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The CSRA’s FREE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER VOL.3 NO.40

JUNE 26 - 31, 2014

AUGUSTA

Interim city administrator Tameka Allen had to preside over the disastrous ice storm procurement and FEMA paperwork blizzard. Photo by Vincent Hobbs.

Ouch! City could lose $7 million in storm costs Emergency fund depleted. General fund hit hard

Eddie Bussey 706-772-9800

UrbanProWeekly •JUNE 26 -31, 2014

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UrbanProWeekly • JUNE 26 - 31, 2014

UrbanProWeekly •JUNE 26 -31, 2014

Augusta mayor Deke Copenhaver early on pushed for an expedited no-bid emergency procurement contract with Ashbritt and Leidos, the main contractor and monitoring firm for storm debris removal. The feds are saying that after the initial emergency had passed (the Masters Tournament had ended), the city should have rebid the contract. The city may have grossly underestimated the cost of the cleanup and overestimated its expected reimbursement from FEMA.

City saddled with huge storm bill City’s cost drains $4.6 million emergency fund and depletes general fund by at least another $2 million By Frederick Benjamin Sr. UrbanProWeekly Staff Writer AUGUSTA At some point, the other shoe had to fall. Ever since the city grasped for another city’s emergency debris removal contract, problems have abounded. Initial estimates of $8 million ballooned to about $14 million to pay for the services of Ashbritt Inc. and Leidos Inc., a monitoring firm. In total, the city has already spent well over $17 million for storm related activities, according to city finance director Donna Williams. The best case scenario for the city would be for it to be paid 75 percent from FEMA for all of its storm debris. So if everything went without a hitch and if we’re working with round numbers, the city would love to get back 75 percent of the money it has already paid out. That would be 75% of $17 million or $12.75 million. If that happens the city would only realize a $4.25 million deficit which could easily be paid from the city’s $4.5 million emergency fund

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Sadly, that’s not the case. FEMA has notified the city that it will only consider paying for the cleanup that happened between the dates of February 24 and April 8 (the dates of the Ashbritt contract). That means that, under the most promising scenario, the city could receive 75 percent of $14 million (the amount paid to the main contractors) — not $17 million. In that case, the most the city could recoup from FEMA would be $10.5 million rather than $12.75 million. That would leave the city short $6.5 million (the difference between $17 million and the $10.5 million hoped for FEMA reimbursement. That would be the best case. However, that’s not likely due to the way the city has mishandled the post-cleanup process. FEMA is not happy with the city’s lack of documentation as per FEMA guidelines and regulations. On June 17, Charles Dawson, the Deputy State Coordinating Officer for GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) in a letter addressed to Chief Chris James,

Publisher Ben Hasan 706-394-9411 Managing Editor Frederick Benjamin Sr. 706-306-4647

Director of the city’s Emergency Management Agency, made it clear that it had problems with the city’s application for storm related reimbursement. Chief among FEMA’s concerns was that the city elected not to put the original contract out for competitive bids. FEMA, however, said that it understood why the city did what it did during an emergency. However, after the emergency had passed (and the Masters guests were headed back home), the city should have sought competitive bids for any cleanup that had not been completed by April 7. The fact that the city did not put the contract out for competitive bids at that time and because of its other violations of the regulations, it comprised “a material failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the [Grant] program.” FEMA said that the city will only get paid for “what FEMA concludes as reasonable costs for services performed, which may or may not align to the costs actually incurred by the Applicant.” FEMA relies on the competitive

Sales & Marketing Phone: 706-394-9411 Photography and Social Media Courtesy of Vincent Hobbs

bidding process to more accurately determine whether the charges that the city has passed on are representative and fair. Further, FEMA has said that it “is still in the process of Public Assistance project formulation . . . and has not made any final determinations as to the Applicant’s eligibility for reimbursement . . .” That’s astounding. The feds are still pondering whether or not the city gets anything. Even though FEMA is apparently willing to overlook the “no-bid,” sole source procurement that awarded the multi-million dollar contract to Ashbritt, Inc., it had problems with a lot of stuff that was in that contract. According to FEMA, the city has not demonstrated that it complied with all of FEMA’s guidelines. The city has not provided sufficient documentation of its own evaluation and basis of its selection of Ashbritt. Also, the city did not provide sufficient documentation demonstrating that it took the six affirmative steps to Continued on next page

email: Ben Hasan bzhasan54@yahoo.com Frederick Benjamin Sr. editor@urbanproweekly.com Vincent Hobbs coolveestudio@gmail.com

