Time-Tested Stronger Than Bars Centenarian shares secrets, insights of good, long life Women incarcerated overnight bring light to prison and ministry 92 Pages This Week SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE - 722-8624 Thursday, March 9, 19M SOcsnti Winston-Salem Chronicle "The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly' VOL. XV, NO. 28 Black community leaders support Kennedy -Burke election plan By ANGELA WRIGHT Chronteto Managing Editor Afro-American community leaders say they fully support a county election plan being pro posed by state Representatives Annie Brown Kennedy and Logan "IfHolleman is as strong an ally of the black community as he says he is, he will support this plan." Attorney Larry Little Burke, and that they plan to lobby the Forsyth County delegation for passage of the plan. The redisricting plan spon sored by Kennedy and Burke will be introduced to the General Assembly later this month as an alternative to a plan submitted by *'/// could go there and sign the till with them, I would do it." -- Mazie S. Woodruff the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. The commissioners' plan was the result of a compromise reached between Commissioner John Holleman and Walter Mar shall, president of the local chap ter of the NAACP, in response to a lawsuit brought by the NAACP challenging the at-large, staggered term method of county elections. The lawsuit charged that the cur rent method of electing county commissioners diluted Afro American voting strength. The Holleman-Marshall plan calls for the creation of five dis tricts, one of which would be about 92 percent Afro-American. Voters in each district would nom inate candidates in the primary, "If they can get- something that's better than we had, then we should try it." -- Walter Marshall but the candidates would run at large during the general election. Afro-American community leaders objected to the plan because it did not go far enough to "It will enhance this community because, when you consider how it affects the entire county, I think it works well." ? Aluerman Vivian Burke guarantee a seat on the commis sion to an Afro-American candi date ?' Under the Kennedy-Burke plan, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners would be expand ed from five to nine members. The county would be divided into three districts, one of which would be predominantly Afro American. Each district would nominate and elect two members. Three commissioners would be elected at-large. There would be no staggered terms for either the district seats or the at-large seats, and there would be no second pri maries. "Until this plan came along-, we only had what I call the Walter Marshall plan It did not have the full support of the black communi ty ? Alderman Larry Womble If the Kennedy-Burke plan is approved by the General Assem bly, the size of the board would go from five to nine in 1990. "We had received requests 7 don't believe they are being nar row-minded in wanting nine mem bers -- which is how it should be anyway for a county this site." - Alderman Virginia Newell from many of our connifttcii to come up with a better bill/ said Kennedy. She said the plan was a combination of many similar plans used in counties across the state. This plan has been discussed with several members of the black community and they have whole Please see page A7 Woman's arrest shocks community By ROBIN BARKSDALE Chronicle Stall Writer The arrest iast week of a young Winaien-Salem woman on bank robbery charges has left the community stunned and wondering what went wrong. - and charged with the robbery of the Friendly Center branch of Gate City Federal Savings and Loan. The Greensboro police also have reported finding additional evidence linking her to the robbery of five other banks, four in Greensboro, one in Winston-Salem and one in High Point. But members of the local community use words such as "socially conscious/ "generous" and "a wonderful person" when describing Beatty. She is remembered for her political activism, and those who knew her find it hard to picture her as a bank robber. "I knew her fairly well as far as being a collaborator on community projects. I encouraged her to get involved with the political process, and I sat down with her and discussed the need for her to develop her lead ership qualities," said Vernon Robinson, who received a call from Beat ty last Thursday morning following her arrest. "I think she had quite a bit of potential. She's bright and very plugged into what is going on in the world. Something has gone wrong. I don't know what it is, but the community is worse off for all of this." According to Greensboro police reports, Beatty entered the Gate Please see page A7 Biggs, Burke say all's well From Chronic** Staff Report! Judge Loretta C. Biggs and assistant district attorney L. Todd Burke recently told the Chronicle that their controversy over whether appropriate courtroom conduct was observed has been resolved and