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Vol. XXXV No. 7 THURSDAY, October 16, 2008
Reynolds'
Peterson
goes
1-on-l
-See Page B3
FTCC
seeks
support
for bond
See Page A4
Black
history
rolls
VVinstorfe60
-See PagMfP
Obama camp: Vote early in N.C.
0 Pile Photo
Voting starts today at the Board of Elections.
Ballots can be cast starting today
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Who could blame State Rep.
Dan Blue for being a bit anxious
about today's start of early voting
in North Carolina.
The Wake County representa
tive and scores of his Democratic
colleagues fought long and hard for
residents to have the ability to reg
ister and vote on the same day. The
true spoils of their victory will be
gauged in the next two weeks. Blue
is praying for an early voting
turnout like this state has never
seen before. Blue says this election year -
with the addition of sajne day registra
tion/voting - there are truly no excuses. He
dreams that 40 to 50 percent of registered
voters will vote early so that they can spend
Election Day (Nov. 4) rounding up their
friends, neighbors and colleagues and get
ting them to the polls.
"There is no reason why that can't hap
_ pen," Blue said Tuesday of possibility of
record early voting turnout.
_ Blue and U.S. Rep. Mel Watt
joined representatives of the
Obama for President campaign in
a teleconference with black
media organizations Tuesday to
urge North Carolinians to take
advantage of early voting, which
will be available to voters
through Nov. 1 at more than 360
sites throughout the state, includ
ing 14 in Forsvth Countv.
Blue
C? - J J
North Carolina is one of a
handful of states with an already
unprecedented amount of new voters. The
number of new registrants is expected to
increase event more with the same-day ini
tiative. The high numbers of fresh voters
headed to the polls has Team Obama excited
about the possibility of the unthinkable: a
See Voting on All
BLR again hopes to be a rising phoenix
Grassroots group
has been low key
as of late
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
It's been either feast or
famine for the Black
Leadership Roundtable
(BLR) over the past 25
years.
The grassroots social
action organization sprung
to life in the 1980s to bring
attention and action to issues
that effect the African
American community. For a
time, interest in the organi
zation's mission and causes
was high, as was its mem
bership. But all of it was
short-lived, and the BLR
simply disappeared without
a trace.
It was resurrected in the
late 1990s, and again, the
organization thrived for a
time, says Imam Khalid
Griggs, a former co-conven
er of the reincarnation of the
BLR.
"Events in the city
helped the organization to be
relevant," Griggs related. "I
felt that the Black
Leadership Roundtable
filled a very important void
Pile Photo
Members of the Black Leadership Roundtable hold a news conference in 2003.
at that time."
Indeed throughout the
late 1990s and the first few
years of the 21st Century,
the Roundtable was on a
roll. The group fought and
won a battle against City
Hall to save New Evergreen
Cemetery, the city's popular,
premier African-American
graveyard from being
closed. It was also responsi
ble for getting city leaders to
adopt guidelines for the use
of pepper spray by police
officers.
And in 2003, the BLR
called for the city manager
to fill the vacant chief of
police position with an
African-American, arguing
that a black chief could bet
ter bridge the divide
See BLR on A13
Living to Tell About It
Reunion brings together stroke survivors
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
More than 100 survivors gath
ered at Forsyth Medical Center
(FMC) Tuesday afternoon, to take
part in the hospital's first annual
Stroke Survivors Reunion.
The reunion was designed to
encourage survivors by exposing
them to others who had suffered
similarly and overcome many hard
ships; and to celebrate the many tri
umphs each survivor has had during
the long recovery process.
"For a lot of our patients, things
are never back to normal," said Dr.
Chere Chase, director of the stroke
program at FMC. "It's a lifelong
process."
Chase says she got the idea for
the reunion from a similar program
the hospital's Newborn Intensive
Care Unit hosts.
"It was what I wanted it to be,"
Photo by Lilana Hine*/FMC
Farndill Holly with Dr. Chert Chase and Gwen Holley.
she said of the reunion. "I was hop
ing that they would share (their sto
ries) and laugh... It's a time to cele
brate being tough. People are
rewarded for a lot less. Fighting
back from a stroke is an incredibly
heroic thing to do."
Sec Stroke on A4
'Black'
fund looks
to hand out
first grants
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
Do-gooders in the African
American community may be
eligible for additional fund
ing to support their efforts,
thanks to the creation of the
Black Philanthropy Fund at
the Winston-Salem
Foundation.
The Fund was birthed by
the WSF's Black
Philanthropy Initiative (BP1),
which
was estao
lished in
2000 as a
vehicle to
promote
charitable
giving in
and for
the black
communi
ty. Lea 0 Clements
by a
group of African American
philanthropists, the BPI
amassed $44,000 in dona
tions over the past eight
, years to form the Fund.
"One of the things we've
discovered is that the con
cept of philanthropy within
the black community is seen
very differently," said
Michael Clements, vice pres
ident of Community
Investment for the Winston
Salem Foundation. "The
idea behind (the creation of
the Fund) was trying to iden
tify this as a vehicle of sup
port for the community."
Up to five, $5000 grants
will be awarded to local
organizations this year to
support education-focused
programming in the black
community. Recipients of
the grant will be selected by
the BPIs 13-member Black
Philanthropy Initiative
Advisory Committee.
"It makes us a more pow
erful community and a more
effective community by iden
tifying key issues," Clements
said. "Certainly, there is a
need to address some of
See BPI on A12
Crowning Moment
Phm? courtesy of N.C. AAT
Miss North Carolina A AT State University Tanisha Shavone
Fordham is crowned Miss NBCA (National Black College
Alumni) Hall of Fame at the recent Queens competition in
Atlanta. Fordham is a senior mass communications major
and a member of the university's Richard B. Harrison
Players.
In Memory of
Charlene
Russell Brown
j
"Growing and Still Dedicated to Serve You Better '
ffiuggiH Jfmtiral jSome
Wishes to Thank Everyone For Their Support
822 Russell Ave.
Cat Martin Luther King Or.)
Winston-Salem , NC 27101
(336) 722-3459
Fax (336)
nufhome @ bellsouth jiet