? .
WSSU alumni, friends to ask for meeting with chancellor
By T. KEVIN WALKER
THECWMWKXB
I
Rather than point fingers or
watch silently from the stdehnes, a
group of Winston-Salem State
University alumni say they want
to take proactive steps to combat
the university's current woes.
A small group of about 10
alumni, and a few concerned citi
zens, decided last week during a
meeting on the university's cam
pus to request a face-to-face meet
ing with WSSU's chancellor in
oider to address what it sees as
X
mounting problems at the school.
"We owe it to ,Pr. (Alvin)
Schexnider to give him the oppor
tunity to sit down and talk with
us," said Delores Smith, president
of the Urban League of Winston
Salem.
Smith was one of several com
munity leaders who attended the
meeting. Others included: Bill
Tatum, president of the local
NAACP chapter, apd WSSU
alums County Commissioner
Walter Marshall and State Rep.
Larry Womble.
t ? ?
The meeting came just weeks
after Clementine Cone, WSSU's
vice chancellor for finance and
administration, was relieved of
her financial responsibilities.
Philip Gilley, an audit supervisor
for the Office of State Audit, is
now the university's chief finan
cial officer. Gilley came to WSSU
by way of University of North
Carolina President Molly Broad,
whom Schexnidcr had asked for
help in correcting the university's
ongoing accounting problems. ,
The length of Gilley's stint at
w
WSSLJ is indefinite, and he will
report directly to Broad.
A possible meeting with
Schexnider did not sit well with a
few people at the meeting. Some
advocated bypassing the chancel
lor and taking their complaints
directly to Broad and even Gov.
Jim Hunt.
But Smith urged restraint,
telling the group that addressing
its concerns to Schexnider was the
logical initial step.
"Let's deal with our own first,"
Smith said.
J ? - J
? Animosity toward Schexnider
and his administration ran high
for much of the meeting. Some of
those who attended said they felt w
that they were being denied a
voice at the school and that the
university's administration has
done more harm than good.
Bernice Davenport, Beaufort
Bailey and other alumni have set
up a hot-line where those con
cerned about the university's
future can cast a vote of "no con
fidence" in the school's current
ScrWSSU <? All
I ??
75 cants WlNSTON-SALEM GREENSBORO HlGH POINT Vol. XXV No. 4?
Chronicle
660 W 5th st ? q "
winston salem nc 27101-2755 1974 - Celebrating 25 Years -1999 "
Wellman gets vote
of confidence
from board
By JERI YOUNG
THE CHRONICLE
e V*
Experiment in Self-Reliance Executive Director
Twana Wellman received a strong vote of confidence yes
terday from the group s board of directors in a statement
issued after a board meeting.
According to the statement, the board "gave its
strongest vote of confidence" to Wellman "regarding all
aspects of her management of the not-for-profit agency
that assists persons transitioning from public assistance
to self-sufficiency."
The vote of confidence came after a member of the
Winston-Salem Board of Aldermen grilled Wellman
about the organizations finances during a public hearing
last week.
Directors from the nonprofits pitched their agencies
to the board in an effort to get fundingfrom the city dur
ing the hearing. -h
Minutes before Alderman Vernon Robinson's out-'
. burst, members of the board had voted to save its^ues>
tions on specific funding requests for a later meeting.
Among other things, Robinson criticized Wellman
for having a membership at the Piedmont .Club, an exclu- *
sive uptown meeting place used by city leaders and exec
?
See WaHmon on A9
Family raises
questions in
Lewis shooting
By PAUL COLLINS
THE CHRONICLE
'' People attending a recent meeting of the Black
Leadership Roundtable of Winston-Salem/Forsyth
County raised questions about whether a 6-year-old ?
boy c<mld have fatally shot his 11-year-old sister,
Taquisna Lewis, with a 12-gauge pump shotgun in the
way that police supposedly have reported.
At the May 20 roundtable
meeting, lames "J.R." Rollinson I
? Jr. said that, according to news I
reports he had heard or read, the <B
6-year-old told police at first that
a man shot his sister and ran H
away, but the boy-later said that he
himself shot his sister, accidental- I
Rollinson said he didn't see
how a 6-year-old boy would have I I
the strength to hold a 12-gauge Taquisha Lewis t
shotgun on his shoulder and - ? 1
shoot someone, and even if the boy did, Rollinson fig
ures that the impact from firing the gun would have
knocked the bay down.
