blvd. (small) 

Mercer Barber Shop,.Lee St. 

Pure on MLK. 

Post Office, Forsyth St. 

Chevron, MLK. Blvd. 

Chevron, Tripp St.. 

Flash Foods, S. Lee St. 

Flash Foods, Forsyth St. 

Harvey’s, N. Lee St. 

Winn Dixie, Hwy. 49 

Wayne’s World, Forsyth St. 

Spectrum, Tripp St. 

Wal-Mart 

CVS 

Leslie 

Rubo’s 

Buena Vista 

Hwy 26 Midtown 

Plains 

Mom’s Kitchen 

Smithville 

BP 

Ellaville 

Chevron 

Albany 

Phoebe Putney Hospital 

Odyssey Records on Oglethorpe 

Dawson 

Inland Convenience Store 

NAACP Office 

Montezuma 

Plaza 

TEA 


to co-opt the movement - would 

view the idea of taking money 

out of politics with horror, if 

they thought it might actually 

happen. 

So who stole the government? 

What makes some people 

feel more disenfranchised 

now than they were, say, during 

the presidency of George W. 

Bush? 

After all, it was Bush who 

inherited a budget surplus and 

left behind a suffocating deficit 

- I'm not being tendentious, just 

stating the facts. It was Bush 

who launched two wars without 

making any provision in the 

budget to pay for them, who 

proposed and won an expensive 

new prescription-drug entitlement 

without paying for it, who 

bailed out irresponsible Wall 

Street firms with the $700 billion 

TARP program. 

TREND 


decided to expand in 1999 and 

set up a much larger store just 9 

blocks from campus. The 

22,000 square foot grocery 

store in the new location was 

subsidized by the more profitable 

but smaller store nearer 

campus. However, by 2009 the 

Hyde Park Co-op Market had to 

declare bankruptcy and close 

both store locations even 

though their smaller store near 

campus had always been profitable. 

They over expanded and 

were not able to get the community 

support they needed to 

keep the 22,000 square foot 

store afloat. 

This is why we in the 

Ministry of Agriculture have 

been promoting the development 

of buying clubs in cities 

across the country to be developed 

into cooperatively owned 

grocery stores. However, we 

stress that before the group 

even opens a small grocery 

store, they should have at least 

500 members who can be 

depended upon to patronize the 

store each week. This means 

that all of the members must 

live close enough to the proposed 

location so that over time 

they will not feel inconve- 

WHITE 

CONTINUED FROM 5B 

never knew, is that those 

who lose know how to lose, 

which is to say they know how 

to lose with dignity. 

And those who suffer know 

how to suffer, which is to say 

they know how to survive: a 

skill that is in short supply amid 

the likes of you. 

You, who could not survive 

the thought of minimal health 

care reform, or financial regulation, 

or a marginal tax rate 

equal to that which you paid 

just 10 years earlier, perhaps 

Bush was vilified by critics 

while he was in office but not 

with the suggestion that somehow 

the government had been 

seized or usurped - that it had 

fallen into hands that were not 

those of "the American people." 

Yet this is the Tea Party suggestion 

about Obama. 

Underlying all the Tea Party's 

issues and complaints, it 

appears to me, is the entirely 

legitimate issue of the relationship 

between the individual and 

the federal government. But 

why would this concern about 

oppressive, intrusive government 

become so acute now? 

Why didn't, say, government 

surveillance of domestic phone 

calls and e-mails get the constitutional 

fundamentalists all 

worked up? 

I have to wonder what it is 

about Obama that provokes and 

sustains all this Tea Party ire. I 

wonder how he can be seen as 

"elitist," when he grew up in 

modest circumstances - his 

mother was on food stamps for 

nienced to come to the store 

and shop. The heart may be 

willing but logistics and personal 

time constraints could 

prevent full participation from 

a scattered group. 

The Macon group have outlined 

what should be included 

in a development model for the 

grocery/co-op: 1) vision, 2) talent, 

3) capital, 4) on-going 

communications and educational 

programs for your stakeholders 

and 5)a good plan. 

Research shows that it takes 

three to five years to start a successful 

co-op and $1.5 to $2 

million dollars. Other suggestions 

include: 1) Put together a 

steering committee, 2) begin 

mentoring with an already 

established co-op, 3) make 

plans with a time-table and 

budget for the first stage and 4) 

get incorporated. If your state 

does not have the proper 

statutes for incorporating a “cooperative 

corporation”, you can 

incorporate as an out of State 

Corporation in states like 

Wisconsin. 

