RALEIGH, N.C.,
THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 7.19W
VOL. 48, NO. 80
N.C.’s Semi-Week!,y
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
SINGLE COPY
IN RALEIGH
ELSEWHERE 300
25c
Spaulding Family Telia of
Inspiration, history
Page 13
Mavis Staples, Prince
Bring Forth New Sound
PageS
>
Senseless Acts OJ Bigotry
Racial Violence Increasing In America
lUcum in the United States con
tinue* to kill African-Americans. For
■one this is a difficult reality to
understand given the increasing
multiracial character of American
society. But for the vast majority of
30 million African-Americans
.
throughout the United States, the con
sequences of racism, resulting in
brutality and death, are all too
familiar.
According to Benjamin F. Chavis,
Jr., executive director of the Com
mission for Racial Justice, the
senseless murder of 16-year-old
Yusef Hawkins in the Bensonhurst
section of Brooklyn, N.Y., is but the
latest example of a society gone
mad with racial hatred and bigotry.
Hawkins and three other African
American youths were walkine
through the predominantly Italian
American neighborhood of Ben
sonhurst when 30 or more white
youths attacked them with baseball
bats and a gun. Hawkins was shot
twice in the chest and died.
According to press reports, Joseph
Fama, 18, was the alleged trigger
man. Witnesses have confirmed that
Fama in his rage shouted, “The hell
with beating them up. Forget the
bats. I’m gonna shoot the nigger."
Four shots were fired and two hit
Hawkins at close range.
“No society can afford to let this
type of racist violence go unr hailing,
ed,” says Chavis.
As of this writing, only five of the 30
white youths had been apprehended
by police and there is a question as to
(See RISINO RACISM, P. 2)'
New Superintendent Wentz
Seeks Strong Area Support,
Business “Partnerships”
ik new wane louniy scnoot
superintendent, Robert E. Went*,
has been on the Job since Ang. 15
and has already outlined his
future goals for Wake County’s
public schools.
Wenti, who has served as
superintendent of the St. Louis
School System and the Clark
County (Nev.) School District,
said that he was impressed with
the “strong relationships”
already in place between the
schools and the Wake County
business community.
After leaving Nevada, Wentz
said he was a bit reluctant about
moving to the east coast, bat
after visiting Raleigh and seeing
"the commitment that has been
made to education," he changed
his mind.
Wentz and his wife. Dr. Jance
Wentz, along with four sons, ages
IS-early 3M, live in Cary’s
Lochmere subdivision.
Ms. Wentz is a former elemen
tary school principal and school
district administrator. She is now
owner of a computer consulting
firm.
This week Wentz, when asked
•haul early closings due to incle
ment weather, sakl he would be
rtliftmt to cIom schools.
Went* told the Wake Board of
Education at its meeting that he
did not close schools early last
week when temperatures rose in
to the high 80s despite calls from
DR. ROBERT E. WENTZ
parents and teachers.
During hia reign as superinten
dent, Went* says he plans the
following:
• A longer school year. “Some
day we will have a longer school
year than the traditional 180-day
agriculture-based school year.
But It probably won't happen
while I'm superintendent. 1 know
students will boo me out of an
auditorium if I tell them they’ll
(See DR. WENTZ. P. 2)
1979 Slaying
Jury Convicts Two For Murder
Testimony
Of Witness
Differed
After deliberating for several hours
a Wake County Superior Court jury
found two men guilty of second
degree murder in the 1979 slaying of
an unidentified woman.
Phillip B. Price told Wake County
detectives in 1987 that he had seen
Lenn E. Spivey and Dwight Goodson,
the two men charged, kill a woman,
then dump her body near Turf Grass
Road located off U.S. 64.
A third suspect, Sylvester Holden,
was charged in the woman’s death.
However, Holden agreed to exchange
his testimony for pleading guilty to
being an accessory after the fact to
second-degree murder. He is ex
pected to receive a suspended
sentence and intensive probation, ac
cording to Jaceuqline Lambert, assis
tant district attorney.
Last week, Holden testified that he
had been in a car during the summer
of 1979 with Goodson and Spivey while
the two men had sex with a woman.
Holden said, however, that he did not
see a murder.
