Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Oct. 23, 1982, edition 1 / Page 1
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Black MwdiiMds mmt By Joseph E. Green Two members of the, Durham Black , Mer-. chants Association, again blasted local police this week for. in their words,: "...beine unwilling " to help us with the crime problems we face. Tee and Ralph Williams, two of the organizers of the recently frtritiwl '' erouo ; . and owners of a retail. business on Fayetteville Street, said they have been meeting with Durham Public Safety. Director Talmadge Lassiter since. 1978 about the problems of illegal; drug sales, loitering and'' theft in and around the business, but the "seems not to he concerned." "The only waytnai we ,are going to get any .chanse in thisrity is if we have a blaclc public safe ty director," said Ralph; Williams. "Lassiter knows what's going on. .but he is, simply not in terested"' Williams add-, ed. , , i Lassiter could not be 'reached for comment. Rprpntlv. the director - and two of his aides met (with a group ot black merchants. "He was 'supposed to have more I police cars patrolling our shopping area," Mrs. Williams said, "but 1 have not seen a single one since we last met with him. I think that its just a lot of talk." "Lassiter knows that we have problems in tnis area," said Ralph Williams, "but he is j more concerned with the' safety of white mer-, chants than the satety of. blacks in this area. Wei have senior citizens who' are afraid to walk on' Fayetteville Street and Lassiter tells, us. that hei has been in the area and, did not see any major , problems L; ; ' Both of the Williamses charged that there, are local law enforcement officials who stand out , , in front of public establishments drinking liquor with young men. "They do not do it in their uniforms, but everybody knows who "they are: "ft people see ' - 'f J v -.'3t- that law entorcemem wi "ficials are breakingjhc law, then they liave np respect ,forv ,jt themselves." . ' J- Recently, the' black merchants went before the city council, asking that an ordinance that would prohibit loitering in front of their places of business be enfotecL ine city council referred Jhe ..merrhanls to ih epartment of public safety. - . ' ";V ! Public safety officials gave the merchants a:. ;new set of forms to fiU ! out. "We are getting: the'' classic run-arotfnd front ijthe city," Mrs. Williams ' said, and "quite frankly! , we are getting very tired of it-" -' Central's Chancellor Selection Process Moves Oiv FMSce ooo Agaimi '-')M " " 'j ' ' By Donald Alderman i A small, but potential ly divisive ' argument ibrews on the campus of NCCU over the way a i new. chancellor is being selected for the universi ty. ''-' ( NCCU Chancellor; Albert N. Whiting retires iJune 30 as head of the I nrrHrtminarrtlv hlaek university that is part of the statewide university system. Centrar has about 5,000 students. v A' IZ-m'eriAei? liiauiciiui otai 1,11 vuiii7 mittee has Interviewed mdre than 100 can-! didates for the job, and has narrowed, the select 'tion down to fourj finalisK. The search Committee is the focus of . the arguments on camous. A hnont1v th hoartl 1 of the argument is will illV , t7.ir.nv. f ' v result in a chancellor who will be sensitive to Central's traditional mis sion as a black college, or with an administrator who will march blindly !to the tune of the UNC General Administration state university system, j i "You're, dealing withj a statute," Friday said,j i'the Reorganizatiortall Act of 1972, and the IaW, ;says the board 0f trustees; '(wilf submit two names to! i my office and I can; ichdose to. report that to, i the board of governors lThe board of governors! then must select one of those persons as( chancellor."" , Friday further explain ed that under the law; Vfchly Tie tiaf the power to reject candidates for .the. chancellor's post; recam ; mended by the local board of trustees. , , So the argument on Central's campus ap pears to serve little pur pose because it will flot affect the cnancenor selection process. The argument rages nevertheless and it is .producing some in teresting sidelights. For example: v Last week in Faculty Senate, 55-member body (represents all of the a that the .departments on campus. 'one representative pro posed that the Senate go on record requesting the right to meet, interview, accept or reject any of I the four finalists for the chancellor's job. The same critics also ! proposed that the Senate i i establish new criteria for the chancellor finalists 'and examine them in the light of the new stan- . dards. v ' According to Dr. Sanders, those nrODOsaK igot-onty-twootes eachis . the person who'madt j the motion and the per il son who seconded it,' But the anonymous I, administrator . says the j j motions passed. 