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Mother fears boy bitten by dog may be traumatized
By PAUL COLLINS
TMCWMWKXE
Six-year-old DeVante Andre
Horton has been so frightened
since he was attacked by a dog
April 7 that he has been sleeping
with his mother at night. Monica
Lattice Thomas fears her son
might be traumatized.
He's also experiencing pain.
Doctors prescribed morphine and
some other medicines to help ease
the pain
DeVant? was wearing a large,
white bondage wrapped around
his head during an interview at his
home at 1609 N. Patterson Ave.
late Friday afternoon. He had
missed school since the dog
attack. During the interview, he
hovered around his mother, some
times sitting on her lap. Several
well-wishers came to the home to
bring DeVantt balloons and
candy.
DeVantes mother told a
reporter, "He's a little better; but
he's still frightened."
As a result of the dog attack,
DeVante had 19 staples on his
head and 11 abrasions on his leg,
back and buttocks.
The dog attack happened
about 4:39 pm. April 7 at 1515
Patterson Ave., less than 150 feet
from DeVante's home.
Officer R.K.. Canty of the
Winston-Salem Police Depart
ment said that (me of the officers
that responded to the dog attack
shot the dog in the leg when the
dog charged the officer.
The dog, a pit bull mixed with
Rottweiler, was taken to a veteri
narian for treatment and placed in
quarantine. The dog's wound was
not life-threatening.
The dog was current on its
shots.
Canty said that a witness,
Tracy Lavern Pratt of 310 ?. I6U1
Street, reported that earlier in the
afternoon on April 7 she saw two
children playing at the dog pen at
ISIS Patterson Ave., and she tokl
them to leave the dog alone. Pratt
said she came outside again about
4 p.m. and the boys were kicking
the dog pin and poking a stick in
the gate, according to Canty. Pratt
said she told the boys to leave,
according to Canty. About 4:23
p.m., Pratt saw two kids running
on a path and a dog running
behind them.
Pratt said that Lydia Jackson
of 1313 Patterson Ave. tried to
hold the dog back by beating it
with a stick.
Canty said that Dennis Phillip
Jackson of 1313 Patterson Ave.
owns the dog. Lydia Jackson is his
mother.
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A ray of hope
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v * Photo by Jen Young
Claire Colaman and Justin Mirabel participate in a "candlelight" service Monday. The two were winners in Crossing 52's annual
essay/poster contest. For full story, see A3. *
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Guiltord moves closer to redistricting plan
By DAMON FORD
THE CHRONICLE
. HIGH POINT - With the
April 27 deadline looming, the
Guilford County School Board
crept aUittle closer to finalizing a
redisricting plan for the system
Tuesday night.
More than 40 people attended
the three-hour work session,
including members of the N.C.
Racial Justice Network, who said a
few days before that they would
confront the board about their
concerns abput the plan, though
residents arel ndt allowed to talk
with board members during these
sessions.
More than 25 law enforcement
officers from the sheriff's depart
ment and High Point Police
Department, including a SWAT
team, were bn hand.
But nothing happened. Net
work members waited until a
break in the proceedings to discuss
their points with board members.
The most pressing issue for
RJN members is new schools in
the black community.
For months the Network has
been adamant in its efforts to get
the 11 -member board to consider
adding a new high school on
Franklin Boulevard near the city
limits in conjunction with renovat
ing Dudley High School.
After much debate, the board
decided that there were not enough
students in the area to support two
high schools. .
"I have looked at your num
bers, I looked at numbers we gen
erated and the justification is not
there," said board member Calvin
Boykin to Network member Ervin
Brisbon. *
Brisbon pointed out that black
chifdren at Smith High School
could be moved back to Dudjey
High School and white students
who live in Smith s district could
be moved from Ragsdale High
School, which is in Jamestown - a
small town located between
Greensboro and High Boint - to
Smith.
"JJ?hy should (black children)
have to stay at Smith when you let
the same white (children) right
near Smith go down to Ragsdale?"
Brisbon asked. >
Boykin acknowledged the dis
crepancy but also said there were
too many other conditions tieki
into the Network's proposal for it
to work. f
. "We have to accommodate all
the folks in this county," Boykin
said.
