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Poole Inducted In Shaw
University Halt Of Fame.
See Coaches Box Page 21
Raleigh Job Outlook Show^\
Growth, Industry On Rise.
See Page 5
RALEIGH, N.C.,
THURSDAY,
DECEMBERS, 1991
VOL. 51, NO. 4
-1 ■'
N.C.'s Semi- Weekly
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
SINGLE COPY <JC
IN RALEIGH
ELSEWHERE 300
DA Subpoenas WLLE Tapes
BY CASH MICHAELS
Contributing WrtUr
The Wake County District
Attorney’s Office has subpoenaed
ftttn WLLE-AM 570 a copy of taped
interviews it conducted with wit
nesses who dldpute the official ver
sion at the Nov. 8 police killing of 35
year-old Ivan Loranso Ingram.
Ingram was shot to death by
Raleigh Police Officer Vent Kerr
One Arrest Made
during a drug raid outside of 314 N.
Carvar St. Though Kerr says the
victim failed to halt when ordered
and made a threatening move, no
weapons or drugs were found on
Ingram’s body afterwards. The sub
poenaed tape was picked up from
WLLE by the SBI on Tuesday.
Following . new procedures
adopted earlier this year by the
Raleigh City Council after another
unarmed African-American was
shot by police, the State Bureau of
Investigation is conducting the
probe and will issue a report to Wake
DA. Colon Willoughby, who is ex
pected to turn over the report and
any other evidence to a grand jury
for determination as to whether
charges will be filed against Officer
Kerr.
Willoughby’s office called the sta
tion last week to request a copy of
interviews that this reporter had
with several of the residents of 314
N. Carver St. about the shooting.
During those interviews, conducted
and first broadcast on Sunday, Nov.
10 (and subsequently updated on
Nov. 12), witnesses who were in the
house at the time claimed that
(See WLLE TAPES, P. 2)
Man Charged In Slayings
Local Police
Seek Second
Suspect
H» Raleigh Police Department
hae arreeted four persons in connec
tion with the Nov. 19 homicides of
iSuraj Lekaal Ibrahim, 40, and
Condo Sundunke, 31.
1 Among thoee arrested was a 19
year-old St Augustine’s College
student and police are seeking a
second suspect in the drug-related
slayings of the two men whose bod
ies were dumped last month near
Wake Medical Center.
Arrest warrants were issued Dec.
2 for Andrew Robinson, Jr. 19, of Ft.
Washington, Md., and Egbert
Francis, Jr., 22, at Brooklyn, N.Y.
Robinson currently is in the Wake
County Jail charged with two counts
of murder. The warrants have not,
been served on Francis, who also has
a Raleigh address of 4700 Apt. B,
Matt Drive.
Robinson’s mother, Eva Robinson,
also of Ft. Washington, and Ronald
Albert Stewart of Landover, Md.,
were arrested Tuesday in Raleigh
and charged with accessory after the
fact ofmurder in connection with the
Nov. 19 slayings.
Ibrahim and Sundunke were Ni
gerians and shared a Brooklyn ad
dress.
According to police investigators,
the victims were drug runners who
fanneled drugs through New York
City. The victims are believed to
have gotten into a dispute with the
suspects, who police allege dealt
(See SLAYINGS, P.2)
NEWS BRIEFS
DISCRIMINATION
LAWSUIT FILED
Hu UA Equal Employ*
mant Opportunity Commit*
■ion has Iliad a lawsuit
against Boars, Rosbuck and
Co. allaging that tha oompany
foilsd to aooommodata tha
raligioua praotioas of an
amployoa. Aooordlng to tha
oomplalnt Iliad In tha UR.
District Court for tha Wast
arn District of North Caro*
Una, Charlotte Division, tha
defendant viola tad Titla VII
oltha Civil Righta Act of1044,
aa amended, by foiling to
aooommodata tha raliglous
praotioas of Marshall E. Long.
FOSTER CARE
INFO MEETING SET
An informational moating
about foatar cars in Waka
County, givan by tha Waka
County Dapartmant of Social
Bervioee, will ba bald Thurs
day, Dao. 19, from 6:80-9 pan.
at tha Richard B. Harrison
Library.
Waka DBS has takon mors
ohildrsn into tha protsetivs
custody of tha aganoy in tha
first thro* months of this yaar
than it did for tha antiro year
of 1988. Tha most significant
inaraasa in eases—44 psrosnt
since last year--has bean in
(See NEWS BRIEF8, P.2)
accMtpanM by his wife (Ml), the former Mary HoMen of
Raloigh, rocetvBS plaque and congratulatory remarks from
(right) Wake County Sheriff John Baker, who Is a former
professional football player. Poole was Inducted Into Shaw
aui
week of
university’s 126th Fourniers Dey festivities. Peole ployed
center on the 1947 Notionel Championship team. (See
story COACHES BOX) Photo by James Giles.
