Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Nov. 21, 1996, edition 1 / Page 23
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5B York/tKIje Cljarlotte ^o^t/Rowan REGIONAL THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1996 Voter education needed to maintain N.C. progress most people in North Carolina cannot see beyond their own situations,” he said. “That mind set is caused by observing the demands for tobacco falling and these huge plants and mills that once car ried our communities closing down.” The pastor of Zion Baptist Chiurch said, “People stop look ing and thinking holistically, whether its internationally. See VOTER on page 7B 100 Men cooking dishes By Brian Powe FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST SALISBURY - A Rowan County civil activist says that if North Carolina suffers from its decisions at the poUs, the blame should be placed on the indecision of those who did not cast their ballots. Struggling with the results from the election, Gregory Moss believes that it is a mis conception for African- Americems to think that for mer Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt was not elected senator because he did not receive enough support from the com munity. “Statistics show that Harvey Gantt received received 4 out of 10 white votes. Anyone run ning for an office, whether they are white or black, get ting 40 percent of the white vote in the state of North Carolina should not have a dif ficult time being elected to their desired position.” The past moderator of the Rowan Baptist Association, Moss attributes some of the confusion that North Carolina voters are confronted with at the polls stems from the lack of education. The ordained min ister says that “having a large group of people who are func tional illiterates and not nec essarily politically astute leads to awM decisions on election day.” Moss says this type of con duct is the offspring of North Carolinians still hanging on to the good ole’ boy mentality. “There are persons in this state who still aspire to reclaim the days of times past. We have many who embrace the statutes and principles of the confederacy of generations long gone,” he said. “And, then when you try to apply the prin ciples of the 1700s-1800s to a 20th century society, you will more often than not end up with disorder.” The indecision to try to change one’s personal position begins with someone being conscious in all ways of life. Moss said. “The reason we fail to attempt to catise or start a change in society is because Employee: Avis is racist THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WILMINGTON, N.C. - A for mer manager at an Avis rental car outlet owned by a Wilmington man says she told corporate managers of com plaints of racist practices as early as 1993. Three black women have filed a lawsuit against Avis and John Dalton, who is the owner of five Avis outlets in North Carolina and South Carolina. The women claim they were denied service, while former employees said Dalton trained his staff to avoid renting to black people. Civil rights lawyers who helped file the suit said Avis Inc. knew about complaints but did nothing to stop Dalton. Avis said earlier this week that executives were not aware of any racial discrimi nation by franchise owners. Cindy Smith, a former man ager at Dalton’s Avis outlet in Wilmington, said Thursday she told regional managers during a New York training $emineir in the early 1990s that her boss discriminated against black people and low- tanking military personnel. ; They did nothing. Smith told The Morning Star of Wilmington. • “Some of them laughingly said, “Well, you’re from the South,’” said Smith, who .worked at Avis for nine months. Smith said she told the man agers that Dalton had a policy of charging black customers and low-ranking military per- isonnel a higher deposit when they tried to rent a car. Many car rental agencies charge deposits, but lawyers say Dalton hiked the charge for black people. Smith is believed to be the first Avis employee to publicly claim she went to corporate managers and told them about Jlalton’s policies, the newspa per reported. Three former managers who signed statements for the law suit told of similar policies involving potential black cus tomers. Dalton told them that black people likely were drug dealers and wouldn’t pay for damage to cars, the employees said. Smith was not one of the ex managers who signed the statements. Dalton denied allegations of racism. • The former managers said they received nearly three dozen calls from the Avis reser vation center in Tulsa, Okla., regarding complaints from blacks who were denied car rentals. Often, the customer- service representatives were aware of Dalton’s reputation, the former managers said. Joseph Vittoria, the chair man and chief executive officer of Avis Inc. said Dalton will lose his franchise if the allega tions against him are true. Vittoria said the company will investigate the allegations for itself. See LAWSUIT Page 7B PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON James Bullard (left) prepared gumbo for 100 Men Who Cook at Rrst Presbyterian Church last week, while Grady McMIller dishes up cherry venison. Child didn’t make up beating: prosecutor By Bruce Smith THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MANNING, S.C. - A 9-year- old black child who said he was tied to a tree and beaten by a white couple had no rea son to make up the story, a prosecutor told a state court jury Monday. “It has completely changed his life,” Assistant Solicitor Ferrell Cothran said, pointing to Dwight Miller, who sat in a tall leather chair at the prose cutors’ table. “You assess why he would be here if this hadn’t happened.” Benjamin and Betty Mims of the New Zion commimity are charged with second-degree l5mching and aggravated assault and battery in the Jan. 5 incident. A jury of seven whites and five blacks began hearing