i
,/C:,
The
i.
RALEIGH, N.C.,
THURSDAY,
— jv.c.,
JANUARY 3.1991 J \ DEDICATED' ,
VOL.99.NO. 13 V
I
{■Weekly
z JESUS CHRIST
SINGLE COPY AR
IN RALEIGH wP
ELSEWHERE 300
Boys Choir of Harlem To
Perform On UNC Campus
See Page 20
Judge Clifton E. Johnson
Named Chairman of Judicial
Standards Commission
SeePage 13
Residents Continue Protest
Judge OKs City k i ocedure On Amphitheater & Park
rna CAROLINIAN Nall Mprta
A Wake Superior Court judge says
the City of Raleigh followed the pro
per procedure when It granted a
■pedal-use permit for a $18.5 million
amphitheater in Walnut Creek Park.
Seme Southeaat Raleigh reetdenta
■eked Judge Howard S. Manning,
Jr., to review the case last month,
raid* concerns that the SO,000-seat
outdoor performance center would
fart* traffic, nolee and drunken van
data to the am,
But Manning said that tha city had
takan tha right itapa whan It gran tad'
tha pannit In mid-Octobar 1990. Tha
open-air theater will feature a
covered pavilion providing aaattng
ter 7,000, aa wall aa a tendacapod an*
bankment allowing lawn anting for
‘an additional 19,000.
Along with complete ataglng
facilities, tha 77.9-acro complex will
Include a covered picnic area, ak Tell
aa food and beverage conceoaiona.
More than 5,000 parking apace* are
plinwaH
The amphitheater, expected to
open in apring, la a Joint project of the
city and PACE Entertainment of
Houeton, Texan, which build* outdoor
theater* and promote* show*. Com
pany offidaa laid the theater could
boat big-name muelc group*, touring
Broadway »how» and other event*.
Prior to the court’* dedalon, aome
citizens in Southeast Raleigh were
closely examining the plans and
details at Citizens Advisory Council
meetings. Camps for approval includ
ed Mayor Pro Tern Ralph Campbell
and Lythel Hickerson. Campbell said
the facility would be beneficial to the
community.
Hickerson, chairman of the
Southeast Raleigh CAC, agrees with
Campbell that it will be a positive
move and a plus for the community
where it la located.
The plan calls (or the park to be
developed along Walnut Creek,
southeast of the intersection of Sun
nybrook Road and the Beltline. “It
will help create employment for the
Ralelgh-Wake County area," Hicker
son said. “The plan they have now
looks very good. As time goes on we’ll
want to see more details.’’
Fannie Montague, chairman of the
South Community Citizens Advisory
Council, uid, “The only thing I heard
them uy ia that we’re definitely go
ing to have baaeball diamond!. That’s
all they could guarantee—I really
hope they will put some other
facilities there.”
The softball fields—with accompa
nying parking, concessions and
billboard areas are the only parts of
the park for which the city has
(See JUDGE, P. 2)
What Price Slavery Asked
U.S. Debt Owed African-Americans
■reparations
Become* 90i
Question
BY WILLIAM REED
NNPA Nawi Strvfc*
WASHINGTON, D.C.-“The notion
of mparaUans for every black who is
descended from sieves is so
ridiculous that it should be dismissed
without the slightest hint of civilised
consideration,” is the prevailing tone
of opposition to the possibility of such
legislation and resulting compensa
tion to African-Americans. This
chsrus comes not only from conser
vative whites in Coagrees, but black
members of that body as well.
Although past calls for reparations
have fallen mostly on deaf ears, the
tact remains that black reparations
wU probably be the most critical
issue for African-Americans in the
decode of the *Ms.
