LAWT 01-03-2013

W E E K E N D E R

Vol. XXX, No. 1317

www.lawattstimes.com

Thursday, January 3, 2013

L.A. Watts Times

THE L.A. WATTS TIMES WEEKENDER SITS DOWN WITH ACADEMY AWARDWINNING ACTOR,

JAMIE FOXX, FOR AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.

SEE PAGES 6-7

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

HOROSCOPES

Jan. 3 - 9 ner is me. I smile for the cameras.

IBRA ~ A secret may be revealed in a casual conversation. Your confidence is valued and appreciated. Take it all in! There’s no returning to what has been once you realize the gift you’ve been given. Soul Affirmation: Freedom of mind is the greatest gift for me this week.

CORPIO ~ Drive the speed limit in all things this week or you could wind up with a ticket of some kind. Why rush? Serenity is available if you only stop and listen for it inside of you. Discharge your usual obligations with dignity and count your blessings.

Soul Affirmation: I obey the rules this week and avoid hassles.

AGITTARIUS ~ Slow down and relax your brain-energies! The universe knows how to take care of itself and of you. Give it a chance by getting your mental schemes out of the way. Sometimes it is hard but trust! Soul Affirmation: I let my luck work for me.

APRICORN ~ A friend from the past could suddenly appear in your life. This could be a highly beneficial reunion for both of you. Let bygones be bygones, and renew this friendship. Love isn’t used up just because it’s shared with many. Soul Affirmation: I love many people this week.

QUARIUS ~ Be open to a new friendship that could bring public recognition, a new assignment, or a raise in income. You’ll also be pleased with romantic vibes that come from far away. Call! Someone special is waiting to hear from you. Soul Affirmation: Distant love is sometimes sweeter.

ISCES ~ You’ll radiate with confidence and enthusiasm this week. Important people will be impressed. Make sure you spend time in their presence. The week promises success in making new starts with old contacts. Refresh yourself by socializing just for fun.,Soul Affirmation: My spirit makes all things new.

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RIES ~ Guard your words this week, and let peace and harmony rule where they may. It’s not the time to point out the character flaws of a higher-up. You can make this a very productive week if you apply your industrious spirit to your work. Soul Affirmation: Facing down challenges makes me feel good about myself.

AURUS ~ Make a move towards that someone that you’ve had your eye on!

The timing couldn’t be more perfect! Go slow and be subtly sweet. Your ability to charm and attract always works in your favor. Don’t abuse it! Show off a new attitude. Soul Affirmation: I let myself be the cheerful me.

EMINI ~ Good deeds are in order this week. Perform all the random acts of kindness that you can. Everything you do this week is going to come back to you in triplicate, so enjoy storing up some future blessings! Soul Affirmation: Another week in which to rejoice is upon me. ah-h-h-h-h!

ANCER ~ You can help out a friend this week if you plan your schedule so that you’ve got time for kindness built in!

Embrace your generous side while getting your own work finished. You are excellent at multi-tasking! Soul Affirmation: Old love? New love? The most important thing is true love!

EO ~ You may want to make this week a schmooze-fest! Whether you go out to a party or stay in with a friend, you’ll have a good time if you remember that charm is the only weapon that’ll work for you this week.

Soul Affirmation: I work hard to combat envy this week.

IRGO ~ People can get on your nerves, can’t they? And this week is one of those weeks. Getting through it will be a test. You can get the highest grade on the test by smiling at the stupidity of those who oppose you.

They don’t know any better and this week you can’t teach them. Soul Affirmation: The win-

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Inside This Edition

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L.A. Watts Times WEEKENDER Published Weekly – Updates 3800 S. Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008 Administration – Sales – Graphics – Editorial 323.299.3800 - office 323.291.6804 - fax Beverly Cook – Publisher, Managing Editor 1976 – 1993 Charles Cook – Publisher 1976 – 1998 Melanie Polk – Publisher 1998 – 2010

A city mourns

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Danny Bakewell, Jr., a childhood friend of Victor McClinton.

Photos by Troy Tieuel

BY TROY TIEUEL LAWT CONTRIBUTING WRITER A reputed gang member was charged this week with capital murder and other counts in the Christmas day shooting death of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department employee in Pasadena. Larry Darnell Bishop Jr., 20, was ordered to remain jailed without bail while awaiting arraignment Jan. 23 in Los Angeles Superior Court in connection with a vehicle-to-vehicle shooting that killed bystander Victor McClinton, a 49- yearold law enforcement technician, neighborhood athletics coach and father of two who was caught in the line of fire.

McClinton, who was walking a fellow coach to his car when See MCCLINTON, Jaques Bolton, a close friend of Victor page 3 McClinton.

WWW.LAWATTSTIMES.COM Danny J. Bakewell, Sr. ............Executive Publisher & Executive Editor Brenda Marsh Mitchell ..................................Executive Vice President Tracey Mitchell ......................................................................Controller Brandon I. Brooks ..................................................Co-Managing Editor Yussuf J. Simmonds ..............................................Co-Managing Editor Jennifer Bihm................................................................Assistant Editor Bernard Lloyd ....................................................Director of Advertising Benjamin Samuels ....................................................Graphic Designer Kim McGill ............................................................Production Designer EMAIL: wattsweekender@yahoo.com Circulation ..................................................................................30,000 The opinions expressed by contributing writers are not necessarily those of the L.A. Watts Times.

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BlackFacts.com January 5, 1943 Scientist and discoverer of over 300 products from the peanut and sweet potato George Washington Carver, dies, 1943 January 7, 1950 The James Weldon Johnson Collection opens at Yale University.

It includes the papers of Johnson, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, and many writers of the Harlem Renaissance.

Candace Lacey and Lacey children. The Lacey children grew up with Victor McClinton as a youth advisor and coach.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

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Los Angeles City Council Terry Glover, Ebony managing YEAR-END REVIEW editor, dies at 57 ASSOCIATED PRESS Terry Glover, the managing editor of Ebony magazine, died of colon cancer at her Chicago home.

She was 57.

Ebony announced on its website that Glover died on Monday December 31. Her husband, Kendall Glover, tells the Chicago Tribune that his wife had been fighting cancer for about two years.

Terry Glover joined Ebony in 2006 and was appointed managing editor in 2009 after serving as a senior editor for the website for three years.

Editor-in-Chief Amy DuBois Barnett says Glover was “the heart and soul” of the magazine's team and will be missed.

Ebony is published by Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Co. Johnson Publishing Chairwoman Linda Johnson Rice says Glover was passionate about her work and made innumerable contributions to Ebony.

Terry Glover

MCCLINTON Continued from page 2 the gunfire erupted, was shot to death at about 11 a.m. Dec. 25 at Newport Avenue and Wyoming Street.

Meanwhile, the Pasadena City Hall steps was the scene of a recent memorial for the slain coach and leader. McClinton was a coach at the Brotherhood Crusade’s Community Sports League.

“To say that I am immensely affected is an understatement,” said Pamela Simmons, Brotherhood Community Sports Board Member, “I’m devastated as a board member and a friend.”

“When I first heard, I went numb,” said Danny Bakewell Jr., son of the Chairman of the Board for the Brotherhood Crusade, about his friend, “not my brother Victor.”

Candace Lacey, who sang the tribute song described Victor as a “valuable part of her family.” “[He was] an uncle to my kids and a father figure who was active in our lives for more than fifteen years and was more than just a coach…[He was] just someone who was a good friend. This left a hole in our hearts,” she said.

“He was sitting down on his porch, with a guy who had just brought him a gift. Two cars came down the street shooting at each other, and a stray bullet hit him in the head … two bullets actually,” explained Jacque Bolton, who first hired Victor thirty years ago at the YMCA. “I lost a friend of thirty years, which is terrible. This crazy youth violence junk is ridiculous. It’s time for it to stop, but the kids aren’t saying anything and the neighborhood

is not saying anything.”

The murder charge against Bishop includes the special circumstance allegations of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle and murder to further a criminal street gang. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Bishop, who was convicted of two felony commercial burglaries in San Bernardino County in 2011.

Bishop is also charged with one count of attempted murder involving a driver who crashed his vehicle into a light pole after sustaining a gunshot wound, as well as one count of possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling.

Bishop was arrested Dec. 28 by Pasadena police and has remained jailed since then, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Inmate Information Center website. Another 20-year-old man, Gary Aurthur Davis, is charged with being an accessory after the fact. He is also set to be arraigned Jan. 23. According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, there is no evidence that McClinton's shooting death was related to a brief high-speed car chase in which Tracey Ong Tan, 26, of Glendale, and her 11-year-old cousin, Kendrick Ng, of Daly City, were killed on Christmas Day in Pasadena. Reputed gang members Darrell Lee Williams, 22, and Brittany Michelle Washington, 21, were charged with murder and other counts in connection with the pursuit and deadly crash. They are set to be arraigned Monday in Pasadena Superior Court.

