'4- . i.' A .
Ci^atlotte BoEft
VOLUME 19, No. 18
THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 1993
50 CENTS
Community
A crusading
force. 3A
The Rev. James Barnett is hon
ored for his work in the area's
stop the killing movement
Lifestyles
Mmm, mmm
good. 7A
Mehndra
Abeysekara,
chef at FDY,
is a firm be
liever in ad
ding new in
gredients to
the traditional
Christmas
dinner.
":y'
Arts &
Entertainment
A nose for
news. IB
LaVonda Gorham, producer of
WSOC-TV's top-rated news
casts, gets the most out of eve
ry work day...and then some.
Sports
The last
hujuih. 8B
Meckienburg County athletes
play their last high school foot
ball game Saturday in the
Shrine Bowl.
Measuring what
they've got. 8B
UNC Charlotte
women's bas
ketball coach
Ed Baldwin is
hoping the
49ers can gain
some respect
at the expense
of national
powers Wake
Forest and UCLA.
iltaiisi,,..
I
INDEX
Opinion/Editorials 4A-5A
Lifestyles 7A
Around Charlotte 8A
Religion 9A
Church News 12A
Arts & Entertainment 1B
What's Up 5B
Sports 7B
Classified 12B
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A call to action against violence
Summit set for Saturday
By Cassandra Wynn
THE CHARLOTTE POST
If you come to the summit
on crime, violence and kill
ings Saturday, come with an
swers, warns Mecklenburg
County Commissioner Bob
Walton.
"I'm frustrated. It looks
like all we do is talk," he
said. 'We've made a commit
ment to follow through on
this."
Through Wednesday, 118
people have been murdered
in Charlotte this year, mak
ing it the bloodiest in city
history. Last year, 99 mur
ders were recorded.
Walton said he has gotten
good response to a press con
ference held last week to call
Ready T o
FIGHT BACK
s>
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s N
FHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Hattie Anthony's job is to move the controversy-plagued Fitting Back program ahead af
ter two executive directors failed to please Mecklenburg County officials.
Rebuilding drug-prevention program
is the challenge before Hattie Anthony
Back's director came last week, about six
months after the controversial dismissal of
Nathaniel Rock, who was charged by Meck
lenburg County Mental Health director Pe
ter Safir with not following policies and
procedures.
Some community leaders fear that the
way in which Rock was dismissed and the
By Cassandra Wynn
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The new director of Mecklenburg County's
Fighting Back project believes that her his
tory of being an advocate for community
causes will be a strength.
Hattie Anthony's appointment as Fighting
See HATTIE ANTHONY On Page 2A
the summit. Scheduled from
9 a.m. - 12 p.m. at Mt. Mori
ah Primitive Baptist Church,
747 W. Trade St., the meeting
will be tightly timed.
"People should bring typed
or handwritten solutions. We
don't want any long-winded
See ANSWERS On Page 2A
Homicides in Charlotte J
1 1 5
118
U.S. schools are
reverting back to
segregation
By Sonya Ross
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Racial segregation is spreading in Ameri
ca's public schools to a degree unseen since the 1960s, accord
ing to a study. But educators say today the quality of a class is
more important than the color of a classmate.
The study by the Harvard Project on School Desegregation
found that two of every three black children attended schools
where blacks were more than half of the student population
during the 1991-92 school term.
That's the highest percentage since 1968, when 77 percent of
black students attended predominantly black schools.
Thirty-six of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's 102 public schools
are more than 50 percent black.
"This report reflects what may be the beginning of a historic
reversal," said Harvard Project director Gary Orfield. "The
civil rights impulse from the 1960s is dead in the water and
the ship is floating backward toward the shoals of racial seg
regation."
About 73 percent of Hispanic children attended minorlty-
domlnated schools in 1992, the study said. That number has
Increased steadily since 1968, when 54 percent of Hispanic
students were enrolled in schools where blacks or HIspanics
were more than half the . student popuMion. .
C .Hleld atrnbuted tht increases to segregated housing pat
terns and "a huge change” in birth rates and immigration. But
he discounted the flight of white students to suburban or pri
vate schools as a factor.
Public school enrollment grew 7 percent between 1984 and
1991, while private enrollment fell by 9 percent, he noted.
And he said there has been a polarization in suburban as well
as city schools. Fifty-eight percent of black and 64 percent of
Hispanic children, who live in suburbs near large metropoli-
See U.S. SCHOOLS On Page 2A
America stepping up
capture and return of
Haitian refugees
nights on the cutter Legare,
and be quickly repatriated ,
he said.
'We'll feed them, give them
water, medical attention," he
said.
It was the third group inter
cepted in eight days as they
attempted to flee the island
nation.
Eighty-one Haitians were
intercepted last last Thurs
day and repatriated. Another
group of more than 20 were
spotted by Coast Guard offi
cials Dec. 5 and returned.
Operation Able Manner be
gan after the White House or^
dered that all Haitians inter
cepted at sea be returned to
their troubled homeland
without a hearing to deter
mine if they were fleeing po
litical persecution.
By Karen Testa
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI - About 111 Hai
tians Jammed onto a 35-foot
sailboat were intercepted
about 30 miles off the is
land's coast by the U.S. Coast
Guard on Sunday and will be
returned to their homeland,
officials said.
Coast Guard officials work
ing on Operation Able Man
ner spotted the vessel late
Sunday morning about 30
miles northeast of Cap-
Haitien, on the northern
coast of Haiti.
The group of men, women
and children were "all fine,"
said Petty Officer Alex Word
en of the Coast Guard in Mia
mi. They will spend two
Buf^o
Soldiers
meet with
President
Clinton
President Clinton met with
four living legends when he
met with the "Buffalo Sol
diers" at the White House. In
a meeting in the Oval Office,
Clinton met with 99-year-
old Sgt. Maj. William Har
rington, 98-year-old Sgt.
Mark Matthews, Trooper
James Madison and Trooper
Frederick Williams. Harri
son. the oldest member of the
group, competed on the U.S.
equestrian team in the 1916
Olympics. The Buffalo Sol
diers were in Washington to
help dedicate a new stamp
commemorating the exploits
of the all-black Army units,
which served mostly in the
West until an executive order
totally desegregated the
armed forces in 1952.
ft ■
m
raOTO/WHITE BOUSE