ri
USPS 091-380
i.L;i:;E72-NUMBER2
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA — SATURDAY, JANUARY 15,1994 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE SO CENTS
EDDIE, DAVIS (standing) of the 30th Support Group, Mayor Sylvia Kerckhoff, Police Chief
:> Neil and Col. Chester Davis. (Photo by Ray Trent)
National Guard Holds
Leadership Breakfast
By Ray Trent
■inday, January 9, Mayor Sylvia Kerckhoff and
(..'iiicf Jackie McNeil were guests of the 30th
{ Ti v7 jp ciT v!ic Noilh Carolina National Guard
'ik'sliip breakfast hosted by Captain Eddie
at the Durham Armory.
)nc! Chester D^vis, who heads the three com-
; s Liioiied at Durham, gave the mayor and chief
sic-hi into the workings and function of the
;c :=re 1 1,533 national guards in the state. In
the Guard has an economic impact. There
> iuil-iime, salaried employees and the balance,
•'d to the financial coffers, are part-time.
Guard has the capability of dealing with natu-
.i.stcrs such as hurricanes, storms, fires, etc. The
ics in the communities are places where large
can gather. In some communities, the armory
place available. They can be used for so
cial functions and can be a haven in times of disaster.
Col. Davis also explained a program "Adding
Value to America" which deals with youth on drug
awareness and other problems of "growing up."
At the luncheon. Chief McNeil thanked all of the
guard and noted the many women who were present
saying that it was extraordinary that with their being
liomemakers, student^ and holding full-time jobs,
they still found time to serve their country.
Capt. Eddie Davis and Col. Chester Davis gave the
mayor and chief a complete tour of the facilities, dur
ing which time guard members, while undertaking
their functions, were able to meet the city officials.
Most members of the Guard reside in Durham and
took great pride in meeting the officials.
The NCNG is always recruiting young men and
v/omen to be part of this national force that is trained,
ready and capable of protecting the homefront and to
go, at a moments notice, anywhere in the world.
JRilAM NCNG MEMBERS listen to Mayor Kerckhoff and Chief McNeil. (Photo by Ray Trent)
Gunman Confronts Gasoline
Truck Driver and Shoots Him
; \P) - A gunman confronted a
? u:k driver Monday afternoon,
tv,';!; his money and fled - then
L!'rn:d and stopped just long
Ln lugii 10 shoot the man as he
.'•‘•i ■viih his hands raised.
The victim, identified by police
lis ivoy Flynn of Walkertown, was
-hot once in'the thigh about 2:30
\ii\. and was listed in fair condition
[i'- Duke University Medical Center,
t SL..'(.nd ;--ullet missed him.
Police said they had a descriptior
i ill'* robber and were searching
h’or him. •
Flynn had just pumped 8,800 gal
lons of gasoline into underground
tanks at Evan’s Mini Mart, a gas
Classmates First Accused In Poisoning
Police Evidence Casts Doubt
On Durham High Student
station and convenient store, when
he was confronted by the robber.
Postponed
THE PLANNING COMMITTEE of the East Durham Com-
munity Reunion announces the postponement of the 1994 East
Durham Community Reunion, originaily scheduled for July, due
to the recent unexpected death of the chairman, Mrs. Mary
Louise Dawson Smith.
(AP) - Police say mounting medi
cal evidence casts serious doubt on
a woman’s claim that her mentiJly
handicapped son was poisoned by
classmates at Durham High School.
A forensics report, prepared by
doctors at Duke University Medical
Center, has provided new clues in a
strange case that started a month
ago when Patricia F. Lyon publicly
accused unnamed students of pour
ing cleaning fluid on her 18-year-
old son’s lunch when he wasn’t
looking.
The accusations emerged after the
teen-ager was admitted to Duke,
where doctors removed part of his
intestines. At the time, doctors said
they could not determine what
made Flowers ill.
Now police say new evidence
shows that a single poison - like a
cleaning fluid - could not have
caused Alphanso Flower’s troubles.
And if, instead, he was poisoned by
a combination of toxic chemicals, it
couldn’t have happened in late Oc
tober, as Lyon has said.
"This report makes me feel that
it’s highly unlikely that it occurred
at Durham High School," police
Capt. E.E. Sarvis said Monday,
after reviewing the report.
Doctors still don’t know what
caused Flower’s illness. They know
he arrived at Duke on the verge of
■cleatfi Nov. 1; and surgeons had to
remove a section of severely
damaged intestine. But, they say,
he didn’t ingest poison in late Octo
ber. If he had, his larynx would
have been seared.
"As far as we know, his larynx
wasn’t burned," Sarvis said.
"This was a slow incurring in
testinal problem." Doctors will now
look into whether a combination of
poisons - or possibly a disease -
caused the teen’s problems.
