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“Charlotte’s Fastest Growing Community Weekly”"
Vol.«No. 45 THE CHARLOTTE POST - Thursday, July 12, 1979 p - *^'nce M
After Bad Year?
Federally Funded CBRC Wants
To Expand Community Support
SANDRA DENISE HILL
....Rising North senior
Miss Sandra Hill
Is Beauty Of Week
by Sherleen McKoy
Po6t Staff Writer
Our beauty for this week is
Sandra Hill, a rising senior at
North Mecklenburg High
School.
This summer Sandra is
working at Carowinds in mer
chandise and games and
sometimes as a cashier.
Towards the end of this
month, July 27, 28 and 29, she
will be competing in a Miss
/y.S. Teenage Beauty
Pageant. Her talent will be a
patriotic dance and panto
mime. “I’m very excited
about it," she said enthusias
tically.
The winner of the competi
tion will receive a Caribbean
cruise.
Describing herself as a
"nice but crazy” person, San
dra's hobbies are disco danc
ing, reading, conversing and
watching television.
Her future plans after high
school include attending a
college here in North Carolina
to study business administra
tion.
“I would like to become a
computer operator,” Sandra
noted.
Citing her mother as the
most influential person in her
life, Sandra explained, “My
mother is always there when I
need her. She always tries to
keep me on the right track! ”
A joyous occasion in
Sandra’s life is that of meeting
new people. “I just love to
meet new people,” she said,
“anybody!"
Someday Sandra would like
to visit the state of Hawaii.
Why? “The tropical islands,
the beautiful sun and the
beach,” she said.
More than that, she’s really
looking forward to graduating
from college, perhaps to make
her dreams more of a reality.
A native Charlottean,
Sandra plans to keep it that
way. Her philosophy of life is
“to live each day to its
fullest.”
Sandra is the daughter of
Ms. Mary Hill. She has two
older brothers.
Southern Bell Seeks
2-Phase Rate Increase
Southern Bell last week
asked the North Carolina Uti
lities Commission for a two
phase rate increase that com
plies with President Carter’s
anti-inflation pricing guide
lines.
Alan Thomas, Vice Presi
dent for Southern Bell's North
Carolina Operations, said the
Company needs additional
revenues of $45.3 million to
reverse a deteriorating earn
ings situation caused by infla
tion and to enable it to meet
the State’s growing demand
for communications services.
He emphasized, however,
that to comply with the Presi
dent's anti-inflation program,
the Company is seeking $25.4
'Million now and the balance of
{TH 9 million as soon as the
guidelines permit. The $26.4
million represents an increase
of 6.09 percent in annual reve
nues.
"As individuals, we applaud
the President and the North
Carolina Utilities Commission
in their efforts to bring infla
tion under control. As corpor
ate citizens, we’re pledged to
join In those efforts. We
recognize, however, mat our
willingness to comply with the
President’s program is not
without risk.
Under the proposal, basic
local telephone service in the
Charlotte exchange will be in
creased by 50 cents a month
for residence customers and
by $1.35 a month for single line
business customers. Long
distance charges remain the
same.
SCLC-Push
Form Action
Coalition
Special to the Post
The parent (SCLC) and the
child (PUSH) joined together
last week and formed an
action coalition for jobs and
justice around the theme,
“Put America Back To
Work.”
Rev. Joseph Lowery, Presi
dent of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference
(SCLC), was the guest speak
er in Chicago at the regular
Saturday morning national
forum of Operation PUSH and
emphasized that, “we have
come to a point in history
when we must not only deal
with America’s head, but we
must deal with the head and
the heart. Racism has surfac
ed again in recent years, aided
and abetted by economic un
certainty, a lack of a sense of
national direction, and a loss
of confidence in government. ’'
He further stated that, “we
realize that out of the 60’s and
70’s some progress was reali
zed, to be sure. We won some
significant battles, but too
many of us thought we won the
war.” Rev. Lowery contined,
“It is time for the action
forces to go back to the streets
again. On January 15 of this
year, Mr. Carter received a
peace prize, but few noted that
SCLC wasn't inside the
church, but 750 of us were on
the outside in the cold march
ing and chanting “Jobs,
Jimmy - Jobs, Jimmy.”
During a press conference
which followed the PUSH
meeting, Rev. Jesse Jackson,
National President of Opera
tion PUSH, and Rev. Lowery
agreed to form a coalition
because they had jointly come
to the conclusion that the
action forces had become dor
mant during the 70’s and must
be revived. Rev. Jackson
noted that, "It is clear that
there is a greater correlation
between pressure and pro
gress than between presidents
See SCLC on page 16
r TRtX
the
charlotte
\
Protesters sang ana marcneu 111 uic lain vsij
Saturday, July 7 calling on Gov. Jim Hunt to
free the Wilmington 10 and Charlotte 3.
Leading the march were Rev. Robert
Morgan, Kev. Rush Otey, Rev James
Barnett and June Davenport, sister of Ben
Chavis. (Photo by Eileen Hanson)
Supporters Of “3”, “10”
Were “Singing In The Rain”
by Eileen Hanson
Special to the Post
Supporters of the Charlotte 3
and Wilmington 10 were sing
ing in the rain last Saturday,
July 7, but their tune was
hardly a happy one.
