Black Kids Kicked Out of School More Than Most

Some African American parents say their kids are suspended for behavior school officials might otherwise ignore in white children.

"Well, I won't just say African American. I'll say minority. And, I'm going by an observation I saw while visiting the class."

D.L. Whaley lives in Gwinnett county, with her 14 year old son who was suspended earlier this year for verbal outbursts.

"I saw a white student who was handled completely different. And did things that my son did for which he was suspended and this child was just asked to sit down several times. Literally got up out of his seat, walked around was talking back in a confrontation with the teacher and nothing happened. When my son does those things he gets suspended."

Whaley's son was eventually diagnosed with ADHD. But, she says officials were slow to evaluate him. And the findings came too late to keep him in school.

"I had met with them several times and asked that he be tested, given counseling what could we do to help. Finally, when I insisted and wrote letters to several members of the board, they finally tested him. And before the results of the testing had come back, they expelled him."

And, then there's this mother from Rome who says her son was taunted for hanging out with Mexican students.

"He was called a racial slur by this other student. So, he turned around and he told the child to shut the F up. The teacher heard Christopher but he didn't hear the other child. So, he sent Christopher out."

Jennifer Falk is the education spokesperson for the Georgia NAACP. She says she's not surprised by either story.

"I don't know what to say. It's a terrible situation and that's why we're trying to encourage people to talk about this situation. This is not an uncommon occurrence."

Falk says African American parents are often stonewalled when they ask for suspension alternatives.

"Parents that we've worked with spend an enormous amount of time asking, begging, cajoling school officials for meaningful interventions. Sometimes it isn't provided or it's provided in a check mark fashion … but it's not meaningful and it's not making a difference."

For D.L. Whaley from Gwinnett County, the challenge now is to get her son into another school. She's wants to enroll him in the Georgia Virtual Academy. But, has decided to hold him back if that doesn't work out.

"He's going to miss the next school year, but I'm trying to do the GVA or something else to keep his skills sharp. I don't want him sitting around like a pumpkin for a year. And because he's not going to be challenged to the level to which I think he could be, I'm going to have him repeat the eighth grade. I don't want him to be pushed through ninth grade."

The data provided to the Georgia NAACP comes from the Department of Education. It shows a clear disparity in expulsion and suspension rates which cross gender, race and ethnicity lines. There's also a correlation between suspended students and those who receive a free or reduced priced lunch.

Falk says the group is not asking that more white kids be suspended to close the disparity gap. Instead, she says the data should be used to start a dialogue.

"Communities, grassroots conversations have to occur at the local level. And ongoing monitoring in an open environment with the public, those are really the next steps," says Falk.

The Department of Education would not speak on the issue of racial disparities in school suspensions. And, a spokesperson told GPB News that discipline is a local issue which must be handled on the local level.

School officials however do point to a program getting good results in schools where it's being tested.

It's called the Positive Behavior Support program and looks at the underlying issues which lead to suspension.

Finally, the DOE says it will levy sanctions against schools where special ed students are suspended more often than others.

Michael who? Falcons open camp, don't mention Vick

With no mention of former quarterback-turned-federal inmate Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons got off to an upbeat start to training camp Saturday, even with the reality of a massive rebuilding job threatening to dampen all the smiles and giddiness.

"I'm not going to talk about last year, but I'll talk about right now," said linebacker Keith Brooking, one of the few veterans left after the Falcons cleaned house during the offseason. "On the drive up here yesterday morning, I was so happy, so excited. I called about 20 people on the way up to tell 'em how fired up I was about coming to training camp."

Brooking's excitement is understandable after what happened a year ago, one of the grimmest seasons yet for a franchise that already had endured plenty of heartache.

Vick, the most famous player in Falcons history, admitted to running a dogfighting ring and was sent to prison for a nearly two-year sentence. New coach Bobby Petrino lasted all of 13 games before abandoning the team to take a college job at Arkansas. After winning only four games, Atlanta was left with no other choice except to start over.

Rich McKay was booted upstairs to make way for a new general manager, Thomas Dimitroff, who claims to be 42 but looks much younger. Mike Smith, the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville, was handed his first head coaching job. But the biggest changes came on the field.

Alge Crumpler, Warrick Dunn and Rod Coleman were let go to free up salary-cap space. Outspoken cornerback DeAngelo Hall was dealt to Oakland. The Falcons signed Michael Turner, the top running back in the free agent market, and drafted quarterback Matt Ryan - Vick's eventual successor - with the No. 3 overall pick.

While Turner and Ryan are the cornerstones of the new Falcons, the team is probably another offseason or two away from filling out a playoff-contending roster.

"It's always like that when you start over, draft a lot of young guys and come into camp without a veteran team," said receiver Roddy White, one of the few bright spots last season. "But it's all there for our young guys. They're going to have to step up and make the best of the situation. I'm actually kind of happy. We get to sneak up on some people and hopefully get some wins."

The Falcons sure won't mind flying under the radar a bit after reporting for camp a year ago in a circus-like environment.

Dueling groups of protesters worked the front gate, angrily debating the merits of the case against Vick. While the team went through its first practice, someone hired a plane to fly over the field pulling a banner that said, "New Team Name? Dog Killers?"

"I guess there is probably a little less media coverage this year from what I understand," Ryan said, letting slip a wry smile. "I think the message from the top down through the organization has been to focus on the future. We haven't talked much about last year. It's all about a fresh start and getting ready for 2008."

Talk about a fresh start. The Falcons have the look of an expansion team with 18 rookies, eight others who have yet to play in the NFL, and 15 more entering just their second season in the league. That leaves fewer than half those on the 80-man camp roster with more than one year of pro experience.

At least the Falcons had everyone in camp, reaching deals Friday with their last two unsigned draftees. Offensive tackle Sam Baker, the second of their first-round picks, and linebacker Curtis Lofton, a second-round choice, were both on the field for the opening practice, ready to compete for starting jobs.

"It was huge to get it done so all I've got to worry about is football now," said Baker, the son of outgoing Arena Football League commissioner David Baker. "You miss a day during training camp, it's like a week. You really can't afford to miss any time."

While much of the attention in camp will undoubtedly be directed toward Ryan, the No. 1 quarterback for now is Chris Redman. He finished strongly last season after becoming the third guy to get a crack at the starting job, and he's not ready to give it up to some hotshot rookie just yet.

"I think I earned my respect around here," Redman said. "I had an opportunity last year to get in there and I took full advantage of it. I want to keep it going."

The players sure welcomed holding their first practice under overcast skies, the temperatures rather mild for a July in Georgia.

Then again, this franchise can't wait for the sun to come out again.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News sports coverage.

VIDEO: Mourning a Marine - Lance Cpl. Charles Seth Sharp

Created by John Sepulvado

Pictures by Emily Green

Shortly before U.S. Marines began their operation earlier this month in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a member of the unit known as "America's Battalion" wrote a letter to his grandmother.

Lance Cpl. Charles Seth Sharp of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, wrote that he would soon be fighting in a mission his grandchildren would learn about in history class. Sharp was among some 4,000 Marines deployed by helicopter and armored transport throughout the volatile Helmand River valley in an effort to counter the Taliban insurgency.

