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“The Voice Of The Black Cxmunimity '' cau. 376-0494
POST - Thursday, November 15. 1984 ” --r-—
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Oty Should Explore
Possibilities Per Expanding
Job Opportunities
Story On Page I6A
AFDC Recipients
Assured Services
To Continue
Raleigh - A change in state Medi
caid policy, which went into effect
November 1, will ensure that many
AFDC recipients will receive Me
dicaid coverage after their AFDC
(Aide to Families with Dependent
Chffifren) assistance is terminated.
In the past;. Medicaid benefit were
automatically eta off when indivi
duals were terminated from AFDC.
The policy change is the result of a
civil lawsuit which challenged the
previous procedure of automatic
termination of Medicaid when
AFDC was discontinued, according
to Barbara Matula, Director of the
Division of Medical Assistance.
She said that eligibility special
ists in the county departments of
social services will now automatic
ally determine continuing Medicaid
eligibility for most AFDC cases that
are being terminated. These ta
millee will not be required to re
apply or sigh a new application for
Medicaid bmUOL ■ '
“We want to make sure that all
families that come under the
changed policy receive the Medi
to which they ere
r**iliLt“Guaa
^ !5$
Medicaid provides health care for
low-income elderly, Aaabled and
blind people, or to-families with
dependent children. North Caro
lina’s Medicaid program is admin
istered by the Department of
Human Resources, Division of
Medical Assistance. Financed by
federal, state and county funds,
Medicaid services are rendered by
medical care providers across the
state. These services include im
munizations for children, hospital
and physician care, dental ser
vices, and longterm care for the
elderly and dtakUad.
Jesse Jackson
Returns To Helm
Of Operation PUSH
The Rev. Jetse Jackson will
. return to Operation PUSH and will
redirect hia efforts to “refocus
reinvigorate” the PUSH Interna
tional Trade Bureau, it was
announced this week.
According to associates in Ope
ration PUSH, while continuing his
political endeavors with the Rain
bow Coalition, Jackson is deter
mined at the same time to have a
-major new economic thrust in the
— private economy _____
His re-entrance into the econo
mic arena will be announced at a
meeting to be held at the PUSH
national headquarters in Chte^o on
November IS At that time members
of the PUSH Internationa] Bureau
flodf with corporate officers of
companies who have signed trade
agreements, will be convened. A iso
invited will be other businessmen
who are interested Ui involving
themselves in the movement.
The Rev. Wiffie T. Barrow, who
baa been serving as interim na
tional director of PUSH, stated.
“While the relationship between
politics and religion is being hotly
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mtasisvary clear. There la a direct
Faith ia bettering that after the
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1 iJU»L-J
" f : : ( ^ 17-year-old beauty
By Jalyne Strong
Peat Staff Writer
Melonie Irvin’s dream is to one
day be such a high-ranking model
that modeling agencies, ad-men and
P R. people will be falling over each
other exclaiming, “We have to have
Melonie Irvin.’’
She laughs when she tells of this
wish, but Melonie is serious about a
modeling career. All her thoughts
and most of her time are directed
towards achieving this goal. And
with her qualifications of being slim,
attractive and six feet tall,
Melonie’s determination may take
her right to the top of the gla
morous profession.
A native New Yorker, Melonie had
lived in Colorado for 10 years before
recently moving to Charlotte. Her
aspiration to become a model
began while she lived in ColcArado. “I
had a chance to sign with an
agency there,” says Melonie, “and I
was also a semi-finalist for Teen
Magazine.” Yet, before these two
opportunities were ■ realized
Melonie's family moved to Char
lotte.
Now the 17-year-old beauty is
attending West Mecklenburg High
School and also Harding High
school night school. “I go to night
school to get extra credit so I can
graduate early,” she explains.
Melonie spends whatever spare
time she has exploring the model
ing avenues open to her-in Char
lotte. "I’m trying to get to know
people who can help me in model
ing.”
She’s found a photographer who is
composing a portfolio for her
which she plans to show to agen
cies after high school graduation.
She now looks to audition for
fashion shows in Charlotte. Melonie
has considered modeling school but
she claims, “It’s so expensive and
many people tell me that I really do
not need to attend school.”
Though the modeling opportuni
ties in this city are not over
whelming, this well-traveled young
lady states she likes Charlotte a lot.
Melonie has been everywhere in the
U.S. She and her family have
traveled to the many destinations
with her father who is a truck driver.
“He’s put us in the truck and off
we’d go,” she recalls. Melonie
enjoyed living in Colorado - as long
as the snows didn’t latft too long.
