THURSDAY, DECEMBER Til, 1992
DR. KING CELEBRATION JAN. 18
24 PAGES THIS WEEK
Teen Talk
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Radio talk show producer wants to
know what's on your mind.
PAGE A10
Family Legacy
Germaine Croweii (24) follows in his
brothers' footsteps as ace player.
PAGE B1
75 cents
Winston-Salem Chronicle
X ? O "The Twin City 's Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XIX, No. 18
Sheppard Denies Sexual Harassment Charges
L Applicant for WSSU's head football
coaching job may have misled committee
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Slaf." Writer
The first man to be interviewed
for the head coaching position at
Winston-Salem State University left
his last job because of allegations of
sexual harassment. Dave Sheppard
also misled the WSSLFs search com
mittee to believe that he was still
employed at Williams College.
Sheppard worked as an assis
tant football coach and track coach
for the small ivy league school in
western Massachusetts. In the mid
1980s, he was WSSU offensive
coordinator under Coach Bill Hayes.
"The allegations against me
were completely false," Sheppard
said in a telephone interview Tues
day night from his Williamstown,
Mass. home. "But I just felt it was in
the best interest or my family and
the school to resign. That's how I
chose to deal with the situation."
Sheppard, who is an African
American, refused to disclose
exactly what happened. But he did
say the fact that he is a member of a
minority in an area of New England
that is overwhelmingly white had
something to do with the harassment
allegations.
The charges were not pursued
legally, and most Williams College
officials were unavailable for com
ment because of the holidays.
Dick Farley, the head football
coach at Williams College, said that
he couldn't get into specifics con
ceming Sheppard's resignation, and
referred the C hronicle to other
school officials.
"Dave was a fine football coach
and is a fine fellow overall, but I
really don't want to talk about his
reasons for leaving because I wasn't
directly involved," Farley said.
The head coaching position at
WSSU became available two weeks
ago when Pete Richardson resigned
to become the head coach at South
ern University at Baton Rouge, La.
A search committee was established
shortly afterwards to find a new
coach.
The Chronicle reported on Dec.
24 that Fred Burke, the chairman of
the committee and vice chancellor
for business affairs at WSSU, said
that Sheppard "just happened to be
in town and we asked him to come
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Ujamaa
Kwanzaa in the Swahiti language means "first fruits of the harvest " and like the holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr.'s birthday, it salutes African-Americans by recognizing the struggle for liberation. Dr. Alton Pollard, left , assists the hosts
and hosteu Ben and Felicia Piggott during Tuesday night's celebration.
Kwanzaa Celebration Continues
More than 100 African-Americans
gathered Tuesday night at the Sims Cen
ter in Happy Hill Gardens to participate
in the fourth planned Kwanzaa activity.
Kwanzaa, an African-American her
itage festival celebrated through New
Year's Day, takes participants back to
their African roots.
Tuesday night's celebration was
dedicated to the principal Ujamaa (coop
erative economics) which stresses own
ing, building and maintaining African
American businesses and encouraging
the African-American community to do
business with themselves.
"Kwanzaa gives us an alternative to
the hustle and bustle of Christmas shop
ping in the malls," said Dec Smith, one
of the speakers for the night. "It doesn't
replace Christmas," she said, "it is about
determining for ourselves who we are
and what we are all about."
Ben and Felicia Piggott, host and
hostess for the evening, said Kwanzaa
also gives African-Americans an oppor
tunity to make the cultural link to Africa
by identifying with one's own family
tree by realizing that slavery prevents a
lot of African-Americans from knowing
who their real ancestors are. To demon
strate this the mother of N.C. Black
Repertory Company's Larry Leon Ham
lin, made a dramatic presentation of the
life of a slave. Mrs. Annie Johnson
dressed as an old slave mother and gave
her rendition of what life was like on the
plantation. "Massuh would take our chil
dren away from us to sell," she said,
"and we would beg for massuh not to
take them.
"Massuh please don't take my chil
dren," Mrs. Johnson exclaimed. "But
massuh would beat us til we bled and sell
our children."
The program also featured presenta
tions by locally-owned African-Ameri
can businesses, the lighting of the Kwan
zaa candles representing the seven
principals, a rap and the traditional feast
at the conclusion of the program.
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Family Supports Mom
To Pursue Her Dream
By Virginia Newell
Special to the Chronicle
Anita Upson Ford ignored all
the odds against her. With a baby in
diapers and the oldest 1 1 years old,
this mother of five returned to Win
ston-Salem State University to pur
sue her nursing degree.
Four years ago when she first
made the decision to go back to
school, her husband Churles was
against the idea. He worked full
time at the Bethesda Center for the
Homeless, and he did nor look for
ward to expanding his role in house
hold work. Caring for five young
children sounded like "woman's
work."
Reluctantly, he agreed. Lindsay,
the 1 1 year-old, agreed to take on
extra responsibility so Mom could
go to college. It became a team
effort. Christine, who was eight,
dusted and vacuumed. Every week
day morning, Charles and Lindsay
fed and dressed the two youngest
and took them to the babysitter's.
They helped the three oldest get off
to school.
Charles often cooked dinner so
Anita could study. Then Lindsay
washed dishes and swept the kitchen
floor whi her father tackled the
massive loaJ of laundry that accu
mulated for the family of seven.
Each night they worked together to
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Seated: Anita lipson Ford , Charles Alex Ford Jr., Jessica, 4; Lindsay , 14. standing: Kris
tine, 12; Alex , 6; Amanda, 8.
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Transition
Team Seeks
Minorities
A Governor elect
pursuing blacks
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer
Interested in working for the
state in Governor-elect Jim Hunt's
administration but don't know
where to turn?
The Forsyth County transition
committee is going all out to make
sure that African -Americans are
fully informed as to what positions
are available, and what qualifica
tions are needed to fill them.
"Our goal is to help educate
people and let them know what's
going on," said Ben Ruffin, a mem
ber of Hunt's statewide transition
team and a vice president at R. J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Ruffin, who was a special
assistant to Hunt when he was gov
ernor from 1976-1984, explained
that the local committee is in the
i rocess of developing procedures to
make it easier for interested blacks
to get jobs with the state. Those pro
cedures will include maintaining
post office box for resumes, and
forwarding recommendations to
Hunt's aides.
"What we're trying to do is find
qualified blacks to recommend for
appointments. What Hunt is doing
is nothing less than historic," said
the Rev. Jerry Drayton, pastor at
New Bethel Baptist Church and a
member of the governor-elect's
transition team. It's historic, he
explained, because no governor
Please see page A3