Industry Sends Big Weapon To Kill
Sen.Ballance’s Two Consumer Bills
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John Jerry Rawlings, Ghana’s
military strongman, recently promis
ed wider political concessions in a
speech to mark the 32nd in
dependence anniversary of the coun
try. He said the new district
assemblies, elected between last
December and February, would
on the next stage of the new
poetical process in the country. “It is
not for a handful of people in Accra to
say when and how, or even if,
regional and national assemblies
should be established,” he said, ad
ding that the district assemblies
should be able to formulate
guidelines for subsequent stages of
government once they have grasped
the basic issues at the district
«--• ♦»
19VH
He said any new form of govern
ment must stem from the grassroots
level while the government will act as
a catalyst by trusting the good sense
of the people to arrive at an ap
propriate system. “The ultimate task
of the ruling Provisional National
Defense Council is to make itself
redundant," he said, “but this would
not be done by decreeing artificially
conceived or borrowed forms of
Rawlings praised Kwame
Nkrumah, Ghana’s first leader, say
ing-that the beet monument in .his
honor would be to restore Ghana’s,
dignity and pride as a champion of
justice. He vowed to deal with
political dissidents who are hellbent
on derailing the revolution. He said,
“Although political dissidents have
been checked, confused and divided,
their lust for power and privileges
persists.”
Rawlings regained power after
ousting Hilla Liman in 1961. He had
ruled briefly in 1979 before he handed
the reins over to Liman after ex
ecuting some past military leaders
including Ignatius Acheampong and
Fred Akuffo, both of them generals.
State Sen. Prank w. Ballance, Jr.,
D-Warren County, prea anted Senate
Bin US to the Banking Committee on
April 27. The bill was intended to
alleviate the flood of bad chocks into
the banking system. The bill was
killed by heavy lobbying by the bank
ing industry and did not receive a
single vote of support from the group.
Another ofHalance’s bills, Senate
BUI 0434, was presented to die Small
Business Committee on May 4. That
bill was designed to stop banks from
overcharging the public for returned
checks.
Acconfing to a survey done for
Ballance, banks are charging from
Sis to 1*1 lor a service which they
say costs them only $0 to |7. They are
pocketing the difference.
N.C. Commissioner of Banks
wuaam t. Graham, replying to
Ballance’t request, said, “We
surveyed 13 at the 71 banks in North
Carolina. We tried to make this a ran
dom sampling but did include state
chartered and national banks, large
"Of the 12 banks, we found the
range of worthless checks to be from
$15 to Hi, specifically, three banks
charged $15, six banks charged $15,
two banka charged $19 and one bank
chanted 521." Grahamjaid.
Senate BUIM wouldhaveatmcharged the
Mate amount ter the bounced cheek Sat the
difference would have Mae ter eeheol con
itruetton rather than to the hanking Induotry.
and small. Thera is do current Infor
mation available that we know of but
I do believe this survey will give you a
pretty accurate picture of where this
matter is at this point.
The commiaaioner Mid no bank*
were able to give an accurate
breakdown of figures at what the pro
cessing coat of a worthless check ac
DEDICATEDTOMSPIRITOF JESUSCHRIST
RALEIGH. N.C.
VOL. 48. NO. 45
TUESDAY!
MAYMW X
N.C.'8 Semi-Weekly '*2L%?25e
Growing Pattern
IN RALEIGH
ELSEWHERE 30*
FBI Probes Racism
■ >x*
Students
Handcuffed
By Police
BY CHESTER A. HIGGINS, SR.
NNPANmrtMItar
Washington, DC—In Tempe Ariz.,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation
announced it is examining the
conduct of the Arizona State
University campus police in a recent
incident in which two Black students
were handcuffed and complained
they were bullied by the officers as a
crowd of white students yelled racial
slurs.
The invesUgation seems to
underline FBI Director William
Sessions’ expressed determination to
Cfljnbat racism impartially both
of Justice announced an agreement
mediated by the Community
Relations Service between the Pierce
County Sheriffs Department and the
Tacoma NAACP Branch, that will
relieve tension between the two
organizations and increase job
opportunities for Blacks in the
Sheriffs department
' “Under the agreement the Pierce
County Sheriffs Dept., with the
approval of the Pierce County
government will begin to form a
community outreach group
(See PROBE, P. J)
Items Affecting Auto
Insurance To Change
Many things that could affect the
cost of your auto insurance will
change May IS. Depending on in
dividual cases, these changes could
cause your rate to increase or
decrease. According to Chairman Art
Ivey of the North Carolina Rate
Bureau Governing Committee,
changes in the state laws on in
surance will affect policies that
become effective on or after May IS.
Ivey is also regional underwriting
manager in Charlotte for Allstate In
surance Co.
Among the changes, a different
schedule of Safe Driver Insurance
Plan surcharges will apply. Facility
recoupment ana facility loss alloca
tion surcharges are separate from
SDIP surcharges.
