Big, Bureaucratic Government
Long before the emergence of big bu
reaucratic government and multi-national
corporations, whan people had problems,
*
their neighbors came to offer whatever
assistance was needed. A burned-out
family would witness neighbors and peo
ple they did not know coming with
hammers, saws, nails, and lumber to
rebuild their home. A family with a. very
sick child and mounting medical bills would
often receive financial gifts from near and
far to meet their heavy bills. The de
struction of property and the threat to life
and safety brought on by tornados and
floods have resulted in large volunteer
forces going to the aid of whole communi
ties.
i Last year we recall thatonthe urging of at
least one City Council member, men and
equipment were sent east on a Saturday to
■ help in the salvage efforts following a
tornado. Likewise, in South Carolina offers
;of help were provided to three black
churches that were mysteriously burned.
which now fewer^n number,** people
'needed housing and community improve
ments after nearly a 10-year wait because of
• the^ ineptness of both some Mecklenburg
j However, true to the American way and
out of to apparent deep concern for die
needs of the Crestdale community, Meck
lenburg County Commissioner Rod Autrey
said on Tuesday that he plans to set up a
trust fund to help raise $100,000 for building
supplies to aid in the rehabilitation efforts in
Crestdale, a low-income black community
located near Matthews in the southern part
of the county.
In addition, 10 private developers have
said they are willing to repair homes in the
community without charge if the residents
respond by expressing a willingness to help
with free labor. Commissioner Autrey also
proposes to have the County to finance
water taps and to install septic tanks in six
homes that lack indoor plumbing. He also
foresees the possibility of building a park in
the area.
A meeting planned for tonight (Thurs
day) involving the Crestdale Community
Organization, county officials and develop
■/< ers are expected to determine the specific
planning format. There are 37 homes in the
Crestdale community.
4- ' —^■ * _ ’4
Steve Walsh, president of the Walsh
Corporation, is one of the 10 developers who
has agreed to help in the project. Mr. Walsh
put the project idea in perspective when he
said the idea fits his political philosophy in
that the private sector should assume more
of the service responsibility that govern
ment provides.
' i, ^ ? W' ’x ' \ 4
We offer our thanks and best wishes to
Ron Autrey, Steve Walsh and others for
their commitment to public service within a
spirit of “love thy neighbor.”
No Professional Sports?
Businessman ueorge Shinn s quest to
bring a United States Football League team
to Charlotte raises some interesting
thoughts about the history of professional
sports in the Queen City. Considering the
; relative instability of the USFL and the
city’s spotty professional sports history, we
f wonder about Mr. Shinn’s optimism.
We have stressed “professional” sports
because there is a distinct difference and
attitude in Charlotte toward collegiate
sports. Any basketball game on any night
involving one of the Big Four teams
Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest, or Duke
[ — will fill the Charlotte Coliseum. Like
■ wise, in football the same thing would occur
even at small Memorial Stadium. In fact the
recent football crowd that watched Caro
lina’s Blue and White intersquad game two
weeks ago was larger than most of the
crowds that have watched the Carolina
Hornets, Chargers, and Storm football
teams over the years.
We don’t see any hope for greater success
in getting another professional sports team
of any lasting duration because George
Shinn's CSFL interest has one and-pas—
sibly two of the characteristics of aO
previous professional franchises. That is,
the USFL is a weak league and secondly it
'has serious financial problems.
Therefore, it appears to make more sense
to seek to get an NFL or NBA franchise.
Some would argue that Charlotte is not
large enough to support such teams. Our
response to that is that Green Bay, Wis.,
has a smaller population than Charlotte yet
it supports the Green Bay Packers of the
NFL.i This is possibly because the market
ing program -for Packer fans is not limit
ed to Green Bay. The many towns and cities
around Green Bay support the team.
With no major professional sports teams
between Washington and Atlanta on the
East Coast, it appears unlikely that a good
marketing program could not attract fan
support from at least a 100-mile radius
around Charlotte.
v Mr. Shinn, don’t make the same mistake
as others Go for the gold, go for an NBA or
NFL franchise or don’t waste your money.
An NBA team might be your best bet a
facility to house quality pro basketball is in
—the-making._ We’ll buy the first ticket. Good
luck!
The Charlotte Post
North Carolina’s
Fastest Growing
Weekly
704-376-0496
“The People’s Newspaper’
106 Years
Of Continuous Service
Jill Johnson Editor, Pub.
Jernaid Reeves Gen. Mgr.
Fran Bradley Adv. Mgr.
Dannette Gaither Of. Mgr.
Published Every
Thursday By
The Charlotte Post
Publishing Company, Inc.
Main Office:
1531S. Camden Road
Charlotte, N.C. 28203
Second Class Postage
Paid at Charlotte
Member, National
Newspaper Publishers’ I
Association
North Carolina
Black Publishers
_Association
National Advertising
Representative:
Amalgamated Publishers,
Inc. jr ?
