Editorial

Editorial C. RON ALLEN PEDRO HEIZER MICHAEL DEMYAN

MICHAEL DEMYAN CHARLOTTE BEASLEY PAMALA WEINROTH

The Boca Raton Tribune

Founded January 15, 2010 DOUGLAS HEIZER, Publisher

Our Writers/Reporters and Columnists

SYNESIO LYRA ROBERT WEINROTH BRYANNA BASILLO

JAY VAN VECHTEN JESSICA DEL VECCHIO KENNY SPAHN Online Edition PEDRO HEIZER DINI HEIZER Business DOUGLAS HEIZER GABRIELA HEIZER

By C. Ron Allen

WW 2 Veteran: “Oh, how much time has changed”

When state transportation officials were building Interstate 95 through Boynton Beach in the 1970s, they bought property on top of a segregation-era burial ground.

William Barton, whose 6-year-old son, Alton, was buried there, was not about to let progress squeeze him out.

“We had to put our foot down,” William Barton, 99, a World War II veteran said at a luncheon honoring veterans recently. “A lot of people were buried there, and we were not going to let them disrespect those graves.”

State and city offi cials ironed out a plan that resulted in the interstate narrowly bypassing the graveyard. Shortly after, the city offi cially recognized the wooded area as Barton Cemetery, in honor of his wife, Mary Barton.

A driver in the U.S. Ar my, Barton shared vivid memories of fi ghting segregation and racism. He told how while returning home from recruit training at Camp Edwards in Massachusetts, he had to switch to the “colored coach” on the train at The Mason-Dixie line to comply with Maryland law. A similar episode occurred on the bus from West Palm Beach to Boynton Beach when the driver noticed a white serviceman sitting and chatting with Barton in the rear and demanded the white man move to the front.

The luncheon culminated a day of ser vice where more than 100 volunteers braved the inclement weather to give a facelift to 10 homes in the Cherry Hill community, including some that were owned by veterans.

The Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County Veterans Build service event brought smiles to the homeowners’ faces.

“My husband would be so happy, just seeing this now,” Eula Smith said as she opened her door and saw her completed lawn. “They did a beautiful job.”

Members of the local chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and KOP Mentoring Network adopted the home in the 300 block of Northwest 12th Avenue. They laid mulch around trees and did some other cosmetic work. They will return in two weeks to fi nish the sprucing up.

“Alpha Phi Alpha is proud to join Habitat for Humanity in helping honor these veterans,” said Demetrius Thomas, of the organization’s Omicron Upsilon Lambda chapter. “We are excited to be here. We just wished we could have done some painting today but because of the weather…. We will be back to fi nish it though.”

Much credit to Habitat for Humanity in believing that every veteran family deserves a decent place to call home. The Christian organization empowers veterans through home ownership opportunities, critical home repairs and camaraderie building events, such as Friday’s build.

Barton, who lives in the neighborhood and is a deacon in his church, told the audience how, as a young man, Boynton Beach police offi cers harassed him. On one occasion, he said, a patrolman ticketed him for speeding.

“He was drunk as a skunk, and he said I was speeding. I know darn well, I wasn’t speeding,” Barton told the audience. “I told him, ‘I’m getting tired of you bothering me. I wasn’t speeding.’”

The offi cer responded, “That’s what they all said,” Barton recalled.

Barton told his boss about the encounter. His boss, who was white, called the police chief A. C. “Boots” Car ver to complain.

He elicited much laughter when he compared “back in my days” to today. For example, he said when a white woman asked to take a photo with him at the luncheon, he gladly agreed. Still, for a quick moment, he had fl ashback of the past.

“Times have surely changed,” he said, adding, “You better believe it.

“Back in my days, I could never be caught having dinner with a white woman. You remember Emmett Till? Can you imagine what would have happened to me then?”

The battered and bloated body of the 14-year-old Till was fi shed from the muddy waters of the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. He was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered on August 28, 1955, for having whistled at a white woman.

What was most alar ming and heartwarming to Barton was knowing that the offi cers from the Boynton Beach Police Department adopted one of the homes and spruced it up.

“It warms my heart to hear that,” he said. “Back in my days when the police came up here, it was to take people away, not to help them.

“I saw where we have a black chief now,” he added. “I never thought I would have ever seen that in my lifetime. Oh, how much time has changed.”

POSITIVE LIVING

By: Dr. Synesio Lyra

Wisdom is More Than Accumulated Information

A wise person is a well-infor med individual. Yet, the mere accumulation of infor mation does not necessarily constitute wisdom. You may g o to school for many years and lear n all kinds of impor tant and legitimate facts; you may d e vo u r i m p o r t a n t b o o k s a n d b e n e f i t from what you find in them. But wisdom is acquired differently and it entails other factors!

T hroughout my years I’ve encountered several persons who had an impressive academic bag g ag e, but by obser ving their life and the decisions they often made, it was most obvious that they were devoid of tr ue wisdom!

By the same token, I’ve also met quite a few people who had no academic credentials; some had not even fi nished elementar y school. Nevertheless, in their dealings, in their demeanor, and by the results of many of their transactions, they demonstrated what wisdom entails.

Ultimately, wisdom is the prefer red path one should follow, the most impor tant possession for one to acquire. It is reached through careful thinking, followed by sound choices led by that process. It entails gains as well as losses, additions but also subtractions!

One cannot accept whatever is said or written without first analyzing those i d e a s t h r o u g h a p r e - e s t a b l i s h e d g r i d . Wisdom is reached by intellig ent comparisons and contrasts; it demands solid discer nment between a variety of options; it can never be attained without a prior understanding of the potential consequences of ever y action taken!

W i s d o m n e e d s n o t t o b e l i m i t e d to a small segment of the human race. It is available to any person reg ardless of ag e, anyone who seeks it dilig ently throughout life, and is eag er to incorporate it in all the decision-making processes, and in ever y aspect of one’s daily living, in things g reat or small!

T he Author of Life is also the Giver of Wisdom which He does not deny to anyone who dilig ently seeks it from Him. Like most products we utilize, it mu s t b e f o l l owe d i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h the prescriptions offered, lest it cease s f r o m b e i n g w i s d o m . I t e n a b l e s i t s practitioner to view life more realistically and to ar rive at conclusions never before imagined. Among all credentials anyone could ever display, wisdom is the most essential and absolutely necessar y!