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NEWS/tCiie C^rlotte
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Easdand response Strong after 1 MKek
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Eastland Mall security officer Edwin Nichols looks out over the shopping center Tuesday.
Incidents involving teenagers on the mall property spurred Eastland management to launch
an Internet site and telephone hotline to solicit suggestions from the public.
Continued from page 1A
said Eastland officials will
look at ideas received from
the feedback line and web
site. He said mall managers
will meet with civic and city
leaders to make policy deci
sions by the end of May.
‘We want to have teens
come out and act as cus
tomers,” he said. We can’t
allow groups of youth to mis
behave in our mall.”
Eastland is expanding and
is an important part of east
New program gets birth and foster
parents involved in raising children
ter parents for looking forwai’d to their visit
(from the biological parents).”
Horton said foster parents are asked to keep
the child’s parents updated on the child’s
progress in school. “We ask them to invite
them to games and assemblies at school,” she
said. “Share dialogue about grades, doctor’s
appointments and therapy sessions.”
Horton said many foster families are
already incorporating shared parenting into
their life style. She said she has one family
that invites the birth mother over to have din
ner with them.
Continued from page 1A
When foster parents and birth parents work
together, she continued the child benefits as
does the parents.
“Sometimes these are young parents who
were never shown how to be parents. By see
ing the foster family, they learn more appro
priate parenting skills,” she said. “They learn
that a two-year-old having a temper tantrum
is normal.”
And, Horton added, by having interaction
between the foster parents and the child’s
natural parents, the child is not conflicted
about loving both sets of care givers.
‘When the child sees that the foster parents
and their birth parents respect each other,
they don’t feel disloyal to their parents for lik
ing their foster parents or disloyal to their fos-
‘We like to have the parents involved as
much as possible,” she said, adding that some
families are more flexible than others and
have schedules that allow more interactions.
Banquet honors educators, scholars
By Herbert L. White
herb.whit€@thecharlotteposicom
An African American
teachers organization is
adding scholarship dollars to
its recognition of education
excellence.
The Greater Charlotte
Alliance of Black School
Educators host its second
Celebration of Excellence in
Education program Friday
at the Adam’s Mark Hotel at
6 p.m.
The group will also award
$1,000 scholarships to five
high school seniors.
Organizers expect about 300
people from the education
and business arenas, includ
ing Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Schools Superintendent
James Pughsley, who was
honored last year.
The Charlotte group is
affiliated with the National
Alliance of Black School
Educators, which consists of
6,000 members and 100 affil
iates across the U.S. Its pri
mary purpose is to increase
motivation and academic
achievement of African
American students by help
ing teachers and parents
address issues that impact
academic achievement.
‘We’re the first group that
brought together African
American leaders in educa
tion together,” said Melissa
Dunlap, principal at Ashley
Park Elementary School and
the local organization’s
membership chairperson.
“Our focus is on helping
African American students.”
GCABSE will also recog
nize four community cate
gories: building administra
tor of the year, friend of edu
cation, teacher of the year
and sponsor of the year. It
will also announce details of
a partnership with UNO
Charlotte’s Teacher Cadet
program.
The local group is looking
to boost its ranks by recruit
ing teachers from private
schools and area colleges.
‘We’re looking to add uni
versity professors to our
membership, along with
charter school and private
school teachers,” Dunlap
said. “Anyone interested in
helping minority children
achieve.”
For information on the
GCABSE, call Dunlap at
(980) 343-6018 or chapter
President Daisy Walker at
(980) 343-3854.
Greensboro commission tries to
answer fatal 1979 confrontation
THE CAROUNA PEACEMAKER
GREENSBORO - When Mayor Keith
Holliday asked him to serve on the Selection
Panel for the Greensboro Truth &
Reconciliation Commission as his representa
tive, Judge Lawrence McSwain agreed for
two reasons.
‘Well, first, when the mayor asks you to do
something you have to say yes,” he quipped,
before turning serious. “The other reason is
that to a lot of people, this is an important
thing. For a large number of people, until they
feel like a neutral body has investigated this,
they won’t accept the official story that’s been
put out.”
“This” is the Nov. 3, 1979, killings of five
communist labor activists and the wounding
of ten others by Ku Klux Klansmen and mem
bers of the American Nazi Party.
“The official story” is that the victims, like
the attackers, were a depraved set of “extrem
ists” who only got what they deserved for
endangering innocents on that Saturday
morning in the now-demolished Momingside
Homes.
McSwain, who grew up in Kings Moimtain
and moved to Greensboro in 1966, remembers
being an intern in the district attorney’s office
when he saw the shootings on television.
“I just remember thinking, ‘This is a terrible
thing to happen in Greensboro,’” he said.
In contrast, he thinks the Greensboro Truth
& Community Reconciliation Project is a good
thing.
A good thing got better when McSwain
agreed to serve on the Selection Panel, then
to serve as its chairman. The panel, with rep
resentatives appointed by 14 organizations
and segments of the community, is working to
choose the seven members of the TRC.
The commission, expected to be seated in
June, is the neutral body that will review doc
uments and hear testimony to determine the
truth of what happened, then suggest oppor
tunities for both the individuals involved and
the entire city to reconcile and heal.
The panel has nearly 70 nominees to choose
from, and its selections are central to the suc
cess of the project. McSwain’s leadership in
making those selections is a blessing.
“We were thrilled to learn that Judge
McSwain was chairing the panel,” said the
Rev. Nelson Johnson, a survivor of the attack
and director of Greensboro’s Beloved
Community Center, one of the initiating orga
nizations for the project.
Charlotte’s development,
McCluskey said, citing that
Burlington is planning to
open a store in the upper
level of the former JC
Penny’s store.
McCluskey hopes to get
good ideas from the commu
nity that will help with com
ing up with short term and
long term solutions to pre
vent problems in the mall.
Charlotte area teens have
been making headlines late
ly because of incidents in
area malls, including
Eastland. In January, a fight
erupted at Concord Mills
during the premiere of
urban youth film “You Got
Served.”
Then on March 20, a group
of teens were involved in a
fracas that involved about
100 people, prompting mall
security and Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Police to
increase security at the mall.
McCluskey said the
increased security didn’t'
hamper business at
Eastland. “It’s been business
as normal,” he said. “We
enjoyed a very good business
week when the youth were
off from school.”
Have something to sqy?
Call the Eastland Mall
Feedback Line at (704) 568-
1129
On the web:
Ecistkmd Mall
nww.eastlaitdmall.com
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