4
Afro-American sues Miller for $4.3 million
Obrie Smith, an Afro-American
official at Miller Brewing Company
in Wisconsin, filed a S4.3 million
lawsuit against the company claiming
he was discriminated against because
of his race.
- The lawsuit alleges that Miller
Brewing failed to promote Mr. Smith
t? higher executive positions, particu
larly the position of vice president of
corporate affairs which was vacated
by the retirement of Alan Easton in
December 1988.
~ Mr. Smith, the director of mar
keting relations at Miller Brewing,
claims in the suit that he was and is
the logical candidate for that position.
Steve Forsyth, Miller Brewing's com
munications director, said the position
vacated by Mr. Easton has not been
filled.
"Miller Brewing Company
stands on what it considers an out
standing record of hiring, promoting
and developing minorities for man
agement positions," said Mr. Forsyth.
He said that Miller Brewing was
"quite surprised" by Mr. Smith's
charges since Mr. Smith has been the
beneficiary of Miller Brewing's poli
cy. Mr. Forsyth said that Mr. Smith
had been promoted three times in the
10 years since he has been with the
company.
"His compensation has increased
from his starting salary of $37,000 to
$113,000, plus $38,000 in benefits,"
said Mr. Forsyth. "We believe all of
Mr. Smith's charges are groundless,
and we are confident about the out
come of this lawsuit"
Mr. Smith's suit further alleges
that he had been subjected to "racial
slurs, epithets, and jokes - particular
ly those of Alan Easton, formerly
(Mr. Smith's) immediate supervisor -
and to other racial harassment by
Leonard Goldstein, Warren Dunn,
Charles Schmid, George Riemer,
William Howell, Thomas Shropshire,
Mr. Easton, and other officers of the
defendant."
The suit claims that Miller Brew
had taken tasks and responsibilities
from Mr. Smith and given them to
other, white executives, and that Mr.
Smith was denied opportunities to act
as spokesman for Miller Brewing
Company.
The suit further alleges that
Miller Brewing Company required
Mr. Smith to undergo psychological
evaluation and testing as a direct
result of his complaints of discrimina
tory treatment. Mr. Smith seeks $1.8
million in compensatory damages and
$2.5 million in punitive damages.
Teens at Risk proaram set
Charter Hospital of Winston
Salem is holding a Teens at Risk
evaluation program May 15 to 19.
From 3:30 to 6 p.m., parents and
their children can participate in the
evaluation program at no charge at
the hospital, 3637 Old Vineyard
Road.
The Teens at Risk session iden
tifies risk areas, as well as healthy
aspects of child and adolescent
lifestyle. Interested parents can get
more information by calling 1-800
441 -COPE.
The program evaluation
includes the following:
? psychological screening
' ? physical health assessment
? chemical dependency assess
ment
? family dynamics discussion
? educational history review
? spiritual needs assessment
? final evaluation and review
"The complex, fast-paced soci
ety we live in today is, unfortunate
ly, especially tough foe some teens,"
said Dr. Joe Shull, program director
of the child and adolescent program -
of Winston-Salem. "Our young peo
ple of today, more than ever before,
have pressures that weren't as pro
nounced even 10 or 15 years ago.
The use of drugs and alcohol has
become prevalent, with kids experi
menting with these substances
while they're pre-teens."
According to the National Insti
tute of Drug Abuse, the average age
of the first-time drug user is 12.5
years. Just as alarming are statistics
from the U.S. Department of Trans
portation: the leading cause of death
in the U.S. among youth aged 16 to
24 is alcohol -related motor vehicle
accidents.
Smuggled Goods
1
Associated Press Laser Photo
Jaba Letlhogonolo, collector of customs for northern Botswana,
shows some of the 94 rhino horns seized from a truck traveling
to neighboring South Africa. Ivory and rhino horns are smuggled
Into South Africa by truck and experts say the contraband Is usu
ally flown to the Far East, where the biggest markets are.
Jacob visits city From Page A1
need. The general practice, he said,
has been for service groups to blindly
create programs without any real
knowledge as to whether the program
will adequately fill a need.
"Year after year, organizations
develop programs and services Wltfl
Out talking to the people who are
recipients of those services," said Mr.
Jacob. "Through projects such as this,
the Urban League is making a major
Contribution to its community."
He said that the project was espe
cially significant bccausc it would
Serve to increase awareness of a pro
cess that can gather information from
various sources. Mr. Jacob also said
that the league's community forum
project should be instrumental in
helping other organizations and
groups that want to participate in a
similar process.
The local community forum
comes on the heels of the national
league's annual assessment and publi
cation of "The State of Black Ameri
ca." Mr. Jacob said that Winston
?Salem's project is a good example of
what use can be made of the annual
national report.
"When we published the annual
;'State of Black America' we hoped it
.would get translated to what it means
?at the local level," Mr. Jacob said.
"When people read that report, they
:tend to think about big cities . . . that
are so global in scope and problems
that we can rationalize about not solv
ing them. Winston-Salem is large
enough to have some of the same
?problems but small enough that you
; can put your arms around it and solve
some problems. What they've done
; here in Winston-Salem is to develop a
blueprint that can help big cities begin
. to work with problems they think are
iunsolvable. If they can discuss the
problems in small groups like they
, did here, then they, too, can begin to
get their arms around the problems
and solve them."
Mr. Jacob emphasized that
although the national office's report is
titled, "The State of Black America,"
it could just have easily been titled,
"The State of America." Although
many of the problems are concentrat
ed in Afro-American uunmiuiiltles,
Jacob said that they each have far
reaching consequences that directly
affect the strength of the country as a
whole.
"We're not the only ones with
problems. More whites, numerically,
are unemployed, homeless and hun
gry. But we also know that it is Afro
American people in this country who
are disproportionately represented in
those areas and, as a result, the nation
is not being all she can be," said Mr.
Jacob. "America has to understand
that it cannot solve its economic prob
lems without dealing with the eco
nomic problems of Afro- Americans."
The Wednesday luncheon was
held to share with community agen
cies and leaders the results of the
eight focus group sessions. A ques
tionnaire was distributed to a random
sampling of the community to afford
broad input.
Respondents identified three
most pressing concerns for them as
individuals: unemployment, education
and medical care. They felt that the
most severe problems facing the over
all community were AIDS, education
and drug abuse. Housing/teen-age
pregnancy, child abuse and child care
ranked seventh, eighth and ninth
respectively (housing and teen-age
pregnancy tied for seventh place).
Fifty-six of the respondents knew
that the Urban League was a commu
nity service organization, and 23 per
cent said that they had used the
league's services.
A total of 358 individuals com
pleted questionnaires. Seventy-five
percent of the^respondents were Afro
American; 148 of the respondents
were male and 192 were female.
The Winston-Salem Chronicle is published every Thursday by the
Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty St. Mailing
address: Post Office Box 3154, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102.
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Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102.
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service of the Associated Press and a member of the Audit Bureau of Circu
lations, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the North Carolina
Press Association and the North Carolina Black Publishers Association.
Subscription: $18.52 per year, payable in advance (North Carolina
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Ebony
Fine
Arts
?Presents ?
Caribbean &
Afro-American
Art Show and Sale
Friday, May 19
4 to 9pm ?
Saturday, May 20 ,
10am to 5pm
Winston Lake
YMCA
:wMm
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SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Cigarette
Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide.