File Phoio
State Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon speak at a
rally last week in support of a death penalty moratorium.
Pleas to save Robbie
Lyons fall on deaf ears
CHRONIC I I SI M l RKPOK1
Last-hour protests by the faith
community and at least two mem
bers of the N.C. House of Repre
sentatives
could not
save con
v i c t e d
killer
Robbie
Lyons. As
s c h e d -
uled, he
died by
lethal
injection
Friday in
Raleieh.
Lyons was convicted of the
1994 shooting death of store
owner Stephen Wilson Stafford.
The murder happened in Win
ston-Salem. Stafford's wife and
children watched as Lyons was
put to death.
Members of Lyons' family
were in Winston-Salem last week
to take part in a rally aimed at urg
ing Gov. Mike Easley to com
mute Lyons' death sentence to life
in prison. The rally featured sev
eral dozen protesters. Among
them were state Reps. Earline
Parmon and Larry Womble of
Forsyth County. The two are
among those spearheading an
effort to pass a death penalty
moratorium in North Carolina.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson had even
sent Easley a letter urging
clemency for Lyons.
Lyons supporters said he did
Lyons
EWPS
from page A1
school has hired the law firm
Kilpatrick Stockton to help the
school with its appeal. Muham
mad said the school will base its
appeal on documents and other
evidence that he said will show
that the school did everything
state officials requested in order
to keep the school, which serves
elementary-age children, open.
Muhammad said the school
hired a new CPA and a new Stu
dent Information Management
System person. Another allega
tion the state has made is that the
school lied about its enrollment
in order to get more state fund
ing. The school also cleared its
board of people who had con
flicts of interest, Muhammad
said. Tucker told school officials
in August that the board would
have to change because several
people on the board had such
conflicts, including two EWPS
teachers who were on the board.
Bonham is a member of the ttew
board. Muhammad said that is
not a conflict because the
school's own investigation has
found that Bonham did nothing
wrong. Bonham stepped down
as director of the school once the
allegations came to light and is
still being investigated by the
Police Department for possibly
misusing school money.
Muhammad said the new
board was seated in September
and has been working with thfe
N.C. Center for Nonprofits for
training purposes.
The case of EWPS is eerily
similar to that of LIFT Academy,
the last charter school in the city
to have Its charter revoked. Like
EWPS. LIFT served predomi
nantly African-American stu
dents and LIFT fought the revo
cation of its charter, even taking
the state to court. LIFT lost its
battle, however, and closed in
2000. Muhammad said EWPS is
looking carefully at the LIFT
case in order to help the school
in what could be a drawn-out
appeal process.
"We are looking at LIFT's
situation, and we are trying to
learn from that," Muhammad
said.
He said East Winston Prima
ry School's enrollment has not
decreased since the school's
charter was revoked. But, he
said, parents have voiced con
cerns about the situation.
Tonight at 6:30, school officials
will meet with parents to discuss
the pending appeal.
\s
not deserve the death penalty
because his crime was not pre
meditated. But Stafford's widow,
who witnessed her husband's
murder, told The Associated Press
after the execution that she did not
buy those arguments.
"When this individual came
barging into our store shooting a
gun, all my husband had to
defend himself was his hands."
she said. "The death that Lyons
had tonight was a painless one. I
think of my husband's death, and
it certainly was not painless."
Lyons, 31, was the seventh
inmate executed this year in
North Carolina, the most since
1949, when 10 people were put to
death.
Family members said that
Lyons had mixed feelings about
his impending death. They said he
wanted his sentence commuted,
but also would have rather been
dead than endure what they called
mistreatment by prison officials.
Lyons' last meal consisted of
a pizza and lasagna, prepared
according to Muslim dietary
rules, and a Pepsi.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this story.
Art
from iHige AI
"II was the Delta Arts Center that sort
of got me interested in African-American
art," said Williams, whose love for arts
was piqued several years ago when he
attended an exhibit of John and Vivian
Hewitt's works at Delta Fine Arts Center.
Those like Williams who have been
touched or influenced by the work Delta
Arts has done over the past 30 years have
been especially supportive in the center's
two-year-old capital campaign. Artists
who have had their works shown at the
center over the years donated the pieces
that were auctioned. They included every
thing from bright pastel and oil paintings,
to stone sculptures and hand-woven cloth
and purses. The list prices for items ran
the gamut as well. Prints and woven
scarves were listed for as little as $35,
while a pencil drawing from the late Lois
Mailou Jones, considered the grandmoth
er of African-American art, was listed for
$20,000. The works of other well-known
artists such as John Biggers and Jeanne
Moutoussamy-Ashe (the widow of the
late tennis star) were also on the auction
block.
Local artists who have found the wel
come mat always extended at Delta Arts
repaid the center by donating pieces as
well. Local artists Leo Rucker. Barbara
Eure and Lee Elliott Cox attended the
auction and donated pieces to be auc
tioned. Cox said for an artist, being pres
ent at an auction where one of the artist's
pieces is up for sale and under great
scrutiny can be somewhat nerve-racking.
But Cox said his nerves were at ease.
"This is such a good cause, you don't
feel as nervous," he said.
Stay-at-home-mom-turned-artist Ann
Bonner donated a colorful oil painting for
the auction. Bonner hopes a new building
will give Delta Arts the visibility it
deserves. She said the center has always
offered great shows, but they may have
been overlooked because the center's cur
rent location, a quaint little house on
Third Street, is far from showy.
"They show fabulous art here. 1 am
excited because (the move to the new
building) will be a great opportunity to
become more visible," Bonner said.
The auction was held at the former
Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) store
off New Walkertown Road that the Delta
Fine Arts Center has already purchased
and hopes to be situated in by the spring.
Taking the site from a liquor store to a
premier art gallery won't happen
overnight, and it won't be cheap.
Dianne Caesar, executive director of
the center, said the capital campaign is
lacking just a third of its $1 million goal.
In this phase the center is trying to raise
that roughly $350,000. which will be used
to do a complete renovation of the build
ing. The wails have to be redone to make
them more friendly for hanging art. The
heating and air systems also must be
upgraded. Special jighting also is need
ed. The strict requirements are a must for
the center if it hopes to borrow art from
top-name galleries, many of which
require such standards before they will
lend.
The new space is nearly five times
larger than the 1,325 square-foot build
ing the center currently calls home. It will
offer the center things it has never had,
such as storage space and office space.
The center also is raising money
through a series of dinner fund-raisers
called Dining with Delta. The next Dining
with Delta event will be Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.
at Cafe McMillans in the Stevens Center.
Photo by Kevin Walker
Ann Bonner poses with the piece she donated, "The Solitude of Self."
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