Aikens has a way with s-o-n-g
By T KEVm WALKS
TWfQUnwnr
For 7-year-old Mdvin Aikens,
it was supposed to be just another
day at North Hills Elementary
School
But hit parent*, teacher* and
principal had something far more
interesting up their sleeve*
Last Thursday, during an
assembly held bcftxe his first and
second grade peers, Mdvm was
told he was among 20 national
finalist for a $20,000 college schol
arship and a part in a national
Oscar Mayer commercial.
Metvin will compete against
the other finalist the morning of
Nov.IS in Orlando.
"1 feel so special,** a laughing
Mdvin said to the delight of his
Mdvin and hundreds of other
would-be stars, auditioned for the
competition earlier this year at
SdWocks in Winston-Salem. The
company was holding a nation
wide search for the next kid to
croon the famous Oscar Mayer
ditty.
Oscar Mayer officials selected
Mdvin weeks prior to the
announcement at the school, bat
f ' ?
hit parcnu and school officials
acre told lo keep it husb-hndL
Mdvin was just like the hun
dreds of other children in the
school's gym: without a due
about whj ne was there.
That all changed when a bub
bly pair of Oscar Mayer represen
tatives buret through the doon
carrying balloons and baskets fill
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75 cents WlNSTON-SALEM GrEENSBOKO HlGH POINT j No. 11
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THE Chronicizi
n c6room CAR RT S?RT c0a2 The Choice for African American News and Information ?mail address: wschron0nefunllmi1ed.net
FORSYTH CNTY ?jW?i?' ' ' . ' . . . _
W 5TH ST * Q BHHHHH
WINSTON SALEM NC 27101-2755
Liberty Street:
A dream deferred?
Ptu photo
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- 1
Corridor lags behind in development
By T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
What happens to a dream deferred?
If the vacant lots, run-down buildings and
cracked pavement of Liberty Street could talk,
they'd probably answer "not much."
As the Hanes Mall area, downtown and other
regions of the city continue to be rezoned and
given facelifts, by all outward appearances,
activity is stagnant on Liberty Street Corridor, a
three-mile stretch of road, expanding from Sev
enth Street to Smith-Reynolds Airport.
"I'm am concerned that development in parts
of the city are put on the fast track, and there is
almost a standstill on Liberty Street," N.C. Rep.
Larry Womble said.
Redevelopment? a word tossed around
freely in the African American community?
i
was supposed to have occurred along the street a
few years back.
One of many studies on the corridor was
commissioned by the city's planning department
in February of 1994. The lengthy report, pre
pared by an out-of-state consulting firm, con
tained grandiose plans for the corridor.
The city of Wins.ton-Salem and the Chamber
of Commerce were to immediately begin work
ing to secure a grocery store for the area and to
Find a tenant for the former Lowe's building, the
study states.
Plans also included: planting trees and other
shrubbery along the street; developing an
African American-themed market with food,
crafts and an amphitheater; and -making the
huge water tank near ISth Street, a landmark
symbol for the Liberty Street area by adding
graphics and creating a waterworks park.
The study's lofty goals were the types of
things that many thought would revive the his
toric corridor area. But a failed bond referen
dum in 1997 stopped the project before it even
got off of the ground.
Liberty Street was to have benefited greatly
from the $3 million in transportation bonds set
aside in the referendum. The total cost of the
project was projected at $7 million by the city?
with loans, grants and private dollars going to
fund the remainder of the project.
"It seems when it comes to things in East
Winston there is always an excuse," Womble
said- "Look at Hanes Mall Boulevard and the
Gateway development near Salem College, some
areas are getting support at a higher level."
If Liberty Street can achieve the same status
See liberty on A12
Historic Lewisville church gets marker
JKLE
By T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
LEWISVILLE - New Hope
AME Zion Church has the same
quaint appearance that many old
rural churches share.
The small white wooden church
sits far off the road, flanked by a
well-kept cemetery on one side,
and the sounds and sights of
nature on the other.
