Daytona Times - October 22, 2015

Palm Coast pastor talks about path to Zion SEE PAGE 3

EE FR

BILL FLETCHER: Why calling Black Lives Matter ‘anti-police’ movement won’t work SEE PAGE 4

BIKERS ROLL INTO MIDTOWN FOR THE FOOD AND CULTURE SEE PAGE 7

East Central Florida’s Black Voice OCTOBER 22 - OCTOBER 28, 2015

YEAR 40 NO. 43

www.daytonatimes.com

HONORING AN AREA LEGEND

B-CU celebrating homecoming with barbecue, free concert

BY PENNY DICKERSON DAYTONA TIMES news@daytonatimes.com

Daytona Beach will be saturated in a sea of maroon and gold this weekend as Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) celebrates its homecoming.

Despite the controversy in the past weeks regarding Florida Gov. Rick Scott being awarded the university’s Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Leadership Award Wednesday night at B-CU’s Legacy Awards Gala, many Wildcats were looking forward to the rest of the homecoming festivities.

The Thursday-through-Sunday lineup kicked off with a Greek Step Show, a popular event featuring B-CU’s fraternities and sororities. The step show was scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday night at the Performing Arts Center.

Pep rally at park

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

Smooth jazz saxophonist Dayve Stewart was one of the performers at the DeLand festival.

Parade, game, then a party

The ‘Thin Man’ Watts Festival draws hundreds of music fans from around the state

Game day kicks off at 9 a.m. Saturday with the homecoming parade along Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard in Daytona Beach. A tailgate party is from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Municipal Stadium. The Wildcats take on Norfolk State at 4 p.m.

An alumni after party is scheduled that evening in the President’s Banquet Room at B-CU’s Center for Civic Engagement.

BY PENNY DICKERSON DAYTONA TIMES news@daytonatimes.com

The legacy of jazz in DeLand was once again celebrated in honor of the late music impresario Noble “Thin Man” Watts.

In 2004, the same year of his death, the namesake outdoor jazz festival was conceived. On Oct. 17, the tradition continued in the Dr. Noble Watts Amphitheater located in the 300 block of South Clara Avenue near downtown DeLand.

The African American Museum of the Arts and The MainStreet DeLand Association served as host organization, and both shared a common goal to attract new and sustain its artistic customer base.

The museum was founded in 1994 by Irene D. Johnson and her husband, Maxwell, and the jazz festival serves as an ideal forum to introduce a crowd of Central Florida music fans to its museum gallery, which is deemed a hidden treasure and located across the street from the amphitheater on South Clara Avenue.

“The fest brings people from all of Florida, and for a lot of them it may be their first visit to the amphitheater and our gallery,” said Jeff Pendleton, president of the Af-

On Friday night, B-CU is hosting a “Bringing it Back to the Basics Pep Rally’’ at Jackie Robinson Ballpark at 105 Orange Ave. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the event starts at 7.

The cost is free for B-CU students and children ages 2 to 12 get in for $5. It will cost $10 for attendees who are 13 and up. According to the university, $2 of the fee will go to a scholarship fund.

The Friday pep rally will be followed by “A Family Affair BBQ, ’’ which starts at 7 p.m. on campus at the Quad.

Comedy, concert on Sunday

A diverse group of jazz lovers enjoy music at this year’s festival. rican American Museum of the Arts board of directors.

Who was ‘Thin Man’?

The roots of Noble “Thin Man” Watts are rooted in DeLand but stretch across the state as far west as Tallahassee. The local native is a former member of the famed Florida A&M University “Marching 100” band along with the legendary Cannonball Adderley. Watts garnered violin and trumpet mastery in his youth.

He was given the moniker “Thin Man” because he was thin as a flute, but it was the saxophone that brought him fame. Following college, his professional career in-

On Sunday, Oct. 25, a “Check Out” Comedy Show will be held at noon at B-CU’s Gertrude Heyn Memorial Chapel. The doors open at noon. A portion of the proceeds go to a scholarship fund.

A free Jazz on the Quad concert featuring The Love Band and Roscoe Jenkins Band takes place on campus at 3 p.m.

For more details, visit www.cookman. edu/homecoming.

Noble “Thin Man’’ Watts, a DeLand native, died in 2004.

Please see LEGEND, Page 2

DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./ HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

The Love Band is scheduled to perform Sunday at B-CU during a free concert.

Salvation Army seeking holiday volunteers The Salvation Army is seeking red kettle bell ringers. The red kettle is a century-old Christmas symbol, helping shoppers remember the needy during the holiday season. Groups and individuals are needed from Nov. 21 through Dec. 24.

The Salvation Army will be operating about 40 red kettle locations locally. The kettles will be open from 10 a.m. through 8 p.m. Training is Nov. 12.

For more information, call 386-2362020.

ALSO INSIDE

Free legal advice available Oct. 28 in Daytona Beach In honor of Pro Bono Month, the Volusia County Bar Association has teamed up with Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (CLSMF), the primary provider of free legal aid in Central Florida, to host a Free Legal Advice Clinic for Civil Matters. The clinic will take place at the CLSMF Volusia County office, 128 Orange Ave. Daytona Beach, on Oct. 28 from 1 to 7 p.m. This free clinic is open to all residents of Central Florida.

Individuals who have civil legal issues including, but not limited to, consumer, public benefits or housing and foreclo-

sure, will be able to meet one-on-one with experienced attorneys. These attorneys have volunteered to work for free as part of CLSMF’s Volunteer Lawyers Project.

All attendees are encouraged to take any papers related to their legal matter, any court paperwork that has been received or filed, a list of questions to ask attorneys regarding the legal matter, a state issued driver’s license or ID and a Resident Alien Card if not a U.S. citizen.

Participants do not have to be income-eligible for legal services to attend the free clinic, but will need to complete an intake upon arrival. The application process will begin at 1 p.m. and attorneys will start seeing clients at 3 p.m. The clinic is open on a first-come, first-served basis, so participants are encouraged to arrive with ample time to complete an intake.

