34 Pages This Week
ton-Salem Chronicle
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly" ' VOL. XV, No. 47
Thursday. July ?0. 1989
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Marshall investigated by national NAACP office
By TONYA V.SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writef
Officials at the headquarters of the National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People in Baltimore have conducted an investigation into the
activities of Walter Marshall, president of the local branch.
Samuel W. Tucker, a member of the national Board of Director's Commit
tee on Branches, conducted a hearing July 1 in Winston-Salem because of a
complaint submitted to the Baltimore office about Mr. Marshall.
"Some of the branch members made an Article 10 complaint to the nation
al office," said Mr. Tucker, who f 'so is an attorney with the firm Hill, Tucker
and Marsh in Richmond, Va. "That article says three to four members of the
association's branch can file a complaint with the national office about a local
officer."
Five members of the Winston-Salem branch signed the certified letter
addressed to Benjamin L. Hooks, executive director of the NAACP. In that let
ter, dated May 8, 1989, members said that no regular general membership
meetings had been conducted by Mr. Marshall in his two years as president
According to Article 6, Section I of the "Constitution and By-laws for Branches
of the NAACP" regular branch meetings are to be held at least once a month on
a fixed day or date.
The letter called the current branch structure a "private club for a select
Please seepage A11
'T1
. . ? ??.</** '? ? ' ' *\ r - ?* ' . Photo by Mike Cunningham
From toft, Reglna Chanty, Ralph Jones, John Jordon, Torsha Booker and Carella Panky enjoy a
day of play at Shilohlan-St. Peter's.
NEWS ANALYSIS
The Hunt case: Is justice on trial?
By ROOSEVELT WILSON
Chronic te Staff Writer
This is the first in a series of articles
examining the investigation, conviction and
possible retrial ofDarryl Hunt.
The Darryl Hunt case is in the head
lines again but it appears that Winston
Salem and justice are the ones really on
trial.
Mr. Hunt was convicted in 1985 of
the 1984 rape and stabbing death of Debo
rah B. Sykes. In early May, the North Car
olina Supreme Court overturned the con
viction and District Attorney Warren Spar
row, who was not in office when Mr. Hunt
was convicted, had 120 days to decide
whether to retry Mr. Hunt or drop the
charges.
Members of Winston-Salem's Afro- .
American community have been urging
Mr. Sparrow to drop the charges, citing a
seriously flawed case they say resulted in
a conviction only because Mr. Hunt is
Afro-American and Ms. Sykes was white.
The case presents a political and
racial dilemma, and as a result Mr. Hunt
has become the rope in an ironic tug of
war between the Hunt supporters and
some members of the white community
who believe Mr. Hunt is guilty and are
pressing just as doggedly for him to be
convicted again.
The irony is that while these forces
are at work politics place Mr. Sparrow in a
quandary. His is an elected position and he
certainly would not endear himself to a
significant segment of the community
regardless of his decision.
The North Carolina Bar apparently
came to his rescue by ruling that for Mr.
Sparrow to make a decision in the case
would constitute a conflict of interest
because two of his current assistants, L.
Todd Burke and Vincent F. Rabil, were
Please see page A 1 1
Tension, barbs mark board meeting
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Alderman Vivian H. Burke accused Martha S. Wood
of using Monday s Board of Aldermen meeting as a
stump from which she made, p.mntinnal plaas in an
attempt to gather support in her bid for mayor.
During a discussion of whether the city should
amend a city code requiring a half-mile spacing
"between family care homes, Alderman Wood sided
with Gale W. Lyon, administrator and president of
Bethabara Hills Inc. The existing city code prohibits
Mr. Lyon from building another family care home near
the one hit company operates at 4643 Oldtown Drive.
The petition was denied by the city-county planning
board and discussed during-the aldermen's July 3 meet
ing. In that meeting, aldermen voted to continue the
issue to allow City Attorney Ronald G. Seeber to inves
tigate the board s options and to allow absent board
members an opportunity for input.
Mr. Lyon said the city code is discriminatory ...
because no other group of people has a nrnryvy mmwQ -
ment regulating where they can build a place to live.
