34 Pages This Week Thursday, February 1,1990
Issue promises to spark controversy
Womble, Burke question effect of annexation
By TONYA V. SMITH
- Chronicle Staff Writer
Relatively mild, non-eontrover
sial issues have gone before the city
Board of Aldermen since its make
up changed in November 1989,
.however, with the subject of annex
' at ion on the agenda for the next two
sears, the meetings arc expected to
heat up a degree or two.
On Monday, City Manager
'Bryce A. Stuart will ask the alder
men to approve a resolution of
intent for the first phase of the
annexation process.
Over the next two years the
city is planning on undertaking two
major annex allons. The first phase
could be approved by aldermen on
June 4 and would go into effect in
June 1991.
Phase one includes two areas.
The first is an area northwest of the
city that is bounded on the south
and cast by existing city limits from
Robin Hood and Milhaven roads to
Shattalon Drive in the Oldtown
area, on the north by Reynolda
Road and state Highway 67 from
Shattalon drive to Muddy Creek,
and on the west by Muddy Creek
and Shattalon Drive from Reynolda
Road to Robin Hood Road.
The second area elated ior
annexation in phase one is south
west of the city and is bounded on
the north and west by Salem Lake
to south of the Parkview Shopping
Center, on the south by U.S. High
way 3.11 and Fiddlers Creek to Oak
Drive Road, and on the east by Oak
Grove and Linville roads in the
Sedge Garden community.
About 8,000 residents, 3 per
cent of them Afro-Americans, could
' be taken into the city in phase one,
and 11,000 - 9 percent of them
black - in the second phasy.
For county residents, annexa
tion nrcans higher property nax?3~
over and above that paid to Forsyth.
It also means more services, such as
protection from full-time, trained
firefighters as well as members of
the Winston-Salem Police Depart
ment.
While those arc important
issues, Afro-Americans sitting on
the board have traditionally ques
tioned the validity of annexations
and been wary of their diluting
black voting power.
Governmental bodies, especial
ly thotc in Southern Stales, have
historically used annexation to
"dilute the black votcrsaid Alderman
Larry W. Womblc, but there are
other reasons for his frowning upon
annexation, he added.
"One of the reasons that I'm not
too aggressively supportive of
forced annexation is because it is
just Vhat it says. In forced annexa
tions people are annexed, and they
don't have the right or privilege to
vote on whether they want to come
in or not, and I think it's unfair for
any governmental body to make
that decision for them," said the
Southeast Ward Alderman. "Anoth
er reason I'm skeptical about forced
annexation is bccause it borders on
taxation without representation. 1
know that's stretching it, but in
many cases the taxes people pay are
doubled.
'There arc some people who
prefer not to live m the city and
that's just their right. Therp are
other reasons, such as the areas
being annexed do not have an affin
ity or identification with Winston
Salcm. I've gotten a lot of calls and
several letters stacked in my house
Please see page A8
Discrimination
charges filed
against Marriott
By TONYA V SMITH
Syr-anus O. During is a unit manager for the
Facilities Management division of Marriott Corpout
lion in Winston-Salem. He was promoted to the post in
1984, but Mr. During had to sue his employers before
they would offer him a job in management.
On April 12, Mr. During will take the multi-mil
lion dollar corporation to court again, but this time he's
not just fighting for himself. He's fighting for the thou
sands of Marriott employees who, he said, have been
denied promotion because of the color of their skin.
Mr. During, a native of West Africa, moved to the
United Suites in 1978 and has been a resident alien
here since then. He worked as an area manager for
Costal Building Maintenance, director of housekeeping
for Hill Haven Nursing Home and housekeeping super
visor for Roanoke Memorial Hospital before he joined
?Service Systems Inc., which was acquired by Marriott
in.November 1985.
Marriott Facilities Management division, at 8 West
Thmf Street in Wins ton-Salem, contracts withowners
of large companies to provide housekeeping and main
tenance services. RJR Nabisco is Marriott's largest cus
tomer in the Triad area, reportedly having negotiated a
S3 million contract with the national corporation.
