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v ;able joins fight to keep New Evergreen alive;
By T. KEVIN WALKER
BnrTHF rMBDNinj.
Amid the hundreds of bestsellers
at Special Occasions Bookstore, it is
easy for customers to overlook the
brown clipboard in front of the cash
register.
But the store's owners, Ed and
Miriain McCarter, find time to
remind shoppers of it as they ring up
purchases,
"Have you heard about this peti
tion they are starting to try to get
them to expand Evergreen," Miriam
McCarter asked one of her regular
customers.
The "they" are members of the
Black Leadership Roundtable, a
group of men and women who meet
to address issues important to the
African American community.
The "them" are members of a
group with a similar purpose, the
Winston-Salem Board of Alder
men.
The fate of the city-owned New
Evergreen cemetery, located off of
New Walkertown Road, was decid
ed on Mayl8, when a proposal went
before the board to expand the facil
ity and failed to win a majority vote.
Board members tied 4-4, and the
vacationing mayor was not present
to cast the deciding vote.
The decision means that ;n the
year 2001, New Evergreen, the first
major cemetery to open its doors to
blacks in 1944, will sell its last plots
and reach maximum capacity.
If alderman are to take another
vote on the issue, at least five mem
bers must agree to it, one more than
expansion supporters originally got.
The roundtable is hoping the sig
natures of hundreds of citizen will
show board members that the future
of New Evergreen is a great concern.
"Almost everyone whose atten
tion I've called to it have been anx
ious to sign it," Miriam McCarter
said referring to the petition.
"(Aldermen) say they are not
dosing the cemetery, but in essence
that's what they are doing," Ed
McCarter added. "It's not like we
are going to stop dying all of a sud
den."
The concern expressed by the
McCarters is exactly the kind of
grassroots outcry that roundtable
leader and N.C. Rep. Larry Womble,
D-Forsyth, wants from citizens
"We want citizens to sign the
petitions to prove to the mayor and
the board of aldermen that the
cemetery is needed," Womble said.
"The decision will place a great
financial hardship on the African
American community."
Besides the physical beauty of
the sprawling cemetery and its his
torical significance, Womble says
New Evergreen's rates are also
attractive to average working people.
Plots at New Evergreen cost
about $400, several hundred less
than a plot would cost at a private
facility.
Ironically, the main reason alder
men voted against the expansion,
board members said, was the finan
cial hardship New Evergreen's year
ly deficit places on the city, a point
Womble disputes.
"The figures show that expan
sion would make money for the
city," he said, "I don't believe it's a
financial situation, I believe for some
reason that hasn't been explained,
they just want to get out of the
cemetery business."
Projections show that with an
expansion and a slight increase in
prices, the cemetery can actually
make a profit after years of operat
ing in the red. Without the expan
sion, figures show a loss of over $1
million between the years 2000 and
2007.
The figures were presented to
aldermen before the first vote by the
city's property maintenance staff,
who are responsible for the upkeep
of New Evergreen and Woodland,
the other city-owned cemetery.
"In fiscal year 2000-2001, the
cemetery will run out of graves and
our deficit will grow significantly,"
said property maintenance superin
tendent Randy Rogers,
Rogers said his staff drew up the
proposal, to buy an additional 13
acres for New Evergreen, only after
a legitimate effort to find private
buyers failed.
Currently, 13 acres adjacent to
New Evergreen are being offered to
the city at a discount - Williams
Development Company has agreed
to sell the land to the city for
$175,000, which is $23,000 less than
the property's estimated value
So why would the aldermen
throw away such lucrative prospects?
Because, says Alderman Vernon
Robinson, cemeteries are a business
for private individuals, not city gov
ernments.
"I think this is a totally mis
placed effort," Robinson said of the
petition. "We should, not add insult
to injury by expanding a business we
shouldn't have been in, in the first
place. I have no intention of chang
ing the unchangeable."
Robinson says if low income
people want someone to blame for
taking away their opportunity to
buy cheap plots, they should direct
their anger at the middle class, who
he says are "ripping off" the poor.
