Skip to content. WBTV News. About WBTV. Send us your photos! Cabarrus County. Submit your first-day photos! Collect to Connect. Coronavirus Plans. First Alert Weather Headlines. Bus Stop Forecasts. Power Outages. National Health Headlines. QC Kitchen. WBTV Recipes. On the Grill. Tasty Beverages! Good News and Good Food. WBTV Investigates. NC District 9 Investigation. Construction Corruption. Contact Us! After serving nearly 19 years in N. Upon his release, he moved to Pennsylvania to live with a friend.
I tracked down his address a few weeks later, rang his doorbell and eventually obtained the only interview he has given since his release. Since he became a free man, Carruth once sent his son several thousand dollars through the court system he owes the Adamses millions in damages. But he has had no face-to-face contact with his son since Chancellor Lee was a baby. Cherica Adams, who died at age 24, always loved butterflies. Even now, when Saundra sees one, she believes it is a sign Cherica is watching over Saundra and Chancellor Lee from heaven.
She is doing more than smiling! Like all Vance students, Chancellor Lee will be allowed four guests at graduation. Although he will always need a live-in caregiver and usually speaks only a word or two at a time, Chancellor Lee has learned how to order his own food at a restaurant and understands the concept behind a credit card. Every day, for years, he and the other young men and women in the EC program at Vance recited a class motto.
As I sat with Chancellor Lee and Saundra at that picnic table, they decided to say it together. Chancellor Lee will be part of the last graduating class at Vance; the school is changing its name to Julius L. Chambers High School. Vance owned slaves and, once the Civil War ended, attempted to keep Black citizens from voting. Chambers, a civil-rights icon, did landmark legal work that led to the desegregation of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in the s.
Our story has been a story of transformation from the very beginning. You can take something that seems to be so bad and to have so many negative connotations, and you can end up making good of it. Saundra has done some motivational speaking about the power of forgiveness and may do more of that.
Of the 10 random people that walked by our out-of-the-way spot, at least five recognized him immediately. They wanted photos or fist-bumps. Several broke out into spontaneous applause when they saw him walking by a small grove of river birch trees. A real blessing. When the last photo had been taken, it was time to go. As they took the final few steps to the car, a monarch butterfly lit on the ground in front of them.
I looked around, startled, then realized Saundra was speaking to the butterfly. The butterfly flexed its wings a few times as the Adamses approached. As they slowly passed by, it stayed put. Chancellor Lee smiled toward the butterfly. His grandmom opened the car door for him, folded up the walker and put it in the trunk. In his case, he has one particular hope for the future. She has raised the now year-old and been with him each step of his challenging journey. You have to let it go.
Only love promotes peace. In , Adams received an anonymous check for several thousand dollars designated for Chancellor. There was no note. There was no return address. There was no phone call. A note from a court official showed Carruth had sent the money. Adams said she was surprised by the generous gift, and it offers hope for the future.
I am truly grateful. And if he never sends another dime to his son, to me, this still means that his heart is changing. What the future holds between Carruth and his son remains unclear. One thing, however, is sure, the grace and forgiveness displayed by Adams clears a path for a potential relationship in the future.
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