THE CHR01 I'l I. 1. 1. I ***** I 2 >10 1 I I I L Ri M. U1 RJRSYUI CI i Rli.il 1 1. I I NVARf 660 W '.III SI W 1 1 K:> T( >1 I the NBTF .C QS?s% speci^lorth Carolina fiofhij O t inser&X? SJS5J4 Winston-Salem, NC^101^| NBTF pepper-spray episode still a sore spot BY LAYLA FARMER I HI- < HRONIC l.l. Many are anxiously awaiting the start of the 201 1 National Black Theatre Festival on Monday. But for some residents, the dawning of the Festival brings back unsa vory memories. After the close of the 2009 Festival, Artist Tahnya Spirit El found herself hud dled beside many others inside of the NC Artists Market and Downtown Cultural Cafe on Fifth Street. She and the other artists/entreprenuers who share the studio space say they were trying to avoid the clouds of pepper spray that hung in the air. She remembers Burke ushering people in off the streets to take cover from the fumes. The Winston-Salem Police Department says it created the pepper-spray storm in an attempt to temper a large crowd that had gotten out of hand after the Festival's culminating event at Patton the nearby Benton Convention Center. "I've never seen anything like it," Spirit El said in retro spect. "That was the worst experience I have witnessed in the many Theatre Festivals I've wit nessed downtown." ? Yusef Suggs, a business partner of the Artists Market, was on the street out side the establishment with his wife and young son at the time the incident occurred. He and several others were drumming and taking in the festivities when he says a crowd of people began running towards him from the direction of Fourth Street. "People were getting pepper sprayed; people were falling out in the street," he recalled. "I made my wife take my son into the store because the pepper spray was so strong." Suggs, who says he is still considering legal action against the city over the inci dent, is disappointed because in his opinion city officials have never answered key ques tions about the incident. "A lot of people were hurt and sprayed along with myself, innocent people," he declared. "...The police have not issued any type of remorseful statement to the See Incident on A3 Wlrat?>s#!?m McOonaW^ H5?ur^ "J*1 Crowell fe ootball Camp! JUIY ,27-28 ??" ?u"| Photo by Layla Fanner Juwon Crowell (second from left) and fellow athletes Daryl Shaw, Jomo Legins and CJ Washington are bringing the pain, and the advice to area youngsters this week during Crowell Football Camp. Read more on All. Photos by Lay la Farmer Left: Volunteer Telleah Flowers hands milk out to fellow Rolling Hills residents. Below: Community a d v o c a t e R a m o n a Ham brick (left) with her sister, D a r I e n e Dillworth. Residents welcome free lunch program BY LAYLA FARMER THE CHRONICLE Children of all ages gathered under the shade of a tree in the Rolling Hills community Tuesday, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the white pickup truck that rounded the bend and headed towards them through the parking lot, carrying free hot meals for all the youngsters. - "They know what to do, they already got that down pat," Rolling Hills resident Telleah Flowers said of the children. "They know when the truck pulls up, they go and get in line." Effie McNeil and Marian Jones of Quality Education Academy handed out lunches in styrofoam boxes to the eager children, while volunteers Bobby George and Flowers handed out fruit and milk to round out the meals. The meals are distributed as part of the Seamless Summer Food Service program, which is funded by the state and organized locally by QEA. "I like helping people and I felt like these children needed something during the summer to help out the parents as far as food is concerned. We've got so many children in North Carolina that are not able to get food," said Jones, who visits the site about once a week. "I enjoy coming out and talking to them and just see ing their faces; they're just so happy to be fed." The program feeds roughly 125 See Lunches on All Artistic team creates unique, colorful 'garden' BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE ' Saw blades transform into flowers; bullets become ped als and wires are weeds in "1,000 Flowers," a mosaic that now adorns the entrance of the Gateway Gallery at the Enrichment Center The permanent installation was unveiled last Friday by its creators? Jan Detter. a local mosaic artist, and Enrichment Center students. The Center provides an arts-based pro gram for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Gateway Gallery displays and sells the students' work. Detter, who guided the student artists through the creation of "1,000 Flowers," said she was Photos by Todd Luck From left: Kenneth McMahan, Valarie William s , Jonathan Lindsay, Jan Detter, Winnie Pompeii and Stacey Sword Halsey stand in front of the mosaic. flowro amazed at the bold, uninhibited creativity the students dis played. See 'Flowers' on All United Nations of Retail BY LAYLA FARMER THE CHRONICLE Local entrepreneur Terence Little shares office space with what is likely one of the most diverse samplings of businessowners in the city. Little Little, 33, the owner of Closet 2 Closet urban clothing store, has been a tenant at Waughtown Mini Mall for the last three years and says he has grown accustomed to working alongside the melting pot of fellow entrepre neurs that also occupy the space inside the massive building on Waughtown Street, which was once a grocery store. "I think we have every type of race in See Mall on A2 ~ ? BUY LOCAL FIRST! J