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SFjPT. 1979 80 81
Winston-Salem Chr'omcle
"Serving the Winston Community Since 1974"
NO. 1>
22 PAGES THIS WEEK
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
20 cents
U.S.P.S. NO. 067910 Saturday, December 15, 1979
- - - — -
)og Saves Minister's Life
y Patrice E. Lee
Staff Writer
:kens is an unlikely looking
e black and brown German
bn barely walk on his hind
U didn’t keep Pete from
jgene Mickens about the
"in his.home early last
brning.
[that started about 3 a.m.
s left the house at 1222 E.
ibitable, fire officials say.
It was Pete’s persistent barking that
allowed Mickens to save himself from
an inferno that could have been fatal.
“When I went to the kitchen the
smoke was so hot I couldn’t see the
fire,” Mickens said.
After calling the fire department at a
neighbor’s house, Mickens returned to
the bonfire to find Pete still on the job.
‘ ‘The firemen were battling with him,
shooting water on him. He wouldn’t let
them in the house,” Mickens said.
The two-story home that Mickens and
his wife remodeled almost five years
ago—and everything in it—has been
destroyed.
Assistant Fire Marshall Ike Spillman,
who Investigated the fire, said that it
was accidental, caused by a spark left
among embers that Mickens had burned
earlier.
Luckily, Fannie Mickens was at work
and the couple’s five children were
staying with their, grandmother for the
weekend.
By working together and saving for
several years before buying their house
in 1975, the Mickens’ were able to
double the value to the home they
bought for $25,000.
“Last summer we put on a complete
new roof,” Mrs. Mickens says. "Every
thing inside-from the floor the ceiling-
was new,” she says.
Rev. Rayford Thompson, associate
minister of Friendship Baptist Church,
is spearheading the community effort to
assist the Mickens’.
“They need everything-bed linen-
they need the works. We want anyone
who can to help this family in need,”
said Rev. Thompson.
Little Attacks
Budget Waste
ornaments highlight this
one of the sights on
the 4th District Garden
ly Toot last weekend,
idythe Williams and her fellow
-INSIDE—■
lacks are losing 3,000 acres of land a
ith in the South, see page 2.
ity^acks down on unsafe wood stoves,
'details page 3.
id|affic conditions are making some
'hborhoods inaccessible. See Edi-
als.^age 4.
P^ecial Christmas Gift Guide with
ing and making suggestions, pages
i^olls? That’s how many one local
ng lady has collected. See Social
S page 10.
le Gaines played possibly the best
ind game of his career, says
, page 13.
staff Photo by Templeton *
members of the Flower Niche Club
decorated the tree and the home of Miss
Louise Smith of 1244 Dublin Drive for'
the annual tour of homes and Winston-
Salem State University dormitories.
By Patrice E. Lee.
Staff Writer
North Ward residents may have
missed one opportunity to tell elected
officials howl to tighten the city’s fiscal
belt but their alderman has said there
are several “fat” areas that , can
definitely be trimmed.
Of approximately 25 people who
attended last Thursday’s "Focus” hear
ing on the 1980-81 budget at Martin
Luther King Recreation Center only
seven were private citizens.
Despite an expected budget crunch,
North Ward Alderman Larry D. Little
says that he needs a better understan
ding of how, much money could be
saved.
Saying that the board needs to “set a
general policy” and leave the actual
budget cuts to “our experts,” Little
questioned the need for all the legal
counsel the city now receives:
•The largest legal firm in Winston-Sa-
lem-Womble and Carlyle-is paid an
annual retainer fee of $25,000 plus “a
pretty good fee” every time the city
goes to court;
•City Attorney Ron Seeber, now
receiving $33,895.89 annually;
•Assistant City Attorney Ralph Karpi-
nos, now receiving $19,674.30; and
•Public Safety Attorney Claire Mc-
Naught, now receiving $30,824.56 year
ly, according to personnel department
records.
“They , don’t handle anything (the
city-employed attorneys). If they city
gets sued it goes to Womble and
Carlyle. 1 think we can get by with jsut
one of them,” Little said.
Public relations is another ‘‘fat” area.
Little says. ‘ ‘When,we have to cut back
we don’t need public relations. Keeping
people’s taxes down and delivering
services is the best form of public
r'l'.ations,” he said.
The city could save money if it rebuilt
all its “rolling stock”-fire trucks, etc.
“The mechanics of the city tell me
that we could rebuild dump trucks’ ’ just
as fire trucks have been rebuilt, said
Little.
The board should also set policy to
provide for the streamlining of city
personnel because administrative staff
is top heavy “in some areas,” Little
said.
Photo by Patrice E. Lee
Minister and Mrs. Eugene Midtens look lovingly at
“Pete” the ll-year-ojd German Shepherd who saved Us
life from a Bre wUch destroyed their home last Saturday
morning. A relief drive Is being condncted to aid the
Mickens family.
200 Seek
Filing Help
For Refunds
By John W. Templeton
Staff Writer
More than 220 persons have contacted the local Legal
Aid office to seek help with filing a claim for the Section
236 rent refunds of up to $500 before the January
deadline.
