UNDER
THE ‘HAT’
Natalie Wilson
takes on role of
Mary McLeod
Bethune/5B
Shauntae
Barnette and
Harold Jordan
win Bsence
magazine
contest/SB
IDO,
I WILL
Volume 32 No. 23
Fate and series of
similarities brought
Dwain and
Lucrisha Hudson
together/IB
The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Caban
WBEK OF FEBHUAW 22-28,^9«': t;;: r
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Johnson C. Smith University cheerleader Aisha Lide, a senior from Charlotte (right) leads the Golden Bulls mens’ basketball team
onto the floor before a Feb. 15 game against CIAA rival Livingstone College. Next week’s CIAA basketball tournament is expect
ed to pump more than $15 million into the Charlotte economy.
Ready for fun and games
Charlotte organizers and businesses look to improve on CIAA tournament
Tournament
more than
hoops to fans
By Cheris F. Hodges
cPeris./iodges@fhechortoffeposf.com
The Central Intercollegiate
Athletic Association has a life
long fan in Edward Cook of
Durham. But this year’s tour
nament is going to be bitter
sweet for the North Carolina
Central University graduate.
"This is the last year for my
alma mater in the CIAA,” he
said.
While Cook is happy for the
Please see FANS/2A
By Herbert L. White
herb.whife@fbechortoffeposf-com
The welcome mat’s out for
the most ambitious CIAA bas
ketball tournament ever.
Next week’s tournament at
Charlotte Bobcats Arena will
bring more fan-friendly
events, star-studded parties
and education-oriented activi
ties than last year, which drew
a record 155,000 visitors
Uptown. Going into the 2006
tournament, skeptics won
dered whether Charlotte could
match previous host Raleigh’s
success. This year, the ques
tion is can Charlotte top itself.
“I think our stiffest competi
tion is ourselves,” said Bill
McMillan, director of market
ing and busi
ness develop
ment at the
Charlotte Sports
Commission
and co-chair of
the CIAA local
organizing
committee. "We
want to do bet
ter than we did. As a commu
nity, we want to top our
selves."
McMillan
By fans’ reaction, Charlotte’s
first CIAA tournament was a
winner. Charlotte Bobcats
Arena and the Convention ■
Center scored high marks for
accessibility and program
ming in a questionnaires com
pleted by visitors. Charlotte .
traffic, and parking in particu
lar, were a concern to some.
Everything was open to
review.
"We had our first planning
meeting after last year’s tour
nament,” McMillan said.
“We've enhanced some things
Please see EXPERIENCE/2A
£ (i We want to do better than we did. As a community, we
want to top ourselves, f f
Charlotte Sports Commission marketing director Bill McMillan
Obama responds to critics in South Carolina
U.S. senator says he can win in 2008
By Jim Davenport
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - White
House hopeful Barack Obama,
taking a fellow black lawmak
er to task, said Saturday voters
are ready to elect a black pres
ident.
"At every turn in our history,
there’s been somebody who
said we can’t,” the Democratic
senator from Illinois told a
nearly all-black - audience of
about 2,000 at Claflin
University.
"Some people said we can’t
do this, we can’t do that, so we
shouldn’t even try. If I have
your support, if I have your
energy and involvement and
commitment and ideas, then
I’m here to tell you, ‘Yes we
can.”'
The comments drew the
loudest ovation during a
question-and-answer ses
sion in his first campaign
swing through
South Carolina, an early vot
ing state.
The first-in-the-South con
test here is seen as a test of
candidates’ abilities to reach
black voters. Half of the
state’s Democratic primary
voters are black.
Obama responded to com
ments this past week by
Democratic state Sen. Robert
Please see OBAMA/3A
PHOTO/SCOTT LEWIS
U.S. Sen. and presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-lll.)
makes a point during a campaign visit at Claflin College in
Orangeburg, S.C., Saturday.
Top this: Charlotte best U.S. city for black families
By Herbert L. White.
hetb.white@thechariot1epost.com
Charlotte’s the place for black
families to settle, according to a
national survey.
BET.com ranked Charlotte the
best city in America for African
American families, outdistanc
ing Columbus Ohio and
Washington, D.C. The worst?
Cleveland, Ohio.
Charlotte’s economic
strength, coupled with the aca
demic growth of local colleges,
booming business community
and social scene impressed
researchers. Charlotte’s
improved efforts to recruit
young professionals and 50
percent home ownership
among blacks were also noted.
"Along with learning which
areas of the country are more
conducive to black families, the
Best Cities study helps explore
family issues in a cultural and
political context,” said Retha
Hill, BET Interactive’s vice pres
ident of content. "We hope the
results will spark ideas and
inspire positive conversations
within the black community."
Researchers examined 22
cities across the U.S., including
Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles
and Philadelphia. Criteria
included economics, education
and crime.
On the Net:
www.bet.com
l..l.llMlM,l,l,„ll,ll,,,|,|,„||,|i II
28216 Sll PI
Janes B. Duke Library
100 Beatties Ford Rd
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
More N.C.
teens are
kicking
ashes
Study: Smoking cessation
programs gaining ground
By Herbert L. White
hefb.wh/fe®lhechortottepos/.com
Fewer young North Carolinians are lighting
up.
Cigarette use by high school and middle
school students has significantly declined
since the state began funding tobacco use pre
vention and cessation initiatives for teens,
according to a survey by UNC-Chapel Hill
researchers.
Cigarette use dropped 25 percent among
high school students and 38 percent by mid
dle school students from 2003-05, according
to the report. The decline appears related to
the statewide tobacco use prevention and ces
sation initiatives, researchers said.
The evaluation was authorized by the Teen
Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation
Initiative of the North Carolina Health ind
Wellness Trust Fund. The fund was estab
lished with North Carolina's share of tobacco
lawsuit settlement money. The report also
details how the initiative affects youth of dif
ferent ages, ethnicity and socioeconomic sta
tus, activities led to those effects and ways to
improve outcomes in the next few years.
"Our data shows that the Health and
Wellness Teen Initiative, as the first state-
funded effort and one that is highly success
ful over the last three years, has allowed polit
ical leaders, policy-makers, parents and youth
themselves to recognize and more success
fully deal with the health effects of tobacco,”
Please see ANTI-SMOKING/6A
^^
thebox
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Magic leads
HTV town hall
meeting
i By Herbert L. White
; tierb.wh/te@fhechorfotfeposf.com
: Know your HIV status?
Basketball hall of famer Magic
Johnson will host a town hall meeting
on HIV and AIDS Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. Little
Rock AME Zion Church, 401 N.
McDowell St. The meeting is free as
part of Johnson’s "I Stand With Magic;
Campaign to End Black AIDS.:
The campaign’s goal is to slash the
rate of new HIV infections among
African Americans in
half over the next five
years. Johnson will lead
the discussion himself
during the town hall
meeting. He’ll also talk
to students at Johnson C.
Smith University at 7:30
p.m.
Free AIDS testing will
. be conducted at
Regional HIV/AIDS Consortium, 7510
East Independence Blvd., Suite 105
March 1 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and March
2 at Metrolina AIDS Project, 127
Scaleybark Road from 4-8 p.m.
;tions among
I
Johnson
To win the CIAA basketoall
^ Sm
title, contenders need role
mi Bril"**
players to step up/IC
INSIDi
Life IB
Religion 5B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
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Classified 4D
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