For more information, call 386-255-6573 x. 2444 or email probono@clsmf.org.

COMMENTARY: DR. BENJAMIN CHAVIS: WE MUST FIGHT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE | PAGE 4 BUSINESS: MAJOR RETAILERS NATIONWIDE ALREADY HIRING FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON | PAGE 8

7 FOCUS

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OCTOBER 22 – OCTOBER 28, 2015

Florida Senate removes Confederate flag from its seal

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Without a formal vote, the Florida Senate on Monday agreed to strip the Confederate battle flag from its official seal, removing one of the few remaining vestiges of the infamous icon in state government.

After some hesitation when the change first came up, senators – back in Tallahassee for a redistricting special session – agreed without objection to adopt a new rule removing the controversial emblem from the chamber’s insignia. Approving the change without objection avoided the need for even a voice vote on the emotional issue.

Under the rule approved Monday, the seal would still include other non-American flags that flew over Florida, including the 1513 Spanish flag, the 1564 French flag and the 1763 flag of Great Britain.

The United States flag would also remain, while the Florida state flag would replace the Confederate banner on the marker.

Request by Joyner Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, requested in June

that the Senate Rules Committee consider whether to change the seal amid a national backlash against Confederate symbols after a man with White supremacist views opened fire at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C., Arthenia killing nine people.

Joyner Since then, Southern states, including Florida, have wrestled with how to reconcile past commemorations of “the lost cause” with shifting feelings about race and the meaning of the Civil War. While many Southerners view displays

BRIEFS Volusia has emergency grant funds available for nonprofits Volusia County has received Emergency Solutions Grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the implementation of a rapidrehousing program for homeless families with children, chronically homeless individuals, and homeless veterans.

The amount available for distribution is $230,000. Of the available funds, $20,000 may be used for administrative costs. Approved applicants will be required to provide a 100 percent cash match.

Not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizations are eligible to submit applications. The deadline is noon Nov. 6.

All programs must comply with the Volusia County’s Emergency Solutions Grant written standards.

Applications and the written standards are available online at www.volusia.org/ community_assistance/applications or by calling Brittany Scott at 386-736-5955 in DeLand, 386-254-4648 in Daytona Beach or 386-423-3375 in New Smyrna Beach.

Ask for extension 12959.

Greater Friendship celebrating 115th church anniversary Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church will launch its 115th Church Anniversary Celebration on Friday, Oct. 23 at 6:30 p.m. with a Praise and Worship Anniversary Jubilee.

The celebration theme is “The Year of Recommitment” and will conclude on Sunday, Oct. 25 with Sunday School at 9 a.m. and morning worship at 10:45 a.m.

The morning worship service will feature guest speaker, the Rev. Ronald V. Walters, pastor of the Olivet Missionary Bap-

Rev. Ronald Walters

National Council of Negro Women to present jazz event The Daytona Beach Section of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) will present “Jazz-A-Matazz and All that Jazz” from 2 to 5 p.m. Nov. 8. The event will include supper and entertainment provided by Jarred Armstrong.

This year’s event will include a tribute to Dr. Shirley B. Lee, a lifelong NCNW member and well-known community resident, who died in June.

It will be held in the Presidents Banquet Hall in the Center for Civic Engagement at Bethune-Cookman University, 740 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach.

The event will benefit the section’s annual Black History Brain Bowl and other community projects.

For more information on tickets, call 386-253-5946 or 386-253-3097.

Nov. 6 deadline for Entrepreneurial Speaker Series Scholarships Three students will receive $1,500 scholarships on Thursday, Nov. 12, when Daytona State College’s L. Gale Lemerand Center for Entrepreneurship will be announced during the center’s fall speaker series event.

Applications are being accepted for the

LEGEND from Page 1

cluded gigs with The Griffin Brothers and renowned jazz heavyweights like industry favorites Lionel Hampton, Dinah Washington and Chuck Berry.

Watts’ career highlights included a 1957 appearance on “American Bandstand’’ with Johnny Mathis, and he ignited Harlem in a small club owned by boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.

By the mid 1960s, Watts’ career experienced a decline followed by a brief renaissance in 1987 with Bob Greenlee’s record label. Stetson University bestowed on Watts an honorary doctorate in 2000.

Hundreds attended In 2004, the idea of a jazz music festival was conceived to raise funding needed to name the amphitheater in honor of DeLand’s native son. The jazz legend attended the inaugural event but later that year succumbed to pneumonia.

Among his living survivors are wife June and daughter, Natalie Watts Brown. DeLand keeps the local legend’s memory and the city’s cultural heritage alive through an outdoor celebration of jazz notes attended by a multicultural cross-section of fans that advance the theme – connecting people. The festival further remains devoted to bringing the community together over a shared her-

tist Church in Lake City, and guest soloist Melissa Burke-Jackson.

The church is at 539 George W. Engram Blvd, Daytona Beach. The Rev. Tommie L. Robinson, Jr. is the assistant pastor.

For more information, call the church at 386-2520322 or visit www.greaterfriendship.net.

DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./ HARDNOTTSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Vocalist Amy Alysia & Soul Operation perform soul, jazz and R&B standards at the festival. itage in jazz music.

“We estimated about 500 attendees, all wildly enthusiastic about both the music, and that Noble could be there with them. Being part of this effort has been one of the high points in my life,” organizer Morgan Gilreath said.

Today, he is a sustaining sponsor of the Watts Jazz Festival, which charges a modest $10 general admission fee. Ten percent of the proceeds benefit the Watts/ Greenlee music scholarship at Daytona State College.

Downtown Deland profits The “Thin Man” Watts Jazz Festival has its place

alongside ZoraFest in Eatonville and the Jazz & Heritage Fest in New Orleans.

