THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230453
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Two decades of acrimony may have been put to rest Tuesday as the City Council approved the final funding for construction of a new I.C. Norcom High School - an issue that had divided the city and led to the recall of a mayor.
The council chambers were packed for a public hearing on the issue, and it was clear from the beginning that I.C. Norcom supporters were skeptical that the council would pass the funds for the new school. Several said they felt the public hearing was a last ditch effort to stop the project.
Acting City Manager Ronald W. Massie was finally called on to explain that it was typical to hold a public hearing before the city issued bonds for long-term projects.
A dozen citizens spoke in favor of funding, which was approved by just one vote. Voting for the project were Mayor Gloria O. Webb, Johnny M. Clemons, Bernard D. Griffin Sr., and Cameron C. Pitts. Council members James C. Hawks, James T. Martin and P. Ward Robinett Jr. opposed the project.
The vote authorized borrowing $23.7 million, which will complete the funding for the $38 million project. Construction is to begin this fall and the school is slated to open by the fall of 1997.
I.C. Norcom supporters raised images from 1971 when they first began fighting for their school. Then the city wanted to turn the high school into a vocational center. Students and alumni stopped that from happening by staging sit-ins and marches.
The issue of what to do with I.C. Norcom, named for a black educator, has come up time and again since then.
When the City Council and school board began debating whether to build a new I.C. Norcom - at the urging of the school's alumni - the issue became racially divisive.
Black supporters accused the council of spending all of its public funds in Churchland - a predominantly white section of the city. The city was building a new high school complex in Churchland.
Mayor James W. Holley III, a black politician, voiced opposition to the project and was later accused of writing hate-mail to fellow council members who supported the Norcom project. The accusations led to his recall as mayor in 1987.
The City Council approved building the school in 1991. It took several attempts and two years to settle on the site at London Boulevard once occupied by Frank D. Lawrence Stadium. Those delays over the site and funding left many Norcom supporters wondering whether the school would ever be constructed.
``I won't believe a new I.C. Norcom will be built until I hear the school bell ring and see students walking in the doors,'' said Rafiq Zaidi, a Portsmouth resident and Norcom supporter.
Other supporters urged the council to vote for the project because it would be good for the city economically, spiritually and educationally.
I.C. Norcom was included in the city's economic development plan, Vision 2005. The plan says the new school will act as ``economic flypaper'' by attracting new business to the city.
Supporters also said building the school would be the first step in healing old wounds and building unity in the city. MEMO: Staff writer Shawn M. Terry contributed to this report.
by CNB