After discussing the matter with various legal ;
Please see page A7
County withdraws
petition for jail site
By TONYA V. SMITH : ? ? -
Chronicle Staff Writer
In tfce invocation, the Rev. Greg Taylor thanked
God for pfeace in the midst of a capacity plus crowd
that gathered Monday night in the City Hall Council*
Chamber to discuss the proposed site for a new deten-'
tion center.
In an effort to keep the peace in the midst of a
hotly contested issue, Commissioner Gerald H. Long
withdrew the Forsyth County Commissioners' zoning
petition for a 63-acre site off Patterson Avenue in East
Winston where, they hoped to build a $35 million jail.
"Unfortunately, as a result of this site, we have had
%jBytettyi?ion within this fine community,'' Mr. Long
havehad the subject of racism
develop. 1 don't think we should have this. 1 felt we
Please see page A7
School board passes plan
NAACP leader asks for black books
Warren Sparrow
Carlton Eversley
SyflOOSEVELT WILSON
Chronicle Staff Writer
America's oldest civil rights
organization challenged the Win
ston-Salem/Forsyth County Board
of Education Monday to examine
its required reading list for sec
ondary schools and include black
and women authors.
Bessie Allen, representing the
NAACP, told the board members
that the presence of blacks and
women authors on the school sys
tem's book list is "nil." She left
with board chair Garlene G. Gro
gan a list "that will give some
Jl l '!!!'!? 1 m
insight on black authors and
enable us to include on this
required list some of our black
authors."
Mrs. Allen commended
Superintendent Larry Coble on
the program for the middle
schools but addressed three con
cerns.
One was regarding athletics
in the middle schools. She noted
that one school system is experi
menting with one middle school
which does not offer athletics and
gives parents the option of
Please see page A 10
Educators say too much time spent on labels
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
This is the first in a series of articles examining the effectiveness of
the public schools in providing services and programs to children with
special needs.
Special is a term that could refer to someone or something that is set
apart, exceptional, definitely not average. However, for about 4.5 million
children in the United States being special is everything but a positive
experience.
They are children enrolled in special education. They are children with
diverse learning problems and disabilities.
In North Carolina these children are specifically defined in a procedu
ral handbook published by the state Department of Public Instruction's
Division for Exceptional Children.
"The term 'children with special needs' includes, without limitation, all
children who because of permanent or temporary mental, physical or emo
tional handicaps need special education, are unable to have all their educa
tional needs met in a regular class without special education or related ser
vices, or are unable to be adequately educated in the public schools,"
according to the most recent edition of "Governing Programs and Services
for Children with Special Needs."
The definition is very broad including children who are autistic, aca
demically gifted, hearing impaired, mentally handicapped, multihandi
capped, orthopedically impaired, other health impaired, pregnant, behav
lorally -emotionally handicapped, specific learning disabled, speech -lan
guage impaired and visually impaired. ^
Before a child in the Winston-Salem/gwIyth County schools is placed
into one of the preceding categories, he or she must meet the requirements
laid out in yet another definition. For example, a pupil who has a speech
language impairment, according to the DPI, has a disorder in articulation,
language, voice and/or fluency.
"A speech -language impairment may range from mild to severe," reads
the procedural manual. "It may be developmental or acquired and pupils
may demonstrate one or any combination of the four parameters listed
above. A speech-language impairment may result in a primary handicap
ping condition or it may be secondary to other handicapping conditions."
The definition of a speech-language impairment goes on to label other
specifics.
Before children are placed into one of the special needs programs they
undergo several evaluations to determine their eligibility. Included are eval
uations made of the child's:
?degree of personal independency and social responsibility in accor
dance with his or her age group,
?hearing, eyesight and general health to determine if any correctional
measures are necessary,
?educational strengths and weaknesses,
?intelligence and psychological well-being
?coordination skills and sense perception
?normal and/or abnormal history
?speech and language development
?vocational potential, training and work placement needs.
The city -county schools and departments of Human Resources and
Correction agencies that provide special education to children with special
needs are responsible by law to insure that all children, from birth to 21
Please see page A2