Newspapers / The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.) / Nov. 21, 1989, edition 1 / Page 1
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RALEIGH. N. C. VOL. 48. NO. 101 / TUESDAY / NOVEMBER 21.1989 n n.c r~' DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST SINGLE COPY ftp IN RALEIGH ELSEWHERE 300 r Secretary Johnson Asks Reexamination Of Justice System More Comprehensive Approach State Correction Secretary Aaron J. Johnson warned of the “hid den costs" ot prison overcrowding and called for a more comprehen sive approach toward addressing the problems facing the state’s criminal Justice system. In delivering his "State of Correction” address to the North Ciroliii Correctional Association** 10th annual conference In Aihevftlle, Secretary Johnson borrwed a phrase from a Florida legislator who recently asked. “Are we going to use prison beds to punish the guilty or protect the public? There are Just not enough beds to do both*” The secretory noted that North Carolina has spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars since 1185 to make up lor decades of neglect toward the state’s correctional system. “And as we all know, that figure is more of a down payment than It Is the final bill. •‘However, 1 am also concerned about the hidden costs associated with this massive buildup,’’ he said. “We have been forced to take temporary measures which have undermined the public confidence in our nation’s criminal Justice system.” _ The secretary was specifically referring to the Prison Cap. adopted by the General Assembly In March HOT as a means of stabilising the state’s prison population. Although the legislation has eased overcrowding and helped to prevent a federal court takeover of the state prison system, Secretary Johnson noted that there to •Iso o down side.** According to figures developed by the deportment’s Management Information and Research Section, there has been a dramatic drop In the percentage of original offender sentences spent in prison since the adopt*"" of the Prison Cap. “In IMS, the average assaultive felon was spending 3* percent of hto original sentence In prison.” Secretory Johnson said. “Today, he Irrn^. 35 percent. For assaultive misdemeanants, that figure to down from 40 percent in 1*85 to 21 percent today.” (Sun JUSTICE, P.2) New Developments In Germany Paving Stages For African-Americans BY DR. ALBERT JABS An Analyit* The walls are tumbling down. We do not have to be Joshua to see that. Hie victories of L. Douglas Wilder and David Dinkins and the mass movement of German brothers and sisters between the two Germanies bring changes of new ground and perhaps a new epoch. We do not have to have the insights of an Old Testament prophet to know that these events are historic turning points or jumping-off stages for a future African-American president and German unification. Those goals may happen in this century, but it is probably inevitable in the next cen turv. BY DANIEL MAROLEN NNPA New* Service South Africa’s new president, F.W. do Klerk, comes to the presidency after apartheid’s fury has raged over the past 83 years of presidents John Vorster’s and P.W. Botha’s ad ministrations. Those years were a period of extreme racial repression and. brutality—an era of an un precedented reign of terror to the native Africans of the country. Now, as President de Klerk settles down in his new office, the oppressed victims of apartheid are once more demonstrating along the beaches and on the streets of Cape Town; at lybooH or college campuses, and many Other parts of the country. They rightfully loathe their total ex clusion from participation in the government of their own country. In a surprising move last week, President de Klerk ordered South Africa’s beaches be opened to all races and said some other public places, including libraries and parks, would be desegregated soon. The plans would not affect the legal J segregation of schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods. De Klerk, speaking in Cape Town, said the Separate Amenities Act, which permits municipal officials to segregate public facilities by race, would be repealed as soon as possi ble. The law. enacted 36 years ago, has bean w&d to bar nonwhites froim parks, swimming pools, civic centers, libraries and public transportation. “The time has arrived to. repeal this act,” de Klerk said. “The govern ment has decided to do so as soon as possible.” During the administrations of President John Vorster and Presi dent P.W. Botha, the African-ruled <8ee INSIDE AFRICA, P 8) Very seldom can human beings discern the forces of history and pro blems do not evaporate with change inexorably, but general tendencies seem to exist, and the logic or flow of history seems to favor the fresh vi sion of German unity and an African American president. Perhaps a metaphor of “homeplace” can be used in this analysis. There is a massive homesickness or restlessness in the world and in our neighborhoods. In spite of poverty, violence, alienation, hatred, prejudice, and oppression, there is a drive for wholeness or the “homeplace.” Something moves peo (See WALLS TUMBLE, P. 2) first-time Home Buyers Receive Funds For Lou>-lnteremt Mortagagea The N.C. Housing Finance Agency last Thursday made available $42 million of home mortgages at 8.15 percent and 8.55 percent. The funds will help 780 families with low and moderate incomes buy their first homes, said William T. Boyd of Asheboro, chairman of the agency’s board. The 30-year, fixed-rate loans are available through 166 branches of len ding institutions statewide on a first come, first-served basis. All loans are insured by the Federal Housing Ad ministration. The self-supporting public agency raised $36 million for 8.15 pecent mor tgages through the sale of tax-exempt revenue bonds to investors, ine $6 million of 8.55 percent mortgages was reallocated for statewide distribution from an earlier bond issue. The funds previously had been reserved for distressed areas according to federal requirements. In addition, Boyd said, the agency still has |18 million in mortgage credit certificates available for fifrst time home buyers through local lenders. ttCCs can reduce home buyers’ federal tax liability by as much as 93,000 a year by allowing a tax credit for part of the mortgage in terest paid. The resulting increase in take-home pay helps the borrower qualify for a mortgage. Home buyers can use either program, depending on availability and their tax situation. To qualify for either program bor rowers must not exceed the following household income and home price limits, which are tied to local me dians: In Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford and Randolph counties, $33,200 income, 183.000 new home and 975,000 existing home. In Durham, Franklin, Orange and Wake counties, 