SDAY, august 1,1991
• WELCOME NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL GOERS
54 PAGES THIS WEEK
Learning the game
Young golfers develop skills at
Winston Lake’s junior program.
dSxs 3/08/9X
Hili
'91 Theatre Festival
A complete look at the plays,
events, and schedules.
INSERT! '•
Winston-Salem
T\L.WLn ¥ L.U
AUG 0 5 1991
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XVII, No.49
arged with political
ruption, Lee Faye Mack
rries on with her work
NHILL
bn Writer
[ down Cleveland Avenue for more
blocks and enter another world; a
ood where five or ten people are
the corner, in the yard or on the
there is one: and they notice you.
reem to know who belongs and who
ihlldren look tough and move force-
3 stare at strange cars Intruding on
!t. Young black men cut through
dead-end streets, wearing back
id with precious drugs and cash,
ice cruisers roll down Cleveland
St 21 St Street, they don't linger.
'here that the Rev. Lee Faye Mack
old wood frame house into a center
development. The Back to Life
irs drug prevention counseling, aca-
)ring, Bible study and referral ser-
sed to give away clothing and food,
rat got too expensive," says Rev.
te're all volunteers, and we mostly
from little people."
vlack, affectionately called "Mother
“! have no fear.
When you haven’t
done anything
wrong, you aren’t
afraid. ”
- Rev. Lee Faye Mack
Mack," is widely known for 20 years of commu
nity involvement and her fiery nature.
"But I'm a minister, not a rebel,” she says,
as a broad smile crosses her round face.
"God's the only real rebel."
Rev. Mack and three other local black
leaders are charged with political corruption.
She is accused of establishing several non
profit organizations that were allegedly used to
conceal money that was defrauded from busi-
NAACP opposes
Thomas on court
nesses.
Faced with 50 years in prison and a $1
million fine, Rev. Mack appears confident and
poised.
"I have no fear," she said this week.
"When you haven't done anything wrong, you
aren't afraid."
Birdie Lipscomb, who was selected as
First Minister of the center, is one of Rev.
Please see page A6
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
NAACP on Wednesday urged the
Senate to block the Supreme
Court nomination of Clarence
Thomas, saying the nominee's
"reactionary" philosophy was
detrimental to the interests of
blacks.
"We have concluded that
Judge Thomas' confirmation
would be inimical to the best inter
ests of African-Americans," said
Dr. William F. Gibson, chairman of
the board of directors of the
National Association tor the
Advancement of Colored People.
The NAACP, the nation's
oldest and largest civil rights orga
nization, is widely seen as the
group best positioned to lead any
serious organized opposition.
Gibson said, "While we
appreciate the fact that Judge
Thomas came up in the school of
hard knocks and pulled himself up
by his own bootstraps ... our con
cern is for the millions of blacks
who have no access to boot
straps."
He said the NAACP decided
to oppose the nomination after
extensive study and soul-search
ing.
Gibson said that Thomas'
Clarence Thomas
opposition to affirmative action
and his tenure as head of the
Please see page A15
Malloy says four are targets of revenge by Smith
—-—By SHERIDAN HILL
N*A*T*l*0*N‘A*L
>JEWS
S ANGELES (AP) - Michael Jackson
ai Sherrod, 3, at the Community Youth
s and Arts Foundation, which assists at-
[outh and their parents in dealing with
,nd drug-related proljlems, where he
a check for $5000 and a large
nment unit, in Los Angeles recently. The
ay it was announced that Jackson will
zabeth Taylor away in marriage to Larry
iky in October at his estate.
c Charged with racism
STON (AP) - A Boston bank holding mil-
city deposits tias been named in four
isorimination complaints in the past six
iston Safe Deposit & Trust received a
jS grade for affirmative action from Mayor
Id Flynn's Linked Deposit Banking Pro-
itiich qualifies the institution to do busi-
th the city.
the Boston Herald reported today that
minority employees and job applicants
Id formal conriplaints.
on investigated for rape
'lAPOLIS (AP) - Authorities have
Tie video footage taken of former
It boxing champion Mike Tyson and
America contestants and conducted a
rch of the hotel where he stayed dur-
Black Expo.
fTanapolis Police Chief Paul Annee
ly that an allegation that Tyson raped
old woman was just that - an allega-
'[hat you have right now is an allegation —
*[6, no less than that," Annee said at a
conference.
