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Duke University Ubrary Newspaper Department Durham no a YOUR VOTE - Jnne 29 , Can Change the Course of Elack History for at Least t Jhe Next TEN Years ? " 1 I 'k iiUIl 1 8 1332 1 ' , . Vcr&OfVisdoa , It Is eaiy to tea wfeea yoi'rt c the 102 road. Yoa hardly ertr tec toy detour afjaa. . ' Aao8jBMaa - . Look for reasons way yoa caa 4 o a tiiag, rather than way yoa eaat . . ' w'' Keaseta McFtrliad VOLUME. 60 NUMBER 24 DURHAM, K2.1TH CASCLO - SATUS2AY, J313, 12 TELEPHONE (919) C3 2-23 13 met: 33 CCITS On Hayti-Civic Center n U By Donald Alderman ' Several of Durham's ; black leaders confirmed this week that they have . worked ' together for . several months' tOf-corae up with a unified posi- , tion on Hayti and the proposed s downtowf.' civic center. ' Their, comments come in the wake of a vote, ap parently by eleven members of - the 23-member executive committee of the local NAACP branch, endorse ing the civic center bond referendum. According' to an executive commit-'; tee member,, who check- ed his by-laws, the vote ' was legal since one-third of the committee present is a quorum. But last week, T.R. Speight; a member of the NAACP executive com mittee, said the endorse ment vote violated . & 'tacit agreement . bet- Why Did i "Stu" Nurin Die? See Page 3 Track Is Back In Durham See Page 7 Needed: Symbol To Africa See Page 15 i around the Hayti ques tion. ' ,' V Hayti, a former black residential and commer- . cial area was razed dur ing Durham's urban renewal program about twenty years ago. It has not been rebuilt. When the civic center issue surfaced, many in r the black '; community f said clearly that black voters should not sup ' port the civic center referendum unless the ci ' ty offered specific assurances , on the redevelopment of Hayti. The series of meetings between members of the black strategy , ween the ? four major 7 black organizations that 1 city's principle we should work together organizations to- turn our gun tn me same direction on this issue." In interviews this week, representatives' of i those organizations con--! firmed efforts to reach a unified position. The organizations are the " Hayti Development Cor poration, Durham Business and Profes- sional Chain, the were sessions to determine how that philosophy could best be implemented. - v . j VSome Of the meetings were heated," said Hudgins, "but we agreed that blacks should con--centrate more on the development of Hayti than on the civic center." Nathaniel White, Jr., executive director of the Hayti Development Cor porations said he remembers the meetings well. "It was said that we needed to formulate a unified strategy and that there would be more meetings to carve out the groups' positions." Ervih Allen, Jr., ex ecutive director' of the Durham Business & Pro fessional Chain, echoed similar sentiments, ' - "I attended several meetings with a lot of leaders," he said, "and it seemed that they were seeking a unified posi tion on Hayti and downtown." On the question of whether the two issues should realistically be linked,' Hudgins explain ed that the two proposed projects (Hayti and the civic center) have always been linked, by blacks and whites. "City officials know they are linked," he said. "They're depending urxn Hayti development to help retire the civic .center bonds if the referendum passes. The real issues are how will Hayti bi redeveloped and how, much will it cost? ' Hudgins continued to point out that blacks must hold their own to have Hayti developed . comparable to its past. "Some white people are trying to kindle the . flames by throwing a . carrot at blacks and by saying we are not in formed on the civic center issue,". Hudgins said. "But the issue is economic development, and we know what we ' want Hayti to be." County Attorney: Denies Racial Discrimination In Hiring By Joseph E. Green The difference bet ween . the jobs available and the number of peo plWwho,apply keeps 'StVi'l'S. the county since 1967 and Ms, Ruth Amey, a twenty-year-6 employee, are alleging that they have ;been.; passed, over NAACP and the J Jobs in Durham County Durham Committee on , oovernmenL , accordmn Through Ups and Downs Leon And Alice Saunders Ha ve Preached 43 Years : By Patricia Williams "Church services in Bishop Leon Saunders' Jesus House of Prayer on Dowd Street follow a basic pattern. The sisters, many of them dressed in white to signify ministerial posi tion or longevity in the church, sing - rousing spirituals and ; testify. After the first couple of words in each song that might crop up from any place in the congrega tion, the piano player in the right corner of the "pulpit catches the beat and fires up the melody. In the choir stand, about a dozen members of the, choir sing out, careful not to drown out the song leader in the con gregation. - Singing always precedes testifying. ;V Saunders' church at 704 Dowd Street is built for the services. It's a sturdy, brick veneer building, featuring one long room, lined on either side with about twenty shiny, oak, high back benches. The aisles are wide and there's a space in ; front of the pulpit, both designed to accommodate the "shouting" that comes often during a typical service, most of the time without warning. On the left side of the pulpit, in a high, back, comfortable office chair, sits Bishop Leon Saunders, a slender fac ed, tall, slim figure who ever so often raises his hand and smiles, signify ing his pleasure at a par ticular segment of the services. At his left side sits Mrs. ' Saunders, Mother;-. the members call -her. .She, a short, slightly stout woman, dressed jn white from head to toe. Together they sit, wat- N ching . protectively and pleasingly over the kingdom they've built. It took them 43 years to do it, and it wasn't easy. ; ' ; During. a recent inter- , view, t Mrs. Saunders . . recalled those early s years, going back to 1929 when the two of them left Johnston County ' after, farming there for ten years together, and came to Durham. "We came here to ; search for a better life," : she said. "But it was hard at first." During their first years in Durham, Saunders worked at a number of odd jobs, including sell-, ing wood and 'coal,, for fifty