The Main treet DeLand Association also sees the annual event as a way to expand support for its cause: Bringing people to downtown DeLand for a joyful time that will have them shopping the local markets and returning regularly for all that the area has to offer.

Artists “after hours” were featured at an array of downtown DeLand bistros and restaurants, including but not limited to De La Vega Restaurante, Elusive Grape, Funky Trunk Treasures, Mac’s on Main and Marketplace at Rivertown.

“The jazz fest is a great opportunity to partner with the museum and to welcome the cultural diversi-

of the Confederate banner as recognition of their ancestors’ military service and sacrifice, Blacks and others interpret government use of the flag as an endorsement of the brutal, slave-driven economy that was a central issue in the war, which raged from 1860 to 1865.

“I’m glad that we are taking it down and recognizing the Confederate flag for what it is,” Sen. Oscar Braynon, a Black Democrat from Miami Gardens, said after the session. “What it is, is a symbol of a time when this country went to war to keep my ancestors in slavery.”

said he wasn’t aware that the chamber was going to take up the issue during the special redistricting session.

Bradley also raised questions about whether the Senate should look at other options for the seal, including an overhaul of the symbol that goes beyond simply replacing one flag.

“If you look at all the flags on the seal, I think you would find that there were things that occurred in the name of some of those flags that history has now looked upon as being abhorrent and terrible,” he said.

No sovereign nation

More changes?

Senate Rules Committee Chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, defended the proposal on the floor of the Senate by pointing to U.S. Supreme Court rulings rejecting the legality of the decision by 11 Southern states to secede from the Union during the conflict.

“The flags on the current seal appear to presume to represent sovereign nations.

However, our research established that the Confederacy was never legally a sovereign nation,” Simmons said.

No one openly objected to the change of the Senate seal during the debate. However, Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island,

But Gardiner defended moving forward with the changes now, saying it would take time to remove the old seal from various places around the Capitol. Bradley’s concerns, and questions from other senators, initially caused Senate leaders to pull back from the change before moving ahead with it later in the day.

Perhaps because of that, Gardiner told reporters after Monday’s session that the seal could be altered again.

“I think the understanding working with Senator Simmons is, he’s going to work with the members, and the seal may change some more,” Gardiner said.

L. Gale Lemerand Entrepreneurial Speaker Series Scholarship. One scholarship will be awarded to a student enrolled in a Volusia or Flagler County high school who plans to attend Daytona State College (DSC) upon graduation, one will be awarded to a DSC Adult Education student and one will be awarded to a DSC student enrolled in a college-credit program with a business focus.

Scholarship recipients will be selected based on a demonstrated financial need, academic performance and an interest in entrepreneurship.

Lemerand will announce the awards during the Nov. 12 Entrepreneurial Speaker Series event, which is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Mori Hosseini Center on the college’s main campus at 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd.

Scholarship applications may be downloaded at www.DaytonaState.edu/entrepreneurship and must be submitted to Entrepreneurs@DaytonaState.edu by 5 p.m. on Nov. 6.

Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) not-for-profit groups that have a local office in Volusia County, municipal governments within Volusia County, and departments of Volusia County Government.

The ECHO grant guidelines and application are available at www.volusia.org/ grantinfo or by calling 386-736-5953.

Oct. 23 workshop set for ECHO grants program The Volusia County ECHO Grants-inAid program is hosting an Oct. 23 workshop.

Eligible organizations wanting to apply must attend at least one of the workshops.

The first was Oct. 16.

The next one is from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in the third-floor training room of the Volusia County Lifeguard Headquarters, 515 S. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach.

ECHO grants are provided through a competitive application process annually and are for the purpose of acquiring, building or restoring environmental, cultural, historical and outdoor recreation facilities, facilities that are open for public use. ty that partnership brings to Main Street,” MainStreet Executive Director Wayne Carter said.

Gospel kick off Following a New Orleans-style street parade to the Cafe da Vinci stage, the Sanford gospel powerhouse Faye Henderson & Gospel Praise opened the 2015 festival with a concert on the steps of the Volusia County Historic Courthouse. The latter is a change in the festival’s historical lineup.

Due to a death in a choir member’s family, the gospel mass choir, featuring the best voices from several area churches directed by Dr. Stanley H. Whitted of DeLand, was unable

College’s Yuletide Feast tickets on sale Tickets are available now for the annual Daytona State College Yuletide Feast, Dec. 7, 8, 9 and 10 at 6:30 nightly in the Goddard Performance Hall on the Daytona Beach Campus, 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd. Admission is $40.

Guests will be treated to a celebration of Christmas by the 60-voice Daytona State Choir, Brass Choir and the Courtly Dancers and the Halifax Consort, all in period costume.

Tickets, featuring reserved seating, are available at the News-Journal Center box office Wednesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. or online at DaytonaState. edu/TheArts.

For more information, call 386-2261927.

‘Jazz’ series continues at library Ken Burns’ “Jazz” documentary will continue with episodes four through six at the Daytona Beach Regional Library at City Island in November.

The episodes will cover swing music along with the effects of discrimination and the Great Depression on the jazz movement. The schedule includes “The True Welcome” Nov. 3, “Swing: Pure Pleasure” Nov. 10, and “Swing: The Velocity of Celebration” Nov. 24.

Reservations are not required for the free viewings.

to give the opening concert this year.

The Bethune-Cookman University Inspirational Gospel Choir, directed by Vertellis Kendrick, rounded out the gospel offering and the festival headliner was none other than internationally renowned guitarist Larry Coryell.

Stellar lineup A modern jazz master and Central Florida resident, Coryell established himself among the elite guitarist of jazz fusion movement by 1973.

He formed his own group called The Eleventh House, which helped launch his career with fans worldwide and has more than 60 albums leader to his credit.

Collaborations include the jazz world’s best, including John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Stephane Grappelli, and Chet Baker.

Additional artists included The Dayve Stewart Band, the Matanzas High School Jazz Ensemble, the Rios Quintet and “Those Guys,” a trio of young musicians from DeBary.

