RALEIGH, N.C.,
THURSDAY
JULY 13,1989
VOL. 48, NO. 64
N.C. 's Semi-Weekly
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
SINGLE COPY QP
IN RALEIGH
ELSEWHERE 300
Bush Promises To Support Rights;
Calls For Launching New ‘Mission*
Savage
Blows By
The Court
BY CHESTER A. HIGGINS, SR.
NNPA Newi Editor
WASHINGTON, D.C.-It looked
like Old Home Week as veteran civil
rifchts leaders gathered to sip tea and
lemonade, nibble on tiny cookies and
cakes, and warmly embrace each
other in a White House that for eight
long years had been closed to them.
Clapping each other on the back, or
vigorously shaking hands, were:
NAACP Executive Director Ben
jamin L. Hooks; National Urban
League President John Jacob;
former Congress of Racial Equality
Executive Director James Farmer,
an eye covered by a black patch; Ms.
Rosa Parks, who started the modern
Mack revolution when she refused to
NEWS BRIEFS
FIRE VICTIM
A Raleigh woman died this
week of injuries she suffered in
an East Raleigh house fire,
authorities said. Nettie MacAr
thur, 4S, was found Monday after
noon inside her house at 802 E.
Martin St. by Raleigh fire and
rescue officials.
She was rushed to Wake
Medical Center in critical condi
tion with burns that - covered
masts of her body. She was later
flown to «. bum unit at N.C.
Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill,
where she died about 2:20 a.m.
Tuesday.
The fire started at 3:10 p.m.,
apparently after a pot was left
unattended on a hot stove in the
kitchen of the one-story house.
The fire had spread to the attic by
the time firefighters arrived to
put it out shortly after 3:30 p.m.
REDISTRICTING PUNS
More than 50 people came to a
public hearing Tuesday to sup
port or lambast a proposed plan
to redraw the boundaries for
Raleigh’s five city Council
districts.
Black and white residents, inT
eluding former politicians and
representatives from the gay
community, stood before the City
Connell to express their opinions.
The proposal would shift seven
precincts to equalise the popula
tion in the city's districts.
At the hearing, some spoke in
favor of the plan. But others said
the city should never have com
promised with the Republicans,
even though U.S. District Judge
James C. Fox had asked the
council to do so.
(See NEWS BRIEFS, P. 2)
give up her Montgomery, Ala. bus
seat to a white man; Jesse L.
Jackson, former PUSH president and
president of the National Rainbow
Jewel S. Lafontant, nominee for U.S.
coordinator of refugee affairs and
ambassador-at-large while serving
this position; Vernon Jordan, former
“The Supreme Court is engaged in an assault
on affirmative action and the President needs
to engender the same indignation about the
buring of our cities...as he does about the
burning of our flag...” Rev. Joseph Lowery
Coalition; Rev. Joseph Lowery,
president of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference; Martin
Luther King, III; Hosea Williams;
president of the National Urban
League; Richard G. Hatcher, former
mayor, Gary, Ind.; Julius Chambers,
counsel/director, NAACP Legal
Defense Fund, Inc.; William Lucas
assorted Cabinet officials and promi
nent members of Congress, as well as
scores of others.
The occasion was the 25th anniver
sary observance of the enactment of
the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a law that
many present through their
courageous and unrelenting leader
ship had helped forge into being. And
they were happy even as an underly
ing concern bordering on alarm laced
their repartee. Their concern arose
over the savage blows being ham
mered at the very foundation of the
civil rights laws by a reactionary ma
jority of the U.S. Supreme Court in re
cent decisions.
Before repairing to the East Room
to hear President Bush formally
(See GEORGE BUSH, P. 2)
reSKSS5S
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Neu)
ToC
pa0«
KOB* - ___
jgS5>??iSS,w
Abusing Population
AIDS Infecting N.C. Inmates
Prisoners
From AIDS
Epicenters
(AP)— Last year, about 19,500 peo
ple entered North Carolina’s prison
system. Many carried the AIDS virus
with them.
