[This is outrageous! There is absolutely no connection between Northgate and any school issue. These people are practicing a form of terrorism. Far as I can tell, the boycott is ineffective but the group has threatened "civil disorder" if their demands aren't met. Pah!]

Tuesday, July 23, 2002 3:45AM EDT

Boycott takes Hillside issues to the mall

Supporters are pressing the business community to heed their call for change, but the strategy puzzles some.

By DEMORRIS LEE, Staff Writer

DURHAM - The Rev. Tony Scott stood at the entrance of Northgate Mall on Monday morning, sweating and talking sternly to motorists as if he were delivering one of his Sunday morning sermons.

But this was no invitation for prayer. It was a call for the firing of Durham Public Schools Superintendent Ann Denlinger.

"Support the boycott," he yelled. "Ann Denlinger must go," he yelled at another car passing by.

Scott was one of about 20 Hillside High School supporters who participated in the first day of a boycott of Northgate Mall, an effort aimed at getting the school board to rescind a number of decisions that have been made at the school during the past month.

In June, Hillside's principal of one year, Henry Pankey, was replaced with Eunice Sanders. A day later, all support staff members were notified that they had to reapply for their jobs at the city's only historically black high school.

Denlinger was unavailable for comment.

A statement released by the school system said that no administrative or support staff at Hillside had been fired. The statement also said that those who were not selected by Sanders to return to Hillside had been placed in a comparable position within the school system.

Although the protesters, who worked in mostly three-hour shifts from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., handed out fliers to motorists explaining why they chose to target Northgate, some shoppers inside were still trying to understand the correlation between the mall and Hillside.

"What does Ann Denlinger own in this place?" asked Malcolm Aaron, 37, while eating a plate of bourbon chicken in Northgate's food court. "I don't see how they are going to get their end result by boycotting the mall. What's the connection?"

Northgate, a locally owned mall, is between Club Boulevard and I-85 in northern Durham; Hillside is on Fayetteville Road, across town in southern Durham.

The fliers that the protesters handed out offered this explanation:

"Northgate, along with other business entities, is part of this business community. Since our repeated appeals to the education system went unheeded, we now must take direct action with the business community for resolution."

In a written statement, Bruce J. Benton, Northgate's director of operations said: "As a matter of practice, Northgate Mall does not participate in partisan political activities. The mall also does not participate in any community issues that would have a polarizing effect on our loyal customers and merchants."

The statement noted there are 26 minority-owned businesses at Northgate, and 10 are owned by African-Americans.

Some Hillside supporters have asked the school system to reinstate all employees, remove Denlinger, rescind previous actions taken at the school and follow the school system's policy for appointing principals.

Kathryn Meyers, chairwoman of the school board, said she went to the mall Monday to see what was happening. She said Denlinger would not meet the protesters' demands.

"It's hard to know where the path is out of this, but it's not for Dr. Denlinger to change her mind and the merchants at Northgate to be punished," she said. "It's hard to know where the path is, but Eunice Sanders is the principal and has and is selecting the staff. That's where we are, and we need to focus on what's in the best interest of the students."

Hillside supporters vowed to continue their boycott efforts.

Meanwhile, many Northgate customers were still trying to understand the connection between the Hillside controversy and Northgate.

"I didn't know anything about it until I came to the mall, so I guess it's effective in bringing awareness," said Melvin Lisk, 21, just before heading into the mall. "But still, I just don't see the connection."

Nathion Lawrence, 36, said he would go along with the boycott.

"I just came to pay a bill, but I think they could have chosen a better place to boycott," he said.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2002

Answers

This ranks among the dumber protests I've read about lately. This is a school board matter, I would think.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2002

is this mall outside of the school zone area? I am guessing that the school is closed for the summer break, so not many people are going by there.

What the issues are I am not sure. They don't like the new principal, right?

Geez! I feel just like the customers at the mall. LOL

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2002

Shugah, that almost-new $11m school is clear on the other side of town from the mall! There's a brand, spanking new mall a stone's throw from the school in question but they're not picketing THAT one. Maybe they figured Northgate was more vulnerable, it being older This group is UG-LEEEE. You should see some of the shouting matches on TV. They've been PO'd ever since Denlinger was hired; they wanted a black superintendent.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2002

Oh, so it's a race thing.

gotcha!

someone should remind them about our nefarious school superintendent. he took school funds to build his vacation house in Naples, the west coast of Florida. He bought gold plumbing fixtures for the bathrooms, thus The Gold Plumbing Caper was born!

Um, did I mention he was black?

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2002