NationsBank reports record Charlotte community loans/Page 7A
Cljarlotte
VOLUME 21 NO. 37
MAY 30 1996
75 CENTS
County revisits Walton honor
Commissioners yield to pressure to review
naming building after former colleague
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Mecklenburg County
Conunissioners are expected to
reconsider naming a building
after late commissioner Bob
Walton Tuesday.
District 1 Commissioner
Linda McCall has placed the
item on the agenda for reconsid
eration.
The board unanimously voted,
without discussion, in
November to name the
Stonewall Plaza Building the
Robert L. Walton Building.
Walton died in July 1994 of a
heart attack.
McCall said her vote for the
measure was
“a mistake.”
“For some
reason, this
came up as a
public issue
within the
last two
weeks,”
McCall said.
“Phone calls
started com
ing in. I
explained to each why I sup
ported the decision. Then, as I
listened, I realized these people
were giving me a different view
point, from the victim’s stand
point.”
Walton was convicted in 1987
of assaulting an 18-year-old
male in a homosexual
encounter. He was sentenced to
30 days in jail. McCall said it
would not be fair to the man he
assaulted or his family to have
the building named after
Walton.
“Within the last three or four
years we’ve become very con
cerned with victims’ rights,” she
said. “We are trying to convey a
different message. Victims have
rights too. I feel very strongly
about that.”
District 3 Commissioner
Darrel Williams thinks McCall’s
concerns are politically based.
“It’s an election year, anything
See COUNTY on page 2t^
PHOTO/HERBERT L. WHITE
The RobertL. Walton Building
may lose Its name Tuesday.
The Sky’s The Limit
PHOTO/HERBERT L. WHITE
Adrienne Owens overcame the death of her mother to win a scholarship at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs, Colo. Owens is a 1995 graduate of Providence High School.
Personal tragedy inspires
Charlotte student to strive
for Air Force Academy
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
MATTHEWS - One chin-up kept
Adrienne Owens out of the U.S. Air
Force Academy.
But Owens is no quitter.
On two separate occasions, she tried to
push her way past the bar in physical
tests for the mditaiy school in Colorado
Springs, Colo., only to come up short
both times. She wasn’t about to let a
chin-up keep her out. Owens, 18, had
come too far.
“I was disappointed,” she said. “But I
couldn’t quit.”
That’s been Owens’ trademark. Five
years ago, her mother, Ada, died of can
cer, pushing Owens and her family into
a deep depression and driving her
grades dovmward. It took some coaxing,
but she recovered and has an Air Force
Academy scholarship worth $500,000 to
show for it. Rep. Sue Myrick recom
mended Owens for acceptance.
“I’m very excited,” the Providence High
School graduate said. ‘To be chosen out
of thousands of kids is an honor.”
Maj. Nick Berdeguez, a community
liaison for the academy in Monroe, said
he knew Owens was the kind of student
who could make it in Colorado Springs.
“She’s a bright, intelligent woman,” he
said. “She’s got everything the Air Force
wants. She’s one of the sharpest candi
dates I’ve come across in my 10 years as
liaison officer.”
Owens wasn’t thinking about the
future when Ada Owens died. An
accountant, Ada kept the family togeth
er while her husband George served in
the Army. Her death cast a pall over
everyone, especially Adrienne, who went
from an A student to a D.
“I was very angry,” she said. “After my
mother died, it just seemed like a part of
me was taken away. My grades suffered,
and I wasn’t doing very well in school.”
But help was on the way. Brenda
Gibson, who grew up with George
Owens and his family in Clinton, N.C.,
had a premonition: she’d marry George
and help raise their combined families.
The first step was getting George and
his three children past the mourning.
“When I first went to their house, the
shades were shut. It was completely
dark,” she said, “I said “we’ve got to get
some light in here.’”
The combined family moved to
Matthews - Brenda from Chevy Chase,
Md., George from Lorton, Va. - three
years ago, Adrienne wanted to be an
accountant like her mother, but Brenda
challenged her to take on a more
demanding discipline.
See AIR FORCE on page 3A
Alexander’s
suspension goes
beyond checks
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
A letter from the NAACP national office reveals a sharp differ
ence between why Kelly Alexander Jr. was suspended as N.C.
NAACP president and the reasons stated by Alexander.
Alexander has said in written and oral statements the suspen
sion came because he used checks pre-signed by th* previous
treasurer, James Florence of Fayetteville.
