4 Principal change unpopular/9B
Wood adds to barbecue/14A ^
Acura’s
NSX worth
$88,000
price/14B •
Cljarlotte Bosit
http://www.thepost.mindspring.com
THE VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
THE WEEK OF JULY 3, 1997
VOLUME 22 NO. 42
75 CENTS
ALSO SERVING CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTIES
2 sets of
rules for
women?
Air Force judges
penalties based on
race, critic says
By Chinta Strausberg
fBE CHICAGO DEFENDER
Chicago alderman Robert Shaw
has called for a federal prohe of
alleged disparity in the treatment
of two single Air Force female offi-
ders who had affairs with married
men. In one case, he alleges, the
officer, a white woman, received a
sdap on the wrist. But the African
American female officer still faces
55 years in pj ison.
Shaw is outraged that former
Air Force Lt. Kelly Flinn, 26, the
nation’s first female B-52 pilot,
received a general discharge for
feving an affair with the hus
band of an enlisted woman but
Flinn’s ex-classmate Lt. Crista
Davis, 28, could go to prison.
■“What’s good for the goose
■Should be good for the gander,”
^haw said. “Both of them had
affairs with married men, so why
'the double standard? This is a
clear case of two sets of justice -
one white, the other black.”
The alderman is calling on U.S.
Reps. Bobhy Rush (D-Rl.), Jesse
Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) and U.B Sen.
Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Rl.) to
hold hearings to challenge this
disparity.
Davis, who is from DeKalh, Ill.,
was a student in the same Air
Force Academy class as Flinn,
according to media reports. She
has admitted to the affair with an
Air Force major in 1995.
She reportedly said the affair
with the officer, allegedly her
English teacher, occurred two
years after her graduation. She
further claims that when she ^
learned he was a married man
she ended the relationship.
Davis has been granted immu
nity from being prosecuted on an
adultery charge; however, she
^ill faces charges of conduct
jInbecoming an officer, ^ong with
lising indecent and cruel lan-
^age in letters written to the
■major’s wife at the time of the
■dffair.
- ;“It’s unfair, and the Air Force’s
laws are archaic,” an angry Shaw
^d.
1-Davis’ lawyer, Louis P. Font,
^nied the content of the letters
yias threatening, but added that
it did include some graphic lan-
’^age.
• ^Calling for equal justice, Shaw
^lid Davis should be given the
^me treatment as Flinn. The lat-
ler she is reported to have reluc
tantly accepted a general dis-
tlhai^ to avoid being court mar
shaled on charges of adultery,
lying and disobeying orders. She
had sought an honorable dis
charge.
Biting apology
AP PHOTO/LENNOX MCLENDON
Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson reads an apoiogy to Evander Holyfield Monday
at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Tyson, who was disquaiified for biting Hoiyfield in
Saturday’s championship bout, asked not to be banned from boxing for life. He aiso said he was
seeking psychological help. “Evander, I am sorry. You are a champion and I respect that. I am
only saddened that this fight did not go further so that the boxing fans of the world might see for
themselves who would come out on top,” Tyson said. The Nevada State Athietic Commission wiii
meet next week to decide Tyson’s fate.
Casualty of
West Charlotte
High shakeup?
Successful gospel choir may be on way out
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
West Charlotte High School’s gospel choir, more than 100 voices
strong, may have sung its last note.
“There will be no gospel choir at West Charlotte,” said Amie Epps,
group’s director.
Epps said he heard Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Supt. Eric Smith
did not want a gospel choir at West Charlotte.
Smith was out of town and could not he reached for
comment.
Epps said he has not spoken directly with Smith
about the choir, but said he has heard from officials
at the Education Center that the superintendent
wants to discontinue the choir.
The choir’s absence will be among many changes
expected at West Charlotte as Smith’s replacement,
Tferry Cline, takes over. Cline could not be reached
for comment Wednesday.
The choir, one of the first new activities organized
under former principal Kenneth Simmons, was directed by Epps, a
Simmons aide and assistant director of music at St. Luke Baptist
1
it
Cline
See CHOIR on page 3A
District Attorney: More
youth crime prevention
programs needed
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Mecklenburg County District
Attorney Peter Gilchrist has
joined with other crime fighters
and victims to call for more pro
grams to prevent youth crime.
