J.C. Smith adds key
newcomers on offense
to go with junior QB
CARLTON RICHARDSON
SPORTS/1 C
Volume 32 No. 47
0 ' Jh-
'>5.
Card sharks
Debit cords offer
easy accounting, but
come with o few
drawbacks
BUSiNESS/6C
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The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Cab 100 BEATTIES FORD R[
CHARLOTTE NC28216-^02—
No go
on union
vote at
plant
Smithfield Foods
rejects plea by
NAACP, workers
By Erin Gortner
rWEASSOC/ATED PRESS
RALEIGH - In another push
to organize workers at the
world’s largest hog slaugh
terhouse, union and NAACP
leaders publicly asked
Smithfield Foods Inc. on
Thursday to sit-down and
discuss a “fair and unco-
erced” process for holding
an organizing election.
It was a request rebuffed
almost immediately by the
company.
“There’s nothing to be
accomplished there,” said
Smithfield spokesman
Dennis Pittman, who said
such a meeting could occur
only when the union agreed
to pursue a secret-ballot
election. "If they have made
up their minds to allow our
employees to use the demo
cratic process to hold a
union election ... we’ll be
glad to sit down with them.”
That demand drew a simi
lar scoff from labor leaders
and the NAACP’s North
Carolina chapter, who cite
Smithfield’s illegal med
dling in two previous secret-
ballot organizing elections.
They say nothing can hap
pen until a working dialogue
opens between the compa
ny and the United Food and
Commercial Workers
International Union.
“This dispute has clearly
reached a point where civil
discussion between man
agement and union must
occur," the Rev. William
Barber, president of the
state chapter of the National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People, said during a news
conference in Raleigh.
It was the latest exchange
in a 12-year dispute
between the company and
the United Food and
Commercial Workers
International Union, which
has been trying for more
than a decade to organize
Smithfield’s massive plant
in Tar Heel, a speck of a
town about 80 miles south
of Raleigh. More than 5,000
workers process up to
3 SMITHFIELD/SA
Building leaders at
West Charlotte High
PHOTOS/CALVIN FERGUSON
West Charlotte basketball coach Thad Bonaparte leads discussion Wednesday at UNC
Charlotte as part of the Emerging Leaders Institute for freshmen.
Initiative’s goal: Nurture culture of achievement in freshmen
By Kristian Coley
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Turning around an academically-challenged
school takes more than just making students
study more. It starts with changing attitudes
towards learning.
The Emerging Leaders Institute will prepare
West Charlotte High School freshmen to be
school leaders. The students were recommend
ed by middle school guidance counselors for
their leadership potential.
Two groups of participants attended a week-
long session at UNC Charlotte where they devel
op skills that will enhance that potential. On the
last day of each session, a graduation ceremony
will be held on West Charlotte’s campus. The
program teaches the value of making good
choices, forming positive relationships with
Please see IS INITIATIVE/SA
Risks 10
IMng
space
Clinton
West Charlotte Principal John Modest con
gratulates the first class of participants last
Friday on campus.
Congressman turns into a regular Joe
By Cheris F. Hodges
c/Ten's.hodges@fhecHortoffeposf.co'n
U.S. Rep. Mel Watt keeps his
finger on the pulse of the people
by trading places with them.
The annual switch keeps Watt
close to the people who voted
him into office.
On Monday morning, he start
ed his day at the Charlotte Metro
Credit Union on Central Avenue.
His teller line wasn’t the fastest
but many customers were clam
oring to be waited on by the 12th
District representative.
Watt said working in the credit
union gave him an appreciation
for the differences between a
bank and credit union.
"The first thing they drove
See TRADING/6A
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS I
U.S. Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte (right) fries his hand as a bank teller
Monday at Charlotte Metro Credit Union. Amber Brown trained Watt.
Environmental racism still
prevalent across the U.S.,
activists tell senators
By Jatnes Wright
AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS
Sheila Holt-Orsted sat quietly in the Senate
hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office
Building while before her a dream was ful
filled: the first Congressional hearing on
environmental justice.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ,
(D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the '
Environmental and Public
Works Committee’s
Subcommittee on Superfund
and Environmental Health,
held the unprecedented hear
ing late last month. |
Holt-Orsted met with
Clinton, by chance, a few
weeks ago and the two talked.
Clinton told Holt-Orsted that she read an arti
cle about her in a nationally-circulated maga
zine and wanted her to attend the then-
upcoming hearing on environmental racism.
Holt-Orsted agreed, and she was satisfied
with what she saw.
"This was a very productive hearing,” she
said. "It is a problem that is confronting this
country. The (Environmental Protection
Agency) needs to be put on notice that this is
not right and has to change."
Please see ENVIRONMENTAL/3A
CONVENTION IN CHARLOTTE
For Shriners,
giving is global
By Herbert L. White
Hert).wh/fe@fhecTiariotfeposT.com
Prince Hall Shriners do more than march in
colorful hats.
They support education, medical outreach
and and economic development around the
globe.
And 30,000 of them are
expected to meet in Charlotte
next week.
The fraternal organization
will gather August 18-23 for
the 114th Imperial Council
Session at the Charlotte
Convention Center. The 96th
Imperial Court Session of the _
Daughters of Isis will also be Slaughter
held.
The Imperial Council has launched pro
grams that including African outreach and
voter registration and education drives in the
U.S. Among its initiatives are grants to the
Prince Hall Shrine Health and Medical
Research Foundation, education grants for
Please see PUBLIC/2A
KATRINA RECOVERY SLOW IN MOSTLY-BLACK AREAS
New Orleans: Tale of two cities
PHOTO/ERICA SINGLETON
New Orieans resident Richard Baptiste stands in front of his former home In the Ninth
Ward. Recovery for the poorest sections of the city have been slow.
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
This month marks two years since
Hurricane Katrina ravaged the GuJf Coast.
What I knew of the devastation 1 learned from
watching television.
The photos of whole neighborhoods flood
ed, of people stranded on top of houses, of
bodies just floating in the streets. Two years
after those images first appeared to me, I truly
didn't know what to expect when I was given
an opportunity to visit New Orleans and tour
its suburbs.
I knew things wouldn’t be complete, but I
had some expectations, what I saw Just blew
me away.
Before Katrina the population of New
Orleans’ metropolitan area was 1,337,726,
with 484,674 residents in Orleans Parish, and
455, 466 in Jefferson Parish. Today it is esti
mated that 1,265,000 people reside in the
metropolitan area with only 2 50,000 residents
in Orleans Parish, and 500,000 in the Jefferson
Parish, according to the New Orleans Tourism
and Marketing Development Corporation.
Based on recent Census data. New Orleans
lost half of its population between July 2005
and July 2006. For those that stayed or have
come back, nothing will ever be the same.
See TWO YEARS/2A
Three women and a
cookbook: How cuisine
builds relationships/1 B
MSIOI
Life IB
Religion 4B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E1D
Classified 3D
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