Georgia Gazette

I'm Sid Hoskinson and this is Georgia Gazette. On today's edition, the trial of nearly two dozen demonstrators arrested during a protest against the Army School of the Americas in Columbus ends with jail sentences and fines. We'll take a look at an Athens Rape Crisis Center where victims are counseled and women are taught to be more aware. The Cab County Titan Security at its public schools and centers plus a video review of a movie you've probably never heard of, but we'll want to rent after you hear about it. Stay with us. Nearly two dozen protestors arrested during a demonstration against the Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning near Columbus were shocked by the punishment meted out this week by a federal judge.

Susanna Capeluto attended the trial. She has this story. On Wednesday, federal judge Robert Elliott found 22 opponents of the U.S. Army School of the Americas guilty of trespassing and gave them the maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $3,000 fine. The mostly elderly defendants were part of a peaceful demonstration last November at Fort Benning where the school, which trains Latin American soldiers, is located. Many of the protesters were shocked to find out the severity of their sentence. Kenneth Cannon is a pastor of the Christian Church of Disciples of Christ in Tucson, Arizona. I have never been in prison, but it looks like I'm going for six months whether I like it or not. It's just an example of justice turned completely upside down in the United States. Cannon was among 601 people last November who entered Fort Benning carrying crosses and coffins. They were commemorating the eighth anniversary of the killing of six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador.

The UN Truth Commission says that 19 of the 26 soldiers who were involved in the killing were graduates of the School of the Americas. The 22 defendants at this week's trial were singled out from the crowd because they had entered Fort Benning in protest before and were now charged with criminal trespass. Rita Lucy from Orlando was a grandmother of six and the wife of a career military man. I'm very angry at this point and I don't know what the purpose of this whole trial was. I feel strongly that it had been pre-decided what our sentence was going to be and that there was no argument in this whole thing at all regardless of what we said or what our attorney said. Lawyers for the defense argued that the protesters felt so strongly about the need to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas that they had no choice but to re-enter Fort Benning in protest and they argued that those who speak in favor of the school are always welcome on the military base, therefore those who oppose it should have the same right. The judge Robert Elliott who had sentenced School of the Americas protesters before had

little mercy. He said that the issue before him was not whether the motives for trespassing were high and lawful but whether the defendants crossed the line and entered Fort Benning. 72-year-old World War II veteran Nicholas Cordell never thought he'd go to jail for what he calls expressing his views. It's kind of full circle, you know, from POW Prisoner Award, a political prisoner. You know, we used to be proud of saying that we're not like those other countries that have political prisoners, but we do. I've just found out. Most protesters expected to be found guilty of trespassing onto federal property but none expected the maximum sentence, not even the defendant's lawyer Robert Gottlieb, who pleaded with the judge for leniency. This is not the sort of case. These are not the sort of people who should ever receive a maximum term of imprisonment. We heard you pleaded with the judge to give them, you know, community service, etc.

I mean, so you absolutely did not expect the judge to be this harsh to you. Well, I would never expect a judge to sentence people who commit this sort of offense if he finds them guilty. I would never expect them to receive a maximum term of imprisonment. Clients in the past of mine who have received maximum terms of imprisonment are individuals who have heard people who, because of their backgrounds, simply have no redeeming qualities. That certainly doesn't apply to these good people. Some protesters believe the harsh sentence was meant to weaken further opposition to the school. Petty and men is a former school teacher from Mead, Washington. The first year that we were here, we had 13 people crossed the line in 50 spectators. The next year we had 60 people crossed the line in 500 spectators. The third year we were here, we had 2,500 spectators, 5 times the number, and 600 people crossed the line. They are definitely afraid of the demonstration that will take place next year, and they're

trying to make an example of us by intimidation, coercion, repression of our rights in every possible way they can to scare other people around the nation from coming back next year. The Pentagon seized the U.S. Army School of the Americas as an important foreign policy tool, and officials with the school of the Americas say the school should not be blamed for human rights abuses by some of its graduates, but schools spokesperson Captain Kevin McGaver admits that opposition to the school is growing. The movement's growing, I mean, they put out a lot of misinformation, a lot of people believe it. They don't do research to take a look at what the school is doing today, the mission, the graduates, what the graduates are doing. Yeah, they're gaining attention, they're gaining, they have big support in a lot of places, but we'll see what the outcome is. McGaver says school officials aren't worried that Congress will cut funding for the school anytime soon, but Father Roy Bourgeois, the founder of the movement to close the school,

