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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1997
8A
LIFESTYLES
Carriers
fight myth
‘they’ll go
postal’
By Bob Kostanczuk
THE GARY POST TRIBUNE
GARY, Ind. - Sinbad, the comic,
doesn’t do the nation’s postal
workers any favors with his por
trayal of mailman Myron
Larabee in the hit holiday movie
“Jingle AH the Way.”
A ranting, edgy father in
search of a hot toy, Larabee
runs around in his work duds
and “goes postal” - a new part of
American slang, meaning
berserk.
Heavily pubUcized stories in
recent years of gun-wielding
postal workers who have
cracked under pressure have
fostered a term that is unsavory
to many in the U.S. Postal
Service.
After processing an estimated
275 million pieces of mail the
Monday before Christmas (the
busiest day last year), the Postal
Service hkes to emphasize it is
up to the Christmas-rush chal
lenge and won’t crack or “go
postal,” so to speak.
That label, says the govern
ment giant, won’t stick.
“It doesn’t apply to me,”
assured Gary letter carrier
Linda Tipton, who fervently
defends her 16-year government
profession. “People look up to
the postal carriers. I am highly
respected.”
Lake Station letter carrier
John Halkitis is also stung by
the fact that “Postal” has taken
on a new, twisted meaning: “I
think we’re being misrepresent
ed. In general, the public doesn’t
understand.”
Don Duncan, a Gary-based
electronics technician for the
Postal Service, bemoans the
reahty that the few “doing some
really bad stuff” are “making us
all look like maniacs.”
In the same vein, film and
television haven’t exactly been
putting the postal worker in the
most favorable light either.
In a commercial for this year's
“Dear God” - a film comedy cen
tering on quirky postal employ
ees - 'Tim Conways character
humorously hints that he may
be on the verge of flipping out
with a weapon. Also, promotion
al material from Paramount
Pictures describes how the
movie’s lead character joins a
band of “clock-watching, misfit
co-workers” in a Dead Letter
Office.
On TV, the Newman character
on “Seinfeld” is a devious, some
what creepy, mail carrier who
once pirated a postal vehicle for
personal use.
Then there’s Chff' Clavin, the
hving-with-his-mother mailman
from “Cheers,” who practically
resided at the bar that was the
focal point of the show.
“As much as I loved ‘Cheers,’ ”
said Halkitis, “I alwas^s hated to
see Chff in a bar in uniform. 1
often wondered why the Postal
Service didn’t object to having
him portrayed that way.”
The portrayal may have
helped feed what Halkitis
beheves to be a popular percep
tion of postal employees held by
cynics: “They see us as being
well-paid, under-worked.”
Thomas K. Capozzoli, a
Purdue University professor
who has trsiined Midwest postal
employees in conflict manage
ment, said the mail-delivery
people of this coimtry fully real
ize they have a pubhc relations
problem on their hands.
Well-known stories in the
Chicago area in recent years of
postal personnel ditching mail
haven’t helped.
“They’re concerned about the
image,” noted Capozzoli. “I
think in a lot of instances that
image is not well deserved.”
Still, Capozzoli said that nega
tive image even rattled him
when he began training postal
workers.
“It scared me a little bit
because of the reputation,” said
See IMAGE page 14A
A touch of class
PHOTOS/SUE ANN JOHNSON
Alumni gather for a class phote 60 years after graduation. The group has remained ciose over the years, meeting monthiy to
keep in touch.
Second Ward alumni mark 60
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
At the end of the year. Second
Ward High School’s Class of
1936 gathered to celebrate their
60th einniversary.
As the sounds of Lionel
Hampton, Billie Holiday and
Cab Calloway filled the ball
room of McDonald’s Cafeteria,
alumni shared their aches,
pains and joys.
Gretchen Chisolm, 76, lost her
daughter a few years back, but
her granddaughter recently
graduated from UNC Charlotte.
Gerson Stroud was a little
under the weather, but came
an3rway.
'They made fun of those who
were a little slow and gained a
little weight.
“Anyone that can step up
needs to get on stage,” the Rev.
Ray Booton said. “If you can’t,
we’ll get some of our great
grands to drag you up.”
A few came on canes and in
wheelchairs accompanied by
spouses and great grandchil
dren, but most were surprising
ly spry.
“This is an amazing group,”
Booton, a member of the class of
‘36, said. “We take Advil,
Motrin, Arudis and those other
blue pUls - aU those pain kiUers.
But we still look good.”
When members of the class of
1936 and 1937 were students at
Second Ward High School,
Charlotte was a different city.
J.T. Williams’ Afro American
Mutual Insurance Company on
Trade Street was the insurance
company of choice for
Charlotte’s “other city,” the
name given to the black commu
nity which then included
Biddleville, Brooklyn and
Second Ward. Rates were 75
cents a month for adults and 25
cents for cluldren.
Davidson Street was unpaved
and the Mecklenburg
Investment Company Building
on South Brevard Street was
home to many of Charlotte’s
premier black businesses.
Trolleys still crisscrossed city
streets, but students
ignored them as they
trekked across the city,
often several miles, to
classes at Second Ward.
