Court Date Set
from page A1
cover the D.A.'s reluctance to pros
ecute Bowman, the Carlos Stonef
murderers and the officers undef
investigation in the Sheila Epps
McKellar death.
"There are too many unsolved
cases out there," said the Rev. John
Mendez, spokesman for Citizens
United for justice. "Trial dates were
almost immediately set for these
two black officers. It seems as if
they are scapegoats." -
"I wish I was that organized,"
said District Attorney Thomas J.,
Keith. "We go through 4,500 cases
a year. We don't put stuff together
to run by the black community."
Vince Rabil, an assistant D.A.
to Keith, said,"Sometimes we take a
year in some cases before we can
authorize charges. It is not done on
purpose."
Carlos Stoner, a black male,
was castrated and murdered by four
white males in June. No trial date
has been set for the men charged in
his death.
Rabil will prosecute Mark
Smith, Dwayne Dolby, Ricky
Knfght, and Jame? Andrew Gilbert
for the Stoner death. Dolby plead
guilty to second-degreee murder
and agreed to testify against the
other three. He will be sentenced
after testifying.
"We will prosecute the Stoner
case before the Tise case because
we don't want the black community
to think that we are biased," said
Keith.
The Winston-Salem commu
nity was torn in June as four black
teenagers were charged with crush
ing Tise, a Winston-Salem police
officer, with a motor grader in the
Lakeside area. The youngsters had
taken the grader on a joy ride. But
Ifcey allegedly steered in the direc
Jft>n of Tise's vehicle, fatally crush
Charges were dropped against
I; l^ree, but Crews was indicted.
? ?" Community leaders have
.pointed to the fact that law enforce
ment officials quickly apprehended
the suspects and immediately
indicted Crews, to substantiate their
claim that Keith is stoking the polit
ical flames.
Black leaders also cite the
DA. Thomas J. Keith
Sheila Epps McKellar case.
Mckellar, an African-American
woman, died after being arrested,
handcuffed and gagged by Winston
Salem police officers who
responded to an apparent domestic
dispute. The disclosure of her death
further polarized the city.
According to Capt. G.C. Cor
natzer. Internal Affairs Division
%
Winston-Salem Police Department,
the officers involved in the McKel
lar case have been relegated to desk
duty.
The officers are D.A. Jackson,
a black male; K.A. Alridge, a white
male; T.J. Trentini, a white female;
L.O. Saunders, a black male; and
SB. Yoder, a white female.
"As soon as I get the SBI
report, I will take my knowledge of
the case and create a time-line," said
Keith. "I was side-tracked by the
John Sterling Gardner case for six
weeks." Gardner was the Winston
Salem man executed in central
prison last month.
Keith said that he has received
the background data on McKellar's
medical records and is putting
together a medical team of physi
cians to analyze them.
The state's medical examiner.
Dr. Donald Jason, ruled that McKel
lar died of positional asphyxia with
ctKaine being a contributory factor.
Jason said that cocaine levels found
in her body were not high enough to
kill her.
Keith is on record as being
skeptical about the ruling.
"The medical team is looking at
more definition," he said. "With
positional asphyxiation it is just aiV
opinion of the medical examiner." ?'
Keith said that if his findings
lead him to conclude that it was an
accident, the officers would be
cleared of any criminal wrongdo
ings.
"It takes a tremendous amount
of misconduct to justify that," he
said. "At this point I have not seen
anything in the police report that
indicates gross negligence."
If found guilty, the officers
could be charged with involuntary
manslaughter.
"You don't have to have inten
tion to kill someone to be tried for
murder," Keith said. "If there is
thoughtless disregard for conse
quences then it is involuntary
manslaughter." /
In early August Keith's first
assessment was that McKellar's
death "could have been a freak acci
dent." Black leaders responded
abruptly."We think the fact that the
D.A. makes statements which seem
to label McKellar's death as a freak
accident before he has any evidence
or has conducted any interviews is
irresponsible.," said the Rev. Carl
ton Eversley, community activist.
"It is not the D.A.'s job to seek
exoneration- for the police. He
should seek justice for Mrs. McKel
lar."
Black leaders acknowledge that
the D.A. may be overwhelmed with
: Dems Predict
* *
from page A 1
i?s Clinton is said to consult presi
**dential scholars, advisers and others
a process that will take several
^Jveeks ? before making cabinet
*? decisions, expected in December.
"He'd be moving too fast if he
Appointed anyone right now. But
;"'pecember should be /re ry exciting,"
> Newell said.
Decidedly, the promise of job*
jured blacks to the polls. *
"Jj* But Republicans used family
lvalues as a recurring campaign
?tbeme.
