, ri . i . i l .;: . ..rni n j i jir fc,.n, , , imm, , , ,t - -tf f ", ,-iTim J
1 . : Mrs.'. Heron ' ' , v
Mrs. Heron
W.V. Bell
Mrs. Spaulding
fn County Government
Commission Race Could
Shift Balance of Power
By Joseph E. Green
The balance' of power
on the Durham County
-Commission tilted
toward a dramatic shift
;rom a "holding action"
against change to a more
innovative approach to
governing , with
Tuesday's primary elec-
'tion.
: Two black incumbent ,
commissioners, Mrs.
Elna Spaulding and
William V, Bell received ,
the highest total of the
votes cast, while Mrs.
she was opposed to
discrimination,. .against ;
"blacks and women",
She indicated that she
would join the two black
commissioners on the
five-member board who
have been pushing for a
written affirmative &c
tion program. , "
Commissioner
William V. Bell said,
am glad to see a turn in
the direction of th com-
mission. Becky is going
to ?! make a real dif
' ference." ,. , r
k Re-elected to the com-
When it was deterinin-
ed that Mrs. Heron was
' going to be the fifth
county commissioner,
one veteran political
. observer said, "now we
have an .affirmative ac- ;
tion program". '
" Mrs. Spaulding hugg-,
' ed Mrs. Heron and Dr.
Lavonia Allison, head
of the Durham Commit
tee on 4he Affairs of :
Black People's political .
action committee, . said, j'
' "We have now broken
Lthe 3-2 stalemate. It's go
This story was-
reported by 'xjhev
Carolina Times', writers ;
Donald Alderman,
Joseph Green, Isaiah
Single tary, Elson Arm
strong, Jr., and Patricia
Williams, and written by
Executive Editor Milton
Jordan.
Tuesday's vote on the ?
highly controversial civic
center bond referendum
proved that the Durham ;
City Council saved the'
downtown civic center in
the eleventh hour with a
little money down: and a
promise for more ' ,
The $10.5. .million
bond referendum that
allows the city to .build, a v
downtown civic center
was approved by' more,, V"
than 2.600. votes with - Yf -'
black .. voters providing
the margin of victory..
According to unofficial
election returns, the vote,
was 10,393 tot. the civic :
center and 7,731 against.
Black voters in the ci
ty's nin? predominantly:
black precincts gave, the :
civic center 2,909 votes
and approved it in eight
of nine city precincts,'
and by large margins in
most of them. For exam
ple, the issue passed 539
to 176 in-,' Precinct '
Number 11 at' Hillside
School,' and by 694 Q
340 in Precinct 13 at Bur
ton School. f'V WASHINGTON -Without
- the black president Reagan signed
vote, the civic, center - int0:law Tuesday a 25
oonas wouia nave Jaiitfjeaif tension oT - the'
A
f t
. ... ... . .
'Tut , , I
J
0
I CD
1
IK1-' !
Waiting for the
. Results
Supporters of H.M. "Mickey" Michaux's bid for the 2nd District congres
sional C4t wait patiently for the election returns to begin rolling in Tuesday
' ni,(. Michaux won big in Durham, but carried only about 45 per cent of the
vote across the district and must win a July runoff to meet the Republican
challenger in November. , . si-MikM
Voting Rights Act Extended
- Rebecca !' Becky
' U - ' ' t! "1. r. --! f.,if, j-t. siaibiuaiv-. n o . .. uwnua w uuiu uavw jiivu rfTyear eXlCnStOn f 'OT-" tne ' trie riBht tO JVOte tnt'
'a&iaivl 3!?,r: VR' ActrwVtrown eldrAmtorf
Iso won a seat on the n7.. t-V nVh -"""" "Js f u.:",: gaven maicauon ot nis i.oenies ana we will not
also won a seat on the
board.
Mrs.-'' Spaulding, who
led the field of nine
County Commission
candidates, : ! polled
18,416 votes. Bell got
14,470. Mrs, Heron poll
ed 12,361 votes for. a
fifth place finish.
Mrs, Heron said, dur
ing an interview at elec
tion headquarters Tues
day night, that the coun
ty : system government
was run ' on a "buddy
system" and that she was
going to help change
that.
Other incumbents who
won Tuesday were Ed
win Clement with 12,974
votes and Dillard Teer
with I279l votes.
"There has been a lack
Dillard leer. Both men
finished behind Mrs.
Spaulding and Bell.
There is the possibility
that Mrs. Spaulding, Bell
or Mrs. Heron could be
elected chairman of the
county commission.
In recent weeks, the
1 two county commis
! sioners nave .stated
I publicly that Durham
i County needs an afflr-
mativc action program.
