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Volume43,Numbe5 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, October 6, 2016
EXCLUSIVE
Where's vefund, Wells Fargo?
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
If Wells Fargo says it has been refund
ing fees to customers who were scammed
with false bank and credit card accounts
they never asked for, then "Ms. Jones" is
still waiting for hers.
In fact, she's waiting for much more
than that.
"It's just been a mess, a big mess,"
exclaimed the former customer who asked
that her real name not be published.
The Winston-Salem woman alleges
that three years ago, the bank began charg
ing her fees on a credit card account in her
name that she knew nothing about, and
when she tried to straighten it, out she got
the run-around.
It was mid-2013 when Jones recalls
getting a telephone call at work telling her
that she needed to make a minimum pay
nment of $167.00, or
pay the balance on the
account with a $6,000
line of credit.
Jones provided The
Chronicle with docu
mentation - notices
from Well Fargo Card
Services to her saying "YOUR
ACCOUNT IS PAST DUE" and "THIS IS
AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT."
One of the first notices she received
showed there were no payments made on
a $66530 previous balance, in addition to
$235.90 in cash advances, $77.50 in fees
and $14.96 interest charged, totaling
$993.71 owed.
By June 2013 that balance had swollen
to $1,364.91, stuffed With numerous
"LATE" and "OVERDRAFT PROTEC
TION" fees, in addition to interest on the
debt at just under 24 percent.
"I was baffled because I didn't have a
Wells Fargo credit card," Jones recalled.
Working near High Point, Jones said she
went to a Wells Fargo branch there in
hopes of straightening the misunderstand
ing out. But she says she was told they
couldn't tell her anything, except that she
had to make a payment on the $1364.91
balance in order to keep her credit in good
standing. So she reluctantly did that, hop
ing to eventually correct the situation.
Jones says she then went to a branch
closer to where she lived, hoping to get the
assistance she needed, but no one there
could tell her anything. However, she did
overhear a Wells Fargo representative, on
a call apparently to the parent company
regarding her plight, saying, "That's going
to be our problem because we don't have
anything signed by her."
Jones then recalled a Winston-Salem
branch near where she got her car serv
iced. She scheduled an appointment to
meet with the branch manager. But on the
day of the appointment, Jones arrived,
only to be told that the manager she was
scheduled to meet with was on vacation.
Frustrated, "Jones" filed "a notice to the
Better Business Bureau," and then went
back to another High Point branch.
Still finding no assistance, Jones
See Wells Fargo on A2
Photo by Tevin Stinson
Dozens of people attended a block party held last week designed to register voters. The New. Voter Block
Party was hosted by Arts Nouveau.
Arts Nouveau encourages
young voters with block party
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
While every vote is important, it's no secret that voters
under the age of 40 will play a major role in deciding who
the next president of the United States will be.
With election day right around the corner, Arts
Nouveau Winston-Salem (ANWS), a part of The Arts
Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, held a
special block party to encourage young, creative people in
the area to speak up and vote.
Along with providing an opportunity for people to
register, the party, held at Activity on the Green on North
Liberty Street, also featured a performances by the
Carolina Stars Drumline, a DJ, games, food trucks and
locally brewed beer for those over 21.
According to the arts council director of major gifts,
Devon MacKay, the organization will be hosting other
events to ensure young people in the area are registered
and ready to make a difference on election day.
"ANWS wants to make sure that people get out and
vote," MacKay said.
EXCLUSIVE
Community
activists urge
Black History
in W-S high 1
schools
BY CASH MICHAELS
TOR THE CHRONICLE ;
A group of community activists is urging the Winston
Salem/Forsyth County Public School System
(WS/FCPSS) to adopt a mandatory black history course
for kindergarten through 12th grade, saying that in an
effort to close the achievement gap, it could provide a
much-needed "knowledge of self' for African-American
students especially, and a greater sense of self-esteem
knowing that their people played important roles in
American history.
The chief academic officer for the school system says
he agrees that greater emphasis on black history is needed
for those purposes, and he assures the system is seeking to
do just that, but only as part of its current American histo
ry curriculum.
But the activists counter that "greater emphasis" is not
the same as a mandatory stand-alone course required fot
graduation. And what they are pushing for isn't some pipe
dream - the Philadelphia Public School System has
required a high school African-American history course
for graduation since 2006.
& it can be successfully done there for the past 10
years, they ask, then why not here?
Ken Rasheed is one of the members of the Education
Subcommittee of the Local Organizing Committee
(LOC), which includes Vincent Wilkins, Ricky Johnson
Steve Brooks, Amatullah Saleem, Miranda Jones, Chris
Taylor, Gwen Rasheed, and Effrainguan Muhammad
They aren't the first who have called for black history to
be taught in local schools.
The LOC has been meeting with WS/FCPSS officials
for months, the last being in mid-August. Thus far
Rasheed says, the response from Superintendent Beverly
Emory, several board members and other school officials
has been "no" to establishing a mandatory black history
course in the system.
But they did, according to Rasheed, "give us some
concessions that are going to be hard for anybody to meas
See History on A12
County real estate reappraisal coming soon
Property values are expected
to increase from 2009
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
A public hearing will be held next week on
the standards used for next year's reappraisal of
real estate property by the Forsyth County Tax
Administration.
County Commissioners will hold a hearing
on the reappraisal's Schedule of Values (SOV)
during its Monday, Oct. 10, meeting, at 2 pjn
and will vote on the item on Oct. 24.
SOV includes appraisal standards and
explanations of the process. It's available at the
Tax Administration office in the Forsyth County
Government Building and on the department's
website.
The reappraisals of property values, which
county staff has been working on for nearly two
See Real Estate on A2
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