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North Carolina Room
Forsyth County Public Library
660 West Fifth Street
The Choice for African-American News and Information
THURSDAY. JUNE 29. 1 995
/ rctlt-rii A / >i m
VOL XXI No
Members of Fairchild Hills watch as groups dance and sing during Community Day
By SHANNON H1CKERSON
Chronicle. Staff Writer
Three years ago in Fairchild Hills it was
common to see people buying, selling and
doing drugs right on the street.
Since theft, things have changed because
the community pulled together to make the
neighborhood a better place to live.
Tve seen the community change/' said
Scheherazade Bonner, member of the commu
nity. "Most of the time there would be shooting
every night and I'd hear the police sirens all
die time."
"There's still a lot of work to be done,"
Edith George said. "But, you don't see people
shooting up drugs and all of the ugly things
that used to happen here. Now, things are more
positive."
Many attribute the change in the commu
nity to Dorothy Bonner, a resident who decided
to turn things around.
see NEIGHBORHOOD page 14
Piedmont Foot Patrol
Celebrates First Year
A Commmunity benefits from unit
By VERONICA CLEMONS
Ckromci* S>jff Writer
Queen Black enjoys coming
;dut to sit on her porch in her
Piedmont Park home. A year ago
it was a luxury she couldn't
afford.
"It was too dangerous," she
said. "You couldn't sit on your
porch after the sun went down. It
was shooting like the wild, wild
west"
The reason Black says she is
now able to enjoy the comfort of
her porch is the police officers
who patrol her neighborhood by
foot
"With the foot patrol there
has been 100 percent change,"
Bfack said. Tm disabled, but if I
had to get a job to keep them here
I would."
The Piedmont Park Foot
patrol unit celebrated its first
anniversary last Friday complete
with complete with food, drinks
and fun. On June 13 of last year,
jtfter many inquiries. Piedmont
park* residents received three foot
patrol officers into their commu
nity. Now the foot patrol mem
bership has grown to seven with
the officers working nine-hour
shifts from 5:30 p.m. until 2:30
a.m.
"That's when we find most of
the problems said Sgt. Charles
Vance, who is in charge of the
patrol. "It's when people need us
the most"
Senior Police Officer Ross
King, a member of the foot patrol
agreed that there have been some
positive changes in Piedmont
Park.
"Before, at sundown it was
like a ghost town," he said "Now
people are not afraid to go out.
Now people come out here all
times of the night"
Vance said more people feel
safe, officers have made positive
relationships in the community
with residents and children. And
^in its first year there have been no
murders in the neighborhood.
see PIEDMONT page 3
School Board Says Yes
to Afrocentric Program
A Dale Folwell only objector to plan
By VERONICA CLEMONS
Chronicle Stiff Writer
The City/County School Board, minus Dale
Folwell, said yes to a curriculum committee rec
ommendation to begin an Afrocentric School pro
gram in the fall of 1996.
'This is a very significant step, said the Rev.
Carlton A.G. Eversley, who has been lobbying for
such a program as a member of the Coalition on
African American Education. "It does, in fact,
focus on the needs of black children in a way the
school system has never done before."
The recommendation came after two board *
members, School Superintendent Donald Martin
and other administrative staff visited two Afrocen
tric school located in Trenton, NJ and Philadelphia.
Curriculum Committee Chairman Geneva
Brown said the board needed to move ahead with
the issue so that the education process of the con
cept can begin.
"We've been talking about this for a long
time," she said. "In order to start in the 19&-97
school year we need to study and we have a lot of
things to plan."
Folwell said he was not ready to vote on the
issue because he needed more information.
"And as a parent 1 feel anything that has to do
with pointing out the differences in people rather
than the similarities is a step backward, he said." .
Jeannie Metcalf, one of the board members
who took the trip, called herself the "cynic" of the
group. She said she had some of the same concerns
as Folwell, but after the trip her perspective
"As a parent 1 feel
anything that has
to do with pointing
out the differences
in pedple rather
than the similarities
is a step back'
ward "
. ?Dale FolweU
changed.
