The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 82

2D The News and Observer Raleigh NC Sunday Sept I 8 I 988 The South A violent hazing shakes Va campus After two drownings Virginia State University fraternities were forbidden to make pledges undergo strenuous calisthenics expose them to bad weather make them eat or drink anything or confine bury paint brand or tattoo them q3k '111)t-isIZ I "-''''fs :7 11 0 4 i 4 tA 1 3 siT- efOrA6W7t 7 pctblsto I I 4 iii rIaltst tct ''t 1 Vi4 '41' -VO'l 46 i 'Ot 11 I 4t hor31 (ht 1 tat fill i i SIIIIIII ett 11 tf' ht i A -14 di 3 a l'ae-meAldok401 i 4 44 44 4 A (4 Lint '4 A 11 is' tit I i tr 6 i 4111 4 I i A- o- 44414 14111 00 t3 i 1 '-1ib NOP 1 7 11'1' le 40441c4111aZ 114 41 11 The Associated Press Columbia's Big Apple: This is the nightclub that spawned the dance that may have och to Columbia: Drop claim their city's nickname New Yorkers doubt By JAMES HIRSCH New York Times News Service NEW YORK New York City got the Statue of Liberty from France the Cloisters from Spain and Babe Ruth from Boston And it got the nickname Big Apple from Columbia SC? In a recent letter to Mayor Ed Koch Columbia's mayor Patton Adams said as much Adams believes that it is time New Yorkers acknowledge that the nickname came from a popular dance called the Big Apple that he says originated in Columbia in the 1930s The dance a sort of raucous Charleston is said to have started in a nightclub called Fat Sam's Big Apple which closed in the 1940s Columbia spent 6200000 renovating the building and in June reopened it as a cultural center The building the city's first synagogue housed a congregation from 1916 to 1933 "I think they're wrong" said Koch who said the Big Apple was a jazz term that came from Harlem "I say that's the official story Everything else is apocryphal" He added "It's the highest form of adulation for other cities to want to copy By JOHN WM' Richmond Tones-Dispatch NORFOLK Va Students and admin: istrators at Norfolk State University are still feeling the aftershocks of a violent hazing incident in April that left one student with broken jaw nine others suspended and their fraternity banned from the campus School officials are reluctant to talk about the case which is still being pursued in both criminal and civil courts But with a new class of pledges about to begin the rituals of initiation the admin: istration is determined not to let anything like it happen again "We are reviewing our policies on hazing to see which ones we need to tighten up" said James Satterfield NSU vice president for student affairs "We are meeting with our students to educate them on the rules showing them films and inviting speakers to talk about the problems caused by hazing nationwide" Members of the nine remaining Nor: folk State fraternities and sororities said they are changing their guidelines to stay out of trouble Many however like Alpha Phi Alpha officer Mark Askew are reluctant to dismantle a time-honored tradition of hazing which aims to test the mettle of prospective members and create a bond through shared hardships In a common initiation test he said pledges are given a cup full of hot coffee mixed with alcohol and told they must either drink it or have it poured in their crotches "We want it to be tough on them we don't want them to be able to just pay their money and sign up" Askew said "Some of the new guys are getting soft they want to learn a few songs and get a pin on their chest They think every time somebody is punched in the head they can sue and make money off it" The incident that sparked this intro' spective debate occurred late on the night of April 5 at an elementary school not far from the NSU campus Chris Peace 21 of Portsmouth was one of six "line brothers" who had survived three weeks of sleepless nights humilia tion and frequent paddlings in the hope of being accepted into Omega Psi Phi They were practicing the precision choreography of a "step dancing" routine when a misstep by Peace drew stern discipline While several fraternity brothers watched Peace said he was slugged -twice in the face by 25-year-old Michael Wood of Chesapeake His jaw was broken on both sides and had to be wired shut for the next five weeks Peace still faces extensive dental surgery and orthodontic work Because of his injuries Peace decided to break the fraternity's strict code of silence 'teating cheese" in Omega parlance Wood was charged with hazing a misdemeanor under state law that carries a maximum of 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $1000 He disappeared for nearly five months but finally was arrested in Illinois where he had enrolled in an Air Force Reserve technical tchool The University Judicial Council composed of 12 students faculty members and administrators held nine hours of hearings before recommending that Wood and eight other Omegas be suspended for one year and the fraternity be barred from holding meetings on or off 'campus for eight years Attorneys for the suspended students four of whom were seniors are seeking an injunction to allow them to take final exams and graduate on time They allege that the university overreacted to pressure generated by news stories and denied the students due process One of the suspended students Derrick Gilbert claims the council found him "guilty by association" because he drove past the school and said hello to his traternity brothers the night Peace was injured A circuit judge ruled the school was justified in suspending Gilbert Omega Psi Phi formed at Howard University in 1911 boasts alumni such as the Rev Jesse Jackson former Urban League director Vernon Jordan and NAACP Director Benjamin Hooks Eileen Stevens of Sayville NY who formed the Committee to Halt Useless College Killings after her son died of San Antonio's Cisneros bows out alcohol poisoning during hazing said black fraternities like the Omegas seem especially resistant to changing potentially harmful practices Their initiation rituals include "a great deal of physical involvement they perceive that to be voluntary" she said "I think they need to be brought into the current century and try to let go of some of those archaic practices" A