RALEIGH, N.C., 1\T C Dept of Cultural
THURSDAY, JL \ • Vy < Resources, N.C. State Library
FEBRUARY 13,1992 109 East Jones Street
VOL. 51, NO. 24 DEDICA Raleigh NC 27601
hJx? SINGLE COPY AP
IN RALEIGH ^00
IRIST ELSEWHERE 30f"
Money Said Not Important
Issue In $20 Million Suit
BY CASH MICHAELS
Contributing Writer
The family of a man who was shot
to death by a Raleigh police officer
last year hopes that their $20 mil
lion wrongful death claim against
the city will force the RPD to im
prove their deadly-force policies. In
an exclusive interview with The
CAROLINIAN, Geoffrey Simmons,
attorney for the family of Ivan In
gram, said that money is not the
most important issue.
“There are actually four things
our claim against the city contains
that the family would like to see
done,” Simmons told The CARO
LINIAN. The claim was filed last
week in the death of 35-year-old
Ingram, who was shot by Officer
VincentKerr duringa drugraidlast
Nov. 8. Ingram, who had no weap
ons or drugs on his person, and no
drugs or alcohol in his system, was
apparently a bystander to the raid
when he was killed.
Simmons says police policies and
procedures were clearly responsible
for his death, and how it was mis
handled afterwards.
“When the police go into a neigh
borhood to conduct a raid, they
should first seal it off,” said Sim
mons. “In this situation, according
to the report to the police affairs
committee, police were going block
to block, street to street looking for a
bust. When one of their undercover
officers was recognized on one
street, he went to Carver Street
[where Ingram was shot]. That
wasn’t the way to do i t. Anyone coul d
be on the street and be killed.”
How the Ingram family was noti
fied after the fact is another concern
addressed in the suit. Simmons said
it took the Raleigh Police Depart
ment five hours to finally contact
them, and Simmons says that added
insult to injury. “Mr. Ingram’s fam
(3ee INGRAM FAMILY, P. 2)
NEWS BRIEFS,
SCHOOLS TO REPLACE
MISSING PRINCIPAL
The Wake County School
System will officially seek to
permanently replace missing
West Cary Middle School
Principal Irmis Estes when
the Wake School Board meets
on Monday, Feb. 17. Estes, 42,
has been missing since Jan. 19
under suspicious circum
stances when he disappeared
from his home on Pleasant
Union Church Road, and
hasn’t been seen since.
Investigators with the
Wake Sheriffs Department
say despite more than 200
interviews with family and
friends, they still have no
leads in the case.
OFFICIALS HONORED
Raleigh Mayor Avery C.
Upchurch, City Manager
Dempsey Benton, District C
City Councilman Ralph
Campbell, Jr. and Police
Chief Frederick K. Heine
man, along with five police
officers from the CLEAN unit,
were recognized and given
plaques during a special rec
ognition day service at Word
of God Fellowship Church on
Davie Street last Sunday.
The Rev. Frank Summer
field, pastor of the church,
preached that citizens should
follow their civic leaders be
cause they are “chosen by
God,” but those leaders
should lead according to the
dictates of the Bible.
N.C. JOBLESS RATE
HOLDS STEADY
Ann Q. Duncan, Employ
ment Security Commission
(See NEWS BRIEFS, P. 2)
\
SCHOLARSHIP FUND — Dignitaries gathered at the
Washington National Cathedral for the national launching
of the Episcopal Church’s scholarship fund for students of
color, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Fund. Pictured
from the left: The Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning,
presiding bishop, Mrs. Pamela Chinnis, president of the
House of Oeputies, Diane M. Porter, executive, advocacy,
witness, Justice Ministries Unit at the national
headquarters, Dr. Prezell Robinson, president, St.
Augustine’s College and chair, board of trustees, National
Association of Episcopal Colleges and Dr. Thomas Law,
president, St. Paul’s College, Lawrenceville, Va.
$2.4 Million Tryon Grove apts.
To Provide Affordable Housing
Forty-eight low- and moderate
income families, which could in
clude more than 100 parents and
children, will be able to move into
affordable apartments in southwest
Raleigh to be built through a $2.4
million public/private partnership
that includes the Downtown Hous
ing Improvement Corporation and
Fannie Mae (the Federal National
Mortgatge Association).
Monday at a groundbreaking
ceremony at the site of the develop
ment called Tryon Grove, U.S. Rep.
David Price, Raleigh Mayor Avery
C. Upchurch, and chairman of the
Wake County Commissioners Ver
non Malone dedicated the family
apartments.
