The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • B4

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 4B, TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2002 DESIGNER DURHAM EDITION THE NEWS OBSERVERTUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2002D Police warn gas stations of thefts CHAPEL HILL Police, con- cerned about the number of mo- torists pumping gasoline into their cars and then driving off without paying, have issued a list of clues for gas station and con- venience store attendants to watch out for. Since May 1, Chapel Hill police say, there have been 17 pump- and-flee cases reported. Investigators say the possible indicators that such a theft is about to occur include: Drivers who leave the car running; Nervous people at the pump; A passenger sliding into the seat while the driver pumps gas; License plates obstructed from view; Drivers who needlessly pull up to far-away pumps; A disturbance inside the store that could be a diversion. To curb gas thefts, the police department community services unit recommends that gas sta- tion owners require all customers to pay before pumping. The offi- cers also suggest installing video cameras and putting in bright lights and intercom systems that clerks can use to communicate with drivers.

UNC post lures Miss. educator BY TIM SIMMONS STAFF WRITER Mississippi public schools Su- perintendent Richard Thomp- son, who has spent much of his career in North Carolina, will return to the state in August to direct teacher development pro- grams run by the University of North Carolina system. appointment as vice president for university school programs means he will work closely with the 15 schools of education in the UNC system as well as the state Department of Public Instruction, the community colleges, lawmakers and local school leaders to im- prove the training and develop- ment of classroom teachers. He last worked in North Car- olina as deputy state school su- perintendent from 1996 to 1998, when he earned high marks from many lawmakers for his work on legislative issues and his help in launching the ABCs of Public Education. The crafting of a new accountability program for schools was also among his ac- complishments in Mississippi.

Thompson, 60, will succeed Charles Coble, who retires this month. Thompson is scheduled to meet with UNC officials to- day; he formally begins work Aug. 19. He is expected to earn $165,000 a year. have a good number of friends still in North Carolina, and I had good relations with the General Assembly, so I hope to keep the learning curve to a minimum once I get Thompson said.

pretty well know what the problems are in improving teacher quality. The challenge is getting all the groups involved to work to- gether toward an A former teacher, coach and administrator in North Carolina, Thompson has been involved in teacher training programs at sev- eral levels. He was director of the N.C. Center for the Advance- ment of Teaching in Cullowhee for two years before working briefly under former UNC sys- tem President C.D. Spangler to help improve ties with the pub- lic schools.

He was then hired in 1996 by the State Board of Education as deputy state school superinten- dent. With then-Superintendent Bob Etheridge and the school board wrangling over how the schools should be run, Thompson quickly became a link between the board and key lawmakers in- volved in education policy. Thompson left the job 1998 to become Mississippi schools superintendent, a post he had held once before from 1990 to 1992. Staff writer Tim Simmons can be reached at 829-4535 or Thompson will run teacher programs Garner Road YMCA gets church donation BY DAVID OLSON STAFF WRITER RALEIGH After more than two years of budget cuts and layoffs, the Garner Road YMCA on Mon- day received the first installment of a $100,000 donation that could revitalize one of only four inde- pendently operated African-Amer- ican YMCAs in the country. The announcement of the grant the largest in the 56- year history and one that will be spread over five to 10 years came just two months after the YMCA in Southeast Raleigh found out that it would have to cut $110,000 from its already tight $800,000 annual budget because of a drop in United Way contribu- tions.

Triangle United Way, which provides more than half of the budget, is cutting funding this year for all its member agencies. The Garner Road YMCA is hop- ing the donation by Wake Chapel Church, including $10,000 this year, will spur other local churches to contribute. The YMCA is be- coming more aggressive in its own fund raising, said CEO Larry Jones. Th YMCA is more than just a place to swim or take computer classes, said the Rev. John J.

Wilkins pastor of Wake Chapel Church in North Raleigh. It keeps youths off the streets and helps stabilize an economically strug- gling area, he said. help keep this community viable and Jones said. Because most of the nearly 9,000 people who use the Garner Road YMCA each year are poor, it offers more free or subsidized memberships than most YMCAs and so must rely more on dona- tions, Jones said. But a drop in private donations and paid memberships led to a 10 percent drop in the budget over the past two years.

