£
Wind us up: The
Godfather of go-go
CHUCK BROWN is still
going strong/lD
Fresh off NCAA notional
title, Flampton senior
YVETTE LEWIS focuses on
the U.S. track and field
championship
Volume 32 No. 39
Page 1C
Grilling
out?
We've
got tips
from a
real
pro/1B
$1.00
tlPiie CtKIMte
The Voice of the Black Community
.ill
Fathers’ lessons for lifetime
Also serving Cabarr *********«n5-DIGIT 28216 S9 Pi
Jsntes B, Duke LibrarFr^^T
.If ifin
100 Beatties Ford Rd
Charlotte NC 28216
Where would you be without
your father?
Not as the steady hand of dis
cipline as a child or the bankroll
of support as a teen and young
adult. Where would you be with
out dad the teacher, the foun
tain of knowledge about what
the beauty and pitfalls of life?
With Father’s Day around the
corner, The Post asked Charlotte
residents of varying back
grounds about lessons they
learned from their dads and
how they helped mold their
lives. Perhaps you’ll read about
a similarity to your own father,
or perhaps a father figure who
was every bit the influence on
your life’s journey.
We’d like to read about it, too.
Just go to The Post’s website at
www.thecharlottepost.com and
blog us.
Herbert L. White
PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUU NEWSOME
Chariotte optometrist Paulo Newsome (second from right) wtth her tather Carter Newsome,
mother Mercedes and daughter Ayana Washington.
DR. PAULA NEWSOME, OPTOMETRIST
Self-reliance and charity start at home
PHOTO/ERICA SINGLETON
Dorothy Counts Scoggins desegregated Harding
High School in 1957 with encouragement from her
father, the Rev. H.L Counts.
DOROTHY COUNTS SCOGGINS, ACTIVIST
Chosen to blaze desegregation trail
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
If not for her parents, Dorothy Counts Scoggins would
n’t be who we know her to be today. The poster child for
school integration in the 1950s in Charlotte, Scoggins
questions, ”How many parents today would allow [what
happened to her] to happen to their children?"
"Families like the Roberts family, and my family decid
ed they would be a part [of the fight for integration]: but
a lot of people ask how could they allow you, especially
a girl to be a part of something like that?”
Scoggins said she specifically remembers her father,
the Rev. H.L. Counts, telling her," You were the right per
son to be chosen.’’ Rev. Counts completed applications
for his children - Dorothy, Howard and Wilson - to
desegregate Charlotte schools. Dorothy was chosen, and
she enrolled at Harding High School.
"All of us were taught the same thing, and we under
stood the importance of why it had to happen, but. Dad
said, 'You were the right person...you get the message,”
Scoggins said.
That conversation started Scoggins on a journey that
changed her life. What Rev. Counts saw in her helped
young Dorothy start a 50-year fight to ensure justice and
equality in schools.
"It made me the person I am today,” she said. “It also
started a process in this community, which had not been
going on, because we were living separate.
"As a result, even if it was 10 years later, people began
to come to the table...people began to do things we had
not done before."
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Dr. Paula Newsome learned self-
sufficiency from herfather. Carter.
By Herbert L. White
hert).whi1e@thecharlofieposf.com
Charlotte optometrist Paula
Newsome learned people skills and
empathy from her father, Carter
Newsome, a Wilmington educator
and administrator.
"One of the first things he taught
me was to make sure I could take
care of myself,” she said. “He said
‘don’t depend on anybody else to
provide for your livelihood.”
Young Paula took those words to
heart, becoming the first African
American woman to open an
optometry practice in North
Carolina..
Carter Newsome stressed the
importance of helping others.
Paula Newsome recalls her father
helping a heroin addict get on the
path to sobriety.
"He would bring that guy to our
house,” she said. “He’s been clean
for a number of years. He took the
time to help this kid.”
As a teacher at Williston High
School, Carter put students on
career paths as draftsmen and
electricians. At New Hanover High,
he helped students kicked out of
school during racial unrest in the
early 1970s by offering night class
es. He was quiet by nature, but
spoke volumes through his
actions. Paula took notice.