year before the incident at NSU an Omega brother at North Carolina MET University received a two-year prison term for beating a pledge in the face with a two-by-four' At NC Central University during the early 1970s an Omega Psi Phi chapter was banned from campus three times for hazing pledges On a winter night in 1978 an Omega pledge collapsed and died partly an autopsy showed because he had sickle cell trait after running three miles with other initiates falling into a ditch and getting soaked with water and performing calisthenics The Groove Phi Groove fraternity was banned from NCCU last year after three pledges blindfolded and released on a county road at night were struck by a passing car In 1983 a 20-year-old Omega pledge at Tennessee State University was found dead of alcohol poisoning following a hazing incident his body covered with bruises from In 1979 a group of Virginia State University fraternity and sorority members gathered at midnight on the banks of the Appomattox River to "baptize" new pledges Four ended up in deep water and two drowned one of them a young woman afraid of the water because she could not swim Wine Psi Phi and Beta Phi Burgundy were disbanded as a result A VSU study concluded that in addition to physical dangers hazing caused the grades of many pledges to drop Last year Virginia State tightened its anti-hazing policies forbidding fraternities and sororities to require pledges to undergo strenuous calisthenics expose them to bad weather force them to eat or drink anything against their will keep them awake past 11:30 pm confine them bury them paint brand or tattoo them Both VSU and Norfolk State have Pan-Hellenic Councils that brings fraternity and sorority leaders together with faculty and administrators to discuss mutual concerns NSU's Satterfield stresses that fraternity hazing is not confined to any one campus fraternity or race "It is a problem on campuses nationwide" he says "I worked at colleges out West that had serious problems with white fraternities My son belongs to a white fraternity and a lot of the same things take place there" Violent hazing and injuries are the exception not the rule in most fraternities according to Satterfield "They do a lot of good and people need to hear about that" he said "Last fall our fraternities and sororities held dances to raise money for Sickle Cell Anemia and the United Way during Christmas they delivered baskets of food to senior citizens and toys to needy children" Askew said fraternities promote friendships and community spirit providing a training ground for future leaders "There's more to it than partying hearty in various cliques You don't find a lot of riled-up drunk people at a black fraternity meeting" he said "Someone may get upset because a pledge doesn't know something or won't do something but that's more of a personality clash Hey we can fight bark and scream at each other all night but when it's all over we're brothers" 'I'm sick about this We've poisoned the richest wildlife paradise in America and that's a tragedy' Oliver A Houck Louisiana environmentalist But federal officials emphasized that while mercury was found in sediment and in fish more data were needed to evaluate the damage Additional test results will be available in October The Fish and Wildlife Service which is part of the Interior Department intends "to pursue acquisition of the land" said Philip Morgan a regional agency official in Atlanta But he added: "We are not going to acquire a contaminated area that's then going to become our problem" Unusually high levels of mercury were found in sediment and lesser amounts in fish The mercury is apparently leaking A spawned another city's nickname has Southern roots Cayruth said in a telephone interview She said white students from the nearby University of South Carolina came to the club to watch and took the steps back to the campus where the dance became a rage Word of its popularity spread to New York and the Roxy Theater invited 16 students from the university to perform the Big Apple on Aug 29 1937 In the next eight months as described in newspapers and magazines the dance swept New York and the students took their act to Washington Baltimore Atlanta and even London Women wore apple-patterned dresses Students at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville NY hired the Arthur Murray Studio to teach them the steps The New York Times in a 1937 article about a White House performance of the dance said the Big Apple was a "lustily disjointed descendant of the Virginia reel and square dance danced late when things get warm and friendly" So popular was the Big Apple dance Columbia residents say that the name stuck with the city New York that pushed the steps into the national limelight "I believe New York has tried to take the credit that we should have gotten" Mrs Cayruth said The mayor said he is considering offers from the private sector He added that he wants to earn more money the mayor's position pays less than $5000 which he supplements with speaking engagements and a university lecture post to meet his family's growing financial needs including medical expenses for a young son with a heart defect Cisneros denied speculation that his decision was based in part on rumored marital problems Last year Cisneros stunned Texas political circles by publicly ruling out any campaign for higher office in 1990 He had figured at the top of pundits' lists of likely gubernatorial and senatorial candidates This year his decision not to accept an invitation to address the Democratic National Convention caused some Hispanic leaders to grumble that Cisneros was wasting opportunities to elevate Hispanics' national prominence Cisneros said he would actively campaign for Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis Some observers suggest that Cisneros whose enthusiasm for public policy and limelight runs high might be persuaded to join an eventual Dukakis administration perhaps in urban affairs There have been indications of leaks in the New Orleans landfill for two years said Oliver A Houck a law professor at Tulane University and a leading environmentalist in the