50 cents
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly
V
J
VOL. XVil, No.37
First grader gets
school suspension
By BUDY ANDERSON
Chronicle Managing Editor
. * - ' An African- American seven
year old first grade student was sus
pended from school last week at
South Fork Elementary school for
disruptive behavior", according to
the school's principal Rodger
Eckard.
? But the child's mother said of
tier, daughter's suspension during an
interview Tuesday," she is not a
holy terror, she is just a child who
needs attention."
? . The child served her three day
suspension this week at the LIFT
Learning Center and Academy, a
community-based school that pro
vides counseling and academic
instructional services for children
not involved in a regular school set
ting. Currently there are more than
50 such children at the academy.
But LIFT officials said this was
their fust experience with a child so
yoting coming into their program.
"I'm kind of surprised and
amaied that there are not some
other kinds of disciplinary mea
sures available in the school system
to deal with this without resorting
to Ms," said William Fails, LIFTs
counselor/coordinator. He said he
understood the school system's
point of view but he was concemcd
about the state of mind an action
like this would have on the child.
"A seven year-old doesn't need
this kind of mark on their personali
ty," he said. "What I'm afraid of is a
behavioral pattern being established
as a result of this. This is a new
thing for us, and we hope the
school system can understand our
shock over this," Fails said.
Asked how she behaved while
in LIFT's care, Fails said the staff
found her to be aggressive, strong
willed, and extremely bright. Fails
said the thing that seemed to work
best w*th the was to keep her
bu$y and not allow her time to get
into any trouble.
Please see page A1 1
WE'VE DONE IT!
Photo by L B Speas Jr
WSSU Graduates Donna Anita Cotton (left) from Scotland, N.C.
and Richard Dwayne Alford (right) from Winston-Salem, are all
smiles after obtaining their diplomas Saturday.
WSSU graduates 335 ^
Franklin challenges
senior class to serve
? ? ?' Jva- ^ >
Chronicle Staff Report
Winston-Salem Slate Universi
ty's 99th graduating class was chal
lenged last Saturday to give some
thing back to society by being sen
sitive to needs of their communities
and by working to improve educa
tion across the country.
The challenge was offered by
the noted African- American histori
an and author Dr. John Hope
Franklin, the James B. Duke Pro
fessor Emeritus of History at Duke
University and a professor of legal
htstory-at the university's law
school. . <?.
Franklin made his appeal to the
more than 330 graduates of the
1991 senior class during com
mencement exercises held at the
Lawrencc Joel Veterans Memorial
Coliseum. It was one of the largest
^graduating classes the university
has had in recent years.
Franklin urged the graduates to
work toward improving the plight
of the homeless, voter apathy, illit
eracy and racism. "I am pleased and
delighted that this graduating class
is com
posed of
every seg
ment of
society
and sever
al races,"
Franklin
told them
and the
more than
2,000 oth
ers who
attended the ceremony.
"You've been accused of living
in an ivory tower, but I urge you to
be more sensitive to. the /needs of
this country and your respective
r \5
%
Dr. Franklin
Please see page A11
i***f !????' KM
iN-A-i-l-O-N-A-L
NEWS
Yaliweh Sect follower captured
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) ? A 45
^ear-old Winston-Salem nfan accused of decapitat
ing a fellow member of the Yahweh black sepa
ratist religious sect in 1981 was arrested without
incident, the FBI said Wednesday.
John W. Foster, also known as Enoch Israel,
was arrested late Tuesday night at his Winston
Sdem home, Florida special agent William Gavin
said.
* . ?
Police Commissioner quits
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The president of
the Police Commissionfbsigned Tuesday in a dis
pute over a fellow member's release of documents
to a civil rights group pressing for the resignation
of police Chief Daryl Gates.
Daniel Garcia said the integrity of the mayor
appointed board, which oversees the city's embiat
tled Police Department, was jeopardized when
secret commission documents were leaked.
Death?row inmate par
rt
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) ? The state
parole board has ordered the release of a former
death row inmate who captured mternaticfial atten
tion as supporters portrayed him as aHictim of
racism.
Johnny Harris, who has spent the last 21 years
in puiou including 15 on duitli row, wiJJ.bc freed
on parole in two weeks.
Child is severely beaten
^DETROIT (AP) ? One of Michigan's
largest adoption agencies could lose its state
license over the disabling injuries suffered by a
black child after he was separated from his white
foster parents.
Catholic Social Services placed the child with
a new family, then ignored evidence he was being
abused until he suffered severe brain damage, the
state Department of Social Services said in a report
published Thursday in The Detroit News*
. The agency's executive directorsaid all
employees involved in the "tragic and inexcusable"
incident have been fired or quit. V
I Carver precinct divided, residents angry
By YVETTE N. FREEMAN
Chronicle Staff Writer
Alderman Vivian Burke and several other African
American community members challenged the Board of
Elections' May 7th decision to send over half of the vot
ers in the Carver School Road district, to Solid Rock
Baptist Church, to cast their ballots, citing potential fire
hazards and traffic problems.