“He was always very person
able," she said. "He was a loner,
like me, but he was always good
with people.”
JAYE DELAI, WCCJ RADIO PERSONALITY
In or out of booth, people always come first
MORE LESSONS FOR FATHERS DAY
Publisher
Charlotte
Gerald
Bobcats
Johnson
network
writes some
reporter
of the most
Stephanie
important
Ready
lessons he
learned
learned from
teamwork
his father Bill
from her
were unspo-
dad.
Page 4A
Page 8A
By Chens F. Hodges
cheffs.fiodges@fbechoriotfeposf.com
Charlotte radio personality Jaye Delai
learned from his father, Rick Roberts, to
be the blessing to other
people ever day.
Delai’s father was the
operations manager and
afternoon jock at
Houston’s KYOK, one of
two black radio stations at
the time, but Roberts did
n’t really want his son to
follow in his footsteps.
"Dad actually pushed me
to do other things than
radio,” Delai said.
But as he watched
Roberts change lives with a
microphone, Delai was bit
by the radio bug.
“My father was a voice
for the voiceless,” he said.
’“He was like Robin Hood,
only he didn’t use a bow
and arrow. He used a
microphone."
Roberts retired from
radio in 1993, Delai said.
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Ready
One thing that Roberts told Delai that
has stuck with him during his radio
career is “treat every person in your face
as if they are the only person in the
world. Because they are giving you their
time.”
WCCJ personalHy Jaye Delai
followed his father, Rick
Roberts Into radio and took his
message to help listeners with
him.
IrMsit'tasiq'
u
riding on
two tracks
Supporters of 1/2-cent tariff
push tenets of light rail to
African American skeptics
By Herbert L. White
berb.whife@ffiecborioffeposf.com
A pro-transit tax group won’t forget the
concerns of African American voters who
joined a petition drive for its repeal.
Charlotte City Council member Pat
Mumford, chairman of the pro-tax group,
said supporters will go into
black neighborhoods to argue
why funding light rail is nec
essary for Charlotte’s growth.
”It’s critically important we
get into all segments, but
especially the black commu
nity where people were more
likely to sign the petition.” he Mumford
said. "I want to be clear -
that's an individual decision. What 1 want
people to do is understand this complex
issue well enough to have a full picture.
An anti-tcix petition drive netted 48,669
signatures to merit a place on the
November ballot, with African Americans
accounting for the largest percentage.
Tax supporters will have to lobby hard to
win skeptics in east and west Charlotte,
said Dwayne Collins, chairman of the Black
Please see TRANSIT/3A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Nicole Clardy sheds fears of joy at
Crossroads Charts' School commence
ment. Clardy was one of 39 graduates, the
most in school history.
School once at
crossroads now
embracing its
own turnaround
By Cheris F. Hodges
cberis.bodges@fbecbortotfeposf.com
Kandice Watkins is the poster child for
Crossroads Charter High School’s turn
around.
When she graduated Monday, Watkins
illustrated of how this once-embattled inde
pendent school turned itself around.
Watkins, who will be attending North
Carolina Central University in the fall, came
to Crossroads right out of middle school
three years ago. Around that same time, the
school was in jeopardy of having its doors
shut two years ago. Students staged walkouts
over what they considered unfair treatment
by administrators. Teacher morale was low,
and so were student test scores.
Since Principal Kenneth Simmons came on
board two years ago, Crossroads administra
tion has worked to improve discipline and
retention and increase parent involvement.
The effort has paid off with 39 graduates - the
largest in school history.
To Watkins, Crossroads has become her
Please see SCH00L/3A
“Body Worlds” exhibit
bound to turn heads at
Discovery Place/1 B
IHSIDE
Life IB
Religion 5B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E ID
Classified 3D
OOOL
To subscribe: (704) 376-0496 FAX (704) 342-2160.© 2007 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
. I jjww'r '-.I r:—f.-T ■i.T.^asj
Recycle
o