Daytona Times - March 24, 2016

More churches saving money by going green SEE PAGE 2

East Central Florida’s Black Voice

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Black Clergy Alliance to host Good Friday and Easter services in Daytona Beach SEE PAGE 2

BIG WIN FOR BCU’S GOLF TEAM SEE PAGE 7

MARCH 24 - MARCH 30, 2016

YEAR 41 NO. 12

www.daytonatimes.com

Maryland minister to pastor Greater Friendship Dr. Michael Chambers to preach Sunday, officially starts in May

BY DAYTONA TIMES STAFF

The Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church of Daytona Beach has selected Dr. Michael A. Chambers, 49, of Baltimore, Md., as its new senior pastor.

Chambers, a native of Mississippi, will deliver the sermon at 10:45 a.m. on Easter Sunday at church, which is located at 539 George W. Engram Blvd. His official pastoral start date is Sun-

day, May 1.

He replaces the Rev. L. Ronald Durham as Greater Friendship’s senior pastor. Durham left the church last spring as senior pastor after 12 years and became a full-time community relations coordinator for Halifax Health Hospice in Volusia and Flagler counties. A few months ago, he became the full-time asset management director/special projects for the City of Daytona Beach.

Army veteran, seasoned pastor An Army veteran of Opera-

tion Desert Storm, Chambers received his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Faulkner University, Montgomery, Ala. He earned a Master of Dr. Michael Divinity from New Chambers Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and his doctorate from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio.

He will receive a Certified Public Manager credentials from the Schaefer Center for Public Policy

at the University of Baltimore, on April 22. Additionally, he has received certification in community building strategies from the University of Baltimore. Chambers has completed graduate hours in business and 800 hours of clinical pastoral education training at the Veterans Affairs Perry Point Medical Center.

A minister for 26 years, he has pastored churches in Maryland, Mississippi and Georgia.

Coach, teacher, computer specialist Chambers is the former vice president of the United Baptist

Music to their ears

College and Seminary in Baltimore. He is a certified leadership coach, teacher and speaker with The John Maxwell Group.

He has worked in the following professional roles: information technology director, computer specialist, leadership consultant, and field supervisor for doctoral studies.

Chambers is married to the former Lizzie B. Davis and is the father of four children – Nicholas, Nykia, Aja and Sean.

For more information about Greater Friendship, call 863-2520322.

Black Dems to convene in Orlando

BY DAYTONA TIMES STAFF

The Democratic Black Caucus of Florida (DBCF) will host its 34th annual conference April 1-3 at the Rosen Centre Hotel, 9840 International Drive, Orlando “This is the year for strategic planning with the stakeholders of our community about the importance of legislating and voting,” said Henry Crespo Sr., president of the caucus. The theme this year is “Speak to Our Issues.’’

The keynote speaker will be Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark, N.J. He’s also the son of the late Amiri Baraka, the famous poet, playwright and political activist.

NNPA chair and actor to speak

Spring Break Nationals brings together audio reps from around the country The 30th annual Spring Break Nationals, a vehicle audio show and competition, was held March 19 and 20 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.

The Spring Break Nationals, which was open to the public, includes a custom car truck and bike show.

The expo brought together car audio manufacturer’s representatives, dealers and distributors from around the country.

The exhibit floor show featured the latest technology that motorists can install in their vehicles.

Car audio trade seminars and dealer education sessions also were held.

For more information, visit www.springbreaknationals.com.

Volusia seeking people with clean records to work at jail SPECIAL TO THE DAYTONA TIMES

Men and women interested in a career in public protection have an opportunity to join Volusia County’s Division of Corrections.

The division will host a career fair from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, at the Volusia County Branch Jail, 1300 Red John Drive, Daytona Beach.

ALSO INSIDE

Attendees will meet with staff, tour the facility, and learn about benefits and job responsibilities.

They also can fill out an application and begin the prescreening process.

Benefits, other perks The Volusia County Branch Jail and adjacent Volusia County Correctional Facility have nearly

PHOTOS BY DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

300 sworn officers who supervise an average daily inmate population of 1,500 prisoners.

“Corrections is a critical component of the justice system,” noted Mark Flowers, assistant director of the Division of Corrections. “A career in corrections requires dedication, integrity and a commitment to supervising individuals who enter the justice system. The rewards can be gratifying as you help people make real life changes and turn their lives around.”

He added that the division offers promotional opportunities and a full slate of benefits, in-

cluding enrollment in the special risk class of the Florida Retirement System.

Pay, requirements Officer trainees are paid $14.40 an hour as they undergo 420 hours of academy training in interpersonal skills, legal issues, first response, emergency preparedness, correctional operations, defensive tactics, and the safe use of firearms. Upon becoming a certified corrections officer, the pay is increased to $15.94 an hour.

Applicants must be at least 19

Denise Rolark Barnes, chairwoman of the National Newspaper and Publishers Association (NNPA), will be the breakfast speaker.

She became publisher of the Washington Informer in 1994.

Lunch speaker will be Tommy Ford, actor from the hit series “MarRas tin,” “New York UnBaraka dercover,” and the movie “Harlem Nights.’’

There are more than 18 Democratic Black Caucus of Florida chapters.

They represent over 1.2 million Black voters registered as Denise Democrats in FlorRoland ida. The DBCF was Barnes established in1983, formed to unite and increase the political power for Black Democrats who were unnoticed and underserved in the state.

For more information, visit www.

Tommy dbcflorida.org.

Ford years old, tobacco-free, and in good physical condition. They also must have a Florida driver’s license and a high school diploma or GED certificate. They cannot have a felony or misdemeanor conviction involving moral character, perjury or false statements.

For more information about the job fair and careers in corrections, contact Tammy King at tking@volusia.org or 386-7365951.

Applications may be submitted at any time by visiting volusia.org and clicking on “career opportunities.”

COMMENTARY: LEE A. DANIELS: THE GOP AND ‘POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMOK’ | PAGE 4 HEALTH: PETS PROVIDING COMFORT TO STRESSED-OUT COLLEGE STUDENTS | PAGE 5

7 FOCUS

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MARCH 24 – MARCH 30, 2016

Black churches seeing big savings after going green

BY AVIS THOMAS-LESTER URBAN NEWS SERVICE

able to pay their bills.”

The biggest challenge at Dr. Earl D. Trent Jr.’s historic Black church is raising enough money to do the Lord’s work.

Trent, pastor of Washington, D.C.’s Florida Avenue Baptist Church, was grappling with that very issue five years ago when he heard a presentation about how going green could reduce utility costs.

“We’ve always been somewhat socially aware,” Trent said. “So when we looked at the savings and the opportunity to do something good for the environment, we decided to give it a try.”

Deacon William Gentry, CFO at suburban Maryland’s First Baptist Church of Glenarden, said energy costs there have dropped 20 percent to 25 percent since its energy features were updated. It also has a recycling program.