Since coming to Charlotte, she con
See MELONIE On Page 2A
Reign Of Murdered
And Missing C hildren
Left Indelible Mark!
special To The Post
“No one realized how massive a
problem--it—would be,” reflected
Getchel Caldwell.
The "problem” was that children
were missing and later found mur
dered for a two year period of time
in Atlanta, Ga. As the numbers and
the time grew without a trace of who
was responsible, incalculable psy
chological damage set in affecting
all Atlantans and many children and
parents well beyond the city’s
northwest Georgia boundaries.
Caldwell was hired as a Business
Liaison Representative-Crime Pre
vention Coordinator for the Atlanta
Department of Public Safety’s
program S.A.F.E. (Safe Atlanta For
Everyone) in 1979. He had just
finished graduate school at Atlanta
University where his thesis, “A
Disfunctional Planning and- Re
search Unit, Its Causes and Ef
fect*,* developed as a criminal
totwm^drew the attention of
. ^^cktr^Vas the director of
^S.A.F,E., an experimental program
hwded hy the now defunct Law
Enforcement Assistance Adminis
tration. On its staff were 14
communication and planning spe
cialists. S.A.F.E. was planned as a
vehicle for Commissioner of Safety
Lee P. Brown to address the thrust
of a crime prevention program for
Atlanta.
Caldwell was responsible as a
liaison for the Chamber of Com
merce, the Central Atlanta Progress
(uptown merchants), the Travel and
Tourists Bureau and the Metro At
lanta Crime Commission. A great
deal of planning was called for as the
Department of Public Safety, which
included police, fire, ambulance and
taxi regulations services, was
undergoing a reorganization.
As America’s third largest con
vention center, Atlanta’s public
image was critical to the multi
million dollar convention trade. The
image of uptown Atlanta as a safe
area for its many visitors was being
battered by a perceived increase in
assaults and crime in 1979. When a
Cleveland, Ohio, doctor was shot
dead during a street robbery while
attending a national medical con
vention, the ensuing outrage heigh
tened sensitivity and placed the
Department of Safety under Dres
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sure 10 increase security.
It wunder the unfavorable gazi
of such national publicity that th«
disappearance and subsequent dis
covery of black inner-city children
found dead in counties outside of
Atlanta began to emerge. The dis
covery of a pattern of such mur
ders was recognized on the grass
roots level as the number of
bereaved mothers increased in the
predominantly black communities.
By January, 1980, the Murdered and
Missing Children’s Task Force was
formed from pressure exerted by
ministers and community activists.
The Task Force was comprised of
officials of the counties outside
Atlanta where the bodies were found
(Cobb, DeKalb, Clayton, Gwinnett,
and Douglas) along with Atlanta's
home county of Fulton.
“A number of immediate pro
blems arose, jurisdiction being the
foremost at the time,” recalled
Caldwell. “Although the murdered
children were from Atlanta, their
bodies were found in surrounding
police jurisdictions.”
Coordination of the investigation,
the manpower and overtime costs
were Task Force problems. Each
police force donated a certain
number of manpower hours. As the
lint nf mnrHorc nram
Too Few Black Attorneys Are Willing 1
Law Firms
By Jalyne Strong
Pool Staff Writer
Since graduating from North
Qarollna Central University Lew
School, Attorney Donnie Hoover has
worked for eight veers in Washing
ton D.C. with the United States
Department of Justice In the
Attorney General's Honor’s pro
pr*ni and also as the Assistant
Branch Director in Commerical Liti
gation branch of the Ctvtl Divi
sion.
Recently, Hoover returned to
Charlotte. He’s set up single prac
tice sharing a suite In the Lawyers
Building, 730 Bast Trade Street,
with attorney Rosha McGill.
The offices of Hoover end Mc
Gill are epacioue and efficiently run.
Their aura ef progressiveneu land
cradsass to Hoover’s claim that ha
la heading in the direction of
starting a law firm in the future
The lew firm, conetdered the
bastion of law practice, until re- '
cent years, was unheard of in terms
at being run by blacks. The major
firms acroe* the country were es
tablished in the IMOs and earlier by
whites who subsequently admitted
few Macks among their ranks.
Black lawyers pursued success
ria other avenues. They worked with
government agencies, corpora
Ik L
r
arrangements with other attorneys.
In the last 20 years, a few Mack
lawyers have joined with white
firms but their numbers are small
and their positions precarious. As
stated In the November, 1964 issue
of Black Enterprise. “The Na
tional Law Journal reported that
the number of Mack attorneys at the
100 largest firms in the country -
already abysmally low - Is steadily
VOCsoMf.