“I have sent enough people to
jail to know that no matter how
many prosecutors and prisons we
have, it will never he enough hy
itself,” Gilchrist said. “If we really
want to prevent crime, we must
Haitian journalists study U.S. democracy
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
A delegation of Haitian journal
ists and officials stopped in
Charlotte this week to study
American democracy.
The group is on a three-week
national tour sponsored by the
U.S. Information Agency and the
Academy for Educational
Development. Part of their -visit
included a stop at The Post.
Goals for the project are to
define civic journalism and
observe its practice; examine the
role between government, media
and citizens in shaping public
debate; acquire ideas to foster
informed debate of ci-vic issues;
and expand an international
ci-vic education network.
They began their tour in
Washington, D.C. The Charlotte
visit, focusing on civic journalism
and local government, also
included talks with government
and business leaders.
The group will also visit
Bozeman, Mont., and Boston.
The delegates, accompanied by
two translators, included: Josette
Darguste, chief of personnel,
Haitian Department of Tburism;
Jean-Pierre Leroy, reporter.
Radio Signal FM; Andre Marc
Odige, news director, Radio
Nationale D’Haiti; Presilien
Desulma Siffrard, treasurer,
independent Organization of
See HAITI on page 2A
be ready to fight just as hard to
keep kids from becoming crimi
nals as we fight to put criminals
in jaU. And that means investing
in programs that get kids off to
the right start.”
Gilchrist is a member of Fight
Crime: Invest in Kids, which
today blasted the failure of pro
posed juvenile crime bills to
invest in programs proven effec
tive in keeps kids from becoming
criminals. Several attended a
“Crime Survivors Speakout” out
side the U.S. Capitol.
Crime victim Ellen Halbert of
Austin, Tfexas, recalled how an
intruder raped and stabbed her
three times. “He is in prison
where he belongs, but that can’t
undo what I went through,” said
Halbert. “What happened to me
didn’t have to happen. If
Congress was investing in pro
grams like Head Start, health
care and mental health programs
and good schools — investments
proven to dramatically reduce
crime - I probably wouldn’t have
needed those 600 stitches and all
See CRIME on page 6A
PHOTO/DIANNE V. CURTAIN
Josette Darguste (middle) and Jean-Plerre Leroy discuss politics
with Janine Clarke of Charlotte’s corporate communications depart
ment.
Emmett Till lives in mother’s memory
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
PHOTO/DIANNE V. CURTAIN
Mamie Till Mobley, whose 14-year-old son Emmett was killed in a
1955 lynching that shocked the world, is writing her autobiography.
For almost 50 years, Mamie Till Mobley has car
ried pictures of her son Emmett with her.
There’s the smiling Emmett, sporting a jaunty
white golfing hat. And Emmett leaning against a
credenza.
Mobley also carries pictures of Emmett the last
time she and the world saw him in the fall of 1955,
less than one month after he arrived in Money,
Miss., from Chicago to spend the summer with rel
atives.
Mobley still cries when she thinks about it.
But it’s a story that needs to be told says Mobley,
who was in Charlotte this week for a church con
vention.
“If the story is not passed on, it becomes lost,” she
said. “My son will not he lost.”
Tb keep Emmett’s memory alive, Mobley retells
her story and shows pictxires of a face unrecogniz-
ahle even to her. She points out every grisly detail.
One eye was gouged out, the other lay on his
cheek. Both ears were missing. The rest of his face
was a swollen and distorted mass. Emmett Till, 14,
was shot in the head, lynched and dropped into the
Tallahatchie River, a 200-pound fan tied around his
neck. His crime: allegedly whistling at a white
woman.
Till’s body, dusted with lime to speed decay, could
only be identified by a ring given him by his father,
his feet and his knees.
Mobley refused to have the body retouched before
the funeral.
“I wanted people to see what I saw,” she said. “I
could tell people what I had seen, but they wouldn’t
believe me.”
See TILL on page 2A