Biakabutuka ready for comeback/1 B
AME Zion Church holds conference/13A p
How will county
decide who gets art
money ?/5B
Cl)arlotte Josit
http://www.thepost.mindspring.com
THE VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
THE WEEK OF APRIL 10,1997
VOLUME 22 NO. 30
75 CENTS
ALSO SERVING CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTIES
Call for review board grows after fatal shooting
48-year-old woman hit
after car ran checkpoint
Council member says
panel would calm fears
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The push for a citizens review
board in Charlotte isn’t about
looking over the shoulders of
police officers doing their jobs,
Patrick Cannon insists.
It’s about making sure com
plaints about police misconduct
get an independent audience.
Cannon, who represents
District 3 on Charlotte City
Coxmcil, introduced a proposal
Monday that would establish a
Execs
call for
iiversity
aon, ^
(ira
e r
-ilaHerbert L. White
^. jgl-HE CHARLOTTE POST
lenburg Commissioners’
n to cut funding for art is
ating opposition from
jtte’s business community,
-ee of the city’s m^or busi-
. leaders - Ed Crutchfield of
s'ii-s thiion Cor Hugh McColl
of NationsBank and BUl Or.^g ol
Duke Power Co. - joined with
the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Urban League to promote diver-
^ty as an important element in
Monomic strength.
-IThe announcement was made
ijdth Reginald Hubbard, chair-
inan of the Urban League and
president of Hubbard
Automotive Group. The compa-
iiies declared their support for
tolerance and freedom of cultur
al expression, which they say is
necessary in Ught of the commis
sioners’ cutting off funding for
the Arts & Science Council. The
board voted 5-4 last week to
deny county money to groups
that promote homosexuality in
art or counsels youth on sexuali
ty without parents being pre
sent.
Plans are under way for a
series of community forums to
address:
• Promoting Charlotte as a
model for civil discourse through
education, training and effective
leadership;.
• Recruitment and support of
“progressive, pro-diversity, pro
business, pro-tolerance leaders.”
• Promote education and par
ticipation in the electoral
process.
“We will work with our busi
ness leaders to sponsor a pubHc
discussion that is open and
inclusive,” Hubbard said. ‘We
win engage the pubUc in a dia
logue about what this communi-
See BUSINESS on page 2A
citizens board. The panel of
seven people would meet quar
terly to review complaints
against Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police. Although there is opposi
tion, Cannon says a board is
needed.
“While some would believe
some officials were asleep, they
are now awake,” he said. “And
they reahze that there are peo
ple at the door and demanding a
citizens’ review board.”
The proposal, which is under
See REVIEW on page 2A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Community activists Rock Johnson, Donnie Moore and Sarah
Stevenson discuss the shooting at Wednesday’s press briefing.
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
'The shooting death of another
unarmed African American is
sparking outrage in Charlotte’s
black community.
Carolyn Sue Boetticher, 48, of
2302 RozzeUes Ferry Road, was
shot to death late Tuesday after
the car in which she was a pas
senger ran a police checkpoint
on State Street in west
Charlotte, police chief Dennis
Nowicki said Wednesday,
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Charlotte City Council member Nasif Majeed may see the majority-black Hidden Valley community drawn out of District 4, which he
represents. Council is wrestling over redrawing district maps to account for 30,000 new residents, most of them white.
It’s all in the numbers
As Charlotte grows,
black majority council
seat may disappear
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
African Americans could
lose one of three Charlotte
City Council district seats in a
redistricting fight.
The annexation of some
30,000 new residents in sub
urban areas means the coun-
(jil’s seven districts must be
redrawn. Republican and
Democrats have drastically
different ideas on how it
should be done.
The affected seat is held by
Nasif Majeed, the District 4
council member representing
the fast growing northeast
quadrant which includes the
Univeraity City area,
“It is going to be interest
ing,” said Majeed of the
impending intra-council
squabble over a district which
now includes Hidden Valley
and Hampshire Hihs.
