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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 14, Number 14 • November 27, 1999 • FREE
Charlotte man robbed at knifepoint by bar pick-up
by David Stout
• Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—friendly conversation
that began in a gay nightclub culminated in a
night of terror for a local man when he was
bound and robbed in his own home by two
suspects.
“Bill” (not his real name) told Q-Notes that
he arrived at The Masquerade, 3018 The Plaza,
around 12:45am November 5 and struck up a
conversation with another patron named Dave
(who apparently never gave his last name).
During their exchange, Dave reportedly asked
Bill if he was alone,
where he lived and if he
had any roommates.
Bill thought the ques
tions were harmless
and answered.
A little later, Dave
allegedly asked, “Are we
leaving?” When Bill
agreed, Dave com
mented that he had a
friend sleeping outside
in his truck who would
have to go with them.
He explained that “Mike” did not come in be
cause he was tired and “doesn’t like gay bars.”
After moving outside and informing Mike,
all three men headed for Bill’s northeast Char
lotte home — Bill driving his car and the other
two in Dave’s black, new model Chevy S-10
truck.
Bill said they settled in his back den for a
few drinks and everything seemed okay. In fact,
he thought the night was about to get even bet-
Dave — brandishing a
paring knife from the
kitchen — instructed,
‘'This is armed
robbery, cooperate
and I won't kill you."
ter. Dave came over and sat on the arm of his
chair and asked, “So, are we going to do any
thing?” and slipped his arm around his neck.
Bill felt a sharp blade press into his throat.
Reportedly, Dave — brandishing a paring
knife he had gotten from the kitchen when Bill
was in the bathroom — instructed, “This is
armed robbery, cooperate and I won’t kill you.”
Bill said he was forced to remove his jewelry
and wallet then lay face down on the floor. At
that point, Mike came over with a roll of duct
tape — which Bill had used earlier in the day
and left out — and secured his feet together;
his hands were lashed
together and taped to
his waist. After Mike
taped a pillowcase over
Bill’s head, Dave sliced
a gash in it so he could
breathe.
According to Bill,
the suspects exhausted
the next half-hour
plundering for any
thing of value while he
“prayed that they
would let me live.” Sev
eral times, Dave came back looking for more
cash, but Bill insisted there wasn’t any. The sus
pect threatened, “If I find any. I’ll kill you.”
In the end, Dave took Bill’s ATM card and
demanded the PIN number — “You know if
that’s not the right number. I’ll be right back
here.” Finally, the duo left.
After five or 10 minutes of waiting. Bill said
he struggled to the front door and managed to
get outside. His calls for help drew the assis-
World AIDS Day gathering
planned at Aunt Stella Center
by Stefanie Groot
Special to Q-Notes
CHARLOTTE—The 12th annual World
AIDS Day will be commemorated on Wednes
day, December 1. A Mecklenburg County ob
servance, sponsored by the World AIDS Day
Coalition, will take place at the Great Aunt
Stella Center from 6:00-7:30pm.
The goal of the 1999 World AIDS Day cam
paign is to increase awareness of the HIV/AIDS
epidemic within the young adult population.
World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for
youth to participate in movements that encour
age healthy lifestyles. The theme of this year’s
remembrance is “AIDS — End The Silence;
Listen, Learn and Live.”
The program at the Great Aunt Stella Cen
ter is scheduled to include a diverse panel of
community representatives, music by One
by Dan Van Nourik
Q-Notes Staff
FORT CAMPBELL, KY—On November
15, Private Calvin Glover, 18, pled “not guilty”
to a charge of premeditated murder in the slay
ing of Pfc. Barry Winchell, 21. Glover’s gen
eral court-martial, the military equivalent to a
felony trial, is scheduled for December 6.
At the same hearing, Glover chose to be tried
by a military panel rather than by a military
judge alone. He also chose that his panel be
comprised of one-third enlisted personnel
rather than consist exclusively of officers.
Glover’s motion to present expert witness testi
mony concerning substance abuse and anti-so
cial personality disorder was approved.
In an earlier hearing, requests for a change
tance of two neighbors; one ran over to release
him while the other called 911. It was now
around 3:15am.
Police officers were on the scene within five
minutes and Bill said they showed no outward
biases. “The [reporting] officer said ‘I don’t care
about your lifestyle or what you do in the pri
vacy of your own home, but I need to know
the answers to a few questions.’”
According to the police report, stolen items
included a television, stereo, 20 compact discs,
silverware, two gold rings and a watch. Bill said
additional items are missing like his
grandmother’s jewelry, his father’s tie-tack and
several hand-held power tools.
Police investigator Tom Ledford has been
assigned to the case. He says there are a few
suspects, but nothing has turned up so far.
Although Bill told Q-Notes that he thought
he had seen Dave in The Masquerade before
— and he had a “feeling” that the men had
perpetrated similar crimes in the past — Inves
tigator Ledford discounted the notion of a
predator routinely staking out the bar for vic
tims. “This crime doesn’t show a lot of plan
ning. I mean, he used a knife from the victim’s
own home. This was a crime of opportunity.” .