Tbs notion of black reparations is
not a new concept. Even though the
ides has roots in ISM when we were
given ‘‘40 acres and a mule” after the
Grant Emancipation, compensation
to Macks is rarely spoken of by esn
tenparary African-American pollti
daas and never even thought of by
the nation’s whites. Over the past
three decades, various “radical”
blacks have called for America to
compensate the descendants of
■laves who lost as many as 100 million
of their fore-cousins and tribe,
meuilisri in the trans-Atlantic slave'
trade and for those in our direct
ancestral line who provided centuries
of free labor to build the economic in
frastructure of this country. The
(See U.S. DEBT OWED, P. 2)
On Feb. 23, the Garner Rond
YMCA will boat It* second annual
■each Press Meet. The YMCA
encourages all members, young
and oM, of the community, male
and female, to either participate
or support their favorite body
builder. 1%is is Just an opportuni
ty fsr the serious weightUfters to
■how the benefits of bard work
and dedication. For mere Infor
matlon contact Reggie Towns at
the YMCA.
HATSOFF
Matt Moore, a student at Ugon,
took top honors out of 5,MO
students across the state for his
design of a logo fsr the North
Carolina Teachers of
Mathematics. The logo will be us
ed on pesters to promote interest
In math throughout the state.
Matt was encouraged by teacher
Barbara Sydnor. Ealoe High
placed first fat team competition
hi the McKee Eicellonce In
Mathematlatieo last yepr.
Jin’s Dry Cleaning and Tailor
Shop has leasod space in the Fish
Fry Restaurant Strip Center at
Mtl Falla of the Neuse Read.
George Andrews and FenvOle
Morisey Commercial arranged
the lease.
The Wale County Public School
System la seeking a *0.4 million
federal grant through the Magnet
■sheets Assistance Program to
enhance and continue programs
in Be Misting magnet school net
(See NEWS BRIEFS, P. S)
indictment In Evers Murder
27 Years Too Long?
JACKSON, Miss. (aP)—Nearly 30
years after a sniper tried to kill a
crusade by Mississippi blacks with a
bullet, the shot still echoes in
Mississippi’s tarnished civil rights
past.
The black community which watch
ed two white juries fail to reach ver
dicts in the slaying of Medgar Evers
believes 1M1 may be the time for
justice, black leaders said last week.
Byron De La Beckwith was ar
rested Dec. 17,1900 in Signal Moun
tain, Tenn., on a fugitive warrant
after he was re-indicted on a murder
charge in the June 12, 1903 slaying.
Beckwith, despite his 70 years and
poor health, continues his white
supremacist views and espouses his
innocence.
“I’m cautiously optimistic... I hope
that it is the foreteller of the kind of
justice attitude that becomes a reali
ty,” said Aaron Henry, president of
the state NAACP since 1900.
Henry says he lives daily with the
memory of Evers’ death.
“The pain never goes away,”
Henry said.
Hinds County Supervisor George
Smith, who remembers that Evers
helped him register to vote the day
before be was gunned down, said
blades bad “felt then it would be dif
ficult to get justice. Today we fed dif
ferently."
Smith, who has served as a super
visor for U years, said the death
marked a time when Mississippi
blacks were suffering in their fight
for bask civil rights.
“We were cut off. It was very dif
ficult to even register,’’ Smith said.
“It [prosecution] is not going to be
easy now. We as a state will have to
go hand in hand. Hie image of the
whole state is on the line."
Beckwith, whose fingerprint wai
found on the scope of a rifle discarded
near the scene of file death, was tried
twice tor murder in 1964. Mistrials
were declared after all-white juries
were unable to reach verdicts. Ths
murder charge was dismissed in I960
Beckwith said the rifle was stoler
from Us home.
Henry said 17 years is not too lonf
to wait tor justice. “I don’t think it’i
too late. You have to begli
sometime.”
MyrUe Evers, widow of the slab
civil rights leader, said a convictioi
is needed to show that what her bus
band fought and died for was no
Birth Certificate Nixed
For Commercial Licenses
BY DANIEL A. YOUNG. 8R.
