Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Jan. 15, 1983, edition 1 / Page 1
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t s i d e . • • ik trees knocked down at Lincoln Hospital page 3 Hard Teer and ethics in county govt. — page 14 4A CP launches local membership dirve — page 4 College Sports — page 5 learning events for January — Entertainment section U ^ rVA o'7'SA^ = 61 - NUMBER 2 (USPS 091-380) DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1983 Words Of Wisdom So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world. 4 ¥ V 4^Kant Kindness in words creates confidence, kind ness |n thinking creates profoundness, kind ness in giving creates love. —Lao-Tse TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: aO tEKTSi History and Depression park Opening of N.C. Gen’l Assembly By Jocelyn Daniels and Milton Jordan ,E1GH — The 1983 session of the Carolina General Assembly opened sday on two notes: one depressing ; other historic. depressing note, an observation ned by almost everyone, is the budget. The question is how to lOugh money to keep running the 3 the state now has, give teachers ite employees a raise, balance the and not increase taxes, ight be just too much to ask. historic note is that for the first 1 the state’s history, a dozen black ors are in the General Assembly ng with the problems. There are 11 in the House of Representatives le black in the State Senate. Last there where three blacks in the and one in the Senate. ;e new legislators join five women senate and 19 in the House, and are f four new Senators and 25 new entatives who have never served in neral Assembly to make this session the most diverse in its makeup in history. diversity notwithstanding, this ses- I the General Assembly is likely to of the toughest, if not controver- es, in the last decade, budget will be right at the top of enda of tough and controversial hat must be handled. 5.going to be.ahectic-session,” said 1 C: Creecy a Northampton County :rat who is returning for his second }fe was one of four blacks in the last i. “It .seems to me that we’re going ; to give the teachers and other state :ees a little raise. But it’s going to >h trying to do that without cutting s or raising taxes.’’ problem is rather simple to explain. The state’s unemployment is hovering close to the double-digit mark across the state, though there are areas in the state better off than others. North Carolina gets most of its money from the state in come tax, and with fewer people working, revenues just have not increased at the projected rates. But the state must balance its budget, so the lawmakers and the governor must decide what the state should do with the money it has. The answer is no where near that simple to,explain. One possible alternative is to increase taxes. “1 don’t think that’s a viable or prac tical answer,” explained Edwards. “I think we will have to take serious and hard looks at other sources of revenue. Edwards, one of two blacks elected last November from Cumberland County, mentioned the state sales tax and user fees as ways the state could possibly increase its revenues without increasing the income tax. Though this session of the General Assembly, stormy though it might be, is not likely to see many black-white issues come up, at least one is expected to sur face. All of the black legislators interviewed said they expect someone to introduce a bill to outlaw North Carolina’s second primary. The second primary is perceived by many blacks as being a method of reduc ing the number of blacks who hold elec tive office. The second primary works this way: In a party primary for statewide or na tional office, a candidate must poll at least one vote more than 50 per cent of the vote cast to be an undisputed winner ofthe party’s nomination. If a candidate leads the field, but polls less than a majority, then the second place opponent can call for a runoff, or a second primary as it is officially called. In the case of black candidates, “first” primaries often have one black candidate pitted against two or more white can didates. In the runoff primacy, however, it is often the black candidate and a white candidate. Records show that in most of these confrontations, blacks vote for the black candidate and whites vote for the white candidate. A recent case in point was the 1982 2nd Congressional District race in which H.M. “Mickey” Michaux led a field of three candidates in the first primary, but failed to poll a majority. f.T. Valentine who finished second called for a runoff. The traditional voting patterns prevailed. Michaus lost. “I think that we will see a bill introduc ed to eliminate the second primary,” said Rep. Edwards, “and I am prepared to support it.” These aren’t the only tough issues likely to come up this session. Others include: * A proposed rewrite of the state’s drunken driving law's, and item high on Gov. Jim Hunt’s legislative agenda. * A proposal from the legislative study committee to increa,se the state’s emphasis on monitoring civil rights compliance in agencies that receive state money. * A proposal from another legislative study committee that would drastically change the way teachers are hired and fired in this state. Despite