“We all walked to
school,” Louise James said
with a laugh. “We stiU had
street cars. But most of
the time, we didn’t have
the fare.”
Schools were different
back then, too.
Opened in 1923, Second
Ward was the first African
American high school built
in Charlotte. Begun with
an appropriation of
$150,000 in 1921, the
school was to standardize
education for black stu
dents and help train black
teachers.
According to Chris Polzer,
author of “A Brief History of
Second Ward High School,” the
school opened unfurnished and
“inadequately stocked with sec
ond hand textbooks and equip
ment, using teaching aids often
built and paid for by teachers
themselves.”
Located at the corner of 1st
and Alexander streets, it was a
beacon of learning for black chil
dren. For almost 50 years, it
served the African American
community.
“I remember some of my
teachers,” Chisohn said. “There
was Mrs. Dixon and Mrs. Spain
and Jamie Waters Hemphill. I
went to the Old Graded School.
Amay James was one of my
teachers there.”
And there was math teacher
Alene McCorkle, who often pro
vided meals ahd shoes foF
severely disadvantaged chil
dren.
“We had good teachers,”
James agreed. “They saw that
you got your lessons.”
“They taught you respect,”
said Eva Huston, 80. “It influ
enced my life, You were taught
to respect everyone that taught
See REUNION page 14A
Graduates share paraphenalia gathered over the past 60 years.
Carolinians
cook up
coUard
cmsine
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AYDEN, N.C. - Collard piz
zas, collard tacos and collard
pies. Sound like a culinary
nightmare?
Don’t teU that to Laura Webb.
An organizer of the annual
Ayden Collard Festival, she can
cook up just about anything
with her favorite vegetable.
In fact, her culinary specialty
is a five-layer collard cake —
alternating layers of com bread
and greens, garnished with
hunks of steamed okra.
“I make that cake every now
and again, just for the fun of it,”
Webb said.
You might say Webb is a col
lard queen. But that title really
belongs to Mandy Carroll, 15.
Mandy is the most recent win
ner of the beauty pageant held
in conjunction with the town’s
annual collard festival in
September. She won a $350 col
lege scholarship and the right
hold the coUard queen title for a
year.
“The New Year’s Day meal
means more to me this year
because I’m the coUard queen,”
she said Wednesday after sit
ting down to a meal of coUards,
ham and black-eyed peas.
Mand/s meal was typical of a
New Year's Day tradition in the
South, but her collards were
prepared with a Yankee twist.
“Most Southerners would
probably be shocked if they
knew how I make them,” said
Mandy’s mother. Penny, a
native New Yorker. “I put garhc
in them.”
While coUards with garUc and
collard cakes might suit some
people’s taste buds, most folks
in Ayden, the imofficied collard
capital of the world, prefer to
keep their greens simple.
Guy Braxton, 65, picks the
greens from his garden, boils
some ham, then adds the col
lards and potatoes.
“My mama and daddy growed
them when I was growing up,”
Braxton said. “Tve been eating
them ever since.”
Braxton did have to endure a
27-year stint in the Navy, where
he never got a bite of coUards.
“I sure did miss them when I
was away,” he said.
Town leaders started the
Ayden CoUard Festival back in
1975 after neighboring Grifton
introduced its shad festival.
Despite the vegetable’s home
grown roots, the idea for the fes
tival came from another Yankee
- who had just moved to Ayden
and tasted coUards for the first
time.
“It was a lady from Ohio, of aU
places, who thought of it,” said
former Mayor Marvin Baldree.
Around Charlotte Golden anniversary celebrated
•Community Health Services
will begin its annual health
campaign Monday. The week -
long event includes lectures,
tuberculosis screening and
immunizations. For more infor
mation, call 375-0172.
•The Central State University
Alumni Association will meet
Sunday at 2 p.m. at
Renaissance Place, 201 North
Tryon St. For more information,
contact Helen Moore at 547-
0627.
•The Metrolina Chapter of
Professional Secretaries
International wUl meet Tuesday
at 6:30 p.m. at Ramada Inn
Central, Clanton Road and 1-77.
Jean Griswold, executive direc
tor of Mobile Health Outreach,
will be the keynote speaker.
Dinner will be served at 5:30
p.m. For more information or to
make dinner reservations, call
Karen Aiken at 532-5225 or
Stephanie Lanier, 527-3000.
•The Lockwood Neighborhood
Association will meet Monday
at 7:30 p.m. at the Fighting
Back Cluster II Resource
Center, 1500 North Tryon St.
The guest speaker will be
Minnie Mitchell. For more
information, caU 375-4993.
•Celebrate Martin Luther
King’s birthday with former
television and movie personality
Bob Tyson. Tyson wiU read from
King’s most famous works,
including “Letter from the
Birmingham Jail,” Wednesday
at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble,
10701 Centrum Parkway,
PinevUle. For more information,
caU 541-1425.
The Charlotte and Crown Jewels Chapters of the of Links gather to celebrate the groups 50th
anniversary. The organization was founded in 1946 to promote the educational and civic
activities of members. The group will hold its annual convention in July 1998.