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CHARLOTTE POST
TJiariotte's Fastest Growing Community Weekly
BLACK NEWSPAPERS
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BY FAR. MORE
BLACK CONSUMERS
VOL. 4 NO. 17
CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA-Thursday, Dec. 28, 1978
Price 90 c^s
Spirit Square
Sets Ground
Breaking
Friday, December 29th
at 12:00 noon, représenta
tivee of the City and Coun
ty will join Spirit Square
officials in the ground
breaking ceremonies for
restoration of Phase II of
Charlotte's Uptown Center
"For the People, For the
Aria." The noontime cele
bration will officially begin
renovation of the arts which
was originally constructed
in 1908 as The First Baptist
Church.
The Property, vacated by
the Baptists in 1972, was
purchased by Mecklenburg
County in' 1976 and desig
nated a historical site. In
April of 1977, the citizens
of Charlotte annroved a 2.5
million bond issue to reno
vate the complex to a 650
seat performance auditori
um, rehearsal building, and
an adjoining mall. The
complex is scheduled for
completion December 15,
1979
^Carolina Action
To Meet With
Polhicaine
Carolina Action will be
holding a meeting with
representative* from the
Mecklenburg delegation to
the State Legislature
The meeting will take place
Monday January 8th at 7:30
in the evening at the Down
town Public Library on North
Tryon Street.
...Be KINDJo your hill ENDS
Hit WE RENT for THEM
jroto'd be « total STRANGER
ATTRACTIVE VIVIAN POTTS
....Dialysis Technician
Vivian Potts Is
Beauty Of Week
by Sherleen McKoy
Poet Staff Writer
Oiir beauty for this week is
28-year-old Vivian Potts, a
dialysis technician at the
Nalle Clinic.
Vivian finds her recent ( one
week) job "very interesting "
She works with patients who
have kidney abnormalities.
Her patients range from you
ng to elderly people who other
wise would be unable to funct
ion daily without the aid of the
dialysis machine.
"Special patients are put on
themachine so many days per
week," said Vivian. "Some
times a patient stays on the
dialysis machine for as long as
four hours a day."
Prior to her new position ,
Vivian worked at Presbyter
ian Hospital as a nurse techn
ician, which she said was
"pretty nice." She began by
Golf Course
Offers Seniors
Lower Kates
If you're a retired senior
citizen, 33 or over, the
Charlotte Senior Citizen*
program was developed for
you.
The Revolution Oolf
Course recently began
offering senior citizens
lower rates of SI for nine
holes and $2 for all day
'(8 a.m. to 3 p.m.) each Tues
day and Thursday (except
holidays).
"Senior citizens were the
first group to express an
interest in planned dis·
counts," commented John
Davis, manager of the
Revelation Oolf Course.
Prompted by the senior
citizen·* enthusiasm to
participate in the sport and
their steady availability,
officials from the Parks and
Recreation Department
and golf course managers
John Davit and Irish
Young, agreed to offer
senior citizen* reduced
rates on certain days at the
only city-owaed golf
■ course.
I· farther promotion of
golf, plana are being
considered to offer yovng
people and ladies dia
conats.
How haathe program
fared so far?
Since the program was
instituted, a dozen or more
senior citizens than usual
have appeared on the
course, according to Devis.
working with premature babi
es and then with patients who
required surgery the next day.
"I saw a lot of .things while
working in the hoepital," she
said, "and I see a lot here."
Vivian also worked at Ivey's
as a security person. Even then
she realized her first love was
working in the medical field.
"1 went to CPCC for a year to
study to become a medical
office assistance," she said.
"I've always wanted to stay in
the medical field."
Vivian describes herself as
person. "I like all sorts of
people," she mused.
Vivian likes music. Her fav
orite recording artists are
Earth, Wind and Fire, George
Benson and Ronald Laws.
She also enjoys basketball
and bike-riding when time
permits it.
Vivian considers her mother
to be the most influential
person in her life. "If it were
n't for my mother , I wouldn't
be where I am today," she
said. "She always told me to
try to make the best out of life,
regardless to what happens."
Vivian is a member of
Friendship Baptist Church
and the Young Adult Usher
Board of her church.
A 1968 graduate of West
Charlotte High School, she is
the only daughter and oldest of
three children. Her parents
are Mr *ndMr* James Potts
High Rate Of Cancer Deaths
May Be Pollution Related?
Changes In
Food Stamp
Program
Two major changes in the
Food Stamp Program will be
made in early 1979, according
to Department of Social
Services Director Edwin H.
Chapin.
The first change will come
on January 1st, when Food
Stamp participants will no
longer have to buy the stamps,
as they have in the past.
Instead, they will receive the
stamps free.