Just days after he mailed the letter, Sharp, 20, died in battle. He was the first Marine killed in the offensive.

Last week, Sharp was buried in his hometown of Adairsville, in rural northwestern Georgia.

The Northpointe Church in Adairsville was packed. For 3 ½ hours, the line of people waiting to view Sharp's casket extended into the parking lot. The family stood next to the casket, hugging every well wisher who came through.

Behind them, a giant screen displayed pictures of Sharp. In most of these pictures, as a teen, or even as a boy, Sharp never displayed a full smile. He just grinned, and flashed a few teeth.

"We got three little teeth, and a laugh, and that was it," recalls his father, Ric Sharp.

It didn't show up in photos, but Sharp was playful and a bit of a mischief maker, friends and family say. As the sun went down outside the church, his friends, including Justin Hooper and Patrick Maolin took turns telling stories of getting into trouble with Sharp, who went by his middle name Seth, small kinds of trouble really.

"It was my cousin Justin, and Seth, and they were chewing tobacco. And I was like, man I want some of that. I put a big ol' pinch in my mouth," Maolin recalls. "And ooh, I got sicker than a dog."

Ric Sharp says his some was a character, but never into anything bad.

"He didn't mind having fun… I know I come home one day, and the sheriff's car's in my driveway. And I'm thinking, ‘Oh Lord, what have these kids done now?’ And the sheriff's out there with four of his buddies in my backyard. They've been hitting golf balls down in the woods, and they didn't realize someone was building their house down there, and the lady was afraid they were going to hit the house or, more importantly, hit their kids," he says.

But when Seth turned 17, he made a big decision. Seth was looking to become more serious and straighten up.

His dad had told him to go to school and get a job, or join the military. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had a lot to do with Seth's decision to join the Marines. He told everyone he wanted to the toughest assignment he could get.

His stepmother, Tiffany Sharp, was scared about the whole thing. She tried to talk him out of it.

"Yes, I said go into another one, or go into the Navy, go out in a boat, and that way you're not Marines, infantry. And I was like ‘I just don't know what I'm gonna do with this youngin'.’ But, you know, that's where his heart was," she says.

After basic training, his family says Seth matured in a hurry. He got engaged. His fiance was able to get a big smile out of him in all of the pictures he took with her.

Those pictures of Seth, with his strong jaw, steely blue eyes, and big smile, are on the Sharp's kitchen table. Beside the photos are newspaper reports about his death, letters from well wishers, and the flag that draped their son's coffin when his body was returned home from Afghanistan.

Politics: Thomas not "going with the flow" in Barrow challenge

Savannah State Senator Regina Thomas has thrown local Democrats for a loop. The outspoken Senator is trading in the Gold Dome to run for Congress. Her primary opponent is an incumbent Democrat in a highly competitive district. Her campaign threatens to divide Democrats in a district that routinely sees squeaker outcomes in November.

Thomas is known for her frank, independent style and her hats. She was wearing a bright, orange colored hat with a blue blazer when GPB interviewed her for this story . But it's not her hats causing a stir in Savannah politics these days. It's her decision to run against U.S. Congressman John Barrow in the July primary.

"There have been so many people who've said, 'We don't have a choice. This person wasn't my choice, but there was nobody else there. And I didn't go to vote at all because there wasn't a choice,'" Thomas says. "So now the people have a choice."

For some local Democrats, that choice leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Barrow's district, the sprawling 12th, has been a tough one for Democrats to hold. It's one of the few competitive Congressional districts in the nation. And Karen Arms, the chairman of the Chatham County Democratic Party, says that's why she wishes Thomas were running somewhere else.

"Probably not particularly good, would be my feeling," Arms says. "It's just a waste of a good Democrat because they're both excellent Democratic candidates. It seems a waste to have them going against each other instead of going against a Republican."

Thomas could give Barrow a tough run. The 12th district is about 40% African-American, but the primary could be up to 60% African-American. University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock says, Thomas, a member of the state legislative black caucus, will be counting on that support in her race against Barrow, who is white. Bullock says, the challenge could hurt Barrow in November.

"At minimum, he's going to have to spend considerable resources, both money and his time campaigning," Bullock says. "You know often, in the course of primaries, things come out that might then be used by the opposing party come November."

For the moment, Republicans seem to be focused more on their own campaigns to gloat about dueling Democrats. At least three have announced bids. Savannah political consultant Dave Simons say, while Thomas is a strong candidate, she doesn't have the financial resources or name recognition outside of Savannah as John Barrow.

"The good news for John is that he's got $1.3 million cash on hand," Simons says. "He's got the 'I' behind his name for 'Incumbent.' And he's already got a district-wide network established."

And that could be bad news for Democrats if Thomas wins the primary. Democrats held the seat two years ago by just under 9-hundred votes.

"I think Democrats are putting that out, I really do," Thomas responds. "I think the Democrats are saying, 'That's exactly what the Republicans want. They want her to come out, beat him in the primary so they can beat her in November. That's not going to happen. I'm in it to win it."

Thomas remains as frank and independent as ever, in this battle, as in fights of the past. She bucked Democratic leaders over natural gas deregulation and redistricting five years ago. And she seems intent on doing it again in this race, although she insists her run isn't about Barrow.

"So many politicians go around. They have their money. They have their big backers and their big supporters and everybody wants to go with the flow," Thomas says. "Well then there comes a Regina Thomas, who says, 'I'm not just going along to get along.'"

For his part, Congressman Barrow says, he's going to keep on doing what he's always been doing. A statement says, the Congressman is currently focused on health care, the price of gasoline and student loans.

Gingrich launches initiative amid rumors

Georgia Republican and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich kicked-off his new initiative last night in Cobb County. Called "American Solutions for Winning the Future", it plans to focus on problems such as healthcare, immigration and national security in workshops across the nation this weekend.

This however, comes as rumors swirl as to a possible presidential run by Gingrich. Some critics have suggested that his advocacy group is an indirect political campaign. Matt Towery heads the political website 'Insider Advantage'. He's a former Gingrich political aide.

"I think if he gets into the race he's going to be criticized for using this as a stepping stone, and it's something he's going to have to deal with. I don't think it would be fatal to him. I didn't think it was the smartest thing in the world, but yet at the same time it has created a lot of buzz".

Gingrich spoke to GPB last night about the charge put forth by critics.

"Nothing that we have done in American Solutions relates to campaigning. Any poll we give out we give out to both the Democrat and Republican party...all of our programs have been open to both the Democrat and Republican party...we've invited both Democrats and Republicans to participate. We've really tried to make this very open and available to anybody".

Gingrich has mentioned a number of 30-million dollars in pledges needed to fuel a jump into the presidential fray, and summed up his chances of getting into the race.

"I think the odds are probably 20-percent that we'll get pledges of 30-million dollars, and 80-percent that we won't. I'm pretty comfortable with that...I would have told you a month ago I thought it was 5-percent we would get it and 95-percent we wouldn't. So it has actually in my mind moved a fair distance in the last six weeks".

