WS Chronicle

Let the residents decide

To the Editor:
Kudos to City Councilmen James Taylor and Derwin Montgomery for voting against selling the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a publicly-owned property, to Wake Forest University, a private non-profit institution.

The city has been trying to give Wake the city-owned coliseum since their first basketball game at the old memorial coliseum long before I was born.
Although the Winston-Salem Foundation owned and donated the property where the new coliseum now rests, the residents of Forsyth County voted to build the coliseum and our tax dollars were used for construction.

There are so many things wrong with this deal. As a “non-profit” educational institution, Wake takes the coliseum off public tax rolls, increasing our taxes. The city will retire this debt to incur a greater one for the residents.

Regardless of the faith of those believing Wake will abide by any stipulation, LJVM is now being called the WS Entertainment Sports Complex, reducing the meaning of the name. And with selling naming rights, stay tuned for BB&T court basketball.

There was a bait and switch with WSSU, a public educational institution that has been in this community 120 years, to throw some off the track of this bad deal. When LJVM was built, it was said to be too small, but the city decided not to increase it while it was being built; now, they want us to take this tax burden for them.
This needs to be on the ballot in November for a public referendum.

Chenita Johnson
Winston-Salem

Help for
teen moms

To the Editor:
My name is Sophia Belin. I am the founder of Rehoboth Center of Winston Salem, Inc.
Rehoboth will mentor teen mothers and assist with furtherance of high school and/or college education. We will tear down any barriers that may prohibit teen mothers from obtaining her educational goals. The goal of Rehoboth is to show program participants that their past does not dictate their future.
Rehoboth Center will provide GED classes, self motivation/empowerment, resume preparation, basic computer classes, college preparation, motivation and encouragement to finish school and much more. To learn more about Rehoboth Center of Winston Salem, please attend an information session at the Central Library Auditorium on Saturday, June 1 from 2 -4 pm.
Contact me at 336-995-0760 or sophia.belin@live.com for more information.

Sophia Belin
Founder

In the spirit
of Medgar

To the Editor:
Greetings from Jackson, Mississippi!
This week (letter sent on May 16), as the NAACP National Board of Directors gather in Mississippi to honor the memory of our beloved field secretary, Medgar Wiley Evers, assassinated 50 years ago this June, we pause to send this message of support and encouragement to you, and to acknowledge the tremendous efforts you are making today to carry on Medgar’s sacred mission in the state of North Carolina.
Your coalition-made up of people from all walks of life in North Carolina-embodies the best of the organization’s tradition, vision, perseverance, and yes, sacrifice, to create real, positive and lasting change in North Carolina. And while this movement is a grassroots, statewide effort, we know that it has national implications because you are taking on the worst forms of extremism; policies that will affect communities of all colors, the poor, the unemployed, the sick, workers of all stripes and those who are struggling to hold on to their right to vote.
Your work, like Medgar’s, will inspire another generation to dream, to fight and to win.
We encourage the people of North Carolina to keep up the fight, knowing that the National NAACP stands with you in solidarity, and we stand ready to offer our support.

Sincerely,
Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the National NAACP