that, contrary to what was printed in the Winston-Salem Journal , Burke was never held in contempt of court Biggs said that, while she did not wish to understate the serious ness of the controversy, it's serious ness was exaggerated in part because of the visibility of the posi tions held by Burke and herself. Earlier reports stated that Biggs had ordered Burke out of her court and found him in contempt after he disobeyed her order to approach the bench. "It was a simple misunder standing/ said Burke. "Judge Biggs and I met and we resolved it We had a positive relationship before the incident and that positive rela tionship continues." "Mr. Burke and I will never agree on the circumstances which generated this matter. However, we do agree that it is behind us and that : we will continue to enjoy a positive working relationship," said Biggs. Survivors Associated Press Laser Photo Two young girts chase each other through a field of "teff" (Ethiopia's staple grain) at an orphanage in Nollo in Ethiopia, not far from the camps where their whole fami lies died of starvation In 1984-85. Only babies at the time, they mlraculoualy survived and were brought to the orphanage where they will remain until the age of 16. File Photo The arrest of Celeste Beatty on charges of bank robbery last week has stunned the community. Consultant says East Winston plan should be expanded By TONYA V.SMITH Chronicle Staff Writer Without a more balanced development approach, the economic future of the East Winston community will be to house the poor, sakl opment Andy of that area* Henry, vice president of Hammer, Siler, George Associates, a coo sulting firm based in Silver Spring. Md.. also asked members of the mayor-appointed East Winston Development Task Force to expand the area of the study, saying that East Winston is only a smaller part of a larger development marketing area. "Wi muflt r?r?gni7r that thfrr is not aw much land within the boundaries of East Winstpn^-; . but there are land sources extending out from that area," Henry told task force members during a briefing Tues day night on his most recent findings. HWe need to recognize that and use it, hopefully to our advantage. "We do have sites in East Winston, but they are scarce sites, so we better think long and hard on how to use them" Certainly the poor have to be housed, but, if that continues to be the economic purpose of East Winston, the community can't logically expect their goods and services to be of the same quality and levels as other communities, Henry said. More housing for people in the middle-income bracket is needed in Please see page A7 The Declining State of Black Health Part IV Cancer is second leading cause of death By TONYA V. SMITH Chronicle Staff Writer This is the fourth in a series of artidles examining the declining state of Afro-American health . Future art i - cles will address causes of, treatment for and survival rates of leading diseases that cause death among Afro - Americans. John Gray and his sister Ruby Cobb had always been close while growing up in Traphill, N.C. They are closer than ever now because Cobb is nursing and tend ing to her older brother's needs as his body is daily los ing the battle against cancer. Gray has multiple myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow. He will not recover from the disease. Cancer is the second leading cause of death among Afro-Americans, said Frank Matthews of the N.C. Health Statistics Center. In 1984, 386 Afro-Americans per 100,000 were diagnosed with cancer compared with 350 whites per 100,000. During that year 219 per 100,000 Afro- Americans died of the disease compared with 167 per 100,000 whites. "Incidence of mortality rates fbr cancer are signifi cantly higher in black than in white Americans or mem bers of other minority groups," said Dr. C. Everett Koop, the U.S. Surgeon General in his 1988 "Report on Nutrition and Health. "This difference is especially pro jK>unc?4 in mates; Blacks also have the lowest survival rates for cancer at most sites (parts of the body). "These differences in cancer experience are more readily explained by social and environmental factors than by biologic differences." Afro- American women are at a higher risk for can cer of the breast, colon and rectum and cervix. Men of the race need to be concerned about cancer of the colon and rectum and prostate cancer. Afro- American men have the world's highest me of prostate cancer, said Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, a cancer surgeon at Howard University Medical School. He added that of the 24 most common cancers, 18 are more common in Afro-Americans than whites. "Cancer is perhaps the best example of how social and economic conditions dictate the individual experi ence blacks have with disease," wrote Denise Foley in "Special Report on Black Health" appearing in the March 1985 edition of Prevention Magazine. "While medical advances in diagnostic techniques have increased the amount of early detection - often the