POLITICAL ANALYSIS By Frederick Benjamin Sr. It would be easy to castigate all of those involved in the debacle that has developed from the storm debris cleanup and management. Here’s the truth. The city was unprepared for such a large storm. Also, the city has learned a lot from this experience. All said and done the city should receive a grade of D+ or maybe a low C–. Whether anyone would admit it or not, the city got taken. Ashbritt, Inc. and Leidos slid in, got their $14 million and then slid out leaving the city to try and figure out how to squeeze a reimbursement from an increasingly stingy federal government. Right after the storm, Ashbritt and Leidos were like knights in shining armor. Everyone fell for their polished line. Why wouldn’t they. Afterall, they were FEMA-tried and tested. They had gotten disaster down to a science and they knew how to say just what inexperienced city administrators

and commissioners wanted to hear. They said, “It’s okay, we’ll do it right so that you can get your money from FEMA.” In fact, in the early days of the contract, folks were going around talking about how best to use all that “FEMA money.” Well, there never was any FEMA money. All the money that was being spent was Augusta-Richmond money and after Ashbritt & company got their $14 million, they skedaddled. They weren’t about to wait around for any FEMA money. They knew that FEMA dollars were not guaranteed. In defense of the city officials who were just trying to do the right thing, no one could have realized the magnitude to which all our city professionals underestimated the complexity of managing that entire process while staying within FEMA’s guidelines. Early on city engineer Ladsen admitted that they weren’t sure they were doing things right. And later toward the end of the process, Interim Administrator Allen asked the commissioners to approve

Storm Bill from p. 4 assure that minority firms, women’s business enterprises were used when possible. Further, the city did not negotiate profit as a separate element of price and did not provide sufficient documentation as to a cost analysis. In other words, whatever was in that contract that the city borrowed from Chatham County is what the city was bound by whether it made any fiscal sense or not. There was more, much more noncompliance on the part of the city. Now, after all of this, FEMA has not said conclusively that Augusta won’t get any money. However, it suggested very directly that Augusta may not get all that it hoped for. Early on, there were signs that this entire process might have provided a greater challenge for the city than it was prepared to handle. The city’s initial response to the ice storm was not effective. “There was a plan in place,” according to Mie Lucas, the city’s Disaster Preparedness Coordinator.” The city had contractors in place, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the cleanup effort. It doesn’t seem as if anyone in the city disaster preparedness team imagined that the city would ever have to deal with FEMA for debris removal. Those early efforts which removed some 100,000 cubic yards of waste from the streets were done by contractors unfamiliar with FEMA rules. Thus, those early efforts won’t qualify for reimbursement from FEMA. In late February, Lucas told Urban Pro Weekly that her department had never dealt with FEMA guidelines in the past. Enter Ashbritt and Leidos The first that many of the commissioners heard about the existence of Ashbritt and Leidos and the piggyback contract from Chatham County was at a February 24 called meeting. Early on, the process that brought

COSTLY LESSON: The city’s storm cleanup has been painful, but the city should handle the next natural disaster in a more confident manner. Photo by Vincent Hobbs. an RFP to bring someone in to help the city navigate through the complex FEMA-dance in order to get paid. No one had a really good grasp of how to proceed confidently in the cleanup. From the procurement department, to the engineering

department, to the city’s Emergency Management Agency, to the law department, fire department and solid waste department. None of these experts had a clue that this venture would turn out so unrewarding for the tax payers of Augusta.

ICE STORM CLEANUP BY THE NUMBERS Ashbritt and Leidos into the fold was challenged and it was apparent from a casual glance of FEMA guidelines that the city of Augusta may have been in for anything but smooth sailing. Commissioners seeking answers were told that because of the “emergency” created by the February ice storm, they were empowered to select Ashbritt without the benefit of a competitive bid. Actually, what the city did was to get a copy of the Chatham County contract with Ashbritt which had been on the shelf since 2010 and then convinced the commissioners to vote in favor or a resolution adopting everything that was contained in the Chatham County contract. What is clear, is that the decision to go with Ashbritt and Leidos was not happenstance. It was orchestrated by the mayor, the city administrator, the city engineer and the city procurement department. The city attorney also went along for the ride. By the time it was presented to the commissioners, it was a done deal. If the city had any other option, they never brought it to the table in public. Here’s part of what that resolution said: Whereas, Augusta, Georgia’s Procurement Code allows for emergency procurements “when there exists a threat to public health, welfare, or safety, or where daily operations are affected,” Augusta, GA Code 1-10-57; such threat currently exists and needs to be addressed immediately; Then it goes on to note the similarities between the emergency that Chatham County faced in 2010 and that faced by the city of Augusta after the ice storm. The resolution concluded that, therefore, it was in the best interests of the citizens of Augusta, Georgia to adopt Chatham County’s procurement process. Now, it is interesting that the city

