Senate Judiciary Committee
Ends Hearings Oh Thomas
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RALEIGH, N.C.,
THURSDAY,
OCTOBER 3,1991
VOL. 50, NO. 90
N.C/s Semi-Weekly
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
SINGLE COPY
IN RALEIGH £90
ELSEWHERE 300
rnw CAROLINIAN Mad lUHrti
Candidates for the upcoming
election, especially for the Wake
Board of Education for District 4 and
the City Council, district C, are
looking at records of commitment
and sensitivity to concerns of the
community.
Harriet Bryant Webster, retired
educator, for District 4 in Southeast
Raleigh, which is presently
represented by Dr. Charles V.
Holland, a two-term incumbent
seeking reelection this fall.
Dr. Khalif D. Ramadan aims for
the District 3 seat in North Raleigh.
Ramadan, 40, is an educational
consultant who lost a bid for the
District 4 seat in 1087.
Ms. Webster, 54, said having served
the system as a teacher, classroom
management specialist and
administrator for 32 years, said she
feels “strongly I have a service to
render to the citizens of Wake
County.” Her knowledge of the
schools and the desire to serve are
two favorable assets, according to
those worung in ner campaign.
Ms. Webster said she will “be an
advocate for children; be accessible
to parents and educators and will
have time to serve on the Board of
Education.
w
WEBSTER
a v#
HOLLAND
NEWS BRIEFS
Governor Jim Martin hat
appointed William C. Lawton of
Raleigh as a district court judge
in the 10th Judicial District,
which is composed of Wake
County. He will serve until the
November 1002 election. Lawton
earned his bachelor’s degree in
chemical engineering at N.C.
State University and earned his
law degree at Georgetown
University in 1072. A lawyer, he
worked as a part-time hearing
officer for the N.C. Office of State
Personnel for four years.
Employee Of
The Year
Central Prison Programs
Director Richard Thomas
"Dick” Hanley of Raleigh has
been named the North Carolina
Department ef Correction
Employee ef the year. "It Is
fitting that Dick Hanley be the
first person la this department to
be recognised as the Employee of
the Year," said state Correction
Secretary Aaron Johnson. "He
takes Joy In life and shares that
Joy with his fellow emplolyees
and Inmates. He Is a caring, hard
working man." Secretary
Johnson presented Hanley with a
certificate of recognition.
Neighborhood
OutiMch
Thanks to a grant from the Z.
Smith Reynolds Foundation,
pregnant women In Wake Gouty
will sou be getting some extra
support. The Reynolds
Foundation Is funding a pilot
project called Hie Neighborhood
Outreach Workers Project
through the Wake County
Department of Health. The
project. Is ,designed to match
community women with
pregnpat women who are having
trouble getting the prenatal care
they send. The Neighborhood
Outreach Worker* will provide
aiTlHfln —wnHnitni iimmiH and
transportation to their clients.
Outreach Workers will also help
clients to receive Whatever
services they need in the areas of
bousing, benefits,
assistance and so
between Outreach Workers
See NEWSTjRIEFS, P.2)
CAMPBELL
I# i
JARRETT
Dr. Holland said he plans to focus
on the importance of position and not
on his opponent. “I am working hard
to make sure my district has equal
representation. Presently I am
soliciting support to have a new high
school in Southeast Raleigh,” he said.
“Some accomplishments I have
made during my six years have been:
(1) improvements of the schools
media centers throughout the
district. (2) A greater number of
African-American principals at the
middle school level. (3) Dental
insurance for our teachers. (4) Duty
free lunch for our teachers. (5) 10
percent supplement for teacher
salaries. (6) Martin Luther King
Holiday.”
w
* r I
ROBERTS
Concerning ac
countability, Hol
land said, “my
perception of this
is that politicians
are obligated to
the people who
elected them and
to the district
which they
represent. Be
cause of our
history, African
American politi
clans are determined by the extent to
which he/she can present the needs of
his community as well as deal with
individuals from other communities.
During his six year tenure on the
board, Holland has served as vice
‘WurtrmMn of the setaM^tmrd,
chairman of the policy committee,
the finance committee and facilities
committee.
Dr. Ramadan currently serves as
an educational consultant for the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services, Shaw University, and the
Wake County Social Services
Adoption/Foster Care Department.
He has also served as a board
member for the N.C. Council on
Educating Black Children, Education
Committee Chair of the Raleigh
Wake Citizens Association and
president of the Concerned Citizens
for Educational Equity.
Former educator Frank Roberts is
also running for a seat on the school
board in District 4.
