^^THE CHA1 LI ITTE PI >ST §§**•
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The Voice Of The Black Community99
_ < THE CHARLOTTE POST • Thursday, February 10. 1083 7 " -' -
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£ Counselors Say
Drug Use In Schools
Continues To Grow Worse
BRIDGET PHIFER
—South Meek senior
Phifer Enthusiastic
Life And Living
TT-T—rT/— . " ;
tutut-w*
J A handful of good Ufa to
battar than a bdahal of
laarnhw. Jv
^ x , -
Clyde and Helen Phifer,
who have promoted her
musical talents throughout
the years. For nine yean
the tas taken piano .
lessons; for eight she took
dancing; and for the last
two yean she has learned
to develop her soprano
range.
'“My favorite person is
my father,” Ms. Phifer
commented. “He helps me
out a lot deciding what
schools to attend. He and
my mother provide what
ever la needed for my
musical learning.”
Ms. Phifer has one sister,
Roslyn, who Is seven yean
old.
An obvious hobby of our
beauty is sidging. She •
also enjoys reading, biking,
talking and dancing.
During 1083, Ms. Phifer
was presented on the
Homecoming Court of
South Mecklenburg; was
voted Miss Snow Princess
during her 11th grade year,
and sung with the Char
lotte Youth Oratorio
Singers.
Her favorite singer is
Prince and her favorite
musical group is Time.
“Both produce really good
music snd they display
greet show« ”
"You’re only as much as
you think yourself to be," is
• philosophy of life Ms.
Phifer has adopted from
-bm. experiences in -Ufa.
What our beauty has in
mind is to cross each
boulder life springs before
her. Her strategy, how
ever, is to face each stage
of life with a smile."
Delano Rackad
IsNAACP
Guest Speaker
Delano Rackard will ap
pear aa a special guest
during the NAACP “Kick
Off” Membership Cam
paign on Sunday, February
13.
He will give orations of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
at • p.m. at Greater Mt.
Sinai baptist Church, 1243
West Boulevard. Rev.
Norman E. Kerry Sr. is
pastor.
Other appearances will
be by the Voices of Sinai,
The Greater Charlotte
Community Chorale and
Walls Memorial Church
Choir.
For further information,
please contact Kelly M.
Alexander Jr.
Pentecostal
Church to
Feed 500
Bishop J. H. Sherman
and his congregation has
set a goal-to feed 500 poor
people free meals.
The theme for this pro
ject is "Direct from the
Heart of the Happy Pente
costal Family to Your
Heart.” According to
Diane Bennett, spokesper
son for the event, “The
membership of Pentecostal
Temple Church of God in
Christ wants to help those
members of the commun
ity who are facing the grim
winter ahead, without any
way of providing for them
selves or their families.” _
On February 14, between
the hours of 12-5:30 p.m.,
dinner win be served to all
people who attend the
event. It is open to all
persons regardless of their
race, creed, color, sex, na
tional origin, religious af
filiation or economic
status.
Following the final
serving of dinner, a special
one hour worship service
(beginning at 6 p.m.) will
be held. Relating to the
Biblical story of Jesus
feeding the 5,000, the Pen
tecostal Temple Church of
God In Christ wants to do
its mission by feeding at
least 500 people.
Ms. Bennett expressed
feeding the 500 Is intended
to be an annual affair.
Nearly 25 volunteers have
devoted themselves to pre
pare the meals for Monday.
Mrs. Daisy Sherman, wife
of the Bishop, is spear
heading this portion of the
event. Ms. Bennett assured
more volunteers will be
welcomed.
The Pentecostal Temple
is located at 1401 Parkwood
Avenue, in the Plaza sec
tion of north Charlotte.
dRU®s
♦ . In School ....
Marijuana, alcohol and speed are po
pular drugs on many school campuses.
Counselors at area high schools ex
pressed the increasing number of teen
age students using drugs is not only a
countywide problem Nationwide it's a
spreading tragedy.
Attendance Declining At
Local College Cage Games
By James Cuthberteon
Special To The Poet
Attendance at Char
lotte’a college basketball
games is on the decline and
the principal variable,
according to athletic direc
tors, is winning.
The other keys are tele
vision and lack of home
grown athletes on the
teams.
Last, but not least, is the
state of the economy which
most say has little effect.
