Russian exchange student brings joy to Palm Coast family SEE PAGE 3
EE FR
OLUWA TOSIN ADEGBOLA: Nigerian government fails our missing girls – and our country See page 4
Insufficient Vitamin D linked to prostate cancer SEE PAGE 5
East Central Florida’s Black Voice MAY 15 - MAY 21, 2014
YEAR 39 NO. 20
www.daytonatimes.com
Alleged ‘johns’ targeted in local prostitution sweep BY ASHLEY D. THOMAS DAYTONA TIMES aysheldarcel@gmail.com
Fourteen men were arrested last weekend in what the Daytona Beach Police Department called “a reverse prostitution” operation. It was termed “reverse” because instead of going after the prostitutes, the officers targeted the customers they serve, popularly known as “johns.” The sting follows an operation held three days prior where eight women were arrested trying to sell sex to undercover officers. DBPD’s Crime Suppression Team conduct-
ed the operation near the 800 block of Ridgewood Ave. last weekend, an area known for street prostitution, arrest records show. Men ranging in age from 19-68 were locked up in the back of squad cars after offering money, drugs or both for a quick sexual experience with an undercover officer posing as a prostitute, who began most conversations with, “You want to party?”
Money, drugs, cars According to police records, 65-year-old T. Parker contacted the undercover officer by saying “Hey girl!” The officer respond-
Thomas Parker
Jeremy Maddox
ed, “What’s up? Are you looking to party?” Parker replied stating, “I was until I went to the doctor’s office. There went my social security money; $147 to see a doctor.” The conversation continued with the officer saying she needed money for
minutes on her phone and Parker replied saying he’d take $5 out of his grocery money if she would let him see her breasts and perform a sexual act. The officer replied, “OK, but not out here. There’s too many people around here.” Parker responded OK and the pair began traveling down Fremont Avenue – where he was taken into custody. Another John, 31-yearold J. Maddox, attempted to pay for sex when he rolled down the window of his car on Fremont Avenue and yelled to the undercover officer “Hey.” The officer replied, “What’s up?” He then stopped in
the middle of the roadway, rolled his window down again and said, “Get in the back.” The officer replied, “I don’t know you like that, I have a room.” The conversation continued with the officer saying she would be right back after she grabbed her things. Maddox was then apprehended. During the inventory of the vehicle, officers located a clear bag with less than a gram of suspected crack cocaine. In both cases, the vehicles were towed and the men were issued a citation for mandatory revocation of their driver’s licenses upon conviction.
From the streets to the ‘Net In addition to having agents pose undercover, Flynt says the department has a number of ways of finding prostitution suspects who use websites like Craigslist and Backpage. com. A quick search of the Daytona Beach Craigslist personal ads under the casual encounters page finds women and men soliciting time for money. One poster asks for sexual favors in exchange of “a donation of 20 roses for your time.” “Twenty roses” refers to $20. Please see SWEEP, Page 2
Daytona State commencement ceremonies held May 13 Thousands take next step forward
SPECIAL TO THE DAYTONA TIMES
ASHLEY D. THOMAS/DAYTONA TIMES
Family and friends of Marquis Richardson hold signs of support.
A ‘Wildcat roar’ at B-CU commencement BY ASHLEY D. THOMAS DAYTONA TIMES aysheldarcel@gmail.com
More than 350 Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats are now the proud owners of a new bachelor or master’s degrees, including three honorary degrees given to Joe Petrock (Doctor of Laws), and Larry C. Little and Dr. J. Stanley Marshall (Doctor of Humane Letters). “We are proud of our graduates. Let’s give them a big Wildcat roar!” Dr. Edison Jackson, B-CU president, said as the 2014 graduating class took their seats.
‘Doing his thing’ Stephanie Sumpter, a Wildcat mom who sat in the upper level of the Ocean Center along with family and friends, witnessed her son, 24-year-old Marquis Richardson, walk across the stage. “We are so proud of him and the accomplishments that he has done on his own,” Sumpter exclaimed. “We are from Miami, and he came up here (to Daytona Beach) on his own and just took charge of his life. I’ve been crying since I walked through this door. “We are a very close-knit family but there have been obstacles in our life that could have taken a young Black
man and held him back and had him not move forward. But let me tell you something. He has persevered and he is doing his thing.” Marquis received a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts.
Commencement address Dr. Julianne Malveaux was the Spring 2014 commencement speaker. She is the 15th president of Bennett College for Women and has hosted television and radio programs. She has also appeared as a commentator on TV networks such as CNN, BET, NBC, Fox Please see COMMENCEMENT, Page 3
More than 3,100 students – with more than half earning honors or high honors – joined the ranks of Daytona State College alumni during its 54th commencement ceremonies on Tuesday, May 13, at the Ocean Center. Commencement took place in two parts, with ceremonies for associate of arts (AA) and baccalaureate degree students at 2 p.m. and for associate of science (AS), associate of applied science (AAS), certificate and adult education students at 6 p.m. The ceremonies include Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 graduates and candidates who are expected to graduate by summer’s end. Tuesday’s commencement honored nearly 2,000 two-year degree graduates who earned AA, AS or AAS degrees, and some 400 bachelor’s degree recipients – bringing to almost 2,000 the number of graduates who have earned a bachelor’s degree at Daytona State since it transitioned from a community college to a four-year-degree-granting state college.
Student makes good on dream Joshua Washington, 24, a Daytona Beach native, might have died of leukemia as a child. As it was, he lost four years of his childhood battling the illness. His mother put her college path on hold, dropping out to care for both him and her mom, who also had cancer. Now Josh has made good on his mom’s college dreams by earning two associate degrees and grad- Joshua uating this May with his Washington bachelor’s in supervision and management, with a specialization in broadcast/TV production. He’s the first male to get a college degree in his family and sees a responsibility to set a good example “for all who follow.” “My mom and my sisters, they’re so Please see DSC, Page 2
Miss Jabberwock 2014 Janiyah Brene’ Giddens (center) is flanked by Gabriella Mitchell and Amina MoseleyMcCloud. Alma Glover-Smith, chair of Miss Jabberwock 2014 and Nia Smith are pictured on the second row.
