Beating breast cancer: One woman shares her story/Page 9A
I Cjjarlotte I
VOLUME 22 NO. 3
THE VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 3,1996
75 CENTS
SERVING CABARRUS, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTIES
NAACP
calls off
audit
Board to get
report on
Alexander
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The NAACP is unable to
complete an audit of N.C. con
ference finances because sus
pended state president Kelly
Alexander has not turned over
needed financial records, says
acting state president Melvin
Alston.
Alston, a Guilford County
commissioner, said auditors
are putting together the best
report they can and will pre
sent it to the NAACP’s nation
al board prior to its October
20 meeting.
The board is supposed to
determine at that meeting if
Alexander, who was suspend
ed in May, will be reinstated
or permanently suspended.
“We couldn’t find any bank
statements for the last seven
years (on the Merrill Lynch
account),” Alston said. “We
have some from Mr. Florence,
from the United Guaranty
account. Mr. Florence handled
this account, but Kelly han
dled the Merrill Lynch
account and a few other
accounts we can’t find any
records about. There are no
bank statements or cancelled
checks for the Merrill Lynch
account. This is the account
that is in question.”
Alexander could not be
reached for comment and did
not return a call to his office
at the family funeral home
Wednesday.
Linda Crite Gaines, book
keeper to the state conference
and treasurer for the local
NAACP branch, said she sent
some financial documents,
including a check Register for
the Merrill Lynch account, to
the state office in August.
That package apparently
was not received by the audi
tor to whom it was addressed,
Gaines said. She said she has
the Postal Service tracing the
package, which was sent by
priority mail on Aug. 23.
Some records may be in a
post office box sealed by the
local postmaster because of a
dispute as to whom it belongs.
Alexander contends it is his
personal box, though it was
opened in the name of the
NAACP under Alexander’s
name.
Postal officials say
Alexander refuses to accept an
agreement allowing the box to
be opened in the presence of a
neutral observer and split
See NO AUDIT on page 2A
Politically correct
; 2000
1819
Total
Increase in
black voter
registration in
Mecklenburg
County
• Between July 1 and September 1
Registration by sex and afiOliation
ILLUSTRATIONAW. MICHAEL HARRIS
SOURCE/MECKLENBURG BOARD OF ELECTIONS
Registration of black voters is rising
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
A small army of African Americans are can
vassing North Carolina to educate other
Afiican Americans on the power of the vote.
Considered to be a key election because the
next president is likely to nominate the sever
al Supreme Court justices, blacks have taken
the message across the state.
Local efforts have been effective. Black voter
registration has increased by almost 1,900
and both parties have benefitted. The
Democratic Party has seen its ranks swell by
1,382, while the Republicans gained 89 new
members.
One of the most significant jumps has been
in the “unaffiliated” category which gained
346 African Americans.
Tammy Johnson, a registered Democrat,
win proudly cast her vote on Nov. 4. She regis
tered at 18 and has been a loyal supporter
ever since.
“The Democratic Party has just been more
suitable to minorities and others,” Johnson
said. “The issues - health issues, medicare,
senior citizens and welfare problems - affect a
lot of people.”
The Young Democrats of Mecklenburg, of
which Johnson is president, have placed voter
registration at the top of their agenda. They
have registered more than 600 new voters this
year.
While the message has reached many, some
African Americans express discomfort with
the process.
“I am not voting, and I never will,” said
Tonya, 21. “It won’t make no difference any
how.”
Tonya, who asked that her last name not be
used, feels that voting is a waste of time. Her
vote, she contends, “wiU not count.”
“Tm saying that is because I am black,” she
said. “But nobody out there really knows what
I am feeling or thinking - they don’t care.
“They say black people should be Democrats.
What have they done?” she asked. “Every per
son with power in the thing has been taken
down and they done changed welfare. Whose
See REGISTERED VOTERS on page 2A
Wallace trial
opens wounds
for families
By Paul Nowell
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The busy corner of Sharon
Amity Road and Central
Avenue is a place of dark
memories for Alphonso
Slaughter. But still he finds
himself drawn to the spot
where his daughter was mur
dered two years ago.
