Jacob W. Hughes, Jr.,
addresses this concerns
during the public meet
ing.
Ron Bristow addresses
the panel during a pub
lic meeting concerning
the methane gas that
has been recently dis
covered in the vicinity
of Bowman Gray
Stadium on Thursday,
June 25, at Morning
Star Missionary Baptist
Church, 1400 Fitch St.
Stacey Smith, president
of Smith Gardner,
explains the details of
the recent methane gas
discovery.
Photos by Erin Mizelle for the
Winswn-Salem Chronicle
Neighbors
from page XI
A statement released by
city officials said while the
odorless, flammable gas
escaping the soil is not haz
ardous, it could pose a
threat of explosion and
cause headaches, dizziness,
and nausea if build up is
confined inside buildings.
According to the state
ment, testing had to be con
ducted before a plan could
be set in motion. The initial
testing was conducted by
Smith Gardner consulting
; firm. Stacey Smith, presi
dent of Smith Garner, said
that in the 14 homes they
tested, none had a detection
of methane.
"We've done an exten
sive sweep of the Bowman
Gray property and the sur
rounding areas," Smith
said. "We have not found
any methane gas inside any
of the residents we have
tested at this time."
Assistant City Manager
Greg Turner said that if res
idents would like their
property checked for
methane gas, they should
let city officials know by
filling out the correct
forms. According to
Turner, private property
cannot be checked for the
gas unless the property
owner gives permission.
"We need your permis
sion to go onto your prop
erty to sample soil and
enter your homes. The last
thing we want is methane
in someone's home, but we
can't check unless the per
mission is given," Turner
said.
To be added to the list
to have property and home
checked, residents must fill
out a form that is posted on
the city's website.
Dennis Leach, who is
the pastor at Morning Star,
said he believes a better
plan should be set up for
checking the neighbor
hoods in the community.
"A lot of the residents
are not computer literate,
so unless someone does it
for them, they won't be
able to have their homes
checked. That just isn't
right," Leach said. "I just
don't want anyone's prop
erty to be overlooked for
that reason."
According to Turner,
testing in the area will con
tinue on Tuesday, July 7.
Results from those tests
will not be back until late
August.
"We will continue test
ing until we have a clear
understanding what we're
dealing with. We need the
support of the community
to make sure no one is at
risk."
A PowerPoint presenta
tion that was shown during
the meeting, showing
which locations have
already been tested, is
located on the city's offi
cial website.
US. Supreme Court building
Hayes
Jones
Miller Jones
Locals
from page At
Hayes presided over the
wedding of a lesbian cou
ple and was able to say the
words "by the power
invested in me by the state
of North Carolina" for the
first time as he officiated.
Now, thanks to what he
said was a "wonderful"
Supreme Court ruling, he'll
be able to continue saying
it.
"It speaks to the justice
mindedness of the country
as the country enters into a
season, I truly do believe it
is a season of civil rights
and of justice," he said.
Hayes said he thought
the decision would make
Senate Bill 2, a recently
passed state law that allows
magistrates to recuse them
selves from marrying
same-sex couples if they
have religious objections to
marrying a couple, uncon
stitutional because it allows
magistrates to not perform
same-sex marriages.
Wake Forest University
Law Professor Shannon
Gilreath agreed. He said
the majority in the
Supreme Court cited
Loving v. Virginia, which
established the right of
interracial marriage, in its
decision, giving same sex
couples the same type of
fundamental constitutional
protections.
"Same sex marriage
now occupies the same
space constitutionally that
interracial marriage occu
pies," he said, "If an inter
racial couple presented
themselves to a magistrate
who said 'Sorry, but I
won't marry you because
the Bible tells me the races
shouldn't mix,' I think
there's no question that the
magistrate's actions would
be unconstitutional."
Regarding the
Affordable Care Act
(ACA), Lafayette Jones
and Sandra Miller Jones
were particularly elated
over the ruling that upheld
the subsidies that help
lower and middle income
Americans buy private
insurance in the health
insurance exchanges or
marketplaces set up by the
ACA, popularly known as
Obamacare.
"We think it is a victory
for millions of people who
finally have access to qual
ity affordable health cover
age because of the
Affordable Care Act," said
Sandra Miller Jones.
For the past three years
the couple's company,
Segmented Marketing
Services Inc. has been
signing up thousands of
people for health insurance
through the ACA's market
place. They've been
informing thousands more
about it through navigators
that spread the world about
the new law, advertising,
direct mail marketing and
their Urban Call magazine.
