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75 cents VV I N S I O IN - S A L E M GREENSBORO HlGH POINT Vol. XXVII No. 24
CH RON I< - --- i
^TteChoice for African American News from tht? library
Photo by Kevin Walker
The Rev. James Sloan, left, and the Rev. Micheal Williams look over
a prepared statement by the Ministers Conference.
w -m ? ?
Developer optimistic after setback
BYT KEVIN WALKER
I 111 CHRONICLE
It's a battle of David and Goliath
proportions, but William Brandon
(the David in the scenario) says he is
relying on his faith to pull him
through a scheduled foreclosure
hearing today initiated by Goliath, a
consortium of 12 banks that
financed his Bast Way Plaza Shop
ping Center back in 1993.
As of press time, though. Bran
don still had yet to find a financier to
bail him out of a situation that he
says he never should have been in in
the first place.
"What the bank group has done
to me is perfectly legal, but it's not
ethical." he said last week. Brandon
said he has never missed one of his
$17,000 monthly payments to the
bank group in six years. He has been
scratching his head as to why the
banks, led by Bank of America, now
want to snatch the center front hint.
He has come up with some ideas.
Brandon speculates that perhaps the
banks see the power that East Win
ston could have once the Martin
Luther King Drive extension is com
plete. With the extension, Brandon
said, travelers can bypass downtown
completely when exiting Business 40,
"Property here in East Winston
is going to become more valuable. I
think there is a reason that this is
happening to me, because somebody
? wants this," he said.
Brandon also theorizes that the
banks got a little edgy late last year
when his anchor tenant. Cato, left
the center. Brandon said the chain
closed many branches when it decid
ed to downsize. It's Fashion, another
store owned by the Cato chain,
remains in Eastway.
"1 guess there was some panic
from the bank group that I wasn't
going to have the money to pay them
every month because Cato left." he
said. "Right now we have found a
tenant for that spot. It takes longer
than a week or a month to find a
tenant lor a 7,200-square-foot
space."
A hair salon and a dry cleaner
have also signed to move into the
center. Brandon said. There is only
one spot in the center that has yet to
be filled, he added.
"I only have one vacancy....It
only took me four months to fill
those spots that were vacant; that's
reasonable." he said.
Brandon has taken issue with
recent published reports that his cen
ter is a "bust." He said the center
was 1(X) percent occupied for the
vast majority of its history. Brandon
also objects to those who have tried
to link his current situation with
future and present business
prospects in the East Winston. Bran
don is still confident that business of
all kinds can succeed in the area
J Irrno other community, he said,
is one business' failure or problems
linked to neighboring businesses.
Si r Eastway on A4
"Financial institutions have expressed that they have an
interest in economic development in East Winston, hut that's
all they have done - expressed it; they have not shown it."
- William Brandon
Black School
Board members
want inclusion
Johnson, Brown discouraged duit hoard
doesn't like idea of inner-city high school
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE :
Geneva Brow n knew that some of her colleagues on
the city-county Board of Education did not like even the
idea of building a new high school
in East Winston-Salem, but she
didn't know how strongly they dis
liked the idea until she learned
about what happened during a
bitter board meeting late last
week.
Brown did not attend the
meeting at which the board had
preliminary discussions about
where to build two new high
schools that the school system
hopes to pay lor through a yet-to
be considered bond referendum.
Talk of the two new high schools
began about two years ago. At
that time board member Victor
Johnson told The Chronicle that
he wanted one of the schools
built in East Winston to take the
place of Atkins High School,
which the system converted into a
middle school in the early "70s.
But Johnson was the sole
board member at last week's
meeting advocating for the East
.I. . i /"v.i .
vriiiMuii scnooi. uiner maimers want notn scnools hunt
in mostly white areas of (he county.
Brown said perhaps it was good that she was not al
the meeting. She is angry that the board has seemingly
turned its back on the idea of a new high school in East
Winston.
"For a town like Winston-Salem that still hits prob
lems accepting one another, the school system has not
helped. It has made things worst." she said recently.
Brown has been a vocal critic of the system's redis
ricting plan because it has yielded a great number of
one-race schools Brown acknowledges that a high school
in East Winston does have a chance of becoming anoth
er one-race school. That's why she wants the school to be
a "strong magnet school" with a focus on either trade
skills or technology. Brown says such a school would
draw students from throughout the county and fill a void
that is missing in schools today.
"When people finished Atkins, they used to go to that
little building on the side of the school and take mason
ry, plumbing ...all that stuff, and they would go out and
make a good living." she said. "We don't have anything
like that for the people who do not plan to go to college.
The high school Brown wants would be located oil'
Waterworks Road, near the Winston Lake Family
YMCA.