cents a bag. She washed - and ironed clothes for white families for a dollar a load. Later, Saunders work ed for a local construc tion company, and after that for twenty years un til his retirement in 1968,. he worked for a textile mill. ' ; , . Referring to their early years, Mrs. Saunders said, "It was rough. We ate beans and fatback, but we survived." . The Saunders ministry began shortly after their arrival in Durham. It wasn't, "planned, .they said. He just decid ed to preach. His wife 'agreed;, " Saunders' first sermon ' was delivered in a -back - room of their house in - the 500 block of Dowd Street. The husband and wife team preached there until they could afford to ; buy a ramshackled building for a church. ' This was the beginning -of the Jesus House of Prayer. Inc. the Affairs of Black Peo ple. "There was a series of meetings," said John Hudgins, who heads the Durham ' Committee's task force on Hayti and downtown development.. "Basically, people left with . the understanding that we should work together in the same direction, ' mainly because if we allow peo ple to divide us, we stand a chance of losing everything." '"k- - ; ' Persons interviewed who said they; attended the series of meetings said they were held at Stanford L. Warren Library, UDI offices and St. Joseph's AME Church, all located along Fayetteville Street. , The purpose of the series of meetings was clearly focused on how the black community Should vote On a $10.5 million bond referendum on June 29. The money , would go to build a $13.5 million downtown con vention center. The County Commissioners have pledged $3 million in revenue sharing money to help build the ' structure According to civic center supporters and ci ty officials, the to the county's attorney, He denies . that racial discrimination is a factor.- J : -, Responding to charges by two black nurses who work for the County Health Department, and who have taken the county to federal court, Owen said, "The county is very definitely not guilty . of racial discrimination when it comes tQ hiring." The two nurses, Ms. Delores H. Vaughn, who has been employed with positions came available.' -Ms. Vaughn, fdr ex ample, says that in one instance,. - a "white woman who had , been with the county only two years," was promoted over her. But Owen contends that it's merely a matter of mathematics. "When you have. one position open and twenty people apply for it, somebody is not going to get the job," Owen said. "We can't go out and create positions. It's sim ple mathematics." Continuing, Owen said, "A lot of them seem to think that we can create positions,'' referr ing to people like Ms. Vaughn 04 -Ms, ;Amey. plaint artd we have filed an answer." " lfv Owen noted that the nurses' case is one of on ly a few racial discrimination cases that have been filed against the county. The case takes on in creasing importance in wake of recent efforts to have the Durham Coun ty Commission adopt an affirmative action policy. These efforts, however, have met with strong resistance, with county officials conten ding that no affirmative action policy is needed' because county govern ment does not discriminate in its hiring and promotion practices. Riit rlfs pvnminatmn of the county's hiring practices reveals that many of the county's black employees are bun ched in the county's lowest ' job categories, and that few blacks or women are working in supervisory positions. This situation is at the heart of the suit filed by the two county health department I nurses. Owen disagrees. "Their case is unmerited," ' he said. "This is not about racial discrimination. Somebodv just ' got mad." " K Budget Time Means Money Cuts For Cou nty Departments By Joseph E, Green It's budget time again for Durham County and most county department heads . are requesting more money for their divisions. But, they are not going to get it. In fact, they are going to have to make reductions in the budget requests that they have submitted to the county's fiscal chief. Paul Warren, the county's finance direc tor, told The Carolina Times that the budget jor increases in spending. Warren, ..who' was formerly a fiscal official in Raleigh, said that Durham County was a victim of the economic malaise that was gripp ing the entire country. "We are looking to the , federal government no concrete plans right now. Everybody is going to experience difficult times." The County Commis sioners are currently reviewing the budget which will be adopted by the 21st of this month, he said. Warren said that the ditures are in the areas of , social assistance to the economically poor and to public education. The county also is providing $250,000 to Durham; Technical Institute. "It's going to be a hard budget," Warren said, "but its goina to be at . developer who has1 Wl" , wmsc jor me agreed to build the civic' year 82-83, which center will also arrange , 8'ns oh July I, but on construction of a ' lv bv 3. 1 million. Last downtown hotel and of-. Z: ,!?11 ' was fice building. $70,544,178; But for many in the , He said that things are black community, the' 80 l,8ht that there will be civic center issue revolves " n? new caP,tal ttxPen: ditures or any other ma- tor assistance in some areas," Warren said, but county's largest expert-. a fair budget." any assistance that , Durham gtts will not be . Durham and Worldwide massive, he has conclud ed,' "jv':v- i.; ' t.v The County Board of Commissioners is oppos ed to "any increase" in taxes. Warren said. The present" tax rate for Durham County residents is $0.87 per $100,00 on all personal and real property.; , N J'Thc departments are going to, have to cut," Warren' said, "there are Ham Radio Operators Ready For Field Day By noon next Satur day, more than 100,000 ' HAM radio operators around the world will be ready to received a message from the ' American Radio Relay ' League. That , message. I sent by what is probably the largest HAM radio operation in the country, will launch Held Day 82. Field Day, an annual practice session for (Continued on Page 6)
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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June 19, 1982, edition 1
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