CAST YOUR VOTE
WELLNESS
SCENE
Experts say the path to better eating can be made in small steps that can be as simple as reaching for fresh vegetables instead of that bag of chips. 11
The 29th annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Conyers will feature a plastic-egg drop from a helicopter and a Scrabble tournament. 12
Spotlight on nutrition
Who is the best public servant in East Metro Atlanta? Best state legislator? Where can you find the best barbecue? Vote for your favorites in the second annual Best of East Metro Reader’s Choice Awards. See the ballot on page 8, or at www.crossroadsnews.com.
Copyright © 2010 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
March 20, 2010
Arts and more
Volume 15, Number 46
2010 Census Forms Arrive
www.crossroadsnews.com Redan High School students created a memorial board highlighting Marquez Montgomery’s best qualities.
Rainbow PUSH’s Janice Mathis speaks at the unveiling of a 20-foot replica of the Census form on Monday.
Redan student dies in car wreck By Deborah Alberto
Photos by Jennifer Ffrench Parker / CrossRoadsNews
Full participation critical for funding decisions By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
It’s finally here. After months of anticipation, the 10-question 2010 Census Form began arriving in DeKalb County residential mailboxes on Wednesday. The forms are among 120 million questionnaries the U.S. Census office is mailing this month as it undertakes its 10-year count of every adult and child living in the United States. Gil Turman, president of the South DeKalb Neighborhoods Coalition, said his form arrived on Wednesday. “I opened it and browsed it and put it aside for later,” he said Thursday. “I will sent it back by April 1.” George Grandy Jr., director the Census Atlanta region, says residents don’t have to wait until April 1 to fill out and return the form. “It is important that we fill out that form and return it immediately,” he said. “If we don’t fill it out, we don’t exist.” Turman said he has always participated in the census and understands how critical it is. “There needs to be a count to provide services to people,” he said. “It is important for representation and for disbursements of federal resources.” The hard-to-miss envelop bearing the form reminded recipients that “your response is required by law.” The Lintons in Decatur said they are filling it out and sending it back. “If you don’t they will come to your house,” Cynthia Linton said. “I don’t want that.” The census reports are used to determine how more than $445 billion
DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis and Commissioner Connie Stokes talk about the census with Henry Smith of Decatur (left) at the Belvedere Plaza on Saturday.
in federal funds – for everything from schools to roads to senior centers – are distributed to state, local, and tribal governments over the next decade. It also affects representation in Congress, and in the Electoral College that picks the president. The 10 questions on the 2010 form make it the shortest census form in U.S. history. Census officials say it will take just 10 minutes to fill out. It consists of questions about the number of people living in your home and some demographic information about them. To create awareness about the form’s arrival, census officials unveiled a 20-foot replica of the form on Peachtree Street at Underground Atlanta on Monday. Atlanta is one of 13 cities nationwide displaying the giant form. At the event, representatives from a number of civic, community and fraternal organizations stressed the importance
of everyone filling out and returning their forms. Helen Butler, executive director of the Coalition for People’s Agency and the Count Me Black Complete Count Committee, said everyone in the household, including the baby, should be counted. “If someone is going to be back at your house on April 1, if they are in prison or some of your family is homeless, you need to make sure they get counted,” she said. Janice Mathis, director of the Rainbow PUSH Atlanta office, said that young people should not use the census as a form of protest against what they see in the public sphere. “If you want to protest, join us in the streets, join us on a picket,” she said. “Fill out your census form. Don’t use abstaining from filling out your census form as a way of expressing your disappointment. This is a way to get resources for your community.”
Redan High junior Marquez “Thirst” Montgomery will be laid to rest Saturday with the school band memorializing him with music. They will perform his favorite cadence, ER, which members created themselves. Marquez, 18, was one of three students involved in a March 16 crash that took place less than a mile from the school. The Madza Protege he was driving crashed into a tree after he collided with a Hyundai Marquez Montgomery driven by Johnny Holiday at the intersection of Fox Valley Lane, about a mile from his school. As of press time Thursday no charges had been filed in connection with the accident. DeKalb Police Officer Jason Gagnon said they are still investigating and will re-create the accident next week to see if charges are necessary. Schoolmate Ramon Casey, 16, a back-seat passenger in Marquez’s car, was critically injured and is in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital. The third student, Bruno Blanchard, 18, was uninjured. Friends and teachers, who are still processing the death of their close friend and student, said this week that music was Marquez’s life. He was a percussionist and trumpet player in the school’s Blue Thunder Marching Band. Marquez also knew how to play the cymbals, the snare drum, the xylophone and the bass drum. Band instructor Lorenzo Moore said he could pick up any instrument and learn it in a short time. His friends said Marquez he was musically gifted. “He loved to make beats,” said his friend and fellow band member Kerry McPhearson. “He was making a beat in the music lab the day before he died.” Marquez’s homegoing service will be at 11 a.m. on March 20 at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, 2340 Clifton Springs Road in Decatur. Shajuanda Webb, a senior and trumpet player, said Thursday that a lot of people are in a state of disbelief. “When they see the casket it is going to hit them hard,” she said Wednesday. “It’s going to hit me hard. I’m not ready to say goodbye.” School counselors are available to help students’ process their grief; Moore didn’t wait for students to ask for help. He took a marker to white board Wednesday to get his students talking about Marquez’s positive qualities. They remembered him as a loving person. Shajuanda said he was the heart and soul of the band’s line. “He taught me a lot and I know he taught other students, too.”