50 cants
Winston-Salem Chronicle
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XV, No. 33
Marshall says NAACP board held illegal meeting
Executive board's
resolution on election plan is void.
says organization's president
By TONYA V.SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
The NAACP Executive Board's resolution to support a county commis
sioner election bill sponsored by state Reps. Annie Brown Kennedy and Logan
Burke is void and of no effect because the unanimous voting took place during
an illegally called meeting, said President Walter Marshall.
The meeting was not an official meeting and the action taken by the
board was not an official action and is not representative of the branch's stand
on the issue," Marshall said Wednesday.
Board members Naomi Jones, Vernon Robinson and Mazie Woodruff
called the special April 4 meeting to discuss the Forsyth County/ NAACP out
of court settlement, and the Kennedy-Burke bill for redistricting in the Board of
County Commissioner elections. The group's endorsement of the Kennedy
Burke bill counteracted Marshall's support of a rival bill sponsored by the
Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.
A special meeting of the executive committee may be called by the presi
dent, vice president, secretary or by two members, but two days written notice
must be given to all members, Marshall said quoting the NAACP Constitution.
"That's the reason I didn't attend the executive board meeting because it
was not legal," Marshall said. "Had it been an official meeting I would have
been there."
Legislators, Commissioners table plans
From Chfonide Staff Reports to work out their differences.
Reps. Annie Brown Kennedy
State legislative action on two and Logan Burke met Monday
proposals for a new method of with county commissioners John
electing the Forsyth County Board Holleman and Gerald Long and
of Commissioners has been tabled
while sponsors of the rival bills try PI&dSG $66 page AB
Tucker says bank's
assets, deposits up
By TONYA V.SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Although Mechanics and Farmers Bank suffered a
decline in its net income, the company is growing and
profiting overall, Walter S. Tucker, vice president
and city executive-officer.
At its March 30 shareholders' meeting, Mechanics
and Farmers reported a $919,224 net income for 1988, a
13.7 percent decline from the record level $1 million
gain in 1967. Thai decline* however, is attributed to dif
ferences in reporting requirements implemented in
1988, said Tucker.
"We can no longer take into income fees on loans,"
he said. "Under the new requirement the loan fees must
be spread over the life of the loan rather than taking the
entire amount of the fee at the time the loan was made
along with increases in interest paid to depositors."
On the plus side, the bank's deposits increased by
1.53 percent and its loans went up by nearly 14 percent,
Tucker said. The bank's assets on Dec. 31, 1988, were
$85.9 million, representing a 2.13 percent increase over
the same period in 1987.
"The increase in assets marks the bank's growth,"
Tucker said.
Average return on assets was 1.08 percent and on
equity, 11 percent.
Mechaifics and Farmers was rated a Blue Ribbon
bank by Veribank Inc., a nationally recognized bank rat
ing firm, Tucker said. Veribank also rated Mechanics and
Farmers one of the 175 safest banks in the United States
Please see page A7
Associated Press Laser Photo
Peace March
CLEVELAND - Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and members of the
Metro Health System striking workers join together recently for a combined march and rally to
mark 21 years since the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The group marched down
Euclid Avenue to Public Square.
Marshall said he had contacted Diana Williams-Cotton, NAACP district
five director; William Tatum, first vice president; and Rodney Sumler, second
vice president, and told them last week's meeting was illegal.
"They knew no written notice had been sent out and that it wasn't legal/
Marshall said.
According to a press release about the meeting, Couon was the official
who ruled the meeting was legal.
Marshall must direct his allegations to a higher body in the NAACP hier
archy in order to make the resolution void, said Robinson, chair of the organi
zation's Political Action Committee.
"We discussed whether the requirements were met to make the meeting
legal and the district director. . . said in her opinion the requirements were
met," Robinson said "To set aside the board's action, the president would have
to appeal to a higher level."
There are five tiers in the NAACP organization, Robinson explained. The
Please see page A8
City plans to revamp
E. Winston underway
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer ?
City officials are on schedule with a menu of rede
velopment plans to revamp two run-down areas in the
East Winston Community, Dr. Monica R. Lett, director
of the Housing and Neighborhood Development office,
told the Board of Aldermen Tuesday.
The first section slated for improvements, the East
Winston Redevelopment Area (EWRD), contains about
42 acres and was certified as a blighted area by the City
County Planning Board in June 1988. That area i?
bounded by 14th Street on the south, Cleveland Avenue
on the west, 18th Street on the north and Jackson
Avenue on the east. More than 80 percent of the homes
in that area would need major repairs to meet the city's
housing code, according to housing inspectors.
