Volume 32 No. 18
SI .00
Serving Cabarrub, 
‘RENT PARTY
Tony-winning ■
musical rolls into
Ovens Auditorium
riding wave of
momentum/ID
Jeff Mclnnis
dives right
in with the
Bobcats/1 C
PHOTO/CALVIN PERGUSON
CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry said the
league’s basketball tournament's success
is based on its ability to lure corporate sup
port.
Fueling
CIAA’s
hype
machine
Basketball tournament
already near sellout with
aggressive marketing
By Cheris F. Hodges
chen'5,hocJges®fhechQfIofteposf.com
The CIAA basketball tournament is one of
the most highly recognized college basketball
tournaments and in six weeks, it returns to
Charlotte.
Though the tournament sells itself, with
alumni clamoring to buy tickets as early as
December, the league and its corporate spon
sors still put on a marketing blitz.
Last Thursday at the Charlotte Convention
Center, the hype got imderway as CIAA
Commissioner Leon Kerry and city officials
talked about plans for the 2007 tournament,
which tips off on Feb. 26 at Charlotte Bobcats
Arena.
Kerry said there are about 1,000 upper level
seats available. The tickets were sold without
a lot of advertising and Kerry admits that it
would be easy for the league to just let the
legacy of the CIAA carry the tournament.
But, that’s not how they do things.
‘Tans talked about the CIAA in Charlotte
all year,” he said. “This is an important com
munity event. We try to embrace the commu
nity with ever5Tthing that we do.”
Kerry said the key to the tournament’s suc-
Please see CIAA/3A
Justice ‘grateful’
for opportunity
to serve on court
By Sommer Brokaw
THE tPIANGLS TRIBUNE
RALEIGH - Patricia Timmons-Goodson,
the first black woman elected
to the N.C. Supreme Court,
began her eight-year term on
the state’s highest coiut last
Monday.
Now that it’s official,
Timmons-Goodson is ready to
get down to business. “
I am extremely excited,” she
said. “I’m very grateful for the
opportunity the citizens of
North Carolina have given me
to serve them on the Supreme Court and to
render justice.”
Please see JUSTICE/2A
s. 0,
Charlotte Citjc,y^vw-
Council member '
James Mitchell’^^'^^i
unveils Martin
Luther King Jr.
Boulevard during
a dedication cer
emony.
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Sam Belnavis is consoled by wife Christine during a wreath-laying ceremony at the
MLK statue at Marshall Park.
Keeping
dream,
legacy
aUve
Across the Carolinas Monday,
thousands paid their respects to
the memory and ideals of slain
civil rights leader Martin Luther
King Jr.
In Charlotte, MLK Day took on
added significance with a parade
along the newly-named Martin
Luther King Boulevard in Center
City among numerous events
held across die dty. A memorial
service at the foot of King’s statue
in Marshall Park brought some to
tears, while Americeins of aU eth
nic groups got together for prayer
and praise.
Herbert L White
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS III
The Charlotte-Mecklenurg Police Department
honor guard participated In the Pilgrim March.
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
P.UIX
credit for
poor on
agenda
State likely to debate
matching federal funds
By Herbert L. White
he/b.w/TifeiSfhechortotfeposf.com
When N.C. lawmakers meet next week, an
earned income tax credit for the working
poor will be a the top of their agenda.
After several failed attempts
in previous years, key legisla
tors say a state tax credit has
enough momentum to get a
vote. Gov. Mike Easley includ
ed it in his first budget in
2001, but yanked it when the
state ran eifoul of a fiscal cri-
Adams
Among'the lawmakers lead
ing the ckarge for the credit are Tdeps. Alma
Adams of Greensboro, amd
William Wainwright of I
Havelock and Sen. William
Hoyle of Gastonia. The
General Assembly convenes
Jan. 25 in Raleigh.
“I would think there’s a 50-50
chance of it passing,” said Rep. I __
Pete Cunningham of Cunningham
Charlotte, who like
Wainwright and Adams, is a member of the
Legislative Black Caucus. “From a practical
standpoint, I think it would appeal to most
' people. You can put me down as a very strong
maybe.”
Please see TAX/6A
thebox
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Chambers
honored by
hometown
By Herbert L. White
herb.white@f/iecharioffeposLcom
Julius Chambers’ spectacular legal
career has earned him a place of honor
in his hometown.
The town of Mount Gilead in
Montgomery County dedicated Julius
Chambers Avenue on
Monday to honor
Chambers, who found
ed the state’s first mul
tiracial law firm in
Charlotte in 1964 He is
best known as the win
ning attorney in Sweinn
V. Board of Education,
which upheld busing as
a means to school desegregation.
He also won a pair of major Title VII
discrimination cases - Griggs v. Duke
Power Co. and Albemarle Paper Co. v.
Moody.
In 1984, he became the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund’s director-counel,
a position once held by Supreme Court
justice Thurgood MarshEill. He later
became chancellor at N.C. Central
University in Durham.
Chambers
Designer.faucets have a sense of
flair as well as function/6D
INSIDE
Life IB
Religion 5B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E1D
Classified 5D
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