ALSO INSIDE
Miss Jabberwock 2014: Lights, camera, action BY ASHLEY D. THOMAS DAYTONA TIMES aysheldarcel@gmail.com
Janiyah Brene’ Giddens won the title of Miss Jabberwock 2014 on April 26 at the Mainland Arts Performance Center. The annual event began as a variety show consisting of cultural expression and talent including music, skits, and dance. “Members of the Daytona Beach Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority are thrilled to have
presented once again a tradition that began in 1951,” said President Maureen Taylor. “We are extremely grateful to the community for its continued support.”
Sorority fundraiser Locally produced Jabberwock shows serve as fundraisers for many chapters of the sorority. The program encourages and assists in the development of young individual talents. “It was a magical and exciting evening of family-fun entertainment
that set the occasion for the debut of five lovely young ladies vying for the title, Miss Jabberwock,” stated Alma Glover-Smith, chair of Miss Jabberwock 2014. Seven year old Janiyah, daughter of Joseph & Regina Giddens and granddaughter of Stephen and Brenda Perry, was crowned Miss Jabberwock 2014. The remaining four contestants ranked as runners-up: Amina Moseley-McCloud (first); Nia Smith (second); Gabriella Mitchell (third); and Please see JABBERWOCK, Page 2
COMMENTARY: DR. BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS, JR.: BLACK VOTERS ARE NOT APATHETIC | PAGE 4 SPORTS: JOHNSON DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST STERLING’S BROADSIDES | PAGE 7
7 FOCUS
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ECHO Advisory Committee to meet May 20 The Volusia County Environmental, Cultural, Historical and Outdoor (ECHO) Advisory Committee will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at Lyonia Environmental Center, 2150 Eustace Ave., Deltona. Members will finalize proposed changes to the ECHO grant application and guidelines. Public participation will be welcomed at the end of the meeting. For more information, contact ECHO Program Manager Nancy Maddox at nmaddox@volusia.org or 386-736-5953.
Learn water safety, have fun at Pool Safety Day in Palm Coast Have fun and learn about water safety at the same time at Pool Safety Day at the City of Palm Coast’s Frieda Zamba Swimming Pool from 1 p.m.to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 17. The pool is located at 339 Parkview Drive, off Belle Terre Parkway. Certified pool staff will lead activities that teach safety in and around the pool. Activities will include pool games, mini learn to swim classes, water safety information and basic first aid. Life safety staff will demonstrate a water rescue. The day’s schedule is: • 1 p.m. – Life Jacket Lesson • 1:30 p.m. – Relay Game • 2 p.m. – Life Saving (Ring Buoy) Lesson • 2:30 p.m. – Ring Toss Game • 3 p.m. – General Water Safety • 3:30 p.m. – Lifeguard Recue Demonstration • 4 p.m. – Scavenger Hunt
MAY 15 – MAY 21, 2014
“Water safety is a major issue in Florida, where we’re surrounded by water and so many opportunities for swimming, surfing and boating,” said Palm Coast Director of Parks & Recreation Luanne Santangelo. “As we head into summer, the City would like to encourage all families to get educated on water safety.” The pool will have reduced admission for Pool Safety Day: $1 admission for youth 17 & under and $2 admission for adults/seniors. For more information, call 386-9864741.
Cultural Council to review grant applications June 4 The Cultural Council of Volusia County will hold a special meeting to review applications for the fiscal year 2014-2015 Community Cultural Grant program. The meeting will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 4, in the third-floor meeting room of the Volusia County Lifeguard Headquarters and Administration Center, 515 S. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach. The meeting is open to the public. Thirty-six nonprofit organizations will present their applications for funding. Each organization will be given a brief opportunity to update Cultural Council members about their programs and respond to members’ questions. Applications will be reviewed in reverse alphabetical order. Grant scores will be announced, but recommended award amounts will be determined after the county’s budgeting process is completed. Final approval rests with the Volusia County Council. Funding for this grant program comes from the Volusia County Government’s general fund allocation for cultural and heritage programs.
PHOTO COURTESY ALMA GLOVER-SMITH
Participants performed as “Daisies” and “Dukes” during this year’s Jabberwock.
JABBERWOCK from Page 1
JaKesha Smith (fourth). Under the direction of Artistic Director Carla Lester, a musical variety show
consisting of music, song, and dance from talented community individuals were featured in the extrav-
COMMENCEMENT from Page 1
SWEEP
Computer to the smart phone
from Page 1
There is also some selfpolicing done by Craigslist responders. One post titled, “Beware. Scam…” says, “This chick will bring you to her place at (address redacted) in Edgewater to get you robbed by her friends. Go at your own risk. This is what she looks like,” with a picture of the alleged person. Another post titled, “Are you mad or na?” is a reply to a Craigslist poster asking why she continues to get flagged. The post responds to her question by saying,“They are flagging you because you are a prostitute.”
DSC
from Page 1 stoked to see me graduate – they’re all coming; I think I might cry walking across that stage; it’s been such a long journey, from cancer
Phone-based applications and websites such as Mixxer, Skout, AshleyMadison.com, AdultFriendFinder, and more are all hotbeds for prostitution. Each site has a policy against the practice, but it continues to show up.
Rundown of options
contact with you. YOU decide if, when and how you want to connect.” AshleyMadison.com is a website where the slogan is “Life is short; have an affair.” AdultFriendFinder. com is a social network for those looking for sex partners as well.
Not a waste
Skout is a location-based application that can be used on a smartphone or computer that allows its users to chat, exchange photos or notes, and send virtual gifts. The site touts that “it’s always 100% up to you if you want to make contact with someone – or if you want to respond to someone who is trying to make
Officers argue people who think police should be spending their time arresting other types of criminals don’t understand how useful a prostitution arrest can be for those other more serious crimes. Flynt says that the DBPD is not only seeking those who sell sexual service, but those who purchase those services as well.
to breaking the mold and making it all the way.” He plans to own his own TV production studio in the next 10-15 years, following his passion for the business side of the broadcast world. Daytona State offers 11 career-focused bachelor’s degrees: Bachelor of Ap-
plied Science in Supervision and Management (BAS), seven degrees in Education, Engineering Technology, Information Technology, and Nursing. The college also awarded 1,100 certificates from among 50 workforce certificate programs.