"It isn't poor folks buying plots
over there, it's middle-class blacks
who can afford private cemeteries -
including a member of the board of
aldermen who has purchased plots,"
Robinson said. "Last time I
checked, I don't know of any poor
folks on the board of aldermen."
Robinson was the only African
American board member who
rejected the expansion proposal.
The first term Republican says that
he and members of the roundtable
do not see eye-to-eye on the issues
most important to the black com
munity.
"Where is the compassion for lit
tie black children that are being
pushed out of charter schools
because they don't have enough
white playmates," Robinson asked,
referring to the trouble some all
black schools are facing because
they don't meet state integration
policies, "Womble hasn't done a
damn thing about that.
"African Americans have little
political resources, they should not
be wasted on a moot issue."
But Alderman Nelson M alloy
isn't ready to give up the fight. Mal
loy says his fellow board members
do not know the emotional attach
ment that many blacks have toward
the cemetery.
"New Evergreen is just as dear to
the African American community,
as God's Acre is to people in Old
Salem," he said.
M alloy, who has several family
members buried at the cemetery,
says many of his colleagues rejected
the expansion because they thought
they were doing taxpayers a favor.
"It got caught up in a political
issue. Some of the new board mem
bers, I think were overzealous. They .
were in a cut, cut, cut frame of mind,
it was not given due consideration,"
Malloy said.
If projections for an expanded,
and slightly more expensive. New
Evergreen are good and $200 from
every plot sold goes into a nearly $3
million fund for long-term upkeep
of the cemetery, Malloy says taxes
would not have been affected,
"I really saw no cause of why we
shouldn't have voted initially to
expand the cemetery," he said. "If I
was in such a position to vote on
maintaining God's Acre, I would do
whatever is necessary in order to
maintain it. I hope they will vote to
maintain the integrity of New Ever
green; I hope they would reconsid
er."
Board member Vivian Burke
says regardless of whether the board
agrees to another vote, the serene
beauty of the cemetery will be main
tained by the city.
"Some people had been misled,
some thought the city would have
nothing more to do with the ceme
tery," Burke said "I took time to tell
them the truth behind it."
The truth, Burke says, is with or
without an expansion, laws require
that the cemetery be cared for as
long as the city owns it.
"I own my plot .at Evergreen,
and I feel comfortable that it will be
taken care of," she said.
Although Burke voted for the
expansion last month, she admits
that one of the reasons she did so
was because she thought a "no" vote
would be "misunderstood." The vet
eran board member will not say how
she will vote once the petition is pre
sented to the aldermen, but she says
New Eveigreen is no longer the only
option for the city's black communi
ty
"Minorities are buying (plots) in
private cemeteries now; it's not like it
use to be," Burke said.
While battle lines are being
drawn, names are quickly filling the
petitions at Special Occasions,
Forsyth Seafood, American Legion
posts. The Chronicle and many
other locations around the city.
Womble and the Black Leader
ship Roundtable plan to present the
petition to the board in August.
"These aldermen for the most
part, are good aldermen," Womble
said. "They are supposed to repre
sent the people, we are asking them
to listen to the cries and desires of
the people."
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The problem at Maw Evergreen Cemetery is that middle-class blacks have bought plots, says Alderman
Vernon Robinson. "It isn't poor folks buying plots over there it's middle class blacks who can afford pri
vate cemeteries, including a member of the Board of Aldermen who has purchased plots."
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Children
Like These
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Are the Key
To Our Future
IF WE TAKE MASS ACTION
as a community
and cherish the future of
all our children
and prepare each one
for success in life,
we will grow adults who
... reach their full potential,
... make more contributions to society,
... and who take a productive role
in the workplace.
r s,
\
Failing to do so,
\ will certainly diminish the power
of Forsyth County's future.
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Our grateful appreciation to the parents and caregivers
of the children pictured here for making their smiles possible!
?JNFORSYTH
..Aearly
t j childhood
WPARTNERSHIP
Fostering those important first steps
725-6011
^fYl Q Forsyth Early Childhood Partnership is
this community's non-profit Smart Start
leader in early childhood planning.