Gingrich said this is not about any ambition on his part, but about a citizen movement for change, and he’d be willing to be their candidate with enough support.

'Brothers at War' Filmmaker, Producer at Columbus Opening

In this 2008 photo provided by Samuel Goldwyn Films, brothers, from left, Isaac, Jake and Joe Rademacher pose in Decatur, Ill. Jake followed his two younger brothers to Iraq, filming them and their comrades for a film "Brothers at War," that will open in military towns in North Carolina and Georgia. (AP Photo/Samuel Goldwyn Films, Amy Denney) - AP

Jake Rademacher finally got to go to war.

It wasn't the way he had hoped – his childhood dream to attend West Point was dashed when poor eyesight kept him out. Instead, he followed two younger brothers to Iraq, filming them and their comrades for a film "Brothers at War," that opens this weekend in military towns in North Carolina and Georgia.

"My curiosity was more than intellectual," Jake said. "I had a personal reason to know what my brothers were going through..." Another filmmaker who hadn't wanted to go to West Point might not have been as interested in going to a war zone.

"Wanting to be a soldier played into my willingness to go to the edge of the fight and be there when the bullets were flying by my camera. ... and bring the audience with me."

The movie intertwines the story of the three brothers and other family members, along with soldiers at war and families at home. The film's inside, personal look at the battlefield and the homefront attracted the attention of actor Gary Sinise, who helped find distribution for the movie and eventually became its executive producer.

"This is a brother who wants to know about his own brothers. That gives it a heart," said Sinise, who last year received the Presidential Citizens Medal. The medal recognizes U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation. He was recognized for his work with the USO and with a group he co-founded, Operation Iraqi Children.

"You watch this young filmmaker go from somebody who doesn't know what he's getting himself into into someone who learns a helluva lot about his brothers, who gets to know them better than he did before and by doing that, gets to know a lot about himself."

Jake, 33, is the oldest of five brothers and two sisters who grew up in Decatur, Ill. He went to Iraq in 2005 and 2006, before the surge and, over time, embedded with four combat units.

One revealing scene occurs between U.S. snipers as they wait for insurgents to emerge. The two men talk about whether flowers are an appropriate Christmas gift for a girlfriend – one says yes, one says no – and a teddy bear that one bought for his girl, with her name on the front and soccer number on the back.

On his first visit, he was stationed with his brother, now-Maj. Isaac Rademacher. But that assignment, which consisted of hanging out for days with reconnaissance troops near the Syrian border, drew the disdain of his other brother, Staff Sgt. Joe Rademacher, a sniper who didn't think Jake had experienced the realities of war.

Joe so repudiated Jake's experience that he declined to hug Jake when Jake returned from his first trip to Iraq. It's one of the more excruciating scenes in "Brothers at War," when Jake jumps on Joe, and Joe backs away.

So Jake took up his brother's challenge and returned to Iraq, this time to the Sunni Triangle, at one point being shot at as he filmed and narrowly avoiding a roadside bomb that injured two Iraqi officers.

Joe, 23, "felt like I hadn't gone deep enough into the experience," Jake said. "I hadn't been in a sniper hide site ... things so important to his experience. It was a surprise to me that my little brother rejected my experience when I came home."

Isaac supported his brother's endeavor from the start, knowing how badly Jake had wanted to be a soldier.

"It did hurt his ego when I got in" West Point, said Isaac, 32, who recently was promoted to major and now is the operations officer for an armored cavalry squadron at Fort Bragg. "At the same time, he was happy for me. It's got to be hard to watch your younger brother succeed at something you tried to and it just didn't happen."

While he made the movie to teach civilians about war, Jake said soldiers and their families tell him it's helped them as well because it's allowed the troops to open up about their experiences.

The movie "illustrates and captures what it's like to be a soldier in Iraq," Isaac said. "A guy can sit there with his family and point at the screen and say there, that's almost exactly what I did over there. It gives you a start point to open that conversation."

On the 'Net: http://www.brothersatwarmovie.com/

Dalton's residents bewildered over bombing

Firefighters in Dalton facing smoke and flames from building destroyed in Friday's bombing. (Courtesy)

Barbara Russell's voice almost drops to a whisper as she tries to describe the deadly blast that interrupted her breakfast the other day.

"It was the loudest noise I've ever heard," she says, shaking her head. "You really can't believe it. It really hasn't sunk in "We're all trying to figure this out," says Steve Williams, a senior partner at the firm that was bombed. "It will be a long time before folks come to grips with this. We're just a little town in the Deep South."

The same sentiment kept coming up Sunday at the first town gathering since 78-year-old Lloyd Cantrell died when he bombed a law office that represented his son in a bitter family land dispute. The Friday morning blast killed Cantrell and injured four others at the law firm — and left residents struggling to reconcile how it could happen in their blue-collar town of 30,000.

Cantrell, easily recognized around town clad in bib overalls with a small Chihuahua in his arms, had been embroiled in a dispute with his son, Bruce, since 2006.

Bruce Cantrell had grown fearful of the father and hired a lawyer at McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, to file a lawsuit to keep his dad off the property. The 2006 complaint claimed the elder man stole tools, kicked in a door and threatened to kill himself. Cantrell had given the property to his son.

The Associated Press has been unable to reach Bruce Cantrell for comment.

On Friday, police were called to a disturbance at the firm, housed in a two-story, colonial-style home. An officer saw a man get out of a sport utility vehicle and run behind the building. Seconds later, an explosion tore into the office.

Four were injured, including attorney Jim Phillips, who was described as a longtime friend of Cantrell. Phillips is hospitalized with burns to one-third of his body. He was in critical condition Saturday, and officials didn't immediately return a call Sunday seeking comment on his condition.

Meanwhile, many residents shared a common realization: they simply haven't registered what happened yet.

"Nobody here in this room, nobody in this city was at fault," said Dalton City Police Chief Jason Parker. "I think we accept that. It's time for us as a city, as a community to band together."

The law firm, which has helped produce a generation of local judges and community leaders, was one of the town's "oldest and most important law firms," says Dalton Mayor David Pennington. The city has offered the firm temporary space at city hall, and the firm's lawyers say they're confident they will soon rebuild.

"I will not be run off," says Williams, the firm's partner. "I'm here for the duration." Williams and other residents quietly gathered at Dalton City Hall, talking in hushed tones about what happened — and what could have happened.

"Everybody is just sort of shocked," said Beth Campbell, a local bookkeeper dressed in her Sunday best who showed up at the meeting for some clarity after her pastor announced it at church. "In about two hours time we heard so many stories. You heard so many different things and I still haven't heard what happened."

Kermit McManus, Dalton's district attorney, predicts it could take years for the town to realize the enormity of the attack. He's clearly shaken by the blast, which he called "an attack on the judicial system."

"He was going to blow the whole building up as a result of this legal dispute," he says, shaking his head.

McManus works in a sparkling new county courthouse that fronts a large window. But if he had to build it again, he says, he'd feel safer if his office was built behind thick walls instead of glass.

"It's more devastating than we know," he says."I think it will change the way people think and it's going to change the way people do business."

