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Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point
Vol. XXVI No. 25
118 062201 ****«**ALL FOR ADC
serials DEPARIMENT
CB #3938 DAVIS LIBRARY
UNC CHAPEL HILL
chapel HILL NC 27514-8890
270
The Choice for African American News
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2
le against flag reaches Triad
African Americans
igaged in a battle to
Ig of the Confeder-
Buthern states,
nth, tens of thou-
inti-flag protesters
olumbia, S.C., to
Pying of the flag at
litol.
Jonfederate flag has
part of the lexicon
pop culture.
;kes of Hazard,” a
vision series in the
‘70s and ‘80s, made the Rebel
flag fashionable by sporting in
on the sides of a souped-up
sports car nicknanied the Gener
al Lee.
The flag can be found on car
bumper stickers, license plates
and T-shirts.
The flag also found a place in
government.
In the ‘90s it was used in a
seal affixed building permits and
real estate licenses issued in
North Carolina.
And each year, the flag is
spotlighted in Raleigh during a
celebration of the birthday of
Confederate hero Robert E. Lee.
But the new year has ignited
new fire storm in the battle over
a symbol some call a reminder of
slavery and others call their her
itage.
But it was last month’s march
that brought the battle to the
national landscape.
On Jan. 1, the NAACP
launched a financial boycott of
South Carolina because of the
flag. Already, the state has been
forced to cancel some of its most
popular and financially success
ful black cultural events, includ
ing the annual Gullah Festival,
held on the Gullah Islands off
the the state’s coast.
But South Carolina isn’t the
only statq being targeted.
Last weekend, the Super
Bowl was the springboard used
by the Rainbow/Push Coalition’s
effort to remove the Confederate
flag from the state of Georgia.
Since the battle over the Con
federate flag has reached epic
proportions, what do African
Americans in other areas of the
country, like the Triad, have to
gain or lose by the removal of
See Battle Flag on A9
Cold snap hurting homeless
er Glover helps package stale bread that will go to farmers to feed their livestock during the cold weather.
Vinter storms create challenges
Photo by
AUL COLLINS
CHRONICLE
|V recent rash of bad weather has
iked havoc with one of the city’s most
lie populations - the homeless.
V series of winter storms, which
iped as much as 15 inches of snow in
s of the Triad, has meant full beds at
Winston-Salem Rescue Mission, a
ter caters to homeless men.
The snow, coupled with a cold snap
left nightime temperatures in the
s, has meant a full house at the Mis-
• For the past two weeks, most of the
ters 96 beds have been full.
W the mission is having a hard time
ing staff in to serve those in need.
“This cold is having a real adverse
effect in trying to get your staff in so they
can help provide the services to the men,”
said the Rev. A. Neal Wilcox, executive
director of Winston-Salem Rescue Mis
sion. “We’re fortunate we’re able to get
our staff in to supervise the care of the
men.”
Wilcox said the mission is “running
full” and workers are scrambling to find
beds for everyone in need.
“We won’t turn anybody away in con
ditions like this,” he siad. “We’ll set them
in a chair if all of our beds are full and all
of our cots full. We’ve been setting people
in chairs now for over a week.”
Wilcox said that during the snow
storms the mission averaged about eight
more men than usual and as many as five
men a night are sleeping in chairs.
All year long, “we run full all the time,
just about....The beds are all full. We’ll
average around 90 to 92 or 93 year
round” Wilcox said. We actually, with
these extra people we take in in chairs and
cots, we average over our bed capacity....
We have a capacity that we’re given by the
Fire Department. We’re very sensitive to
that and we try not, for safety reasons, to
exceed that. Ninety-six is the capacity,
beds and cots together.”
”We have a waiting list in July,”
Wilcox said.
But a full house isn’t the only chal-
iSee Rescue Mission on All
Local agencies struggle to keep up
’AUL COLLINS
4PRONICLE
The recent winter storms left Light-
‘Se Ministries, 519 W. Eighth Street,
rcrbwded as homeless men tried to
^ut of the cold.
Staff member Anthony Carpio said
^Thursday that for the last several
^ Lighthouse Ministries had been
ing in about 20 more men per night
J ‘. usual - about 60 men in all com-
d to about 40 usually.
‘‘We really don’t have the room,
re on orders from the director not to
1 them away. We have mats. We put
on the floor,” Carpio said.
Another problem was the days when
streets were treacherous and Light
house Ministries workers could not
drive to pick up donations of food. So
Lighthouse Ministries had to feed more
people staying at the shelter and had
less food to do it with.
That called for some creative meal
planning, such as serving French toast
for lunch, to stretch the food on hand,
Carpio said. . . , , ,
Lighthouse Ministries has not had
enough jackets for men who need them,
so some men have gotten five or six
shirts, to wear one overtop of the other.
Rising fuel costs also are putting a
burden bn Lighthouse Ministries’ bud
get, Carpio said.
“We really can use any and all dona
tions the public can provide,” Carpio
said. That would include money, cloth
ing (especially warm clothing) and
food.
Sunnyside Ministry
Roma Combs, director of Sunnyside
Ministry of the Moravian Church, said
late last week, “Weather is affecting
things but not that much. We’ve not
been officially closed any day,” but
some days Sunnyside had to operate
with a small staff. “Sometimes it’s a
pretty valiant effort to get here, but
some of our clients ... walk.
The higher cost of heating fuel is a
See Shelters on AM
Though the state of North Carolina doesn't fly the Confederate flag, as recent
ly as the early '90s, the flag was a fixture on contractors licenses in the state.
BLR: Stuart
shouldn’t hear
cops’ grievance
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Stuart
Some city residents are hoping
that a scheduled address by the exec
utive director of the North Carolina
NAACP at Monday’s aldermen
meeting will jump-start a grievance
process that three former African
American police sergeants are cur
rently entangled in.
But a source intricately involved
with the ongoing matter says the
officers are becoming apprehensive
about the process and the man who
will lead it.
The officers - Victor Robinson,
Chuck Byrom and Steve Hairston -
were demoted by Police Chief Linda
Davis for failing to adequately patrol
an Aug. 28 rap concert at Lawrence
Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The event was marred by fights,
chair throwing and a much talked
about, but unsubstantiated, sex act
performed on stage by a female con-
certgoer.
The officers, off-duty at the time, were hired to provide security for
the event. Four other off-duty officers were also part of the security
See BLR on A8
Tatum calls for
firing of chief
Mocksville police chief facing charges
after allegedly assaulting black man
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
The suspension of
Mocksville’s police chief after
allegedly manhandling an African
American resident is indication
that some law enforcement offi
cers still treat non-whites as sec
ond class citizens, the president of
the Winston-Salem branch of the
NAACP said last week.
Chief Richard Sink was sus
pended Jan. 20 by Town Manager
Terry Bralley after being charged
the day before with the misde
meanor simple assault of Robert
Davis Sr. on July 20. Sink’s sus
pension comes four months after
the State Bureau of Investigation
launched an inquiry regarding the
assault allegations.
The SBI investigation was
sought by Mocksville officials
who were spurred on by a letter
from the Winston-Salem NAACP. Davis had filed a complaint with
the organization soon after the alleged incident. There is not an
active NAACP branch in Mocksville, which is about 30 miles
southeast of Winston-Salem.
Sink’s court date is scheduled for today.
Bill Tatum, president of the Winston-Salem NAACP, said
See Mocksville on A9
Tatum
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