Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Dec. 2, 1993, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
75 CENTS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1993 VOL. XX, No. 14 Cancer-Causing Soil Dumped in E. Winston A Residents in the area cry environmental racism By DAVID L. DILLARD Chronicle Staff Writer For several days, a city businessman transported soil laden with a cancer-causing chemical to a location on New Walkertown Road, cleaned it and transported it back to its original site on Akron Drive. The soil was transported from a Wilco gas station at 653 Akron Drive, a predominantly white area, to a lot at 2500 New Walkertown Road, an area that is predom inantly black. Mounds of contaminated dirt are covered in plastic at the New Walkertown Road site, which houses a car wash. A.T. Williams Oil Co. owns both the lot and Wilco, After residents in the area who live near near the New Walkertown Road site complained of a foul odor and environmental racism, the cleaning was stopped. Steve Williams, vice president of Williams Oil, said workers began cleaning the soil Nov. 8 to meet environ mental standards at the Akron Drive store. "We are upgrading our gas station on Akron Drive and found that it had contaminated soil," he said. "We got state permission to relocate the soil. I tried to do this in a way that would not cost the taxpayers a lot of see CANCER page A3 Photo by C.O. Matthews Contaminated soil was brought from Akron Drive to be cleaned at this site on New Walkertown Road. Cooper Climbs To Top Fireman A City names 2nd black chief By MARK R. MOSS Chronicle Staff Writer Because Otis Cooper Jr. has a thing about making an impact, he is now the number one fireman in Winston-Salem. He taught school after graduating from college because he thought he could have some impact on students. He became a police officer because he thought he could have some impact on the community he policed. It wasn't until he became a fireman that he was able to receive that "immediate gratification" of having made an impact. "There was something about the fire services," Cooper said. "Their impact was immediate." People "know when the fire is out." Besides, he added with a smile, "People are usually happier to see a fireman than the police." Last week, City Manager Bill Stuart announced Cooper's ? appointment as chief of the Winston-Salem Fire Department. He . - will be paid $49,000 a year. He succeeds Fred E. "Pete" Harless, who retired Tuesday after 30 years with the department. "I highly recommended him," Harless said. "He's a very com petent individual and a very hard worker." In a prepared statement, Stuart applauded Cooper's "ability Otis Cooper Jr. becomes the second African American to head the city Fire Department. and vision" which will enable him to ' maintain the department's high standing among municipal fire departments." Not bad for a man who backed into the field of public safety. Cooper, the second of six children, was raised in Walnut Cove by parents who depended on "sharecropping, bootlegging and plant (factory) work" to get by. Neither of his parents finished grade school - . "I was extremely fortunate to get an education beyond high school," Cooper said in an interview in his spacious office at the Public Safety building on North Cherry Street. Cooper, 45. received a Z. Smith Reynolds Scholarship to attend N. C. Central University, where he received a bachelor's see COOPER page A3 Nordlander Says Police Need Your Support A New alderman to challenge review board By DAVID L. DILLARD Chronicle Staff Writer Robert Nordlander Jr., was happy working at his father's CPA firm. It was his displeasure with the controversies surrounding former Southeast Ward alderman Lam' Womble that prompted the 22-year-old political novice to challenge Womble. On Monday, he will make history when he gets installed as the city's youngest alder man. - "I disagreed with Lam- Womble on a few issues and when I looked at the other Republi cans who were not running against him, 1 thought someone had to do it," Nordlander said this week in an interview. "I have no political experi?nce7~TJust knew "what I believed in and ran on that." Nordlander, a graduate of Bob Jones Uni versity. a Christian school in Greenville. S.C., said that he has a lot of respect for Womble, but thought that Womble should be held Robert Nordlander Jr. All-America City status. "I disagreed with his use of the city secre tary. the police review board, but the real issue see NORDLANDER page A3 rid buk/Chronte. WHERE TO FIND IT Business ' B18 Classifieds B12 Community News A4 Editorials * A 10 Entertainment B15 Obituaries BIO Relioion B9 Sports B1 This Week In Black History " On Dec. 5, 1955. Martin Luther King, Jr., organized Birmingham bus boycott, making the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. Busy Bees Keep- Beehive" Shelves Stocked A Consignment shop showcases crafty handiwork of area senior citizens By MARK R. MOSS Chronicle Staff Writer Ruth Glenn, manager of the Beehive Craft Shop, likes to tell the story of the children who knock on the store s door in the summer and ask to see the bees. All they really want, she said, is a drink of water. Water or not, "I guess my teaching instinct takes over," and she tells the children "there are no bees here, but come on in . . Inevitably, they ask why is the place called the Beehive if there aren't any bees? Glenn, a retired teacher, said she had nothing to do with naming the place and doesn't know why it's called the Beehive. She explains to the children, however, that the people who produce the roughly 250 jfcJL .aafi Photo by Mark R. Moss Glenn shows a visitor wares at Beehive Craft Shop on Mount Zion Place. are ceramics and large paintings and a rack of hand-decorated clothing. And scattered about on the floor is the carpentry of sev eral craftsmen. The wooden wagons - each toting handmade dolls - and the smoothly sculpted bookshelf represent the last work of an elderly man who Glenn will never forget. She explained that whenever some thing the man had created had been sold, she'd call him and ask for something else. It wouldn't take long for him to quickly come up with another wooden creation. Glenn said they became friends. ? The last time one of his projects sold, she called to let him know about the trans ; action and to tell him to get busy. His wife, however, told her that he had died the night before. "You cannot imagine the feeling that assorted objects lining the store s walls stay as busy as bees. The Beehive, at 1601 Mt Zion Place, is a consign ment shop primarily for the handiwork of East Win ston's senior citizens and handicapped. It is owned and operated by the city's Recreation and Parks Depart ment A similar enterprise - The Cricket's Nest - is on the city's west side. Glenn explained that once the craftsmen have completed something, they give it a price, and Beehive tacks on an additional 10 percent consignment charge. "It gives them (senior citizens) pleasure to know that something has been sold," said Glenn, who has managed the shop for two of the three years it has been at its present location. The items - ranging from hand-woven blankets to multicolored earrings - are neatly arranged on wooden shelves that line three of the shop's four walls. There came over me." she said. "Ill remember that even when I'm not here." She estimates that Beehive averages about $200 a month in sales. She would like to see business pick up because of the rewards it gives senior citizens, so she has done what she can by spreading the word. "I tell it everywhere I go - talking about the Bee hive. At my church, they say, 'Here comes Ms. Bee _ hive,'" she said, smiling. TO SUBSCRIBE CALL 919-722-8624
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 2, 1993, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75