“Tryon Grove shows us that it
takes more than just a good public
policy tool like low-income housing
tax credits to make affordable hous
ing a reality. It takes dedication,
energy, and creativity from many
people in the community. Fortu
nately, we have that in Raleigh, and
Tryon grove is a visible symbol of
this unique spirit,” said Price.
Tryon Grove will consist of 48 two
and three-bedroom units, with easy
access to schools, shopping centers,
and restaurants. Other partners in
the project, which was created by
DHIC, include the North Carolina
Housing Finance Agency, Na
tionsBank, Wake County, the City
of Raleigh, the North Carolina De
partmentof Economic and Com
muity Development, and the Enter
prise Foundation.
“The City of Raleigh’s commit
ment to provide decent and afford
able housing for all of its citizens
remains steadfast. We are pleased
we could join all of the financing
partners in sponsoring Tryon Grove
Apartments,” said Upchurch.
“Wake County is proud to work
with Fannie Mae, NationsBank,
and the City of Raleigh to help buld
these apartments. It’s in all of our
interest to make sure that people
who woi*k in Wake County can live
in decent housing.”
Fannie Mae is investing $933,000
in the development through the
Housing Outreach Fund, a low-in
*
come housing tax credit equity fund
managed by the Enterprise Social
investment Corp., a subsidiary of
the Enterprise Foundation, for the
production of low-income rental
housing. Fannie Mae is the sole
investor limited partner in the fund.
“These family apartments are an
example of the kind of affordable
housing that a public/private part
nership can generate. We are
pleased to be working with DHIC
and Enterprise to make this project
a success. We also are grateful to
Rep. Price, Mayor Upchurch and
Mr. Malone, without whose support
developments such as Tryon Grove
would not become a reality,” said
Glenn T. Austin, Jr., senior vice
president for Fannie Mae’s Atlanta
based, 12-state Southeastern Re
gion.
James H. Brown, chairman of the
board for DHIC, added, “DHIC has
enjoyed the support of the City of
Raleigh for almost 20 years. We
welcome Wake County as a new
partner in our efforts to provide
housing for lower-income fami
lies.”
DHIC was created by the City of
RECENT INDUCTEE - Mrs. Mary Z.
Clarke, a retired educator, is a recent
inductee in the Raleigh Branch of the
National Association of University
Women.
J
Raleigh in 1973 to reverse neighbor
hood decline by providing affordable
housing for low-income residents.
Other examples of the DHIC’s de
velopment through the use of the
low-income housing tax credit in
clude Jeffries Ridge Apartments in
Central Raleigh and the award
winning Murphey School Apart
ments for senior citizens.
Fannie Mae’s $220 million of
equity commitments to tax credit
properties like Tryon Grove are part
of its $10 billion commitment to
open the doors to affordable housing
across the country, announced by its
chairman, James A. Johnson, in
March 1991.
Fannie Mae, The USA’s housing
partner, is a congressionally char
tered, shareholder-owned corpora
tion and the nation’s largest inves
tor in home mortgages.
4
Dont
Forget
your_
mLENTINE!
kx-Champ Mike Tyson
Sure To Face Prison Time
BY CASH MICHAELS
Contributing Writer
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—When
former heavyweight boxing champ
Mike Tyson returns to an Indian
apolis courtroom on March 6 to be
sentenced for the rape of an 18-year
old beauty pageant contestant,
those familiar with Indiana law say
he may face a minimum of seven to
11 years in prison.
Tyson, 25, was found guilty last
Monday of one count of rape, and
two counts of criminal deviate con
duct. Tyson faces from six to 20
years on each count, and fines up to
$10,000. But with mitigating cir
cumstances and this being his first
offense, experts say the young box
ing great will serve significantly
less than the maximum 60 years.
Tyson went back to the Marion
County Courthouse Tuesday for a
pre-sentencing hearing. During
that routine probationary meeting,
Tyson’s prior criminal history and
social behavior were reviewed to be
later considered during the sentenc
ing deliberations.
Tyson was allowed to remain free
on $30,000 bond, but his passport
was taken from him to prevent flight
from the country.
After the decision was read, jurors
in the Tyson trial told reporters that
they believed the victim, an 18-year
old contestant in last year’s Miss
wrmusmr*
MIKETYSON
Black America pageant. The young
woman testified that Tyson over
powered her in his hotel room after
she was invited there one evening
last July. She said Tyson held her
down on the bed after stripping her,
then sexually assaulted her, all the
time laughing. The woman claimed
that she was crying and pleading
because of the pain.
