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WEDDING BELLS
Chartotte program develops
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Heartstrings University
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Howard ^
UNDER PRESSURE
Struggling Sting rally
around embattled
head coach 1C
Trudi Lacey struggles to
turn 2-10 team around.
Volume 30 No. 41
The Voice of the Black Community
(tjarlott
^ ^ Also s
$1.00
28216 S9
James B. Duke Library
I 100 Beatties Ford Rd
i Charlotte NC 28216-5302
. C> xA
ranning
Foxx adds name to city
council at-large race
By Herbert L. White
herb.whiled-thecliarh>i!e[)(>sli'()in
Anthony Foxx learned politics at the knee of
one of Charlotte’s most-connected poHticai oper
atives.
TbmoiTOw, he’ll put those lessons to use in his
fii’st campaign for elected office.
Anthony Foxx, gi’andson of the
late Democratic activist James
Foxx, annormced his candidacy
for Charlotte City Council at-
large. A West Chaiiotte High
School and Davidson College
gi’aduate, Foxx, 34, said he’s iim-
Foxx ^ ^ consensus builder.
“One of the things I learned
j5nm him was patience,” he said. ‘When you try
to pull together a group of people on an issue,
you can take common ground and find issues in
whicii tha’e is agreement. I want to be a con
sensus buildei*. I have an ability to di’aw people
in.”
Foxx, a tiial attorney at Himton & WjUiams,
was counsel to U.S. Rep Mel Watt on the House
Judiciaiy Conmiittee in 1999 before moving
back to Chaiiotte in 2001. After mnning Watt’s •
2004 re-election campaign, Foxx decided to try
his hand at dty council.
“The dty I left when I went away to college is
different from the dty I came back to,” Foxx
said.-‘We have diffeient challenges now than 16
years ago. The best way we can move forward
as a dty is to look ahead as a whole.” •
Foxx’s campaign is the latest for a gi'owing list
of at-lai’ge council hopefuls. Wiih Mayor Pro
Ifem Patiick Cannon bowing out to concenti'ate
on family matters, Foxx plugs a hole in the
Democratic slate for an Afiican American with
name recognition.
Filing for Mecklenburg County elections
starts Friday.
“I think Democrats have a chance to do well
in all races,” Foxx said. ‘What will make the dif
ference is who can aiiiculate what this dty will •
look like in the future.”
Closer watch for
Supreme Court
retirements
By Cynthia Cooper
WOMEX’S ESKWS
WASHINGTON - Supreme Court justices
who plan to retire fiom then lifetime appoint
ments traditionally announce it at the end of
the court’s session, which is June 30.
This week, attention will be fixed on the nine-
member court, where the retirement of one or
more justices could blast open a delicate com
promise agreement made barely four weeks ago
by 14 senators seeking to prevent a period of
partisan stalemate in the upper house.
“Given the ages and health of the justices on
the Supreme Court, it’s not so much a matter of
‘iT but ‘when,’” said Stephen Hourahan,
spokesperson for Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-
R.I.), a member of the Judidary Committee,
about potential retirements.
The Supreme Court has not had a vacancy
since in 1994 when President Clinton appoint-
ed Stephen G. Breyer to replace a retiiing w
Please see WATCHING/7A
R&B newcomer Lyfe
beats long odds to launch
solo career 1D
J‘ ' - t*^
Also serving Cabarrus, Chester, Iviecklehburg, York counties
THE PRICE OF POVERTY : WHO PAYS?
V
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Lauren Starks instructs Stephen Pina and Mary Mack at the Urban League’s computer lab. The
Urban League sponsors job preparation programs for low-income clients. A couple panhandles
along Beatties Ford Road Monday (below).
Government, private sectors
stmggle to fund programs
Jackson
Second in a series of articles
on the emotional, physical and
economic toll poverty exacts on
communities.
By Sommer Brokaw
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Poverty costs more than taxes
for Meddenbui-g County I’esi-
dents, but who really shoulders
the burden?