In the past, recipients of
food stamps have had to pay a
certain amount of money for
stamps, depending on their
income and other consider
ations. In return they would
get stamps worth more than
they had paid. These were
called "bonus stamps". With
the elimination of the
purchase requirement, these
persons will simply get
roushlv what used to be their
"bonus"
The iccond change will
come March 1, 1979, when
income eligibility levels will be
lowered. As a result of this
change, people with lower
incomes will be getting
additional benefiti. while
people with higher incomes
will either lose some benefits
or will no longer be eligible for
the program. This change was
made by Congress in an effort
to help the people who need
food stamps most—elderly
people living on fixed incomes
and other families and
individuals with very low
incomes.
The Department of Social
Services urges persons not
currently participating in the
Food Stamp Program to
contact the department to find
out more about food stamps
and eligibility requirements
See CHANGE on page 4
(L to R) Norman Hodges, Chairman of The National Association of Black
Manufacturers; Congressman Parren Mitchell (D. MD), Keynote Speaker;
Eugene Baker, President of NABM; Hohert Douglas. Vice-Chairman of NABM;
(seating) Congressman Joseph Addabho < D. NY). Chairman of The House Sub
committee on Minority Enterprise and General Oversight.
Attracts Over 1.000 PartifmRnts
WASHINGTON — The
National Association of
Black Manufacturers, Inl
and over 1,000 minority
business people paid tribute
to The President, Congress
and other parties respon
sible for the passage of the
Omnibus Minority Enter
prises Bill (H.R. 11318).
The Bill recently signed by
President Carter, will im
prove the Small Business
Administration's 8(A) pro
gram and increase the
amount of federal contracts
allocated to minority btisi
η esses by approximately
$14 billion.
y
Norman Hodges, Chair
man of NABM, addressed
the crowd by applauding
their great turn out in the
interest of minority busi
ness enterprise. Hodges
continued," You (referring
to the audience) are minor
ity business and minority
business is good for Ameri
ca. We have a great chal
lenge ahead of us and what
we do now, will he more im
portant than at any other
lime for the development of
ι minority business"
The Honorable Parren
Mitchell (D.MD), told the
inapired gathering that the
1
SBA is receiving the heat
about its activities because
the programs are there to
assist blacks and there ap
pears to be a premise thai
black Americans are to b«
"sacrificed on the altar of
l>olitical economics." Mit
chell shouted, "We are no
longer a priority in th^na
tion.
City Auto Decal
Goe« ()n Sale
City residents owning ^
motor vehicle must purchase
and display a 1979 auto decal
γirst United r resbytenan C.hurch s
Archives Open Sunday Afternoon
Dy Susan Ellsworth
Post Staff Writer
The First United Presbyter
ian Church will be opening its
archives on Sun., Dee. SI, at 4
p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
A devotional service and
taped interviews with early
church members will be held
prior to the opening et S pu.
Preceding the opening of the
archives will be a program
that will open with a poem
written by Abigail Flanders
called Heritage."
Following the reading of the
Doem, a monologue written bv
Pamela Wmte ana fesre
Maceo Moore will be recited
by Moore.
A woodcut called "No Vac
ancy" will be unveiled by ita
creator, Dr. Eugene Grigtiiy,
Jr., an international, renown
ed artiat. The woodcut k a
wort featured in hiaboet "Art
and Ethnics." Dr. firrigsby is
•η art professor at the Univer
sity of Arizona
Senator Fred Alexander wil|
unveil a portrait of his moth)
sr, Mr*. Lou McCuUough Ale
xander. who la among those
documented in the archives
The First United Presbyter
ian Choir, under the direction
of Paul Reid, will perform twe
songs written by W i 1 lia m
Lindsay. Sr called Our Herif
tage" and "Presbyteriail
Hymn."
First United waa formed in
196· from the merger of the
Seventh Street United Presby
terian Church and Brooklyn
Pnwiiyterian Church. Some of
the founders of these three
churches are: Kathleen
Hayes, Frank Byers, Sylvia
Byers, Adeline Johnson, Char
The Seventh Street Church
ander
UlC acvrilul Bum VrilITCTl
waa founded In 18M by a
Mrs Lydie C. Pride
....Archivée chairperson
missionary named Samuel
Hayes and members of a
Presbyterian congregation
who left their church because
of dissatisfaction over blacks
being restricted to worship in
the church balcony. Led by
Kathleen Haye·, this group
sought to worship on the main
floor
The church wag originally
called the Colored Presbyter
ian Church of Charlotte In
1895, the name was changed to
Seventh Street United Presby
terian Chruch
The Brooklyn Church wafc,
founded in 1911. Early mem
bers were Margaret Maxwell,
Joseph Maxwell, Pearl Max
well Johnson, Charles Max
well Sr., Minnie Maxwell Ric
hardson, Sallie Harris. Sam
ual Harris, William Russell,
Monroe White, Ann McClown,
John White, Tisher Elizabeth
Maxwell Leake, J M McCarn
and William MaxweU.