• About $17 million spent so far. • About $14 million of that went to Ashbritt and Leidos ($13,941,186) (City hopes for 75% reimbursement of the $14 million paid to contractors Ashbritt and Leidos.) • That means city could receive $10.5 million from FEMA if the federal agency deems all of the costs eligible for reimbursement. • Even if the city gets everything it wants, it will still have spent at least $6.5 million that it will not be reimbursed. • This depletes the city’s $4.5 million emergency fund and leaves at least a $2 million shortfall in the city’s general fund. was aware all of the time that there would be questions about the lack of a competitive bid process, that is why would they referred to RFP #1016-3 which Chatham County used to award the contract to Ashbritt. Since Chatham County did the competitive bid in 2010 and came selected Ashbritt, it was okay for Augusta to piggy-back on that contract. However, had the city been more familiar with FEMA Emergency Debris Removal guidelines someone would have realized that (1) FEMA views the competitive bidding as very important and (2) That in the event that you couldn’t do competitive bidding during the height of an emergency, it must make every opportunity to put the contract out for bid as soon as possible after the emergency had passed and (3) FEMA

frowns on “piggy-backed” contracts. Augusta did not do the right thing because they didn’t know any better. The resolution continues: [The commission will] “authorize the Interim Administrator to approve and Mayor to execute a contract with Ashbritt, Inc. for debris removal in Augusta, Georgia that is substantially similar to the contract executed by Chatham County subject to review by the Augusta Law Department. Under the CERTIFICATION heading it further notes that “The undersigned Clerk of Commission, Lena J. Bonner (even though Ms. Bonner did not sign this document - Nancy Morawski actually signed it), hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted by the Augusta, Georgia commission on Feb. 24, 2014.

5 UrbanProWeekly • JUNE 26 - 31, 2014

City is much wiser in aftermath of disastrous ice storm and FEMA application noncompliance

UrbanProWeekly •JUNE 26 -31, 2014

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Building a model community through trust

Urban ELECT Sports Lens Hasan

Ben By Frederick Benjamin Sr.

Commission District 6

MY PRIORITIES AS COMMISSIONER WILL BE TO: Build trust among my commission colleagues Photos •by Photos by Vincent Hobbs • Work with other leaders and elected officials to make sure Vincent Garden City Hobbs Jazz : March our streets are safe, neighborhoods are clean, and growth is controlled Concert @ Pendleton King Park Mar. 22: Soiree - Not • Promote District 6 as “business friendly” for existing and Gaddy Trio prospective businesses Mar. 23: Mahogany • Create a group to research, propose and implement major (Jazz) Lounge development projects for District 6 and South Augusta Mar. 28: Spring Fever

Always moving our community into the future

Baruti Tucker and his wife Denise pose for a photo in the gallery section of Humanitree House Juice Joint and Gallery. Photo by Vincent Hobbs

Ground zero for creative expression HUMANITREE HOUSE JUICE JOINT AND GALLERY is located on the corner of 8th Street and Ellis, across from Le Chat Noir. Proprietors Baruti and Denise Tucker are the brainchild behind the innovative idea of offering a venue for creative folks to gather, share and express their thoughts, ideas, and talents. Humanitree had a soft opening with limited hours during the month of June and expects to welcome patrons with a grand opening by the end of July. Interview by Vincent Hobbs UrbanProWeekly: What is Humanitree House Juice Joint and Gallery? Humanitree House Juice Joint and Gallery is an art gallery, event space and cold-pressed juice bar that is located in the cultural corridor in downtown Augusta. The facility will capitalize on the community’s deep-rooted artistic vibration to provide exposure to varied expressions of the arts in a lively setting and intimate atmosphere. We also integrate a gallery of work for sale by emerging and established artists - as well as an open stage offering live entertainment. We promote fine-arts exposure and education and we will also host holistic health workshops and small conferences. We will soon offer the finest in coldpressed juice and freshly prepared smoothies and teas, utilizing only the best local and organically-grown ingredients, thereby continuing to strengthen the economic base of the local Augusta community. We are also incorporating a retail room which will carry some of our favorite things – books, t-shirts, music and holistic health items and supplies.

UPW: Is there a lack cohesion and unity among local artists? If so, will Humanitree House make efforts to bring more harmony and unity among artists? Humanitree House seeks to bring more harmony and unity among all human beings, artist or non-artist. While we do not feel that there is a lack of cohesion and unity among artists, we do feel that there is a lack of appreciation and respect for art, which sometimes creates a disgruntled artist. Many artists in the area do not have access to exhibition space at reasonable rates or access to free and affordable spaces to promote the artist and their works. Artists in the area do have camaraderie and tend to work together well when the opportunity presents itself. Humanitree House seeks to make an accessible space available where any artist — regardless of background, type of art, educational or racial demographic — will feel free enough and welcome enough to exhibit. Humanitree House embraces all artists and makes an effort to avoid the usual clique issue that can take place in many communities.