Sybil Gage and her trio brought a New Orleans style jazz and blues to the Persimmon Hollow Brewery. Amy Alysia and Soul Operation delighted crowds while songstress Linda Cole crooned with Sanford’s 18-piece jazz ensemble.

Major sponsorship was provided by Bright House Networks along with a host of other contributors.

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OCTOBER 22 – OCTOBER 28, 2015 COMMUNITY DECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006

M A YNEWS OR

‘Venus (her magazine),’ and began to promote what is popularly called the ex-gay movement.”

She founded The Evidence Ministry, Inc., condemning homosexuality and leading those involved in the gay lifestyle to follow Christ. Cothran’s magazine, Victory, a Christian periodical, was launched at an Anointed Release Party in 2012 and showcased

by Pastor Riva Tims of Orlando

Strong youth ministry

COURTESY OF THE REV. CHARLENE COTHRAN

The Rev. Charlene Cothran, standing, is shown with guests at Zion Baptist Church’s Women of Character Luncheon. The theme, “Spoiling Caregivers and Honoring Survivors” involved bestowing the caregivers with gifts and candies. They also were serenaded with songs and received limo rides. The survivors were given a platform to tell of their healing.

Pastor tells how young Zion Baptist helping the lost, rejected The Rev. Charlene Cothran, pastor of Zion Baptist Church of Palm Coast, recently weighed in on the fruit of the Lord’s branch at Zion, uniquely planted in 2013.

“Two years later, here we are in our new sanctuary...” said Pastor Cothran, “and God has really blessed us. He’s Rev. Charlene laying a wonderCothran ful foundation of a loving family.”

The members of Zion recently moved from Enterprise Drive to a beautifully spacious location in the Atlantis Complex behind Bright House Network at 2323 North State Street (U.S. 1 North) at Unit 62 in Bunnell.

Cothran, who was educated at Georgia Tech, is described in Wikipedia as an American journalist and publisher. She has further been rooted in the Word of God and, in August 2007, was ordained in Trenton, N.J. When the Lord called her to pastor in 2013, she was already operating in her gifting at a wellestablished Palm Coast church – teaching weekly adult Bible Study, counseling mother-and- daughter

PALM COAST COMMUNITY NEWS JEROLINE D. MCCARTHY

relationships, and where discord prevailed among choir members, she was called in to counsel and bring relationships back together, even for the youth ministry. She was active at the Stuart F. Meyer Hospice House and, for two years, carried out the responsibilities of the assistant chaplain.

Reaching the unchurched She was working, serving and learning, but resisted, kicked and screamed when God called her to pastor. But she acquiesced with the Lord’s command of having others see her and hear her voice from a different prospective.

“The Lord has called me to minister to the outcast, to those who have been hurt and rejected,” confirmed Cothran, “to those who don’t trust church anymore, to the unchurched, and to those who have decided against the tradition of going to church. God has

called me to be their evidence that he is able to repair relationships.

“We are adamant about raising up youth who are the leaders of tomorrow’s church,” Cothran added, “by making them leaders of this church today. We are very careful to make sure that the Word of God is important to our youth – mainly because of the way the world is changing so quickly. That it is only the Word of God in our youth that is going to keep them grounded in truth.

“We are acutely aware of that and are proud that many parents and grandparents bring their children here,” Cothran affirmed, “because they understand who I am, where I’ve been, and they don’t want their children to go there.”

Lifestyle change Cothran was delivered from a gay lifestyle. She was a gay activist promoting the LGBT community as a prominent magazine journalist and publisher in Atlanta, aimed at African-American gays and lesbians, while accessing the four corners of the world.

“Following a religious conversion to Christianity in 2006,” as reported by Wikipedia, “Cothran changed the editorial policy of

Every single Sunday, an 11-yearold minister gets up to lead a portion of the service through a mini sermon at Zion Baptist Church.

The kids have a Youth Christian Book Club and every Tuesday, they go to the church for fun, to memorize Scripture and worship the Lord.

Speaking out about where our children are headed, Cothran said, “You know, children, they are not really headed anywhere.

It’s the culture that draws them to a place. And so we know that there is a culture that makes a child want to question himself: ‘Maybe I’m a girl.’ ‘Maybe I’m a boy.’ ‘Maybe I’m gay.’ And, so if we are not ministering in the other ear,” she said, “then they are drawn away.”

Community outreach The other examples of the Holy Spirit’s pointing the way for Zion are the Hands of Hope Clothing Ministry and Two Fish Emergency Food Pantry. The ministries are open – with donations of free, gently used clothing and free canned food and fresh produce – from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays. And, on the same day at noon, Pastor Cothran teaches Bible study. Moreover, she brings to the table: Christian counseling, premarital counseling as well as a marriage workshop. A Men’s Fellowship also meets every third Sunday following service.

“We work a lot with the community,” Cothran shared. “We have good relationships with our city officials, county officials; we have good relationships with our health officials, all because, we want to help the people of God,” she added. Cothran serves as assistant secretary on the executive board of the Daytona Beach Black Clergy Alliance.

Zion Baptist Church will host a “Career Care Day” on Oct. 26, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., keeping those seeking employment motivated, focused and lifted with prayer over the resumes. The Career Sources agency will bring in job seekers.

The congregation will make them feel better through the services provided by hairstylists, barbers

New Palm Coast City Hall opens Monday The City of Palm Coast’s new City Hall at 160 Lake Ave. will open for business at 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26.

The offices in the City Marketplace shopping center, 160 Cypress Point Parkway. Suite B-106, will close for good at 5 p.m.

Oct. 23.

There will be no disruption of service to the public during the move.

The new Palm Coast City Hall will be a full-service facility for the public with customer service for paying utility bills and managing utility service, permitting, zoning, code enforcement, business tax receipts and the Business Assistance Center all located on the first floor. In addition, residents will still have the option to pay their utility bills and manage their utility service at the Utility Department at 2 Utility Drive, Palm Coast.