One Year
Subscription Rate
One Year $17 78
PayableJrrAdvance___
From Capitol Hill
Reagan’s Proposal Assaults Low Income People
By Alfreds L. Madlsea
Special To The Port
In cutting the big deficit that he
produced, the President has taken
another swipe at low income people
and the disadvantaged, by first
attempting to abolish the Small
Business Administration. Senate Re
publicans worked with the President
on a compromise to abolish the
agency and its loan programs and to
switch some of its programs to
Treasury and Commerce Later it
was decided to maintain the agency
but to eliminate the lending pro
grams - both direct loans and gua
ranteed loans. It is now an indepen
dent agency which will maintain the
procurement and management as
sistance programs. Edward Dale,
assistant to David Stockman, direc
tor of the Office of Management and
Budget, said that no name has been
decided upon for the present.
Representative Parren Mitchell,
chairman of the House Small Busi
ness Administration, has introduced
• bill. H R. 1381, which calls for a
three year reauthorization of the Ad
ministration with a continuation of
the loans. The bill cooperates with
the Administration in' cutting the
budget by cutting direct loans from
8330,008 to $150,808. the guaranteed
loans will be frozen at the 1988 level
and the surety bond guarantees
would be frozen at a little over $1
billion.
Mitchell called the proposal to
dismantle SBA "senseless and ill
advised." He also called the Presi
ded’* proposal to sell the $10 bill
ion loans to improve cash flow, a
shortsighted venture The Admin
istration proposes to sell $0.8
billion in loans assets for four years,
but the projected yield of $1.83
billion, which will only be 10.1$ on
AHMi
the dollar This creates a windfall
for investors under the guise of
budget austerity.
At the hearing on H.R. mi,
witnesses testified that the loans to
minority, disadvantaged and women
businesses have peid great divi
dends in taxes to the federal go
vernment. The Small Business In
vestment Companies (SB1C) pay the
government $2 million annually in
users' fees and that on the go
vernment's 04 million loan to all
SBICs it has received more than
twice that amount in taxes from Just
one company.
There are nine living Small Busi
under seven previous Presidents^
all at whom stress hesrtily the
importance of maintaining the Ad-: •
ministration with all of its lossfe.
They agreed that Small Business
Administration should bear its part
in the deficit reduction, but db
agree on “Junking or crippling the
**
Witnesses stated that small busi
ness role in our economy is far more
important than many economists *
believe. They said
lestic Small business play an
mt role in continuing and
creating jobs, while large corpora
tions either automate, emigrate or
evaporate.
In defending continuing of SBA's
loans, it was emphasized that since
inception of the program over ISOS
million worth of guaranteed loans
have leveraged more than $1 billion
in private capital which created
»00.080 jabg throughout the cma>
try, at an average federal invest
ment of I7.3M per job.
Patricia Jacobs, a black woman
who operates a small company
which is only IS months old, that
specializes in the production of com
puter output and source document
microfilm, is located in a small rural
town. It presently employs 10 pro
fessionals to serve a variety of
commercial and federal, state and
local government customers. Ninety
percent of the employees are mi
norities. Ms. Jacobs said that
abolishing the SBA loans to reduce
the deficit is said to be what’s good
for America, hut refutes that State
ment by saying that small hurt ness
es are good for America. She said
that besides the financial benefits
that her employees receive, for
some this represents their chance at
a real career and their first op
portunity to leave the welfare roll
Jacobs' company encourages em
ployee participation in the social and
civic activities of the community,
which enables them to become a foie
model for the youth of the com
munity
John Yeh. a deaf mute Chineae,
who received a master's degree in
computer science from the Univer
sity of Maryland, through an inter
preter. related how it was Impos
sibte for him to get a job because of
his deafness, decided to go into the
computer engineering, software de
velopment. office automation tele
communications business. Yeh said
that he was unable to get any bank
loan After six months of bank
rejections, he was able to get a
$100,000 loan from SBA’s Handi
capped Assistance Loan Program.
Now after three years, his business
is nourishing. He stated that SBA
has continued to be of assistance to
him through its many publications
and technical assistance, but most of
all through its 0(A) set aside prx^
gram for minority businesses. Yeh
employs 17$ people, SO percent are
minorities and 20 percent are deaf
individuals. He stated that without
SBA, he would not be in huaimaa
Yah implored Congress to
the SBA with all of its loan pro
grams. He stated that the Admin
istration’s attempt to eliminate SBA
or its loan programs to bring down
the deficit is shortsightedness. He
calls H “penny wise and pound
foolish.** |
aii witnesses, except those who
represented the Administration, i
strongly urged passage of Represen
tative Mitchell's MU H R. irj as
being good for the American eco
nomy. It will continue to keep the
free enterprise system, as it has in
the past, from walking out.