As a result, several programs have been cut, and the number of full- time staff dropped from 16 to 10. Wake contribution will help restore programs and staff, and it will keep the Garner Road independent, Jones said. people need an oppor- tunity to see black institutions that are strong and successful and vi- said Tony Knox, president of the Garner Road board of directors. they see peo- ple who look like them and who are successful, that gives them the idea that they can be Staff writer David Olson can be reached at 836-4975 or A group of teens, from left, Pierre Riggins, Dayvon Black, Curtis Jones and Jonathan Brooks, hangs out in front of a game room in the heart of Bolton. The teens say there much for youths to do in the town of fewer than 500 people.

THE (WILMINGTON) STAR-NEWS PHOTOS BY JEFFREY S. OTTO Reputation precedes town Bolton residents say a safe place BY SAM SCOTT THE (WILMINGTON) STAR-NEWS BOLTON There are two gas sta- tions, no sit-down restaurants and one traffic light in this speck of a country town. But tiny as Bolton may be, it has a knack for going from obscurity to smack in the middle of the public eye a knack that locals say gives it an undeserved reputation. A recent allegation that the po- lice chief beat and Maced a hus- band and wife in Town Hall as they tried to complain about ear- lier brutality threw the town of fewer than 500 people into the attention. The story con- tinued to swell after the arrest of a man for shooting the car after a town meeting dealing with the alleged brutality.

Both situations are under in- vestigation with conflicting sto- ries abounding. About 30 miles west of Wilm- ington on U.S. 74, Bolton may not lead the news often, but when it does, the news is often big and quirky. In the mid-1990s, after a state inquiry, mayor and an alderman pleaded no contest to charges involving mismanagement of town funds and were forced to step down. An earlier investigation revealed the books to be so badly kept that it was impossible to know if money was missing.

In 1990, Sidney Bowen, the first black mayor, was shot multiple times in his front yard by a white state Highway Patrol trooper. The killing, which was ruled self-defense, sparked the in which lo- cal people and state civil rights leaders marched throughout Columbus County protesting what they saw as racism. The Ku Klux Klan responded by also marching in Bolton. About the same time, some res- idents torched trash carts to protest a new collection system. And a decade earlier, an effort to allow mixed-drink sales in Bolton was part of a widespread bribery scandal that brought down a state representative and several other public officials.

The investigation was part of a large FBI sting that became known as Colcor, for Columbus County corruption. But locals say the headlines mis- construe what the town is like peaceful, safe and with good things afoot. one ever focuses on the said Tylana Bennett, mayor pro tem. al- ways The town plans to build a com- munity health and wellness center next to its recently opened senior center, Bennett said. Nurse prac- titioners from UNC-Wilmington will staff the center, she said.

And by 2004, Bolton plans to have a sewer system, she said, hopeful that the system might bring economic development to a de- pressed region. Even its liquor store went out of business a few years back, after a four-lane bypass rerouted traffic around the town. Until he moved from Greens- boro, Jonathan Roberts, 19, used to chain his wallet to his pants. Now, even working the cash reg- ister at one of the gas sta- tions, he has no worries. It is a good place to live, he said.

A group of 20-somethings sit- ting in front of bar say much the same thing. The town may be boring for youth, but hardly crime-ridden, which is why they understand why police Chief Ronald Robinson, the man that William and Shelby Lytle ac- cuse of beating them, seemed to employ such hard tactics in his regular law enforcement. fighting a crime war not going said Nikki Smith, 24. Smith and her friends, all African- American, said Robinson would ticket people, particularly blacks, for no reason, walk in bars to see who was drinking and then pull them over as they left, and generally refuse to talk to anyone. The chief is also black, as is nearly two-thirds of the population.

Robinson, on desk duty since the allegations caused other complaints to surface, has kept quiet, saying he would not speak while a state investigation was pending. He did say Lytle provoked the situation by reaching for the gun. Lytle says the situation was un- provoked. Bennett said she was unaware of any complaints against the chief before this week. And the supporters, who seem to be vastly outnumbered, say privately that the chief was just doing his job and that parts of the town suffer seri- ous drug problems.

Two gas pumps sit abandoned at a closed gas station across from the senior center and Town Hall in Bolton. 421 117 74 76 17211 The News Observer 10 MILES RALEIGH Area shown Bolton COLUMBUS BLADEN PENDER N.H. BRUNSWICK Southport Wilmington Burgaw Lake Waccamaw 40.