Hi
NCCU
warmly
welcomes
new leader
-See Page A4
Leadership
change at
E. Winston
art gallery
Pnod> A'.
\ M i
? w //i I y ?>
THE CHROsietE
Volume39,Number25 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, February 14, 2013
File Photo
Judge Roland Hayes speaks at his court
house retirement ceremony in 2002.
Hayes set
example of
excellence
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
Judge Roland Hayes, who passed away
last week, was a giant in the community,
but there was nowhere he stood taller than
in the hearts of those in the city's black
legal circle.
"When I think of trailblazer, I think of
Judge Hayes," said Frederick Adams II,
president of the Winston-Salem Bar
Association, which is largely made up of
rtiriLari /\mericans.
Hayes died on
Feb. 6, two days after
his 82nd birthday.
The city native
became Forsyth
County's first black
District Court judge
when then-Gov. Jim
Hunt appointed him
ios4 u. .....
? an i . tit was
elected and then
reelected several
times by the people of
the county before a
? state law that pro
' hibits judges from
serving after age 71
forced him into
retirement in 2002.?
He continued to
serve as an emer
gency judge. filling in
when other judges
were absent. The
father of three was the "epitome of a ser
vant," Adams said.
"He was retired," Adams pointed out.
"He wasn't always getting paid for the
work that he was doing, but he was still (at
the Hall of Justice) anyway, still doing
what he loved to do, which is serving the
people of Winston-Salem."
Hayes had a trademark sense of humor.
Defendants have been known to leave his
courtroom, handcuffed, yet laughing.
Adams said he objected to those who mis
took Hayes' penchant for lightening the
mood in the courtroom for folly.
"He was absolutely hysterical in court.
See Hayes on AID
Biggs
Adams
-Ik * i
= ? 5 <N
2: g i 5
3- o ? C
~ -J r, ^
= a: 3 y
r u 3 2
1 j j.^1
MChnstmPmitM
New liver
gives local teen
gift of life
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
At a glance, Alexander "Alex" Walker
looks like a typical teenager.
Unassuming with an easy smile, the
East Forsyth junior belies any inkling of
the harrowing year he's had. Alex, who is
known for his love of all things mechani
cal and his uncanny ability to fix virtually
anything, had never had any kind of ill
ness, according to his mother, Valerie
Simpson, until he awoke in the middle of
the night last March, vomiting blood.
Panicked, Simpson, a mother of three,
rushed her youngest child to the hospital.
"I was freaking out," confessed the
city native. "But my first thought, being a
praying mama, was 1 put my hand out and
said, 'Lord, take care of Your baby,
because 1 don't know what's going on."
After a blood transfusion and a proce
dure to stop the bleeding, Alex underwent
a biopsy, which yielded a result virtually
no one expected.
"They came back and said, 'He has
cinhosis of the liver,' and I said, 'How?
This is a healthy child who barely gets a
cold,'" related Simpson, who has worked
at the Forsyth County Tax Collectors
Office for the past two years. "They can't
figure out how a healthy child got this dis
ease."
Alex said he was also surprised and
concerned when he learned of his condi
tion.
"I was just there hoping the doctor
could take care of it," he said.
Characterized by a hardening of the
liver, cirrhosis is a slowly prqgressing dis
' See Alex on A7
Photo by Lay la Gaims
Marion Winbush kisses her grandson, Alex Walker.
m?lm
BOCXMOSbS
Returns
Photo by Lay la Carats
Rev. Jeannette Thomas-Shegog
leads a group of Moore
Elementary fifth graders
around the room during a reen
actment of Harriet Tubman's
life. The program was part of a
program for youth held in con
junction with the "Samplers
and Symmetry IV: Pieces by
Area African American
Quilters" exhibit at Delta Arts
Center. Read more on page A3.
Christian Aove
Valentine's outing focuses on giving back
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
A caravan of parishioners left Sunday
service at Greater Cleveland Avenue
Christian Church determined to do what
they think Jesus would.
The day before, the group, led by
Royzetta Cokley, spent hours filling bright
ly-colored gift bags with sticks of deodor
ant. tubes of toothpaste, bars of soap and
other toiletries. They distributed the bags -
pre-Valentine's Day gifts - to those they
deemed most in need of the items and a bit
of Christian love.
" ITlis is something that we felt was just
the right thing to do," Cokley said after she and more than a
dozen of her fellow Greater Cleveland members passed out bags
at the Bethesda Center for the Homeless. Sunday's distribution
schedule also included stops at a local senior citizens' home,
Samaritan Ministries and the Central Library, which has become
See Bags on A3
Coklty
mow? ay i^rvm wauer
Christian Davis hauls a box of gift bags last Sunday.
Union Baptist CDC mulling over redevelopment options
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
Members of Union Baptist Church met last week to dis
cuss the future of the community surrounding the massive
edifice and how they might work to positively impact it.
Evon Smith, president of Sustainable Community
Resources, a real estate development firm, led the meeting,
which centered around possible strategic efforts that could
change economic climate of the Trade Street/Northwest
Boulevard area. Smith, the former executive director of
See CDC on AS
Phofo by Layli Garms
Evon Smith
(left) and
Is sac "Ike"
Heard (far
left) address
attendees last
Friday
evening.
HTTuTmH
w ^]rm
ASSURED
STORAGE
of Winston-Salem, LLC
li