News and Record from Greensboro, North Carolina • 11

INSIDE: Reaction to ethnic remark surprises County Commissioner Moores Gsol rrtx Hl A 1KSXW mis xv rt fc A NEWS TO USE I' 31 vm 71 vi Hat Transit Authority needs canned food The Greensboro Transit Authority encourages rid ers to get into the spirit of giving this holiday sea son by donating a canned or dried food item today All riders who make a donation will receive a free bus ride GTA will have a bus outside the Melvin Municipal Office Building at 300 Washington St the en tire day All food items collected at this bus will be taken to the Pathways Center a division of Greensboro Urban Ministry that houses and feeds homeless fami lies Group offers help to nursing mothers Nursing Mothers of High Point a free support group sponsored by the High Point Regional Hospi tal helps mothers enjoy a happy relaxed nursing relationship with their babies The group meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 7 pm in Conference Room at High Point Regional Hospital At each meeting a topic of interest is presented and then general dis cussion and an opportunity for questions and answers follows or more information about the next meeting call 888 6713 Magnet study set for Tuesday release Max Thompson a professor at Ap palachian State University will present the find ings of his study of Guilford magnet schools at a public meeting on Tuesday The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 pm in the auditorium at the Weaver Education Center 300 Spring St Greensboro School system officials are ex pected to use the results of thestudy to develop their own more detailed plans to improve the magnet school offerings in the county Volunteers needed for 5K benefit race The Human Race will be held March 23 and the Volunteer Center which sponsors the fund raising event is looking for individuals corporations and nonprofit agen cies to participate The 5K race is open to serious runners as well as to walkers wheelchair users and those push ing strollers Nonprofit groups that sponsor participants keep 75 percent of the money raised Those wanting to participate can call the Volunteer Center at 373 1633 Nonprofit groups need to call before the end of the year SECTION 'tested i Saturday: Dec 16 1995 HI Do you have a suggestion? Cail 373 7001 On a wing and a prayer Er11 I' I a WMMKgV Q8rry BroomNews Record Bettye Hill left and Beulah Graeber members of Grace Lutheran Church pick angels from the Angel Tree at riendly orum VI Each angel represents a child whose parent is in prison and lists what that child would like for Christmas Trisha Barbee far right works for the Prison ellowship Ministry sponsor of the Angel Tree project Angelic: Tree watches over tots An angel tree ensures kids get those at Christmas By Stan Swofford Staff Writer What is so striking and yet somehow so very sad is the number of little angels asking for shoes and clothes 6 you have to worry about clothes and such especially at Christ Bettye Hill declared as she carefully plucked a paper angel from the little tree in orum VI at riendly Center The name on her angel belonged to age 6 She wants "shoes clothes and a for Christmas the note on the angel said Yes said friend Beulah Graeber as she also selected an angel Children should be free to look forward to fun things at Christmas like baseballs and Barbies and not only necessities The name was written on her angel Sean is 6 the angel says like clothes and some games for Christmas get them and something extra Grae ber said as Hill nodded emphatically always give them a little something Graeber said The paper angels picked by Graeber and Hill were among about a hundred remaining on what has become known as the Angel Tree at orum VI Each angel represents the child of a prison inmate in North Carolina and has written on it the first name of the child and what he wants for Christmas The angels represent children up to the age of 16 Most are very young Like Graeber and Hill and others at their church people who pick angels from the tree buy gifts for the children in the names of their imprisoned parent or parents since some of the children have both parents in prison The tree will remain up until noon Tuesday when Trisha Barbee of the Prison ellow ship Ministry which administers the Angel Tree project says have to take it down She Dale Little the area director of the minis try and volunteers they rely on to help them need time to box and wrap presents and get them to the homes before Christmas Barbee is ever the optimist 1200 angels adorned the tree when it went up earlier this month but she lets go with a little sigh when she looks at the angels left hanging Nevertheless she says: the angels will be taken care of The fellowship will see to The Prison ellowship was founded in 1976 by Chuck Colson a Richard Nixon aide who served a prison term for his role in the Watergate scandal Barbee has been working full time for the Prison ellowship and the Angel Tree project for three years knew right away this was what I wanted to she said Perhaps the fact that her own son served a brief prison term 11 years ago for a drug violation had something to do with it she said only know that worth everything to save just one she said office in High Point is responsible Please see ANGEL Page B2 Newscast off to slow start in ratings flag 0i Ill iiiiiiiiiirirri UH 1 lilt 30 30 25' 20 fay ''y Hr? r' SHw 0 I ifj 1 1 1 ill Nov7 94 Nov? 95 1 Nov' IHltWMY WXttWWGHP WXLV ffl (Ch I 7 8 tH r3 cl 1 1 A share is the