News, MSNBC, C-SPAN and others. Malveaux, whose syndicated column appears weekly in the Daytona Times, told the students that although they may face many obstacles in the coming years, it is important to always persevere. “Ask Mary McLeod Bethune, the founder of your college who started with one dollar and fifty cents. She had obstacles,”
Malveaux exclaimed. Malveaux gave several other examples, including obstacles faced by W.E B. DuBois, President Barack Obama, and numerous civil rights leaders. “You will fail, one, two, three times. But stay on your knees, know who you are and whose you are.”
Oath and pledge Following the confer-
aganza performances. The sorority also showcased girls and boys from ages five to eight as “Daisies” and “Dukes.” Proceeds from this event are earmarked for scholarships and other Delta community service projects.
ring of degrees the graduates took the alumni oath promising to support the university in all its efforts to “educate HEAD, HEART and HAND… and adhere to the noble and honorable traditions established and ordained by the founder.” Senior class president and graduate Arlen McCray-Nibbs led the pledge of support before the close of the ceremony expressing gratitude to God, parents, spouses, family, and friends and to BethuneCookman University.
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MAY 15 – MAY 21, 2014 COMMUNITY DECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006
M A YNEWS OR
Russian exchange student brings joy to Palm Coast family When that “bundle of joy” arrives, the agony dissipates. Tenderness from both parents kicks in. But, in this case, something they thought would take four weeks turned out to be nine months. “It’s like giving birth. We’ve had her for nine months,” said Sybil Dodson Lucas, while shifting gears to an ad at the library, asking for people willing to host foreign exchange students. “I thought it was such a brave thing for a young person to do, and I wanted to make sure that one of those children had a safe home,” said Sybil. So she and husband John agreed to host an exchange student. They signed up for four weeks, but it’s been nine months since 16-year-old Sofya came to live in their home from Russia. The couple encouraged Sofya to stay longer.
Lives with family In Russia, Sofya lives with her mother and father, Natalya and Vadim, and brothers Yasha, 8, and Ilya, 5. She’s successfully completed the “Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX),” spearheaded by the U.S. Department of State for competing in different academic levels and rivaling others seeking entry as exchange students. Sofya was allowed time to make a decision on whether to come to the States, realizing that family and friends would be left behind, and knowing that the United States represented a different culture.
Sybil Dodson Lucas and John Lucas show off their foreign exchange student, Sofya Ulanova.
PALM COAST COMMUNITY NEWS
JEROLINE D. MCCARTHY/ DAYTONA TIMES
JEROLINE D. MCCARTHY
“I chose to come because it’s ...an experience that is given... only once in your life,” said Sofya. “The American government pays for everything.” They were Skyping when Sofya first laid eyes on her room, and became excited seeing the swimming pool, and checking out John and Sybil (the names she calls the pair) prior to arriving in America. On their arrival at the airport, “I had no idea what they were talking about,” said Sofya. “I just kept smiling and nodding.” While English is taught in schools early on in Russia, she found it particularly difficult at first to understand her classmates because of their use of slang, but she caught on quickly.
Different culture She had gone outside her comfort zone because Russian students sit together for the duration of their 11 years in school, and view each other as family. Russian schools take it down a notch because American kids attend school for 12 years, while choosing their own seats in high school, and opting for their own curricula. Associations and sports are non-existent in the Russian schools. And Sofya finds
the way that classes are conducted in America to be easier. While attending Flagler-Palm Coast High School, Sofya is afforded the opportunity as a junior to graduate now and finish the one year in Russia. Sofya’s dress is all ready for sashaying at the prom. Despite hectic schedules in the community and at church, John and Sybil frequently have out-of-town guests coming over, while enjoying the company of their nearly four-year-old granddaughter, Sophia, who lives in Palm Coast. Gaining knowledge has been key to John and Sybil in raising a family.
Active schedule Anyhow, I saw John waiting for Sofya at the high school. She could have been anywhere from her yoga club to the Leo Club, Future Business Leaders of America, or at a dance class studying jazz, ballet, or hip-hop.
“I have more than 100 volunteer hours,” she said. She’s achieved honors in chemistry and anatomy. And she’s planning to become a heart surgeon or oncologist in a developing nation after completing medical school in America. John and Sybil’s granddaughter Sophia is a blend of Russian and African-American. She looks to Sofya as a big sister and exchanges the Russian words she has learned attending a Russian daycare. Sofya vacationed with John and Sybil and going to places of interest in New York – Times Square and the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, and entertainment by the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall – while developing contacts from Sybil’s alma mater at Columbia University. The nine months since Sofya’s arrival have all been a joy! ••• The Walk-A-Thon health-walk
BRIEFS
Palm Coast accepting entries for photo contest
Embry-Riddle students and faculty will convert a motor glider similar to this so that it runs on electric power.
E-RAU to develop an electric aircraft SPECIAL TO THE DAYTONA TIMES
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Powering Imagination LLC have entered into an agreement to create an electric flight program focused on reducing aircraft emissions and noise through the development of electric propulsion systems. In announcing their agreement, Erik Lindbergh, CEO of Powering Imagination, and Dr. Richard Anderson, Director of the Eagle Flight Research Center at Embry-Riddle, noted that commercial aviation powerplants emit a significant amount of pollutants into the atmosphere, and that aircraft noise is increasingly an issue around the world, restricting access to airports and inconveniencing the surrounding communities. Electric and hybrid-electric power systems offer the potential to significantly reduce both noise and emissions.
Third-generation aviator Erik Lindbergh is grandson of aviation pioneers Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Pow-
ering Imagination’s Quiet Flight Initiative promotes sustainable aviation and innovations in electric flight, alternative aviation fuels and aircraft noise reduction. The initiative will partner with the Green Flight Program at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach campus, where students and faculty will convert a Diamond HK36 motor glider to electric power for testing in noise-sensitive areas. The aircraft will also be used for assessing new components of electric propulsion systems to provide real-world evaluation under flight conditions. Embry-Riddle and Powering Imagination estimate that the aircraft will make its first flight in mid-2015 at the Daytona Beach Campus. “I’m excited about partnering with Embry-Riddle to create technologies and development capabilities that will benefit the entire global electric flight industry,” said Lindbergh. Eric Bartsch, Chief Operating Officer of Powering Imagination, added, “This aircraft will serve as an investment in the fu-
ture of sustainable aviation, enabling the research and development of innovations that will transform the future of flight.” The new partnership is equally welcomed by Embry-Riddle. “Our students are thrilled to be able to apply what we learned in the 2011 NASA Green Flight Challenge and take it to the next level as we collaborate with Powering Imagination,” said Anderson.
