| Topic Name: |
Atlanta Murders |
| Message Name: |
Aroma of Politics |
| Date Posted: |
06/11/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
Having worked in Atlanta during the time of these murders, I too saw how the majority of the Atlanta Media
acted as mouthpieces for the city administration.
There has always been very little enterprise reporting among Atlanta's television and radio stations. The newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is third rate. The Cox Family is a political pawn. Believe me, there's alot more to these cases and the conviction of Wayne Williams.
That Court-TV documentary was riveting. It paved the way for the re-opening of some of these cases.
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| Message: |
I remember reading an op/ed piece in the Atlanta Journal in 1981, written by Frederick Allen. It was called: "The Aroma of Politics." This pieces spoke of a "midnight meeting" on June 19, 1981, at the Georgia Governor's Mansion. Among those in attendence; Governor George Busbee, Acting U.S. Attorney Dorothy Quigly, Acting Georgia Attorney General Arthur Bolton, FBI Special Agent-In-Charge of Atlanta, John Glover, an unnamed White House official and Lewis Slayon, Atlanta's District Attorney. The meeting was held to convince Slayton, a powerful, yet cautious District Attorney, that is was time to arrest Wayne Williams for, at least, two of Atlanta's 29 "Missing and Murdered Children's Cases." At this point, Williams had been under 24-hour police surveillance for over a month, since he was first stopped and questioned after driving over a bridge.
Reportedly, Slayton didn't want to make the arrest. He didn't feel comfortable with the evidence. But, in a rush to put an end to rising racial tensions and a "keystone cops" mentality surrounding 200 FBI agents and a stumbling and bumbling police task force, Slayton was threated by the Feds. Slayton was told that if he didn't arrest Williams, a special prosecutor would be appointed to make the arrest for him..causing great political embarassment. Two days later, on June 21, 1981, Slayton arrested Wayne Williams, charging him with the murders of two men, not children.
Since Williams conviction, in early 1982, the Atlanta Media have largely ignored this on-going story. With the exception of a series of stories done by a television reporter in early 1987 on a 12-year old murder victim named Clifford Jones, there have been no other stories pointing to exculpatory evidence by any media organization in Atlanta.
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