. , The three-member board decided Tuesday to open
a new voting precinct at the church for about 1500 peo
ple who normally vote at C$rver High School, in an
.effort to solve the problem of long voter lines caused by
" too many registered voters at one precinct. About 1 100
voters would continue going to Carver. Over 2600 vot
ers turn out at Carver on election day, making the
precinct the second largest in the county, based on voter
turnout, and the fifth largest, in terms of the percentage
of registered voters.
But Alderman Burke says splitting Carver's
precinct isn't the answer to the problem.
. i The problem was not with the people who
were voting; the problem is with the people who arc
inexperienced, who arc the registrars."
Burke referred to an incident at Carver on <tSst
year's election day, when the registrar left the building,
leaving another person in charge, who Burke says was
not experienced enough to manage the large number of
people. -.s
Burke also expressed concern about moving 1500
" people to a smaller building that does not have the
capacity nor the parking space for them.
"... I do not sec this as being sound reasoning,
when you are going to propose a church that will not
really be able to manage the people coming in there,
when you're proposing it would be over 1500 or close
to 1 500; and then where you do have a facility, for a lit
tle over a thousand, to me that is wot a sound proposal."
Burke added "We said there would be only 30
spaces for cars, and we do expect, knowing that Carver
does have the- area of heavy turnout, then with that
many people in the building, they will not be in the
vicinity of the voting place, because only about
20.. .could be there (in the room] voting. And then, the
parking continues to be a problem.... The safety is a
major issue and concern.
Alderman Burke backed up her concerns with a
review of the church compiled by Winston-Salem Fire
Chief F.E. Harless, which stated that the room in which
Please see page A6
R.J.R. gives $300,000 to Success Academy
James W. Johnston
Chronicle Wire Report
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company will continue its funding
of the RJR Success Academy program in the Winston
Salem/forsyth County Schools during the 1991-92 school year,
superintendent Larry Coble announced Wednesday. Coble -said
Reynolds has committed $300,000 to fund the second year of
the after school tutorial program.
"More than i, 000 students from 12 middle schools have
participated in the program this school year, and we have seen
njany positive developments with the individual students,"
Coble added.
Several hundred students, parents, tutors, teachers and vol
unteers gathered at tfhc Benton Convention Center to cclcbrate
the success of the program's first year.
RJR Tobacco Chairman and CEO, James VV. Johnston,
whose wife is one of the volunteers in the program, said he has
heard many positive reports about the Success Academy.
"It has shown many students that having a set time to study
makes learning easier... and in some cases it has even changed
their attitudes about school. It has shown them they can suc
- cccd Johnston said.
In a spccch to Success Academy students Johnston said,
"When you get ready to pick out your first car, we want you to
be able to know a good deal from a bad deal. And, we want you
to be able to decide if it's better to join a tape club or buy your
tapes. and CDs from the store at the mall. A good education will
help Nvith decisions like those."
RJR and the school system developed the program in a
joint venture to target students in middle schools because the
sixth through the eighth grades are considered to be the forma
tive years in a child's development, said Coble. He added that it
Please see page A6
Choice School Biii introduced in legislature
Chronicle Wire Report
For <the sccond time in four weeks, a
bill impacting the quality of education
for local African-American school chil
dren has keen filed in the General
Assembly. Rep. Steve Wood's (R-High
Point) bill is named the Parental Choice
and Legislative Tuition Grant Program
for Low Income School Children Attend
ing Non-public Schools. Wood intro
duced HB 937 earlier this week beating
the filing deadline for all appropriations
related bills by one day.
This bill is similar to that passed by
the Wisconsin legislature last year. The
a bill's major provisions include 1) tuition
f
grants of suite funds up to S2,800 annual
ly per child for families whose incomes
qualify them for the full federal free
lunch program (about SI 4, (XX) for a fam
ily of 3); 2) authorization for local Coun
ty Commissioner:; to increase the amount
of the grant with th<. local school supple
ment (another $1,800 in Forsyth Coun
ty); 3) and establishing a pilot program
starting with the '92-'93 school year in 9
counties including Forsyih.
While Black Legislative Caucus
members have not declared a position on
the Parental jChoi&e bill, Wood hopes
that his working relationship with mem
bers of the Caucus will lay the ground
work for cooperation. Wood, a native of
Winston-Salem, is serving his third term
in ihc General Assembly. He has worked
with the Black Caucus members on voter
registration issues in the past and was
,pnc of three Republican legislators to
support Rep. Dan Blue's bid to become
Speaker of the NC House of Representa
tives earlier this year.
, Wood also believes that support will
come from a powerful source in the
African-American community, the Black
Church. Wood, sees the church as the
entity most able to provide the resources
necessary to start a significant number of
non-public schools. He is opposed to
excluding church schools from the
tuition program.
Local reaction to the Bill has been
mixed.
"The Forsyth Association of Class
room Teachers believes that the bill may
violate legal restrictions on public funds
going to religious institutions an would
definitely be challenged in the courts,"
said Ron McKinney, the District Repre
sentative of the North Carolina Associa
tion of Educators. McKinney added that
he was also worried that such a plan
could create all-black or racially identifi
able schools to some degree and create
real disparity between schools."
Beaufort Bailey, a recent former
Please see page A7