34 Pages This Week
Thursday, October 19,1989
SO cents ft *$?? The Twin City s A*vard-\b inning Weekly"
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Al
VOL. XVI, No. 8
Wood defeats Smith
Smith vows to support Wood Nov. 7
By TONYA V. SMITH American. They also pointed to an anti-Martha Wood
Chronicle Staff Writer message on Joe Grady's Dial-a-Klan hotline and a bill
board along Interstate 40 which called Mrs. Wood a liar
. The Democratic nominee for mayor will most ^ compared her with the Walt Disney character, Pin
likely go down in history as the come back kid - the n0Chj0#
lady who rallied from behind and proved that the 'peo- in the GOP corner, Mr. Skidmore said last week
pie s choice is capable of upsetting the old guards Mr. saje ^a(j ^eCn telling Republican audiences
choice. - that the latter said he would support Mrs. Wood over a
Martha S. Wood won Tuesday's Democratic pri- Republican. Mr. Sale was allegedly getting his infor
ANALYSIS
Wood gains white, black votes
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
?Is,.. Increased voter turnout in the city's predominantly white wards and
a continuing strong base of support in the Afro-American majority
precincts propelled Martha S. Wood to a victory in the Democratic pri
mary and closer to the coveted mayor's scat.
I Tuesday's on again, off again rain showers may have caused voters
a in tw<fof the TWin City's predominantly. Afro-American wards to stay
?r~ I home. In the Hast Walft~yoter participationiJecreased by about two per
& ? I centa8e points. However, Mrs. Wood still captured 84 percent of the vote
, ".'Vr wa^^. Smith, ^comparison, lo$t 131 votes in the East.
Mr. 8lilHh loaj14i yote? in _ ^ V ^
mary runoff election over G. Dee Smith, 8,933 votes to
8,110. On Nov. 7 the Northwest alderman will face the
victor of the Republican runoff, Lenville M. Sale, who
beat challenger William T. Skidmore, 1,318 votes to
1,002.
The victories mark the end of tense, heavy camr
paigning in the respective camps.
Mrs. Wood's camp had accused Mr. Smith's work
ers of making racial slurs against the alderman because
she supported naming the new coliseum after an Afro
matiori from a quoto appearing in the Sept. 28 issue of
the. Chronicle. There was, however, no such statement
in the newspaper that was attributed to Mr. Skidmore.
Mrs. Wood led for most of the evening during
Tuesday's runoff. Repeating her first primary showing,
Mrs. Wood again won all three of the predominantly
Afro-American wards. In the North Ward she won all
six precincts, capturing the ward 1,444 votes to Mr.
Please seepage A10
Scenes of rejoicing at the Sawtooth Center
mark Mrs. Wood's defeat of Mr. Smith. Top
photo, Mrs. Wood addresses a crowd of her
supporters; at left, she is congratulated by
Earline Parmon and Annie B. Kennedy; above
right, Mrs. Wood gets a kiss from her mother.
Smith blames negative campaign tactics for loss; Wood dances
By ROBIN BARKSDALE r ?? ? ? ?
Chronicle Staff Writer
t
The Democratic Party's choice for mayor danced into the gallery of
the Sawtooth Building to the tune of "Shakedown, Breakdown, You're
Busted," and didn't stop until she had hugged each and every one of her
support team leaders."
"When Martha Wood gets elected mayor, there's not going to be
anymore dealing in the streets. There's going to be dancing in the
streets," she declared.
Finally taking the podium, Martha Wood confirmed that her oppo
nent Dee Smith had phoned to concede the run-off and to wish her well.
For her supporters, who erupted into thunderous applause, it was con
Panel: M/WBE goals
should remain intact
By TCJNYA V. SMITH
Chronide Staff Writer
Minority and Women Business
Enterprise programs currently in
operation across the state and coun
try can withstand a legal challenge,
despite a 10-month-old U.S.
-Supreme Couru rulmg which may
indicate otherwise, if the proper
steps are taken to shape them within
the guidelines handed down by the
high court, said panelists during a
workshop at the state League of
Municipalities' annual convention.
