They're Ram Tough
WSSU opens conference play
against Livingstone Coliege
Quest For Gold
Locai Senior Games participants
head to Raieigh for gold-digging
Thursday, September 15,1988
Winston-Salem Chronicle
"The Twin City’s Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XV, No. 3
Kennedy criticizes proposed county election plan
I VALERIE ROBACK GREGG
I ronlde Staff Writer
State Rep. Annie Brown
;nnedy, D-66lh, called the county
itrict election plan, which the
^CP and county settled on early
t summer, "unfair" last week, say-
I \ it would dilute the Afro-Ameri-
II vote in the county.
The plan calls for a modified
itrict approach in which one dis-
;t in the primaries is 92 percent
Afro-American, virtually assuring
an Afix>-American candidate. After
the primaries, all candidates will be
voted on at large.
The state General Assembly
must approve the election plan in
order for it to go into effect. They
will probably not vote on it until
after the November elections.
The Forsyth County delegation
in the General Assembly will proba-
bly have to support the proposed
police youth grant
^vised by aldermen
election plan unanimously for it to
be introduced as a bill. Rep. Ann Q.
Duncan, R-39th, said. State Rep.
Logan Burke, D-67th, and Rep.
Michael Decker, R-29th, both said
in July that they will not support the
plan.
Kennedy did not say whether
she will support or oppose the plan
when it reaches the state legislature,
but she did not speak positively
about it. "The plan was not dis
cussed with me beforehand," she
said. "I do not like the plan, and I
do not think it’s fair.
"We went through redistricting
for the General Assembly recently,
and I'm familiar with the makeup of
the county, and to me it makes no
sense to put all the black folk in one
district With the General Assembly
districts, at least we had a basis
from which the NAACP could
start."
The county election plan was
settled on in a meeting between
NAACP local branch President Wal
ter Marshall and Commissioner
John S. Holleman Jr. the night
before an NAACP lawsuit about
county election districts was to be
heard in court.
Holleman said in an int^iew
that all members of the County
Commission were asked by tele
phone whether they would support
the plan, and they unanimously
approved of it.
Kennedy also said the Black
Legislative Caucus worked to redis
trict the judicial districts to increase
the number of resident Afro-Ameri
cans who can become Superior
Court Judges.
"Before redistricting, we had
one black judge, and now we can
have as many as nine," she said.
She said the county plan should
reflect a similar makeup.
FIRST EVER!
VALERIE ROBACK GREGG
ronicie Staff Writer
J The city Police Department’s $42,000 juvenile delinquency
■cventimi program for East Winston youths came under fire
jnday, as the city Board of Aldennen voted to take the program
t of police control.
Aldermen Virginia K. Newell and Vivian H. Burke proposed
lendments to the program that would allow two East Winston
mmunity groups, the East Winston Restoration Association and
>erty-Easl Redevelopment, Inc., to select the participants and
e the coordinators.
The original proposal targeted youngsters who live in the area
_undcd by 14th Street, 25th Street, Liberty Street, and Bowen
mlevard and Attucks Street on the east. If amended, each com-
mity group would choose 50 participants.
Please see page A2
s/ld. consultant chosen
or East Winston study
VALERIE ROBACK GREGG
ronlda Staff Writer
The East Winston Development Task Force voted unanimously
Miday to hire a consultant based in Silver Spring, Md. to conduct
on^r^ensive economic development study of East Winston.
Hammer, Siler, George Associates was one of six firms which
emitted proposals. The firm’s proposal describes the study as
living as the basis for a whole set of new economic initiatives
ng undertaken to benefit the East Winstcm section of the city."
City Development Director J. Allen Joines said the considtant’s
dy will pick up where the city Planning Department's East Win-
1^01 Area Plan left off. "It will be more specific, but complemen-
y to the area plan," he said.
The final ccmtract with Hammer, Silw, George Associates must
negotiated before the task face’s choice can go to the city Board
Aldennen, but Task Face Chairman Ernest Pitt said the board
11 coisider it Oct. 3, and work should begin during the second
Please see page A9
Oity issues response
o NAACP allegations
VALERIE ROBACK GREGG
iTMilcle Staff Writer
The jnesident of the local branch of the NAACP recently said he is not
tisfied with the city’s investigation of allegations of police brutality
ainsi Afro-Americans.
