North Carolina Newspapers

Duke University Library Newspaper Department Durham NC 27706 National Consumer Education Week October 5-11 Words Of Wisdom Plastic, rargeons aowsdays eaa do almost anything with the hnmaa nose except keep it oat af other people's basJness. The tongue is like a race horse, which raas faster the less weight it carries. VOLUME 58 NUMBER 40 m. DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1980 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30 CENTS 111 M AT a JO. M Senate Confirms Judge Ijcftard E ram '4 nit WASHINGTON North Carolina Appeals Court Judge Richard C. Erwin was finally con firmed by the U.S. Senate Monday, September 29, and becomes the first Afro-American to serve as a federal court judge in North Carolina since Reconstruction. He will assume a new judgeship in the state's Middle Judicial District. Erwin was nominated by Democratic Senator Robert (NC) Morgan for the post, and was otrongly supported by Governor James B. Hunt. Erwin's nomination had been stall ed, however, for several months by North Carolina's Republican Senator Jesse Helms, who refused to send his "blue slip" to the Senate Judiciary Committee, giv ing formal endorsement or rejection of Erwin. Helms claimed "reservations" about Erwin's sponsor ship of a remote labor law in the General Assembly, and refused to return Er win's phone calls on the matter. Erwin, 56, was a veteran Forsyth County state representative, a member of the Penal Study Commission, a member of the General Statutes Commission and .chairman of the board of Bennett College, Greensboro in late 1977 when Gov. Hunt ap pointed him to one of three appeals court seats created by anti-crime legislation. Hillside High School Student Named Merit Scholarship Semifinalist Judge Richard C. Erwin. . . . . .speaking in Durham last week at the NCCU Law School Dedication Miss Kimberly Jo Bat tle, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Battle, 1636 Marian Avenue, Durham, and a senior at Hillside High School, has been selected' as a Semifinalist in competition for Merit Scholarships to be offered in 1981. Semifmalists named in every state, by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, represent the top half of one per cent of the state's LIBRARY TO BE DEDICATED ' The ceremony to dedicate the new main Durham County Library building will be held Sun day, October 5, in the garden area at the rear of ihe main library. 'A con cert by the Durham Sym phony Orchesira at 2 p.m. will precede ihe ceremony. Dewey Scarboro, Chair man of (he Durham Board Of County Commissioners will preside over i he event , which is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The program will in clude remarks by Dr. Ben jamin Powell, chairman of the Durham County Library Board of Trustees, Mrs. Charles Wans, member of the Library Board, and (tieorge Linder, director of (he Library. Musical selec tions will be offered by the Scarborough Nursery School and the Durham Symphony. Also par ticipating in the program will be Reverend Charles Smith, Boy Scout Troop Number 451, Reverend William C. Bennett, and Reverend W.W. Easley. Division of Stale Library, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, will deliver the dedicatory address. A reception and open house will follow the ceremony. At 5 p.m. Dr. Lily Tong Chou will offer a piano concert in the library's auditorium. The public is invited a id encouraged to attend. 1 1 the eve u of rain, the program will be held in side i ne library o, le third floor. Tiie icw 65 .(XX) square fooi library was .pc .ed ihe public o Matvi 17, 1980. Desig ,ed by Hack .cy. K .::, a -d Seats, Aic ii:cc:s. : c library was built with funds committed as a result of overwhelming public support for a $3 million bond issue in 1976. Land for the building was Communication Corpora tion, and support for (he bond issue was solicited by a broad coalition of com munity groups, organized by the Durham Junior League. Since Ihe opening of the new library in March, public response to the ser vices provided i here has been dramatic. Visitors to the library have numbered over 130,000. Over 4,000 new borrowers have registered for library caids. Book circulation nas increased fifty per cent over tne same period last year in the old main iibtaty. a 5.400 square f.v: Carnegie library built i . 1921. Carolina Action Demands Property Tax Relief ; Hu dicds I C'a: -h a i.' M:on;K'is - : (k-K'ss N.n 1 C a ''' a veutod Kale; l""ut sciay clcra d ;c' :l fi.