“Free the 3, Free the 10.
Take them out and put Hunt
in,” chanted the 50 protesters
as they marched the 5-mile
route from University Park
Baptist Church to Marshall
Park in the pouring rain.
The Fairview Homes Drill
Team, 20 girls ages 6-13, led
the procession with fancy foot
work. They were followed by
marchers, a motorcade, a
hearse and two police cars.
Hundreds of motorists stop
ped along the route to see the
strange "funeral procession”.
The sign on the hearse said,
"Justice is dead in North
Carolina.”
At Marshall Park “pallbear
ers” brought out a casket and
a brief ceremony committed
"Old Lady Justice" to her
final resting place
Rev. Robert Morgan of
Seigle Ave. Presbyterian
Church declared that “as of
today Gov. Jim Hunt is no
longer the moral leader of
North Carolina." Morgan
called on Hunt to “Come down
from your tower of Babel and
quit hiding behind the govern
or's label that doesn’t belong
to you.”
Dr. R. B. Phifer, affiliated
with Greenville Memorial
AME Zion Church, continued
the message to the Governor.
“Pharaoh Jim Hunt, wake
up!" cried Phifer. “We may
not be as large as the gas
storage tanks at Paw Creek,
but our energy potential is a
thousand times greater. We
demand that you 6top evading
your responsibility and act to
free the Charlotte 3 and the
Wilmington 10."
Phifer was recently elected
to the board of the National
Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression, a nation
al organization fighting to free
Dr. Hawking Will Fight Action
Presbytery Orders Church’s Pulpit
V acated F or Procedural Violations
by Milton Jordan
Special to the Post
On Sunday morning,
members of the H.O. Graham
Metropolitan United Presby
terian Church will go to
church to hear a sermon, but
instead will hear that they
have no dm tor.
A three-member commit
tee - two ministers and a
church elder - representing
the local presbytery that rules
all Presbyterian churches in
Charlotte-Mecklenburg, will
read the congregation an
order that vacates Metropoli
tan’s pulpit The order, in
effect, fires the church's pas
tor, Jtev Reginald Hawkins
Hawkins, a local dentist,
and political activist, said In
an interview this week that he
will fight in civil cowt any
action to lift his contract to
pastor the church His con
tract is issued by the presby
tery.
Sunday's action, If It occurs,
Dr Reginald HawUna
Political activist
will culminate a year-long
controversy surrounding
Hawkins' “call” to pastor
Metropolitan, the area’s
youngest United Presbyterian
Church The church's new
sanctuary, a nearly $300,000
structure, is located at the
corner at west Boulevard and
Old Steele Creek Road.
The controversy began in
April 1978 following the death
of Rev. H. O. Graham, Metro
politan's first pastor Accord
ing to doe Henderson, a
retired Presbyterian Church
state executive, Hawkins
began preaching at the church
about two weeks later on an
Interim basis
But when the congregation
“issued a call" for Hawkins to
pastor the church regularly, it
was argued that Metropolitan
had violated Church proce
dure for filling a pulpit.
The argument centers
around the time between
Metropolitan’s pulpit commit
tee recommending Hawkins
for the pastorate to the
church's session, and that
recommendation going before
Metropolitan’s congregation
The "session" governs indivi
dual churches
According to Walton, Pres
byterian Church law says a
10-day notice must precede
any congregational meeting,
and this procedure was violat
ed in the case of Metropoli
tan’s request to have Hawkins
pastor the church.
Therefore, when the
Hawkins recommendation
reached the local presbytery,
an argument ensued over the
procedural violation.
“But there Is no doubt that a
majority of the church's
members want Hawkins to
pastor the church," Walton
said, "but these things must
follow procedure."
Nevertheless, the local pres
bytery approved Hawkins'
“call" under protest last July
But one presbytery commis
sioner, a lay member of the
church, filed a complaint with
the Piedmont Synod, the next
ruling government level in the
church The Piedmont Synod
governs churches in Dels
See Presbytery on Page 8
the Wilmington 10 Rev.
James Barnett, another board
member and head of People
United for Justice, spoke to
another theme of the March.
“The Ku Klux Klan is not
welcome in Charlotte or in
China Grove,” said Barnett
referring to the Klan rally the
following day “The same
people that control the Klan
also put the Wilmington 10 and
Charlotte 3 in jail, and put
their money in South Africa.”
Speaking for the African
Liberation Support Commit
tee in Greensboro, Sandy
Smith invited the marchers to
a rally to oppose the Klan in
China Grove and called for the
unity of blacks and whites
against the KKK
The marchers said they
were not discouraged by the
rain which cut attendance at
the protest.
According to one marcher,
“It's only God’s tears falling
on North Carolina today be
cause Old Lady Justice is
dead.”
