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http://www.thepost.mindspring.com
THE VOiCE OF THE BLACK COMMUNiTY
THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11, 1997
VOLUME 22 NO. 52
75 CENTS
ALSO SERViNG CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTiES
Gales case
attracts
defense
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Creft
African American attorneys Frank
Creft and Terry Sherrill are trying
to help a brother out
Marion Anthony Gales, in an 0 J.
Simpson-like case, in being sued in
civil court for a murder he hasn’t
been convicted of. But Tuesday,
Creft and Sherrill said they would
represent Gales at no charge. Two
other lawyers, including a recent
law school graduate, also volun
teered to help Gales.
Though found innocent in crimi
nal court, Simpson lost a civil
wrongful death
lawsuit in the
death of his ex-
wife Nicole
Simpson and her
friend Ronald
Goldman.
Lawsuits were
brought by the
Goldman lamlly.
Gales is being
sued by Dr. Ed
Friedland, the husband of Kim
Thomas, who was found dead in her
Churchill Drive home in 1990.
Friedland was charged with murder
by police, but charges were later
dropped, touching off a bitter dis
pute between the doctor and the
police about whether or not he is a
likely suspect
Gales is serving a 24-year sen
tence on a 1995 conviction for an
unrelated burglary.
Unlike in criminal cases, Gales is
not entitled to an attorney and none
will be provided by the state. If he
loses the civil suit Gales won’t fece
prison in Thomas’ death, but could
have to pay damages to Friedland.
When jury selection began
Monday, Gales, chained and shack
led, represented himself in
Mecklenburg County Superior
Court
Friedland and Gales were the only
known suspects in Thomas slaying.
Friedland filed suit against Gales
in an effort to establish his own
innocence. He has also filed a mali
cious prosecution lawsuit against
Charlotte police.
Thomas was found handcuffed
and stabbed to death in 1990.
Police focused on Friedland after
they learned he was having an affair.
A grand jury indicted him in 1994,
but prosecutors dropped the
charges the following year.
Gales had done yard work at the
Friedland’s home and was also a
suspect early in the investigation.
A jury was selected in the case
Tuesday and testimony was expect
ed to begin Wednesday before Creft
and Sherrill volunteered to take
Gales’ case.
Farrakhan: Atone
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan makes a point during a press
conference in Charlotte Wednesday. He is touring the country to
publicize a national Day of Atonement Oct. 16.
Nation of Islam leader Minister
Louis Farrakhan has called for
Charlotte to take part in a Day of
Atonement next month.
Farrakhan, who spoke
Wednesday at Ovens Auditorium,
said blacks, whites and supporters
of all religions should shut down the
city on Oct 16, which he declared a
holy day. The day of absence from
work, school and play, should be
comparable to other holidays.
Farrakhan said. He noted schools
and businesses are closed on
Christmas, and Jews do not go to
school or do business on Yom
Kippur, a Jewish holy day.
“What is your holy day,”
Farrakhan asked.
“America can be healed,” he said.
“The racial divide can be healed. But
we can never heal the ills among us
until we first come back to God and
heal our relationship with him.
Because of this, I am touring
America, calling for a holy day of rec-
onciliation...a day of atonement”
New life for Polk and White neighborhood
PHOTO/OALVIN FERGUSON
Polk and White community resident Mary Barringer, center, discusses the future of the neighborhood with Mike Thornwell,
Mecklenburg County’s community development resource coordinator and Katrina Brown, the county’s community development
director. Polk and White is undergoing a community improvement program sponsored by the county and UNC Charlotte.
Community reclamation starts
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Take a ride out Harris
Boulevard, cross 1-85 and hang a
right on Mallard Creek Road.
About a mile or so along the way,
on Polk and White Road, is whaf s
one of the few remaining glimpses
of what life was like before
Charlotte exploded into a major
metropolitan area.
The Polk and White community
is a tiny African American neigh
borhood of about 30 homes which
Mecklenburg County is trying to
save fi'om bulldozers. A communi
ty improvement project kicked off
this week.
Donald Barringer grew up in the
community and moved back last
year after living 20 years in
Charlotte proper. His parents
moved into Polk and White from
nearby about 38 years ago, when
he was little more than a year old.
“The majority of this was just
tarming,” Barringer recalled. “It
was just real peacefid. 'There were
only two cars on the street..a dirt
road.”