Council President Herb Wesson led a year-end review of issues that faced the Los Angeles City Council for KABC Channel 7 “Eyewitness Newsmakers,” hosted by Adrienne Alpert. Joining Wesson on the panel discussion were Councilmember Ed Reyes, the Council President Pro Tem, and Councilmember Tom LaBonge, Assistant Council President Pro Tem. The review focused on the Council’s work in facing up to the city’s budget challenges, and the importance of plans to increase revenue to maintain city services in the coming fiscal year.

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Cliff averted, it’s on to the next fiscal crisis

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks about the fiscal cliff, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. The president said it appears that an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff is “in sight,” but says it’s not yet complete and work continues.

BY ANDREW TAYLOR ASSOCIATED PRESS Onward to the next fiscal crisis.

Actually, several of them, potentially.

The New Year’s Day deal averting the “fiscal cliff” lays the groundwork for more combustible struggles in Washington over taxes, spending and debt in the next few months.

President Barack Obama’s victory on taxes this week was the second, grudging round of piecemeal successes in as many years in chipping away at the nation’s mountainous deficits.

Despite the length and intensity of the debate, the deal to raise the top income tax rate on families earning over $450,000 a year — about 1 percent of households — and including only $12 billion in spending cuts turned out to be a relatively easy vote for many. This was particularly so because the alternative was to raise taxes on everyone.

But in banking $620 billion in higher taxes over the coming decade from wealthier earners, Obama and his Republican rivals have barely touched deficits still expected to be in the $650 billion range by the end of his second term. And those back-ofthe-envelope calculations assume policymakers can find more than $1 trillion over 10 years to replace automatic across-the-board spending cuts known as a sequester.

“They didn’t do any of the tough stuff,” said Erskine Bowles, chairman of Obama’s 2010 deficit commission.

“We’ve taken two steps now, but those two steps combined aren’t enough to put our fiscal house in order.”

In 2011, the government adopted tighter caps on day-to-day operating budgets of the Pentagon and other cabinet agencies to save $1.1 trillion over 10 years.

The measure passed January 1 prevents middle-class taxes from going up while raising rates on higher incomes. It also blocks severe across-

the-board spending cuts for two months, extends unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless for a year, stops a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees paid to doctors and prevents a possible doubling of milk prices.

The alternative was going over the cliff, an economy-punching half-trillion-dollar combination of sweeping tax increases and spending cuts.

Despite the deal, the government partially went over the brink anyway with the expiration of a two-year cut in Social Security payroll taxes of two percentage points.

Action inside a dysfunctional Washington now only comes with binding deadlines. So, naturally, this week's hard-fought bargain sets up another crisis in two months, when painful across-the-board spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs are set to kick in and the government runs out of the ability to juggle its $16.4 trillion debt without having to borrow more money.

Unless Congress increases or allows Obama to increase that borrowing cap, the government risks a firstever default on U.S. obligations.

Republicans will use this as an opportunity to leverage more spending cuts from Obama, just like they did in the summer of 2011.

House Speaker John Boehner, ROhio, vows that any increase in the debt limit — which needs to be enacted by Congress by the end of February or sometime in March — must be accompanied by an equal amount in cuts to federal spending. That puts him on yet another collision course with Obama, who has vowed anew that he won’t let haggling over spending cuts complicate the debate over the debt limit.

The cliff compromise represented the first time since 1990 that Republicans condoned a tax increase.

That has whipped up a fury among tea

party conservatives and increased the pressure on Boehner to adopt a hard line in coming confrontations over the borrowing cap and the spending cuts that won only a two-month reprieve in this weeks’ deal.

Put simply, House Republicans are demanding new spending cuts — possibly through changes in Social Security and Medicare benefit formulas — as a scalp, and they’re dead set against raising more revenues through anything less than an overhaul of the tax code now that Obama has won higher taxes on the wealthy.

“Now the focus turns to spending,” Boehner said after Tuesday’s vote, promising that future budget battles will center on “significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt.”

Obama is just as adamant on the other side, saying higher revenues have to be part of any formula for further diverting the automatic spending cuts.

While conservative activist Grover Norquist gave Republicans a pass on violating his anti-tax pledge with this week’s vote, he and other forces on the right won’t be so forgiving on any future effort to increase revenues.

The refusal of Republicans to consider additional new taxes is sure to stir up resistance among Democrats when they’re asked to consider politically painful cuts to so-called entitlement programs like Medicare.

Democratic protests led Obama and Boehner to take a proposal to increase the Medicare eligibility age off the table in the recent round of talks.

The upshot? More scorched-earth politics on the budget will probably dominate the initial few months of Obama's second term, when the president would prefer to focus on legacy accomplishments like fixing the immigration problem and implementing his overhaul of health care.

The relationship between Boehner and Obama has never been especially close and seemed to have suffered a setback last month after the speaker withdrew from negotiations on a broader deficit deal. The two get along personally, but politically, a series of collapsed negotiations has bred mistrust. The White House has the view that Boehner cannot deliver while the speaker is frustrated that matters brought up in his talks with the president are not followed through by White House staff.

And on the debt limit, Boehner and Obama at this point are simply talking past each other.

“While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed,” Obama said after the deal was approved.

Said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel: “The speaker’s position is clear.

Any increase in the debt limit must be matched by spending cuts or reforms that exceed the increase.”

C. African Republic capital fears rebel attack

AP Photo/Ben Curtis

Churchgoers attend a New Year’s Day morning mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Bangui, Central African Republic, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. President Francois Bozize’s government is coming under growing threat as rebels vowing to overthrow him rejected appeals from the African Union to hold their advance and try to form a coalition government.

BY KRISTA LARSON ASSOCIATED PRESS Kpademona Marcel and other residents of the capital of Central African Republic have watched in fear as rebels from the country’s north seized control of more than half the country in less than a month. On Tuesday, all he could do was pray that a solution to the crisis could be found without the violence reaching Bangui.

“We are afraid for our nation and for our fellow citizens in the countryside,” Marcel said, standing on the steps of the Notre Dame cathedral before a New Year’s Day Mass. “The rebels are imposing themselves on the population and stealing things. We are here praying for peace.”

As a new year began, the fate of the capital with 700,000 people, remained unclear. Government forces backed by a regional multinational force held a line in Damara, just 75 kilometers (45 miles) from Bangui.

The rebels hold the city of Sibut, about 185 kilometers (115 miles) from Bangui.

While President Francois Bozize, after nearly a decade in power, has proposed a coalition government to include the rebels, a spokesman for the alliance of rebel groups advancing through the country said Monday they did not trust his offer. Former colonial power France already has said it will not protect Bozize’s regime and has about 600 troops in the country just to protect its own interests.

Trucks full of soldiers bounced on the rutted roads of Bangui that are dotted with shacks where people can charge their mobile phones. Police officers stopped vehicles at intersections in another sign of stepped up security in this capital at the heart of Africa where even the banana and palm tree leaves are coated in heavy red dust from the earth.

Troops from neighboring nations arrived in the country, with a contin-

gent from Gabon expected Tuesday.

Their arrival comes a day after about 120 soldiers flew in from Republic of Congo with a mission to help stabilize the area between rebels and the government forces.

The political instability already has prompted the United States government to evacuate its ambassador and about 40 other people. There have been no mass civilian evacuations from the capital, though many residents have temporarily relocated to the southern side of Bangui, considered further from the path of a potential rebel invasion arriving from the north.

One woman in Bangui said she knew many people who already had fled the city but said she had too many family members to leave herself.

“I have five children and two grandchildren. I prefer to stay here and die with my children if it comes to that,” she said, giving her name only as Lucienne.

In the Bimbo neighborhood, traders went about their business, selling everything from leafy greens to meat at roadside stands.

“We don’t support what the rebels are doing,” said banana farmer Narcisse Ngo, as a young boy played nearby with a monkey corpse for sale along with other meat. “They should be at the table negotiating without weapons. We are all Central Africans.”

The landlocked nation of 4.4 million people is rich in diamonds, gold and uranium and yet remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Central African Republic has suffered many army revolts, coups and rebellions since gaining independence from France in 1960.

The rebels behind the current instability signed a 2007 peace accord allowing them to join the regular army, but insurgent leaders say the deal wasn’t fully implemented and has made a variety of demands including payments to former combatants.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

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Man charged in Ivory Coast stampede survivors blame barricades burning of LA homeless woman

BY INZA BAKAYOKO ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has charged a 24-yearold man with attempted murder for allegedly setting a homeless woman on fire as she slept on a suburban bus bench.

Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney says Dennis Petillo is scheduled to be arraigned January 7. Prosecutors will ask that his bail be set at $1.03 million.

In addition to attempted murder, he is charged with aggravated mayhem.

Carney alleges that Petillo threw a flammable liquid on the 67-year-old woman, who had slept on the bench for years, then set her on fire last Thursday.

The victim remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

If convicted, Petillo faces a maximum of life in state prison if convicted.

It’s not known if he has retained an attorney.