A City Hall grand opening celebration on Tues-

and nail techs. It’s refrained that if you are not helping the people of God, then you are not making the impact of serving the needs of God’s people.

Poised for growth The church will have “Family and Friends Day” come Nov. 1 at the 11 a.m. service. The Rev. Linda Hill York, associate minister of St. Phillips Missionary Baptist Church in Trenton, N.J., will be the guest speaker. Sis. Bertha Hall, who’s so wonderfully in charge of the kitchen, will make sure that a fellowship dinner is served. All the ministries will operate: The Children’s Choir as well as the head usher, Sis. Denise Achuko, with the Usher Board, and Sis. Urita Hodge, who is the Sunday School Superintendent.

“We are an evangelistic church.

We go out once a quarter,” reiterates Cothran. Each ministry goes outside of this church and is supported by the rest of church in an evangelistic effort. And it really, really helps. I think the Ushers’ Ministry chose the Fourth of July at Town Center, and so we took out our little tent and set up a table, and we met so many families. And, it was perfect timing for our Vacation Bible School... and many of those families brought their children for Vacation Bible School.” Cothran said as a leader, it is important to know how to bring a person to Christ.

“God has really laid a foundation,” she stated. “We do not have a lot of people right now, but the people he sent are so quality that we are able to function like we are 50 people – but we are barely a handful.”

Cothran also mentioned that God spoke to her expressing that the number of members will not remain the same, but as texted in Jeremiah 3, they will multiply.

If you desire to contact the Zion Baptist Church of Palm Coast, the telephone number is 386585-5484, The mailing address is P.O. Box 353378, Palm Coast, FL 32135. The email address is ZionBaptistPC@yahoo.com and the website can be found at ZionBaptistPC.org.

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

Celebrations Birthday wishes to my son, Andrew, on Long Island, Oct. 26; Keanna Jordan, Oct. 27; and Rita Acey, Oct. 28.

day, Nov. 3. Tours will be offered from 4 to 8 p.m. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 5:15 p.m. and the Palm Coast City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Wing section of the new City Hall.

The new facility is located at 160 Lake Ave. in Town Center, adjacent to Central Park and the City Centre office building.

For more information, contact Communications & Marketing Manager Cindi Lane at 386-986-3708.

Starlight parade registrations due by Nov. 9 Organizations and businesses that want to participate in the City of Palm Coast’s 2015 Starlight Holiday Parade & Event in December can sign up now.

The deadline for entries is Monday, Nov. 9.

Participants can register online at www.palmcoastgov.com/starlightparade.

The Starlight Holiday Parade will begin at 7 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 12, at Central Park in Town Center featuring floats, marching bands and prizes for the top entries. All participants are encouraged to add lighted holiday displays to their floats.

Parade entry is free. The judging categories will be: Best of Parade, Best Marching Unit, Best Float, Best Decorated Vehicle and Best Banner.

Prior to the Holiday Starlight Parade, the City of Palm Coast’s Parks & Recreation Department will host a fun-filled afternoon at Central Park starting at 4 p.m.

For more information, contact City of Palm Coast Recreation Superintendent Roxy Gonzalez at 386-9862341.

Palm Coast schedules Halloween Boo Bash The City of Palm Coast and Wadsworth Elementary School will present the annual Halloween Boo Bash, a familyfriendly event for all ages, from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Belle Terre Park, 339 Parkview Drive, Palm Coast.

Activities will include a costume contest, bounce houses, music and games with a DJ and carnival games. Food and candy will be available. The annual costume contest will begin at 6 p.m., with registration from 5 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Admission is free. Tickets for carnival games are $1, and an unlimited Bounce House wristband will be $5. Vendors will be selling food and drinks.

For more information, call 386-986-2323.

Daytona Deltas hosting Oct. 31 costume party The Daytona Beach Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. will present a “Beautiful Nightmare: A Diva’s Costume Party’’ on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be held at the Indigo Lakes Golf Club, 312 Indigo Drive, Daytona Beach.

All proceeds will benefit chapter-sponsored community programs and scholarships. This is an event for people who are 25 and up. Tickets can be purchased online at www.

DSTbeautifulnightmare. eventbrite.com for $20.

For additional information, email DBdstFundraising@gmail.com.

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7 EDITORIAL

OCTOBER 22 – OCTOBER 28, 2015

We must fight for environmental justice The civil rights movement in the United States identified a long list of issues that were broadly considered the historical and contemporary evidence of systematic racial discrimination and injustice. With the 2016 presidential election rapidly approaching, the critical importance of environmental justice for Black Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans and for other people of color must be reasserted.

As a young statewide coordinator for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in my home state of North Carolina from 1963 to 1968, I saw first-hand how movements for change have to first define the issues from the perspective of the oppressed in order to have a chance of overcoming longstanding systems of racial injustice.

Define it ourselves Golden Frinks, the SCLC North Carolina State Field Secretary, once told me, “Son, you gotta use our own definitions about these massive racial inequities without getting the permission of the perpetrators.” The wisdom that I learned from my mentor Brother Frinks has helped to guide my career over the past decades.

Thus, in 1982 during a gamechanging civil rights protest led by the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice in Warren County, N.C., I remembered what Golden Frinks had taught me. A devastating racial injustice was taking place in the state and it needed to be challenged.

I was the first person to coin and define the term “environmental racism,” which is defined as racial discrimination in the deliberate targeting of ethnic and minority communities for exposure to toxic and hazardous waste sites and facilities, coupled with the systematic exclusion of people of color in environmental policy making, enforcement, and remediation.

This was in response to a decision by North Carolina to dump over 400 tons of cancer-causing hazardous waste known as PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) into a state-made landfill in the middle of a Black American farming community in Warren County.