* • w
Zoning Maps
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Plan
ning Commission has started to use
new City of Charlotte and Mock
lenhur* County zoning maps
Thnse maps adopted by both Che
Charlotte City Council and the Meek
lenburg County Board of Commit
sloners wifi net enact any changes in
'’****'•*■ jj
£ X^BOK^NHENTWBLNOTFMOTECTUSAHP
* tnefouce cannot, rr follows that black
cmzEHsNusrptmecT THeHsa.vFsr
*UE CANNOT WAIT UNTIL '
DISCRIMINATION ENDS
BEFOREWE RID OUR ,J
COMMUNITIES OF CRIME.
WE CAN NO LONGER
EXCUSE CRIME BECAUSE
OF SOCIETY* INEQUITIES,.
WE STAND MENACED BY
OUR OWN KITH AND MIN.
ms inconceivable
TONE THAT WE WHO HAVE
PREVAILED IN SPITE OF
THE BARBAUSM OF WHITE
PEOPLE SHOULR IN THE -
LAST QUARTER OFTHE
CENTURY, STAND AS
MUTE SPECTATORS ^
TO OUR DOOM? m
ORDE COOMBS ,ll
N.YSAAQAZJNE .v; /MM
lA 1" | ^A CA Cl M CA C5i CAtfV I ifO
*•* ^-AA «AL A(0 A»^J-L ^ A wAJLJA£^ A_^JM 1 W. A AyWj £
>i o /
Anyone who visits the
United States is fascinated
by American lifestyles. The
general feeling is that
Americans lead the most
interesting lives and truly
enjoy Capitol ism. Let us take
a peak into some points of
interest in the lifestyles of
the middle income and not so
famous.
The fastest growing
counties are Fort Bend,
Texas, Montgomery, Texas,
Gwinnett, Georgia, Dinton,
Texas, Collin, Texas,
Anchorage, Alaska and
Arapahoe, Colorado. Bear in
mind that Alaska has the
highest income level per per
son at $17,155. New York
below the middle at $14,121
and Illinois at $13,728 at the
bottom. Texas did not rate in
the top ten. So why is
everybody moving to Texas?
In the world of material
growth and satisfaction: the
Caribbean remains the
number one honeymoon
destination, Hawaii comes
second and Florida third.
What about our neighbor to
the north for a honeymoon -
Canada was last, but rising!
Cadillac is still the number
one luxury car in America
and Lincoln is a far second.
The first choice of the seven
VCR manufad.ureg 1s RCA,
Sabrina
Panasonic was number two,
Sony number three and
Magnavox was last. The
Ladies Pro Golf Association
Player with most
consecutive $100,000 years
are Pat Bradley, Amy Alcott,
Nancy Lopex and Joanne
earner.
Health issues! How does
exercise affect the
population? It helps make
friends, promotes closeness
to a loved one and improves
love lives. Caesarean births
are on the rise with 20 of
every 100 births in 1983 being
Caesarean births. A.I.D.S.
quired Immune
ciency Syndrome) cases
and deaths rose from 8
deaths and ten cases in 1979—
to 4,230 cases and 1,389
deaths in 1984. Curfews do
save lives - states who have
adopted teen curfews show a
reduction in teen auto
accidents (the number one
cause pf tpen deaths).
Pennsylvania is showing a 69
percent reduction and New
York a 62 percent reduction.
Maryland is number three
with 40 percent reduction and
Louisiana number four with
25 percent reduction.
Unemployed people are the
least healthy people. More
than four percent annually
are admitted to mental
hospitals. 1.7 percent will die
of heart attacks and 1.2 will
aeoount foraHdeaths.
On the subject of religion
four out of 10 feel religion is
increasingly influencing
American life. The most
popular Biblical films are
The Ten Commandments,
Ben-Hur, The Robe, The
Bible, Spartacus, Quovadis,
and Samson and Delilah.
One’s chancOs of IRS
auditing increases with
income. If yearly earnings
are $25,000 - $49,099 - 2 of
every 100 will be audited. If
earnings are $10,000 - $24,999
- 1 of 100 will be audited.
Sympathy to the people in the
-150 Om anrl nw
- 4 of every 100 will be
audited!
•
If education is the game -
what is the toughest course
for college freshmen? Math -
with 25 percent of the
freshmen class enrolled in
remedial math. For those
anticipating law school •
those with math, economics,
philosophy, engineering and
chemistry majors score
highest on the law school
admissions test.
And in the world of sports.
The oldest ball park Is
Comiskey Park (Chicago
White Sox)-it was in 1910 that
its first game was played
The major league baseball
stadiums that had the most
home runs hit in them in 1984
were: 1. Comiskey Park
(180) No. 2 Fenway Park
(178). No. 3 Anaheim Sta
dium (162). No. 4 Wriglev
Field (156). The conference
most players picked in the
1985 NFL college draft was
the Southeast with 45 players
choosing it. The running of
the nith Kentucky Derby
found itself with another
fast pacer.” The winner,
* 5*k> is the third
fastest derby horse - clock
,ng r£5e at 2:00 and
one-fifth. The number one
22J? 5*,d by the beloved
Secretariat of 1973 at 159
^ 25^. Remember
Churchill Downs Is a lfe mile
course: Those horses are
pretty swift!