South Africa: Mandela rests at home ASSOCIATED PRESS S o u t h Africa’s presidency says former leader Nelson Mandela is progressing with his recuperation from illness and doctors are closely monitoring his condition.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Wednesday that “everything is moving OK” as 94-year-old AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, Pool, File Mandela rests at Nelson Mandela his home in Johannesburg after a hospital stay last month.

The former president received treatment for a lung infection and also had gallstones removed.

Maharaj says Mandela is “taking it easy” and is under “close medical attention.”

Mandela spent 27 years in prison under apartheid and became South Africa’s first black president in democratic elections in 1994.

business card bulletin board

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Survivors of a stampede in Ivory Coast that killed 61 people, most of them children and teenagers, after a New Year’s Eve fireworks display said Wednesday that makeshift barricades stopped them from moving along a main boulevard, causing the crush of people.

Ivory Coast police said unknown people put tree trunks across the Boulevard de la Republique where the trampling took place.

“For security, because there were so many important people at the event, we closed certain main streets,” said a police officer who was overheard briefing Ivory Coast President Alassane Outtara on the incident. The police officer said the tree trunks were put out unofficially by people who are not known.

“After the fireworks we reopened the other streets, but we had not yet removed the tree trunks from the Boulevard de la Republique, in front of the Hotel Tiana near the National Assembly (parliament) building,” she said. “That is where the stampede happened when people flooded in from the other streets.”

Ouattara ordered three days of national mourning and launched an investigation into the causes of the tragedy.

Two survivors, in interviews with The Associated Press, indicated why so many died in what would normally be an open area, the Boulevard de la Republique. An estimated 50,000 people had gathered near the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium and elsewhere in Abidjan’s Plateau district to watch the fireworks. As they streamed away from the show some encountered the blockades.

“Near the Justice Palace we were stopped by some people who put blockades of wood in the street,” 33-year-old Zoure Sanate said from her bed in Cocody Hospital. “They told us we must stay in the Plateau area until morning.

AP Photo

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara (c) and his wife Dominique (l) visit people wounded in the stampede None of us accepted to stay in Plateau until the morning for a celebration that ended at around 1 a.m.

“Then came the stampede of people behind us,” she said. “My four children and I were knocked to the ground. I was hearing my kids calling me, but I was powerless and fighting against death.

Two of my kids are in hospital with me, but two others are missing. They cannot be found.”

Another hospital patient, Brahima Compaore, 39, said he also was caught in the pile of people stopped by the roadblock.

“I found myself on the ground and people were walking on me,” said Compaore. “I was only saved by people

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who pulled me onto the sidewalk.”

Local newspapers are speculating See IVORY COAST, page 8

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

By Brandon I. Brooks Co-Managing Editor

Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx gives one his most powerful performances on the big screen with his portrayal of Django in Django Unchained.

Foxx plays a slave turned bounty hunter, who gets the rare opportunity to seek revenge against white slavers and bad men, while searching for his captured slave-wife, Broomhilda, played by the beautiful actress Kerry Washington.

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx (Django), Leonardo DiCaprio (Calvin Candie), Samuel L. Jackson (Stephen), Christoph Waltz (Dr. King Schultz), and Washington.

Opening second at the box office, Django Unchained has received mixed reviews since its release. The most notable and harshest critique of the film comes from veteran movie director and writer Spike Lee, who has called for a boycott of the film.

Lee commented on the film via twitter saying, “American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.”

Lee made these comments even though he has yet to view the film.

Kam Williams, Sentinel and Watts Times movie critic, is on the other end of the spectrum giving the Django Unchained four out of five stars. Williams writes, “Slavery is reimagined as a messy splatterfest where massa gets exactly what he deserves and then some!”

Django Unchained has sparked a debate in the Black community and left many mixed feelings and it has brought to life discussions on the topic of Black slavery which is a taboo subject in American history and its educational system.

There is no mystery that Black

F E AT U R E

L.A. Watts Times WEEKENDER The Watts Times (Black Press of America) sat down for an exclusive one-on-one inter view with Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx, at his home. Foxx opened-up about the blockbuster film Django Unchained, and why he took on the role of Django, a slave turned bounty hunter. slavery is under-analyzed by Hollywood and mainstream media. The most memorable glimpse and realistic portrayal of Black slavery on film would be the classic miniseries Roots, starring LeVar Burton. The Roots mini-series brought the horror of slavery into the living rooms of millions.

For the first time in recent history, the subject of Black slavery takes center stage as the backdrop of a major Hollywood picture. Unfortunately, Tarantino’s film and Foxx’s portrayal of Django could not have come at a more critical point in American history because gun-control is once again a hot button debate in Washington.

Because of the intense buzz surrounding Django Unchained, the Sentinel and Watts Times had to reach out to Foxx and get his take on the project. We caught up with the superstar actor for an exclusive one-on-one interview at his home in Westlake, California.

Sitting down in his living room, Foxx shared that he first-heard about the film on the internet AND that Will Smith had the role. Foxx said that he was upset that he didn’t get a chance to read for the part. However, soon after hearing of the movie, Foxx had a management shift and got the opportunity to read the script.

After reading the script, Foxx said he didn’t have a knee-jerk reaction to the word “Nigga”, which is used obsessively in the film.

“Me being from Texas, I didn’t knee-jerk like someone from New York would or someone from L.A. would because when you live in Texas or you live in the south, there is a racial component that we live with,” said Foxx.

“I love the south, but there were several moments when I was called the “N” word so I didn’t knee-jerk to that.”

Foxx chose to lock-in on the love story between Django and Broomhilda. He shared that the heroicness at the very end of the movie, where Django actually lives, sold him on the film.

“The slave actually picks up arms, becomes this bounty hunter, and wins in the end,” said Foxx.

“And the other aspect, me being from Texas it was cowboys, I was riding horses. Back when I was a kid, watching Bonanza was the thing and watching these iconic White cowboys, we never got a chance to play on a big scale. So when I got a chance to meet with Tarantino, I shared a lot of private things that happened to me when I was a kid.”

It’s rumored that Hollywood heavy weights such as Will Smith,

www.lawattstimes.com

Idris Elba, Terrence Howard, Anthony Mackie and Lorenz Tate were up for the role. When Foxx met with Tarantino to discuss his opportunity to play the role, he said he knew whoever got the part would be brilliant.

“All of these guys could have done it and that’s a testament to the amount of Black talent we have in Hollywood today,” said Foxx.

Foxx felt he was meant for the part because he could not only play the part but the “articulation of the work afterwards.”

“I would hate to be in the theater watching the film and I am not in the film.”

When asked how Black people should react to some of the atrocities captured during filming Django, Foxx said, “You are not supposed to feel good when those words are being said. You are not supposed to feel good when a slave is being eaten by dogs; you are not supposed to feel good when a Black woman is being whipped. What I will say is this… is when you are talking about the Holocaust, every two or three years there is a movie about their history. When you talk about slavery, it’s so taboo, it hurts so bad even to mention it, that we don’t even want to touch it.”

“I felt like this, for what this movie can do especially for now and 10 to 20 years from now what it will do, it will open up our eyes differently.

If it’s successful that means a movie about our history at the end, you win and that can set us up for a long time to go back and talk about certain things.”

Foxx went on to say there is educational value in the film. Most of the film took place on plantations in Greenville, Louisiana. When Foxx met fans while filming in New Orleans and shared with them he was going to Greenville to film on actual plantations they would respond, “Where is that?”

Foxx had to tackle the subject with his own children as he took his two daughters (18 and four) to the set.

“My four year-old just ran, jumped and played and had a good time which is probably what a lot of young slave

Thursday, January 3, 2013

kids did at the time,” said Foxx.

“They didn’t know how bad their situation was. But my 18 year-old was stunned. 7,000 names of babies that were killed on the plantation because when a Black woman would have a baby, the slave master would say, ‘so how are you going to pick cotton?’ So he killed the baby.

So the atrocities that you see in Django Unchained, it’s not even close to how it really was. But I think it’s necessary for us to see that. It’s necessary for Django, at where I thought was the most difficult part of the script, was when the dogs eat the Mandingo and tear him apart but Django has to play this slaver character and be someone else (undercover). But to see him deal with that and his partner from Germany dealing with, ‘this happens?’

And to have Django say, ‘this happens every day’.”

The “N” word was tough to deal with on-set. In rehearsal, Washington and Foxx asked for the word to be used. DiCaprio who plays the slave-owner at Candyland, stopped while filming because saying the word was affecting him emotionally. “You should feel affected by it,” said Foxx. “You are not human if you don’t.”

Jackson pulled DiCaprio aside and said, “Aye Mutha*****, this is just another Tuesday for us.” Jackson and Foxx expressed to DiCaprio that if he did not go there, to be that evil person, that they did not have a movie.

“When you are doing a movie like this you go beyond

Django,” said Foxx who suffered from a lack of sleep during the nine-month filming process. He and Washington became close because they had to experience the journey on and off camera.

Music played an integral part on and off camera helping the cast push through the most difficult scenes. Foxx helped produce a song with rap star Rick Ross titled 100 Black Coffins for the soundtrack. Foxx came up with the hook for the song while filming on set.