UPW: What is the meaning of “raise the vibration?” “Raise the vibration” means to bring ‘all things good’ to the space. This includes peace, love, creativity, support, and community. When you come to a place that makes you feel happy and you bring your happy in – it raises the energy in the building. Bring in good, take away good. Raise the vibration = raise the energy to a high point. Humanitree House is like no other place in Augusta. It’s bright, it’s lively, and there are nostalgic items in place. There’s good music, happy people and love. This encourages people to share. Many times we’re just in there working trying to get the space together and people actively begin to pick up instruments, play, dance, sing, do poetry. We want it to be a place where people feel free to express on a whim. No formalities. We want it to be a place where people say, “Let’s go to Humanitree House and express ourselves.” It’s an open space of creativity. UPW: How would you describe the partnership of being married and running a business together? We are beautiful friends and lovers. We genuinely like and love each other. While we have the same challenges as many other married couples, we communicate often. It is natural that we run a business together. From the moment Humanitree House was founded in 2010, we’ve

enjoyed working together because it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like love. I would describe the partnership as cohesive and loving. We both know our roles and we operate within them, except when I decide that I want to paint instead of juice. Baruti would never try to juice, but I will definitely try to paint! For the most part, we know our roles and operate within them. UPW: Why did you decide to offer cold pressed juice to your patrons? The cold-pressed juicing process is one of love and patience. The juices you buy at the grocery store take a long time to spoil, which means they are full of preservatives. If your food doesn’t ever spoil, you shouldn’t eat it because it isn’t fresh. The process that makes cold-pressed juice so special and different is that the fresh fruits and vegetables are pressed using a hydraulic press juicer that applies a tremendous amount of pressure to extract the nectar directly from the pulp. That pressing action, instead of blending or grinding, won’t oxidize or degrade the fruit and vegetables and helps keep the nutrients and enzymes intact. This allows the nutrients to remain intact, which means we can bottle the juice and our patrons can pick up a bottle and it will retain its freshness for about 48 hours, if refrigerated. Once it’s opened, the juice Continued on page 9

UrbanProWeekly • JUNE 26 - 31, 2014

URBANPRofiles Humanitree House Juice Joint & Gallery

HORACE SILVER

UrbanProWeekly •JUNE 26 -31, 2014

Mercurial pianist, composer and founder of a succession of quintets whose music appealed to audiences beyond jazz

Horace Silver by Francis Wolff by Ronald Atkins The Guardian

he pianist and composer Horace Silver died on June 18, 2014. He was 85. Bebop crashed into prominence during the 1940s, and over the next decade evolved as two sharply contrasting forms – the quietly intricate and relaxed style known as cool jazz and an earthier and more explicitly African-rooted approach. Silver took the genre in the latter direction, and pioneered “hard bop” in the 1950s and 60s. A supreme craftsman, Silver was a member of the Jazz Messengers and formed a succession of quintets whose music appealed to audiences beyond jazz. Tunes entitled “Opus de Funk”, “Doodlin’”, “The Preacher”, “Home Cookin’” and “Soulville” reflected this new departure, though his mercurial approach transcended any rigid stylistic limits. He was born on September 2, 1928 in Norwalk, Connecticut. His father, John Tavares Silva, came from the Cape Verde Islands but anglicised his name to Silver after arriving in the US, where he worked in a rubber factory. His mother, Gertrude, was a maid. Mostly self-taught, Horace doubled as a saxophonist as a teenager before concentrating on the piano and emulating the bebop great Bud

Powell’s intricate right-hand phrases and blunt, propulsive touch. Realising that Powell’s virtuoso technique was out of reach for him, Silver modified the style through chords, crafty use of space and oddball quotes from other melodies. Underpinned by pounding left-hand figures, these imparted a special kind of bonhomie, while the lack of bombast made Silver exceptionally convincing as a blues pianist. For many years, he played with his right wrist arched high over the keys, useless for fast fingering but effective for making each note ring out. Whereas frontline soloists expected pianists to feed them appropriate chords, Silver laid down more intrusive patterns, closer to riffs from a swing band. At Club Sundown in Hartford, Connecticut, where Silver’s trio often backed visiting artists, the saxophonist Stan Getz was so impressed that in 1950 he hired all three unknowns as his touring rhythm section. With his silky skills presented in relatively restrained settings, Getz had personified cool jazz but he now seemed to relish Silver’s insistent accompaniment. At their first recording session, Getz loosened up, chucked quotes around and matched Silver for uninhibited swing: no other contemporary pianist could have got that from him. Silver performed a similar ser-