His voice trails off.

"We don't think in those terms," he says. "Now we will."

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Dalton bombing.

Lawmaker proposes giving cops foreclosed homes

The typical mortgage is 30 years. But walk a beat in Atlanta, and that house could be yours in half that time — and for just a little money down.

As a solution to metro Atlanta’s foreclosure crisis, a lawmaker plans to propose giving foreclosed, abandoned homes to county police officers, who usually can’t afford to live in the neighborhoods they’re sworn to protect.

Of course, the deal would come with a catch: officers must agree to serve 15 years on the force before they get the property deed. And the board of commissioners would have to persuade lenders holding the liens to give several shuttered homes to the county in exchange for tax breaks.

“I thought somebody should be in these homes,” said Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts, who plans to introduce the idea to the board. “Here’s a way to help a group of people who put their lives on the line for us on a daily basis at a relatively minor cost.”

Cities across the country are trying to find solutions to filling up houses abandoned by people who couldn’t afford their mortgages. Several are using federal money to buy foreclosed properties and sell them at cut-rate prices or interest rates. Georgia has consistently been in the top 10 in foreclosed properties, with the nation’s sixth highest foreclosure rate in November, according to RealtyTrac, a Web site that tracks foreclosures.

Pitts said he thought of the plan after looking at all the empty homes in his southwest Atlanta neighborhood. The national foreclosure epidemic presents a bittersweet opportunity, he said.

“I think we have a short window because this probably won’t be the situation four or five years from now. If we can take advantage of it now, I think we’ll have a receptive audience,” he said.

For their part, officers would have to come up with $2,500 down payment and be responsible for all taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance. Pitts said he plans to meet as soon as next week with several “major lenders,” whom he declined to name, to discuss his plan.

“Here’s an opportunity for them to have some goodwill coming from the community in which they do business by helping with public safety,” Pitts said. “If we could get 200 (homes), that would be a good start.”

Some say the idea is a creative and original solution to a crisis.

“I’d think lenders would be very interested in stabilizing neighborhoods in which they have mortgages on other properties,” said Bruce Seaman, an economics professor at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

Programs that subsidize housing for public servants are being tried in other places. Grand Prairie, Texas, is offering foreclosed properties the city acquired with federal bailout money to government or district school employees, with the city helping with the down payment and closing costs.

The “Ohio Heroes” program offers a 30-year fixed mortgage at a reduced interest rate to first-time homebuyers in that state to military, firefighters, paramedics, police and teachers.

But free homes in exchange for years of public service seems to be a new idea.

And while it sounds like it would require financial institutions to be philanthropic, that is hardly the case, Seaman said.

“How many properties can it be?” Seaman said. “The departments aren’t huge. Lending agencies being asked to participate will find this, upon reflection, a very wise move on their part.”

The Fulton County Police Department has 130 officers, 18 fewer than its target number of 148. The starting salary is $32,646 for high school graduates, and $38,000 for officers with a bachelor’s degree, so finding houses they can afford in the city is tough.

Department spokesman Lt. Darryl Halbert said the agency is excited about the proposal.

“The officers are able to obtain a home for very little down, the community gets a police officer and the department can use this as a recruiting tool,” he said.

If it’s successful, firefighters or others could later be added.

“We can’t be everything to everybody in the beginning,” Pitts said.

Moving police into the neighborhood could help reduce crime and attract buyers to other abandoned homes, Seaman said.

Pitts also still must get the idea past the commission. Chairman John Eaves declined to comment on the issue through his spokesman, Darryl Hicks, who said there is not yet a proposal to consider.

Samuel F. Daniel said he would feel much safer in his northwest Atlanta home with an officer in the neighborhood, where many homes sit dark and are havens for drugs, prostitution, burglary and other crimes.

“I would like for one to move next door to me,” said the 85-year-old veteran. “That way, he’d see a lot of things I see and can’t do nothing about. The crime would probably go further down the street somewhere.”

(AP)

Ft. Benning: Soldier Mom, Kids Plan to Report for Duty

Lisa Pagan with her husband, Travis, and her children Elizabeth, 4, and Eric, 3, at their home in Davidson, N.C., on Friday. The mom has spent more than a year fighting her recall to active duty. (Chuck Burton/AP)

When Lisa Pagan reports for duty Sunday, four long years after she was honorably discharged from the Army, she will arrive with more than her old uniform. She is bringing her kids, too.

"I have to bring them with me," she said. "I don't have a choice."

Pagan is among thousands of former service members who have left active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, only to later receive orders to return to service. They are not in training, they are not getting a Defense Department salary, but as long as they have time left on their original enlistment contracts, they are on "individual ready reserve" status — eligible to be recalled at any time.

Soldiers can appeal, and some have won permission to remain in civilian life. Pagan filed several appeals, arguing that because her husband travels for business, no one else can take care of her kids. All were rejected, leaving Pagan with what she says is a choice between deploying to Iraq and abandoning her family, or refusing her orders and potentially facing charges.

Then she hit on the idea of showing up Sunday at Fort Benning, Georgia, with her children in tow.

"I guess they'll have to contact the highest person at the base, and they'll have to decide from there what to do," Pagan said. "I either report and bring the children with me or don't report and face dishonorable discharge and possibly being arrested. I guess I'll just have to make my case while I'm there."

'Obligations and commitments'
Master Sgt. Keith O'Donnell, an Army spokesman in St. Louis, said the commander at Fort Benning will decide how to handle the situation.

"The Army tries to look at the whole picture and they definitely don't want to do anything that jeopardizes the family or jeopardizes the children," O'Donnell said. "At the same time, these are individuals who made obligations and commitments to the country."

Of the 25,000 individual ready reserve troops recalled since September 2001, more than 7,500 have been granted deferments or exemptions, O'Donnell said. About 1,000 have failed to report. O'Donnell said most of those cases are still under investigation, while 360 soldiers have been separated from the Army either through "other than honorable" discharges or general discharges.

He said Pagan is not likely to face charges, since none of the individual ready reserve soldiers who have failed to report faced a court-martial.

Pagan, who grew up near Camden, N.J., was working in a department store when she made her commitment in September 2002. She learned how to drive a truck, and met Travis while stationed in Hawaii. She had her first child while in uniform, and they left the service in 2005 when their enlistments were up.

She always knew there was a chance she could be recalled, so she buried the thought in the back of her mind.

"When I enlisted, they said almost nobody gets called back when you're in the IRR," she said.

The young family settled outside of Charlotte in the college town of Davidson, where Travis landed a job as a salesman. It required lots of travel, but that was OK — Pagan enjoyed her life as a stay-at-home mom to their son Eric and second child, a daughter named Elizabeth.

She opened a child-care center in her home, and started taking classes at nearby Fayetteville State.

Mom makes her plea
The orders to return to active duty arrived in December 2007. She told the Army there was no one to take care of her children: Her husband spent most of his time on the road, and they believe quitting his job is a sure path to bankruptcy and foreclosure. Her parents live in New Jersey and her husband's parents live in Texas. Neither are able to help out. The Army was not persuaded.

