Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / April 11, 1991, edition 1 / Page 2
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Legal Aid Director resigns after more than two decadesH RUDY ANDERSON Ctvontcto Managing Edtof Thorns Craven, who has direct ed the staff of the Legal Aid Soci ety of Northwest North Carolina for the last 20 years, is stepping down." Craven made his announcement this week saying that, "I have reached a point in my life where it is neces sary to determine what to do for the rest of it. I have spent my entire legal career in legal services for the ? poorr and I think it's time for a change." At age 50, Craven is the third person to serve as director of Legal Aid Society since it was estab lished in 1963 by local attorneys. His resignation becomes effective June 1. Craven said he has no idea who his replacement will but that he would* be involved with helping the board to conduct their search for a new director. Craven says he informed the board of his decision to step down April 2. It was Craven who directed a study in the early 1970s of the North Carolina Bar Association that led to the establishment of the Legal statewide legal services program. That program now has 26 offices across the state with an annual bud get of more than $10 million dol lars. Craven says when he started doing this work that " legal aid was noi a pop ular cause. "It is still controversial, but it is also an acccpted com munity institution. I've seen this organization go from being com pletely ineffective and almost a joke to being very successful in help ing our clients across the state," he said. "I'm very proud of whatever I have been able to do to make that happen." But Craven has also learned how cruel people can be to each other. "The unexpected experience out of this," he says, "is the signifi , cant number of people who have become wealthy taking advantage of poor people. Those are the people who are threatened by a fair adjudication of disputes. They Craven smiled to himself while thinking about some of the person alities he has come across during his time of service. "Most people think Scrooge ends up buying the turkey for Tiny Tim, but I've seen f Photo by L.B. Speas Jr. Thorns Craven Scrooges that would take that turkey right out of Tiny Tim's arms." Keeping enough legal help on hand has also been a problem for Legal Aid, Craven says. The Legal Aid staff currently has seven attor neys and three paralegals represent ing clients in six counties. In the *fcarly 1980 s, the staff included 13 attorneys and six paralegals. Craven says the Reagan admin istration tried hard to abolish legal aid for the poor, but that Congress, the nation's bar associations, and state and local officials worked harder to prevent to keep that from happening. "We lost a great deal of our capacity to provide legal assistance, but we are still in business and doing more and better work." Still he admits that Legal Aid by and large is seriously under staffed and underfinanced. He said lawyers in Legal Aid aren't paid nearly enough for the services ren dered. Even so, he points out that Legal Aid attorneys get respect from other attorneys, judges, and the community. "Our poor clients know that if we take their case, we are going to be here and that they couldn't get better representation anywhere," says Craven. . Looking back on his 22-year involvement with Legal Aid, Craven says he has no regrets and started this in 1969.1 h ad no irtea I'H Official admits 'Main Post Office' By .RUDY ANDERSON Chronicle Mnininn Edftor VIHvlNlffV WyPiy talMklM >; A high ranking area postal offi cial admits that the use ^f the tens* 'main post office" may have caused some confusion for customers who moved their mail boxes to the new Patterson Avenue location thinking they would also get retail services. ; William J. Henderson, field division general manager and Post master from Greensboro, wrote a letter in response to a letter he received from Mrs. Elaine Pitt, community relations director for the Chronicle , about the lack of ser vices provided at the^o-called. "main post office." ? In that letter Henderson writes thai "Winston-Salem was not sin gled jjput for special treatment" in tenns of postal facility offerings. He makes reference to the fact that the main processing center in Char lotte has no retail services, "not even post office box service." He also writes that a new mail process ing facility in Hickory will not offer retail services and that there is a proposal in Greensboro "to move the retail services from the existing main post office location to another area of the city." j Henderson calls it regrettable