S? VOLXHN^^^^^L
! "There are lots ot pepp
of talents In this
who are n
with the NAACP ..... I
at the NAACP as hav
Iviiivi nu uuuy, an
Walt
Marshall electe
local NAACP li
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Chronicle Staff Writer
$ There was a changing of the gi
night's NAACP meeting as the <
elected a new president to replace
Patrick T. Hairston.
Walter Marshall, Hairston's foi
dent and a veteran NAACP membe
local head of the civil rights organi
While Marshall's appointment >
I was not automatic.
Under the official NAACP cons
cies are filled neither by open elee
succession of officers. Rather, the
committee elects members to fill v
Marshall has been chosen to succec
^ in November resigned in the middle
of his time to organizing and proi
NAACP branch. Marshall, who h
job as a High Point public school t<
challenge of continuing the work <
tion with much less time. However
problems in that area.
J#. ?! - - f .. i . t j
i uuc 19 always a ictwiur QUI 1 a
problem/' Marshall said follov
meeting. "The NAACP is so stri
programming is not handled exclusi
son. I won't be executive director. 1
can function if the board functic
working in relation with the board a
is to get other folks involved."
At this point, one of the biggest <
the new president appears to be inc
ship in the 76-year-old organizatio
he will work to get more of 1
members of the community activel
"There are lots of people with 1
this community who are not in\
NAACP," said Marshall. "I want
pie who are experts in a variety of i
can build a strong base. People lool
PIOAQO fiAO rianc A'.
* www v nv
Into the fray
McCoy assume
' and the accomp:
By L.A.A. WILLIAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer
As fallout concerning the
quality of local police work continues,
Sgt. Michael V. McCoy,
33, has been appointed to head
the police department's murder
investigations unit, officially call
ed its Crimes Against Persons
Section. For McCoy, the first
black officer to head the unit, the
move involves a lateral transfer,
not a promotion.
Still, the official and public
outcry over the handling, or
mishandling, of the Deborah B.
Sykes murder investigation,
which led to his appointment, has
placed some additional pressure,
if not rank, onto McCoy's
shoulders.
"I feel there is pressure accepting
a new position during a
period of such extreme controversy,"
McCoy said, "but I
feel capable of coping with the
L *
v.
J
? ALL
Pmhri Not i
vlW3 Uniqu
finds
witho
nsfor,
>le with lots I
community
>eople
'ing a head
d that's not
the case." I
er Marshall
d
Hi
at Tuesday
executive board
\ city Alderman
rmer vice presi- ^H| pi
jr, will step in as I
ization.
vas expected, it
vacannor
natural
: local
acant posts and
d Hairston, who
of his fifth two- J ^
the local Mgl
idds a full-time
flchM1' faroc thji
y iwwu kllV
of the organiza- I
, he foresees no I
f
a
ving Tuesday's V
ictured that the v
vely by one per- V
'he organization
>ns. The key is V
ind my objective
:hallenges facing
reasing member- > i
n. Marshall says 1
the professional
ly involved. Ulk-k?, . .. .
Who II be the b
ots of talents in season? Will D
solved with the repeat in the !
to bring in peo- miracle in the
fields so that we answers inside
c at the NAACP (photo by Mark
) L??s
new police post
anying pressure
\
\
"I feel there is pressure accepting
a new position during
a period of such extreme
controversy. I feel capable
of coping with the pressure
and effectively doing my
job."
? Sgt. M. V. McCoy
nrpceiir* an/1
)/ V4I7W1 V UilU V 1 1 W VI VIJ UUIllg illj
job."
One job he has is to review and
reinvestigate from the beginning
the controversial Sykes case,
along with eight unsolved
murders dating back to 1980.
Police Chief Joseph E. Mas ten
announced the moves two weeks
ago in response to public and official
criticisr \ of the Sykes investigation
a d police protection
in general.
Darryl 1 ?nt, a 20-year-old
Pleas see page A3
COUNTY FOOTBAI
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Hooper: As far as he can see, Darryl Hunt
was "railroaded" for the Sykes murder (photo
by James Parker).
1
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Doper: Hunt was railro<
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2 Chro
Weekly
ay, December 19, 1985 35 cent
l King holiday
unanimously
Observance by city to b
By L.A.A. WILLIAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer
The Board of Aldermen voted
unanimously Monday night to accept
Alderman Larry W. Womble's motion
I designating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s
I 1 birthday as a holiday for city employees.