“It is a church that strives to be fiscally prudent and ecologically sound,” Gentry said.

Michael D. McAfee, a senior energy consultant with the National Utilities Refund, said his agency conducts energy audits to help churches determine how much they should spend and whether they have been overcharged on their utilities.

Energy auditors examine utility bills as far back as 48 months, identify overcharges and apply for refunds for their clients. McAfee said he has found a $15,000 overcharge at Glenarden.

Energy audits

More services The pastor and his board worked with an engineer to design a program to power the 103-year-old church with clean, economical energy. They equipped the roof with solarelectric panels. They replaced the aged HVAC system with a new, energy-efficient model and installed LED lights.

“We are saving at least $600 per month on electricity,” Trent said.

“For a church like this one, that’s a lot of money. It has worked out so well that we are considering adding more energy-efficient features.”

As America continues to reel from an unsteady economy, many Black churches have expanded from places of worship to help centers. Many now operate food pantries, drug and alcohol programs and even work-training facilities, atop traditional church services.

Yet, even as need has increased, giving has slowed. Despite the biblical mandate that good Christians should donate 10 percent of their income to the church, many members have cut their offerings, religious leaders say.

“There are a lot of hands outstretched at church these days, but far too many of them are empty,” said one pastor. “We have to raise more and spend it wiser.”

Good shepherds

JOCELYN AUGUSTINO/URBAN NEWS SERVICE

Dr. Earl D. Trent said his D.C. church is saving at least $600 per month on electricity since making changes.

Energy-saving programs Energy efficiency serves two purposes, church officials said. It saves money that can aid members. It also improves aging facilities.

Energy modernization can be cost-prohibitive, experts said, easily topping $50,000 for a moderately sized church. So, many jurisdictions offer no-interest or low-interest loans and will finance projects up to 100 percent.

Several private organizations and government agencies help churches go green. Washington, D.C.’s Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies partnered with the African Methodist Epis-

Black Clergy Alliance hosting Good Friday, Easter services The Black Clergy Alliance is hosting a communitywide Good Friday “Seven Last Words of Christ’’ on March 25 at noon at Mount Bethel Baptist Church, 700 South Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Blvd., Daytona Beach.

An Easter Sunrise Service will begin at 6:30 a.m. Sunday at Kingdom Family Church in the Kingdom Life Center, 700 South Ridgewood Ave., Daytona Beach.

The Black Clergy alliance is an organization that unites the African-American Community Churches for education and social justice in the community.

The public is invited to these services.

DeLand church announces Holy Week services Trinity United Methodist Church in DeLand will present inspirational messages, praise music, choral anthems and organ selections at each of its Holy Week services.

On Good Friday beginning at 7 p.m., the message titled “Peter and Judas Speak” will be told through a dramatic dialogue between Judas (portrayed by Pastor Brian Carr) and Peter (played by Bob Sollien.)

On Easter Sunday, there will be a celebration of the life of Christ and the resurrection story told through both message and music. Carr’s sermon titled “Terror, Disbelief, Nonsense or Truth?” will be based on Luke 24:1-12. Trinity’s Praise Team will perform at the 8:30 am services only.

In between the 8:30 and 11:00 services, there will be a breakfast served in the fellowship hall. Cost is by donation and the proceeds will go to support Trinity’s Youth and their planned mission trip this summer.

The church is located at 306 West Wisconsin Ave. For more information, call 386-734-4425, extension 14.

Ormond museum to display art by veterans Artwork created by area veterans through the V.A. Wellness Recovery Program or PRRC (Psychosocial Rehabilitation & Recovery Center) will be on display at the Ormond Memorial Art Museum & Gardens on April 14.

A reception sponsored by the Pilot Club of Daytona Beach will be held at the museum with an opportunity to meet the artists from 10 a.m. to noon and opening remarks from Ormond Beach Mayor Ed Kelley at 10:30.

Susan Richmond, museum director, said, “As part of the museum’s commitment to veterans, we began an art outreach program in 2010. We work with the VA’s Wellness Recovery Program, which

copal Church in a 2012 energy pilot program.

Con Edison covered $68,500 of the $178,000 cost of energysaving boiler and pipe insulation last year at Harlem’s Riverside Church, site of a 1990 speech by Nelson Mandela and the 1972 funeral of baseball legend Jackie Robinson.

Getting ‘certified’ The Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star for Congregations program “certifies” churches as energy efficient.

Rosemary Enobakhare, a supervisor in the EPA’s congregations office, said some pastors are tak-

ing an activist role.

“Faith leaders understand that when it comes to environmental issues like a changing climate, minority and underserved communities are suffering the most,” she said.

Dr. Eleazar Merriweather, pastor of Detroit’s St. Paul A.M.E. Zion Church, which is on the EPA’s “certified” list, said he regularly preaches energy conservation to his 225 members. His energy forum drew 200 participants in 2013.

“We had people there to teach them how to conserve on power so that their energy costs would be lower,” said Merriweather.

“That contributes to them being

Trustee Robert Trent said Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church in Northeast Washington is working with the D.C. Energy Department’s Property Assessed Clean Energy program to finance a $3-million energy upgrade. The Trents aren’t related.

“There is a requirement by the city to go green. We are trying to be in alignment with what’s going on,” he said, adding that his 7,000-member church will save $100,000-plus per year in energy costs.

Trent said he appreciates that his church has reduced its carbon footprint and that his flock are good shepherds over the Earth, as the Bible says Christians should be.

But mostly he’s happy that he has saved his congregation upward of $7,500 per year.

“We’re always looking at the bottom line,” Trent said. “We can use whatever we save to help people.”

is a transitional, educational program designed to assist veterans in reclaiming their lives.”

Each month, the museum provides instruction and supplies for an hour and a half art experience at the Wellness Center facility. The projects are designed for successful outcomes in a non-judgmental environment.

The process is intended to relieve stress, reduce anxiety and restore a sense of balance and harmony. The program is facilitated by Regina Stengel. Providing an opportunity for veterans to work on artistic skills while improving attention spans, memory, and social skills is a goal of this museum and VA partnership.

Cinematique to celebrate life of Phyllis Lober Cinematique Theater of Daytona will celebrate the life of Dr. Phyllis Lober, author, poet, educator and community activist at 2 p.m. on April 3.

Lober was an ardent supporter of arts and cultural activities in addition to being a specialist in Holocaust studies. She died suddenly in November 2015.

Her book, “The Wide World through a Poetic Eye: The Holocaust Poems and Other Reflections,’’ drew from her travels and time in residence in Europe, India, China, Israel and the West Bank. These far flung lands were joined with Lober’s American roots to produce a collection of poems which constitute an emotional and perceptive world tour.

The free event is open to the public.

Cinematique is located at 242 S. Beach St., Daytona Beach.

