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FEBRUARY 27,1992
VOL. 51, NO. 28
W.C.'s Semi-Weekly]
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST '
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SINGLE copy ap
IN RALEIGH ZmOQ
ELSEWHERE 300
Congratulations
Sheldon Owens
Shaw University
Ms. Carolyn Brown
St. Augustine's College
*CIAA Basketball Players of the Yr. ’
Who Will Succeed Ben Hooks
As NAACP Exec. Director?
BY CHESTER A. HIGGINS, SR.
Special To The CAROLINIAN
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Ben
jamin Lawson Hooks, for 15 turbu
lent years the executive director of
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, the
oldest, largest, most enduring and
most respected d vil rights organiza
tion in the United States, is quitting
after this year, effective April 1993.
The scramble is now on for his
successor. Speculation is rife among
the 400,000-member, 83-year-old
organization. Some feel a seasoned
person of the stature of Constance
Baker Motley, the distinguished
New York federal judge, an NAACP
stalwart and now in semi-retire
ment, should be considered. Others,
however, feel the organization
needs a younger, more energetic
hand as well as a seasoned eye with
vision to steer the organization
“back on track.”
Consider Ernest D. Green, of the
famous Little Rock Nine. He is a
former assistant U.S. secretary of
labor, a longtime NAACP member
who has no negatives in terms of
board or organizational enemies
and now a senior vice president of
Shear son Lehman, a national bro
kerage firm. Would he make an
ideal NAACP executive director?
Some observers feel he would, in
deed. Others are not so sure.
Green, an NAACP board member,
told this writer he will probably
partiripate as a member of the
search committee, “But I won’t be
seeking, and I don’t want, the job
myself. I have my hands full as a
senior vice president of my firm. We
are just coming out of a depressed
period and I will have to spend all of
(See HOOKS RETIRES, P. 2)
NEWS BRIEFS
DURHAM POLICE
CHIEF RESIGNS
Trevor Hampton, the Dur
ham chief of police who re
signed a week ago amid
charges of a call girl opera
tion in his department, told a
local TV station last Monday
that Durham District Attor
ney Ronald Stephens was to
blame for all of his problems
and had it in for him.
Hampton said that the state
attorney general’s office
should investigate all of the
charges made against his
department by Stephens’ of
fice.
The DA disputed Hamp
ton’s claim, but said he wel
comed any investigation by
the state. Hampton’s four
year tenure as Durham police
chief was riddled with con
troversy, culminating in the
indictment of his friend
Wiley Davis, Jr. for falsifying
Ms educational record to
work at the Durham Police
Department. At press time,
Davis still had not turned
himself in.
Meanwhile, Hampton,
while still officially the chief,
has turned the day-to-day op
eration over to 21-year vet
! eranLt. Col. H. Kent Fletcher.
! NAACP PROTESTS
CONFEDERATE FLAG
Saying that honoring the
Confederate flag is like "hon
oring slavery," the president
of the state NAACP is calling
on all North Carolinians to
write Gov. James Martin to
protest his proclamation of
March 4 as Confederate Flag.
Day. Kelly Alexander, Jr.,
head of the state NAACP, also
mM tK.t during this election
year, the candidates cur
rently running in the
governor**^ rsice should be
(See NEWS BRIEFS, P. 2)
4
AFTER THE GROUND WAR-Sgt. Ronald Murray (I.) and
Sgt. Jette Jones (r.) pose in the Saudi Desert a year ago
during the Persian Gulf War. Jones, then dressed in Arab
attire for the picture, came home to Raleigh last week after
a nationwide television audience saw him homeless in
Boston. Jones says he was |ust one of many homeless
veterans that now need their country’s help.
Vietnam Veteran Says
U. S. Abandons Vets
BY CASH MICHAELS
Contributing Writer
“Praise the Lord!”
There isn’t anyone in Raleigh who
can convince Marie Jones that God
doesn’t answer prayer. The proof
was sitting right there in her living
room... her son Jesse, a former ser
geant in the U.S. Army National
Guard who until a few weeks ago
was sleeping on the streets of bos
ton, Mass.
No, 41-year-old Jesse Jones, Jr.
wasn’t just any homeless person. He
was a Congressional Medal of Honor
winner for heroic actions during the
Vietnam War. And he answered his
country’s call again in 1990 when
the United States drew the line in
the sand for Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
So why was this highly decorated
and certainly proudly dedicated
soldier in Uncle Sam’s army left to
sleep on the cold streets by his own
government?
Ms. Jones would like to have that
answer, too, but right now she’s just
thankful to have her son home. And
Jesse’s glad to be back.
“It feels great,” Jones told The
CAROLINIAN last Thursday, a day
after stepping off the Greyhound
bus that brought him back home
from Boston. To hear his deep, grav
elly voice is a clear indication of a
military man through and through.