Polk and White was named for
Barringer’s grandfather and his
best friend, who helped develop
the community and built a dirt
road.
“They were about the first two to
move here,” Barringer said. “My
grandfetheris name, on my moth
er’s side, was White. One of his
good fiiends was Polk, "rhey just
named the road after them.”
His parents grew garden crops
and did a lot of canning, Barringer
said.
“Back then, when I was coming
up, it was real close-knit,”
Barringer said. ‘When you talk
about a country setting, this is
what it was.”
“I just recently moved back here.
I do like it It still has a lot of the
close-knit Neighbors are willing
to help each other. There’s not a
lot of traffic. We still have that old
country setting where you have
fiiends for neighbors and not just
neighbors.”
That special something is what
county officials want to preserve.
With the aid of UNC Charlotte
students, work has finaly begun
on the renewal of Polk and White.
Twenty houses are targeted for
rebuilding or renovation. The pro
ject will also include landscaping,
lighting and transportation
improvements. Six dilapidated
homes were torn down last week
and rebuilding began Monday.
The first home to be rebuilt is
that Barringer’s parents, John
Henry and Mary Barringer, who
moved in with their son down the
street
Polk and White slipped into
decay while the surrounding
University City area blossomed
Literacy is worth celebrating
This year’s event, focused on
youth, will be followed by annual
events leading up to a Million Family
March in the year 2000, Farrakhan
said. At that march, Farrakhan said
he will remarry wives and husbands
and hopes to marry at least 10,000
new couples. Next year’s events will
focus on the elderly, while the 1999
date will focus on women.
Farrakhan said he also fully sufF
ports the planned Million Womaif
March in Philadelphia in October
See DAY OF on page 3A
Dictator
Mobutu
dies
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mobutu
RABAT, Morocco - Mobutu Sese
Seko, the Zairian leader toppled in
May after nearly 32 years of auto
cratic rule that left his country in
shambles, died Sunday. He was 66.
Mobutu, who for decades was a
strong anti-commuifist ally of the
United States in Africa, died of
prostate cancer
at the Mohamed
V military hospi
tal in Rabat, said
two . hospital
workers who
spoke on condi
tion of anonymi
ty-
Tlie Maghreb
Arab Press
agency said only
that Mobutu had died at 9:30 p.m.
local time “after a long illness.”
He had been living in exile in
Morocco since May, following his
ouster by the rebel forces of Laurent
Kabila, who restored the country’s
old name of Congo.
Zaire was in ruins when Mobutu
was deposed, and while his fortune'
was estimated in the billions, he died
with neither a title nor a country.
A fenfily member in Kinshasa, cap
ital of Congo, said Mobutu had-
informed his femily he wanted to be
cremated and have his ashes scat
tered over his old country. -
In Congo, there was no immediate
mention of Mobutu’s death on either
radio or'TV.
Mobutu arrived in Morocco on
May 23, after searching for a coun
try that would take him. King
Hassan n agreed to host him for a
“few days,” but the deposed leader
ended up staying over three
See MOBUTU on page 6A 1
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Reading is a passion for tutor
When Marilyn Carter came to
Charlotte last year, one of the first
things she looked for was a place to
volunteer her time.
She thinks she has found the per
fect place.
It’s Central Piedmont Community
College’s ABLE program at 1609
Allegheny St ABLE stands for Adult
Basic Literacy Education and
includes adult high school classes
and GED, or general equivalency
diploma, certification. But a lot of the
work is teaching adult basic math
and reading skills.
Carter began tutoring Diane
Robinson in February.
Robinson is a typical student in
many ways. She is middlfe-aged and
has raised a family. But she wants to
better herself and perhaps get a bet
ter job. And she has more time for
herself now.
“I think the students are very
courageous because they are adults
and they are asking for help,” Carter
said. “My student is encouraging me
to strive for my goals because she is
striving for hers.’j
This is National Literacy Week, a
celebration of those who decide to
learn to read and those who volun
teer to help them. 'There are 170 vol
unteers in the CPCC program.
Carter was a speech therapy major
at Old Dominion University in her
native Virginia, but decided to
change careers.
“I thought Charlotte would have
opportunities and would be a nice
place to live as well,” said Carter,
See LITERACY on page 2A
PHOTO/DIANNE CURTAIN
Marilyn Carter, right, works with Diane Robinson at Central
Piedmont Community College’s ABLE program.