Winston-Salem Chronicle
}.2ii97da 0i The Choice for African-American News and Information
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foksyth cmtv n 2 THURSDAY, April 10,1997
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Aldermen deny petition to rezone for business in East Winston ;
Joycelyn Johnson
By BRIDGET EV ARTS
Community Newt Reporter
Led by alderman Joycelyn lohnoo'i
motion, the Winston-Salem Board of
Aldermen voted 5-2 to deny a petition
filed by Jimmie mid Carmen Bonham to
rezone their property from residential to a
limited business use.
Alderman Lynne Harpe was not pre
sent for the vote.
Johnson agreed with opponent
speaker Felcia Mack, who said that retail
ing the Bonham's property at 1524 E. 14th
St. would draw problems such as drug
trafficking.
"We have found out (hat having busi
nesses there over on East 14th Street ? it
has caused us problems," said Mack.
"We've had drugs over there, we've had
crowded streets over there."
Mack, who lives on North Cameron,
said that she has been part of a neighbor
hood clean-up crew and has found drug
paraphernalia in the streets of that com
munity. She feels that the Bonhams'
beauty parlor would attract an unsavory
element back to die area.
Helen Gwyn also spoke against the
petition, but appeared to change her mind
after learning that re zoning is handled on
a case-by-case basis.
Aldermen Vivian Burke and Nancy
Pleasants wait with the recommendations
of the Planning Board and vo|pd in favor
of the petition. Burke expressed displea
sure with the decision to deny die petition,
and said that the Bonhams were credible
business owners.
"The comments that have been made
will probably give someone the impres
sion that the drugs and different problems
could be created by [the Bonhams*] busi
ness," said Burke.
"b fact," added Burke, "the historical
home where they have a business, you
never see people hanging around there."
Unlike convenience stores, which
sometimes do attract loitering alcoholics
and drug users, the Bonham family's cho
sen trade is better known far making the
world better-looking.
The family owns and operates a num
ber of barber and beauty shops in East
Winston. Jimmie Bonham operates Hair
By Jimi at 1617 East 14th Street, and is a
sought-after hairdresser. His parents, the
Please see page 4
Rachel Robinson: A legacy of Struggle
. *
NEW YORK ? The widow
of Jackie Robinson asks that her
husband be remembered not as a
martyr but a man, and is troubled
that a "residue of racism" per
sists in U.S. baseball's executive
suites.
"I'm sure he'd be pleased
with the integration factor of
players," she said Thursday.
"But the front office and general
scheme still don't have equal
opportunity. We still don't own
any part. He'd be disappointed
with that.
"A legacy was created in the
struggle. He was looking for and
impatient for progress. So am I."
Rachel Robinson spoke at
the start of Long Island Univer
sity's Jackie Robinson confer
ence. Presentations at the Brook
lyn school came from a cross
section of academics and authors
regarding the impact baseball's
first black player had on his sport
50 years ago.
After author Roger Kahn's
opening remarks, papers were
delivered on Robinson's experi
ences. Paul Robeson Jr. spoke on
the relationship between Robin
son and Robeson's father, a star
black football player who was
outspoken on racism and poli
tics. Pulitzer Prize winner Jimmy
Breslin talked about Branch
Rickey, the man who signed
Robinson.
Rachel Robinson said she
hoped people would see beyond
her husband's baseball accom
plishments.
"As people discuss Jack, it's
Please see page 3
?iHB? ?B?
Rachel Robinson, widow of the late baseball great Jackie Robinson, speaks dur
ing the "Salute to Jackie Robinson Sight" at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles
Saturday, April 5. (AP Photo/Steve Grason)
Schexnider: problems
with Foundation not
By BRIDGET EVARTS
Community Newt Reporter
Winston-Salem State Uni
versity Chancellor Alvin
Schexnider said that he has kept
the position of vice chancellor
for development open for almost
a year because of problems
between the university and its
fund-raising vehicle, Winston
Salem State University Founda
tion.
"I don't want to recruit
someone until I resolve this mat
ter with the foundation," said
Chancellor Alvin Schexnider of
the position, which was vacated
last spring. Schexnider did not
elaborate further except to say
that the "matter" had been going
on for about a year now, since
his arrival at WSSU.
Robert Brandquist resigned
from his post as treasurer of the
foundation board March 25, one
week after a WSSU Board of
Trustees meeting in which
trustees requested that the chan
cellor and vice chancellor for
development become voting
members of the foundation. The
request followed a consulting
report on the proper relationship
between the university and the
foundation. The report was
commissioned by Schexnider.