Ledford added that the police weren’t currently
investigating any comparable offenses. O J.l.UJ.J.J.V'M
Damon Stone, owner of The Masquerade,
encouraged anyone who might be thinking of
taking someone home from the club to talk with
the staff first. “They need to ask the bartenders
what they know about the person. We’re a small
place and we know most of the people who
come in here on a regular basis. If we know
See ROBBED on page 25
Award winner Scott L Mayer
Eighth slate of
Stonewall Award
Voice Chorus and a candle
light vigil. Refreshments will
be available and Starbucks
will provide complimen
tary coffee. The evening
is being underwritten by
the Immunology Division of
Ortho Biotech, Inc.
As of 1999, 33.4 million men, women and
children worldwide were estimated to be living
with HIV/AIDS. In 1998, nearly three million
children and young adults became infected with
HIV — about 590,000 under 15 and more
than 2.5 million between the ages of 15 and
24. In the US, 688,200 people had been re
ported infected with HIV/AIDS as of 1998.
The Great Aunt Stella Center is located at
926 Elizabeth Ave. For more information, call
(704) 944-6000. T
Soldier pleads not guilty of murder
of venue were denied. Glover’s lawyers had
asked for the change due to pretrial publicity.
Glover is charged with premeditated mur
der for allegedly beating Winchell to death with
a baseball bat on July 5. At the Article 32 hear
ing to determine if he would be sent to court-
martial, soldiers testified that Winchell faced
daily anti-gay harassment for four months prior
to his murder and that Glover allegedly said
after the muder that he “hated faggots.”
On November 12, Ft. Campbell officials
announced that SPC Justin Fisher would also
be sent to a general court-martial. Fisher,
Wmchell’s roommate at the time of the mur
der, is charged with encouraging Glover to com
mit the murder, among other charges. His ar
raignment is scheduled for December 18. T
Court supports
lesbian co-parent
0
visitation rights
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
WASHINGTON, DG-The US Supreme
Court ruled November 15 that a lesbian who
helped raise the child her partner bore during
their relationship is entitled to visitation rights
now that the couple is separated and awaiting
a custody trial.
Without comment, the high court rejected
an appeal by the biological mother to overturn
a ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court of Mas
sachusetts granting her former partner tempo
rary visitation rights of three hours per week.
According to court documents, the litigants
in the case — identified only by their initials
L.M.M. and E.N.O. — met in 1984 and main
tained a “committed, monogamous relation
ship” until May 1998.
In 1995, L.M.M. became pregnant through
artificial insemination and delivered a baby boy.
The women created the child’s last name by
combining elements from each of theirs and
distributed birth announcements naming them
both as parents.
When the boy was two, the couple moved
to Massachusetts — from Maryland — so
E.N.O. could legally adopt the child without
L.M.M. terminating her own parental rights.
However, the relationship unraveled before the
joint adoption was secured.
In the first round of litigation, L.M.M. won
a temporary order prohibiting E.N.O. from
seeing the boy. But, in the next proceeding, a
family court judge instituted the visits, finding
that they were in the child’s best interests.
The Supreme Court said the visitation or
der may be changed or set aside after a trial on
the merits of the case. T
by Paulette Barrett
Special to Q-Notes
CHICAGO—Growing up in impoverished
farm country triggered Maria Price’s hunger for
social justice. Her career-long crusade to fulfill
that goal has culminated in being named as one
of four 1999 Stonewall Award winners for im
proving the quality of life for gays and lesbians
in America.
Price, 34, of Louisville, KY, is executive di
rector of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, re
garded as the model for state gay rights organi
zations because it reaches across cities and into
rural communities to create links between race,
sexual orientation and economics.
The three other Stonewall Award recipients,
who will each receive $25,000, are: Michael
Bronski, 50, of Cambridge, MA, cultural critic,
author and columnist; Scott L. Mayer, 43, of
Minneapolis, MN, innovative producer of epic
events to help fund AIDS organizations and
promote tolerance of gays and lesbians in the
business community; and Dean M. Prina, MD,
46, of Denver, CO, civic leader who has raised
more than $10 million in the past dozen years
to benefit AIDS and gay rights causes.
With this year’s awards, the Chicago-based
Anderson Prize Foundation will have given
nearly $900,000 in Awards to 36 recipients (in
cluding North Carolina organizer Mandy
Carter) since 1991. The awards are named for
the 1969 Stonewall Riots that energized the gay
liberation movement. Paul A. Anderson of
Chicago established the Foundation shortly
before his death from AIDS-related illness in
1992. Allen A. Schuh, an attorney in Chicago
and San Francisco, and Anderson’s companion
for 14 years, is president of the Foundation.
The awards, which carry no requirements,
are made without regard to sexual orientation,
race, ethnic origin, age or gender. The Founda
tion selects nominators from the gay and les
bian community to recommend candidates,
anonymously, from the four regions of the US
— Northeast, South, Midwest and West. Four
winners are chosen by a committee which in
cludes the previous year’s recipients.
A brief biography of the recipients follows:
Maria Price’s family ran a farm in Lawrence
County, IL, growing grain and raising livestock.
Each of the five children, upon reaching the
age of eight, would pick a species of animal,
raise it until they turned 18, sell the animals
and use the profit to fund their college educa-
See WINNERS on page 25