Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / June 21, 1980, edition 1 / Page 1
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Duke University Library Newspaper Department Durham NC 27706 June NATIONAL ROSE MONTH (USPS 091-380) ML Words Of Wisdom The reason soma people rtquirt si nock ff sifters I that they require to Rttte ef tHemsefm. Crooked rivers get that way by foBowfofl tht Bat el least resistance. So do some men. VOLUME 58 - NUMBER 25 DURHAM. NORTH CAROLINA SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1980 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE; 39 CENTS c Ml WW )Ml (FAT Wilmington-Ten Attorney i Reprimanded By Judgi Is There An Effort To Disbar Activist Lawyers? CtOMCI Wilmington Ten at torney Irving Joyner was reprimanded last week by Superior Court Judge Maurice Braswell in Raleigh. The action grew out of the attempts (beginning last January) of Ms. Josephine Preddy and Gilbert Todd to legitimize their infant daughter, Adrian Denise Preddy. They had retained Joyner to change the child's last name to the father's, and to develop child support and custody agreements. Op each point the mother, and father agreed. Joyner said he told them that they could possibly have a con flict of interest during the case, but that all matters of possible conflict had been worked out. When the case was fil ed Joyner signed as at torney for, the plantiff, Gilbert Todd, and the defendant Ms. Josphine Preddy Bfaswell ruled that 'Joyner j could only on whether to Braswell's ruling. The hearing took place in a packed courtroom, filled with mostly blacks, supporters of Joyner, some his clients, reporters, activists, and community leaders. Some felt that the charge against Joyner was racially motivated. Leonard Dunston, president of the North Carolina Conference of Black Social Workers, described the trial as "subtle intimidation designed to keep people like Irving Joyner from speaking out." Joyner speaks out for many causes. In Durham recent By Pat Bryant appeal iy, Joyner spoke out against the war drive in the Middle East and the draft. Several people who attended the trial said racial considerations were involved. Joyner's reprimand has , raised other concerns in activist circles. Is there a conscious effort to disbar and attack activist lawyers? Jerry Paul, who represented Joanne Little, had his license suspended last month by the North Carolina Bar Review Committee on a charge that had been thrown out by the superior court. Joyner's reprimand brings to two the activist, poor people's lawyers who have faced disciplinary action in a month. In the brief filed by Cheshire, Dan Blue, and Cressie Thigpen, the lawyers noted that while many other attorneys had done exactly what Joyner was charged with, none of them had ever been disciplined. Joyner is black. Like 99 per cent of the Superior Court Judges in North Carolina, Braswell is white. Several lawyers expressed the belief that Braswell hear ing the case on charges Braswell brought against Joyner was a conflict. Braswell didn't agree. r Ar-3' WA (La Gills) Racism And Injustice Cited In Williams9 Dismissal The minor reason tor the dismissal of Mrs. Teverious Sister lee reprint ;.onearty.But . wnTiam-' as a special Joyner's attorney, Joe Cheshire of Raleigh, argued that' there was no conflict and that all of the parties had agreed on the terms of custody child support, and the name change. But that wasn't good enough for . Judge Braswell who held that the eight month old child needed representation by a guardian, other than her mother, thus bringing to three the total number of attorneys needed for the name change. Joyner said that he only charged the couple $300 jointly, and that they were top., poor to hire other lawyers. Exactly what the reprimand will, mean to Joyner's career is pro bably too early to tell. Joyner said a decision will be made over the weekend registration commis sioner, may have been unauthorized voter registration but, according to Durham Attorney Shirley d. Dean, the major reasons racism and in justice are much more important. Attorney Dean, who spoke on behalf of Mrs. Williams before the State Board of Elections this week in Raleigh, said "Mrs. Williams was not given a fair trial, and was not dismissed in a just manner. She was not even aware of her dismissal un til she had read a news report, and if thai was not enough, a sheriff was sent to her home at midnight to collect registration slips as though criminal. she were By Tanya LeGeiie Attorney Dean also contends that Mrs. Williams' interest in mak ing the system better-' and-' wanting to make changes, may have aroused the pre judices of ihe State Board of Elections. "The State Board of Elections accuses Mrs. Williams of violating a rule initiated in October, 1979, concerning special registration commis sioners registering persons out of their district, but Mrs. Williams contends that she was not aware of this rule, and many other special registration com missioners admitted that they had no knowledge of the rule," said Attorney Dean. The Slate Board of Elections arranged a meeting to vote on whether Mrs. Williams was guilty or not guilty, but according lo Attorney MIAMI - Nearly 1,000 blacks booed President Carter when he visited a community center in the "Liberty City" area June 9. The President came to discuss the three days of bloody mid-May Rioting In Miami with community leaders. As the Presidential limousine left the area, angry blacks threw bottles and cans at the car. ' UPI Photo Hunter's 50 Million Budget Draws Protest Dean, "William Marsh who is a black member of the board, withdrew, from . -the voting1 and-onlyliafm-ed Mrs. Williams." She said, "he could have really helped her, and I don't think that we have evolved enough to