Fellow council member
Malachi Greene, who repre
sents District 2, said he was
not surprised by the
Republican effort to take
away a majority-black dis
trict,
“The same folks have been
trying to insure black people
don’t have the vote all along,”
Greene said. ‘Tt is business as
irsual,”
Democrats would essentiaRy
leave the current plan
imtouched, adding aimexed
residents to adjacent districts.
Currently, four of the seven
districts, including the three
black-majority districts, elect
Democrats to the 11-member
council.
In the 1996 election,
Democrats won control of City
Council, holding a 6-5 majori
ty, wdth four district seats and
two at-large seats.
Republicans, however,
See FIGHTon page 6A
Scholarship gets largest gift ever
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Charlotte Housing
Authority Scholarship Fund has
received a $100,000 endowment,
the largest gift in the fund’s his
tory.
The Lamb-Murnan
Endowment was established
with Foundation For The
Carolinas, which administers
the CHASF. The anonymous
gift was made by donors who
have given to the fund lor over
10 years and wish to honor their
parents.
“Having been involved over
the years, we have come to
understand the challenges that
these young people face and
have been witness to the pro
gram,” the donors said in a
statement.
John Crawford, founder of the
scholarship program, said
income from the endowment
will be distributed annually to
the fund, with two or three
scholarships funded each year.
“We raised $123,000 last year
from corporations, churches,
organizations and individuals,
most of whom have been loyal
supporters for a number of
years,” he said. “This coming
year we will probably need more
than 70 scholarships and tuition
costs are increasing every
where.”
Since its founding in 1983 by
Crawford, then a member of the
housing authority staff, the fund
has awarded 217 scholarships
to students who have been
accepted to 50 colleges, universi
ties and trade schools across the
U.S. Recipients must be public
housing residents in Charlotte.
See FUND on page 2A
PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON
Focus On Leadership honored Charlotte’s best and brightest
Saturday at the Unsung Heroes banquet. Details on page 10A.
Twenty-two shots were fired
into the white Chevrolet Corsica
driven by Robert G. Lundy, 55,
of West Columbia, S.C. Lundy,
who is white, was not injured in
the shooting, but was later hos
pitalized for an overdose of
cocaine, police said.
The shooting was called "ques
tionable” by city council member
Patrick Cannon, who on
Monday submitted a proposal to
create a citizens review board to
investigate alleged police mis-
Se« SHOOTING on page 3A
The Post,
Chronicle
merge
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARI.Orl'E POST
The Charlotte Post and
Winston-Salem Chronicle are
now in the same communica
tions family.
The black weekly newspapers
have merged into one company.
Consolidated Media Group,
which will be based in Charlotte.
The announcement was made
by Post Publisher/chief executive
officer Gerald O. Johnson, who
said documents detailing the
deal were registered with the
N.C. secretary of state last week.
In addition to The Post and
Chronicle, Consolidated Media
Group will also consist of a third
black paper in the Research
Triangle to be formed in 1998,
Internet service provider and
public relations firm. The
Chronicle and Triangle publica
tions will go on-line by later this
year or in 1998. The Post was
one of the first Afiicfm American
newspapers to go on-line last
October.
Consolidated Media Group’s
holdings will cover North
Carolina’s major urban areas:
the Research Triangle (Raleigh,
Durham and Chapel Hill); the
Triad (Winston-Salem,
Greensboro and High Point) and
Charlotte, Salisbury and
Gastonia. The Post also reaches
into Chester, Lancaster and
York coimties in South Carolina.
More details on the merger can
be found on page 8A.
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Strictly Business 8A
Lifestyles 10A
Religion 13A
Umoja 15A
Sports 1B
A&E 5B
Regional News 10B
Classified 12B
Auto Showcase 14B
To subscribe, call (704) 376-
0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.
© 1996 Consolidated Media
Group.LLC
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