this, many legislators expect the 1983 session tc: he .'elatively short. Sen. Craig Lawing (D-Mecklenburg) and Speaker Pro-Tern of the Senate, expects the session to end by May. Whether long or short, the General Assembly’s new members will get an in teresting baptism by fire. The black members of the l‘"'slature (Continued On Page 6) HONORED — William A. Marsh, Jr., (I), a Durham Attorney and Ben Ruffin, special asis- tant to the Governor, were both honored Sunday by the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. Marsh was given the Committee’s Special Service Award, while Ruf fin was named Citizen of the Year. (Photo by Mayfield) nti-Klan Network Launches Major Campaign SANTA, GA. — the list of nearly a nd violent racist iti-Semitic acts — ng death threats, :tion of property, s, shootings, ngs, bombings, ven murder, the al Anti-Klan Net- has announced a national cam- to press for swift prosecution of ren, Nazis and committing such ! want to make year known as the ming of the End icist Violence in ;a”, said Rev. 'ivian, chair of the rk. January 1 120 years since the ; of the Emancipa- oclamation and it seems that regard for black life in America still stands no higher than that of chattel.” The Network, now 3 years old, has launched the 1983. campaign in order to create public pressure on federal authorities to crack down on racially- motivated and anti- Semitic violence. “Those who murdered the 5 in Greensboro, who . shot John McCollum in Alabama, who shot the 5 women in Chattanooga, who tried to assassinate Mrs. Evelyn Lowery, those who poured gasoline on the inter racial couple in St. Louis — all of these Klansmen, Nazis and other criminals are still out walking the streets,” said Vivian, who was a top aide to the late Dr. Martin Luther King. Highly critical of the tiny number (less than 20) prosecutions taken by the U.S. Justice Department in contrast to the nearly 500 documented incidents of Klan violence and nearly 500 more of what they term “random racist violence”, the Network hopes that its campaign will make stopping such violence a “top priority on the Nation’s agenda”. The rationale for such a low prosecution rate by Justice Department of ficials, says the Network, is that they only claim jurisdiction in cases if the victim is actually engaged in what the Feds call a “specifically pro tected activity” — mean ing voting, using a public facility, etc. . Klan opponents as well as noted Constitu tional law experts con tend that all racially- motivated and anti- Semitic violence is aimed at depriving blacks, Jews and others — as a whole — of their Constitu tional Rights. The NAKN complains that these highest law en forcement officials are themselves guilty of breaking the civil rights statutes. “The Attorney General claims to have very limited jurisdiction in these cases of racist terror,” said Vivian. “But we know the laws are on the books and if A Dozen Blacks In Legislature By Jocelyn Daniels HIGH — North a’s 120 legislators now in- 2 blacks for the first time rate’s history, ed in 1982, following a d bitter fight over how to rtion the state’s legislative > after the 1980 cen sus, the Correct Times is space every week, The a Times will correct errors , typographical mistakes ler miscues that appear in vspaper. If you see any miss, drop us a line and correct them. )age 2 last week, in the n the installation of the stor at Cox Memorial, the inder the picture should )een Rev. Marshall K. Times regrets the error. \2 new lawmakers bring a double challenge to their posts. On the one hand, they repre sent the people of their particular districts, and on the other, are members of district delegations. For example, Kenneth B. Spaulding of Durham is one of three representatives for the 16th Legislative District. Herman Gist of Guilford is part of a 7-member delegation that represents the - 23rd District. On the Senate side, each coun ty has two state senators. There is only one black in the State Senate this session. He is William Martin of Guilford County. By the same token, these 12 elected officials also represent the state’s 1.3 million black citizens. One of the toughest tasks these officials are likely to face is how to walk what will sometime be a thin tightrope between the in terests of blacks and’ the interests of a district constituency. In order to work more effec- dvely together, the 12 new lawmakers met during December and formed the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus. According to caucus chairman, Spaulding of Durham, the senior black member of the General Assembly, the group is designed to help black legislators be more effective in representing the peo ple who elected them. “There will be some things that we will speak on as a group,” Spaulding said, “but there will be some other issues that have to be handled on a district basis.” Following are short biographical sketches of most of the black legislators. Sen. Martin of Guilford, as well as Represen tatives Luther Jeralds, Cumberland; Phillip Berry, Mecklenburg; Mrs. Annie B. Kennedy, Forsyth; and Sidney Locks, Robeson could not be reached by deadline. SPEAKS — Willie Lovell, chairman of the Durham Commiltee on . the Affairs of Black Peo ple, told