Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Aug. 6, 1987, edition 1 / Page 1
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I Piney Grove: I $5 years of progr< I -^jst page Bl VWi I vol. xir, no. so I Cover Story SBI probes te By The Associated Press p li WINSTON-SALEM _ The State b Bureau of Investigation has been j, called in to investigate the death of tj a Forsyth County teen-ager whose patents say they don't believe their f( son committed suicide. b Larry and Katherine McGee, who . v live just outside Winston-Salem, Say their son had always been very ( careful around firearms and was s anything but suicidal. h Their questions _ and pressure _ c led to the SBI investigation, whichm v officially came at the request of the Forsyth County District Attorney's v office. i "We know our son did not shoot himself, either accidentally or c other wise," Larry McGee told the { Greensboro News & Record.. s \Mn my opinion, someone ? intentionally shot him," McGee \ saidto exit. Yet he added: "I don't know of any motive for murder or \ why anyone would want to kill 2 Lanny. Lanny never hurt a soul in his life." * Lanny McGee, 16, died, about 4:15 p.m. April 14 at his home in eastern Forsyth County. Present wet? two classmates _ a lf^year- < old boy and a 15-year-old girl. McGee was found with a bullet \ hole between Iris eyes. The weapon, a ,22-caliber pistol, had been Victim criticizc over plea bar By CHERYL WILLIAMS Chronicle Staff Writer Walter 1. Jones says he's a dou system. * Jones, the victim in a March 30 robt that he's not satisfied with the district "Walter I.Jones Bryson far By CHERYL WILLIAMS Chronicle Staff Writer Sitting in his Third Street law office on Tuesday afternoon, Jeffrey T. Bryson showed no signs of bitterness as he said that he would be satisfied if the convicted killer of his mother received either a life sentence or the death penalty. Several hours later, a jury of 10 women and two men, after deliberating! 1 hours and 13 minutes recommended that Merritt W. Drayton be sentenced to life imprisonment. Last ~~ Ttrorsday the jury found Drayton, 29, guilty of firstdegree murder in the death of Blanche Bryson. Mrs. Bryson, 65, was found strangled to death in her home at 2705 Gilmer Ave. on Dec. 10. She was a retired cafeteria "v.-:. s . Night boxii sss Not a shot in 10 iston U.S.P.S. No. 067910 I sen's suicide ressed against his forehead, a tile off center toward the left eye row. One shot had been fired. fivestigators told McGee s father lat the gun had been fully loaded. When police arrived, the gun was ound in a drawer and McGee's ody had been moved from the spot /here he was shot. Sixteen weeks later, Forsyth "ounty Sheriff detectives say they till don't know exactly what lappened, and the investigation ontinucs. No one has been charged vith a crime. Both of the youngsters who were vith McGee have told police that rfcGee shot himself. But Larry McGee says too many luestions remain unanswered to let he matter rest, including why did lomeone put the gun in a drawer md why was the body moved xfore the police arrived. Larry McGee said detectives told lim that the two teen-agers idmitted moving Lanny's body ifter he was shot, but said they did >o to allow rescue workers more oom to work. The detectives have lot offered any explanation about why the gun was moved, McGee saidu - -. . . - McGee also said investigators told him that no fingerprints were _ _ m. * ^ riease see rage ah ' | ;s D.A. gain issue e> >cry, said in an interview Monday t attorney s office's handling of a case where an assistant district U accepted a reduced plea for the int displeased with the way the whole went," he said. "The DA was ed to be representing us. But it ! as if they were there representing minal. A~criminal"robs you and i victim. Then the DA's office robs lin." les, an employee of the Ramada >n High Street, said that he was I by a man with a gun while Please see page A14 I nily: No bit manager with the city/county - school system. Bryson, who discovered his mother's body that December day, has been keeping a constant watch at the courthouse along with his older brother, William of Cleveland and his 86-yearold grandmother, Frances Williams. Reacting to the jury's decision, Bryson said that he was not upset that the outcome wasn't the death penalty. "It's not going to bring anybody back (to life)," he said. Bryson, however said that he favors the death penalty because "it serves as a deterrent/ He also has his own ,opinion as to why the jury deliberated so lonff "I'm willing to bet that at least one of the those black jurors held out for 1 ig: ^jjF'" ~ the dark *?4 PAGEB2 L| * JLj -Sa7e 77ie 7\v/>? City's A war Winston-Salem, N.C. r^MM ri ^ bkm "- -' a^ ..ZMS9 ?h bf '; v' 't??*|^h <j^k * v' ^ h Bp h k. ' * j ' ' nffimnn ill i ^ m^t ^ ,,ffr editorials a4 enterprise it leisure m oam/arie^ ,11) people . i m ssusm jua 8** , _?n -WJPIABIJEt- "economic power canba parlayed Info political power. Tin reverse la rarely the eaee.The (N.C. Black) Cauoua hat several challengaa before M. ~.H MQCA4 Y ' ' ' ? ' ' ' terness aft the death penalty," he said? There were two black women on the jury. The women, Bryson said, were probably thinking, "that could have been me." Sheriffs deputies at the courthouse would not allow a Chronicle reporter to interview the two women. Bryson said that he is pleased with the district attorney's office handling of the case. "I think they did a good job with presenting the evidence they had," he said. In an interview Tuesday before the jury had reached a decision, Bryson talked about the trial and the effect it has had on him and his family. "I've been over there all week," he said. "It's been a trying kind of experience to sit there and see this guy * Glenn's Size isn't < mi mCh Thursday, August 6,19 W# I I I % j B - - / I ^^ K -^Hh Bv^ J111 V I 111 ?A -? ?. >?. A ^?!