Under current laws and the current
SDIP, until May 18 you can be charg
ed SDIP points for an at-fault acci
dent and also for a traffic citation you
get in connection with the accident.
Under the new SDIP, you can’t be
charged points for both.
Currently one point is assessed for
a chargeable accident involving no
bodily injury and 1800 or less in
damage, and two points are assessed
for bodily injury and/or damage of
more than |800.
(See AUTO INSURANCE, P. S)
Fanily Confannca MI
New Plan Proposes To
Help Savings And Loans
WASHINGTON, D C.-The House
Banking Committee has beefed up
the administration’s savings and loan
rescue plan, Fourth District Rep.
David Price said last week.
“This is a new and improved ver
sion,” said Price, a member of the
Banking Committee. “The plan now
includes tougher regulations and
capital standards, better protection
for depositors and creative bousing
opportunities for low- and moderate
income families.”
The committee, with Price’s sup
port, approved the bill last week. It is
designed to restore the solvency of
the savings and loan insurance fund
while putting a system in place to pre
vent future crises.
The bill also steps up investigations
and prosecutions of SAL fraud and re
quires S&L owners to risk more of
their money when making loans. It
also includes Price’s amendments to
ensure a tougher regulatory struc
ture and strengthen the consumer’s
hand in the rescue plan.
The full House is expected to vote
on the bill later this month, and Con
gross should adopt the plan by early
summer, Price said. “It’s clear that
we have to move quickly to get a plan
in place,” he said. “Much is at stake,
especially for the depositor.”
Committee members have fine
tuned the plan in recent weeks, ad
(Sm SAVINGS AND LOAN. P. 2)
Jeanette Beckwith
Named Region Three
Principal Of Year
Dr. Jeanette R. Beckwith, prin
cipal of Carnage Middle School,
has been selected at Region
Three’s Principal of the Year
through a program co-sponsored
by Wachovia Bank and Trust Co.
and the North Carolina Depart
ment of Public Instruction.
This is the second consecutive
year that a Wake County prin
cipal has received this honor.
Last year, Conn Elementary
Principal Norma Haywood was
named the Region 3 Principal of
the Year. .
Dr. Beckwith will now compete
with seven other regional win
ners for the state title that in
cludes a $1,500 award. Earlier,
Dr. Beckwith was named the INI
Principal of the Year for the
Wake County Public School
System and the Wake County
PTA Principal of the Year. She
also was the Wake County Prin
cipal of the Year in 1M7.
Dr. Beckwith received her
undergraduate degree from
Shaw University, her master’s
degree from N.C. Central Unlver
. sitv. and her doctorate from'
Nova University. She hat been
with the Wake Cty. School
System since 1*72. Curing her 17
years with the system Dr.
Beckwith has served as super
visor of health education and
principal of Lincoln Heights
Elementary and now Carnage
Middle School.
SAT Testing Supported
As Needed Instrument
Can the SAT keep a student out of
college? Is it biased against women
and minorities? Does coaching work?
And why do colleges use the SAT
anyway?
Many of the 14,900 high school
students in North Carolina who took
the SAT May 6 probably would
answer these questions incorrectly,
according to Gretchen Rigol, a
forma: college admissions director
and currently executive director of
the Admissions Testing Program of
the College Board, the organization
that sponsors the test.
“North Carolina students are
probably no less confused about the
SAT and its role in college admissions
than the other 390,000 students across
the nation who will take the SAT this
May,” Ms. Rigol explained. “SAT
distortion is rampant today, with
some people actually believing that,
by itself, a score on a three-hour test
can make or break a student’s
academicfnture.”
Ms. Rigol said she does not blame
students for their impressions.
“Students hive been the target of a
lot of misinformation about the SAT
lately,” she said. “However, the facts
are a bit more complex than the
headlines would sometimes lead you
to believe.”
What are the facts? Ms. Rigol
discussed some common myths about
the SAT recently in an interview in
New York.
QUESTION: Is it true that the SAT
can get you into or keep you out of
college?
Mi. Rigol: No. By itself, the SAT
won’t get students into college or
keep them out. The SAT is only one of
several factors that college
admissions officers consider in
deciding who is admitted.
Students probably attribute all this
clout to the test because they really
don’t know how the college
admissions process works, and
because they are seldom told why
they are accepted or rejected.
Colleges first look at grades and
evaluate the strength of the student’s
academic program. At most colleges,
extracurricular activities,
recommendatons, special talents,
and the college application essay are
also important.
Most students don’t ralize that
colleges have to consider their own
needs when they select stu
dents—in certain academic areas,
athletics and other talents, and
overall demographic diversity.
Colleges, have been known to reject
students with very high grades and
SAT scores, proving that admissions
decisions are more complex than
simply plugging numbers into a
formula.
QUESTION: Since women score
lower than men on the SAT but
receive higher grades than men in
high school and college, doesn’t that
prove that the SAT is biased against
women?
