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FORSYTffcNTY PUB LIB I ' AhI Not to be taken I
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75eents Winston-Salem ? Greensboro ? High Poi\ Vol.XXIX No.40
Bill Hayes
has new
job at
Central
- See Page Bl
Cars used
to fight
cancer
See rage All
Writer
releases
first book
-See Pat* A3
Latin
culture
embraced
at school
StrnagrCt
Pastors
asked to
help battle
HIV/AIDS
About 30 new AJDS cases
have already been diagnosed
in Forsyth County this year
BY COURTNEY GAILLARD
THE CHRONICLE
Clarke
Davis
AIDSfl-IIV is on the rise again in Forsyth Coun
ty, according to STAR (Seeking Those Af Risk)
Outreach. Between January and February of this
year, more than 30 new cases of AIDS were diag
nosed in the county, Last year saw 94 cases of
AIDS/HIV in Forsyth County, and local health
experts are expecting that
figure to reacn I _u tiy the
end of this year.
What those figures indi
cate to Thomas Clarke,
director of the STAR Out
reach program, is that peo
ple are still suffering as a
result of not protecting
themselves from sexually
transmitted diseases.
STAR Outreach, a com
ponent of STEP ONE Sub
stance Abuse Services Inc.. assists those at risk or
living with AIDS/HIV. STEP ONE. which is cele
brating its 30th anniversary, is an outpatient sub
stance abuse facility that offers services in preven
tion. education, intervention and treatment.
According to Clarke, people of color represent
more than 75 percent of all
new rtiD3/mv cases.
Clarke is both baffled and
frustrated that the disease is
devastating one segment of
the population.
"In order to make a
huge impact, we have to
have the community
involved." Clarke said.
"One place that has been
such an institution of
strength, particularly in the
Atncan-American community, ana I Know in all
communities of color, has been the church."
Clarke brought several area ministers together
w ith local health agencies on Monday to discuss the
status of AIDS/HIV in the commtflKy. Clarke Sees
the jobs of the clergy and health-care workers as
going hand in hand - saving lives and saving souls.
"We're trying tb keep people alive long enough
for (churches) to save their souls. You can't preach
to somebody who is dead." said Clarke, who
explained that the meeting was also a start to
rebuilding the public's trust of churches and reli
gious institutions that have felt betrayed by scandal
or estranged in recent times.
Pastor E.L. White, executive director of Mount
Sinai Faith. Hope & Love Ministries in
Thomasville. has long been involved in AIDS out
readh work, and he is a staunch supporter of
Sec STAR on A10
A Marv-tastic August
Tom Joynerand crew to add to hoopla at this years NBTF
Joyner
File Photo
Larry Leon Hamlin opens the 2001 NBTF.
BY T KEVIN WALKER
llll CHRONK I I
Winston-Salem will get a double hit
of national exposure in early August.
The 14th Annual National Black The
atre Festival will bring more than 50
celebrities to the city for a week of
shows, parties and special events, and
capturing at least a portion of all of that
will be popular radio personality Tom
Joyner. whose "Sky Show" will broad
cast from Joel Coliseum Aug. 8.
The nationally syndicated "Tom
Joyner Morning Show" is locally
broadcast on Greensboro-based
WQMG 97.1. The station and Larry
Leon Hamlin. NBTF founder and artis
tic director, worked together to foster
the marriage of the festival - which
will run from Aug. 4 - 9 - and the radio
program.
"It is going to attract a huge number
of people. We believe that we are going
to reach a lot of people who ordinarily
would not know anything about the
tesuvai. namnn
said Monday
about Joyner's
presence.
Joyner's "Sky
Show" has
become a center
piece of Joyner's
efforts to raise
money for the
nation's histori
cally black col
icgcN unu univcr
sities. Each month Joyner features a
HBCU in an effort to generate money
for the school. Companies and individ
uals appear on the '"Sky Show"' to
Sec NBTF ,>n A9
Principal, staff lose bet, sleep on roof
\ Photo hy Bruce Chapman
Richard Watts holds an umbrella while waving to his students from the roof of Gibson Elementary.