When the character Broomhilda received lashes, Foxx said that he calmed the cast and crew

with a hymn by gospel singer Fred Hammond that sang, “No weapons, formed against me, shall prosper, it won’t work.” It’s important to note that Washington asked to receive real lashes while filming. They of course used a modified whip but she did however receive real whips.

Foxx shared that he witnessed an extra onset, raise their hands to testify and then hug a nearby child. The entire set from the grips to the lighting crew all experienced something personal during the dramatic lashing scene. Even director Quentin Tarantino got teary-eyed while filming through the lens. Foxx shared that he felt the “ancestors stepped-in” and allowed this to happen.

“It was a huge journey. It was tough and there was always those moments where you feel like you don’t really want to mess this up. This was like a gymnastics routine at its highest difficulty with all the spins and all the twists. If you land it great, if you don’t, then you are in hell.”

When asked if Django is a superhero, Foxx responded by saying, “I think so.”

He says that they will more than likely do another Django (Django Unchained Part 2) where Broomhilda will get involved with the Underground Railroad and write books in Philadelphia. Django will move up north, where he is hiding out. All through the south there are wanted posters for Django. But no one knows what he looks like because at that time there were no photos or pictures of Django.

“Whenever I do anything, as a Black artist, if Black folk aren’t behind it or happy about it, I feel in a certain way I failed,” said Foxx.

“Now at the same time, I have to be challenging to my Black audience because I am moving as an artist. But I always come back to that. I know Black people. I know where they sit. I know what makes them cringe. I know what makes them cry. I know what makes them yell.”

The Los Angeles Sentinel and L.A. Watts Times would like to send a special THANK YOU to Alex Avant for coordinating the interview. We would also like to thank Jamie Foxx, Hollywood’s Number 1 Black Actor for making himself accessible to the Sentinel/Watts Times and the Black Press of America.

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Mentoring, hard work and the hook-up Social security, medicare should be off the table

BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX NNPA COLUMNIST

How will African Americans improve our situation in 2013? Right now, we have higher unemployment than any other population in our nation, less wealth, higher school dropout rates, and more crime in our communities. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that African American communities had twice the number of negatives and half the number of positives in our country. While the numbers may have shifted somewhat, it is still true that we are more likely to experience negative consequences (teen pregnancy, incarceration, crime) and less likely to experience positives (college graduation, high net worth).

Those of us who focus on public policy will look at past discrimination and ways it manifests itself in the present. We will look at the way race-neutral public policy has a racial impact (for example, changing the terms of the Parent Plus loan hits wealth-poor, credit-challenged Black families disproportionately). We will suggest ways to close gaps, some of which may include ways that government investment, such as job creation and job training, can help close these gaps.

And we will be right.

Whether we fall off the fiscal cliff (final negotiations are taking place even as I write this), the focus on the level of debt our nation faces suggests that tax reform will reduce tax deductions, some in ways that may increase income inequality, and that spending cuts are imminent. Many of these cuts will be in social programs and educational spending. Again, some of these cuts will widen, not narrow, the wealth and income gaps.

What does this mean for Black America in 2013? Pretend that it is Groundhog Day, if you saw the movie.

The protagonist wakes up every day to the same day when everything happens the same way. If you keep doing what you have been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting. For Black Americans, this means that if we keep looking external without looking internal, not much will change for us.

Yes, it will change for some of us: Those who are educated, middle class,

IVORY COAST Continued from page 5 that thieves put up the roadblocks so that pickpockets could steal money and mobile phones from the packed-in people.

Ouattara pledged to get answers.

Some observers wondered why police did not prevent the tragedy.

“The investigation must take into account all the testimonies of victims,” he said Wednesday. “We will have a crisis center to share and receive information.”

Ouattara also postponed the traditional New Year’s receptions at his residence, which had been scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

The leader of a human rights organization said that deadly incidents were predictable because the police and civil authorities had not taken adequate protective measures.

“The situation is deplorable,” said Thierry Legre, president of the Ivorian League of Human Rights. “It is our first tragedy of 2013 but in 2012 we could already see possibility of such a tragedy because there are not adequate authori-

well networked and disciplined are likely to find significant opportunities in our stagnant economy because even stagnant economies churn and create new opportunities. But it won’t change much for those who are less educated, working class, un-networked and undisciplined, or some combination thereof.

Education, networks, and discipline can be fixed. But few have an interest in fixing these things in Black America except for Black Americans. So what are we going to do?

Susan Taylor has been a passionate advocate of mentorship in the African American community. She began the work when she was editor-in-chief at Essence magazine and left the magazine to expand her reach in that area.

She continues to advocate mentorship and to teach us how to be mentors. Her work supports education, networking and discipline.

Similarly, in Southeast Washington, D.C., Cora Masters Barry leads the Recreation Wish List Committee and works with the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center to nurture more than 150 young people year-round (full disclosure – I am treasurer of the Wish List Board). Students are trained in physical fitness through tennis, and are encouraged in their academics through learning. Most board members have hands-

on relationships with our young people, who are held to the highest standards.

Again, this work supports education, networking and discipline.

Most historically Black colleges do the same thing, bringing corporate partners to campuses and exposing students to the many ways they can access employment opportunities. In many cases, the entire campus offers students engaged mentorship. Education, networking and discipline.

When people tell the story of the American Dream, they talk about the many ways that hard work will help someone transcend class. They talk about hard work. People who earn the minimum wage work hard. People who make ends meet on public assistance work hard. It’s not just about hard work. It’s about hard work – and the hook up.

A corporate leader who is a wonderful friend once said that she could use her position to hook up women and African Americans who needed a hand up. She also indicated that the hook up could help individuals, but we also, and always, need a hook in to public policy decisions that affect our nation.

That means we need a seat around every table where public policy is being made, whether on issues of race, or on issues that seem race-neutral. We should be talking about the deficit, about tax reform, about government spending. We should be talking about international affairs, about world areas of conflict, about our fluctuating currency. As long as we live in this flawed nation, all issues are Black issues.

Even with the hook in, we need to offer the hook up. That means embracing or mentoring a child. That means providing an opportunity to someone who is unemployed. That means supporting education through contributions to colleges, but also by providing help to individuals. It’s the same hymn book we’ve been singing from for more than a century. Now we need to sing with more energy.

Things won’t change in Black America unless some of us do. We need to both hook in and hook up!

Read more: http://www.nnpa.org/ news/commentary/mentoring-hardwork-and-the-hook-up-by-juliannemalveaux/#ixzz2GsiA0WHl.

ties patrolling our roads and waters.”

Legre said the New Year’s stampede “exposes our weak and dysfunctional civil protection system. This must be corrected immediately. The government cannot invite people to this kind of public gathering without taking adequate precautions to protect their safety and their lives.”

He called on the government “to implement measures to avoid such tragedies in the future by reinforcing the civil protection system.”

The government organized the fireworks to celebrate Ivory Coast’s peace, after several months of political violence in early 2011 following disputed elections.

Just one night before the New Year's incident, there had been a big concert at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium where American rap star Chris Brown performed. That Sunday night event was for the Kora Awards for African musicians. No serious incidents were reported from that event.

In 2009, 22 people died and over 130 were injured in a stampede at a World Cup qualifying match at the

Houphouet Boigny Stadium, prompting FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, to impose a fine of tens of thousands of dollars on Ivory Coast’s soccer federation. The stadium, which officially holds 35,000, was overcrowded at the time of the disaster.

Another African stadium tragedy occurred on New Year’s Eve in Angola where 13 people, including four children, died in a stampede during a religious gathering at a sports stadium in Luanda, the capital.

Angop, the Angolan news agency, cited officials as saying Tuesday that 120 people were also injured. The incident happened on New Year’s Eve when tens of thousands of people gathered at the stadium and panic ensued. Faustino Sebastiao, spokesman for the national firefighters department, says those who died were crushed and asphyxiated.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kimoon expressed “deep sorrow” at the heavy human toll and put “a medical team and all available logistical means at the disposal of the government,” to help deal with the situation, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

Julianne Malveaux

BY GEORGE E. CURRY NNPA COLUMNIST Even though feuding Democrats and Republicans reached a last-minute deal on New Year’s Day to avoid the fiscal cliff, a lively debate will continue in coming months over the role the federal government should play in the lives of its citizens.

In one corner are Republicans who contend that federal spending has run amuck – and it should be slashed. In the other corner are Democrats, including President Obama, who make the right oral arguments, but the wrong moves to defend such worthy American staples as Social Security and Medicare. In most political crises, Republicans will fight and Democrats will take flight.

Let’s begin with a president who doesn’t seem comfortable in the roughand-tumble world of politics. He has a tendency to give away the store even George E. Curry before the store opens up its doors for business.

