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Volume40,Number21 WINSTON-SALEM, N.^^^Sa^^filfRSDAY, January 16, 2014
Chronicle breakfast kicks-ojfMLK Day events on Monday
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE ?
The Chronicle will be kicking the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday off in style this year.
a^ Close to'1,000 attendees are expected at the "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 2014 Annual Prayer Breakfast
Honoring the Late Nelson Mandela" at the MC Benton Convention Center this year.
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H^^^rocky road African Americans have traveled, and provide inspi
ration for the future, said Chronicle Publisher Ernie Pitt.
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ii s a norriDic nisiory, oui 11 s wnai nappenea, rut
said of tracing black history back to its roots in
slavery. "Our ancestors suffered and it's
?y,Y because of their suffering, it's because of
Martin Luther King's suffering, death and
Hh murder that we are able to do some of the
M|j? things that we're able to do today. We owe
! them our respect. We owe them our honor
Ik'' ... and that's what the MLK Prayer
Breakfast is all about."
The event will feature some nationally
known guests, as well as some of
Winston-Salem's own. Acclaimed
Attorney Willie "Giant Killer" Gary will
serve as keynote speaker. The Eastman,
Ga. native's rags-to-riches story is the
1^^^^ stuff of legends; his meteoric rise from
? migrant farming communities ih the rural
l r~-' fp*""y~ soutn to Becoming one ot horbes magazine s
' "Top 50 Attorneys in the US" is well documented.
Gary, who helmed the first African American-owned law
office in his hometown when he was licensed to practice in 1974,
says King paved the way for the success he has enjoyed.
Dr. King paid the ultimate price tor all of us to be where we are today. It ain t "about just black people, it s both black
and white people coming together and because of that, we live in a better nation, there's no doubt about that," he declared.
. See MLK on A8
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Gary
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Dr. Angelou
Heart of a Fighter
Lifelong athlete and trainer uses
his own heart scare to inspire
others to get healthy
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
All his life, city native Joe Walker Jr. has been
physically active.
"He's always been a health freak. We call him a
health nut," said his mother, Mattie Walker.
"Always, from a little boy, he's been interested in
health."
From Pop Warner football and high school and
college athletics, Walker, 48, transitioned to
weightlifting and exercise training, which he has
done nearly every day for more than two decades,
along with eating a healthy diet and abstaining from
drugs and alcohol.
"I had a lot of friends that ended up playing pro
fessional sports, and we all worked out together,"
explained Walker, a certified personal trainer and
Pilates instructor. "It's something I enjoyed and I
did well."
Despite his rigorous routine. Walker says he
could not overcome genetics.
"I looked very healthy, but I was probably one of
the sickest people on the planet," said the Forsyth
County probation officer, who suffered a heart
attack just over a year ago. "... My situation was just
genetics. They (doctors) told me it wasn't anything
else physically that I could've done to prevent it."
Heart disease is rampant in Walker's family. His
father, the late Rev. Dr. J.T. Walker Sr., the pastor
emeritus of Jones Chapel Missionary Baptist
Church in Reidsville, underwent a triple bypass in
the 1980s.
"He always told me the men in our family, they
died in their 40s and 50s," Walker said. "He always
See Walker on A9
Photo by Ltyta Ciarms
Joe Walker Jr. suffered a heart attack in 2012.
Phott> b> Lay la Garms
John Davenport Jr. will seek votes oj
residents countywide.
Davenport
to run
At-large
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE ' ? '
At least one District 1 seat on the
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board ot
Education will be up for grabs this elec
tion cycle.
John Davenport Jr., who currently
occupies one of the two seats in the pre
dominantly black
j^ t
uisirict, nas
announced that he
plans to run for one
of the three at-large
positions on the
School Board.
Davenport, a
Republican, was
controversially
Appointed to the
board in 2011 by
the Republican
controlled Board pf
Education He fulfilled a seat left vacant
after Democrat Geneva Brown stepped
.down because of health reasons.
Davenport, CEO and president of his own
engineering, design and consulting firm,
said fie felt that as a Republican, his odds
would be better in a countywide race
rather than in the heavily Democratic
District 1.
"The same people who would've
voted for me if I were in District 1 can
vote for me at-large, and then I've got
voters from all over the county who can
also vote for me," reasoned the father of
five.
All nine members of the School
Board are up for reelection this year If
Davenport is elected to an at-large seat,
the board could have the most diverse
makeup it has seen in recent history, as
both District 1 seats are likely to be occu
pied by African Americans, pointed out
longtime board member Vic Johnson,
who also represents District 1.
"He could win at-large and we could
get another person in this area on the
board - another black person," noted
Johnson, who said he is "still thinking
about" whether he will run for reelection
himself. "So 1 think he should run at
large."
Elisabeth Motsinger, one of just two
Democrats (along with Johnson) on the
board, and Republicans Jeannie Metcalf
and Irene May, who was appointed to the
Board last year after Donny Lambeth was
elected to the General Assembly, current
, See Davenport on A7
Johnson
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Wos' Woes
Black legislators call for DHHS leader's firing
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE ___
In response to recent problems with the state's Medicaid and
food stamp programs, the NC Legislative Black Caucus is calling
for the resignation of Dr. 'Aldona Wos, secretary of the state's
Department of Health and Human Services.
Caucus members held simultaneous press conferences Friday in
See Wo* on A8 '
Wos
Photo by Todd Luck
Rep. Evelyn Terry, Sen. Earline Parmon and Rep.
Ed Hanes speak out last week.
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