/
people
SPORTS
RELIGION
IJ/i^rio Beasley -
■relishes life
J as young author •' ;y ^
■ PAGEA6 X
M
Tyson faces Spinks:
The fans' dream fight is
finally becoming a reality
( PAGE Cl
' Kenyan ministers
make visit
" ’ to Twin City
PAGE B1
f i m-Salem Chronicle
M TheTwin City's Award-Winning Weekly
Li. XIV, No. 42 U.S.P.S. No. 067910
\Wlnston-Salem, N.C. Thursday, June 9,1988
50 cents 34 Pages This Week
w
Woman's eviction raises housing shortage issues
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Chronicle Staff Writer
photo by Harden Richards
Smith spent five weeks as a homeiss
person.
i^nme sav election plan falls short
The story of a 53-year-old woman
who was evicted from her public housing
home last month has ended on a positive
note, but not before she was forced to
spend five weeks living on the streets of
Happy Hill Gardens with all of her furni
ture and belongings.
Alma Z. Smith, who lived in a hous
ing unit on Foster Street with her daughter,
said she was evicted from her home by
housing authority officials. She said that
she was told that her daughter, the primary
leaseholder, was overdue on rent payments
and that the family would have to vacate
the premises. Smith said that the authority
planned to padlock her furniture and other
items inside the unit. When she protested,
she said, they moved her furniture and a
freezer outside to the sidewalk just in front
of the apartment, where it has remained
"They did offer to store her
furniture, but if you're going to
store something, why not let it be
the person."
— Lee Faye Mack
since early May.
"They told me they would keep my
furniture for me for 20 days but I wanted
to watch my own stuff and I don't have
anywhere else to go," Smith said. "I'm
afraid to leave my things out here and I
don’t have anywhere to take them so I have
to stay out here and watch them myself. I'll
be sitting out here until I get somewhere to
put my furniture and to lay my head."
Smith, who found herself suddenly
completely homeless a few weeks ago, sta
tioned herself in a straw rocker underneath
a shade tree near her plastic-covered furni
ture and virtually kept a round-the-clock
vigil over her things for weeks before
attracting media attention earlier this
week. Her situation also was brought to
the attention of Lee Faye Mack, a staff
member at the Winston-Salem Urban
League.
"Some of her neighbors called me and
I just couldn't believe that this was hap
pening," said Mack. "They did offer to
store her furniture, but if you're going to
store something, why not let it be the per
son. Why can't you find somewhere for the
person to go? That would be the humane
thing to do.”
Smith, who was reluctant to talk about
her situation, broke into tears when asked
if she had been able to get any leads on
possible housing. She said that she had no
where to turn for shelter and that a housing
authority official had mentioned that by
leaving her furniture on the walkway she
was still on the premises and technically,
therefore, in violation of policy. Smith said
Please see page A3
THIS TEACHE
ilHISDa
Leaders wanted
more from suit
jgj Leaders in the Afro-American community are voic-
Hing their reservations about - and in some cases out-
i Ihglit disapproval of ~ the settlement reached between
* ■itieNAACP and Forsyth County. Most community
^^(■leaders interviewed said they felt the settlement was to
w ^Bhrless than the Afro-American community expected.
"We need to have mwe than one black on that
P^Blcard,' said Mazie Woodruff, candidate to the Board
"i ^■((County Commissioners. "I wish I could have been
^ make-up (of the plan). Waiter Marshall
* \ lot of work into it and I don't want to be critical,
’ Sullwant to study it some more."
Woodruff said, however, that the new plan was
■betta than nothing at all.”
The NAACP and Forsyth County reached an
agreement Mcwiday to divide the county into five dis
tricts - one a 92 percent Afro-American majority dis
trict - to assure a seat on the Board of Commissioners
to an Afro-American candidate.
Monday's agreement calls for a primary nomina-
tiem of two candidates (one Democraf one Republican)
in each district and an at-large general election in
November.
"The standard for partitioning the county into five
distncis was set by Larry Little several years ago when
he drew up the seats for the state legislmure," said Ver-
nwi Robinson, candidate for the state senate. "Against
that standard, this plan seems to fall way short"
Robinson said that the primary beneficiary of the
plan seemed to be County Commissioner John S. Holle-
man, who was credited with designing the plan and
- the agreement between the NAACP and the
Please see page A8
photo by Harden Richards
Audrey Laverne Anderson has been named 1988-89 Teacher of the Year for the Win-
ston-^lem/Forsyth County Schools. Anderson, 35, has taught kindergarten at Cash
NAACP, county
agree upon plan
By ANGELA WRIGHT
Chronicle Managing Editor
The dispute between the NAACP and Forsyth
County over election procedures for the County Board
of Commissioners has been resolved without the need
for a federal court ruling. Attorneys for the two groups
reached an agreement Monday and presented their
proposal to U. S. District Court Judge Eugene Gordon.
The agreement calls to a five-district plan with
Afro-Americans constituting a 92 percent majority in
one of the districts. During the primary elections one
Republican and one Democrat would elected from
each district. In the general election all voters would
vote on the candidate of their choice from each dis
trict. The five commissioners would continue to serve
staggered terms with three being seated in one election
and two being seated during the next election.
