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DAVIT 12/01/16 **CHILL
UNC-CH.SERIALS DEPARTMENT
DAVIS L^^RARY CB# 3938
P 0 BOX 8^90
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2016
VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 32
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Democrat won’t keep defending
North Carolina voter ID law
North Carolina Central University officials announced Aug.
8 hat, effective immediately, Chancellor Debra Saunders-White
will take a medical leave of absence She will leave the school for
an unknown amount of time to focus on her ongoing treatment
for cancer.Johnson O. Akinleye, N.C. Central’s provost and vice
chancellor for academic affairs, will serve as acting chancellor of
the university in her absence.
Chicago cops: Body cameras new
to district where 0 ’Neal shot
By Don Babwin
CHICAGO (AP) - The Chicago Police Department’s super
intendent said Aug. 6 that his concern over the fatal shooting of
a black 18-year-old led him to strip three officers of their police
powers and that the district in which the shooting happened had
received body cameras about a week prior.
At a news conference, Superintendent Eddie Johnson addressed
the nine videos - both from dashcams and body cameras - that were
released Aug. 5 of the July 28 shooting. The videos show officers
firing repeatedly at a stolen car as it careens down the street away
from them and later handcuffing a wounded Paul O’Neal, who
was driving the car, after a chaotic foot chase through a residential
neighborhood.
“I was concerned by some of the things that I saw on the videos
and that’s why we took such a swift action ... that we did last week
to relieve the three officers of their police powers,” Johnson said,
adding he could not explain what specifically concerned him.
The news conference came the same day that protesters planned
a rally and march, which was originally slated to start at the Chi
cago park where 50 years ago Martin Luther King Jr. called for
tair housing but was moved a few blocks away at the request of
organizers of a festival related to a newly unveiled King memorial
in Marquette Park.
Johnson has said the officers, who he noted Aug. 6 received the
same training as the rest of the department, violated a department
policy. Authorities have neither detailed the specific policy, nor
identified the officers.
In February 2015, former Superintendent Garry McCarthy re
vised the department’s policy on the use of deadly force to prohibit
officers from “firing at or into a moving vehicle when the vehicle is
the only force used against the sworn member or another person.”
But the policy also says that officers “will not unreasonably endan
ger themselves or another person to conform to the restrictions of
this directive,” meaning they have the right to defend themselves if
they or someone else are in imminent danger of being struck.
Friday’s video release was the first of a fatal police shooting
under a new policy that calls for such material to be made public
within 60 days. That and other policy changes represent an effort to
restore public confidence in the department after video released last
year showed a black teenager named Laquan McDonald getting
shot 16 times by a white officer.
The McDonald video sparked protests and led to the ouster of
the former police superintendent. The officer who shot him is now
awaiting trial on murder charges.
The head of the Independent Police Review Authority, the agen
cy that investigates Chicago police misconduct, called the footage
of the O’Neal shooting “shocking and disturbing.” She did not
elaborate Aug. 6.
Attorney Michael Oppenheimer, who represents O’Neal’s fam
ily, said Aug. 6 that the video showed officers taking “street justice
into their own hands.”
The department is going to look at changing training for officers
and look at best practices around the country, Bureau of Profes
sional Standards chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at the news confer
ence.
A memorial for King’s Aug. 5, 1966, march was unveiled Aug.
6 at Marquette Park. A march and festival were scheduled for Aug.
6, with The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Ilyasah Al-Shabazz among the
speakers, and Rakim, Vic Mensa and Brother Ali among the slate
of performers.
Online:
Memorial: http://www.mlkmemorialchicago.org/
Festival: http://streets2016.com/
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - North
Carolina Attorney General Roy
Cooper will no longer defend the
state’s voter ID law, now that a
federal appeals court has ruled it
was passed with “discriminatory
intent.”
A 4th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals panel blocked its
enforcement, ruling that the
Republican-led General Assem
bly made changes that targeted
black voters more likely to sup
port Democrats.
“Attorneys with our office
put forward their best arguments
but the court found that the law
was intentional discrimination
and we will not appeal,” Coo
per spokeswoman Noelle Talley
said in an email.
Barring some new court in
tervention, the appellate ruling
means the law’s restrictions will
not be in place for this year’s
presidential election. The ID
mandate is now gone and early
voting restored to 17 days, up
from 10. Same-day registration
during early voting and the par
tial counting of out-of-precinct
ballots resume permanently.
The decision by the office
of the Democratic challenger to
Republican Gov. Pat McCrory
doesn’t end the case, however.
The governor and GOP legisla
tive leaders are planning appeals
using taxpayer funds to pay their
own lawyers, some of them in
private practice. McCrory said
their next appeal could be to the
full 4th Circuit or to the U.S. Su
preme Court.
