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Chronicle honors
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WSSU business
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Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point
Vol. XXVI No. 32
***********3“iJ-LGxT 2"?5
)E?ARTI^'T
DAVIS LIBRARY
LL NC 27514-8890
The Choice for African American News
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2
WSSU, FTCC sign historic pact
Photo by T. Kevin Walker
Winston-Salem
State University
Chancellor Harold
Martin, left, and
Forsyth Technical
Community Col
lege President
Desna Wallin, sign
a pact that will
make it much easi
er for students to
earn bachelor
degrees.
BY CHERIS HODGES
THE CHRONICLE
With a handshake and
a smile, Winston-Salem
State University Chancel
lor Harold Martin and
Forsyth Technical Com
munity College President
Desna Wallin made it
much easier for local stu
dents to complete their
education.
Students will have easier time transferring
The two college heads
signed an articulation
agreement Tuesday that
allows students who earn
associate degrees in areas
like business administra
tion, criminal justice,
compufer engineering
technology and other pro
grams at FTCC to transfer
to WSSU to earn their
bachelor degree.
“This is extremely
important,” Martin said.
“This not qust a passing
effort. It is extremely
important jhat the leaders
of the institutions of
higher learning make this
work.”
The agreement allows
students who graduate
from FTCC to enter
WSSU as juniors. The
move goes far beyond the
1997 general articulation
agreement between Uni
versity of North Carolina
See WSSU on AlO
ipe, local residents
of census forms
Forsyth County
million in feder-
is not wasted. It
the people who
e 33 percent of
mailed to Win-
th County resi-
urned.
r, state and local
mt to be under-
3r months, local
1 touting “com
are encouraging
3 send in their
le hoopla, many
wondering what
ibout, says Mar-
the Winston-
ice, which means
forms.
■St year (the U.S.
has used paid
Jeffries said.
advertisements
nform people of
■ the census. The
io ads have been
te December to
)ens when “the
Census officials,
0 children were
'90. Experts esti-
ounted children
ools and require
children went
Winston-Salem
lildren to fill two
ncan American
en were under-
s said. “This
problem is going
nic community.”
Several Hispanic groups have
joined forces with the Census
office to talk about the impor
tance of the Census.
Most people who have received
their questionnaire were mailed a
“short form.”
Bonham
This form asks basic questions
and includes 17 ethnic choices.
The “long form” asks more
detailed questions and requires the
respondent to list his or her name.
Jack Fleer, a political science
professor at Wake Forest Univer
sity, said it is “interesting” to see
all of the ethnic choices on the
form.
“These are the most racial cat
egories ever permitted on the
form,” he said. “In some ways I
think it will complicate things
more,” he said.
Fleer said the racial statistics
collected by the census will be
used to draw some political dis
tricts and “inadvertently used for
the allocations of certain funds.”
See Census on AlO
John Artis, left, who was charged with murder with Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, signs an autograph for a fan.
Photo by T. Kevin Walker
‘Forgotten man’ speaks in Winston-Salem
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
One week after Rubin “Hurricane”
Carter shared his triumphant story with
students at a Greensboro College, the man
who was wrongfully convicted of triple
homicide along with Carter spoke in Win
ston-Salem.
John Artis was the guest speaker Satur
day at the first annual Fatherhood Work
shop at Union Baptist Church.
In 1966, two separate all-white juries
convicted Artis and Carter of the gun slay
ings of three white Patterson, N.J., bar
patrons.
Artis, who had been a college-bound
standout athlete and altar boy, would spend
the next 15 years in prison for a crime that
a federal judge would later rule he did not
commit.
Artis’ tedious journey to exoneration is
depicted in the Academy Award-nominated
film “The Hurricane,” though the movie
focuses on him just briefly.
Carter, a boxing champion before his
imprisonment, has received much of the
attention since being set free and since the
movie was released late last year. Carter
reportedly makes hundreds of thousands of
dollars per speaking engagement. His
speech last week at the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro drew more than
3,000 people. By contrast, Artis spoke to a
crowd of less than 100.
See Artis on A10
I’s Mark
s suits
ER AND JERI YOUNG
lark chain announced Tuesday that
f settled discrimination complaints
It had filed suit against the company.
been dogged by allegations of
a year now. Those allegations came
Lyear when the U.S. Justice Depart-
Jainst the chain, claiming, among
Yarn’s Mark charged blacks higher
less desirable rooms.
*6 company says he hopes the settle-
Veryone is welcome at the chain’s 21
is looking forward to moving ahead
^ompany better, now that this law-
See Adam's Marko/i AlO
Supporters stand behind LIFT
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Roger Turner walks
Youth Services.
Photo by T. Kevin Walker
through the halls of VisionWork
Roger Turner never thought he’d be trying to
keep young minds on the straight and narrow. But
it’s exactly what he does Mondays through Fridays
at the Rowan County office of VisionWork Youth
Services.
Turner is quite familiar with VisionWork. He
was a student in the program for delinquent youths
several years ago when it still accepted high school
students.
Turner admits that it was not easy sailing for
him at traditional schools; he often had trouble
with the stringent instruction and rules.
Turner left VisionWork for LIFT Academy, a
charter school that also has its share of at- risk stu
dents. The transition was smooth, he said.
Now a senior at LIFT, Turner credits the school
for changing his attitude about learning and his
outlook.
“I’ve matured,” Turner said earlier this week. “I
used to have a terrible temper. Some of the other
students looked up to me because I used to be in
the same situation as they are in.”
What worries Turner most these days is that his
beloved LIFT may not have a chance to work its
magic on many of his peers.
The school is in the middle of a well publicized
fight with the State Board of Education to keep its
doors open, a battle that is now being duked out in
a Forsyth County Superior courtroom. Last week,
state and LIFT officials wrapped up the oral por
tion of a hearing in which LIFT is seeking an
injunction to keep its doors open.
LIFT is fighting the revocation of its charter by
the state board last December. If the school loses
its charter, it would be barred from receiving hun
dreds of thousands of dollars a year in public
money. Without the money, it may be virtually
impossible for the school to remain open. The
school’s main contention is that it was denied due
process in the revocation process.
The state says it revoked the charter because the
See LIFT on AS
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