THURSDAY, U) I l\f ? I i *\l-^Al >-n l\A ONE MILLION IN ONE YEAR 30 PAGES THIS WEEK Winston-Salem Chronicle 75 cents 'The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly' VOL. XVIII, NO. 39 Were they guilty or entrapped? ... dt ' Opinions differ on fairness of trial By SHERIDAN HILL 1 'consultant Rodney Sumler guilty on Chronicle Assistant Editor 20 counts of political corruption, and muttered, "Only in America." Former alderman Patrick Hairston's not the only one who Hairston emerged from a federal thinks he didn't get a fair trial. Emo courthouse last Thursday after a tions are running high in the com jury of five whites, six blacks and mumtyt some see the investigation, one Asian-American found him and Please see page A6 Sumler Hair st on Mack Mack, Sumler await verdict By SHERIDAN HILL Lee F*ye Mack began to weep as Chronicle Assistant Editor her daughter-in-law, Belita Martin Mack, answered questions from A heavy thunderstorm raged prosecutor Doug Cannon. outside the federal courthouse in F?r d* P?81 seven weeks. Rev. Greensboro Monday and the Rev. Please see paoe A2 Feds investigating lending institutions A More than 266 banks nationwide tar geted for evidence of discrimination in mortgage loan applications WASHINGTON (AP) ? More than a dozen banks, including some in Texas, have acknowledged feder al regulators are scrutinizing their lending records for evidence of dis crimination against minorities, The Wall Street Journal reported today. The Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator of national ly-chartered banks, confirmed last week that it had targeted 266 banks for investigation based on data showing they turned down mort gage loan applications from blacks and other minorities far more often than applications from whites. Spokeswoman Ellen Stockdale said today it is the policy of the comptroller's office not to identify banks under investigation. Banks acknowledging to the Journalgthey have been asked to explain their rejection rates are: ? First City Bancorp of Texas Inc. ? First Interstate Bank of Texas. ? Banc One Texas and Banc One Mortgage Co. in Texas, Bank One Lexington (Ky.), and Bank One Cleveland, all subsidiaries of Banc One Corp. of Columbus, Ohio. ? Hibemia National Bank, New Orleans, which has branches in Texas. Using a computer to scan 1990 mortgage loan data, released last October by the Federal Reserve, the Journal identified 105 banks with widely disparate rejection rates for whites and minorities. Fifteen of them, responding to a Journal sur vey, confirmed their lending poli cies are under investigation. However, some of the 15 dis puted the data and others attributed the disparity to an aggressive effort to solicit applications from minori ties. Please see page A3 Two-year-old Joel Coel enjoys a bird's-eye view on the shoul ders of Chrts Coleman at the Fun/FamNy Awards program. 'Keep our centers open' residents urge committee ? Alderman Larry Womble and resi dents pleaded with city's Finance Committee to reconsider budget cuts By SAMANTHA McKENZiE Chronicle Staff Writer Alderman Larry Womble and South ward residents made a plea to the city aldermen's Finance Com mittee Tuesday night not to close Morningside Recreation Center. Four recreation centers ? all located in the black community ? face reductions in budget and ser vices in the city's proposed 1992-93 budget. A public hearing was held at the committee's Tuesday meeting. The four centers include: Morning side, Kingston Green, North Hills, and Northampton. The next meeting will be held next Tuesday, May 26, when a final decision will be made on the budget "We're going to fight this," said Womble. "It seems like this is already in concrete} but *erfe here tonight t