-Mi sky-t.'iko i v v - pa y 'axcA. "j..w a J m.'doia ' : -g. Mil o pcplc !;v ' Shouldctcd 'i'C a bind..' in r h is s'a e I n 1 '!" declared H'b M ( o.a , a spokesma i t'.n "o m up. I is lime Mia' ui Ucnihos gif ihe bieaks a al "c ci -p i at i ,;is weie made pay : licit I'aii shaie!" : CA is advi'ca'i'ig a ("it cut '-Breaker Piopery ,Ta Sys cm . give icliel wm kt i! a id fixed- c 'me lamilies whose i -V r.es have n,' kep' u vvi'1 seating pi.'pety values. The Ciicui; Bieaket 'tes ptopeity :axes to a family's income, s. thai i hey will only have 'o pay as much pi open y ;ax as i hey can' afford to pay. Mrs. Christine Suud wick of Durham com mented: "Duke Power Company, General' Telephone, and Southern Bell just got pioperty tax jcuis in Durham County totaling over $260,000! Why is it that we are being .forced out of our homes, -ftpariinems, and farms When the corporations arei -felling more lax cuts?" '.- CA's Circuit-Breaker would give relief not only to homeowners, but to renters and small farmers a)so. CA estimates ttyti about seven nat cent of ; beraon'f rent goat; to pay ia.. a m l. r iin lancuonri rtrooert1 iss. GOVERNOR PROCLAIMS OCTOBER "HUNGER FIGHTING MONTH" RALEIGH Gover nor James B. Hunt, Jr., has proclaimed October as "Hunger-Fighting Month" throughout North Carolina in full support for over twenty CROP Hunger Walks to be held in the state this month. . In his proclamation, the governor stated that "one person dies every eight seconds from hunger-' related causes throughout the globe." He added that "up to eighty per cent of the rural inhabitants in Asia, Africa, and Latin America lack safe drink ing water and access to basic health care" and fre quently have to walk twenty miles a day just to reach water or a clinic. . He further expressed the state's concern for the undernourished and malnourished citizens in isolated rural and urban pockets of Dovtrtv In North Carolina. Twenty five per cent of the CROP Hunger Walk proceeds will stay in the local event communities to help local hunger-fighting agencies, such as Meals-on-Wheels, do their jobs better. Rev. Darryl Peebles of Graham, N.C., kicked off the Fall Carolinas CROP hunger campaign by riding his bicycle 500 miles from Graham to Valley, Alabama, September 21-26, with sponsorship funds from Alamance County industry and business. Peebles helped Church World Service build emergency housing in Guatemala with CROP raised funds after the 1976 earthquake. He will be raising community con-j sciousness of local andi global hunger issues and how they (local Carolina communities) can organize their own local, (Continued on Pate 2),. "aV 4a Tkm K J A.1 Cullowhee Experience School for Gifted Students; member of Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society; member. Na tional Junior Honor Society, and president of the National Honor Socie- iy. Her other extracur ricular activities include Marching Band and Sym phonic Band, Band Flag Captain, Human Rela tions Committee, and Stu dent Council. Miss Battle has lived and traveled extensively in Africa. A.I. USA Reports Torture Occurring in Zaire Miss Battle high school senior class. Miss Battle was cfte of over one million students nationwide who entered the 1981 Merit Program by taking the"" PSATNMSQT in 1979. An active student at Hillside, Miss Battle's honors include: Semifinalist, - National Achievement Scholarship Program; student at the North Carolina Gover-. nor's School-East in mathematics, 1979; Duke University Pre-College Program, 1980; Western" Carolina University- NEW YORK The U.S. Section of Amnesty International announced last week that people ar rested in the Zairean capital, Kinshasa, on suspicion of political dis sent or for taking pari in demonstrations have been 'severely tortured. Despite official Zairean denials of ill trea(menl of prisoners, Amnesty Inier naiional had evidence of torture of scores of political prisoners in the capital within the past year, the U.S. Section said. Torture methods in clude electric shocks and being hung upside down, it said. The worldwide human rights organization laun ched an international cam paign last May to draw in ternational attention to political arrests, torture and killings of political prisoners in Zaire. Since then it has continued to receive eye-witness infor mation about such human rights violations. Some of APs informa tion comes from eighty former Zairean prisoners who left their country and were examined between May 1979 and May 1980 by doctors acting for AI, who found evidence that sixty of them had been