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ADMINISTRATION
FORSYTH CNTY PUB LIB
660 W 5TH ST
m WINSTON SALEM NC 27101-2755 KBRATING 30 YEARS OK COMMUNITY JOLIRN A I ,rom Ulis library
? Vol. XXX No. 27
THURSDAY, MARCH
WSSU's
T\irner is
new CIAA
queen
- See Page B2
Hispanics
gain tips
from tape
series
- See Page A3
Kwame
Cannon
back in
trouble
- See Page A4
Modern
hosts
farewell
party
-See Page CI
prick by Brick
Liberty Street Community Development Corp.
moving forward with plans to revitalize area
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Banners have started to go up on light
poles along Liberty Street. They read, "Red
tify the street and attract new tenants and
investors.
The CDC has already begun to build
coalitions with businesses and residents in
the Liberty Street area. They are asking peo
building Liberty Street, one
brick at a time," and more than
40 of them will decorate the
Liberty Street Corridor, the
stretch of road that connects
Smith Reynolds Airport and
downtown.
The newly-reshuffled Liber
ty Street Community Develop
ment Corp. hopes that the ban
ners are a sign to the communi
ty that Liberty Street is in the ?
midst of, a comeback - an
Paige
pie to work to bring their properties
up to standard and to help fight
drugs, prostitution and other prob
lems by working with law enforce
ment.
The CDC is also looking to the
city to meet (he people half way. The
city already offers matching grants
up to $20,000 for renovations to
property owners along Liberty
Street.
I he city has also created some
attractive brick sidewalks along the
attempt to tiring back its heyday
when successful businesses lined the street
and people took pride in their homes and
properties.
Jim Shaw remembers that heyday well.
He once owned a gas station on the street.
Today, he is the chairman of the Liberty
CDC board and is leading the drive to beau
street. Assistant City Manager Derwick
Paige said that more improvements are in the
works, including new sidewalks, street lights
and trash cans.
But promises toy the city to do something
about Liberty - which has fallen into great
Sec Liberty on A9
Blacks:
DOT
has a
racism
problem
BY GARY D. ROBERTSON *
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH - The Depart
ment of Transportation often
has been labeled the biggest
good-old boy network within
state government.
Conflict-of-interest scan
dals in the late 1990s prompted
lawmakers to reform the state's
Board of Transportation. And a
series of discrimination law
suits
spurred
efforts to
improve
minority
hiring
practices
and to
give
more
road con
tracts to
black-led
Tippett
businesses.
But seven black DOT
employees who have a pending
suit against the department for
civil rights violations say
efforts to reform have fallen
short and that there needs to be
a major housecleaning within
the agency.
. "DOT is full of racisnj,"
said James Mitchell, one of the
seven workers from a Raleigh
maintenance shop who have
sued. "It's time for a change."
The plaintiffs and their
attorney first sued in late 2002,
after they say a hangman's
noose was displayed in the
maintenance shop throughout
Black History Month that year.
The noose symbolized
pinching and the Ku Klux Klan.
5tey say, and they bring a large
photograph of the rope to their
pews conferences.
Sec DOT on A 1 0
Photo hy Kevin Walker
City worker Darryl Webb installs the banners.
Paying the Piper
Photo courtesy of Office of Mel Wall
Last week Rep. Mel
Watt gave Krispy
Kreme doughnuts and
peanuts to colleague
Rep. Martin Meehan of
Massachusetts. Watt
was on the losing end
of a bet the two made
on the recent Super
Bowl. Both Meehan
and Watt traveled to
Houston to see their
beloved teams face off
on Feb. I , where the
New England Patriots
narrowly prevailed
the Carolina Pan
had bet pizza, cal
zones and New Eng
land wine.
North
Carolina
31-28. Meehan
Leaders
take up
concerns
of moms
DSS is forced to
cut some child care
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
About 250 mothers this
week were thrown into limbo
when the subsidy they receive
from the Forsyth County
Depart
ment of
Social
Services
was
abruptly
cut. The
c u t
affects
only par
ents who
are
enrolled
Marshall
in post-secondary education.
DSS had provided the parents
with $320 a month per child
to help cover, child care so
that the parents could attend
school. But the agency's well
ran dry last month when DSS
got only a quarter of the
money it needed from the
state to continue the subsidy.
Several members of the
Ministers Conference and
Black Leadership Roundtable
met with some of the mothers
affected by the cut. Rep.
Larry Womble, a leader in the
roundtable, said the group is
concerned about the fate of
the mothers and their chil
dren.
"The parents and the chil
dren are caught in the middle
of this through no fault of
their own." he said.
Some of the parents have
found emergency help from
Smart Start and Northwest
Child Development. Brenda
Evans, the assistant director
of Forsyth County DSS. said
Forsyth Technical Communi
ty College - where many of
the affected mothers are
enrolled - is also working to
find child-care solutions. In
some cases, day care centers
are working with the parents
Set DSS on A4
Men robbed by justice speak out
BY T KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE '
GREENSBORO - Ronald
Cotton remembers the day in
1984 when he Idarned that
cops were looking for a black
man who broke into the house
of a white woman and raped
her. He saw a sketch of the
black suspect in the newspa
per and immediately knew
that in Alamance County the
rapist would be dealt with
swiftly and severely.
"Me and my brother saw a
sketch in the paper of the sus
pect and told (my brother), 'I
don't know who this guy is,
but when they find him he is
gone.'"
In a twist of irony that
would even be considered far
fetched for a Hollywood who
dunit, police came knocking
at Cotton's door, asking him
questions about the crime.
Once the victim, Jennifer
Thompson, identified Cotton
as the man who raped her.
Cotton found himself in jail. A
jury would convict him based
largely on the testimony of
Thompson, who said in court
that the face of her rapt*t was "
a face that she could never?
forget.
Cotton was nearly 1 1 years
into his 43-year prison sen
tende when he learned about
DNA testing through the pub
licity from the O.J. Simpson
trial. Cotton eventually got his
DNA tests. Thompson had
been wrong, as had the prose
cutors and police investigators
that pursued Cotton so
doggedly.
Saturday. Cotton, who was
Sec Forum ?>n A4
PhfXo by Kevin Walker
Ronaid Cotionr
who was
wrong fully
convicted of
rape in the
1980s, talks to
audience mem
bers after a
forum Satur
day at Bennett
College for
Women.
In Grateful Memory of Our
Founders,
Florrie S. Russell and
Carl H. Russell , Sr.
" Growing and Still Dedicated to Serve You Better "
ffiuasell fflumral Mamc
Wishes to Thank Everyone For Their Support
K22 Carl Russell Ave.
(at Martin 1 .11 1 her King Dr.)
Winston-Salem. NC 27101
722-3459
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