Vol. XXXII No. 49
THURSDAY, August 3, 2006
<UI
I Carver
ready to
rumble on
gridiron
HT-LOr'C?22 ' F?*e 81
Police,
community
take part in
-Night Out'
?See Page A 3
2*
drawsreftSfotl;
to city park
A fresh
start for
Carver
1 Supporters of school
commit their support
BY SANDRA ISLEY
THE CHRONICLE
Members of the Carver
Nation have taken an oath to
support and defend their school
like never before.
Faculty, staff, students, par
ents, alumni and friends of the
Carver
High
School all
fall under
t h e
Carver
Nation
umbrella.
The
school
will need
support
from all
Montague
of them this coming school year
as it tries to boost its test scores
and silence nay-sayers who
believe the school has done a
shoddy job of educating its
mostly Hispanic and African
American student body.
Carver - a historic school
that has educated local leaders
such as former Winston-Salem
State University Chancellor
Harold Martin - has been in the
headlines for all the wrong rea
sons since March, when a letter
to state education leaders writ
ten by Wake County Superior
Court Judge Howard Manning
named Carver as one of several
inner-schools that should be
closed because of their students'
lack of achievement on stan
dardized tests used to measure
academic achievement.
Manning's letter jarred and
angered Carver supporters, who
say that Manning knows noth
ing of Carver's strong historical
ties or the legions of students its
has influenced and molded.
Fleming EI-Amin, an educa
tor in (he Winston
Salem/Forsyth County School
System', said without the strong
education and love that his chil
dren received at Carver, they
would not have kx;en as success
ful as they are today.
One of his daughters,
See Carver on A12
A large crowd was on hand for this 2005 4th Street Jazz & Blues concert.
Change of Tune?
Switch for 4th Street
concert comes as some
downtown merchants express
displeasure with the event
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
The head of Downtown Winston
Salem Partnership denied this week
that complaints from restauranteurs
and other merchants led him to
change the position of the stage for
the popular 4th Street Jazz & Blues
concert series.
But downtown business owners
have grown vocal with their concerns
about the event and the large crowd it
attracts.
Starting Friday, the concert stage
will be flipped 180-degrees from its
usual setup, meaning the throngs of
music lovers who attend the event
will mostly congregate between
Poplar and Spring streets. The old
setup put the crowd in the heart of
Restaurant Row - a patch of 4th
Street eateries and shops that are a
main component of ongoing down
town revitalization efforts.
Photo by J arson Pitt
Kevin and Deborah Gilchrest look through the window of their shop.
The relationship between concert
goers and downtown business owners
has not been chummy. Restaurant and
shop owners have complained that
those who attend the concerts cpme
only to hear music, not spend money.
Some have also complained that
crowds of rowdy youths linger long
after the music has ended.
Jason Thiel - the head of the
Downtown Winston-Salem
Partnership, which "sponsors 4th
See Concert on A 13
Rep. Watt
walks mile
in shoes
of another
Audience of young people
hear from CBC leader
BY SANDRA ISLEY
THE CHRONICLE
The most influential African American
member of the U.S. House of Representative
got the oppor
t u n i t y
Tuesday to fill
the shoes of
another man
with great
influence and
power. U .S .
Rep. Mel
Watt, who
represents the
state's 12th
District and
serves as chair
of the
Congressional
Black Caucus,
took over
duties for Eric
Glenn at the
Y W C A . I
Glenn is a
program man
ager for Work
US. Rep. Mel Watt
and Earn It, a division of YWCA Youth
Intervention Services. Glenn's job puts him
in direct contact with young people on an
almost daily basis.
Tuesday, it was Watt who stood before
many of the youths that Glenn serves. For
years Watt has taken part in "Trading
Places" events where he takes on the jobftf'
his constituents. In the past. Watt has bagged
groceries and spent an afternoon in a wheel
chair.
Watt's audience was made up of more
than 50 young people from various Y-spon
sored youth programs. Watt became a histo
rian and political science teacher as he
taught the youths about the inner workings
of Congress. He took them behind the
scenes of the recent renewal of the Voting
Rights Act. Watt was one of the black law
makers who fought hard for the renewal,
which was held up for several weeks by
Southern. Republican lawmakers.
The children were impressed to learn
that Watt had hobnobbed with President
Bush during the ceremonial signing that
extended the Act for another 25 years. The
ceremony was held at the White House.
Laughter erupted in the room when Watt
Sec Watt on A13
Unemployment Blues
Photo by Sandra bley
Engineer-turned-author Reginald Goodwin stands in front of the East
Winston house he grew up in. Goodwin, who now lives in Texas, has
turned the ups and downs he experienced after losing his job into a new
book that he hopes will inspire others. Read more on A 12.
'Soldiers' reunite in Greensboro
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
GREENSBORO - Members of an
association started to honor the legacy
of the storied Buffalo Soldiers gath
ered last week in Greensboro for an
Robinson
annual reunion.
The Ninth
and Tenth
Calvary
National
Association of
the Buffalo
Soldiers hosted
several activi
ties during the
w e e k - I o n g
reunion, held at
the Koury
Convention Center.
The 9th and 10th Calvary Buffalo
Soldiers date back to the 1866, They
were among the first black soldiers to
serve the country in peacetime. The
name was also used for the 24th and
25th Infantry, who would later fight
beside white horse-riding units on the
Photm by Todd I tick
Association members Eddie Holmes, from left, Purvis Eichelberger and
Ernest Hooker pose in their uniforms.
Great American Frontier. All the
troops in the units were blapk. All the
officers were white. The Buffalo
Soldiers saw their share of fighting.
Their battles helped to build the West.
Buffalo Soldiers also fought in the
Spanish-American War.
See Reunion on A9
Memory of Our
Founders ,
aril
S. Russell and
H. Russell, Sr.
"Growing and Still Dedicated to Serve You Better *'
ffiugggll 3f mtgral 38omg
Wishes; to Thank Everyone For Their Support
822 Carl Russell Ave.
(at Martin Luther King Dr.)
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
C33?) 722-3459
Fax <33<S) 631-8268
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