fii
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. contributions recalled. See Section C
QCIje Cljarlotte
VOLUME 21 N0.17
JANUARY 11,1996
75 CENTS
Workplace
magnets
knocked
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
School Board member George
Dunlap said the system's poli
cy on integrating schools is a
good one, but
it has
not
been followed
properly.
The board
voted
Monday to
reaffirm the
policy, which
calls for
using mid
point schools,
neighborhood
schools in naturally integrat
ed areas and magnet schools,
in that order, to maintain
integration.
But during those discus
sions, Dunlap took issue with
a plan to
make schools
Dunlap
in the east-
side educa
tion village
“workplace”
magnets.
Griffin
That plan
means par
ents working
in the
University
City area
near UNC
See WORKPLACE page 2A
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Community News 3A
Lifestyles 9A
Religion 12A
Arts/Entertainment 1B
What's Up 5B
Sports SB
Classified 12B
Campus News 15A
To subscribe, call (704) 376-
0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.
© 1995 The Charlotte Post
Publishing Company.
E-mail:
charpost@clt.mindspring.com
Brookside residents moved from 'imminent hazard'
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Last week, the N.C. Division
of Facility
businesses
Charlotte would get priority in
placing their children at the
school.
“I question whether , we
should have a workplace mag
net at the new school,” Dunlap
said.
He said new schools are nat
urally attractive to parents
because they already have the
best resources. Adding the
workplace magnet would add
to the resources, such as the
planned-business partner
ships.
Dofhg so would affect the
ability of other schools such as
Derita and Winding Springs
to maintain adequate racial
balances.
Those naturally integrated
schools often get the African
American students bused out
of the black communities
where most magnet schools
are set up now, making them
more predominantly black,
Dunlap said in an interview
earlier.
“White parents have a prob
lem with schools that are pre
dominantly black,” he said.
Another example is
Cochrane Middle School,
which received some 200 stu
dents formerly assigned to
J.T. Williams, when that
school was made a magnet.
Cochrane was already nearly
70 percent black. Now school
officials are talking about
making Cochrane a magnet.
Brookside rest home was
supposed to have turned the
corner.
The northwest Charlotte
facility brought on new man
agement and new safeguards
last year after allegations of
patient neglect. The changes
were supposed to make
Brookside, previously licensed
as Dogwood Manor, a more
livable place for its residents.
It wasn’t for long.
Bynum
Services shut
down
Brookside,
located at
1700 N. 1-85
Service Road,
by issuing a
summary
suspension of
its license.
With its
license sus
pended, Brookside can’t admit
new residents, and
Mecklenburg County officials
moved this week to relocate
its 89 patients. Brookside’s
ownership group, which
include Charlotte optometrist
and former Mecklenburg
County commissioner candi
date Raleigh Bynum, have
until Feb. 3 to appeal the sus
pension before an administra
tive law judge. Bynum could
n't be reached for comment
Wednesday.
“Twenty-eight placements
were made (Monday) and 25
(Tuesday),” Mecklenburg
spokesman John McGillicuddy
said. “The remainder will be
placed as soon as possible.”
Brookside is the first
Mecklenburg County rest
home to be closed by the state.
Attempts to secure a
restraining order against the
state by Brookside were
denied Tuesday, and Dr.
Ronald Levine, N.C.’s public
health director, issued an
order declaring the facility an
imminent health hazard. The
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Hospital Authority has
assumed oversight of
Brookside until residents arq
placed in other facilities.
“It’ll be challenging to quick
ly place 89 residents,” said
John Butler, director of
Mecklenburg’s Services for
Adults Division. “We’ll seek-
placements in Mecklenburg
County first and then work
our way outside the county as
available slots are filled.”
Brookside’s suspension came
after a Jan. 3 surprise visit by
See BROOKSIDE page2A
CHARLOTTE POST SPECIAL REPORT
-- .■
Percentage of Charlotte-Mecklenburg students scoring at/above grade level
i on end of grade reading test for 1994-1995
■
ao
& 70
40
tBlW
78 2 InH 76.6 iMlli 76.9
I H!
Si
.Grade’A
QradeB
Gfiidc’ Grade £
5vel on reading end of
3 free/reduoed lunch
*1 -
I %At/above grade level on reading end of grade ' '
test NOT receiving free/reduced lunch
;W
Percentage of Charlotte-Mecklenburg students scoring at/above grade level
on end of grade mathmatics test for 1994-1995
m
’Grades Grades
I
.....
%At/above grade level on reading end of
grade test receiving free/reduced lunch
I %At/above grade level on reading end of grade li
test NOT receiving free/reduced lunch
""ait:
Figures show life is tough for children
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
r he child was about 9
years old. He was
one of 10 children
and a total of 16
people lived in the
small house in north
Charlotte off Statesville Road.
In the small park near his
home, drug dealers plied their
trade. That’s all the life he
knew and believed that one
day he too would take his
place among the drug dealers
Abuse and neglect continue to increase,
but some programs work for families.
in the park. He was not doing
well in school.
