LAWT 12-01-2011

W E E K E N D E R SEE PAGES 8-9

L.A. Watts Times Vol. XXX, No. 1260

www.lawattstimes.com

Thursday, December 1, 2011

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

HOROSCOPES A

RIES ~ A party or gathering with friends from the past will give you the opportunity to see how much you are loved. You’ve made tremendous strides and accomplished much in your life, so be pleased with yourself this week.

Pass some of your wisdom along to others. Soul affirmation: I give thanks for who I am this week.

AURUS ~ An afterglow will surround you this week if you summon it up from your subconscious, and you may not feel like getting immediately into work mode on several days this week. It’s okay to go with your feelings; the world will wait for a little while. Treasure happy moments. Soul affirmation: My smile gives light to everyone I meet this week.

EMINI ~ Your mind will be extra busy this week with thoughts of new projects and the things you want to get done. Best course of action is to clear up pending and overdue items.

You’ll have a clean slate in no time and will feel genuinely content and ready for the new stuff.

Soul affirmation: Light from my soul shines in many directions.

ANCER ~ You should know by now that trying to be in two places at once is very taxing to your nerves! Slow down a bit and trust that you’ll get what needs to be done accomplished. Give yourself a head start on all road trips so that you have time to enjoy the view.

Love promises much this week. Accept the promise. Soul affirmation: My mood is created by the company I keep.

EO ~ 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. Soul affirmation: My blessings come through others this week.

IRGO ~ Drive the speed limit this week or you could wind up with a ticket. Why rush?

Serenity is available if you only stop and listen for it inside of you. Discharge your usual obligations with dignity and silently count your blessings. Soul affirmation: Friendships are the shock absorbers on the bumpy road of life.

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IBRA ~ Trust — that’s what you need to do!

Sure, people lie sometime, but when you know their hearts you know what to expect and therefore you’re not deceived. Be prepared for lots of compliments this week. Most of them will be sincere, so plan to accept them gracefully. You may be planning a summer trip. Make it a nice getaway. Soul affirmation: I take a chance on new beginnings.

COPRIO ~ Live free and large, and cherish good friends. Financial matters are highlighted during working hours. Everything to do with your money, or money under your care, goes smoothly. A party invitation arrives — say YES! Soul affirmation: I open myself up to the good news that wants to come to me.

AGITTARIUS ~ Creative mental energy makes this a banner week for you. An ambition that you thought you had left behind years ago suddenly resurfaces, and you’ll see similarities between what you are doing now and what you dreamed of back then. Enjoy! Soul affirmation: Laughter is strong medicine against any disease.

APRICORN ~ No need for rowdiness, wild ones! You can make your point without jumping up and down and waving your hands and arms in the air! Speak your wisdom softly, gently this week, so that others can hear it and benefit, smooth one! Soul affirmation: Wearing three different hats is easy for a person like me.

QUARIUS ~ Things speed up again this week and you are in a highly creative mood.

An outspoken female in your circle may illuminate a thorny question for you. You’ll be surprised and pleased by what you hear. Take her aside and thank her. Soul affirmation: I keep myself free of all resentment.

ISCES ~ Hello, home life. After a busy next few weeks all you want to do is savor the feelings of domesticity at home. Or perhaps go shopping to spruce up your living space.

Whatever you decide do it with a close friend.

You'll both enjoy the week more if you are together. Soul affirmation: The grandeur of my presence reflects the sunshine of my soul.

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L.A. Watts Times Published Weekly – Updates

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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 WWW.LAWATTSTIMES.COM

EMAIL: wattsweekender@yahoo.com Circulation ..................................................................................50,000 The opinions expressed by contributing writers are not necessarily those of the L.A. Watts Times.

The L.A. Watts Times is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, CDs or tapes.

CIRCULATION AUDITED BY CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL

It’s a smaller world than you think, especially if you are a member of Facebook, according to researchers at the University of Milan.

According to their analysis of Facebook’s database, the average number of acquaintances separating us from someone we already know is 4.74, not the six degrees of separation dramatized by a film and play of the same name.

The Italian researchers announced Nov. 21 that their research refines the theory first advanced in 1967 by psychologist Stanley Milgram: that mankind is only six introductions away from a familiar person.

According to the New York Times, a month of analysis of Facebook data found the distance between two people on the Facebook network is even smaller than 4.74 introductions. “In the United States, where more than half of people over 13 are on Facebook, it was just 4.37 [steps].”

Calling the Facebook social graph a “small-world graph,” the study concluded,

“ ... it is reassuring to see that our findings show that people are in fact only four worlds apart, and not five: when considering another person in the world, a friend of your friend knows a friend of their friend, on average.”

The data also show that the average Facebook friend count is 190, with about 10 percent of the users having fewer than 10 friends and 20 percent having fewer than 25.

However, 50 percent have over 100 friends. Also, the notes state, for 84 percent of users, “the median friend count of their friends is higher than their own friend count” — their friends have more friends than they do.

Wanted: Pageant contestants

WEEKENDER

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 Joy Childs ....................................................................Assistant Editor Bernard Lloyd ....................................................Director of Advertising Benjamin Samuels ....................................................Graphic Designer Chris Martin ..........................................................Production Designer

Study shows Facebook making world smaller SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER

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Inside This Edition

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BlackFacts.com

December 4, 1969 Moneta J. Sleet Jr. becomes the first African American male and the first African American photographer to win a Pulitzer Prize. He had served as staff photographer for the Johnson Publishing Company for over four decades, covering some of the most important events of the 20th century. Sleet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photographic portrait of Coretta Scott King and her youngest child, Bernice, was taken during Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. In one split second Sleet captured what words could never adequately express. Whether he was creating images of celebrities or the largely anonymous, all were “photographed with the care and sensitivity that are Moneta Sleet trademarks,” in the words of an Ebony article of January 1987.

A call has gone out for contestants for the Miss L.A. County pageant.

There are numerous categories, which range in age from 1?16.

Contestants are not required to live in Los Angeles County. The pageant, sponsored by Universal Multi-Cultural Awareness Foundation, Inc., will be held in January, February and March next year.

Space is limited. Interested persons should call 323-293-5353, ext. 1, or e-mail lacountypageant@hotmail.com.

The contestants will be judged by a panel of celebrities and civic and community leaders. Winners will receive cash, savings bonds, prizes and scholarships.

The deadline for the Miss Los Angeles County pageant is Dec. 5.

Interviews will be held Dec. 7 at the Department of Water and Power Community Room, located at 4030 Crenshaw Blvd. from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

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L.A. police raid Occupy camp at City Hall

BY CHRISTINA HOAG AND KATHY MATHESON | AP LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia stormed Occupy Wall Street encampments in both cities Wednesday, demanding

protestors leave demonstration sites that had become two of the movement's largest after evictions upended others across the country.

Dozens of officers in riot gear flooded down the steps of Los Angeles City Hall just after midnight and

REUTERS/David McNew

Occupy L.A. protesters have been camping on the lawns of City Hall since October 1, outlasting major encampments broken up by police in big cities across the nation.

AP Photo/Lucy Nicholson/Pool

Getting ready: Los Angeles police officers prepare to evict protesters from the Occupy Los Angeles encampment outside City Hall in Los Angeles.

started dismantling the two-month-old camp two days after a deadline passed for campers to leave the City Hall lawn. The raid had a military precision and officers in helmets and wielding batons moved in and began making arrests after several orders were given to leave the small park.

The raid in Los Angeles came after demonstrators with the movement in Philadelphia marched through the streets after being evicted from their site. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa raised public safety and health concerns in announcing plans for the eviction last week, while Philadelphia officials said protestors must clear their site to make room for a $50 million renovation project.