says handing out maximum sentences to peaceful protesters will only further his cause. Well, as I was listening to all of these harsh sentences being given out, I could not help but believe that Judge Elliott and the U.S. Army demanding that we be sent off to prison with these harsh sentences, they are only helping the movement. And so I say to them, thank you. Thank you. To help us close down this school of assassins, thank you. The convicted protesters have vowed, if possible, to return this coming November to Fort Benning for another demonstration. I'm Susanna Capeluto. It's likely that Ethan Cereal Rapist, John Cieska, will spend the rest of his life behind bars, but that doesn't guarantee peace of mind for the women he assaulted or the community

he terrorized. There is help available, though, at the Athens Rape Crisis Center. As Melissa Gray reports, the RCC not only counsels victims of assault, it also helps educate the public about the realities of rape. The call could be anything, a student who's writing a paper and needs statistics on sexual assaults, or someone wanting to schedule a sexual assault awareness seminar, or a person who's just been raped. We provide services from immediately after a rape until a victim no longer requires service. We also serve victims of past rapes who maybe didn't get services at the time of their rape. Nancy Newton has helped direct the Athens Rape Crisis Center since 1991. During that time, she has answered calls on the rape hotline, counseled rape victims, and educated the public about sexual assaults. It's important, but difficult work, and recently it's taken her to Gainesville, where she

served as court advocate for the victims of convicted serial rapist, John Cieska. That case outraged the Athens community, and increased support for the services provided by the rape crisis center. But Newton worries that Cieska's conviction will give residents a false sense of security. Somebody asked me the other day, well, you know, so now that the Cieska trial is over, what are you all going to do? You know, I want everyone to know, as important as the Cieska trial was, we had numerous new cases, new clients to serve, plus all of the clients that, you know, of our ongoing clients. And, you know, we serve over 300 people a year. A fear I have is that when so much attention is given to a stranger serial rapist, people are not aware that for, you know, every stranger rape that is happening, there's 80 or 90 other rapes by people who know the victim going on that are just as devastating as stranger rape.

Newton says the more a person learns about the reality of rape, the safer that person becomes. And that's one reason why the rape crisis center presents sexual awareness programs to schools, civic groups, and anyone interested in reducing their chances of becoming a rape victim. The first thing I did when I got to Athens was look up RCC and try and figure out how to get involved. Cara Danner is on her way to an all-female residence hall on the UGA campus. As the rape crisis centers prevention educator, it's her job to make young women face the facts and their own misconceptions about rape. One thing that I see over and over again, and it doesn't seem to matter whether I'm talking to young people or college students or professional students as people just really want to place the blame on the victim. They want to, you know, it might be different, but people want to rationalize that they want to be able to find some kind of way where, you know, if she hadn't been there, if she hadn't been wearing this or hadn't done that, then it wouldn't have happened. I think it's really important that we remember that this crime happens, that we put that

blame back on the perpetrator where it belongs. Danner says that a lot of young women can be very naive when it comes to rape prevention, despite the statistics, one in every four women will experience an attempted sexual assault in their lifetime, and most of these assailants will be someone the victim knows. It can happen to you. That's the point hammered home to a dozen co-eds who've taken a study break to participate in Danner's discussion. So when you were talking about age in here, what's the age of consent in the state of Georgia? 18? 18? 16? 16? 16. So that's not important. That is an important part that we weren't talking about, but the third factor that you guys didn't mention that it has to be heterosexual, has to be man-made. Danner is joined by rapes survivor and now rape awareness educator Jenny Brecker. Brecker says she volunteers as part of her healing process, and she gets a lot of satisfaction when young women learn to be more careful. To look beyond the obvious, but don't overlook it, and sometimes that's kind of what happens

with sexual assault, is that things are so obvious, like the fact that the majority of it happens with acquaintances, but it's something that they don't realize, and when you just kind of put numbers on those occurrences, it kind of puts a light bulb up for them, and it makes them a little more aware, even if it's just for a little while. The presentation has made an impact on these students. Misty says she's learned a lot from Brecker and Danner. I can take into account the situations that I have ignored before. I go into my car, you know, at night just to get a CD out of it or walking down there by myself, just to go and work out, you know, I think, well, you know, I surely nothing will happen, and I mean, I don't need to be thinking like that, because things do happen all the time. Misty plans to take a self-defense class next and says it's good to know that the rape crisis centers, helping people like her, look out for themselves. I'm Alyssa Gray. No is a complete sense, period. Do not forget that. The Athens area rape crisis center serves a 10 county area and is always on the look out for new volunteers if you're interested in helping out or if you need help yourself

call 7-0-6-5-4-6-11-33. The Cab County would argue its public school system with 13,000 employees and 93,000 students is the largest in the state. With so many people coming and going, school officials have instituted new security measures, including one design to make strangers in school buildings easier to spot. John Snotterley is an area executive director and the chair of the Systemwide School Safety Committee.

