THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1992
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Winston-Salem Chronicle
75 cents
"Thb Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XVIII, No. 50
Black community outraged at police conduct
Aldermen call for
Sweat's resignation
By TRAVIS MITCHELL
Chronide Staff Reporter
In almost every store, on every
corner and in every neighborhood,
the Sheila Epps McKellar case has
been heavily debated and most
recently it look center stage at Mon
day's alderman meeting. After the
board concluded its agenda, the
usually dull, bureaucratic atmo
sphere became charged, as mem
bers shared frustration, anger, con
fusion and pain.
"What I am concerned about is
the failure of the police department
to disclose all information sur
, rounding the apprehension and
death of Mrs. McKellar," said East
Ward Alderman Virginia Newell, in
whose ward the McKellar incident
Please see page A2
N* A*T ?l*0*N*A*L
NEWS
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Related editorial, page A4
Burke
Sweat
"My freedom is in jeopardy, when information is denied.
All people are in jeopardy when this happens. "
-Virginia Newell
McKellar's death
due to suffocation
By TRAVIS MITCHELL
Chronicle Staff Reporter
In the wake of last week's
startling discovery that a black
woman died in police custody, Win
Ston-Salem's black community is
again furious, as the official autopsy
report released earlier this week
confirms that she died of suffoca
tion.
Dr. Donald Jason, pathologist
with North Carolina Baptist Hospi
tal, released a report which stated
that 33-year-old Sheila Epps
McKellar died as a result of "coma
due to positional asphyxia due lo
being placed faced down, with
wrists, ankles and mouth bound, in
the holding cell." The report goes
on to list 'acute cocaine intoxication'
as being contributory to her death.
Please see page A2
Round two of redistricting fight tonight
? Officials and community
leaders brace for confrontation
By TRAVIS MITCHELL
Chronide Staff Reporter
Community leaders are prepared for another "spar
ring session" with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
school board officials, as the controversial issue of
redisricting resurfaces at tonight's school board meet
ing.
At the center of the controversy is the all-white
school board's July 2 attempt to discuss new districts
without black voting representation. Newly elected
black school board members, Geneva Brown and Wal
ter Marshall, who begin serving their terms in the fall,
were invited to sit on the board as non- voting members,
but refused the offer.
"I don't believe in participating as an ex-officio
member, " Brown said, "We wouldn't have any influ
ence at all." .
Leaders in the black community responded to the
board's move by engaging in civil disobedience. The
tactic was employed to stop the meeting from continu
ing. After being interrupted repeatedly by the Rev.
Carlton Eversley, shocked board members voted to
move the discussion into executive session (closed
chambers).
"We asked them very nicely, not to do that, but
they said to us, 'we don't give a darn,'" Eversely pro
claimed. "So on June 23 the organization (Citizens
United for Justice) took a stance that we would engage
in civil disobedience on July 2 to prevent them from
taking a vote."
Eversley said there was no room for a moderate
position because there were only two choices , "either
let the board discuss our children as voteless objects or
stop them."
School board member Thomas Voss said that he
did not understand last month's altercation and that the
board merely was trying to invite community participa
tion.
"We invited Marshall and Brown in to hear their
comments on the plans and they absolutely refused to
Please see page A2
Dr. Odine
resigns
from WSSU
Dr. Maurice Odine resigned recently
from his position as chairman of the commu
nications department.it Winston-Salem State
University.
Odine has accepted a position as chair
man of the communications department at
Dr. Odine
Tennessee State University in Nashville,
Tenn.
Alex Johnson, vice chancellor of aca
demic affairs at WSSU said Odine's resignation was due to the fact that "he accepted
a position at another university, and he left his options opened to accept that posi
tion. There is no reason to undermine his decision. It was an official resignation," he
added.
Odine would not discuss his resignation but sources close to the university indi
cated that the university was at odds with Odine. The exact nature and extent of the
dispute was not revealed.
Gospel convention draws
4,000 to Winston-Salem
By CAROLE RAQINS
Community News Editor
More than 4,000 people gathered at
the M.C. Betiton Convention Center last
week to participate in the 59th annual
session of the Nation
al Convention of
Gospel Choirs and
Choruses.
They paid tribute
to the 94-year-old
gospel composer,
pianist, and singer,
Dr. Thomas A.
Dorsey, who is con
sidered the father of
gospel music. He is
the creator of the famous gospel song.
Precious Lord and the national president
Moatet
of the convention. "He is a living leg
end," said the Rev. Kenneth Moales, pie
siding interim president from Bridge
port, Conn.
Church and community gospel
choirs and professional gospel singers
came from all over the United States to
fellowship and attend workshops. "We
chose Winston- Salem because we have
never been to the South," he said. "We
do not have any choral gospel chapters
in the North Carolina area who are mem
bers of the Dr. Dorsey Convention.
There are individual members but not a
choir itself. So, we came here to sow
some gospel seeds hoping to inspire the
community to be a part of the Dorsey
dream which is to sing gospel songs with
an understanding of the message," he
said. "We tend to be a more of a church
Chambers gets NCCU post
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ? For
mer Charlotte lawyer Julius Chambers, a
national civil rights attorney, was named
chancellor of North Carolina Central
University in Durham.
C.D. Spangler Jr., president of the
University of North Carolina system,
recommended Chambers for the post.
The UNC Board of Governors approved
it by a unanimous voice vote.
Chambers, 55, now directs the New
York-based NAACP Legal Defense and
Education Fund.
Chambers replaces Tyronza Rich
mond, who left in December. He will
start Jan. 1. Donna Benson has been
serving as interim chancellor.
Born in Mount Gilead in Mont
gomery County, Chambers received his
undergraduate degree from North Car
olina Central and graduated at the top of
his class in 1962 from the UNC-Chapel
Hill School of Law.
Before leaving in 1984 to head the
legal
defense
fund,
Chambers
practiced
law in Char
lotte as
senior part
ner of North
Carolina's
first inte
grated law
firm, now
Ferguson,
Stein, Watt,
Wallas,
Adkins &
Gresham.
He's best known for his handling
of Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Board of Education, the case that con
vinced the United States Supreme
Court that busing is an acceptable tool
for desegregating schools.
Dr. Chambers
?
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The Tri-cKy singers, s community choir from South Caroline, proudly
their klnte cloth robes.
oriented convention of gospel choirs
rather than community-oriented choirs
but membership is open to any entity of
gospel expression."
On Sunday night a rap gospel group
Please see page A11
TO SUBSCRIBE. CALL 722-8624. JUST DO IT!