tortured. The Zaire authorities (Continued from Page .3) APPEAL TO BLACK ELECTORATE By Benjamin L. Hooks Executive Director, NAACP The power of the ballot box is grossly underestimated by many black Americans to day, especially in this election year where the tide of events reshape the political race almost daily. Every four years, the presidential election affords us an opportunity to replace national disenchantment over the government, the economy, the judicial pro ces, social issues and international relations with positive action. Almost every year we get a chance to vote in state or local elections. " ,. The general trend toward focusing on our personal problems permeates all levels of tin's society contributing significantly to voter apathy. Yet, still another more serious attitude dominates ihe thinking of ihe seventeen million potential black voters in towns and cilies across the nation. That attitude is a sense of "powerlessness" or the inability lo change many inequities inherent in our American system creating the framework for a type of voter apathy which is, in some cases, extremely difficult to combat. Voter apathy among our black consistency is as prevalent as the latest disco beat, a condition that reflects in our total voier strength. Black voter statistics from recent years indicate that less than half of our potential voting strength has ever been realiz ed, with only 49 per cent turning out for ihe last presidential election. Yet, if we had 85 per cent of all registered black voters casting their ballots on November 4 this would result in a total of 10.6 million voles. The black electorate in this country can and does influence elections, and provide in some cases ihe margin of victory. Two years ago, black voters in Philadelphia responded lo what they considered lo be hostile, racist remarks by former Mayor Frank Rizzo, when a public referendum that would have allowed Rizzo to seek re election was under consideration. With assistance from the National Association for ihe Advancement of Colored People's Registration-Get Out The Vote Campaign, some eighty per cent of ihe black voting population flocked to the polls resulting in the overwhelming defeai of ihe referendum. Today Frank Rizzo is no longer in politics and the new mayor is considered to be more sensitive to black concerns. The NAACP Regisirai ion-Get Out The Vote Campaign is in full swing today, and this year's effort has developed into the largest and most comprehensive commitment of financial resources and manpower in history. Radio and television public service announcements, "door-to-door" registration, voter registration discos and a series of get out the vote activities are now in progress to sensitize black voters from coast to coast about (he importance of voting this November. With the major push coming from NAACP branches across the country, the campaign projects that as many as eleven million potential black voters can be reached by Election Day. For instituting change that will represent real progress for black Americans, the political and legal processes are the best weapons available. One of them, voting, doesn't cost a dime. But if we don't exercise our voting privileges, we run the risk of seeing longer unemployment lines, higher inflation rates and even more substandard and unequal educational institutions. Black youth in particular are facing staggering unemployment levels, so they clearly have the most to gain from aggressive participation. Yet, although they comprise nearly a quarter of our voting age potential strength (approximately 22 per cent), they have the worst voting record of any age or ethnic group. The voting process is fairly simple today. We should not forget, however, the strug gles and harassment that black voters endured as recently as the early '50's to preserve the sanctity of the "the right to vote." WE SHALL OVERCOME, the title of our illustrious black marching theme, will never ring true until we begin to combine our efforts in attacking the injustices in the American system. Black power begins at the ballot box. ' - NCCU Holds Fall Convocation ByTrellieL.Jeffers At the second annual Fall Convocation at North Carolina Central Universi ty Thursday, September 25, Chancellor Albert N. Whiting praised the col lege for the "contribution it has made to North Carolina and the entire nation," and he attacked the press, particularly the Raleigh News and Observer, for its demean ing remarks about predominantly black col leges. Referring to a recent ar