Good morning. Good morning to you, Ms. Haskinson. Will tell me what exactly are you doing? Well, as the chair of the Systemwide Security Committee, our purpose is to conduct a sort of an ongoing review and evaluation of security procedures as it relates to the safety of personnel in the school system and, of course, to make recommendations to improve and strengthen that. One of the recommendations that we have made that has been implemented as of this date is all school system employees wearing identification badges that are visible. We've never done that before, and it's involved the taking of some 13,000 pictures of employees in the school system during the first semester of this school year in order to get that done. But we do have an attractive ID badge that each employee now wears while they're on duty. And it kind of makes the place a more friendly environment and it raises the level of security awareness in the school, and I think it says to our communities that we're serious about

improving the quality of safety in every school. You've also added help from a couple of canine security officers, is that correct? Yes, that's true. They're the newest additions to our staff, though, to speak. And we have one dog named Bodie, who is a gunpowder-snaping dog. And he is so good that the other day, he hit on a lighter, which had a flint in it behind a closed door, and you can imagine how small that flint is, but it was made of gunpowder. So that's one of the dogs. We have the other is a drug-smelling dog, and we do cursory or regular intruder alert in all of our secondary schools and use the drug dog. Now, why are you doing this, did any particular event prompt the added security? No, there hasn't been any one thing that triggered this, although we have had a couple of tragedies in our school system during the last year or two, at the alternative school,

which is a school for expelled students, where a student shot and killed a teacher. This was over a year ago. And this year, we had a student, a nice, another student at school, and the student, unfortunately, dead. Neither one of these students, by the way, were in school that day, officially. But those were two of the things that have happened that kind of raises your interest level on trying to do a better job. Do you know how the cab county compares to the other school systems in Georgia? First of all, we have approximately 92,000 students, we're the largest school system in the state of Georgia. So if you go on a number of incidents, we probably have more of those kinds of things than others, just because of the numbers. But we do have a discipline program in place in every single one of our schools, and students are given a, for lack of a better word, discipline brochure, and they are taught the student

rights and responsibilities by every teacher, and each student is tested on the student rights and responsibilities, and it's continued to be tested until they pass the test. This is done at the very beginning of the school year. Students must sign acknowledging that they have received this and done it. We also provide this for parents, and we go through it again during the second semester, which is about right now. So that's one aspect of the student discipline program in the schools. I'm puzzled. What does this increase this added security say about education these days? It says that you can't take anything for granted anymore, and if somebody makes a threat, then you have to take it seriously, and you have to address it, and you have to treat it as if you would not knowing whether or not the student meant it or not. There's our society today is a society which includes a lot of violence, and unfortunately sometimes this violence, the drugs, spills over into the schools, because don't forget,

we're a public school system, and every one of those kids that live in the school and community get up in the morning and come to school. So we put them all under one roof, so we have to go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure for their safety and their education. We're going to provide crisis prevention and intervention training for each one of our teachers. We haven't gotten that off the ground just yet, we're looking to get a grant and a law enforcement grant from the Calb County in order to do this, but we do expect that that will take place within the next year. We also provided each teacher with an emergency response brochure which gives detailed information about how to respond to every imaginable emergency that could possibly occur in the school system. We also added two new school detectives to our existing force which was seven. The superintendent has approved and principal the appointment of a system-wide safety director,

which we do not have at the present time, and one of the things that I'm most excited about is due to the one-cent sales tax that was passed this last year, each school will have a package of $30,000 to buy security equipment such as surveillance cameras, monitors, outdoor lighting, fencing, handheld metal detectors, and each school has a safe school committee which will plan the expenditure of these funds based on the needs of that particular school. And lastly, but certainly not, the last thing, or on the bottom of the stack, is the fact that every classroom in every school has the capability of calling the front office and asking for assistance. We have not had that before. Well, thank you very much. Well, you're very welcome. John Snotterly is an area executive director and chairman of the system-wide school safety committee in DeCab County. Georgia Gazette commentator David Clark thinks security could have been a lot better where

