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See Opinion/Forum pages on A6&7
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Volume 43, Number 18
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C
THURSDAY, January 5, 2017
W-S tMdWf gets partM
Decades after she gave
her life to God,
McCrory grants educa
tor-evangelist clemency ^
BYTEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE'
Although it came on a few days
after Dec. 25, local educator and
international evangelist Janet Taylor
received a Christmas present she has
waited more than two years to
receive.
As she sat at home nursing a cold
last week, Taylor received a phone
call from the Governor's Office
granting her a pardon for crimes she
committed in the late 1980s.
While Taylor turned her life
around nearly 23 years ago, it wasn't
until Thursday, Dec. 29, that Gov!
Pat McCrory had pardoned the
charges on her record on his last day
in office.
Even though Taylor would go on
to earn her bachelor’s degree from
Winston-Salem State . University
after her release from prison in 1994
• and had been working in the local
school system since 2003, it wasn't
until after she received her master’s
degree from North Carolina Central
University in 2011 that her past
seemed to hold the determined edu
cator back.
Taylor said she never even
thought about filing for a pardon
until she was turned down for multi
ple principal and teaching positions
here in Winston-Salem and other
See Pardon on AS
Photo by Tevin Stinson
Janet Taylor
poses with a
photo of her par
don from former
N.C. Gov. Pat
McCrory earlier
this week. Taylor
is a teacher at
Main Street
Academy in
Winston-Salem.
EMANCIPATION SERVICE
a.l^rn "
Hnl1C/£7<? Ju^ Denise Harts fie Id swears in state lawmakers (from left) Rep Evelyn Terry ReTpT^
Hanes and Sen. Paul Lowe at the emancipation service held on Jan. 2 at Emmanuel BapSiChurch.
Speakers stress
the challenges ahead
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Ministers warned of “trouble”
with President-elect Donald Trump in
2017 during the emancipation service
held at Emmanuel Baptist Church on
Monday, Jan. 2.
‘The service is used by local politi
cians to reflect on the year ahead.
The service, held at a different
church each year, celebrates President
Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the
Emancipation Proclamation, which
freed slaves in the rebelling Southern
states. Normally the local
Emancipation Association holds the
service on Jan. 1, when Lincoln
signed the proclamation, but it was
held on Jan. 2 since New Year’s Day
MU
Rev. Leach
fell on a Sunday.
N.C. Sen. Paul Lowe said that the
General Assembly faces court
ordered redistricting and still needs to
repeal HB 2, which companies are
boycotting the state over because they
believe it’s discriminatory. State Rep.
Evelyn Terry encouraged people to
mobilize and vote, using the example
of the extremely tight governor’s race
to illustrate how every vote counts.
State Rep. Ed Hanes said some of his
fellow lawmakers want to put
African-Americans back in bondage
by cutting unemployment benefits
and infringing on civil rights.
“Please stand with us as we go
back to Raleigh to fight for you,” said
Hanes
Lowe, Terry and Hanes were all
sworn in for their new terms during
the service by District Court Judge
Denise Hartsfield.
Mayor Allen Joines said that his
Poverty Thought Force’s plan to fight
poverty in Winston-Salem will be
*
See Speakers on A5
Civil Rights
Museum chief
promises
t6 overcome
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
Since it opened to the public on Feb. 1, 2010, the
International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM)
in Greensboro has been besieged with more negative
headlines than not.
“Sit-in museum owes $933,155 in loan repayment by
2018.”
“Audit reports debt and
loss for civil rights museum;
director disagrees.”
“Greensboro civil rights
museum owes $57K in prop
erty taxes.”
Through It all, ICRCM
CEO/CFO John L. Swaine
has battled back, reminding
all of the profound signifi
cance of the civil rights
museum, the unique place in
North Carolina, national and
world history that it forever
holds, and the tremendous
economic and civic contributions it has made to down
town Greensboro and the state since its founding in 1994
by Melvin “Skip” Alston and Earl Jones.
Even the former chief operations officer, Bayard P.
Love, in an open letter published locally in March of lasfs
year, stated, “In my opinion, the majority of local media
coverage regarding ICRCM’s financial position has been
unclear, at best.”
“(RJecent and historic coverage has clearly misled
consumers as to the true financial status, challenges and
successes of the organization,” Love added.
Owned by the private, nonprofit Sit-in Movement Inc.,
the museum is listed as the top attraction for visitors to see
in Greensboro by the travel website TripAdvisor. As part
of the United States Civil Rights Trail, ICRCM has been
nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the
National Park Service.
“As we have demonstrated persistence and success up
to this crucial stage, against continuing odds, we will
remain a dynamic presence in this historic place for the
community and as a resource for educators, students, and
lifelong learners,” Vowed Swaine in a recent 2016 appeal
letter to museum supporters.
With a small, but dedicated staff of four full-time and
Swaine
See Museum on A8
WINSTON SALEM. NC 2710M120 01
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