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Thursday, March 2, 1989
Winston-Salem Chronicle
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"TheTwin CitfsAward-Wtnntng Weektf
VOL. XV, NO. 27
Girl reunited with her mom
after kidnapping 15 years ago
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Chronicle-Staff Writer **
Margaret Sanders used to dress
her baby girl in pretty pink dresses
that matched her own and cart her
off to sing in the church choir. Few
Sundays passed that Sanders, her
daughter, and her two young sons,
decked out in identical blue three
piece suits, were not seen at their
church in Washington, D.C. But
then tragedy struck and a huge
piece was cut from the family por
trait
Without any notice, Sanders'
husband,- who had been incarcerated
for rape, re-entered the family's
lives. When he was released from .
jail, Sanders said, he broke into her
new apartment and began to verbal
ly and physically abuse her. That
was bad enough, she said, but what
he did next was the worst thing that
could have happened to her.
'"He had always told me that if I
ever tried to leave him he would -
hurt me. I figured he would hit me
or beat me or something, but I never
thought he would take my baby
from me," she said. MHe was hitting
me and he threw me against the
wall. 1 fought him until I couldn't
fight him anymore. The baby wa?
crying and screaming and he just
jerked her up. I tried to pull her
away. We were both pulling on her
and then I just let go. He took her
and ran away with her."
Later that same day, Sanders'
husband, John K. steadman ill,
returned to the apartment without
the couple's daughter and left again.
Thinking that her problems would
be solved once the authorities were
involved, Sanders contacted the
police for help in retrieving her
daughter. But she was told that
because the couple was not legally
divorced, her husband had just as
much right to the child as she did.
There was, they said, "nothing they
could do." The best she could do,
she was told, would be to take out a
warrant for her husband's arrest. But
while she was away from home a
few days later, her husband returned
and took her youngest son, John,
from the apartment.. He later
returned John but kept his daughter
Photo by Sonja J. Covington
Hope Steadman recently wee reunited with her mother and
brother in Winston- Salem after a 1 5-year separation.
with him. Sanders took out a second
- warrant and the waiting process
began. She occasionally saw her
husband roaming the streets, but he
would disappear whenever she
approached. Neighbors frequently
reported seeing him but he never
came back to the apartment or
brought the baby home.
The baby, Hope, was only nine
months old, and Sanders felt certain
her daughter would be returned
once her husband had calmed him
self. But it turned~rrat to be more
than she could hope for. It has beerv
15 years since her father ran from
her mother's home with his infant
daughter in his arms. Hope saw her
mother for the first time in herlife -
- that she can remember -- one week
ago, when the two were reunited
after years of separation, searching
and prayer.
"When he took my baby. I just
didn't know what to do. People kept
Please see page A9
School Board wants
term limits removed
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Seeking to serve limitless terms as members, the city-county Board of
Education will ask local delegates to the state legislature to support a bill
that would lift the limit on terms.
If passed, the law would allow board members to serve indefinite suc
cessive terms. Presently, board members can serve no more than three suc
cessive terms.
Board members Beaufort O. Bailey, Jane D. Goins, Mary Margaret ?
Lohr, Candy Wood and Nancy L. Woolen all stand to benefit from the bill
if it becomes law because their terms end in 1990 and they are presently
serving out their third, four-year term.
"This is our third or fourth year asking for it," said Bailey, who made
the motion for the resolution. "We're the only county left that has a limit on
the number of terms we can serve."
High level positions at national board of education conventions cant
be obtained unless you're a long-termer. Bailey said. Because we have a
cap on the number of terms we can serve, we never get in high positions
because there's always someone that's been on a board longer.
Dr. Barbara K. Phillips, assistant superintendent of the Winston
Salem-Forsyth County Schools, agreed.
"I can just offer what they (board members) are offering as a rationale
and that is that in the school board association they have had a hard time
getting peer support for becoming an officer in the school board association
because by the time they are known, their terms of office are up," Phillips
said.
There are only five city school systems in the state that have limits on
Please see page A8
The Declining State of.B.lack Health Part 111
Coronary heart disease is No. 1 killer of Afro-Americans
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
This is the third in a series of articles examining the declining state
of Afro- American health. Future articles will address causes of,
treatment for and survival rates of leading diseases that cause
death among Afro- Americans.
L ? 19H
Photo by Sonja J. Covington
Recognition of the symptoms of heart attack is vital to saving
life, says cardiologist Dr. Kenneth Rhlnehart.
The number one killer of Afro- Americans sneaks into the body
like a thief in the night, but it can steal and snuff out a life with the
precision of a carefully aimed bullet. That killer is coronary heart
disease or CHD. . . ? - , -
"The development ofCHD is a silent process generally lasting
decades before the onset of symptoms," said Dr. C. Everett Koop,
U.S. Surgeon General, in his 1988 "Report on Nutrition and Health."
CHD is the catch-all term for several cardiac disorders result
ing from inadequate circulation of the biood in two areas of the heart
muscle. Muscle is the operative word in any discussion about heart
disease, although many often mistake it for a body organ.