he lives. No bull. Greetings from Calcran, Georgia. I'm actually on location outside of Ruby, Georgia, where a massive search has been in progress for the past 36 hours. When initially queried about the reason for the search, one local resident commented, uh, they're looking for a cow. Just an hour or so ago, this explanation was clarified. That's not a cow they're looking for. It's a bull. 2,000 pounds jumped right over a six foot fence. They got a sheeped kill order out of that bull right now, and they put it in for the second batch of tracking dogs to go after them. The first batch got sidetracked by an old dead possum on the gumswant bridge. This is not just any 2,000 pounds we're talking about here. This is 2,000 pounds of black angus bull. He lived peacefully for seven or eight years, about eight miles away as the crow flies in K.R.

Georgia, but his owner needed to work on some fence, so he brought the bull down to spend a few days in a field next to Old Mr. Frank's house. This pasture next to Mr. Frank's is nice and all that, and no one is blaming Mr. Frank. But for some reason, this bull didn't like it in that field. One man came in the feed mill until a whipped accent might have been because Mr. Frank was an old-time Republican. Well, you got to believe that old bull must have him some sort of part of leanings. You know they ain't no Democratic bull ever set still very long next to an old-time Republican. Reports are in that indicate the bull is headed towards Goldsboro, a small community up on the Dublin Highway about four miles from here right there at the Peach State Radio Tower. We got to find that bull. Just thinking what would happen to that little car years for you to hit that bull go in 70 miles an hour. I checked with the physics department at Middle Georgia College. I found that if a car weighing 2,900 pounds going 70 miles an hour, it hit a 2,000 pound bull.

And the car in the bull moved 10 feet after the impact. The collision would equal a force of 47,000,500 pounds or 1,480 Gs. The average man can't stand any more than about 13 Gs. If the car in the bull only moved five feet, the force of the impact would double to 95,000 pounds. The physics professor didn't have a way to calculate how mad the bull would be after this theoretical car hit him, or the effects of the bull's anger on the car, but simply pointed out that the bull's anger notwithstanding it would not be a pleasant scenario for the driver. What are the prospects of finding this bull? Well, you got to figure this bull can run for a long time. He don't understand the road, you know. It's obvious he ain't worried about no fence. We've seen his tracks and all, but we just can't find him. He's kind of got him in advantage at night, since the black bull and the wood just don't show up too good. And then say you find him, what are you going to do with him?

It's not like you can just grab him by the ear and drag him to the truck. We've had whole crews of men looking for him, whole neighborhoods, kind of like your neighborhood watch groups, they're on the lookout for that bull. All in having information on the whereabouts of the bull, entering to the name of Elvis, is advised to call whip docks at the feed mill, where a special Bureau of Wayward Bulls has been set up. David Clark comes to us from Cochran, Georgia. Georgia Gazette is starting something new, video reviews of movies that didn't have a wide theater distribution, but are still very much worth seeing on your VCR at home. Today independent films at the box office seem to be the norm, thanks in part to the success

of a strange little low budget film called Sex, Lies and Video Tape. After the film's director, Steven Soderbergh took home the highest honor from the Cannes Film Festival in 1989, his future success with the big studios seemed assured. Unfortunately, Soderbergh stumbled coming out of the gate. He seemed to lose his focus and his last two follow-up films didn't live up to expectations. Last year, tired of being under big studio pressure to fill theaters, Soderbergh decided to return to his low budget roots, where he created what reviewer John Robinson calls an uncompromising surrealistic dark comedy that's all his own. That film is the virtually unseen skit's opulence. When I say that this is the most important motion picture you will ever attend, my motivation is not financial gain, but a firm belief that the delicate fabric that holds all of us together will be ripped apart, unless every man, woman and child in this country

sees this film and pays full ticket price not some bargain, mat and hate cut, great deal. Shot on a shoestring budget with only friends, family and cohort is both cast and crew. Skitsopolis also happens to feature as its star. Who else but Steven Soderbergh? Soderbergh plays Fletcher Munson, a corporate drone who works for a blatantly scientology like organization, headed by a motivational guru cum CEO named T. Asmith Schwitters. Munson spends or wastes most of his time dealing with tedious corporate politics, avoiding neurotic co-workers and agonizing over his duties as a speech writer. Munson, I don't need to tell you how critical this is. Here's what I need. It should be serious, but with a slight wink. If you must mention facts and figures, don't do so directly. The general thrust should remain embedded in one's mind forever, but specific words should be forgotten the moment they heard.