Although Price said he had seen the
slaying, he admitted that his
testimony differed in several details
from statements he made earlier to
Wake detectives.
(See MURDER TRIAL, P. 2)
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Amarican cammunity Hava Mean thair placas aiangsMa Calaway)
cancarnad Hack and whit* ciUzans avar tba racist Whig
Bush Offering Strategy For t).S.
Against Drugs “Sapping Strength"
President Bush this week, calling
the drug problem the “toughest
domestic challenge we’ve faced in
decades,” proposed a national drug
control strategy that focuses heavily
against drug sellers and users.
Some dealers do not believe this
will stop the flow of cocaine, crack
and other drugs. “It would be better
to legalize it,” an informant who did
not want bis name used said.
“Anytime you have a woman who will
sell her body or her child to get co
caine, or a man who does not care
whether he lives or dies to get it, you
need more than cops and arrests.”
NEWS BRIEFS
FBI LOOKS INTO RIOTS
The FBI and the Justice
Department’s civil rights divi
sien are reviewing the distur
bance in Virginia Beach, Va.,
ever the weekend, and a Justice
Department spokesman said that
It was “very likely" the agency
an investigation. The
tan, Deborah Burstion
Wade, said allegations of police
brutality or deprivation of civil
rights likely would trigger a pro
be. Officials with the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People said they were
filing formal com
The riots reportedly broke out
alter nightstick-wielding police
charged an orderly group of
black students standing on
sidewalks and in parking lots who
ware in town for a fraternity con
BOP PUSH ON DISTRICTS
The Wake County Board of
Commissioners decided this
weak nut to consider a proposal
by the Wake Republican Party to
Change the way commissioners
arc elected. The county GOP had
proposed that some commis
sioners be elected by districts.
Party officials contend that a
district system would he fairer to
Republicans and minorities.
IfiitntT Robert B. Heater
to kill discussion on the
any
’open the door” to fur
ther changes.
HAZARDM* WASTE
A haiardsus waste disposal
company new hosed in Columbia,
«.C. may move Its national ad
ministrative headquarters to
Raleigh. Chem-Nudeor Systems,
lac. already has opened its North
Carolina headquarters In
Carolina Corporate Center Id
Rririgh. The company recenUy
>d a 111 million coo
ls site, build, operate
(Sue NEWS BRIEFS, P. 2)
Proud Of Achievements
WashingtonHigh: Legacies,Histor*
BY JOHN THOMPSON MOORE, JR.
Contributing Writer
If Principal Mack W. Akiens, Prof.
C.L. Levister, Ms. Margaret Brown
Bugg, Louise Fountain Perrin, Louise
Latham, Clara Brown Hunt and dean
of the boys Henry Thomas Johnson,
Coach Charles (Mack) Williams and
numerous other deceased faculty
members were alive today, they
would indeed be very, very proud of
the achievements of their graduates
and former students of Washington
High School.
Scholarship and character were the
emphasis this school stressed and
over the holiday weekend, hundreds
of former students and alumni from
various states attended a banquet
and dance at the Radisson Plaza
•VW‘fri
w
Hotel for their annual reunion and
gala.
Former students and their guests
danced gracefully to the music of a
band from Fayetteville and listened
to an eloquent address by an alumna,
Ms. Thelma Cumbo Lennon, who if
well-known in education. She elec
trified the audience and received a
standing ovation after enthusiasti
cally describing the determination
that grandchildren and great-grand
children of former slaves had during
the 1930s and ’40s to attend the only
black high school in the city of
Raleigh.
Lennon also urged the alumni to
help prepare the future African
Americans to meet the challenges of
the times in job preparation, etc.
Many Washington High School
graduates’ parents were not college
graduates and they did not have the
opportunities on the job markets as
the graduates of the Hugh Morrison
or Needham Broughton high schools.
Even though Washington High
students received an unequal educa
tion, one must pay tribute to the
values that Principal Akiens taught
the students in being punctual in at
tending classes, good behavior in
public places, etiquette, etc. Also, the
dean of girls, Ms. Latham, was in
volved in training African-Americans
to be “ladylike” and Ms. Emily Mae
Morgan Kelly taught classical and
African-American music apprecia
tion. Hats off to Ms. Bugg and Ms.
Jeanette Hicks, who taught Latin and
French, which most students of today
do not know.