In his defense, Tyson said that the
woman knew why he invited her up
to his hotel room, and was a willing
participant in the act.
(See TYSON CONVICTED, P. 2)
Raleighites Feel The Loss
Of Author Alex Haley
BY CASH MICHAELS
Contributing Writer
The untimely death of Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Alex Haley
Monday has saddened many here in
Raleigh’s African-American com
munity who credit the writer with
giving his people newfound pride in
their history and heritage.
Haley, who was 70 when he died of
a heart attack at Swedish Hospital
in Seattle, Wash., authored The
Autobiography of Malcolm X and
the much-acclaimed novel Roots,
which not only became a tremen
dous best-seller, but an Emmy
Award-winning television mini-se
ries in 1977.
Roots was the story of how Haley’s
great-ancestor from Africa, Kunta
Kinte, was kidnapped from his land
and brought to America a slave.
Haley dramatically followed Kinte’s
descendants through the genera
tions, documenting their struggles
to live and survive as black people in
America.
When Haley’s story was shown on
television 15 years ago, an esti
mated 130 million viewers tuned in,
making it the largest television
audience ever recorded at that time.
The impact of Roots caused people
all over the world to look into their
own family histories and heritage.
Audrey Grant, library assistant at
\i i:\ m \i,i;v
the Riclinrd B. Harrison Library in
Raleigh, told The CAROLINIAN
that no one felt that impact more
than African-Americans.
“Wehad neverbeenasinvolvedin
finding out who we were, or our
genealogy, before ‘Roots.’ Family
reunions took on a new meaning.
There was a renewal of interest in
the black family,” she said. *
Ms. Margaret Rose Murray, com
munity activist and owner of Cross
Link Day Care Center, where she
teaches young children about their
(See HALEY DIES, P. 2)
Washington State Supreme Court
Rules “Out Of Place” Not Criminal
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP)—The
state Supreme Court ruled last
week that a person of any race being
“out of place” in a particular geo
graphic area is not grounds for sus
picion of criminal behavior.
“Distinctions between citizens
solely because of their ancestry are
odious to a free people whose insti
tutions are founded upon the doc
trine of equality,” Justice Jim An
dersen wrote for the majority.
The majority opinion simply sent
the case back to King County Supe
rior Court with orders to determine
if the arrest and subsequent bur
glary conviction of Darron Barber
was based on Barberf s being “out of
place.”
In a strong dissent, Justice Jim
Dolliver said he would go further
and overturn Barber’s conviction.
The case stemmed from Barber’s
arrest in 1987 as he and two com
panions were stopped while walking
down a street in a predominantly
white neighborhood in Bellevue. All
three are blacks, as was the arrest
ing officer.
Found in a bundle thrown into a
bush was loot from a Bellevue resi
dential burglary. Barber sought to
suppress that evidence on grounds
that he was stopped simply because
he was black. The trial court re
fused.
Andersen said the case was being
sent back to Superior Court because
of the “absence of particularlized
findings.”
The absence of such findings
“does not pdrmit us to determine
whether the stop was based on le
gally permissible and adequate rea
sons or whether it was based on a
perceived racial incongruity be
tween the suspects and the locale in
which they were stopped,” he wrote.
In his dissent, Dolliver said evi
dence shows that “but for the race of
the defendants, Officer Jim Her
shey would not have slowed down to
look at them twice.”
He quoted Hershey as saying he
became suspicious because, “It was
unusual to see three black guys
carrying items, walking, at least in
that part of the city.”
i
When asked to explain that state
ment, Hershey stated that, based on
his experience, “The whole circum
stance (three black men walking
down a streetin Bellevue, one carry
ing a gym bag, one a brown paper
bag, and one an item wrapped in a
blanketl normally means a crime
had just been committed.”
“That type of assumption by a
police officer is sipmly not accept
able,” Dolliver wrote. “The fact that
Officer Hershey is black does not
make it more acceptable, nor does
the fact that, in this case, Officer
Hershey’s hunch turned out to be
correct.
“Everything that happened and
everything Officer Hershey saw af
ter he initially decided three black
men walkingin Bellevue must be up
to no good is tainted by that deci
sion, and this court should say so,”
Dolliver wrote.
Signing Dolliver’s dissent were
Justices Bob Utter and Charles
Smith.
See OUT OF PLACE, P. 2)
!