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Winston-Salem Chronicle
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1993
"Tower concedes nothing without </ strn^^lc." ? Frederick Douglass
VOL. XX. No. 13
East Winston Man Loses Malpractice Suit
By MARK R MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer
A painful reminder of better days practi
cally sits in Paul Dawson's backyard. It is the
15th hole of the Winston Lake Golf Course -
a course he has stroked his way through
many times ... in better days.
Now all Dawson, 70, can do is sit and
reminiscence, because the healthy Dawson
went the way of his blood after what he and
his wife, Hazel, claim was an unauthorized
and botched operation.
Last week, the Dawsons lost their civil
suit against Dr. Michael H. Rubin, the gas
troenterologist who performed the procedure
in his office March 1989. The Dawsons asked
for close to $1 million for negligent medical
treatment. Hazel Dawson, 65, also sought
damages for loss of consortium and lost
wages. A 12-panel jury unanimously ruled in
favor of Rubin.
"He stopped golfing,, bowling . . .
stopped doing charitable work," said his wife
about those months following the procedure.
Lennard D. Tucker, the Dawsons' attor
ney, has filed for Appeal.
"We're going to get that money on
appeal," Tucker said.
Rubin doesn't think so.
"A lot of the things she said in testimony
didn't correspond to the facts in the case," he
Please see page A7
Lawyers Not
'Club buddies'
''?SHOTS
Jj$3
By MARK 1L MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer
To an inexperienced courtroom observer, it
appeared last week that the deck was stacked against
African-American Attorney Leimard D. Tucker and his
clients, Paul and Hazel Dawson, an African-Amcrican
Please see page A9
Paul Dawson, am African*
American, was unable to con- I
vince a 12 -member jury that a
white doctor botched an opera
tion that caused him to suffer
brain damage. The Jury flfH
whites and one black voted
unanimously in Dr. Michael H.
Rubin's favor.
? : i , ? ' , ,
HAWS
Holds
Banquet
By MARK R MOSS "
Chronicle Staff Writer
The Housing Authority of Win
?ton-Salem held its first annual ban
quet last Friday to recognize those
whom it serves: The residents.
It was a festive occasion replete
with rows of decorated tables and a
long dai? for the featured speaker,
State Rep. H.M. "Mickey" Michaux
and other officials.
Mayor Martha S. Wood told the
500 or so attendees that their "influ
ence" was needed "in every commu
nity throughout Winston-Salem."
"You can't keep that little candle burn
ing all to yourself," she said.
Applauding those residents who have
been asked to serve on the authority's board,
Wood said. "I think we may be the only
Tiousing authority to haveone-third of mem
bership on the board to be residents" of pub
lic housing.
She said that there was only one thing
that would force her to leave the evening's
banquet, and that was the teen-age forum on
violence being held at the Sims Recreation
Center that same hour.
Brian McKorkle, a housing authority
board commissioner and a public-housing
resident, lamented those in his community
who have given up.
The HAWS Ensemble, a gospel group comprised of employees from the Housing Authority of
Winston-Salem, entertains at Friday's Housing Authority banquet at the Benton Convention
Center.
"There are a lot of people who I grew
up with who turned their backs. . . . They
just don't care anymore," he said.
Larry Little, a lawyer and community
activist, said during his introduction of
Michaux, that Little once grew up in public
housing. Admiring such local men as the
late Carl H. Russell, a former alderman and
community leader, who Little called his
"hero,"' helped give him something to strive
toward.
Michaux "will go down in history as
the most important politician in North Car
olina."
Michaux's speech focused on the moral
decline of the African- American community
and his thoughts on what can be done to
reverse it. It was dotted with those all too
familiar statistics relating to. black death:
Nearly half of the murder victims in the
United States are black; 28.8 percent of
blacks are killed by gunshot wounds; for
blacks between the age of 15-33 gunshot
wounds are the leading cause of death.