McCrory said Cooper should
stop taking his state salary if he
won’t defend state agencies. The
governor and legislative lead
ers reject arguments that the
law was meant to discriminate,
saying voter ID is supported by
most voters, who want to protect
the integrity of the election
Butterfield Presents
NCCU with $480,000
USDA Grant to
Expand Opportunities
in Rural Areas
Washington, DC - Congress
man G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
presented a $480,000 grant from
the U.S. Department of Agricul
ture (USDA) to North Carolina
Central University in Durham.
The funds will be used to pur
chase video conferencing equip
ment for 11 end-user sites, in
cluding libraries and community
centers, to connect residents with
services commonly unavailable
in rural areas.
“Expanding educational re
sources to all North Carolina
residents will require a digital
pipeline that connects individu
als virtually,” said Butterfield.
“USDA’s investment will ex
pand access to the latest informa
tion and services to households
throughout North Carolina. I ap
plaud USDA for selecting North
Carolina Central University as a
recipient for this critical invest
ment.”
USDA’s Distance Learning
and Telemedicine Program an
nounced investments in 81 dis
tance learning and telemedicine
projects in over 32 states. The
projects will help connect rural
communities with medical and
educational experts in other parts
of the country to offer increased
access to health care, substance
misuse treatment, and advanced
educational opportunities.
At right Rep. But
terfield, right, makes
prresentation.
process.
“We think it is the proper law
and it’s amazing that the attor
ney general will not fulfill the re
sponsibility of his oath of office
to defend our laws of North
Carolina,” McCrory told report
ers.
Speaking earlier Aug. 2, Coo
per noted that the court found
that McCrory and Republican
leaders passed a law to prevent
certain people from registering
and voting. “The governor is
wasting taxpayer money in try
ing to defend the indefensible,”
his campaign spokesman Ford
Porter added in a statement.
Members of the Durham Branch of the NAACP qwith Mrs. Bonnetta Ferguson-Poole at Roses at North D
uke Mall..
Senior Citizen Says She Was Humiliated,
Demoralized by Roses Store Manager
By Tracie Fellers
Correspondent
Timberlake resident Bonnetta Ferguson-Poole
just wants respect — in the form of a public apol
ogy from a manager at the Roses discount store in
Durham’s North Duke Mall.
Ferguson-Poole, a retired social services worker
and child advocate, said she was humiliated after
store manager Bob Stearns publically and falsely
accused her of switching price tags on an outfit in
the store on April 20. “I want everybody to know
what this man has done and his attitude toward the
public and toward customers,” she said in a phone
interview. “One thing I was always taught was re
spect. You give it and you earn it... and I think he
owes me that.”
According to Ferguson-Poole, she was shop
ping in the North Duke Mall store, as she has on a
regular basis, when she noticed a ladies’ dress suit
that would make a good addition to her wardrobe
for church. “I found this suit on the clearance rack.
It was yellow and it was marked at $12,” she said.
However, when the suit rang up at $39.99 at the
register, Ferguson-Poole told the cashier that $12
was the amount on the outfit’s price tag. After the
cashier consulted with her supervisor, “she came
back and said the wrong price was on it,” Fergu
son-Poole said. “I said it was marked $12, so they
had to give it to me for $12.” At that time, Stearns
was called in, she said. He talked with the supervi
sor, then accused Ferguson of switching the tag on
the suit — a misdemeanor in the same category as
shoplifting under state law.
“He said, Tin so sick of you people coming in
here and switching my tags,’” then started to yell at
Ferguson-Poole, continuing to raise his voice, she
recalled. Appalled by Stearns’ behavior, Ferguson-
Poole said she vividly remembers his words: “
‘You can just go somewhere else and shop. Just get
out of my store.’ “
More than two months later, Ferguson-Poole is
still upset about how she was treated in the North
Duke Roses store, and about the company’s appar
ent disregard for her request for an apology from
Stearns. “I’m still appalled,” she said. “You can’t
profile me like that. I’ve worked 41 years of my
life; how dare you disrespect me.
“I have receipts where I spent thousands of dol
lars at that particular store for dress suits for my
self and my mother over the Christmas holidays
(of 2014),” she added. “Yes, I feel like I deserve
the apology, and I want to make sure that (Stearns)
never disrespects anyone else the way he disre
spected me.”
Recently reached by phone at the North Duke
Roses store, Stearns said he was unable to com
ment about Ferguson-Poole’s complaint about the
April 20 incident and referred The Carolina Times
to Roses’ legal department. However, Ferguson-
Poole said she has taken no legal action against the
store or its parent company, although she is con
sidering that option. “I will continue to pursue
until I get my apology, if I have to go to (WTVD’s)
Troubleshooter or the legal system.”
And immediately after leaving the Roses store
(Continued On Page 14)
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