The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 10

ro (the Tharlotte Observer ancet Is The eputtable Journal ROLFE NEILL Ottoman and Publosher RICHARD A OPPEL Editor JOHN LUDY General Manager ED WILLIAMS oi 'iv Pages JACK CLAIBORNE TOM BRADBURY JERRY SHINN Alsoctote Ecittors Saturday December 3 1988 rise Survivor I must take strong objection to the comments made by Dr Anne Walker in her letter (Nov 26 "Doctor Spreading AIDS As an English doctor practicing in Charlotte I have the greatest respect for the high standard of American medical journals and those of my own country The Lancet which she refers to as the equivalent of the National Enquirer is one of the world's most renowned medical journals and has been in existence since 1823 While Dr Walker has every right to express her opinions ignorance of journal stature denigrates them Dr JOHN A POLLARD Charlotte 11 on a daily basis and has not refused to take care of the large WV-infected population in San Franscisco In addition she has also become extremely knowledgeable about ongoing research about the HIV virus I was a physician in California for I I years during the initial and subsequent onset of the AIDS epidemic As demonstrated by the historical aspect of the epidemic AIDS is a disease in evolution As an orthopaedic surgeon involved in a significant percentage of trauma cases I will continue to take care of patients in all instances on an emergency basis But with responsibility for other health care professionals I think it is necessary for further medical investigations of the AIDS epidemic And that is all Dr Day is advocating Dr THOMAS MOORE Charlotte symposium at which Dr Lorraine Day spoke I would like to comment on Dr Anne Walker's letter I think if Dr Walker had heard the entire presentation her conclusions may have been different Dr Day agrees that there are no scientifically valid studies to prove transmission of the AIDS virus through intact skin or through other methods of transmission Her point is that the scientific community has an obligation to undertake such studies The HIV infection is still an incurable disease and probably universally fatal Dr Walker also questions Dr Day's credentials Dr Day has a significant statistical chance of contracting HIV infection through exposure in the operating room at San Francisco General according to a June article in the New England Journal of Medicine (not The National Enquirer) Despite this demonstrated risk she continues to work The Mayfair's Rebirth As The Dunhill Shows Older Structures Can Be Saved the other Intensify AIDS Research As the moderator for the recent 1111P-P" A A- '1- 4t 1:: 4 :10 But the stock market crash that occurred 17 days earlier touched off a depression that drained much of the Mayfair's potential Though it survived a series of owners and remained in business until October 1981 it was not the executive suite its developers had 0A tSe its developers had I THINK 011P E35111 Tel? PARPON 01116 NORTH BEFORE GERAWO Furs RIM ON drRIAL is 1 Addatejtodet00-m" Parking Keeps Shoppers From Uptown The Observer Forum Our Readers' Views innuendo and misinformation is becoming rather a bore ARTHUR CLARK Charlotte Three weeks ago as dynamite shattered the heart of the old Hotel Charlotte and sent its stately facade crashing into shapeless rubble Brad Holcorn watched from the roof of another old Charlotte hotel and winced Except for the vision of his partner Doug Patterson and himself and the daring of lenders such as Southeastern Savings and Loan his old hotel now Charlotte's newest might have suffered a similar demise Brad Ho 31 and Doug Patterson 41 are partners in the Dunhill Companies a development firm that has turned the 59-year-old Mayfair Manor at Tryon and West 6th streets into the 60-room Dunhill Hotel with This a touch of European elegance To many old- And time Charlotteans rlace restoration of the slim 10-story May- fair (more recently known as the James Lee Inn) has been a pleasant surprise Who would have thought 10 years ago that the drab Mayfair would outlive the other venerable structures then standing along Tryon Street: the Independence Building Charlotte National Bank the Wilder Building and the Masonic Temple? Temple's Fate An Incentive In fact it was the fate of the Egyptian-Revival Masonic Temple at 2nd and Tryon that stiffened the HolcomPatterson resolve to rescue the Mayfair and revive its faded glory The Temple's demolition was "shortsighted" Brad Ho said "It would have made super executive offices" The Ho 'corn-Patterson restoration of other old buildings in the community including the Biberstein house at 1600 Elizabeth Avenue and the 1880s Heath-Reid General Store in Matthews