For information about the event or to make a donation, call the theater at 386252-3118 or email Dr. David B. Axelrod at Axelrod@creativehappiness.org.

Charter Review Commission to meet March 30 Volusia County’s Charter Review Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 30, in the second-floor Dennis R. McGee Room at the Daytona Beach International Airport, 700 Catalina Drive, Daytona Beach.

Members will discuss a proposed charter amendment relating to the Volusia Growth Management Commission.

The next meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 11.

For more information about the Charter Review Commission and to view the County Charter, visit www.volusia.org/ countycharter.

Attendees may bring their parking slips to the meeting for validation.

The meetings are open to the public.

Reservations are not required.

For more information, call Dona DeMarsh Butler at 386-736-5955 or Tammy Bong at 386-736-5934.

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MARCH 24 – MARCH 30, 2016 COMMUNITY DECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006

M A YNEWS OR

Forum focuses on current, future economic trends Flagler County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin addressed JAXUSA Partnership at its recent quarterly forum.

The forum met to discuss both the current trends and future needs for economic development.

In accordance with a release, “We are fortunate to be located in a strong economic corridor; the assets that the region offers are too numerous to name,” said McLaughlin, who serves as chairman of the Economic Opportunity Advisory Council.

“Over the last several years, Flagler County has reinvented how we do economic development. We now have a department with a dedicated annual budget, which eliminates the distraction of fundraising while providing a direct connection to the county commissioners with respect to infrastructure and improvement funding.”

McLaughlin praised the efforts of Helga van Eckert, Flagler County Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director.

“She has built relationships with people at the state level and across the country,” McLaughlin said. “She is getting us a lot of notice by the people who are either looking to start or move businesses.”

McLaughlin spoke on the benefits Flagler County has reaped with its many road improvements, like the Matanzas Woods Interchange at Interstate 95 and other projects largely funded through the Florida Department of Transportation.

“Also, since economic development is now part of the county administration, we are brought into the process early and able to assist in the planning process and to make accommodations for immediate decisions,” he said. “This improves turnaround times on permitting and improvements.”

JAXUSA Partnership is a private, nonprofit division of the JAX Chamber and is Northeast Florida’s regional economic development initiative.

PALM COAST COMMUNITY NEWS JEROLINE D. MCCARTHY

Series helps writers get published Through a 10-part monthly series, learn how to take your passion project - whether it be your essay, memoir, novel, biography, or poem - to the next level to get it published!

Orjanette Bryant, CEO Natural Nubian, Inc. focuses on the holistic approach to well-being, enlightening individuals through the literary arts by connecting spirit, body, and soul through various resources within the literary community. The Get Published Series is an ongoing, supportive seminar that will help you reach your goals.

According to a release, each session guarantees inspirational and experienced instructors with a hands-on learning approach.

A participant could win a publishing contract from Bethune Publishing Company, if the full series and other qualifying requirements are met. Unfortunately, the start of the series began Feb. 18, and No. 3 in the slot will begin April 21.

The schedule of events are: April 21, “Marketing,” author Elle Klass, “Baby Girl Series,” C. M. W. Author Services May 19, “Reaching the Media through Television and Radio, Join a Book Touring Group,” Angie BEE Production June 16, “Offline Marketing for Online Success,” Rik Feeney, Florida Writers Association July 21, “Join A Literary Community,” au-

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE FOR BLACK STUDENTS. NO EXCUSES. The classic guide from Florida Courier publisher, lawyer and broadcaster CHARLES W. CHERRY II PRAISE FOR ‘EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE’: “This guide for African-American college-bound students is packed with practical and insightful information for achieving academic success...The primary focus here is to equip students with the savvy and networking skills to maneuver themselves through the academic maze of higher education.”

– Book review, School Library Journal • How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades; • Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat!

• How Black students can program their minds for success; • Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut; • Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’

Nate McLaughlin

Orjanette Bryant

thor Veronica Helen Hart, Florida Writers Association Aug. 18, “Choosing a Publishing Firm to Meet Your Demands and Needs,” author Orjanette Bryant Sept. 15, “The Importance of Finding a Good Editor,” author Sharylne C. Thomas, CAPE Publisher Oct. 20, “Contract Talk, Media Ready,” A Special Unannounced Reporter Nov. 17, “Final Submission Process/Ceremony,” author Renny Roker, promoter, movie producer, and actor After each series, a 30-minute Q/A session will be entertained to ask questions, network, and meet and greet the best local authors in town!

The session cost is $20, plus a $5 surcharge, if you register at the door. Link on to register at http://naturalnubian.net/getpublished.html.

Sessions are held on Thursdays on the aforementioned days. They are held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Office Divvy/CoWork, 20 Airport Road, Suite B, Palm Coast.

To become a featured author during any presentation, send your bio, books, and website as soon as possible in an email to orjanettebryant@gmail.com.

Get busy with city recreational activities The City of Palm Coast has a variety of upcoming events and recreational and sports activities open to the public. For a complete list visit: www.palmcoastgov.com.

A few activities, which might spark your interest are: April 11, 18, and 25 – Women’s Self-Defense – Three consecutive Mondays, 6 - 8 p.m., at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE. Women, ages 12+, can learn effective methods to ward off attackers, as presented by Sgt. Mike Lutz of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Learn

Volusia to collect hazardous waste in Ormond Beach and DeBary Volusia County’s Solid Waste Division will host free collection events for household hazardous materials April 1 and 2.

Residents may drop off old paint, solvents, automobile batteries, pool chemicals, pesticides, motor oil, gasoline, other household chemicals, and up to 10 fluorescent lamps at these times and locations: • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 1: Ormond Beach Public Works, 501 N. Orchard St., Ormond Beach • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 2: DeBary City Hall, 16 Columba Road, DeBary Only unmixed household hazardous waste will be accepted. Insulin needles will be accepted in approved containers; the containers will not be returned. Businesses are not eligible for free disposal.

Residents also may bring their household hazardous waste to the Tomoka Landfill in Port Orange or the West Volusia Transfer Station in DeLand year-round for free disposal. The landfill is open from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The transfer station is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Both facilities provide free paint exchange programs and electronic waste recycling.

For more information, call Volusia County’s Solid Waste Division at 386-947-2952.

Heart failure class set for March 29 A congestive heart failure class is March 29 from 2 to 3 p.m. at Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach, Cardiac Re-

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methods to protect yourself. Classes are free, but pre-registration is required by 6 p.m., April 9 (while space lasts). More info: 386-986-2323.

April 16 - First Aid and CPR/AED - Saturday, 9 - 4 p.m., at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Blvd., Building 2, Bunnell. This class is a seven-hour class (one hour for lunch), designed to meet OSHA regulations and teach how to administer CPR to children and adults, using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), applying a mask or barrier device, assisting with bleeding, broken bones. $5 per person with pre-registration required by 9 a.m., April 14. More info: 386-986-2300, or log on www.palmcoastgov.com (search for “CPR”).