that some customers mentioned in Mm. Pitt's letter "inadvertently moved their boxes" to the Patterson ? location but were unable to receive the service they wanted. Henderson wrote he would inform the Winston-Salem Post master, Mark Matics, toidentify those customers and offer them an opportunity to exchange their box for one nearer their residence. Undoubtedly, the term 'full service' has a different meaning for you (Mrs. Pitt) than it has for the Postal Service," Henderson writes. "Full service to the Postal Scrvice are those postal facilities that offer all of the available retail services including box pickup to those cus tomers they serve. It does not include the mail processing opera tion, which is generally locatcd in only one facility ^jUh in thfcciiy#" He continues that the location of mail processing and retail opera tions as one unit is becoming less frequent within the Postal Scrvice. He gave no indication that the Patterson Avenue facility would at some point offer full services. But he- insists in that letter that while there were many business reasons why retail services were not provided at the new facility on Pat terson Avenue "not one of them had anything to do with the racial or ethnic makeup of the surrounding community." Several of those who also got copies of the Pitt letter find Hender son's explanation hard to believe. CR A/bank enter pact Chronicle Staff Report : The North Carolina Statewide Community Reinvestment Act - Coftmittee announces that they havfe entered into an agreement with First Citizens Bank & Trust Compa ny Where the bank has committed mo& than $21 million over the next thrcfe years to assist low- and mod era te-income and minority targeted housing and business development programs. 'The bank has agreed to develop a sifigle-family homeownership pro gram, as well as a multi-family (one-to-four) housing program. In addition to these efforts, the bank has committed to expanding its farm lending programs to further include small and minority farmers, provid ing ^monetary support of the North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations and the Southeast Raleigh Community Development Corporation. iThc bank also agreed to increase its marketing efforts to low* and moderate income markets and to participate in small business and homeownership counseling pro grams. The Statewide CRA Committee includes: The Charlotte Organizing Project, Blue Ridge Community Action (Morgan ton), YMI Cultural Center (Asheville), East Winston * CDC, NC Institute of Minority Eco nomic Development, Gateway CDC (Henderson). Pamlico Sound Legal _ Services, Southeast Raleigh CDC, Rofcky Mount/Edgecombe CDC, the North Carolina branch of the ? <3 NAACP, North Carolina Associa tion of CDCs, North Carolina Legal Services Resource Center, and the Wilmineton/New Hanover CDC. The Rev. Serenus Churn, presi dent of the Ministers' Alliance and pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, is one of them. "This effects a lot of people in my church," said Churn. "1 think people were sadly disappointed that this new attractive building in their neighborhood offered them no ser vice." Chum said what has happened in this situation is indicative of the type of token service extended to African-Americans with no real substance. "I can get packages mailed from some areas around here where there is hardly anything. But in the heart of the city, where there are thousands of people, we can't get this type of service," he r* said. "1 ihfok il is ridiculous." Tm conccrned about it, that's for sure," said Marie Roseboro of the Forsyth County Voters Coali tion. "If all they were going to do is confusing gear up to become some giant mail processing center, why call it a main post office and not offer the people who live in the community and pass this facility daily an opportunity for service, " she said. "I'm sure people in that community felt they wouldn't have to go way downtown anymore for retail ser vice. Now they have this pretty new building with nothing for them unless they have a post office box." Dave Barcio, director of cus tomer said during an interview this week that the new Town Run Lane facility will be providing downtown retail services once it opens. The next closest facility providing retail services for people in the area will be the facility on Patterson Avenue across from Northside "Shopping Center. He said for- anyone wishing to change their boxes, the post office would be happy to accommo date them. Sorry, our mistake . .. . . . , ' ? ... ? ? '.j ? . . The Winston-Salem Chronicle incorrectly reported that the Columbia Mall in Columbia, S.C. had been sued by the NAACP