3A
NEWS/tCie Ctatlone $ot
Thursday, September 29, 2005
N.C. town still in recovery
Continued from page 1A
recovery. No one in
Princeville died from
Hurricane Moyd, but 161
caskets were unearthed
from their graves. Many res
idents didn’t move back into
town tmtil nearly a year
later. Some lived in an area
called FEMAville, set up to
provide temporary housing
after the hurricane, and
waited three to four years for
their homes to be rebuilt
Former mayor Deha
Perkins opposed a federal
buyout because she wanted
to preserve the town’s rich
heritage. The board of com
missioners voted 3-2 to reject
the buyout Thday about 60
trailers are still around, but
they are no longer consid
ered temporary housing
because residents have pur
chased them as their homes.
The old tovm haU is gutted,
but a new one has been built,
and there are plans to turn
the old town hall into a
museum.
Mayor Pro Tfem Isabelle
Baker had a traumatic expe
rience riding out the storm,
but she sees hope for the
future. Baker said the water
had risen to her waist, and
the sound of the waters
creeping up around her
soimded like lions before she
was rescued by motorboat.
Since that time, she believes
the town has made signifi
cant progress with many
people now living in better
conditions than they were
before.
StiU, some are struggling
with the psychological and
economic toll of hurricane
Floyd’s aftermath.
Daisy Staton said she had
to take out two loans since
the flood: one to pay for the
property she lost in the flood,
and another one for the new
home. She said her experi
ence recovering from the
devastation has been heart
breaking, but her religious
faith has kept her strong.
Mayor Oates said she sym
pathizes with those who
ended up paying for two
loans and are at risk of los
ing their homes.
‘T think those loans should
have been forgiven,” she
said.
Jesse Murphy, 63, had just
finished remodeling her
home the day before the
flood, which washed away
just about eveiything.
‘Tt was rough,” she said. ‘T
lost everything in my house.
There is nothing left but the
roof”
Despite the loss, Murphy is
grateful to have gotten out
alive.
‘T just thank God my fami
ly and I got out of harm’s
way because material things
you can replace, people you
love you can’t,” she said.
But the experience still
haunts her. “When it rains
now, I sort of get uneasy,” she
said. ‘T almost feel like I’m
panicking or drowning.”
Despite widespread
rumors that race was an
issue in the recovery,
Everette-Oates doubts it
“Princeville is mostly an aU
black town and help arrived
right away Everyone was
rescued, whether it was by
boat or helicopter,” she said.
But she did acknowledge
that politics might have had
something to do with the
response.
“President Clinton was
At-large race for control, clout
Continued from page 1A
must affirm an override.
^th districts drawn to all but ensure
Democrats control five of seven seats, the at>
large race detomines the council’s tenor. Foxx
said he’ll try to wort with Democrats, but
understands the success of his campaign also
hinges on developing a rapport with voters.
Only two Afiican Americans have been elected
at-large; Harvey Gantt in the 1980s and
Patrick Cannon, who is leaving council in
Decanber.
“I think the next phase of the campaign is
going to be challenging,” Foxx said. “The win
ners in the general election are the ones who
describe in vivid detail what Charlotte needs to
do to have a great quality of life for the next few
years.”
Enterprise exposes treasures
of Alabama’s Black Belt
By Bob Johnson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAMDEN, Ala. - It takes
John Sheffey at least four
weeks to create one of his
• octraordinarily lifelike owls
or ducks, carved meticulously
out of Tbpelo Gum grown in
west Alabama swamps.
Sheffey creates his carvings
in his wood shop in the tiny
Dallas County community of
Minter, in the heart of
Alabama’s poorest region,
known as the Black Belt. It’s
\ a community so small that
there’s a post office in a trail
er, but nothing else, no store
or traffic li^t. He says he is
so attached to his creations
that selling one makes him
feel like he’s parting with a
pet.
A new venture is hoping he
says a lot of gcxxlbyes.
Sheffey’s carvings, along
with pottery, paintings,
quilts, porcelain dolls and
other creations fix)m more
than 150 artisans in 17 most
ly west and southwest
Alabama coimties will be on
display Friday when a new
enterprise called Black Belt
Tieasures opens in a large
building that was once a car
dealership in Camden
A joint private and govern
ment venture. Black Belt
Tbeasures will give artisans’
in the Black Belt a venue for
selling their creations, which
previously could only be
found by determined collec
tors at craft shows or maybe
in fiunt yards on rural back
roads.
Ihe goods will be sold fix)m
a spacious showroom in the
fi:x)nt of the remodeled build
ing about a block off
Camden’s courthouse square
and also over the Internet to
customers around the worid
Officials behind the venture
say itfs a way to show there’s
more to Alabama’s Black Belt
than poverty. The mostly
rural region is named for the
seam of rich black soil that
runs througji the area, but in
recait years it has become
known for its mostly black
residents, many living below
the poverty line.
