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Wt\t Cljarlotte Jogt
http://www.thepost.mindspring.com
THE VOiCE OF THE BLACK COMMUNiTY
THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1998
VOLUME 23 NO. 40
75 CENTS
ALSO SERViNG CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTiES
Doing right thing, but at what cost?
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Martin swings liberal on budget
Saying he was voting his con
science, Mecklenburg county
commissioner Hoyle Martin
sided with Democrats to pass a
$781 million county budget
Tuesday that set a 68-cent tax
rate for 1998-99.
He’d drawn criticism from
conservatives since he cast an
identical vote in a straw poll of
the nine commissioners Friday
on a budget proposal by
Republican Bill James that
would have cut funding to
schools, social services and
environmental services.
“(Commissioners chairman)
Moving
onup-
and out
of town
More Americans
own homes; leaving
city way of life
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
More American homeowners
are people of color and moving to
the suburbs, according to a
national study on housing.
The report, “State of the
Nation’s Housing: 1998,” issued
by Harvard University’s Joint
Center for Housing Studies,
shows that the number of home-
owners rose by 4 million in the
last three years to an all-time
high of 65.7 percent. Although
people of color account for only 17
percent of all homeowners, they
are leading the explosion, with 42
percent of all homes bought from
1994-97.
Low-income communities have
also benefitted from changes in
America’s demographics and
bank policies. With more mort
gage lenders willing to work with
families on limited budgets and
credit, their numbers have
increased.
“Over the past several years,
lenders have introduced and
actively promoted products that
make it easier for families with
less accumulated wealth and no
established credit history to qual
ify for mortgages,” said Eric
Belsky, acting executive director
of the Joint Center. “In response,
lending to minorities and to low-
and moderate-income homebuy-
ers has climbed much faster than
lending to other groups. Add to
that the rapid growth of the
minority population fueled by
immigration, and you have all the
ingredients for a surge in minori
ty homebuying.”
With unemployment at record
low levels and consumer confi
dence high, more families are tak
ing the plunge to ownership,
according to the report.
“At no other time in the past 50
years has there been such an
extended period of steady, non-
inflationaiy growth in the econo
my,” said Nicolas Retsinas, direc
tor of the Joint Center. “In this
stable environment, single-family
housing construction has topped
the 1 million mark for the past six
years, multi-family production
has reached an eight-year peak
and manufactured housing pro
duction has held near recent
See MORE on page 3A
Bush wanted to go in with the
thing on Wednesday night and
vote in it then,” Martin said.
“That’s why I asked to delay it
one more night. You can’t do
that. But they made another
change, a big cut in social ser
vice programs and there was
some uncertainty about jobs
being cut. I didn’t want county
employees to lose their jobs. I
said I couldn’t do that.”
Black political leaders said
they were pleased with
Martin’s vote. Eric Douglas,
chairman of the Black Political
Caucus, denied Martin was
pressured by the black commu
nity, as James suggested.
“I think Hoyle had a morM
responsibility
to vote for a
budget that
would help
those people
on the west-
side,” he said.
“It was an
obligation to
his district.
These are
human lives
you are talking
about. He had to be true to his
Martin
constituency.”
County manager Jerry Fox’s
budget gave the school system
all the money it requested,
including $6 million for a com
plete overhaul of its construc
tion and building maintenance
department.
James’ budget would have
cut that out.
James said Martin had
betrayed Republican commis
sioners by promising to support
the budget cuts, but then bow
ing to pressure from blacks and
Democrats to switch sides.
Martin denied James’ allega
tions.
Martin told The Post last
See MARTIN on page 2A
Without more eligible
voters, drive may fizzle
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
It’s crunch time for Hoyle
Martin’s effort to win reelection to
the Mecklenburg County Board of
Commissioners.
Martin says he has about 11,000
signatures on a petition to include
his name on the November ballot
as an independent at-large candi
date. He has until June 26 to get
15,580 signatures, but he’s find
ing that as many as 15 percent of
Jump, jump, jump to it
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Double Dutch Forces of Columbia, S.C., demonstrate their rope-jumping skill Monday at the Charlotte Sting-Houston Comets WNBA
game at Charlotte Coliseum. The troupe’s halftime exhibition fared better than the Sting, which lost 79-65.
