PROMISES,
PROMISES
Making a pledge
for the new
year? Here's
how to keep
yours 1B
A LEAGUE BY
ITSELF
'Blitz: The League'
game passes on
licensing to show
the underside of pro
football/BC
ROCKETTE
POWER
Historic
Charlotte visit
draws to an
end/1 D
Volume 31 No. 15
11 y.! I ll I II ll-t i I 1111 11 M 11 11 M 11 111 i 1 M i 1 i 111 11 i 111 Ill
The Voice of the Black Community
WEEK OF DECEMBER 29, 2005
28216 Sll PI
Also serving C Jaies B. 0u5 liLtary
100 Beatties Ford-Rd
— Charlotte NC 28216-5302
The year that was and
the challenges to come
By Herbert L. White
herh.whUe^ thecharlottepcx'nrom
Charlotte grew and was
more troubled in 2005.
The city continued to
attract people from acrc«s
the U.S., but that growth
also exposed some cracks in
Charlotte’s shiny veneer.
Start with public schools,
where debates grew from
pupil assignment to allega
tions of intimidation among
school board members.
The arts also made a come
back of sorts, with the corpo
rate community jumping in
to fimd facilities uptown,
including a new Afro-
American Cultural Center,
with an endowment.
Public safety also became a
larger issues. At the start of
this week, 84 homicides
were recorded, the most in
10 years. W^th election sea
son looming, City Council
announced a committee to
study the issue, especially
the growing number of
killings among African
Please see 2005/8A
IN: Anthony Foxx brings.
Jyoung blood to Chariotte
City Council
Foxx
OUT: Beveriy Cureton
unceremoniously dumped
as Afro Center.director v
FILE PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Charlotte Bobcats President Ed Tapscott, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority President Tim Newman and former Charlotte mayor pro tern
Patrick Cannon led Charlotte’s successful bid for the CIAA basketball tournament, the second largest conference tournament in the U.S.
CIAA win a championship moment
4
After years of near-misses, Charlotte finally earns elusive college sports prize
By C. Jemal Horton
FOR WE cn.mxnTE post
Shoulder to shoulder, aimed
with a modest daimtlessness and
a presentation for the ages,
Charlotte’s sports business dream
team traipsed into Norfolk, Va.,
and dazzled the CIAA Board of
Directors.
This was Nov. 15, 2004.
A triumvirate of community
leaders - Patrick Cannon, Tim
Newman and Ed Tapscott — had
been charged with making the
trip and presenting a bid to bring
the popular CIAA Tbumament to
the Queen City
Tapscott, president of the
Charlotte Bobcats, opened the
presentation that day by inform
ing the CIAA about the benefits of
the new uptown arena, which
wasn’t set to open for several
months but, Tapscott assured.
would be the ideal venue for the
tournament.
Newman, Chief Executive
Officer of the Charlotte Regional
Visitors Authority served as “the
banker,” laying out the city’s com
mitment to provide scholarship
Please see CIAA/2A
Spying
prompts
talk of
sanctions
Some lawmakers
believe president Bush
should be impeached
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBIJSimS ASSOCJA'nON
WASHINGTON - Pi-esident Bush’s
authorization of a secret domestic spy
ing program fl and his fierce defense of
his action fl is leading to talk of possi
ble impeachment.
“In my opinion, the
President has violated
the law, and the House
and Senate must pur
sue their inquiries into
this illegal program.
George W. Bush is the
president. He is not a
king. He is not above
the law,” U.S. Rep. John
Lewis
Lewis (D-Ga.) said last week. ‘1 look
forward to further inquiry in the
House and Senate on these mattei*s.
The American people deserve the
truth. We must gather the facts and
determine once and for all whether
the law was violated. There is no ques
tion that the U.S. Congress has
impeached presidents for lesser
Please see DOMESTIC/2A
Caucus maps
out plan to
access N.C.
lottery’s take
By Cynthia Dean
THE TRI.ViGLE TRIBVSE
RALEIGH - African Americans
want a fair piece of the bhlionKiollar
pie that the North Carolina lotteiy
expects to bring to the rtate.
Concerns about who will reap tlie
financial benefits became a hot topic
during the North Carolina Black
Leadership Caucus meeting Dec. 17.
Brad Thompson shared a report on
the lottery with the group. Thompson
noted the ways people can benefit
fiom the game: play it, get a job fiom
it or take part in vendor and retail
opportunities.
Thompson broke down the numbers,
exfiaining how profits fiom the lot-
Please see CAUCUS/6A
Makheru
(Fees) Bradley
helps
Candace
Ballen light
candles dur
ing the annual
Charlotte
Kwanzaa cele
bration
Tuesday at
Little Rock
AME Zion
Church.
Kwanzaa con
tinues through
Jan. 2.
PHOTOCALVIN FERGUSON
Uganda guilty of looting neighbor
GlXJBAl. INFORMMION NCIWORK
The International Court of
Justice has found Uganda
guilty of plundering the natural
resources of the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
The court ruled that Uganda
was responsible for human
rights abuses when it sent
troops there in 1998. Hie 16-
judge panel ruled Ugandan
troops had committed "acts of
torture and killing” against
Congolese civilians, "trained
child soldiers” and "incited eth
nic conflict”.
Ihe Hague-based court is the
hipest judicial organ of the
United Nations; its ruling is
final and cannot be appealed
"Given the character of the
internationally wrongful acts
for which Uganda has been
found responsible... the Court
find.R that Uganda has an oblig
ation to TTiflkp reparaticffi for the
iiyury caused Congo wants
Uganda to pay $10 billion.
Rwanda and Uganda say they
entered Congo to neutralize
rebel groups operating there
Initially the two countries were
welcomed by the late President
Desire Kabila, but later fell out
with the DRC government.
"We are very happy that intei*-
national law has finally listened
to our case,” Henri Mova
Sakanyi, a spokesman fer the
Congolese government said
shortly after the ruling,
Uganda argued that its troops
were in Congo as an act of self
defense to neutralize rd^els who
were operating firan there.
Cellular providers market to
younger audience with hip
^ hopthemes 1C
Life IB
Religion SB
Sports 1C
Business 8C
A&E ID
Happenings 6C
Recycle i
To subsenbe. call (704) 37&0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.® 2005 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
- VM- UJ:.1!I|.UL. .-.J..-:. ..Ul'gag—
o a
miiiKi