It should be on my desk Friday morning. Meanwhile, his domestic life is suffering, as his wife, amazingly played by his real life ex wife Betsy Brantley, is having an affair with an obsessive dentist who happens to be Munson's double-ganger and is of course also played by Soderbergh. Then things really get crazy when the dentist falls for a patient who is Munson's wife's double. And all this takes place in three parallel time structures. Skitsopolis is loaded with endless sight gags and bizarre non-sequitors like the bug exterminator character who quits the film halfway through after some people walk on the set and offer him higher wages and a starring role in another film. It's easy to see why the video box warns that all attempts at synopsizing the film have ended in failure and hospitalization. Because a mere plot summary really betrays the film's free comic spontaneity, kind of like someone describing a Monty Python sketch to you that you haven't seen. No, it was Army. Vienna Dog Clown. Dog Clown Landmine. Soderbergh also hilariously plays with both cinematic and spoken language codes.

In a seduction scene, the characters speak complete nonsense, but because of their inflection, we know what they mean. Furthermore, domestic life has become so routine for Munson that he and his wife speak only in descriptions to the audience of what they are really saying. Generic greeting. Generic greeting returned. Eminence, sustenance. Overlead dramatic statement regarding upcoming meal. Oh. False reaction indicating hunger and excitement. It's important to note that Soderbergh himself is an incredible actor and deserves to be doing serious comic acting rather than moonlighting as a script doctor to pay the bills. Part biting cultural commentary, part meditation on language and communication, and all absurdist humor. Skitzopolis is the kind of intelligent fun that's easily in league with the best films of Louis Bunwell. But, as Soderbergh says in his Ed Wood style film introduction. In the event that you find certain sequences or ideas confusing, please bear in mind that

this is your fault, not ours. You will need to see the picture again and again until you understand everything. Turn. For Georgia Gazette, I'm John Robinson. Reviewer John Robinson works at movies worth seeing in the Virginia Highlands community of Atlanta. Until the come on Georgia Gazette, protesters demonstrate for affirmative action, a campaign to mark the graves of two black couples lynched in Walton County more than 50 years ago.

Muslims celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, plus South Georgia native and author, Jenna Stardey. You won't want to miss anything, so stick around. The battle over affirmative action is starting to heat up in the Georgia General Assembly. Some makers are considering three bills that would prohibit state and local agencies from discriminating or granting preferences based on race, gender, religion, or national origin. The controversy has galvanized affirmative action supporters who believe the programs are in real danger, and they've taken their message to the state capital. James Argroves has more. Much students, labor leaders, and civil rights advocate shouted out the numbers of two of the anti-affirmative action bills while marching from Centennial Olympic Park to the state capital this week. They marched in a driving rain to show their opposition to the bills because they believe

that dismantling the programs would have a chilling effect on those who have benefited from them. After the march, the group staged a rally to denounce legislative attempts to do away with affirmative action. Meeting the speakers was Millageville Senator Floyd Griffin, who told the crowd that he is both shocked and angered that some of his colleagues want to turn back the clock. We should not have to be doing this in 1998. I served my country in Vietnam, flying helicopters. I served my country at the Pentagon, and here again in 1998, I have to stand here with you on this cold day, on this cold day, saying that I'm not going to be turned around. Griffin said he and other black lawmakers will fight any attempts to get rid of affirmative action. Another speaker warned the legislators to tread carefully around the issue. Lonnie Miley, director of the Macon Bibb County Branch of the NAACP, said any vote to

dismantle the programs will be remembered on election day. You are to tell the Republicans and the dissecrats, your time is up. We will tell everybody all across America to nuke, gingrich, and to nuke wannabees, your time is up. If you're a for right, your time is up. This week's march was the latest in a series of demonstrations in favor of keeping affirmative action. Last week's civil rights leaders gathered inside the state capital to voice their support for the program. They addressed the issue during ceremonies commemorating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., saying Dr. King would have been angry that his home state was trying to end programs he helped start. Reverend Joseph Lowry, former director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said civil rights leaders will do whatever it takes to keep the bills from passing.