DOT (loses
Wilmont Road
For 6 Months
The Division of Highways of
the North Carolina Depart
ment of Transportation will
close Wilmont Road (SR 1256)
in Mecklenburg County to
through traffic for approxi
mately six months, according
to Division Engineer David B
Roberts
The road, located in Meck
lenburg County, two miles
south of Douglak Airfield will
be closed from Monday, July 9
to January, 1960
The temporary closing will
allow NCDOT maintenance
crews to build a culvert and
grade the intersection of the
inner loop road.
Yorkmont Road traffic will
be detoured along Wilmont
Road (SR 1156) to NC-lW
NC-160 traffic will be detoured
along NC-160 to SR 1177-1156 to
Yorkmont Road
A W. Whitmore, Jr , resi
dent engineer, said that every
effort is being made to com
plete the project as soon as
possible to minimize any in
convenience to the traveling
public
BRC Hasn’t Come Qose To
Reaching Its Proposed Goal
Editor's Note: The Char
lotte Business Resource
Center has been in business
here since 1972, financed over
that period with more than
$500,000 in Federal money to
help Black businesses get
started, develop and grow
But what have they done?
What does the future hold for
this program? The POST
assigned Charlotte Journalist
Milton Jordan to answer these
questions This week begins a
three-part series that shows
the BRC racked with many
problems this year, despite a
relatively good record since
1972. The future for this
program or one like it is
uncertain.
by Milton Jordan
J&A News Service
Special to the Post
Smarting from severe local
criticism, an unfavorable
report from federal officials
and serious internal problems,
the Charlotte Business
Resource Center wants three
other local organizations to
take over the job of helping
black businesses.
The BRC is financed with a
$150,000 one-year contract
with the Office of Minority
Business Enterprise < OMBE),
a division of the U S Depart
ment of Commerce. The
program is designed to
develop sales opportunities for
black businesses, put together
loan proposals that will pass
close scrutiny by lending
agencies, and give manage
ment and technical advice and
education to blacks and other
ethnic groups who are in
business or who want to go
into business. The organiza
tion operates in Mecklenburg,
Gaston and Union counties.
But things haven't gone well
this year for the BRC, a
program that began in 1972 as
a Chamber of Commerce
sponsored project.
The BRC hasn't come close
to reaching its proposed $1
million goal in approved busi
ness loans To date, less than
$200,000 in loan requests have
been submitted to area lend
ing agencies, and none have
been approved
In June the organization's
two loan officers were fired
for not getting loans approved,
and for allegedly falsifying
their work reports to the BRC
director
Hams Jones said the secre
tary was fired because she
made too many mistakes, was
disorganized and insubordin
ate
No action was taken against
other staffers, but Jones says
he will resign at the end of the
contract. July 31.
So with its contract ending
in a little more than two
weeks, the BRC must over
come a number of problems
during the past 12 months to
convince OMBE the local
organization deserves another
chance to provide assistance
to black businesses
The problems include com
ments from a number of black
business operators In the
three-county area that the
organization is incompetent to
work with the problems facing
black businesses today
“I don't think they know
what they're doing up there,"
said one local black business
man who asked not to be
identified "I think they mean
well, but they just don't know
what they’re doing ”
Some other black businesses
Harris Jones
BRC director
support the BRC, and blame
the problems the organiza
tion encountered on other
factors
"I think the BRC people do a
fine job,” said Sam Pattillo, of
Sam's Exxon on Beatties Ford
Road “It’s the banks that
mess you up They just don’t
want to loan blacks any
money, and they find some
reason to turn you down, no
matter how good a job the
BRC has done.”
victor Wray, chairman of
the BRC board of directors, in
an effort to combat the BRC's
many problems wants three
other local organizations to
take over the BRC. He has
asked the newly formed Char
lotte-Mecklenburg Urban
League, the Chamber of Com
merce, and the Charlotte Busi
ness League, a predominantly
black professional group, to
step in and bid on the new
contract.
“What we've asked these
organizations to do," said
Wray, a local attorney, who
has been associated with the
BRC board since 1972, “is to
give the BRC a much wider
community base to draw
from.”
In a recent letter to heads of
the three organizations, Wray
recommended that the three
groups form a committee that
would ask the current board to
expand its membership, and
name a new board of directors
to take office August 1 The
current board would resign on
that date, according to Wray's
letter.
Stewart Spencer, who chairs
the Chamber’s minority busi
ness council, said this week
that after several meetings
with Harald Hansen, urban
league board chairman, and
Bill Cunningham, president of
the business league, that
they’ve decided to recom
mend a list of potential board
members to the BRC and let
them take it from there The
list of names has not been
completed yet, but Spencer
said it would be ready in a few
days
Meanwhile, the seven
member BRC staff operates
on a day-to-day basis not
knowing if the organization s
contract will be extended by
OMBE beyond July 31. or will
they have to go out of business
when the contract expires?
“All I’ve been told by the
Atlanta Regional Office is that
a request for proposals has
been sent to Washington for
approval," said Jones “We
can't do anything about put
ting together a proposal for
next year’s contract until we
see the guidelines ”
The guidelines detail the
criterion by which a contract
proposal will be evaluated, set
out the scope of work that
must be included in the propo
sal and establishes the con
tract fundina level
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