The NAACP complaint had charged that the
county's at-large, staggered term, run-off election
method maximized white voting strength and denied
Afro-American voters in the county an equal chance to
elect candidates of their choice.
The new system guarantees that at least one Afro-
American would be elected to the Board of Commis
sioners. Walter Marshall, president of the local
NAACP, expressed pleasure with the new plan saying
it would "provide a greater opportunity for electoral
success for black citizens."
Gordon called the resolution to the suit, which
was filed in October 1986, a "far more quality verdict"
than any court could have issued. Earlier he had
strongly criticized the manner in which both parties
were handling the lawsuit. But on Monday his words
Please see page AS
NEWS DIGEST
Compiled From AP Wire
Bomb explodes, kills four
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A bomb hid-
in a trash bin exploded on a busy street comer
Friday, killing four people and injuring 19 in South
Africa's deadliest bombing in more than a year.
Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok blamed the
African National Congress, which has been
accused of four other bombings in the past nine
days.
Jackson pushes for sanctions
South Carolina - Jackson said Monday he will
80 to the convention mat with Michael Dukakis
he comes around to his position on South
'^ca. Jaekson contends the U.S. should subject
nation to the trade sanctions applied to other
countries it has put on its terrorist list such as
Ltbya, North Korea and Cuba.
Jesse’s brother the 'Billy
Carter of Jackson campaign'
jJ^^J^JJ-LE, S.C. - Noah Robinson said that
relives charges that he hired someone to attack
'fitness were filed against him to hurt his
Rill* n Jackson, "by making me the
rile Jackson campaign."
Civil Rights chief suffers heart attack
Pendleton dead at 57
SAN DIEGO (AP) -Clarence
M. Pendleton Jr., who rose from
the slums of the nation's capital to
help lead President Reagan's battle
against racial quotas as the first
black chairman of the U.S. Civil
Rights Commission, has died.
He was 57.
Pendleton, one of the Reagan
administration's highest-ranking
blacks, died Sunday after apparent
ly suffering a heart attack while
exercising, deputy coroner David
Lodge said.
No autopsy will be performed on
Pendleton, Deputy Coroner Jack
Larkie said today, adding that
Pendleton's physician would iden
tify the cause of death.
Pendleton drew wrath by calling
liberal black leaders "the new
racists" whose support for the
Democratic Party "led blacks into a
political Jonestown."
He once termed the concept of
comparable worth, which envi
sions women receiving the same
salary as men with similar jobs,
"the looniest idea since 'Looney
Tunes.'” He called affirmative
City to flush out
front companies
By CRAIG T. GREENLEE
Chronicle Staff Writer
Pendleton
action "divisive, unpopular and
immoral," and opposed busing.
Please see page A9
Robinson facing uphill battle
By CRAIG I GREENLEE
Chronicle Staff Writer
Vernon L. Robinson has a mas
ter selling job on his hands in his
quest to tecome a Republican state
senator from Forsyth County.
Seeking to win a seat in the 20th
Senate District, Robinson feels his
chances will be enhanced if he can
woo a significant number of Afro-
American voters in that district.
The major obstacle he faces, how
ever, is that as a group, Afro-
Americans tend to be staunch
Democrats, often voting a straight
party ticket in the primaries and
general elections.
He's confident he can meet the
challenge.
"Folks are looking for perfor
mance, not platitudes." Robinson
told the Chronicle. ""The black
community has gone through a
long period of neglect. The two
senators from this district (Marvin
M. Ward and Ted Kaplan) have
turned their backs on black voters."
Robinson openly admitted that
his toughest political hurdle to con
quer right now is persuading Afro-
Americans to look at other alterna
tives when they cast their ballots.
Robinson is puzzled as to why
Afro-Americans continue to
remain steadfast in their party vot
ing habits, when Afro-American
interests aren’t being served by the
Please see page A9
The certification process for women- and minority-
owned companies wishing to do business with the city
has been revamped. The new procedures, explained
Betty J. Hanes, director of the Minority/Women Busi
ness Enterprise program, should help to drastically
reduce the number of "front companies" posing as busi
nesses owned by a female or minority. The new system
will also give the certificatiem process mwe credibility,
Hanes said
Since assuming her duties in late March, Hanes
has received numerous complaints from minority and
women business owners that some companies doing
business with the city as M/WBEs aren't legitimate.
According to city guidelines, at least 51 percent of a
firm must be owned and controlled by minority groups
or women in order to qualify as an M/WBE.
The M/WBE program was developed in 1983 to
help women- and minority-owned firms become com-
petidve in securing city contracts for various goods and
services.
The new certification form, Hanes pointed out,
asks companies to provide more detailed information
than in the past For example, firms are asked to provide
specifics concerning the gender and race of a compa
ny’s owners and what percentage of ownership they
have. Companies must also state the race and sex of the
people who are responsible for the day-to-day manage-
Please see page AS