Roberts a graduate of North
Carolina Central University in
Durham, former teacher in Wake
County Public School system for 30
years. Roberts said he will focus on
the “negative record, of the District 4
school board incumbent, as well as
the absence of any kind of advocacy
record on the part of the other
candidates in District 4.
Roberts cited IS years of avid and
(See POLITICAL, P.2)
< A long-held belief that a black
peraon can't be successful without
acting white ia holding back many
black youngatera' school
performance, a psychiatrist says.
Tamala Evans has firsthand
experience with the dilemma. The 17
year-old student at Lathrup High
School in Southfield in Detroit, gets
good grades, and that doesn’t suit
some of her classmates.
“They say I act white because I
study a lot add because of the way I
speak. Tbey/say I speak properly,”
Evans said/ “They’re caught up in
being cool ahd hanging out, but I ah ve
to be the best that I can be, no matter
what tbosepeoplesay."
"There’s some twisted thinking
the*, comes with self-hatred," said
Alvin Poussaint, a black psychiatrist
at Harvard Medical School and
consultant on “The Coaby Show.”
“That is, there is some association
that black is bad and dumb and that
white is-smart,’' he told the Detroit
Free Press. “And there’s also some
feeling that in order to achieve, that
somehow you have to adopt white
styles:"
Seif-hatred rooted in slavery and
lack of education in black history for
youth leads to peer pressure against
doing well in school, said Jawanza
Kunjufu, educator and author of ‘‘To
Be Popular or Smart: The Black Peer
Group.”
Urban black students often are
under more pressure to drop out than
do well, he said, and the result is an
unbroken cycle of failure and
poverty.
Durham.
“If young people knew their
glorious African history, they would
see excellence as a hallmark of black
civilization, their heritage,” she said.
“If we could just get the situation
changed so that African-American
students could be both African
American and successful, so that
“It is very unfortunate that history has been
distorted resulting in the lack of appreciation
of the contributions of the African-American
scholars. If young people knew their glorious
African history, they would see excellence as
a hallmark of black civilization...”
Dr. Agatha Carroo, NCCU Psychology Prof.
"It is so very unfortunate that
history has been distorted resulting in
the lack of appreciation of the
contributions of the African
American scholars," said Or. Agatha
Carroo, a psychologist and associate
professor of psychology at North
Carolina Central University,
blackness is not perceived as
antithetical to success, to
virtuousness, to goodness, it would be
easier for them to strive,” said
Rutgers University anthropoloigist
Signithia Fordam She is writing a
(See STUDENTS, K 2)
V
For Decent Way Of Life
(AP)A U.S. Census Bureau report
that says few North Carolinians live
in poverty is inaccurate because
many working poor do not earn
enough to live decently, experts say.
The study ranked North Carolina
38th in the nation for median
household income during 1990, saying
that half the state’s families had
annual earnings of 327,045 or more
and half earned less.
But it ranked the state 24th for the
percent of residents who lived below
the poverty line last year, annual
earnings of $6,652 for a person living
alone or (13,359 for a family of four.
Gordon Chamberlin, director of the
North Carolla Poverty Project, said
the state has a large number of
working poor who do not earn enough
to live decently, but who make too
much to be officially classified as
impoverished.
He said the government’s definition
of poverty is unrealistic and
suggested (20,000 for a family of four
sould be more accurate.
“If you were to make it that rather
than (13,000, you would find a
tremendous number of people in
North Carolina,” Chamberlin told the
Greensboro News & Record. “We
always have low unemployment in
North Carolna combined with very
low pay.”
The report said 12.8 percent of the
state’s residents live in poverty,
compared to a nationwide poverty
rate of 13.5 percent and a regional
rate in the South of 15.8 percent.
The bureau’s rankings were based
on a nationwide survey of 60,000
households, not 1990 census
questionnaires. Economic data from
the questioinnaires won’t be ready
until mid-19B2.
Michael Simmons, an economics
professor at North Carolna A&T State
University, said such industries as
textitles and poultry processing have
the reputation of paying “right above
the poverty line.”
“People in North Carolina aren’t
terribly poor, but they aren’t well
off,” said Morgan Jones, a business
professor at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. “There’s just
a bunch of folks above the poverty
line bi t with low incomes.”
(See WORKING POOR, P. 2)
Note Passed To Tetter
Bandit Gets
Undisclosed
Amount Of Cash
Raleigh police are looking for a
woman that robbed a bank July 16.
Police report that a black female
entered the First Citizens Bank at 619
North Person Street, at 3:23 p.m. The
woman passed the bank teller a note,
demanding money, and escaped with
an undisclosed amount of cash. She
was last seen running west on Peace
Street toward Blount Street.