This story by "Vivian Brown,
director of Project Hope, is
just one of the many horror
stories those who work with
children in Mecklenburg
County come across regularly.
In this youngster's case, the
intense intervention by the
teen pregnancy prevention
program turned his night
mares into dreams, perhaps
saving his life.
Children’s Defense Fund
founder and president Marian
Wright Edelman, who will
speak in Charlotte next
month, has heard similar sto
ries around the country.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Education Foundation has
tapped Edelman as featured
speaker at its annual meeting
Feb. 7.
Asking Edelman to speak is
like asking for a dose of castor
oil.
You won’t like the way it
feels going down, but you
know it's what you need.
Edalman is one of the
world’s most outspoken cham
pions of children everywhere.
If the results of 1995 reports
on the state of children in
Mecklenburg County are any
indication, the locals will get a
healthy dose of Edelman’s
elixir. She’s a regular contrib
utor to The Post's editorial
pages.
In the introduction of the
Children’s Defense Fund’s
1995 yearbook, Edelman
pours out the tonic on behalf
of those young people buffeted
by crime in their homes and
communities, neglected by
caregivers at home and school,
and then blamed for their mis
erable conditions.
See CHILDREN page 2A
N.C. NAACP election results challenged, decision expected soon
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
State NAACP officials are
expecting to hear this week
whether the organization’s
October election will have to
be held over.
At the state convention, a
nearly new slate of officers
was elected, save for president
Kelly Alexander and first vice
president Melvin Alston of
Greensboro.
In , Valerie Woodard, long a
critic of Alexander, beat
Kermit Waddell for second
vice president at the state
level. Henry Pickett, president
of the Raleigh/Apex chapter,
was elected third vice presi
dent.
Gina Pettis-Dean of
Charlotte was elected youth
advisor, beating Mary Reid.
The vote totals were close.
with about 184 delegates cast
ing ballots and only 8-10 votes
difference between winners
and losers. For example,
. Woodard beat Waddell 96-88
and Z. Ann Hoyle of Hickory
beat longtime incumbent trea
surer James Florence 96-83.
Winners in the election
called it “significant.”
Pickett said the new slate of
officers wants to push the
state organization in a new
direction. “We were not part of
a national trend,” Pickett said.
“These were just people at the
state level who feel perhaps
we need to go in some other
directions. That was the rea
son they voted in the people
they voted in.”
Hoyle, the former third vice
president, agreed.
“Sometimes when we do not
make changes, people pqssess
positions, which in turn
equals possession of the orga
nization,” Hoyle said. “It is not
their fault. It is the fault of
those around them who don’t
make the commitment to
make the proper changes to
keep life in the organization.
However, complaints about
how the election was run have
prompted an investigation by
the national NAACP. And
See NAACP page 3A
Barnhill, quiet worker, dies
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Former N.C. Rep. Howard
Barnhill’s reputation as a
quiet politi
cian underlay
Barnhill
his commit
ment to help
constituents.
Mr
Barnhill, who
represented
northwest
Charlotte in
the General
Assembly for
10 years and
his last campaign in 1992. She
said his kind manner was
apparent in public as well as
private life.
“I’ve known Mr. Barnhill to
be interested in people, and a
genuine person,” Hood said.
“He always had something
good to say about someone. He
was quiet in his own way, but
he helped a lot of people in his
own way,”
was a champion of health-care
issues in North Carolina, died
Jan. 6 in Charlotte at age 79.
Anna Hood, chairperson of
the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Black Political Caucus,
worked with Mr. Barnhill on
Mr. Barnhill left the House
of Representatives in 1994
after suffering a stroke. His
health had steadily declined
by the time of his death.
Mr. Barnhill’s background
was in health services: he
began a health program in
Charlotte’s Brooklyn commu
nity in the 1950s and he
taught public health at UNC-
Chapel Hill
“He surrounded himself with
health-related issues and
helping people get better
health care,” Hood said.
Mr. Barnhill, who gained a
reputation as low-key politi
cian, shunned the spotlight.
But unassuming manner
didn’t keep him from working
in the interests of voters who
sent him to Raleigh for five
terms.
“I think it was the way he
carried himself and his work
ing behind the scenes to help
people,” Hood said.
Mr. Barnhill’s funeral is
Friday at 1 p.m. at First
Baptist Chuvch-'West.
Visitation will be 12-1 p.m. at
the church. Interment will be
in the Oaklawn Cemetery.
Alexander Funeral Home is
in charge of arrangements.
Sleigh ride anyone?
liC 1
PHCTO/JAMES BROWN
Jerry Brownlee Sr. of Charlotte gives Jerry Brownlee Jr. and
Rayshone Nance a ride on a makeshift plastic sleigh Monday.
The blizzard of 1996 dumped unexpected snow on Charlotte,
which was just fine with school kids. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
schools are expected to re-open Friday.