Defiant Los Angeles campers, who were chanting slogans as the officers surrounded the park, booed when an unlawful assembly was declared, paving the way for officers to begin arresting those who didn’t leave.

In the first moments of the raid, officers tore down a tent and tackled a tattooed man with a camera on City Hall steps and wrestled him to the ground. Someone yelled “police brutality.”

Teams of four or five officers moved through the crowd making arrests one at a time, cuffing the hands of protesters with white plastic zipties. A circle of protesters sat with arms locked, many looking calm and smiling.

Opamago Cascini, 29, said the night had been a blast, and he was willing to get arrested.

“It’s easy to talk the talk, but you gotta walk the walk,” Cascini said.

In Philadelphia, police began pulling down tents at about 1:20 a.m.

EST after giving demonstrators three warnings that they would have to leave, which nearly all of the protestors followed. Dozens of demonstrators then began marched through the street and continued through the night.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said breaking

up the camp in the early-morning hours helped minimize any disruption to businesses and traffic.

“We acknowledge the fact that we are going to have to leave this space ... but in another sense this has been our home for almost two months and no one wants to see their home taken away from them,” Philadelphia protestor Bri Barton, 22, said before police began clearing out the camp.

“Whether or not we have this

space or work in the city is nowhere near done,” she said.

Six protesters were arrested after remaining on a street police that police tried to clear. The eviction overall appeared to have been carried out without any significant scuffles or violence.

Demonstrators and city officials in both Los Angeles and Philadelphia See OCCUPY LA, page 14

MetroBriefs More Trains, More Often

Now there’s more frequent evening service on the Metro Red, Purple and Blue lines with trains running every 10 minutes until midnight. Stop off at L.A. LIVE, Hollywood, STAPLES Center, the Music Center or lots of other places… and when you’re ready, we’ll be there for you within 10 minutes. For some great deals after dark, check metro.net/discounts.

Go Metro To The Rose Parade To really enjoy this year’s Tournament of Roses Parade on January 2, use the Metro Gold Line and skip the traffic and parking hassles. You can also take the Gold Line to see the floats at Victory Park following the parade. Plan your tripat metro.net.

Holiday Eve Free Fares To help you enjoy the holidays safely, all Metro buses and trains will offer free service on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Specifically, no fare will be charged from 9pm on Saturday, December 24 until 2am Sunday, December 25 and from 9pm on Saturday, December 31 until 2am on Sunday, January 1. Have a safe holiday.

Go Metro.

FTA Grants Help Metro Improve Bus Service The Federal Transit Administration has awarded Metro with grants of $25 million for the purchase of 60 new natural gas-powered buses and $9.6 million for a new Silver Line station at Patsaouras Plaza at Union Station. Last year the FTA awarded Metro $47.7 million for construction of a new bus division adjacent to Metro headquarters.

Holiday Travel Plans? Go Metro To LAX, Burbank

AP Photo/Mark Boster, Pool

Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia stormed Occupy Wall Street encampments in both cities Wednesday, demanding protestors leave demonstration sites.

If you’d like to know more, visit metro.net.

12-0857kg_gen-ce-12-006 ©2011 lacmta

If your holiday travel plans include catching a flight out of LAX or Burbank, Metro can help get you there. For LAX, just Go Metro to Union Station and connect with the LAX FlyAway. To reach Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, Go Metro to the North Hollywood Station and catch the free SuperShuttle van straight to your terminal. Find out more at metro.net.

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

FAMU hazing persisted despite suspensions, probes

BY CHRISTINE ARMARIO | AP MIAMI (AP) — Two decades ago, the now-ousted director of the Florida A&M University band warned in a letter about the dangers of hazing among the famed “Marching 100” ensemble, saying “it would be very difficult for the university and the band should someone become killed or hurt.”

In the following years, however, hazing seemed to become a bigger — if not a more public — problem.

Police investigated several serious cases and students were arrested.

Anti-hazing workshops were held.

Dozens of band members were suspended. University officials and the marching band community were keenly aware of the persistent hazing, yet it continued — and is believed to have played a role in the death this month of a 26-year-old drum major, Robert Champion.

Champion’s death started a blame game of sorts, with the historically black college in Tallahassee firing its band director, Julian White, accusing

him of “misconduct and/or incompetence.” In turn, White released more than 150 pages of documents showing that he warned the university for years about what was going on.

The chair of the Board of Governors, which oversees Florida’s public universities, wrote a letter to FAMU trustees Tuesday saying it would investigate whether the university administration took appropriate action to address White’s concerns.

A former band member told The Associated Press on Tuesday that White looked for ways to eradicate a culture of hazing that existed in many instrument sections of the band.

White invited band members to anonymously report hazing and even had police come along on some away games, former drum major Timothy Barber told AP. In 2001, trumpeter Marcus Parker was paddled so severely that he ended up hospitalized with kidney damage.

White had police escort the trumpet section off the field to be interrogated to show he would not tolerate hazing, Barber said.

Robert Champion Sr., left, his wife, Pam, right, and their attorney Christopher Chestnut at a news conference Monday in Lithonia, Ga. About a dozen people pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and received probation in that case, though it’s not clear what actions, if any, the university took to punish them.

After the arrests, White approached Barber for help in getting rid of hazing. One area he focused on: A white wall in the band’s practice field where nicknames for the instrument sections were prominently displayed.

See FAMU, page 15

Federal cuts would be ‘critical blow’ to schools SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE ATLANTA VOICE A coalition of more than 150 black colleges and universities — including three in the Atlanta University Center — are fighting to persuade Congress and its deficit-reducing “Super Committee” not to cut $85 million or more in federal funding for the colleges and their students.

The coalition, which collectively represents the 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 50 Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), are fighting proposals that will cut federal funds to HBCUs by $85 million or more and would zero out support for PBIs. The proposed funding cuts would come on top of $30 million in cuts already made in HBCU funding, officials say — a move that would devastate black colleges nationwide.

“The colleges that would have to absorb these cuts serve students who employers are counting on as the next generation of engineers, scientists, teachers, doctors and nurses,” said Michael L. Lomax, UNCF president

and CEO. “Their education is being threatened at the worst possible time — in the midst of an economic downturn that is already making it hard for them to stay in school and graduate.”

Administrators at Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College agree.

“We provide unparalleled access to students from historically disenfranchised, economically disadvantaged sectors of the population and transform their paths to leadership in diverse arenas,” said Clark Atlanta University President Carlton E. Brown.

“The drastic reduction of Title III funding – totaling nearly $33 million in Georgia – would essentially dismantle critical elements of the infrastructure through which we have successfully completed this mission.

“In addition,” Brown added, “a reduction also would have significant, injurious impact on local economies statewide.”

Morehouse College President Robert M. Franklin agreed.

“Morehouse, like many HBCUs and PBIs, is committed to closing the gap of students who are prepared to go See SCHOOLS, page 13

AP Photo/Dave Martin

Spelman College President Beverly Tatum has written a new book, “Can We Talk About Race.”

Thursday, December 1, 2011

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New Calif. border drug tunnel found

BY ELLIOT SPAGAT | AP SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities have discovered a major cross-border tunnel, the latest in a spate of secret passages found to smuggle drugs from Mexico.

“It is clearly the most sophisticated, major tunnel that we have found in the last five years, perhaps ever,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. More details were expected Wednesday.

The tunnel discovered Tuesday links warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, authorities said.

Mexican soldiers found the entrance on the south side of the border at a Tijuana warehouse after the U.S. opening was discovered. A photo released by U.S. authorities shows a hydraulic lift inside the Tijuana building.

Mexican soldiers guarded the twostory warehouse near the Tijuana airport as darkness fell. The white building had a broken window that was covered with paper and no exterior sign.

