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Winston-Salem, NC 2
7101 fc^INSTRATION
FORSYTH COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
660 W 5TH ST
WINSTON SALE!* NC 27.01-2705
Vol. XXXVI No. 4 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, September 24, 2009
Chris Paul
to host
annual
festivities
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New
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Men wear
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Photo by Layia Farmer
Isabella Williams stands on the WFU campus.
Young, Gifted
and Homeless
Wake graduate student says she's proof
that it could happen to any one of us
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
Isabella Williams is many
things. A mother. A master's
level student at Wake Forest
University School
Both of her previous teach
ing positions evaporated
because of budget cuts,
Williams said. For the past
year, she has supported her
family by substitute teaching
and taking on free*
of Divinity. And
"creatively home
less," as she puts it.
Williams. 36,
already has an
undergradute and
master's degree
under her belt. She
has worked as a
teacher in the
Winston
Salem/Forsyth
County School
Kurtz
lance grant-writing
and editing work.
Times got harder late
last year, when
Williams says the
home she and her
family were living in
burned to the
ground.
"We were rent
ing and I didn't have
renters' insurance -
we had just moved
system and at the charter
school. Carter G. Woodson
School of Challenge. She
never imagined she would find
herself in the precarious situa
tion she and her two children
are currently facing.
"I equated education with
finances. As a kid. I always
pushed myself," related
Williams, a native of
Hammond. La. "I thought that
gaining an education would
pull me up out of poverty."
in." she said of the fire, which
took most of the little the fam
ily still had. "We walked out
with the shoes on our feet and
whatever we had in my vehi
cle."
Support from the local
faith community helped
Williams barely stay afloat for
a while, but earlier this month,
she and her children found
themselves truly homeless.
See Homeless on A 10
MC Hatch
WFll PW
Wake Forest President Nathan O. Hatch, far left, helped the campus kickoff its United
Way campaign last week by performing a United Way rap with the hacking of the a
cappella student group. Plead the Fifth. Provost Jill Tiefenthaler, standing next to
Hatch, also got her rap on.
The Tree
Still Stands Tall
Legendary social club celebrates
. 50th anniversary
/> <f . JL.
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Party-goers danced the night away last Friday at a Black and White
Ball marking the 50th anniversary of Les Arbres Club.
The shindig took place at Winston-Salem State University's
Anderson Center. Les Arbres, French for "The Tree," is a private social"
Brick and Mable Johnson
club on New "Walkertown
Road that became a popu
lar hang-out for the city's
most upwardly mobile
Africans Americans after
it opened v in 1959.
Founders Manuel "Brick"
Johnson and his wife,
Mable, opened The .Tree -
which got its name
because an actual live tree
sprouts in the club -
because segregation was
the rule at the time.
African- Americans who wanted an upscale hangout had no options.
"Blacks didn't have no place to go," said Brick Johnson.
Les Arbres changed that in a major way. In its heyday, the club was
used as a venue for some of the biggest names in jazz, and everyone
who was anyone had a membership.
"People were looking for somewhere to go and have an evening of
fun. a night out and just relax.1' said Mable Johnson. "It has a very
home-like atmosphere."
The Black and White Ball has always been the club's premier
event. It is such a large uffair that it is held at venues throughout the
Sec Ball on A5
ItHrtos by Todd Luck
Last weekend's ball featured music, dancing and food.
Southeast candidates prepare for runoff
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE '
Southeast Ward Democrats Evelyn
Terry, the incumbent. and James
Taylor will face off again in a Oct. 6
runoff.
= 1
Taylor
They were the
top two finishers
in the Sept. 15
primary, but nei
ther received 40
percent of the
vote - a require
ment for North
Carolina elec
tions. Voter
turnout in the
ward and
throughout the city was dismal. Only
446 people cast ballots in the Southeast
Ward, which includes much of the
Reynolds Park Road/ Waughtown
Street area. Terry managed to snag the
most votes, 160: Taylor finished 10
votes behind her, and Democrat Jimmy
Evelyn Terry hits the streets to campaign.
Phoio courtesy of the leny Campaign
Boyd received 136 votes. Boyd said
Monday that he has not yet endorsed
either Ttfrry or Taylor.
Taylor said he didn't expect the race
to be so close.
"To be honest. I really thought that
1 would pull it off." he commented.
Sec K11110IT on A3
WORKOUT PARTNER
Adams has been a fixture at local
Y branch for a quarter century
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Over the decades, change has been one of
the few constants at the city's historically
African-American YMCA.
It's moved from one side of town to the
other; employees and members have come and
gone; and an array of high-tech, calorie-burn
ing machines now share space with traditional
steel dumbbells.
There to witness it all has been Alfred
Adams Sr. - "Al." "Mr. Al" or "Big Al" to those
who know, love and respect him.
Adams has been a fixture in the Winston
Lake Family YMCA Wellness Center for so
long that even he has trouble remembering
when his tenure began.
"I've been here 24 ... 25 ... I'd just say 25
See Adams on \2
Photo by Kevin Walker
Al Adams Sr. stands in the Winston l.ake
Family Y's Wellness Center.
DON'T
PASS
THE BUCK
BUY LOCAL
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