Panl Hemphill
..... Partner In law firm
Hoover’s prediction of starting a
law firm is an option that black
lawyers are considering in the face
of this predicament. However,
according to Humphrey Cumraii^s,
president of the Charlotte Chapter of
the Black Lawyers Association,
most black attorneys are still
working in the mentioned areas. He
describes, "Out of the « Mack
lawyers In Charlotte, 19 are solo
practitioners, IS are with govern
ment corporations or institutions.
and 15 are with firms.” He reports
that only one black attorney in
Charlotte has entered an all-white
firm while there are several black
attorneys who are members of in
tegrated firms, one of which is
Ferguson, Watt, Wallace and At
kins and the other Casey, Bishop,
Alexander and Murphy .
To be a partner in a law firm is
considered by moat lawyers as the
pinnacle of success. And, as Hoover
states, and Cummings concurs,
"There is a need for more black
lawyers who are currently in sin
gle practice or in shared arrange
ments to aspire to open their own
firms.’4
"The law firm,” Hoover com
ment!, "Is the only way In which an
attorney can really succeed."
Paul Hemphill of the firm Martin,
Hemphill and Miller, ■greet Stat
ing that Martin, Hemphill and
Miller la currently the only totally
black firm in Charlotte, Hemphill
explains, “The law firm offers many
advantages.”
The advantages arise in the areas
of ability and profits.
Firms are more stable and ef
ficient because of the combined
efforts of several attorneys working
jointly. 'Tor instance," says
See BLACK A TTY 8 Oe Page ISA
I ability to handle it decreased.
"The business community volun
teered time, equipment and exper
tise by this point,” explained
Getchel. ‘‘IBM provided a computer
bank to keep track of evidence,
Southern Bell provided an elaborate
phone system to handle calls.”
Parents and concerned citizens
pitched in.
“While people willing to help
created greater community aware
ness, it also created additional
problems,” cited Caldwell. “When
ever a body was discovered, huge
numbers of volunteers would comb
the area trampling what could
have veen valuable evidence and
clues looking for additional bodies."
How to communicate to the pu
blic how to get information to the
police was one of S.A.F.E.’s mul
titude of crises management pro
jects. The Metropolitan Atlanta
l Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
I provided advertisement space for
■ messages produced by, Chevron and
the Jack Thrift Company. Infor
mation and appeals appeared on
billboards and were broadcast as
public service announcements
(PSAs) by area radio and televi
sion stations. Celebrities appear
ing in Atlanta and well-known
residents were asked to cut PSAs
along with a series of crime pre
vention tips.
As time continued without any
break in the case, the costs began to
mount. The economic damage was
measurable in decreasing conven
tion trade, the overtime payrolls and
the price of operating the complex
control centers that were now
handling offers of help from all over
the countrv.
“It was decided at one point to
establish an award fund for infor
mation in resolving the case,” stated
Caldwell. “Appeals for money went
out, but soon got out of hand. While
Muhammad Ali’s $100,000 donation
and Frank Sinatra and Sammie
Davis Jr.’s benefit concert spurred
needed money coming in, a greed
factor also rose as non-sanctioned
groups took advantage of the crisis
for profiteering.”
An accounting firm was called in
to coordinate the handling of
monies. Guidelines had to be
established as to who would get
awards and how much. Use of
money also split groups in the city
Stop Children’s Murders (STOP), a
mother’s organization, eventually
came to believe that the city had an
obligation to pay mothers for their
loss. The Atlanta business com
munity became visibly upset that
the city “had gone begging for
reward fund money "
sun me oraeai wore on and was to
grow harsher in time The intense
pressure to crack the case would
bring about a bizarre element As a
measure of desperation, the police
tried innovative, investigative tech
niques, including the use of
psychics. “One such psychic that
was flown in demanded a police
escort from the airport and a body
guard at all times," illustrated
Caldwell “That did not sit too well
with police chief George Napper
(now Commissioner of Safety).”
Normal police professional tech
niques were being destroyed by an
army of amateur sleuths. The
media became a major problem as ~
each competing news service field
ed Its own investigative reporters
conducting their own search, cri
tique and conclusions on the
tragedy. The murdered and missing
children of Atlanta became a
prime opportunity for a young
journalist to make a name for him or
herself. Reporters arrived in At
lanta from the national medUandae
bored ISO. ’
“Some reporters developed a 5
See REIGN Oe Page MA