Contributing Writer
Women often delight in feinting
how a young clerk “carded"
them—asked to see their driver’i
license—when they went to a disco, ot
while they were in the checkout line
at some chain store to purchase anj
form of alcoholic beverage. And
while the clerk was simply doing hii
Job. so as not to nr selling liquor u
violation of ABC law, the require
meat by the Department of Transpor
tattoo that all drivers bring in a btrtl
certificate to cbtain a commercial
driyer’s license seems restrictive.
At age 48, would you be flattered 01
offended to be required to product
your birth certificate?
“There is no legal reason I cai
think of," says Jane Gray, specie
deputy attorney general with DOT
“why a birth certificate would be re
qulred. There are other recognisabk
means for establishing a person’)
identification and date of birth for ob
taining a North Carolina commercial
driver’* licenae, or to satisfy any
other legal request.”
The Commercial Driver’s Manual
states, “When you apply for your
commercial driver licenae the follow
ing items are required: two proofs of
identity are required: certified birth
certificate, and valid driver’s
license or passport, or other
documents which DMV requires.”
They also include proof of Social
Security number, proof of a dear
driving status, waiver of skills tests
documentation, medical/physical re
quirement, school bus driver cer
tificate (If applicable) In some
cases, DMV will require additional
proof of identification or proof of a
clear driving reoord prior to issuing a
CDL.
“The CDL law became effective
(See LICENSES, P.»
meaningless.
“Medgar’s murder and the failure
of Mississippi to convict the accused
assassin in two previous trials have
weighed heavily on the Evers family
for the put 37 years,” she said. “Iam
committed to seeing that the put
wrongs are corrected.”
“It’s about time for us to dun up
our act and see that Justice is done in
this case,” said Vicksburg Mayor
Robert Walker, who was field
secretary of the state NAACP from
1900-34.
“I think I speak for a whole lot of
people—we want to^se justice done
in that case," Walker said recently.
“When justice is done... I think it will
be incredible what impact it will have
on the image of the state.”
(See 27 YEARS, P.2)
Local Men Honored
In D. C. For Parte In
King Holiday Celebration
r ran tAnuuniAn sun neporu
Rep. Daniel T. Blue, Jr., speaker of
the North Carolina General
Assembly, and Bruce E. Lightner,
community advocate and co-chair of
the Martin Luther King Celebration
Committee, have been chosen to be
recognized by the federal Martin
Luther King Holiday Commission.
Blue and Lightner will be honored
at a special recognition luncheon at
the U.S. Supreme Court in
Washington on Jan. 14.
Lloyd Davis, executive director of
the federal commission, stated in a
telephone Interview with The
CAROLINIAN, "We looked at people
from across the nation who symbolize
the essence of the King holiday. We
have chosen to honor two young men
from North Carolina whose tireless
and invaluable hours of service in
their community and the creation of
the King holiday in their state cannot
be disputed."
REP. BLUE; UGHTNER
During the Supreme Court luii
cheon, Ms. Coretta Scott King,
chairperson of the federal commit
sion, will present the two with thi
commission’s highest nations!
award. The commission, establishes!
by presidential order with an annua!
appropriation from the U S. Con
gress, was established to “promot
and encourage the institutionalize
(See BLUE, UGHTNER, P. a,
Gantt vs. Helms Top
N. C. Story In ’90
Jesse neims victory ovei
Democratic challenger Harvey Gant!
in the U.S. Senate race edged North
Carolina’s massive troop deployment
to the Middle East as the state’s top
story of 1990, according to a poll of the
Associated Press members.
The Helms-Gantt race, waged
largely through television commer
cials in the closing weeks before the
Nov. 6 election, received five top
votes from a possible 19 cast by AP
newspaper and broadcast members.
The Senate race story won out despite
10 first-place votes cast for thousands
of Tar Heel troops being sent to Saudi
Arabia.