The Tijuana warehouse is on the same block as a federal police office

and sits next to a packaging company and tortilla distributor.

The discovery comes less than two weeks after U.S. authorities found a 400-yard passage linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, seizing 17 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border. It was equipped with lighting and ventilation.

As U.S. authorities heighten enforcement on land, tunnels have emerged as a major tack to smuggle marijuana. More than 70 have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years.

Many are clustered around San Diego, California's Imperial Valley and Nogales, Ariz.

California is popular because its clay-like soil is easy to dig with shovels. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.

Authorities said they found a drug tunnel Tuesday in Nogales, running from a drain in Mexico to a rented house on the U.S. side.

San Diego’s Otay Mesa area has the added draw that there are plenty of warehouses on both sides of the bor-

der to conceal trucks getting loaded with drugs. Its streets hum with semitrailers by day and fall silent on nights and weekends.

Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border, ranking among the largest pot busts in U.S. history.

Those secret passages were lined with rail tracks, lighting and ventilation.

On Monday, a Mexican man was sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison for his role in last November's tunnels.

Prosecutors described Daniel Navarro, 45, as a significant player in moving marijuana from the San Diego warehouse and sought a 30-year prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said Navarro, a legal U.S. resident since 1999 who worked as a trucker in Southern California, was “up to his hips” in smuggling the large marijuana loads.

“This is just a gigantic amount of marijuana,” Burns said.

Associated Press writer Mariana Martinez contributed to this report from Tijuana, Mexico.

AP Photo/San Diego Tunnel Task Force

Entrance to a cross-border tunnel: This is the latest in a spate of secret passages found to smuggle drugs from Mexico. The tunnel was found in San Diego’s Otay Mesa area, a warehouse district across the border from Tijuana, according to authorities.

Millions are exposed to secondhand smoke and some can’t do anything about it.

Even if you don’t smoke, you can still be exposed to secondhand smoke in your home through vents, doors and windows.

Talk to your landlord about making your building entirely smoke-free. ©2011 California Department of Public Health

TobaccoFreeCA.com

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Expanding age gap between Whites and minorities may increase U.S. racial divide

BY TERESA WILTZ SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM AMERICA’S WIRE WASHINGTON—A generation gap in several states between older Whites and younger Latinos and African Americans has race relations experts concerned that age differences in the population are influencing spending and public policy in areas such as education, transportation, immigration and infrastructure.

As the United States rapidly advances toward having a majorityminority population, Whites continue to grow older, while non-Whites are increasingly younger. Evidence is mounting that what has been considered a racial divide in the country is also crystallizing into a generational divide.

Newly released U.S. Census data demonstrate a rapidly widening racial age gap. The median age for White Americans is 41 but is 32 for Blacks, 31.6 for Asians and 27 for Latinos.

Across the country, 80 percent of senior citizens are White, while nearly half of the nation’s youth are of color.

Such significant age disparities, some experts on race relations say, may be having far-reaching implications on resources invested in programs and areas benefiting younger generations.

“Where the old don’t see them-

selves reflected in the young, there’s less investment in the future,” says Manuel Pastor, a professor of geography and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California where he directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and codirects the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.

“Our racial divide has become a generational divide,” Pastor says.

“There’s this image of an older generation drawing up the drawbridge just as the younger generation is coming of age in America.”

More important, data show that states with a larger gap between median ages of Whites and people of color tend to make fewer investments in social programs that once benefited older generations that were predominantly White, according to a new research project by PERE in conjunction with PolicyLink, a national research and advocacy organization based in Oakland, Calif.

For instance, Pastor says states with significant age gaps between White and non-White populations tend to spend the least on education and public transportation.

In Arizona, the median age for Whites is 43 compared with 25 for Latinos, who comprise 31 percent of the state’s population. On per-pupil

spending for education, census data show that Arizona ranks 49th among the states and the District of Columbia.

In terms of spending on transportation, the state is in the bottom quarter of all states, according to Dominique Apollon, research director at the Applied Research Center, which has offices in New York, Chicago and Oakland.

“States that have the biggest age divide like Arizona really become ground zero for the racial generation gap,” says Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink.

“Places that don’t invest in the future will not be competitive in the future.”

To illustrate her point, Blackwell cites California and Mississippi.

Through slavery and restrictive Jim Crow laws, she says, Mississippi consistently underinvested in the Black community. Today, Blackwell says, it consistently ranks on or near in the bottom in terms of education spending and has the nation’s infant mortality rate. Forty is the median age for Whites in Mississippi, 29 for Blacks and 25 for Latinos, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

In California, public policy priorities have changed as the White population has aged. In the 1950s, when White families arrived from the Midwest in search of jobs, California built the nation’s best educational sys-

Courtesy of America’s Wire

Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink tem. There were generous investments in the state’s infrastructure and programs to help families become homeowners. The state became a poster child for the benefits of public sector spending.

Today, California has a considerable age gap between White and nonWhite residents. The median age for Whites is 43, for Blacks 34 and for Latinos 27, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Furthermore, Blackwell says children of color comprise 70 percent of the state’s 18-and-under population while 60 percent of its over-65 population is White.

Beset with budget issues, California now hovers in the lower rungs of per-child spending on education, ranking 43rd nationally. It also ranks in the bottom quarter of all states in transportation funding, according to the Applied Research Center.

“You’re starting to see the same approach that held back states like Mississippi holding back states like California,” Blackwell says. “California is the harbinger. Mississippi should have been the lesson.”

Still, questions have been raised about whether a relationship exists between racial age gaps and public sector spending. “I’m a little skeptical” about whether it is a national trend, Apollon says. Some state spending levels, he says, may be related to conservative philosophies toward government spending.

Still, Apollon says, “there is certainly a fear of the changing demographic amongst a small minority of the country, and that minority tends to be Whites and it tends to be slightly older.”

According to demographer William H. Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, generation-gap states like Arizona tend to have “lightning rod issues” such as immigration and undocumented immigrants. Last year, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed into law the nation’s strictest immigration legislation, which made failure to carry immigration documents a crime.

The law also gave police wide latitude in detaining anyone they suspected of being an illegal immigrant. A federal judge later imposed an injunction on many of the law’s provisions.

The state also banned Chicano studies

programs in its public schools.

Frey says antipathy toward immigrants is a generational trend, noting the hostility toward Italian and Polish immigrants 100 years ago.

Immigration slowed between the 1930s and 1970s, and not until the 1990s did Latin American immigration begin surging. Rapidly changing demographics unnerve many people, he says, adding that baby boomers had not witnessed the immigration wave of the early 1900s.

“What bothers me is politicians use this as a wedge issue,” Frey says, “rather than explaining this [wave of immigration] is part of our history.”

Meanwhile, other people see the disinclination to invest in younger generations as a matter of economics and self-interest. “I personally think it’s class that’s the issue, not ethnicity,” says Joel Kotkin, author of “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050.”

As older generations age out of the workforce, Kotkin says, they are much less concerned about opportunities for the next generation, regardless of race.

The state of the economy is also having an impact on social spending.

“When the economy goes bad, people get scared,” says Michael R. Wenger, senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington. “All of us get scared unless we’re Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. … We want to spend less because we don’t know what’s happening. That kind of fear means that people don’t want to be their brother’s keeper. They are fearful for their own future, and that comes first.”

Anxiety about the future is coupling with unease about the nation’s rapidly changing demographics to affect public policy. “This country has always been seen by White people as a White country,” Wenger says. “So a number of people see that slipping away, so their sense of control is slipping away. “ But Pastor says such fear becomes counterproductive.

“It’s not just kids of color that are hurt when you don’t invest in education,” he says. “It’s young White families that are afraid to move back to the cities because of the schools. We’re really damaging a whole generation of possibilities.”