“I remember the old song “Nothing
Could be Finer than to Be in Caro
lina in the Morning, and the night
before last when I was sleeping on
the bus, all I was thinking about was
seeing the green grass of home
again.”
That vision of Carolina certainly
beat the cold, snowy streets of
“Beantown,” where the ABC-TV
program “Prime Time Live" found
Jesse and put his story on nation
wide television. Jones’ mother knew
that things had not been easy for her
son after he came back from the Iraq
war (Jones suffers from post-trau
matic stress syndrome from the
Vietnam War, but battle situations
in Iraq worsened it). But she had no
idea he was homeless until she saw
him on television.
That was all it took for her to go to
Boston, then arrange through a lo
cal Veterans of Foreign Wars post to
have Jesse sent back home.
Now' that he’s here, Jesse Jones
has a story to tell. A story about an
1
18-year-old student at Gamer Con
solidated High School who wanted
to take care of his mother and make
her proud. So five days after gradu
ation in 1968, he joined the Marine
Corps. Jesse would have his pay
checks sent back to his mother to
make sure that she was okay. It
wasn’t long before he was fighting in
the jungles of “Nam,” where, armed
with nothing but a .45 and some
hand grenades one day, he risked
his life, killing 30 of the enemy
single-handedly.
Jesse was wounded, for which he
received the Purple Heart and the
congressional Medal of Honor.
When he left the service during the
’70s, he studied hard to achieve
academic honors and develop skills
in welding and auto mechanics.
Jesse married, traveled, owned
businesses, and stayed close to the
military, despite his post-traumatic
stress.
Over the years, he was in and out
of veterans’ hospitals, using his
meager veterans’ benefits to sur
vive. His marriage no more, Jesse
struggled, until, despite his disabil
ity, he was Able to fight in the Per
sian Gulf. When he was shipped
back in April of last year, his condi
tion had worsened, his need for
medication greater. Jesse was liter
ally shipped from VA hospital to VA
hospital across the country until
finally he ended up in Massachu
setts. Jesse couldn’t stay in the
shelter in Boston, so he used his
survival skills from Vietnam, and
slept on the streets with other home
less veterans. That’s when ABC-TV
found him.
Though Jesse still loves his coun
try, he is highly critical of how the
federal government failed to take
care of veterans adequately after
Vietnam, and also the Persian Gulf.
“They don’t have the GI Bill no more
that gave us the G.I. school loan.
They also told us before we left
Saudi Arabia that they would have a
bonus for us... Where’s it at? We
haven’t seen it.”
Jesse confirms that a lot of the
homeless veterans he’s seen have
turned to drugs and alcohol. It hurts
for him to see once proud and strong
people, both men and women, de
stroy themselves in the country they
riske d their lives for, right or wrong.
(See VET BACK HOME, P. 2)
Ms. Elizabeth Peebles Of City
Named N. C. Mother Of The Year
BY ALLIE M. PEEBLES
Contributing Writer
Ms. Elizabeth Baxter Peebles of
3612 Greenlawn Drive was named
North Carolina Mother of the Year
in ceremonies held on Thursday,
Feb. 13, at the Raleigh Marriott
Crabtree Valley at 5 p.m. The occa
sion was the 50th anniversary din
ner of the North Carolina State
Mothers Association.
The mistress of ceremonies was
the state president, Vickie Goudie.
Music was furnished by Nancy
Walker, soprano, the 1992 state
Music Award winner. Geraldine
Cate serves as chairperson of the
State Music Committee, and intro
duced Ms. Walker.
The speaker for the occasion was
Joan Burney, the 1991 North Caro
lina Mother of the Year.
Elizabeth Peebles was nominated
by her church, Wilson Temple
1
United Methodist of Oberlin Road.
More specifically, it was the United
Methodist Women, an auxiliary of
the church, that submitted her
name.
Along with their nomination, the
church women stated, “Elizabeth is
exemplary by what we have ob
served over the years, to be worthy
of this recognition.”
They added, “Elizabeth has the
characteristics, the skills to speakin
public, compose essays, act in dra
matic events and sing. She is a strict
disciplinarian in a loving way when
necessary to instill proper behavior
in children. Over a period of years,
the nominee worked diligently in
the Oberlin Church and commu
nity.”
The church dted her work in the
Royalettes, a well-known civic
group.
Until the last decade, Elizabeth
and Nelson “Billy” Peebles and their
three children lived on Oberlin
Road.
During the group’s conference at
the Marriott, a special fashion show
was held for children. Miriam Tho
mas was the celebrity mom and her
family members were on hand. She
is a co-anchor on WTVD-TV11.
Elizabeth is the daughter of the
late Rev. and Mrs. Steven Baxter of
Maysville. She is the sister of
Doreatha Handy of this city.