What you have done is wake up a sleeping giant. We may have been half-hearted, but now we're wholehearted. We're ready to march. We're ready to go back to jail. We're ready to do whatever necessary in the context of non-violence. So you can't turn back the clock. Lowry also unveiled another weapon in his battle with affirmative action foes, saying he will help organize a national economic boycott of Georgia products and services if any of the bills go through. But the threats and demonstrations have had little impact on opponents of affirmative action. Powder Springs Representative Earl Earhart, a sponsor of one of the bills, and he says regardless of what Lowry and others say, it's time to end the programs. How many people civil rights is it okay to trample on? It's not even one, as far as I've concerned.

Hundreds is a lot. It's in, it is an epidemic in the contracting in this state. Every public contract that's out there has a racial waiting criterion, whether or not you use a minority or women business enterprise. That is wrong. Use economic circumstances, use something, but don't use race. The question for lawmakers is whether they're willing to tackle the issue during an election year. Many legislators, especially those in rural areas, would like to see the issue die because they're sure to alienate one segment of their constituency regardless of their vote. The debate also has the potential to cause a rift in the Democratic Party between those same rural white legislators and urban black lawmakers. But some believe that despite the ramifications, the General Assembly will address the issue of affirmative action this session. I'm James R. Groves. We're going to let the Democrats now, we're going to, we're going to, you know, we're

going to. On July 25th nineteen forty-six, in a remote patch of woods in Walton County known as Moors Ford, a white mob shot to death to black men and to black women. The murder sparked a national outcry that prompted then President Harry Truman to send the FBI to Walton County to investigate. But the crime was never solved and to this day, the victim's graves remain unmarked. In the past, a number of people tried to raise support to memorialize the murdered four, but they met with resistance and sometimes open hostility.

Now, however, more than 50 years later, a group of Georgians, Black and White, are closer than ever to honoring the memories of the four who were lynched. Steve Licktye, of Member Station WUGA, has the story. The steady flow of the Appalachee River offers no reminder of what happened along its Walton County banks more than 51 years ago. Even the original wooden bridge is gone, replaced by a concrete structure that's covered with graffiti, much of it racist. What does remain and what a group of citizens wants to preserve is the memory of what an angry lynch mob did to four people along the river's edge, one hot July afternoon. It was a group of whites, we think mostly local whites, who dragged the blacks out of their cars and lined them up and shot them. They were shot so many times that they were practically unrecognizable. Rich Rusk lives just a few miles from the Morris Ford Bridge and is one of the founding

members of the Morris Ford Memorial Committee. Rusk says the lynching at the bridge happened because a black man, Roger Malcolm, had stabbed a white farmer. Malcolm believed the white farmer was having an affair with his wife. Rusk says the other three victims, Roger Malcolm's wife, her brother and his wife, were killed simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. While some residents of Walton County have expressed an interest in seeking out the still living members of the lynch mob and bringing them to trial, Rich Rusk insists the Morris Ford Memorial Committee has no interest in retribution, just remembrance. Clearly we want to honor these victims and meet at that bridge, the Morris Ford Bridge where both races have been stuck for the last 50 years. Meet at that bridge in a memorial service and go across that bridge together. Just off the main drag through Monroe, Georgia, behind a small engine repair shop, lies an

overgrown patch of earth littered with beer bottles, an old hot water heater and other assorted junk. But a walk through the dead leaves and fallen branches reveals more than a hundred body length impressions in the soft ground. These impressions are unmarked graves, one of which holds the remains of May Murray Dorsey, one of the victims of the Morris Ford lynching. On this day, a few members of the Morris Ford Memorial Committee are at this once forgotten cemetery to stake out the graves of these former black citizens of Walton County, including that of May Murray Dorsey. One of the volunteers is Robert Howard. He first learned of the Morris Ford lynchings as a young man in 1968. At the time, he had just one thing on his mind.

I was really going out for prosecution, that's the only thing I heard on my mind, I thought the only thing that we resolved to say would be to get those dogs that did it, but nobody would talk. Nobody. Just a no-win situation, nobody would really talk, nobody they'd get angry with, if you try to talk to them about Morris Ford. In 1992, someone did finally talk. In an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Cecil Adams told what he saw on July 25, 1946. At the time, he was 10 years old and was in the woods when the lynching took place. Adams named the people he saw shoot. The four people he identified were no longer living, however, and the FBI, again, brought forth no charges. Rich Rusk says Cecil Adams' account was the first he had heard of the Morris Ford murders. He remembers feeling overwhelmed by what he had read. My wife and I were just stunned by the story. We were getting ready to buy a house out in Oconey County next to the bridge, and I drove out there that same day and got up on that bridge and stared down into the muddy waters of the Appalachia River at the Morris Ford Bridge.