The NAACP letter said the suspension was due to more serious
offenses, including failure to turn over financial records and
monies to the new state treasurer and creation of an account
using NAACP funds separate from the N.C.
chapter’s accounts.
The letter, obtained this week, was sent on
May 20 to Alexander, the 20 people who signed a
complaint against him in April, and other
NAACP officials, including Nelson Rivers and
all North Carolina local chapters. It was signed
by William Penn, the NAACP’s director of
branches and field services.
Alexander did not return calls made to him
seeking comment.
In his letter, Penn said the national board
“determined that you failed to turn over the
Alexander
account books and all monies of the Conference to the Treasurer,
See LETTER on page 6A
Dole, Clinton among
NAACP speakers
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
take the reins of the troubled
organization
Under the theme “A New Day
Begun” the nation’s oldest civil
rights organization meets for its
annual convention in Charlotte
July 6-11.
President Bill Clinton is tenta
tively set to address the gather
ing on July 10. Clinton will be
greeted by Lenny Springs, an
NAACP national board member
and head of its fund raising
arm. Kweisi Mfume, the new
NAACP president and chief
executive officer, will introduce
the president. Clinton’s chal
lenger, Bob Dole, will also
speak.
The convention theme could
easily be based on the organiza
tion’s new leadership, the high
ly-respected Mfume, the former
Maryland congressman who
stepped down as head of the
Congressional Black Caucus to
in December.
Mfume
replaced the
Rev. Ben
Chavis, whose
handling of
organization
funds led to
his ouster,
I and subse-
Iquent audits
found other
financial irregularities, leading
to a leadership shake-up which
brought Myrlie Evers-Williams
to the head of the Board of
Directors.
The convention is expected to
be a showcase of new leader
ship, renewed commitment to
civil rights and a reach for
younger membership. 'The con
vention, the NAACP’s 87th, will
See CLINTON on page 3A
Poet Maya Angelou named honorary chair of slave ship exhibit
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Poet and author Maya
Angelou is honorary chair of
the drive to raise $125,000 for
this fall’s exhibit at Spirit
Square of the slave ship
Henrietta Marie.
The exhibit will come to
Charlotte's Spirit Square in
Nov. 8-Jan. 25, 1997, due pri
marily to the efforts of Dawn
Womack, the arts center’s vice
president for arts and educa
tion.
In a mailing sent last week
to potential contributors,
Womack outlined an extensive
program of lectures, educa
tional programs and perfor
mances which will accompany
the showing of artifacts from
the ship, which sank near Key
West, Fla., around 1700.
“The exhibit will offer an
incredible opportunity for
everyone in our community to
explore an evocative period in
America’s history, to move
beyond that period to the cele
bration of a people and their
contributions to our country’s
present and future,” Womack
said. “In that context. Spirit
Square has created a much
broader program, entitled
‘From Enslavement to
Empowerment,’ incorporating
the arts, literature and histo
ry as a way to inspire a com
munity-wide examination,
understanding, appreciation
and celebration of African and
African American achieve
ments over the last 300
years.
Planned are a gospel cele
bration and opening reception
and a lecture series on such
topics as “Women and the
Slave Experience,” “Religion
& Politics,” and “The Role of
the Abolitionists.”
Appearing during the three-
month program will be
Angelou, writer Cornel West,
and others. Classes and work
shops are also planned for
adults and children on African
American arts forms - clay
pots, weaving, basketry, steel
to See the
O’Samba,
planned are
workshops on
marine
archaeology
and the
methods of
historical
research.
One major
event will be
the perfor
mance of
Peter Grego’s
play “Hating
Sun Rise,” by
an African-
Brazilian Dance Troupe. The
play is based on the actual
transcripts of conversations
with former slaves. The Afro-
American Children’s Theatre
is planning performances and
residencies during the exhibit.
The fund raising packet asks
supporters to “be a part of this
historical experience.”
“The project’s mission is to
provide you and others in our
community a positive experi
ence, despite slavery’s painful
reality, that moves us into
healthy discussion and action
about our common future,”
Womack said. “Lectures and
panel discussions will center
around social, political and
economic development, chal
lenging young minds to think
critically about leadership and
other important roles in our
See EXHIBIT on page 2A
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Strictly Business 7A
Lifestyles 9A
Religion 11A
A&E IB
Regional News 7B
Sports 9B
Classified 13B
Auto Showcase 14B
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© 1996 The Charlotte Post
Publishing Company.
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