Cliarlotte BoEtt
VOLUME 19, No. 12
THURSDAY OCTOBER 28,1993
50 CENTS
iipii
Lifestyles
Hot for
Halloween. 8A
Trick-or-treat isn't just for
ghosts and goblins. This year,
people are masquerading as
Barney, Batman and other
popular characters.
Entertainment
The prince of
funk. IB
Some things nev-
er change:
George Clinton, gg
one of the . pio- JU3
neers of funk mu- C3
sic in the '70s and U
a staple of hip-hop 0
samples today, ^
has a new CD, A
"Hey Man, Smell m
My Finger." Jj!
Sports
More than passing
fancy. 8B
Howard quarter
back Jay Walker
m^^SiS the atten-
I^SSyfion of NFL
scouts as he
tears through
his senior sea
son.
Religion
Praying for
answers. 9A
Columnist
Robyn Goal
concludes a
series on un
answered
prayers and
how that can
be changed.
Opinion/Editoriais
Bonding
time. 4A-5A
Tuesday's elections will be
about more than city council
and mayoral races. Local and
state bonds will be on the ballot,
including the controversial
Mecklenburg school referen
dum. Everyone has an opion-
ion, and The Post makes en
dorsements.
BusinessMonthly
Big on TV
sports. 1C
The next time you watch an
Atlantic Coast Conference
football or basketball game,
Beverly Rumley will be re
sponsible for everything you
see.
INDEX
Opinion/Editorials 4A-5A
Lifestyles 7A
Around Charlotte 8A
Religion 9A
Church News 12A
Arts & Entertainment 1B
What's Up 6B
Sports 7B
Classified 12B
• For Subscription
Information, Ca l
376-0496
©The Charlotte Post
Publishing Company
School board member won't support bonds
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLCyiTE POST
In a move that runs counter
to the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg School Board
and Its supporters, board
member Arthur Griffin says
he opposes the school bond
referendum.
Griffin, one of two blacks
on the board, said he doesn’t
support the $192 million
package because the school
system has yet to satisfy con
cerns that building two new
high schools would threaten
the future of West Charlotte
High School. If the new
schools are built in the most-
ly-whlte northern and east
ern part of Mecklenburg as
planned. West Charlotte
could lose Its student base,
and identity with it.
"I've been talking to staff as
often as I could about West
Charlotte and the best they
could tell me was we could go
north and get (white) stu
dents from the Long Creek
area," he said. 'Without some
plan on the table, it won't
go."
West Charlotte, the last sur
vivor of Mecklenburg’s seven
all-black high schools, has
loyal alumni who have met
with political and civic lead
ers regarding the school's
fate. Alumni have attended
school board meetings and
planned to be
at Tuesday's
before it was
moved to
Nov. 9, a
week after
the Nov. 2
elections.
"It's a key
stone insti
tution in the
community,"
said William
Griffln
Candidates Take A Stand
Your Vote
Your
Choice
City council at-large
Ella Scarborough
Democrat
• Inner city neighbor
hoods;
"One
of the ma
jor goals
is to en
hance the
matching
grants
programs.
That em
powers
neighbor
hoods to
do what they think is right,
rather, than having us com
ing to them telling them
what to do."
• Crime:
'We need to not allow re
peat offenders on the
street. Neighborhoods
must take on some respon
sibility...to report the peo
ple causing trouble."
• Taxes;
'We should avoid tax
hikes at all costs. We need
to look at being cost effi
cient In running govern
ment."
• Minority participation
in economic growth:
"One major problem is
the African American
community not feeling a
part of the economic
growth...We need to help
minority businesses learn
the ^stem with things like
seminars and buddy sys
tems."
• Biggest needs; "Our old
er neighborhoods need
some help In rebuilding the
infrastructure. The lack of
playgrounds and amenities
in certain neighborhoods
are concerns."
Pat McCrory
Republican
•Inner
hoods:
city neighbor-
"In an ef
fort to
keep
young
children
away from
crime and
in school,
I devel
oped thje
concept of
Tolerate
N6 Truancy (TNT)."
•Clime:
"Twu iiings muj t be done
to prevent further crime.
First, we must as a commu
nity ensure that any citi
zen convicted of a crime in
Charlotte is punished. Sec
ond, direct efforts to pre
vent children from trying
drugs or getting Involved In
crime through our schools,
churches and community
policing.
•Taxes:
"A tax Increase is not
needed at this time for ad
ditional services. We
should immediately direct
savings from stopping
baclQ^ard pick-up to public
safety initiatives. "
•Minority participation
in economic growth:
'We should continue en
suring equal opportunity is
available for all citizens.'
•Biggest needs;
"The areas with the big
gest needs continue to be
our low Income areas in
which crime, drugs and al
cohol are strangling these
neighborhoods."
Don Reid
Republican
•Inner city neighbor
hoods:
"Commu
nlty-
based po
licing is
the first
step to
ward im
proving
inner city
quality of
life. This
is a nrov-
en way of reducing the
crime and drug problems.
Without sale nelghlor-
hoods there is little hope
that programs.. .will
work."
•Crime:
"The new police chief
should be someone with a
proven record of dealing
with inner city problems .
It is outrageous that little
has been said about the
deaths of dozens of young
black males and it took the
murder of two police offi
cers to wake up our City
Council and city leaders."
•Taxes;
'We do not need tax in
creases. By reducing waste
ful spending on big, glitzy,
special Interest projects,
we have plenty of money to
provide quality services
for all citizens.