As Paul Krugman wrote July 31, 2011 in the New York Times, “Republicans will surely be emboldened by the way Mr. Obama keeps folding in the face of their threats. He surrendered last December, extending the Bush tax cuts; he surrendered in the spring when they threatened to shut down the government; and he has now surrendered on a grand scale to the raw extortion over the debt ceiling. Maybe it’s just me, but I see a pattern here.”

Unfortunately, that pattern remains unbroken.

A Center for Policy and Budget Priorities blog noted, “Boehner complains that, in what the White House describes as an offer of $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and the same in tax increases, Obama counts interest savings that accrue as spending cuts, thus making the one-to-one ratio illegitimate.

“More importantly, however, is that, when viewed correctly and in their entirety, the non-interest spending cuts under the President’s latest offer would actually exceed his proposed tax increases and would roughly equal the spending cuts that Boehner himself proposed in his deficit-related negotiations with the President last year.”

And that’s on top of cuts already made.

The CBPP also pointed out, “When those negotiations broke down, the President and Congress enacted the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), which established annual caps on discretionary spending for each of the next ten years. These caps, which will cut spending by what the White House estimates to be $1 trillion over the next decade, reflected a tentative agreement by the President and Speaker over discretionary spending in those negotiations.”

President Obama has already signaled a willingness to make additional concessions on Social Security and Medicare.

Let’s take a closer look at Social Security.

A story by FAIR noted, “Social Security is not bloated or poorly run. Its shortfall is primarily the result of people living longer, and therefore drawing benefits longer.”

As a CBPP fact sheet observes, “In June 2012, 56 million people, or about one in every six U.S. residents, collected Social Security benefits. While threequarters of them received benefits as retirees or elderly widow(er)s, another 11 million (19 percent) received disability insurance benefits, and 2 million (4 percent) received benefits as young survivors of deceased workers.”

It also noted, “Social Security benefits are much more modest than many people realize. In June 2012, the average Social Security retirement benefit was $1,234 a month, or about $14,800 a year. (The average disabled worker and aged widow received slightly less.) For someone who worked all of his or her adult life at average earnings and retires at 65 in 2012, Social Security benefits replace about 41 percent of past earnings. This replacement rate will slip to about 36 percent for a medium earner retiring at 65 in the future, chiefly because the full retirement age, which has already risen to 66, will climb to 67 over the 2017-2022 period.

“Moreover, most retirees enroll in Medicare’s Supplementary Medical Insurance (also known as Medicare Part B) and have Part B premiums deducted from their Social Security checks. As health-care costs continue to outpace general inflation, those premiums will take a bigger bite out of their checks.

“Social Security benefits are modest by international standards, too. The United States ranks 30th among 34 developed countries in the percentage of a median worker’s earnings that the public-pension system replaces.”

Social Security plays an outsized role in the lives retired African-Americans.

“Social Security is a particularly important source of income for groups with low earnings and with less opportunity to save and earn pensions, including African Americans and Hispanics,” CBPP said. “Among beneficiaries aged 65 and older, Social Security represents 90 percent or more of income for 35 percent of elderly white beneficiaries, 42 percent of Asian Americans, 49 percent of blacks, and 55 percent of Hispanics.”

Yes, money spent on Social Security and Medicare is well spent. And that’s why Obama should summon the courage to stand his ground.

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-inchief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA.) He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

9

Fans to join Beyonce onstage at Super Bowl

Kardashian, West feel ‘blessed’ over baby news

BY MESFIN FEKADU ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File

In this July 1, 2011 file photo, Beyonce performs on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in New York.

ASSOCIATED PRESS All the single ladies — and fellas — will have a chance to join Beyonce onstage at the upcoming Super Bowl.

Pepsi announced Friday that 100 fans will hit the stage when the Grammy-winning diva performs on Feb. 3 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. A contest that kicks off Saturday will allow fans to submit photos of themselves

in various poses, including head bopping, feet tapping and hip shaking.

Those pictures will be used in a TV ad introducing Beyonce’s halftime performance, and 50 people — along with a friend — will be selected to join the singer onstage.

The photo contest — at www.pepsi.com/halftime — ends Jan. 19, but Jan. 11 is the cut-off date for those interested in appearing onstage with Beyonce.

Comedian Katt Williams arrested in LA

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are feeling lucky about their first child together.

“It’s true,” the 32year-old reality TV star said in a statement on her site Monday. “Kanye and I are expecting a baby.

We feel so blessed and lucky and wish that in addition to both of our families, his mom and my dad could be here to celebrate this special time with us.”

Kardashian’s father, Robert Kardashian, died in 2003. West’s mother, Donda West, died in 2007.

Kardashian added in the blog post that she was “looking forward to great new beginnings in 2013 AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File and to starting a family.”

The 35-year-old rap- Kim Kardashian, right, and Kanye West, left, are shown before an NBA basketball game per revealed to a crowd of between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks in this Dec, 6, 2012 file photo taken more than 5,000 in song in Miami. The rapper Kanye West announced at a concert Sunday night Dec. 30, 2012 form at a concert Sunday that his girlfriend is pregnant. He told the crowd of more than 5,000 at the Ovation Hall that his girlfriend is preg- at the Revel Resort in song form: “Now you having my baby.” nant. Kardashian was in the crowd at Revel Resort’s Ovation our family. Overwhelmed with March.

Kardashian married NBA player Hall with her mother, Kris Jenner, excitement!”

West told concertgoers to con- Kris Humphries in August 2011 and and West's mentor and best friend, gratulate his “baby mom” and that their divorce is not finalized.

Jay-Z. West’s Sunday-night show was The news instantly went viral this was the “most amazing thing.”

Representatives for West and his third consecutive performance at online, with thousands posting and commenting on the expecting couple. Kardashian didn’t immediately Revel. He took the stage for nearly Most of the Kardashian clan respond to emails about the pregnan- two hours, performing hits like “Good Life,” “Jesus Walks” and tweeted about the news, including cy.

The rapper and reality TV star “Clique” in an all-white ensemble Kim’s sisters. Kourtney Kardashian wrote: “Another angel to welcome to went public with their relationship in with two bandmates.

Bobby Womack diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASSOCIATED PRESS Katt Williams, the comedian who has repeatedly found himself on the wrong side of the law, is out on bail after being arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of child endangerment and possession of a stolen gun.

Police Officer Norma Eisenman says Williams was taken into custody last Friday after the LA County Department of Children and Family

Services did a welfare check at his home. Authorities found more than one firearm, one of which had been reported stolen.

Eisenman says the DCFS did not specify how many children lived at the home or whether they were removed.

The 41-year-old was arrested this month on a felony warrant related to a police chase. In November, he was accused of hitting a man on the head with a bottle during a fight.

Bobby Womack has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member told the BBC in a recent interview the diagnosis comes after he began having difficulty remembering his songs and the names of people he's worked with.

A spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a message left by the Associated Press.

The soul singer has cut a wide path through the music business as a performer and songwriter in his 50year career and recently launched another act with “The Bravest Man in the Universe,” the Damon Albarn-produced comeback album that recently made several best-of lists.

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease characterized by memory loss.

It’s the latest health problem for the 68year-old singer, who’s also been fighting cancer and other maladies.

Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, file

Bobby Womack

10

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Ray Lewis to retire after playoffs

AP Photo/Nick Wass, FIle

This Sept. 10, 2012 file photo shows Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis wearing eye black showing the initials of former Ravens owner Art Modell before an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Baltimore.

Lewis will end his brilliant 17-year NFL career after the Ravens complete their 2013 playoff run. “I talked to my team today,” Lewis said Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. “I talked to them about life in general. And everything that starts has an end. For me, today, I told my team that this will be my last ride.”

BY DAVID GINSBURG ASSOCIATED PRESS Ray Lewis spent 17 seasons instilling fear in his opponents while serving as an inspirational leader for the Baltimore Ravens.

Now he’s poised and eager to become a full-time dad.

Lewis announced Wednesday he will end his brilliant NFL career after the Ravens complete their 2013 playoff run.

Lewis has been sidelined since Oct. 14 with a torn right triceps. The 13-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker intends to return Sunday to face the Indianapolis Colts in what will almost certainly be his final home game.

“Everything that starts has an end,” the 37-year-old Lewis said.

“For me, today, I told my team that this will be my last ride.”

Lewis will walk away from the game because he wants to spend more time with his sons. While working to return from his injury, Lewis watched two of his boys play on the same high school football team in Florida. He intends to see Ray Lewis III perform as a freshman next year for the University of Miami, where the elder Lewis starred before the Ravens selected him in the first round of the 1996 draft.

“God is calling,” Lewis said.

“My children have made the ultimate sacrifice for their father for 17 years. I don’t want to see them do that no more. I’ve done what I wanted to do in this business, and now it’s

my turn to give them something back.”

That’s why Lewis will pull off his No. 52 uniform for the last time after the Ravens lose or claim their second Super Bowl title.

“It’s either (that or) hold onto the game and keep playing and let my kids miss out on times we can be spending together,” Lewis said.

“Because I always promised my son if he got a full ride on scholarship Daddy is going to be there, I can’t miss that.”

