Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Dec. 31, 1997, edition 1 / Page 3
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3A YEAR IN REVIEW / The Charlotte Post Wednesday, December 31, 1997 Race took on a new twist during a tumultuous year Continued from page 1A Cooper and Boetticher shootings - established a citizens review board to oversee police miscon duct and agreed to pay a half mil lion dollars to the children of .Windy Gail Thompson, who was bhot and killed by Charlotte ofB- Cer Mark Farmer in 1993. In November, voters approved the coirntys largest bond issue, including $415 million for public schools, $23 milhon for Central Ihedmont Community College and $62 mUlion for jail expan sion. About 40 percent of the school bond money is targeted for upgrades to aging inner city school buildings. ' And, in early December, about 600 people attended a race sum mit, leaving in agreement that more needs to be done to improve relations among racial and eth nic groups. * There were side issues, of course. The sale of McDonald’s Cafeteria and the adjacent hotel. The national NAACP board sus pended the license of Kelly Alexander Jr., who allegedly mis spent more than half a million dollars of state NAACP funds. The year’s top stories: The shooting of James Willie Cooper on November 19, 1996 sparked an angry reaction in the black commvmity. Cooper was unarmed and had his young daughter in the car when he was shot in the side by Charlotte- Mecklenburg police officer Michael Marlow off The Plaza in east Charlotte. Marlow said Cooper refused to obey commands and svrang or threw something. One of eight shots fired by Marlow struck Cooper in the side. He died at the scene. District Attorney Peter Gilchrist and a police internal review cleared Marlow of wrong doing, but the incident led to a Black Monday rally by 600 blacks on Jan. 27 at The Square Jin downtown Charlotte. Benjamin Chavis, Wilmington 10 j leader and now member of the Nation of Islsira, led the rally. While many blacks refused to support the demonstration, it 1 became clear something must be . done to ease tensions in the city. ; Government and business lead- lers, including Trans America . Reinsurance president Bill J Simms, called for a race summit Jsmd the city council eventually ; ^t up the citizens review board. * Chavis, now Ben Chavis • Muhammad, called for Black • Monday and a daylong boycott of - white businesses during a speech i before Citizens for Justice and 'other grassroots organizations angered by the Cooper shooting. “Charlotte will not reach its true potential imtil there is jus tice for black people,” Chavis Muhammad said. “You can’t have a great city when you allow a white pobce officer to shoot dovm a black man with his baby beside him in the car.” Three months later, Carolyn Sue Boetticher was shot and killed in west Charlotte. Boetticher was a hotel house keeper who grew up in Concord and lived much of her adult life in New Jersey. Unlike the Thompson and Cooper shootings, disciplinary action was taken against the two offic^ involved, although Du^ct Attorney Peter Gilchrist >Bclined to file criminal charges ' against them. Boetticher, 48, was an unarmed passenger when officers Shannon Jordan and Dorm Belz fired 22 bullets into a car which ran a license checkpoint. A bullet from Jordan’s gun was identified as the one which struck Boetticher in the back of her neck, killing her. Most of the bullets entered the side and back of the car as it passed the officers, who said they thought the vehicle might run over them. Police Chief Dennis Nowicki recommended in August that Jordan be fired and suspended Belz for 30 days without pay. After a four-day hearing, the city's civil service board upheld Nowicki’s decision. The board found that Jordan put himself in danger when he stepped in front of the car. Jordan has appealed the ruling to District Court. The car’s driver, Robert G. Lundy Sr., a former West Columbia, S.C. businessman, has disappeared from the state men tal hospital in Morganton where he was being held. He was unin jured in the shooting and faces charges for possession of a stolen auto, possession of cocaine and assault on a police officer. Civil cases are pending in the Boetticher and Cooper shootings. The cases are being handled by the Ferguson, Stein law firm that won a $500,000 settlement in the Thompson case. Participants in the race confer ence Dec. 7 and 8 at the Convention Center spent