Marker
Principal Albert Anderson,
who the Anderson Center
at Winston-Salem State
University is named after.
? , During the marker cere
mony. Mayor Pro Tern
Vivian Burke, East Ward
City Council Member
Derwin Montgomery, who
represents the area, and
Nbrthwest Ward City
Council Member Jeff
Macintosh also spoke.
. "We have a wonderful
story in this area," said
Burke remarking about the
distinguished community
members that have lived in
Reynoldstown.
Despite it's proud histo
ry, some houses in the area
are in need of repair.
Montgomery said the
neighborhood is included
in the $4 million TURN
(Transforming Urban
Residential
Neighborhoods) program
that was a part of the city
bond that passed last year.
The new program provides
neighborhood groups with
up to $45,000 per residen
tial property for infrastruc
ture improvements. He said
that this will help preserve
the historic buildings in
Reynoldstown.
"There's a need again
for the investment in the
neighborhood today," he
said.
Former resident James
Grace spoke and fondly
reminisced about growing
up in the neighborhood
with eight brothers and sis
ters. He recalled attending
Atkins High School, walk
ing downtown to the movie
theater, and going to house
parties in the various other
black neighborhoods in the
city.
"We had everything, at
least we thought we had
everything," he said.
Caroline Henry has
resided in Reynoldstown
for 62 years. She said she's
well known because her
father, Willie Henry, owned
a grocery store that was
located just across
Cameron Avenue from
where the marker was ded
icated. He ran the store
until he died in 1965 and it
was torn down a few years
later. There's now a street
where the store once stood,
but a small portion of the
brick store wall still
remains on the roadside.
She said the neighbor
hood has more renters now
and some of the houses
need fixing up, but it's still
a place she's proud to call
home.
Ma
Photo by Todd Luck
The Reynoldstown historic marker sits on the corner of Eighth Street and Cameron Avenue.
Family
from page Al ^
Wilson's female friend and
caretaker whom he lived
with, "Ms. Sarah" (The
Chronicle is withholding
her last name), she was told
that a social worker for the
Forsyth County
Department of Social
Services (FCDSS) had
come by their home (the
worker's second visit), and
had asked to take Wilson
out to dinner. They never
returned, and when Sarah
finally heard from the
social worker again, she
was told that "an assess
ment" was being done on
Wilson, and that his family
would be unable to see him
until FCDSS determined
when and where.
It is important to
remember that Sarah called
Sandra Jackson. Napoleon
Wilson's cousin (Jackson
had always referred to him
as her "uncle") to inform
her of his disappearance,
because in that same
August 23,2005 letter from
the hospital psychiatrist to
the Clerk's Office, not only
did he state that Wilson's
"caretaker" (Sarah) had
been since contacted about
what medication he was on
for his diagnosed dementia,
but at the end of the letter,
the doctor states categori
cally that, "There are no
known family members to
[become Wilson's guardian
of person]," which wasn't
true, and could have been
easily corrected by just
asking Wilson's caretaker.
That doctor's let
ter of assessment would
become the basis for
declaring Napoleon Wilson
incompetent, appointing
FSDSS guardian of person,
and later, the Clerk's Office
justification for not allow
ing Sandra Jackson to have
any say before it happened.
In an interview
with The Chronicle, Ms.
Jackson insists that not
only did Sarah contact her,
but that Jackson then con
tacted the social worker
and was told that Napoleon
was taken out of Sarah's
home "... for his safety."
"I asked her what
she meant by her statement
and what she was indicat
ing, and what that had to do
with me or the family not
knowing what occurred for
him to be alienated and not
to be able to see him,"
Jackson said. "(The social
worker] stated, we would
be notified and that was it."
Sarah the caretak
er was notified, but not
Sandra Jackson, of a Sept.
15th, 2005 special proceed
ing (or hearing) on
guardianship for Mr.
Wilson. (Ms. Jackson had
mistakenly told The
Chronicle that she had
accompanied "Ms. Sarah"
to the Hall of Justice for
that hearing, confusing it
for another. Jackson was
not there though Sarah was,
but neither Ms. Jackson,
nor any other direct family
itaember of Napoleon
Wilson was ever notified
by the Clerk's Office).
At that hearing,
Mr. Wilson was declared
incompetent, though the
Clerk's order by Assistant
T
Clerk Theresa Hinshaw is
not file-stamped, making it
legally invalid.
Even though she
had been taking care of
Napoleon for years, Sarah
was not appointed
guardian. Instead. Hinshaw
issued an order appointing
FCDSS as Mr. Wilson's
guardian of person, "... to
have the custody, care and
control ..." But that order
was not file-stamped either,
meaning that it too was
legally invalid.