Furthermore, most remember Ms.
Susie Vick Perry and the “Crown and
Septer” Club. She would post on the
bulletin board a list of students who
made the “honor roll.” Many of the
students then would be depressed
because they did not make that honor
(See WASHINGTON HIGH, P. 2)
Dr. Bridges Is Honored ay
UNCFAs “Man Of Vision”
BY E.H. HINTON
Mad Writer
The appreciation dinner held
recently for former Wake Schools
superintendent Dr. Robert E. Bridges
was themed “A Man of Vision, In
tegrity end Purpose.’’ The Raleigh
Wake UNCF Committee in conjunc
tion with Harris Wholesale sponsored
the gala affair.
Kenneth Wilkins, Wake County
register of deeds and 1M8 chairman
of the Raleigh-Wake UNCF Commit
tee, said, “The banquet was highly
successful and gave the United Negro
College Fund campaign exposure to a
dimension of the corporate sector
that had never been achieved
before.’’
Wilkins pointed out that aside from
more than 400 people in attendance,
there were members from the cor
porate sector including IBM, Raleigh
Chamber of Commerce, WQOK-FM
97.5, Saint Augustine’s College, Shaw
University, Garner Road YMCA,
CPfcL and numerous other organisa
tions based in and around the
Triangle.
Wilkins added that the affair was
successful as a fundraiser and that
Dr. Bridges was held in the highest
esteem for allowing the banquet to be
held honoring him, with proceeds go
ing to UNCF.
“With all the success achieved by
the banquet a special note of thanks is
given to Harris Wholesale for under
writing the cost and being an Integral
part of an event with the long-term
positive effects that will be generated
from this banquet,” Wilkins said.
“A special note of thanks is given to
ADM Associates,” he added, “and
Doris Bennett, who were responsible
for handling almost 4,000 pieces of
mail for the contribution and support
of the UNCF.”
Music for the evening was provided
by the Wake County Faculty String
Ensemble and Maggie Jeffries. Dr.
Bridges received strong support from
his colleagues in which one traveled
for four hours Just to attend, support
and show his appreciation to Bridges
for his accomplishments.
There were many individuals who
paid tribute to Bridges. He received
accolades from Fourth District Rep.
(See DR. BRIDGES, P 2)
Nearly 70 percent of the proposed
drug package Is directed at law en
forcement, and the plan seeks stiffer
sentences, for everyone involved In
drugs, from occasional users to inter
national drug traffickers.
Bush, in Us plan, gives little to
ariiwatinn and prevention efforts as
well as treatment of drug addicts. His
plan calls for increasing the nation’s
-police effort and creating more
federal prison space for drug of
fenders, as well as some additional
' money for treatment programs for
addicts. It would also provide more
military and economic aid to Colom
bia, Peru and Bolivia, the main
sources of cocaine.
Dealers are also investing in guns,
the CAROLINIAN informant said.
“There are plenty of guns in Raleigh
like Uzi pistol and carbine, some
MAC-lOs, AK-47S and pocket piece,
the 9 mm. You can see them even at
the flea markets.’’
(bee COCAINE. P. 2)
Education Tool
For Successful
Blocks In U.S.
BY MARIE FAUBERT
Special T* Ite CAROUNMN
There are fewer African
Americans in college now than 10
years ago. A significant number of
African-American high school and
college students do not persevere to
graduation. The need for African
American professionals is growing,
and the pool from which to get them is
shrinking.
What are the characteristics that
distinguish successful African
American students from those who do
not succeed in academic endeavors?
Who succeeds? What strengths do
successful students bring to the col
lege experience from their homes and
from their high schools?
The following eight characteristics
are those which are indicative of suc
cessful African-American students.
The first is positive self-concept or
•elf-confidence. Young people who
have strong feelings of self-worth,
who have strength of character, who
have self-determination and in
dependence have better chances of
succeeding than those who do not.
The second is realistic self
appraisal Young people who have
realistic understandings of their
academic strengths and weaknesses
have better chances of succeeding
than those who do not. If young people
can use their stret«ths to work on
their weaknesses, they seem to be In
better positions to persevere to do
well academically and later in Ufa.
The third is ™-*
dealing with i
African-American
understand and <
(See EDUCAT
/