More than 500 of us were arrested and jailed, but we were very successful in bringing national and global attention to another serious life-threatening manifestation of racial injustice.

protection for all communities.”

Subsequently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened up a full-time Office of Environmental Justice.

In 2014, President Obama issued a presidential proclamation to observe the 20th anniversary of Clinton’s Executive Order 12898. President Obama emphasized, “As we mark this day, we recall the activists who took on environmental challenges long before the federal government acknowledged their needs. We remember how Americans – young and old, on college campuses and in courtrooms, in our neighborhoods and through our places of worship – called on a Nation to pursue clean air, water, and land for all people.”

Today, people of color are still facing the consequential horrors of exposures to environmental pollution that have led to disproportionate public health disparities and the unprecedented increase in cancer and asthma, as well as other respiratory illnesses. There is an inextricable linkage between poverty, economic inequality and environmental injustice.

Federal office

Good news

By 1994, President Bill Clinton had issued Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations “to focus federal attention on the environmental and human health effects of federal actions on minority and low-income populations with the goal of achieving environmental

But there is some good news about these challenges. Van Jones and a team of young, dedicated environmental justice leaders and activists have established an effective national organization called “Green For All.” The mission of Green For All is to work “to build an inclusive green economy strong enough

DR. BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST

Banks caught redlining Black communities The old adage, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’ seems somehow an apt description for what a growing number of communities are suffering: a lack of fair lending.

In recent weeks and in varying locales, the issue of redlining has led to lawsuits that have been challenged or settlements that avoided courtroom dramas. Regardless of locale, allegations are remarkably similar: lack of access in mortgage lending coupled with a lack of convenient access to full-service banking.

Hudson City Savings On September 24, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice jointly ordered Hudson City Savings Bank to pay a total of $32.75 million. Of these funds, $25 million will be dedicated to subsidizing increased mortgage opportunity for Blacks and Latino neighborhoods, $5.5 million paid in penalties, and $2.25 million for outreach and community programs in Con-

CHARLENE CROWELL NNPA FINANCIAL WRITER

necticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and both New York City and Staten Island.

Although the Equal Credit Opportunity Act bans businesses from discriminating against applicants in credit transactions on the basis of race, color or national origin, 94 percent of Hudson City’s branches were in areas with scant consumers of color. Further, 94.5 percent of the bank’s top 50 brokers’ offices were concentrated outside of minority communities. In Philadelphia and in Camden, none of bank’s 47 loan officers were based in Black and Latino areas.

“Hudson City Savings Bank structured its business operations to systemically avoid providing credit services in predominant-

ly minority neighborhoods,” said U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey. “There is no room for such behavior in our banking system.”

Eagle Bank Nor is Hudson City Savings alone. Just a few days later on September 29, another Justice Department settlement noted redlining in the St. Louis area by Eagle Bank and Trust. Citing both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, a $975,000 settlement will now open two new locations in northern St. Louis among other changes.

The next day, September 30, a federal judge in Chicago denied efforts by HSBC Holdings to stop a fair housing lawsuit brought by Cook County in Illinois. On behalf of its citizens, Cook County charged that foreclosures dating to the late 2000s were the result of steering minority borrowers into high-cost loans even when their credit profiles made them eligible for cheaper loans offered to Whites.

Why calling Black Lives Matter ‘anti-police’ won’t work It has been both interesting and unsettling to watch the attacks from the political right on the Black Lives Matter movement, and the larger movement for Black lives.

Specifically, the suggestion that Black Lives Matter activists are somehow terroristic and promote the killing of police is so outlandish that it’s not only difficult to believe that anyone would even take such allegations seriously, but it’s also hard to imagine someone mouthing such words in the first place.

‘War’ myth Let’s start by debunking a myth that is being promoted. The po-

BILL FLETCHER, JR. NNPA COLUMNIST

litical Right and several police unions have suggested that there is a war against the police. The facts stand in contrast. The number of police killed has actually decreased.

Given this, why are we being led to believe otherwise? Simply put, promoting fear and suggesting that there is somehow a war against the police is a smoke-

screen to shift attention away from the actual war that has been underway, and that is a war against Black civilians by right-wing haters and out-of-control police.

This point cannot be emphasized too strongly. Not only do the facts demonstrate that there is no war against the police, but they also continue to demonstrate that young Black men are anywhere between 7 and 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by the police than White young men. It is these statistics that the political right wishes us to ignore.

Right-wing target As a result of the attention that folks in the Black Lives Matter

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: AFGHANISTAN

STEVE SACK, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

to lift people out of poverty.” I have supported and admired Van Jones’ leadership in helping to bring people of color together to advance the cause of equal justice and sustainable development.

It is also relevant to note The Guardian article titled, “Pollution isn’t colorblind: environmental hazards are killing more Black Americans,” that was co-authored

by Congressman Keith Ellison and Van Jones.

‘Louder and stronger’ Ellison and Jones explained, “Thanks to people’s movements like Black Lives Matter and the Fight For 15, the call for racial and economic justice is getting louder and stronger. But while we are out on the streets fighting for equality, our kids are being poisoned by the air they breathe. Environmental injustices are taking Black lives – that’s why our fight for equality has to include climate and enviIn his decision, U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee wrote, “These discriminatory actions increased the minority borrowers’ risk of default and foreclosure, resulting in a rash of foreclosures in the county, which in turn caused economic and noneconomic injury to the County.” HSBC must now decide whether to appeal the denial, defend its actions in court or broker a settlement with Cook County.

Evans Bank In yet another case in Buffalo, N.Y., Attorney General Eric Schneiderman secured an $825,000 agreement with Evans Bank to end its discriminatory redlining that denied services to the largely Black east side of the city. In this action, Evans Bank was found to use a lending map that excluded Black consumers while including neighboring communities. It also disqualified East Side mortgage applicants regardless of their creditworthiness.

The largest portion of settlement funds – $475,000 – will be used to create a Housing Opportunity Fund to support development and restoration of affordable housing.

