The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 101

NOW leader sees vibrant future for feminist struggle 'I like to crunch numbers and plan strategy. My particular interest is to be in the layer which helps elect women and minorities to public Ginny Montes National Organization of Women, State Chapter President i i 1 flllisiilllll-irl. iMf SMy ii' hyyyyyiy 3 she said. Ms. Montes hopes to be elected to a position on NOW's national board of directors.

Last November, she was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board, and she hopes to win the seat this April and serve a two-year term as one of three tatives from the Southeast As for the direction NOW has taken under national President Eleanor Smeal, whose election last July sparked Williams' newspaper column, Ms. Montes said Ms. -Smeal's flamboyant and outspoken approach is required. rr Opinions on the issues facing the country in the next five years abortion rights, equal rights for homosexuals and lesbians, pay equity, apartheid in South Africa and the ratification of an equal rights amendment by necessity must be broadcast strongly, she said. An ostrich-like approach will not do.

"Somebody has to address those difficult issues," Ms. Montes said. "NOW always has been the vanguard of social change and it must DAVID PENDEREDStaff Ginny Montes continue to take on the important issues and voice them loudly enough for them to be heard." St root Poll with Ms. Montes in the General' As-. sembly.

"But her persistence doesn't become obnoxious. "She can get your attention and talk for an hour and when you turn away you'll say, There's a person who believes in her And even if you disagree with her, you'll want to talk to her again," he sail Said DeKalb Commissioner Sherry Schulman, a NOW member who worked with Ms. Montes for Georgia in the futile effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, "Her strength is knowledge of issues and the legislative process. She is very Eood at researching bills and track-ig them, talking to people and getting votes both in committee and on the floor." Ms. Montes, 42, moved to At-; lanta from Tallahassee, in 1980 to become a researcher for the Southern Legislative Research Council.

The agency provides re- search assistance to legislators whose bills would affect poor and minority constituents. With her she brought a bache-. lor's degree in sociology from the University of Florida, a master's degree in regional planning from Florida State University and a penchant for back-room politics. "I have no intentions of ever seeking public office," Ms, Montes said. "I like to crunch numbers and plan strategy.

My particular interest is to be in the layer which helps elect women and minorities to public office." Among the strategies planned during her time at the research council was scaffolding for the anti- terrorism act that Gov. Joe Frank Harris signed into law in 1983. "I didn't think we'd have enough votes to get it on the floor," said Brooks, the bill's sponsor. "But Ginny got in there and worked. And when it got out of committee and onto the floor for a vote, I looked up and saw many green signals from people who had said they wouldn't support it," he said.

"I know those signals came because of her work." Ms. Montes left the research council earlier this spring to become the only full-time lobbyist for Georgia NOW. Because that position ended with the session, she currently is unemployed and examining her options. "I'm inclined toward research, because the right kind of information can make a difference," she said. "I'm also examining ways I could do that kind of work within the women's movement But I don't want to leave the South The battles must be won here and we need to get the minority women involved," she said.

One certainty, she said, is that she will not seek re-election as president of Georgia NOW. Her term expires in May. The motive in that decision is twofold. By leaving, she will create a vacancy which she hopes will result in minority women moving up in the ranks of the state NOW hierarchy. That, in turn, will prompt more minority women to join NOW because they will realize that the.

organization has a place for What is your favorite day of the year? Why? Place: Flat Shoals Elementary School By David Pendered Staff Writer Some would have Ginny Montes believe that she pilots a ghost ship. For example, local political pundit Dick Williams, a columnist for The Atlanta Journal, wrote last July that the National Organization of Women "is on its last legs, trying for a spasm of energy before oblivion. Women concerned about serious feminist issues aren't likely to rally to a platform of destruction of young life, the family and Ms. Montes, the exiting president of Georgia's NOW chapter who resides in Lithonia, just chuckles at such ruminations. Her political seasoning in Florida and Georgia taught her more than the rudiments of philosophical jousting.

"Dick Williams is going to be surprised a few years down the road," she suggested, her dark eyes glinting across NOW's small office in Atlanta's Central Presbyterian Church. "If NOW is on its last legs, why did 500 people from Georgia join. 100,000 people from across the nation in converging on Washington, she pointed out, referring to a march on the Capitol NOW sponsored last month in support of abortion rights. "The march proved, beyond any doubt, that young women and men are interested in participating in the movement. And this second wave is going to be more adamant than the first in.

demanding their rights," Ms. Montes said. Those who know her would say the exchange was vintage Montes: A quick summation followed by fact, analysis and projection. In her five years in Georgia, the Honduran-born mother of a 15-year-old girl who attends Redan High School has earned a reputation as an intelligent and fierce debater. "It's an understatement to say that she's forceful and dynamic' said state Rep.

Tyrone Brooks (D-Fulton), who has worked closely DelCoIb Editor JohnVardeman Sports Editor JimSatterly Staff Writen Chuck Bell Sarah Cash David Pendered Evan Grant Ad Manager Marcia Kaplan BcthRosser Inquiries should be addressed to DeKalb Extra, P.O. Box 4689, Atlanta, 30302, or phone 525-5888V a For advertising inquiries, phone '-w -i-y. "I iiii viii iiiit jm Heather Gunn wins district STAR student Cbiante Marie Powe: I like Jan. 20, because Martin Luther King Jr. was born.

He gave us freedom. He did a lot for us. 1 1 i Eric C. Render: I like New because tyou fan pop f.v wrectacnen ana 11 is me oecm-. Marquetta Williams: New Year's Day, because I like the feel of the big apple coming down from Times Square.

Rashad Calloway: It Is Friday 'th'lith. I I I It fit, I i Heather Gunn, a high-school student representing the DeKalb County School System, was named winner of the 4th District STAR student competition March 25 at Stone Mountain Inn. The Lakeside High School senior will now compete statewide in the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition program. The state winner will be announced April 17 at the Mariott Downtown Hotel, 165 Court--land St, in Atlanta. Ms.

Gunn, 18, is the daughter of Robert and Sharon Gunn of DeKalb County. In winning Joe, district tion, Ms. Gunn'xe'ctivW a pque STAR teacher, who instructs her in history, received $125 from the Atlanta Gas Light Co. STAR students for the district competition were judged, based on academic excellence. Ms.

Gunn achieved nationwide recognition last August when it was announced she earned a perfect score of 1,600 on the national Scholastic Aptitude Test joining only six other perfect-scoring students across the country. The Business Council of Georgia sponsored the district STAR student competition, and the Stone Mountain Rotary Club, isorea a iimcneon Vented dslrdinlOuf districts. mo.W,tWrMW.l.tf.We Da Foundation to 'AtlantrHfcf.