percentage of people who are watching television at a particular time These figures are taken from household statistics meaning one Nielsen rating book per household WGHP airs late night news from 10 to 1 1 pm WMY WXil and WXLV air late night news from 11 to 11 :30 pm' WXLV was ox affiliate WNRW Prince of Bel Air" ran in the 6 pm: slot and ran at 1 1 WNRW changed its call letters and became an ABC affiliate in September At the same time WGHP became a ox affiliate Tim RickardNeivs 6f Record The latest Nielsen ratings show a few surprises for local television news BY LEIGH PRESSLEY Staff Writer New ABC affiliate WXLV which spent $42 million to launch three newscasts failed to make a strong showing with any of them in the fall Nielsen ratings? All three of the news casts finished last in the local news race in two cases producing single digit numbers to other double digit results At 6 pm the time period traditionally considered to be the measuring stick for local television news WXLV earned better num bers this time last year with resh Prince of Bel than it did with its debut newscast a very difficult and long road to becoming said Donita Todd vice president and general manager at WXLV are in our infancy with news If we take three share points (from the other stations) this time three in ebruary and three in May pretty soon be Industry insiders have antici pated the ratings book delivered earlier this week with all the ex citement of a fan on finale night why: In September WGHP (Channel 8) left the ABC network to become a ox affiliate The Triad station abandoned its half hour late news at 11 pm for a full hour newscast at 10 pm and expanded local news coverage from 21 to 29 hours a week At the same time former ox affiliate WXLV (Channel 45) jumped to the ABC network and spent millions building a studio and news team WXLV started airing newscasts at 6 am 6 pm and 11 pm Less than a month before the ABCox switch WXII (Channel 12) pushed back its NBC evening newscast for a new local newscast at 6:30 pm The local changes hurt the ABC national newscast World News Tonight with Peter at 6:30 pm finished be hind the CBS national news on WMY local news on WXII and Current on WGHP Last year this time the ABC national newscast had been a close second to national newscast Please see TV Page B2 State blue lights raise red flag Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten opposes removing law enforcement functions such as investigating securities fraud from his office as rec ommended in an audit By Jay Eubank Raleigh Bureau RALEIGH A woman driving in Wake County glances in her rear view mirror to see a blue light flashing on the dashboard of an official looking ord Crown Victo ria She might have assumed it was a state trooper or some other easily recognizable law enforcement offi cer but she soon discovered it was the chief investigator in the securi ties division of the secretary of office The investigator who is a sworn law enforcement officer warned the woman about reckless driving and sent her on her way That woman complained to the NC Highway Patrol about the Sep tember 1993 incident prompting Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten to discipline the chief investigator: Edmisten said he took away the state car and blue light for one or two weeks The improper use of a blue light to stop a vehicle is just one of 46 findings outlined in a scathing au dit of Edmisten and his office re leased Thursday by State Auditor Ralph Campbell And auditors red flagged what they see as a growing problem within the secretary of of fice more law enforcement func tions in an agency whose main duties have traditionally revolved around registering corporations overseeing lobbyists and generally serving as the record keeper the past few years several law enforcement duties have been added to the the audit re port states noting such duties as securities fraud investigation in vestigations of counterfeit trade marks and investigations of athletic agents concern is that the addition of unrelated functions detract from the ability to perform traditional functions with limited Please see AUDIT Page B2 Hunt calls Edmisten audit disturbingB2 Borrowed space James ParkarNews Record By Virginia Scurry a teacher at Tabernacle School works with a student in an overcrowded room that is also used as teachers' offices school nurse quarters and storage area County sets stage to fix its schools Construction is under way in the $26 million package that will help Randolph County schools but will re strict the borrowing for years By Ben eller Staff Writer When Emily Tyndall's students at Tabernacle School take the stage not practicing for a performance dealing with real life The first three days of each week the fifth graders in academically gifted classes learn their lessons on the gymnasium stage because they have no class room On Thursdays and ridays when the gym in this Randolph County elementary is used for physical education the students hold their math and reading classes in a computer lab and a guidance office What do they think about all this moving around? the word for pondered student Christina Bunting pretty adjusted to it put it that Their teacher is accustomed Jo making do too worked because made it work" Tyndall said a posi tive attitude and anything can But school leaders know every thing is not working at Tabernacle and other schools in the Randolph County system and fixing the problems will take more than per severance Please see SCHOOLS Page B2 UKMioyBK.