MAKEOVER SQUAD
From new coaches to
transfers like RB Marco
Kirven, J.C. Smith looks
to rebound/Page 1C
Open
house at
Friendship
Missionary
IL ^1 Baptist
Senior minister
Ciifford Jones
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Religion 5B
THE CHEATING
SEASON
Warm weather
brings out the
hojjjid in some
folkst Know the
warriing signs/1 B
Volume 31 No. 47
tlCffe Cliarlott
iliHu.lf.M.VAit
The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Ca
28216 S9 PI
]a«es B. cuke Library
100 Beatties ford Rd
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
One month in, Gomian makes his mark ACdUiSlS
CMS superintendent: Change necessary to build trust in school district
lobbvfdr
By Herbert L. White
hiefb.wh/fe@fhechor1ofteposf.com
Pete Gorman’s first month
as Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Schools superintendent has
been marked by changes.
And he’s not finished.
On Tuesday, the Board of
Education confirmed Ruth
Perez for the newly-created
position of chief academic
officer. Perez, an area super
intendent in Orange Coimty,
Fla., joins Chief Operating
Officer Maurice Green as
top-level executives in the
state’s largest school district.
Perez signed a four-year con
tract that will pay her
$158,490 annually.
“I think it’s very important”
to put school administration
and education services under
one department, Gorman
said. ■'We have two separate
divisions right now. We have
curriculum instruction ...and
school operations, and they
don’t come together.”
Gorman’s first month has
been a whirlwind of meet-
Please see GORMAN’S/3A
>
Change in N.C. law
coUld'leave contractors
out of state programs
CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry unveiled the 2007 tournament’s logo and sponsorships Wednesday in Chariotte
League, city focused on growth
Organizers
look to top
records set by
2006 event
PHOTO/WADE NASH
By Cheris F. Hodges
cheris.bodges@fhecPortotteposf.com
Charlotte and the CIAA are
gearing up to make “Uptown
Live” for the 2007 basketball
tournament.
The tournament’s first visit to
Charlotte in February brought in
$15 million in revenue and deliv
ered an average of $151,000 in
scholarship money to its 12 mem
ber schools, a record for the
league.
“I thought we had a great first
run in Charlotte,” said Tim
Newman, president of Charlotte
Regional Visitors Authority.
“We’re hard at work on some of
the issues we need to work on in
terms of parking. We’ve had a
parking consortium meeting in
the last week and we’re trying to
develop a weekly parking pass
option.”
Bin McMillan, director of mar
keting for the Charlotte Sports
Commission, said there’s been a
meeting with the major uptown
parking companies - Secured,
Please see CIAA./6A
Liberia native’s goal: Givp children in
war-ravaged nation a chance to play
Pitchman for
progress
Ronnie Bryant leads
regional recruiting
efforts/Page 6C
WILMINGTON - Black leaders across
North Carolina are lobbying Gov. Mike
Easley to veto a bill the General Assembly
ratified last week that they say could elimi
nate the prospect of minority-owned busi
nesses contracting with state and local gov
ernment.
“The North Carolina Black Leadership
Caucus hereby appeals to you asking that
you veto HB 1827 [the General Contractor
license Exceptions/DOT bill],” wrote NCBLC
Chairman N. Camell Robinson in a July 28
letter.
The bill, one of the last pieces of legislation -
passed by the Legislature before it adjourned
for the summer two weeks ago, removes any
mention of specific numerical minority busi
ness contracting goals that N.C. Dept, of
Transportation, and in effect, any other state
or local government agency, would employ in
a “good faith effort” to reach.
“The Department shall review its budget
its budget and establish annual aspirational
goals, not mandatory goals, in percentages
for the overall participation in contracts by
disadvantaged minority-owned and women-
owned businesses,” HB 1827 states. 'lb crit
ics, allowing DOT or other public agencies to
decide what their own aspirational goals wfil
be on an annual basis is a loophole that
allows them to escape any goals at all.
In previous language, a 10 percent goal
was set for minority businesses, and 5 per
cent for women-owned businesses, thus
making DOT somewhat accountable for at
least trying to reach it.
“The legislation fails to provide DOT with
Please see CRITICS/2A
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Liberia’s civil unrest left emo
tional scars, on Gohnsahn
Mattaldi.
A civil war that lasted from
1989-1996 killed more than
150,000 of the nation’s 3 million
citizens. An estimated 50,000 chil
dren died in the conflict, including
Mattaldi’s younger brother.
Mattaldi, who now lives in
Charlotte, said 21 percent of the
combatants disarmed at the end of
the war in 1996 were under the
age of 17.
Eight- months ago Mattaldi
started efforts to build a recre
ation center for young boys affect
ed by the extended conflict in
Liberia.
“I look around at die YMCA’s,
parks, and gyms here [in
Charlotte] and I think maybe
[Liberia’s] kids need these facili
ties,” explained Mattaldi. ‘Tears
of conflict and war have robbed
the kids of their innocence. I want
to teach (Liberia’s) kids to just be
kids, instead of having them come
along with guns.”
Liberia has a long history con
nected with the U.S.
Established in 1822 as a colony
for freed American slaves, Liberia
declared its’ independence in 1847
as Africa’s first Republic. Also that
year, Former Virginia slave
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was elect
ed Liberia’s first president.
The republic lasted until 1980,
between which time Liberia
demonstrated its commitment to
the United States despite histori
cal benign neglect.
Mattaldi’s 14-year-old brother
was killed during the war by other
young boys looking to recruit him.
Even today, after being in Liberia
from March to May, Mattaldi
doesn’t know the exact area where
his brother was killed, or where he
is buried. Despite the dark histo
ry, Mattaldi believes Liberia will
move, “fi*om a state of desperation
to a place of inspiration.”
“After years of conflict, war is
over, but if you do not rebuild the
minds of the people, the work is
not done,” said Mattaldi.
As executive director of Hope for
Liberia, an incorporated charity
foundation, Mattaldi hopes to
raise the fimds to build the recre
ation center. Through the organi
zation theyve already took over
Please see HOPE/6A
L
the box
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Bush rhetoric
doesn’t match
pohtical reahty
By Hazel Trice Edney
NAnONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - When talking
about the pain of slav
ery before black audi
ences, surprisingly
George W. Bush is
excellent at conveying
deep understanding
and sensitivity. But
accordiag to his critics,
the problem is that
compassionate speech- gush
es, such as the one he
gave before the NAACP last month.
Please see BUSH’S/8A
Charlotte Sting rookies
look back on first pro
season, and ahead to
the next/1 C
Life IB
Religion 4B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E1D
Classified 4D
INSIDt Reliaion 4B Business 6C Classified 4D Recycle
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