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Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point
Vol. XXVI No. 27
ill 062201 *******»»,»
serials department 3-DIGIT 275
® DAVIS LIBRARY
UNC CHAPEL HILL
™PELHILLNC 27514-8890
The Choice for African American News
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17,
Photo by Cheris Hodges
nan, second from right, and Carroll Burgess, in hat, light candles
gil for their son Chris Holman. Chris was killed when he was struck
rcycle six years ago.
Family mourns lost childhood
Six years after Holman’s death, family still in mourning
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Imagining what could have
been still brings a smile to Tonya
Holman’s face, six years after
her 7-year-old was killed on a
busy East Winston street.
Christopher Holman was just
beginning to develop a love for
sports and an interest in girls,
his mother fondly remembers.
Often she envisions him running
down a football field, waving
and smiling at the young girls in
the stands as he makes a fantas
tic play.
If he had lived, Chris would
be 13.
He was born on a chilly night
the day after Christmas in 1986.
“He was my Christmas pre
sent,” his father, Carroll Burgess
Jr., managed to get out before
tears overtook him.
A new Happy Hill
is is a sketch of what Alder Street would look like after the improvements.
Drawing and photo courtesy of Urban Design Associates.
'acelift for community unveiled
PAUL COLLINS
IE CHRONICLE
After more than 100 years,
state’s oldest African Ameri-
I neighborhood may be get-
g a facelift.
A revitalization plan for
ippy Hill community - devel-
^ during a six-month com-
inity planning process - calls
improving the entrance to the
ighborhood; building more
m 50 new houses on vacant
s and renovating existing hous-
; where possible. The plan will
0 reclaim some park land and
ild an expanded library and
ritage site.
The focus is to attract new
me ownership and improve the
sting housing stock and the
mmunity’s image. The plan-
ig effort is guided by three local
inmunity groups; Tire Happy
II Community Association; the
uthside CDC, a nonprofit
mmunity development organi-
ion; and the Local Initiatives
Dilapidated and unmaintained rental properties along Alder Street's park edge help give
Happy Hill a negative image at its principal entrance.
Support Corp. (CISC), an orga
nization that assists local organi
zations in community develop
ment efforts. Urban Design
Associates prepared the plan.
The effort is focused primari
ly on the Happy Hill single-fami
ly neighborhood but included the
See Happy Hill on A11
)mble facing ^soccer mama’ in 66th
LODGES
ICLE
:e for the seat in the 66th
s a “soccer mama in ten-
against an experienced
' has garnered the respect
rt of the public,
lep. Larry Womble has
id to the N.C. House of
tives time and time again,
has proven to the people
net that he is willing to
ice for his constituency,
s year, there is competi-
3mble. Her name is Tere
sa Mason - a self-pro-
claimed soccer mom.
A virtual unknown in
political circles, she
began her campaign
with attacks on
Womble’s record on
education.
“Despite the fact
that all parents should
be able to choose a
safe and effective
school, my opponent
is the archenemy of
parents and children
who want a better
Womble
school,” she said in
a release from her
campaign.
Womble denies
the charge. He said
he has been in the
comer of people in
his district through
out the years.
“The people
know I will speak on
the issues,” he said.
“People want some
one who will bring
action on their
issues.”
Chris died Leb. 9, 1994, after
being struck by a motorcycle. He
had just gotten off his school
bus. The motorcyclist was being
pursued in a high speed chase
with police at the time. As the
30-minute chase made its way
down Cleveland Avenue,
Christopher became an innocent
bystander.
His mother was at work at
the time, but she remembers all
the commotion on the street as
she made her way home in a
taxicab.
“I thought that the drug
dealers had gotten into it again,”
she said.
Police soon came to tell her
about Christopher; it was a
moment that changed her life
forever.
“Valentine’s Day is not a day
that I like very much,” she said
solemnly. “It’s the day we buried
Chris.”
Monday night, Tonya Hol-
See Vigil on AS
Milligan back in
Winston-Salem?
HAWS Board chooses former directors
firm for massive Hope VIproject
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
The chairman of the Housing
Authority of Winston-Salem Board
of Commissioners says he knows
more than a few eyebrows are raised
now that the board has decided to
contract with a company that
employs a former HAWS executive
director.
But Bill Andrews said the deci
sion was made because H.J. Russell
and Company has a wealth of expe
rience and is best suited to handle
the last three phases of the city’s
Hope VI project. (Hope VI is a grant
from the U.S. Department of Hous
ing and Urban Development to revi
talize public housing.)
The fact the Atlanta-based com
pany is where Art Milligan works
had absolutely nothing to do with
the decision, Andrews said.
“We have not talked to Milligan
Milligan
See HAWS on A9
Commissioners
debate funds for
nonprofits
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Womble added that his track
record proves that is the kind of
leader he is.
But Mason disagrees.
“I’m running for the N.C: Gen
eral Assembly because parents
deserve a choice and children
deserve a chance.”
She went on to say Womble
doesn’t care about a system of pub
lic schools “that crushes lives of chil
dren, black and white, and instead
stands in the schoolhouse door of
educational opportimity.”
Womble said he has always
See Womble on A9
Lor the seven members of the Lorsyth County Board of County Com
missioners, the issue of special budget appropriations for outside agencies
has always been touchy, often eliciting lively discussion and debate.
The county for years has annually doled out hundreds of thousands of
tax dollars to more than a dozen organizations, ranging from the Arts
Council to social service agencies like
Experiment in Self-Reliance.
Commissioners approved about
$2 million for such agencies during the
special appropriations budget process
last summer, some grudgingly.
Sentiment on the board toward
special appropriations run the gamut.
Some commissioners - mainly the
board’s two African Americans - are
staunch supporters of special appro
priations; others feel it’s not the gov
ernment’s job to play good Samaritan
with public money.
The commissioners’ search for
common ground is currently under
way. Commissioner Walter Marshall,
a black Democrat, and Commissioner
Debra Conrad-Schrader, a white
Republican, have been charged with
investigating the issue of special
appropriations.
Over the next few weeks they will
contact agencies that receive county
money to determine whether the funds are essential and are used effective
ly
They will report their findings to their colleagues.
Marshall said the board is considering many options in regards to spe
cial appropriations, everything from continuing to fund the agencies, to
reducing the amount of money the county shells out every year or dis-
Marshall
See Appropriations on A10
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