April 20 – Lunch N’ Lecture Series – Wednesday, 11 - 12:30 p.m., at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE. The “Hospice 101” presentation will be offered by an expert from Halifax Hospice. The program will cover the value of hospice care as a viable option for health care decision-making. The lecture and lunch are free, but pre-registration is required no later than 11 a.m., April 18 (while space lasts). More info: 386-9862323, or log on www.palmcoastgov.com/ register.

April 29 – Discover Trip to Mount Dora and the Orange Blossom Cannonball – Friday, 9:30 - 6 p.m., round trip from the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE. Participants will take a bus to Tavares for an authentic Italian lunch at Antonio’s. Guests will then board the Orange Blossom Cannonball train to Mount Dora for an afternoon of shopping in the quaint village. $43 - and lunch will be at the participant’s expense. Pre-registration is required

by April 11. More info: 386-986-2323, or log on www.palmcoastgov.com/register.

For further details, contact Palm Coast Communications & Marketing Manager Cindi Lane at 386-986-3708.

••• As always, remember our prayers for the sick, afflicted and bereaved.

Celebrations Birthday wishes to Evangelist Robin Campos, March 24; Vicki Seward, March 26; my son, Christopher McCarthy, March 27; Barbara Jackson, March 28; Cynthia L. George-Pegues and Shirley Jones, March 29.

habilitation Department, 3rd Floor, 201 N. Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach

Garden Club hosting tour April 30-May 1 The Garden Club of DeLand will present “Beyond the Garden Gate” garden tour, a walking tour of five distinctive DeLand Gardens.

The event is Saturday, April 30, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday, May 1, 1 to p.m.

Tickets are $15 advance purchase, $20 day of the tour. The DeLaand Gardens is at 865 S. Alabama Ave. More information: 386-624-6960 or visit www.gardenclubofdeland.

Port Orange youth board seeks award nominees The nomination process is underway for the 2016 Youth Achievement Award. Administered by the Port Orange Youth Advisory Board, the award recognizes youth who have made a significant contribution to the community.

To be eligible, the youth must be enrolled in grades 8-12, and a resident of Port Orange or attend a Port Orange school. Completed nomination forms must be received before 5 p.m. on March 25 in the Port Orange City Manager’s office, 1000 City Center Circle. Applications are available on the city’s website at www.port-orange.org.

The Youth Achievement Award program was developed by the Youth Advisory Board, which is comprised of middle and high schools students from Port Orange schools.

For questions or additional information, call 386-506-5522.

…AND MUCH MORE!

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book signings, panel discussions.

Visit us online at daytonatimes.com

East Central Florida’s Black Voice

Daytona State to honor students, employees, alumni at awards convocation

SPECIAL TO THE DAYTONA TIMES

Daytona State College will honor nearly 200 students along with four employees, an accomplished graduate and a young alumnus during its annual outstanding student awards convocation on Wednesday, April 13, in the L. Gale Lemerand Center (Bldg. 310) on the Daytona Beach Campus, 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd. The awards convocation is the preceding event to the college’s 56th commencement exercises on Monday, May 16, at the Ocean Center.

All classes at the Daytona Beach Campus will be dismissed from 1:30 until 3:30 p.m. for the event. Classes at other campus locations will be dismissed from 1 until 3:45 p.m. to allow for travel time to attend the convocation.

Students will be recognized for their academic, community service and athlet-

ic achievements, including this year’s inductees into the Who’s Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges and Daytona State’s own Hall of Fame – the highest honor faculty can bestow upon a student.

In addition, four employees will be recognized for outstanding service to the college, including a faculty member selected to receive the college’s prestigious Presidential Teaching Excellence Award. Presentations also include an Alumni of the Year award and a Young Alumni Excellence award.

Also to be announced, the Margaret Crumley Award for Distinguished Achievement in Science will go to an outstanding alumnus who earned an associate degree from the College of Science at Daytona State.

Mrs. Crumley, who passed away last year, established this award 15 years ago to honor her son, John, and husband, Thomas. The annual award recipient is selected by a committee of faculty from DSC’s College of Science.

The Daytona State Concert Band, conducted by Dustin Burgess, will perform for the processional and the recessional.

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7 EDITORIAL

MARCH 24 – MARCH 30, 2016

The GOP and ‘political correctness run amok’ The two most dramatic political events of last week involving the Republican Party – Donald Trump’s election victories in the Super Tuesday Republican primaries, and GOP Senators restating their refusal to even consider President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court – dramatically illuminate what a certain fashionable, ugly phrase really means and who it most often applies to.

The phrase I’m referring to is “political correctness run amok.” For more than two decades, those words have been hurled at acts or policies or even just suggestions deemed “too concerned” with making a place in society for this or that outsider group.

What it means My definition of the phrase is this: “We’re being too kind to the (fill in the blank). Let’s keep on making them feel as if they don’t belong.”

The Republican Party is the true practitioner of political correctness. The wreck the GOP has become since Trump entered its presidential primary contest is the result of the GOP’s own corrosive dynamic of political correctness run amok.

The rigid, reactionary and amoral code of conduct it established within its ranks and, as soon as President Obama took office, stoked within its base of supporters is a powerful example of the damage an unthinking, unquestioning obedience to

LEE A. DANIELS GEORGE CURRY MEDIA COLUMNIST

a particular ideology can do.

Couldn’t stop Obama That rigidity forced it into a political dynamic of all-out opposition to any Obama proposal.

Yet, it still spectacularly failed to defeat such major Obama initiatives as Obamacare and the Iran nuclear deal. Nor did it make good on now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s notorious 2010 boast that the GOP would make Obama a one-term president. And it backed the disastrous Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority handed up in 2010.

Those three developments led directly to presidential primary rampage of Trump, who now threatens the GOP with “riots” at its convention if he’s blocked from the nomination.

One can justly be aghast and furious at Trump’s boundless amorality, and still realize it’s not much different from what’s been the GOP’s standard operating procedure during the Obama presidency. That posture has now produced the GOP’s ridiculous claim that Obama should neglect his presidential responsibility because it fears that with

Why is terrorism still growing?

Not too long ago, Americans considered terrorism as some geopolitical ailment happening in the Third World. But since September 11, 2001, our attitudes have changed. Events afterwards constantly reminds us that there is a dangerous world out there – and in here.

It seems like the more we destroy terrorists, they multiply like pesky flies or cockroaches. They all have one thing in common.

They hate the United States with a vengeance.

Targeting Americans worldwide The majority of them cling to a radical form of Islam. They are headquartered on every continent of the world with the exception of North America. However, like September 11, they target U.S. citizens wherever they are.

HARRY C. ALFORD NNPA COLUMNIST

Probably the largest and most lethal group is ISIS. Their leadership is an offshoot of Al Qaeda, whom they eventually considered to be “soft” regarding killings and ethnic cleansing. ISIS has no limits. Mass beheadings, rapes, human torching are just a few of their horrible deeds.