In 1987, Jim Manning was the regional manager of
the management division and four district managers
were under his charge. Under the district managers
were a number of unit managers who had the responsi
bility of tending to the various accounts of Marriott's
individual customers.
Total employment in the Winston-Salem region, as
reported by Marriott in 1987, was 228 people - 151 of
whom were black and 77 were white. Afro-Americans,
- who represented two-thirds of Marriott's workforce,
were employees responsible for mopping and sweeping
floors, cleaning toilets and polishing fixtures. Ten peo
ple were in management positions, all of them white.
Mr. During was promoted to unit manager in 1984,
Please see page A6
Kids get help with science
By TONYA V SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Seventh grade Afro-American students
iii Ox)k Middle School, who were failing
or posting below average scores in their
science classes, now have the academic
assistance they need thanks to a Saturday
morning tutorial class sponsored' hy mem
bers of the Beta Iota Chapter of Alph- Phi
Alpha Fraternity Inc.
Twenty one students who made a D or
V in science were targeted to participate tn
the Alpha's program, said Shirley J. Atkin
son, principal at C(*)k.
"First we notified the students' parents
by sending letters home hy the students.
Wc got njr response," Mrs. Atkinson
explained Then we sent a letter by U.S.
Mail and got a little response. It was then
thai Larry (Womblc) began to visit par
ents."
Assistant principal Womblc, also an
Alpha, went to Kimberly Park Terrace
where all the children now participating in
the program live - and began knocking on
d(x>rs.
"I went out there and knocked on the
children's' d<x>rs, and now only three of the
children are not signed up for the ptygram.
But we're working hard trying to gel them
signed up," said Mr. Womblc, also alder
man of the Southeast Ward.
f or the past two Saturdays, the stu
dents Tiave arrived"at Cook forctass al "1ft
a.m. Lowdcn \i. Anderson, a retired cduca
lor with nearly 35 years ol experience,
instructs the students.
? Please sec page AS
Photo by Mikr Ounrvnqh.im
Shirley Atkinson and Larry Womble, principal and assistant
principal, respectively, at Cook Middle School, discuss a Sat
urday morning tutorial programjpr seventh-graders
'' ' "
Three more file -
candidacies for:
state legislature
By TONYA V SMITH
With only three days left to file for office, two
ncwcomers to politics and a former candidate have
joined the growing list of hopefuls vying for a state
office.
Warren "Pete" Oldham, 63, filed Monday to chal
lenge Naomi Jones and Carlton Presslcy for the 67th
District scat in
the sLatc House of
Representatives.
Incumbent Logan
Burke announced
last month that he
would not seek
re-election to the
post he has held
for two terms.
Before he
retired Sept. 1,
Mr. Oldham was
the registrar at
Winston -Salem
State University.
He worked at the
university for 20
years and had
been an educator
for 38 years. His *
candidacy is a response to public demand, he said.
"I was approached by several people over the
weekend ami my filing is my way of succumbing to
those arguments and persuasions," said Mr. Oldham, a
Democrat. "In the past, I've considered myself too busy
to become involved. But now we've reached the point
where many of us blacks who've been sitting on our
dulls must reach out there. We've got to give the people
a choice. The people should not be bound to vote for
whoever happens to file.
I'm a novice. But my interest is education. It's dis
Piease see page A8
Denise Adams
City transit authority
trying to overcome .
rash of accidents
By TONVA V SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
A fury of accidents involving buses or other vehi
cles in ihc Meet o! the city transit authority have been
the result of "dumb" mistakes that hopefu'ly won't be
recurring anytime soon, general manager James A.
Ritcjlev told board members Tuesday.
The most recent accident look placc about three
weeds' ago, Mr. Ritchcy rcTnindeil Winston-Salem
Transit Authority members during a regular meeting.
After discovering that the rear of his bus was on fire, a
driver Mopjvd the bus and got off. jAfter watching the
fire tor a while, the driver decided that the fire may
cNimguish usell il he turned off the engine, Mr.
Kitchev explained However, when the tlriver turned
/Vaste see pnqe A6