WAYCROSS JOURNAL-HERALD South Georgia’s Greatest Newspaper Hong Kong Police Battling Activists Waycross, Ga. Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014 wjhnews.com 75¢ Attack By Police On Activist Sparks Greater Anger Among Other Protesters Photo By SCOTT COOPER Zack Lee is named today the sports editor of the Journal-Herald. Lee Named New J-H Sports Editor A former Ware County High athlete who is now covering the athletic exploits of the sports teams of his alma mater for the Journal-Herald is the new sports editor of the daily newspaper. Zack Lee, who became the Gator football beat writer in recent weeks, assumes the title. Roger Williams, Journal-Herald publisher, made the announcement today. Lee joined the Journal-Herald staff in August. He follows Rick Head in running the sports desk. Head resigned in August to pursue other journalistic endeavors in the area. “Zack has shown himself to be up to the demanding task of handling the sports desk at the JournalHerald in his short time on the job,” Williams said. “I’m sure he will continue to do well.” Lee graduated from Ware High in 2008 and earned a BA degree at Georgia Southern University in 2012. Born in Vidalia, he was raised in Waycross as his family moved here in 1992. His parents are Doug and Holly Lee and he has two older siblings and their spouses. Matt, his brother, is married to Amy Demers of Royston, and they live in Athens with their four-month-old son, Jack. Lauren, his sister, is married to Dr. Jake Tripp of Cartersville, where they live. HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police battling activists for control of an underpass in the dead of night sparked public anger after officers were seen kicking a handcuffed protester in the worst violence since street demonstrations for greater democracy began more than two weeks ago. Officers armed with riot shields, batons and pepper spray knocked activists to the ground, dragging dozens away, and tore down barricades protesters used as roadblocks around the underpass outside the government’s headquarters. Outrage over their aggressive tactics exploded after local TV showed officers taking the protester around a dark corner and kicking him repeatedly on the ground. It’s unclear what provoked the attack. Local Now TV showed him splashing water on officers beforehand. “Hong Kong police have gone insane today, carrying out their own punishment in private,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan. “Hong Kong’s values and its rule of law really have been completely destroyed by police chiefs.” Police spokesman Steve Hui said seven officers who were involved have been temporarily reassigned, and that authorities will carry out an impartial investigation. Beijing, meanwhile, issued its harshest condemnations yet of the protests, calling them illegal, bad for business and against Hong Kong’s best interests. The central government has become increasingly impatient with the demonstrations, the biggest challenge its authority since China took control of the former British colony in 1997. A front-page editorial today in the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece, condemned the protests and said “they are doomed to fail.” “Facts and history tell us that radical and illegal acts that got their way only result in more severe illegal activities, exacerbating disorder and turmoil,” the commentary said. “Stability is bliss, and turmoil brings havoc.” However, there were no signs that the central government was planning to become directly involved in suppressing the demonstrations, which have marshalled opposition to plans for a pro-Beijing committee to screen candidates in Hong Kong’s first election to choose the city’s chief executive in 2017. The protesters also want the current leader, deeply unpopular Leung Chun-ying, to resign. The demonstrations have posed an unprecedented challenge to the government, and it is unclear when and how the crisis will be resolved. Leung, who described the protests as being “out of control,” told reporters that officials are willing to talk to protesters, but reiterated that Beijing will not drop the election restrictions it imposed. He canceled a leader’s questions session at the Leg- AP PHOTO Ken Tsang, a member of a local pro-democracy political party, is carried away by plainclothes police officers after a clash between protesters and police in Hong Kong today. islative Council on Thursday, citing security risks. The police operation early today came hours after a large group of protesters blockaded the underpass, expanding their protest zone after being cleared out of some other streets. The protesters outnumbered the police officers, who later returned with reinforcements to clear the area. The underpass borders the city government headquarters and is close to the main protest zone straddling a highway on the opposite side of the complex. Demonstrators appeared to storm the short tunnel in reaction to police attempts over the past two days to remove barricades on the edges of the sprawling protest zone. Police said they had to disperse the protesters because they were disrupting public order and gathering illegally. Hui, the police spokesman, said five officers were injured in the commotion, and that police arrested 45 demonstrators during the clashes — none of whom were injured. But local television showed a video of a group of plainclothes police officers taking a man around the side of a building, pushing him to the ground Another Person Tests Positive For Ebola At Dallas Hospital Record Number Of Black Candidates Seeking Office In Midterm Elections (see NEW, page 8) WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 100 black candidates will be on the ballot in statewide and congressional races next month, a post-Reconstruction record that some observers say is a byproduct of President Barack Obama’s historic presidency. At least 83 black Republicans and Democrats are running for the U.S. House, an all-time high for the modern era, according to political scientist