| M Uftt,
Colorful exhibits featured African-American
! I inventors and scientists at SclWorks.
SciWorks hosts Black Inventors exhibit
By BRIDGET EVARTS
Continuity Newt Reporter
Without them, bathrooms might still be out
doors, and office work a messy business. Even
eating ice cream would be a different and less
efficient experience.
"They" are some of the African-American
scientists and inventors featured at SciWorks as
part of the third annual Black History breakfast
March 27.
J.B. Rhodes invented the water closet, the
prelude to modern restrooms, in 1899. Inkwells
became a thing of the past after William B.
Purvis created the fountain pen in 1890. Purvis
also invented the hand stamp five years earlier.
And the classic ice cream cone owes its shape
to Alfred Cralle, who developed the ice cream
scoop in 1897.
Harry Weed, Wachovia Bank's area execu
tive for the western Triad region, has lent his
philosophy and his corporation's support to the
breakfast since 1995. Sara Lee Corporation and
Integon Insurance furnished additional support
to the breakfast and video showing which fol
lowed.
Weed has maintained a theme of "celebrat
ing African-American history every day, not
just in February."
"There are 365 days in the year. Blacks
contribute to the community, to the city, to the
nation, to the world, 365 days a year," said
Alderman Vivian Burke.
Burke and assistant city manager Allen
Joines developed the concept of the video,
"Beyond These Walls: The African-American
Church and Its Impact on Community and Eco
nomic Development" which takes a look at the
influence of the church on Winston-Salem's
Please see page 3
Winston-Salem Chronicle
forsvSTcnty pub 2 ice for African-American News and Information
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Will $2.6 million rejuvenate Liberty Street Project?
? The road less traveled: Gate
. to northeast Winston rusts
By BRIDGET EVARTS
Community News Reporter
For almost 30 years, the
street known as the gateway to
northeast Winston-Salem has
been well-traveled, but, eco
nomically speaking, gone
nowhere.
; ? Hap hazard zoning and the
construction of US Highway 52
combined to decimate and iso
Mh? Liberty Street. Once the
InfoSt modern area in Winston,
L"iT>erty was one of the first
streets to itiv? electricity
installed, and by 1920, street
cars ran all the way to 15th
;Street.
' Liberty's luck turned in the
1940s. A lack of uniform zon
ing ordinances allowed heavy
and light industrial areas to
.exist beside residential neigh
borhoods, and soon, what hous
itig was left along Liberty
Street deteriorated.
? A number of black-owned
businesses fell victim to urban
renewal when the highway was
built, and since then boarded
up and vacant buildings have
been liberally sprinkled
through mftch oflfie corridor.
Though the street is the
entrance to Winston-Salem
from the Smith-Reynolds air
port, little effort had been made
to restore the corridor.
Little effort was made until
1989, that is. A task force
appointed by former mayor
Wayne Corpening identified
Liberty Street as a key area in
East Winston that could benefit
from economic revitalization.
A group of business owners,
residents and city staff have
been working since then to pro
vide Liberty Street with a fresh
direction, and their plans may
come to fruition in the near
future if a proposed bond refer
endum passes this fall.
The process wasn't easy,
said Janet DeCreny, economic
development coordinator for
the city. The Liberty Street area
Please see page 3
Once called the gateway to northeast Winston-Salem, Liberty Street's
redevelopment has ham shadowed by investments in the downtown area
and elsewhere eT&*
Janet DeCreny, economic devel
opment coordinator for the corri
dor project, holds plans for the
Liberty Street design created by
Jackson Person and Associates.
A Summer special election for
bonds may mean low show
By BRIDGET EVARTS
Community News Reporter
Holding a special election in June for the proposed $75 mil
lion citywide bond referendum could mean poor voter turnout.
"Traditionally, elections that are held in the summer do have
a lower voter turnout," said Kathie Cooper, director of the
Forsyth County Board of Elections. The bond is scheduled to be
voted on June 24.
A June election could be especially problematic in areas
where voter turnout is low even during presidential election
years.
About 30 percent of registered voters participated in the 1993
municipal elections. In 1985, the last time a special election was
held for a bond referendum, only about 20 percent of voters
turned out, said Cooper.
And since each of the proposed items would be listed sepa
rately on the ballot, missing votes could mean a lack of support
for certain issues.