The rich and considerable his
tory of New Hope has been well
known to Lewisville residents for
generations, but now ? thanks to
town's historical society ? every
one who travels down Shallowford
Road will get a sense of that histo
ry also.
Nearly 75 people braved chilly
weather Saturday as a marker,
erected at the entrance of the
church, was unveiled by the
Lewisville Historical Society.
"Lewisville has a rich heritage
of church history, with many
churches here over a hundred years
old, we are here to dedicate one of
those churches today," historical
society president Grady Dull said.
Established in 1883, New Hope is
the oldest existing AJfrican Ameri
can church in the small town and
one of the oldest African
Methodist Episcopal Zion congre
gations in Forsyth County.
New Hope became the sixth
historical site so honored in
Lewisville.
After unveiling the marker
with Lewisville Mayor Bob Steb
bins, the church's pastor, the Rev.
John Ruff, gave the crowd an
abbreviated version of the
church's lengthy history.
According to Ruff, Lewisville
was one of the many small towns
and cities where former slaves met
to worship shortly after the Civil
War.
Since they did not have a phys
ical structure to call a church, the
ex-slaves in Lewisville used clear
ings in the woods as their place of
worship.
"They didn't have money,
trades or skills, but they had a
desire to praise the Lotti," Ruff
said to a throng of 'amens.'
See Morirar on AH
PfoAo by T. Kpvin Walkar
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Black voters:
power behind
party's rise
By JpRI YOUNG
THE CHRONICLE
Ninety-nine-year-old Maxwell Banks Grier took
her time voting last Tuesday.
Dressed in a beige trench coat and blue cap,
Grier, who has been voting since 1947 and will cele
brate her 100th birthday next month, cast her ballot
- for the "Democrats, of course," she said proudly.
"1 usually turn my vote in for the Democrats over
the other ones," she said. "If I find someone who will
make a better leader, I'll vote the other way. But
that's not too often."
Grier was one of a huge number of black voters
who went out to the polls for last Tuesday's election
to help Democrat John Edwards unseat Republican
Sen. Lauch Faircloth. State Democrats gained five
seats in the Senate and at least three in the House, ?
The large black voter turnout also played a role
in local elections. Though* number of candidates in
the African American community ran unopposed,
the black vote helped ensure a victory in the district
court race for incumbent Roland Hayes.
"Judge Hayei drew a lot of people," said C.B.
Hauser. "We feh he was being .mistreated by people,
so a lot of people came out and voted."
Hauser, precinct judge for the Hanes Community
Center, said he was delighted - but not surprised
about the latge turnout. More than 900 voted at
Hanes Tuesday, including seniors like Grier. In
Hauser's precinct, Hayes garnered twice the votes of
challenger Michael Hurst.
"I really didn't think we would have that many,"
Hauser said. "But I was happy to the see them. Peo
ple really wanted to vote last week."
Exit polls found black voters in North Carolina
playing a slightly larger role in last week's election
than they did in Harvey Gantt's 19% rematch with.
Sen. Jesse Helms. Black voters made up a higher
proportion of the electorate Tuesday than in 1992,
when Faircloth defeated incumbent Democrat Terry
Sanford.
Blacks comprised about one of five voters in
North Carolina on election day, slightly less than
their 22 percent representation in the state's popula
tion. They voted about 90 percent Democratic.Typi
cal African American turnout is about IS percent.
Nationally, blacks made up 10 percent of the
electorate Tuesday, and 12.8 percent of the U.S. pop
ulation .\
Winston-Salem State University professor Don
ald Mac-Thompson said he wasn't surprised by the
turnout.
"A few weeks ago, Newt Gingrich said that
African Americans don't go out to vote," he said. "It
turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It alerted us
that we needed to do something. We decided to go
out and vote."
According to Mac-Thompson, a number of
wide-ranging factors spurred black voters to the
polls.
Chief among them was the chance that U.S. Rep.
Mel Watt, D-N.C., could be defeated after his con
gressional district was redrawn for a second time in
two years. The 12th District was originally drawn to
Set Voters on A10
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