'Walking
Dead' party
to be held
on Sunday
?See Page A10
Forsyth |
County
native
turns 105
-See Page A 7
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Volume40,Number30 Wtnston-fiftiwW.fKS3X3ffl-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, March 27, 2014
WSSU helps kids
improve reading skills
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
Eight year-old Shailinn Morales has always
loved to read.
"Since I was a little girl, 1 have had a real interest
in books," said Shailinn, a second grader at Easton
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connect to the book."
Once a week, the aspiring
pre-kindergarten teacher gets
the chance to bone up on her
reading skills and enhance her
educational pursuits through
the I-R1SE (Initiative of
Reading Improvement for
Students Everywhere) Literacy
Academy, a new program led
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Winston-Salem State University's Maya Angelou
Institute for the Improvement of Child and Family
Education and the School of Education and Human
Performance.
The program focuses on schools with a high
s number of students from low income homes. Jamilla
See MUSE on A7
Pemberton
Photo by Layla Gami
WSSU student Nichelle Caudle with her tutee, Sabriyah Johnson.
WSSl1 Photo by (iarreft < '.arms
Winston-Salem State
University
Chancellor Donald
Julian Reaves tells
students, faculty,
alumni and others
on Friday, March 21
of his decision to
step down at the end
of the year. Reaves,
who has led WSSU
since 2007, will
remain at the uni
versity as a full pro
fessor with tenure in
the Political Science
Department.
Transitioning
Reservist thanks his support system
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE '
For more than 15 years. Winston
Salem resident Charles Allen has devoted
his life to serving others, both as a fire
fighter and as a member of the Air
National Guard.
The New London native was just a
teenager when he lost his best friend in a
fatal car accident. After that, he decided
to dedicate his life to helping as many
people as possible escape similarly tragic
fates.
"From that day forward, I knew 1
wanted to help people," said Allen, who
has served the Winston-Salem Fire
Department since 2002. "...Before I
knew it, 1 was in the profession."
Allen, who launched his career as a
fireman in 1998, took his commitment to
service one step further the following
year, when he joined the Air National
Guard, where he serves as personnel
craftsman.
"You don't know the impact that you
make on somebody until you find them in
their worst state," said the father of three.
Charles Allen (third from right) poses with (from left): Stephen Page of the NC
Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve, Fire Battalion Chief Sandy
Sheppard, Mayor Allen Joines and Human Resources employees Sherri
Gaither and Hilda Clark-Bell.
Budding Triad filmmaker seeking a wider audience
"That's really what keeps me going,
knowing that 1 may have made a differ
ence today, whether it's riding in a fire
truck or sitting behind a desk in the (Air
National Guard's) Human Resources
office."
Allen, an alumnus of Livingstone
College, says none of the work he does
would be possible without the caring and
contentious support of a network of city
See Awards on A10
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
Alamance County resident Cornelius Muller is endeavoring
to change the world, one film at a time.
"My stories are (meant) to inspire people to change their
lives for the better," said the independent filmmaker and
Brooklyn native.
Muller recently wrapped filming of his third project,
"Sacred Kind of Love," an inspirational feature he wrote, co
See Muller on A7
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Cornelius
M u 11 e r
(center)
appears
alongside
fellow cast
members
in "Find a
Way."
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Photo by JHe son Pitt
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan addresses the crowd
at the Benton Convention Center.
Hagan:
I still work,
meet with
Obama
I BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONIC LE
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan on Saturday
stumped through the Community Service
Awards Gala, an annual event sponsored by
The Chronicle, delivering a short message
tailor-made for the largely African American
audience of several hundred.
"I continue to work with the president
and meet with him regularly," she averred,
contradicting the Republican narrative that
she's distancing herself from Obama as she
battles uphill to win a second term.
The state's junior senator was among
those who latched onto Obama's long coat
tails in 2008. His landmark victory in this
traditionally red state helped Hagan - then a
Guilford County state senator - to an
improbable victory over venerable incum
bent Elizabeth Dole. In recent months,
though, as the approvals of both the presi
dent and Hagan have nosedived, the rela
tionship between the two has been ostensi
bly abstruse. She was a no-show for the
president's last two visits to the state and
oblique when asked if the president would
join her on the trail this election season.
"The president is always welcome to
North Carolina and to campaign," Hagan
said after her public remarks.
From the gala rostrum, she inveighed
against the Republican-heavy General
Assembly's decisions to truncate the early
voting calendar and institute a voter ID law,
asserting that such measures are a slap in the
face of the Greensboro Four and others who
fought and died for equal rights.
"I am pleased that our U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder decided to take action
in our state," said Hagan, who was among
those who urged the Justice Department to
mount a legal challenge to North Carolina's
new voting laws.
Hagan said her focus in Washington
remains on turning around failing schools
(Her STARS Act would infuse the lowest
performing schools in each state with funds
and resources.) and raising the minimum
wage to an hourly $10.10.
"The families I talk to, they are working
hard ... They are working longer, and they
are falling further behind," she said.
She made no mention of the Affordable
Care Act during her public remarks, which
were delivered on a day that several
Democratic members of the Winston-Salem
City Council sponsored an ACA enrollment
See Hagan on A8 v
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