"Yet, even though we find ourselves in
the midst of negative numbers . . . our desire
to participate (in all aspects of American
life) is the same as the rest of America.
"You cannot deny that significant
progress has been made," he said.
Urban areas, where three out of four
African Americans live, must be revitalized,
he said. To give an example of where gov
ernment funds were being spent, he said that -
over the last eight years. North Carolina has
Please see page A3
Bus Segregated
After Racial Taunts
A Black students called " nigger "
By DAVID L. DILLARD
Chronicle Staff Writer
Black students at Carver High School who
ride a bus that picks up students in the Walker
town and Belews Creek areas are separated from
white students because the blacks have been tar
gets of name-calling and racist slurs, the Chroni-.
cle has learned.
Ironically, the blacks have been placed at
the front of the bus and the whites at the back.
Walter Marshall, one of two African Amer
icans on the city/county school board, were out
raged when they were informed by a reporter
that the practice exists.
"There is no policy in the school system that
allows segregation on the buses," Marshall said.
"It's against the law."
Carver Principal Dan Piggott said he moved
one of the four black students who ride the pre
dominantly white -passenger school bus, behind
the driver to avoid any further incidents.
"I had an incident where a kid was called a
name on the bus, so I moved him behind the dri
ver so if there were any racial slurs, the driver
could hear them as well."
Piggott belligerently denied racially separat
ing the students and said the victim of the slur
and another black passenger on the bus are
related and therefore both moved up behind the
driver.
Please see page A3
_
NEWS WEEK
NEWS AT A GLANCE
Business ; BIO
Classifieds B12
Community News A4
Editorials A12
Entertainment B 1 1
Obituaries B9
Religion B8
Sports B1
Tensions High Between Police, Project Residents
A Resident says young blacks are harassed, arrested; police deny claims
By RICHARD L. WILLIAMS
Chronicle Executive Editor
Some residents of Cleveland Avenue Homes think
police are retaliating against them in response to a
police car that was vandalized last week
Police say it's not so.
Regardless of who is telling the
truth, relations between the commu
nity and police ? both of whom
smiled broadly at each other at a ban
quet last month of the 920 Youth
Career Club ? are strained.
Jackie Peoples, a neighborhood community
activist, said the situation got so bad last week that she
met with Mayor Martha Wood, who promised that she
would investigate.
* "It's a terrible situation," Peoples said. The situa
tion needs attention."
The problems; Peoples said, stem from an incident
the evening of Nov. 16 when a police squad car was
vandalized in the neighborhood. Since then, she said,
police officers have pointed guns at young blacks and
have continuously harassed them. Last Wednesday,
police were in the neighborhood in riot gear, she said.
"I was so afraid of the way the things had esca
lated from Tuesday to Thursday." she said. "No one
could tell me that someone would not have been killed
"No one could tell me that someone would not have been
killed Friday the way things were going. "
Friday the way things were going."
Police Capt. Michael V. McCoy, who supervises
uniformed officers, tells a different story. He said a
handful of men have been arrested and charged with
disorderly conduct and trespassing in the neighbor
hood. He said the arrests have nothing to do with last
week's vandalism, although the men charged were
questioned about the incident.
"That's been an on-going situation," he said. He
said officers have a list of names supplied by the Hous
ing Authority who are banned from the complex,
mostly for selling drugs. Housing Authority Executive
Director Arthur S. Milligan could not be reached com
ment.
"We're not going to let them take over the neigh
? borhood," McCoy said. "If they
break the law, they're going to get
arrested."
McCoy said that officers last
week wore riot helmets "for their
own protection" after police
received complaints about several people in the 1100
block of 1 8th Street throwing bottles in the street Last
Thursday morning, he said a street maintenance crew
had to clear the glass from the streets.
Tension has been at a fever pitch in and around
Geveland Avenue Homes for several months n<5w. In
July, a scuffle between a police officer and a resident
left the resident dead and the officer wounded.
The officer was cleared in the black man's death.
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