Hanging At The Huffs
Award-winning artists
prepare for upcoming exhibition
Ministry Minus Music
Gospel group forgoes music
in fsvor of delivering message
36 Pages This Week ** SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE -- 722-8624 Thursdfly, February 9, 1989
-Salem Chronicle
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XV, No. 24
Aldermen challenge
contractor; reject bid on project
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronic!* Staff Writer
A white contractor is contem
plating suing the city of Winston
Safem for rejecting his bid on a
$307,766 project because he hired
no Afro- American or women sub
contractors to help him build the
Little Creek Recreation Center.
Chris D. Hilton, owner of Chris
P. Hilton Construction Co., said ,
Tuesday he was conferring with his
attorneys to determine what legal
action, if any, he would take.
"We are consulting with our
attorney . . . and we will be making
a decision to determine what our
legal rights are," Hilton said.
City aldermen voted 5-1 Mon
day night to reject all bids for the
contract and start the bidding pro
cess over again for the center.
Hilton sent out 210 letters to
minority firms to encourage them to
submit bids for the recreation center
project, he told board members.
"Out of those letters and
requests for bids.^re received nine
(returned because of insufficient or
changes in addresses), three
responded that they would not be
sutmiitting bids on the projects, and
11 M/WBE (Minority/Women's
Business Enterprise) companies
submitted bids," Hilton told the
board.
"Not a single one '(of the
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minority subcontractors) was a low
bidder and, due to the competitive
nature of
| the pro
participation on the part of minori
ties.*
Unfortunately for Hilton, the
aldermen did not accept his ftimma
" Having had the misfortune to sub
contract one of Hilton's jobs when he
worked for another company, I know he
could care less about working with
minorities."
- Thomas f'ml linger
jcct, I
must take
the low
est bid."
"I wish we did have minorities
participating/' Hilton told the
board. "The problem is a lack of
lion statement of the problem .
Alderman Martha S. Wood
interrogated Hilton, asking him
aboiitj!f? past involvements, if any,
with minority contractors. She
specifically referred to his not hir
ing any minorities for a fire station
project he is building in Greens
boro.
Hilton said he has worked with
minorities in the past However, he
admitted that 75 percent of the sub
contractors* he had hired for the city
project were past associates of his.
"Arewe really making progress
or just meeting and talking and real
ly not getting anything done," said
Alderman Vivian Burke in the heat
of the aldermen's frustration about
their minority contracting program.
The program was adopted by
the city in March 1986. Since the
program's inception, the city has not
awarded a construction contract that
didn't provide business for Afro
Americans and women.
"How can minorit^* contractors
get into the economic mainstream?"
Burke asked.
Alderman Patrick Hairston said
it's only fair that Afro-Americans
have a share of the construction of
city projects. But, he added, Afro
Americans are their own worst ene
mies in these instances. ^
"The truth is that if black peo
ple don't hire black contractors how
are we going to continue to criticize
and lambaste whites for not using;
blacks/ Hairston said. "I had a
black contractor working on my
house ... it was a horrifying experi
ence."
Please see page A ll
Waiting center for bus riders
now open at Pepper Building
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronica Staff Writer
^ Passengers awaiting their buses now have a place
of refuge in the form of a new waiting area downtown.
Tity Maynr Wayn* A Porpftning and Sterling
"tour, chairman of the Winston-Salem Transit
monial ribbon dedicating the marketing center and pub
lic waiting area Monday.
The center, at 316 N. Liberty St, will serve as a
public waiting area for passengers seeking shelter from
the elements, and as an information center for WSTA's
transit routes, carpool matching, vanpool leasing and -
Trans- Aid services.
The city leased 3,200 square feet of space in the
Pepper Building so WSTA patrons will have a central
ized location for information and a waiting area. A
more permanent arrangement is forthcoming in July
1991 in the form of a transit center. In November, city
aldermen authorized construction of the center down
town at the corner of Third and Liberty streets. That
decision did not go over easy because, while aldermen
agreed patrons needed a centralized shelter, they could
not agree on the location of such a center. Corpening
broke a 4-4 deadlock on the matter, casting his lot in
favor of the Third and Liberty streets location. ?
City officials have already submitted a grant appli
cation to the Urban Mass Transportation Administra
tion, which could provide up to 80 percent, or about
$7.4 million, of the money needed to build the transit
center. Total cost of the center is estimated at $9.3 mil^
lion. . ?
"We have submitted a grant application for $2.5
million that would cover the majority of the costs for
the land requisition, relocation and additional architec
tural fees, " said Thomas W. Fredericks, an assistant c toy
manager. That is for the first phase of the project"
The city hopes the transportation administration
- will approve tht grant by lha end of the qyanw( which ? -
means it should receive word on it in late March, Fred
ericks said
It cost the city about $25,000 to renovate the mar
keting center location and establish working areas for
transit informational staff members, he said.