Pagan hired attorney Mark Waple, who filed another appeal, which included a letter from Travis Pagan's employer that said bluntly: "In order for Travis to remain an employee, he will be required to travel." In December 2008, her appeal was again rejected.

"It's the obligation of commanders to make certain that service members have a valid family care plan and that clearly has not happened in Lisa's case," Waple said.

Tom Tarantino, a policy associate with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit group that helps veterans, said the Army has taken a hard line on many of these cases.

"Usually the only way that someone can get out of the deployment or get out of the military due to a family hardship is if they get into a situation where the kids will be put into foster care," Tarantino said.

"That's how serious it has to be, and I'm sure what the military is telling her — and I'm not saying that this is exactly the right answer — but the fact that it is inconvenient for her husband's job is not the military's problem. It's very harsh."

(AP)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of events at Fort Benning.

GOP leader: Chambliss in 'fight of his life'

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, talking with reporters about his election prospects and his Wall Street bailout vote at a press conference at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Oct 2, 2008. (file/Dave Bender)

This central-Georgia military town outside Robins Air Force Base should be a cakewalk on Election Day for Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. But ask people here if they support him and one finds surprising ambivalence, even hostility.

The mood has changed so much in recent weeks that Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart says Chambliss is in "the fight of his life."

"I think he will win," Everhart said prior to Georgia's GOP Victory Dinner in Atlanta last Tuesday. "But not by the large margin we expected early on."

Once considered a safe bet for re-election to a second term, Chambliss suddenly appears vulnerable amid a wave of anti-incumbent frustration and economic turmoil.

"I think everybody is just so totally dissatisfied with what's going on in Washington now that we feel like you probably can't get much worse, so you might as well try somebody new," said Jean Hammock, a longtime Republican who listens daily to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

His newly troubled candidacy is giving Democrats visions of approaching a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in next month's election, instead of just the four or five seats they had expected to take from Republicans. Democrats control the Senate 51-49.

Chambliss' "yes" vote for the $700 billion financial package earlier this month is the latest in a series of positions that haven't sat well with the conservatives who make up his base. He also faces a potential surge of newly registered Democratic voters excited about Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and a general anti-Republican sentiment after eight years of the Bush administration.

Without question, Georgia remains a GOP stronghold, and Chambliss is still favored over Democrat Jim Martin. The state supported President Bush with 58 percent of the vote four years ago. Martin would need impressive turnout — and perhaps a strong assist from Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley — to win.

But recent polls show Chambliss with a modest lead, but the race tightening. And Democrats relish the possibility of revenge against the man who, in a 2002 campaign ad, criticized Democratic Sen. Max Cleland's commitment to national security even though Cleland lost three limbs in the Vietnam War. Chambliss defeated Cleland with 53 percent of the vote.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, head of the Democrats' Senate campaign committee, said Martin and Chambliss are virtually tied, even in polls that Schumer believes don't fully capture Obama's effect on African-American and young voters.

"We're doing extremely well in places we didn't expect to do well," said Schumer. "Georgia was a surprise to us."

The Democratic committee, however, still doesn't list the state as a battleground, and so far hasn't put much money into the race. Schumer declined to say whether it will run ads in Georgia as it has in other competitive races. Georgia is "a state we're taking a very close look at," he said.

Martin has been running television ads throughout the state but trails Chambliss in fundraising. The Democrat has stepped up his attacks in recent days, criticizing Chambliss for his bailout vote and loyalty to Bush.

Chambliss said he always predicted the race would be tight. He knew he had not endeared himself to conservatives by supporting a compromise immigration package that drew him boos at a state GOP function last year and, more recently, championing a bipartisan energy measure criticized by Limbaugh and other conservative commentators.

He also was well aware of the political risks of supporting the bailout package. But he said Congress had little choice but to respond and try to contain economic losses. He's hoping sharp market declines in recent days will strengthen his case that action was urgently needed.

The senator downplayed suggestions that the bailout vote would make or break him.

"I've cast hundreds and hundreds of votes over the last 14 years," Chambliss, a former House member, told reporters before the GOP Victory dinner in Atlanta. "To say any one is going to cost me the election, that's just not the case."

At least one self-described lifelong Republican thinks otherwise. Ron Davis of Dallas, Ga., said he was so infuriated by Chambliss' bailout vote that he set up a Web site http://www.FireSaxby.com

"I never really followed politics closely. This was a wake-up call to me," the 31-year-old information technology administrator said.

Davis said he'll vote for Buckley in November, adding that GOP friends in his neighborhood are also disillusioned with Chambliss.

"I think he should be worried," Davis said.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News political coverage.

Atlanta: The clean-up and the accounting

Two cars are partially buried under the rubble of a twister-hit building. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Georgia officials say cleaning up the debris from the streets of downtown Atlanta won't take as long as repairing the financial damage caused by the tornado that ripped through the city's core.
Scrap metal dealer Jessie Callaway cautiously picks his way through the rubble of a brick building ripped apart by the tornado, March 16, 2008. Centennial Park area. (Dave Bender)

Scrap metal dealer, Jessie Callaway was born and grew up in the neighborhood. He's rummaging through a pile of metal shards in an old building. The twister ripped off two of the corner building's brick walls:

“Yeah, I clean up more ways than one. I'm fixin' to clean that up right now (laughs). It was devastating out here -- I just couldn't believe it -- I ain't never seen nothin' like this before in the state of Georgia.”

Several landmarks, including the Georgia World Congress Center, were in the path of the storm, which danced along the Atlanta skyline for about 20 minutes on Friday night. The city's main convention center and two major hotels find themselves hobbled as the convention season begins.

CNN Center and the Omni Hotel. TV trucks and cranes were a common sight in downtown Atlanta on Sunday morning. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender).

With the closing this weekend of the complex which includes the huge convention center, the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, the facility lost the Atlanta Home Show, a dental convention and much of the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament.

Workmen at the Georgia World Congress Center sweep up shards of glass, as glazier crews behind them replace windows shattered in the storm. March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Dan Graveline, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center, said today on a walking tour with reporters and that it's still too early to add up the damage. Graveline says he hopes repairs will begin soon, starting with the areas that can be fixed most quickly. Graveline says the damage that can't be seen at a glance is also a concern.

Atlanta resident Terry Lewis, who came downtown to survey the mechanized clean-up wearing a hard-hat, compared it to the havoc in her East Atlanta Village neighborhood, where a number of families suffered significant damage to their homes and vehicles:

“This is stunning ... [but] it was actually kind of more heart-wrenching to see what was happening with my neighborhood and my neighbors; the amount of home damage and car damage... yeah – there's not a lot of people here, so you're not seeing the human toll you're seeing in the neighborhood.”

Governor Sonny Perdue, who also was at the news conference, expressed relief and gratitude for the minimal loss of life and quick response of emergency workers.


A sign company crew re-welds a fallen billboard behind a car, its roof collapsed from falling debris. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Hotel officials say they are most concerned about getting the Georgia World Congress Center back into shape as a conference venue. They say their own facilities had minor damage in comparison.


