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http://www.thepost.mindspring.com
THE VOiCE OF THE BLACK COMMUNiTY
THE WEEK OF AUGUST 21, 1997
VOLUME 22 NO. 49
75 CENTf
ALSO SERViNG CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTiES
McDonald’s complex closes
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
McDonald’s Cafeteria and
McDonald’s Inn have closed their
doors and no one is saying if and
when they will reopen.
Customers going to the westside
landmarks at Beatties Ford Road
Monday found the buildings
deserted.
Several groups have tried to buy
the bankrupt business, which
includes Fun City, a small amuse
ment center. Charlotte-based
NationsBank has been trying to
arrange a sale. Amresco, a former
NationsBank subsidiary, held the
mortgage on the property.
A group including architect and
former Charlotte mayor Harvey
Gantt is reportedly the latest suit
or. Sources said earlier that group
and the bank were within
$700,000 of closing a deal.
Gantt had no comment
Wednesday, however.
If the Gantt partnership pre
vails, sources said Floyd Yormg’s
FDY Catering would take over
operation of McDonald’s
Restaurant. But FDY vice presi
dent Keith Haywood would not
comment Wednesday.
“We don’t own that,” he said.
The once-thriving restaurant
had attracted diners are all races
and economic levels, but has
declined since founder John
McDonald died two years ago.
The property is valued as high as
$3 nilhon.
Sales have dropped in recent
years as the physical plant deteri
orated. Last week, several groups
canceled reservations at the hotel,
complaining the facility was dirty
and disorganized.
McDonald’s employees called
The Post on Wednesday com
plaining that they were being cast
aside after years of service. Some
said they could not even get
unemployment benefits because
See MCDONALD’S on page 2A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUS'.':'
McDonald’s Cafeteria and McDonald’s Inn were silent Wednesday.
The bankrupt facility was shut down Monday.
Class focuses on change
Urban League
program provides
job training
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
They follow different paths,
but meet in a common place
with a common goal.
On Friday, they wiU take a
giant step forward as graduates
of the Urban League’s 43rd
Computer and Office Systems
Training Center class.
The program is so successful,
two members left early because
they got jobs. Several others in
the class of 15 have jobs waiting
after ceremonies at the Afro-
American Cultural Center.
Kimberly Dawson Munn, 34,
entered the program because
she’s going through a divorce
and needed to upgrade her
employment skills.
“The Urban League has
helped me before as far as going
to school,” said Munn, who
attended Johnson C. Smith
University with the Chicago
Urban League’s help.
“I went back to my source. I
wanted to upgrade my skills
and computer software knowl
edge.”
The program not only gave her
a chance to network, but also
provided a needed lift in self
esteem, said Munn, mother of
two children, ages 4 and 6.
‘T was in a dead-end job,” she
said. “I was looking for a change
in my career. The program gave
me a chance to renew my confi
dence and my self-esteem.”
Self-esteem building is an
important part of the 16-week
program, which features train
ing in computer operations, typ
ing, 10-key skills and business
math and English.
Kerry Miller, a 29-year
employee of Bell South, taught
Ufe skills, focusing on interview
ing techniques, resume writing,
internships and mentoring.
“I teach the soft skills,” said
Mfller, who began volunteering
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
See PROGRAM on page 2A
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Urban League’s Computer and Office Systems Training Center class
provides necessary skills for participants who are changing careers. Fifteen peopie graduated
from the program’s 43rd ciass.
Farrakhan
scheduled for
Charlotte visit
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Charlotte has been added as a stop on Nation of
Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s National Revival
tour.
Minister Robert Muhammad, local representative
for Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, said the visit
■will “hopefully be sometime in late September, but
definitely before Oct. 16.”
Farraldian and Benjamin Muhammad, formerly
Benjamin Cha-vis, are crisscrossing the nation on a
revival tom “which embodies the spirit of the
Million Man March,” Robert Muhammad said. “We
are trying to reach everyone who has a spirit for
atonement and reconcihation.”
Benjamin Muhammad, who spoke in Charlotte last week, will -visit
about 150 cities on the tom. Farrakhan has plans to -visit many of the
same cities, Robert Muhammad said.
Robert Muhammad said Ovens Auditorium or Grady Cole Center ai"
under consideration.
Farrakhan
See FARRAKHAN on page 2A
U.S. welfare reform
hits immigrants hard
By Ras Al Turner
THE PHILADELPHIA TRIBUNE
When the Welfare Reform Act
took effect on April 1, it became
immediately apparent that one of
the largest group of casualties
would be immigrants.
'The combined changes of wel
fare reform and new immigration
poheies have affected Caribbean
immigrants in three pronoimced
areas; deportation of undocu
mented immigrants; loss of social
security benefits and food stamps
and the loss of Medicaid benefits.
In an effort to discourage illegal
immigration and punish those
who break the law, the laws are
now tougher than they have been
in years.
Under the Welfare Reform Act,
undocumented immigrants who
stay in the United States longer
than 180 days will be harmed
from reentering the country for
three years. Those who stay hen-
without authorization for 361
days, vriU be harmed from re
entering for 10 years.
Many undocumented immi
grants were confused by the ne-sv
rules and rushed to adjust their
status by taking their marriage
vows. However, the real deadlhie
to adjust their status is before
Sept. 30 at midnight. The cormt-
down for the 180 days and 365
days overstay actually began on
April 1, but anyone who is undoc
umented now and adjusts their
See WELFARE on page 2A
Inside
Cop beating draws protests
By Kathleen Sampey
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Thousands of
protesters marched on a police
precinct Saturday where a
Haitian immigrant says he was
tortured and sodomized with a
toilet plrmger two weeks ago by
two police officers.
“KKK mirst go!” the protesters
chanted on a sweltering August
afternoon. Demonstrators, many
waving plungers, became
increasingly hostile and shouted
obscenities and insults at officers
who stood impassively outside
the 70th Precinct in Brooklyn.
There was a brief scuffle when
some in the emotional crowd tried
to storm the barricades outside
the precinct, but police reported
no arrests or injuries. Many in the
predominantly Haitian crowd,
which filled the block outside the
station house, waved flags from
their native land.
Police estimated the crowd at
4,000 people.
Demonstrators engaged in
exchanges with officers at the
nightclub where the alleged -vic
tim, Abner Louima, was arrested
for disorderly conduct earlier this
week.
Then they marched two miles to
the precinct where they joined a
second protest led by mayoral
candidate Rev. Al Sharpton. The
rally there began at about 12:30
p.m. and stretched into the early
evening.
“They look the other way as if it
is never going to happen to them,”
demonstrator Quincy St. George
said of the surrounding police.
“All of those on duty should be
arrested because they heard
(Louima) scream.”
Louima said that when he was
See BEATING on page 2A
Editorials 4A-5A
Strictly Busine^ 8A
Style 14A
Healthy Body/1
Healthy Mind
Religion 10A
Sports IB
A&E 4B
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AP PHOTOFTODD PUTT
A nurse wipes away sweat as Abner Louima, the victim of the
alleged torture with a toilet plunger at Brooklyn's 70th Precinct,
talks to media at Coney Island Hospital.
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