Thursday, December 1, 2011

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School named in honor of esteemed LAUSD African American educator Ronald Prescott Los Angeles—The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday voted to rename the Mid-City Magnet School for Enriched Sciences, a K-8 campus in Local District 3, in honor of the late educator Ronald Prescott, who worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for 39 years.

The school’s new name is now Mid-City Prescott School of Enriched Sciences.

The board voted unanimously in favor of the name change, which was spearheaded by Board Member Marguerite LaMotte, who praised Prescott service and leadership in the District. Board member Nury Martinez was absent from the board meeting.

Prescott, who retired from the District in 2000, was known as a charismatic, forward-thinking educator and passionate lobbyist.

He grew up in the Los Angeles Unified School District community, graduated from Dorsey High School, and began his career in education with LAUSD in 1961. Over the years, he served in several leadership positions, including director for the Office of Multicultural Education, a precursor to the Office of Student Integration. Other positions he held include Administrative Coordinator; Deputy Area Administrator; Administrator for Student Adjustment Services; Assistant Superintendent; Associate Superintendent; and

Deputy Superintendent of the Office of Governmental Relations and External Affairs.

Family members, including Prescott’s sister, Patricia Prescott Marshall, attended Tuesday’s board meeting. “Thank you so very much,” said Willie Mae Wise Prescott, his 100-year-old mother.

Board member Marguerite LaMotte, Board Vice President Dr. Richard Vladovic and Dr. Gail Greer, principal of Mid-City Prescott School of Enriched Sciences, shared with the audience Prescott’s many contributions to the District and its students.

Prescott died in 2007. He was 68.

Honor for a forward-thinking educator: Ronald Prescott

HAVE YOU BEEN DENIED YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS? Let me assist you.

There is NO Fee until we win.

Jacquelyn Brown, Disability Appeals Rep.

(323) 756-3755

business

Man charged with trying to assassinate Obama

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SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE FLORIDA SENTINEL-BULLETIN

ing quarters while the president was away.

Soon after, U. S. Park Police found an abandoned vehicle, with an assault rifle inside it, near a bridge leading out of the nation’s capital to Virginia. The car led investigators to Ortega.

The FBI took custody of Ortega’s car Thursday afternoon to continue the process of reviewing evidence, said Lindsay Godwin, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington field office.

Ortega was arrested after a hotel desk clerk recognized his picture. He had been reported missing Oct. 31 by his family.

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PITTSBURGH — A man accused of firing two shots at the White House last week has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama or his staff.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez made his first court appearance before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh on Thursday, one day after he was arrested at a western Pennsylvania hotel. He will be taken back from a federal court in Pittsburgh to face the charges in Washington, D.C. Ortega will remain in federal cus-

tody at least until a magistrate in Washington can determine if he should remain jailed until his trial on the charge, which carries up to life in prison.

Ortega sat quietly as the hearing began, his hands free but his feet shackled. The 21-year-old said only, “Yes, ma’am” when he was asked if he understood that he would be going back to Washington to face the charge.

Authorities said a man clad in black who was obsessed with Pres.

Obama pulled his car within view of the White House on Friday night and fired shots from an assault rifle, cracking a window of the first family’s liv-

bulletin

AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren

This artist rendering shows accused White House shooter Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, center, before Magistrate Judge Alan Kay, left, Monday, Nov. 21, 2011. From left are, U.S. Assistant Attorney George P. Varghese, a public defender David Bos, Ortega-Hernandez, and Judge Kay.

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

The

HERMAN

CAIN Affair

Feisty Cain presses ahead with bid

By DAN SEWELL | AP WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) — His campaign rocked anew, a feisty Herman Cain claimed a “groundswell of positive support” from backers on Wednesday and accused critics of trying to derail his White House bid as he worked to stem the fallout from allegations of a 13year extramarital aơair.

“They’re attacking my character, my reputation and my name in order to try to bring me down,” a feisty Cain told a friendly crowd, without naming his critics.

“But, you see, I don’t believe that America is going to let that happen.”

Questions about the campaign’s viability hovered over Cain’s one-day bus tour through Ohio.

It came a day after the candidate told staơ he was reassessing his campaign after Ginger White, an Atlanta businesswoman, alleged in media interviews that she and Cain had a long-running sexual aơair.

“We are reassessing as we speak. Reassessment means reevaluation,” Cain told reporters Wednesday after his well-received speech to roughly 150 people in a hotel meeting room. He gave no indication to the audience that he was considering abandoning his bid despite telling staơ that he would make a decision in the next few days about whether to continue it.

Cain received a standing ovation after he spoke about what a “Cain administration” would do. And he said that while some people predicted that the room

F E AT U R E

would be empty, “I don’t see any empty seats.”

“It’s been a groundswell of positive support,” Cain insisted to reporters later, even as some backers in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire who had stuck by him after decadeold allegations of sexual harassment surfaced several weeks ago now indicated they were abandoning him.

Cain’s latest turmoil comes just five weeks before the first votes are cast in the state-by-state march to the nomination. The earlier sexual harassment accusations have taken a toll on both his standing in polls and, supporters say, his fundraising. Prominent conservatives who rushed to his defense earlier this month were all but silent when White stepped forward on Monday to accuse Cain of a consensual sexual relationship that ended this year before he became a White House candidate.

The candidate has denied the aơair, and in a letter addressed to “patriots and supporters,” called her allegations “completely false” and labeled her “troubled.”

White steadfastly stood by her assertion in an interview Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and said she was “disappointed” by Cain’s characterization of her. She called her relationship with Cain “a very casual aơair” that lasted more than a dozen years.

“I’m not here to say anything negative about Mr. Cain,” White said, although White added that she didn’t think he should be president.

She elaborated on her claims, saying she took several trips with Cain, including a flight to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield boxing match. She also said she had “consistently” received gifts and money from Cain over the past two and a half years, but said it was “not sex for cash.”

Following Monday’s developments, some Cain supporters have started to defect.

New Hampshire state Rep. William Panek endorsed Cain at a news conference earlier this year. But he changed his mind Tuesday after seeing reports that White showed evidence that she had traded 61 text messages and cellphone calls with the candidate.

Panek has endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the upcoming primary.

“I felt like we were being lied to,” he said. “I’m putting my name in New Hampshire as a state rep behind him, and I just didn’t like the way it was being played out.”

L.A. Watts Times WEEKENDER

In Iowa, Cain’s campaign has lost some precinctlevel supporters following the new allegations, according to Steve Grubbs, Cain’s Iowa chairman. Cain was in Iowa for a day last week to film a new ad, but aides say that spending to air it was on hold pending the fundraising in the days to come.

Still, some are sticking by him.

Florida state Rep. Scott Plakon, one of four chairmen for Cain’s Florida campaign, said he wanted to see more evidence.

“If it is true that he didn’t do this, I think he should fight and kick and scratch and win,” Plakon said.

But if Cain did have the aơair, Plakon said, “that would be very problematic,” he said. “There’s the aơair itself and then there’s the truthful factor. He’s been so outspoken in these denials.”

White’s revelation was the latest setback for a candidate who has been under scrutiny in the past month, since it was revealed that the National Restaurant Association paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization. A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advanced toward her but that she didn’t file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.

Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases.

Outwardly on Wednesday, the candidate tried to project an image of a campaign focused on winning — and not damage control. He planned to continue his bus tour in Dayton and Columbus before heading to New Hampshire later in the day.

On Tuesday, Cain delivered a national security speech to nearly 1,000 people at conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. He didn’t address White’s allegations; he also avoided speaking to reporters and stuck to his plan to present his foreign policy vision, one in which the U.S. would stand by friendly nations such as Israel, quit giving money to countries he considered enemies and spend more on defense.