testimony Monday in the case, which is expected to last several days. Authorities allege Dwight was tied to a tree, beaten with a crowbar and choked with a belt and that a shotgun was fired past his head. Cothran said the evidence would show that the Mimses, who are neighbors of the Millers, accused the boy of stealing something from their pickup truck emd then assault ed him. Dwight testified that Mims grabbed him and told his wife to “come outside and hold my feet. Then they put me into the truck,” the boy said. He said they drove him to the woods and carried him to a tree. Then Mims hit him on the toe with a crowbar and Mims and his son, Beiyi, each fired a shotgun blast at his head, Dwight said. Mrs. Mims put a belt aroimd his neck emd squeezed it so hard he passed out, Dwight said. But defense attorney Chip Finney, who is black, argued that tile child had told several versions of the story. “Everything the solicitor told you about what Dwight said is just that - what Dwight said,” Finney said, telling jurors they would hear testimony that the By Jesse J. Holland THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COLUMBIA, S.C. - Hate crimes were rising in South Carolina a year before Ku Klux Klan members were arrested for burning black chimches and drive-by shoot ings, according to the latest law enforcement statistics. Charles Shepard, FBI spokesman in Columbia, said preliminary figures for 1995 show 26 hate crimes reported to the U.S. Justice Department from South Carolina. That compares with 20 reported to the State Law E^orcement Division in 1994, SLED spokesman Hugh Munn said. Although the FBI says it has a report of 33 hate crimes for that year, it could not explain the discrepancy with SI^D’s figures. In 1993, there were 25 hate crimes statewide, the first year for which SLED has fig ures, Munn said. Local law enforcement agen cies report suspected hate- related crimes to SLED, which reviews them with the FBI annually to see whether they match federal definitions. A hate crime is one that stems from the target’s race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality or other character istics a person cannot or is unUkely to change. So far this year, two Klan members pleaded guilty to burning black churches and assaulting a mentally impaired black man. Two oth ers were recently arrested and charged with the drive-hy shooting into a mostly black crowd at a nightclub near PeUon. Gov. David Beasley has ordered prosecutors to make hate crime prosecution a prior ity. State Attorney General Charlie Condon says he wants the law to include stiffer penalties for hate crimes and funding for a unit in his office to prosecute them. “Recently, it appears that the climate for hate crimes has gotten worse,” Condon said. Breakdowns by race are not available yet for last year, but in the two previous years hate crimes against blacks led all categories in South Carolina, with eight in 1994 and 12 in 1993, Munn said. There were seven hate crimes against whites in 1994 and eight in Gaston County men whipped up some down-home cooking last week in Gastonia. The men prepared some of their favorite dishes for “100 Men Who Cook,” a benefit for Third Street Presbyterian Church’s building fimd. Proceeds go toward building a new church after the county relocated several government huildings on Third Street Presbyterian’s property. The 107-year-old church was awash in the smells of culi nary excellence, with partici pants preparing dishes rang ing from ham and barbecue to desserts. Herbert L. White Millers waited almost six hoin^ to contact police. 'The first witness, Dwight’s aunt, Patricia Miller, who lives with the family, testified they had no car and no phone and feared for their lives if they tried to walk past the Mimses’ house to summon help. She said the Millers waited until a finend stopped by that evening after a fimersJ and borrowed their car. But she also testified her family had no trouble with the Mimses before the incident. And she said there was no blood or tree bark on Dwight’s white shirt and yellow pants when he came home. See BEATING on page 6B Hate crimes on rise in South Carolina 1993, Munn said. Homosexual-related hate crimes came in third, with three in 1994 and two in 1993, Munn said. Tawanda Shaw, a researcher at Klanwatch, a division of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., said the numbers tend to be underre ported. “I think when you talk about the FBI’s hate crime statistics, the thing that has always been real problematic has been the reporting,” she said. “Hate crime reporting for law enforcement historically has always been spotty.” For example, Arkansas had seven reported hate crimes, Mississippi six and Louisiana seven in 1995, while neighbor- See HATE CRIMES on page 6B UNC close to settling bias case Seeks pact with school’s housekeepers THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the UNC Housekeepers Association are close to resolving their 5-year- old discrimination dispute, the school’s chancellor said. UNC-CH and the Housekeepers Association Steering Committee “have agreed in principle to resolve their disputes and have made substantial progress toward finalizing that agreement,” Chancellor Michael Hooker said Friday. Hooker said more time was needed before presenting a definitive agreement to the presiding administrative law judge. John Harkavy, a Greensboro attorney and court-appointed mediator, said he hoped the dispute could be resolved in the next 10 days to two weeks. A discrimination lawsuit was filed in 1991 against the uni versity by the housekeepers and some other black UNC workers. The housekeepers are asking for better pay and benefits, better training and opportuni ties for promotions and an end to armylike supervision, the housekeepers’ attorney, A1 MeSurely, has said.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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