Ms. Rigol: Absolutely not! The SAT
is not biased against women.
On average, women who take the
(See SAT TEST, P. 2)
A Jewish-American Conference:
",Not Revision. But New Vision”
BY DR. ALBERT E. JABs
Coatrihatiaf Wrtttr
AnAn*ly>U
It is clear that Chriatian-Jewish
relationships or Jewish-Christian
understandings must be fostered;
they have similar roots.
These relationships, however, can
not grow if one side or the other is
paralyzed by shame, hatred, or guilt.
Authentic relationships must be bas
ed on a complete examination of the
historical record, an awareness of
differences, and a drive for recon
ciliation in terms of mercy, justice,
and right-even after the Holocaust.
Modern Jewry asks the question oi
whether there can be a God or morali
ty after Auschwitz. But this may not
be the ultimate question—while it
is tragic—and it was a
holocaust—there have been other
holocausts in history’s horror house.
We do not forget, but the past should
not be an obetacle for reconciliation.
Both traditions speak of a mission
of mercy, justice and right. Each
tradition tells of a priesthood, a uni
queness, a holy nation, a called peo
ple, and a chosen race. A chief ques
tion in all of this and like the Hebrew
prophets Amos, Jeremiah, Micah and
Hoeea spoke, was for a universality of
justice, mercy and right.
In their ancient time, God was
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.
Both Christians and Jews subscribe
to this. They differ on the fct that the
Prophesied One—the Christ—came in
historical time. For the Orthodox
Jew, the Messiah is yet to come.
The Conference of Jews and Chris
tians at Charleston, S.C., really
should have aduressed the issue of
selective justice. This is the critical
question and both Christians and
Jews can be faulted on that issue. The
summary of the laws/prophets in the
(See JEWS-CHRISTIANS, P. 2)
Malcolm X: A Cultural Renaissance
A National African-American Holiday Plan
BY YBMI TOL.u£
Sptclal To TW CAROLINIAN
May 19 is the birthday of Malcolm
X, one of the world’a moat
remarkable and important peradna.
Malcolm waa born in MBS in Omaha,
Neb. He had a rough youth, including
Buffering through the murder of hia
father by raciata, the breakup of hia
family and hia placement in boarding
homes.
Later, aa a young adult, Malcolm
waa involved in drug* and other
crime on the atreeta of Harlem. In
priaon, he heard of the Hon. Elijah
Muhammad, and that changed hia
life. He joined Muhammad's Nation
of Ialam, a black nattonaliat
organization, and dedicated hia life to
the moral, spiritual, political end
cultural rebirth of the black race.
Malcolm roee quickly in the Nation
of Ialam and became a dynamic, in
sightful speaker and teacher.
Malcolm believed in adf-teilance, in
uplifting the downtrodden, and in
black manhood, womanhood and
peoplehood. He also believed in
fearlessness and self-defense. He
taught that we an a work) people,
that we should fight for our Inter
national human rights, not just U.8.
civil rights. He said capitalism is evil,
and that we must be prepared to fight
for those things that an justly ours.
And above all, Malcolm was a
its replacement with s just system),
in truth and in God.
Malcolm outgrew some aspects of
the Nation of Islam, end started his
own black nationalist group in 1964.
He traveled widely, and was welcom
ed by progressive movements and
Malcolm X believed that African
Americans should work toward unity, na
tionhood, cultural roualaaanco, self
determination and an equal say In world af
fairs and the right to fight far International
human rights.
M»i»K nationalist (the belief that
black people, no mattar where we are
in the world, abouki work toward uni
ty, nationhood, a cultural
renaissance, self-determination and
an equal say In world affairs).
Malcolm equally believe In revolution
(the overthrow of an evil system and
heads of state throughout Afnoe.
Despite his «fr—in IMS,
Malcolm continues to this day to be
an example of the highest motel and
political principles we can live by.
Syndicated columnist Ron Daniels
has issued a call for our community
to declare May 19 to be Malcolm X
r
Day, a national black holiday, begin
ning in 1989. Not a federal
holiday—I’m sure Malcolm would re
ject THAT idea forthwith-but a holi
day we ourselves recognize. I support
that call.
You can indicate your support by
studying Malcolm’s life and work.
Read “The Autobiography of
Malcolm X” (Grove Publishing,
1965). Listen to tapes of his talks (one
such catalogue is available from
Omar Farooq, 815 N. 15th St., Terre
Haute, Ind. 47807). Read “Malcolm
X, The-Man and His'Times,” edited
by JohH'Henrik Clarke (MacMillan
Publishing, 1989).' Get “The Picture
Life of Malcolm X" by James
Haskins (Watts Publishing, 1975) for
the children. Attend programs in his
honor. Discuss his ideas with your
family and Mends.
You may want to get together with
a few Mends or members of a group
you are in, and buy and study
together the material above.
Malcolm was assauinated in 1965
(See MALCOLM X.P. 1)