The 7-0 vote means that, beginning Jan.
20 of next year, the city will join the federal
government in honoring the slain civil
rights leader by closing its offices and the
variousbranches-ormunicipalgovernment
on the third Monday of each January. It
will be the 10th holiday for city workers.
Before the vote, Mrs. Louise G. Wilson,
retiring executive director of the Experiment
in Self-Reliance Inc. and a former
associate of Dr. King, ???_
spoke briefly to the
ing King's birthday to ^
would mean to all the
w ite, to remember ^
a man who not only
who gave every ounce W ||j> '
world/* Mrs. Wilson 1
said.
j 44He said we can live together, and we
\ don't have to fight, and we don't have to
fight this day," she said, urging the board
to pass the motion without wrangling,
which it did without discussion, and
without Alderman Martha S. Wood, who
was absent.
Womble said he was elated.
"I'm proud of the board for taking this
stand," Womble said. "I really appreciate
I the unanimous vote. It shows that we have
' caring, dedicated board members. This is
p the first time that a black man has been
) honored with a holiday. It's ironic, but
i whites will celebrate, too, what this black
man fought, lived and died for. It's the
i first time in the history of this country that
Darryl Hunt wa:
he saw, says 'for
\
I By L.A.A. WILLIAMS
| Chronicle Staff Writer ,
f
William T. Hooper says he was on his
way to work at Hanes Dye and Finishing
Co. at about 6:20 on the morning of
August 10,1984, when he saw "two black
guys with a white lady."
He slowed the car, almost to a stop, he
said in an interview last week. "The little
fella was shaking his finger at the lady and
then the big tall one took her into his arms
and kissed her - in the mouth. I was Fixing
to stop. If he hadn't took her in his
arms and kissed her, I would've stopped.
But he threw me off. If she had hollered
or put up any kind of resistance, I
would've stopped."
Later that afternoon on the wav hnme
from work, Hooper, who will retire from
I Hanes next January at age 65, saw that
| the route he had travelled on West End
Boulevard that morning had been closed
off.
"1 found out what happened,'' Hooper
said. The body of Deborah B. Sykes had
been found on a hill behind the Sunrise
?>
I
f
aded: A1 I
?ss the basics: Bll I
is yet to come: A6 I
lared racism?: A4 I
nt^/p
s 34 PaflB^This Week
approved
by aldermen
egin this Jan. 20
workers will be off on a holiday for a great
Diack man."
In other action, North Ward Alderman
Patrick T. Hairston flexed his new political
muscle by motioning for 'no consideration'
on the adoption of a resolution awarding
contracts for city vehicles totalling
$881,098 to area automobile dealers.
Hairston noted that Twin-City Chrysler
Plymouth, a minority-managed company
that was allowed by the city to bid as a
?minority-ownedfirm~was~underbid~by~on^
ly a few dollars in several categories. He
ik/
C3D Womble's historic motion
makes the King holiday a
day off for city workers.
said he took the action because he wanted
to look into how minority bids are
evaluated.
Hairston said after the meeting that
possibly the contracts can be rebid, or the
law can be changed.
The board also voted to accept a request
by the Rev. John C. McCollough to *
withdraw his rczoning request for land on
Midway Road, east of Baux Mountain Rd.
McCollough said he planned to place a
trailer on the property for relatives. He
withdrew the request when Alderman
Lynne Harpe suggested that a special-use
permit would allow him to locate the trailer
there without the permanent rezoning
order.
snot the man
gotten' witness
Towers elderly highrise. Mrs. Sykes, a
copy editor for the now-defunct Sentinel,
had been raped and stabbed to death not
long after Hooper had passed the area
that morning.
He said he told a detective, "a lady
detective, named Ingram," the story of
what he had seen that morning. He identified
Mrs. Sykes as the woman he saw
from a photograph, and went to the
police station to look at pictures of possible
suspects. None of them resembled the
two men he had seen that morning. He
said he gave the police statements on the
street and in the police station.
He helped a police artist construct composite
drawings of both men. "They both
had short hair," he said. "The tall one
had slick hair. Neither one of them looked
like Darryl Hunt."
"I was as close as that door to those
people," Hooper explained, motioning
towards a door in his home no more that
15 feet away. "Darryl Hunt was not
there."
Hooper received a summons to testify j
Please see page A12
' i