ers
? n <r» tr c* i * * t i‘"s i
r C d I O I Cl i V * I
pnng
* See Sports on page B1
» See Opinion/l-orum pages on VS&1*
Volume 44, Number 31
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C
THURSDAY, April 5, 2018
shooting
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
The community and the
family of a black man fatal
ly wounded by a Winston
Salem police officer wait
for answers.
Those who know
Edward Van McCrae
describe him as a loving
and caring father, grandfa
ther, and brother. Although
her father did have a crimi
nal past, in a social media
post Kimneika McCrae
wrote: “No one's past
should define the present or
the future.”
She continued, “If there
are any findings of wrong
doings by the Winston
Salem Police Department,
my family and I will seek
justice for my father.”
The NAACP, the
Ministers' Conference of
Winston-Salem and
Vicinity (MCWSV) and
several elected officials
held a press conference on
Monday, April 2, promis
ing transparency following
the fatal police involved
shooting of 60-year-old
Edward Van McCrae.
During Monday night’s
City Council meeting,
Winston-Salem Police
Department Chief Catrina
Thompson echoed what
other leaders had been say
mc^rae
ing. She read the release on
the incident and asked for
prayers for the families of
both McCrae and Officer
MCKJUirt
McGuire.
“As your chief of
police, I am asking for
patience in allowing this
investigation to take
place,” said Thompson.
“The Winston-Salem
Police Department is coop
erating fully with the North
Carolina State Bureau of
Investigation as well as our
District Attorney’s Office.
It is our promise that we
will be totally transparent
and continue to be cooper
ative during this investiga
tive process. Again, I am
asking for peace, calm and
patience. Winston-Salem is
a great community, we’re
not like many other com
munities across the coun
try. We work together and
strive to do what’s right all
the time.”
Here's what we know
from the police report of
the incident: at 10:34 p.m.
on Friday, March 30, while
patrolling the 2000 block
of Bowen Boulevard,
Officer D.E. McGuire
stopped a vehicle that was
occupied by two men and a
women for undisclosed
reasons. According to a
police report, Officer
McGuire saw McCrae
making suspicious move
ments in the back seat of
the car and told him to stop
multiple times. After call
ing for backup, Officer
McGuire ordered McCrae
See Shooting on A6
Community activist Yusef Suggs El and other residents had a lot of questions for Mayor Allen Joines last
week during an open discussion at 14th Street Community Center.
Joines answers tough questions
on 2018 bond proposal
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Members of the East/Northeast
Neighborhood Association and more
than a dozen other community advo
cates sat down with Mayor Allen
Joines last week to voice their con
cerns with the 2018 Bond Proposal.
Last month city officials began
their push for another bond package
by holding a series community meet
ings at various locations throughout
the city. While a meeting was being
held just a few miles away at
Parkview Church of God on
Thursday, March 29, an impromptu
meeting broke out at the 14th
Street Community Center on the
same night when Marva Reid invited
the Mayor Joines to speak.
"City Council is doing a good job
of putting out information on the
bonds but it's up to us to find out how
they will impact our community,"
said Reid president of the
East/Northeast Neighborhood
Association. "If you want to know
what's going on the information is
there."
To begin his discussion on the
bonds J6ines said, "It’s kind of like
maintaining a house. Occasionally
you may have to put a new furnace in
or whatever the case may be and the
city is the same way."
Joines mentioned that other
metro cities in NC have bond proj
ects every two to three years. Before
2014, the city of Winston-Salem had
not approved a bond package since
See Bond on A6
Democracy
on display
at elections
open house
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
The Forsyth County Board of Elections (BOE) held
an open house on Tuesday, March 27. The event featured
election information, voter
registration, poll worker
sign-up, a demonstration on
the new AutoMark machine
for visually impaired vot
ers, a look at the ballots
that’ll be used in the pri
mary and refreshments.
On that same day, the
State Board of Elections
appointed a new Forsyth
BOE based on the nomina
tions made by local politi
cal parties. Campbell
The new members are
Democrats Susan Campbell
and Robert Durrah, and Republicans Stuart Russell and
John Loughridge Jr. The board is evenly divided between
parties because of a new law, though that may change as
■ that law is being disputed in
court.
Former BOE Chair Ken
Raymond has resigned
from both the Forsyth BOE
and the Winston-Salem
State University Board of
Trustees for his new posi
tion on the North Carolina State Board of Elections and
CAMPAIGN
Ethics Commission.
Early voting begins April 19 at the Forsyth BOE, 201
N. Chestnut St, and will include same-day voter registra
tion. Sample ballots can found on the BOE’s website at
www.forsyth.cc/elections under “Election Info .’
Below is a list of election forums and" meet-and-greets
made known to The Chronicle by press time:
April 10 - Candidate Meet and Greet
Momingside and Reynolds Park Road Neighborhood
Association, Konnoak Hills Neighborhood Association
See Open House on A7
. s
Black reporter was there when MLK was killed
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
On April 4,1968 - 50 years ago this week - a
shot rang out aimed at the second-floor balcony of
the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.
Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
had been killed, and Earl Caldwell, an African
American, was the only reporter there to witness
the shooting.
Professional self-storage.
Caldwell was a national correspondent tor t he
New York Times 50 years ago, one of the first
blacks on staff. He would later write for the New
York Amsterdam News, New York City’s lead
black newspaper. His name is renowned in the
annals of American journalism because in 1970,
Caldwell refused to be an informant for the FBI
on the Black Panther Party. The case was ulti
mately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, and as
a result, all reporters today enjoy certain constitu
tional protecuons.
In a 2014 interview with the Black Press,
Caldwell, 83, a writer-in-residence at Hampton
University in Hampton, Virginia, recalled that
fateful day when “The Dreamer” was killed on the
balcony right above him.
It was Caldwell’s first assignment in the
“Deep South.” His white New York limes editor,
See MLK on A7
t**
•••ASSURED
•••STORAGE
of Winston-Salem, LLC
(336) 924-7000
www assu1edsto1.-19ews.coin
>