Buffalo Criterion, 1984-02-01

              niagara region vol 59 — no 6 wny's necessary minority newspaper - featuring paid legitimate circulation the buffalo criterion rochester wednesday february 1-7 1984 ont-of-town 25c black history observed in february natl afro-american black history month on february ist we begin the fifty-eighth annual black history month a national celebration of the role of black americans in all segments of life in this nation and in black culture around the globe launched in 1926 by dr carter godwin woodson founder of the association for the study of afro-american life and history inc black history month provides opportunities for our nation's schools institutions of higher learning and the public to gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of the diverse contributions of black americans to our country and the world this year's black history month theme black americans and the struggle for excellence in education is particularly timely coinciding with efforts across the land to re-examine public education and reinforce excellence for all students it is a very special privilege for me to call on the people of the united states to join in this important time of exploring learning appreciating and saluting all that black americans have done to help build this great nation as we celebrate black history month 1984 let us also share a prayerful thought for the memory of dr martin luther king jr dr king was brutally gunned down as an assassin in 1968 his life cut short at the age of 39 but his leadership and devotion in the cause of human rights changed america forever in this the fifty-fifth year since his birth may black history month be an especially meaningful and productive time for all of us \ v j*s i cjbnfluvv the winner's circle michael angelo copeland michael copeland the young and dashing owner of copeland's tire com pany might adopt the same slogan as a nev york city car dealer in urge if you didn't bu your car tires from cope land's you probably paid too much this copeland one of the members of the enterprising ccpoland clan received his b isiness training in the bes possi ble manner he wcrked in the tire business for his father lushious copeland since he was a little boy and seriously since he was in seventh grade the young mr cope land succeeded his well known and highly respect ed father in the tire business when it first started the business was located on jefferson avenue be tween east utica and landon streets there the change from regular tires to snow tires and later back again were seasonal rituals which were small pleasures whcr the service was provided by the affable lush^os who was never too busy never too pressured io provide first-iate service and whose pleasant per sonality infected his work ers and his business relationships with the pub lic but michael copeland's tire company is no iongei at that site he is now located at the northwest corner of jefferson and east ferry streets the reception area is appointed with a comfort able waiting room a television set is thought fully provided for those waiting for service many automobile accessories of the software variety can be purchased there such as automobile deodorizers and other car trinkets a bit of copeland's family life can be observed there as the two by four foot picture of his young child marcus alexander swings from the ceiling near his desk area when asked about his children copeland's face lights up as he states i have four children the oldest is linnie rene the next is michele angela and then there's maisha abena but the children aren't •' the only members of his family represented in the waiting room a sign advertising copeland's dog styles also hangs there reminding cope land's customers to patro nize copeland's dog grooming establishments the two copeland's are relatives copeland said he has a philosophy of business which perhaps accounts for his success first of all copeland really loves his business he likes the feeling of being his own boss he warns that business isn't for everyone and particularly not for those who want to work only from nine to five but the extra amount of time invested in an endeavor is certainly worth it copeland employs three persons in his business in addition to working there himself copeland emphasized the necessity of ii good education to sua e&sf'illy run a business not only did i gel a prod am the training when i grew up working tor my father all of those years 1 also went to school where i look business courses too then i went to school in ghana africa ' in explained he stopped talking for a momen listening intently to t^e radio while the advertise ment of his business came through loud and clear one of copeland's objectives in selling and servicing tires is to bring the best possible product to the customer for the lowest realistic price copeland's tire com pany both sells and ser vices tires i've worked for over 23 years in the tire business my business is ten years old what i sell are those brands of tires which are made by well established well respect ed companies i try to find a private label tire made by a major corporation like a goodyear or dunlop tire we sell a remington tire which is made by dunlop the same tire the same tread design same rubber made in the same place but they place a remington label on it for a smaller company in addition to his busi ness copeland spends some time participating in two sports which he enjoys a skillful skier copeland is president of hot ice ski club and proudly displays the ski caps and sweat shirts which are decorated with he club's emblems one of the show cases in the store was well stocked with the items i also like to hang glide he said well that's one activity i'd rather watch than participate in but with michael cope land one can expect the unexpected and one can also expect that anything that this winner does he will do with enthusiasm and well the next time you need ires why not find out vhether our assessment is he same as yours michael angelo copeland naacp pushes for grants to aid blast victims the buffalo branch naacp has gone on record for grants rather than loans in a meeting sun jan 29th to aid victims of the dec 27th propane explosion in the city's grosenor north division st area the people who were affected can't afford to pay back loans said raphael dußard chairman of the branch's health commit tee who introduced the resolutions many of the people in the neighborhood are on a limited income and worked for years to get what they had ' they had nothing to do with what happened he said the issue of compensa tion has been a hot topic since relief services be gan federal officials released a plan that would offer low interest small business administration loans to victims but the proposal relieved an angry reception from east side residents according to daniel r acker president of the local naacp i've been saying all the time that the people should have grants they should have something they don't have to pay back since the federal loan plan was introduced mayor griffin has propos ed to the common council to reallocate 930,000 in community development block grant funds for families whose homes were destroyed or serious ly damaged by the blast the naacp