Earlier that day, he acknowledged the “firestorm” that White sparked, and he acknowledged he was assessing whether her claims are too much for his candidacy to go forward.

“If a decision is made, diơerent than to plow ahead, you all will be the first to know,” Cain said during the call, according to a transcript from the National Review, which listened in.

In connection with the White allegation, Cain said: “With this latest one, we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people’s minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth.” __ Associated Press writers Kathy Barks Hoơman in Hillsdale, Mich., Ray Henry in Atlanta, Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Steve Peoples in Amherst, N.H., contributed to this report.

www.lawattstimes.com

Thursday, December 1, 2011

PHOTO CREDITS COVER: AP PHOTO/EVAN VUCCI THIS PAGE: AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Lions DT Suh appealing NFL’s 2-game suspension

AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File

Playing dirty?: Ndamukong Suh is suspended for two games by the NFL for stomping on the arm of Green Bay's Evan Dietrich-Smith during a Thanksgiving game.

BY LARRY LAGE | AP ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Ndamukong Suh is going back to the NFL, this time hoping for some

leniency.

The league suspended Detroit’s All-Pro defensive tackle without pay for two games on Tuesday, punishing the second-year player for roughing up a Green Bay Packers offensive lineman after the whistle last week.

Suh promptly appealed his suspension, hoping his stomp doesn’t keep him away from his playoff-hopeful teammates when they need him most.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Suh's hearing will be with Art Shell, an appointed appeal officer who is paid by the league and NFLPA. As of late Tuesday afternoon, the hearing hadn’t been scheduled, but the league has said it will expedite the procedure to give Suh and Lions an answer before Sunday’s game at New Orleans.

If Suh doesn’t win the appeal, he won't play against the Saints or in the Dec. 11 home game against Minnesota. He would return Dec. 12 ahead of a road game against Oakland.

Suh is barred from practice and the team’s facility while suspended.

He did not return messages left with his agent.

“As a player, you have to appeal it,” said Detroit defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, the team’s union rep.

“I’m sure the NFLPA will be on his side to make sure that he gets a fair hearing.”

If the NFL turns rejects the appeal, Suh will be watching the Lions (7-4) scramble to keep up in the NFC wild-card race after what the league said was his fifth violation of on-field rules in his first two years in the NFL. And everyone saw the latest one.

Suh lifted up his right knee and forcibly stepped on Evan DietrichSmith’s right arm during the third quarter of the Lions’ 27-15 loss last Thursday in a nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game. Before the stomp seen from coast to coast, Suh shoved Dietrich-Smith’s helmet toward the turf while separating him-

self from the Packers player on the ground.

It might have hurt Suh’s case when he sounded defiant during his postgame news conference, insisting he didn’t intentionally step on his opponent. After the Lions criticized his conduct Friday, Suh issued an apology to his teammates, organization and fans — not to Dietrich-Smith — as some around the league said his latest outburst proved he was the NFL’s dirtiest player.

“I’ll let him speak for himself when he gets that opportunity, but I’ve had a lot of conversations with him the last two days and I think he is in a different spot,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said Tuesday. “I think his No. 1 thing is, he didn’t want to be a distraction for the team. He wanted the team to be able to focus on the Saints, and he wants to be accountable for his actions.”

Earlier this season, the reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year requested a meeting with Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss his play after he drew several penalties and another fine. Suh said he had a better understanding of the rules after that meeting four weeks ago. On Sunday, he called Goodell to apologize but that didn’t appear to help.

Lions offensive linemen Dominic Raiola and Rob Sims refused to answer questions about Suh after Tuesday’s practice. Vanden Bosch, though, believes everyone in the locker room supports Suh, who he spoke with on Tuesday.

“His biggest regret is the affect it had on the team,” Vanden Bosch said.

“It was an unfortunate situation.

When you’re on the field, a lot of things happen when you’re playing with so much emotion in such a physical game. It’s difficult to look at the grand scheme of things when you’re in the heat of the moment.

“There’s no question he’d like to have the moment back, but he’s dealing with the repercussions of it and we are as well.”

The Lions will have a roster exception during Suh’s suspension, meaning they can sign someone to replace him or bolster some other spot on the team.

Dietrich-Smith wasn’t available to reporters in Green Bay on Tuesday, but other Packers players heard of the suspension. Linebacker Desmond Bishop said Suh “probably deserved it.”

“He did something wrong, suspended, he’ll pay the fine or whatever and hopefully (he’ll be) back and it'll change him a little bit from doing something like that,” Bishop said.

Guard T.J. Lang said the team was moving forward and wasn’t worried about Suh. “Fortunately, we’ve never been in a situation like that,” he said. “We just worry about ourselves and what we do as a group, and I think we have enough intelligence, definitely, as a team, and enough character, guys not doing any dumb things to put the team in jeopardy.

See SUH, page 15

AP Photo/Orlin Wagner

Kansas coach Turner Gill looks on during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. Missouri defeated Kansas 24-10.

Kansas fires coach Turner Gill after 2 seasons

BY DAVE SKRETTA | AP KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas fired coach Turner Gill on Sunday after two losing seasons and with three years remaining on a contract that still owes him about $6 million.

The school announced the move in a news release Sunday, the day after the Jayhawks lost 2410 to rival Missouri and finished the season 2-10.

Gill was 5-19 at Kansas. He was hired by Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger's predecessor, Lew Perkins, and given a fiveyear, $10 million contract.

The university says Zenger informed Gill of his decision late Sunday afternoon. He also said he would honor the terms of Gill's deal.

“After a thorough evaluation of our football program,” Zenger said in a statement, “I have concluded that new leadership is necessary to place us on the path toward competing for championships in the Big 12 Conference.

I come to this conclusion reluctant-

Kansas coach Turner Gill claps for his team during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011.

AP Photo/Orlin Wagner

ly, because I have the utmost respect for Turner Gill as a quality individual who wants only the best for the young men he coaches.”

Zenger said recruiting coordinator Reggie Mitchell would act as interim coach.

Gill came to Kansas from Buffalo, a perennially downtrodden Mid-American Conference team that he led to a league championship. At Kansas, he replaced Mark Mangino, who was fired in 2009 amid allegations he mistreated players.

Gill, a former star quarterback at Nebraska, said late Saturday that he had not spoken with Zenger, but sounded optimistic that he’ll be invited back for another season — it took him three years to make Buffalo into a winner.

“I do think we made good progress,” he said. “I guess it may be we have more to go than we anticipated, including myself coming in. I just think we can still get some things done here and move this program the right direction and do the things we need to do, win games and win bowl games.”

Thursday, December 1, 2011

11

Supermodel Beverly Johnson to debut reality series on OWN SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER

AP Photo/Pool, CNN

Throwing the book at him: Judge Michael Pastor sentences Dr. Conrad Murray to the maximum four years in county jail for his involuntary manslaughter conviction of pop star Michael Jackson.

Audio helped sway judge to give Jackson doctor jail

BY ANTHONY MCCARTNEY ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES (AP) — The voice of Michael Jackson helped put the man who killed him behind bars.

It wasn’t the familiar voice of hits such as “Billie Jean” and “Thriller,” but the slow, slurring recording of the singer that was found on his physician's cell phone that helped convince a judge to sentence the doctor to jail for four years.

The four-minute recording was one of the blockbuster revelations of Dr. Conrad Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial, a previously unknown piece of evidence that revealed an impaired Jackson describing his ambitions and aspirations as his personal physician listened.