ISIS has an organized army and employs heavy artillery. They proclaim a state in western Iraq and eastern Syria, and actively recruit around the world. They have reach via “lone wolf” agents or small bands in Europe and the United States. Millions of refugees

The GOP reaps the whirlwind I’m captivated by the applications of wisdom gleaned from the Bible. One passage, Hosea 8:7, has recurring relevance to the current human condition. It states, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

What did Hosea mean? Despite minor variances, most accept the meaning that those who act foolishly and impact negatively on others can expect to receive even greater negative consequences than they caused. In Hinduism or Buddhism, it is referred to as “karma.”

‘Don’t like ugly’ The vernacular of the street interprets it as, “What goes around, comes around!”

However framed, God don’t like ugly and

DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ. TRICE EDNEY WIRE

His vengeance should be feared!

I compare the lessons of Hosea 8:7 to the Republican Party and those representing its interests.

Surely the result of their demonstrations of character and ethics clearly indicate that their “chickens are coming home to roost.”

Since Lyndon Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and said, “There goes the South for a generation,” we have witnessed the folly of Republican racism.

Johnson couldn’t have imagined

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: HAPPY EASTER!

Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, it’s lost control of the Supreme Court.

Of course, Obama ignored that desperate demand. He pointedly announcing his Supreme Court nominee the day after Trump’s “Super Tuesday” victories made his position atop the wreckage of the GOP that much stronger. The juxtaposition of those two events underscore that American society is well on its way this year to a moment of extraordinary political drama.

Three comments There are three comments that frame how it got here and what’s at stake.

The first comes from “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” the 2012 book by Thomas E. Mann and Norman Ornstein. They wrote: “The Republican Party has become an insurgent outlier – ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the [nation’s] inherited social and economic regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”

The second was written last week by Rich Lowry, editor of the staunchly conservative National Review magazine: “Trump’s iteration of the Republican Party won’t have a bleeding heart;” he stated, “it will be out for blood. Far from eschewing negative campaigning, per-

now passing through various borders are littered with ISIS agents coming to do harm to peace-loving citizens.

During the 2012 national election, the Democrats chanted “Osama bin Laden is dead and Al Qaeda is on the run.” Bin Laden was certainly dead, but Al Qaeda is alive and well.

Came as we left They moved into Iraq as we were leaving the nation. They also have a strong presence in Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia. The attackers in the Benghazi incident were affiliates of Al Qaeda. They have allies in Mali, Guinea and other nations throughout western and central Africa, including Boko Haram of Nigeria, Somalia, and surrounding nations.

Boko Haram is known for their hit-and-run tactics on civilians. They massacre children and women without hesitation.

They will make stands against the armies of Kenya and Nigeria. Other favorite targets are resort hotels harboring European and American tourists.

how correct he was about the region, nor how incorrectly he predicted the length of Southern disdain for the Democratic Party.

Using his “Southern Strategy” Johnson’s successor, Richard Nixon, realized that appeals to the traditional racist thinking of the region could reap major political support from White voters. A Nixon aide reportedly said, “The Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote, and they don’t need any more than that.”

Exploited racism Under Ronald Reagan, Interior Secretary James Watt made himself infamous with unbridled comments disparaging Blacks, Jews, women and the disabled.

The Reagan and Bush administrations also produced Lee Atwater, a ruthless operative known to exploit racist sentiments for political gain.

In 2009, the T.E.A. Party wing of the Republican Party emerged.

DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

sonal abuse – and threats – will be its calling card.

“It will care less about policy than attitude and shibboleths.

Electorally, it will repel minorities and hope to run up the score with whites. It won’t have an open hand on immigration but will talk of mass deportation. It won’t care about human rights, and in fact will be happy to violate them – or threaten to – as the national interest and a desire for vengeance dictate.”

Finally, these are words President Obama spoke in declaring Judge Merrick Garland is his nominee for the Supreme Court:

Still working “At a time when our politics are so polarized, at a time when norms and customs of political rhetoric and courtesy and comity are so often treated like they’re disposable – this is precisely the time when we should

would wipe out the aforementioned groups.

Where is the common strategy?

Why can’t we hunt them out into the open and destroy them with military might? They massacre our men without retribution, kidnapped our girls and turned them into sex slaves for sale, utterly destroyed some of the world’s most precious historical sites and relics. Nothing happens from our side.

The leadership of the world must face this growing “cancer” and yank it out for good. There can be no peace when we allow those who are committed to violence grow and prosper. Will true leaders step forward and apply No coordination your God-given courage and deThe overall problem is a mor- termination? phing bureaucracy within the policing authorities. The United NaHarry C. Alford is the cotions, African Union, Interpol, founder and president/CEO of FBI, CIA, KGB, etc. are hacking away at terrorism, but there is no the National Black Chamber concerted and organized initia- of Commerce. Contact him via tive coming from these allies that www.nationalbcc.org.

Ostensibly, their complaint was over-taxation. Yet they gave rabid support to the party that gave tax breaks to corporations that should have paid their fair share.

Political commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the Fox Network coarsened the political discourse with “dog-whistle” comments appealing to overt and latent racism among the masses.

Quashes dissent We are now at the point where a Republican candidate for president openly disparages ethnic groups, immigrants, women and the disabled. He pretends to be unaware of the racist practices of the Ku Klux Klan, and refuses to disavow their support. He quashes opposing protests and incites his supporters to violence against those who disagree with him.

Meanwhile, the Republican establishment searches for any opportunity to dump this embar-

CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Sales Manager

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Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra CherryKittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members

Lee A. Daniels is writing a book on the Obama years and the 2016 presidential election.

World terrorism is growing exponentially. Don’t believe that it is being “contained,” is “on the run” or “dying away.” Look at the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. They are back and growing in great numbers.

What drives the Taliban is money. Police tell us that Afghanistan has returned to being one of the largest drug exporters in the world. America and Europe are now being overrun with heroin trafficked from Afghanistan.

A terrorist group being fueled daily with millions of dollars is a worthy force. Will we have to go back to Afghanistan again? The reality is coming close to us as drug addiction increases in America and as deadly violence plagues Afghanistan’s neighbors.

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.

play it straight, and treat the process of appointing a Supreme Court justice with the seriousness and care it deserves. ... [If not], then it will not only be an abdication of the Senate’s constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair. “...The reputation of the Supreme Court will inevitably suffer. Faith in our justice system will inevitably suffer. Our democracy will ultimately suffer as well. I have fulfilled my constitutional duty. Now it’s time for the Senate to do theirs. Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should a senator.”

Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Angela van Emmerik, Creative Director Cassandra Cherry Kittles, Willie R. Kittles, Circulation Penny Dickerson, Staff Writer Duane Fernandez Sr., Kim Gibson, Photojournalists

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rassment to their party. Their front-runner’s appeal to their extremist base is insufficient to win a national election. Moreover, they understand his threat to the election of down-ticket candidates. They lament his personal indiscretions and the potential damage it may cause their party.

With this history as a backdrop and the current conduct of their self-styled “leader” Republican Senators continue to play, “let’s frustrate Obama” while refusing to perform their constitutional duty of processing the confirmation of the president’s Supreme Court nominee.

Obstructing progress, they still haven’t acknowledged that the whirlwind will be their ultimate harvest.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. Contact her via www.nationalcongressbw.org.

Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com.

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5 7

M AHEALTH YOR

MARCH 24 – MARCH 30, 2016 DECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006

es, took over a grassy patch near where students congregate. Banks, along with Caitlin McCoy, a biology major in an independent study program, brought together 56 students as part of the study, which measured a student’s anxiety, perceived stress and sustained attention.

Banks said the 29 students who interacted with the dogs for 10 minutes had lower levels of anxiety, perceived stress and sustained attention.

“We know that pets are used for a variety of purposes but we wanted to see whether having them on campus really helped,” he said. “This is a good sign.”

Stress reliever

CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Jennifer Minogue, 19, left, and Jeevana Pakanati, center, pet and scratch Schooner, a golden retriever, along with other students at the Nova Southeastern University campus in Davie.

Pets help provide comfort to stressed-out college students

BY CARLI TEPROFF MIAMI HERALD TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

MIAMI — By the end of his freshman year at Johnson & Wales University, Josh Nackenson said he “wasn’t in a good place.”

His girlfriend died suddenly in another state, he had a heavy workload and he was still getting used to being on his own after moving to Miami from New Jersey.

Depression led to a short stay in the hospital, and after speaking with a therapist, he decided that a pet might help him get back on track. Nackenson walked across the street to Pet Supermarket in 2013 and bought a bunny. He named her Peanut.

“Everything has been better since,” said Nackenson, 20, who keeps the furry brown Peanut in a cage in his dorm room.

Peanut is not the only pet in the 40-apartment Arch Creek Residences. In fact, Johnson & Wales opened the pet-friendly dorm this academic year, recognizing that stressed-out students often do better when they can cuddle with a warm, furry friend.

“We saw the need, and so far everything is going great,” said Lou Kaminski, the school’s director of residential life.

‘Great comfort’ Dogs have long been recognized for soothing anxiety, lowering blood pressure and boosting emo-

Study links ADHD diagnosis to child’s birth month

BY ALLIE SHAH STAR TRIBUNE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

A new study on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is generating a lot of discussion because of its revelatory finding — that August-born children are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with ADHD than their classmates.

The study adds weight to the argument that the growing number of ADHD diagnoses is tied to the timing of the exams. Because schools use Sept. 1 as the cutoff birth date for determining when a child starts kindergarten, children born in August are the youngest kids in the class, sometimes by as much as nearly

tional connections. A 2005 study conducted at UCLA Medical Center found that when teams of volunteers and trained therapy dogs visited 76 hospitalized heart failure patients, the patients’ anxiety scores dropped 24 percent. For those who had a visit from a volunteer without a dog, the scores dropped only 10 percent.

“Dogs are a great comfort,’’ Katie Cole, the study’s lead author, wrote in an American Heart Association journal. “They make people happier, calmer and feel more loved. That is huge when you are scared and not feeling well.”

Colleges and universities have increasingly begun to recognize this, allowing pet therapy dogs during fi-

nals to help ease the stress.

Some colleges, including Florida International University, allow comfort pets in dorm rooms. The University of Florida has two certified therapy dogs at its Counseling and Wellness Center.

Anxiety study At Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Jonathan Banks, an assistant professor in the College of Psychology, is studying the effects petting a dog before a test can have on a student.

Right before midterms last semester, about 10 dogs from Canine Assisted Therapy, a nonprofit organization that provides certified pets for hospitals, nursing homes and other purpos-

Jennifer Minogue, 19, was all smiles as she spent several minutes petting Schooner, a golden retriever. Minogue, who had been studying nonstop for her four exams, said the break was “definitely needed.”

“It’s a really good stress reliever,” said the Nova Southeastern sophomore, who is majoring in communications and psychology. “Instead of studying, all you are thinking about is having fun.”

Shannon Perez, a freshman from Wellington, said she is not allowed to have a pet on the NSU campus so play time with a dog helps her relax.

“I am not thinking about my tests right now,” she said.

Kent State University professor Kathy Adamle said she began the first pet therapy program on a university campus in the U.S. when she rolled out The Dogs on Campus Pet Therapy Program© at the Ohio university in 2004. She had noticed how students always commented on her dogs as she walked them on the school grounds.

“I could not get 50 feet without someone asking if they could pet my dog,” she said. As a researcher she said she began to wonder why.

She said she was met

with skepticism from the university when she proposed studying the effects that dogs have on students.

After some convincing, she was allowed to do a pilot study.

‘Unconditional love’ The program has since grown; Adamle said more than 100,000 students have attended pet-therapy sessions at schools across the country. After other universities heard about her program, they reached out to her for advice about starting their own. Now, more than 250 colleges have some type of pet therapy program, she said.

“Dogs are nonjudgmental,” Adamle said. “Sometimes that’s what a student needs.”

Sompa Adhya-Taylor, director of counseling services for Johnson & Wales, said “pets can help with depression and anxiety.”

For Crystal Jacques, having an on-campus, petfriendly option made her decision to attend the culinary school in North Miami much easier. Jacques, 29, who was in the Navy for eight years before enrolling at Johnson & Wales, said she and her dog, Oliver, were a package deal. She said she treats Oliver like a child and couldn’t imagine being without him.

“Having housing where I could have him just made it so much easier,” said Jacques, who is majoring in hospitality and tourism. In a lot of the schools she considered, she would have had to live off-campus.

For Nackenson, taking care of Peanut has become routine. She sits in her gated corner of his dorm room as he studies to become a chef.

While he has a busy schedule, he always makes time for some Peanut snuggles.

“It’s unconditional love,” he said.

an entire year.

Younger children tend to have a harder time sitting still for long periods of time — which may contribute to an ADHD diagnosis.

Taiwan study “Our findings emphasize the importance of considering the age of a child within a grade when diagnosing ADHD and prescribing medication to treat ADHD,” researchers wrote in their report, which was published earlier this month in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The study, conducted in Taiwan, looked at data from 378,881 children between 4 and 17.

Those with August birthdays were more likely to be labeled as ADHD than their older peers. In particular, boys born in August were the most likely group to be diagnosed and treated with medication, the study found.

Researchers also addressed the difficulty in diagnosing ADHD in children, noting in their report the element of subjectivity that is involved.