In the NOI, we have faltered 

on carrying out two major initiatives 

developed by the 

Honorable Minister Louis 

Farrakhan that would have 

established a presence in our 

local communities across the 

country. In 1995, Minister 

BarNETt 

Computers 

201 W. Forsyth St. Americus, GA 31709 

a time - and paid for his fancypants 

education with student 

loans. I wonder how people 

who genuinely cherish the 

American dream can look at a 

man who lived that dream and 

feel no connection, no empathy. 

I ask myself what's so different 

about Obama, and the 

answer is pretty obvious: He's 

black. For whatever reason, I 

think this makes some people 

unsettled, anxious, even suspicious 

- witness the willingness 

of so many to believe absurd 

conspiracy theories about 

Obama's birthplace, his religion 

and even his absent father's 

supposed Svengali-like influence 

from the grave. 

Obama has made mistakes 

that rightly cost him political 

support. But I can't help believing 

that the Tea Party's rise was 

partly due to circumstances 

beyond his control - that he's 

different from other presidents, 

and that the difference is his 

race. 

Farrakhan introduced to us the 

concept of the Local 

Organizing Committees 

(LOCs) as a way to keep the 

momentum going from the 

Million Man March. When 

those two million Black men 

returned to their respective 

communities, organizing the 

LOC with a program of community 

building and spiritual 

and economic development 

would have us at the point of 

being ready to establish businesses 

in those communities. 

Next, in 1997, Minister 

Farrakhan presented to us the 

Exodus Program. He outlined 

the program in such a way that 

if we had implemented it, we 

would have communities all 

across the nation, ready to go to 

work under the nine ministries. 

Such an effort would have 

developed a potential customer 

base for any type of business 

that could have employed our 

people and served their needs. 

We pray that we are now ready 

to hear and obey the words of 

wisdom of our Minister and 

develop co-operatively owned 

grocery stores and other infrastructure 

needed to develop an 

independent, profitable and 

safe food production and distribution 

system for our 40 million 

or more members of our 

Black nation. 

*Desktops, Laptops, & Servers built to fit your needs* Repairs & Upgrades* 

*Networking* Service & Support* Web Site Hosting, * Page Design & Setup* 

Local Internet Connections* DSL Connection Networking* 

* A Full line of Computer Accessories* 

www.barnett-computers.com 

are under the illusion that 

everyone is as weak as you, as 

soft as you, as akin to petulant 

children as you are, as unable to 

cope with the smallest setback, 

the slightest challenge to the 

way you think your country 

should look and feel, and operate. 

But they are not. 

And they know how to 

regroup, and plot, and plan, and 

they are planning even now — 

we are — your destruction. 

And I do not mean by that 

your physical destruction. We 

don’t play those games. We’re 

not into the whole “Second 

Amendment remedies, militia, 

229-924-8200 

Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm 

Sat 9am -3pm 

Gift Cards Available 

armed resistance” that your side 

fetishizes, cuz, see, we don’t 

have to be. We don’t need guns. 

We just have to be patient. 

And wait for you to pass into 

that good night, first politically, 

and then, well… 

Do you hear it? 

The sound of your empire 

dying? Your nation, as you 

knew it, ending, permanently? 

Because I do, and the sound 

of its demise is beautiful. 

So know this. 

If you thought this election 

was payback for 2008, remember… 

Payback, thy name is… 

Temporary. 

sales@barnett-computer.com


I am humbled by the faith you have once again placed in me by renewing my 

contract to be your Congressman for the 2nd District. I give honor to God, who 

is the head of my life. I give glory to God, for this victory because it is truly His. 

I want to thank all of you for hanging in 

there, for your support, and for your 

perseverance during this incredible 

campaign. Because of your work, because 

of what all of you have done, not only have 

you made "a" difference, you have made 

"the" difference. 

To all the people of the 2nd District: Please 

know that this job is a public trust of 

responsibility that you have given me to 

work for, and in, your behalf in Washington. I will not betray your trust. Thank 

you for your confidence. 

To God be the glory! 

THANK YOU! 

To God be the glory! 

Congressman Sanford Bishop(D-GA) 

Paid for and Authorized by Bishop for Congress

November 2010.qxp - The AmericUSumter Observer

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?