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VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 44
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2018
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913
PRICE: 50 CENT
Judges: 4 N Carolina
House districts break
redistricting ban
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - More re
drawing of North Carolina leg
islative boundaries would be
required next year if the Nov.
2 ruling by state judges striking
down four state House districts
stands.
A three-judge panel Friday,
Nov. 2 agreed with advocacy
groups and voters that several
alterations to Wake County dis
tricts last year violated North
Carolina’s constitutional prohi
bition against mid-decade redis
tricting.
Irwin Holmes on tennis court in the 1950s. NCSU
Named a building for Holmes. See story on page 3.
Suspect in grocery store
shooting indicted on
murder charges
By Bruce Schreiner
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The white man accused of opening fire
in a Kentucky grocery store and parking lot, killing two black people,
was indicted Oct. 31 on murder charges, but it’s too soon to deter
mine if the death penalty will be sought, a prosecutor said.
The suspect, Gregory A. Bush, was indicted by a grand jury on
two counts of murder, one count of criminal attempted murder and
two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment stemming from the
attack at a Kroger store in suburban Louisville last week.
Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine told re
porters Oct. 31 that he first wants to talk to the victims’ families be
fore deciding whether to pursue the death penalty against Bush, 51.
“Quite frankly, it is too early to talk to them about that weighty
decision,” Wine said.
The prosecutor said he’ll talk to the families “at the appropriate
time,” after they’ve had time to grieve.
Bush’s indictment means his case will proceed to Jefferson Coun
ty Circuit Court in Louisville.
Bush was seen on surveillance video trying to enter a historically
black church minutes before the Kroger shootings but was not able
to enter the church, police said. The police chief of the town outside
Louisville where the shooting happened said he believes the killings
were racially motivated.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Oct. 29 de
nounced the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre and Kentucky grocery
store shooting as hate crimes and said the death penalty should be
applied.
Meanwhile, prosecutors on Oct. 31 identified the man they say
first confronted Bush during the shooting as Dominic D. Rozier. The
attempted murder charge against Bush stemmed from their exchange
of gunfire, authorities said.
Rozier does not face any charges for firing at Bush, Wine said.
“There is no indication that he acted other than in self-protection
for himself and for others,” Wine said of Rozier.
The wanton endangerment charges stemmed from the threats
posed against Rozier’s wife and the 12-year-old grandson of one of
the victims during the shooting, prosecutors said.
According to an arrest report, Bush walked into the Kroger, pulled
a gun from his waist and shot a man in the back ofthe head, then kept
shooting him multiple times. The report says Bush then reholstered
his gun, walked outside and killed a woman in the parking lot. Each
victim died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The victims were identified as Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vicki Lee
Jones, 67. Bush, who is being held in a local jail, did not know either
victim, Wine said.
Federal investigators are examining if there were any violations
of federal law, including potential civil rights violations such as hate
crimes, U.S. Attorney Russell M. Coleman in Louisville said.
Coleman said in a statement Oct. 31 that the investigation will be
thorough and prompt, aimed at collecting the evidence necessary
to meet the standards required for charging under the federal hate
crimes and related laws.”
The four districts are being
used in the Nov. 6 election, but
the ruling won’t stop those races
and could be appealed.
In their unanimous decision,
the trial court judges told Repub
lican mapmakers to fix the prob
lems and approve a new Wake
County House map by July 1 - or
sooner if next year’s legislative
session ends before that date -
for use in 2020 elections.
The plaintiffs want those dis
tricts returned to how they were
initially drawn in 2011. Their
attorneys argued Republicans
changed three of the four dis
tricts to improve chances for
Republican election victories
this fall. The seats are important
to Democrats trying to end the
OOP’s veto-proof majority in
the chamber.
Provisions in the state con
stitution say state legislative
districts “shall remain unal
tered” until the release of each
decade’s census numbers. There
are exceptions when courts or
der changes, as they have this
decade.
Maps for legislative and con
gressional districts drawn by the
GOP-controlled General As
sembly have been litigated for
most of the decade. Congressio
nal boundaries originally were
struck down for racial gerry
mandering, then later on claims
of excessive political bias. The
U.S. Supreme Court received
briefs this week from groups
asking that they hear partisan
gerrymandering claims.
The Nov. 2 ruling “brings
us closer to the day that, for the
first time this decade, the voice
of the voters and not politicians’
illegal manipulations will deter
mine the outcome of elections,”
Allison Riggs with the Southern
Coalition for Social Justice, the
plaintiffs’ chief attorney, said in
a release.
(Continued On Page 10)
iBy Alan Fram
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Congressional Black Caucus
served notice Nov. 1 that the
influential group wants a black
lawmaker to hold at least one of
the House’s two top Democratic
jobs next year if Nancy Pelosi or
other party leaders don’t retain
their posts in the new Congress.
Caucus Chairman Rep. Ce
dric Richmond, D-La., wrote
colleagues that despite the par
ty’s “celebration of diversity,” a
black lawmaker has never held
one ofthe two top jobs. “It’s time
we walk our talk,” he added in
letter obtained by The Associ
ated Press.
The effort is an example of
behind-the-scenes jockeying al
ready under way to fill the par
ty’s top jobs in the Congress that
convenes in January. Many in
both parties believe Democrats
will likely gain the 23 seats they
will need to win House control
in Tuesday’s (Nov. 6) elections.