I just tried to imagine what could have led to that incident. Then what I did was pretty much what everyone else has done for the last half centuries, more or less put the story out of my mind, and I was a practicing journalist at the time. I've never been in the habit of ducking tough stories, but I sure ducked that one. It was too much, so I'm sympathetic to their action of folks around here who say why bring it up, why are you doing this, because in essence my reaction was very similar to their own. Rusk says because of Cecil Adams' story, people did start to talk about Morris Ford. He says the discussions finally led to the forming of the Morris Ford Memorial Committee, which according to Robert Howard was nearly too late, as those who were alive when the murders took place may not be around much longer. We're losing it. Most of these people are old and passing on, and a lot of them going to take what they know to the grave with them, rather than tell you know anything and everything that's going to be done is going to have to be done now.

If we just bring some dignity and respect to these people alive by putting headstones on their graves and just memorials that they'll start, I think it's going to be great. The Morris Ford Memorial Committee is planning a service for the lynching victims in May. By then they hope to have markers up for May Marie Dorsey's grave in Monroe, and for the other unmarked graves of the lynching victims located at Mount Perry Cemetery in Morgan County and Chestnut Grove Baptist Church in Walton County. There are also plans for an endowed fund to provide four scholarships in honor of the victims. Two of those scholarships will be awarded to Walton County students and two to students in a county. More importantly, two of the scholarships will go to black students and two to white students. In Athens, I'm Steve Licktye. I'm going home, oh yes, I'm going home, oh yes, I'm going home, the Lord, I'm going home, I'm going home, the Lord, I'm going home, my baby's just, just grand, my baby's just

grand, bro, come home, my Lord, bro, come home, bro, come home, bro, come home. Sunday night, Beach State Public Radio welcomes South Georgia native and author Janice Dardi as the first guest of Cover to Cover our new radio book club. Last year Dardi talked with Singen Flynn about her newest book at the time, Earl in the Yellow shirt. Earl in the Yellow shirt is the story of the impoverished scurvy family in the setting set in South Georgia, South East Georgia. And the scurvy family has to somehow raise the money for a proper burial of their mother. The task of taking care of the family falls on the only daughter, Lugin, whose hope, whose only hope in life seems to be her, the awkward suitor named Earl. And that's where the title comes from Earl in the Yellow shirt.

Tell us about Earl, the way that you tell the story, as you say, is anecdotal. It's told from the repeated perspectives of the different characters within and around the scurvy family. Yes. What led you to name the novel Earl in the Yellow shirt? Because it seems to me that he's not, it doesn't automatically come to mind as being the protagonist. Yes. I had the title for the novel long before I read it, maybe six months or a year. That's the kind of things that are in my journal I keep every day. And I met Earl. I did not meet Earl. I saw Earl in an emergency room, a hospital emergency room in Valdosta, Georgia. I don't know his name, really. But he had on the cap, turned backwards. He was obviously what people call a redneck. And very chivalrous, apparently his girlfriend, about a 16, 17-year-old girl, was being wheeled in and a wheelchair by her, maybe her mother, some member of her family, user

imagination. And Earl, he just reached down and grabbed her hand and kissed her hand, and he yelled her hand while they wheeled her along the hallway. And he had on a yellow shirt. I wanted to write about him. Lou Jean is the 16-year-old daughter who is left to raise the baby. Right. Her mother dies, not long after giving birth. And the family is impoverished. You create a family, a world of characters that is so real. How much of that is your experience? How much of Earl in the yellow shirt, as a book, do you yourself know? I do know it. These are the people from my county, the types of people, not real people. I create them, but they are types of people from my county, Eccles County, in Georgia, smallest county in Georgia.

So I certainly know these people very well. I know they're dialect. The dialect is fading now. You don't hear it as much. But I can hear it in my head. And I think it's very special. Swannucci County, which is the fictional county, is that based on Eccles County? Yes, it is. Very much geographically based. I've got a geographic base in my head. So I borrow everybody's houses and move my characters right in with other troubles. And Cornerville, which is the small town that they live in, is that based on a real town? It's based on my town of Statenville, which was known for my family. This is set in the early 1960s. And it paints a picture of a very brutal life. How real is that? A very, very real. This is what I love. I love the struggle. I love people who are living just a real simple life. And every day, it's just trying to climb that ladder and be a knocked off.