The robber is described as being
19 to 23-years-old, 5 feet, 2 inches to 5
feet, 4 inches tall, and weighing 120 to
130 pounds. She has a smooth
complexion and large eyes. At the
time of the robbery, she wore a black
dap And sunglasses and earned a
black athletic bag.
Anyone with information about the
robbery is asked to call Police
Investigations at 890-3555 or Crime
Stoppers at 834-HELP. The North
Carolina Bankers’ Association offers
a reward of up to $5,000 for
information leading to an arrest in
the case.
In other news: A Boone lawyer and
his management firm has been
indicted on charges that they
embezzled more than $1 million from
welfare benefit plans in 37 states.
The indictment against Calvin
Banks Finger, 64, and American
Institute of Management Services
Inc. of Winston-Salem was handed
down by a federal grand jury
Tuesday in U.S. Middle District Court
in Greensboro.
U. S. Attorney Robert H. Edmunds
Jr. said the indictments charged Mr.
Finger with embezzling $1.2 million
from more than 1,300 welfare benefit
plans during the period January 1987
through November 1989. During the
period, Mr. Edmunds, said Mr..
Finger was president and chief
(See BANK ROBBER, P. 2)
i_«■ ^ m
COMMUNITY FORUM-ln a climate of incraatad local
and national attention an police abuse, Raleigh’s first
forum attracted various organizations from across the
county in a spirit of African-American unity. Recently,
members of the Raleigh City Council and PoNce Affairs
Committee roceivod a draft proposal for the creation of a
civilian complaint review board delverod by Cash
Michaeis. Pictured above, area residents and Mike
Whitaker. (Staff photo by James Giles)
°f ‘dents Petition City For A
Solution On MLK Blvd.
Prom CAROLINIAN Bull Reports
Residents along the newly
constructed Martin Luther King, Jr.
Boulevard are petitioning the City of
Raleigh to listen to a solution to solve
serious parking problems.
The 38 families living in the 1800
1900 blocks of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Boulevard said we are “formally
petitioning the Raleigh City Council
to restore on-street parking in front of
our homes."
The Committee of the Concerned of
the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Boulevard, said “our homes have
become prisons, rather than the
castles they should be. Our beautiful
Capitol City will remain progressive
as long as we remember that
boulevards should link our
neighborhoods, not destroy them.”
The residents complain that after
widening the street, they have been
forced to park on the lawns or around
the corner on side streets. “Several of
our vehicles have been vandalised,
set on fire, and abused. It has become
dangerous for residents to walk from
their vehicles parked on side streets
to their homes. Our ‘community
watch’ program has become
ineffective. At the present time there
are no places to park for visiting
family, friends, community and
church meetings held in our homes.”
The committee has written to Rep.
David Price, U.S. Senators Terry
Sanford and Jesse Helms, Gov.
James Martin and the City of
Raleigh. Beatrice Lewis, chairperson
of the committee, said Gov. Martin's
reply was prompt and that "I am
pleased to report that the Raleigh
City Council agreed on Sept. 17 to
address the problem."
City Manager D. E. Benton, Jr. in a
memo to Mayor Pro Tern Ralph
Campbell said he had reviewed the
plans through the older section of the
road, formerly Eastern Boulevard,
from Peyton Street west to its dead
end.
“Most of the houses have a front
yard set back from the right-of-way
of 30 to 35 feet. The City Code
minimum front yard set back is 30
feet for this residential district. “If
the street were widened, it would
require additional right-of-way from
the private property owners and
would involve further alterations to
their front yards and driveways.
There would be a significant number
of houses with less than 30 feet of set
back.
“We could undertake further
design work on an option for
additional street width, but any
alteration would: not allow all houses
to have on-street parking; could
require additional right-of-way and
driveway reductions; could eliminate
the vegetated median,” Benton said.
The committee submitted the
following petition to the City of
Raleigh:
“We petition the city to listen to a
solution we have worked out and to
follow through by Implementing it. In
“The residents complain
that after widening the
street, they have been
forced to park on the lawns
or around the corner on
side streets. Several of our
vehicles have been
vandalised, set on fire and
abused..." Committee of
the Concerned of the
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Boulevard
fact, it ia our belief that this solution
can be used as a model for ar»as of
the City through which thoroug^.ares
are being built, and will be built. We
’ further believe that to carry out this
solution on a wide scale will
contribute to Raleigh becoming a
model city.
"We petition for side street
parking. It will cut down on parking
on lawns and will eliminate the extra
expense that would be incurred from
building additional driveways, such a
savings would benefit both the
residents of the area and the city.
(See PETITION, P.S)