34 Pages This Week
Thursday, June 22, 1989
Winston-Salem Chronicle
50 cents "The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly" VOL. XV,
Residents
say 'no' to
housing units
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Summer came two days early at
the Board of Aldermen meeting
Monday night, causing voices to
rise, brows to sweat and tempers to
flare to record highs -- a preview of
the heat to come.
The cause of the ruckus was a
seemingly routine proposal by M.B.
Corporation to build two apartment
complexes for low-income families.
Members of the Board of Alder
men's Finance Committee had been
conversing with the company for
about six weeks -- hammering out
agreements for the projects totalling
$1.4 million. The committee had
even agreed, during its June 12
meeting, to sell M.B. Corporation
4.4 acres on which to build the 44
apartment units, and to finance two
second mortgage loans on the pro
ject totalling $532,422. (The total
project cost and loan amounts
slightly decreased from original fig
ures presented by M.B. Corporation
to the committee because of a
reduction in the number of three
bedcoom fey the
Housing Advisory Committee, pro
posed for one of the complexes.
Project costs went from $1.5 to 1.4
million, and the loans decreased
from $532,422 to $531,862.)
However, members of the Kim
- Please see page Ad
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Everything's Coming Up Roses
Laveme Gray of Winston-Salem tends to the roses that she and
her husband, Milton, have grown in their yard along with other
Joy ely flowers. -
MWBE report: Program a success
TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
The city's Minority and Women Business Enter
prise program may have made some gains since it
was adopted in 1983, but there's not enough teeth in
it to really change things, said Alderman Larry W.
Womble. ^
"We realty don't have aliylluiTg wldi d^
it," Mr. Womble told fellow board members Monday
night after hearing a status report on the program
presented by the M/WBE Advisory Committee. "We
really don't have anything with any clout in it to
open the doors for minorities or women ... to come
into the public sector." ,
The M/WBE Program is a voluntary goal, one
incorporating a "good faith efforts" test to ensure
that discrimination doesn't exist in the city's purchas
ing/contracting program. As the report notes, "this
M/WBE program is not a quota or set-aside program.
ft
Clay Ring, a committee member, highlighted
Httajor points from the 21 -page report. Ffe pointed to
the four major categories of city spending with
M/WBE companies: materials and services, con
struction and demolition, subcontract activity and
discretionary spending.
"The number of M/WBE firms increased in each
Please see page A9
Will black voters support Wood?
Newell, Womble still mum on whether they will run
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Some white people consider Martha S. Wood the
fifth Afro-American on the Board of Aldermen
because of some stands she has
taken on so-called "black issues."
Some Afro-Americans maintain no
white person can effectively
respond to their concerns with less
talk and more action.
Naturally, cwith Mrs. Wood's
announcement June 17 to run for
mayor, of Winston-Salem comes
the question: "Will the Afro-Amer
ican community support her?" The
Northwest Ward Alderman thinks
so.
"A numbeTof people* in the
black community have already
-called and told me I could count on
their support," Mrs. Wood said.
"My theme is, Together We Can
Make a Difference,' and that's what
I'm hoping, for us all to pull together."
About 100 supporters gathered in the Mountcas
tle Forum Room of the Sawtooth Building at 2 p.m.
Alderman Martha Wood
Saturday to hear Mrs. Wood's announcement.
"I will be a candidate for mayor of Winston
Salem," she said. "I commit my efforts to what our
citizens want most: the best possible police protec
tion and drug enforcement, an economic develop^
ment program that builds jobs,
homes and community; and a gov
ernment that encourages and wel
comes participation from every
one."
Although she says^her most
recent decision has nothing to do
with Mrs. Wood's announcement,
Alderman Virginia K^^ewell said
Tuesday that the chances of her
running for mayor are now very
slim. Mrs. Newell added that she
thinks Mrs. Wood has the potential
to draw s liable pOl 1 lical support
from the Afro- American communi
ty
"I think she has made some
good moves," Mrs. Newell said.
"She basically has the same ideas
and concerns for people, irregardless to their color.
Please see page A9
Task force hears jail proposal;
group takes .no position for now
By ROOSEVELT WILSON
Chronicle Staff Writer
Perspective, semantics and per
ception were the key words as the
East Winston Development Task
Force reacted to two presentations
Tuesday night. 7~
As a result, the task force
agreed to take a tour of areas pro
posed for development, the pro
posed location for the county jail
off Patterson Avenue, a site of
proposed road improvements, as
well as the soon-to-be completed
jail in High Point.