And that's what seems so valuable to me is dealing with that. There's one very intriguing character, and that's Alamund. Yes. He is the 14-year-old, the youngest child prior to the birth of the newborn. Tell us about him because he really is maybe misfits not the right word, but a very intriguing character. Thank you. Where does he come from and what does he add to this dysfunctional family? He's one of the few, one of the few characters that I write about that is actually based on a person, my brother, who died the year I wrote, Earl and the Ella Shirt. And he was an artist. My brother was an artist. And he told me the story. He told me that when he was about 16 years old, that he went into retreat in our great aunt's old house, she had just died. And he drew the town on the inside walls of her house.

He sketched it with pencil. And I never got to see it. And he told me this shortly before he died. And so I wanted to recreate that for him. And Alamund actually draws Cornville on the walls of Old Aunt Becky's house. What function does that drawing have as far as Alamund is concerned? As far as it's making a hole, or that's the way I see it in my mind, making a world where things fit, I think he says, creating your own place, even though it's a real place, but kind of making things come together for him. They have to somehow raise the money to bury the moment. Do they manage to bury her? Yes. Yes. Because of Earl. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Mother Jenna's Dardi talking about her book, Earl in the Yellow Shirt. Covered to cover with host Singen Flynn premier's Sunday evening at 8.

The book under discussion will be Dardi's The Paw Paw Patch, which is out in paperback. If you think you might want to participate, write down this number. 1-888-66 Peach, that's 1-888-667-3224, it's a toll-free call. We're looking forward to hearing from you Sunday evening at 8, on Cover to Cover. The Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan is nearing an end. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins and ends with the sighting of the new moon. That means it starts on a different date each year. This year, it began December 31. It was during the month of Ramadan that the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. The Quran, Islam's holy book, is divided into 30 sections.

So each day of Ramadan, observant Muslims read a 30th of the Quran, until by the time the month ends, they've read the entire book. More than 4 billion Muslims around the world observe Ramadan. To find out more about this holy month, Lashanda Parish attended an evening service at the Al-Fa-Ruk Mosque in Atlanta, where she talked to mosque director and elder, Dr. Khalid Sidik. For the Muslims, this month is a designated month in a year, in which we are prescribed and the Quran says, oh you who believe fasting has been prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you so that you may learn self-restraint. So it's a month in which we, the Muslims, fast 30 days or 29 days depending on the lunar month, from early, from before sunrise to sunset. And during this period, we are neither allowed to drink, eat, smoke or indulge in sexual

activity with your spouses, that's basically so that you are in reality avoiding or denying yourself the things that are ordinarily lawful to you as a token or as a symbol of obedience to the Creator. By denying yourself some of the things that are lawful to you, you are doing certain worldly benefits as well. In other words, you are knowing what hunger means to the poor. You are knowing what thirst means to those who are deprived. You are knowing that what it means to be deprived of something. And as a token of worship and an obedience to the commands of the Creator, this then becomes, makes you eligible for his special mercy. Who participates in Ramadan? Any person who is mature like boys or girls who have reached above puberty, any person who is healthy, adult, male or female, they are obliged to, it's not a voluntary thing.

As a believer, this is one of the pillars of faith, just like you believe in God, Allah and Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, as the messenger. And that's Georgia Gazette for this week. Our program was produced by Susanna Capeludo and Felissa Gray with additional help from Lashonda Parish and W.U.G.A.'s Steve Licktie, our engineer with Art Sweat. We also want to say goodbye to Network Operations Manager in Atlanta, Deb Weppelman. And hello to the new manager of WSVH in Savannah.

That would be Deb Weppelman, congratulations. Next week, Secretary of State Lewis Massey and Barry Reed, head of the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs, will be taking your calls and answering your questions. Don't miss it. I'm Sid Hoskinson, and for the entire Gazette team, thanks for listening. Broadcast of Georgia Gazette is made possible in part by a grant from West Point Stevens. If you have any comments or questions about this program, please write to Georgia Gazette, Peachtate Public Radio, 260, 14th Street, Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318. Or you can access Georgia Gazette on the worldwide web at www.gpp.org. Georgia Gazette is a public affairs presentation of Peachtate Public Radio. You're listening to the Peachtate Public Radio Network.