The Senate story received 148
points, while the troop deployment
news garnered 146 points on a scale of
1-10, with 10 points being awarded to a
first-place vote, nine for second place
and so on.
North Carolina’s search for a
regional hazardous waste facility
placed a close third, 11 points behind
the top story, while Blanche Taylor
Moore’s arsenic poisoning murder
conviction of her boyfriend was the
state’s top crime story and placed
fourth overall.
The state s budget shortfall dilem
ma was voted the fifth best story of
1990.
The top story began to take shape io
May 1990 when Gantt, a former
Charlotte mayor, became the first
black nominated for the U.S. Senate.
Gantt framed Ms Senate campaign
around Helms’ record on education
the environment and other issues, ac
cusing the conservative Republican
of failing to represent the state’s
values in his three terms.
Helms, tied up with work in the
Senate until the final weeks of the
campaign, framed the contest as a
race between his conservative values
and Gantt’s liberal values.
In a slashing final week of cam
paigning, Helms used a television ad
showing a pair of wMte hands
crumpling a rejection letter for a job
The narrator said the job had been
lost to a minority because of racial
quotas for hiring, which the narrator
said Gantt supported.
Gantt vehemently denied that he
supported racial quotas, but said he
did support the Civil Rights Act of
(see TOP N.C. STORY, P. 2)
Public Said Tiring Of Outcry* For
Aid To Tarheel State Homeless
The outfcMK lor the homeless this year Is Just as
e«td, |f aot colder than, It has ever been with the de
mand (or emergency food and shelter climbing amid
worsening economic conditions and a growing In
tolerance toward the homeless by the public.
An economic slowdown In recent months has plac
ed added pressure on agencies across the state and
nation providing emergency food and shelter who
cite growing nnomployment and diminishing
resources generating greater homeless plight.
Recent surveys suggest that there are approx
imately 1.000 homeless In Raleigh with that figure
doubled In Charlotte. Ms. Pamela Denning, director
ef social services for the Salvation Army, said,
“Most people In Raleigh have been goed to the
homeless. Some have negative feelings and really
don’t understand the problem that some homeless
persons are facing. There are a vast number of
reasons why a person may he homeless.”
The public’s compassion (Or the less fortunate
seems to be running out In the state and especially In
large cities, homeless advocates say.
“The people are probably tired of being harassed
by them,” says Charlotte police Officer 8.M. Bar
hour. “They're Intimidated by them." Barbour says
he was watting uptown la uniform last week when a
street person yelled to the woman with him, “I know
what kind of car yon drive.” “You tell me that
deesa*t Intimidate a woman,” says Barbour.
Treaa Zarsnskl, social services for the Salvation
Army la Charlotte, remembered how this time last
year, she couldn't address all the community groups
■■king or talk* about the homeloM
“Now, I get almost no requests to apeak on
homelessness.” she said. “Homelessaesa was at one
time a real hussword. but now It’s lost its glamour as
a cause.”
Waymon Pritchard, director of development and
public relations at the Raleigh Rescue Mission, aays
it is true more people are becoming softer to the sen
sitivity of the homeless, “lliere la a cycle In the way
that people give, as there la a cycle In everything. We
have seen an Increase la the last six months of
homeless persons,” he says.
“We are taking care of more persona, more sights,
than In the hlatory of the Raleigh Rcacne Misakm.”
said the 27-year veteran of the mission. "We have on
the average of IN people per night. We are seeing
more women with children. We currently have M
women within our women’s division and six to seven
have children. We are also seeing more younger
homeless people.”
The Raleigh Rescue Mission also offers lodging,
rood, clothes, Job counseling and training for
homeless families and individuals.
Mayor Raymond Flynn of Boston In the annual
U.S. Conference of Mayors survey said during a
press conference on hunger and homelessness that
the numbers are grossing.
Flynn said while the INN were hard times for the
growing number of poor people In the country, “at
least In that decade there were grossing state and
(See HOMELESS, P. 2)