vice for Miles Davis, appearing on many classic tracks in 1954, taking a splendid blues solo on Weirdo and offering the trumpeter fresh rhythmic impetus. The avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor has since acknowledged Silver’s gutsy attack as a vital influence. Having moved to New York, Silver was in demand for live gigs and records. On sessions under his name for Blue Note in 195253, he led trios including the label’s favourite drummer, Art Blakey. In another portent of the future, nine of the 14 pieces were Silver’s own. They soon recorded again under Silver’s leadership, with the trumpeter Kenny Dorham and the tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley. The tracks were later combined on the album Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (1955); by then, this outfit was a cooperative quintet, and hard bop had been born. Vinyl albums running 15 minutes per side encouraged groups to develop extended solos. On the live version of Soft Winds, the tension escalates behind Mobley; Blakey and Silver switch off when the trumpet takes over, then build inexorably until the performance reaches its emotional peak. Some of the Messengers were heroin users, and the difficulties this caused led Silver to break out and launch what became the most tightly organised of the hard bop quintets. He composed virtually all the material and won over the crowds through his affable personality and all-action approach. He crouched over the piano as the sweat poured out, with his forelock brushing the keys and his feet pounding. A former teenage admirer of the highly drilled Jimmie Lunceford orchestra of the 1930s, he knew the easy-sounding bits were the hardest to write and he devised methods, some almost subliminal, to give the round of solos an overall cohesiveness. The quintet lineup that lasted longest included the trumpeter Blue Mitchell and the saxophonist Junior Cook, a no-nonsense pairing that inspired some of Silver’s happiest pieces, Blowin’ the Blues Away, Juicy Lucy, Sister Sadie and Filthy McNasty among them. Also from that period, the uncharacteristic

slow ballad Peace has regularly attracted younger musicians and has been recorded by Norah Jones. The tenor saxophone star Joe Henderson joined in time for the bossa nova classic Song for My Father, part of a million-selling album of the same name. A tour of Japan inspired the album The Tokyo Blues (1962), gong sounds and all. Silver gradually calmed down – he had a history of back trouble and in the late 1960s suffered what could have been a repetitive-strain arm injury. A short-term switch to electric piano and a series of recordings with larger groups coincided with a far bigger change. He had occasionally put words to melodies (Señor Blues, Peace, Psychedelic Sally), but during the 1970s his espousal of “self-help holistic metaphysics” inspired such titles as Moving Forward With Confidence, My Soul Is My Computer and Old Mother Nature Calls, with lyrics sometimes reminiscent of William McGonagall. The music itself barely altered but this didacticism contributed to him starting his own label, Silveto, after more than 20 years at Blue Note; some of his subsequent albums featured the brilliant saxophonist Eddie Harris and one had Bill Cosby as narrator. A believer in spiritualism, Silver organised prayer groups and claimed that Louis Armstrong had transmitted a tune to him over the ether, while a dream led to Rockin’ With Rachmaninoff (recorded in 1991 and finally released in 2003), a kind of musical about Duke Ellington, introducing the Russian composer to jazz. His quintet was still in demand for gigs and Silver frequently hired musicians years before critics raved about them – Tom Harrell, Dave Douglas, Vincent Herring and Bob Berg coming after Woody Shaw, Bennie Maupin and the brothers Randy and Michael Brecker. In the 1990s, he recorded for major labels and, now over his didactic tendencies, sounded as joyously creative as ever, cramming a wealth of detail into seemingly guileless routines and banging away behind solos. The results confirmed his place among the inimitable one-offs. The pianist Ran Blake and the singer Dee Dee Bridgewater both devoted albums to his work. Based in California since the 1970s, Silver was granted various honors by the US state and, in 2005, received a President’s Merit award at the Grammy Salute to Jazz ceremony. He also set up the Horace Silver Foundation to give scholarships to aspiring jazz musicians. His autobiography, Let’s Get to the Nitty Gritty, was published in 2005. He had a son, Gregory – now a rap musician under the name of G Wise – from his marriage to Barbara, which ended in divorce.

GALLERY from page 7

should be enjoyed within 24 hours. With a centrifugal juicer (typical home juicer) or blender, the fruits and vegetables are being cut and ground by a blade and are exposed to heat, which removes many of the essential vitamins, enzymes, proteins, and minerals that we want from our juice. Cold-pressed juice is simply the closest thing to raw, pure fruit or vegetables, and allows you to get a concentrated amount of nutrients that would otherwise be difficult to achieve just by eating raw fruits and vegetables alone. Another great thing is that our coldpressed juices have no additives or preservatives and are un-pasteurized, which means you get the added benefits of living enzymes from your juice! Your favorite juice bar should know how to juice by “benefit” or juicing to your specific needs. This will prevent us from giving our customers something that may harm them if they have certain conditions.

