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Page2A - THE CHARLOTTE POST - Thursday, October 14,1993 Burnette 'Bullets Don't Have Eyes' By Cassandra Wynn THE CHAPtLOTTE POST Charlotte Police are "stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Officer John Bur nette. In an inter view with The Post about a week before he and Officer Andy Nobles were fatally shot Oct. 5, Burnette talked about .working in rough neighbor hoods. One of his worries was that innocent people often get hurt. "Realistically, the com munity is dangerous. You have to watch your back eve rywhere you go. It's not al ways a comfortable place to be. Bullets don't have eyes. Innocent people end up being victims." The hopelessness of young people is one thing that con cerned Burnette. "It's almost like a disease. What can you do when people feel like pris on is a better place to live. I don't believe all the kids feel this way," he said. Burnette talked of the time he pulled a 16-year-old aside to chastise him about being a negative role model for his younger brother. "He said, Tm not of value to this community. I'll be dead in two years,' " Burnette re called. The 25-year-old officer seemed bothered by a disre gard for the sanctity of youth. "I'v^ seen a lot of shootings and drug activity. One thing that stands out in my mind is the time we went to a house, entered the den and saw a kid 15-years-old with his brains blown out. He never knew what hit him. It affected me because he was only 15. Even if he had done something stupid, how do you do that to him." He noticed how a lot of kids have turned to guns to settle violence. "They say, Tm go ing to smoke him,' not 'kick his ass,'" Burnette said. Not all the kids are selling drugs, Burnette said. "A lot of the kids are trying to be good. But many of them are ridiculed when they try to be good and they end up second guessing themselves. "A lot of kids are Just hang ing out all day long. At 2 and 3 a.m., you can see girls walking with a baby in their arms, hanging out." Attention is not what a lot of kids in his area get, Bur- .nette said. "A lot of parents spend too much time telling kids how bad they are. If you show them a little attention, they're all over you. There's this little kid they call Rock. He's 2.1 will ride him around in my car. I picked him up the other day and he sat on my knee for 15 minutes and didn't say a word." Burnette, who had worked in the community for three years, was assigned to Adam 2 District which covers South Tryon to Morehead Street to Westinghouse Boulevard. It includes eight housing projects. Burnette had spent a lot of time "troubleshooting." "I go to community events, meetings. We helped con struct a park. It makes us feel good. When we drive by, people wave." Burnette was asked what bothered htm most about be ing a policeman. His reply: 'You know, it would bother me If I had to kill somebody. That would blow my mind. They have counseling when that happens. I would have to get some counseling. I hope that never happens." Fairvlew Homes residents have asked the city to change the name of their communi ty to Bumette-Nobles to hon or the officers. Innocence Leaves Too Soon Continued From Page lA her community. "I was scared to walk to the bus stop. I didn't know whether (the suspects) had been caught," Shumira said. She worries the incident will make "people think the neighborhood is rougher than it is. It really is not a bad neighborhood." When Shumira does go out of her house, her grandmoth er (whom she calls Mom) knows where she is. "I don't know a lot of people. My mom didn't let me go out as much. I played in my com plex area." Shumira figures that her grandmother doesn't want her to get pregnant. "A lot of girls have babies. It's a shame they mess up their lives. Most of them don't con tinue their education. They stop school." The weekends, when people get paid and party, are when Fairview Homes resident Tammy Sanders sends her five kids (ages 2-12) to stay with their godparents in an other part of the city. With so little to do in terms of recrea tion, youngsters often just hang out. "It's boring here," said 12- year-old Shetima Harris, an other Fairview Homes resi dent. Although she doesn't hang out at night, she likes walking around the neigh borhood during the day. "I walk to be walking. Just to be in the house is boring. Sometimes I walk around on my street or go to Greenville or Double Oaks," she said. Shetima's other outlet comes from her participa tion in the stepping crew of the Greenville Marching Band. "There are kids out at 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. Girls 9, 10 and 12 sitting out side," Sanders said. Indeed, teenage girls with toddlers following behind is a regular part of the scenario. "A lot of them walk the street all night and sleep all day," said Faye Jones, president of the Fairview Homes Neigh borhood Association." The flirtation with danger is what often draws many youngsters in. Jermond ad mits that some of his friends carry guns. "They bring a bunch of friends to a field and shoot in the air to show you they got a gun. I've been scared and impressed. It de pends on who's using it. Some you know won't shoot you and others you get bad vibes about - those kids who don't go to school. I don't go on Edwin Street - not at night." Although Sanders is work ing hard to keep her 12-year- old daughter Antoinette Bak