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Ci^arlotte 3Bo£(t
VOLUME 19, No. 19
THURSDAY DECEMBER 23,1993
50 CENTS
Community
King Day
plans. 3A
Area organizations are gearing
up for annual Martin Luther King
Day observances.
Lifestyles
Holiday cheer
gone bad. 7A
We'd like to think family mem
bers can get along this time of
the year. And it can happen if
you don't make unrealistic ex
pectations.
Arlsii
Entertainment
'First
Christmas.' 1B
BeBe and CeCe Winans, gos
pel music's prime-time pair, try
their hand at Christmas music
on their newly-released CD.
'""^TWWS
Growing
pains. 7B
Johnson C. Smith's basketball
Golden Bulls are barely above
.500, but coach Steve Joyner
isn't worried. His young team
just needs to grow.
INDEX
Opinion/Editorials 4A-5A
Lifestyles 7A
Around Charlotte 8A
Religion 9A
Church News 12A
Arts & Entertainment IB
What's Up 5B
Sports 7B
Classified 12B
• For Subscription
Information, Call
376-0496
©The Charlotte Post
Publishing Company
Final Four participation full of ife
o
By John Mlnter
POST CORRESPONDENT
Minority vendors waiting
If minorities participate
fully in the flow of cash that
will be the 1993 Final Four
in Charlotte, history will be
made.
And they might, if....
...The Charlotte Organiz
ing Committee's (COC) diver
sity subcommittee completes
its screening this month on a
list of over 200 minority-
owned businesses capable of
providing goods and services
before and during the Final
Four, April 2-4.
...The National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA)
and dozens of schools, or
ganizations, sports suppliers
and media outlets actually
hire minorities from the
list.
The final list, expected to
be ready by early January, if
not sooner. Includes as
many as 200 florists, meet
ing planners, caterers, bus
owners, entertainers, Insu-
See FINAL FOUR On Page 2A
NCAA
/
rt 3 9 4
OJJIn)
Tve changed for the better'
m
Barber-Scotia: A
place to learn and
serve community
This is the first in a three-
part series on Charlotte-area
schools who belong to the
United Negro College Fund.
The UNCF, which supports
41 private historically-black
colleges and universities,
celebrates its 50th anniver
sary in 1994 with the annual
UNCF telethon Jan. 8. The
program airs from 7 p.m. to
12 am. on WBTV (channel 3).
lil
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
4 ^
fj
raOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Greg Miller, a junior at Baiber-Scotla College In Concord, credits the school with helping him see the world In terms other
than what he grew up with In the Belmont community.
reg Miller has come
too far to disap
point anyone.
Miller, a junior at
Barber-Scotia Col
lege in Concord, is a role
model to the folks in the Bel
mont community in which
he lives and the kids at the
Johnston YMCA, where he
works as a counselor. Life is
tough, but at Barber-Scotia,
he's getting an opportunity to
better htmself and his com
munity.
"I know education is the
key to the future," he said.
"Right now, a lot of people
look up to me because I am in
college. I wouldn't want to let
them down."
Jearmette Goebel is one of
them. Program director at
the Salvation Army Boys
and Girls Club in the Bel
mont neighborhood, she en-
See BARBER-SCOTIA On Page 2A
Petitions oppose park fee, call for director's resignation
By John Minter
POST CORRESPONDENT'
The still-unresolved Freedom Park
cruising controversy has sparked
two new petitions, including one
calling for the resignation of Meck
lenburg County parks director
Wayne Weston.
The petitions oppose a recom
mended $2 entry fee for the park and
contend efforts to impose one are ra
cist.
"What we are hearing on the street
Is that people are very much opposed
to the $2 entrance fee,” said Terry
Belk, a UNC Charlotte criminal jus
tice student who started the latest
petition drive.
"Most people feel it is just white
people tiying to keep blacks out of
their neighborhood," said Belk.
"They want to control Freedom
Park."
An earlier drive was stopped after
Mecklenburg County commission
ers appointed an ad hoc citizens
committee to work out a solution to
the controversy.
The committee proposed the $2 fee
as a way to resolve a dispute which
began when county parks officials,
bowing to complaints by the mostly
white neighbors of Freedom Park,
barricaded the park to cruisers,
most of whom are African Ameri
can.
Commissioners didn’t like the fee
proposal when it considered the
matter in November and asked the
ad hoc committee to reconsider.
However, a Nov. 30 meeting of the
ad hoc committee degenerated into a
shouting match and ended with a 7-
7 vote on the entry fee.
Mecklenburg commissioners will
consider the matter again on Jan. 4.
"People violating the law, urinat
ing in yards or parking on grass, is
something the police should
handle," Belk said. "That has noth
ing to do with people who go to the
park."
Belk is getting support in his peti
tion drive from two African Ameri
can members of the ad hoc commit
tee - Wayne Ferguson, a long-time
activist and veteran of many civil
rights battles, and Dwa5me Collins,
associate minister at Walls Memori
al AME Zion Church.
See FREEDOM PARK On Page 3A
Giving takes on new
meaning for students
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Christmas will -be a little
brighter for children in war-
battered Bosnia.
And a group of kids from
the Dalton Village communi
ty helped make it possible.
Students in the Cities In
Schools program at Steele
Creek Elementary School
collected toys, clothing, pen
cils and crayons for distribu
tion to children in Bosnia
through Samaritan's Purse,
an international program
founded by evangelist
Franklin Graham. Their ef
fort is an expression of giv
ing, probably for the first
time in their young lives.
"You should've seen my of
fice - people giving our kids
gifts," said Trudy Hill, Steele
Creek's site coordinator. "In
our effort to teach them life
is more than taking, we have
to teach them at an early age
to give."
The 35 CIS students, who
are as young as 5 years of age,
were split into four groups
See STEELE On Page 2A
Students in
Steele Creek
Elementary's
Cities In
Schools pro
gram gathered
gifts and essen
tials to ship to
children in
war-ravaged
Bosnia. The
Steele Creek
students, who
live in Dalton
Village, split
into four
groups to con
tribute gifts,
many of them
for the first
time, said site
coordinator
Trudy HUl.
PHOTO/TRUDT Hm,