UrbanProWeekly • JUNE 26 - 31, 2014

there and we hope that our patrons (which we prefer to call Humanitree House Family) do as well. UPW: You recently released a Humanitree House phone app! Why does technology play such an important role in your endeavors? The world is technological. People rarely answer phone calls, they hang up on telemarketers and they rarely read snail-mail. We have to reach them in the best way possible. Technology keeps people connected, it broadens the audience. If you miss the Facebook updates, Twitter or Instagram posts, and you have the phone app, you can click the app and see what’s happening in the world of Humanitree House! Technology reaches everyone! UPW: What are some of your upcoming events? Monday - Friday 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (Gallery Open) Each Saturday from 11:00 a.m. 12:00 noon-Youth Art Classes Saturday, June 28th - 12:00 noon 5:00 p.m. - Raise the Vibration (free) Saturday, June 28th -7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.-The Art of Ron Turner, exhibit and sale (free) Saturday, July 19th - 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. - Animated Teen Cosplay Event ($10) * Saturday, July 19th - 8:00 p.m. 12:00 midnight - Animated Super Adult Cosplay event $15 * Saturday, July 28th - 8:00 p.m.- until – Deep House (House Music Party) $5 *Please note that Cosplay Events are PG-13, family-friendly events. See our Facebook page for more info about Cosplay wardrobe.

UPW: Why did you feel it was important to offer this sort of business model to your patrons? We feel that people need a place that feels like home. A place to relax, to come study, to chill and to be able to put something healthy in their bodies. Most people are overwhelmed by their daily grind that they need some place they can just step into and be transformed, relax and unwind. We also felt it was important that everyone, regardless of who they are, can come inside and take something away that makes them feel better. A multi-purpose space is important to us because we are going to be spending a lot of time

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TIRE RECYCLING

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Offering Monthly Tire Recycling for Richmond County Residents As a good community partner, Augusta Solid Waste provides a variety of community-wide events to encourage citizens to join in reducing waste within our community. On the 3rd Saturday of every month Augusta Solid Waste will hold a recycling event where Richmond County residents can drop off up to 5 scrap tires per resident! Since it is against the law for any person in a residental zone to accumulate any amount of scrap tires on or around their property, this is a FREE way to recycle and dispose of these scrap tires! We believe it is our responsibility to make Augusta a cleaner, greener and smarter community – a better place to live! A complete calendar of community events sponsored by Augusta Solid Waste can be found at: www.augustasolidwaste.com.

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Augusta Solid Waste is committed to our “Cleaner. Greener. Smarter.” program to provide quality service that’s better for you and better for Augusta.

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Monthly Schedule: JUNE 21, 2014 Diamond Lakes • 4335 Windsor Spring Road

JULY 19, 2014 Carrie J. Mays Park • 1014 Eleventh Avenue

AUGUST 16, 2014 Food Lion • 3722 Mike Padgett Hwy.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014 IGA • 3355 Deans Bridge Road

OCTOBER 18, 2014 Daniel Field • 1775 Highland Ave

NOVEMBER 15, 2014 Lake Olmstead • 2200 Broad Street

DECEMBER 20, 2014 Goodwill Store • 3179 Washington Road

Recycling Guidelines: Customer must provide proof of Richmond County residency.

Tires will not be accepted from businesses or commercial customers.

Tires may be on or off the rim.

Each resident may bring a maximum of five (5) tires per visit.

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Each event will run from 9am – 2pm on the 3rd Saturday of every month.

UrbanProWeekly •JUNE 26 -31, 2014

GRU offers summer leadership camp to high school students AUGUSTA Georgia Regents University is hosting a four-day camp for high school students, aimed at improving their leadership skills. The Emerging Leaders Summer Program has slots for 20 rising high school seniors, juniors, and sophomores, and will be held July 20-23 on campus. This interactive and experiential learning-based camp is designed to help these students develop and cultivate their leadership skills in areas like teamwork, collaboration, communication, and group dynamics. Attendees will live in GRU’s University Village, enjoy a field trip, and attend workshops on the university’s Summerville and Health Sciences campuses. The camp costs $250, which will cover housing, food, and learning materials. For registration information, call 706-737-1411. You can also email Mark Poisel, GRU’s Vice President for Student Affairs, at mpoisel@ gru.edu; Kevin Frazier, GRU’s Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, kfrazier@gru.edu; or John