She has inspired her three chil
dren to receive a college education.
All three have earned master’s de
grees. Nelson, Jr. is an accountant,
Neltine is a middle school principal
in Atlanta, Ga., and Dwight is an
administrator with Blue Cvoss/Blue
Shield fn Durham. i
Elizabeth has retired from the
Women’s Correctional Center of
Local Historian Records
Haley’s Final Interview
She knew Alex Haley personally,
and had even visited him at the
legendary house in Henning, Tenn.,
where he heard the stories about the
African named “Kinte,” and
“Chicken George.” So when histo
rian Linda Simmons-Henry learned
Feb. 10 that this man whom she
considered her mentor had died
unexpectedly, it was a blow that she
felt deeper than most.
It had been just five days earlier
that Haley had given her what may
have been his last interview. And
probably Ms. Hemy’s most impor
tant.
In an exclusive interview with
The CAROLINIAN, Ms. Henry
talked about Alex Haley, what she
learned from him, and what he said
in that interview.
“He was scheduled to come to
North Carolina on Feb. 29 for a
speaking engagement in Fayette
ville. And I talked with him earlier
this month to confirm that. So I was
shocked when I heard that he had
died shortly after. But when I last
interviewed him, he told me about
his life, and some of his plans for the
future,” she said.
One of the reasons why Ms. Henry
interviewed Haley is that she was
working on an oral history project,
and wanted to have input from a
recognized historian and genealo
gist. Haley became world-renowned
for his 12-year search for, pnd re
search of, his African origins that
became his most honored book,
Roots, which went on to be a historic
television mini-series.
Haley had become impressed
with Ms. Henry several years ago
when he found out about a prior
project she was developing called
“The Heritage of Blacks in North
Carolina,” which became a pub
lished work in 1991. Part of Haley’s
family came from AlamanCe
County, so he felt close to the state,
and wanted to give something back.
“He called me one afternoon in my
office and indicated that he was real
(See LAST INTERVIEW, P. 2)
Jury Selection Underway
In Rodney King Case
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP>-In a
courtroom parade, prospective ju
rors spoke in sad, hushed tones
about a sight all of them had shared:
the videotaped image of a black man
on the ground being pummeled by
white police officers.
“It seemed beyond reason,” said
one woman.
“I can’t see any excuse for what
happened,” declared one man.
A male prospect wrote on a ques
tionnaire that the four officers
charged in the beating “seem to be
overgrown schoolyard bullies.”
They were among eight people
dismissed for bias last Wednesday,
the first day of jury selection in the
trial of four Los Angeles police offi
cers charged with assault in the
notorious Rodney King beating.
All 31 prospective jurors quizzed
by the judge had seen the videotape
and many said they had viewed it
several times.
Another 46 people were sum
moned for the next session.
Defense attorneys appeared de
jected as they concluded the first
round of questioning. Attorney Mi
chael Stone said the responses
showed “the magnitude of what
we’re dealing with.”
Only one man was excused for
cause by Superior Court Judge
Stanley Weisberg said he was on the
side of the four officers. He said his
uncle weis a policeman and he
tended to favor lawmen.
Others, such as prospect Pamela
Friedman, expressed strong feel
ings agEtinst the officers from the
jury box and from the question -
(See KING JURY, P. 2)
Eva Clayton First To File
In First District Race
Warren County Commissioner
Eva Clayton (D) filed Monday to run
for the First District congressional
seat, but many observers expect
that before the March 2 deadline,
several other African-American
candidates, and at least two white
challengers, will also enter the race.
The more black candidates there
are spreading out the black vote, the
easier it will be for one of the white
challengers to win. If that hap
pened, it would fly in the face of the
original intention of the U.S. Justice
Department when it ordered North
Carolina to redraw voter district
lines to ensure a black majority
voting district.
Other African-Americans ex
pected to enter the Democratic pri
mary in the First District race in
elude Willie D. Riddick, longtime
aide to Rep. Walter B. Jones; Rep.
Thomas Hardaway of Enfield, and
Rep. Milton “Toby” Fitch of Wilson.
The two white candidates are
expected to be Williamston Mayor
Thomas Brandon, III, who has al
ready filed, and state Rep. Walter B.
Jones ofFarmville, son of U.S. Rep.
Jones, who is retiring.
Because under state law a candi
date must 'gamer more than 40
percent of thfe primary vote, unless
one of the four black candidates in
the First District race proves to be
extremely popular, it is question
able whether any of them can beat
one of the white candidates.
The theme for the Clayton cam
(See CLAYTON FILES, P. 2)
MS. ELIZABETH PEEBLES
Raleigh, where she stated that it
was her opportunity to help others
and to listen to women who had
made mistakes. Some of them just
wanted to have someone who would
just listen to them, stated the win
ner.
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