>? i i /aim^UI i -AMTIWK ?Leadershi By CHERYL WILLIAMS Chronicle Staff Writer <? ? _ Eleven African-Americans are among 42 people picked to participate in the fourth Leadership Winston-Salem class. "We have selected 29 males and 13 females representing a broad cross-section of community leaders consistent with our mission to bring about communication among established leaders," Kenneth O. Raschke, presidentof ^^adershipWinston-Salem, said in a news statement. Leadership Winston-Salem, started in 1984, brings together 35 to 40 community leaders of varying backgrounds for nine months to er verdict (Drayton). I had no doubt of his involvement He seems to know too much about the house. But the extent of his involvement, we may never know." Drayton has maintained that he did not act alone and in several statements he has named accomplices. During testimony at his sentencing hearing Friday, ho rrouo nn/vtk<ta Iiv ga?v Oiiuuit! atcuuill UI uie murder and the name of the person he says helped him. Bryson said that he also believes that Drayton had help murdering his mother. "I think there has to be at least one other person involved," he said. "Drayton gave them a name. But 1 don't know, With him you have to determine what's fact and what's ~~fiction. In my opinion he has some serious mental problems." Bryson said that one thing m mm Harris: Mari everything com PAGE B1 \ronic (7 50 cents Vote delayed Citizens < impact si By MARDELL GRIFFIN Chronicle Staff Writer Citing concern for the effect of the city's proposed thorgiughfarc plan on the Shalimar neighborhood, Reynolds Park .Recreation Center, Salem Lake and Reynolds Park Golf Course, as well as other Winston-Salem communities, Southeast Ward Alderman Larry W. Womble won Board of Aldermen approval to delay vote on the plan for two weeks. The decision on the comprehensive development plan for the city was likewise postponed during Monday nights board meeting in a move made by East Ward Alderman Virginia K. Newell. Citizens groups citywide lobbied extensively in past weeks to influence aldermen to carry out an environmental impact study before setting routes for roadsincluded in the thoroughfare plan. T"*i a _ mey now nave until tne next regularly scheduled aldermen's meeting on Aug. 17 to continue their efforts. ; Friends of Salem Lake and "others in the .immediate community" delivered a document to Womble with 1,005 signatures of :ans included ip^W-S^sele examine issues concerning Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. The program is for people who have already established themselves as leaders in the community. It will not, according to a brochure describing the program, train people to be leaders. African-American members of the 1987-88 class are: Geneva B. Brown, principal, Moore Alternative School ich ae1~Ar~GTace r~attotney;? Greeson, Page and Grace Norman E. Joyner, executive director, Winston Lake Family YMCA Willie M. Kennedy, attorney/registered nurse Jeffrey Bryson and his grandmott Merritt Drayton's Life sentence ver that leads him to believe that Drayton didn't act alone is that his mother's television which had been in the den had been moved to the hallway. "It's a relatively large television," he ?1, a Howell tes home . PAGEM /It; 50 Pages This Week demand tudy first residents opposed to the suggested route for the 311 Connector, Womble said. And representatives of the Friends of Salem Lake have attended all the public hearings held~onihe thoroughfare plan, met with planning staff and held neighborhood meetings to discuss the outline for the city's future __ roadways. * " The connector would link existing 1-40 with the new portion of 1-40 by slicing through the backyards of houses on the eastern side of the Shalimar community and cutting through a greenway previously approved by the board and already under construction between the Marketplace and Salem Lake, the Southeast Ward alderman said. Nearly half the members of the audience in the packed aldermen's chambers rose Monday night when Womble asked members of the Salem Lake group to stand. He attributed people in the organization with instigating a change in route during the planning ot existing 1-40 that swung the rood further south from a path through what is now Marketplace Main > Please see Page A11 cts class Lee Faye Mack, counselor, Winston-Salem Urban League The Rev. John Mendez, Emmanuel Baptist Church Earline W. Parmon, executive director, Learning Is Fun Too Hellena H. Tidwell, director of development, Arts Council Waller S. Tucker, executive vice president, Mechanics and Fanners Bank Janet P. Wheeler, manager, research and development, R.J*. -Reynolds Tobacco Co?? Haywood L. Wilson Jr., vice chancellor for student affairs, Winston-Salem State University Raschke said that the program has progressed a lot since its Please see page A 12 I If*- ' jb , jjljjm I A ft J f JKBhIh ler, Frances Williams, discuss diet (photo by James Parker). said. "Also looking at Drayton and his size, I don't see him able to subdue my mother by himself. She was not a small person." Please see page A13 i
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