I Woods' win crosses golf links/1 B
Home and garden tips/Section C 4.
John P. Kee
retired, but still
giving/Page 5B
TOe Cljarlotte
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THE VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
THE WEEK OF APRIL 171997
VOLUME 22 NO. 31
75 CENTS
ALSO SERVING CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTIES
Charlotte’s spring ritual gets off to a slow start
Cruising at Hornet’s
Nest Park yet to ignite
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Cruising season has opened
quietly. Charlotte-
Mecklenburg parks and law
enforcement officials hope it
remains that way.
About 900 cars - including
one carrying Charlotte Hornet
Anthony Mason - and motor
cycles passed through
Hornet’s Nest Park Sunday,
according to Terry
Weatherford, Park Watch
Coordinator for the Northwest
Park District. He called it “a
light Sunday.
“On a normal Sunday we
might have 2,000-4,000 cars
through here,” he said. “They
got a late start today. They
usually start about 4:30 p.m.
They didn’t start till about
5:30. They normally leave
about dark or until we close
the gate. It generally never
comes to that. They leave
when it gets dark.”
Sunday the park was empty
by 8:15 p.m. Temperatures
had dipped to near 60, with a
stiff, cool breeze making it feel
cooler. All participants left the
park in an orderly fashion.
Weatherford said cruising
usually begins in March and
lasts through October.
Cruisers hit the park two
weeks before Easter.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police
officer H.L. Hunter said cruis
ers visited the park two previ
ous weekends. He said no
complaints have been filed so
far.
“Traffic hasn’t been a major
problem, so we’ve gotten no
complaints,” Hunter said. “If
it goes like it’s been for the
past couple of years, we antici
pate some because the crowds
get larger and larger each
Sunday.”
Weatherford said traffic
management became a prob
lem last year once cruising
received a lot of media atten
tion.
“Once the media said there
was a problem, we had cars
coming through with license
plates from Georgia, Alabama
- you name it,” Weatherford
said. “One Sunday we had
about 9,000 cars. Once all the
attention died down, it nearly
went away.”
Police directed traffic at the
park’s entrance and at the
intersection of Beatties Ford
and Sunset Road. They also
cordoned off parking lots
See CRUISING on page 2A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Minister Robert Muhammad ofthe Nation Of Islam addresses the media during a press conference at Muhammad’s Mosque.
Flanking him are Gladys Muhammad (left) and Thomas Muhammad.
And justice for all
Police review board proposal gains
strength among African Americans
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Support for a police citizens
review board - the so-called
Cannon Amendment - may
be growing on the Charlotte
City Council as waves of
anger and disgust swept
through the city after yet
another fatal police shooting.
Hundreds of citizens
appeared before city council
Monday night to call for a
review board to investigate
fatal shootings and other alle
gations of misconduct by
police.
Council member Patrick
Cannon, who proposed the
amendment, said he thinks
enough of his colleagues sup
port the proposal to pass it.
He believes as many as seven
council members, possibly
including Republican Lynn
Wheeler, will vote for a citi
zens review board. There are
six Democrats, including four
African Americans, on the
council.
“I’m optimistic the council is
more inclined to support the
Cannon Amendment than to
not do anything at all, like in
1994,” Cannon said.
Only two of 11 coimcil mem
bers - Cannon and Nasif
Majeed - voted for a citizens
review board when Cannon
proposed it after Windy Gail
Thompson was killed in
December 1993 by officer
Mark Farmer.
That was before Willie
James Cooper was shot and
See SUPPORT on page 3A
New Beatties Ford library offers
latest in technological advances
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Beatties Ford Road llbray managing librarian Myriette Ekechukwu
(left) and assistant librarian Irish Jamison.
ByJohn Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Northwest Charlotte gets its
long awaited library Sunday.
The new 14,000-square-foot
facility at 2412 Beatties Ford
Road will open with a dedica
tion and ribbon-cutting ceremo
ny. A 25-year time capsule filed
with historic items from the
Beatties Ford Road community
will be installed in the new
library’s lobby. The branch
motto is “Preserving The Past -
Building the Future.”
Festivities begin at 3 p.m. and
will include city and county offi
cials, plus the Johnson C. Smith
University Choir and the West
Charlotte High School Jazz
Band.
The new branch replaces the
North Branch on LaSalle
Street, just off Beatties Ford
Road.
Myriette Ekechukwu is the
managing librarian for the new
facility and Irish Jamison, for
mer head librarian at the North
Branch Library, is assistant
See LIBRARY on page 6A
PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON
Motorcyclists gather at Hornets Nest Park to talk - and ride - bikes.
So far, cruisers have been quiet at the West Charlotte park.
Shuffletown
residents take
on rugby noise
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Beer cans and bottles line the street in front of Jan and Mike
Caldwell’s house.
It’s been that way for the last few years since the Charlotte Rugby
Club moved across the st: eet, neighbor say.
Since then, they say it’s not safe for their children to play outside on
certain days of the week in the quiet, predominantly black subdivi
sion.
“We were told by the original owner, Anthony Skillbeck, that it
would be a park available to everyone,” Mike Caldwell said. “Then
they told us it would be a football field for kids. It’s not that way.”
According to the Caldwells, Skillbeck, a local architect, also told
them Johnson C. Smith University would be involved.
Calls to SkiUbeck’s office were not returned, nor were calls to the
Charlotte Rugby Club. Rugby is a foreramjer of today’s American foot
ball, with 11 players on a side. They don’t wear padding, however.
“After all this started, we called them,” Jan CaldweU said. “They
didn’t know anything about it.”
The couple have a biU for $425 for yard damage and a letter from a
ocal realtor, Greg Mobley, saying his “professional opinion” was “ that
tlje things going on at this rugby field seriously hurt your chance of
seUing your home.”
They have also talked to everyone fi-om city coimdl rr
Greene to N.C Sen. Fountain Odoni and Mayor Pat Me
“The Charlotte Rugby Field on Bell Haven Circle is i
boisterous people who drink too much and have causec
age to nearby property,” Odom wrote in 1995 to then
Vinroot. “...The addition of the rugby field has been
that quality. These citizens deserve more.”
What the Caldwells and their neighbors say they hr
of is the noise, litter and parking problems associated v
‘We call the police when they get loud,” Mike Caldw
the police are here, they’re quiet. When they leave it {
IFs just not right.”
For four years, the Caldwells and their Shuffletown
iber Malachi
)iy.
■acting noisy
'operty dam-
lyor Richard
trimental to
had enough
. the club,
says. “While
! loud again.
ghbors have
See SHUFFLETOWN on page 6A
No one gets
fees from
S.C. remap
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON
Republicans and civil rights
activists will not get the legal
fees they wanted from the
state in South Carolina’s
almost six-year redistricting
fight.
The Supreme Court without
comment on Monday let stand
rulings that denied any attor
ney-fee award to the South
Carolina GOP, the state’s
NAACP chapter and black
voters who challenged legisla
tive and congressional election
maps.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
appeals also upheld the denial
of fees last fall.
The 1990 census showed
problems with South
Carolina’s legislative and con-
See REDISTRICTING on page 6A
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Umoja 15A
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