Florida Black Legislators Partner with State Lottery for Scholarships

FOTOLIA

A recent review by Mayo Clinic physicians indicated that vegans should ensure adequate intake of a few nutrients to avoid deficiency.

Study: Vegans could be missing essential nutrients MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

The Florida Conference of Black State Legislators Foundation (FCBSL) hosted its annual Educational Scholarship Golf Tournament fundraiser on Sunday, March 6th at the Hilaman Golf Club in Tallahassee. Founded in 1983, the FCBSL is a 501(c)3 Not-for-Profit Statewide Organization located in the Capitol City of Tallahassee.

One of the organizations many goals is to champion education that affect the less fortunate constituents throughout Florida.

The FCBSL has partnered with the Florida Lottery, a State Department established in 1986 to enhance funding sources for public education. Similarly, both entities share the mission of enhancing opportunities for students from low to average income families, providing funding resources for student’s financial aid to pursue opportunities in higher education at state universities and community colleges. With more than a $1 billion in revenue in each of the past 13 fiscal years, this effort has benefited Florida students and schools statewide, representing approximately six percent of the state’s total education budget. Representative Ed Narain - Chairman of the FL Legislative Back Caucus (FLBC) stated, “We are excited about the partnership between the FCBSL-Foundation and the Lottery. As we all strive to close the educational gap and assure Florida has a first class public education system, we only see greater accomplishments ahead.”

For information on additional activities and statewide events hosted by the FCBSL, please visit our website, www.FCBSL.org.

The health benefits of a plant-based diet is well-known, but the question remains: Could vegans be at risk for deficiency of essential nutrients?

A retrospective review by Mayo Clinic physicians recently published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association indicated that vegans should ensure adequate intake of a few nutrients.

According to a 2012 Gallup poll, two percent of the U.S. population follows a vegan diet, which is a strict plant-based diet that excludes all animal-derived foods.

Increasingly, people are choosing to follow this diet for ethical, environmental, religious and health concerns.

With the growing popularity of plantbased diets, the Mayo Clinic team compiled a review of recent literature to mon-

itor and advise vegans to ensure proper nutritional intake. Nutrients of concern are vitamin B-12, iron, calcium, vitamin D, protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

Nutrition, education “We found that some of these nutrients, which can have implications in neurologic disorders, anemia, bone strength and other health concerns, can be deficient in poorly planned vegan diets,” says Dr. Heather Fields, Community and Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

Contrary to popular belief, she says, “Vegans have not been shown to be deficient in protein intake or in any specific amino acids.”

The study points out that some vegans rely heavily on processed foods and may not eat a sufficient variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. A whole food, plant-based diet is commendable, and a well-planned vegan diet can be adequate to achieve proper nutrition, but requires some education.

The Mayo Clinic review team recommends that health care providers monitor vegan patients for adequate blood levels of vitamin B-12, iron, ferritin, calcium and vitamin D.

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7 CLASSIFIEDS

MARCH 24 – MARCH 30, 2016

East Central Florida’s Black Voice

This is personal.

Colorectal cancer is the 2nd leading cancer killer in the U.S., but screening helps prevent this disease.

Terrence Howard, actor/musician

Photo: Andrew Macpherson

She was the cornerstone of our family. But my mother died of colon cancer when she was only 56. Let my heartbreak be your wake-up call.

The LATCH system makes it easier to be sure your child’s car seat is installed correctly every time. Just clip it to the lower anchors, attach the top tether, and pull the straps tight. To find out more, visit safercar.gov.

If you’re 50 or older, please get screened. Screening saves lives.

1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) • www.cdc.gov/screenforlife

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Real kids are curious about alcohol.

40% will try it by the time they reach 8th grade.

UNDERAGEdrinking.SAMHSA.gov or Text TALK to 30364 Message and data rates may apply.

7

M ASPORTS YOR

MARCH 24 – MARCH 30, 2016 DECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006

Former Raider struggles to keep his mind right

BY ELLIOTT ALMOND SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

DANVILLE, Calif. — Jarrod Cooper has every right to despise football.

Playing the game for almost half his life has left the former Raiders safety dealing with severe migraines, depression, seizures and cognitive dysfunctions associated with multiple concussions from the sport he still loves.

His downward spiral at age 37 illustrates the personal devastation former players are facing at a time when the NFL’s top health and safety executive has finally acknowledged a connection between football and degenerative brain disease.

“Sometimes I’ll be in the garage and all of a sudden my body will start tingling and my eyes get splotchy and I feel like I’m going to turn into the Incredible Hulk,” Cooper said of his symptoms.

Instead of turning into a powerful green monster, debilitating migraine headaches leave him bedridden up to 18 days per month.

LAURA A. ODA/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/TNS

Retired NFL player Jarrod Cooper plays with the resident savannah cat, George, at Oak Tree Animal Hospital in Danville, Calif., where Cooper volunteers, on March 11. A former Oakland Raiders safety, doctors have diagnosed his condition as frontal lobe dementia, degenerative brain disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), all the direct result from multiple concussions.

‘We all hurt’ Cooper, who has suffered for a decade, doesn’t have the name recognition of fallen NFL giants Frank Gifford, Junior Seau, Ken Stabler and Mike Webster.

Autopsies of those Hall of Fame players revealed they suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head with symptoms including depression, memory loss and progressive dementia.

But he wants to contribute to the national discourse so fellow former players seek help.

“I don’t think players should retire at 30 and then be in bed half of the rest of their life — no matter how much money you make,” Cooper said.

Of the nagging pains that come from playing football, he said: “Of course we all hurt; that’s what we signed up for.”

But, he now acknowledges, “I didn’t read the fine print.”

Early retirement The end of football came during summer training camp before the 2008 season for a man who says he hadn’t suffered through so much as a bout with the flu since age 5.

The realization was tough for an eight-year NFL veteran who made his reputation as a force on special teams for the Carolina Panthers and the Raiders, who was a Texas all-state high school player and All-Big-12 defensive back for Kansas State.

Cooper felt groggy from the previous year and told then-coach Lane Kiffin he couldn’t handle the rigors of training camp. The player decided to retire out of pride rather than risk his “hardass” reputation by sitting out with what was then a far more nebulous injury. The impact of concussions was just coming to light in 2008.

Cooper said he was taught to never complain in football. “I played it to hurt people — not on purpose — but you go as hard as you can all of the time and whatever comes from the collision comes from it,” he said.

Symptoms increased He also said he doesn’t blame NFL officials for his misfortune even though the league’s executives initially downplayed the seriousness of the effects of head injuries. It wasn’t until this month during a con-

gressional meeting, when Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy, acknowledged that football and CTE were correlated.

But Cooper, who took responsibility for testing positive for anabolic steroids in 2007, is not a finger-pointer.

“You know you are going to get a concussion; you know you are going to get hurt,” he said. “That is what the game is. Then don’t play football if you don’t want to get hurt.”