The Westin Hotel is framed by a sign company's stinger truck cranes. Many of the hotel's windows were blown out by the winds. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Daniel Shmittou, whose renovation firm was called in to save a tornado-damaged structure on Saturday, has one word for the results:

“Devastating. I've been here since '79, and I've never seen anything like it. It's truly a sad day.”

Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who toured the area Saturday estimates the damages at upwards of 200 million dollars.

Click here for more GPB coverage of the storm and its aftermath.

(With The Associated Press)

Perdue mum on endorsement in Dist. 50 race

Gov. Sonny Perdue took pains Thursday to distance himself from a pamphlet distributed by Sen. Nancy Schaefer during the primary campaign that apparently suggested to some people the governor had endorsed her in the race for SD 50. He hasn’t endorsed anyone, he said. Schaefer finished second in a three-way primary battle and will face challenger Jim Butterworth in the runoff on Aug. 5.

Perdue commented during an appearance via telephone on the Martha Zoller show on Gainesville radio station WDUN. Zoller began by telling Perdue his name had been bandied about in the race and asked him if he wanted to address it.

“I trust the people of that Senate district to make their decisions. I don’t think they need a governor sitting in Atlanta from middle Georgia trying to tell them how to make those decisions. I know I had a few calls over a mail out that was done. It was unfortunate. I had not had any conversation with either of the candidates - either of the three candidates - in there regarding any kind of endorsements, and some people felt I had chosen sides and it was not the case and it’s not the case today.”

The question was raised a few minutes later in the program by a caller, and Perdue reiterated that he had “absolutely not” endorsed anyone in the race.

“If I were up there, I could be a little offended if the governor was trying to tell me how to elect my legislative representative.”

Even so, Perdue endorsed at least one incumbent senator during the primary elections - Sen. John Douglas - and perhaps others.

The pamphlet which Schaefer circulated included a photo with her and a shirt-sleeved Perdue, with this statement attributed to Perdue: “Nancy Schaefer is a strong voice in the Senate for Northeast Georgia and I count on her integrity and commitment in the state Senate.”

Butterworth led the July 15 voting with 6,865 votes, or 40.8 percent, to Schaefer’s 6,315, or 37.5 percent. Third-place finisher Terry Rogers got 3,649 votes, or 21.7 percent.

Following the broadcast, the manager of the Butterworth campaign, Dan Gassaway, said the pamphlet reflected "failed leadership" on Schaefer's part.

"Northeast Georgia needs jobs, lower taxes and real leadership," he said in a press release. "Unfortunately, all we have received from Schafer is a long line (of) disappointing political stunts designed to distract us from her failures."

Meanwhile, the two runoff participants are clashing over another issue: how to keep open a cannery in Habersham County. Schaefer announced this week she has asked Perdue for a $10,000 grant from his emergency fund to keep the cannery in operation until the county can find the money. Butterworth, who is chairman of the Habersham County Commission, said the county already has approved an $8,000 grant to keep the facility open for the harvest season.

(InsiderAdvantage Georgia)

Olympics: Fort Benning soldier wins gold

Spc. Walton Glenn Eller III of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga., bites his Olympic gold medal after winning the double trap event Aug. 12 at the Beijing Shooting Range. (Tim Hipps)

Eller set two Olympic records en route to winning a Gold Medal in double trap at the Beijing Shooting Range Tuesday.

Eller's score of 145 in the qualification rounds eclipsed the previous Olympic record of 144 set in the 2004 Athens Games by United Arab Emirates' shooter Ahmed Almaktoum, who finished seventh in Beijing, according to the Army News Service.

In double trap, competitors fire their 12-gauge shotguns from five adjacent shooting stations. At each station, two targets are thrown simultaneously from an underground bunker at speeds up to 50 miles per hour at set angles and height. The targets are thrown with a variable delay of up to one second and competitors get one shot per target.

"I realized with my last pair to go, 'Oh, the Olympic record is only 144. If I hit my last pair, I'm going to get the Olympic record,'" Eller said.

When Eller did that, he sensed that he was on his way to a spectacular day. He missed his first two targets in the final, but settled down and missed only three shots the rest of the way.

"If you shoot the Olympic record (in qualification rounds) and you've got a little bit of a lead, you expect to come out with Gold," Eller said. "But after I went out there (in the final) and missed that first pair, it was a little dicey there for a second, but I brought it all back together."

Eller's final score of 190 topped Almaktoum's world record of 189, also set in Athens. Italy's Francdesco D'Aniello won the silver medal in Beijing with a score of 187, and China's Binyuan Hu took the bronze with a 184 total.

"It's incredible," said the 26-year-old Katy, Texas native."I finally made a final in the Olympics. I came in like 12th (in Sydney) and 17th (in Athens), and finally came out and put a good day together. This was the only thing I was worried about for the last two years."

Explaining his key to success, Eller reached into his vest and revealed a handful of baseball cards.

"Hard work," the three-time Olympian said as he shuffled cards featuring Soldiers of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. "That, and I had my teammates with me. The military has been great to me. They've helped me fulfill a dream that, without them, I don't think would've ever happened. I owe everything to them."

Eller said he could not wait to give his parents a big bear hug:

"I'm going to go find my parents and celebrate," he said. "They've been here all week and to the last two Olympics watching me. To have them here and to finally win a Gold Medal for them is incredible. The crowd was amazing. The facilities were incredible."

Click here for more GPB News coverage of events at Fort Benning, and here for more on the Beijing Olympic Games.

GSU Accused of Anti-Muslim Bias

A Georgia State University professor and a former student accuse the institution of being anti-Muslim. They say GSU retaliated against them after they complained about racist remarks from faculty member.

Georgia State professor Dona Stewart said that last August one of her instructors who is Muslim- American asked her what to do about these racial remarks from another professor: "Things like was she carrying any bombs under her Islamic head scarf these were outrageous comments in public.”

Stewart told Selma Shelbayah to file an official complaint to the department dean. After that the professor apologized to the student, but a day later, Stewart said that the dean told her to fire Shelbayah, and she refused.

"I mean at that point, you have to realize, she’s a state employee. She’s under contract," said Stewart. "If I had removed her from that position without cause without due process, I would have committed an illegal act and I could have been held accountable for it."

Stewart believes because she didn’t comply, she herself was punished academically. At the time, she was the director of the Middle Eastern Institute. She’s since resigned.

"All institutional development of the institute came to a halt," Stewart said, "I was told there was no energy for Middle Eastern studies on campus."

Both Stewart and Shelbayah filed separate discrimination complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last year.

GSU is complying with the investigation and refutes the charges. GSU spokesperson Andrea Jones said, "In no way was retaliation taken against Stewart or the student as a result of the complaint."

Jones said that because of federal privacy guidelines, the college can't provide more details, but she pointed out that despite Stewart’s resignation... "She is still an employee of GSU and in April was promoted to full professor and had the dean’s full support on that."

Meanwhile, Stewart and Shelbayah’s lawyer James Radford, said it doesn’t look like the EEOC is going to take action. "They’re not at a point that they are going to act to enforce Title Seven," said Radford. "They’re not going to go to court.