The county commis-,
sion race, with its field of
nine candidates, v had ;
been a mostly quiet af
fair, with discussions
centering on affirmative
action, more new in
dustry and business for ,
the county, and how to
capture some of the
residential growth that
ha been happening irr
the Triangle
preuuminaiiuy uiacK fj commitment
precinct did voters break the act)
trom the pattern ot
strong support for the ,
civic center bonds. In
Precinct 12, Pearson
acnopi, tne vote was .541
are covered. . - coming along with the
- Even though the Presi- civil rights "act."
dent commented that ' PUSH president Jesse
'.-"the right to vote is t'f, : Jacksorf alsb-questioned
-rne--w1 AcrmTmsttaiion's
, commitmenf ' to enforcr
to
enforce, 5
Campaign Signs Could
k Bring Fines To
Derelict Politicos
Joseph E. Green
Political campaign
down
of resnonsivenes's on the SlgnS must come
nart of the (ommicinn 1 within . 14 days after
and I find that unaccep-
table, " Jsaid . Mrs. Heron
Tuesday s . primary or
candidates could be fin-.
as her supporters, black according to a city
and white chanted, ordinance
"Becky, Becky, Becky' V
The final word of Mrs.
Heron's victory drew the
, first applause 1 of the
night. , i
Mrs. Heron said that
she believed that the
county : should have a
written affirmative ac
tion program because
"supporters, But" to many
others the "beacons" are
just plain trash.
According to' Jim
Tschupp, who is a
Durham city official
responsible ' for
; regulating the posting of
jthe ' signs, , candidates
Each, election year, ci-.'
I !' ' j i Vu ' must get c ty permission
I voluminous numbers of
v campaign a posters that i
I public office seekers tack ,
all over townvTo the
politicians the signs are
like; beacons attrac-
;
ting the eyes of potential
' - ' , k j.t i t ' , I. 1 i
. mmmmmmm i )' pwgtmW'i'llXZm
)-:- f ',Wi '1 I
, j:; - '
. ' I .VvV
.-(".(,.1 ' iv .
- HAMPTON, VA George kE. Wallace, a 1960 :
graduate of North Carolina Central University, has ,
been named to receive the T. Edward 1 Temple
Award at Virginia's public administrator of the.
Wallace has Deen assistant city manager for Com:
munlty Services since 1975.
before putting up a sign.
"We send all of the
candidates letters in-
dicating that signs are
not to be posted on
private property,"
Tschupp said, "unless
they have permission
from the property
owner.",
General Telephone
and Duke Power Com
pany have a policy that
does not allow can
didates to place their
signs on their poles
without permission.
f "It is the responsibili
ty of the candidates to
remove all of their signs.
between seven and four
teen days after the elec
tion," Tschupp said, "if
they do not remove thetjv
they will have violated i
the city ordinance."
Tschupp said that he did f
not know what kind of
sanctions would be given
to violators of the law.' t
'"In past years, city'.
, street crews and police
officers have been taking
the signs down after the
' election." .
It would be a lot easier
onthecityhe said, if the
candidates or their cam :
ipaign workers took up,
the signs r He did not
know how much money
the clean-up operation ;
' cost the city's tax payers
after this election. . s
against and 52 ' for the
bond issue.
Pearson School is a
predominantly . black
precinct with just over
. 1000 registered ' voters,
and about 600 of them
voted.
When asked what the
'Pearson School vote
reflected, Clarence
Brown, co-chairman of
the Durham Committee
on the Affairs of Black
People, said: ". . . .two
names, Z.D. Harris and
Rev. Whelchel."
The Durham Commit
tee, .the city's principle
black political organiza-1
tion endorsed the civic
center , bonds, which
generated most of the
strong black support for
the issue.
But Rev. L.H.
Whelchel, pastor of
Russell Memorial CME
Church on Alston
Avenue,;, was staunchly
opposed to the civic
center! Last weekv in a
story reported in The
Carolina Times, Rev.
Whelchel termed black
support fof the civic
center a "grave
mistake','.
It is not clear what
Rev. Harris' role was in
the Precinct.. 12 tur
nabout. Brown would
not elaborate and Rev.
Harris could not be
reached for comment.
But even without
Precinct 12, black voters
approved the civic center
bonds by, a margin of
about 3-1.
The margin is signifi
cant because the city
council .snatched the
civic center, it's pet pro
ject, from the brink of
disaster last Week when it "..
approved a $65,000 con
tract, and a 30 per cent'
"minority" participa
tion plan in connection
with the . volatile Hayti
controversy.
This approval, par
ticularly the $65,000 thai
goes to 'fcthe Haytl
Development Corpora
tion (HDC), won a ciyic
center endorsement from
the. Durham Committee
f!nn,,', v-
Designed to guarantee
free access to the , polls
for millions ot minority
voters , : the act req ui res
nine states and portions,
of thirteen others to get
Justice Department ap
proval for any changes in
elections law or pro
cedures. Forty of North
Carolina's ilOO counties
see its luster
diminished," NAACP
executive director Ben
jamin Hooks, a partici
pant in ; the signing
.ceremony, said that the
Justice Department
under Reagan "has con
sistently rolled back en
forcement "on civil
rights." Hooks, con
gratulated Reagan for
"belatedly, at least,
ing the act now that it
witnessed the signing.