It was also one of the trial’s most haunting moments and stuck in the mind of Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor as he considered in recent days how to sentence Murray for causing Jackson's unexpected death in June

2009. It wasn’t the only thing the judge considered — he unwaveringly assailed the cardiologist’s decisions and ethics for nearly 30 minutes Tuesday — but helped convince Pastor to give Murray the maximum sentence.

Jurors unanimously convicted Murray on Nov. 7, but it was up to Pastor on Tuesday to sentence the doctor and explain his punishment.

“Of everything I heard and saw during the course of the trial, one aspect of the evidence stands out the most, and that is the surreptitious recording of Michael Jackson by his trusted doctor,” Pastor said.

Murray’s attorneys never explained in court why the recording was made, and prosecutors said they do not know what substances Jackson was under the influence of when the audio was recorded six weeks before his death. Murray had been giving the singer nightly doses of the anesthetic propofol to help him sleep.

See JACKSON DOC, page 12

AP Photo/Reed Saxon

The verdict is in: Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson leaves the sentencing of Dr. Conrad Murray, where Judge Michael Pastor sentences Dr. Conrad Murray to the maximum four years in county jail for his involuntary manslaughter conviction of pop star Michael Jackson.

A reality series chronicling the life of former supermodel Beverly Johnson will debut early next year, the Oprah Winfrey Network recently announced.

“Beverly’s Full House” will follow the beauty queen and her family as they adjust to living under one roof.

“Johnson steps out of her role as glamorous fashion icon and opens her home to her daughter Anansa and sonin-law David and their newborn baby Ava, in an effort to reconnect with her daughter and to help her growing family get ahead financially in a tough economy,” an OWN news release stated.

The show, described as “humorous and heartfelt,” will show Johnson’s and Anansa’s attempts to repair their strained relationship and undo past wrongs.

Throughout the season, viewers will witness the drama, good times and bad times as Johnson’s family comes together.

The series will debut in February.

OWN is pushing forward with new programming despite a rocky start. The New York Times reported that its viewership fell in February from an average of 505,000 viewers at its January launch to an average of 135,000.

The network received a $12 million cash infusion from its parent company Discovery Communications but still struggled to take off. Winfrey stepped in as the CEO of the network in July.

Beverly Johnson

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

8 years for rapper Lil Boosie in drug smuggle plot

BlackPoet Ventures debuts Miles Davis Tribute in Los Angeles Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center continues to celebrate its newly opened doors SENTINEL WIRE SERVICE

Going to jail: Hatch.

Torrence “Lil Boosie”

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Baton Rouge rapper known as “Lil Boosie” has been sentenced to eight years in prison following his guilty plea to drug charges.

The 29-year-old rapper’s real name is Torrence Hatch. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to smuggle codeine, marijuana and ecstasy into two state prisons. They were the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, La. Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings says Hatch was serving a prison term for a separate conviction for marijuana possession when he smuggled the drugs with help from a prison guard.

State District Judge Mike Erwin in Baton Rouge sentenced him to the new prison term.

Hatch also faces a first-degree murder charge in the 2009 death of Terry Boyd. The trial is scheduled to start April 30.

Calling all L.A. artists: $10,000 Richard E. Sherwood Award being presented SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE The Center Theatre Group (CTG) is now accepting submissions for the 2012 Richard E. Sherwood Award. The $10,000 award goes to support a Los Angeles artist.

The Sherwood Award is presented each year at the Ovation Awards ceremony, which is produced by the L.A. Stage Alliance. CTG urges early career artists who have resided in Los Angeles for at least six months; who have produced/collaborated on at least one production in Los Angeles; and who are innovative, adventurous and inclined to push boundaries to submit an application.

The artist can be a performer, playwright, director, choreographer, designer or producer. Artists are not limited by title, role or genre but must exhibit an interest in the art of performance.

In addition to receiving a $10,000 grant, the winning artist will also establish a relationship with CTG, which includes being introduced at donor events, partnering with CTG’s Education and Community Partnerships department and participating at other key events throughout the year.

Established in the memory of Richard E. Sherwood, a lawyer, patron of the arts, president of LACMA and member of the Center Theatre Group board (serving as both CTG board president and chairman) from 1980 until his passing in 1993, the award is an endowed fund at CTG to honor Sherwood’s passionate commitment to theatre.

The most recent Sherwood Award recipients have been Christopher Kuhl, a lighting designer who works sculpturally and texturally with light; Ann Closs-Farley, a costume designer emphasizing sustainability in her wildly creative costuming practices; and Sage Lewis, a composer/lyricist breaking down societal and artistic barriers through his multimedia productions.

The deadline for submitting the application for the Sherwood Award is Dec. 16. Further information about the Sherwood Award is available at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org/Sherwood or by emailing Sherwood@CenterTheatreGroup.org.

An orientation for prospective applicants with questions or concerns about the application process will be held Sat., Dec. 3, at 11 a.m.

Orientations will be held at the CTG offices at 601 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. RSVP deadlines are available on the CTG website.

Phoenix, Ariz. – This year marks 20 years since Miles Davis’ death. But every day is a day to celebrate the life and music of the jazz visionary, according to his nephew and president of Miles Davis Properties, Vince Wilburn Jr. Miles fans in Los Angeles will have the opportunity to celebrate his legacy with an exclusive spoken-word production, “Cool Like That: A Tribute to Miles Davis” at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center Dec. 2-4.

The production, created by Arizona-based BlackPoet Ventures, will run for five performances at the newly opened center of the renowned blues and jazz vocalist. Since January, Morrison’s center has been a fixture in Leimert Park and is locally known as an African American cultural hub.

Morrison’s vision is to bring entertainment and education to the area and to be a launching pad for future artists.

Part of BPV’s BioRhythMic Series “Cool Like That” will feature live music, dance, song and visual presentation to expose new and old fans to the musical genius.

“Miles Davis has been called a poet with his trumpet,” says Erik O’Neal, executive director of BlackPoet Ventures. “It will be his own words found in his autobiography com-

The genius: Miles Dewey Davis bined with original poetry that will make him come alive.”

Billy Ramsey, artistic director for BlackPoet Ventures and a spoken word artist in his own right, will portray Miles. “Reading Miles’ autobiography, I was inundated. Playing the man, I'm completely humbled,” he says. “Miles has dared me, stretched me and taken me to an edge through sound and left yet another remnant of life’s experience to be chased this time via stage.”

Spoken-word artists featured include Bakeem Lloyd (of Las Vegas), a published poet and slam poetry veteran; teaching-artist Donna Williams (of New York); and Ed Mabrey (of Ohio), published poet, thespian and 2007

Individual World Slam Champion.

Also featured will be choreography and dance by Kiva Holly and Kleven Craig; words by Southern California native Camille Jenkins; vocal stylings

by Danita Greene and Volina Armstrong; trumpet duties by Joseph Leyva, who serves as musical director; and percussionist Lloyd Hardin.

Show times are 7 p.m. nightly Friday-Sunday, Dec. 2-4, with matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are available at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center box office and by calling (323) 296-2272. Visit BarbaraMorrison.com and BlackPoetVentures.com for more information.

ing was made with more sinister intent.

“That tape recording was Dr. Murray’s insurance policy,” the judge said. “It was designed to record his patient surreptitiously — at that patient’s most vulnerable point.”

“I can’t help but wonder if there had been some conflict between Michael Jackson and Dr. Murray at a later point in time in their relationship, what value would be placed on that tape recording, if the choice were to release that tape recording to a media organization to be used against Michael Jackson,” Pastor said.

Pastor said Murray was motivated by a desire for “money, fame and prestige” and cared more about himself than Jackson.

After sentencing, Murray mouthed the words “I love you” to his mother and girlfriend in the courtroom.

Murray’s mother, Milta Rush, sat alone on a bench in the courthouse hallway.