Many of them were sent to prison
because they were convicted of
crimes committed to fund drug
habits—habits that included in
travenous drug use, a practice that
made them susceptible to contracting
the virus which causes JUDOS,
“As the epidemic makes incursions
into the intravenous drug abusing
population, we will see more infected
inmates come into the system,” said
Parker Eales, director of nursing for
the state Department of Correction.
Eales said prison officials surveyed
the 116 inmates last year who tested
positive for human immunodeficien
cy virus, the virus which causes
AIDS. Almost all of the inmates were
male, and 86 percent were black,
Eales said.
Many inmates had visited cities
and regions where the acquired im
mune deficiency syndrome is striking
in epidemic proportions.
“Almost half of these prisoners
have come from epicenters of this
epidemic where they engaged in high
risk behavior,” said Eales.
Eighteen inmates have died in
North Carolina prisons from AIDS.
About 400 have tested positive for
HIV. Some of those who have tested
positive for the virus have since left „
the prison system.
lean Planchel, 28, a Haitian who
came io the United States in 1981, is a
typical AIDS-infected North Carolina
prisoner.
Planchel was stopped on Interstate
95 in Harnett County on June 10,1987
after a state Highway Patrol rooper
ran a check on his license tag and
found it did not match the vehicle.
(See AIDS V1KUS, P.2)
'wfcisSiiii#:
;W
TALKING ABOUT EDUCATION-Congressman Bifl Gray, 1
(D-PA) addresses the attendees ef the 18th Anneal
Operation PUSH Convention Education Luncheon which
was sponsored by Burger King Corporation and UniWorid
Group. The convention and luncheon Me pine* at tha
Sheraton O'Haro near Chicago recently. He*. Jesse
Jackson, Founder, Operation PUSH, (seated, loft) looks on.
Congressman Gray was the keynote speaker ter the
luncheon.
Legislature Giving Tax Evaders
Second Chance In Amnesty Period
Tax evaders, phone home—all is
forgiven. Or it will be, if you pay your
back taxes plus interest.
But this is a one-time offer and good
only for the three months between
Sept. 1 and Dec. 1 of this year.
In an effort to collect millions in
back taxes and encourage the pay
ment of future taxes, the General
Assembly has created a one-time
amnesty period for individuals and
businesses who failed to report or pay
back North Carolina taxes.
Penalties and criminal prosecution
are waived for taxpayers who par-1
ticipate by filing returns and paying
taxes and the appropriate interest.
The amnesty applies to North
Carolina inheritance, license, fran
chise, income, sales and use, gift, in
tangibles, motor fuels and inspection
Raleigh Housing Authority Pilot
Program Receives $35,000 Grant
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
announced the award of $35,000 to the
Inter-Project Council, Inc., to support
the development of a demonstration
after-school program in the Heritage
Park public housing community. The
pilot program will test the effec
■■■MiaiKi ; - e
MS. JESSIE COPELAND
tiveness of the community to help
youth with academics and to prevent
school dropouts.
Ms. Jessie Copeland, chairperson
of the Inter-Project Council, said that
the program will be fully im
plemented by August and will serve
as a model for other Raleigh Housing
Authority communities.
The Inter-Project Council is a non
profit, tax-exempt corporation com
posed of RHA residents. The
presidents from each resident council
serve as the Board of Directors of the
Inter-Project Council, which is the
policy-making body of the council.
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
was established in 1830 as a memorial
to the youngest son of the founder of
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. In that
year, the brother and two sisters of Z.
Smith Reynolds requested that their
inheritance from his estate go to the
establishment of • trust to benefit
North Careitatans.
The foundation has made grants
totaling more than $180 million to
recipients in all 100 North Carolina
counties. In recent years the founda
tion has focused its attention on im
proving the criminal justice system
in North Carolina, on strengthening
public elementary and secondary
education, on preserving the environ
ment and on women’s and minority
Issues.
