Berry Was Complete Pu\'ic Seryant
Phillip O. Berry, affectionately called
“Phil,” by his many friends, is dead at
a relatively youthful age - 44. Mr. Berry, a
State House Representative since 1982 who
had no opposition for the State Senate 33rd
District in the coming November 6 elec
tion, died Sunday night at Mercy Hospital.
While it may be an overworked cliche,
Phil Berry might have been called “Mr.
First.” He was valedictorian of his class at
the former Plato Price High School, the first
black branch manager of a white-owned
bank, NCNB, in 1970, and two years later
became the first black person elected to the
local School Board. Five years later he
became Board chairman, a position he held
until his election to the N.C. House in 1982.
In 1973 Berry moved from NCNB to a
position as assistant vice president at
Mechanics and Farmers Bank and sub
sequently began operating his own school
supply business in 1977.
In another quest to offer public service,
Mr. Berry assumed the directorship of the
beleaguered non-profit agency .MOTION, in
December, 1983. Criticized in part for poor
management of the agency by City offi
cials, the agency’s board refused Berry’s
offer to resign. Still other public service was
provided by Berry in serving as a member
of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community
Relations Committee and the Greater
Charlotte Foundation Board of Directors.
Mr. Phillip O. Berry, a complete public
servant for all seasons, will be missed for
his deeds and remembered for his potential
and willingness to serve. -
Your Vote Is Needed
■■ 1 I ||-—-.-ijlf4- 1 i 7IJ, --1J
Your vote, your ONE VOTE, is needed on
November 6. Why? Because “your vote is
your voice in the government of your
country.” Nevertheless, many people think
that their one vote will not make a
significant difference. Yet, historians
remind us that one vote has and can make a
difference as the following facts show.
1776 - One vote gave America English as
. .it’s native language instead of German.
.. 1845 - One vote made Texas a part of the
. . .United States
.. 1868 - One vote prevented the impeach
. .ment of President Andrew Jackson.
.. 1876 - One vote gave Rutherford B. Hayes
. .the United States Presidency.
.. 1923 - One vote gave Adolph Hitler leader
. .ship of the Nazi Party in Germany.
It is thus quite possible that your one vote
can be the difference in getting your
candidate elected to the presidency, the
Senate, the House of Representatives - both
national and state - and the Mecklenburg
County Commissioners on November 6.
Equally, if not more important, is the fact
that in a free and democratic society,
citizens are expected to assume a sense of
responsibility to vote to assure and pre
serve their freedoms.
In spite of this, many citizens are lazy,
indifferent, lack confidence in the electoral
system, and simply won’t vote. Interesting
ly, when 36 percent of the black voters go to
the polls in Charlotte it’s considered a big
turn out. However, injmany smaller N.C.
counties, in excess of 60 percent of the black
electorate vote is a large turnout.
If you want honest, competent and
responsive government now and in the
future, vote to exercise your choices, don’t
vote and others will use your choices not for
you but for themselves. VOTE - it’s your
duty, responsibility and privilege, use it or
lose it.
Bond Issues Deserve Your Support
On the November 6 ballot there will be
four bond issues that we suggest need the
voters’ support. Charlotte is a growing and
progressing city. If this growth and pro
gress is to continue, development neces
sary to enhance growth must keep pace,
thus our support of the $77.1 million bond
issues.
In specific terms, the $29.7 million in
street improvement, water and sanitary
sewer bonds will help to meet badly needed
basic services that our growing community
cannot do without.
The Coliseum bonds of $47.4 million will
bring to the City a public facility that any
city of our size should have for its con
ventions, sports and other large audience
facilities. Jobs and revenue for local go
vemment and private enterprise and the
numerous private developments around the
Coliseum will serve to enhance the overall
Charlotte economy. The current Charlotte
Coliseum has served the community well in
the past but cannot respond to the new and
growing demands for modern up-to-date
facilities.
A new coliseum will mean a new and
needed dimension as Charlotte looks toward
the year 2005.
Let’s support the bond issues, let’s be a
contributing part of the Charlotte of
tomorrow and the Charlotte of the growing
and progressive New South.
Support the bond issue for a better quality
of life for yourself and your offspring
The Charlotte Post
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From Capitol Hill
White House Underestimates Black Reporters?