Leonardo da Vinci described it best in his notebook. "The heart
in itself is not $e beginning of life, but it is a vessel formed of thick
muscle, vivified and nourished by the artery and vein as are the
other muscles," wrote the scientist, engineer, painter, sculptor and
architect
Koop listed the death rate, per 100,000 persons, among Afro
American men as 164. 9 compared to 180.8 among white men. The
death rate for Afro- American women was 100.8 and 82.9 for white
womea Although the figures may appear to be relatively close, one
must factor into the calculations that Afro- Americans only make up
12 percent of the country's population. When that factor is calculat
ed, one can see the increasingly higher death rate of A fro- Americans
from CHD, said Koop.
However, the number of deaths from coronary heart disease
have declined in recent years, said Dr. Kenneth Rhinehart, an Afro
American cardiologist in the Twin City.
"There have been some studies looking at coronary disease
rates and what they've found is that in a comparison between black
and white patients, the rates in the last 15-20 years have been the
same," said Rhinehart. "But in the mid-1970s, the rates of whites
with coronary heart disease started coming down mostly because of
better risk-factor management The rates for blacks also started com
ing down but not as fast."
The key to heading off and controlling CHD is risk-factor man
agement, he said. That has been the main factor dictating the differ
ences between disease occurrence and death rates among Afro
Americans and whites, he added.
"The causes of coronary heart disease are multifactorial/' said
Koop. ? ? ? ? i---5 ? " ~ "
The most common afirftigh blood cholesterol, higtr blood pres
sure and cigarette smoking.
"(The preceding) play casual roles in the development of
atherosclerosis, which leads to narrowing of the arteries and the
development of CHD," said Koop.
8/ TON YAV. SMITH
Chronicle Sta* Writer
- ?U:
heart diseaa m
... ? . . ; Afco-American womenai**
A cigarette, or inpre, a day have higher rates of anokine
ttwldjmng death your way, par- ^ir white female counterparts.
ocularly if you re a young, A&o- According to recent Kgores, tfte
American blue^collar worker, percentage of Afro-Americftn
according to statistics compiled | wxnm ^^^44 who smoke
by the American Lung Associa- js about 36 compared ?
:doN#$orth Caroua* s>, 34 'pett^t:#:'^^
Mot Only are Afro-Americans same age group. At age 45 illf
more likely to smoke than whites, over, the percentage is 2K pef|i||
Jdtta have
lung cancer and heart disease of
any population group, according
to the statistics* About 39 percent
of Afro-American inei* smoke,
womdil
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Phase 409 page AS fill?!
Atherosclerosis is a disease that often begins at childhood, with
the earliest signs detectable at ages 10-15.
"The result of progressive narrowing of the vessels may be
heart attack or sudden death," Koop said. "Elsewhere in the body the
same process may lead to a serious decrease of blood to the brain,
resulting in a stroke."
Please see page A8
City gives Little
By TONYA V.SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Backing down from its original stance and taking
the bite out of what some call an already watered
down city policy, the Board of Aldermen reversed its
rejection of all bids on a $307,766 project and
awarded the contract to a white contractor who could
not secure minority subcontractors.
On Feb. 6, city aldermen voted 5-1 to reject all
bids for the Little Creek Recreation Center project
and start the bidding over again. However, Chris D.
Hilton, owner of Chris D. Hilton Construction Co.
and the project's low bidder, threatened to sue the
City for rejecting his bid on the Little Creek Recre
ation Center. Hilton said the city couldn't deny him
the contract based on the lack of minority participa
tion because he had proved that ha. had made a
Creek contract to Hilton despite initial rejection
"good-faith effort", as stipulated by the city's minori
ty set-asides program, in hiring Afro-American and
women contractors for the project.
Nearly two weeks after Hilton said he was con
ferring with his attorneys to determine what legal
action he would take, city aldermen had a two and
one-half hour, closed door meeting with him. Then
aldermen called a special meeting a week ago where
they immediately adjourned to an executive session.
Nearly an hour later, members emerged and Alder
man Martha S. Wood moved that the city award the
project to Hilton if he would agree to try to hire out
at least 1 percent of the project to an Afro-American
or woman-owned business. * .
"The offer was this, that we would make every
reasonable effort to get the 1 percent, we made no
obligation, no commitment to the one percent,"
Hilton said. ?
In the 4-2 decistbn, aldermen Vivian H. Burke
and Larry W. Womble voted against awarding the
contract to Hilton.
'If we are to get minority contractors and females
into the economic mainstream, the city must send a
clear message to initiate this plan," said Burke. "
However, she said, the city's plan is not worth
much.
'It's not worth a grain of salt and it's not doing
that much," Burke said. "Maybe it is for vendors,
but, as far as for contractors, it's doing nothing."
The purpose of the program is to give Afro
Americans and women a share in city projects. How
ever, it is based on voluntary participation, and
because of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, it's
doubtful that any specific mandatory quotas will ever
be enacted, said Betty J. Hanes, director of the city's
Minority /Women Business Enterprise program. In
the preceding case, the court ruled against a Rich
mond, Va?, ordinance that set specific quotas for par
ticipation by Afro- American owned businesses in
city contracts.
Womble had moved that the city reject all bids
again as opposed to accepting Hilton's bid. But his
motion wasn't seconded.
"A minimum of one percent, one percent is next
to zero/ Womble said. 'If the best he can do is
$3,000 for minorities out of a one-third of a million
dollar project, to me that's making a mockery of our
program. I don't think that he has made a good
enough effort in trying to reach an acceptable level
of minorities and women, and also he has a track
record of not hiring blacks and women."
. Womble was referring to a city project Hilton is
Please see page A8