The two churches merged
because the Brooklyn Church
was to be included in a site for
reconstruction work, and
members of the Brooklyn
church were forced to find a
new church. Members at the
See FIRST on page 3
by hebruary 13, ivv ι nc
decals are S3 each Beginning
Tuesday. January 2. they may
be purchased at these
locations
Ν C. Department of Motor
Vehicles—License Plate
Bureaus. Freedom Village
Shopping Center, 2949
Freedom Drive or
6050 Fait Independence
Boulevard
Window Number I, City
Hall. 600 East Trade Street
DecaK are also sold on the
Mobile City Hall However,
the Unit is currently out of
service due to the illness of the
operator Decals will be
available when service is
returned.
In addition.'decals may be
purchased by mail Send
for each decal plus S IS for
postage to: City of Charlotte,
Treasury Collections--Auto
Decal». 600 East Trade
Street, Charlotte. 28202
Checks should be made
payable to the City of
Charlotte The name of the
registered owner AND Ik-em*
lag number (metal tag only)
mutt be included tn mail
requests.
Cancer Death
Rate h 724.9
Per 100,000
ATLANTA (NNPA) —
The high rate of cancer
deaths among blacks in a
hook-shaped region curving
from St. Louis through the
South and on to Boston
may be pollution related,
said Ralph Jennings, a U S
Environmental Protection
Agency chemist, in a recent
address here before a South
wide conference of minority
editors.
Jennings, a graduate of
Alcorn A.&M. State Uni
versity and Michigan State,
is chief of Toxic Substan
ces, Air and Materials Divi
sion of EPA's Region IV
He pointed to the large
number of man-made chem
irais whose effect* on hu
mans and the total environ
ment are not fully known.
But whatever their effects,
blacks and other minorities
who are conCPTltratwi near
industrial plants are more
likely to experience them
than any other group.
Then the chemist focused
on cancer deaths among
blacks, saying that in the
hook-shaped region from St.
Inouïs to Dallas to New Or
leans to Atlanta and ftn
through the Carolines to
New York and Boston,
where q large number of
blacks reside, the cancer
death-rate among those fiO
64 is 724.9 per 100,000 com
pared with 559.5 for whites
Jennings challenged the
newspaper j>eople to carry
the message to their read
ere.
And for presenting and
interpreting the pollution
mr-nsage, Tir Benjamin F
May*, president-emeritus of
Morehouse College, praised
t6e Black Frees fully in hit
dinner address. Jesse Hill,
Jrr; president of the Atlan
ta Life, sounded a similar
note.
Paul Cobb, director. Oak
land, Calif. Citizens Com
mittee for Urban Renewal
and one of the nation's
leading black environment
alist*. also lauded the Black
Préau as well as stressed
the employment aspects of
pollution control
Kmphasis throughout the
two-day conference on the
Environmental Impact of
Pollution on Minorities was
on the greater exposure of
blacks to the various forms
of pollution because of their
central city and industrial
area residency
Dr. Norman Dyer, a
Prairie View graduate who
i« chief of Peaticidea and
Haiardoua Material*
Branch of EPA'· Dallas
ration, pointed to tfc* has
arda of lead poiaoning and
various Kind* of air pollu
lion, a* did Bill Hathaway
of the Dallaa office and
Solid Waate Branch Direct
or A «a Foater of thia city
^ Hardy Holtman Pfeiffer
Associates, of New York, in
cooperation with Charlotte
architects Ogburn, Steever
& Associates are designing
the renovation. R.H. What
ley Co. has been chosen as
local contractor with sub- '
contractors P.C. Godfrey,
inc., Ind-Com Electric Com
pany, and Mecklenburg
Plumbing Company.
The groundbreaking cere
mony will take place on the
steps of the ΙΘ08 building
on Tryon Street. An invo
cation will be given by Dr.
Carl Bates, Pastor of First
Baptist Church, and speak
ers will include Mayor
Kenneth R. Harris, County
Commission Chairman Ed
ward Peacock, W.H. Willi
amson, III, President of
Spirit Square and John
Goyette, Executive Direct
or. Refreshment» entertain
ment and tours of Phase 1
operations will follow.
The board ot Spirit
Square invite· the entire
Charlotte community to
com· and join us in the re
novation of this historical
site as a center for the peo
ple and the arts of Char
lotte.