When the symptoms increased after retirement, Cooper called Bennett Omalu, the pathologist credited with first identifying CTE and the protagonist played by Will Smith in the movie “Concussion.”

Omalu said what Cooper described sounded like older patients in the latter stages of the disease. The pathologist recommended a course of action that would lead Cooper to UC San Francisco Medical Center.

Physicians told Cooper that he suffered either from frontal lobe dementia or CTE. He reminded a neurologist that CTE could not be determined until after death.

“Yeah, but you don’t have to be a dummy to see

it,” came the reply.

Brain won’t heal Cooper is part of the growing legion of athletes who plan to donate their brains to medical researchers to help advance the study of the link between sports and head trauma.

He has accepted that his brain won’t heal.

“Sometimes his face goes blank and his head is killing him,” said Jonathan DeMarti, a close friend from Oak Tree Animal Hospital in Danville, where the former player volunteers as a technician.

Cooper works with four UCSF physicians to help manage symptoms. Treatments sometimes include a weekly hospital stay to get migraine medication intravenously. Cooper said expenses paid for by the league can run $100,000 per treatment.

He was prohibited from driving for four years while doctors tried to figure out what was going on with the seizures. Cooper, who once was bedridden for 33 consecutive days, likes to read when the pain subsides.

“I try to work on my brain instead of letting it go,” he said.

Cooper doesn’t spend time recounting past glo-

ries. Sure, the former Raiders captain would do it again given the chance.

He wants to be buried with his Super Bowl ring earned when playing for the Carolina Panthers in 2004.

But the lean, 6-foot-1 Walnut Creek resident now embraces each day he feels good enough to spend time with his fiancee and two young kids. He tries to jam in as many outdoor activities as possible — snowboarding, paddleboarding, taking the kids and dogs for walks or to the beach.

Animal shelter volunteer Cooper also has found a home at the Oak Tree Animal Hospital located in downtown Danville.

His interest in animals began in 2007 while volunteering at the Oakland Animal Shelter. Working at the hospital gives Cooper a reason to get out of bed and feel like he’s contributing to the community.

“He’s not taking opiates and staring at the walls,” DeMarti said.

One recent day, Cooper scooped up a personable feline named George and collected the creature in his brawny arms decorated in ink. His eyes twinkled as Cooper talked to Oak

B-CU’s golf team wins trophy in South Carolina tourney SPECIAL TO THE DAYTONA TIMES

Bethune-Cookman turned in a tournament-low scoring mark on Sunday afternoon, sweeping its way to the team trophy at the 2016 Low Country Intercollegiate hosted by Wofford. The two-day, 36-hole event took place at the famed Moss Creek Golf Club in Hilton Head, S.C. Bethune-Cookman (304307=611, +35) sat just two shots back of the lead heading into the March 20 final round. The Wildcats made up ground by breaking the tournament’s team scoring record of 616 (+40), previously held by Western Carolina (2010) and Appalachian State (2011). Second-place competitor Chattanooga (302312=614, +38) also broke the tournament record alongside the Wildcats.

B-CU freshman Yudika Rodriguez (74-74=148, +4) was steady the entire weekend for the Maroon and Gold, pacing the Wildcats as the top scorer and placing herself tied for second in the tournament with mirror round of 2-over 74.

Classmate Shamiso Hatchard (76-79=155, +11) used a second round 7-over 79, placing herself tied for 16th on the final leaderboard.

Top three teams Meanwhile, a pair of Wild-

Tree’s resident wild cat.

Later, while walking into the hospital operating room, he pronounced: “These animals are all I need.”

Cooper met his fiancee, Shelly Bright, at the hospital when she worked there as a receptionist. He initially didn’t want to have a family because of aggravating symptoms. But once treatments helped decrease the pain, the couple had Raine, now 21/2, and Kyra, 5 months.

The father thinks he would permit his son to play football. But not the way he played: all out, collisions be damned. Cooper is part of an NFL-supported school of thought that the game is safe for kids as long as they are taught to tackle from the waist down, keeping the head out of the equation.

However, he applauds players such as former 49ers linebacker Chris Borland who have left the NFL because of concerns over head injuries. Had he known the consequences, Cooper would have walked away in 2006.

“If I was 7 now and my mom was watching this, I would not have played football,” he said.

Jasmin to join WESH 2 sports team SPECIAL TO THE DAYTONA TIMES

COURTESY OF B-CU ATHLETICS

The women’s golf team is shown after the win in Hilton Head, S.C. cats tied for 25th overall, as sophomore Mackenzie Butzer (79-78=157, +13) and freshman Alejandra Sanchez (81-76=157, +13) each lowered their scores from the March 19 opening round action. Butzer fired a final round 6-over 78, shaving a stroke from her opening round. And it was Sanchez besting her first round by five strokes with a 4-over 76 on Sunday.

The final Bethune-Cookman golfer was junior Saraid

Ruiz (75-83=158, +14), dropping down the leaderboard in the final round as the Venezuela native turned in a final round 83 scorecard. She would finished tied for 33rd overall.

Sasha Banks (75-71=146, +2) of Brown took the individual medalist award, while B-CU’s Rodriguez and Chattanooga’s Emily McLennan shared the runner-up cup.

As a team, it was Gardner-Webb (306-311-617,

+41) rounding out the top three teams behind B-CU and Chattanooga in the final standings.

Bethune-Cookman women’s golf returns to action March 28-29, taking part in the Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate in Williamsburg, Va. The event will be hosted by the College of William & Mary.

This story is courtesy of B-CU Athletics.

WESH 2 has announced that Courtney Jasmin will be joining the WESH 2 Sports team on April 11.

Formally Courtney Jones, Jasmin joins WESH 2 from Jacksonville’s First Coast News where she anchored weekend sports and reported on big sporting events on the First Coast.

“Courtney has tremendous experience covering sports from all around the country. We are thrilled to have her energy and personality on WESH 2,” says Kirsten Wolff, News Director for WESH 2.

Jasmin’s career began in Miami, and she eventually became a reporter on SEC-TV for FOX Sports Net/SportSouth. She then took her passion for sports reporting to Los Angeles. Jasmin was a reporter for FOX Sports West/Prime Ticket working on multiple shows including, “Dodgers Live,’’ “Clippers Courtney Live,’’ and “UCLA Sports ReJasmin port.’’ She also was a sideline reporter for PAC 10 college football and basketball games, and hosted live pregame and postgame shows for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Covering Los Angeles sports, the athletes and coaches was a great opportunity. As excited as I was to cover sports on the West Coast, I am equally thrilled to come to Central Florida. WESH 2 has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to work with some very talented people in an incredible city,” says Jasmin.

Jasmin is a graduate of Florida State University and when not covering sports she likes to spend her free time cooking, traveling, and enjoying her family.

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7MARCH 24 – MARCH 30, 2016