They said the stakes
were very high, with 85
percent of the 10.2 million
consumers who enrolled in
health insurance through
the exchanges qualifying
for subsidies. The couple
said they'd gotten many
calls from consumers con
cerned about if their subsi
dizes might go way.
"There's no longer an
uncertainty," Lafayette
Jones said.
Mark Hall, a WFU
professor of law and public
health, said if the Supreme
Court had ruled the other
way, declaring that the
wording in the law didn't
allow for consumers in
states like North Carolina
that use the federal health
care exchange to get subsi
dies, millions would've
seen their financial assis
tance disappear. Many
would've found health
insurance simply too
expensive to be able to
afford and dropped it. The
mass exodus of insurance
consumers may have
caused health insurances
prices to sky rocket and
potentially caused a col
lapse of the whole market.
He said that the "coast
is clear" for the ACA in the
courts with no other major
challenges to the funda
mentals of the law.
Fair housing activists
like Winston-Salem
Human Relations
Department Director
Wanda Allen-Abraha were
glad the Supreme Court
upheld the use of disparate
impact in fair housing
cases, which says discrimi
nation doesn't not have to
be intentional to be illegal.
The local Human
Relations Department
mediates landlord/tenant
disputes and has about a
dozen fair housing claims a
year, which allege discrim
ination against a tenant on
the basis of race, color,
gender, religion, nationali
ty or disability.
Allen-Abraha said dis
parate impact allows for
fair housing cases to be
argued based on the dis
criminatory impacts of an
action and not just its inten
tion. This is true not just in
individual cases, but in
cases involving lending
and other housing policies
such as the case the
Supreme Court ruled on, in
which a concentration of
low income tax credits in
black neighborhoods unac
ceptably increased segre
gation even if the practice
wasn't intentionally racist.
"I think the decision is
just an affirmation for a lot
of the work that had been
taking place around the
country over the past 40
years," she said.
Veteran
from page A1
some "quick rank" since
soldiers in combat were
promoted faster.
"I was scared, but I did
my country good," he said.
He can still vividly
recall the dead bodies lying
everywhere on the front
lines, some of which were
there for days. He said he'd
never been more scared.
"That does something
to you," Dodd said. "It
does something to your
mind, it does something to
your head, it does some
thing to you all over. You
can't hardly stand that."
The soldiers with him
were terrified, too. During
a barrage where mortar
rounds were falling all
around their position, one
tried to run away. Dodd
grabbed him and pulled
him back in the foxhole. As
Dodd was doing that, he
was struck by a mortar. A
first he didn't even know
he was hit and then saw
blood running down his
leg. Blood filled his shoes.
A medic was called and he
was brought via helicopter
to a Navy ship, where he
was treated. On top of his
injuries, his feet were
frozen and frost bitten in
the Korean winter. At one
point, he said, doctors
almost amputated his feet,
but he told them not to.
Dodd said that as he
was recovering, he was
given his Purple Heart,
which he held in his hand.
He figured he'd have a
hard keeping up with it and
gave it back so it could to
be kept with his records.
He never saw the medal
again.
Dodd healed and was
sent back to the frontline.
He said his records must
have been lost as he trans
ferred from place to place
during the war.
Now at the age of 85,
Dodd still experiences pain
and swelling from that old
war injury and shrapnel
still remains in his body.
PTSD still makes recalling
the war a traumatic experi
ence for him. He gets care
from VA doctors, but can
not get VA compensation
for his injuries.
The search for proof
that he was in Korea has
been extensive, with a con
gressional review and an
extensive search for
Dodd's records.
At this point,
Muhammad said that he's
scouring the Internet and
social media hoping to find
someone who served with
Dodd in Korea. It's a long
shot because it's been 65
years, but if he could find a
witness that places Dodd
there during the war, he
said Dodd finally would
receive compensation.
"I wasn't there by
myself," Dodd said.
Anyone who served
with Dock C. Dodd in
Korea can contact
Commander Jamaal
Muhammad at nabvetsg
"I wasn't there by
myself."
-Dock Dodd
Photo by Todd Luck
Dock Dodd has been trying to get VA compensation
for 16 years.
Correction
The Chronicle apologizes for an error made in a story written by Tevin Stinson and
printed in The Chronicle on page A10 on June 25. The article stated the general manager
of the Winston-Salem Hotel and Spa was Walter Smith, when in fact the correct name of
the general manager is Rudy Ferraro. The Chronicle regrets the error. The Editor
Have a Story Idea?
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