Please see page 8
The mutton Lot* Golf Count clubhouse it sched
uled to be rebuilt in the 1999-2009 fUcmi your.
? each year at WbalOm IjJte and Reynolds Park,
Winston Lake golf
course has history:
Will it have a future?
By BRIDGET BVARTS
Community Newt Reporter '
Kevin Holloway thinks you can tell a lot
about a person from their golf game.
"It's a game that relies on strong charac
ter," said the Indianapolis, Ind., resident as he
selected an iron. Each golfer must keep their
own score, explained Holloway, so the out
come of a tight game depends on an honor sys
tem.
Thus, if a person falsifies their score, (him
they probably tell lies elsewhere. "That's not
the kind of person I want to deal with, on the
coarse or off," Hollo way stated.
A native of Oxford, N.C., Holloway was in
town visiting with family when Friday's
weather beckoned him to the golf course. Back
in Indiana, the weather was decidedly "ungolf
like," Holloway declared, and with Winston
temperatures in the high 70s and the sun shin
Greensboro's Dudley High School initiates fund drive for improvements
By BRIDGET EVARTS
Community News Reporter
GREENSBORO ? The audito
rium at James B. Dudley High School
has seen a lot of history. Dudley grad
uates once walked to "Pomp and Cir
cumstance" inside that same audito
rium, and many of them, such as
former Harlem Globetrotter Curly
Neal and retired judge Elreta Alexan
der Ralston, marched on to become
successes.
Unfortunately, the auditorium at
Greensboro's remaining historically
black high school is showing its age.
Seats that have not been replaced
since they were first installed in 1937
have fallen apart, sometimes while
students were sitting in them. Other
parts of the auditorium are in need of
upgrading.
"The sound system is awful," said
Principal Larry Lewis. "The quality
isn't there. There are two speakers
mounted on the wall, and basically.
that's it."
People expect more from the audi
torium that launched Metropolitan
Opera star Elvira Green and other suc
cessful performers. Dudley alumni
and parents have teamed up with the
school and initiated a capital cam
paign to renovate the auditorium.
The group plans to raise $100,000
by Aug. 31. through partnerships with
corporations and members of the pro
fessional community, supplemented
with donations by individuals and
families.
The campaign is built on a contri
bution hierarchy: in exchange for their
dollars, seats in Dudley's auditorium
will bear the names of corporate, fam
ily and individual sponsors.
A $1,000 donation will designate
a business to be a "Pearl Panther"
sponsor and give them five seats in
the auditorium; $2,500 will garner a
row of seats from the center of the
auditorium and the title "Emerald Pan
ther." The front row of seats will be
held for the "Diamond Panther" who
donates $5,000. The "Diamond Pan
ther" corporate or class sponsor will
also have their name engraved on a
plaque, which will hang in the foyer.
For families and individuals, a
$125 donation will buy one seat bear
ing a plate engraved with the "Opal
Panther" sponsor's name. Two hun
dred fifty dollars earns the distinction
Please see page 4
1 Memorial service held for former Winston Mutual official
George Edward Hill
By BRIDGET EVARTS
Community News Reporter
Memorial services were held
April 8 for George Edward Hill. The
former president of Winston Mutual
Life Insurance Co. died March 31 in
Los Angeles, Calif., following a
long illness. Hill was 57.
A native of Winston-Salem, Hill
was born Dec. 11, 1939, to Edward
Everett Hill (now deceased) and
Geneva Cook Hill. He graduated
from Atkins High School in 1957.
He joined the company founded by
his grandfather. George Washington
Hill, in 1962, the year he graduated
from West Virginia State College.
The young Hill went from field
representative to president of Win
ston Mutual in nine years. During
that time, he attended Wake Forest's
MBA program.
Hill was also active in the Win
ston-Salem community. He was a
member of the City/County Plan
ning Board, the Social Promoters,
the Mayor's Committee on Employ
ment of the Handicapped, the Patter
son Avenue YMCA Board of Direc
tors, the Winston-Salem Urban
League board, the Winston-Salem
NAACP, the Board of Directors of
the Winston-Salem United Way, the
Board of Trustees of Winston-Salem
State University; he was director of
the Scottish Savings & Loan Asso
ciation, Wachovia Bank and Trust
Company and the Private Industry
Council.
In 1981. Hill became president
of the National Insurance Associa
tion. He had also served as treasurer
of that organization.
Hill stayed with Winston Mutual
until it merged with Golden State
Mutual Life Insurance Co. in 1985.
Hill moved to Golden State's home
base in Los Angeles after the
Please see page 3
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