stand by a let each other suffer." Attorney Dean said that Marsh was aware of Mrs. Williams' dismissal at a meeting between the three of them, before it was published in a news report, and he did not confront Mrs. Williams at all, and she was not aware of any dissatisfaction in her work. After several attempts to reach Attorney Marsh for comment, this reporter was finally informed by his office that he would be out-of-town until June 30. Attorney Dean said "many blacks in high Late last month, when women iCity Manager Dean . , M Monday nights city ;ntr, Jr presem.hcii meeng, Steve million puagei to-rirc ,- ShXirejf representative of Durham College Trustees Approve Bachelor's Degree Program Citv Council, there was little hint that it would spark the kind of prostest that is now stirring some citizens of Durham. The items responsible for this protest are changes in the preliminary budget suggested by the Finance Committee to eliminate the position of the Director of the Human Relations Commission and to combine that office with the Affirmative Ac tion Office. Both organizations would then fall under the aegis of the city manager. Citizens, both black and white, vigorously oppose what they see as a move to dismiss Joseph Becton, director of the commis sion, and to dilute the powers of Walter Jackson, director of Affir mative Action. There is an even greater concern that such a move is indicative of the council's intent to destroy any and all power that is now held by poor peopke, black people and the Durham People s Alliance, speaking in favor of maintaining the present structure of the Human Relations Com mission, said, "You don't have to be black to be ap palled at the attempt to send the East-West Ex pressway through the Crest Street neighborhood. . . .to recognize the self-avowed white slate for political of fices. . . .to recognize that this council ignores decent housing in West End and a decent bus system; you don't have to be black to see business represented in this council." During what was to have been a fifteen minute recess by the council, one white woman, who said that she had come from a state office in Raleigh to . observe the meeting, ex pressed her outrage over the proposal to a small group outside the chamber: "How could they even think of doing i such a thinn? Could one, really expect an office to monitor itself?" Despite - Councilman Haywood Smith's plea to citizens Monday night not to consider the proposal as a racial issue, proposals to give $40,000 to the American Dance Festival, $15,000 to the Durham Chamber of Commerce, $75,000 to the N.C. Museum of Life and Science, along with a pro posal to eliminate the director of the Human Relations Commission, did little to support Smith's plea. Moreover, the Crest Street Freeway issue, the attempt by the council to free the utility companies to increase their rates without protest, from the council, and the attack on the Durham Housing Authority, created even greater doubts among citizens. The expressed beliefs of many citizens are that there is a chance for both blacks and whites of Durham to move forward together and that retrogressive steps, at this time, are dangerous. The Trustee Board of Durham College approved the awarding of the bachelor's degree for Durham College during its recent meeting. The action was an additional step taken in the re-opening ' process of the college and the re.vitalization of the college's curriculum. Board chairman, Dr. Guy Rankin, indicated that the trustees mandated this move, and that this action was the results of the academic activities of the college over the past five years to move in the direction of a senior col lege of business. Dr. Rankin further said that the Board felt that the time to implement this phase of the college's development was now. The bachelor's degree program, as approved by the Trustee Board, will ap ply immediately to the Secretarial Science and the Business Administration programs. The method of offering this1 program, however, U1 be unique to the academic community of this region, according to President ,J.W. Hill. The taehefcr' progrmwUl be offered on a two plus two basis; applicants must first have received an associate degree, or its equivalent, in business. Consequently, students will not initially enroll in the bachelor's program but would be re quired to enroll in and complete an associate degree program before seeking admission to the bachelor's program. Hill further explained that ad ditional academic re quirements will necessitate that a student who is ac cepted into thebachelor's program would be re quired to have a minimum "B" average or a minimum of two years' work experience plus the associate degree. Although the bachelor's degree program will be available, Hill emphasized that the college would continue to carry on its primary mission of pro viding one and two year career-oriented academic programs. Durham College will continue to offer its cur rent AAS degree pro grams, Hill said. As a sup port to Dr. HuTs state ment, the Trustee Board also approved two addi tional AAS degree pro grams Security Technology and Food Ser vice Technology. These programs will become available this fall. A September 8 date has been scheduled for the beginning of the fall semester. Hill announced the addition of five Ph.D.'s as pr6?essors and adjunct professors who will be employed to imple ment the new academic programs: OIC, Government To Place 100,000 In Jobs Coalition Of Concerned Citizens Presents City Recommendations By Tanya LeGette After a prayer rendered by Charles Wesley, .the Coalition of Concerned Citizens marched peacefully from Duke Power Company to the City Council Chambers, Thursday morning.. The group was formed to provide a forum and to .develop