had proved to be popular and successful But with narrow floors low ceilings and tight external constraints the Mayfair would be "a major design challenge" they said Yet the results would be worth the gamble "We wanted to do something opposite from what was being done" Brad Holcom said "We noticed that other older buildings had leased well Charlotte has so few that they are like rare antiques And when the supply is limited the demand is strong which makes for good economics" Nlayfair's Troubled Past Though bitOt for elegance the Mayfair never achieved prestige Until the mid-1920s its site was occupied by the Tryon Street Methodist Church which in 1927 merged with Trinity Methodist to form First Methodist The site was sold to Drs JP Matheson and CN Peeler founders of the Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital then in the first block of West 7th With plans drawn by Louis Asbury one of Charlotte's premier architects Drs Matheson and Peeler had the Mayfair built with a bath a telephone and a radio in each of its 100 rooms It also offered a fireplace in the lobby and another on its penthouse floor When the building opened on Nov 15 1929 Dr Matheson occupied one penthouse (with a balcony overlooking Tryon Street) and banker Julian Little of Independence Trust Co occupied When will the merchants in downtown Charlotte admit that the No I problem of getting people to shop downtown is parking? Last week my wife and I decided to visit the shops in the Overstreet Mall and have lunch there We visited several shops but if we had stayed for lunch it would have cost us more to park than for our lunch So we drove to Eastland Mall visited several shops had lunch and drove home There was no parking fee We actually hurried through the downtown mall because of the cost of parking In his Nov 26 column Jack Claiborne tells of all the amenities needed downtown to bring shoppers but he does not mention the No 1 problem parking Surely he and others are smart enough to know what the real need is RICHARD BERGREN Charlotte Holcom envisioned A 3-Year-Old Partnership The $6 million effort to convert it into the Dunhill has been the most ambitious project of the three-year-old Holcom-Patterson partnership Brad Holcom grew up in southern Oregon and came east to attend the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance finishing in 1980 He was recruited by Wachovia bank and assigned to its Charlotte offices From there he joined Merrill-Lynch in selling suburban real estate Doug Patterson is a Pilot Mountain native who attended Brevard College and Guilford Tech came to Charlotte with Duke Power and was working with a construction firm when he and Brad Holcom began to pool their ideas and resources As a sideline the two bought one old property and fixed it up then another then another Brad Holcom managed the financing Doug Patterson handled sales In 1985 they decided to form a development firm that specialized in converting under-utilized older buildings for higher uses "We didn't want to go out and build offices or shopping centers" Brad Holcom recalled "Renovating old buildings takes more creativity than building something new" After Dunhill renovations were in progress they acquired neighboring properties on North Tryon opened the Thistle Restaurant and bought the Morehead Inn at 1122 East Morehead a bed-and-breakfast house that they are converting into an executive conference center To relieve the More-head's parking problems they bought adjacent properties onto which they hope to expand Brad Holcom was in England this week looking over convened manor houses for ideas Restoring Oak Lawn Another acquisition has been Oak Lawn the white-frame plantation house near Huntersville that Benjamin Davidson built for his bride Betsy Latta (daughter of James Latta of Hopewell's Latta Place) in 1818 The Dunhill partners made Oak Lawn their home a year ago restored its interior and added a modern kitchen Their success is a reminder that despite the impression left by spectacular implosions such as the Hotel Charlotte's developers with courage and imagination have preserved some of Charlotte's historic buildings and with luck might preserve others thereby enriching the streetscape "Any interesting city has a blend of the new and old" Brad Holcom said JACK CLAIBORNE Associate Editor SND HI FIRsr fait-LETTER WORD Uptown Inconvenient It was with interest that I read Jack Claiborne's column concerning the remaking of uptown Charlotte I attend professional conventions and travel to other cities From a visitor's point of view I have warm feelings for those cities that have developed convention center hotel entertainment and retail complexes But from a