•Biggest needs:
"I have been a strong ad
vocate of equal services for
all areas of our city. The
inner city and the Westside
have not received their fair
share."
'■*
Lynn Wheeler
Republican
•Inner city neighbor
hoods:
"Expand
communi
ty policing
to link in
ner city
neighbor
hoods in
an ef
fort... to de
velop their
own anti-
crime, anti
drug programs."
'"C-L'ae;
Th' expan ion of com
munity-based policing will
have an immediate Impact
on neighborhood safety.
The new police chief
should be sensitive to the
Irmer city. It is an outrage
that any citizen feels hos
tage by crime...and every
means must be taken to
eradicate crime in those
neighborhood."
•Taxes:
"Proper management of
city resources and services
will preclude the need for
additional taxes."
•Minority participation
in economic growth;
"We must pursue a better
vehicle to create more
growth opportunities for
minority contractors."
•Areas of biggest need:
"Although I have repre
sented District 6 for two
terms, my record Indicates
not only a concern for the
entire city, but also a lead
ership role in our regional
economic development."
Mayor
Hammond
Ann Hammon(d
Democrat
On gun control: "There's absolute
ly no reason for semi-automatic
assault rifles to be carried on the
streets of our city, so I do support
a ban on assault weapons."
On saving taxpayer dollars: Roll
out garbage collection will allow
money to be put into more press
ing needs. "Clearly, that's going to
be a source of income to the city
that would not normally have
been avaUable."
On managing growth: Contends growth of city
with regards to new and expanded businesses
should be balanced with quality of life for all res
idents.
Involvement of all people, especially African
Americans, to solve crime problems: "It is even
more important to get the input of citizens...!
want to take advantage of the opportunity to mo
tivate and bring citizens Into the problem solving
capacity."
Richard Vinroot
Republican
On gun control: "If we're going to have
a federal gun control law that stops
guns from being sold in this country,
that's fine. But for Charlotte to take a
step and have a gun control law as a
symbolic step, it simply doesn't do
any good."
On saving taxpayer dollars; Favors
privatization of city services to help
save money along with advocating
rollout garbage collection that would
save an estimated $49 million over
10 years.
Vinroot
1
On managing growth; Favors allowing private sector
to generate jobs and stimulate city’s economy. 'We
couldn’t have a better solution to our problems, so
cial problems or whatever, than that grovrth."
Involvement of all people, especially African
Americans, to solve city’s crime problems: Favors
professional recommendation, then public Input.
'We're fighting over the deck chairs on the Titanic
while the Titanic Is sinking."
For more on the positions of city council and mayoral candidates, please see Page 3A.
Hamlin, president of the na
tional West Charlotte Alum
ni Association. The group
has not taken a stance for or
against the referendum.
'We're really concerned
that if two new high schools
are built. West Charlotte will
suffer."
Griffin joins a growing list
of opponents to the school
bonds. Citizens For Effective
See GRIFFIN On Page 2A
limpasse
over Haiti
leaders
Military vows not to
give Aristide power
By William Reed
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIA'nON
Two years and one month
after he was driven from his
country, Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was
supposed to return to Port-
Au-Prlnce and assume power
as head of the government.
It hasn't happened yet.
The Haitian military, com
manded by Lt. Gen. Raoul Ce-
dras, and the police chief, Lt.
Col. Joseph Michel Francois,
have resisted Aristide's re
turn and employed hundreds
of anti-Aristide paramili
tary forces to keep the de
posed president and his asso-
ciatef MTrom re-takIng qT'Vc.
The United NatioiiJ y.U-
posed saitctions agalnsi Ha!
tl this month and President
Bill Clinton ordered Ameri
can warships to patrol Hai
tian waters to enforce the
embargo. The U.S. and UN
actions came after Aristide's
Justice Minister, Guy Mal-
ary, was gunned down in
broad daylight by paramili
tary forces known as
"attaches." U.S. assets of 50
to 100 of Haiti's ruling mili
tary and police officials,
such as Cedras and Francois,
were ordered frozen by Clin
ton, who has pledged to Aris
tide that he would help him
to return to office.
Aristide, who has been in
exile in Venezuela and Wash
ington, was democratically
elected by over 67 percent of
Haitian voters and was
scheduled to return to office
October 30 based on the Clln-
ton administration-
brokered talks on Governors
Island, N.Y. Although the
military leaders had agreed
at the July 3 talks to step
down, they remained defiant
in the face of the sanctions
and allowed citizen soldiers
to block the arrival of U.S.
and Canadian troops sent to
Haiti to assist the transition
back to Aristide's leadership.
While ordinary Haitians
rushed to stock up on food
and fuel, a spokesman for
the milltaiy rulers said they
would rather fight to the
death than hand power back
to Aristide. The military has
allied with supporters of the
Duvalier family dictatorship
to keep Aristide out. The
prices of basic goods in Haiti
skyrocketed in face of the
sanctions and analysts ex
pect the embargo to stop the
country’s economy. The Im
poverished nation has about
8 to 10 weeks of oil supplies
on hand and could be
stretched to three months
with rationing.
The last oil deliveries were
made October 3. The poor, of
whom over 150,000 have lost
jobs in the past year, are ex
pected to be the hardest hit in
the embargo. Many of the
military and elite are sus
pected of getting rich through
the shipment of drugs headed
for the U.S., which is the rea
son for the freezing of assets.
Haiti is located 800 miles off
America's East Coast.