Amos serves as congressional page
A Reynolds student achieves coveted nosition in T T SI r^nitni
By JOHN HINTON
Chronicle Senior Staff Writer
Pridgen "PJ" Amos of Winston-Salem has
gone to Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Congressional Page Program
selected Amos, a junior at R.J. Reynolds High
School, to serve as a page in the U.S. House
of Representatives.
U.S. Rep. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who
nominated Amos for the position in April,
made the announcement last week.
> Amos will complete her job as a page on
Saturday, June 29.
"I have had a good time," Amos said. "I
am glad I got the opportunity. I like meeting
different people from different places"
Among her duties, she works as a docu
mentarian in the House, where she can be
seen on C-SPAN sitting near the podium
where members of Congress speak.
Only 64 high school students serve as
pages during the summer session. They must
be nominated by their member of Congress.
"This is a tremendous honor for PJ and
for the Fifth District," Burr said. 'The nomi
nation process for the congressional page pro
gram is extremely competitive. To receive an
appointment is a great accomplishment. PJ.
has exhibited excellent citizenship, and she
has shown a great interest in our government
and how it works."
Amos is a member of R.J. Reynolds High
School Band and Union Baptist Church. She
is the recipient of several writing awards
including those for the "Dangerous Minds
Essay Contest" sponsored by MCA Records
and the YMCA Black Achievers Essay
Contest. ?
Please see AMOS AH)
Pridgen "PJ" Amos, right, works as a page in the U.S. House of.
Representatives. U.S. Rep. Richard Burr, left, nominated Amos for the
position. She is a junior at Reynolds High School.
Winston-Salem Chronicle
120596D^?1
n c RO?.Mrl3TY LlB ' The Choice for African-American News and Information
FORSYTH -
66? w NC 211? THURSDAY, June 27,1996
VIINSTON-S^0 ??
75 cMiH|||PV^ Dedicated to the Memory of Clarence E. Nottin
Blacks charged
in fire at black
church in N.C.
WHITEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Two African-American
men were arrested last week and charged with arson in the
burning last month of a black church, one of more than 36
such tires under investigation across the South.
Rodney Bullock and Curtis Gilbert Jr. are charged
with burning a building they were remodeling at Mount
Tabor Baptist Church in Cerro Gordo on May 23. Cerro
Gordo is about 20 miles west of Whiteville in Columbus
County.
Bullock, 21 of Fairbluff. was charged with one count
of unlawful burning of a church. Gilbert. 32, of
Winnebow was charged w ith conspiracy to commit arson.
The suspects were scheduled to appear in court last week.
Greg Rideout, a spokesman for Attorney General
Mike Easlev. said there was "absolutely no evidence" the
tire was racially motivated. Authorities declined to discuss
a possible motive.
Gilbert is a contractor who was hired to remodel a
former school on the church grounds for use as an educa
tion building. Bullock was his employee.
day after the tire led authorities.to the suspects.
"We had to make sure that we were looking at the
right people," Ferguson said.
In neighboring Robeson County, authorities ruled out
race as a motive in the arson of the largely black Pleasant
Please see BIACKS A10
Lesmond "Buddy" Hayes Jr., left, a coach for the Tri-City Relays in Winston-Salem,
carries the Olympic Torch on Sixth Street this week. Several hundred people gathered
along downtown streets to see runners carrying the torch under a hot June sun. The
flame is making its way through North Carolina to Atlanta, the site of the 1996 Summer
Olympic Games.
Legislature
passes charter
school reform
From Chronicle Statt Reports
' Vernon Robinson, a former Winston-Salem State
University professor and the first African-American can
didate nominated for State Superintendent, celebrated last
week when the N.C. General Assembly passed a Charter
School Bill before it adjourned its summer session.
Robinson, 40. and president of the N.C. Educatior
Reform Foundation, led the three-year effort to pass char
ter school legislation.
Charter schools are public schools that are largely
free of the red tape and bureaucracy that plague traditional
public schools. In exchange for relief from red tape, the
teachers and other staff at charter schools must deliver on
the level of student performance promised in the charter
ing document.
Failure to do so would result in revocation of the
charter and the closing the school.
"Public schools that fail go on and continue to maim
children." Robinson said. "Charter schools that fail go out
of business." Charter schools have no attendance zone.
The charter personnel must conv ince parents that the pro
gram at the school has something to offer children.
Charter schools are funded according to the number
of students enrolled, as it the school were a school district.
The 1(X) charters authorized by the statute may be issued
Please see LEdlSIA TL RE A10
William McKiver, bottom right, of Goler Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church leads a discussion
with the other participants of a seminar about the recent church burnings. The event attract
ed 37 people to the church.
Church holds seminar in response to fires
By JOHN HINTON
Chronicle Senior Stall W riter
A group of 37 people gathered at Goler Memorial
A.M.E. Zion Church last weekend to discuss ways to protect
their churches from fires.
"This business of church burnings is not anything that
we should take lightly," said the Rev. Seth O. Lartey. pastor
of Goler Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church. "It is a scheme of
the enemy to divide this nation."
More than 40 fires have destroyed mostly black churches
in the South since January 1995. The Associated Press
reported last week that authorities have made arrests in four
of the fires that occur ed in North Carolina.
Those arrested include two black laborers, a white vol
unteer firefighter and a 13-year-old white girl described by
police as harboring anti-Christian and anti-black sentiments.
"We are dealing with a Satanic movement." Lartey said.
"The enemy is seeking to kill and destroy."
The participants discussed topics such as insurance,
security, emergency response, banking policies, historical
properties and spiritual dimensions regarding their churches.
, "We have to be more protective of our churches and its
members." said William H. Tatum. president of the Winston
Salem branch of the NAACP.
He warned the participants to watch for suspicious pack
ages received in the mail. These packages may contain
bombs that explode when the packaged is opened, Tatum
said. i
Please see CHL RCH A10
I CLASSIFIEDS
B-12
1 OPINION
A-12
ENTERTAINMENT..B- 9
I OBITUARIES.
B-11
I SPORTS
B-1
1 This Week in Hlack History
I July 2, ISSI
1 President (iarfield shot
in Washington. DC
1 le died on
September Id
and was
r ^
succeeded bs
? I
Vice-President
^ 4
Chester A Arthur
U
Children prepare for first Triad
YMCA Summer OlvmDics
B\ mai rickc r(X rhr
Community News Reporter
This summer Triad youth are train
ing and preparing tor a "Summer
Olympics." But one doesn't have to go
to Atlanta to see their performance.
Children from eight Triad YMCA's
are going to participate in the Triad's
first Character Building Olympics,
scheduled for July 26 from -9 a.m. to 3
p.m. at West Forsyth High School.
"Recently there has been a lot of
emphasis placed (in individuals' char
acter. So we decided to have an athlet
ic event to help develop the character
of our youth," said Sam Brown, vice
president of metro services for the
YMCA.
The Olympics, he said, is a good
way to strengthen the four areas that
have been targeted for improvement:
caring, honesty, responsibility, and
Please see CHIIDRKS A10
WSUMKWMN
81 III
Police Chie f George Sweat works with children at YMCAs in W inston-Salem preparing for the
Charm ter Building Olympics, a program designed to cultivate good values in children.
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