In related events: The Housing
Authority of the City of Raleigh has
started a mentoring program for low
income single parents to help par
ticipants meet their career aspira
tions.
Project Self-Sufficiency en
courages the private and public sec
tors to help low-income single parents
become economically self-sufficient.
The Women’s Center of Wake County,
assisting the housing authority, has
selected 15 volunteers who will each
work with a program participant for
a year.
The mentors, serving as resources
and role models, will help to foster
each participant’s sense of personal
identity and self-worth.
During the past three years, the
program has helped many low
income single parents to complete
high school and postsecondary train
ing. Ninety-five percent of the pro
gram participants have secured bet
ter housing accommodations and
(See HOUSING GRANT, P. i>
taxes.
Experts estimate North Carolina’s
tax amnesty program could collect at
least $25 million in past taxes. Thirty
one states have completed an amnes
ty program—some of them collecting
more than eight times as much
money as originally estimated.
Another two states, including
Virginia, have similar amnesty pro
grams in the works.
To discourage future tax evasion,
the Legislature substantially increas
dtaavdtee
strictest penalties go to thos who
willfully evade paying tax: from a
$1,000 fine/six-month imprisonment
misdemeanor to a $25,000 fine/five
year imprisonment felony. The stiffer
penalties go into effect the day after
the amnesty period ends.
In addition, legislators ap
propriated $10 million over the next
two years for more auditors, tax col
lectors and other personnel in the
Department of Revenue in an effort
(See TAX AMNESTY, P.2)
Lawmakers
Taka Action
On Elections
The General Assembly has reduced
from SO to 40 the percentage of the
vote that must be exceeded by the top
vote-getter to win nomination in a
party primary.
The action changes a 74-year-old
election law on how political party
candidates are chosen. The 1915 law
allowed North Carolina voters to
choose for the first time their parties’
nominees for state offices and re
quired winning candidates to get a
majority—or anything more than 50
percent of the vote. The second
Under this new law,
the second highest
vote-getter may call
- for a second primary
only if the top vote
getter fails, to poll a
substantial plurality.
highest vote-getter may call for a se
cond primary if the top vote-getter
failed to poll a majority.
Under the 1969 law, the top vote
getter in a single-seat race would be
nominated without a second primary
if he or she polled a “substantial
plurality”—defined as anything more
than 40 peroent of the vote. Under this
new law, the second highest vote
getter may call for a second primary
Only if the top vote-getter fails to poll
a substantial plurality. Second
primary elections would be abolished
when the leading vote-getter has won
better than 40 percent of the vote.
If more than one candidate polled
at least 40 percent of the vote, the top
vote-getter in a single-seat race
would win without a second primary.
(See ELECTION L^W, P. 2)
Lajon E.A. Evans, Miss Black
Teenage World of Wake County,
captivated the Judges and au
dience at the Wth annual Miss
and Mr. Black Teenage World of
North Carolina pageant held at
Meredith College recently.
Warren Arrington, Wake Coun
ty director for the Touch-A-Teen
Foundation, shouted with great
excitement, “We won again!” as
the emcee announced the winner.
The competition was with male
and female contestants, and Mr.
Black Teenage World of Harnett
County, Derone Martin McNeil,
walked away with the Mr. Black
Teenage World of North Carolina
title.
Ms. Carolyn McDougal, county
director for Harnett County, was
also filled with great Joy. She
said, “I had a hard time getting
him to enter, but It has really
paid off."
The pageant was presented in
Oriental style. The theme was
“An Eloquent Oriental Night,”
and featured teens portraying
Oriental culture. Oriental fans
and parasols were on display in
the lobby with a live “manne
quin” to set the mood.
Contestants were Introduced in
Oriental attire and style. The
pagant was videotaped, and
(SeeTEENAGE WORLD, P. 2)