Racial divisions still tear at South Miami
By Bernhardt Dotson, Jr.
THE MIAMI TIMES
SOUTH MIAMI, Fla. - When
South Miami voters elected Dr.
Anna M. Price as the city’s first
black mayor in April 1997, some
believed it was a watershed
moment in local government.
Some black residents admitted
that for the first time in years.
they believed that there was
finally someone in office who
truly understood their needs and
phght.
Price, a University of Miami
administrator and professor,
came to the job with strong acad
emic credentials and a willing
ness to work with aU segments of
the dty.
Also for the first time. Price’s
election gave South Miami a pre
dominantly black city commis
sion, with David D. Bethel and
Paul Young taking two other com
mission seats.
‘Without a doubt, it was a wide
cross-section of voters that
enabled Dr. Price to win,” said
Leon A. Valentine, Price’s cam
paign co-manager in a special
mayoral election held shortly
after the death of Mayor Tbm
Cuimingham.
‘Without Anglo and Hispanic
support, she probably wouldn’t
have won,” he added. “That’s
what makes what is happening
now so difficult to rmderstand. If
people come together to vote for
the candidate of their choice, who
happened to be black, how can
See RACE on page 6A
those signing are not registered
voters. He expected that number
to be about 3 percent.
“I have a Kttle bit of a problem,”
Martin said Wednesday. “The last
count I made, about 15 percent of
those who signed the petition ai-e
not even registered.”
Martin is recruiting help in a
final push for signatures by offer
ing a $500 scholarship to young
people who gather more than 200
See PETITION on page 2A
Espy
faces 3
new U.S.
charges
By George Lardner Jr.
THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON - A federal
appeals court Tuesday reinstat
ed three felony charges accus
ing former agriculture secre
tary Mike Espy of violating the
Meat Inspection Act of 1907 by
taking gifts from two compa
nies he regulated.
Espy main
tained that the
law was meant
to punish only
front-line
meat inspec
tors who take
favors from
companies,
but the U.S.
Circuit Court
of Appeals for Espy
the District
emphatically rejected the
claim. For Espy’s contentions to
prevail, the court said, “there
must be ambiguity in the
statute — and we see none.”
The ruling came as two offi
cials of Tfyson Foods Inc. went
on trial here on charges that
they used corporate aircraft,
sports tickets and other favors
to gain a “cozy” relationship
with Espy while new poultry
regulations were being consid
ered.
Lawyers for the two defen
dants, 'Tyson’s Washington lob-
See FORMER on page 6A
Wounded Ethiopians ready to fight former allies
By Dianna Cahn
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ADIGRAT, Ethiopia - Using
his one good arm, Weldeslase.
Hailu pulled an assault rifle off
the stump of his left shoulder,
propped it up against his chest
and took aim. His one good eye
sparkled.
Weldeslase lost his left arm
and eye to heavy artillery dur
ing the 17-year war his people
fought alongside Eritrean
rebels to overthrow Ethiopia’s
Marxist dictatorship.
Many members of local mili
tias kept their weapons after
the war and Weldeslase and fel
low wounded veterans are
ready to go back to war, this
time to fight Eritrean troops
massed along their common
border.
“I want to go to the war front
to fight but the government
won’t let us because we are
already wounded,” the disap
pointed veteran said, scars
along the right side of his face
and mouth twisting with his
bittef smile. “We fought against
the (former regime) not only to
end the war but to bring a bet
ter life to our people and recov
er the economy. I lost parts of
my body for this. But the
Eritreans have attacked us and
brought us war.”
Since border clashes erupted
May 6, Ethiopia and Eritrea
have been locked in a battle
See DISABLED on page 7A
PHOTO/SAYYID AZIM
Displaced Ethiopians wait for food In the town of Adi Gudom, near
Makelle, 478 miles north of Addis Ababa, Sunday. Hundreds of
Ethiopians are crossing the border as hostilities between Eritrea and
Ethiopia continue.
Inside
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