the organization that 1982 had been a good year, but the group faced an even harder job work ing for local blacks in 1983. Photo by Mayfield) black people do not have a ‘federally protected right to life’ then every other civil right staiids in grave jeopardy. The posture of the Federal government is tanta mount to condoning Klan violence.” The Network’s 1983 Campaign will consist of a mass petition drive to collect thousands of signatures demanding immediate federal ac tion. It began January 1 and will continue through the end of July. The petitions will be dramatically delivered to President Reagan and Attorney General William French Smith during the 20th Anniver sary activities for the historic 1963 March on Washington in August. One focus for cam paign organizers will be on generating public awareness. Many Americans seem unaware of the magnitude of such violent incidents and stories from its victims rarely reach beyond local or state boundaries. Network educational programs will include ac tive participation and distribution of informa tion during Black History Month in February, 1983, con tinued work at getting schools to teach the new curriculum on the Klan developed by the NEA and others, and intense work with public infor mation news agencies so that more complete, in- depth coverage appears in the media. Through its work since the violent events in (Continued on page 2) Durham Committee To Highlight Political Accountability In ‘83 The Durham Commit tee' on the Affairs of Black People will con centrate on developing ways of making elected and appointed officials more accountable to the black community in 1983, according to the organization’s chairman. Speaking at the group’s annual meeting Sunday, Willie Lovett, recently reelected to a se cond consecutive two- year term, told the group that the Durham Com mittee will develop a for mal method of monitor ing voting patterns and other actions by persons who hold public office, either by election or ap pointment. In other action at the meeting, held at Union Baptist Church, the com mittee’s civic sub committee named Ben Ruffin Citizen of the Year. Ruffin, special assistant to Gov. Jim Hunt, chairman of the Durham Housing Authority, is also first vice chairman of the Durham Committee. The Committee gave its special service award to William A. Marsh, Jr., a Durham attorney. Marsh is a past chairman of the Durham Board of Elections, and has also served on the State Board of Elections. Reporting on the Committee’s work for 1982, Lovett emphasized the group’s successful ef forts to work closely with other organizations. In his speech, Lovett highlighted three major areas of the Committee’s involvement last year. They included economic development, monitor ing utility rate increase requests along with other regulated services, and political activity. Lovett said the organization had been effective in each of these areas, particularly in working with other organizations. “This idea of working together, with no ques tion of who takes the leadership role or gets the credit, is a major thrust of our organiza tion,” Lovett said. “We are saying that there is a job to be done, and we must all work together to, do it. There is both enough work and enough credit to go around.” The Durham Commit tee, as it is often called, was organized more than 40 years ago to give blacks in Durham a stronger voice in local politics and other com munity affairs. It has long been recognized as one of the , area’s most powerful black organizations, principally because of its historical success in mar shaling the power of the black vote. Recently, the Commit-, has come in for severe criticism for everything from how it operates to what priorities it sets. But in recent weeks, Lovett has reported that the organization is in stituting new programs of self-evaluation, designed both to monitor tee rather the group’s progress and t.) determine where changes need to be niade. Among the specific items Lovett cited Sun day as examples of the organization’s 1982 work were the airport, civic center and water bond referendums. Each of the referenda passed with significant black voter support, following endorsement by the Committee. “Eacli of these issues was approached from the perspective of how can the black community generate some jobs and business opportunities from these , issues,” Lovett said. “But people have to realize that a lot of the work we’ve done will not turn into im mediate payoffs.” On the issue of utility rate increases and other regulated services, Lovett reported that the Committee continuously monitors these areas, and in 1982 strongly .sup ported the Roundtable Coalition in its fight to have Duke Power re.store night bus service. Duke Power, which operates the city’s bus service under a franchise arrangement with city government, halted night bus service in February last year. But following a suit, a complaint to the N.C. Utilities Commis sion and several days of public hearings, Duke was ordered to restore night bus service until the Commission rendered a decision. At (Conitnued on Page 4)
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Jan. 15, 1983, edition 1
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