bailing v
freedom
sort of
All-Star
heights
See Opinion/Forum pages on A6&7
• See Sports on page Bl*
Volume 43, Number 28
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-—THURSDAY, March 16, 2017
NCDOT: Find new routes now
Downtown traffic challenges loom
with 2018 closure of Business 40
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Those who live and work downtown should start find
ing alternate routes to get around the closure of Business
40 in the fall of 2018.
That was one of the things Pat Ivey, N.C. Department
of Transportation (DOT) engineer, told a theater full of
attendees during an information session held at a/perture
Cinema on Tuesday, March 14.
The project will replace pavement and bridges along a
1.2 mile portion of the highway between Fourth Street and
U.S. 52. In order to speed con
struction, that section of
Business 40 will be closed for
20 months, except for the por
tion between Main Street and
U.S ..52 that will reopen in fall
2019. The rest of the highway
won’t reopen until summer
2020.
Ivey told downtown busi
ness owners, residents and
community leaders that they were the primary stakehold
ers in the project. He said downtown will be hilly accessi
ble from Peters Creek Parkway and U.S. 52 during the
Business 40 closure.
“This project is going on, but downtown Winston
Salem is open for business,” said Ivey.
The official N.C. DOT detours around the closure are
still being worked on. Ivey told attendees to start finding
ways in and out of downtown that don’t use Business 40
He said they should also be prepared to adjust these routes
to avoid the traffic congestion that the closure may create ,
Businesses that can adjust the time when employees
need to be at work to avoid peak traffic times were encour
aged to do so. The N.C. DOT slideshow even suggested
things like telecommuting, carpooling and redoing the
work week to be 10 hours a day for four days a week.
One part of the project that motorists will see this year
is work on Peters Creek Parkway to help accommodate
the additional traffic. Construction will take one year,
beginning this fall, and will not completely close either
Peters Creek or Business 40.
See 40 on A2
Women’s Day event
centers on struggles
Photo by Tevin Stinson
More than two dozen men and women celebrated Women's Day at the Delta Fine Arts Center, exploring
how the day is celebrated in Africa by listening to a lecture led by Dr. Debra Boyd
BYTEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
On the day set aside to celebrate women last week,
more than two dozen women and men gathered at the
Delta Fine Arts Center to explore the fight of women’s
equality in Africa.
While showing her collection of wax print textile,
scholar Dr. Debra Boyd led an enlightening lecture on
how the struggle for equality among women unites peo
ple across borders.
During her time as a Fulbright Scholar, a merit
based grant for international educational exchange for
scholars, teachers and professionals, Boyd traveled to
several African countries collecting authentic African
cloths.
The five cloths on display at the Delta Fine Arts
Center commemorate the struggle for women’s rights in
several African countries, including Mali, Niger,
Senegal, and Chad. While each country she visited cel
ebrated International Women’s Day their own way, each
of the cloths on display include a symbol of a Sage
femme or midwife holding a baby.
While the symbol on the pieces of cloth unite coun
tries in Africa, what unites Women’s Day across the
globe is the ongoing fight for economic and social
equality.
“Economic and social development is key in all the
celebrations around the world. Since we’ve been rela
tively isolated we don’t know about what might be
going on in other places, but the fight for women’s rights
is a global issue,” Boyd said.
Dr. Boyd’s visit to the Twin City was part of Delta
Fine Arts’ new featured section titled “The People’s
Gallery.” It is designed to shine a light on social justice
issues that haunt communities every day. According to
executive director Nadiya Quander, the section will fea
ture formal artists throughout the year. She said with
See Women on A2
El-Amin to fill
Commissioner
Marshall’s seat
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
The Forsyth County Democratic Party (FCDP) exec
utive committee voted for Fleming El-Amin to become
the next county commissioner.
El-Amin was chosen to fill the District A seat left
open by Walter Marshall’s death. The vote was decided
mostly by precinct chairs and vice chairs in District A
who went overwhelmingly for him during a meeting on
Tues4ay, March 14, at FCDP headquarters.
El-Amin is a retired educator and former local party
chair. Until recently, he served on the Forsyth County
Board of Elections (BOE). He put in his resignation to the
board last month in preparation for running in 2018 to
succeed Marshall, who wasn’t planning to seek re-elec
tion before his sudden death on Feb. 22. His nomination
will now go to the county commissioners for approval.
Photo by Todd Luck
Fleming El-Amin speaks to attendees at a meeting
at Forsyth County Democratic Party headquarters
in which he was chosen to fill the county commis
sioner seat left open by Walter Marshall’s death.
He will have to run for re-election in 2018.
There were several other people vying for the seat.
They were Kimberly Park Elementary Principal Amber
Baker, Northwest Child Development Centers CEO Tony
Burton, business owner Jeremy Holderfield and Donald
Scales, who unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2014. All
gave three-minute speeches to the standing room only
crowd that filled the headquarters.
During his remarks, El-Amin asked if District A,
See Seat on A2
I...I.II.IUI
WINSTON SALEM. NC 27101-4120 01
‘Trumpcare’ not good for N.C., observers say
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
As with the rest of the nation, North Carolina
policy analysts and elected officials are up in arms
over the recent Republican House proposal to
repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) - which
currently over 500,(XX) North Carolinians depend
on - and replace it with what many are calling
“Trumpcare.”
There is no question, they say, that the poor,
elderly and people of color will be negatively
impacted, forcing many to choose between med
ical attention, shelter and food.
“The ACA has played a significant role in
reducing worry among Americans who previous
ly struggled to pay unaffordable medical bills
when they got sick,” U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield
(D-NC-1), told the House Committee on Energy
and Commerce last week.
“We cannot afford to go back to the days
when Americans were forced to pay more money
for less coverage, and when insurance compa
nies rationed the care people received.”
Under the current Affordable Care Act,
enrollees get generous government subsidies or
tax credits to help cover the cost of health insur
ance premiums, thus keeping the cost of health
See Trurapcare on A2
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