FORGET THE TURKEY
(after splitting up)
Get that broken
relationship behind
you tor holidays/1 B
SMALL BUDGET,
MAX PUBLICITY
Cash poor but
imagination
rich? Pump your
business on the
cheap/6C
Volume 32 No. 10
TWO COACHES, ONE DESTINATION - THE PIONEER BOWL
Tuskegee's
Willie Slater
leads Golden
Tigers into
Thanksgiving
J.C. Smith’s
Daryl McNeill
S z
reassembles
0)
Golden Bulls for
TJ
o
2-week training
camp/lC
/
$1.00
otte SBoat
The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Cabarru
I'TcS' .T./g . ■' TT'
‘Lost Boy’
on mission
to help
homeland
Sudan refugee
navigates series
of hurdles
By Ben Dobbin
THE ASSOC/ATED PRESS
ROCHESTER, New York -
Two days after crossing the
border into southern Sudan,
the pop of a blown tire halted
Salva Dut’s return journey to
the war-scarred land he fled
as a child in 1985. The two
spares had already been
shredded by sharp stones on
rutted African backroads.
The 31-year-old church
clerk from Rochester, one of
the thousands of refugee
“Lost Boys” resettled in the
United States, waited by the
road in 43-degree Celsius
(110-degree Fahrenheit) heat
all night and much of the
next day. A United Nations
aid truck finally came by,
allowing Mm to drive back to
a border town to buy four
extra tires.
“I was a little scared,” he
recalled. “I didn’t worry about
wild animals or bad people,
more about running out of
water. It made me realize
again how important the
water is in our life.”
For six months each year,
beginning with that arduous
trip in January 2005, Dut has
been drilling wells in the
mud-hut villages in semiarid
southern Sudan. His home
land was wracked by a 21-
year civil war that killed 2
million people and sent
legions of orphans wandering
for years throu^ the wilder
ness.
The first seven wells tap
into aquifers as much as 60
meters (200 feet) down, pro
viding clean running water
for at least 26,000 villagers.
In one of the poorest spots on
earth, they lend stabOity to
tribes that have always had
to roam far when water holes
dry up - or become stagnant -
during the October-to-May
dry season.
Dut, the son of a Dinka cat
tle herdsman, expects to
install as many as 20 more
wells eeirly next year using a
$67,000 trailer-mounted,
American-made drilling rig
that halves construction costs
to $5,000 a well.
“Even though that country
caused me grief, I still have
the heart to go back and not
forget about it,” Dut said
wMle working his part-time
job at Downtown United
Presbyterian Church. “I’m
glad I can help my people.”
His adopted homeland has
helped, too. In 1996, he was
one of the first of 3,800 chil
dren plucked from refugee
camps and sent to the United
States. The war between
Sudan’s Muslim-dominated
north and mainly Christian
and animist south ended
Please see LOST/6A
Ripe for change
NEW FLAVOR FOR
CHERRY ^
Redevelopment plans for
the Cherry neighborhood
call for construction of
townhomes, apartments
and condominiums, but
longtime residents fear
changes could gentrify the
predominantly black com
munity.
ILLUSTRATION/STONEHUNT LLC
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Reginald Patton, who grew up in Charlotte’s Cherry community, hopes to
live there after redevelopers turn it into a mixed-income neighborhood.
Historic Cherry casts future with developer
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Reginald Patton wants to be
part of the new Cherry neigh
borhood.
Patton, who grew up in
Cherry, moved back two years
ago. He’s hoping to stay, but
faces some uncertainty as the
neighborhood struggles to
remake itself as a mixed-income
community.
“I was bom and raised in
Cherry,” said Patton. “It’s been
my home away from home, even
when I wasn’t living there. My
Tired of the corporate scene,
Joseph Hart turned into a
kill-time artisVI D
credit is tore up from the floor
up. Right now I would like to be
a homeowner in the develop
ment...! know I can handle the
payments, but the question is
just getting the opportunity to
sign on liie dotted fine.”
In the 1960s, the cost to Mve in
Charlotte nearly doubled from
what it had been for residents in
the prior decade. Recent Census
Bureau information lists the
median family income in
Charlotte at $24,167. The aver
age cost of a home in Charlotte is
$225,000.
With its proximity to Uptown,
Cherry is considered prime real
estate. The Cherry Community
Organization, the neighbor
hood’s largest landowner, has
kept developers at bay in hopes
of staving off gentrification, but
recently made a deal with
StoneHimt LLC to redevelop the
community.
StoneHunt principals Stoney
Sellars and Anthony Hunt,
acquired nearly half Cherry for
an undisclosed amount, and
plan to build 112 condos, 90
Please see CHANGES/7A
Dems
wield
control
with care
Congressional majority
moves on some issues
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - Over the years. Rep.
John Conyers has championed an assort
ment of cutting-edge issues, such as repara
tions, the elimination of mandatory mini
mum federal sentences and ending disparate
treatment of crack cocaine users. When he
takes over next month as chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, all of those
issues win have to take back seat to another
cause - election reform.
“In every recent election, there have been
well-substantiated allegations of attempts to
discourage or prevent eligible voters from
voting. There is also a widespread consensus
that electronic voting machines are woefully
insecure and subject to tampering and
manipulation,” states Conyers,.the senior
member of the House Judiciary Committee.
With African-Americans set to key commit
tee chairmansMps in the House, expecta
tions are Mgh. But interviews with those
new power brokers seem to indicate wMle
they have not abandoned their liberal lean
ings, some plan to proceed with safer issues,
such as voting reform.
But to some, voting reform is a cutting-
edge issue, especially the right to have votes
by African-Americans cast and counted.
“For our democracy to survive, we must
ensure that every eligible voter is allowed to
vote and their vote is counted correctly,”
Conyers explains in a written statement. “I
look forward to working with the Democratic
Please see DEI\/IOCRATS/2A
thebox
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Trading hoops
for Habitat
construction
By Paula Young
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
At 28 years old, Helen Darling has
done more than most.
First and foremost, she is a single
mother to 4-year-old triplets, plays
guard for the WNBA Charlotte Sting
and a budding entrepreneur.
So during Darling’s off-season, one
would think this would be the perfect
time for some R&R.
Not.
Darling’s current role
is the 9 to 5 working
mom. She is working
for Habitat for
Humanity, trading in
the basketball for ham
mer and nails.
“I enjoy community Darling
service,” said Darling.
“I love giving back.”
Darling got the internship through a
Please see PROFESSIONAL/3A
Life IB
Religion 5B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E ID
Classified 3D
INSIDE
To subscribe, call (704) 376-0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.0 2006 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
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