er out of trouble, she is con cerned about influences out side the home. Many of the 12-year-olds Antoinette knows are not virgins. "They keep telling me to come over to some boys' houses," she said. "I just don't go. I want to wait until after I'm 21 to have a baby." Sex is something Jermond says he knows plenty about. "This girl (who's also 15), she's sweating me. I don't even need a towel. All I have to do is go get it. I always pack my plastic. I think about the risks of AIDS, crabs and gonorrhea." Role models, especially male role models, often come from outside the community or the media. Jermond's two oldest brothers, 21 and 20, are incarcerated - one for murder and another for as sault. "I feel bad because my brothers are in jail. I want them to set examples for me," he said. While Jermond's attitude about academics is cavalier, he is adamant about his pur suit of basketball. "I play well." His ambition is to play in the NBA like his idol, Bob by Hurley. But Jermond doesn't play on the school team because he doesn't get the physicals required for participation. LaMont Martin, 15, is seri ous about school. An honor roll student, he wants to work with computers. A resi dent of Fairview Homes, he believes education comes first. Hanging out late at night is not on LaMont's agenda. "Mom likes me to be In the house before 10 p.m. She works at night. The only times I hang out late-is when we are sitting on the porch," he said. LaMont said that he has been frightened by the vio lence. The fatal shooting of a 10-year-old who lived in the community affected him. "Shootings always scare me," he said. "They had coun seling for us at school. It was hard. He didn't do nothing to nobody. He was one of the ni cest little boys I know." The senselessness of the vi olence is what disturbs La Mont. "I know some who feel like, "Well, since I'm selling drugs, I will do what I have to do so when I die. I'll have it all.' They feel, " 'I know I'm going to die. I'll do what I can so people will know who I am.'" There are no badges of hon or given for living in stressed neighborhoods. In addition to everything else, the young sters often have to fight la bels. "For some, there is the stigma of where you live," Jones said. "People will say you won't amount to any thing because of where you live. Teachers have said it." Overcoming the odds is not impossible. Jones grew up in Fairview Homes, left and married. In 1978, she re turned with four small kids. This year, her youngest son Is playing football at Living stone College. "Raising my kids was fairly easy." Jones explained. "By dark, my kids were in the house. Basically, they called me hard and mean. If they weren't home. I'd go hunting for them. It was embarrass ing to them. I was involved in activities with them and we went to church together." Jones said that many par ents in her community don't seem affectionate enough. 'They don't do enough hug ging and saying, 'I love you.'" READ THE POST FOR YOUR LIFE Healthy/Body Healthy/Mind Braces For Children & Adults 4." DR. PAUL A. McGILL, 1 ' 'i 1 D.D.S., P.A. 1 "Practice Limited To Orthodontics" ■> (704)375-7005 ■ 1404 Beatties Ford Rd. Northwest Gateway Professional Center Suite 200 • Charlotte, North Carolina 28216 > .. . .... IBANKERS REALTYinc We're committed to give you the best service ill selling or buying a home * Seller and buyer protection plan * ERA sellers securby plan: nre don't sell your home„ ERA will buy it? (Some limitations apply) * IN-HOUSE Financing available. CALL 527-4848 FUNDING MORTGAGE CORP. 527-FUND (3863) ^ I :'■■■ ^ i, VA, C0UV. lender, ssi '* Same day Pre-Approval. ■^Courteous Service. * Slow credit accepted. * 1st & 2ndMortgageS,s ' I Equity Loans. ;;,,^Refinance to lower rate. *Home Improvement Loans. PRE-QUALinCATTQi!J BY TELEPHONE 4534 Old Pineville Rd. (Near Woodlawn Rd.) • Charlotte, NC Better Think TWice Before You Give the Schools a Blank Check for $192,000,000! In the past seven years Charlotte/Mecklenburg school officials have: a) Budgeted the same transport maintenance facility three times before they ever got around to building it (in the process using the funds for other unidentified projects of dubious merit) b) Continued to ask for “bricks and mortar” bond money despite the school board's own consultant reporting that there was a 20% rate of unused capacity in our schools. c) Spent more than $3,000,000 hiring outside consultants ($1,100,000 in one study alone) to tell them what to do, despite having a large planning staff to collect and analyze the same data DEMAND ACCOUNT- ABIUIY ■ ■ ■ VOiE “NO” ON CHABLOrrE-lffBURG SCHOOL BONDS Want to know more? During the next three weeks watch for an ad in this paper for all the facts on our school system's profligate spending and misplaced priorities. APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP Citizens for Effective Government, Inc. P.O. Box 472244, Charlotte, NC 28247 YES j I want to help make a difference! Enroll me as a member of Citizens For Effective Government, Enclosed are my membership dues or added contribution. 1994: Dues received will count as 1994 dues. Name Address City, State, Zip Phone - Work Home Amount Enclosed DUES: Senior citizens and students $10.00 Member (approximate cost of newsletter) $15.00 Contributing Members $25.00
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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