By Alfreds L. Madison
Special To The Post
..Twenty black reporters from
across the country were invited to an
interview and lunch with Vice
President Bush and Secretary of
Health and Human Services, Mar
garet Heckler, in the Roosevelt
Room of the White House,
i We saw no indication that Vice
President Bush was even supposed
to be there.
Secretary Heckler talked about
the differences in the life span and
health conditions of blacks and
whites in the United States. She said
that this administration has pro
posed a $178,900 federal grant to help
extend the benefit of individual
health education and health promo
tion to more black Americans. A
large part of the grant will go for a
study to find ways to reach and
motivate the black community
toward better health care. The
Secretary set up a task force in
February to find the cause of the
differences She said the task force
la working for completion by IMS.
The force will make recommends
tione for health improvements of
blacks. Mrs. Heckler announced
that two Mack organizations will
receive funds from the grant that
will study the Mack community’s
health conditions. She stated the
objectives" of OM project: identify
ing the best methods for encourag
ing black Americans to adopt health
risk reduction behavior, use com
munications networks in the black
community to reach people, and
develop awareness and motivation
among blacks.
The reporters questioned Secre
tary Heckler on the need for
S**"" study of the causes of the
differentials of blacks and
1 V »
Alfred* L. Madison
whites. She has been given reports
from Marian Wright Edeiman of the
Children’s Defense Fund, the House
Education and Labor Subcommittee
on Equal Employment Opportuni
ties, and members of the Con
gressional Black Caucus stating the
causes of the conditions. The re
ports showed that It percent of ail
waste sites arc located in pre
dominantly black comm uni tiea,
DDT contamination of blacks Is
three times that of whites because
location of toxic industries are
located closer to Mack communi
ties, shortage of doctors In minor
ity communities since only about
three percent of health care pro
fesslswalc arc ht»ck «wi Hispanic
The great disparity in infant deaths
is caused by a cut off of funds for
pre-natal clinics by this adminis
tration. All of this coupled with the
high rate of unemployment and
President Reagan's setback of
affirmative action. Marian Edeiman
said, "The problem is not unknown
facts but inaction."
While Margaret Heckler stated
that President Reagan had proposed
A Hgflrasc TPBE PBOUfrOF
V£ MUST GIVE OUR CHILDREN
A SENSE OF PRIDE IN BEING
BLACK. THE GLORY OF OURFAST
AND THE DIGNITY OF OUR PRESENT
MUST LEAD THE WAY TO THE
POKER OF OUR FUTURE?
A0V1 CLAYTON POWELL
Tradition In The Making
A By Sabrina Johnson
. -It’s becoming an American
tradition: the newspaper,
coffee and scissors. How so,
you may ask? Modern Ame
ricans, looking for ways to
stretch their shopping
dollars - look to newspapers
for sale information and
coupons.
Advertisers spend billions
of dollars yearly to comprise
some type of campaign that
will effectively and effi
ciently market their- pro
ducts. Coupons for free sam
ples, samples at cheap
prices, public demonstra
tions, celebrity endorse
ments and much, much more
are tools used to capture the
audience’s attention and
create a need or desire to try
that product. This public
prompted propaganda har
found that newspapers reach
a variety of people in an
inexpensive way. So that
must be the right medium to
focus on. And the saga con
tinues on and on and on and
on....
Truth is that newspapers
do have a special bond and
obligation to its reading
audience: weekly news
papers, more so than daily
papers. The reading audi
ence of a weekly newspaper
look to it for direct infor
Sabrina Johnson
mation pertaining to the
community and for informa
tion on consumer products,
i.e., ads. For some almost
unexplainable reason - pusi
~ nesses that advertise with
weekly newspapers receive
high consumer loyalty.
That’s what makes or breaks
a business - large or small.
Consumer loyalty because an
. advertisement in a weekly
publication means the com
pany has a vested interest in
the community and its con
sumers. And the community
can look to the company to
fulfill needs and desires.
Occasionally companies
forget that success or failure
is a two way street. For
example, a company may
run ads catering towards
specific groups of people to
entice them to indulge in a
particular product. Yes, the
more money for health care, the
reporters gave specifics to prove
that he actually cut off funds for
nutrition programs, health care
centers and scholarship grants that
enable minorities to get training in
the health professions. Finally, the
Secretary had to agree with the
reporters.