Remaining monies will be dedicated to marketing and advertising to communities of color ($200,000), movement and the movement for Black lives have brought to the phenomenon of police lynchings, they have found themselves the target of those who wish to suppress any actual discussion of the discrepancy in police violence.

Using the suggestion of terrorism is a time-honored technique to smash any open discourse.

In the fall of 2001, shortly after the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, the then-attorney general of South Carolina wrote an op-ed suggesting that protesting dockworkers in Charleston who had been set up by the police were domestic terrorists. The allegation was completely outrageous and was quickly disavowed by sensible South Carolinians.

Nevertheless, the clear hope had been that such an allegation would lead to the defeat of a nationwide campaign to free the five

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.

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.

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ronmental justice, too.”

I predict that one of the key political issues in next year’s presidential election will be the issue of environmental justice. We have to keep on making progress. The health and quality of life of our communities are at stake. While people color now make up over 30 percent of the population of the United States, our issues, demands and interests cannot be triaged on the table of political expediency.

Witnessing so many new young leaders and activists stepping forward to gain more ground makes me optimistic that 2016 will be the year of advancement for all people of color and for all those who stand for freedom and equality.

Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. a special financing program to increase lending activity in underserved areas ($100,000), and payment of fees and costs to the state ($50,000).

In recent months, even more similar legal actions have been filed, but the pattern should be clear: communities of color often lack access to mortgages and/or fair credit. Artificially raising the cost of the single largest investment most consumers make is just as harmful as the failure to approve mortgages to creditworthy borrowers.

The moral to this continuing saga is that once laws have been passed to correct discriminatory lending, vigorous enforcement will make those laws real for consumers and lenders alike.

“Without access to affordable credit, neighborhoods deteriorate in the long shadow cast by unfair lending,” said Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Charlene Crowell is the Communications Manager for State Policy & Outreach with the Center for Responsible Lending.

Contact her at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

Charleston dockworkers. That scare tactic did not work.

Today, such scare tactics are being reissued and for the same general purpose. Rather than focus the attention of the country on the discrepancy in police violence and the larger negative differential in treatment experienced

by African-Americans compared to Whites, the hope is that fear of chaos and fear of vigilante justice against police will lead the population to close its collective eyes and simply tolerate whatever actions the police believe to be appropriate.

It will not happen.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the host of The Global African on TelesurEnglish. He is a racial justice, labor and global justice activist and writer. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com.

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.

Subscriptions to the print version are $69 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, Fl 33646, or log on to www.daytona.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.

SUBMISSIONS POLICY SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TONEWS@DAYTONATIMES.COM Deadline for submitting news and pictures is 5 p.m. the Monday before the Thursday publication date. You may submit articles at any time. However, current events received prior to deadline will be considered before any information that is submitted, without the Publisher’s prior approval, after the deadline. Press releases, letters to the editor, and guest commentaries must be e-mailed to be considered for publication.

The Daytona Times reserves the right to edit any submission, and crop any photograph, for style and clarity. Materials will not be returned.

5 7

OCTOBER 22 – OCTOBER 28,142015 DECEMBER - 20, 2006 EDUCATION

MAYOR

EmbryRiddle to present Halloween Carnival Oct. 30 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is hosting its annual Halloween Carnival on Friday, Oct. 30.

Family-friendly activities will include trick-or-treating, face painting, balloon animals, carnival games, a bounce house and pumpkin decorating.

This free event is open to the public.

Children should be accompanied by an adult and have their own bag or container to collect goodies. The carnival will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Embry-Riddle Student Village Complex near the intersection of South Clyde Morris and Richard Petty boulevards in Daytona Beach.

For more information, contact Olivia Eriksen at 386-2262980.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

A teacher and school staff should know if a child is diagnosed with diabetes.

How to keep your children with diabetes safe at school FAMILY FEATURES

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in children, according to Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Keeping children with diabetes safe during the school day and during school-sponsored activities requires communication and cooperation between the student, their parents or caregivers, the student’s health care team

and school staff.

“Nobody knows your child’s day-to-day needs and how to respond to a diabetes emergency better than you,” Rodgers said. “That’s why it is so important to maintain open communication with school staff throughout the school year.”

School guide Parents and school personnel can learn about effective ways to help keep children with diabetes safe by reviewing the National Diabetes Education Program’s (NDEP) “Help-

ing the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel.’’

The NDEP is a program of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The NDEP encourages parents of children with diabetes to follow these tips from the school guide throughout the year.

Take action. Notify the school immediately when your child is diagnosed with diabetes. Share your child’s medical information with school staff and provide up-to-date emergency contact numbers.

Work with your child’s health care team to develop a Diabetes Medical Management Plan. This plan contains the medical orders for your child.

It should be signed by your child’s health care team and submitted to the school nurse at the start of each school year. An updated plan is needed if there are changes in your child’s diabetes care plan during the year. A sample plan is included in NDEP’s school guide.

Meet with the school nurse to review your child’s school health care plans.

The school nurse will use the medical orders to prepare your child’s routine and emergency diabetes care plans at school. You can find samples of these plans in the school guide.

You should also meet with the school nurse and staff

to familiarize them with any specialized diabetes equipment that your child uses such as an insulin pump and/or continuous glucose monitor. Remember to provide written instructions about the use of the equipment and troubleshooting guidelines.

Provide the school with all supplies, medicines, and items needed to carry out your child’s health care and emergency plans.

These supplies may include blood sugar (glucose) testing items, supplies for taking insulin, urine and blood ketone testing, snacks, quick-acting glucose products, and a glucagon kit.

For a free copy of NDEP’s “Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel,’’ call 888-693-6337 or visit ndep. nih.gov.

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R6

7 CLASSIFIEDS

OCTOBER 22 – OCTOBER 28, 2015

Who would have thought? William Purvis did in 1897. The Fountain Pen, developed by William Purvis,

is just one of the many life-changing innovations that came from the mind of an African American.