“My son is not what they charged him to be,” she said quietly. “He was a gentle child from the time he was small.”

Of her son’s future, she said, “God is in charge.”

Jackson’s family said in a statement read in court that they were not seeking revenge but a stiff sentence for Murray that would serve as a warning to opportunistic doctors.

“We’re going to be a family. We’re going to move forward. We’re going to tour, play the music and miss him,” brother Jermaine Jackson said.

Defense attorney Ed Chernoff implored Pastor to look at Murray’s life and give him credit for a career of good works. “I do wonder whether the court considers the book of a man’s life, not just one chapter,” Chernoff said.

The judge responded: “I accept Mr. Chernoff’s invitation to read the whole book of Dr. Murray’s life. But I also read the book of Michael Jackson’s life, including the sad final chapter of Dr. Murray’s treatment of Michael Jackson.”

A probation report released after sentencing said Murray was listed as suicidal and mentally disturbed in jail records before his sentencing. However, Murray’s spokesman Mark Fierro said a defense attorney visited the cardiologist in jail last week and found him upbeat.

“That time is behind him,” Fierro said.

What lies ahead for Murray is more flogging, with medical authorities in California, Nevada and Texas looking to strip his medical license and Jackson’s father, Joseph, suing the physician for wrongful death.

Chernoff, who had advocated Murray receive probation instead of jail, said his client will forever live with the stigma of having caused Jackson’s death.

“Whether Dr. Murray is a barista or a greeter at Walmart, he is still the man that killed Michael Jackson,” he said.

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.

JACKSON DOC Continued from page 11 The doctor’s time in a Los Angeles jail will be automatically reduced to less than two years due to laws imposed due to California's prison overcrowding and budget woes.

Murray, 58, will have plenty of time if he wants to consider Pastor’s harsh rebuke of him. The Houston-based cardiologist will be confined to a one-man cell and kept away from other prisoners.

With Jackson’s family and Murray’s mother and girlfriend looking on, the judge called the doctor’s actions a “disgrace to the medical profession,” and said he displayed a “failure of character” and had showed a complete lack of remorse for his significant role in causing Jackson’s death.

“It should be made very clear that experimental medicine is not going to be tolerated, and Mr. Jackson was an experiment,” Pastor said. “The fact that he participated in it does not excuse or lessen the blame of Dr. Murray, who simply could have walked away and said no as countless others did.

“But Dr. Murray was intrigued with the prospect of this money-for-medicine madness,” the judge said.

Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan said after the sentencing hearing that Murray made the recording accidentally while playing with a new application on his iPhone. He deleted it, but a computer investigator recovered it from the doctor’s phone after Jackson’s death.

Pastor said he believed the record-

Thursday, December 1, 2011

13

Comedian Patrice O’Neal dies, had suffered stroke

BY KAREN MATTHEWS | AP NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran stand-up comic Patrice O’Neal, who gained a wider following through TV and radio and helped roast Charlie Sheen, died Tuesday from complications of a stroke he suffered last month. He was 41.

O’Neal’s manager, Jonathan Brandstein, said he died in a New York-area hospital.

“Many of us have lost a close and loved friend; all of us have lost a true comic genius,” Brandstein said in a statement.

O’Neal appeared on Conan O’Brien’s and David Letterman’s TV shows and was a frequent guest on the “Opie & Anthony” radio show on Sirius XM. His performance was a

highlight of the Comedy Central roast of Sheen, who had been fired from the hit CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men,” in September.

Sheen said in a tweet Tuesday, “The entertainment world as well as the world at large lost a brilliant man.”

He added, “Patrice had that rare ‘light’ around him and inside of him.

I only knew him for the few days leading up the Roast. Yet I will forever be inspired by his nobility, his grace and his epic talent. My tears today are for the tremendous loss to his true friends and loving family.”

Other entertainers also mourned O’Neal on Twitter.

“RIP Patrice O’Neal. You made us laugh ‘til we cried,” comedian Sarah Silverman said.

Actor Jay Mohr said, “Just heard. Goodnight, brother. Damn.

Just ridiculous. Terrible. Beyond sad.”

O’Neal had half-hour specials on Showtime and HBO and was the host of “Web Junk 20” on VH1. He appeared in numerous television shows including “Arrested Development,” “Chappelle’s Show” and “The Office.”

O’Neal suffered a stroke on Oct. 19 after battling diabetes. He is survived by his wife, Vondecarlo; his stepdaughter, Aymilyon; his sister, Zinder; and his mother, Georgia.

Brandstein, his manager, said the family wished to thank “all of the fans and friends who have expressed an outpouring of love and support for Patrice these past weeks.”

Jazz pianist Jason Moran to advise Kennedy Center

BY BRETT ZONGKER | AP WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center has chosen 36year-old pianist Jason Moran as its artistic adviser for jazz, a post long held by acclaimed musician Dr. Billy Taylor until he died last year at 89.

Kennedy Center music directors say the generational handoff wasn’t planned in advance but makes sense as jazz evolves.

Moran’s appointment was announced Tuesday.

As artistic adviser,

Moran will help select artists and develop one of the nation's largest jazz programs. It includes more than 30 performances annually and concerts broadcast on NPR. New York-based Moran says it’s time for his generation to pass along traditions from the jazz greats.

He began learning from Taylor at age 16.

Taylor, who played with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, became an AP photo ardent jazz advocate Passing the torch: Jason Moran, who apprenticed under Dr. Billy through radio, TV and his Jazzmobile venue.

Taylor, accepts a new post.

SCHOOLS Continued from page 4 into the fields of science, technology, engineering and math,” Franklin said.

“Reducing federal funding to organizations like Morehouse and others would deliver a critical blow to an entire population of deserving students who could go on to become doctors, scientists, researchers and educators, leaving them with no higher education alternatives,” he said. “And that would be a national tragedy.”

Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum said the federal funding “is essential to sustaining and enhancing the quality of HBCUs, and aids institutions like Spelman College to meet national challenges associated with global competitiveness, job creation, and changing demographics.”

“As a nation we need to sustain this kind of investment,” she said, “not

undermine it when we need it most.”

The coalition — coordinated by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) — seeks to rally students, alumni, faculty, staff, administrators and all supporters of HBCUs and PBIs to petition Congress not to cut the deficit by disinvesting in higher education.

“Cutting federal support for HBCUs would shoot an already-weak economy in the foot,” said TMCF President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. “In addition to the students they educate, they impact more than 180,000 jobs, including professors, counselors, staff members and others,” he added.

“Local businesses and national companies depend on the money that the colleges, their employees and students spend. Their total economic impact is estimated at over $13 billion.”

NAFEO President and CEO Lezli Baskerville said U.S. presidents and the Congress historically have made funding HBCUs a national priority, understanding that HBCUs and PBIs are critical to stimulating the economy, preparing excellent, diverse, workers, putting Americans back to work and meeting the human services needs of traditionally underserved communities.

“HBCUs are great national resources of leadership in the sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, education, health and the environment.

They contain costs at a time when the costs of college are increasingly beyond the reach of the masses,” Baskerville said.

“It would be disconcerting if Congress or the Super Committee decides to reduce the deficit without raising revenues and by cutting funding for HBCUs and PBIs, the primary incubators of diverse human capital to make the nation thrive.”

Gone too soon: Patrice O’Neal

Founder of Jamaica reggae, rocksteady trio dies

Heptone Barry Llewellyn passes KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — One of the founders of a leading Jamaican reggae and rocksteady trio from the 1960s has died.

A bandmate says Barry Llewellyn of the Heptones died Wednesday at age 64. Lead singer Leroy Sibbles said Friday that Llewellyn died of unknown causes at Kingston Public Hospital.

