NEWS
Photos by Tevin Stinson
More than 100 business owners ahd entrepreneurs gathered inside the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter on
'Tuesday, Jan. 10 for the Minority/Women’s Business Enterprise program’s annual mixer.
The Minority/Women’s Business Enterprise pro
gram’s annual mixer gave business owners the
opportunity to sit down with city agencies and local
contractors.
Business mixer draws large crowd
BYTEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Earlier this week more than 100 business owners and
entrepreneurs gathered inside the Wake Forest Innovation
Quarter for an evening of networking and learning during
the Minority/Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) pro
gram’s annual mixer.
Since 1983, MWBE has worked to ensure minorities
equal opportunities when it comes to contracting and pur
chasing programs. This year MWBE partnered with the
Black Chamber of Commerce, Forsyth Tech Small
Business Center, and Wake Forest Innovation Quarter to
sponsor the evening of networking.
This year’s event had an added twist: Along with the
normal vendor set up, the casual gathering also included
speed networking, which gave business owners the oppor
tunity to have one-on-one conversations with city agen
cies and contractors. After meeting with city agencies dur
ing the first round of scheduled sessions, Fred Salley,
owner of Eco Environmental Services, a construction site
cleaning service, said the‘mixer is great for people like
him looking to get their foot in the door.
“I think the mixer is a great idea,” said Salley. “Events
like this go a long way when you’re trying to grow your
business. When you’re a small business owner it can be
hard to get your foot in the door, that’s why we need more
events like this one.”
Joyce Williams, who heard about the mixer through
the city’s website, echoed Salley’s Statements when
speaking with The Chronicle during the event. Williams
said with more opportunity, the sky is the limit for minor
ity business owners in the area. She mentioned in many
cases', small businesses suffer because they don’t know
what’s out there.
“Despite what people think, there is a lot of help here
for small business owners but we must do our part as
well,” said Williams. “We can’t expect everything to be
handed to us. We have to do our research and find out
what’s out there.”
Before the start of the event, Mayor Pro Tempore
Vivian Burke thanked MWBE and the other sponsors for
putting the event together. Burke, who has been a strong
supporter of minority-owned businesses in the area since
she was first elected to office in 1977, said small business
is what makes the city thrive.
“We are blessed here in the city of Winston-Salem to
have people who want to make small businesses grow,”
continued Burke. “Whenever we bring people together for
a positive program like this it helps us to keep our city
moving in the right direction.”
Snow and bitter cold
stall life in N.C.
BY MARTHA WAGGONER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH -A bitter
cold followed the weekend
snow and ice storm in
North Carolina, where
schools, government
offices and college cam
puses were closed because
temperatures were too low
to help clear the roads.
Schools were closed at
least three days, including
in Winston-Salem, and Uni
versities closed or had
emergency schedules.
Temperatures reached
lows not seen since January
1985 when a record cold
spread across the state.
Gov. Roy Cooper
warned people not to be
deceived by the sunshine
and some clear roads. One
person was killed Sunday
and two injured when a car
skidded off an icy Interstate
73/74 in Montgomery
County, he said.
The National Weather
Service said the lows were
near zero in places as far
east as the Triad area of
Greensboro, Winston
Salem and High Point.
The last time
Greensboro hit zero
degrees was on Jan. 19,
1994. The city has hit zero
or below only 14 times
since 1903, when weather
record-keeping begarf. The
lowest temperature ever in
Greensboro was 8 degrees
below zero on Jan. 21,
1985.
“
With the roads in such hazardous shape, some individuals stuck to walking in
fear of getting stuck in the snow on West Market Street in Greensboro.
Experts speculate
on Michael Morgan
as associate justice
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
On Jan. 4, Wake Superior.Court Judge
Michael Rivers Morgan was sworn in as
the newest associate justice of the North
Carolina Supreme Court.
Morgan will serve an eight-year term
on the seven-member court, and as a
Democrat, his addition now shifts the
court to a 4-3 Democrat m&jQrity.
Supreme Court associaiejustices
review court records generated during
lower court proceedings to determine
what errors in law, if any, occurred.