Raising funds Both Powering Imagination and Embry-Riddle are currently raising funds for this multiyear initiative to enable the purchase of the HK36 airframe, the conversion of the aircraft to electric power and the operation of the plane for testing methods of reducing emissions and noise. Corporations and individuals interested in supporting this research program and the development of the electric flight industry are encouraged to contact Bartsch at ericb@poweringimagination.com or EmbryRiddle Director of Development Lyndse Costabile at lyndse. costabile@erau.edu.
Visit us online at
daytonatimes.com East Central Florida’s Black Voice
Entries are due by May 31 for the City of Palm Coast’s Find Your Florida 2014 Photography Contest. Prizes will be awarded, and photographs submitted for the contest will be used by the city for marketing, promotional and public relations purposes. The theme of the contest is “Find Your Florida in Palm Coast.” Photographers may submit up to 20 entries. It is free to enter. Entries must be submitted no later than midnight May 31. Photographs submitted for the contest must be taken in the City of Palm Coast. The photographs will be used by the city for marketing, promotional and public relations purposes such as publications, videos and websites to promote the City of Palm Coast. All submissions will become the property of the City of Palm Coast. For complete guidelines and an online entry form, visit www.palmcoastgov.com/photocontest.
Easter Seals hosts ‘Signing Saturdays’ Signing Saturdays are available for children 5 years old to 12 years who sign, are learning to sign or would like to learn American Sign Language (ASL). It’s also available for siblings and parents. For more information, visit www. esvf.org. RSVP for emails via email at tlarrie@esvf.org or call 386-944-7828.
Flagler-Palm Coast students raising money for homeless The Future Business Leaders of America at FlaglerPalm Coast High School is raising money and supplies to provide necessities to the students in the community who are homeless. For more details, contact Katelyn Hatley at 386-262-2700.
New mom support group
New moms are invited to join Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center for a free Mommy to Mommy Support Group on May 28 at 11 a.m. The class
sponsorship, on behalf of Women’s Day at First Church, will take place May 17, 7 a.m., at Lehigh Trail on Belle Terre Parkway, between Royal Palms Parkway and the fire station. If you’d like to join the women for the Walk-A-Thon, call the church at 386-446-5759. First Church is pastored by the Rev. Gillard S. Glover. ••• As always, remember our prayers for the sick, afflicted and bereaved.
Celebrations Birthday wishes to: Gillard S. (Trés) Glover, III, May 18; Joy Eurie, May 19; Ernest (Toney, the barber) Robinson, Donna Banks, May 21. Happy anniversary to David and Joy Eurie, May 16; Arthur and Loretta Pete, Stanley and Phyllis Henderson, May 19, and Sidney and Violet Honeyghan, May 20.
curriculum is designed to support and enlighten new moms and provide more information about newborns. This free class meets in the hospital’s Cafeteria Annex located at 305 Memorial Medical Parkway in Daytona Beach. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. To learn more or to register, visit www.FloridaHospitalBabies. com or call 386-231-3152.
Free smoking cessation program Join Florida Hospital Oceanside for a free five-week program designed to meet the needs of smokers who want to quit. The program begins May 27 and meets each Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. until June 24. Participants are encouraged to get support by attending as many programs as they want, and can attend over and over until they are confident about being smoke-free. Participants are provided a book and other helpful tools along the way to make the process easier. The program, which was designed by an exsmoker and is led by a trained facilitator, will guide participants through the many issues related to quitting smoking, including coping with anger, sleep problems and cravings, managing stress, how physical activity and healthy food choices make quitting smoking easier, how to prevent relapse and what to do when friends and family smoke around you. Classes are held at Florida Hospital Oceanside, 264 S. Atlantic Ave. in Ormond Beach. Registration is required. Call 1-877-784-8486.
Self-defense workshop Community members are invited to join Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center for a free self-defense workshop on May 19 at 5 p.m. During this workshop, Villaris Martial Arts will provide tips for avoiding situations and defending oneself with easy-to-learn methods such as escapes and vitalarea striking. This class meets at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center’s first floor classroom at 305 Memorial Medical Parkway, Daytona Beach. Space is limited. RSVP is required. Call 386-231-2229.
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7 EDITORIAL
MAY 15 – MAY 21, 2014
For the general welfare A few years ago I had a chance to travel to Petaluma, California as a private citizen on personal business. Little did I know and hardly could I have imagined what might be going on there in the processing and preparation of the food that I and thousands of others would potentially make meals. At the time of my travel there, I, like countless Americans, ate meat. Although I no longer eat meat, my stomach now churns at recent revelations of food contamination coming from a Petaluma processor. A CNN exclusive recently reported that a meat processing plant in California was buying diseased dairy cows and processing them when government inspectors weren’t there. CNN received this information from responsible federal government officials. After the cows were killed, employees at Rancho Feeding Corporation, based in Petaluma, would hide the warning signs of cancer by trimming off diseased parts, using a fake stamp of approval or even replacing the heads of sick cows with ones from healthy animals, according to the officials.
Whistleblower speaks up A principled employee at the plant risked retaliation and retribution by revealing these activities. This tip led to a federal investigation and the recall of nearly 9 million pounds of meat processed by Rancho Feeding Corporation. We’ll never know how many pounds of the diseased meat had already been eaten by unsuspecting consumers, but the thought of eating this offending meat still leaves me con-
DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ. TRICE EDNEY WIRE
cerned for my health and safety, and that of other consumers. Fortunately, I don’t eat meat anymore. I took what I consider to be the responsible course of action and stopped eating meat after reading about the horrible way animals are killed and the frequent questionable sanitary measures used to prepare meat for sale. Rancho Feeding Corporation may be the current interest of government inspectors, but I’m sure this isn’t the only company that needs government oversight to keep them honest. This is an obvious circumstance of the necessity of government oversight to keep not only meat, but all of our food, uncontaminated. Lately, we’ve heard the news of diseased bananas, diseased oranges and a myriad of other questionable commodities marketed as food. In our recent past, we’ve experienced poison grapes. We’ve also suffered under the threat of poison lettuce and poison chickens. It seems that every few weeks we hear about contaminated milk, diseased cows, toxins in the water we drink and in the air we breathe. As inconvenient as some think government regulations may be, I shudder to think where we would be without them! I want the government to inspect the food I eat and impose regulato-
ry requirements on all those who offer products for public consumption.