?Walter Marshall, a county commissioner, said he
See Shooting on A10
Tearful tribute
Photo by Paul Collins *
John Thomas of American Legion Pot* 220play* Taps during o Memorial Day tribute to fahn netmans c* Piedmont Memorial Gardens. *low than 100
qqtheted for flhf ceremony which included songs, senpture, prayer ond 2!^un seduce, fho ovont was sponsoted by Hooper Funeral Home et conjunc~
Hon with Piedmont Memorial Gardens. For mate pictures, tee page AS.
Black Repertory Company loses in budget talks
BRC director says city's
failure to support festival
baffling
By T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Aldermen continued this week
with their tedious crawl toward a
budget that will carry the city into
the next millennium. ,
Board members crunched fig
ures at a finance committee work
shop Tuesday afternoon, trying to
please an unlimited number of peo
ple with the limited contents of the
city's coffers.
Perhaps nowhere is the board's
need to please greater than among
the more than one dozen non-prof
it agencies that have come to the
aldermen with a slew of worthy
l
causes and open hands.
The budget proposal put
together by the city manager's
office and presented to the board in
early May allocated only $1 million
for such agencies, but the non-prof
its have asked . ...... .
the city for
double that I
amount this I V
year. I
Therein I
lies the prob- I I
Before *
members of
the board's
finance com- Hamlin
mittee began
to nickel and dime their way
through the non-profits' requests,
Robert Northington, the chairman
of the committee, warned that it's
impossible to please every group.
"I've been here for 22
years....Nobody has been successful
yet in terms of what way to handle
this issue," Northington said.
The four members of the com
mittee voted on how much city
money each agency should receive.
The committee's votes will serve as
recommendations to the full board
when it passes a budget Noonday
night.
Among the many requests that
the committee downsized was that
made by the N.C, Black Repertory
Company. The organization had
requested $150,000 to help cover
some of the costs for its 1999
National Black Theatre Festival,
which will begin here on Aug. 2.
The amount requested was
$100,000 more than the amount the
organization received from the city
during the 1997-98 fiscal year, the
last time the organization received
I ' ?
city money.
Tuesday, the committee unani
mously voted to recommend that
the organization receive $50,000.
Larry Leon Hamlin, the execu
tive director of the company, said
Wednesday
that he wasn't I
surprised by
the commit- I
tee's move.
know
was a long
shot, but I t**SkLjSI ?
.wanted this
organization
on ;
record for- Burkm
mally asking
for what we needed," he said.
Hamlin said more funds are
needed each year the festival is
staged because it grows consider
See MC on AS
* LIFT's financial woes
due to underfunding
Parmon says charter
school working with
state to overcome
deficit
By PAUL COLLINS
THE CHKONKXE
The LIFT Academy will run a
budget deficit of about $60,000
this school year through June 30
largely because of a discrepancy
in the number of students the
school actually served and the
number of students the school
received funding for, said Earline
Parmon, executive director of the
public charter school.
"We were funded for 140 stu
dents and we've actually had an
enrollment of 250 with an average
daily membership of 167," she
said. "I had written to DPI (the
N.C. Department of Public
Instruction) and tried to renegoti
ate with them to be reimbursed
for the actual number of stu
dents....LIFT was reimbursed for
16 additional students.
"We are soliciting from local
businesses and corporations for
monies to help us defray the cost
See LIFT on A11
Three the Hard Way'
"OOf ono IM 11 POT rwl Rur I I Ml VIRdUIIIJUII KWWl CJr? rujron i W ? 'Wn*f f
School student to* movw lhaf mod* Mm a '70? icon during a vMr to
school last ftfcJtoy. WBuiiiion wo* in town for Dm Crosby God foumo
? AA . ' -i,| .'. __ y.,,,,,. n_J.
fTtofW? AF ' ?? H Pf* PVWWIJr VVrllt
'We can't afford to hide
?*
Congressman touts
need for blacks to
participate in census
By T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE .
Ignoring the census is like
kissing millions of dollars good
bye. says a member of the U.S.
House of Representatives.
"There has been a tendency in
the past that when census people
came and knocked on the door,
^people just turn and walk away."
U.S. Rep Mel Watt said at a news
conference Tuesday on census
fairness. "It is important that we
do a better job in 2000 counting
those people."
The 1990 census missed
almost 130,000 North Carolini
ans, according to some estimates.
The undercount cost the state
$68.3 million in federal funding.
Watt said, money that could have
gone toward education, commu
nity development and highway
transportation.
"We can't afford to hide,"
Watt said of those who do not
return census forms and ignore
the census counters.
Historically, those who have
been left out of the census count
are minorities, immigrants and
young children. According to
Watt, tfie 1990 census missed
nearly 1,500 children in Winston
Salem alone - enough young peo
Ser WATT on M
CUD HH J * 'OR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL (336) 722-3624 ? MASTERCARD, VISA AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED ? M|
? ')
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