Chairman Ernest R_PittA whoj
had to leave earfy to attend anoth
er meeting, said that it is impor
tant that any development plan the
task force adopts is feasible. "We
want to make sure that what we
finally put on the table makes
sense and is affordable. And I
think we should consider the posi
tibff of this group as one of advo
cacy."
The county officials' visit to
the task force is part of an effort to
rally support for the new jail and
possibly a sheriffs department.
Since they announced plans for
the $35 million project May 12,
the commissioners have faced
opposition from Afro-Americans
in the Eastern portion of the city --
particularly from those who are
members of Goler Memorial
A.M.E. Zion Church, located near
the proposed site.
With the new jail could come
some badly needed road improve
ments which would open up traf
fic in East Winston, commission
ers have said. In an effort to prove
the point, city engineer Curtis
Bostian introduced alternatives to
a 1955 Liberty Street-Main Street
connector plan with which noth
ing has been done. He said that
project today would cost $12-15
million. He showed renderings of
two connectors which would cost
an estimated $3-31/2 million com
bined.
The first, the "8th/Liberty"
connector, would provide direct
access from Main Street to 8th
Street. The "Liberty/Martin
Luther King Jr." connector would
Please see page A9
The times they are a-changing at WSSU
Tough new standards
mean fewer students
By TONYA V. SMITH
Cbronide Staff Writer
Stricter academic criteria imposed by the University of North Caroli
na General Administration has made it tougher for freshmen to gain admit
tance to Winston-Salem State University. Those rigorous standards, howev
er, also mean a higher quality of students, said Gwen A. Hill, assistant vice
chancellor for Enrollment Management at WSSU.
Since 1984 the number of freshmen and transfer students admitted at
WSSU has steadily decreased. In that year, 1,431 students applied to the
university, 78 percent were accepted. In 1988, 1,878 students applied to
WSSU and less than 59 percent were acccpted.
. While the number of students seeking admittance<have increased, Ms.
Hill explained, the stricter guidelines have prompted a funneling effect in
the pool of applicants, therefore, those who may normally have been
accepted aren't, and the total number of accepted students has decreased.
WSSU's "self-induced" admission improvements were edged on by
Chancellor Cleon F. Thompson Jr., Ms. Hill said.
"One of his concerns was tojncrease the average SAT (Scholastic
Aptitude Test) scores," she said.
Traditionally, students at WSSU have scored lower than 600 or in the
low 600s on the SAT. The first university-authorized minimum score
increase was by 18 points and subsequent increases have brought the mini
mum average SAT score up by 58 points. The change was good but neces
The number
of students who Photo by Mike Cunningham
actually enrolled New admissions requirements will help
decreased because increase the quality of students applying to
the change in crite- WSSU, says Gwen Hill, assistant vice chan
ria Dlaced WSSU in cellor of enrollment management,
competition with
other institutions which attract the "higher quality students," Ms. Hill
explained.
sitated other
changes, Ms. Hill
said.
"In doing so
(raising minimum
SAT scores) we had
to find ways of
increasing the
application pool,"
she said. "When we
increased the quali
ty of student that
meant increasing
the numbers we
have to select from
and seeing a
decrease in the
numbers of students
who were selected
and enrolled."
Please see page A8
New development director
to focus on fund raising
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Education at its best takes
place in an environment where
people of all nationalities and skin
colors can learn and grow togeth
er, said Gerald L. Cooper, the new
development director at Winston
Salem State University.
Usually a member of the
majority community, Mr. Cooper
will have the unique experience of
being the minority in an Afro
American majority environment
on the WSSU campus. He is one
of nine whites in upper-adminis
tratrve positions at the university. cspccia)ly at the college leve,t
Whites account for nearly 17 per- Mf c said. ..This aIlows
cent of the total number of upper- evcrybod thc opportunity t0 be
level administrative personnel at on equa, foolmg and ^
WSSU. JQ frorn jt RaCC CQultJ
"I believe one of the key ways _ and should become a secondary
of bridging gaps in our society is -
to allow people to learn together, , Please see page A8