Title 7 prohibits discrimination at the workplace. So, Radford said that his clients will sue if GSU doesn’t settle.

Female electric chair victim featured at film fest

Lena Baker (Georgia Encyclopedia.org)

The only woman ever to die in Georgia's electric chair - a victim of racial injustice in the Jim Crow-era South - is the focus of a movie that makes its world premiere this month at the 32nd annual Atlanta Film Festival.

"This is one I had to do first," said veteran actor Ralph Wilcox, 57, who wrote and directed "The Lena Baker Story" and produced it at a new 22,000 square-foot movie studio in rural southwestern Georgia.

"This film ... dealt with four issues that are really continuing today - abuse, addiction, the death penalty and the fourth and foremost is our faith," Wilcox said. "It was her faith that gave Lena her courage and fortitude."

The film is one of more-than 150 movies, documentaries and animations selected from some 1,600 submissions to be featured at the festival, which runs April 10-19 at Atlanta's Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, said festival executive director Gabriel Wardell.

"One of the reasons we choose it for opening night is that it is such an accomplished film, especially for a first-time director," said Wardell. "It's elegantly shot. It really captures the period, but also the beautiful landscape in southwest Georgia - cotton fields and sunsets. And it also has top-notch performances from a remarkable cast, especially Tichina Arnold in the lead role."

Arnold is cast in the role of Baker, a black housekeeper in Cuthbert who became romantically involved with an abusive, pistol-toting, gristmill operator, who was white. Baker and the miller, played by actor Peter Coyote, are portrayed as drunks, mired in an interracial relationship that was taboo in the segregated South.

Tichina Arnold

Others featured in the film are Beverly Todd as Baker's mother, Michael Rooker as the sheriff who arrested Baker and Chris Burns, the miller's son. All three urged Baker to break off the relationship with her hateful lover.

At her trial, Baker, a mother of three, said the miller held her against her will during a drinking binge and that she shot him with his own pistol after he grabbed an iron bar and threatened to hit her.

The jury of 12 white men didn't buy her self-defense argument. During the one-day trial on Aug. 14, 1944, her court-appointed lawyer didn't call a single defense witness.

The jury found her guilty of first-degree murder and a white judge sentenced her to die.

Her attorney filed an appeal, but withdrew from the case, leaving the appeal to be dismissed.
Baker's final words, shortly before her execution at the Reidsville State Penitentiary on March 5, 1945, were, "What I done, I did in self-defense. I have nothing against anyone ... I am ready to meet my God."

An undertaker buried her body behind the small country church near Cuthbert, where she had attended services and was a choir member. Her grave remained unmarked for more than five decades, until the congregation raised $250 for a cement slab.

For decades, Lena Baker was buried in an unmarked grave behind Mt Vernon Baptist Church, outside of Cuthbert, Ga. A simple headstone now designates her final resting place. (Muthoni Muturi, NPR)

At the request of Baker's family, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles granted her a pardon in 2005. The board did not find her innocent of the crime, but instead found that the decision to deny her clemency in 1945 was a grievous error.

Wilcox, who is black and spent more than six years in Africa producing documentaries on the work of missionaries, said he hopes the movie will give young people a better understanding of history and help them make responsible decisions in a world where atrocities and disasters still occur.

"I didn't want to vilify anyone ... or the system that was bad," said the Milwaukee-born filmmaker. "There are the villains, but also the saviors, black and white. It is a lesson in the evolution of how we go trough tyranny and struggle. It tells a story about a chapter in our history from which we can evolve."

Upon his return from Africa, Wilcox said he had a dream of making movies in rural Georgia. He eventually found a home in Colquitt, about 180 miles southwest of Atlanta, which already had a thriving arts council famous for its folk play, "Swamp Gravy," a Cultural Olympiad Event during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

With grants and donations, he built a multi-million-dollar movie studio in a former cotton patch, and like the arts council, hopes to use filmmaking as a vehicle for economic development in a rural area that has struggled to attract traditional industries.

The Lena Baker movie will be in distribution by the end of the year, Wilcox said.

Opera explores fear, power in retelling Talmadge vs. Pittman story

It’s not every day that college presidents get their lives turned into operas. But then again, not every college president had so nearly dramatic a tale as that of Marvin Pittman. An opera being staged this weekend at Pittman’s Georgia Southern University tells his story.

Marvin Pittman isn’t a household name today, but the events surrounding his firing as president of what was then Georgia Teachers College in Statesboro was scandalous national news in 1941. The opera, “Academic Under Siege,” begins long after his tenure – and that of the man who fired him.

The fiery Eugene Talmadge serves as the opera’s villain. Denounced by critics as a dictator and demagogue, Talmadge got the state’s white colleges disaccredited after Pittman was fired in 1941. Talmadge accused the academic of harboring integrationist views. Kyle Hancock plays Pittman in the opera.

“It’s not that Pittman was so much pro-integration back then,” Hancock says. “This would’ve been very early. It would’ve been quite a risk for Pittman actually to call for integration. But his ideas were very progressive and that was a threat to Talmadge.”

In the opera, Talmadge comes back from the dead to tell his story. He’s joined by his operative, Robert “Cowboy” Wood.

Talmadge had it out for Pittman after the college president demoted a professor who happened to be a friend of the Governor’s. Talmadge also didn’t like some of the things college faculty were researching in their professional roles. Still, it was a visit by faculty from all-black Tuskegee Institute that gave Talmadge the wedge he needed to force his way. Michael Braz is the opera’s composer.

“Talmadge was an opportunist,” says Braz. “He knew how to get elected and he knew what would appeal to the voters, particularly in the rural counties, the idea, you don’t want things changing. What he did is threaten that, if I’m not elected, things are going to change in ways you’re not going to like. So, he preyed upon that to get rural counties’ votes.”

Rural counties held enormous sway in Georgia under the old county unit system. Abolished in the 1960’s, it was a kind of winner-take-all Electoral College which gave small counties the power to out-vote larger ones. In one particularly snappy number, a suspender-wearing Talmadge, played by Pedro Carrera, sings:

Why waste your time in the stuck-up city,
When the best they can give you is a six?
I’ll take all the little tank-towns with their two-votes each
And tell them white folks and black folks will never mix.

Only one thing stood between the Governor and Pittman, the Board of Regents, the body that oversees state universities. When the Regents didn’t want to fire Pittman, Talmadge stacked the board with sympathetic members and Pittman was out. Composer Braz says, he could’ve made the opera about academic freedom or racial intolerance, but instead wrote an opera about fear and power.

“You simply have two diametrically opposed views of power,” Braz says. “Talmadge’s view is power by the numbers: How many numbers can I pile up to get elected each time or to get my way in a particular incident? As opposed to Marvin Pittman’s idea being that power is in the heart and mind and that power is achieved through education.”

The national scandal and disaccreditation of Georgia colleges that followed Pittman’s firing led to Talmadge’s electoral defeat in 1942. The opera ends with a victorious Pittman accepting accolades and Talmadge shouting from the periphery, “I’ll be back.” In fact, the segregationist did come back, but that’s another matter for Georgia history. “A Scholar Under Siege” will be staged tonight through Sunday at Georgia Southern University’s Performing Arts Center.