Government intervention Although many citizens are unaware of, ignore or refute the authority of the government, it has a constitutionally mandated responsibility to “provide for the general welfare.” Including, but not limited to military defense, no constitutional scholar that I know would interpret that phrase to mean anything except that the government has the responsibility to assure that citizens are protected from enemies- foreign and domestic - even those motivated by avarice and greed. Let’s not forget why we have child labor laws, civil and voting rights laws, highway safety laws, fair housing laws, transportation laws, clean air and clean water laws, and the list goes on. The government has always had to intervene to work for solutions to keep our citizens healthy and safe from those who would sacrifice their well-being to “the god of profitability”. Those who argue that they want government out of their lives never seem to mind when they benefit. We cannot allow ourselves to fall victim to those who would convince us that government is in unequivocal opposition to our interests.
Dr. E. Faye Williams is Chair of the National Congress of Black Women. Write your own response at www.daytonatimes.com.
New York’s plan for affordable housing “Welcome to New York, baby. It’s a city full of fun!” goes a line from one of my favorite jazz songs of years ago. But, increasingly for many of its residents, New York has become a city full of high anxiety about where they can afford to live. The migration to New York of businesses with high-salaried jobs, and individuals from other parts of the country and the world with eye-popping wealth in recent years have intensified its traditionally powerful high-end residential housing dynamic to a fever pitch. Several super highrise apartment towers just south of Central Park have already remade that part of Manhattan into a “billionaires row.” And the force of gentrification is now well established in numerous low-, moderate- and middle-income neighborhoods throughout the city.
All about the money If you’ve got a stash of cash, or are pulling down a high salary, you’ve got a lot of choices from one end of the city to the other. But New Yorkers who don’t fit into those categories—those with low, moderate, and even middle incomes—are worried that they’re being squeezed out of places to live. A raft of statistics make it clear they’re right to be worried: Be-
LEE A. DANIELS NNPA COLUMNIST
tween 2005 and 2012, rents in the city rose by 11 percent, while the income of renters stagnated, when adjusted for inflation. Nearly 55 percent of renters are spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing costs, the standard gauge of a renter’s housing cost-to-income equilibrium. Even worse, more than 30 percent of renters are spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing. In other words, New York has a crisis of affordable housing. That crisis was overshadowed for much of the last decade by the shine of high-end development in Manhattan and the “novelty” of gentrification’s spread to once down-market neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, and now The Bronx. But the nation’s devastating recession and new Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign of last year—with its “Tale of Two Cities” theme—brought the crisis into sharp focus. The city’s electorate responded by giving de Blasio a landslide victory; he won by nearly 50 percentage points.
Last week, de Blasio put forward a mammoth housing plan that would create and preserve a total of 200,000 units of affordable housing across the city during the next decade and meet the housing needs of 500,000 people. City officials said the plan would cost a total of $41 billion in city, state, federal and private-sector funds. Its ambitious goals are to increase neighborhoods’ stock of affordable housing as a means of maintaining the city’s economic and ethnic and racial diversity, while also guiding a certain degree of change in neighborhoods and enabling private-market developers working outside of the city’s highrent districts to realize a reasonable profit. The Plan’s complexity makes it apparent that a lot of the questions in it come down to one big “if:” If those individuals and community organizations and local politicians; and those officials in municipal, state and federal offices; and those in the private-sector market agree with de Blasio’s assertion.
Lee A. Daniels is a longtime New York journalist. His most recent book is Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America. Write your own response at www.daytonatimes.com.
Black voters are not apathetic The 2014 election year should be a voting “payback” year for Black America. Elected officials and politicians across America who have voted and acted against the economic, political and social interests of the Black American community should be voted out of office in the November 2014 midterm elections. Democracy requires civic participation by all people to ensure fairness, equality and justice. Too often we just moan and groan about what the forces of American racism and repression continue to do to perpetuate racial discrimination, injustice, poverty and inequality. But when election time comes around, there are still too many Black Americans who are eligible to vote who simply do not vote. But that is not because of apathy. It is because there is an underestimation of the transformative power of Black American maximum civic participation. In other words, we simply undervalue the power of our vote.
DR. BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST
responsibility for the Black vote to determine the outcome of the midterm elections in key swing states such as North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Texas. Of course, there are members of Congress and state legislatures who are hoping that there will be a low voter turnout this year among Black Americans. Some of us have forgotten the awful and bloody price that was paid during height of the Civil Rights Movement to get the Voting Rights Act of 1965 enacted into law. The recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court have significantly eroded the enforcement of voting rights protections. Coupled with the massive voter suppression actions by the Republican Party in those states where Black Americans and Latino Americans are concentrated is necessary to fight Important for a reason back now. We need to better understand A major contributing factor to and comprehend the importance the mainstream media illusion of the strategic opportunity and about the so-called rise in Black
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: BOKO HARAM
American voter apathy is that their polling of persons of color is very often inaccurate and superficial. That is why media organizations such as the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) should do its own national polling of the issues and interests of Black Americans. The truth is that Black Americans are not apathetic about voting. Yes, some are very disappointed that we have not made more progress in America toward ending poverty and economic inequality. But that does not mean that we are going to have a downward trend in voter turnout. The facts are that in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and in 2012 the overall percentage of Black American voter turnout has been on a steady increase. So, it is important that we do not fall for the false hype about low voter turnout. We have to work hard and we have to work smart to help Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) across the nation. Let’s get out the vote!
Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is president of Education Online Services Corporation and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.
RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE
Nigerian government fails our missing girls – and our country The cold facts stare us in our face: Fact 1: More than 300 girls were abducted from the rural northeast region of Nigeria on April 15 while attending secondary school; 276 are still believed to be held captive. Fact 2: The federal government has yet to forcibly intervene to get our girls back. The issue isn’t just that the government hasn’t fully addressed this atrocity, the deeper questions are: What decisive action is necessary to put a stop to what is becoming a normal occurrence? Does the Nigerian government have what it takes and what it needs to make this happen? Results of a search on the activities of Boko Haram leaves a sickening feeling in your stomach. A deeper void settles in the pit of your stomach when you search for responses from the government regarding this latest tragedy. And the response? Silence. Dead Silence. It’s hard not to wonder why, and it becomes a little easier to understand the seeming apathy from Nigerians home and abroad.
All too familiar I called my sister, Temitope George, because I could not help but think of my niece. She is a mother of two sons and a daughter living in Lagos whose words echoed what I had heard from almost every Nigerian I had spoken to, “’So what’s next?’… ‘We’ve begun to expect it’ … It’s a terrible state. Nigeria is fast becoming like a woman in an abusive relationship … ‘It’s terrible, but a reality.’” I have yet to speak to a Nigerian who doesn’t know someone who has been personally affected by a killing or kidnapping in the hands of the terrorist group. The reports show that this is indeed the highest number of persons targeted by the Islamic radical group. And perhaps that is why many Nigerians who have taken to social media to express their despair with the situation are invariably asking, “What number will become too outrageous?” It appears that the latest transgression has garnered the most voluminous commentary. Not the 59 boys attending boarding school that were killed in February 2014. Not the 40 killed in September 2013. Not the 185 killed in January 2012. This is all too familiar.
OLUWA TOSIN ADEGBOLA NNPA GUEST COLUMNIST
Desensitized no more Lest I point any fingers of apathy towards anyone, I too, a Nigerian living in the United States have become apathetic. Did I hear about the prior killings? Yes, I did. Did I decry it publicly as I am doing now? Regretfully, I did not. Did I act? Again, no. I heard or read each headline, shook my head, expressed my disdain within my own small circles, and that was that. Seeing the helplessness on the parents’ faces, brought me to tears. Tears of anger. Reading that a group of women, who had already marched once before, were marching again on April 30, demanding some response from government, I turned to social media with the desire to join or start a campaign to support them and give voice to the girls. Regardless of some Nigerians lashing out at the government and accusing them of inaction, one has to respect the reality that to effectively shut down an extremist radical group such as Boko Haram, is no easy task. However, what many Nigerians like myself are seeking is a show of humanity from the government through it all. A public acknowledgment of the pain, despair, helplessness and anger felt by the families would be a step in the right direction. The noise therefore, of persons who are campaigning on social media, organizing rallies and reaching out to the families, is to let the family know that we care. That we understand that this is unacceptable and that we stand with them in solidarity, seeking an end to these atrocities. Public silence, even if there is action behind the scenes, cannot be the answer from the Nigerian federal government. Too much is at stake.
Oluwa Tosin Adeqbola is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Strategic Communication in the School of Global Journalism and Communications at Morgan State University. She can be reached at oluwatosin.adegbola@morgan.edu. Write your own response at www. daytonatimes.com.
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HEALTH MA YOR
MAY 15 –14MAY 2014 DECEMBER - 20,21, 2006
Insufficient Vitamin D linked to prostate cancer obesity. You see a few of these confounding factors in the Vitamin D literature.” Although the association between Vitamin D and cancer has already been discovered and is still being explored, this study takes a targeted look at how this link manifests differently between Blacks and Whites.
BY JAZELLE HUNT NNPA WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON – The relationship between melanin and Vitamin D – the nutrient that sunlight provides – may explain why African-American, Caribbean, and men of African ancestry have the highest rates of prostate cancer than anyone in the world, according to a new study. The study by a team of researchers at Northwestern University, which appears in this month’s issue of Clinical Cancer Research, finds that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of diagnosis among Black men – but not among White men. “Our report is the first to describe the association of Vitamin D deficiency and outcomes of prostate biopsies in high-risk men with an abnormal [blood test or clinical exam],” the study states. “If Vitamin D is involved in prostate cancer initiation or progression, it would provide a modifiable risk factor for primary prevention and secondary prevention to limit progression, especially in the highest risk group of AfricanAmerican men.”
Common among men Among American men, prostate cancer is the most common cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. One in seven American men will develop it in their lifetime. However, Black men are 60 percent more likely than Whites to be affected, according to the American Cancer Society. Although the mortality rate is among the lowest of all cancers, it is more than twice as high for Black men than White men. (The incidence of
Controversial link
SANDY HUFFAKER/KRT/MCT
Dr. Richard Butcher checks the blood pressure of patient Robert Farrell at the Care View Medical Group in San Diego, California. prostate cancer is low among Latino and Asian men). It’s especially a concern for men over 50, as the risk of onset rises steadily over time; cancer (in general) is the number one cause of death for Black men age 65 to 84 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study tested the Vitamin D levels of nearly 700 men in the Chicago area undergoing their first prostate biopsies, which is the usual recommendation after an abnormal test result or clinical exam. Researchers found that while severely low Vitamin D levels were associated with more aggressive tu-
mors, across race, AfricanAmerican men with even moderately low Vitamin D levels had higher odds of being diagnosed after that initial biopsy. There was no similar link among the White men studied.
Cell growth role Vitamin D primarily allows the body to absorb calcium, but it also plays a role in regulating cell growth and creation. Although the nutrient can be found in a handful of foods – most significantly in fatty seafood, such as wild-caught salmon – the body primarily creates its own Vitamin D by absorbing sunlight. Melanin, which naturally blocks the sun’s ultraviolet (UV)
rays, alters this process. “The darker the color of the skin, the less effective sunlight is in producing Vitamin D in skin,” says Dr. Donald Trump, president and CEO of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the first cancer center in the nation. (Trump was not involved in this particular study). “An African-American person is more likely to have lower levels of Vitamin D than a European person, because the same amount of sun exposure doesn’t generate the same amount of Vitamin D for darker skin as it does for lighter skin,” he explained. Additionally, people who are overweight are more likely to have low Vitamin
D levels. According to 2011 data from the Office of Minority Health, 70 percent of African-American men 20 years and older are overweight or obese. The National Cancer Institute asserts that studies have shown obese men to be at greater risk for aggressive prostate cancer than men at a healthy weight.