strategies to ad jjOsspcamdrt corfceras.ti V the community. The! group is in director con-' necthon with several com imittees that have been . fotmed by Terry Sanford, president of Duke Univer sity, to improve the' '.downtown area and Durham utyasawhole. In the City .Council Chambers, Sanford ad dressed the city govern-, m'eft, and eacbclyujrnian,1 1 of of one of the eight com mittees presented the recommendations for City Council. John Michel, chairman of the sub-committee (other community con cerns) said that the basic recommendation of the grqirpi collectively is "for. the city to move ahead with ihe.dexelo&nient of MIAMI BEACH An historical agreement bet ween the federal govern ment and a community based organization was obscured by negative publicity surrounding President Carter's visit to the Miami area recently, according to Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, founder chairman of OICs of American before whose convocation the President spoke. , ''The President reported to our convoca- tion on his agreement with OIC to mount a common effort to place 100,000 more young people in jobs in the coming . year 10,000 hi federal agencies and 90,000, with federal help, in- the private sec tor," Rev. Sullivan said. "The President made a significant but largely overlooked statement, when he said that this is the (biggest single job placttnent effort eve - undertaken in the history of the nation by a com-" munity organization," fie said. The black Baptist minister from Philadelphia also asked convocation delegates meeting here to press their Congressional Represen tatives for approval of the President's 1980 Youth Initiative Bill. "When I returned from a 60,000-mile journey last year visiting major cities in the nation and assisting and establishing OIC job training centers, I realized the hundreds of thousands of youth I saw on our street corners represented a powder keg of social dynamite," he said. "I began to secure a million signatures to peti tion the President and the Congress to initiate legislation to deal with this youth crisis before it tecame a national disaster. I met with the President and asked him. to join OIC in a massive effort to combine . the resources -of the public And private sectors to secure large numbers of permanent youth jobs' as quickly as possible. "It is my hope that such an effort will lay the groundwork for a broad effort to reach thousands and eventually millions so that the time will come when every young person in America who wants to work will be able to secure some form of training and job placement.!' The minister pointed out that OIC began in a dollar-a-year leased jail house and i sixteen years has trained and placed in jobs more than 500,000 Americans in full-time work. These individuals, he said, are earning more than $4 billion and paying more than $500 million a year in taxes. Speakers Against Change By Trellie L. Jeffers In a packed, heat swelled room, Monday night, June 16, citizens of all ages and all races, representing a variety of organizations in Durham, sat through the three and one-half hour meeting of the City Council to ex press verbal or silent pro test against a proposal by the Finance Committee to eliminate the position of Director of the Human Relations Commission and to combine the organization with that of the office of Affirmative Action. Among the twenty speakers who signed up to protest the proposal were representatives of the Durham Branch .of the NAACP, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, the Coordinating Council of Senior Citizens, Mount Calvary United Church of Christ, The Council of Negro Women, The Durham People's Alliance, Russell Memorial CME Church, a member of the Durham County Commission, and other individuals who spoke as concerned citizens. Sam Reed, who said that heNSpoke as a member of the City Council Ad visory Committee, quoted Frederick Douglass, and vowed to resign his posi tion on the Advisory Council if such a proposal was adopted. "Nothing is more im portant than good human relations; poor relations poison the atmosphere," Reed said. "You told citizens that you were for positive government and that you wanted to move Durham forward. Is this the way to move for ward?" A Mrs. Carolyn I. Thorn ton. representing the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black Peo ple, said, "We still have the same problems of the '60's. To eliminate this of fice (Director of the Human Relations Com mission) would be ft dangerous and dastardly act." 1 f Mrs. Thornton said that $198,000 given to non- -city agencies could be used to finance the office. "This city desperately needs to see that you and the City Council have a commitment to the citizens of Durham," she -said, addressing Mayqf Harry Rodenhizer. Dr. E. Lavonia Allison, representing the Council of Negro Women, and who obviously opposed the proposal, said, "yon -are not as concerned about human issues as you are about backroom politics bricks and mor tar, expressways and roads and " downtown revitalization; a climate of oppressive and exclusive government will invite non-acceptable ways to resolve grievances." Harris Johnson, a con cerned citizens, said, "Both Walter Jackson and Joe Becton are guilty of doing a good job and being black and not being a part of the white majori ty on this council. . . .If this action is taken, it may be the same kind of sum mer that we have had In' other cities: long and hot." Dr. C.E. Boulware, who spent twelve yean on the Couwreminded its IComiiroatfouFi-jil ''i y -' f ' : 4 v- ;J. 1 d .5 ;4 r. i J. ;i K 4. V
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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June 21, 1980, edition 1
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