Lewis was the AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2000, the same season he was voted Super Bowl MVP following Baltimore’s 34-7 rout of the New York Giants. Lewis was also Defensive Player of the Year in 2003, and is the only player in NFL history with at least 40 career sacks and 30 interceptions.

“I never played the game for individual stats,” Lewis said. “I only played the game to make my team a better team.”

Lewis has been with the Ravens since they moved from Cleveland.

After being drafted 26th overall in Baltimore’s first draft, Lewis became a fixture at middle linebacker - and a beloved figure in Baltimore. He remained that way even after his alleged involvement in a double-murder in Atlanta in early 2000.

In June of that year, a judge approved a deal allowing Lewis to avoid murder charges and jail time by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and testifying against two co-defendants. Within a year, Lewis was in

the Super Bowl, leading the Ravens to their only NFL championship.

Hundreds of games later, he's ready to call it a career.

“I’ll make this last run with this team, and I’ll give them everything I’ve got,” he said. “When it ends, it ends. But I didn’t come back for it to end in the first round.”

The news of his decision to retire quickly resounded throughout the NFL. Colts coach Chuck Pagano, who served as Lewis’ defensive coordinator last year, said, “I thought, shoot, the guy could play forever and would play forever. Great person, great man, great player, just an unbelievable human being - what he’s done for that organization, that city and for that matter, so many people.

He’s obviously a first-ballot Hall of Famer and will be sorely missed.”

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy said, “I don’t know, at least in my time in the league, if there’s been a defensive player that's had as big an impact. ... He’s really an incredible example of leader. Talk about somebody opening up his chest and giving it to his football team.”

Lewis was respected by his peers, too, even those who were on the receiving end of his crushing tackles.

“He definitely inspired me,” Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson said. “Just the passion and how he is dedicated to his craft to be the best. You don’t see too many guys who play like that.

That’s definitely what makes him the best linebacker to ever play the game.”

Indianapolis standout linebacker Dwight Freeney said, “He’s meant a lot to the league in general, but defensive guys especially. This is a league where the most focus goes on offense, quarterbacks and running backs, and very few times do you see a defensive guy get highlighted in commercials or whatever. You see Ray on there, so it’s kind of like he’s one of us. And you feel good when you see him, the things he’s done for the game and how he motivates guys.”

Lewis is the key figure in a defense that has long carried a reputation for being fierce, unyielding and downright nasty. He led the Ravens in tackles in 14 of his 17 seasons, the exceptions being those years in which he missed significant time with injuries (2002, 2005, 2012).

Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs, who is almost always upbeat, said of the announcement: “It was sad. It affected me, because for the past 10 years of my career I’ve been sitting right next to the man and going to war on Sundays. It’s going See RAY LEWIS, page 11

UConn gives coach Kevin Ollie 5-year extension

AP Photo/Jessica Hill, file

In this file photo taken Nov. 1, 2012, Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie, right, watches play during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Storrs, Conn. UConn called a news conference for Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012, to announce a new contract for Ollie. A person in the athletic department said the final details were still being worked out and the contract had not been signed. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak before the news conference.

BY PAT EATON-ROBB ASSOCIATED PRESS Connecticut has given men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie a contract extension through the end of the 2017-18 season.

The deal, signed Saturday December 29, 2012, is worth just over $7 million and began Jan. 1. When Ollie was hired in September, he was signed for just one season.

“As I said in my first press conference, I want to be here a lifetime and this is a step, hopefully a great step, in the program moving forward,” Ollie said in a news release announcing the deal.

Ollie, who turned 40 last Thursday, was hired after Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun retired. His original deal had a pro-rated value of just over $465,000, the school said.

Ollie has led UConn to a 9-2 record despite losing five underclassmen from last year’s team after it was announced that the Huskies were academically ineligible for the upcoming postseason.

“I am incredibly impressed with the way Kevin has led our program and his interaction with the administration, his coaching staff, the student athletes and our donors and fans,” said Warde Manuel, the school’s athletic director. “His team has performed incredible on the floor and in the classroom. All these factors contributed to my thinking that the time was right to come to this agreement with Kevin.”

Ollie, who played point guard for Calhoun from 1991-95, was his former coach’s hand-picked successor. He became an assistant at UConn in 2010, after 13 years as an NBA journeyman. He had never been a head coach on any level.

Ollie has quickly established himself with his upbeat and energetic style, running practices that focus on conditioning and accountability.

“Kevin moved gracefully and seamlessly into this position of immense responsibility over the course of the fall,” said school President Susan Herbst. “He demonstrated to us that he is a genuine leader of extraordinary talents.”

Thursday, January 3, 2013

BIDDERS WANTED SPECIFICATION NO. 2751 2012-2014 ASPHALT AND CONCRETE RECYCLING PROGRAM Crushing Work ENG. EST.: $1,800,000 - $2,000,000 PRE-BID DATE: JANUARY 15, 2013, 9:00 AM BID DATE: JANUARY 29, 2013, 2:45 PM FEE: $0.00 Class A or C-21 California Contractor’s License for work is required at time of award.

CITY OF LOS ANGELES HARBOR DEPARTMENT (310) 732-3522 FAX: (310) 831-5389 CNS#2425517

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2012 234020 The following person (s) is (are) doing business as: COMMUNITY FRESH START FAMILY UNITY PROGRAM, 11204 ALVARO STREET, LA. CA. 90059.

County of Los Angeles. Registered Owner(s): COMMUNITY FRESH START FAMILYUNITY PROGRAM, 11204 Alvaro Street, Los Angeles, CA. 90059. This business is conducted by a Corporation.

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime). S/SANDRA STRAIGHT, DIRECTOR. The statement was filed with the County Clerk of LOS ANGELES County on NOVEMBER 29,2012 NOTICE- in accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. Where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of fictitious name in violation of the rights of another under federal state or common law (see section 14411 et seq. Business and Professions code.)

Original 12/20, 12/27, 01/03, 01/10/2012.

LA SENTINEL 430764

RAY LEWIS Continued from page 10 to one hard last ride, and we need to make it one to remember.”

When Lewis tore his triceps against Dallas, it was feared he was done for the season. But he would have none of that.

“From the time I got hurt, everything I’ve done up to this point has been to get back with my team to make another run at the Lombardi (Trophy),” he said.

Well, not everything. Lewis spent time watching his boys play football, which caused him to call his rehabilitation “bittersweet.” After spending countless hours from Monday through Thursday working to return from the injury, he hopped on a plane toward Florida to be with his boys.

“I got to be there every Friday,” Lewis said. “Me being who I am, not having a father myself, that damaged me a lot. I didn't want my kids to relive that.

“One of the hardest things in the world is to walk away from my teammates. But the now I’m going to step into other chapters of my life.

“I knew I couldn’t split my time anymore. When God calls, he calls.

And he's calling. More importantly, he calls me to be a father. It’s OK to be Daddy. Yes, this chapter is closing, but the chapter that’s opening is overwhelming. That’s what excites me the most.”

Lewis could have made the announcement during the offseason. “'I think my fans, my city, I think they deserved for me to just not walk away,” he said. “We all get to enjoy what Sunday will feel like, knowing that this will be the last time 52 plays in a uniform in Ravens stadium.”

11

NOTICE INVITING BIDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Long Beach, California, acting by and through the City’s Board of Harbor Commissioners (“City”) will receive, before the Bid Deadline established below, sealed Bids for the following Work: PIER G, BERTHS G230-G236 TERMINAL REDEVELOPMENT EAST TERMINAL BUILDING DEMOLITION AND SITE REDEVELOPMENT AT PIER G, BERTHS G230-G236 LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA AS DESCRIBED IN SPECIFICATION NO. HD-S2243 AND DRAWINGS LISTED ON DRAWING NOS. HD 10-01977-00-G-IN-MS-S-001, HD 10-01977-00-G-IN-MS-S-002, AND HD 10-01977-00-G-IN-MS-S-003 Bid Deadline: Prior to 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 5, 2013.

Bid packages will be time/date stamped on the 4th floor or in the Lobby and shall be submitted prior to 10 a.m.

Place for Submission of Bids: 1. By Hand Delivery Any Business Day Before the Bid Deadline Monday – Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Harbor Department Administration Building, 4th Floor Plans and Specifications/Program Management Office 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 2. By Hand Delivery on the Same Calendar Day as the Bid Deadline Harbor Department Administration Building Ground Floor Lobby 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 Bid Opening: As soon as practical after the Bid Deadline Harbor Department Administration Building 6th Floor Board Room 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 Contract Documents Available: Date/Time: Beginning Thursday, January 3, 2013 Monday – Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Location: Harbor Department Administration Building 4th Floor, Plans and Specifications 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting: Date: Friday, January 18, 2013 Time: 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Location: Harbor Department Administration Building 6th Floor Board Room 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 Mandatory Site Tour: Date: Friday, January 18, 2013 Time: 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Location: Pier G Terminal 1281 Pier G Way Project Contact Ed Lazcano For questions regarding Engineer’s Persons: lazcano@polb.com Estimate, obtaining copies of Bid Phone: 562-283-7353 Documents, Plan Holder’s List, and Fax: 562-283-7352 other non-technical questions: For technical questions:

David Vigil dvigil@polb.com Fax: 562-283-7352

NIB -1 Contract Documents. Copies of Contract Documents in DVD format may be obtained, at no cost, at the Plans and Specifications Office, 4th floor, Harbor Department Administration Building, 925 Harbor Plaza, Long Beach, CA 90802 during the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. To arrange to receive a DVD of the Contract Documents by courier at the expense of the Bidder, call (562) 283-7353.