“I have to go back there ...
for sentimental reasons,” the
retired minister said, carefully
choosing his words. “But two
years is not enough time. I
don’t think there will be
enough time.”
In early March 1994, Debra
Slaughter was found stran
gled in her home at the Glen
Hollow Apartments on
Central Avenue.
Police investigators say she
was the 10th young black
Charlotte woman whose life
was snuffed out by the same
man over a 20-month period.
An 11th victim was in South
Carolina.
On Monday, Henry Louis
Wallace, a 30-year-old Navy
veteran and former restaurant
worker, went on trial for nine
killings - including the death
of Deljra Slaughter. Attorneys
expect the trial to take up to
PHOTO/OALVIN FERGUSON
Dee Sumter has turned the
murder of her daughter
Shawna Hawk (background)
into a crusade to help the
families of vioient crime.
eight weeks.
Prosecutors are seeking the
death penalty in each of the
killings.
Debra Slaughter, a 35-vear
old mother who had recently
moved to Charlotte from
Atlanta, knew Wallace. They
worked together at a
Bojangles restaurant a few
See TRIAL on page 2A
Pupil reassignment
promises to be a major
test for superintendent
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Eric Smith, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ new superinten
dent, is getting ready for one of the most challenging and emo
tional tests of his young administration.
Pupil reassignment, an annual affair for the district, will be
especially emotional this year. Smith and his staff will have to
find a way to populate two new high schools; one in the northeast
in the new Education Village and the other in Matthews. Each
has room for about 1,600 students.
Doing so is likely to affect West Charlotte and Garinger high
schools, as well as East Mecklenburg and North Mecklenburg.
But Smith says he and his staff are going to take a hard look at
the entire pupil reassignment plan, rather than those schools. “It
is an important time for Charlotte-Mecklenburg to re-evaluate its
commitment to key principles,” Smith said. “We will be working
through those issues with the community.
“There’s a great deal of personal feelings and emotions that go
with (opening new high schools),” Smith acknowledged.
He should know. Smith had to populate two new high schools in
Newport News, Va., school system last year, before taking over
Charlotte-Mecklenburg in August.
“Tm very familiar with the process,” Smith said. “There’s a lot
of emotions that go with it. Hopefully we can continue to see the
celebration that goes with it, too.”
School board member George Dunlap expects an emotional and
heated debate before a final plan is adopted.
See PUPIL REASSIGNMENT on page 3A
Communities line up to fight trash transfer station
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Northwest Charlotte neigh
borhoods fighting a proposed
garbage transfer station on
Hoskins Road plan to take
their case before Mecklenburg
County Commissioners on
Tuesday.
The group got another scare
when they learned funds for
some widening of Hoskins
Road are contained in the
upcoming bond issue, but
apparently that project does
not include the section
between N.C. 16 and Beatties
Ford Road.
A widened Hoskins would
bring more truck traffic,
neighborhood leaders said.
The proposed transfer sta
tion would be about 200 yards
from homes on Plumstead
Street in University Park
North on a site westside com
munities thought would be
offices.
The announcement sur
prised the neighborhoods and
has added fuel to a debate
about when and how commu
nities should be notified about
certain kinds of industrial
developments in their areas -
even those not requiring
rezonings for approval.
The group of 11 communities
have been consulting with an
attorney about how to stop
construction of the transfer
station by NationsWaste, Inc.,
a Kentucky based firm which
is a subsidiary of a firm based
in New Jersey, Continental
Waste.
The company’s plans has hit
two snags already. First coun
ty officials have requested
more information before issu
ing a building permit and
Chester County, S.C. has
refused to sell NationsWaste a
landfill site to which it would
transfer garbage collected in
Mecklenburg County.
Barbara Atwater, president
of the University Park North
community and coordinator of
the neighborhood group, said
they will speak to the commis
sioners during a public con
cerns section.
See NEIGHBORS on page 6A
PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON
The proposed widening of Hoskins Road stirred resistance among
communities that thought the project would affect them.
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Strictly Business 7A
Lifestyles 9A
Religion 11A
Kids Page 14A
A&E IB
Regional News 6B
Sports SB
Classified 13B
Auto Showcase 14B
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