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Prelude
Page 14B
Cljarlotte
http://www.thepost.mindspring.com
THE VOiCE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
THE WEEK OF MAY 29, 1997
VOLUME 22 NO. 36
75 CENTS
ALSO SERViNG CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTiES
History beckons trailblazing jurist
Fulton could earn top court job
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Superior Court Judge Shirley
Fulton could become the top
jurist in Mecklenburg County by
the end of the year.
Fulton, 45, is in line to replace
Judge Chase Saunders, who is
stepping down from the senior
post in September. N.C. Supreme
Court Chief Justice Burley
Mitchell will appoint a replace
ment, which usually is based on
seniority.
“I haven’t heard from the chief
justice yet,” Fulton said. “For the
most part I know it is going to
happen,
“Being chief resident judge will
be a new challenge, as well as an
opportunity to model the court
system with some of my thoughts
and ideas,” she said. “I would like
to leave an imprint on the court
system.”
Fulton, the first black woman
elected to an N.C. Superior Court
seat in 1988, said she’s already
doing a management and opera
tional audit to decide what, if
any, changes she will make.
A graduate of N.C. A&T State
University and Duke University
Law School, Fulton once dropped
out of college before deciding she
wanted to be a lawyer while
working in the register of deeds
office in Guilford County.
“I had a contact with lawyers
and my job was a dead end job,”
Fulton said. “I thought being a
lawyer would be interesting and
something I would like to do.”
Fulton is a co-organizer and
vice president of the grassroots
Queen City Congress and a vice
president of her Wesley Heights
Neighborhood Association. She is
also a student in the Queens
College MBA program.
Saunders will be missed,
Fulton says.
“I think he is a good judge and
his wisdom and guidance will be
See FULTON on page 3A
Day of the Red Tails
A C-17 cargo plane flies behind the Tuskegee Airmen Monument that was unveiled Monday at the old Walterboro Army Airfield in
Walterboro, S.C. Many of the black military aviators were trained for duty during Worid War II at the base that currently serves as
the Walterboro airport.
By Jesse J. Holland
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WALTERBORO, S.C. -
'Tuskegee Airman Eugene
Richardson Jr. waved his hand
toward phantom buildings at
the rural Walterboro Airfield as
he remembered his time as a
19-year-old P-51 Mustang pilot
52 years ago.
“The control tower was over
there and our hangar used to be
here,” he said Monday, thinking
back to his time at the old Army
Air Base about 50 miles west of
Charleston. “They’re all gone
now.
“But this more than makes up
for that loss,” the retired lieu
tenant from Philadelphia said,
turning to the bronze bust and
concrete monument dedicated
to the heroism of the aviators
who broke the color barrier on
their way to becoming one of
the most respected squadrons
of World War II.
More than 15 of the famous
TYiskegee Airmen returned to
South Carolina on Memorial
Day to see the dedication of
their monument, only the sec
ond in the country to them.
S.C. honors
black fliers
PHOTO/PAULA ILLINGWORTH
Lt. Col. Hiram E. Mann, retired, center, one of the original
Tuskegee Airmen, laughs after receiving the Order of the
Paimetto from S.C. Gov. David Beasley. Mann's wife,
Kathadaza, is to the right.
according to Richardson.
’There also is a monument at
the Air Force Academy in
Colorado, as well as plaques at
Arlington National Cemetery in
Virginia and at their original
base in Tuskegee, Alabama, he
said.
“I thought I would never see
the day that something like this
would go up in South Carolina,
of all the places,” Richardson
said.
Many of the 1,000 airmen got
their flight training in
Walterboro in 1943-44 after
classroom instruction in
Alabama.
The monument features a
bronze bust of a black aviator
atop a concrete tablet with an
engraved gray and blue P-51
Mustang with the signature
red tail. Beneath that is sn
inscription explaining the
Tuskegee Airmen and a green
and brown P-40 Warhawk,
which the airmen also flew.
Gov. David Beasley gave the
black pilots and one of their
white trainers, retired Capt.
John Truluck of Walterboro, the
See AVIATORS on page 2A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Shirley Fulton is in line to become Mecklenburg’s top judge.
DA’s decision on
police shooting is
stUl pending
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
District Attorney Peter Gilchrist said Wednesday he has not
decided on possible criminal charges against two Charlotte police
officers who shot an unarmed woman to death on April 8.
A police spokesman said the department’s internal investigation
will await Gilchrist’s decision, since it may turn up additional wit
nesses or evidence.
The shooting has sparked renewed support for a citizens review
of police actions and a review board is expected to be approved
next month.
Gilchrist said he’s actively working on the investigative file pro
vided by the police department’s homicide unit, but does not
know when he will have a decisiVm.
“There is some additional forensic work being done,” Gilchrist
said. “I don’t know if that will affect any decision.”
Laboratory tests are being conducted on evidence in the shoot
ing.
Gilchrist could file criminal charges against the officers who
fired 22 shots into a car in which Carolyn Sue Boetticher, 48, a
Concord native, was a passenger. She was shot in the back of the
neck and died about five hours later.
Officers shot into the car as it sped past. The car had failed to
stop at a license check at State and Gesco streets off Tuckaseegee
Road in the Seversville community.
The driver of the car, Robert G. Lundy Sr., 55, of West Columbia,
See DA’S on page 6A
Preschool program
still has places open
for 1,000 children
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Schools officials are looking for
a few good 4-year-olds - or 3-
year-olds who will be 4 by Oct.
16.
The school system has about
1,000 open slots for its new
preschool program and is
launching a blitz to fill them.
“Our concern is we are not
getting some of the children we
need to reach,” said Barbara
Pellin, assistant superinten
dent for student services.
“It is designed for 2,000 chil
dren the first year. We are
about at half that now. That’s
just about where we expected
to be at this point. We have
been screening now about 3 1/2
weeks.”
The school system plans to
step up its recruitment, Pellin
said.
“We will be setting up special
recruitment pieces, for exam
ple at Marie G. Davis
(Elementary School)...some of
the places where we think
there are children who proba
bly will qualify. Screening will
go on through the summer.”
Pellin said the target popula
tion is children who have not
had adequate preschool experi
ences. That doesn’t mean chil
dren who have not gone to an
organized day care center,
since children can get proper
preschool experiences, such as
frequent reading sessions, in
the home.
“We are looking at neighbor
hoods where kindergartners
come to us not ready,” Pellin
said.
Some are low-income areas
See PRESCHOOL on page 3A
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Strictly Business 8A
Lifestyles 10A
Healthy Body/
Healthy Mind 11A
Reiigion 12A
Sports 1B
A&E 5B
Regional News 10B
Ciassified 12B
Auto Showcase 146
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© 1997 The Charlotte Post
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