'Click It Or Ticket?' Not In a Ga. Pickup

Click image for .pdf brochure. (Courtesy of Ga. Governor's Office of Highway Safety)

Just about every state has responded to the pickup's rising popularity by requiring adults to wear seat belts in the trucks - except Georgia.

The fight over seat belts here is a familiar one, waged just about every year in the state Legislature with no resolution. No fewer than three House bills to require seat belts in pickups are now pending, and the Senate has already adopted its own proposal.

But there's hope this year that lawmakers could enact the changes, now that Georgia has emerged as the lone holdout state that doesn't require adults in pickups to wear seat belts.

"This is the year it should pass," said Sen. Don Thomas, a physician who sponsored one of the bills. "It's embarrassing. Instead of making our state look tough, it makes us look foolish."

There's little doubt that the laws could prevent dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries each year. On a nuts-and-bolts level, they can save millions of dollars in medical costs, not to mention help secure more federal highway money.

There are no known lobbyists lined up against the effort. But attempts to pass tougher seat belt laws here were blocked for years by lawmakers - particularly those from rural counties - who said wearing seat belts is a matter of personal freedom.

"I'm a free-spirited guy. I believe that people should wear their seat belts. I just don't believe the government should tell you to," said state Sen. Jeff Mullis, a north Georgia Republican who voted against the requirements. "It's really that simple. That's how I usually vote on these issues - anti-Big Brother."

The sentiment strikes a chord with many in south Georgia.

"We got enough laws on the books for law enforcement to enforce, and the seat belt law is another way to tack on something,"

said Phil Burrell, a 34-year-old pickup truck driver who lives in Sylvester, a southwest Georgia town of about 6,000.

He said he'd abide by the new law if it passes, but he's not sure it would make him safer.

"When the Good Lord calls me home," he said, "a seat belt ain't gonna stop it."

It's that type of fierce backlash that derailed earlier efforts to pass seat belt legislation.

State Rep. Calvin Hill, a north Georgia Republican, figured he had a great shot to do it two years ago. Insurers, public safety groups and auto associations lined up in favor of his bill, and he armed lawmakers with statistics on the number of lives a tweaking of the law could save. The bill, however, never made it to a vote.

"There's still, throughout rural Georgia, the thought that having a seat belt on a pickup is such an invasive thing on their privacy," said Hill.

Indiana used to be aligned with Georgia on the pickup seat belts question. But that state enacted a law last year requiring seat belts in trucks after lawmakers agreed to also block police from using checkpoints to enforce seat belt compliance.

Thomas concedes a compromise in Georgia may be trickier.

"They don't want government interfering with what we do. But what's the difference buckling up in a pickup truck and buckling up in a car?" said Thomas, a Republican. "We talk about being conservatives and saving lives and saving taxpayer dollars. This is an excellent opportunity to prove it."

Click here for more GPB News coverage of transportation and safety issues.

(The Associated Press)

Savannah Property Crimes Spike

Police officials in Savannah today took responsibility for a sharp rise in property crime. Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Chief Michael Berkow released preliminary crime numbers for 2008. And they show that while the economy tanked, thieves and burglars had a good year

Property crimes in Savannah jumped an eye-popping 14% last year. Chief Berkow went before microphones and senior staff and didn't even try to downplay the numbers in year-end crime statistics.

"I can't and I won't sugar-coat the property crimes," he says. "We got our butt kicked this year."

Car thefts, purse snatchings and that bicycle that someone took from your yard in broad daylight -- they're all up. Even while violent crimes decreased about 3%, Chatham County residents lost all types of things to criminals who refuse to get their own. Michael Shortt's laptop and camera were stolen from a locked car in two-separate burglaries.

"It's the same problem that Savannah's always had," Shortt says. "It's property crimes."

Shortt is an anti-crime activist who hosts a local television show on legal issues. He admits, he virtually invited the thief to take his stuff by leaving it in plain sight, a common complaint by police.

"By the same token, you can't help but feel violated," he says. "I mean, your car's parked in your neighborhood and you went to the trouble to lock your car and you can't leave the tiniest thing in there."

Other crimes showed better numbers. Homicides remained relatively steady at 26, rapes decreased by more than half to 37 and a five-year trend showed all violent crimes going down, even while population increased. Rolfe Glover is a money manager who leads a city crime task force. He credits Chief Berkow for improving police operations since he came to office about two-years-ago, but says he's withholding judgement on the property crime numbers.

"What we have seen recently of this police force is that it seems to be organized in a way that can react and be responsive to crime trends," Glover says. "And it'll be a test for this new organization to see if they can react quickly and deal with this issue."

For his part, Chief Berkow is both stopping and passing the buck.

"We accept responsibility for that. We're addressing that. We're attacking it," he says. "But, we're part of the criminal justice system. And we are dramatically impacted by the reality that over 40% of the individuals we've arrested for burglary are still out on the street.

Berkow blames increased property crimes on the down economy and budget cut backs in state crime labs, parole offices, federal grants and the corrections department. He says, the real eye-popping figure is the number of repeat offenders being let loose.

74-Year-Old Ga. Army Combat Doc On 3rd Combat Tour

Dr. John Burson speaks during an interview at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009. Burson, 74, a retired ear nose and throat specialist from Carrolton, Ga., was at Fort Benning finishing a week-long training course before being deployed for a 90-day rotation with the 101st Airborne Division. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Dr. John Burson balked when a skeptical Army staffer asked him to undergo a three-day physical exam to make sure he was fit to deploy as a field surgeon to Afghanistan.

"Look, I'm training to run a half-marathon," replied Burson, 74, a retired lieutenant colonel. "You come down and check to see if I can make it."

Burson won the debate and was declared fit for duty. The ear, nose and throat specialist from Carrolton wrapped up a weeklong training course this week at Fort Benning before his scheduled deployment Friday for a 90-day rotation with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division.

The first of two stints in Iraq proved unforgettable back in 2005, he said. Burson was among several doctors assigned to keep watch over an imprisoned Saddam Hussein.

The fallen dictator, who was three years younger than Burson, told him: "I'm glad they sent me one with gray hair this time."

"He likes to say, 'Where else can a 74-year-old go and have fun?'" said Barbara Burson, his wife of 53 years. "I don't know if I see it as fun, but he enjoys doing it. And anyone would feel good about being able to contribute."

In Afghanistan, Burson will oversee a medical staff treating about 1,000 soldiers. He'll likely spend much of his time working in a base clinic, but could be called to treat soldiers wounded during combat patrols. When he served in Iraq, it wasn't unusual for him to work through mortar rounds being fired at his base camp.

"There's an element of risk," Burson said. "But statistically it's probably not any more hazardous than driving to work."

Lt. Col. Twanda Young said about 400 soldiers, reservists and civilian contractors go through the Fort Benning training center she commands each week, preparing to join units already overseas. Burson isn't the only gray-haired volunteer she's seen — but she said his abilities make his age irrelevant.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about Fort Benning and military affairs.