To most political observers, and many
Republican leaders, the expectation now
is that Justice Morgan, 60, the only
African-American male who will be serv
ing, will automatically side with his party
on partisan issues that come before the
court.
“Not true,” those who know, and have
worked with Mike Morgan, say. They
laud him as a skilled legal practitioner
who believes in fairness and impartiality,
based on the merits of the case, not poli
tics. It is this standard by which Morgan
has built and maintained a stellar judicial
career, they add, and by all accounts, he is
expected to continue down this path while
serving on the highest court in the state.
A quick look at one of Morgan’s most
high profile cases, particularly in Wake
County where he has presided for many
years, gives some sense of his judgment.
In July 2016, Judge Morgan rejected a
petition from Republican state lawmakers
to either dismiss a challenge to the 2013
voter ID law that it violated the North
Carolina Constitution, or send it to state
three-judge panel for a decision. Instead,
Morgan signed an order sending the case,
which was different from its federal coun
terpart, to trial.
The question before Morgan was what
are the eligibility requirements to vote in
North Carolina, according to the state
Constitution, and did the voter ID law vio
late the Constitution by requiring state
issued photo ID?
By effectively maintaining control of
the case through trial, Judge Morgan indi
cated that he felt the constitutional chal
lenge was valid. Conservatives disagreed,
and tried to force Morgan off the case
before trial started in September. The
Civitas institute alleged that it was a con
flict of interest because he was also run
ning for the NC Supreme Court and would
benefit from the exposure of such a high
profile case. But Judge Morgan got the go
ahead from the NC Judicial Standards
Commission, and refused to step down.
In a statement from the bench detailing
why he wasn’t stepping down during a
court hearing, Judge Morgan did not name
his accusers, or even say that he was run
ning for another office, as to not be
accused of using the court to campaign for
Associate Justice
Michael Rivers
Morgan
8
office. The trial was ultimately postponed
until the federal appellate court’s decision,
and an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court
was exhausted.
“As a dedicated community member
with a strong commitment to his church,
Mike understands what ordinary families
are going through and he has a track
record of administering fair and impartial
justice,” President Obama said of Judge
Morgan in October right before the elec
tion.
“He’s got the experience, temperament
and judgment to serve the people of North
Carolina on the [N.C.] Supreme Court.”
Colleague Orange Superior Court
Judge Carl Fox called Justice Morgan
“fair, hard working and a conscientious
judge with a wealth of experience.” Others
in North Carolina’s legal profession have
lauded Morgan for his integrity and being
“beyond reproach.”
“I have known Justice Morgan since
he became a lawyer in North Carolina,”
says attorney living Joyner, law professor
at North Carolina Central University
School of Law in Durham, and chairman
of the NC NAACP’s Legal Redress
Committee. “He entered the legal profes
sion with an. outstanding reputation as a
highly intelligent litigator and as a great
person.”
“As a youth growing up in New Bern,
he was properly seasoned as a tremendous
human being by parents who expected and
demanded the very best of conduct from
him. Over the years, that reputation
increased, and was shared by more and
more people due to his outstanding legal
advocacy which always evidenced an
understanding of the law and the rights of
people with whom he encountered,”
Professor Joyner continued.
For the first time in North Carolina
history, Justice Morgan’s addition to the
state’s High Court, along with Associate
Justice Cheri Beasley, who was elected in
2014, means there are now two African
Americans serving there at the same time.
Even though Morgan is very much
aware of the this historical significance, he ^
said it was important in that his election *
added a valuable perspective to the court’s
deliberations - that of an experienced
black male - which was certainly needed.
“In every respect, he was professional
and exhibited a calming and knowing
demeanor,” attorney Joyner continued
about his colleague Mike Morgan’s legal
career. “This same calm and highly skilled
demeanor followed and guided his work
as a Superior Court Judge. His outstanding
work was recognized by citizens as he was
regularly re-elected to that position.”
Joyner ended by saying Justice
Morgan was “the ideal person” to now
join the North Carolina Supreme Court.