Expanded coverage of Carolinas news starts this week/Page 7B
VOLUME 21 NO. 25
Wht Charlotte ^ost
MARCH 7,1996
75 CENTS
. Aivsr ‘
Mfume YMC A to run Greenville?
cuts large
staff at
NAACP
Mfume
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BALTIMORE - Two weeks
into his new job as head of the
NAACP, Kweisi Mfume has
fired about 15 staff members,
including the civil rights
group's membership director.
Employees
were notified
Friday
through a let
ter distrib
uted at the
organiza
tion's
Baltimore
headquarters
that read in
part, “regret
tably, the position you now
occupy will be eliminated."
The letter gave the staff
members 30 days to leave, but
fired employees told The
(Baltimore) Sun that they
were advised to leave immedi
ately and not return to work.
Sandra Almond, chair
woman of Local 2202-N of the
American Federation of State,
County and Municipal
Employees and one of those
fired, said the union would
protest not being notified of
the dismissals. She said six of
those fired were union mem
bers.
“I knew there would be reor
ganization, but I felt as a
union representative I would
be a part of it," said Almond, a
15-year NAACP veteran who
headed the membership pro
cessing unit. “Just to be told
to pack up your things and
take your personal belongings
and not come back, I find it
very insulting."
Also fired were Isazetta
Spikes, membership director;
Janice Washington, a 27-year
veteran who was assistant
director of branches and field
services; and Linda Hursey,
public relations director.
Staff reductions appeared
inevitable since NAACP
Treasurer Francisco L. Borges
reported last month that the
organization planned to
reduce its $3.2 million debt to
about $800,000 this year. “The
only way we can do that is by
making pretty significant
cuts," he said.
The cuts reduced the nation
al staff of the National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People by about one-third.
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The city of Charlotte’s is dis
cussing a plan to turn the
Greenville Center over to the
YMCA, but the idea has been
put on hold after neighbor
hood protests.
The city wants to privatize
more of its operations, includ
ing some of its recreation cen
ters. The issue will be dis
cussed at a March 25 meeting
of the City Council’s City
Within A City committee.
Committee chair Ella
Scarborough said the city is
reviewing whether a private
agency, such as the YMCA,
can run the Greenville,
Belmont or Amay James
neighborhood centers better
than the city.
“It is not a question of own
ership, just management,”
Scarborough said. “This is
part of the big picture of what
is it we are doing or not doing
efficiently. And can they run it
or do it at a cheaper price.”
The three centers remain
from the city’s turn over of its
recreation program to
Mecklenburg County. The dis
cussions come as the YMCA is
looking at expanding its own
community development
efforts in the inner city.
The YMCA wants to expand
programming in the area
between Graham Street and
Freedom Drive, south of 1-85,
similar to programs run out of
the Johnson YMCA on
Davidson Street. But the
See YMCA page 2A
Adding light to life
wm
Ann Burris hasn't let blindness stop her from helping others. She is a volunteer in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' peer media
tion program (here at Garinger High School) as well as an advocate for the visually-impaired.
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
A nn Burris loves to
joke, argue about
UNC-Chapel Hill
basketball and talk to
kids.
What she can't stand is not
reaching back to help other
people because of self-imposed
limitations or life's bad
breaks. Like her blindness.
"A pity party can only last
but for so long. There are
always people in worse shape
than you are. You have to pick
yourself up, dust yourself off
and keep going."
Burris, 28, has been going
Blindness doesn't stop Charlotte
woman from reaching out
despite battling varying
degrees of blindness since
birth. She spends her days as
a peer mediation counselor
with Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Schools and motivational
speaker with Programs for
Accessible Living. Her busy
schedule leaves little time for
feeling sorry.
"I see it as a challenge for
me," she said. "That's an
enlightenment to other people;
not just to sighted people, but
to blind people."
"She's spontaneous," says
Jacque DeWalt, a Garinger
freshman who attended medi
ation sesssions with her. "I
was amazed. You would never
know (she is blind) just by
looking at her or watching her
reaction to everyday life. She
is very inspirational."