934,500 Income, 983.000 new home and 889,500 existing home. In Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Rowan and Union counties, 934,500 in come, 983,000 income and 975,000 ex isting home. In all other counties, 930,000 in come, 975,000 new home and 982,500 existing home. Both the low-interest loans and the mortgage credit certificates can be used to finance new or previously owned single-family detached homes, townhouses or condominiums. The loans can also be used to purchase manufactured homes that meet FHA insurance standards. While the below-market loans can be uised only with FHA-insured loans. MCCa can be used with FHA (See HOME BUYER, P. 3) career. North Carolina is not the only state to face a shortage of trained nurses. The entire nation faces such a shor tage and it could lead to major pro blems in health care unless ap propriate steps are taken. Demand for trained nurses is in creasing; enrollment in nursing ing more and higher levels of nursing care. Increasing career options for women, as well as concerns about nursing pay and stressful working conditions, have contributed to a sharp decline in the number of people enrolling in nursing schools at all levels. In North Carolina, enrollment Scholarship loans will also be available to college juniors or community college graduates interested in preparing to be a registered nurse, as well as registered nurses who want to obtain a baccalaureate degree in nursing. cuuwouuu to ucvicaouig. i cupic ai c living longer, patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities are more acutely ill, and they are requlr r ui i egwiereu nursing programs drop ped more htan 20 percent and in prac tical nursing programs more than 40 (See NURSING, P. 2) -,---:—i AIDS Virus Can Be More Threatening To Senior Citizens There ere two AIDS epidemics In America today. Among whites. AIDS was largely a disease of gay men, Imt fully half of blacks and other minority people with AID8 are heteroeexual. And In minority communities this epidemic has breached its original boundaries. A black woman to 11 times more likely than a white woman to contract AIDS. And while everyone to talking about AIDS, few mention how this disease affects older adults. No wonder so many older adults believe they are not likely to become Infected. The fact to that as many as 10 percent of all AIDS cases reported have Involved people aged M and older. Many more older people are believed to bo infected, although not yet experiencing symptoms. People with acquired Immune deficiency syndrome often appear healthy for a long time after becoming Infected. Nearly 10 years Is the average length of time after a person becomes Infected before the disease symptoms may begin to appear. AIDS Control Program, the National Institute on Aging and other organisations continue to campaign to raise awareness about the devastating psychological and social problems engendered by AIDS. “These problems affect not only AIDS patients, but their families, their friends, their acquaintances, their co-workers—in short, everyone In the community,” says a spokesperson for the National Association of Social Workers. “AIDS, which many of us equate with death, can mean a living death for many If we fall to understand our responsibilities to these who need our help." The National Institute on Aging of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has pointed out that older people may be especially vulnerable. With Increased age there tends to be a decline In Immune system function, making older people more susceptible to a variety of Illnesses such as Infections and cancers. Because of these changes In Immune functions. AIDS may affect older people differently than It does the voung. (See AIDS, P. I) Congress Plans To Abandon Action On Child Care Because Of Impasse The issue of child care has once again been abandoned by some members of Congress last week. A bill that would go down as a land mark child care legislation came to a halt due to deep differences over the scope of the legislation and how to pay for it. Supporters of day care as well as armies of children lobbied through corridors on Capitol Hill singing in a last-dlstch lobbying effort. Some of the children bore signs saying “lit tlest lobblest” on their backs. The children visited the offices of House Speaker Thomas S. Foley, but the Washington Democrat weas not in his office to receive them. Instead, they met with Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, who said child care remained high on the Senate’s agenda. The lobbying efforts came after Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, blamed lawmakers for the congressional delay, which she called “the latest in a senes of efforts you have engaged in to sabotage groundbreaking child care legislation all year for petty Jurisdictional and power reasons.” In response to Edelman’s three page attack, Rep. Thomas J. Downey stated that postponement of further work on the bill occurred because of isee CHILD CARE. P. 2) Multiple Stab Wounds Mother Held In Slayings * •« % — .. o isnuaren Brutally Murdered What made Katrina McKay allegedly murder her children? Thii is the question that is on the minds o: Franklin County sheriff’s in vestigators as well as neighbors an< psychiatrists at Dorothea Dii Hospital. The 20-year-old mother of three is being held at the state psychiatry hospital for observation and ex animation after allegedly stabbing her children, each hundreds of times and then tying their bodies up witt electrical cord. After the slayings, Ms. McKay allegedly forced her way through £ back door of one of her neighbor’! houses, and began frantically fighting with him. The neighbor, George Harris, anc his wife and two daughters were sit ting in their living room watching television when they heard someone pounding on the back door. At first they thought someone was trying tc knock the door down, so Harris ordered his family not to open the door, then reached for his shotgun. Once inside the house, Ms. McKay began to struggle with Harris and eventually the family of four ap prehended the woman by tying her legs together as she laid face-down, naked and covered with blood. On the back porch of the Harris home were the bloodied bodies of Ms. McKay’s children. (See MURDER, P. 2) VISIT*# JMLS-TIm Rsv. Jmm Jackson and his family af aft abandtnad gin-giving a! Christmas, and Instead Legislature Aoroves initiatives To Ease State’s Nursing Shortage The recent General Assembly ap proved a number of initiatives aimed at easing the state’s nursing shortage by retaining more of the best people we have in the profession, as well as encouraging some of our brightest young people to look into nursing as a
The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.)
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