Alderman Nelson Malloy (second from left) reiterated the call for contributions to the defense funds
of the Rev. Lee Faye Mack (left), former Alderman Patrick Hairston, Consultant Rodney Sumler and
Southeast Ward Alderman Larry Womble during a press conference held Tuesday.
By SHERIDAN HILL
Chronicle Staff Writer
The Winston-Salem Four Defense Fund Commit
tee issued another call for solidarity and contributions
this week. A press conference held Tuesday at Christ
Cathedral on Third Street was called not to convey
news, but to solicit the media's help in spreading the
word about the defense fund.
Alderman Nelson Malloy Jr. opened the press
conference by asking the media to refrain from ques
tioning the four, who are accused of political corrup
tion including bribery and extortion. Reading from a
prepared statement, Malloy, the only speaker, reiter
ated the group's contention that the FBi and William
Smith conspired to entrap and disgrace them.
Rodney Sumler, Patrick T. Hairston, the Rev. Lee
Faye Mack and Alderman Larry Womble have all
pleaded not guilty to the charges they face as a
result of a two-year FBI investigation. William Smith
is the former owner of Larco Construction Company
and the key informant in the case.
"Larco had a reputation for racist practices," Mal
loy read. "Larco found a perfect ally in the FBI which
Please see page A15
Prejudice in the emergency room
If you’re black and poor, be careful
By SHERIDAN HILL
Chronicle Staff Writer
Sometimes mothers see what doctors don't.
When Michael Tyrone Styles developed a fever of
106 and severe pains in his head and neck, his
mother knew something was seriously wrong.
Doctors on duty in the emergency room at Bap
tist Hospital told Sharon walker that her son had the
flu, to take him home and give him pain reliever and
fluids.
"I begged them to check on his insides," she
said this week, sitting in her apartment on 10th St. "I
asked them to take X-rays; the doctor said he didn't
need any more tests. I asked them could another
doctor see him; she said a different doctor would just
tell me the same thing. I got so upset and she finally
told me to lower my voice and get out of there."
Two days later, Michael Tyrone Styles died.
According to Mrs. Walker, she requested that an
autopsy be performed on her son's body, and the first
autopsy showed nothing unusual. But a second
autopsy she ordered was performed in Chapel Hill
and showed that Mike died from a rare disease
called Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome.
Two of Mike's birthdays have passed since she
first retained an attorney to file suit against the hospi
tal for an undisclosed amount, charging negligence in
the wrongful death of her son.
A medical specialist hired by David Crawford,
her attorney, concluded that routine tests such as X-
rays and a urinalysis would have shown that the boy
was bleeding internally at the time he was first
brought to the hospital on June 12, 1989. "I'll never
forget that date," says Sharon Walker.
Mike was her oldest and was fond of her four lit
tle sisters, often telling them,"Brother Mike will take
care of you." Sometimes they still ask their mother
when he will be back.
Is Sharon Walker's story unusual, or is her son a
victim of what is known in medical circles as "excess
death" - life lost that theoretically could have been
saved?
Those who are black and poor are likely to suffer
most from the health care system. According to data
from the National Center for Health Statistics, report
ed in the November 1990 issue of American Health,
nearly one-third of all black people who died in 1987
fell into the excess death category.
A study in the May 2, 1990 issue of the Journal
of the American Medical Association reported that
black pneumonia patients, regardless of their income
Please see page A15
Mrs. Sharon Walker continues her plea to redress
the wrongful death of her son, Michael Tyrone
Styles.