^ "The family values that Repub
licans talked about during their con
y^ntion was not a concern for black
Tfieople," Newell said, "because the
? jw orals of black people were higher
?l^an white people's anyway.
"Look at poor Bush: He's
t implicated in the Iran-Contra affair,
?jiind he lied when he said he didn't
"kjiow anything about it.
"There are a lot of things more
?immoral than going after a woman,"
>lhe said.
4 Bush captured North Carolina's
14 electoral votes by winning 44
percent of the turnout, with Clinton
trailing Bush by 1 percent statewide.
Patricia Fetter, Forsyth County
board of election deputy supervisor,
said 74.2 percent of registered vot
ers went to the polls countywide.
This surpassed the 68.1 percent
turnout in the 1988 general election,
and the 1980 turnout of 69.5 per
cent
Fetter said the county board of
election has no record comparing
voter turnout in predominately black
with white districts, as such.
However, The Winston-Salem
Journal tabulated those ^mpar
isons based on information gathered
in the county office. Its report
showed that nearly 64 percent of
registered voters from mostly black
precincts turned out on Election
Day. Further, 76.1 percent of regis
tered voters in mostly white
precincts turned out.
Mary F. Powe, registrar at St.
Andrews United Methodist Church
on Butler Street, said 1,353 voters
went to the polls in her district,
which is 85 percent black.
"This was a record-breaking
turnout," Fowe said. "The most
voter turnout activity we've had in
this precinct was the (Jesse) Helms
and (Harvey) Gantt senatorial race.
Less than 1,000 voters showed up."
North Carolina voted two
blacks into Washington: representa
tives-elect Eva Clayton and Mel
Watt. .
There are 39 blacks in the
House and one in the Senate. The
103rd Congress has the largest num
ber of minority representatives in
both houses since the 1870 Civil
War Reconstruction.
During Clinton's campaign, he
was criticized for keeping the Rev.
Jesse Jackson in the political back
burner.
Clinton proved he could cir
cumvent Jackson and still get black
support because "he saw there were
other leaders he could depend upon
to hold the black vote," said Samuel
Moseley, A&T State University
political science professor.
"Clinton made an appeal to the *
black elected officials, mayors, state
black caucus individuals," he said.
"North Carolina didn't carry
Clinton ? we are not real pleased
with that," Farmon said. "But the
number of votes for the Democrats
will show the hard work we (blacks)
did for the campaign. We certainly
feel some ownership.
"Clinton's appointing Vernon
Jordan for his transition team shows
that the efforts of blacks during his
campaign have not gone unnoticed."
In the meantime, the Piedmont
leaders agreed that blacks should
establish a unified agenda.
"The NAACP and the National
Urban League will play a role in
helping. But we need an organiza
tion that is more broad-based," said
Moseley,
Newell said, "I would like to
see black people join together and
network rather than jockeying for
the positions. Networking allows us
to amass. We have not done that, as
the Italians and the Jews have
done."
"The black community should
forever keep pressure at the fore
front," Rev. Summers said. "They
are not to let up until they actually
see those changes taking place."
"Stay in touch with those peo
ple who have position and influence
position," Parmon said. "We need to
let Dan Blue know what we are
interested in.
"Blue has a direct line to the
campaign."
NAACP Launches Boycott
from page A 1
Last week, national television
audiences who viewed ABC's
Prime, Time Live telecast were
shocked to see footage of Food Lion
employees repackaging old meat
and spoiled food.
An ABC producer went under
cover for several months posing, as
a meat packager and then used hid
den cameras to record employees.
Food Lion executives said that the
employees were disgruntled and
broke company rules.
Food Lion is suing ABC for
libel.
Customers at several local Food
Lion stores, said that they were not
affected by that report.
"I don't think much of the
reports," said one customer. "I've
been shopping at this Food Lion,
located in East Winston Shopping
Center, since it opened and I don't
remember anything like this hap
pening before."
While many customer's shared
his sentiments, some agreed that it
would be~wisc to shop with caution. #
One woman, wishing to remain
anonymous, said, "I just look at the
meat and check it before I purchase
anything."
According to Food Lion man
agement in East Winston, business
has been normal.
"There has been no change at
this location," said Carletta Rice,
manager of the East Winston Shop
ping Center Food Lion. "We have
just been following guidelines that
have been set. There have been no
complaints from our customers."
Kevin Scott, manager of the
Waughtown Food Lion, agreed.
"It is not really a decline," he
said. "Some customers have just had
concerns."
In response to the ABC News
broadcast, Tom Smith, Food Lion's
president and chief executive, said
the footage was faked.
Food Lion stock dropped by
more than 10 percent after the
broadcast.
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