Clyde Walker, athletic
director at UNCC, said,
“The biggest factor that
influences our attendance
is whether or not we are
winning. We don’t have a
big core of fans who are so
loyal to the Institution that
they will come to watch the
team through thick and
thin.”
“We are a young insti
tution and most young in
stitutions like UNCC are
dependent on the man on
L—k Mayors Tefl President Keagan:
j,’ w »
‘Wo American Should Be Hungry”
By Johnathan White
Special To The Pool
. Mayor Coleman A.
Young continued Ms call
for HO billion for )obs and
12 billion for food in a
nationally televised pro
gram Monday night as bs
lirprmid confidence that
Congress would heed the
nation’snoedto ftghro
Accompanied by two
follow mayors, Erneat
“Dutch'’ Mortal of New
Orleans end Thirman Mil
ner of Hartford, Conn ,
Young appeared on the
PBS late night program
boated by Donnie Whole*,
m discuoo a proposal made
to President Reagan and
Congressional Isadora
during the weekend meet
ing of the U S. Conference
of Mayors, of which Young
u chairman
Yoon* told tbo nation
wide audience that bo waa
not in a name-calling coo
taet with the Preetdent, nor
waa he placing tha blame
of the nation’• plight on
Coleman A. Young X
Mayor of Detroit
"The time it far action,"
the mayor mid. and I
don’t tfeiak the Praeident la
mnaltiva or aware that tha
b
damned near deed.
“No man In this coun
try should be hungry,’’ ha
continued. “He haa a right
to maintain his dignity. The
President is an honest man
but he isn’t aware of the
dire straits this nation is
in.”
Young predicted that
there wti! be no "race
riot” because this is not a
racial problem
"There la resentment
end anger and it is frstn a
rtegneaiJ class,” be
pointed out. Black and
whites win rise up against
hunger. The problem is im
pacting Republicans and
Demsmeta, whites and
Macke, the stmbeit as well
as the frostbeit.”
Young Mid that after hi*
vWt to WaaMagton laat
**dl ba VN convinced
that tharo la a batter than
•Mn chance that "wall gat
a (ubatantial part - If not
aB - of oar program.” Ho
Indicated that Congraaa
aanaaa tho aaoda which tho
marora havo daftamd.
Mortal, in spooking of tho
suffering In NOW Orleans
which ha daacrtbod as
“davMtating" althoi«h not
M aertoua aa that In
Northern Industrial cities,
described the problems of
the black mayors.
“We are unable to meet
the expectations of people
who have been victimised
by the system,” he said.
“This coupled with the re
sistance of those in power
to surrender that power
that would enable us to re
solve some of the pro
blems, makes our task
doubly difficult.’'
Each of the three may
ors denied that the bask
problems facing the de
pressed areas eras racism.
Mortal contended that the
real problem was the shift
of power.
‘"Ihooe who have It don't
want to give it eg," ho
declared. “Wo have tho
nambort but we don't have
tho power WO don’t have
the power to do what wo
are expected to do.”
"Uto oo many other In
daotrlal dtieo we hove
become the dumpiag
•round lor the Mtkn’o
iOi," Milner oak!
the street,’’ he stated.
"Television affects our at
tendance also. If Carolina
is playing on television the
night that we have a game
at the Coliseum, we will
have a poor crowd
especially when they are
one of the top ranked teams
in the nation. The Atlantic
Coast Conference influence
and television hurts us
greatly.’’
Ed Farrell, athletic
director at Davidson Col
lege believes that the
caliber of the opponent and
the significance of the
game is important.
"We drew about 6,000 for
the Notre Dame game," he
said. "If either of us had
been higher in the national
ranking or one of us, we
might have drawn a sell
out."
"The Bulls of Johnson C.
Smith are experiencing a
slight decline in attendance
and the athletic director,
Eddie McGirt, believes
that this is because the
team is not the power
house team that drew so
many sell outs to Brayboy
gym last year.
"Good publicity helps to
increase attendance," Mc
Girt explained. "And a win
ning team helps to get good
publicity.”
The Bulls are averaging
between one and two thou
sand. The Wildcats are
averaging about three to
four thousand. The tears
are averaging around three
thousand.
What are the sohitiom?
A strong girls' program?