University’s Athletic Hal of Fame during the
Court Implements Plan To Reduce
Cost Of Legal Representation To Poor
WILMINGTON—The legal pro
fession here and local court official 8
have implemented a plan to reduce
the coots of legal representation for
indigents which could be "an ex
ample for the entire state.” The plan
ii being put into effect after lengthy
study and consultations between
Judges, prosecutors and other local
court officials and leaders of the
Fifth Judicial District Bar’s Indi
gent Representation Committee,
headed by local attorney Brandon
Tise.
Franklin Freeman, Jr., director of
the Administrative Office of the
Courts in Raleigh, has studied the
plan and said in a letter to Use that
it could sot a good example for the
stats.
Freeman said he thinks the plan
"will result in a substantial reduc
tion in indigent costs” before the
General Assembly has to make a
action is taken on their cases.
What was described by the local
prosecutor as "a crucial portion* of
the plan provides for a “Friday Fel
ony Court* to be held each week in
District Court
At this court session, court-ap
pointed lawyers are able to discuss
their cases and negotiate with the
assistant district attorney who’s
responsible for monitoring and
trying felony cases in Superior
Court.
A main purpose of the Friday ses
sions is to weed out and dispose of
cases which don't really need to go to
Superior Court, including cases that
should be dismissed, those in which
plea bargains can be struck, and
those in which the evidence may jus
tify a misdemeanor but not a felony
charge.
About 20 cases are being disposed
of at each of the Friday sessions. In
The plan focuses on ways to increase
efficiency by reducing the time court-ap
pointed attorneys spend waiting in court
before some action is taken on their cases.
Other steps provide for closer screening of
prospective indigents and expanded use of
waiver of arraignment.
decision on whether to establish a
public defender’s office in the Fifth
Judicial District, which includes
New Hanover and Pender counties
"At the same time, the quality of
representation is not compromised
by the plan," Freeman said.
Cost-saving steps by judges and
prosecutors as well as court-ap
pointed attorMys in the handling of
indigents’ ca*s are spelled out in
the plan.
The plan focuses on ways to in
crease efficiency by reducing the
time court-appointed attorneys
spend waiting in court before some
instance* where pleas nre entered at
the Friday eeeeione, the cases are
disposed of the following Monday in
Superior Court.
The plan provides for a single
court-appointed attorney to repre
sent all defendants charged with
misdemeanors whose cases (0*6
called on a given day in a District
Court. Attorneys on the list for rep
resenting these defendants are ap
pointed on arotatingbasis under the
plan.
Another proviso is that judges will
give priority, "where practicable," to
cases involving indigents in Juve
nile, District and Superior Court.
Judges also will decline to appoint
attorneys for indigent defendants in
cases in which the defendant is “not
likely to be imprisoned if he is con
ficted of the offense for which he is
charged.”
Other steps provide for closer
screening of “prospective indigents”
and “expanded use of waiver of ar
raignment and advance continu
ances so that fewer attorneys and
clients must attend Monday calen
dar call in Superior Court.”
Judge Smith and attorney Tise
said that charges involving Juvenile
Court are an important part of the
(See LEGAL COSTS, P. 2)
House Speaker Leads
Cali For Better
Community Relations
BY CASH MICHAELS
Contributing Writer
Speaker of the N.C. House of Rep
resentatives Daniel T. Blue, Jr. (D
Wake), while chastising the Raleigh
Police Department, nonetheless has
called for better relations between it
and the African-American commu
nity in the wake of the recent Ivan
Ingram Shooting.
Though Ingram was the second
unarmed African-American citizen
to be shot by Raleigh police this year,
he was the only one to be killed. As a
result, tensions between Raleigh’s
African-American community and
the RPD is at its highest in years.
According to an unedited tape of
his speech made at the annual
Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association
Community Service Banquet re
cently, Rep. Blue, while addressing
the need for citizens to get re-in
volved with their government to
change the Reagan-Bush policies
and racial policies of the past dec
ade, drew immediate applause when
he said, “..just like it’s up to people
to make sure of those things, it’s up
to us to make sure that our police
department in this city is responsive
to our concerns. We still don’t have
all the facts [about the Ingram
shooting], and I'm conservative in
that regard in that I tend not to move
until I get the facts. But I do know
that this recent shooting tells us
something that we have to be ever
DANIEL T. BLUE* *TR»
mindful of."