resident's viewpoint I see no reason to inconvenience myself by a trip downtown for goods and services that may be obtained more conveniently and usually at lower cost at an outlying shopping complex The attractions Claiborne mentioned are not available elsewhere in the area I would like to see Cityfair succeed but I find it difficult to envision how any purchasers other than fallout from visitors or lunchtime shoppers will ever be attracted to any downtown shopping area RICHARD PEARSON Gastonia ling the NC Baptist Convention and the Virginia Convention is representative of mainstream Baptists Have Own Battle Over States' Nothing could be farther from the truth Both the North Carolina and Virginia conventions are under the stranglehold of the moderate faction which also includes many theological liberals This group wants us to believe that they represent mainstream Baptists and that it is their responsibility to straighten out our mother convention which is now controlled by radical fundamentalists In a Nov 16 article "Moderate Southern Baptists Keep Control" Kathleen McClain states: "The NC Convention's leadership has been dominated for many years by moderates" This being true then perhaps we should look at the results of moderate leadership here in North Carolina In his address to our convention last month Dr Roy Smith our executive director gave us some statistics which indicate that we are rapidly losing the battle to influence our state for Christ According to Dr Smith we are now baptizing 40 fewer than in 1960 and Sunday school enrollment is down about 15 If NC Baptists are satisfied with these statistics then we should continue to elect moderate leadership But if we think we can do better perhaps we should look at returning to true conservative leadership that will put greater emphasis on winning the world to Christ Davidson Going Female I The writer is a member of the Davidson College class of 1950 This letter is the only thing that I can do to therapeutically relieve my hostility regarding the recent decision of the Davidson College Athletic Council This is the school's first step in their long-term program to make Davidson College one of the foremost female institutions in America The council meeting was clouded with secrecy and veiled with the illu- sion that everyone was given an opportunity to express their feelings I A think it was a stacked deck from the very beginning r77-i The statement rendered to the public 1 would have you be- lieve that the thrust of the problem was Turner budgetary and long travel was not conducive to a balanced budget This problem was emphasized many times when Davidson gained entrance to the Colonial Conference so why is it such a major issue now? I do not profess to have all of the answers to the athletic dilemma but I do have a strong feeling about what the football program has meant to me personally and think the majority of football players who have graduated from Davidson will share my convictions If the problem is primarily budgetary then I recommend we install Dr Kaylor as our athletic director He has done an excellent job in directing the affairs of the athletic department during the last several years I strongly disagree with Kaylor's convictions but at least I know that he has some which is more than I can say about the present athletic administration If I may borrow an expression from Coach Frank Howard Division III football is like kissing your sister You will still have travel problems and I doubt if we can win in that league Our present football players will probably transfer en masse to other schools but this may not be all bad Now we can give the female students a chance to play football which would make Kaylor very happy I also think that you will see an attrition in contributions to the Wild- cat Club so I am very skeptical as to how much will be saved with our Division III program Davidson College is my school and has always meant very much to me It is becoming increasingly difficult to identify with the institution as time goes by? Am I the only one? CLIFF TURNER Charlotte 666 Too Much For Reagans Potomac Periscope GARY PARKER Maiden Hard To Remain Peaceful I am sure there are many who like Emily Chatham in her Nov 28 letter think it is ironic for pro-life supporters to use threats and intimidation in their protest of abortion and its supporters Of Abortion But when you consider that there are nearly million legal abortions performed every year one can't help but think that desperate times bring about desperate measures It is difficult to remain peaceful and loving when so many innocent lives are being destroyed each year I empathize with those women who choose abortion