For information on this Project and other upcoming Port projects, you may view the Port website at http://www.polb.com/economics/contractors/out_for_bid.asp.

Copies of all Port insurance endorsement forms, SBE/VSBE Program forms, Harbor Development Permit Applications and other Port forms are available at http://www.polb.com/economics/contractors/forms_permits/default.asp.

NIB -2 Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting and Mandatory Site Tour. The engineering staff of the City’s Harbor Department will conduct a pre-bid meeting starting at 8:30 a.m., on Friday, January 18, 2013, in the Board Room, 6th floor, of the Harbor Department Administration Building. A mandatory guided Site Tour will follow the PreBid Meeting and will be conducted from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Bidders will be required to leave the Site between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. for the lunch break, but may return at 2:00 p.m. for the second portion of the Site Tour. Attendance at the Pre-Bid Meeting and Site Tour is mandatory for all Bidders. Each Bidder shall attend the mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting and the mandatory Site Tour, inspect and examine the Project Site and the buildings to be demolished, and perform any observations and measurements to further document existing conditions, and may use photography and/or video as well, to aid in preparation of Bid Documents so that the Bidder shall be thoroughly familiar with the buildings to be demolished. The City makes no guarantee that existing construction matches construction depicted on as-built Reference Drawings and Documents in Appendix CC. It shall be the Bidder’s responsibility to identify existing conditions during the Site Tour. Each Bidder must have a valid picture identification card (driver’s license or TWIC card), hard hat, steel-toed boots, and safety traffic vest to attend the Site Tour. Note that attendance at the Pre-Bid Meeting can be used to satisfy a portion of a Bidder’s good faith efforts to meet the SBE/VSBE participation goals listed below. EACH BIDDER MUST ATTEND THE MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING AND ATTEND THE MANDATORY SITE TOUR. FAILURE TO ATTEND EITHER THE MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING OR THE MANDATORY SITE TOUR OR BOTH SHALL DISQUALIFY THE BID RECEIVED FROM THAT BIDDER. PROSPECTIVE BIDDERS ATTENDING THE PRE-BID MEETING AND THE SITE TOUR SHALL ARRIVE ON TIME AND SIGN IN TO EACH EVENT. NIB -3 Summary Description of the Work. The Work required by this Contract includes furnishing all transportation, labor, materials, tools, equipment, services, testing, and incidentals to accomplish the PIER G, BERTHS G230-G236 TERMINAL REDEVELOPMENT, EAST TERMINAL BUILDING DEMOLITION AND SITE REDEVELOPMENT Project. Refer to Section 01110, Summary of Work, in the Technical Specifications for a more detailed description of the Work which includes, but is not limited to, the following: • Supervision, coordination and project phasing to accommodate site water pollution control, potholing, building demolition, site demolition, utilities demolition, electrical substations demolition, reefer substation installation, storm drain construction, waterline construction, electrical and communications conduit and ductbank construction, lighting construction (parking lot light poles and high mast light pole), irrigation

system and landscape construction, signage installation, fencing, grading, paving, and striping.

• Demolition and removal of existing Freight Station Building, Operations Office Building, and Maintenance Shop Building as specified and indicated on Drawings, including associated hazardous materials abatement indicated in the report included in Appendix GG. • Demolition and removal of three (3) existing electric substations, foundations, and appurtenances, including associated hazardous materials abatement (Southern California Edison (SCE) will remove SCE-owned equipment).

• Demolition and removal of existing chain link fence and gates (including posts and foundations), guard posts and foundations, handrail and foundation, temporary railing (Type K), signage (including posts and foundations), railroad tracks, power poles, parking lot light poles and foundations, high mast light poles and foundations.

• Removal and disposal of underground sand and grease interceptor.

• Demolition and removal of existing asphalt concrete paving, Portland cement concrete paving, concrete curb, concrete wheel stops, concrete foundations, reinforced concrete runways, concrete and wood ramps.

• Demolition and removal of existing landscape and irrigation, trees (including root ball).

• Demolition and removal of electrical and telecommunications ductbanks and pullboxes.

• Demolition and removal of existing natural gas line (Long Beach Gas & Oil Department will disconnect natural gas service, cut and cap the natural gas lines, and remove the natural gas meter).

• Cutting and plugging (abandoning) or removal of existing water lines, sewer lines, and storm drains, including salvage of fire hydrants, removal of water valves, valve boxes, water meters, thrust blocks, manholes, concrete vaults, removal of storm drain cleanouts, manholes, and catch basins.

• Installation of sanitary sewer cleanout.

• Construction of storm drain, trench drains, inlet structures, manholes, and storm water separation device.

• Construction of new water lines and associated work, including installation of line stops, thrust blocks, and removal and relocation of fire hydrants.

• Adjusting structures to finish grade (water valves, sewer manholes, storm drain manholes, electrical manholes, and electrical pullboxes).

• Installing new reefer substation and circuit breakers, including installation of new conduit and conductors to existing reefer outlet assemblies.

• Performing electrical work, including conduit, pullboxes, manholes, and ductbank installation, construction of parking lot lights and high mast light pole.

• Performing grading, paving, and striping including construction of reinforced concrete retaining wall with security fence, cement concrete curb, and landscape islands adjacent to Administration Building, asphalt concrete, and installation of wheel stops, striping, and signs.

• Construction of irrigation system and landscaping, including palm tree planting and landscape maintenance.

• Providing temporary and permanent security fencing and gates, temporary railing (Type K), and other traffic, security, and safety controls.

NIB -4 Contract Time and Liquidated Damages. The Work shall be completed within three hundred ninety-five (395) calendar days as provided in Paragraph SC - 6.1.1 of the Special Conditions, from a date specified in a written “Notice to Proceed” issued by the City and subject to adjustment as provided in Section 3.1 of the General Conditions. FAILURE OF THE CONTRACTOR TO COMPLETE THE WORK WITHIN THE CONTRACT TIME AND OTHER MILESTONES WILL RESULT IN ASSESSMENT OF LIQUIDATED DAMAGES IN THE AMOUNTS ESTABLISHED IN THE SPECIAL CONDITIONS. NIB -5 Contractor’s License. Each Bidder shall hold a current and valid Class ”A” California Contractor’s License to bid this Project.

NIB -6 Contractor Performed Work. The Contractor shall perform, with its own organization, Contract Work amounting to at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the Contract Price, except that any designated “Specialty Items” may be performed by subcontract and the amount of any such “Specialty Items” so performed may be deducted from the Contract Price before computing the amount required to be performed by the Contractor with its own employees. “Specialty Items” will be identified by the City in the Schedule of Bid Items.

NIB-7 SBE/VSBE. This Project is subject to the Port of Long Beach (POLB) Small Business Enterprises (SBE)/Very Small Business Enterprises (VSBE) Program. The combined SBE/VSBE participation goal for this project is twenty-five percent (25%), of which a minimum of five percent (5%) must be allocated to VSBEs. POLB expects all Bidders to achieve the combined SBE/VSBE participation goal. Award of the Contract will be conditioned on the Bidder submitting an SBE-2C Commitment Plan demonstrating the Bidder’s intent to meet the combined SBE/VSBE participation goal. If the Bidder’s Commitment Plan does not demonstrate intent to meet the combined goal, the Bidder shall demonstrate that it made an adequate good faith effort to do so, as specified in the Instructions to Bidders (ITB 18). The Port’s SBE Program staff is available to provide information on the program requirements, including SBE certification assistance. Please contact the SBE Office at (562) 283-7598 or sbeprogram@polb.com. You may also view the Port’s SBE Program requirements at www.polb.com/sbe.

NIB -8 Prevailing Wage Rates and Employment of Apprentices. This Project is a public work as defined in Labor Code Section 1720. The Contractor receiving award of the Contract and Subcontractors of any tier shall pay not less than the prevailing wage rates to all workers employed in execution of the Contract. The Director of Industrial Relations of the State of California has determined the general prevailing rates of wages in the locality in which the Work is to be performed. The rate schedules are available on the internet at http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlsr/ DPreWageDetermination.htm. Bidders are directed to Article 15 of the General Conditions for requirements concerning payment of prevailing wages, payroll records, hours of work and employment of apprentices.