Ben Erlitz, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society
of Northwest N.C., said group seminars or workshops
are being developed to handle the volume of requests.
Persons who Jived in one of five local housing
complexes, Fairchild, Goler Metropolitan, Holland
Homes, Millbrook or New Bethel, between 1975 and
1977 are eligible for part of a $60 million settlement of a
class action suit against the U.S. government.
To receive the refunds, tenants will have to pick up a
claim form from their, complex office, complete it and
See Page 16
Subsidized Apartments Near Castleshire
150 Units Upset Neighbors
By John W. Templeton
Staff Writer
City planners and engineers have
failed to take into account the impact
that drainage water from a new 150-unit
apartment complex might have on the
Castleshire, Woods subdivision just
outside the city limit.
The development, to be called Lake
Park Apartments, would increase the
amount of water flowing into the Brushy
Fork Creek, which runs between the
apartment site and the subdivision, but
city erosion control engineer Tom Dyer
said he does not know how. much the
waste water would add to the stream.
Castleshire Woods residents com
plained that, the . stream is ahead
flooding yards the lower end of their
neighborhood during a strategy meeting
residents of the well-to-do predominate
ly black community had, with the
predominately white, Churehland Acres
community Sunday aimed at preventing
the apartments.
Dyer said the city’s erosion control
ordinance is concerned with cutting
down erosion of soil off of a site being
developed, but not with flooding. He
said the developers had been required
to slow the velocity of waste water
coming out of drain pipers to meet the
ordinance.
Dyer said he thought current clogging
of the stream by cars and other debris
presented a greater problem that run
off water from the apartments. “That
creeks is pretty well choked up,” said
Dyer.
In addition to the water issue,
residents expressed fear that the Sec
tion 8 subsidized housing would lower
property values in their neighborhood of
$70,000 and above homes and hired
attorney William Pfefferkorn to take
their, case to the Board of Aldermen
Monday night. ,
Walter Marshall, named chairman of
the group fighting the complex, said
residents were given no notice that 1)
See Page 9
ither^ Son Build
•olar Collector
y John W. Templeton
Staff Writer
^ 'lit $32 and four hours of
the James Cassaberrys, Senior
have built a devise which
^t heat their, entire basement
^ the sun’s rays.
'tehe sun’s shining, it can take
degrees,” said the
^obeny of the ‘,‘heat grabber”
^installed at their, home at 2020
the idea from a unique
®ng conducted by the Parkway
«I|hurch of Christ. A “cov-
’ decided to find a way to
£ conserve energy, said
‘’.''Tom Harris.
design out of the magazine
provided a concrete
P® just that., The design
describes a solar window box, which
uses glass and insulation to expose a
stream of air to the sun’s rays, and then
to channel it back into a room.
“We found a way of mass producing
kits so that people could start doing
some things for themselves and stop
feeling so helpless,” said Harris.
The church members also offer free
instruction on the ‘,‘heat grabber,” so
long-time handyman Cassaberry and his
son decided to make their own.
“They say the parts cost about $35,
but we were able to do it for about
$32.50,” said Cassaberry.
His energy saver works by using
windows on the south side of his house.
Harris explained, “Although the sun
moves from east to west, in the winter,
it is usually in the southern part of the
sky all day long.”
This is how, the heat grabber is
Woman Faces
Murder Charge
Tile James Cassaberrys, Jonlor and
Senior, or 2020 E. 18th Street show how
a small fan can be added to their “heat
grabber” solar window collector to
designed: A three foot wide box made
of insulation board is covered with
either glass or Plexi-glass painted black.
The box is built to tilt at a 45 degree
angle into a lip which hooks over a
windowsill. Inside, a panel of insulation
board is placed approximately in the
middle of the box with an open space at
staff Photo by Templeton
improve the flow of warm air. Using a
little more than $30 in supplies, the two
handymen built a collector which heats
the entire basement on sunny days.
the bottom.
The heat collector works as follows:
sun rays hit the black glass surface,
which absorbs the heat, and warms the
air underneath, which rises up the 45
degree angle, through the lip and into
the room. The warm air creates a draft
See Page 20
A woman originally
charged with seriously
assaulting a man during
an apparent domestic
argument has now been
charged with murder,
because the alleged vic
tim has died, a Forsyth
County jail spokeswo
man confirmed Tuesday.
William Witherspoon,
46, of 928 E. 18th St.,
remained in critical con
dition while being
treated for gunshot
wounds in the back and
the mouth until he died
Dee. 1, a N.C. Baptist
Hospital spokeswoman
said.
Dorothy Cecelia Da
vis 21, of 3010 Old
Greensboro Road, had
been charged with as
saulting and seriously
wounding Witherspoon
Nov. 10. After her bond
was reduced from
$50,000 to $5,000, Ms,
Davis was released from
jail Nov. 29. On Dec. 5
Davis was re-arrested on
a murder charge and
released after her first
appearance Dec. 6, the
jail spokeswoman said.
Court records show
that Ms. Davis had re
ceived a summons on the
day of the shooting for
criminal trespass at Wi-
therpsoon's home Nov. 8
• See Page 19