as an alternative and then must cross a protest line in order to have this abortion performed But a person cannot be made to feel guilty unless he or she has something to feel guilty about I hope that in the near future the Supreme Court will reverse its 1973 decision that laws will be made to make pregnancy a man's responsibility too that sex will no longer be considered "something to do On a Saturday night" among our young people and that more time and money will be spent on socially healthy ways of dealing with an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy Design Cuisine a Virginia caterer serving several parties to be attended by Bush "That's not to insinuate that the events are less formal or less chic but to include more comfortable food" says Homan who describes the vice president's Washington parties as plenty elegant "Comfortable" though at the inaugural parties he explains means "less caviar and more lobster" which is not exactly mashed potatoes A (GOP) elephant never forgets: In his opening remarks to Knight-Ridder Newspapers editors and reporters this week a relaxed and confident president-elect showed he's still a bit thin-skinned "It's certainly a pleasure to speak to the editors of some of the finest papers in the United States that includes even those that carried Doonesbury I don't know what he'll do for a living now" said the oftDoonesbury-lampooned George Bush And to make sure he didn't forget anything he wanted to say the vice president whose spontaneity always seemed to contrast with the rehearsed Ronald Reagan carried 15 pages of 412- by 8-inch cue cards with large-print typewritten letters Washington doublespeak: Heard on the State Department's recorded daily message for reporters "There will be a noon briefing which will begin at 11:45 am today Thank you" By JANIS JOHNSON KnightRiddor Nowsparws Astrology take two? The street number of the $25 million house in Bel Air Calif where the Reagans will live after Jan 20 has discreetly been changed from 666 to 668 because "666" has been traditionally associated with black magic and the occult The decision "mutually" came up between the First Couple according to Elaine Crispen press secretary to Nancy Reagan The first lady's interest in astrology has been well-documented In other moving matters most of the Reagan's personal belongings have already left the White House for their new home which was purchased by 18 West Coast friends and leased to the Reagan At a luncheon for the soon to be ex-First Lady some of her well-heeled buddies even chipped in for her basic kitchen needs including a coffee pot This is the same Nancy Reagan who has been enjoying fancy eating on the scandalously expensive 4372- piece set of White House china she purchased What's hot: Look for more spicy seasonings from the Southwest and more "comfortable" food to predominate new food trends set by the incoming White House regime Washington hostesses are requesting such food for quasi-Texan George Bush's inaugural festivities That means more hot accents like chiles and cilantro and nibblers like black-bean cakes and munchies such as jicama the root vegetable eaten cold "The whole thrust is closer to more home-style more horde-cooked food real food as opposed to Oastic food" says Bill Homan of Cartoon Has Facts Wrong Doug Marlette's Nov 23 cartoon "Where were you Nov 22 1963?" demonstrates once more the complete absence of fact in your constant attacks on the NRA The NRA did not have a lobbyist in Washington in 1963 It was about 11 years later after the Coalition to Ban Handguns and Handgun Control Inc started to lobby Congress that the NRA formed the Institute for Legislative Action The Library Journal recently singled out the American Library Association lobby and the NRA lobby as the only ones whose information was considered consistently truthful and reliable by legislators am 100 certain The Observer will never be praised for being truthful or reliable in its information by any reputable organization Your attempts to impugn the stellar reputation of the NRA by untruthful JEFF MAINOR Charlotte Write The Forum We welcome letters Please sign and include your address and daytime telephone number Mail to Observer Forum PO Box 32188 Charlotte 28232 We edit letters for brevity grammar and clarity and we reject those published elsewhere Because of the volume received we cannot return letters not used Editors The Observer Need True Conservatives Apparently Marse Grant enjoys fantasizing about the state of the Southern Baptist Convention His Nov 26 column would lead us to believe that tile faction now control Janis Johnson is a graduate of Charlotte's Myers Park High School and Aike 1:21 1.