House Minority Leader Nan
cy Pelosi, D-Calif., wants to re
claim the job of speaker she held
when Democrats last controlled
the chamber from 2007 through
2010. She has strong support
among liberal and female Demo
cratic lawmakers and is believed
to have a solid shot at winning
the job, for which she will need
at least 218 votes, a House ma
jority.
Yet it is unclear if she will be
able to do so. Many Democrats
say it is time for fresh faces to
replace Pelosi and other party
leaders, who are all in their late
70s, and say GOP efforts to
Woman no longer employed at
hospital after blackface pic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Kansas City hospital says an
employee who posted photos of herself and another person in
blackface no longer works there.
Saint Luke’s Health System spokeswoman Laurel Gifford
says its Saint Luke’s East Hospital became aware of the pho
tos and an investigation was initiated. KCUR obtained a screen
shot of the Facebook post, showing the employee and a man in
blackface, dressed as Beyonce and Jay-Z. The woman’s Face-
book page has since been removed. She doesn’t have a listed
phone number.
Gifford says she can’t comment on personnel matters, other
than to say that the individual is no longer an employee.
The situation arose after Megyn Kelly was fired from her
NBC morning show after suggesting it was OK for white peo
ple to wear blackface at Halloween.
Man who flashed gun at FAMU
students avoids prosecution
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A Florida man who flashed a
gun while trying to prevent four mostly African-American col
lege students from getting on an elevator with him has avoided
prosecution by agreeing to serve 50 hours of community service
and pay a $100 fine.
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that prosecutors announced
the deferral of prosecution agreement Oct. 29 for 49-year-old
Don Crandall Jr. He also agreed not to possess any firearms for
six months.
Police charged Crandall last month with improper exhibition
of a firearm. Crandall, who is white, was videotaped trying to
stop a group of mostly black young men from entering an eleva
tor at the apartment building, claiming they didn’t belong in the
building without a key. The men were students at Florida A&M
University.
After the video went viral, Crandall was fired from his job as
CNN not commenting on Lemon’s
remark about white men
NEW YORK (AP) - CNN isn’t commenting about Don
Lemon’s statement that white men represent the biggest terrorist
threat in the country.
Lemon’s statement, on his show Monday, Oct. 29 attracted
criticism in conservative circles. He was talking about the nega
tive attention given to a caravan of potential refugees in Central
America. Meanwhile, white men are the suspects in recent shoot
ings oftwo blacks in Kentucky and at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Lemon said that, “we have to stop demonizing people and
realize that the biggest terror threat in this country is white men,
most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing
something about them.”
A CNN spokeswoman said Oct. 31 neither Lemon nor the
network would speak more about it.
If House leaders change, black
Dems want 1 of 2 top posts
demonize her as an out-of-touch
liberal have made her a liability
for the party.
It is widely believed that if
Republicans retain their hold
on the House, frustrated Demo
crats would replace Pelosi, No. 2
leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland
and No. 3 leader Jim Clyburn of
South Carolina.
The caucus’ letter does not
name who it wants to see move
into the two top jobs.
Clyburn is black and has ex
pressed an interest in moving
up, according to many Demo
crats speaking on condition of
anonymity to describe private
discussions. Richmond and
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.,
are also mentioned as potential
cannt.
didates for top jobs.
More than 40 of the current
193 House Democrats are mem
bers of the caucus. Both figures
are likely to grow in next year’s
Congress.
Some Democratic challengers
who are likely to win their races
have publicly said they would
not vote for Pelosi to become
speaker. That, along with dis
gruntled incumbents, might be
enough to topple her if the Dem
ocratic victory margin is slender.
Spokesmen for Pelosi and
Jeffries declined to comment on
the letter. Aides to Clyburn and
the black caucus did not imme
diately return phone calls and
emails seeking comment.
Dr. Jerry Gershenhorn
Courtesy Dept, of Culltural Affairs)
N.C. Book Awards Presented
to State’s Outstanding
Authors
Book on Louis Austin Tapped
GREENVILLE. — North Carolina’s long literary tradi
tion lives on and was celebrated with presentation of the
North Carolina Book Awards Friday, Oct. 26. The awards
are presented annually by the North Carolina Literary and
Historical Association and honor the year’s best achieve
ments in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, young peo
ple’s literature and poetry.
Receiving the Old North State Award for Nonfiction
was Jerry Gershenhorn of Durham, for “Louis Austin and
the ‘Carolina Times.’” The title details Austin’s work as
publisher of the “Carolina Times” weekly, and his cham
pioning the struggle for civil rights and African American
equality. Gershenhorn is a history professor at N.C. Cen
tral University.
The Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction recipient was
Wiley Cash of Wilmington, for “The Last Ballad,” the
tale of textile worker Ella Mae Wiggins, tensions around
union organizing in Gastonia in 1929, and the tragic end
for a single mother seeking a better life. Cash teaches at
UNC-Asheville.
Heather Ross Miller of Badin received the Roanoke-
Chowan Award for Poetry for “Women Disturbing the
Peace,” in which she examines women who disturb the
peace and seek their rightful place in the world. Miller
is retired from teaching creative writing and literature at
several universities.
Carole Boston Weatherford of High Point received the
American Association of University Women Award for
Young People’s Literature for “Schomburg: The Man
Who Built a Library.” The title examines Afro-Puerto
Rican Arturo Schomburg’s efforts to share the history of
Africa’s sons and daughters. He donated his collection to
the New York Public Library, which formed the Schom
burg Center for Research in Black Culture. Weatherford
teaches writing at Fayetteville State University.
(Continued On Page?)