“There’s always been a
world of talent in the Black
B^t that no one wanted to
see. We want to make it a lit
tle easier to see it,” said Max
Joiner, a county commission
er in Marengo County
The venture is the brain
child of John Clyde Biggs,
executive director of the
Alabama Tbmbigbee
Commission, one of a number
of government entities and
businesses that came up with
the about $1 million needed
to get Black Belt Treasures
open.
“There’s been so much pub
licity about the Black Belt, we
felt we could take that nega
tive and turn it into a positive
and say look what the people
in this part of the state can
do,’” Biggs said.
Delia Brand, director of
Black Belt Ti*easures, said
many of the crafts, such as
quilts made by elderly black
women in rural Wilcox
County or sculptures made
fix)m scraps of jimk, are prod
ucts of the region’s austere
past.
“A lot of these craftsmen
developed their art out of
adversity, fix)m taking items
found on their property and
turning them into beautiful
things,” Brand said
Among the beautiful things
are Sheffeys carvings, which
previously he has only sold at
wood carving competitions.
“It will take my heart and
soul every time someone
walks out that door with one
of them,” said Sheffey, a
retired Army colonel.
A major topic of conversa
tion as volunteers and work
ers set up the Black Belt
Ti^asures showroom was the
large hand-carved and hand-
painted rocking horses creat
ed by Larry Kni^t of
Greensboro. Knight started
making the brig^itly painted
rocking horses, with decora
tive manes, after moving to
Hale County fix?m Mobile,
where he had worked at a
chemical plant.
He said each of his rocking
horses are diffCTent. They are
meant to be family heiiiooms
and handed down fix)m gen
eration to generation, he said,
but are also intended to with
stand the daily wear and tear
of an energetic 4-year-old
“I wei^ 225 pounds and I
can rock on them,” said
Knight, who spends about 40
hours making each horse,
longer for the ones painted
with zebra stripes.
Riggs emphasizes that
Black Belt Ti*easure8 is not a
souvenir stand or tourist
shop where you can buy snow
globes or three T-shirts for
$10. Many of the crafts are
expensive - the rocking hors
es cost $600 or more.
‘We hope our customers
will be people who appreciate
handmade quality products.
You can go to Wal Mart and
buy a rocking horse for a lot
less, but there’s no compari
son,” Riggs said
But Brand said customers
with less expensive tastes can
still get a touch of the Black
Belt. Available in the show
room or over the Internet will
be various gift baskets featur
ing a variety of smaller items,
including zesty hot sauce
made in Clarke County, bar
becue sauce firom Dallas
County, syrup from
Georgiana, a cookbook fix)m
Selma, a handmade coffee
mug from Demopolis and
tasty Cheddar blossoms that
are cooked up in the Valley
Grande community in Dallas
County
Riggs said he hopes tourists
to Alabama will find their
way to Camden, tacked away
on state and ^^fficox County
roads more than 40 miles
fiom the nearest interstate,
to visit the showroom and
then encourage their fiiends
to visit the Web site. He said
brochures for Black Belt
Treasures will be on display
at welcome centers and other
locations around the state.
The drive to Camden will
take visitors through lush
forests, across some of
Alabama’s most beautiful
landscape and past occasion
al plantation-stjde homes, a
reminder of the region’s past.
But there are also plenty of
reminders of the region’s
poverty long-closed stores
and gas stations that are
grown over with weeds and
vines, and dilapidated houses
and trailers up close to the
road, some in disrepair fi*om
recent hurricanes.
“Any time you invite people
to your home, they are going
to see the best and the worst,”
Riggs said “Tb not admit that
this is a depressed area
would be wrong. But there’s
also tremendous wealth here.
I don’t mean financial wealth,
but the wealth that’s in our
people.”
here the next day, and under
his administration FEMA
was here to help within 24
hours. We didn’t have to wait
six days,” she said.
Brett Chambers, who cov
ered Hurricane Floyd as a
reporter, said the recovery
process wasn’t slowed
because of race.
“There are a lot of reak)ns
Princeville isn’t being rebuilt
quicker; it’s not just based on
race or class. And, by the
way, we can never separate
race fix)m class,” he said.
“People who live on the
beach in $5 million homes
have the economic clout to
rebuild, even without
FEMA.”
Dr. John Cooper, who
worked with the N.C.
Division of Emergency
Management for two years,
agrees.
“Natural disasters don’t
discriminate, however you
can’t discount the legacy of
discrimination and the
impact it has had on black
people,” he said. ‘Tt’s sadly
ironic that it happened in
New Orleans, the site of
Plessy V. Ferguson. Because
of a history of racial discrim
ination, which affected their
socio-economic condition,
minorities had to live in mar
ginal places where the land
was cheap.”
d^arlotte $o«t
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To Enroll Your Child Today, Contact:
Friendship Baptist Church
221 West Bradley Ave. Gastonia, NC 28052
704-865-9016
www.friendshipgastonia.org
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