CHIVES B 1NOER ** CR *5? X I _
ton-isalem Chronicle
SO cents "77ig Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly" VOL. XV, No. 51
lUbe Stars Came Out
? I Rhoto by Mike Cunningham
Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey participate In a press conference pn Monday where an overview of the festival
and the state of black theatre was given, f or more details on the festival, please see page A9 fend A10.
Officials see no wrong in employee's actions
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
A city employee allegedly told Com
missioner Gerald H. Long's campaign
finance manager that his job may be in
jeopardy if he received a personal check
for his political consulting work.
Mr. Long said Dalton Ruffin gave a
check for $5,726 to William R. Tatum for
distributing campaign promotional materi
al in East Winston s The vice chair of the
Forsyth County Board of Commissioners
said Mr. Tatum asked Mr. Ruffin to make
the check payable to Associate Consul
tants because he "couldn't take a check
payable to himself because he would have
trouble with his job."
Mr. Tatum, a housing inspector for
the city, has refused to comment on any
work he may have done or monies
received from Mr. Long.
According to the city of Winston
Salem's personnel policies, "it is improper
for any employee of the city ... to file
and/or campaign for a public elective
office while actively serving as an
employee of the city."
However, while declining to comment
on Mr. Tatum's situation, City Manager
Bryce A. Stuart said he doesn't interpret
the policy as meaning that a city employee
could not campaign for someone else.
"I suppose that it says that an employ
ee could not campaign for someone else
while on duty but if that person wanted to
do it on weekends or evenings I don't see
anything wrong with that,1' Mr. Stuart
said. --
City employees wishing to run for
public elective federal, state, county or
city office would ask Mr. Stuart for an
unpaid leave of absence during the cam
paign.
Engaging in any political activity
while on duty, or using any city supplies
or equipment for political purposes are
violations of the city personnel code and
may result in the loss of employment.
Before city employees take a second
job, they must "submit information
regarding outside employment for
Please see page A6
Turner gives update
on plans for new plaza
By TONYA V.8MITH
Chronicle Staff Writer ?
One tenant has signed and others have
made commitments to locate in the New Walk
ertown Shopping Center contingent upon the
final decision of a grocery store which is six
weeks away from committing, said Herman L.
Turner, the project's developer.
"At this point we are still negotiating with
our anchor tenant and we have been told by the
grocery store tenant that they will have a deci
sion within the next 45 days," said Mr. Turner.
"They are finalizing a feasibility analysis to
determine the size of the store they wish 10
locate and how much they will pay as a lessee."
Mr. Turner has not divulged the identity of
the grocery store which will be the neighbor
hood shopping center's anchor tenant nor that of
a company which has committed to build a
$500,000 facility and hire five people. The New
Walkertown center will be built on 9.3 acres of
land located off New Walkertown Road between
Dellabrook Road and Gerald StreeL The $4 mil
lion project will provide up to 150 new jobs,
The facility the grocery store constructs
will be a $1.1 million investment, Mr. Turner
Please see page A6
Friende to assist Dr. Coble
By TONYA V.SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
An Afro- America^ who was once passed
over for the number one post in the city-county
school system has been appointed as the interim
executive assistant to Superintendent Larry D.
Coble.
Palmer G. Friende, who retired as associate
superintendent of the
ston-Salem/Forsyth ?oumy
Schools in 19S4, was
appointed by Dr.^Coble
Tuesday.
Mr. Friende, 61, will
hold the position until a per
manent appointment is made,
or until June 30, 1990 -
whichever comes first,
according to a news release.
The executive assistant
position is a new one which
blossomed out of Dr. Coble's
reorganization plan, adopted
last month. It is the number
two spot in the system.
According to a job descrip- _ .
. . . Palmer
tion, the executive assistant:
?reports directly to the superintendent and
is a member of the executive staff, thus partici
pating in major decision-making sessions that
will affect the system's operation;
?advises the superintendent on human rela
tions and culturally diverse issues,
?investigates and helps to settle complaints,
?advises the superintendent on Afro-Ameri
can issues,
?convenes and facilitates regular Board of
Education agenda planning meetings and staff
management team meetings,
?coordinates the development of compre
hensive/strategic planning for the system,
?plans and implements special projects as
directed by the superinten
dent,
?has overall manage
ment responsibilities for the
Community School Program,
volunteers and Busines
s/Education Partnerships.
Mr. Friende, 1 who
worked in the local system
for 28 years and logged an
additional four in education,
admitted he had no intention
of coming out of retirement
until meeting earlier this
week with Dr. Coble.