Julian Gibson Elementary
students collected
thousands of points in
book reading competition
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Perhaps nothing motivates stu
dents more than the opportunity to
inflict a little playful suffering on
Iheir teachers, or better yet their
principal.
Students at Julian Gibson Ele
mentary School are a case in
point. Last Thursday the school's
principal. Richard Watts, and
eight other school personnel had
to spend the night on the roof of
the school after they ended up on
the losing end of a bet with stu
dents.
The students got front-row
seats to the spectacle, as Watts and
his team of brave staffers ascend
ed to the roof just after school was
dismissed. Students laughed and
cheered at the sight of school
leaders atop the damp roof.
(Hours earlier the sky had opened
up, letting out torrential rains.)*
There was only a slight drizzle by
the time the team got on the roof;
the sun came out later.
Watts said a commitment was
made early on to fulfill the prom
ise. regardless of the weather. He
and the others used sleeping bags
and tents to protect them from the
elements, although, according to
Watts, "it was chilly," neverthe
less.
School .officials made the bet
with the more than 650 students at
the schobf near the beginning of
the school year as a way to moti
vale students to read more. The
school has an Accelerated Reader
program, in which students gel
points for reading books and then
passing a computerized test based
on questions about the book.
Watts and teachers challenged stu
dents from kindergarten through
fifth grade to collectively earn
15.000 points. The kids not only
met that challenge but exceeded it.
Initially, Watts was going to
sleep on the roof alone, but when
it became evident that the students
were going to win the bet and he
would have to pay the piper, he
looked for otherjolunteers.
"I sent out an e-mail asking
whether others wanted to join
me." he said.
Watts said there was a gradual
build-up to the students' excite
ment over the last few weeks. The
excitement was at a fever pitch
last Thursday afternoon during an
awards ceremony for students that
took place shortly before the end
of school.
"We had students chanting,
'On the roof, on the roof,"' Watts
said.
Watts and company spent all
night on the roof, coming down at
about 9 a.m. on Friday, just as stu
dents were beginning the last day
See Gibson on A4
1
Program gives troubled students hope
IV*o by Couftnry Gaillard
Left to right: Jamel Tutt, Casey Miller, Fabio Michel, Jason Morrow, and Carmen Clan
ton are among the first participants in N.C. AST's new alternative education program.
| BY COURTNEY GAILLARD
| THE CHRONICLE
' " 5?
GREENSBORO"" As Winston-Salem is
searching for ways to reinvent its alternative
education program. N.C. A&T State University
is experiencing great success in Greensboro.
A&T has partnered with James B. Dudley
High School to
create the Reach
Higher Project,
which offers over
aged ninth graders
an opportunity to
complete their
high school edu
cation in a small
er. alternative
learning environ
ment. Students are
following their
^ same high school
course work but attend classes in A&T's School
of Education. Guilford County. A&T and Dud
ley High School are funding the project.
Since March, nearly 20 students from Dud
ley have been working under the difection of the
See Reach on A9
"Coming (to the proj
ect) is all about choic
es. We don't beg them
to come to school."
--Michelle Hayes,
project's director
Study: Local domestic
violence needs attention
Fowler
BY PAUL COLLINS
Till: CHRONICLE
The large number of domes
tie violence eases in Forsyth
County suggests the importance
of addressing domestic violence
as a community safely issue.
And the significant number of
dismissed domestic violence
cases suggests the need for vic
tim protection and support
strategies.
These are some of the con
elusions of a local research proj
ect presented at a symposium
titled "Creating Community
Strategies to End Domestic Vio
lence" May 29 at Winston
Salem State University's Ander
son Center. The Center for Com
munity Safety and the Domestic
Violence Community Council
co-hosted the symposium.
Other conclusions included:
? The large percentage of
intimate partner cases involving
unmarried couples suggests a
need for
strate -
g i e s
directed
at those
relation
ships.
? The
large
average
number
of prior
charges
and
convictions suggests the need for
earlier intervention and treat
ment of offenders.
? The high proportions of
suspended sentences and proba
See Report on All
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