much of the time talking about their feel ings. Organizers promised a fol low-up that would attempt to attack some of the concerns dis cussed at the conference. “I think it was a decent start,” said Terry Tiamd, outreach direc tor at the Afro-American Cultural Center. “I just regret so many more grassroots level people where not there to have their input.” Tiamd said participants were told to focus on their feelings and opinions and not try to find solu tions in two days. “I just hope the ball is not dropped...that the follow up does happen” Tiamd said. “More peo ple in the community need to get involved.” Organizers say a more action oriented conference may be held in April. Hoyle Martin Hoyle Martin believes gays want to recruit children and establish their lifestyle as the norm. He’s determined to stop them. “It is the agenda of the gay com munity to get people to not only accept their lifestyles, but to allow ourselves to be drawn into it, particularly our children,” Martin, District 2’s Mecklenburg County commissioner, said after voting to kill $2.5 milhon in coun ty arts funding. “A certain element of homosex- uahty in this country are a pow erful pohtical force committed to requiring government and soci ety to accept their lifestyle and their value system as equal to the lifestyle and value system of the average American.” The vote sparked controversy and placed Martin at the center of a firestorm generated by the arts and gay communities. African Americans generally watched in wonder. The other black commissioner. District 3’s Darrell Wilhams, said he opposed Martin’s proposal not only because of its censorship of the arts, but also it will only add to the workload of commissioners and county staff. Wilhams said he also opposed Martin’s measure because of its impact on the county’s national image. He said the National Association of Counties had been considering featuring Charlotte ® Introducing SisterlocKs A New Yla'f To &e You! Are you tired of spending countless hours & dollars in the hair salon or braid shop? Would you like to have real “wash and go” hair, wear it naturally, and never have another bad hair day? Then Come Home to Sisterlocks! This revolutionary new process involves no chemicals, weaves, or extensions. Call TODAY for a Consultation and Save 20%! 704-537-0293 Visit our website at www.SISTERLOCKS.com as a role model in future brochures. “No one is going to want to put Charlotte in any publication,” WiUiams said. “It is going to have a negative impact on our commu nity. Those communities that continuously compete ' with Charlotte are glad to see this. It is going to make them look good and Charlotte look bad. “I resent this even being put on our agenda,” Wilhams said. “We have so many other priorities we need to be spending our time on.” The debate subsided, but when some Democrats began recruiting candidates to run against Martin, who planned to run at-large in 1998, he retah- ated by joining with the four Repubhcans on the nine-mem ber county board to elect conservative Tom Bush as chair. Martin 'That sparked an even louder outcry and brought former com missioner and state senator Jim Richardson out of retirement to run at leirge. Martin announced he will run as an independent, avoiding a Democratic primary battle with Richardson. Norman Mitchell has announced plans to run for the District 2 conunissioners seat. Martin insists he’s not neglect ing other issues affecting the black community and his con stituents. He said he is also not worried about any negative impact the controversy may cause. School daze Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools attracted much attention in 1997, begirming with the controversial reassignment of high school stu dents necessary with the opening of two new schools - Vance High in the University City area and Butler High in Matthews. Named for an African American math teacher, Butler became the first high school named for a teacher. David Butler, who died earlier in the year in a house fire, taught at Piedmont Open Middle School rmd West Chru'lotte High School. Pupil reassignment led to cre ation of another group deter mined to force a return to neigh borhood schools - Citizens for a Neighborhood/Community-based School System. The political action conunittee supports candi dates who favor community- based schools. Some Matthews Eirea legisla tors even sought to change the way the school board is elected to give neighborhood schools advo- Metlife Wants To Spread The Word About Someone Special. Charles E. Forrest Account Representative 4235 S. Stream Blvd. Charlotte, NC (704)423-0300 Charles E. Forrest Account Reprcsenlative Charlotte. NC deserves a word of praise and thanks from MetLife. It’s every sales representative’s job to care about the communi ty’s insurance needs. But it’s above and beyond the call of duty to care about one’s town in other ways, too. That’s why we’re so proud of this representative. So call your MetLife sales rqire- sentative today. You’ll leam why "this person is so noteworthy. SETMET. IT PAYS.