The board also discussed mov
ing Dudley from its current site on
Lincoln Avenue to a site a couple
of miles east on Franklin Boule
vard. Because of the historical sig
nificance of the 70-year-old
school, the city's only remaining
See School Board on A10
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| Eversley: Board 'racist and reactionary'
rr?s*i
By T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Van Lawrence brought with
him a stern warning for African
Americans Saturday when he came
to Winston-Salem from Alexan
dria, Va.
With implementation of the
U.S. governments 2000 census
effort just months away, Lawrence,
a government partnership special
ist with the Bureau of the Census,
told a group at Winston-Salem
State University that it's imperative
that blacks respond to all census
related correspondences in a timely
manner.
"Census data is used for nearly
every allocation of resources in
this country," he said. Lawrence
added that the federal, state and
local governments also use the cen
sus to decide where to build new
highways and schools and how to
draw school and congressional dis
tricts.
African Americans cannot
afford to be left out of the census
count; it will be politically and eco
nomically detrimental. Lawrence
said.
"If we get a bad count, we have
to live with those numbers for the
next 10 years," he said.
It has been estimated that the
last census missed 129,000 people
in North Carolina alone, a large
portion of whom were believed to
be minorities
Democrats, spearheaded by
President Bill Clinton, had tried to
change the method in which the
census is conducted. They argued
that a scientific sampling would be
more successful than an actual
head count at gauging the nation s
population. But Republicans
balked at the plan and the U.S.
Supreme Court eventually dis
missed the sampling idea.
African Americans are notori
ous for being left out of the census,
Lawrence said.
"There are a lot of reasons we
don't answer the census, starting
with the fact that, historically, we
don't trust the government," he
said.
But he urged blacks to put such
misgivings aside and return their
census forms when they begin
arriving in mailboxes next year.
The census questionnaire will ask
citizens to reveal personal informa
Set' Forum on A10
HHl ? FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL (336) 722-9624 ? MASTERCARD, VISA AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED ?
? * . * ?
Mouse bill would
payHBCUsfor
past discrimination
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH - The state would pay historically black North Carolina
universities millions of dollars to compensate for past racism and fund
ing inequities under a bill proposed by a Durham legislator.
Rep. Mickey Michaux's measure would give the five historically black
schools and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, which has a
large American Indian enrollment, an extra $21 million a year to sup
plement their budgets.
Four years ago, a General Assembly-ordered I
study concluded five state universities, all predomi- I
nantly white, were underfunded and said the state's I
five historically black universities were overfunded,
along with six other schools in the system, includ- I
ing UNC-Chapel Hill,
The five underfunded schools have split an I
extra $21 million a year from the state since-the H
study was done.
Michaux said he wants to do the same for
UNC-Pembroke and the historically black schools Michaux
- Fayetteville State, Winston-Salem State, Eliza
beth City State, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central.
Legislators support the idea, Michaux said, "but it's going to be tem
pered by a realistic look at what our budget is."
He said Appalachian State University and UNC-Asheville could be
added to the bill because they are smaller schools with extra needs.
Michaux said the historically black schools judged to be underfund
ed by the study started further behind the other schools because of
decades of racism and neglect. f
"We brag about having one of the best university systems in the coun
try, but the system could even be better if we didn't always pour vast
amounts of funding into the top three schools," Michaux said. "Put it
into some of the ones lower down and bring our whole system up to be
the best in the country."
Angela Bassett to be
guest of honor at benefit
By DAMON FORD ' ?
THE CHRONICLE '
. *
Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett, who spent her early child
hood years in Winston-Salem, will be the guest of honor at an evening
gala on April 17 to benefit Best Choice Center, a
community-based, child-development education
program in Winston-Salem.
\ "We are very excited to have a celebrity of I
Angela Bassett's fame and stature to join us for this j
very important fund-raiser." said Dorothy Graham
Wheeler, executive director. "This promises to be a I
very special evening."
The gala is a community celebration of Best I
Choice Center's 10th anniversary. The fund-raiser I
will be held from 8-11 p.m. at the Wachovia Linden I
Building, 401 Linden Street.
Tax-deductible donations to the gala festivities Baiftt
range from $125-$500 and the pre-gala reception is . ' ?
$1,000 per couple. Contributions to the pre-gala reception with Bassett
from 5-6 p.m. include a photograph session with Basse| and two histori
See Bassett on A10
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Confor noxf woob. For full story, coo A3.