Fatter, lower “The fatter I get, the lower my Vitamin D level goes, because it gets absorbed into body fat instead of my blood. That could be one possible explanation for the [racial] disparities in data,” Trump said. “So maybe Vitamin D is just a surrogate or marker for
There is still controversy in the medical community regarding how significant this link is, or if it has real-world treatment or prevention implications. Further complicating matters, a study released last year in the New England Journal of Medicine asserts that Black people generally do have sufficient Vitamin D levels –it’s just a different, more readily-available form than the one measured by the standard test. “We know a lot about the fact that in a lab test tube or animal, the active form of Vitamin D can moderate, slow, or stop prostate tumor cells, and at high doses can even kill them. We don’t know yet whether treating people with Vitamin D will reduce the chance of getting [cancer],” Trump said. He recommends a Vitamin D-level test for his patients who are diagnosed with prostate cancer. In his experience, at least 70 percent of diagnosed men are deficient, and he does prescribe supplements. “We don’t know for sure that it makes a difference, but I believe it does,” Trump said. “I think there is a distinct possibility that low Vitamin D levels might contribute to the severity of prostate cancer in AfricanAmerican men – but we don’t have proof of that at the moment.”
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MAY 15 14 – MAY 21, 2014 DECEMBER - 20, 2006
Johnson defends himself against Sterling’s broadsides BY JAMES RAINEY LOS ANGELES TIMES / MCT
LOS ANGELES – Magic Johnson described Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling as “delusional” in thinking that his players love him and lost “in another world” if he believes that the public wants him to maintain his grip on the NBA franchise despite his racially inflammatory remarks. The critiques by the one-time Lakers great came Tuesday, a day after Sterling lashed out at Johnson as an unworthy role model who did little to support fellow Blacks. Sterling also implied that Johnson misled him in an attempt to take over the Clippers.
Disturbed and angry Johnson mounted a robust defense of his integrity and his role as a leader of the Black community, saying in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he was disturbed and angry that Sterling seemed entirely unaware of the business and charitable works that Johnson and other Blacks have done for their community. “The problem is he is living in the Stone Ages,” Johnson said. “He can’t make those comments about African-Americans or Latinos. He just can’t do it.” Johnson’s interview came as he continued to receive an outpouring of support from the community and from political leaders – including President Bill Clinton and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti – and on the day when the NBA said it was still moving toward stripping Sterling of the
franchise that he bought in 1981. Donald Sterling, 80, said in his CNN interview Monday that he might fight a decision by NBA owners to oust him from the 30-team league, though he said he hoped to avoid an expensive conflict. “He’s a man who’s upset and he’s reaching,” Johnson said in explaining why he thought Sterling attacked him. “He’s trying to find something that he can grab on to help him save his team. And it’s not going to happen.”
Money doesn’t matter Johnson, who owns many businesses and is part of the group that controls the Los Angeles Dodgers, said he believed Sterling would not be able to maneuver his way out of his predicament. “He can’t buy his way out of this one. He has bought his way out of all the other situations,” Johnson said. “He can’t do it with this one.” The tempest around the Clippers began the night of April 25, when the web site TMZ posted a recording in which Sterling told his frequent companion, V. Stiviano, that he did not want to her to publicly associate with Blacks. Sterling was upset because Stiviano, 31, had posted on social media a photo of herself posing with Johnson. Days later, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned the league’s longest-tenured owner from the league, fined him $2.5 million and began a process to strip him of the team. A vote by the owners has not yet been called.
No newspaper ads Sterling’s appearance on CNN was widely anticipated to center on his apology, but instead the apartment magnate criticized Johnson as someone who had shamed himself by contracting HIV. Johnson’s string of rebuttals began with him describing the years of work he had put in, counseling and consoling others with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. He described his foundation spending millions on the Earvin cause, but noted ‘Magic’ that he had not Johnson taken out newspaper ads, like Sterling, to tout his good works. “I don’t have to sit and publicize everything I do,” Johnson said. “I just feel sorry for him. I really do. It’s sad.” He said, “My whole life is devoted to urban America.” Johnson added that he not only had brought economic development to underserved neighborhoods, but worked with other Blacks to try to improve the lot of other Blacks. He said Sterling had clearly “not done his homework” or he would have known about those commitments. “I am always going to fight for myself and my people,” Johnson said. Johnson said he had appreciated a message from President Clinton, who called to “thank me for all my work in urban America.” Mayor Garcetti said Johnson
represents “the best of L.A.” and reiterated his call for a change in Clippers ownership.
No love for Sterling Two Clippers stars also pointedly declined Tuesday to express the love for Sterling that the owner insisted the team had for him. “I don’t know about all that,” point guard Chris Paul said during a shoot-around before Game 5 of the team’s second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I love my wife, my kids, my family, my teammates. Yeah!” Added forward Blake Griffin: “If you ask every single guy on this team, they’d say they love their family. They love their teammates. That’s who we’re playing for.” Johnson said the recent revelations about Sterling support the accusations that former NBA great Elgin Baylor made in a lawsuit, alleging that he was a victim of age and race discrimination, and the owner’s “plantation mentality,” when he worked for the Clippers. “And now we all feel bad that we didn’t support (Baylor), because we should have,” Johnson said. “And everything that he said is coming to light today. “
Lakers, not Clippers Johnson, who led the Lakers to five NBA championships, denied that he had tried to delay Sterling’s response to charges of racism to position himself to buy the Clippers. He said he maintains an interest in owning an NBA team, but would prefer it be the Lakers. The intensity of Sterling’s cri-
tique belied what has been a generally cordial, though never close, relationship with the Lakers superstar that extends back more than three decades. Johnson described how he attended a party at Sterling’s Malibu beach house in 1979, not long after he arrived in Los Angeles from Michigan. They talked occasionally over the years, though never did business together. When Sterling’s remarks were met with public outrage, Johnson said, he was surprised at the owner’s response – calling and asking, without an apology, whether Johnson would make a joint television appearance with him. They would be interviewed by Barbara Walters. Johnson said he declined. “I said, the No. 1 thing you need to do,” Johnson recalled telling Sterling, “which you haven’t done, is apologize to everybody and myself.” Sterling has yet to apologize to Johnson.