Brown said if the Board of County Commissioners
decides to put the bond issue on the ballot, the referen
dum would have a hard row to hoe among African
Americans. Brown also said residents who want the
school in East Winston should not be holding their
tongues during the planning stages
"(People) are too quiet now; they should be saying
something." she said.
Brown added that she would personally not support
a bond referendum if a school is not built in East Win
ston.
See Schools ' A10 1
Johnson
Brown
A Job Well Done
. Photo by Ken Bennett/ Wake Forest University
Nina Lucas, director of the dance theater department at Wake Forest University; receives the Reid
Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching from Dean Paul Escott at the university's convocation ceremo
ny last week. Other staffers awarded or recognized at the event included WFU professor Maya
Ajjgelou and alumnus Victor Flow Jr. (chair of Flow Lexus). To read about the event's keynote speak
see page A4.
Michaux: Remember your history
Durham legislator comes to Winston-Salem to speak before history group
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE :
Longtime state Rep. Mickey
Michaux told a local Irowd last
week that Winston-Salem is always
close to him as he serves his
Durham constituency in the Gen
eral Assembly.
In fact, he Said, he can't turn his
head at his desk in the House
"chamber without feeling the city's
presence.
"I Sit in seat number 57," he
said. "In seat 56 is Larry Womble
(D-Forsyth)....Pete Oldham (D
Forsyth) sits in seat 58."
Miehaux was the keynote
speaker at the Society for the Study
for Afro-American History's annu
al banquet Feb. 8 on the campus of
Winston-Salem State University.
The 20-year-old group works
to preserve local history through
archiving photographs and other
historical documents. Recently.
SSAAH released a popular history
book about black life in the city
over the past century.
Michaux praised SSAAH for
its efforts while calling on more
African Americans to remember
See Mlchaux vn A5
Interest not
overwhelming at
search meeting
BY CORTNEY L HILL
THE CHRONICLE *
Bad weather may have been the cause of the
small turnout for Monday night's Winston-Salem
State University's chancellor search forum in the
Anderson Center's Dillard Auditorium. However,
the forum ran on schedule at 6 p.m. as Brenda
Diggs. chair of the board of trustees, introduced
11 of 13 attended board members.
"The purpose for the forum is to allow mem
bers of the community and university a chance to
express their giews and suggestions they have for
the next chancellor of Winston-Salem State."
Diggs said after introducing the board.
Afterward, Diggs opened the floor to audience
members who wanted to make statements or com
ments After a long silence, former president of
WSSU's National Alumni Association Beaufort
Bailey, stepped up to read an indepth letter about
comments and qualifications he would like to see
in the university's next chancellor.
At the opening of Bailey's letter, he thanked the
search committee for giving the communi / a
chance to voice their opinions about qualities they
would like to see in the next chancellor; however,
upon selecting the next chancellor for the universi
ty. he mentioned how the board and President
Molly Broad will be held accountable for the next
chancellor chosen.
Bailey gave 10 attributes that he would like to
see in the next chancellor, such as how the next
chancellor should be aware of the drawbacks and
strengths of the university, how he/she should be
aware of the history of the university, be a people
person and possess good common sense.'as well as
be aware of the purpose Simon Green Atkins. ?
founder of WSSU. had in mind when he started the
school.
"The next chancellor should be enthusiastic to
Set Forum >n Af
Young millionaire has seen valleys and peaks
Uchendi Nrnni served time in prison
before becoming a millionaire businessman
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE ?
A self-made 28-year-old millionaire told
students at Winston-Salem State University
Monday night that for millions of inner-eity
African Americans, the American dream
doesn't consist of a house with a white pick
et fence, a mini-van and a couple of kids.
Instead, Uchendi "Chin" Nwahi said, the
American dream of this disenfranchised seg
ment is summed up in a few short words -
power, sex and money.
"We want things and we want things
now," he said. "We can't wait."
The fast life is a subject Nwani could talk
about for days. He's been there and done
lhat. And his high-rolling lifestyle as drug
dealer and self-described player ended when
he was sent to federal prison for running a
drug ring that transported narcotics from
Miami to his hometown, Nashville.
"All good things must come to an end,"
Nwani said of the prison sentence. "Reality
came crashing down when the bars dosed."
He was not a likely candidate for prison
or for a drug dealer. The son of a minister,
Nwani was a honor student at Tennessee
State University while he was dealing and at
the time he was convicted. The judge, he said,
was surprised when he looked at the hard
ened drug dealer that had been charged in
connection with one of the biggest drug
busts in Tennessee history and saw a preppy
dressed college boy.
Prison was a living nightmare for Nwani.
He described graphically the filth and the
fear he experienced while behind bars. He
faced 30 years in prison, but his good behav
ior greatly reduced that number. When
Photo h> Kc\ in Walker
SV, Millionaire on A9 Nwani makes a poinf during his talk with WSSU students.
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