Blue continued, “We know that it’s
never right for an innocent man to be
killed or to be hurt under any cir
cumstances, just because he may
happen to be in the wrong place. We
know that as an absolute. We also
know that regardless of what ver
sion we may have gotten from the
police department, because of skep
ticism developed about that depart
ment by us [African-Americans]
over the years, that you take with a
grain of salt whatever the story is.
And we know that, and that is some
(See DAN BLUE, P. 2)
Interram Chancellor
Warned At N.C. Central
An associate vies president foi
academic affairs for the University
of North Carolina General Admini
stration has been named interim
chancellor at N.C. Central Univer
sity to “overhaul the troubled
school.”
UNC system president C.D. Span
gler, Jr., appointed Dr. Donna Ben
son, 37, to replace Dr. Tyronza
Richmond who resigned while the
school was under scrutiny for finan
cial mismanagement and questions
about accountability resulting from
media reports that the university
broke promises to award nearly $1
million in academic and athletic
scholarships.
Spangler said Dr. Benson would
be able to bring a fresh, needed view
point to and help restore the reputa
tion of the predominantly black
university.
Dr. Benson’s credentials include a
doctorate and master’s degree in
histoi-y from Duke University, and a
professorship at N.C. A&T State
University. She also was a visiting
professor at NCSU in 1980.
In addition to questions about
serious flaws in the school’s finan
cial operations, a scandal revolves
around Prof. Clarence Brown who
has been accused in divorce papers
filed by his wife, Prattsie Cunning
ham Brown, of using cocaine and of
supplying marijuana to a graduate
student described as his lover.
Richmond and other NCCU offi
cials have been ctriticized for not
taking strong actions on the allega
tions against Brown.
According to some officials, the
inveaigation and waak reprimand of
Brown forced the General Admini
stration to reassess the chancellor’s
position as an administrator and
seek his resignation.
Richmond became the chancellor
in July 1986 and said he wanted to
raise academic standards, expand
research programs and bring the
university greater prominence in
the Triangle.
The new chancellor will be kept
busy at the school, which has been
under a spotlight for its financial
woes and spotty academic perform
ance.
For example, in 1988, a state study
reported fiscal management “among
the worst” that auditors had seen at
any school. The athletic department
is hundreds of thousands of dollars
(See NCCU, f.2)
Common Sense Campaign Against
NC Crime Began By Fellowship
Unaries w. poison, iormer pre
sideal aide and chairman of Prison
Fellowship, recently announced a
comprehensive campaign to address
crime in North Carolina.
Just Common Sense, a multi-year
campaign spearheaded by Prison
Fellowship, seeks to mobilize North
Carolina churches and concerned
citizens to respond to the state’s
crime problem. The statewide cam
paign will bring unprecedented at
tention to the problems of crime and
imprisonment, with the involve
ment of an estimated 3,000 volun
teers from 425 churches.
“Government cannot adequately
address crime because crime is a
moral problem," said Colson. "The
common-sense solution involves
individuals, the church, and the
community. Change begins in the
human heart. We are serious about
a campaign which acknowledges
this fact and advances programs to
deal with spiritual and interper
sonal issues.
“Corrections and criminal justice
officials are working diligently. But
Dull ding mure cuiu more prisons i»
extremely expensive and it doesn’t
address the root causes,” Colson
said. "We are not only leaving fami
lies and victims uncared for, but
justice is ill served and ex-prisoners
are seldom restored to productive
work. It’s time for 'Just Common
Sense.’ ”
the Just Common Sense cam
paign will work with the state chap
lain^ through a variety of in-prieon
programs at levels never before
planned. A public policy group called
Justiced fellowship will assist North
Carolina public officials in dealing
with criminal justice reform issues.
Campaign plans call for volun
teers to:
•Conduct evangelistic projects in
North Carolia prisons;
•Conduct in-prison seminars and
Bible studies;
•Conduct life plan seminars for
soon-to-be-released inmates, teach
ing them how to live responsible
lives so they won’t come back to
priaon;
•Participate in mentoring rela
uonsmps wirn prisoners and ex
prisoners; and
•Minister to the special needs of
prisoners’ families, including 8,000
children, through a Christmas gift
giving program called Angel Tree.
Training and resources will be
provided by Prison Fellowship, an
organization with 1S years of experi
ence ministering to the unique
needs of prisoners, ex-prisoners and
their families.
As another part of Just Common
Sense, the North Carolina Justice
Fellowship Task Force will work for
criminal justice reforms to:
•Reduce the state’s severe prison
overcrowding to ensure that truly
violent offenders are kept behind
bars;
•Increase the collection of restitu
tion for crime victims;
•Establish prison industry pro
grams involving private sector busi
nesses; and '
•Hold criminals accountable to
repay their victims and communi
(SeeN.C. PRISON, P.2)