ticle that appeared in the Raleigh newspaper which referred to NCCU as an "Academic Slum," Whiting said, "The remark reflected an ethnocentric bias unwor thy of any responsible newspaper." Whiting said, "NCCU has been the recipient of equitable funding only since 1971, and now we are expected to make the same progress as the elite colleges." He referred to a sign which he said hung in his general's office in Japan when he (Whiting) . was there during World War II which had the message, "The difficult we do right away; the im possible takes a little longer." He indicated that the school has been ex pected to do the impossi ble because it has not received funding equal to that of the predominantly white colleges. He cited the NCCU library as an example say ing that funds had to be secured from the Mellon and Carnegie foundations in order to upgrade the library. Whiting said, "NCCU has been able to build a library worthy of Phi Beta Kappa, and another, school despite its size, despite its funding has been unable to do so." Citing other ac complishments that he said were worthy of praise, Whiting contended that the show-cause order has been removed from the NCCU Law School by the Accreditation Com mittee of the Section of Legal Education and Ad missions to the Bar of the American Bar Associa tion, and that the Law School is now fully ac credited and would remain so for the next ten years. He said that the Nursing School, the Department of Education and the Home Economics Department are still in danger. Whiting also praised the faculty for its outstanding qualifications and for its ability to motivate (continued on Page 2) Asheville IsSite For NAACP N.C. Confab CHARLOTTE The 37th Annual Convention of the North Carolina State Conference of Bran ches, National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored People, will be held October 23-26 in Asheville. The Asheville NAACP Branch, under the leader ship of Dr. Richard Chiles, is extending a cor dial welcome to all delegates. The Asheville Branch is a very active unit of the Association. The first Field Secretary of the N.C. State Con ference of Branches was the late Mrs. L.B. Michael of Asheville. Mr. and Mrs. Z.B. Cook, longtime NAACP leaders in Asheville will be honored and also Mrs. Daisy C. Glenn, State Conference Secretary; T.L. Leonard and Mrs. Grace Dorn. The Convention Theme is: "The NAACP and Political Action In a Time of Economic Crisis." The final workshop will focus on the theme, "The NAACP and The Church, Partners for Progress in Economic Development," and will be led by Rev. L.S. Miller, pastor, Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church. Favpftvillf nnH Dr. Grady D. Davis, pastor, Union Baptist Church, Durham. Kelly M. Alexander, Sr., of Charlotte, is presi dent of the North Carolina NAACP. Convention sessions will be held at the Smoky Mountain Inn in Asheville's Thomas Wolfe Plaza. UDI-CDC Executive On Employment Policy Panel R. Edward Stewart, ex ecutive director for UDI Comrrfunity Development Corporation has been ask ed to serve as a panelist on Economic Development and the Private Sector at a conference sponsored by the National Commission for Employment Policy. The conference, to be held at the Marriott Hotel at Dulles International Airport in the Virginia Washington area, will focus on Economic Development Policies to Reduce Structural Unemployment. Stewart will speak on the activities involved in Economic Development by minorities and the ac tivities of UDI-CDC. UDI-CDC is currently im-1 plementing an economic program designed to create over 1,500 jobs, revitalize a designated special impact area and promote two business ven tures that employ over six ty persons and should gross over cie million u Sales this vear. The Industrial Park was started in 1979 and cur rently has one manufac turer located there employing 160 persons. According to present negotiations, the Park is scheduled to have at least, three more manufacturers operating during 1981. Ef forts are underway to ex pand the park from 41 acres to 130 acres over a five-year development plan. Stewart said the development plan is sup ported by a study by Research Triangle Management Institute. UDI-CDC has a .board of nineteen persons selected from community councils and the corporate structure to provide a cross-section in view points and representation while responding to the economic needs of the community Under a defin ed plan. W.P. Edwards serves as chairman of the Board and William V. Bell is the president.