Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Nov. 20, 1982, edition 1 / Page 1
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Z3 '882 v rr W s . "Black Americans quW VJWjfSJalW ' our .concerns and iW Nec iTl "geo-politics and our co Quf .coun tries..." if we are to -e "prosperity or justice", at home, says - Congressman Gus Savage. . This week, Part I of an enlightening report on geo-politics by Curtis T. Perkins--Pages 10-11 . , : , ' - ;. L " TV , 1 V:. (USPS 091-380) Words Of Wisdom ". lie is truly wise who gains wisdom from ' ) another's mishap. , , - PabBosSynw Nothing can overtake an antrnth if it has a , minute's start. , Anonymous VOLUME 60- NUMBER 46 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1982 TELEPHONE (819) 682-2913 PRICE: 39 CENTS New ILsiw tow Otty9SEIsainidl Inn TaMmig--' DewinitowE.'L By uonaia Aiaernwn There was a.time when a city, like Durham, wanted -to build a public facility, it would simply condemn the land v it needed if the owners wouldn't cdoperate, and haggle about the price later in court. If Durham could do that now, it likely would be, a lot further along with plans for a downtown civic center, and with a lot fewer headaches as well. The old condemnation law allowed a so-called quick take that transferred property ownership to. the city immediately. But a new state law makes the condemnation process a lot less attrac-! tive because now, instead of the property automatically becoming the city's as soon asit condemns, a judge has to decide if and when the local government takes over the land. The new law has slow ed the land acquisition process for the civic center, and given city of ficials almost endless headaches. On paper, the matter seems simple enough. The city needs to buy 14 parcels of downtown land to assemble the pro perty needed to build a civic center approved in JUUV TTIVt- - A. Ul J I Will voters approved a $10.5 million bond referen dum. A new hotel and office complex is also to be built as part of the downtown complex., '. Hefting a $1.2 million land acquisition budget city officials moved into negotiations. Most of the property owners' sold rather quickly for prices ranging from $25,000 to about $700,000. Cur rently, the city is about $14,000 j over "its land buying ' budget with about four other parcels of land to be purchased. Two other parcels are under, option and one owner is negotiating with the city to sell the other parcel. Then came the snag. Grover ' Burthey and been more like fencing matches. At last count the city, wants to give Burthey and Williams $120,000 'for their property, and finally " approved, thus the location could be dif ferent. i- Burthey and Williams $800,000. ; , But even with all these v complicating factors, the ; city has several alter-' uwen wuiiams oaiKea at the two black a city appraisarot tneir businessmen, witf. me of land of; $100,0po-and lthe few black bus. esses said they wanted about; How, rAH,- hr proce to $520,000 At $700,000. Burthey and Williams own a large building .at 213 E. Chapel Hill Street. It houses their business, Furniture Moods. Another property owner, Wade Penny, who owns Penny Fur niture Store and several other businesses downtown, also balked at the city's offer for his land. A city appraisal set Penny's property value at $196,000. But Penny is negotiating. fhenl;; .came the headaches; mostly in private negotiations that, according , to sources close to the matter, have that point the talks bv ke off. The city's real estate officials started talking about condemning the land, but sources say the Durham City Council has rejected that recom mendation. ' Several . issues, however, complicate the situation. .:;?-. . ; , . One is the fact that the city can only condemn land for a public use, such as the civic center, but not tor a'private use, has not such as the proposed what he hotel v; and building. But center site has know, according to a citv natives it can choose. source, that if they sell - . ?ne to move the now, they could come up , c'v,c center location so' short if the Jiotel or of , "at the disputed proper-:' fice building goes on ls not a factor in the ' their property. They" development. Most peo-: could negotiate with the P,e interviewed agreed,?. nowever, tnat tnis is not likely occurrence. i private 1 developer themselves and probably get more money. v ( Another issue is the fact, that ' Burthey and Williams, according to both city officials and other sources,.? cannot