Two extraordinary
court orders issued by Asst.
Clerk Hinshaw, forever
changing the life of
Napoleon Wilson and nei
ther, The Chronicle has
determined, had the force
of law.
The estate
guardianship over Mr.
Wilson's property and
assets apparently went to
attorney Bryan C.
Thompson, who was pres
ent at the Sept. 15 , 2005
hearing. His name has
appeared in literally every
case The Chronicle has
investigated thus far in its
probe of the Forsyth Clerk
of Court's Office, as has
Ms. Hinshaw's.
However, a newly
certified copy of Napoleon
Wilson's file, obtained
from the Clerk's Office on
November 13 bearing the
Forsyth County Superior
Court seal and signature of
a current assistant clerk,
reveals none of the certi
fied documents from that
file showing attorney
Thompson either applying
to be estate guardian, or
being appointed such by
the Clerk's Office.
And yet,
Thompson's name is on the
file jacket as estate
guardian, and he is known
to have subsequently han
dled Mr. Wilson's business
affairs.
According to state
law and established North
Carolina Rules of
Procedure, if no record of
an officially entered file
stamped court order exists,
then nothing that atty
Thompson allegedly did in
handling Napoleon
Wilson's property and
assets as estate guardian
was legally valid.
Mr. Wilson was
being held in an all-white
assisted living facility, paid
for with his assets and sale
of his property. Jackson
said that his family was
denied access to him for at
least three months, and
when she and Sarah finally
did get to see him, Wilson's
condition was poor.
"We [were] told
we could visit [for] one
hour after signing in," she
recalls. "Napoleon cried
when he saw us and told us
they had been shocking
him, and why did he need
an ankle bracelet like he
was a prisoner. He also
indicated they told him he
killed his wife. He replied
she died of breast cancer."
On subsequent
visits, Jackson took pic
tures of a big gash on
Napoleon's forehead,
bruises on his arms and
legs, and also took pictures
of dramatic weight loss
resulting from Wilson not
eating because the medi
cine he was forced to take
so irritated his throat. His
rib cage protruded when he
would lie down.
As indicated
before, the facility was vir
tually all white, thus mak
ing Mr. Wilson feel
extremely isolated and
lonely, Ms. Jackson said.
"As I walked
down the hall a white lady
approached me and told me
she heard my uncle holler
ing and what was going on
down there," Jackson
recalls from another visit.
"I replied 1 didn't know but
I would find out and see
from Napoleon."
"On a subsequent
visit ... I noticed people
(more than seven) piled on
one another and when I
went to sign in with Ms.
Sarah I was told we need to
get off the premises and we
couldn't see Napoleon
Wilson. When I returned
again to visit two or three
days later is when I discov
ered it was Napoleon that
had several people on top
of him indicating he was
trying to escape the facili
ty"
Jackson complained
bitterly to Bryan
Thompson and community
leaders, including a Forsyth
County commissioner, but
nothing changed. On Dec.
5, 2005, she petitioned to
have FCDSS removed as
guardian, and have herself
appointed as "a successor."
On her petition,
Jackson wrote that "Mr.
Wilson should be with fam
ily who is willing to be
there for him and in [an]
environment that is famil
iar to him." She also made
it clear that she was "... not
aware" of the previous
hearing.
Jackson's cousin in
Pasadena, Calif., Romane
Wilson-Toure, also wrote a
letter of endorsement to the
Clerk's Office, saying how
her Uncle Napoleon "is
really quite lucid," and
only has a "memory that
fails him from time to
time."
Saying that her uncle
"needs to be free," Wilson
Toure endorses Sandra
Jackson as guardian, call
ing her "... the family
angel."
"I wholeheartedly trust
Sandra's judgment ..."
Wilson-Toure wrote.
However, on January
11, 2006, Asst. Clerk
Hinshaw issued an order
denying Jackson's petition,
saying there were "no
grounds to remove ..."
FCDSS as guardian.
That order was not file
stamped, also making it
legally invalid, even
though the initial appoint
ment had no force of law in
the first place.
Napoleon Wilson
remained in the state's cus
tody until he died, his
assets virtually gone two
years later.
In Part three, a tape
recording documents how
Sandra Jackson fought to
have her cousin returned to
his family, and why court
officials assured her that it
would never happen with
out a fight.
rum oanuia jolksud
The photo shows Napoleon Wilson in a hospital bed. He couldn't eat at this time.
__ j?j . ^ ^hb
fittfccrflf
y?
Matin *
VxPllS^9VWw Ww*KSnl3|^
iJSSeJbfo
(JiiiriA
nssssan
. Bfflm.TtefMA