Problem girlfriend The photo that touched off Sterling’s angry remarks about Blacks was not taken at a Clippers game but at a Dodgers game. Johnson said his pose in that photo with Stiviano was his only contact with the Sterling companion, so he was at a loss to understand why Sterling targeted him. “He needs to address this young lady, because that is the problem,” Johnson said. “That is where the problem started, not with Magic Johnson. It started with his girlfriend.”
Staff writers Mike Bresnahan and Bill Plaschke also contributed to this report.
Wife would lose share of team if Donald Sterling is voted out BY CARLOS LOZANO LOS ANGELES TIMES / MCT)
LOS ANGELES – The NBA issued a statement saying that any interests Shelly Sterling may have in the Los Angeles Clippers would be terminated if the NBA’s owners vote to force her husband, Donald Sterling, to sell the team. “Under the NBA Constitution, if a controlling owner’s interest is terminated by a three-fourths vote, all other team owners’ interests are automatically terminated as well,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement. “It doesn’t matter whether the owners are related as is the case here. These are the rules to which all NBA owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team.” The NBA recently banned Sterling for life from the league and levied a $2.5 million fine against him for racial remarks he made that were caught on tape. But Shelly Sterling has maintained that she is legally entitled to maintain
ownership of the Clippers. Her attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, issued the following statement Sunday in response to the NBA.
Disagrees with NBA “We do not agree with the league’s self-serving interpretation of its constitution, its application to Shelly Sterling or its validity under these unique circumstances,” he said. “We live in a nation of laws. California law and the United States Constitution trump any such interpretation.” Shelly Sterling recently described her long tenure as a “die-hard” fan of the team and said she believes that the sanctions against her husband do not apply to “me or my family.” When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Donald Sterling’s punishment, he said there had been “no decisions about other members of the Sterling family,” adding: “This ruling applies specifically to Donald Sterling and Donald Sterling’s conduct only.”
But Silver also said that when it comes to a vote on future ownership, fellow NBA board members would consider Sterling’s “overall fitness to be an owner in the NBA,” which would “take into account a lifetime of behavior.”
Owned by trust The team is held in a family trust, and sources familiar with the Clippers say they believe that Shelly Sterling has equal ownership with her husband and each takes control if the other dies. Sterling paid $12.5 million for the team in 1981, but experts have said recently the team could be sold for $1 billion or more. In an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters that aired Sunday, Shelly Sterling said she may eventually divorce Donald Sterling and will fight efforts to force her to sell her share of the Clippers. She also suggested Donald Sterling is suffering from dementia, which she said could explain a re-
JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/MCT
Rochelle Sterling, wife of Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, watches the game from the floor during this year’s NBA playoffs. cording in which he reportedly tells a female friend not to associate with Black people. “I was shocked by what he said,” Shelly Sterling told Walters. “But I don’t know why I should be punished for what his actions were.”
Family legacy The NBA responded to state sales taxes and are able to deduct them from Uncle Sam’s tax bill. The three are among the strange bedfellows who benefit from targeted tax breaks that expired at the end of 2013 and that the Senate and House of Representatives are now looking to restore.
List of ‘extenders’
STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT
Cars sprint past the starting line during the 2014 Daytona 500.
Congress considers tax breaks for NASCAR and horse racing BY MARIA RECIO MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU / MCT
WASHINGTON – Horse racing may be thought of
as the sport of kings, but the National Thoroughbred Racing Association says breeders and stable owners need a tax break just like everybody else.
Stock car racing has a regal status among its followers, but NASCAR has its hand out, too, as do taxpayers in seven states with no income tax who pay
The Senate legislation, which is expected to be voted on on the floor this week, combines more than 50 of the so-called tax extenders Congress awarded at different times for different constituencies, everything from helping families to pay for college, homeowners to deduct mortgage expenses, business to benefit by giving away food inventory, and to hire veterans. Sen. Kay Hagan, DN.C., included that provision with a bill called “Hire a Hero.” The tax extenders bill would reinstate them for two years at a cost to the treasury of $85 billion. Supporters are facing some stiff opposition from the right and the left, who say they create favorites in the tax code. “Congress is able to hide
the recordings by banning Donald Sterling for life and saying it would seek to force him to sell the team. But Shelly Sterling said she sees the Clippers as part of her family legacy. “I’m wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there’s 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband? Or
would they leave the husband in?” she said. Shelly Sterling also suggested that her husband might want to transfer full ownership of the team to her. As for their future as a couple, she said she had considered divorcing him for years but has not made any final decisions.
the true cost of these tax breaks by renewing them every two years,” Steve Wamhoff, the legislative director for Citizens for Tax Justice, a liberal research center, said in a newspaper opinion piece. “But the truth is, if allowed to continue indefinitely, these corporate tax breaks will balloon the deficit by $700 billion over the next decade.” The diverse interests that see their tax breaks as a matter of fairness make for a colorful coalition. They also have powerful patrons, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
extenders, Stabenow’s provision was popular. International Speedway Corp., which owns 12 tracks – including Daytona Beach, Kansas City, Kan., and Homestead, Fla., and Darlington, S.C. – is an enthusiastic supporter. “We spend $120 million to $150 million a year on capital improvements,” International Speedway Corp. spokesman Lenny Santiago said. Daytona International Speedway has just begun a $400 million stadium renovation. “These capital projects create a significant amount of economic opportunity,” Santiago said.
NASCAR provision
But an increasingly loud chorus of naysayers is objecting to the tax breaks. “In general, we view extenders as handouts to particular groups,” said Barney Keller, a spokesman for the Club for Growth, a conservative fiscal policy organization. “All tax treatment should be fair and equal.” The group plans to “score” the Senate vote, meaning it will look favorably on members who vote against the bill.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who represents automotive interests, got the so-called NASCAR provision, which allows the depreciation of motor sport facilities over seven years instead of 15 or more, reinserted in the Senate Finance Committee bill last month. The panel’s chairman, Sen. Ron Wyden, DOre., had initially removed it from consideration. Like virtually all the tax
Not so fast
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