for dis crimination in an April 4 article about bus service at Hanes Mall in Win ston-Salem. NAACP officials said a negotiated settlement was reached and the suitwas never filed. We also incorrectly reported that mall officials in Columbia said the action had been taken to cut down on loitering at the mall. That state ment should have instead been attributed tp NAACP officials there who say they were told this was one of the reasons m^l officials took the ini tial action to curtail bus service. In fact, mall officials never requested that bus service be curtailed ? nor was it. We are sorry for any inconvenience that these errors may have caused, V * still be doing this 22 years later," he says. But he says it has been worth the effort. "Look at what's happening with tenants where they have gone from being victims of intolerable condi tions to people landlords end up paying money to by the time we are finished," he said with pride. Craven isn't sure yet what he will be doing yet but he knows helir stay active. He continues to serve on a host of advisory boards and. community organizations. Craven is married to Perry Craven, who is involved in the. development of housing for the elderly and handicapped. They have one grown son, Thomas, who is a professional bicyclc racer. CIRWM'S Menswear & Formalwear Downtown 443 N. Trade St. Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (919) 631-9327 ,10-4 Mon.-Fri. 10-2 Sat. Appointments Welcomed ' PROM SPECIAL Tuxedos $48 and up Michael Jordan Collection & more ? "New" Denim Tux Pants Tux accessories & shoes f Bring this coupon to Register for... ojb DINNER for TWO SMITHFIELDS (Hyatt Hotel) 1 & FLOWERS! r l_ PURCHA3E REQUIRED IWORDERT Drawing Date: May 4, 1941 "LET PROM 1991 BE ON CIR CITY OF WINSTON-SALEM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM PUBLIC HEARING The Housing/Neighborhood Development Department and the Housing Services Department will hold a public hearing to review the PROPOSED "Statement of Community development and Projected Use of Funds" for the Program Year 1991-1992. (July 1, 1991 -June 30, 1992) Total PROPOSED Community Development Program expenditures for the program year beginning July 1 , 1 9?1 are $4,050,000. Of these expenditures, ?0 pefcehtare projected to benefit low and moderate The Board of Aldermen will consider the submission of the PROPOSED Statement to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during its regular meeting on Monday, May 20, 1991 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Copies of the PROPOSED Statement are available at the offices of . the Housing/Neighborhood Department, 225 West Fifth Street, Suite 300 Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101. IN ADDITION: the Housing/Neighborhood Development Department and the Housing Services Department will hold a public hearing to obtain citizens views on the housing needs of the jurisdiction to assist in the development of a Comprehensive Housing Affordabllttv Strategic* fCHASl in accordance with Title I of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1 990. Representatives from neighborhood organizations, city-wide groups and any other individuals interested in the Community Development program and the comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategies (CHAS) are invited to attend this hearing. , DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1991 TIME: 7:00 p.m. PLACE: Benton Convention Center Conference Rooms 2 (Lower Level) [fibta Got ready for a week of hot hot golf at the 1991 Kmart Greater Greensboro Open. This year the PGA TOUR'S bast will battle for tfie richest purse In Kmort GGO tourney history... aver o million doflarsl Come oat to tho open and fed the heat! The Kmart GGO, Aprfl 22-28 at Forest Oaks Country dub, Greensboro, NC. FUN! Enjoy hot fun in the sun with non stop entertainment on and off the course. Fun and exdtement follow you as you foHow your favorite players. The Kmart GGO is the perfect event for people who km hot golf and hot fun. Getit...outinTheOpen. DEAL! Best of all, the Kmort GGO is a hot gm ijlffAJ ini Afli ASjImA . wt a atscoum on every tkkot when you buy in advance at any local Kmart store, area Bukk dealer A||a llMAfiMIAM I ATTli*A Of OT Trie UTMnSOOfO JdyvM OTTKB. Or. onier vour tickets today bv caHina (919) 379-1570. Don't miss out on Hie hottest ticket in town... the 1991 Kmart GGO. Getit...outm The Open! S Call the Kmart GGGLH0TUNE for titkets today! (919) 379-1570 <1
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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April 11, 1991, edition 1
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