"We are certainly taking a serious look at that." said alderman
Vivian Burke.
The board of aldermen agreed to proceed with the general
obligation bond referendum during a special workshop April 1.
The $75 million would be parceled out as follows: $4 million for
| recreation; $6 million for economic development; $47 million for
streets and sidewalks; $11 million for housing and redevelop
ment; and $7 million to improve the convention center.
Please see page J
County yet to receive detailed
proposal from Baptist Hospital
By BRIDGET EVARTS
Community Newt Reporter
Baptist Hospital has yet to submit a solid
proposal concerning health care in East Win
ston, said county manager Graham Pervier.
'"All they have done is put out a conceptual
proposal," Pervier said. Late last year, the med
ical center first presented a basic plan to assume
primary health care responsibilities, which are
now served by Reynolds Health Center. Since
that time. Baptist's vice president for operations,
Gerald Finley, has offered the plan to the depart
ment ?Of health and participated in two commu
nity,meetings held at Dellabrook Presbyterian
Church.
Finley said that the plan is proceeding more
or less on schedule.
"We're not trying to give it the 'hurry-up,'"
said Finley. Still, he admitted that he had not
anticipated the controversy surrounding the pro
posal.
"My original thought was [that] this was
such a wonderful deal, that people would say,
'Hey, let's run with it,'" Finley said.
The request by Baptist Hospital/Bowman
Gray School of Medicine to assume the mantle
of East Winston health care provider has gener
ated strong reactions on all sides. Area resi
dents, present and former political leaders and
Reynolds and Bowman Gray staff and students
I have come out in large numbers to attend the
I two community forums.
Some feel that the Baptist proposal is best
for the community, and have offered their sup
port for the plan. Others are reminded of how
the end of segregation also ended the existence
of a hospital in the African-American commu
nity.
Others warily support Baptist's proposal,
convinced that the county will soon drop health
care from its agenda and leave East Winston
high and dry.
County subsidies to Reynolds Health Center
averages between $4 million and $4.5 million.
Last year, Forsyth budgeted $4.6 million for the
health center.
Baptist Hospital's conceptual proposal cen
ters on construction of a $5 million, state-of-the
art facility on East 14th Street, and decreasing
county support to $4.1 million in the first year
of operations. The county has received a
detailed list of services that would be offered at
the new facility, said Finley.
The proposal hinges on the county's com
mitment to subsidizing indigent patient care.
"I want to be sure the county does their part,
and we do our part," said Finley.
Pervier said he expected a more detailed
proposal from the medical center by the end of
March, but Baptist's deadline had not been com
municated.
Some of the details yet to be worked out
with the county include staffing, patient eligibil
ity and referral arrangements.
"It's not just a matter of taking their offer
and saying yes or no," said Pervier.
Meanwhile, Reynolds Health Center staff
have been working on the budget for the next
fiscal year. "We cannot just stand by until a
rt Please see page 3
riiuiu iff uuinv nam
NNPA President Dorothy R. LeaveU with the Association's 1996 Newsmakers of the year: from left, Joe Madison, Rep.
Maxine Waters, Dick Gregory. At right is Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark-Rarnes. chair of Black Press Week.
1996 Newsmakers salute Black Press
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, comedian
Dick Gregory and talk show host Joe Madison
saluted the National Newspaper Publishers Associ
ation (NNPA) for its support, after receiving the
organization's 1996 Newsmakers of the Year
award in a gala dinner March 20 in Washington,
DC.
The three were selected by NNPA's 200-plus
member publishers for their "courage and commit
ment in exposing the horrors of the
CIA/Contra/crack cocaine scandal," said NNPA
President Dorothy Leavell. "We must honor those
who lift us up ... on the fOad to freedom. These
three people had truly led with the torch."
In accepting her award. Rep. Waters, who has
pushed for legislative hearings as well as federal
investigations into the matter, said by way of
explaining why she had become involved with the
CIA/crack issue, "We are sick and tired of having
people play with us."
"I want to thank you for carrying the story,"
said Waters, whose Los Angeles district has been
severely affected by the crack epidemic.
Co-awardee Gregory, who has been on a fast
for over four months to force the government to
declassify material relating to the CIA's involve
ment in the deadly proliferation of crack in urban
America, was also grateful for the role the Black
^
Please see page 4