WaltCT Marshall, president of the local branch of the National Associa-
Im for the Advancement of Colored People, addressed the board of alder-
bn concerning the matter in June and asked Assistant City Manager
^exander R. Beaty to investigate several allegations of police misconduct
lainst poor and Afro-American city residents.
Marshall's primary demand was for the creation of a citizen's commit-
b to review complaints of police brutality at some point during the police
ievance investigation process. "We weren't satisfi^, because it said there
iS no need for a citizens’ review board," Marshall said. "And they didn't
dress that 15 percent of the force is minority."
According to city Police Department figures, 17 percent of sworn
dice officers are Afro-American and 35 percent of other employees are
fro-American. The combined percentage of police department employees
ho are Afro-American is 21 percent. Afro-Americans make up almost 40
Tcent of the city’s population.
Beaty's report advised against forming a citizens’ review committee to
ar individual complaints about police conducL saying the complainant
n an?ear before the board of aldermen during the second appeal process,
lis review is conducted independently of the police department, Beaty
id in the report
i Marshall, however, still believes that a group unassociated with city
, ivanmeht must review all grievances. "The process now is just another
ty of telling people everything’s oJc.," Marshall said. "We have four black
* Please see page A9
Associated Press Laser Photo
FIRST BLACK RANGER — With commission In hand, Lee Roy Young Jr. receives warm
congratulations from a colleague, after receiving a promotion last week that makes him
the first black Texas Ranger.
Bravissimo!
Three men of color among
'Lucia di Lammermoor' cast
By ANGEU WRIGHT
Chronicle Managing Editor
Thompson: No
agreement made
with Robinson
By ANGELA WRIGHT
Chronicle Managing Editor
Dr. Cleon Thompson, chancellor of Winston-Salem
State University, said Tuesday that no accord had been
reached with state Senate candidate Vernon Robinson
over the use of WSSU students in Robinson's cam
paign.
"There has been no accord,
because there never was a con
troversy."
— Cleon Thompson Jr.
WSSU Chancellor
"There has been no accord, because there never
was a controversy," said Thompson. "We simply asked
Robinson to respond to some concerns we had about
his plans. We wanted to make sure he would meet the
(University of North Carolina) board of governors’
requirements about the conflict-of-interest policy."
The UNC board of governors requires that employ
ees seeking political office prove there will be no con
flict-of-interest with campaign aaivities and employ
ment activities. If a conflict-of-interest is presented, the
employee must resign his position or take a leave of
absence.
Earlier this week, Robinson announced via press
release that an agreement had been reached with the
chancellor of WSSU allowing students to participate in
campaign internships for credit. "This agreement ends a
week of controversy. While the accord is subject to
review by legal counsel, no last minute snags are antici
pated," stated Robinson.
Last week Robinson stated that "Chancellor Cleon
Thompson of WSSU has informed me that an arm of
Please see page A2
When the curtain opens on Ravenswood Castle this Friday, one of the
first faces to greet the audience will be that of Alphie Guess, bedecked in
17lh Century cavalier style costume, and looking very much like one of
the Three Musketeers. He is Normanno, captain of the castle guard.
A native of Orangeburg, S.C., Guess is one of three Afro-American
men performing in the Piedmont Opera Theatre's production of "Lucia di
Lammermoor" by Gaetano Donizetti. The two other Afro-Americans in
the cast, Derrick Lawrence and Elliot Lowerey, are members of the cho
rus. Both men are natives of Winston-Salem.
Although they readily acknowledge that Afro-Americans are typically
not patrons of the opera and that few perform in such productions, neither
of them are newcomers to the operatic stage.
Guess, a tenor and senior voice major at the North Carolina School of
the Arts (NCSA), first performed with the Piedmont Opera last season as
Borsa in the company’s production of "Rigoleuo." He counts among his
credits performances in "The Mikado," Mozart's Requiem and "Corona
tion Mass." and Bach’s "Magnificat." He played the role of Normanno
once before at the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, N.C.
Lawrence, who sings bass, sung the part of Guglielmo in Mozart's
opera "Cosi Fan Tuite," performed at the Stevens Center earlier this year.
He, too, has performed in Mozart’s Requiem and is also a senior voice
Please see page A10
- - - - -
Photo by Mike Cunningham
No, Not The Three Musketeers!
From left, Elliot Lowerey, Derrick Lawrence and Alphie Guess,
virtuosi of musical theatre, will flaunt their talents In the Pied
mont Opera Theatre's production of "Lucia dl Lammermoor."