Sports Week
West standout headed
for Wake Forest
? ? ? ?
Lady Falcons end
flawless season
^ See BI
See A10
See A4
Community
Achievers showcase
speaking ability
? ? ? ?
Local artist
making her mark
I"r"T; Chronicle
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... i< 3th st # o Winston-Salem ? Greensboro ? Hioii Point w?i kj~ ?
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Photo by Courtney Gaillard
Garry Mendex speaks at a forum last week.
Drug culture
direct affront
to black life,
speaker says
Center for Community Safety
forum focuses on ways to
save young minority males
BY COURTNEY GAILLARD
THE CHRONICLE ; ;
"We're not black people; I call us Africans.
We're African rooted people." said Garry Mendez.
who was the featured speaker at last week's Com
munity Mentoring Symposium sponsored by Win
ston-Salem State's Center for Community Safety.
Mendez is the executive
uircnui anu luunucr ui
the National Trust for
the Development of
African-American Men
based in Washington.
DC.
Mendez founded the
National Trust to
respond to the variety of
problems faced by the
African-American male
and has worked with
incarcerated men ana
weaf their families for more
than 30 years. Mended
was also the director of the Administration of Jus
tice for the National Urban League for 12 years.
George Sweat, former Winston-Salem chief of
police, was also on hand to provide details on a
recently awarded $700,000 federal grant, the Core
Project initiative, which will fund programs for
serious and violent juvenile offenders who are re
entering the community. Currently. Sweat is the
secretary of the N.C. Department of Juvenile Jus
tice and Delinquency Prevention.
Before discussing ways to rehabilitate criminal
offenders. Mende/. chose to explain his preferred
vocabulary when speaking about different ethnic
groups.
" 'African' has history, culture and values. ..
'Black' doesn't have history, culture and values.
'Black' is a color." said Mende/, who is known for
6tS blunt speech delivery and his provocative ideas
oh criminal rehabilitation.
The term "African-American" in reference to
Sty Mendez on A4
Ph?rt?>s by Kevtn Walker
Matthew Crrett lights a candle last week to honor the family who made his kidney possible.
Giving Thanks
Organ recipients
partake in service
to celebrate life
and thank donors
BY T KEVIN WALKER
THE C HRONICLE . . C j
Today, 8-year-old Matthew
Errett can do cartwheels with the
precision of a gymnast and imitate
the rapid-fire dance moves he sees
in hip-hop music videos. But
Matthew has not always had (he
unlimited energy that most kids his
age possess.
When he was just 16 months
old, the bacteria E. coli was found
in Matthew 's system. The bacteria
destroyed his kidneys and made
the once healthy child dependent
on a dialysis machine.
"Life on dialysis was not
good," said Carmen Caruth.
Matthew's mother. Every night at
9 p.m. we had to hook him to the
dialysis machine and then in the
morning at 8:30."
After 10 months of dialysis.
Matthew received a kidney trans
plant. which ended his dependence
on dialysis and gave the boy a new
lease on life, according to his
mother. Matthew's family doesn't
know who Matthew's kidney once
belonged to. but. they are. never
theless. grateful.
"We know that someone made
the ultimate sacrifice for
Sec Organs on A9
Heart recipients Tara Parker, left, and Eunice Jones talk after
the service as Jonts' friend Elaine Moore listens.
Blacks still
cutting into
testing gap,
data shows
Lower class sizes and additional
investment in schools credited
with helping minority students
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
I III CHRON1C1 l
African-American students in the city
county school system are closing in on their
white counterparts in terms of proficiency in
reading and math.
Local black students are continuing to
close the achievement gap at a faster rate
than the state average for black students,
according to statistics presented to the
School Board last week.
The statistics measure local students' pro
ficiency on end-of-grade tests over several
years. In 1997, for example, only 45.7 of all
black third
graders were
proficient in
reading in
the county,
compared
with 81.4
percent of
white stu
dents. Statis
tics show
that each
year since
1997 (except
from fifth
grade
through sixth
grade) black
students
steadily Victor Johnson
improved
their profi
ciency rates. In 2002. the year that the third
graders were in the eighth grade). 72.8 per
cent of black students were proficient in
reading, compared with 94.7 percent of white
eighth-graders.
Black students across North Carolina are
closing the gap as well, but local students are
doing it at faster pace. From 1997 to 2002,
black students across the state closed the
achievement gap in reading at a rate of 10
percent, while local black students saw a 13.8
percent improvement.
i nere is aiso gooa news in terms or mam
scores. In 1997, just 47.1 percent of all black
third-graders in the school system were pro
ficient in math; In 2002, 63.8 percent of
black students who were in the third grade in
1997 (they are now eighth-graders) were pro
ficient in math.
The results have School Board member
Victor Johnson on cloud nine. He credits the
School Board and Superintendent Don Mar
tin for putting in place measures that he
believes have helped black students excel.
Among those measures are lowering class
sizes and putting more funds into Equity-plus
schools (schools with a high number of stu
See Gap on A4
Board will vote on name change
I ROM SI \l l REPORTS
The Winston-Salem Board
of Aldermen could vote as
soon as next month to change
its name to the Winston-Salem
City Council. Instead of alder
men. the eight members of the
board would be known as
council members.
Aldermen voted Monday to
decide the issue at their next
meeting, on Dec. 2. A name
change would require the
board to change the city's char
ter. Three aldermen. Fred
Terry. Vernon Robinson and
Robert Clark, voted against
considering the name change
altogether. They were on the
losing end of the vote. Board
members Vivian Burke. Wanda
Merschel, Joycelyn Johnson
and Dan Besse voted to pursue
the idea. (Alderman Nelson
Malloy did not attend Mon
day's meeting.)
The vote came after a pub
lic hearing Monday night on
the proposal. The topic drew
little interest from the public,
however.
Only one resident spoke
during the public hearing. He
opposed the proposal, citing
the costs that would be associ
ated with such a change and
the city's long history of hav
ing a Board of Aldermen.
City Manager Bill Stuart
See Aldermen on A5
Joycelyn Johnson
I Black smokers urged to beware
Cigarette use by black women
could pose risk to unborn children
BY COURTNEY GA1LLARD
THE CHRONIC! E
African-American
women in Forsyth Coun
ty who smoke while
pregnant are four times
more likely to have a
baby die than white
women who smoke dur
ing pregnancy, said a
report released hj? the
Forsyth County Depart
ment of Public Health
(FCDPH) on Tuesday.
The report findings were
released as part of an
ongoing investigation of
infant mortality in
Forsyth County and the
long-standing racial dis
parity that exists with the
epidemic.
Dr. Tim Monroe.
FCDPH health director,
and Dr. Charles Woods, a
pediatric physician from
Wake Forest University
Baptist Medical Center,
revealed the results from
a study that analyzed all
fetal and infant deaths
for residents of Forsyth
County between 1995
and 2(XX).
"It looks very clear
See Smokers on A10
Ptnmi h> CourtncN (>aiHurd
Dormeaka Headen holds her daughter, Aaliyah, as she
makes a statement. Tim Monroe is to their right.
Season
t Photo h> K<\ in Walker
Jim Neal positions a wreath on one of the lamp posts along Main Street
last week. He and his Alpha Electric co-worker Jimmy Francis spent much
of last week getting the city's downtown ready for Christmas.
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