"I just kind of felt he
was very sincere in his
approach and about his ideas
and I felt if I could assist him
with the installation of his
initial program," said Mr. Friende, "I would
gladly do so because it's a program I hope
would lead to progress for all students, I think.
Friende
Please see page A6
NEWS ANALYSIS: The Darryl Hunt case: Is justice on trial?
By ROOSEVELT WILSON
Chronicle Staff Writer
This is the final part of a series of articles examining the investiga
tion , conviction and possible retrial of Darryl E. Hunt for the J 984 mur
der of Deborah B. Sykes.
The rape and brutal stabbing murder of newspaper copy editor Debo
rah B. Sykes in 1984 cast the Winston-Salem Police Department into the
spotlight like it had never been before.
Concurrently, it created the perfect setting for Winston-Salem to
demonstrate whether justice or a lynch-mob attitude would prevail because
Ms. Sykes, who was white, was said to have been murdered by an Afro
American man.
American history is replete with similar cases and invariably some
Afro- American male, guilty or not, pays for such crime.
This case was so sensational that representatives of 12 media organiza
tions were assigned to cover it, and it was virtually everyone's lead story
for the greater part of a year. During the trial, cameras were allowed in the
court room in Forsyth County for the first time.
Ms. Sykes worked for the now-defunct Winston-Salem Sentinel , the
afternoon partner to the Winston-Salem Journal , and the papers kept the
case before the public.
Dis^jct Attorney Donald K. Tisdale, who as an elected official was
already on shaky ground, was under intense pressure to solve the case, and
when Winston-Salem police charged Darryl Eugene Hunt with the murder,
records show that a conviction, not justice, became the priority.
Properly handled, it was a case that could have saved Mr. Tisdale's
public career. But after the trial, records and newspaper accounts show that
in the next primary voters - particularly those in the Afro-American com
munity - did not vote for present D.A. Warren Sparrow as much as they
voted against Mr. Tisdale.
Mr. Hunt was convicted in 1985, but last May the North Carolina
Supreme Court overturned the conviction, citing in one instance the use of
testimony that should not have been allowed.
But is Mr. Hunt guilty? Or, is he, like his supporters maintain, just a
man of questionable character who happened to be the wrong color and got
caught up in a white system bent on vengeance?
That question remains unanswered, but the Supreme Court's ruling and
the results of an investigation by the city into the way the case was handled
by the WSPD offer strong evidence that Mr. Hunt, guilty or not, did not get
a fair trial.
A state medical examiner and a State Bureau of Investigation patholo
gist both testified that there was no physical evidence that linked Mr. Hunt
to Ms. Sykes. '
Without physical evidence the prosecution relied heavily on the testi
Please see page A6
THE KING AND QUEEN OF BLACK THEATRE
Two veterans discuss bl^ck theatre, past and present
Photo by Mike Cunningham
Ossie Davis
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Chronicle Staff Writer.
You simply can't talk black the
ater and not talk Ruby Dee and
Ossie Davis. Since Monday s high
profile opening of the National
Black Theatre Festival, conversa
tions have pointed to the "old days"
of black theater, to the struggles and
to the actors that brought the institu
tion to prominence. And it was rare
to hear a conversation that did not
include the names Ruby Dee and
Ossie Davis. *
Tuesday evening, Ms. Dee and
Mr. Davis made their first appear
ance at the festival as the special
guests for the night's festivities.
Greeted by a flood of camera flash
es in a packed Stouffer's Hotel
meeting room, the actors joined
writer Micki Grant and artist Maya
Angelou in a discussion of black
theater, its past and its future.
Mr. Davis credited the Afro
American actors that preceded him
in black theater with furnishing his
love of the theater in general and
black theater in particular. He said
he is especially grateful for Afro
American actors such as Paul Robe
son because he originally had no
intention of becoming an actor.
MI always wanted to be a writer.
I got into acting because it was said
that if I \yanted to write, I should
study all parts of the theater," said
Mr. Davis, whose Broadway debut
was in the play, "Jeb." "My inspira
tions were the people performing at
the time I was a youngster. There
wa^a vibrant black theater during
that time. I think all of us were
affected by Robeson, his grandeur,
his style."
Mr. Davis pointed out, too, that
the societal restrictions Afro- Amer
icans faced in those days filtered
over into the theater. But he said he
feels that the special challenges pre
sented by the country's racial cli
mate, had the result of making the
black theater innovative and cre
ative in reaching their audiences.
"In those days, we had an even
Please see page A9
Photo by Mike Cunningham
Ruby Dee