109 East Jones Street Raleigh NC 27601 s Semi-Weekly ^3i TED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST SINGLE COPY QP IN RALEIGH £mO0 ELSEWHERE 300 RALEIGH Bicentennial Section Section Three An Open Letter To The City’s African-American BY SOLOANA INGRAM This article is written to the citizens of Raleigh, espe cially all the many wonderful friends and also my family that have been so suppor tive through the loss of my son. I would like to thank each and every person for the many expressions of concern shown me. My son, Ivan Lorenzo Ingram, was shot and killed on Nov. 8, 1991 by Mr. Vincent Kerr, a Raleigh policeman. I hope you are reading this, Mr. Kerr, because when you took my only child’s life, you destroyed me. I have not really been living a normal life and I don't think I ever will again. I am barely existing through these troubled times. If it had not been for God and my family, I don’t know what I would have done as my life has been devastated with the loss of my son. My life is so miserable that I found myself thinking of ending mine. My child and I were very close friends as he was the most important person in my life. He was first my son, then my best friend, my joy, my sunshine—he was my life. When he was happy, I was happy—when he was sad, so was I. When he was in pain I felt it too. These feelings are felt by many parents. I do not feel my situation is any different except for the fact that my son was killed in such a tragic, useless manner. I loved my son so very much and he was taken away from me by a policeman whose salary we help pay. I thought poliee were paid to protect citizens, not gun us down. losing a loved one, especially a child, is terrible but losing a child in this manner, the way I lost mine, can never be understood by others until it happens to them. My prayer is that it never happens to any of you out there. But hey, that is what I am trying to tell everyone. We must come together and do something about this. I know we have a lot of good policemen. I never said we didn't, but we must do something about the ones that do these tragic things. People will not continue allowing rela tives and loved onesbeingpunished and killed by our police farce. City Hall, take a good look. Be more concerned about the caliber of persons being hired to “protect” the citizens of our 0%. (See OPEN LETTER, P. 2) MS. SOLOANA INGRAM r CRIME BEAT Editor's Note: This column, a fixture of The CAROLINIAN in years past, has returned to our pages in hopes of deterring crime in our community. The information contained herein is taken from public arrest rec ords and does not necessarily mean those mentioned are guilty of crimes. CHARGED WITH HAVING STOLEN PROPERTY Twenty-three-year-old William Bryan Polite, 7508 Ray Road, has been arrested and charged with possession of stolen property, and possession of a firearm by a con victed felon. One .380 automatic handgun valued at $250 was report edly recovered from Polite in a park ing lot at 581E. Lenoir St. Friday at 1:30 a.m. 300 ZX STOLEN A 16-year-old residing at 2826 Laodicea Drive has been arrested and charged with felony larceny. The juvenile allegedly took a red 1987 Nissan 300 ZX valued at $5,500 from a non-residence at 910 Capital Blvd. Thursday between 10:30 and 10:36 a.m. DUO NABBED FOR LARCENY Marita Shorice Collier, Lathan Hall; and Charles Donnell Barnes, 3016-F, Wakefield Apartments, have been arrested and charged with larceny. The duo allegedly took goods valued at $798 from a resi dence at 3237-B Calumet Drive Thursday around 9 p.m. ASSAULT WITH KNIFE Arlans Denise Morrant, 204 Alli son Drive, Knightdale, has been arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon/disorderly conduct. Ms. Morrant allegedly as saulted Lemetrice Herring at a business located at 2624 Westing house Blvd. Satuday at 3:40 am. No injuries were reported. (See CRIME BEAT, P. 2) 1 een Appeals Court Decision In BBGunCas< BY CASH MICHAELS Staff Writer A 16-year-old African-American youth, given what some have called an excessive sentence in District Court in a scuffle with school offi cials after bringing a broken BB gun to school, will now have to stand trial in Wake Superior Court on April 27 in order to appeal his case. The youth, Willie Barnes, will have to go through the court system again in order to clear his name, and his mother and stepfather, Mattie Barnes and Jim Scales, were upset. “I don’t understand why we have to go through this again. Why do they want my son to go to prison?” asked Ms. Barnes. The case began last Noy. 15 when her son took a borrowed, broken BB gun to Enloe High School. Although no one at the school ever saw the BB gun, when Willie was called out of class and taken to an office to see three assistant principals, he knew he was in trouble. It was after the administrators refused to call his mother or the police as he requested after de manding to search him that Willie says he became scared and tried to run out of the office as they were leaving. When they tried to grab him, Willie struggled free and left the school. He was stopped by the police and searched. The broken BB gun was not found, but upon being taken back to the school, Willie dis covered that he was now suspended for the year, and would be arrested for three charges of assault, and two charges of verbal threats, all ema nating from when he was grabbed while leaving. After a school hearing that upheld the suspension, Wake Superinten dent Dr. Robert Wentz reviewed Willie’s case, reversed the ruling and transferred him to Mary E. Phillips School, where he has been doing very well ever since. But his problems weren’t ending, they were just beginning. Unknown to Willie or his parents, (See BB GUN TRIAL, P. 2) ■ 4 <1 Campaign *92 Clinton’s Bid For President Seen As Moderate Conservative BY RON DANIELS An Analysis Though the insurgent candidacy of former Gov. Jerry Brown contin ues to be a thorny nuisance for Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the Democratic nomination for presi dent now seems well within his reach. Clinton’s steady and well OTchestrated march to the nomina tion marks a triumph for the Demo cratic Leadership Conference which has been urging the Democratic Party to become less liberal as a means of retaking the White House. Frustrated by Walter Mondale’s humiliating defeat astd the hands of Ronald Reagan in 1984, the DLC embarked on a course calculated to produce a moderate-conservative son of the South as the Democratic nominee for president by 1988. The DLC concluded that the Democratic Party had to shift to the right on issues such as defense, crime, af firmative action and civil rights and fiscal policy. In other words, the Democraic Party wouM have to sound more “Reaganesque” in order to recapture those Democrats who had defected from the party to sup port Ronald Reagan. An integral component of the DLC’s strategy was to create a ve HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Mrs. Maggie Peebles, centei recently celebreated her 102nd birthday. “I am blessed My daughter’s, Mrs. Daisy P. Walker, left, love an< patience mean so much and my neighbors and friends especially my friend, Mrs. Sylvester White, Sr., right, brings the joy of Christ when she comes.” Mrs. Peeble was born in Wake County. She attended Crosby Garfiel “W/A' School and is a lifetime member of First Baptist Church. She was married by Rev. C. E. Askew and is a dedicated I member of the Bible Class in his memory. With a big , smile, Mrs. Peebles pointed to an appreciation certificate from the Askew Bible Class. It read: “I will never leave i you nor forsake you,” Heb. 13:5. She enjoys reading, I talking and associating with young people. (Photo by James Giles) Ingram Family Says City’s Sympathy “7oo Little, Too Late” Proceed With Claim BY CASH MICHAELS Staff Writer The family of Ivan Ingram, an unarmed African-American citizen sh