Burris, who leads peer medi
ation seminars at Garinger
High School, found challenges
early. Her mother, Ozell
Kennedy, had German
measles during the first
PHOTO/ CALVIN FERGUSON
Quinton Littlejohn, 7, outside Greenville Center, one of three
owned by city, but YMCA may manage.
Fraternity
suspended by
district office
before UNCC
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Omega Psi Phi fraterni
ty chapter kicked off the UNC
Charlotte campus this week
had been suspended by the
parent organization a month
earlier.
UNCC officials say they took
action after a student com
plained of being beaten and
humiliated, or “hazed,” by
members of the Omega’s
Epsilon Zeta chapter on the’
\ campus. The school reportedly
has also expelled the 11 chap
ter members after a hearing
last week, but assistant dean
Coleen Blough said student
privacy rights prevented her
from confirming the reports.
The Epsilon Zeta chapter
have until March 15 to appeal
the review board’s action to
the vice chancellor, said
Blough.
Raleigh-based John Scott,
Omega Psi Phi’s Sixth District
representative, said his office
investigated allegations of
severe hazing by the UNCC
chapter and ordered the sus
pension. The district office
covers the Carolinas, approxi
mately 100 chapters and 2,500
members.
“Prior to the university
action, we had placed the
chapter under suspension for
three years...as a result of the
same information,” Scott said
Wednesday.
“We in fact are still looking
into the situation. We have
conducted an investigation
and an investigation is going
on. There are serious charges
pending against young men
alleged to have been
involved.”
For that reason, Scott was
reluctant to reveal details of
the investigations.
“We abolished pledging as a
prerequisite to membership in
1985,” he said. “We have an
See OMEGAS page 6A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
trimester of her pregnancy
with Burris, causing the baby
to be born with cataracts.
Surgery at age 2 left her with
20/200 vision, which is legally
blind. She developed glauco
ma at 11, but battled to grad
uate from Harding High in
1986. The mother of three,
Burris has been married since
1989 to Charles Burris, a
mechanic at Lance.
After the trials of trying to
fit in a world for the sighted,
Burris is an expert on surviv
ing the taunts of ignorant
strangers and cruel class
mates. She also helps today's
students understand what it's
See SIGHT page 2A
Inside
Program helps students SCALE reading heights
Jhaquavia Funderburk, 5, is
our Kid of the Month.
See page 14A.
Editorials 4A-5A
Community News 3A
Lifestyles 9A
Religion 11A
Kids Page 14A
Arts/Entertainment 1B
What's Up 5B
Regional News 7B
Sports 9B
Classified 12B
To subscribe, call (704) 376-
0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.
© 1995 The Charlotte Post
Publishing Company.
E-mail -
charpost@clt.mindspring.com
By Josephine George
THE CHARLOTTE POST
It’s 3 p.m. Monday, and
Natasha Jones has just
arrived at the Tarlton Hills
Community Center.
As Jones steps into a room
that seems no larger than her
Johnson C. Smith University
dormitory room, children bom
bard her with “I need help, I
need help.” It’s time to start
counseling.
Jones is part of the
Americorps/Student Coalition
For Action in Literacy
Education program at Smith,
which is designed to improve
the literacy of children. UNC-
Chapel Hill, one of four N.C.
schools in the program along
with JCSU, Fayetteville State
and N.C. Wesleyan universi
ties, provides operational
grants. In addition to Tarlton
Hills, near the JCSU campus,
SCALE volunteers also work
at Mayfield Community
Center, off Sugar Creek Road.
Smith’s Americorps/SCALE
program is headquartered at
the school’s Service Learning
Center. Angela Jeter, the site
manager and coordinator, said
the center coordinates educa
tion activities on and off cam
pus as well as linking JCSU
with other communities. This
is nothing new to Jeter, who
has prior experience in this
field as a Girl Scout adminis
trator.
“I enjoy holding a two-hat
position. I’ve had experience
with the Girls Scout linking
seven counties together.” she
said.
Some students need more
Natasha Jones, (I.) a Johnson C. Smith University junior tutors
Dilworth Elementary second grader DeMario Wiggins, 8.
than improved reading habits.
There was a little boy in
Tarlton Hills who was so shy,
he never took his eyes off the;
See JCSU page 3A