BATON
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012
ROUGE,
LOUISIANA
70- t /0 t FREE
A PEOPLE’S PUBLICATION
2,000 Convicted Then Louisiana Air National Guard Participates in Family Day Exonerated In 23 Years FOOD, FESTIVITIES, FUN AND FAMILIES
BY STAFF SGT. YOLANDA ADDISON
NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana Air National Guardsmen and loved ones celebrated Family Day, an event dedicated to connecting families by providing food, festivities and fun at the Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans, May 20. The festivities included live music by the band the Louisiana Brew, a variety of delicious foods and a slew of activities for the kids. There was also an F-15 static display that allowed families to pose for pictures and get up close and personal with the aircraft. A few other displays were the New Orleans SWAT team, U.S. Marshalls and the 159th Security Forces Squadron with several specialty items and props. “Most people think the Air Force is just about airplanes and don’t associate it with other career fields,� said Tech. Sgt. Paul White, 159th SFS craftsman in charge of the weapons display table. Staff Sgt. Gary Lipkos, a heavy equipment operator See FAMILY DAY, on page 2
Airmen of the 159th Fighter Wing smile as they take a break from the ongoing activities during “Family Day,� an event dedicated to connecting families by providing food, festivities and fun, at Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans, May 20, 2011. Airmen were encouraged to bring their loved ones out so that they could spend quality time with their friends and families and introduce them to a piece of their Guard lives. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jeffery T. Barone, 159th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office/Released)
CADAV’s Annual Headline Headline Headline Health Fair and Pre-Juneteenth Celebration BATON ROUGE – The 18th Annual Juneteenth Celebration will be celebrating on Saturday, June 2, 2012 from 11 a.m.– 3:00 p.m. and it will feature Southern University Greek Show competition. There will be no parade this year, but celebration will be at the Scotlandville Park that is located at 72nd Avenue and Howell Place. Food, fun and games will be at the Pre-Juneteenth Celebration! Sponsors for this event are as follows: United Healthcare, Southern
Red, White & Blue: The Arts & You: A Benefit for Manship Theatre and LSU Museum of Art On July 4, 2012 Manship Theatre and LSU Museum of Art team up to bring you a bigger celebration at Shaw Center for the Arts with spectacular views of the river and Baton Rouge’s annual fireworks display. Great food, cold drinks, the best seats in town and music that will inspire you to kick up your heels are all See ART, on page 2
Pictured from left to right are Duane Jordan, Dr. Charles Vincent, Mr. Ivory J. Payne and Mrs. Doloris Vincent all talking after the ceremony was held honoring Dr. Charles Vincent.
WASHINGTON - More than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated in the United States in the past 23 years, according to a new archive compiled at two universities. There is no official record-keeping system for exonerations of convicted criminals in the country, so academics set one up. The new national registry, or database, painstakingly assembled by the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, is the most complete list of exonerations ever compiled. The database compiled and analyzed by the researchers contains information on 873 exonerations for which they have the most detailed evidence. The researchers are aware of nearly 1,200 other exonerations, for which they have less data. They found that those 873 exonerated defendants spent a combined total of more than 10,000 years in prison, an average of more than 11 years each. Nine out of 10 of them are men and half are AfricanAmerican. Nearly half of the 873 exonerations were homicide cases, including 101 death sentences. Over one-third of the cases were sexual assaults. DNA evidence led to exoneration in nearly one-third of the 416 homicides and in nearly two-thirds of the 305 sexual assaults. Researchers estimate the total number of felony convictions in the United States is nearly a million a year. (At left, watch CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman’s report on a support group in Texas for the recently exonerated, where the problem of false convictions is so bad it has driven victims of it to band together.) The overall registry/list begins at the start of 1989. It
