Burk’s Not Popular in Augusta

“Welcome Masters. Rooms available. Women welcomed.”

The flashing sign in front of the Days Inn on Washington Road, about a mile from the front gate of Augusta National Golf Course, is a bit of whimsy, a touch of humor in a city full of people both baffled and annoyed by reaction to the controversy over whether women should be admitted as members to the private, men-only country club that hosts the Masters.

“Welcome Masters. Go Hootie. Martha Go Home.” That’s the sign in front of Turner’s Keyboards on Washington Road, about half a mile past Augusta National.

This battle between Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, and Hootie Johnson, chairman of Augusta National, over the all-male membership of the club is proclaimed on many signs, on many street corners, in many conversations, around this city of 200,000.

On Saturday, Burk, with the help of Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition, plans a protest of Augusta National’s membership policies. Whether the protest will happen at the front gate of Augusta National, as Burk wishes, or in a five-acre field half a mile away, as the county sheriff prefers, is yet to be finalized. The field seems most likely after Burk’s appeal was denied in circuit court Wednesday, but she still might decide to risk arrest and march in front of the main gate.

It seems, though, that fewAugusta residents will be marching for Martha.

In two days of driving around Augusta, a reporter did not see one sign in support of Burk. And in speaking to nearly 20 people -- men and women, African American, Asian, white -- not one local resident or businessperson said he or she was in favor of the protests or is offended by the all-male membership of Augusta National.

“Anti-Burk Merchandise Available” says the sign in front of Expre$$ Ca$h, Title and Pawn.”

“Support Hootie” says the sign in front of the Curl Up N Cut.

Half a block from the main entrance, Tim Taylor stands under a plastic awning and in front of a table full of “I Support Hootie” buttons. Business is brisk. Buttons are selling for $5 and one man from Atlanta bought a dozen. “For all my friends, men and women,” says the man, who doesn’t want his name made public.

This is a company town.

Augusta National brings prestige, honor and economic benefits to the river town in northeastern Georgia, says Mayor Bob Young.

“Tell me,” says Young, a Republican who began his second term in office last January, “what city in the country would not want a corporate citizen who contributes to the economy, who brings such national and international attention? There seems to be an impression that Augusta National is doing something wrong and they’re not, under our Constitution. And Martha Burk, under that same Constitution, has every right to advocate her stance and we are not going to deny her that right.

“Maybe some of the things that have been said, some of the opinions that have been expressed and the manner those have been expressed, on both sides, could have been expressed better. That said, I am proud Augusta National is a member of our community.”

It is not only a white Republican mayor who believes that the controversy is not worthwhile.

Bobby Hankerson, one of five black men on the 10-member Augusta-Richmond County Commission, says it would benefit Augusta National to have a female member. He says he was opposed to the commission voting to change the law and give power to the county sheriff to move protesters from in front of Augusta’s gates.

But after all that, Hankerson, 55, a lifelong Augusta resident, a preacher of 20 years, a veteran of lunch-counter protests against segregation in the 1960s, stops for a moment before speaking.

“Look,” Hankerson says, “African Americans have been members at Augusta National for about a decade. If you stopped a hundred African Americans in this town and asked them to name the African American members, 99 of them couldn’t do it. If you asked them what benefits have come to the African American community because an African American is a member of Augusta National, they couldn’t do it. Because I don’t think there are any.

“Hootie Johnson is 72 years old. No disrespect, but his thinking is different than someone 20 years younger and Hootie Johnson won’t be at Augusta National forever. Change will happen. There will be a woman member. I don’t believe that a woman member will make any more difference than African American members have.”

Not only the men in town support Augusta National’s response to Burk’s protests.

Allison Greene, the 28-year-old manager of the Boll Weevil Cafe and Sweetery, a popular restaurant in downtown Augusta, is the creator of WAMB -- Women Against Martha Burk. Last Sunday, in a downpour, about 100 WAMB members demonstrated against Burk. For nearly four hours, the women marched on James Brown Boulevard.

“The attention has been amazing,” Greene says. “It’s been a little overwhelming.”

Greene is no veteran of activism. She took up this cause, she says, “because I don’t think anybody has ever made me this mad before. Martha Burk seemed to presume she speaks for all women. And she’s been knocking the city where I grew up. I take it personally.”

Shannon Hanson, the women’s golf coach at Augusta State University, is an opponent of Burk as well.

The women’s program at Augusta State is in its second year. It is privately funded, Hanson says, by 16 Augusta citizens. Three of them, she says, are Augusta National members.

“I think it’s much more important that those members have helped start a women’s golf program than it is to have a woman admitted as a member,” Hanson says.

Hanson has been invited to play at Augusta National “several times,” she says. Her team has received an invitation to play the course sometime in May.

“I know of at least four courses in the United States where women aren’t allowed to play or are even allowed on the grounds,” says Hanson, who is from Louisiana and who coached at Auburn before going to Augusta State.

“My best golfer this year, Leah Hart, is from Queensland, Australia,” Hanson says. “She came here for one reason. Because she knew she’d get the chance to play the course where they play the Masters. She came because she knew she would be able to stand in the same spot where Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods stood. So do I have anything negative to say about Augusta National? No. It’s a great thing for us and for the community.”

At the Waffle House, the waitress says she’d “turn her back” on Martha Burk. At the drugstore down the road, the cashier says she “doesn’t understand” why it matters who belongs to Augusta National. “It’s for rich people and it doesn’t matter to me if it’s rich men or rich women. As long as people keep coming to Augusta and spending money.”

Anne Ealick Henry is the director of Augusta’s Rape Crisis Service. The center received a $10,000 grant from the pool of money Augusta National donates to local charities.

The grant is funding a project to support the training for forensic nurses who collect evidence in cases of alleged rape and sexual assault. It is a demanding task, Ealick Henry says, and it must be done by well-trained personnel.

“My personal opinion on Martha Burk isn’t important and I won’t comment on that,” she says. “But I will say that this money is going to do a lot of good for a lot of women. We are facing serious reductions in our state financial allocations. This money matters.”

“Go away Martha.” A single man carries the sign along Washington Road. A car passes and a woman gives him a thumbs-up sign. Another car passes and the horn honks.

Augusta was incorporated in 1798 and is the second-largest city in Georgia. Its newspaper, whose editor is a member of Augusta National, is the oldest in the South. The town suffered an earthquake in 1812. In 1845, the population of Augusta was 7,502 -- 3,948 free whites, 440 free persons of color and 3,114 slaves, according to the census of that year. Now the population is nearly evenly divided among whites and African Americans. In 1981, Augusta elected its first African American mayor.

This is not, Hankerson says, “some backward place. We know how the world works. We also appreciate a good corporate citizen. That’s what Augusta National is.”

“My personal feeling,” Mayor Young says, “is that the club is conducting itself in a manner that is sanctioned by the Constitution and for someone to attack that is beyond my understanding. The club has done nothing wrong and has the right to exist as it is. It pays taxes, provides jobs and brings a world-class sporting event to Augusta. It gives millions of dollars to charity. If someone wants to describe this as a company town, then, absolutely, we are a company town.”

So there will be no welcome mat for Burk and her protesters. Only a field and plenty of people eager to say “Go home, Martha.” There are buttons for sale.