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Thursday, January 12, 2006
Back to drawing board for King honor
Continued from page 1A
at large) “Frankly, Tm aur-
priaed it’s taken this long. I
didn’t want to see it get
drfeated ”
Timing was a factor in the
board’s decisic^v said council
member Pat Mumford, R*at
large).
Mitchell wanted a unani
mous vote in time for the
national King holiday
Monday That didn’t give
council much room to debate
options.
“The general consensus was
this was abit rushed, which is
atypical of government,” he
said.
The dty has the option of re
naming streets on its own.
but residential input is ccai-
sidered. Mitchell smd
Stonewall from Kenilworth
Avenue from the 1-277 ramp
at Independence and
Kenilworth west to Mint
Street was the best site
Senator: Minorities crucial to success in Iraq
Continued from page 1A
main political groups had
agreed in principle on a
national unity coalitiOTi that
would include the coirntrys
majority Shiites and minori
ty Kurds and Sunni Arabs.
Obama said he was confi
dent a new government
could be formed but was
skeptical of Talabani’s time
frame.
“My suspicion is it’s going
to take a little longer than
that," he said. “Creating not
just a majority government
but a govermnent that actu
ally incorporates in a mean
ingful way Sunni interests
may take a little longer."
British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw, who is also visit
ing Baghdad, said Saturday
he believes Iraqis remain
optiimstic about the future
despite suffering through a
particulariy violent week.
A spasm of bloodshed has
killed nearly 200 people in
Iraq in two days, but Straw
said after meeting Talabani
that efforts were going
ahead to form the new gov
ernment.
Still, Straw acknowledged
Iraq’s security situation was
tou^
“I was trying to avoid any
kind of pretense about the
situation here in Iraq,”
Straw told British
Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Tt is very difficult. People
are being killed by terror
ism.”
“At the same time ... I’m
struck by the cxjntinued opti
mism I meet in most Iraqi
politicians with whom I have
discussions,” he said.
Obama, who last year
called for a phased troop
withdrawal fium Iraq, said
he is “constantly impressed
and proud of the outstanding
work” of American troops,
but that he stiU questions
the overall U.S. policy in
Iraq.
“In my mind, at least,
there’s a difference between
the discrete successes on the
ground and whether the
overarching policy will ulti
mately be successful,” he
said. “The fundamental poli
cies that led to us being here
were flawed and not well
thought through, and the
odds of our long-term suc
cess is hard to assess at this
point.”
He said, however, that he
understood Iraq was too
fragile for an immediate
withdrawal.
Obama, a memba* of the
Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, plans to travel
to Jordan on Sunday He is
scheduled to arrive in Israel
on Monday and will spend
the rest of the week there
and in the Palestinian terri
tories.
The senator, who was
elected last year, has criti
cized the Bush administra
tion for questioning the
patriotism of people who
speak out against the war.
Associated Press reporter Anna
Johnson contributed to this
report from Chicago.
because it had few residents
who would be inconvenienced
by a name change.
In addition to Stonewall, or
Independence fiom the 1-277
ramp at 7th Street south past
Kings Boulevard to the 1-277
ramp, Mumford said council
could consider asking the
state to name a section of
Interstate 485 that rings the
dty after King.
“We have unnamed sections
of 485 that’ll be traveled by
thousands of people,” he said.
“"ThafU be the easiest thing
we can take to Rale^.”
Acknowledging that honor
ing King is “the ri^t thing to
do,” Lassiter made a motion
to study Mitdiell’s proposal
rather .than have it lose on a
Mumford
split vote.
“He took the ri^t steps in
sending a
memo to the
council, but I
don’t know if
he worked
dc»ely enou^
with xis” in
advance,
Lassiter said.
The study
will likely be a matter of
weeks. If dty staff recom
mends Stonewall, council
very well could vote for it,
Lassiter said The goal is to
develop consensus.
“I think the sentiment
around the table is we want to
do this,” Lassiter said ‘It’s
just a matter of the ri^t one.”
NASCAR finds friends at MLK parade
Fly on tfk’ Wall ls fxirely mis
chief mayhtmi and maybe a little
malfeasance thrown in for paro
dy's sake, long-time fans already
know this, but the legal eagles at
/ Cheatham and Howe insist
on a written disclaimer to insulate
the basses from any litigious types,
know what we're saying?
Fly is always trying out new
stuff, but the crew wasn’t
ready fca* the unlikely pairing
of NASCAR and Chariotte’s
Martin Luther King parade.
The stock-car racing folks
have put their name, (and
mwiey) behind the uptown
procession, no small feat ccai-
sidering the sport’s past. But
give 'em credit. If there’s one
way to scOTe points with the
hcmie folks, get on the MLK
bandwagon. Personally. Fly
will be locking for race
tickets. TVack grub can be
described in four wcads: IN
cred a bull!
• Wal-Mart caught some
heat recently when its web
site linked movies on MLK
and Dorothy Dandridge to its
sale of the “Planet of the
Apes” television series on
DVD. After fielding a few
Charlotte native
Joe Crosby
(center) gave
his alma mater,
N.C. A&T State
University,
$10,000 for the
athletic depart
ment A&T
Athletics
Director Dee
Todd and
Chancellor
William Renick
gladly accepted.
N.C. A&T STATE UNlVERSfrY
complaints fiom irate e-shop
pers, the retail behemoth
decided to remove those
pesky links. Maybe Wal-Mart
should take those savings and
invest it in a web patrol.
• If you thou^t you’d seen
the last of former Chariotte
Council member Patrick
Cannon, pump your brakes.
Since leaving office. Fly’s
spies say PC has expanded
his parking
business and is
acting as a con
sultant (think
city council).
He also played
a role in
University
Park Baptist
Church’s acqui
sition of the Merchandise
Mart, which puts more mega
in megachurch
And he hasn’t ruled out a
return to the political ring at
some point in the ftiture.
Maybe he’ll pick up the may-
oral ceunpaign he dropped
Cannon
last year,
• Eddie Long, who has a
really, really, really big church
in Atlanta, will be in
Charlotte for the Kingdom
Agenda 2006: Making the
Connection” at University
Park Baptist. You knew it was
just a matter of time before
some Charlotte preacher
would reach the big time.
Theyh need a big sanctuary
to hold all that star power.
• Fly’s spies are pleased to
report that one of our favorite
Chariotteans, Joe Crosby, is
doing quite well, thank you.
Mr. Ch)sby, son of retired
educator Kat Crosby and a
right fine college football
coach in a previous life, now
owns a couple of T60 restau
rants (yum!) in South
Carolina. He also produces
Chach’s Low Cbuntry Boil, a
food seasoning concoction
that’s added to seafood or
meats.
^th the retail success of
(Doadi’s Low Chimtry Boil in
regional supermarkets,
Oosbys reaching out across
the border to help kids in
North Carolina. Eariier this
month, Oosby gave his alma
mater, N.C. A&T, a check for
$10,000 for its athletics
department. What a nice ges
ture. Considering the beat-
downs the Aggies have taken
in football and basketball
latdy that money’s going to
come in mighty handy
F(3cus on Future Leaders application
Focus on Future Leaders
Inc. is accepting allocations
for its next dass.
The deadline for
is Friday and the cost of train
ing is $200, including non-
refimdable $50 application
processing foe.
(Hasses will be held twice a
month on a Thursday and
Saturday
The goal of Focus is to devel
op leadership in the Afiican
American community
through dvic involvement.
For infcomation, call Beverly
Lawston at (704) 493-2415 or
(704) 366-5167.
Herbert L. White
The Charlotte
Post is always
open
(at least online)
www.thecharlottepostcom
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