47 110805 CAR-RT-LOT* *C022
NORTH CAROLINA ROOM
FORSYTH CTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
660 W 5TH ST
WINSTON SALEM NC 27101-2755
A ? .
75 cants
Celebrating 30 years ok Community Journalism
Vol. XXXI No. 47
Kid is
impressive
with a
pool stick
- See Page Bl
Judge
Hatchett
comes to
Bennett
- See Page A3
Evelyn
Terry
running
in ward
-See Page All
Models
strut on
makeshift
runway
-See Page CI
Oldham
comes
home
for Dell
She will be one of
company's most
visible faces locally
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE '
Local folks who don't
already know Donna Oldham
will have ample opportunity
to meet her in the months and
years to come. As the senior
Oldham
commu
n i c a -
t i o n s
consult
ant of
Dell
North
Caroli
na. Old
ham will
be one
of the
most
visible
faces at the new Dell super
plant off of Union Cross
Road.
"People will see me a little
bit of everywhere," she said
last week. Oldham will not
officially start her new job
until Aug. 1 . She was in town
Friday for a Dell news confer
ence to showcase the compa
ny's first batch of employees.
The city native is current
ly the director of the commu
nications department at Duke
University Hospital, where
she has worked since 1998.
Oldham thought that at age
48, she was pretty much set
tled at Duke, a hospital with
an international reputation.
But then came Dell - whose
global reputation isn't that
shabby, either.
"Dell was the only compa
ny that interested me enough
to pull me away from Duke."
she said. The job's location
was a plus as well for Old
ham. Her parents. Warren
"Pete" and Gladys Oldham,
are longtime, respected city
residents. Her sister, Leslie
Oldham Bolden, also lives
here. Pete Oldham is a retired
educator and former state rep
See Oldham on A9
Woman likens fight with city to 'rape'
Photo by Courtney Guillard
Cornelia
Matthews
Webster is
upset that the
city demol
ished her
house with her
belongings still
inside of it.
Reunion
goes on
despite
changes
Historic Happy Hill
is in a state of renewal
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE '
Change is hard to swallow for
George Lee Barr and Donald Durham.
Saturday during the 12th Annual Happy
Piggott
Hill Reunion they
set up a well-used
stereo and speak
ers to play oldies
from the '60s and
'70s - countering
hip-hop music that
seemed to be blar
ing from several
other parts of
Happy Hill Park.
"They are
playing that other
stuff, so we want to play stuff that peo
ple our age will enjoy," said Durham, as
the sounds of jazz sprang from the
speakers.
Cultural changes are not the only
things that the two men are concerned
about these days. Both spent the bulk of
their lives in Happy Hill, the city's old
Shaw alums honor two of their own
Photo by Kevin Walker
Dr. Nancy Qannaway sift betide her husband, Robert.
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THF. CHRONICLE .
Two graduates of Shaw University were honored
Saturday at an awards dinner hosted by the city's
alumni chapter. The awards came as a surprise to the
honorees.
Organizers had told Dr. Nancy Gannaway that
Reekitta Grimes - Shaw's director of alumni chapters
and planned giving - would be the evening's honoree.
They told Grimes that Gannaway would be honored.
The reality was that both Gannaway and Grimes were
honored for their support of Shaw, a private, Raleigh
based Baptist school that holds the distinction of
being the South's oldest black college.
About 30 alumni and friends of the school gath
ered for the evening event at Les Arbres Club (or "The
Tree"), a historic African-American social spot.
Mable Johnson, who runs The Tree with her husband.
Brick, is a 1947 ShSw graduate.
Guests included Claude Flythe, special assistant to
Shaw President Clarence Newsome and the acting
vice president for student affairs. Flythe pinch-hit for
Newsome, who had a scheduling conflict and could
Sec Shaw on A10
Couple say demolition was unjust
BY COURTNEY GAILLARD
THE CHRONICLE
It's been seven months since
Cornelia and James Webster's
house on Cameron
Avenue was lorn
down by the city of
Winston-Salem. The
couple claim the city
did not give them ade
quate warning about
the 85-year-old
house's fate. All that
remains at 810 N.
Cameron Ave. is a
grassy lot and a
$4,700 demolition bill
from the city.
The Websters say they want
the city to compensate them for
Johnson
the belongings that were stored
inside the house when it was
demolished.
"Everything was
destroyed. .. . I want to chal
lenge the city's
existing city code
which they used to
do what they did up
here." said Cornelia
Matthews Webster,
whose father is local
civil rights activist
Carl Matthews. She
has likened the situ
ation concerning the
house to an assault.
"I have been abused
and I feel that I have been raped
by the city of Winston-Salem ."
See Webster on A4
? Photo by Kevin Walker
Dajere Jackson plays with family friend little Samorian Kirby during Saturday's Happy Hill Reunion.
est African-American neighborhood.
But the old neighborhood is unrecogniz
able these days. A multimillion dollar
Housing Authority of Winston-Salem
(HAWS) HOPE VI project has cleared
away the heart of Happy Hill - row upon
row of public housing units that were
known as Happy Hill Gardens.
"I cry every time I come through
here," Barr said.
HAWS plans to replace the units
with a mix of new homes, town houses
and apartments that will be targeted
toward people of various income levels.
The project is being billed as a new and
better Happy Hill, but Barr is unsure
about that.
"It is hard to tell." he said. "1 don't
know if it is going to be better than
before."
The annual reunion brings together
the thousands of people who grew up in
the historic community. Held over two
Sec Reunion on All
Kimberley Park
barely misses
making history
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Kimberley Park Elementary nearly made the city
county school system nistory
book with its recent performance
on the ABCs of Public Education
test.
The school was 0.4 percentage
point away from becoming the
school system's first Equity Plus
school to be named an Honor
School of Excellence under the
nearly decade-old state testing
program. The new distinction
goes to schools where at least 90
percent of the students test at or
above grade level.
Martin
In Kimberley Park s case, even almost making his
See Schools on A10
In Grateful Memory of Our
Founders,
Florrie S. Russell and
Carl H. Russell, Sr.
"Growing and Still Dedicated to Serve You Better"
ffiuggell fflmteral Maine
Wishes to Thank Everyone For Their Support
822 Carl Russell Ave. I
(at Martin Luther King Dr.)
Winston -Salem, NC 27101
<336) 722-3459
Fax C33?S) 631-8268
i helbioutli.net
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