Augusta Bel Canto to Perform on the 4th AUGUSTA Augusta’s newest choral ensemble will perform American Stories in Song at the Augusta Museum of History on July 4th at 1:30 pm. The performance will be in the Museum’s Rotunda and is free to the public! Augusta Bel Canto is a small group, primarily made up of Georgia Regents University alumni (Augusta State University) who sang in Chamber Singers during their undergraduate study. There are additional singers that complete the current ensemble who live and work here in Augusta, and bring excellent musical credentials to the group! The concert will include: The Star-Spangled Banner, The Morning Trumpet from The Sacred Harp, Long Time Ago from Old American Songs arranged by Aaron Copland, Ain’t Got Time to Die arranged by William Dawson, The Road Home an early American tune arranged by Stephen Paul, A medley of selections by George Gershwin arranged in swing style, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Somewhere from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, This is My Country by Raye & Jacobs, and many patriotic favorites. Regarding the American music theme for this season, founder and conductor Bill Hobbins indicates, “The flavor of this year’s concert is designed for a lot of audience appeal and very American. The museum is located at 560 Reynolds Street in downtown Augusta. Please call (706) 722-8454 for more information or visit our website www.augustamuseum.org.

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UrbanProWeekly •JUNE 26 -31, 2014

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eekly

Commentary

US cites controversial law in decision to kill American citizen by drone Court documents reveal Obama administration cited law blessing global war against al-Qaida in killing of Anwar al-Awlaki

awyers for the Obama administration, arguing for their ability to kill an American citizen without trial in Yemen, contended that the protection of US citizenship was effectively removed by a key congressional act that blessed a global war against al-Qaida. Known as the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF), the broad and controversial 2001 law played a major role in the legal decision to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, the former al-Qaida propagandist and US citizen, in 2011, according to a redacted memorandum made public on Monday. “We believe that the AUMF’s authority to use lethal force abroad also may apply in appropriate circumstances to a United States citizen who is part of the forces of an enemy authorization within the scope of the force authorization,” reads the Justice Department memorandum, written for attorney general Eric Holder on 16 July 2010 and ostensibly intended strictly for Awlaki’s case. Among those circumstances: “Where high-level government officials have determined that a capture operation is infeasible and that the targeted person is part of a dangerous enemy force and is engaged in activities that pose a continued and imminent threat to US persons or interests.” The 2nd US circuit court of appeals in Manhattan released the memo on Monday in response to a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Times. The AUMF is unbounded by geographic or time limitations, indicating the wide berth the Obama administration provides for understanding its powers for the potential targeting of US citizens. The administration’s official policy is that the AUMF ought to be “ultimately repeal[ed]”, as Obama said in May. The administration does not support immediate repeal, which already faces a difficult congressional road. Barely over a year after the memo was issued, Awlaki was dead, following a US drone strike – the first such lethal strike known to have deliberately targeted an American citizen. Yet an earlier US assault on Awlaki, in December 2009, predated the memo. While Obama administration officials have for years insisted that Awlaki was an operational leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which in 2009 and 2010 attempted unsuccessfully to detonate bombs inside the US, they have also fought lawsuits seeking to reveal their case

Patricia Morris and Imam Anwar Al Awlaki, photographed inside Dar al Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, VA. In background are students at the Islamic School. For a story on non-Muslims reaching out to Muslims in 2001. Photo by Tracy A. Woodward against Awlaki. But for the case against Awlaki, hinted at in a Justice Department “white paper” summarizing it that leaked last year, the administration leaned significantly on the broad leeway for counter-terrorism the AUMF established. “Just as the AUMF authorizes the military detention of a US citizen captured abroad who is part of an armed force within the scope of the AUMF, it also authorizes the use of ‘necessary and appropriate’ lethal force against a US citizen who has joined such an armed force,” reads the memo, written by former Justice Department lawyer David Barron, who also analyzed and rejected arguments that killing Awlaki would be tantamount to murder. “It is true that here the target of the contemplated actions would be a US citizen,” reads the memo. “But we do not believe al-Aulaqi’s citizenship provided a basis for concluding that section 1119 would fail to incorporate the established public authority justification for a killing in this case.” The release of the memo, as ordered Monday by a federal appeals court, ended a legal battle that has stretched for years, intended to prevent the administration from killing Awlaki or any other US citizen without trial. After losing an April appeal and confronting a challenge by Republican senator Rand Paul to deny Barron a federal judgeship, the Obama administration agreed not to fight the document’s disclosure. “The release of the legal memorandum follows the administration’s decision last month not to appeal the court’s decision. The material being released is consistent with the administration’s previous statements on this issue,” said Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon. But its suppression challenge took various forms and arguments over the years, despite repeated offi-

