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The Chronicle
Volume39,Number27 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, February 28, 2013
Photos by Layla Oarms
Joycelyn
Johnson
argues a point
with County
Commissioner
Walter
Marshall.
(Below) Rev.
Paul Lowe
addresses
county lead
ers.
Home value dips spark anger
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
Dolores Watson purchased her home on
North Cameron Avenue for $91,300 two
decades ago. The dwelling is now valued at
$21,600, according to the Forsyth County
Tax Administration's most recent reevalua
tion. The 76 percent decrease in her property
value is a big issue for Watson, a UNC
School of the Arts employee.
"If I wanted to take out a home equity
loan at this time, I wouldn't be able to, and
I'm under water," she stated. "I actually owe
more on my house than it's worth."
Watson is not alone. Ninety three percent
of Forsyth County residents saw a decline in
their property values following the 2013
reevaluation, according to tax assessor John
Burgiss, who met with a room full of dis
gruntled homeowners Monday evening at the
Government Center. The meeting, which was
hosted by County Commissioner Everette
Witherspoon, was said to have been intended
only for a few homeowners, but word got out
and more than two dozen residents flocked to
the building, seeking answers about what for
most of them was a significant drop in their
See Homes on A3
New arrivals in the Art District
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Photo* by Todd Luck
Isaiah Jackson at his 6th and Trade.
Umoja African Crafts and 6th & Trade Clothing Boutique are settling into the
Downtown Arts District.
The boutique, named for
its location inside of a
building at the corner of
Sixth and Trade streets,
opened several months ago.
Umoja opened its doors last
April.
"We're just trying to
bring together different cul
tures, different back
grounds, different environ
ments and give them a cool
place to shop," owner Isaiah
Jackson said of 6th and
Trade, his first business
venture.
The boutique carries a
variety of clothing from various brands. Jackson said he sells fashion inspired by
the hip hop, country and rock 'n roll music scenes.
Jackson, a New Jersey native with a longtime love of fashion, said that own
ing a store was always been a dream. He saw it realized after meeting Ron
Sec Shops on A8
Purity Ruchugo at Vmoja African Crafts.
Common
Cround
Photo by LnyU Garms
Native Americans and African
Americans dance together during the
first ever "Our Shared History: African
American and Native American Roots
and Connections" at Old Salem
Museum and Gardens on Saturday.
Read more about the event on page
A10.
Parmon:
current
session is
the worst
Local Democratic members
of the General Assembly
frustrated by GOP's moves
BY LAYLA GAR MS
THE CHRONICLE "
With the election of Republican Gov.
Pat McCrory, the North Carolina
Legislature became a supermajority, with
Republicans controlling the House, Senate
and the Governor's Mansion, and local
Democrats say they are feeling the effects
of that change in Raleigh.
In November, prior to the start of the
2013-2014 session, Parmon had voiced
concerns about Democrats' ability to get
any progressive legislation passed.
"I think we 're
going to see a com- r
plete right wing
agenda trying to be
accomplished, and
having the General
Assembly under
Republican control,
the governor will just
rubber stamp the leg
islation," she told
The Chronicle short
ly after her election
to the NC Senate's
District 32 seat. "I'm
afraid that we're
going to see the kinds
of things that we've
seen in Washington
in the last few years
in terms of gridlocks
and a lot of fighting."
The senator said
last week that her
fears have been con
firmed. The
Republican majority
Parmon
Hants
has been busy. So far, they have moved to
end the state earned income tax credit for
working families and slashed unemploy
ment benefits, reducing the maximum
number of weeks a person can draw unem
ployment from 26 to 20. and cutting the
maximum weekly payout rate from $535 to
$356.
In addition, lawmakers have refused to
set up the exchange program that would
allow the state to assist people in choosing
insurance plans under the Affordable Care
Act and rejected the proposed expansion of
Medicaid, leaving 500,000 people who are
eligible for the benefits across the state
uninsured. Gov. Pat McCrory told
MSNBC's Chuck Todd Friday that he was
against the extension because he feels the
state's Medicaid system is "broken."
"The fact of the matter is we need to
reform the way we spend money in govern
ment, and there is so much waste right
now. For example, in our Medicaid, we just
found over $2 billion of wasted money and
bad administration over the last two or
three years," the governor said. "We've got
to look at how to spend money more effi
ciently ... before I expand the system, I've
See Lawmakers on A10
Churches urged to link the poor with healthy food
Fred Bahnson
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE ; __
In America, even the food system is biased, with
poor communities of color struggling for fresh produce
and other things many Americans take for granted.
"We have a food system that's unhealthy and
unjust," said Fred Bahnson, director of the Food, Faith
and Religious Leadership initiative at Wake Forest
University.
The initiative sponsored last week's "Food, Faith
See Food on A7
Photos by IJ via Garms
Cancer
Services'
F e I e c i a
Bennett-Giles
addresses the
audience as fel
low panelists
Kevin Oliver
and LaTonya
M elver look
on.
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