11 Minutes of the meeting could solve that little disagreement, but I Dr. Sanders . said they . i couldn't be released: publicly until they were ! released to faculty i members, about three J ; weeks from now. j The critics also say that the chancellor pro-: cess , has been tooj secretive and that more people should have had a chance to question in procedure. Clearly upset over.thaf ' charge, Holloway said: , ; "We've leaned over backwards to give everyone a chance to . have input into the pro cess." He pointed to a public hearing held in the Spr ing, and other meetings that the Search Commit tee has had with in terested i parties and organizations. . . And so while -the aR ...ment rages, the process marches on. One of the finalists for . the : chancellor's .slot visited the campus last week, met with the faculty and other officials. The other finalists will visit Central in coming weeks. Sometime around j December, the Search Committee will send twe 'names, to Friday, a,n( shortly after the first o the year, Central shouh ihave a new chancellc (who will begin wor 'around July 1. SISTFR "T WILLIAMS a local merchant, blasts Durham police for what she calls insufficient protection" in the black community. us County Commission Race: An Opportunity or Bombshell For The Black Community that runs the statewide University system? Chief critics of the process are a small group of faculty members, in- AArn rt'no hioh-rank ino administration official who asked not to be , identified. He says eight .out , of ten faculty members on campus are dissatisfied with the pro cess. He, however, refus ed t6pjvethefigures. "me critics .seem to think the present process will not produce a "chancellor sensitive to the school's mission. On the other side of the argument is Hilliary ' Holloway, chairman of, ithe Chancellor Search Committee, as well as ichairman of the universi ty's board of trustees... !He calls the critics !"cheap talkers who want, ,to hold a candle on knowledge." . , "The search commit tee is capable of doing its own' thinking-,"" Holloway said in , response to , questions about the, disgruntle ment. "We're not going, to be browbeaten into selecting someone that the committee doesn't think is the best person ! to lead the school." , Caught somewhere in , ' the middle of all this is Dr. Authrell Sanders, chairman of the Faculty; Senate, where much of this argument" surfaced last week. : But looming in the' background of the, argu ment, actually holding ,most of the cards, is ur William Friday, presi 'dent of the 16-campus Committee Closes Portion Of Meeting To Reporter By Donald Alderman ' -' -Durham's oldest aftd generally most respected, black organization The Durham Committee, on the Affairs of Black, People closed a por- tion of ' its regular! meeting last week to a. reporter, . though the! organization meets in aj. public facility. i A Durham City Coun-r cilman, Maceo Sloanj and an appointed public official, John Edwards; ' both voted to dose that ; portion of the meeting, a clear violation of public! policy. The organization, which holds its regular,) twice monthly meetings: in the basement of the;; Stanford L. Warren' Library, voted nearly! unanimously to oust: Donald Alderman from the final portion of its ; meeting. - Alderman is a writer for The Carolina Times. , 1 1 According to Ms. Dale Gaddis, director of the ' Durham County Library system, this vote violates the library's policy governing , the use of its meeting rooms. Stanford,, L. Warren is a branch, 'library of the " county 'library system. According to Willie . Lovett, chairman of the: Durham Committee, in an interview Monday,; the group's intent wasj not necessarily to oust i 'Alderman from the meeting; but to insure that the issue about to be discussed would not be; reported in the .newspaper. i The issue coming up "for discussion, according to Lovett, was a pro-, posal for the Committee" to- endorse the write-in; campaign . for H.M. "Mickey" Michaux. The : political sub-committee f recently, voted for the se-. cond time to recommend! endorsement of the write-in,. ! "At a previous meeting where this issue had been discussed, there; was a feeling that some things said there should; not have been in the! paper," Lovett said, "and when it was time for this issue to come up again, some people became very sensitive about Mr. Alderman's presence." Here is how the ouster developed. ; Fot.more than a hour last Thursday night, the : meeting proceeded as usual, , with ? - sub committee reports and. nothing controversial be j ing discussed. Reports -included"" discussions on economics, "health,: civic affairs- and so on. : ' Then, just before tne Political Sub-Committee made its report the last report scheduled for ;!the meeting John ba ! wards, a state govern ment employee, rose and took exception to the reporter's presence. This sparked a 30- to 45-minute debate, en- dihg in the vote to oust the reporter. I Here's how the debate went. Edwards said the reporter should say he. icame as a private citizen;,,. !or as a reporter with the' intentions of writing a story. Edwards added; 3hat if ; the reporter . ! wouldn't state his pur-i pose in attending the' .meeting, then the com imittee should vote to en-? 'force its policy of "not; ' allowing reporters ; (i n Durham Committee meetings who write what is going on down1 here in the paper." 