officials pursued this proposal adding that more help is needed for those on neighboring streets in other action because of a shortage of money the voter registration drive focuses an uphill battle the local chapter regis tered more than 5,000 voters in 1983 casting more than 1,000 to pay workers who canvassed homes and shopping cen ters in search of unregis tered voters president acker said funding is dragging behind last year but we're going to do it whether we get the funds or not on a voluntary basis said mr acker former daemen student cited for achievements debra corcita ridge way the daughter of mr and mrs lee yon ridge way and sister of lean der has been selected"an outstanding woman of america for 1983 her parents reside in wy oming aye in buffalo debra was honored and was selected from thous ands of nominees through out the country in recog nition of outstanding ability accomplishments and service to the commu nity she attended public schools nos 47 39 and 80 and graduated from sacred heart academy and daemen college debra was a member of friendship baptist church where she mm active in the junior choir the young choir was vice president of the youth ushers secretary for the sunday school secretary for friendship baptist church basketball team sponsored by the western district laymen's league listed are some of her accomplishments she was buffalo area presi dent of the empire state baptist youth ushers vice president of the math club at daemen college by mamie garrett reporter for the ascent newspaper at daemen college and worked for the tutorial service for the aberdeen proving ground in maryland among awards that miss ridgeway have re ceived are the outstand ing youth citizens award from the buffalo chamber of commerce in 1977 the youth of the month award from friendship baptist church young adult choir in 1979 the christians service certifi cate from friendship bap tist church school in 1980 and the award for outstanding service from the western district lay men's league in 1980 currently ms ridge way is a member of good shepherd presbyterian church in joppatowne maryland and is a mem ber of the choir she is working at aberdeen proving ground in maryland as an opera tions research analyst and attends george wash ington persuing a grad uate degree „ questions & answers washington d c — stephen carter a student at the government-law magnet school in dallas texas asked president reagan about the future of detente during a white house question-arid-answer session arranged for students participating in close up an unusual government studies program largely underwritten by r j reynolds industries a tribute debra was always kind imc/'mtmfig-ioud jusi aalgt * she was asked to do she always looked after others and pushed hard we always felt like you would make it debra and you did mr l russell and i mamie garrett will al ways pray for your bless ings to continue we enjoyed you in the junior chorus and i am sure you are loved where ever you go god bless you always — mamie garrett pitts wages fight to save ellicott mall ellicott district council man and council majority leader james pitts has gone on record as oppos ing the municipal housing authority's plan to de molish the vacant ellicott mall public housing proj ect bounded by michigan eagle pine and south division sts the municipal housing authority disclosed re cently that it favors demo lition of the existing 8 buildings consisting of eight floors each to be replaced wth 365 units of two story town homes the housing project is a white elephant and cannot be saved without throwing good money away is the opinion of peter grisanti director of management for mha and senior manager of the ellicott mall during its first six years but to councilman pitts who grew up in the area the ellicott mall is a priceless resource whose demolition would be devastating to the community and would jeopardise all other efforts to rejuvenate the ellicott district i saw them demolish homes when i was in grammar school when i was in high school and in college they didn't replace those homes and i don't think anything would be built to replace the ellicott mall said mr pitts mr pitts wants the authority to use 16 - million in federal funds to renovate the buildings for senior citizens and the disabled with the first two or three floors designated for families with children the social unrest of the late 19605 destroyed the desirability of living in the ellicott mall after the trouble in 1967 and 1968 subsided on the east side gangs of youths roamed the public projects for years terrorizing mainten ance and delivery person nel and robbing and abusing tenants thus the vacancy rate rose to enormous heights during the 50s the citizens of the area filled the council chambers on several occasions and pleaded with officials not to build the projects only to be ingnored they asked for some individual dwelling , and thus om single homes on south division swan and michi gan avenue were built local politicans back kirkland's return to post the first squabble of 1984 is brewing among the crop of black politicians elected in the 1983 election in the city of buffalo and a second squabble in the erie county legislature may crop up as a result of the legislature majority leader governor cuomo was formally asked saturday to reappoint theodore l kirkland of buffalo to the state parole board in a letter signed by council president george k ar thur ellicott district councilman james w pitts majority leader of the council and masten councilman david a col lins earlier the trio of city lawmakers along with councilmen-at-large clifford bell and herbert bellamy wrote to county legislature roger l blackwell d-buffalo urging him to remain as a member and majority leader of the county legislature assemblyman arthur o eve d-buffalo deputy i speaker of the assembly i has recommended to gov cuomo the appointment i of legislator blackwell to succeed mr kirkland on the parole board according to bellamy he refrained from signing the letter to gov cuomo because he didn't want to meddle in state affairs he commented i leave state affairs to mr eve councilman-at-large bell said he did not see the letter that was sent to the governor on behalf of mr kirkland however mr bell said he favored the reappoint ment of mr kirkland who was origninally named to the parole board by former gov h l carey on the recommendation of mr eve mr kirkland's term expired dec 31st but he has remained as a hold over member of the board in their letter to the governor the lawmakers explained that mr kirk land has compiled an ' outstanding record as a member of the parole board they suggested that gov cuomo could retain mr kirkland even if he names mr blackwell to the board because there are three additional vacan cies mr kirkland when he served on the police force we saw him one day make some boys clean up a bottle they had broken at william and archie sts which showed the proper interest in the community this was the same as in the old days when officers grab em all smitty girard millar and george sarsnett and oliver bragg maintained good order when they patrolled wil liam st roger i blackwell theodore kirkland f serving working leading in ww inner cities i since 1923 i price only 20 c per copy