Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / May 28, 1998, edition 1 / Page 7
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FORUM __ I Facts regarding Winston-Salem State distorted? I write to correct the record regarding articles concerning me which appeared in the May 7 and May 14 editions of the Winston Salem Chronicle. The writer's Itpvl ling along with distortions of fact are alarm ing and repug nant to the journalism profession. As well, these articles consti tute a gross disservice to Winston Salem Stale University, its alumni and your readership. TTie author of the articles pur ports to be a sportswnter, however, it is clear that he lacks competence in writing about matters pertaining to higher education. Although he has written numerous stories about me and Winston-Salem State, Sam Davis has so far shown no interest in meeting with me to discuss areas ofintercst in order to better inform his stories. The pattern is familiar a phone call from a Chronicle reporter is received just before the deadline after the story has essen tially been developed. This means we are expected to give a quote for a story already written thereby providing legitimacy to an article whiph more often than not is based on rumor, hearsay or lies. Such was the case in both of The Chronicle's recent articles about me 7 May 1998 Article These are the facts: 1. Exercise equipment pur chased by me from Nordic Trac was delivered to the Chancellor's residence a state owned facility, by state workers who maintain it along with other state buildings. Following a review of the matter, the Office of the State Auditoc considers this closed. 2. No university employee has ever chauffeured me for private business on state time. 3. The issues for discussion being called by our Faculty Senate are just that: for discussion. After a meeting with the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, it is custom ary for the Faculty Senate to meet with me. That meeting will take place this summer at which time we will address their issues. 14 May Article. "These are the facts: 1. I did purchase a large screen television with State funds from a furniture account designated for the Chancellor's residence. Because of its intended uses, I also have a telephone, a fax machine, a com puter line and other equipment which enable me to conduct offi cial business at all times from the Chancellor's residence. Each of these items is accounted for on the State's fixed asset inventory. 2. It is a complete fabrication that I ever used an employee to pick up laundry or to use a taxi. This is not only untrue, but ridicu lous, March 4, the date which Mr. Davis alleges certain violations, was a Saturday. For most of the time we have lived in the Chancel lor's residence we have not had a housekeeper. In any case, that per son would not normally work on a weekend. Some of what I read in both articles is so ludicrous that it docs not merit a response We arc new comers to this community and, frankly, it is disheartening to see African Americans constantly dis playing self-hatred and internal oppression towards one another. All of this is reminiscent of what the old folks called "crabs in a basket." The Black community is facing its most daunting challenges ever: high unemployment, high infant mortality rates, a high ten pregnancy rate, a high number of AIDS cases and on and on ad infinitum. Must we waste valuable time fighting each other? Is this the very best we have to offer? I know we can do better. I pledge my sup port to bring out the brat in Win ston-Salem State University, its students, faculty and alumni. Alvin J. Schexnider is Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University. LETTER TO THE EDITOR DR. ALVIN A SCHEXNIDE* Public Notice The Quality Education Academy is preparing to write the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), P.L. 101-476 Plan and Project. The Project describes the special education pro gram that this agency proposes for federal funding for the 1998 99 school year. Interested persons are encouraged to review the Plan/Project and to make comments concerning the implemen tation of special education under this federal program. All com ments will be considered prior to submission of the Plan/Project to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh. The IDEA Plan/Project is open to the public review for comments on May 28,1998 in the Office of Dean Crystal Pear son, 5012-D Lansing Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27105, between the hours of 8:00am - 5pm. TES FASHIONS ENGRAVING Trophies Special Requests a ^ Reunions-Family/High School/College acrylic- Customized "Afrocentric" Designs Awards ^ 1001 S. Marshall Street, Ste. 105 \ P , Theldora Small Williams I "*? HI. ^?3=??^? ' Use surplus for the right things The N.C. Supreme Court has ruled that the State of North Car olina must return SI billion to tome 250,000 retirees. This will ft take a big bite out of the SI.2 bil I Eon surplus our legislators wanted ?to use to provide health insurance ?tb children, give teachers and state ?employees well-deserved pay rais ?es, and Anally eliminate the food ?ax in North Carolina. Oh, I almost forgot. The ?Republicans also wanted to give ?tome tax relief to our poor little ?rich cousins. ? The court ruled that state letirees as well as federal retirees Were illegally taxed on their retire Went income and that they must be iwnpensated Retirees who reside / lufside the state and the estates of deseased retirees will receive cash payments. Those federal retirees who remain in North Carolina will likely receive a tax credit, meaning, that they won't get all of their money for some time. The lost revenue will cost the state approximately $100 million per year in expected collections from retirees. All of these changes in the state's projected budget sug gest that many programs won't be funded as anticipated. But this shouldn't mean that we must stick it to poor folks again. Pay raises for teachers must be a part of the budget if we expect to retain and recruit high quality teachers in our school system. State employees too often are asked to shoulder the fiscal burden of revenue shortfalls in the state budget and that's not fair. We def initely want to insure our poor children and doing away with the food tax would be a benefit to us all. Our free market system guided by the invisible hand, has produced wealth upon wealth in America. One of the more notable tenets of the free 'market system is that it subsidizes economic behavior that it wants to continue and it taxes economic behavior that it wants to curtail or diminish. Now, I am fully aware ? in a personal way ? that many of us need to eat less and lose some weight. But I'm not so sure that taxing food is the right vehicle to use in getting that message across. This is not a new argument - we've been visiting and revisiting this food taxation question for the past 37 years. North Carolina col lects approximately $180 million, or 2 