1 ; "I've been reading too much of what goes on down here in The Carolina Times, Ed Awards saidj and, we; ; need to decide whether 'we're going to enforce .the policy." , . The reporter attemp ted to make it clear tnat his purpose in attending the meeting would de ! pend on what is about to rbe discussed, noting that Cup to that point, nothing; newsworthy had been discussed. ! But Edwards, joined by City Councilman "(Continued On P.age 3), t , . y Joseph K. CJreen iThe Durham Committee faces a golden oppor tunity or a political bombshell next, week when it meets to endorse candidates for the coming general election. The question is simple: Should the Committee en- lui.-'.' i .' r-i c.rt14;ft AVllliam XXfW otH Mrs r Becky , Berorv for: seats on' the " Dtfrham County Commission t Mrs. Spaulding and Bell are black and in cumbents.: Mrs. Heron is white, making her second id for a seat on the county board. . The answer to that question, though, is anything 1 but simple., i If the Committee that routinely delivers 95 per cent or more, of the black vote to endorsed can didates, doeV not endorse Mrs. Heron, they risk , losing a candidate perceived to be favorable to issues of vital importance to the black community. Mrs. Heron has said, for example, that she favors a county; government affirmative action plan, an issue that has always been defeated by the Commis sion. However, if the Committee endorses Mrs. Heron, along with Mrs. Spaulding and Bell, they risk losing a sure champion Bell and winding up with a probable one Mrs. Heron. Here's the problem. There are six candidates running for five seats on , the County commission in the November 2 elections. In addition to Mrs. Spaulding, Mrs. Heron and Belt, the candidates are incumbents Dillard Teer and Edwin Clements and newcomer Paul T. Nance. 'Nance is the only Republican among the pack. The five top vote getters will get the seats. The Committee will endorse Mrs. Spaulding and Bell, largely because they usually endorse black can didates, and because both commissioners have serv ed the community well, at least in principle. But, on many issues of importance to the black community specifically, Mrs. Spaulding and Bell have been less than effective because Clement, Teer and th,e' retiring Howard Easley usually voted together, pounding these issues into defeat. Thus the black community has grown tired of a string of 3-2 votes, with the black community always on me mioii cnu oi me mick. Mrs. Heron is seen as a way to correct that im balance, even giving the black community an edge, . with Mrs. Heron voting more often with Mrs. Spaulding and Bell than with Teer ahd Clement. At least that's the way many people in the black ' . community see the scenario. .. i' -i,., W'lwi. Mkc Heron , But tne prooiciii i i ev elected. The fear is that if the Committee does not en dorse Mrs. Heron, Nance could be elected, because apparently many whites don't want the voting balance to change. , , But by the same token, if the Committee endorses Mrs. Heron, an unprecedented triple endorsement, then Bell, according to several Committee insiders, j becomes vulnerable to the vote count. "It's going to be kind of tough," said one source close to the Committee who asked not to be iden tified. "We have not made such an endorsement, and it is for obvious reasons." f . But there is sentiment on the Committee for the triple endorsement. . , . "I think that it is time that we take the risk and make a triple endorsement," said another Commit tee member who, too, asked for anonymity. We cannot afford to play it coy forever." j None of the oldtimers can remember the Com- , mittee making a triple endorsement. It was heavily considered during the primary, election, but the; traditionalists argued that only Mrs, Spaulding and . Belt should be endorsed, while others wanted a break with tradition. The traditionalists won. , Again the real fear is about Bell's seat. Mrs. Spaulding, who has strong support in the white and ; black community, will probably lead the ticket, as she did in the June primary. The two white can didates, Teer and Clement, will probably come in second and third, with strong white support. And the real fight will be between Bell, Mrs. Heron and Thus, the Committee's dilemma. Endorse Mrs. Heron with a possibility of losing Belt. It is a black politiciars nightmare. Jhe numbers game at its very best . L4 Today's Woman Awardees In lhB cancludina activity of its Second Annual Meeting and Anniversary here Sunday, .tin Today's Woman Qrganlza - in tne conciua nj aivny m tne Year" citations. The presentations were made following wor- tion pram ed rtr J?K ChS. Photos show Ms. Pat Rogers (left), community Lh?rM?.St f3rs J B iffi StSI t SJuffivim presenting citation to Mrs" Vivian A. Edmonds SASILS SXX!l3ifc m -Mrt-ConstanM Sartor w w mmb' I ship spans allege, professional and social levels. ;
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Oct. 23, 1982, edition 1
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