The $11 million project would involve the city lev
eling 134 houses, rehabilitating 42, and moving 165
families and four businesses, said Tamzin L. Kelley, a
program -development specialist in the city's housing
department. Housing bonds approved by voters in a
1987 referendum will help fund the project.
Plans for the acquisiticrffand clearance of the area,
which will include street improvements, are in liae with
recommendations laid out in the East Winston Area Plan
and will be carried out in two phases beginning in July
1989, and the completion date is set for June 1993.
Breaking the project into phases also will enable dis
placed people to have the option of moving into a house
in their same neighborhood. Phase I includes the area
Please see page A 7
Compiled From AP Wire
Students join to promote interaction
CHAPEL HILL. N.C. (AP) - Concerned that racial segregation pervades the
University of North Carolina it Chapel Hill students have formed a coalition to
promote more interaction between blacks and whites.
The university's black and white students, like those at other schools,
generally don't mix in dormitories, classrooms or nightclubs. In recent yean,
the school also has been the scene of several racist incidents, such as the
carving of the initials "KICK" on the dormitory door of two black women and
the placing of racist remarks in the campus mailbox of a black graduate student.
Black lawyers angry at repeal bill
RALEIGH (AP) ? A bill introduced in the General Assembly recently to
repeal the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. sparked an angry
response from blade legislators.
"You wouldn't be able to prim what I think about that," said Rep. Mickey
Michaux, D-Durham, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. "It is ill
advised," Michaux said. "It is insensitive in nature."
Man says he spit, urinated in new Air Force One
KANSAS CITY, Ma (AP) - A white supremacist claims he spit on the seats and
urinated on the floor of a new plane being built in Wichita for President Bush.
Dennis M-hon, an aircraft mechanic from suburban Northmoor, had been
employed by a condor that was doing work at the Boeing Co. plant in Wichita,
where a new Air For* One plane is being built He said he was fired recently after
someone in the plant noticed his white supremacist belt buckle.
a . ? e
State NAACP seeks new executive director
The North Carolina NAACP MBut it was not because of any dis
has launched a statewide search for satisfaction that we had with his
a new executive director. Former work."
executive director Dennis ScKat?"" Sum Ter~ said he believed
man-teftthe area abruptly, accord- Schatzman wanted more money
ing to Rodney J. Sumler, public than the National Association for
relations director of the NAACP the Advancement of Colored People
Conference of Branches. was able to pay.
"Wc are disappointed that he "Most outsiders are not accus
left as soon as he did," said Sumler, tomed to our economy here," said
Sumler. For that reason, he said, the
NAACP is trying to fill the execu
tive director's position with jpme
one from North Carolina.
The executive director admmi?*
ters the conference office, handles
complaints from the public and
works with the various chapters
around the state on implementation
of mandated programs in local
areas. The office is presently locat
ed in Greensboro.
SumteTsaid thm tanlring to
fill the position in mid to late May.
"The state board meets May 27. At
that time we will look at all the
applicants and will make a decision
on whether to go with one of those
applicants or extend the search."
Best Choice Center gets new director
Dunston: Community must take control
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronlcte Staff Writer
\
Mobilizing the community to activate change
is the first step towards attacking drug and alcohol
addiction in the East Winston community, said
Anita B. Jones Dunston, pioneer director at the Best
Choice Center (BCC).
"My role will be to try to give the center a
sense of direction, define goals and direct it to meet
the goals," said Dunston, formerly the Outreach
Services Director at Step One Inc., a drug abuse
treatment facility. "I feel a lot of support from East
Winston residents and the community, and their
support is necessary to making this center work."
The BCC was established Nov. 20, 1988, to
foster a drug-free community Through intervention,
prevention and education. A $25,000 grant the cen
ter received from the Kate B. Reynolds Poor and
Needy Trust Fund allowed the center to hire Dun
ston as its full-time director.
Dunston, a native of Washington, N.C., has
grown quite accustomed to riding in the pioneer's
seat, having developed and implemented the out
reach program at Step One. Her duties there includ
ed coordinating prevention and education services
with other community agencies, developing pro
grams for high-risk youth and their parents, imple
menting appropriate workshops and seminars, and
training staff and counselors.
She was a lead teacher at The Children's Home
before beginning her two-year stint at Step One.
She also has worked with Nazareth's Children's
Home in Rockwell, N.C.; Tideland House and Tide- '
land Mental Health, Washington, N.C.; Haven
House in Raleigh, N.C., and the list goes on.
Please see page A8
Anita B. Jones Dunston