. Afro-American panelists Eva
Clayton, chair of the Warren Coun
ty Board of Commissioners; Andrea
Harris, vice president of the N.C.
Institute of Minority Economic
Development (NCIMED) in
Durham; and Geraldine Sumter, an
attorney with Ferguson, Stein, Watt,
Wallis, Adkins and Gresham Public
Attorneys in Charlotte, led the dis
cussion on the topic "Minority and
Women Business Enterprises:
Recent significant events in the
courts and the General Assembly"
during a session on Tuesday.
At the center of their informa
tional presentation was a discussion
of the impact that the Supreme
Court case of City of Richmond vs.
J.A. Croson Co. had and will have
on minority porticipotion in the let
ting of government contracts.
On Jan. 23, 1989, the Supreme
Court ruled on the Croson case.
Richmond had adopted a Minority
Business Enterprise (MBE) plan in
1983 which required prime contrac
tors which received city construc
tion contracts to subcontract at least
30 percent of the dollar amount of
the contract to MBEs. The city
defined an MBE as a business at
least 51 percent owned and con
trolled by "citizens of the United,
States who are blacks, Spanish
speaking, orientals, Indians, Eski
mos or Aleuts." If prime contractors
Please see page A7
firmation that there was a changing of the city's "old guard."
By 9:30 p.m. a crowd of more than 90 Wood supporters had gath
ered to welcome their candidate to the victory celebration. But less than
half an hour earlier, Mrs. Wood's advisers and campaign personnel had
huddled anxiously around a portable radio, waiting for the final five
precincts to report in. ?
The race with Mr. Smith remained close with 46 precincts report
ing. But Mrs. Wood's victories in the 14th Street precinct, which she
won by a margin of 272 yotes, and the South Fork precinct, which she
won by two votes, secured her victory over Mr. Smith, despite the fact
that he won three of the final precincts. %
Mrs. Wood said that her victory in Tuesday's run-off signals that
mw'i&w. '
? ^ ?_ _ Photo by Mike Cunningham
Crulsin' Along
* ' ?
Equipped with the latest sound equipment and patriotic parapher
nalia, this dedicated cyclist makes his daily trip down Liberty St.
more of the masses will now be involved in the political process.
"Our people are our greatest resource. The people represented in
ihis room tonight are the power base in Winston-Salem," she told the
racially and economically diverse group. "My parents brought me up to
believe that in the Democratic Party, there is room at the table for
everybody. We must use that to our full advantage."
In a race marred by negative campaigning, Mrs. Wood said that she
had been called a "divisive" force on the Board of Aldermen. But she
said that the true gist of her own campaign hit home to her during a
* meeting held a few weeks ago at the home of Rep. Annie Brown
Kennedy.
Please see page A8
Parents petition DA =
on new Honeycutt trial
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
The principal who was
clcarcd last week of seven charges
of assault on children less than 12
years old is scheduled to appear in
court Friday on two additional
charges; however, the parents who
filed them have asked the district
attorney for a continuance.
Angelita Cherry and Peggy
Groom, the parents who filed
charges last week against William
E. Honeycutt, were joined by rep
resentatives from the Concerned
Mothers of Forsyth County during
a meeting with Warren Sparrow
Thursday morning.
"We asked for a continuance
because we are supposed to go to
court on Friday, and we need
more time to prepare our babies
and the case," said Valerie Hall,
assistant to the president *of Con
cerned Mothers. "He said that he
would ask the judge for a continu
ance for us."
The parents wanted a continu
ance of Mr. Honeycutt's Oct. 10
trial. That date was originally set
for Oct. 24 but was changed at the
request of his attorney. Parents
said they did not have enough
time to ready their children to tes
tify and that the assistant district
attorney assigned to the case was
unprepared. The latter was evident
as prosecutor Victoria L. Roemer
had to be prompted by a fellow
office worker as to what questions
she should ask the children who
took the witness stand.
Children who were allegedly
shoved, kicked and slapped by
Mr. Honcycutt took the stand last
week in Forsyth County District
Court and told of their experi
ences on a school bus on Sept. 11.
The children testified that their
principal boarded bus #553 at
Mineral Springs looking for a stu
Please see page A8