Secretary Sam Pierce of Housing
and Urban Development tried to
iippren the group with the admin
istration's housing program He was
given facts that the President had
actually cut down on the produc
tion of km rent housing and that
even in the available km rent
housing, the rent has been raised,
when the economic conditions of
these people has worsened.
Art Fletcher, a Mack Republican
who works in the Transportation
Department, told the group that
DOT has awarded a large number of
contracts to blacks and he invited
them to accompany him to Phi
ladelphia Old next week he will sit
across the table with a number of
minority contractors for the purpose
of awarding contracts Reporters
did not have the opportunity to ask
him any questions This reporter
would Hke to know how Art could tell
Just how many DOT contracts
blacks had received, when Just one
week prior to the preas conference
Uw» department officials had testi
fied before RcpresohtsTWr T»ai i an
Mitchell's committee, acknowledg
ing that they did not keep statistics
on Mack and Hispanic contract
recipients.
Carol Dinkins, who has been De
puty Attorney General for around
nine months, represented the
Justice Department. After compar
ing the United Statea’ freedom with
that of the Soviet Union, she
began relating the President’s civil
rights record. She spoke at his very
strong commitment to affirmative
action, but that he was just op
posed to quotas. She told that the
Courts have said that quotas are to
be used in extreme cases, but- the
administration has refused toast up
goals and timetables, and the
Justice fails to enforce the affirm
atlve action laws, but instead seeks
to circumvent, practically, ail of
them. Ms. Dtakins seemed entirely
unfamiliar with the recent study by
Representative Hawkins’ commit
tee, which investigated 43 agencies
on affirmative action and all at them
came up short, because the Justice
Department fails to enforce the
laws; that Justice had the worst fair
hiring record of all 43 agencies
Dinkins could not give any statis
tics on the number of blacks and
whites in the Justice Department.
The reporters questioned her state
ment that the Department believes
the beat way to correct racial
injustices is by agreements. Her
attention was called to the fact that
the Justice Department is to enforce
the laws, instead of acting on its
beliefs, f — „
At the close of the meeting Donna
Bloom a Deputy White House As
sistant Chief of Staff, said that it was
impossible to have Mr. Btah and
the Brestiii ai mast the group be:_
cause of their busy campaign
schedules Her attention was called
t? the fact that Mack reporters had
tnid for almost two years for an
interview with them Why was it that
six weeks before the election an
interview was set up with low level
Cabinet members and they were
told that George Bush would be
there? ^
■k
- d.
campaign goes over well and
the bucks roll in. Well, vyhat
happens when the communi
ty • the origin of bucks - needs
the support of the company
and the company says no
way? Revenge can be so
sweet sometimes - the sim
plest way to remedy that
problem and change the
answer is to say we support
you financially all year
round and now we need you
and you can’t come through -
then that meaqs you do not
need our bucks. Point -
money is a powerful tool and
can alter lives.
The tradition continues;
buy newspapers, search
through for bargains, spe
cials and coupons. The new
American way to shop -
savings! Deals start on the
shelves, racks and lob but
they do go farther than that.
Consumer loyalty and con
sumer demands are very
important in the world of
retailing and wholesaling.
Advertisements are beauti
ful, appealing and all the
other nine yards, but, the
grassroots is “does the pro
duct successfully fulfill erne’s
needs and-or desires? If it
does great, if not find the
product that will.
Also bear in mind the one
hand washes the other - the
community supports thus
meaning the company should
support it (the community^
When and if that does rot
occur then demand duch at
the negotiating tables over
drinks filled with dollars,
cents and facts.
An American tradition
continues on stretching
shopping dollars via using
the newspaper to find the
best at the best price:
mixed with certain amounts
of loyalty.
Higher Education
The National Commission on
Higher Education and the Adult
Learner baa selected the Unlwg*ity
of North Carolina at CharMpTto
serve as a model for other insti
tutions in studying the needs of
non-traditional students
Dr. Morris T. Keeton, commis
sion chairman, informed UNCC
Chancellor E. K. Fret well Jr of the
selection. UNCC is one of 30 In
stitutions chosen nationally.
. TlJe 20 colleges and universities
will assess their rrapmwsa u> the
needs of students who do not fit the
mold of the traditional college stu
dent and report their findings to the
commission, which will share the
information with other institutions