percent, of its budget from food taxes. If we abolished the food tax, any lost revenue would be more than off-set by the savings to families. If we eliminated all food taxes it would save a family of four approximately $80 a year. Eighty dollars might not seem like a lot of money to our rich cousins, but to a poor family that spends as much as SO percent its income on food, the repeal of the food tax would be a much-needed blessing. The food tax is a regres sive tax that has its greatest nega tive impact on those with the least ability to shoulder the burden. If the General Assembly abol ishes the food tax, I promise that I will do my part to eat less and lose weight. I will embark on a self tempered weight-reduction pro gram and will encourage many of my friends to do the same. We appreciate the state's con cern with our weight. Losing weight is good for most of us, but enough is enough. Let's stop tax ing food in North Carolina. There are other more sensible and less expensive ways to encourage weight reduction. I ? t i ? Jones Street Vol Atkinson Cocaine law unfairly targets black women By DAVID LOWE I Are pregnant women child abusers when they use alcohol or drugs? The U.S~ Supreme Court may have to wrestle with this issue soon. 7 On March 19, the New York based Center for Constitutional Rights petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse a decision last Octo ber by the South Carolina Supreme Court. - That decision, in South Carolina vs. Whitner, affirmed that child abuse applies to the behavior of a mother while the fetus is in her . womb. South Carolina is the first state to uphold the criminal conviction of a woman who has taken drugs while pregnant. The law is wrong because it singles out poor black women and because it violates their right to pri vacy. f In 1989, a group of prosecutors in South Carolina, in cooperation with the police and public hospitals, decided to start punishing pregnant women who test positive for cocaine More than 80 women have been arrested since that time, most of them African-American women who sought prenatal care. | Proponents claim that this law i was designed as a "family-friendly" measure to stop pregnant women from abusing drugs and to improve the health of the baby. Studies have shown the opposite: The present law deters women from seeking prenatal care and the limited drug treatment that is available because they are afraid of going to jail. Organizations as diverse as the ACLU of South Carolina, the American Medical Association, the March of Dimes and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence oppose the criminaliza tion of drug- addicted pregnant mothers. Courts in more than 20 states have refused to imprison these women under child abuse and drug statutes. Even the South Carolina Legislature has not endorsed such a plan. Cocaine is by no means the leading cause of birth defects. Alcohol abuse is responsible for the greatest number and the most severe * i" types of birth defects, far more than any recreational drug. Tobacco is also particularly damaging, as is poverty, malnutrition, stress and exposure to lead. The issue in South Carolina vs. Whitner is not a pregnant woman's right to take drugs. The issue is whether African Americans are accorded the same constitutional rights as everyone else: The issue is whether the state can intrude in the reproductive lives of women. It is already illegal for women to use cocaine The police can prosecute them for that. They don't need to pile on child abuse. Treatment for their disease, rather than criminal ization, will help to make their lives whole and productive. People around the country await the U.S. Supreme Court's decision. In Jefferson Parish, La., District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. is consid ering punishing a woman for abus ing akrohol dining her pregnancy. Police in Grand Isle, La., arrested Lori Ingram for negligent homicide. A medical examiner concluded there was a "strong likelihood" that alco hoi and drug, caused her baby to be stillborn. If Connick decides to pros ecute Ingram, he leads us down a slippery slope that could punish women for engaging in lawful activi ties. Meanwhile, Malissa Am Craw ley, one of the women petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court, sits in a South Carolina jail. Crawley, a mother of three healthy children, is currently serving a five-year sentence for testing positive for cocaine dur ing pregnancy. At Crawley's hearing. Judge Frank Eppes remarked, "I'm sick and tired of these girls having these bastard babies on crack cocaine and until they change the law, the law they gave me, it said I could put them in jail." Eppes provides a good rea son why the Supreme Court needs to strike down this law. V David Love is a staff member with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York and a co-producer of the television documentary "Disorderly Conduct: Are the Police Killing Us?" J ^CellularL/l I ? Low set-up fee ^BSr ? No credit check ? low per minute rate jQS/ft A 3724 Reynolda Road H ?- -w - ' ? ? I ?luffl^RSITYB I ^K Wake Forest Executive & Evening .MBA Programs~Winston-Salem I Springboard I I to of u c c e s s I H Attend An I Information Session Wake Forest University Worrell Professional Center v \ Thursday, June 4 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. (Formal remarks begin at 6 p.m.) I Call today! 336.758.4584 or 800.428.6012 www.mba.wfu.edu s-B P^The Chronici^ The Choice for African-American News USM 0*7910 617 N. Liberty Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 The Chronicle was established by Ernest Pitt and Ndu I bisi Egemonye in 1974, and is published every Thursday by The Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc. The Chronicle is a proud member of Audit Bureau of Circulation ? National Newspapers Publishers Association ? North Carolina Press Associa tion ? North Caroina Black Publishers Association ? Inland Press Association National Advertising Representative: Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., 45 West 4Sth Street, New York, NY 10036 212 / 869-5220 ??????????????????????? > " Contact Us: p/wwnwnfcer 336 / 722-8624 fax 336/723-9173 website address: www.netunlimHed.net/-w8Chron emoil address: wschron@netunlimited.net Sport* tdhor 723-9421 Sam Davis Clrcufafion 732-0634 Don Naylor Sato* Staff 722-9629 Lexie Johnson Bruce Cross Marilyn Cooper sutino** Offko Ericka Asrurv Vickie Warren Paulette Lewis Copy Mtor J ames Franklin Jr. Production Steven Moore A. n. Wright ? The Chronicle Home Delivery Subscription Order ? YES, Please send me The Chronicle ? 2 years: $40.95 ? 1 year: $30.72 i year 35.72 ? 6 months: $20.48 fc ,2S5 ? ' . ' ? Name AM* 11 Cttf ?~ State ~ 9 ? VISA ? Mastercard ? American Express ? Check enclosed ? Please bill me Accomt Number Expiration Dale Signature Send to: The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636, Winston-Salem, NC 27102 " ?> V ' ? N ?1
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