NIB -9 Trade Names and Substitution of Equals. Bidders wishing to obtain City’s authorization for substitution of equivalent material, product, or equipment, are required to submit a written request for an Or Equal Substitution using the form included in Appendix A together with data substantiating Bidder’s representation that the non-specified item is of equal quality to the item specified, not more than thirty-five (35) calendar days after Bid Opening. Authorization of a substitution is solely within the discretion of the City.

NIB -10

NOT USED.

NIB -11 Bid Security, Signed Contract, Insurance and Bonds. Each Bid shall be accompanied by a satisfactory Bidder’s Bond or other acceptable Bid Security in an amount not less than ten percent (10%) of the Base Bid as a guarantee that the Bidder will, if Conditionally Awarded a Contract by the Board, within thirty (30) calendar days after the Contract is conditionally awarded to the Contractor by the City, execute and deliver such Contract to the Chief Harbor Engineer together with all required documents including insurance forms, a Payment Bond for one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price, and a Performance Bond for one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price. All Bonds shall be on forms provided by the City.

NIB -12 Conditional Award of Contract and Reservation of Rights. The Board, acting through the Executive Director, reserves the right at any time before the execution of the Contract by the City, to reject any or all Bids, and to waive any informality or irregularity. The Conditional Award of the Contract, if any, will be to the responsible Bidder submitting the lowest responsive and responsible Bid. If the lowest responsive responsible Bidder fails to submit the required documents including insurance forms, bonds and signed Contract within thirty (30) calendar days after Conditional Award of Contract, the Board reserves the right to rescind the Conditional Award and Conditionally Award the Contract to the next lowest responsive and responsible Bidder.

NIB -13 Period of Bid Irrevocability. Bids shall remain open and valid and Bidder’s Bonds shall be guaranteed for ninety (90) calendar days after the Bid Deadline or until the Executive Director executes a Contract, whichever occurs first.

NIB -14 Substitution of Securities. Substitution of Securities for retainage is permitted in accordance with Section 22300 of the Public Contract Code.

Issued at Long Beach, California, this 5th day of November, 2012.

J. Christopher Lytle Executive Director of the Harbor Department, City of Long Beach, California

12

Thursday, January 3, 2013

1/2013

e v e n t LISTINGS

L.A. Watts Times Calendar, Compiled by Brandon I. Brooks, Co-Managing Editor 1/5/13

NOW – 4/7/13

1/15

1/19/13

DOMA THEATRE COMPANY

CAAM PRESENTS GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: The California African American

MENTORING PROGRAM FOR AFRICANAMERICAN YOUTH: The Concerned Black

seeks talent for its upcoming production of Dreamgirls. The Tony, Drama Desk and Grammy Award-winning musical, directed by Marco Gomez, will begin rehearsals on January 16 (Monday–Thursday evenings and Saturday days) for a six-week run, March 1–April 7 (Fridays and Saturdays @ 8 pm, Sundays @ 3 pm) with a possible two-week extension through April 21 at The MET Theatre in Hollywood. Auditions will be held by appointment only at The MET Theatre, 1089 North Oxford Ave Los Angeles, CA 90029, on Saturday, January 5 from 10 am–4 pm and on Sunday, January 6 from 10 am–2 pm, with callbacks scheduled on January 12. To request an appointment, submit a headshot and resume to auditions@domatheatre.com and include the role you would like to be seen for. All roles are open.

Museum (CAAM) presents the exhibition “Go Tell It On The Mountain.” The exhibit showcases 24 artists who examine Christianity’s role in fostering political action and social engagement. The exhibition’s curators, Nery Gabriel Lemus and Mar Hollingsworth, utilized James Baldwin’s 1953 novel of the same title, “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” as a point of departure to select a variety of pieces. The selections celebrate faith and, at times contrast, the oppositional forces within Christianity and the underlying tensions of religious control as well as human hypocrisy. WHERE: CAAM is located at 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles. For more information visit www.caamuseum.org or call (213) 744-2024. Parking is $10 per vehicle and available on 39th and Figueroa streets.

OPEN HOUSE AND PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE WEST ADAMS - BALDWIN HILLS LEIMERT COMMUNITY PLAN: The Los

MENTORING PROGRAM FOR AFRICANAMERICAN YOUTH: The Concerned Black

UP & COMING 1/12/13

SEEKS TALENT FOR SEASON OPENER “DREAMGIRLS”: DOMA Theatre Company

Men of Los Angeles, a non-profit mentoring organization, offers a powerful series of youth mentoring workshops through its signature Welcome-to-Manhood Program, promoting education, career and life skills guidance, and instructions in the importance of self-mastery and personal achievement. Workshops and youth activities are free. Workshops are designed for youth 11 to 19 years of age.

WHEN: Our next workshop Prim, Proper, and Prepared is scheduled for 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

WHERE: The Exposition Park - Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Regional Branch Library 3900 S. Western Ave Los Angeles, 90062, at the corner of 39th Street and Western Avenue.

Please call 213-359-3378 to preregister for yourself and friends.

ON GOING NOW – 3/ 7/13 THE LOS ANGELES URBAN LEAGUE PRESENTS: “The 90 That Built L.A.,” an exhibit at the Museum of African American Art. This multi-layered exhibit chronicles and celebrates the League’s 90 plus year milestone of serving the city of Los Angeles, in addition to honoring 90 champions for change and equality, past and present. The exhibit will include personal artifacts from honorees; a retrospect of the social, economic, political and civic challenges and triumphs for Los Angeles residents of color and the League’s leadership and unwavering commitment to the community.

WHEN: Museum hours are Thursday -Sunday: 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday –Wednesday the exhibit will be closed. Admission is FREE! Where: Museum of African American Art 3650 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90008 (Located on the 3rd floor of Macy’s at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall). For more information call (323) 294-7071 or visit www.theleague90.com. For more information on the Museum of African American Art, visit www.maaala.org.

Photos by Malcolm Ali

THE JL EXPERIENCE: Tap Soul Productions presents the return home of Broadway performer JL Williams of Fela! on Broadway in this song and tap dance concert with surprise celebrity guests. Tap is an indigenous art form that needs your support. You don't want to miss this event.

WHEN: 2 shows @ 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Stella Adler Theatre 6773 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028. General Admission $18 in advance online or $25 at the door the day of the event. For more information and tickets please visit www.tapsoulpro.com.

ST. MARY’S ACADEMY OPEN HOUSE: St. Mary’s Academy is an oasis for girls to grow and learn in a safe, caring environment.

Through campus ministry and Christian service programs, college preparatory curriculum, sports program and student government activities, SMA’s faculty and staff contribute to the spiritual, moral, educational and social development of their students. Programs are offered in liberal arts, sports, communication arts and STEM, while focusing students on becoming a balanced, well rounded individual, which will contribute back to society. St, Mary's Academy uniquely has 4 Career Path Programs: Accounting, Communication Arts, Engineering, and Health Careers. By offering such programs, SMA is bridging the gap and fostering young women leaders in these male dominated industries. St. Mary’s Academy has a long-standing legacy of alumnae that have held and continue to hold leadership positions in religion, health, education, law, science, politics, and government.

SMA alumnae held these positions long before it was “trendy” for women to be so competitive in the workforce. This is especially impressive since recently, universities, colleges and private corporations are turning their focus on the education of girls and young women and the contributions they make in the workforce. St. Mary’s Academy provides an excellent education for young ladies in a loving, Catholic environment.

Come Experience St. Mary’s Academy first hand! WHEN: 12 noon - 3 p.m.

WHERE: 701 Grace Avenue, Inglewood CA 90301. For more information about SMA please call (310) 674-8470 or visit www.smabelles.org.

Angeles Department of City Planning invites the public to attend the Open House and Public Hearing for the West Adams Baldwin Hills Leimert Community Plan.

The West Adams Community Plan guides long range planning and land use policies that can to help make West Adams, Baldwin Hills, and Leimert Park more sustainable, livable neighborhoods. WHERE: Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 West Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016. WHEN 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm. The Open House begins at 5:00 pm, with the Public Hearing starting at 7:00 pm. For more information, please contact project staff at (213) 978-1209 or (213) 978-1204 or visit online at http://planning.lacity.org under New Community Plans for all proposed policies.

Men of Los Angeles, a non-profit mentoring organization, offers a powerful series of youth mentoring workshops through its signature Welcome-to-Manhood Program, promoting education, career and life skills guidance, and instructions in the importance of self-mastery and personal achievement. Workshops and youth activities are free. Workshops are designed for youth 11 to 19 years of age.

WHEN: Our next workshop Prim, Proper, and Prepared is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

WHERE: Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Library 2205 West Florence Avenue, Los Angeles at the corner of Florence and Van Ness. For more information please call 213-359-3378 to preregister for yourself and friends.

TO MAKE A CALENDAR SUBMISSION: Include event name, date(s), time, location, contact/RSVP information and admission price, if any. Use BRIEF paragraph format (no lists, line breaks, or all caps). All calendar submissions are space-permitting and may be edited for brevity. Send submissions, along with any images, to brandon@lasentinel.net with the subject heading “LAWT Community Events.” Please include text in the body of your email, not in an attachment.