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NEWS/IC)e CtsrUittt $ot
Tuesday, January 5, 2006
Council to vote on MlK Street Monday
Continued from page 1A
sites and make a recommen
dation as to which to rename
and the cost of such a move.
Mitchell said
Independence and Stonewall
are ideal because of their vis
ibility and less impact on
property owners and busi
nesses. Stonewall, the site
Mitchell prefers, runs
through the heart of the for
mer Brooklyn community, a
former aU-black neighbor
hood razed in the 1960s to
make room for urban renew
al. Stonewall is part of a
bustling uptown district that
includes Bank of America
Stadium and proposed sites
for a NASCAE Hall of Fame
and Afix>American Cultural
Center.
“Stonewall is becoming a
tourist attraction,” Mitchell
said. “All that plays into the
visibility I was looking for.”
Naming a street in King's
honor would be acknowl
edgement of the civil rights
giant’s contributions to
America, said Willie
Ratchford, executive director
of the Community Relations
Committee.
“America has a tradition of
honoring heroes, including
statues and naming streets
and schools after them,” he
said. “Martin Luther King is
one of America's best-known
heroes, and a contemporary
hero at that.”
Previous attempts to name
a Charlotte street have been
unsuccessful. A drive to
rename Beatties Ford Road
failed 10 years ago after res
idents complained that
changing the name would
produce hardships from
amending drivers’ hcenses to
creating new stationary that
would reflect address
changes.
“We’re one of the last cities
in North Carolina to have a
street named after Dr. King,”
Mitchell said. “Wilmington,
Ahoskie, Winston-Salem,
Greensboro and Brevard has
them. The question has
always been why not the
largest dty?’
Said Ratchford: ‘It gives us
an opportunity on a daily
basis to consider his role in
helping the nation during a
critical time in its history I
don't see him as a black hero.
I see him as an American
hero.”
Mitchell said city council
can set the tone with
Monday’s vote.
‘T don’t want a majority,”
he said. ‘T want it to be
unanimous.
North Carolina Lottery approves statewide list of retail outlets
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
■WINSTON-SALEM - The
North Carolina Lottery
Commissi on is closer to
putting together a network
of ticket retailers after
approving a proposed con
tract with about 30 guide
lines for stares.
A statewide database
already has provided a list of
10,000 potential retailers,
lottery executive director
Tbm Shaheen said. State law
does not cap the number of
places that will qualify to sell
lottery tickets, and it is
unclear how many retailers
will qualify to sell them.
Shaheen wants instant-
win tickets on sale by April 5,
followed by PowerbaU in
July and other number
games in the fall.
Some store owners already
are figuring out their mar
keting plans.
“My plan is to put little top
pers out on the pumps and
put a big sign on the road:
“Lottery tickets being sold,’”
said Ben DhiQon, the owner
of Pit Stop Food & Beverage
in Winston-Salem.
DhiUon said that between
500 and 600 people come to
his store each day and he
expects that most of them
would buy tickets.
“I wish we could start it
tomorrow,” he said.
The contract approved last
week requires retailers to
“make every effort’ to dis
play outside signs though
local ordinances may block
that from happening.
Retailers also will be barred
from living in the same
household as lottery employ
ees and giving lottery
employees large gifts.
They will have to undergo
background checks, offer all
available scratch tickets and
pay a $15 weekly fee for each
location to help defray the
costs of equipment. Retailers
will keep 7 percent of thefr
lottery sales and any bonus
es that lottery officials
award.
The profit margin is small
er than on many items in a
France aims to put an end to arranged marriages
Continued from page 2A
According to official esti
mates, up to 100,000 young
French women, mostly ado
lescents from families of
immigrant origin, risk mar
riages forced by their families,
regardless of the girls’ feel
ings.
The French parliament
unanimously passed a new
law this month forbidding
marriage of girls under 18
years of age. It provided for a
probation period of two years
after the marriage ceremony
to allow spouses to demand
aimulment of a marriage.
The law provides for coim-
seling, proof of consent, edu
cation in schools against such
mairiages, and for protection
for women fleeing forced mar
riages.
“Wth this text we want to
improve the measures pre-
voting violence in the family
as well as the violation of
women’s ri^ts," minister for
justice Pascal Clement said
during the parliament debate.
But not everyone is convinced
that the new law can end
such practices.
‘We are satisfied with the
law itself,” Clotilde Lepetit,
law counselor for the women’s
rights groups ‘Ni putes ni
soumises’ (‘Neither whores
nor slaves’)said. “But now we
wait for the results.”
Khadfia Aram, president of
the association ‘Women firom
TVappes and fix)m Elsewhere’
based in IVappes city on the
outskirts of southern Paris
says it will take mothers, not
the law to stop forced mar
riages.
“Either elder women in the
families realize that forcing a
girl to marry a man she does
not love is wrong, or the law
win remain dead letter,” she
said
Aram said forcing girls into
marriage arranged by the
families is traditional in the
Ma^irib countries, but also in
other societies in sub-
Saharan Afiica and in Asia.
“Our mothers and grand
mothers were forced by their
own families to marry men
they hardly had met before,
and despite the sometimes
unpleasant experiences they
had to go throu^ in such
marriages, many women still
believe that such a tradition is
suitable for their own davigh”
ters and granddau^ters,” she
said
“Many of them, still believe
that love will come with the
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convenience store but retail-
era hope they will come out
ahead if the lottery brings
more people into the store.
‘T think they would buy
stuff in the store when they
come to buy lottery tickets,
and I think that would help
the store,” said Wilma Hall,
the owner of Mimi’s Mini
Mart near High Rock Lake.
“This would really be good
for the fishermen and the
hunters.”
The contract allows tickets
to be bought with cash.
checks, debit cards and gift
cards but not with credit
cards. They also cannot be
bought with food stamps.
Retailers will not be allowed
to be “engaged exclusively”
in lottery sales.
The lottery is expected to
generate $425 million in pro
ceeds a year Half is to go to
hire elementary-school
teachers and expand a pre
kindergarten program, 40
percent would go to help
counties bvuld schools and 10
perc^t would go to college
scholarships.
daily routine of living with
someone.”
But despite such prevailing
views, a growing number of
the elderly women are coming
to realize that the tradition is
mistaken, Aram said
“At our meetings, many
women tell their own stories,
and admit how dreadful such
forced marriages were for
them. And then they say no, I
do not want my daughters
going through the same fate.”
According to the ministiy of
social affairs, one French
woman dies every four days
as a result of violence within
the family
One out of 10 women, and
one in three being treated in
hospital emergencies claims
to have been a victim of
domestic violence.
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story? We’re
listening.
The Post is your community newspaper,
and we’re interested in reporting about the
people,
events and issues that shape Charlotte.
If you have an idea or information,
comments or opinions, e-mail
editorial@thecharlottepost.com or log on to
www.thecharlottepost.com
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