Augusta officials again fail to pass law protecting city from demonstrator lawsuits

AUGUSTA - Officials in Augusta have split along racial lines and failed for a second time to pass a new protest law designed to protect the city from lawsuits by demonstrators picketing the Masters golf tournament. <br> <br> The proposed changes included requiring protest groups to give 20 days notice to the sheriff, who would have to respond within seven days. No such deadlines exist in the current law. <br> <br> City commissioners first deadlocked on the revised law January 21 and again yesterday. They failed to pass it with a five-to-five vote. Mayor Bob Young and four white commissioners voted in favor of the changes. Five black commissioners voted to keep the old law. <br> <br> Augusta expects the National Council of Women&#39;s Organizations and the Reverend Jesse Jackson&#39;s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to protest Augusta National Golf Club&#39;s all-male membership during the April tournament. <br> <br> The attorney for August-Richmond County -- Jim Wall -- says the city&#39;s current ordinance that gives the sheriff authority to approve or deny protest permits could be too vague to withstand a court challenge. <br> <br> The chairwoman of the National Council of Women&#39;s Organizations -- Martha Burk -- has denounced the protest revisions as ``an attempt to stifle free speech.&#39;&#39;