Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Dec. 23, 1989, edition 1 / Page 1
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LAc-CH ^Ui\ 3930 ^3iAi>Ki. i NC "'599-3930 Mats (USPS 091-380) OLUME 67-NUMBER 51 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA — SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1989 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE:30 CENTS NEWS BRIEFS Last Issue of the Year This is the last issue of the 1989 year. The next issue will be dated January 6, 1990 This will allow our employees to have a vacation with family and friends. The management and staff of Tfie Carolina Times would like to thank you for patronage during 1989. We would like to wishi each of you a safe Merry Christmas, and a prosperous New Year. The Management N.C. State Motor Club Urges Motorists To Drive Safely During Holidays CHARLOTTE — An estimated 36 people may be "killed in paffic accidents in North Carolina over the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s holiday weekends, and approximately 2,000 injured according to the N. C. State Motor Club. The Christmas holiday officially begins at 6:00 p.m. Friday, December 22 and ends at midnight Monday, December 25. The New Year’s holiday begins at 6:00 p.m. Friday, December 29 and ends at midnight Monday, January 1. Last year 46 persons were killed and 2,732 injured over the two official holiday weekends, while 37 were killed and 2,464 were injured in 1987 over a similar period. The Christmas and New Year’s holiday period.traditionally is a time of family reunions, friendly gatherings and good cheer. The holiday tradition also holds that an increase in the number of serious injuries and fatalities on the roadways will occur. The holiday season is a joyful time of year, a cause for celebration", Dr. John G. Frazier, III president of the statewide motor club said. "People enjoy the many parlies and gel togelhers and alcohol consumption often figures prominently at these gatherings", he added. "This is a particularly appropriate lime to focus our attention on the critical problem of drinking drivers. The drinking driver has no place on our highways, especially during the festive holiday season". All drivers are urged not to drink and drive. If in a group, designate one person to refrain from drinking and drive the others home safely. "Law enforcement officers gel lough when it come to DWI", Frazier said. Police roadblocks and checkpoints arc one of the most effective means of keeping the drunken driver off the road and can be expected this holiday season”, he added. Motorists arc also urged to redouble their efforts to obey all speed limits, avoid peak periods and travel during the non rush hours if at all possible. "Don’t forget to buckle your seat belt", Frazier slated. "It’s the best lifesaving device available to the motoring public". The most recent study by the University of N.C. Highway Safety Research Center revealed seat belt usage in North Carolina hovers around 60%, one of the highest in the nation. "Let’s make it even higher", Frazier urged. To date the North Carolina death loll stands at 1,371 which is 126 less than at this same time last year. Make this a safe and happy time by driving carefully. Gov. Martin Offers Reward In Murder of Durham Woman RALEIGH — Governor James G. Martin lias announced that the State is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Cynthia Jones Kirk of Durham, North Carolina. On Monday, August 21, 1989, the body of Cynthia Jones Kirk, female, age 34, of 502 Constitution Drive, Durham, North Carolina, was found in the kitchen of her home. Ms. Kirk had been stabbed . repeatedly in the chest with what appeared to be a knife with a thin blade.. Anyone having information concerning this murder should contact the Durham Police Department or the State Bureau of Investigation. Emergency Energy Fund Seeks Contributions On Dec. 4, the Emergency Energy Fund of Durham County opened to low income households for assistance witli heating costs. The fund after serving 92 households without heat presently had $3,022.48 approximately left. This is the only heating resource fund presently in operation for low income families in Durham County. Conttibutions arc needed immediately to prevent the fund from having to temporarily close. Tax deductible contributions should be made payable to the Emergency Energy Fund and mailed to: Emergency Energy Fund, Post Office Box 810, Durham, North Carolina 27702 Scientists Report Success Against Sickle Cell WASHINGTON, D.C. — A flurry of recent reports suggests that the scientific community is making progress against sickle cell anemia — a disease which in the U.S. primarily affects blacks. Previously doctixs could only treat the pain associated with the disease but new research has given home that they will soon be able to attack the disease itself. An estimated 2.5 million of America’s 30 million African-American population carry the genetic trait for the disease which tends to kill its victims before age 30. Spike Lee Working On New Movie NEW YORK, N.Y, — Young movie producer Spike Lee has begun work on his latest movie - "Variations on the Mo’ Better Blues." The movie is said to center around male-female relations and is expected to be released late next summer. kistims 4 Everett Goldston Leads The Way Driving The Santa Train To The Pole By Jim Wicker With just the smallest amount of imagination — and, of course, the Fighting Poverty Is Next Civil Rights Battle NEW ORLEANS — "Too many people are willing to ignore the problems of poverty around them, and changing that philosophy may become the focus of a new civil righl.s movement. "There’s little doubt that what we have now is a better distribution of wealth across racial lines, but it is far from sufficient when wc look at the disproportionate minority population affected by poverty in this society,” said Washington Post writer Juan Williams