David Bositis, who has tracked black politicians for years. They include Mia Love in Utah, who is trying to become the first black Republican woman to be elected to Congress. Four other black women — Bonnie Watson Coleman in New Jersey, Brenda Lawrence in Michigan, Alma Adams in North Carolina and Stacey Plaskett in the Virgin Islands — are expected to win seats as Democrats, Bositis said. If they all win, and no black female incumbents lose, there should be 20 black women among House members, an alltime high, Bositis said. There are at least 25 African- Sunny 80/54Lo Nice Autumn Weather Hi —page 3— Americans running for statewide offices, including U.S. senator, governor or lieutenant governor, also a record number. The previous record for black candidates seeking House seats was 72 in 2012, the year Obama, the nation’s first black president, was re-elected to a second term. The previous record for statewide contests was 17 in 2002, said Bositis, formerly of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank in Washington that focuses primarily on issues affecting AfricanAmericans. Those statewide numbers include Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey and Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, the U.S. Senate’s only black members. Booker is seeking a full term next month, having won a special election last year to replace the deceased Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Scott, appointed last year, is seeking to finish out the two years remaining in the term of former Sen. Jim DeMint, who resigned from the Senate in 2013. What’s A Doughboy? Too many folks remember too little about history including a century ago in World War I. That is why some don’t know the doughboy statue (today’s masthead photo) in our downtown park is a memorial to American men who fought against the German Kaiser’s army. An Obama “coattails effect” is partly responsible for this large candidate pool because it spurred blacks to vote, and encouraged them to pursue offices they might not have sought in the past, said political science professor Fredrick C. Harris, director of Columbia University’s Center on African-American Politics and Society. America’s blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “It may be that this is a reflection of political opportunity,” Harris said. He noted a similar increase in black candidacies in 1988, when Jesse Jackson made a second, unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Bositis said the increase may also be a result of changing political demographics in regions like the South. “The fact is that many of the increases are occurring in states (especially in the South) where most whites are withdraw- and kicking him. Local legislators and activists identified the protester as Ken Tsang, a member of a pro-democracy political party. Tsang, through his lawyer Tanya Chan, alleged that officers also slapped him after he was taken to a police station. Activists circulated photos of bruises on his face and back. “Some of us were sleeping in the park when more than a hundred of them ran toward us with torches as if they’re trying to blind us temporarily. We were not prepared for how aggressive they were,” said protester Simon Lam, 22. After initial attempts to disperse protesters with tear gas and pepper spray two weeks ago, police have adopted a different strategy of chipping away at the three protest zones by removing barricades from the edges of the occupied areas in the early morning, when the crowd numbers are usually lowest. But Wednesday’s raid was the most violent so far, with police charging the protesters and dragging them away. One officer ripped a facemask off an activist before spraying him with pepper spray. AP FILE PHOTO Mia Love, the Republican nominee in Utah’s 4th congressional district, smiles after speaking during a recdent rally in Lehi, Utah. ing from Democratic Party politics — leaving black candidates the nominations by default,” Bositis said. Republicans have been heavily courting minorities, spending millions to woo black voters and to recruit women and minorities to run for state and local office. “If elected, these candidates will (see MIDTERM, page 14) DALLAS (AP) — A second health care worker at a Dallas hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said today. The department said in the statement early today that was also posted on its website that the worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediate isolated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Health officials said the worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with Ebola after returning from a trip to Africa. Duncan died Oct. 8. The department said a preliminary Ebola test was conducted late Tuesday at a state public health laboratory in Austin, Texas, and came back positive during the METHADONE MAINTENANCE THERAPY Call for a free confidential assessment today! 1766 Memorial Dr., Suite 3 Waycross, GA 31501 Phone 912-285-2658 www.tcaclinics.com We Can Help! night. It said confirmatory testing would be conducted at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The statement said the health care worker, who wasn’t identified, was interviewed to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures and that others will be monitored. It added that the type of monitoring will depend on the nature of others’ interactions with the health care worker and their potential of exposure to the virus. Officials have said they don’t know how the first health worker, a nurse, became infected. But the second case pointed to lapses beyond how one individual may have donned and removed personal protective garb. “An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active (see SECOND, page 2) W h a t’s I n s i d e Vol. 96, No. 244 Billy Graham ____________ 4 Classified Ads ________ 13 Comics ________________ 12 Dear Abby ______________ 4 Editorials ______________ 5 Extended Forecast ______ 3 Family News ________ 10-11 Obituaries ______________ 2 Sports ________________ 6-7