Regional Briefs: Kalvin Smith supporters to hold rally

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
Published: April 01, 2009

Supporters of Kalvin Smith, the man imprisoned for the beating of Jill Marker in 1995, have scheduled a rally for Saturday.

The rally comes days before a scheduled court hearing for Don Williams, the detective who investigated Smith's case. Williams is fighting a City Council subpoena seeking to ask him questions about his work.

The hearing is scheduled for next week. A specific date hasn't been set, City Attorney Angela Carmon said today.

Pam Peoples-Joyner, the executive director of the Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice, said that the rally is meant to focus on Smith, not on the Williams hearing.

Smith asked for a new trial last year, alleging that witnesses against him were pressured by police and have since recanted. He also claimed that his trial attorney was ineffective. Judge Richard Doughton rejected his request after a weeklong hearing in January.

The questions the city council wants to ask Williams are from a citizens' committee review of the investigation. On March 20, the review committee passed a resolution that said it found no credible evidence that Smith was at the Silk Plant Forest store the night Marker was beaten.

The committee also said it had no faith in the police investigation of the case.

The rally is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church at 575 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Its organizers are Mothers for Justice, the Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity and the Hunt Project.

Grandfather Mountain state park OK'd

RALEIGH -- Gov. Bev Perdue has signed legislation that allows Grandfather Mountain to become North Carolina's newest state park.

Perdue's signature yesterday finalized an agreement to create Grandfather Mountain State Park and protect its nearly 2,500 undeveloped acres. The state will purchase the land from the family of Hugh Morton this spring for $12 million from a pair of state trust funds.

Morton's heirs will continue operating the Grandfather Mountain tourist attraction, including its nature center and "mile-high" swinging bridge near Boone. The state also will gain a conservation easement on 749 acres of the property where the attraction is located.

The property is in Watauga, Avery and Caldwell counties, and the state park will have 12 miles of trails.

Main Street in King to be widened

RALEIGH -- The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a $15 million contract to the Smith-Rowe Inc. of Mount Airy to widen 1.1 miles of Main Street in King.

The project will widen the road from the entrance to the Reynolds American plant in Forsyth County to the Kirby Road in King, the state transportation department said. The road, which has five narrow lanes, will be widened to a four-lane boulevard with a median.

The project also includes rebuilding and widening the interchange where Main Street crosses over U.S. 52 in King, the department said. A seven-lane roadway, which will include new ramps onto U.S. 52, will be built.

Construction is scheduled to begin by April 27 and be finished by August 2011. The project received federal stimulus money.

Safe Kids Forsyth expands reach

Safe Kids Forsyth said yesterday that it has expanded its coverage area to include five additional counties. The group also is changing its name to Safe Kids Northwest Piedmont.

The counties are Davidson, Davie, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin.

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center will continue as the lead agency for the organization and Donna Joyner as coordinator.

The group is the local coalition of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injuries, a leading cause of death of children ages 14 and under.

For more information about the group, call Joyner at 716-0649.

Food-stamp plan to get $145 million

RALEIGH -- The state's food-stamp program will receive $145 million in additional financing over the next six months from the federal stimulus plan, the N.C. Justice Center said yesterday.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is providing $4 billion in added benefits nationally.

The U.S. Agriculture Department estimates that every $1 in food stamps expands a local economy by a value of $1.84. For North Carolina, it would create an economic boost of an estimated $270 million.

The center reported that families will see their food-stamp benefits increase by 13.6 percent, or about $20 to $24 a person each month for most families.