‘1 think in the final analysis
the community pays the price
for poverty and, we pay for it not
just in what we spend for sodal
services and fi^ and reduced
lunch, and poor healthcare that
leads to increased cost,” county
commissioners Chainnan
Parks Helms said. ‘But we also
pay for it in terms of fives that
are never really a part of the
community because they don’t
have the work skills to be
involved or they lack the educa
tion skills to be contributing
participants.”
Although commissioners have
been divided on various social
issues, they have been united in
a strategic plan to wipe out
poverty by'2015. But, the chal
lenge is defining a plan or who
should take the most responsi
bility; both politically divisive
issues.
Conservatives and libertari
ans believe tiie federal govern
ment should play a lesser role in
funding social services than
individuals, non-profit agencies
and churches.
‘We saw an explosion in (pres
ident Lyndon) Johnson’s admin-
. istration when he declared his
war on poverty it expanded the
size of the welfare system and
as a result civil society has a
lesser role,” said Jennifer
Zei^er, a welfare policy analyst
at the fibertarian Cato Institute.
“The majority of our curi’ent
safety net for low-income and
impoveiished families is shoul
dered by the federal govern
ment. I don’t think the federal
goveimnent is the best entity to
be shouldering that responsibil
ity”
Demoa*ats tend to be strong
supportere of federal involve
ment. County commissioner
Nomian Mitchell, who repre
sents District 2 says, “I think
that there might be a way that
the private sector can help, but I
See PERCEPTIONS/BA
PHOTO/WADE NASH
among
blacks,
Latinos
Jackson hopes
to build up
coalition
By Leslie Jones McCloud
.. CHICAGO DEFENDER
CHICAGO - One month
after Mexican President
Wfcente Fox' angei'ed some
Aftican-American activists
with his comments about
Black workers,
the Rev J^se
Jackson Sr.
announced
that he will
lead a trade
mission to
America’s
neighbor
order to seek
business for
Black companies.
Emphasizii^ the need for a
strong Blade-Latino alliance
in the U.S., Jackson was '
joined by Carlos de Icaza,
Mexico’s ambassador to the
U.S., in making the
announcement.
Jackson likened today’s
goal to that of the relation
ship between the Di*. Martin
Luther King and Caesar
Chavez.
‘We must build a world
dass bridge. For too long we
have had shai*ed interest but
we have not effectively biult
this strategic alliance,”
Jackson said.
Part of Jackson’s plan
includes getting Afiican
American children to learn
Spanish and increasing the
number of Latino children
who speak English.
Additional issues include
teaching black and Latino
children nonviolence and to
avoid gang waifare; cultural
exchanges; organizing reli
gious leaders fium both eth
nic groups; and fighting for
affimiative action.
But the most critical issues
that Fox has focused on have
been the illegal immigration
reforms being tossed about on
See JACKSON/2A
PHOTO/HAROLD TYSON
THURMOND’S DAUGHTER IN ROCK HILL:'Sylvester Owens,
Clinton Junior College community outreach representative
and enrollment manager, looks on as Essie Mae Washington-
Williams signs his copy of her autobiography “Dear Senator”
during her tour of the college’s new library. Williams is the
daughter of the late U.S senator Strom Thurmond and
Thurmoond’s housekeeper, Carrie Butler.
Too few viewers, expense
dooms Bobcats’ network
By Herbert L. White
lierb.whitef&tliecliarlonepostjcom
A year ago. Bob Johnson’s foray
into sports-oriented television was a
chance to bring Carofinas athletes to
. a regional audience.
Tbday, it fades to black.
Johnson’s vision of a network h^h-
fighting coUegiate sports and his
NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats,
led to Carofinas Sports
Entertainment Tblevision, or C-SET
launched on Oct. 16, 2004 on Time
Warner' Cable systems throughout
North and Soutii Carolina. Nearly
10 months later, the network is out
of business, a casual
ty of too little market
penetration.
“C-SET was intend
ed to provide sports
fans in the Carofinas
with regional pro
gramming that they
could not find any- Tapscott
where else,” said Ed
Tapscott, president of the Bobcats.
‘We are all proud of the great job the
C-SET staff did in launching this
network and providing compelling
See LACK/2A
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