cial confirmations about the drone strikes, including from the president; despite the confirmed killing of four Americans, three of whom are claimed to have been killed accidentally, including Awlaki’s 16-year-old son; and despite the 2013 leak of a memo summarizing the Justice Department’s arguments about so-called “targeted killing” for Congress. The redacted version of the memo released Monday does not reveal much of the factual basis for the government’s claims that Awlaki represented an imminent threat to the United States. In the disclosed portions, Barron’s memo does not explicitly vouch for the government’s case against Awlaki, referring instead to “the facts represented to us”. It refers instead to Awlaki as a “leader” who was “continuously planning attacks” against the US, without providing an evidentiary basis for claims central to the extraordinary circumvention of normal due process procedures. Nor do the public sections explain why capturing Awlaki was not feasible, nor why the Justice Department believes it need not have provided Awlaki with judicial process. The CIA, which along with the military’s special operations forces sought authority for the strike, declined to comment. Barron was confirmed by the Senate to the federal bench on 22 May. The Justice Department memo “confirms that the government’s drone killing program is built on gross distortions of law”, said Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights who challenged the Awlaki killing, who added that the “forced transparency comes years late”. Rejecting a government argument that the release of the memorandum would chill attorney-client communications, the court wrote on Monday: “If this contention were upheld, waiv-

er of privileges protecting legal advice would never occur. … We need not fear that OLC will lack for clients.” Several of the government’s appeals for secrecy have been overtaken by the public record, the court found. Among them: the “identity of the country in which al-Awlaki was killed”, which was reported as being Yemen on the day of the lethal strike; and the involvement of the CIA, which in addition to being an open secret for years was confirmed by former director Leon Panetta. “We recognize that in some circumstances the very fact that legal analysis was given concerning a planned operation would risk disclosure of the likelihood of that operation, but that is not the situation here where drone strikes and targeted killings have been publicly acknowledged at the highest levels of the Government,” the court explained. The ACLU, which sought along with the New York Times to compel the release of the memo, vowed to fight the government’s additional arguments for secrecy around other legal foundations of what it calls its “targeted killing” program. “We will continue to press for the release of other documents relating to the targeted-killing program, including other legal memos and documents relating to civilian casualties,” said deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer. “The drone program has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, including countless innocent bystanders, but the American public knows scandalously little about who is being killed and why.” In May 2013, Obama raised his standards for launching drone attacks or other so-called “targeted” lethal military action against terrorist suspects. American drones struck last week in both Yemen and Pakistan, though no Americans are suspected of being killed. US senator Ron Wyden praised the memo’s release and called for more transparency on Monday. “For example, how much evidence does the president need to determine that a particular American is a legitimate target for military action? Or, can the president strike an American anywhere in the world? What does it mean to say that capturing an American must be ‘infeasible’? And exactly what other limits and boundaries apply to this authority?” he said. “I urge the executive branch to build on today’s disclosure and start answering these additional questions.”

13 UrbanProWeekly • JUNE 26 - 31, 2014

Baptist Ministers Conference of Augusta, Inc. donates $15,000 to establish an endowed scholarship at Paine College

Scholarship to benefit Paine College students On June 18th, Reverend Melvin Ivey, president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Augusta, and seven Baptist ministers presented a $15,000 check to Paine College President Dr. George C. Bradley to establish an endowed scholarship at the college. “We are here today because the Baptist Ministers Conference of Augusta and our faithful congregations believe that we must be about “walking the walk,” Rev. Ivey said. “Paine College touches the entire community and it has always served as a beacon of hope and a place where dreams are fulfilled. Paine will always

remain a sound investment.” The College will allow the $15,000 endowed fund to accrue interest for one year before distributing earnings in the form of a scholarship. The Baptist Ministers Conference of Augusta (BMCA) set the criteria for the award. The scholarship will be awarded to a rising sophomore, junior or senior of good character with a minimum of a 2.5 grade point average. The scholarship recipient will be required to volunteer his/her service for the BMCA Tutorial Program. A strong endowment ensures the stability of the College and offers tui-

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tion assistance and scholarships based upon financial need. Currently, Paine College provides essential scholarship support and tuition assistance to over 95% of the student population. “We are not just a Church in the community, but a Church that reaches the community,” said Reverend A. J. Saunders, describing the member churches and the BMCA’s mission. The BMCA represents 50 churches. Annually, during February, the BMCA hosts the Baptist Day worship service on the campus to benefit Paine College. The churches convene during this special service to report gifts and

donations for the College. According to Reverend Ivey, the BMCA is committed to increasing the endowed scholarship annually and expect the fund to grow significantly over time. To establish an endowed or annual scholarship at Paine College, contact Frances D. Wimberly at 706.821.8323, Fwimberly@paine. edu. To learn more about the Baptist Ministers Conference of Augusta, Inc., please contact Reverend Ivey at 706.798.3928, or via email: Ivey916316@bellsouth.net. — courtesy of Helene Carter

UrbanProWeekly •JUNE 26 -31, 2014

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