Reagan said at the
ceremony, "Yes, there;
are differences over how
we strain the emialitv nwe
'-seekftfrllmcnlrpeo-,
pie, and sometimes, '
amidst all the overblown
has been extended, say-1 jrhetorice, the differences
ing, "if ir is extended
and not enforced, it's
merely and Indian trea
ty." 4,I hope that the
response today by the
civil rights ; leadership'
would inspire the presi
dent to go a step
further," Jackson said
referring to many among
the 350 persons who
County Government Pays
$40,000 But Denies Bias
By Isaiah Singletary
and
Joseph E. Green
Durham's county
government denied
charges of racial
discrimination in a suit
filed by two black nurses
in federal court but in a ,
negotiated settlement
agreed to pay- them ;
$40,500, the agreement
also orders the county to
immediately promote1
one of the nurses to a
supervisory position. ;
The two nurses Who
isued the county are Ms.
' Delores Vaughn and Ms.
.Ruth Amey. Both have
Worked for the county
health department for
more than . ten years.
They claimed they had
been denied promosion.
The settlement of the
their suit came after two
days of testimony jn the
action brought : by the
two nurses. The high:
point of the trial, which
; was held in federal court,
came when Ottis Ader, a
former' director of the
Durham County Health
Department, ; testified '
that one of the nurses,
Mrs. Vaughn, had not
been promoted in 1974 :
because "her attitude ,
was bad, she was not -well
motivated and she
had a lack of ability to
command the respect of
her fellow workers".
The two nurses con-"
tended in their complaint
'against the county that
they were not promoted
because of race and that
white nurses with con
siderably less experience,
were constantly being
promoted over them.
Mrs. Vaughn has
worked for the health
(Continued From Page 4)
tend to seem bigger than
i they ,are. But" actions
speak louder than words.
The struggle to renew
the act began in January
1981, but the administra
tion declined to support
it until this year, after it
already passed the House
of Representatives and
had gone to the Senate.
Even then, Reagan back
ed the "intent" require
ment, making the law
harder to enforce. He
finally retreated under,
pressure from clvit rights -groups,
The "intent": re
quirement ' would .have
meant that victims would
jhave to prove that
discrimination was the
motive of those who
'. denied them full citizen
ship rights a task
deemed impossible and
unrealistic by civil rights,
advocates.
; The extension specifies .
that the act has been .
vinlatpH ushn an )t!rm .
law has been applied in a
manner that results in ;
discrimination, not just
when it can be proved '
that there was; intent to'
(Continued On Paee 4)
Racial Terrorism Continues
By Charles E. Cobb
The City of New York
has recently experienced
one of the most . brutal
examples of the increase .
in racially motivated
violence, ; Three black
transit workers on their
way home were attacked
by a gang of white thugs.
, This racist, attack
resulted in the death of
one, Louis Turks, whom
police say was dragged
. from his car and savage
ly beat en. , " ; ?
Why were these men
subjected to this vicious
attack?. Because , they
were , black, and only
because they werte black.
. Racially - motivated '
violence is ori aharp rise ;
not only in New York
but across the country,
We often make the.
mistake of thinking that I
Commentary
restricted to the south (racial violence, we will
k,. mat nn mistake continue to be a nation
1 about ; ; it racism
permeates every corner
of our society. The bar
baric act which took
place on a street in
Brooklyn is simply the
manifestation of feelings
harbored by an increas
ingly violent white com
f munity. . , , , '
i During a national con
ference sponsored by the
United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial
fnctir in Anril : we
found that . racially tolerated.
motivated violence is at
an epidemic level nation
wide. Experts testified
that" unless the nation's
divided.
It is the responsibility
; of every institution from
the churches to the
schools to publicly lam
bast the perpetrators of
this violence and at the
same time demand that
the laws which are
already on the books be
enforced. The courts,
prosecutors and ; the
j police must make a clear
'showing that this type of
violence will' not be
Jegal machinery staged
an all-out' attack on this
this type of violence is ! most . hei now form a
I see no difference bet
ween a gang of whitt
teenagers attacking
blacks in Brooklyn and
the Ku Klux Klan bomb
ing a black church in
Alabama, because there
is no difference. Their
motives are the same. It
is clear that the Presi
dent's recent visit to a
black : . family in
Maryland who were vic
tims of racial, violence
has not stemmed the tide
of these increasing in
cidents of racist terror.
The absence of swift ac
tion by law enforcement
officials to I stop these
racial acts of violence
only serves to encourage
perpetrators of this most
obscene racial terrorism,
which threatens the very
fabric of society. If the
black community is not
protected from racist at
tacks, we will - protect
ourselves. We are tired
of hearing the economic '
and social reasons for
our being victimized at '
the hands of racist white
hoodlums. The message
to ' Uism must be that