"I was very much surprised," she said. "I was
impressed It wasn't that much different from nor
mal school. It wasn't anti-American or anti-white.
It adds to the African American experience from
their culture."
Metcalf added that she views the program as a
way to help kids that seem to be "falling through
the cracks."
The program in Forsyth County will be some
what modeled after Harrity Elementary School
which operates its Afrocentric program as a school
within a school. Hanity and the other school vis
ited, Afrikan People's Action School, use the stan
dard course of study in their system said Elemen
tary School Division Director Daisy Chambers.
see SCHOOL page 14
?*w
Sgt Charles Vance jokes with Resident Council President Queen Black
after he presents her with a plaque from the foot patroL Black also pre
sented Vance with a plaque.
Early Start Moves
to Family Services
By VERONICA CLEMONS
Chronicle Staff Writer
The school board got out of
the p re-school business Tuesday
night.
Board members agreed to
give the responsibility of its pre
school program Early Start and
an exceptional children's pro
gram for handicapped 3 and 4
y ear-olds to Family Services.
Board member Geneva
Brown said it's a winning situa
tion for all involved.
- "In a town this big you can
get more mileage and do more
things, when all of the pre-K pro
grams are under one umbrella/'
she said. "The school system
needs its space, and Early Start
could become Head Start's
growth."
Head Start, a federally
funded pre-school program, also
falls under Family Services.
Superintendent Donald Mar
tin added that this will also be a
positive experience for students
in the Exceptional Children's pro
gram. Instead of being bussed to
one site they will have access to
several locations with other stu
dents.
Early Start, after much
debate and criticism, began in
January at several sites with the
help of $750,000 form the county
commissioners. The school sys
tem contributed $350,000. After
an evaluation in the fall, the
school board was going to decide
whether the program should con
tinue. However, there would be
no assistance from commission
ers.
According to a prekinder
garten proposal. 224 preschoolers
at eight sites will be served.
Because some of those slots will
be reserved for the exceptional
children's program. Elementary
Division Director Toni Bigham
said said the number of slots for
Early Start will be reduced from
the approximate 200 students that
were served in the school system
this past year.
However if a grant proposal
that will be submitted to Smart
Start is approved, more students
see EARLY page 14
ERfRTUMHT
OBITUARIES I
12
21
24
17
Thit Week in Black History
%Imm36,1974
A Mack nun shot and killed Mrs.Martin
Luther King, Sr. and deacon Edward
Boykm dtoing church flervkts
at Ebenezer Baptist
^Church, Atlanta.
The assailant,
Marcus Chennauh oil
Dayton, Oh., was
later convicted and
HAMiilMkAAil |jk J m a|L
|semencea to death.
Church Conference Focuses on Youths
A Adults encouraged to give young people guidance
By JOHN HINTON AND
SHANNON HICK ER SON
Chronicle Suff Writen
Children have young, immature
minds and often need help from adults
in making wise decisions, Bishop
LeRoy Jackson Woolard'told nearly
500 people gathered last week at the
Second Annual Youth Convention in
Winston-Salem.
"Somebody is going to have to
help them," said. Jackson, the jurisdic
tional prelate of the Greater North Car
olina Jurisdiction of the Church of God
in ChrisL "When you set your priorities
in the right perspective, God's going to
come in. That is the thrust of the
church."
When the young participants of the
conference held in the Benton Conven
tion and Civic Center returned home,
they would need guidance from their
parents and relatives, Woolard said.
"You have built upon that founda
tion at the convention," he said. "It has
been a mixture of the old and young
rejoicing in God. It makes me happy to
see children. When you hang around
enough young folks, you become
young also."
At a youth seminar. Evangelist
Sandra Henderson said that children
must avoid peer pressure and abstain
from premarital sex, drugs, and alco
see CHURCH p age 14
FOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 722-8624
Bishop Woolard addresses the partieipmmit ?/ the
Second Annum! Youth Convention last week.