relocate downtown in v building of comparable size, for the $120,000 the city wants to j pay ineir propeny. - ; -; . City negotiations with Penny p-c also a com-; pKcating factor Penny I, said publicly vants for his Another option is to find a comparable piece of property downtown for Burthey and, Williams to relocate their . business into, and pay moving expenses, along with a square foot for sqaure foot property ex- otticer. property, ut a sourcf the civicsays , it's in the not been neighborhood . of for chance. The other ootion. of course,' is to condemn the land. Finally of course, the city could pay what . the businessmen want, i ' Both Burthey and 1; Williams declined com- (Continued on Page 13) srMr w ,,,,.,. iJs, ,,, i i t If-- V T -'5 J , '-W, I A . 1 ...t J,. jTTTT.., -jf S3 4 5 'v- - Mrs. Hall Goes to Congress State Senator Katie Hall (D-Gary) thanks suppottsrt after she was chosen to represent Indiana's First District in the U.S. House. Mrs. Hall is the first black and third woman to represent Indiana In Congress. She takes the, seat left vacant by the death of Democrat Adam Ben jamin. - . Wtft' State's Black Lobbying OMc&M&pen in Raleigh flys Donald Alderman Two historic events will converge in Raleigh in January. : ; When the N.C. Legislature meets, 12 black lawmakers will first time' that a fulltime lobbyist will wbrk in the state capital to push for black concerns. Supporters of the lob bying office say there are still some final details to take their seats, marking I be worked out before the the first time in history office opens, but BUILDING IN QUESTION - This furniture store - Fur niture Moods - at 213 East Chapel Hill Street has been the subject of some tough negotiations as the city con tinues trying to amass the parcels of land necessary to begin work on the downtown civic center. The owners Grover Burthey and Owen Williams - want more than $500,000 for the building, while the city has offered them $120,000 Rioto by MiyfWd .that more than five. blacks have held seats in the state house and senate. But at about the same' time, a coalition of black organizations will open a lobbying office in Raleigh, marking the everyone is optimistic that everything will be underway at about the working on it.- But it looks like we'll have the lobbying office when the legislature convenes." Frye recommended back in June that a lob bying office be establish- ed in Raleigh. He spoke before a joint convention of the state's black lawyers, doctors and dentists .meeting in same time the legislature Winston-Salem convenes. "A group of us met last week," said former State Senator Henry Frye, "and we're still That was the first time organizations, had held a joint convention v According to members (Continued On Page 3) Local Police Irutality Suit Follows National Trend By Donald Alderman In several weeks when attorneys for Durham County go into court to try to prove that a coun ty ABC officer is not culpable in an attack on Durham man during an ample, the U.S. Justice Department, statistics report that 45 per cent of the people killed by police in this country are black. There are no figures available for at tacks that are not fatal, ABC raid, the case will t many of whicn otten go follow a ranidlv growing unreported. In some of national pattern. Leroy McNeii, 26, recently filed a $650,000 suit against the county, the ABC office, and ABC Officer Ronald Allen, claiming that the officer's attack was. un provoked and a vicious example of "police brutality." McNeil, who says his hearing in both ears has - been permanently damaged following a blow to the head alleged ly delivered by Allen dur ing a raid on a suspected "bootleg" house at 1006 Berkeley Street, is seek ing $400,000 in actual damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. , n . !. i ne uurnam case is the nation's largest cities, such as Chicago and Philadelphia, statistics show that about 70 per cent of the people killed by police "are black. ' Police seldom face criminal prosecution on police ; charges police brutality, because even in wnat often appear to be ex treme cases, citizens have a hard time piercing the system. First of all, many charges against police get lost in an official maze called "internal affairs," where police investigate themselves, and the charges seldom are discussed publi There is yet that the only alternatives they have when , faced with alleged police brutality is to call for a federal investigation