Meanwhile, Lyon, who discussed
the case openly in December,
refuses to talk to detectives. She
Former
D.C. Mayor
To Wed
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - For
mer Washington, D.C., mayor
Marion Barry was the brunt of
jokes for his prison term on cocaine
possession charges, but an Okla
homa City woman says her future
son-in-law is quite the gentleman.
"He called me a few months ago
and asked me could he marry her,"
Isabella Masters said Wednesday.
"I said, T do appreciate you as
king me, with your age and her age
(57 and 48 respectively.) You have
my blessing. But just don’t work
her too hard.'” Mrs. Masters, who
occasionally runs for president, will
watch Saturday when Barry' weds
her daughtei-, Cora, in a ceremony
in the nation’s capital.
■ Cora Masters handles the media
for Barry, who has returned to
politics as a D.C. Council member.
She said she met Barry about 20
years ago while working on a
campaign for a former District of
Columbia delegate.
Their relationship took on more
serious overtones when Barry sepa
rated from his wife, Effi, she said.
The two have since divorced.
Cora Masters said that while
Barry was in prison, he "took that
time to reach inside himself." "He’s
a good person, his advocacy for
poor people and young people.
People have really begun to realize
it." Cora Masters, a professor of
political science at the University
of the District of Columbia, also
has tangled with legal problems.
In 1987, aS'chairwoman of then-
Mayor Barry’s Boxing and Wres
tling Commission, she admitted
double-billing the city for travel ex
penses.
won’t say whether or not she’s still
offering a $2,(K)0 reward for in
formation about the poisoning.
And she refers all inquiries to her
attorney.
Flowers left Duke on Dec, 28.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. SECI ION
SEEPAGES
Officials: Youth Center
Disturbance Worse
Than Origiriaily Thought
RALEIGH (AP) - Pri -'n
authorities first called a New
Year’s Eve rampage at Polk Youth
Center a celebration that got out of
hand.
Now they say it resulted in sig-
jificantly more damage and was ra
cially polarized.
Officials have conceded that the
uprising caused widespread
damage to furnishings and the
buildings themselves, including '.he
destruction of an administrative of
fice. They also admit that che iis-
turbance became racially polarized.
A majority of the 17 inmates taken
to the hospital were whites who had
been targeted by black inmates.
"It did appear that as the situation
grew, the white inmates in the
dorms were picked on," Polk Su
perintendent George Currie said
Thursday. "I don’t think that was a
planned racial-type thing." In addi
tion, some prisoners and correc
tional officers claimed several in
mates suffered stab wounds, which
prison officials deny.
In an interview Thursday, Currie
insisted the disturbance was "a
New Year’s Eve celebration that
got out of hand." Six days after
ward, workers were still repairing
the effects of the disturbance, in
cluding broken windows, mirrors,
light fixtures, lockers, tables, ben
ches, fans, televisions, toilets, sinks
ind water fountains, in addition to
flood-damaged clothing and bed
ding, holes in walls and bashed of
fice equipment, said Michael Bum-
gamer, director of youth services
for the Department of Correction.
Accounts from Department of
Correction administrators, officers
and the inmates themselves painted
1 more detailed picture of what
happened New Year’s Eve at Polk.
While watching television shortly
before midnight, inmates in the A-
dormitory in Polk’s main building
began breaking out light fixtures,
overturning beds and smashing
windows, Currie said.
A correctional officer who asked
not to be identified disagreed with
Currie's isscrtion that the dis
turbance was unplanned. He said it
appeared that the prisoners were
testing their limits with Currie’s
six-month-old administration.
The officer said two or three in
mates in each of the dormitory
blocks involved instigated the un
rest. .....
"This riot was planned," the of
ficer said. "They were trying-to p
as far as they could." The dis
turbance spread to another Main
Building dormitory and every
dormitory in the nearby 300 Build
ing.
Officers abandoned an effort to
control the inmates after: a: half-
hour. More than 200 inmate's ran
wild I'or two hours, many of them
fighlini; with steel-toed boots, pad-
lock.s. mble legs, straightened bed
springs and pieces of glass.
In the 300 Building, several in
mates broke down a door to enter
an administrative area, where they
took control of some telephones
and walkie-talkies and destroyed
typewriters, fans and a copier, Cur
rie said.
Three ambulance teams from
Wake Emergency Medical Services
set up a triage center on Polk's
grounds, treating about 60 inmates
and sending 17 of them to the hos
pital at Central Prison,
Currie said the injuries were
limited to cuts, bruises and a
laceration on an inmate’s leg
caused by a metal dustpan. A
lieutenant was hit in the head with
a work boot, he said.
But two correctional officers said
they watched helplessly outside the
300 Building as white inmates were
severely beaten and stabbed.
"All you could see was blood," an
officer said.
Currie said, however, that there
were no serious injuries.
"None of (the injured) were ad
mitted to the hospital," he said.
"There definitely were no stab-
bings." Bumgarner said the Correc
tion Department would continue to
investigate the uprising.