® OMetUfe cates more say in the system, first, by getting the General Assembly to add two at-large members to the board and limit ing terms to two years. Tbe changes would be made without a referendum, like the one that established the current school board election process with three at-large members and six dis tricts. Blacks hold three seats on the nine-member board, two dis tricts and one at large. The enlarged board would be more accountable to the political ly dominant southeast and would be expected to support a neigh borhood system, according to sup porters of the plan. As that controversy raged, See PUPIL on page 6A BRICE'S CARRYOUT Home Cooking Serving Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner DAILY SPECIAL; 8 DRUMETTES WITH TEA ROLL & RANCH DRESSING $=i.00 FREE TEA WITH CALL IN ORDERS 3301 Rozzelles Ferry Rd. 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Box 27 • 100 Beatties Ford Road • Charlotte, NC 28216-5302 (704)378-1251/1224 “LIFELONG LEARNING IS NO LONGER, AE OPTION.. .IT’s A NECESSITY!” DAY/TIME COURSE/SECTION MON/WED. 6-7:25P: COURSE DESCRIPTION ROOM# MKT-331 T PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING ' HUM-110 HUM-111 LS-233 T STUDIES IN SOCIETY I SPA-132T ELEMENTARY SPANISH-II HUM-112 MGT-433 T MANAGEMENT RESEARCH & ANALYSIS EDU-201 , MTH-13I T BASIC MATHEMATICS 1 SHA-201 LS-242T SCIENCE, TECH, ETHICS 11 SHA-106 (4 credits) (meets to 8:25p. incl. lab) ENG-230 T STUDIES IN WORLD LITERATURE SHA-207 RHC-192T FRESHMAN RHETORIC II EDU-303 MON/WED. 7:40-9:05P: MKT-334 T ] PRINCIPLES OF RETAILING ^ HUM-110 LS-234 T STUDIES IN SOCIETY II HUM-1 II MGT-435T ) BUSINESS POLICY EDU-201 MGT-334 T PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT V' EDU-^P3 MTH-137T PRECALCULUS I , SHA-2b7 ^GT-333 T PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT Al \ HUM-112 TUE/THUR. 6-7:2SP: Ai MKT-335 T ' FUNDAMENTALS OF SELLING : HUM-llO REL-131 T SURVEY OF GREAT LIVING RELIGIONS ' ' HUM-lll RHC-I91 T FRESHMAN RHETORIC I HUM-112 ACC-235 T PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING I / i EDU-201 EDU-395T* THE SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM EDU-204 (To 9p, Tue only) EDU-330 TW* FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION / EDU-203 .$ (To 9p, Thu only) SPE-130T FUNDAMENTALS OF SPEECH ' EDU-303 f LS-130T IDENTITY; CITIZEN AND SELF: A/A CULTURE EDU-115 CSC-131T COMPUTERS IN SOCIETY , j SHA.20J PSY-131T GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY SHA-207 LS-331 T STUDIES IN WORLD CULTURES I MCH-204 EDU-312T* JR. PRACTICUM IN SECONDARY ED. EDU-204 (1 credit) (5-6p. Tue only) TUE/THUR.7:40-9:05P: MKT-332 T ADVERTISING ' HUM-llO j ART-231 T ART APPRECIATION ^ HUM-lll MGT-436 T ORG. BEHAVIOR AND DESIGN EDU-20J ACC-236 T PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING 11 /. EDU-303 CSC-132T CONCEPTS IN COMPUTERS /J SHA-201 MTH-132T BASIC MATHEMATICS 11 SHA-207 SPA-131 T ELEMENTARY SPANISH I HUM-112 LS-332T STUDIES IN WORLD CULTURES II MCH-204 JAT, 8-10:40A: PSY-237 TW* PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE HUM-llO ECO-232 T PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS (MICRO) HUM-lll MKT-435 T INTERNATIONAL MARKETING HUM-112 EDU-296T* PSYCHOLOGY OF THE EXCEPTIONAL EDU-201 SAT. 10:50A-1:30P: ECO-231 T PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS (MACRO) HUM-llO > BUS-233 T BUSINESS STATISTICS HUM-lll BUS-234 T QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN BUSINESS HUM-112 EDU-220 T* EARLY EXPERIENCES IN TEACHER ED. EDU-201 (2 credits) (To 12:50P) •> SAT. 8A-12:50P: LS-241 T SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ETHICS I SHA-2I0 (4 credits) (Inch lab) SAT. 9-10:50A: HED-121 T PERSONAL HEALTH GYM
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 31, 1997, edition 1
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