in a civil rights conference session that explored how the movement has come to this point. The conference, "The Continuing American Dilemma," was sponsored by the Amistad Research Center at Ttilane University in commemoration of the 159th anniversary of the Amistad slave ship incident and the 45th anniversary of Gunnar Myrdal’s pallibrcaking "An American Dilemma." Williams urged everyone regardless of religious and ethnic background — to look at poverty as an area where they can make the most difference. "We have to get more involved with people who are poor and disadvantaged," Williams said. "To that extent, there is no glory. I’m not talking about marching. I’m talking about making yourself available on the front lines of a new type of movement to people who are desperate for simply the sight of your face. "It’s clear now that we can make immense progress in an incredibly short period." he said, referring to the national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and the recent elections of a black governor in Virginia and black mayors in New York and Seattle. "The black middle class has expanded rapidly and wc can expect in the 1990s to see the black middle class mainstream as certain trends become more evident," Williams said. Among those trends in the ’90s wilt be a sharpening of class lines, especially among black Americans, he said. The lop 20 percent of black Americans make over half the income in black American society while the bottom fifth is poorer than ever, he said. Racial identification for blacks doing well is going to lessen under these circumstances as opportunities open time and again," Williams said. He predicted a huge influx of immigrants to the United Stales that will add a "brown component" to the traditional black-while civil rights argument. There will be radical shifts regarding the concept of minority as the number of Hispanic immigrants increases, he said. It has been estimated that b'' Ute end of t'-e "'Os, there will be as many Hispanics in the work force as the-e a- olack Americans, Williams said. "This is no time to be confused, no time to be paralyzed, no time to be bogged in debate with the ghost of Ronald Reagan. This is lime for us to understand the shifting dynamics of this nation and to accept the idea that really the fight oxer integration is over. The unfinished agenda has to do with poverty, and it has to be a class-based movement if it is to have relevance and success in the future." price of a ticket on the Ellerbee Creek Railway — those bent on enjoying this Christmas season to the fullest took a trip to the ‘North Pole’ during the past week. At the controls during most of the make-believe journeys to the northern extocmes of the earth was Everett "Goldie" Goldston of Durham, the train’s engineer and a train buff for more years than he can remember. Making the ‘Santa Train’ runs was just a part of his regular engineer’s job at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science off Murray Avenue in Durham. When the little green locomotive and its siring of four cars pulled into the liny red and white ‘North Pole’ Station, OF Santa Claus himself was always waiting by his Christmas tree to greet his visitors. "Santa talked to every boy and girl," Goldston says, explaining the train had 10 wail for up to 20 minutes on the average while the youngsters aboard told the jolly old fat man what they wanted him to bring them this Christmas. On most trips, the Santa Train, which made runs to the North Pole only four days this year, was loaded with 50 to 60 youngsters — depending on their ages and size. "They came from all over the stale," Goldston said. As soon as Santa had handed out candy toeats and finished talking to the youngsters, Goldston got the uain huffing and puffing again — always delivering them back to the Museum Depot, where they’d started their journey some 30 minutes earlier. The Santa Train, which was decorated with hundreds of bright Christmas lights, was extremely popular this year, Goldston said, explaining that no fewer then 500 youngsters and their parents made the North Pole excursion one night. "The were lined up four abreast all the way back to the parking lot," he said, adding that the little train somehow managed to accommodate the crowds. There was one sticky situation on a rcicenl night, though, when the lilUe locomotive got stuck on icy tracks on a hill approaching the North Pole Station. Two men stood on the from of the train to provide weight and traction and iinally — like the little train that could — it reached its destination. For the next several trips, the staff weighted the locomotive with several heavy bags of sand to make sure it negotiated the snowy hills. In addition to the North Pole, passengers sometimes get to catch sight of a 900 lb. buffalo, a mountain lion and a timber wolf that live in fenced in habitats alongside the railroad tracks. There arc also black bears, Goldston said, "but they’re mostly sleeping this time of year." Goldston, who retired from his job as a science teacher at a Chapel Hill school six years ago, couldn’t be happier than when he’s running the museum’s little toain. "I enjoy it," he says with a wide grin. "I’ve always love trains, and I have a collection of electric trains — old Lionels and others," he said, explaining when his daughter told him about the job opening at the museum, he applied for it. He’s been running the train for the past 18 months. The Santa Train is a relatively new feature for the museum, which used the locomotive for excursions around the wooded northern half of its acreage year ’round — when the weather is suitable. And, unless it s his day off, Goldston can be found at the controls, smiling as the little locomouve chugs its way to the furthest points of the imagination.
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Dec. 23, 1989, edition 1
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