"We've leased it for 15 months and it's possible that
by the end of the 15 months, if the grant is approved,
we can continue with the acquisition of the Pepper
Building and then we would be the owners of the Pep
per Building," Fredericks said.
The city plans to make offers to buy a parking kH
at Third and Liberty Streets, a law office off Third
Street, and the Revco, Crawford and Pepper holdings
on Fourth Street to build the transit center. The Revco
building, the law office and the rear two-thirds of the
Crawford Building would be demolished.
-The city transit authority was formed in the spring
of 1968 by a Winston-Salem ordinance. The city had
been granted the power to establish the authority by
special legislation from the 1967 General Assembly.
Eight members comprise the WSTA.
The authority operates 38 peak hour transit buses
on 19 regular routes, one express route and three down
town shuttle services. An average of 12,000 passengers
are carried each weekday on the authority's 54 transit
buses and four trolley buses. Currently 115 employees
work for the WSTA.
*
Teacher expresses frustration at lack of parental concern
By ROBIN BARK3PALE
Chronic** Staff Writer
The parents of six East Winston
first graders failed an important test
Monday night, and it could have
devastating effects on their chil
dren's future.
Annette Beatty, a first-grade
teacher at Southwest Elementary
School, sent letters to the parents of
eight underachieving members of
her class. Each of the eight students
lives in the East Winston area, and
each is in danger of falling even
further below their grade level at
school. In her letter, Beatty asked
the parents of those students to meet
with her to discuss ways to help get
the students on the right track at
school.
"If you care anything at all
about your child and his/her educa
tion, please meet me at the East
Winston Branch Library ... at 7
p.mM" Beatty wrote to the parents.
The first and only parent that
attended the meeting arrived after 8
p.m., and Beatty said that the lack
of response from the parents can
only mean that they have no interest
in what their children are doing in
school. The parents' failure to
attend, she said, was particularly
disappointing because it suggests
that the student's pattern of failure
will continue unchallenged.
Beatty teaches a class of 24
fust-grade students. Eleven of those
students are Afro-American. Of that
11, three are from Clemmons and
eight from the East Winston area.
Five of the East Winston students
have already been retained once,
and only one is performing at the
prescribed level for a first-grade
student
Those numbers prompted Beat
ty to volunteer her own time to
meet with parents to discuss their
children's study habits.
"I am concerned because - of
the eight from East Winston ~ only
one can write a complete sentence,"
she said. These students have spent
two years in kindergarten and a half
year in first grade and still are
unable to write a sentence. I asked
the parents of these students to
come and talk to me about this situ
ation. Tm on my own time trying to
help the students, and the parents
don't show up. The only thing I can
assume from this is that they do not
care at all."
Beany said that she is confident
that parental involvement in the stu
dent's education will help them to
reach their potential. The purpose of
Monday's meeting, she said, was to
determine what parents perceived
the problems to be, what was hap
pening in the child's life that may
Please see page A11
Annette Beatty
Blacks criticize scho
ol board; public hear
ings this weekend
By Ang*4a Wright
Chrontol* Mmiqlnfl Editor
One>week after the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School Board
announced four white males as finalists in the search for a new school
superintendent, Afro- Americans were still registering dissent over the
rejection of assistant superintendent Dr. Baroara K. Phillips.
Annette M. Wilson, president of the Phi Omega Chapter of Alpha
Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., spoke on behalf of the organization of
which Phillips is a member. ". . .We are appalled that the Board did not
; follow its own approved, stated and published guidelines. This makes
us question whether you really wanted to continue to hear what the
community desired to say."
The school board announced last Tuesday that it had decided upon
four finalists for the position of superintendent Phillips, who had been
listed as one of 14 semi finalists and was one of only two Afro- Ameri
cans being considered, was not included among the final candidates.
Large segments of the Afro- American community had lobbied the
school board in support of Phillips, noting that she was qualified to hold
the position and was experienced with the local system. None of the
four finalists are from the local system.
Wilson told the board that she spoke for Jhe 100 members of the
local chapter and asked the board to add Phillips to the list of finalists.
"In view of the fact that you, as members of the school board, failed to
follow your own time line, we respectfully request that Dr. Phillips be
added as a finalist. It is our feeling that this action would be in the best
interest of our community."
Th*f Rev. Carlton A. G. Eversley, pastor of Dellabrook Presbyterian
Church, also addressed the board in behalf of the Ministers' Conference
of Winston-Salem.
"Dr. Phillips meets every possible standard and yet was not granted
Please see page A 1 1