West Charlotte
High coach
MAURICE FLOWERS
embraces high
expecations /IC
Volume 32 No. 46
Art, history
Song, dance and
art bring city's past
to life through its
communities /I D
$1.00
Cfiarlotte Boit
The Voice of the Black Community
WEEK OF AO0UST 2*8,2007
Also serving Cat ’* ‘ '
CHAR|jgJ|6JH5^]eiS362 Ub2lu
Pork
fight
turns to
airwaves
Activists counter
Smithfield Foods
with TV ads
By Herbert L. White
t)eFt)-wfi(fe@thiechartoffeposf.com
The public relations battle
between Smithfield Foods
and its workers has taken to
North Carolina’s televisions.
Smithfield, long a target of
worker abuse allegations at
its pork processing plant in
Tar Heel, has launched an
advertising campaign to
boost its image and lure new
employees. A coalition of
activists led by the N.C.
NAACP plans to counter
with ads featuring
Smithfield workers
demanding a meeting with
company officials and a
vote on unionization.
“If Smithfield is serious,
we all need to sit down and
work out a fair process this
time,” Smithfield plant
employee Keith Ludlum
says in a commercial to be
unveiled today in Raleigh.
The Tar Heel plant, located
in Bladen County about 140
miles east of Charlotte, is
the world’s largest pork
processing facility. Nearly
all its 5,000 employees are
African American or Latino.
Smithfield’s ads, which are
running primarily east of
Raleigh, include workers
praising the company’s
health care plan and bene
fits package. The ads close
with: “Quality Food. Good
Jobs.”
The counter ads claim
Smithfield fired and intimi
dated workers as well as
federal citations for poor
working conditions.
“I was fired illegally for my
union activity," Ludlum said
in the activist commercial.
Union officials have indi
cated a willingness to meet
with Smithfield leaders and
the NAACP. Smithfield
President Joseph Luter said
the company is willing to
allow a union vote in a July
31 letter to state NAACP
president William Barber.
Luter also criticized the civil
rights group for denying
workers an opportunity to
vote on representation.
"The union has refused,
and presumably on behalf
of the North Carolina
NAACP, you have loudly
supported them,” he wrote.
Going to X-tremes
Graham
PHOTOS/CALVIN FERGUSON
Roy Goff of Charlofte catches some air during the competition at the Chariotte Skateboarding
& Music Festival at Grayson SkatePark.
Wheel deal at festival
Skateboarders went to the extreme at the sec
ond annual Charlotte Skateboarding & Music
Festival.
The best boarders in the Charlotte area were at
Grayson SkatePark Saturday for a day of big air,
acrobatics and music on the 13,000 square foot
concrete course. Skateboarders showed off their
skills in divisions ranging from beginners to
advanced competitors. The best skated in tricks
and speed contests and advanced boarders went
wheel-to-wheel for cash prizes.
Top skaters also shared tips and pointers on
the sport to increase physical fitness and skate
board safety.
Herbert L White
N.c.gang
bills fan
shgitat^
deadline
State wiUjundprevention
programs, commission
panel to study their impact
By Herbert L. White
herb.wfiifeSfFiecPoiloffeposf.com
Tougher laws to deal with gangs in North
Carolina will have to wait until 2008.
Lawmakers failed to find consensus on
penalties for gang-related activities by the
close of the legislative session.
The General Assembly isn’t
likely to convene until May.
Lawmakers, however,
approved a $4.8 million grant
program for gang violence
prevention and intervention in
the state budget signed into
law by Gov. Mike Easley
Tuesday. Legislators also
approved the formation of a
committee that will convene
meetings on gang activity across the state
and report its findings next year.
"The gangs are real,” said state Sen.
Malcolm Graham of Charlotte, sponsor of the
Street Gang Prevention Act. "Not only in
Charlotte, but across North Carolina.”
Charlotte has 2,000 police-documented
gang members and 150 sets, or individua]
units.
"The gang problem is a growing and com
plex issue that affects all facets of our com-
Please see GANG/3A
APPRECIATION
Vanessa Baxter
blazed trail in
loeal TV news
By Ken Koontz
SPEQAL TO WE CHARLOTTE POST
Former Charlotte TV reporter C. Vanessa
Baxter died at her home Monday after an 18-
month fight against pancreat
ic cancer. She was 53.
Ms. Baxter was among a wave
of African-American women
reporters at WBTV News in the
mid-1970s. She joined the top-
rated news organization in
1976 upon graduation from
Howard University, where she
had been a mass communica
tions major.
She joined Debbie Mann
(Gibbs) and Beatrice Thompson to form the
unprecedented makeup of three black
women news staffers and later a fourth with
the addition of Charlene Price (Patterson).
Ms. Baxter covered numerous beats, espe
cially education, during her four-year tenure
at WBTV News.
} see C. VANESSA BAXTER/2A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
GOOD WORKS; Neighborhood activist Aaron McKeithan (third from left) and devel
oper Bobby Drakeford (second from right) shovr off their community activist and
business leadership awards at the Northwest Corridor CDC Philanthropy Awards lun
cheon at Johnson C. Smith University. Kareem Boykin of McCrorey YMCA is on the
left, Brenda McMoore of NWCCDC is second from the left. NWCCDC Director Gwen
Isley is on the right.
Fight crime with a night out
By Herbert L. White
herb.white@fhecharlottepost.com
Get to know your neighbors and fight crime
on August 7.
National Night Out brings neighbors togeth
er to fight crime and drug abuse annually.
Community groups typically sponsor activi
ties for families ranging from rallies to picnics
to boost awareness. Mecklenburg County Park
and Recreation will host activities across
Mecklenburg County.
National Night Out is sponsored by the
National Association of Town Watch. An esti
mated 34 million people from more than
10,000 communities across the U.S. and
Canada participated last year.
National Night Out started 24 years ago with
homeo'wners leaving their front lights on and
neighbors getting acclimated with each other
to battle crime. Over time, activities including
block parties, cookouts, and parades have
been added.
Among the activies in Charlotte:
• Block Party in the 1500 block of Clanton
Road, 6-9 p.m., sponsored by the Arbor Glen
Outreach, Amay James, and Southview
Recreation Centers. Residents of 17 neighbor
hoods on or near West Blvd are expected to
participate. Recreation center staff will pro-
See KNOW NEIGHBORS/2A
Stay cool and healthy
in order to enjoy the
summer heat/IB
LifelB
Religion 4B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E1D
Classified 3D
INSIDE
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