state but there was no inkling that the dump designed for household garbage contained mercury "I'm sick about this" he said "We've poisoned the richest wildlife paradise in America and that's a tragedy" He called mercury "one of the most poisonous compounds in nature" adding: "It doesn't dissolve in water or bodies It just stays in tissue and builds up" Chronic exposure to mercury either through breathing mercury vapor or ingesting compounds containing mercury can cause diarrhea inflammation of the mouth tremors difficulty in speaking or walking and other neurological problems such as irritability apprehension and depression In cases of chronic poisoning mercury can be removed from the body through chelation a process in which the patient is administered a drug that binds to the mercury so that it can be excreted from the body us" Steven Zeit lin director of City Lore the New York Center for Urban Folk Culture said Columbia's desire for credit reflected the view of New York as the epicenter of America Call it apple envy he said "Cities always define themselves in relation to New York" Zeit lin said "In the early 1980s Indianapolis had a slogan that said 'Move over New York apple is our middle name" Nonetheless Columbia residents insist the term began in their town around 1935 on a crowded dimly lighted dance floor with a 5-cent-a-record jukebox that blared the blues in Fat Sam's Big Apple "It was the nicest place for black teen-agers to go" said Lucretia Morris Cayruth a 71-year-old Columbia resident who danced the Big Apple at the black nightclub as a teen-ager Beneath a dome ceiling with remnants of the Orthodox synagogue stained-glass windows with Stars of David the teen-agers developed the Big Apple dance a stomping mix of a boisterous Charleston jitterbug Virginia reel and square dance It is considered the forerunner of the shag which is now the state dance "Slinging over the shoulders crawling through the legs we were good" Mrs Henry Cisneros important contribution" But after 14 years in city politics he was first elected to the City Council in 1975 at age 27 Cisneros said it was time to move on to be named the Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge would be unusual not only because of its size and variety of wildlife but also because it lies within the city's borders about 15 miles from the central business district The refuge was authorized by Congress in 1986 following negotiations among representatives of the property owner Southpoint Inc a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch Co and the city state environmental groups and political leaders Congress has appropriated $8 million to buy the land and for initial operations of the refuge The agreement set aside 18500 acres of lakes forest and marshland for the refuge and an additional 6500 acres for private and commercial development that would not harm the area's wildlife which includes deer otters alligators and a wide variety of waterfowl In a census last year scientists found almost 60000 birds including teal coot snowy egrets the great blue heron and other species in the freshwater marshes moss-draped hardwood forest and tidal marsh that make up the giant urban wetlands 47'4 4-k4moollve! it i i'l''''Itit14'' ''t: t-- Tc't'' f--: By HOWARD LaFRANCHI The Christian Science Monitor AUSTIN Texas Four years ago San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros was on a short list of Democratic vice-presidential contenders and was frequently identified as perhaps the nation's most promising Hispanic political leader But last week Cisneros took another in a series of steps away from the national political spotlight by announcing he would not seek another term next spring as head of the nation's ninth-largest city "I really need a breath of fresh air" the four-term mayor said More than any San Antonio leader Cisneros adroitly steered his majority-Hispanic hometown away from deep racial and economic rifts to a "politics of inclusion" His success along with a fair dose of charisma made him a model of urban leadership "Henry has worked very hard to be inclusive" says Ernesto Cortes who directs a network of grass-roots community organizations in Texas "He has worked to broaden the circle in which decisions are made and I think that's an from an adjacent landfill used for city garbage disposal a failed recycling project that had been undertaken in the 1970s Earlier this summer tests found that oxygen in water next to the landfill was nearly depleted According to a state official the landfill operated by the American Waste and Pollution Control Co a subsidiary of Waste Management of North America Inc which is the largest handler of waste in the nation has been the source of many violations of state regulations in the 1980s including failure to cover up garbage "Inspectors would find exposed wastes garbage of all kinds which can blow around and rain can wash into the waterways" said Tim Hardy of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in Baton Rouge Don Clark the president of American Waste and Pollution Control said the violations occurred in a time when the state was indecisive about what its regulations should be Conservationists here say the refuge Mercury pollution threatens New Orleans refuge plan By FRANCES FRANK MARCUS New York Times News Service NEW ORLEANS High levels of mercury a deadly poison have been found in a proposed national wildlife refuge within the New Orleans city limits The US Fish and Wildlife Service says that traces of mercury were found in tests in the proposed refuge an 18500- acre marshy wildlife habitat in the eastern part of the city that has been viewed for decades by developers as a place for subdivisions and shopping centers More recently the city has regarded the land as a logical spot for a new airport Conservationists promoted the area as a nature refuge and they prevailed with the help of city leaders hoping for more tourist dollars in an economy depressed by low oil prices -Federal state and local officials met here Sept 8 to hear the test results received by the Department of the Interior last month and to discuss the possible consequences 1'.