"We have a lot of people
who are beginning to come
see our girls play," claims
McGirt. "That helps our
overall attendance."
McGirt likes playing in
the Coliseum but said it
takes an attendance of
three to five thousand to
breakeven.
Eddie Payne at Belmont
Abbey believes that wtn
ato the key, and that
television is a pro
I Dwi in bo many goon
games on television," be
emphasised. "Many people
stay at home to watefa a
funs. We hava got to have
dance is down a little but
not much over last year
“We have never drawn
that well," Payne said.
Farrell believes that
Davidson and UNCC must
work together in building
their rivalry and added it
would help if both would
return to national promi
nence.
The First Union Tour
nament is on again for next
year and several years
thereafter; this will have to
help both teams, stated
Walker.
“We have got to build our
program back to retain
credibility in the commun
ity," Walker explained.
“If we could recruit some
good Charlotte athletes
that would help,” Walker
said. “When East Carolina
came to town we had se
veral people there to see
Johnny Edwards ”
“A Walter Davis, James
Worthy or Bobby Jones
attracts people to a game,”
Walker added.
In future UNCC is con
sidering renewing the
series with North Carolina
A&T State that generated
so much interest in the
past.
we need a good rival,
top ten team or team with
an All-American to fill up
the Coliseum," Walker
noted.
Walker is not blaming
any of his program's ills on
the economy.
“There is so much com
petition for the sports
dollar,” he explained “But
it didn't stop people from
seeing Borg for 123 box
seats.
The Borg tennis match
drew 9,000 to the Coliseum.
What have the teams in
the area been drawing?
North Carolina, the num
ber one ranked team In the
nation has sold out Car
michael Auditorium, Its
home arena, five times this
season.
The Heels have played
before 9,900 in Springfield,
Maas.; 19JM in St. Louis;
•,140 in Cast Rutherford,
NJ; 11,900 in Chattanooga;
11,909 (three times in
Charlotte); 10,300 In Clam
son; 14,499 In Greensboro;
0,000 In Charlottesville;
and 7jm in Honolulu
gee ATTENDANCE Cage 4
Hard Drugs
Being Used
By Students
By Karen Parker
Post Staff Writer
There's an old saying:
"If it's not one thing it’s
another.”
Sometimes this is ex
pressed amusingly; other
times it is a serious state
ment of distress and
anxiety When it's the
latter and the situation con
tinues to grow worse, the
solution to a problem can
be traumatic. For many
young people in junior high
and high schools, a trau
matic solution in particular
is drugs
lake for example the
student who can’t cope with
the idea of his or her
parents being separated or
getting a divorce, or those
students who know they
will be retained at their
present academic level for
another year.
To a lot of people these
few examples may not
seem to be serious enough
reasons to get strung out on
drugs But for those who
can’t find another answer,
drugs seem to at least
diminish the seriousness of
the problem. Therefore,
some students before they
reach their 12th grade
graduation are no longer
experimenting with drugs
but abusing the use of
drugs, as well as their
bodies
Philistine Dunlap is a
counselor at West Char
lotte High School, and feels
that drugs in school is a
definite problem. "For
several years, it's been a
problem and the problem
continues to increase,” she
informed Dunlap has been
a sophomore student coun
selor for four years "Many
times when students are
confronted with a problem
they become lonely and
frustrated Sometimes
rather than seek someone’s
help, they use drugs to fill
the gap," Dunlap noted
"It's their way of trying to
escape from reality."
Joe counselor imagined
students say to themselves,
‘I’ll get this quick high then
maybe I can come down
and be able to deal with this
problem ’
Of course life isn't al
ways bad, and drugs aren’t
used only to solve pro
blems Sometimes a stu
dent may make all As and
the parents may have a
wonderful marriage. Why
would thia student need to
resort to drugs?
Jacquelin Taylor, a coun
selor at Olympic High
School believes school
matas and even family
members can influence a
young person to experi
ment with drugs. “Some
students see drugs being
used st horns and thay
want to emulate that; or
thay may fee) that it's ia
vogue. Therefore, to be
accepted fjy tneir peart,
they conclude they most
use the drugs,” the emm
selor presented
Taylor added. ”1 love to
see kids when they are
having fun and good
times. "It’s regrettable
when they can’t find ways
See DRUGS Page 4
1