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Harriston’s on Cedar promises to bring nightlife uptown/Page IB
Cljarlotte
VOLUME 21 NO. 45
JULY 25, 1996
75 CENTS
Starting from scratch
Redrawn 12th Congressional District could extend eastward
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
A N.C. House redistricting
plan would replace the m^ority-
black 12th Congressional
District thrown out last month
by the U.S. Supreme Court with
one which stretches from
Charlotte to Robeson County.
The new district would be 51.7
TVash
station
rankles
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Opponents of a proposed
garbage transfer station off
Statesville Road got a chance to
speak out on the issue
Wednesday night, but the sta
tion’s developers already has a
construction permit.
The 11-acre site is already
being prepared and the transfer
station could open in August to
serve not only Mecklenburg
County, but surrounding coun
ty’s as well, up to 1,200 tons in a
10-hour work day.
'The trash is not stored on the
site, but trucked to landfill or
incinerators in other areas. But
material could he stored
treo'ifer trailers up ic 4.S 1'. . -
under the proposed opera’ing
permit.
And. “waste exhibiting strong
offensive odors shall be expedi
tiously processed to minimize
the likelihood of odorotis nui
sance conditions," according to a
draft of the operating permit.
The station will be located
west of Starita Road on the
south 1-85 Service Road.
The site’s zoning classification
is 1-2, a heavy industrial catego
ry which allows recycling cen
ters, including trash and
garbage transfer centers.
About three acres of the site
will be developed.
Westside residents, which has
already sued to rid the area of a
landfill, see the station as
another nuisance that will hin
der growth and restoration in
their communities. They point
to the airport, wastewater and
water treatment plants, major
highways and heavy industrial
concentrations already on the
westside.
Don Willard, a spokesman for
Mecklenburg’s Department of
Environmental Protection, said
USA Waste Services, the coun
try’s largest such company,
bought the company which had
proposed the transfer station as
an alternative to the landfill the
county plans to build on U.S.
521 in south Charlotte.
That company was Chambers
See TRASH on page 3A
percent white; however. House
leaders consider it a majority-
minority district since it would
be 38.6 percent African
American and 7.9 percent
Native American.
Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte,
who represents the current
12th, would be in the redrawn
district under the House plan
that win be presented in federal
court. On Monday, the three-
judge panel will hear arguments
on whether to redraw the state’s
congressional districts immedi
ately or wait until after the
November elections.
The N.C. House, controlled by
Republicans, favors redrawing
now and has submitted the plan
to the court.
Watt said the plan submitted
to the judges was drawn by the
rules committtee, not the redis
tricting committee, as he expect
ed.
“I was surprised,” Watt said
Wednesday. “I have not had
time to prepare a response. We
just received the letter on July
22.”
“We continue to believe the
See 12TH on page 6A
Worth weight in gold
Dominique Dawes of Siiver Spring, Md. made history Tuesday as the first African
American to win an Oiympic gold medal. Dawes helped the U.S. women capture the first
overall gymnastics title for the first time ever, ending 44 years of dominance by the former
Soviet Union.
ILLUSTRATION W. MICHAEL HARRIS
Donation draws the
ire of AME Zion
Church members
Petition to remove Bishop started
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Bishop George Battle’s $100,000 contribution from a S.C. AME
Zion Church mission fund to a convicted embezzler has drawn
complaints and a promise to seek his removal from office.
“He said he prayed over it, but I don’t know who he prayed to to
give that’kind of money to any one person,” said Sam Jennings, a
former trustee chairman at the Pineville AME Zion Church in
Rock Hill.
Jennings said Battle used poor judgement in giving such a large
contribution to one person.
Battle oversees about 230 churches in S.C. and Georgia. The
AME Zion Board of Bishops is meeting this week in Washington
and will decide on appointment of its 12 bishops. Church leaders
have been mute on the donation and several had left for
Washington when called for comment.
Battle withdrew the money from church accounts with the
approval of two church elders and ’.'s-ed it to pay back a poition of
the $600,000 embezzled by Delores Hairston, a member of his for
mer chnrf:',, Gethsemane AME Zion Church in Charlotte.
With the $100,000 payment, Hairston’s two-year sent,;uce was
reduced and she now lives in Atlanta. Hairston was a First Union
branch manager when the theft occurred. She pled guilty and
was sentenced to two years in prison, which was cut in half and
she was released last year.
Battle, who could not be reached for comment, has said he acted
See BATTLE on page 6A
Scholarship fund helps
students realize dreams
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
“I think I have this thing in
me” says 17-year-old-Jessica
Brown of Dalton Village. “If
they can have it, I can have it
too.”
Brown is one of 57 students
to be honored Sunday during
the Charlotte Housing
Authority’s 13th Scholarship
Fund Annual Awards Day
Celebration and Reception.
The event starts at 5 p.m.
Sunday at First Baptist
Church West, 1801 Oaklawn
Ave.
The scholarship fund, the
brainchild of former CHA
employee John Crawford,
offers need-based awards to
public housing students hop
ing to continue their educa-
See SCHOLAR on page 2A
PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON
Jessica Brown, with grand
mother Mary Brown., won a
Charlotte Housing Authority
scholarship. Jessica will
attend Peace College in
Raleigh.
Core communities flex muscle
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Queen City Congress members Chris Burns-Fazzi (Elizabeth)
Ron Morgan (Dilworth) Shirley Fulton (Wesley Heiohts), Mary
Hopper (Dilworth) and Mattie Marshall (Washington Heights)
lobby on behalf of inner city neighborhoods.
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Shortly after 20th century
began, developer John Nolen -
designer of Myers Park - con
ceived of Charlotte as a 2-mile
radius community bounded by a
tree-lined parkway.
The idea didn’t come complete
ly to fhiition, but by the end of
World War II, Charlotte was a
city with a 2-mile radius cen
tered at the Square.
Now, leaders from neighbor
hoods as diverse as Washington
Heights and Elizabeth,
Dilworth and Tryon Hills, have
revived the concept and orga
nized the Queen City Congress.
The Congress includes 42 cen
ter-city neighborhoods, roughly
within 2 mile.' of the intersec
tion of Trade and'Tryon streets.
Mattie Marshall, a
Washington Heights leader, is
the Congress’ treasurer.
Washington Heights is off
Beatties Ford Road, just beyond
the Brookshire Freeway.
Some other neighborhoods
include Morningside-
Commonwealth and Chantilly,
Plaza-Midwood; Seversville, off
Beatties Ford Road; Wilmore
and Belvedere Homes, and
Westover Hills, off West
Boulevard.
On May 20, 1995, the commu
nities signed a “Declaration of
Interdependence.” The date of
the signing is the same as when
the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence was signed more
than 200 years ago .
Congress President Shirley
Fulton, a Superior Court judge
from the Wesley Heights com
munity, said, “The Queen City
C.'ongress came about as a result
of (Dilworth architect) Ron
Morgan and 1 doing some work
on my neighborhood...talking
about progress and getting frus
trated by the lack of progress
and the time it was taking to
get anything done.
‘We decided to check out other
neighborhoods to see how things
were going for them. We met in
Anderson’s Restaurant in
March 1995, six or seven people
from different neighborhoods,
and talked about different prob-
See A CONGRESS on 6A
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
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Religion 11A
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Classified 13B
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© 1996 The Charlotte Post
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