gives an unprecedented view of the scope of the problem of wrongful convictions in the United States and the figure of more than 2,000 exonerations “is a good start,� said Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. “We know there are many more that we haven’t found,� added University of Michigan law professor Samuel Gross, the editor of the newly opened National Registry of Exonerations. Counties such as San Bernardino in California and Bexar County in Texas are heavily populated, yet seemingly have no exonerations, a circumstance that the academics say cannot possibly be correct. The registry excludes at least 1,170 additional defendants. Their convictions were thrown out starting in 1995 amid the periodic exposures of 13 major police scandals around the country. In all the cases, police officers fabricated crimes, usually by planting drugs or guns on innocent defendants. Regarding the 1,170 additional defendants who were left out of the registry, “we have only sketchy information about most of these cases,� the report said. “Some of these group exonerations are well known; most are comparatively obscure. We began to notice them by accident, as a byproduct of searches for individual cases.� In half of the 873 exonerations studied in detail, the most common factor leading to false convictions was perjured testimony or false accusations. Forty-three percent of the cases involved mistaken eyewitness identification, and 24 percent of the cases involved false or misleading forensic evidence. In two out of three homicides, perjury or false accusation was the most common See CONVICTED, on page 3
Career Compass Of La. Holds Spring Luncheon And Awards $100,000 In Scholarships BATON ROUGE - Career Compass of Louisiana, a nonprofit organization that provides career and college coaching services to high school seniors across the state, held its annual Spring Luncheon and Scholarship Awards on May 8th at Boudreaux’s in Baton Rouge. During the luncheon, $100,000 in scholarships was awarded from The Boo Grigsby Foundation on behalf of Career Compass. Eighteen high school seniors from East Baton Rouge, Iberville, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Assumption, St. John the Baptist, St. James, Pointe Coupee, and St. Mary Parishes were honored. The recipients
YMCA ANNUAL MEETING CELEBRATION
included: Daisha Badon, Brusly High; Tori Clelland, Assumption High; Bianca Cook, East St. John High; Ben Curry, Central High; Dashera Gros, West St. John; Brianna Guerin, Woodlawn High; Kaylan Hebert, Iberville Math Science and Arts Academy West; Austin Holcomb, McKinley High; Katherine Johnson, Pointe Coupee Central High; Kade Loupe, Brusly High; Lauren McCauley, Port Allen High; Kayla Mims, Livonia High; La’Ren Phillips, Plaquemine High; D’Ara Pillette, St. James Seated left to right: Kaylan Hebert, Mr. Lane Grigsby, The Boo Grigsby Foundation; Daisha Badon. Front row: StandHigh; Taylor Rotolo, Berwick ing left to right: La’Ren Phillips, Brianna Guerin, Brandi Tate, Clarissa Levy, Dashera Gros, Kayla Mims, Kade Loupe, High; Brandie Tate, Capitol Ryan Watkins, Julie Scott, Executive Director Career Compass. Back Row: Bianca Cook , Kacy Edwards, Executive See CAREER, on page 2
BUSINESS NEWS
Director Career Compass; Taylor Rotolo, Lauren McCauley, Katherine Johnson, D’Ara Pillette, Benjamin Curry, Javon Thompson, Tori Clelland, Austin Holcomb
RELIGION NEWS
HEALTH NEWS
LOCAL NEWS Southern University announced today
the election of Erin Rogers as the new Miss Southern University 2012-13 and Willie McCorkle as the 201213 Student Government Association president.. ..See Page 3
INDEX
SU AG CENTER TRAINS AGENTS apital Area held its Annual Meeting on Tuesday, showcasing the Y’s dedication to serving the needs of the Baton Rouge community and honoring the many individuals who helped make that goal a reality. ..See Page 3
The Community and Economic Development Program at the SU Ag Center organized training for Extension Agents across the state on on May 10, 2012. ...See Page 5
SHIFTING THE ATMOSPHERE
Jason Nelson’s major label debut SHIFTING THE ATMOSPHERE, one of the most anticipated Gospel CDs of the year, will be in stores May 22. Nelson finds himself in the unique position of having a Top-10 single on the radio.. ..See Page 6
DR. HEYMSFIELD VISITS SU
Dr. Steven Heymsfield, George A. Bray, Jr. Endowed Super Chair in Nutrition, Executive Director at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, paid a courtesy visit to the Southern University Agricultural Research..See Page 7
Local & State ...........................2 Commentary............................4 Business...................................5 Religion ...................................6 Health ......................................7 Sports ......................................8
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