We must do all we can to support minority education today, so we don’t miss out on the next big idea tomorrow. To find out more about African American innovators and to support the United Negro College Fund, visit us at uncf.org or call 1-800-332-UNCF. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

©2008 UNCF

dies of 1 in 3 women and stroke. heart disease . man’s disease It’s not just a ent it.

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OCTOBER 22 – OCTOBER 28, 14 2015 COMMUNITY DECEMBER - 20, 2006

MAYOR

7

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

Biketoberfest draws large crowd to Midtown

BY DAYTONA TIMES STAFF

Biketoberfest rolled into Volusia County last weekend and Daytona Times photojournalist Duane C. Fernandez Sr. captured the motorcyclists in action.

Daytona Beach was jam-packed with activities and bikers along Main Street and Beach Street but motorcyclists also found their way to Midtown as local, black-owned businesses on Martin Luther King Jr. and Mary McLeod Bethune boulevards opened their doors to throngs of leather-clad customers.

As usual, vendors had plenty of tasty offerings ready for hungry bikers. Other

vendors had everything from inspirational T-shirts to fashionable garments for the bikers who rolled into Midtown.

Biketoberfest, which this year was from Oct. 15-19, is a major fall event for the area during a time that’s typically slow. The fall weekend typically draws hundreds of thousands of bikers to the area annually.

While not as large as the spring’s Bike Week, it still is a nice boost to the economy.

According to the Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Biketoberfest generates more than $15 million for the local economy.

R8

7BUSINESS

OCTOBER 22 – OCTOBER 28, 2015

Retail giants already hiring for holiday crunch er and Philly.com, said holiday hiring doesn’t artificially lower the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, now 5.1 percent nationally, because the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics accounts for these workers.

“We are talking about being off by maybe 0.1 percentage point even in the crazy months of seasonal hiring and firing,” Naroff said.

He described the swell in the payrolls, albeit short-lived, as “a good thing.”

“It provides temporary work for large numbers of people who desire to work either part time, or only during a portion of the year,” Naroff said. “It also provides opportunities for people who are looking for jobs to get their foot in the door.”

BY SUZETTE PARMLEY PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

For national retailers, ‘tis the season to start building an army, just like would-be rulers in “Game of Thrones.”

The recruitment began late last month with in-store and online postings to handle the holiday crunch. The National Retail Federation forecast earlier this month that holiday sales should be 3.7 percent higher this year than last.

Macy’s has plans to hire 85,000 seasonal associates companywide. Target 70,000. Kohl’s 69,000. Wal-Mart 60,000. And Toys R Us 40,000.

Each company recently announced hiring plans to get the word out. Why so many?

It’s twofold, says Bob Phibbs, chief executive officer of the Retail Doctor, a retail consultancy based in upstate New York.

“We all know what it’s like to wait in line at Starbucks,” he said.

“Retail is a game of seconds, not minutes, because now one can easily scan and buy the item online and not have to wait in line.

“You don’t want that,” Phibbs said. “Those things typically get passed down from person to person.”

A 2015 global survey of online shoppers found that 2 percent never shop a physical store, 3 percent do it once a year, and 24 percent several times.

To better serve those online shoppers, Amazon.com hired 80,000 temporary workers last year and is expected to match that this year.

Early planning critical Second, there’s the pitfall of having too few staff to get through New Year’s, and the immediate days after to deal with gift returns.

“Salaried workers have to work longer, which means having to pay overtime because there aren’t enough of them,” Phibbs said. “You lose customers as a result of some of them having a bad

‘Important holiday roles’

DON BARTLETTI/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Shoppers are shown braving a rainy Black Friday morning in 2013 to shop early at Macy’s and other stores at the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif. shopping experience.

“The stakes are really high,” he said. “That’s why getting the forecasting model to predict what needs are really high is critical.

“There are a lot of moving parts — like, will you be open on Thanksgiving like last year, or stay closed? How late will you stay open, 9 p.m. or midnight?

And what will the weather be like? The fewer bodies there are in the system to draw from, the more chances you will be understaffed with snow, ice, or rain.

“If coverage plans aren’t there, you are in a potentially bad place because you can’t navigate that many customers or adjust your schedule with your crew on the

fly,” he said.

Retailers want them typically in place two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Social media’s impact Phibbs said memories linger of the recession of 2008, when no one was shopping, prices were slashed, and retailers stopped hiring.

“Stores were empty, and the argument was whether (retailers) cut temporary help too much,” he said. “We are just coming back to what is considered normal.”

Social media also has changed the retail game.

Customers “will take pictures

in the dressing room,” Phibbs said. “If you have clothes all over the floor, and they post them on Facebook and Twitter and warn others to never go there, it will hurt you.

“You have to take the threat seriously,” he said. “If they walk out of your store without buying anything, they probably aren’t coming back. You only have one shot to surprise and delight them, and get them to buy something.”

Economist’s take Economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc., who writes a bimonthly business column for The Philadelphia Inquir-

Terry J. Lundgren, CEO of Macy’s Inc., touted the 85,000 temporary jobs, the same as last year’s, and representing half of Macy’s year-round workforce of 170,000. The seasonal hires will staff all Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, as well as call centers, distribution centers, and online fulfillment centers.

“They fill an important niche in the employment spectrum,” Lundgren said.

For the third straight year, Target is hiring 70,000 “team members to take on important holiday roles,” chief stores officer Tina Tyler said. They include unloading trucks, stocking shelves, and setting up signs and holiday displays.

Pat Ficarotta started her Christmas shopping this month at a Kohl’s. She said she likes expanded holiday store hours because she teaches yoga in the mornings and early evenings.

Huge turn offs: long checkout and return lines.

“That’s why they need to have enough (workers) around to keep the lines moving,” said Ficarotta, 53. “When I see how fast the lines are moving, it makes me want to come back.”