and file a civil suit. According to one Justice Department of ficial, the -department gets more than 10,000 complaints annually; about police brutality. In the McNeil case, all these factors appear to have led to the suit, filed just two days shy of the first anniversary of the alleged attack. .. The confrontation ;me on a cold Noi. cr night when three Durham County ; ABC officers moved in to 'raid K a suspected "bootleg house in the Walltown area near Nor- UDI Initiates Revolving Loan Program For Small Businesses thgate Mall. The house belongs to Mrs. Janet McNeil, who says she had agreed to let the officer search the house. Her son Leroy. says he asked the of-, fjcers for '.'their names and as he turned to get a oencil, Allen hit him with the heavy metal, flashlight. (Continued On PageJK UDI Community Development Corpora tion initiated its Revolv ing Loan Fund program by conducting the first advisory committee meeting recently. The program was established with a $400,000 grant from the Economic Development Ad ministration. It is design ed to be a financial for small applications submitted located in or for loans and to make recommendations to the Staff and Board of UDI Community Develop ment Corporation. - The role has . . major significance, because the source businesses planning to locate in cer , tain census tracts in . Durham designated as UDI's Special Impact Area. Special emphasii will be placed on the hist one of manv suits problem that helps i occurring around the stay out of criminal country in which citizens are charging law enforce ment officers with police brutality. In many cases, the citizens are winning and juries are ordering large payments. v While charges of , police brutality, especial- court. It is what the Justice Department calls a "bad network" that in cludes police, district at torneys, judges and other law enforcement officials who rally' around each ' other whenever charges are .1 WHA 1 , if ever, T V . A -V 9&m?S&' ' another I - i.n " .-V. H i Mice . U 'ifYA -1 , , : fl'i UDI Industrial Park. success of the program According to Ed depends on the loans be-' Stewart, executive direc- ing repaid with interest." tor of UDI Community Stewart emphasized Developmen t, that very attractive ( "UDICDC has funds , elements of the RLF are: available on a loan basis (1) the interest can be less to provide "support than ( that charged'; by . financintt" to small commercial lending 4 in- businesses while helping stitutions, and (2) a pay- m " ly agamst blacks, are hot lodged. ..new, they do seem to be ,: Therefore, many pco on the increase. For ex- pie apparently believe Ms. Julia Wilder, 70, (left) and Ms Macule Bozeman women ww Paro,,fl on th,,r vot,nfl f.ru,, con1v,ct,on$-: v 51, (center) were honored ta&7i!35 T r9turnd to t!w,r hm" ,B.west f,ab,,m, "Sf 1 , Dr. Joseph Lowery (right), president of the Southern N lbout t8n month, on kM wor r,,MS' POB,m, : Christian Leadership Conference, as the Pickens County ,n heavly black PPulatBd M,con CountY- ' mrm' them obtain technical and management assistance. These funds are the major elements lacking in most small businesses. We want to put these funds to work, so we are eager to begin servicing applicants that satisfy the RLF criteria." Stewart noted that "the primary step in organizing the RLF pro gram involved the development of policies to govern the operation and an advisory council to ensure that the policies are properly im plemented." The advisory council constitutes a cross section of persons in volved in daily activitie' related to government, banking, business development, corporate finance,, and manage ment. A major role of the committee is to analyze ment schedule can oc negotiated and governed by the ability and poten tial of the borrower. Criteria for loans have been established, and UDICDC is prepared to began receiving applica tions. Once an applica tion has been recom mended by the advisory committee and approved by the Board of UDICDC, funds could be available within 2-5 days. This factor is very importan because m often, if borrowr nasi to wait 18 monL fof, his funds, a change in the ; economic environment . may create an economic "'tuation that can not be dressed by the loan re quested. According to Stewart, ' "the primary purpose of ithe RLF program is to stimulate and sustain economic development" by assuming a greater' (Continued On Page I9V 3 A, .lit Til ! V iX'
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