Llewellyn founded the Heptones with Earl Morgan in the late 1950s.

The group was considered highly influential during the island’s rocksteady era in the 1960s.

The Heptones reunited in the 1990s after a nearly 20-year absence during a worldwide ska and rocksteady revival.

Llewellyn is survived by his wife, Monica, and several children.

The Heptones

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

The laws of consumer Cuts in education: A failing choice power in motion

BY MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN NNPA COLUMNIST

BY CHERYL PEARSON-MCNEIL NNPA COLUMNIST Let’s give a shout-out to English mathematician Sir Isaac Newton who, way back in 1687, developed the Theories of Black Consumer Power. Well, ok, if you want to get technical about it he didn’t name it that. He named it The Three Laws of Motion. But wow, do they explain a lot about your consumer power.

Newton’s First Law of Motion, otherwise known as the Law of Inertia, states, “An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force.”

The Second Law of Motion essentially says, “Motion acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass, the greater the amount of force needed to move the object.” And the Third Law of Motion is “for every action there is an equal (and opposite) reaction.”

Those of you who read this column regularly immediately see the connection between Newton’s Three Laws of Motion and your power, right? For those of you who need a little help, read on.

Globally, Nielsen measures what consumers like you watch and buy.

Our clients — advertisers, networks, major corporations and retailers — pay us for this information to help them best determine which programs, services and/or products to provide you. This is a clear case of the Third Law: “For every action (whatever/wherever/whenever you watch or buy something), there is an equal and opposite reaction (companies determine where and whether to provide more or less of a program, product or service or advertising dollars based on your action).

But what if you don’t like how a company is reacting to your actions?

For example, African Americans watch 40% more TV than others (action), but we don’t often see people who look like us or positive images of ourselves portrayed on television (an opposite reaction).

Then you should invoke the First Law, which says: “An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”

YOU can be the unbalanced force. Stop watching the programs that don’t portray positive images.

Tell your kids to stop watching them too! Speak up when products aren’t in your stores or when the stores themselves aren’t in your neighborhoods. Unless you do something to throw things off balance they will continue in the same direction.

Nielsen recently released “The State of the African-American Consumer Report,” a groundbreaking, in-depth, first-of-its kind study developed in collaboration with the National Newspaper Publishers Association. It highlights the buying power and areas where Blacks overindex (or use more of) specific products and services: • We make more shopping trips annually each year (167) than other households.

• One-third of all African

Cheryl Pearson-McNeil Americans own a Smartphone (that’s 14 million of us, ya’ll!).

• We talk more on our mobile phones than Whites (1,300 minutes vs. 606).

• We tend to be brand-loyal. But companies may not be reacting accordingly: In the advertising industry, money spent on television advertising alone reached $69 billion in 2010. But for African American media? Only $1.9 billion was spent totality for all media buys: • $916 million on TV • $704 million on spot radio • $362 million in national magazines When it comes to advertising, some companies are doing it right: Procter & Gamble remained number one in African American media buys.

It was followed by L’Oreal (SoftSheen Carson by the way is a L’Oreal brand), Johnson & Johnson, General Motors and McDonald’s, which comprised the top five companies who advertised to the AfricanAmerican market. Their ads have people who look like us in them, and we can find their products and/or services in our neighborhoods.

We have to move other companies in this same positive direction. That’s not always easy. But the Second Law of Motion, which I’ve dubbed The David versus Goliath Law, can be helpful. It basically says, the bigger something is, the more force you’re going to have to exert to move it.

You or I alone may not be able to get more advertising dollars going to Black Media. You or I alone may not be able to get the images changed on the screen. But collectively, with a projected spending power of $1.1 trillion by 2015? Lordy, what a force we can be!

What does it take to get you into motion? Download “The State of the African American Consumer Report” at www.nielsen.com/africanamerican or look for an excerpt of it as an insert in your local Black newspaper.

And then get moving. More power to you.

Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is senior vice president of public affairs and government relations for Nielsen.

For more information and studies, go to www.nielsenwire.com.

Aristotle got it right when he said, “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” Once upon a time America professed to believe in a strong public education system — at least for some children. And we still talk about public education as the great equalizer and pathway out of poverty but continue to fall far short in assuring millions of poor children, especially those of color, upward mobility.

As if children and families were not suffering enough during this economic downturn, many states are choosing to balance budgets on the backs of children and to shift more costs away from government onto children and families who have fewer means to bear them. That is a shameful trend in public education today. Even when students are in school, they’re getting less than they used to.

Of the 46 states that publish data in a manner allowing historical comparisons, 37 are providing less funding per student to local school districts this school year than they provided last year, and 30 are providing less funding than they did four years ago. Seventeen states have cut per-student funding more than 10 percent from pre-recession levels, and four — South Carolina, Arizona, California and Hawaii —have reduced per student funding for K-12 schools more than 20 percent.

These cuts have major effects on critical learning opportunities. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has found funding cuts in Georgia will mean shortening the pre-kindergarten school year from 180 to 160 days for 86,000 four-year-olds. Since the start of the recession, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and other states have cut funding from early education programs to help close budget shortfalls. New Jersey cut funding for afterschool programs.

In a 2009 survey of California parents, 41 percent reported their child's school was cutting summer programs.

Cuts limiting student learning time are likely to intensify in the coming year.

An American Association of School Administrators survey reports 17 percent of respondents were considering shortening the school week to four days for the 2011?2012 school year, and 40 percent were considering eliminating summer school programs.

Summer learning loss is a major contributor to the achievement gap between poor and non-poor children.

Districts across the country are beginning to cut extracurricular activities and to charge fees for supplies like biology safety goggles or printer ink.

These education cuts come at a time when American education is in dire straits. The United States ranks 24th among 30 developed countries in overall educational achievement for 15-year-olds. A study of education systems in 60 countries ranks the United States 31st in math achievement and 23rd in science achievement for 15-year-olds. More than 60 percent of all fourth, eighth and 12th-grade public school students in every racial and income group are reading or doing math below grade level.

Marian Wright Edelman Nearly 80 percent or more of Black and Hispanic students in these grades are reading or doing math below grade level. A recent report by the Education Trust notes more than one in five high school graduates don’t meet the minimum standard required for Army enlistment as measured by the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). Among applicants of color, the ineligibility rates are even higher: 29 percent of Hispanics and 39 percent of African Americans are ineligible based on their AFQT scores.

Children should be getting more

quality instructional time, not less, to prepare to compete in the rapidly globalizing economy. Instead they’re being held back and provided less school days and hours by stopgap solutions to budget problems they didn’t cause. Too many adults seem to lack a moral, common and fiscal sense context for making decisions about what to cut and what to invest in.

The Children’s Defense Fund’s first publication in 1974 was on Children Out of School in America.

We documented two million children not enrolled in school, including hundreds of thousands of children with disabilities. As we went door to door interviewing thousands of families in 30 census tracts for that initial study, we never thought to ask the question, “Is your child home today because her school is closed to help balance your district’s budget?”

At the Children’s Defense Fund we believe education is a basic human right and an essential tool for evening the odds for all children and promoting upward mobility for children left behind. Education gives you the tools to improve not only your own life but the lives of others and to leave the world better than you found it. How can we expect our children to create a better America if we don’t give them a good education? Cuts being proposed in Washington and in the states and localities around the country may be saving a few dollars on a balance sheet today — but they will cost us dearly tomorrow as a nation.

How shortsighted we are. Where are our priorities? What are our values?

OCCUPY LA Continued from page 3 were hoping any confrontation would be nonviolent, unlike evictions at similar camps around the country that sometimes involved pepper spray and tear gas. The movement against economic disparity and perceived corporate greed began with Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan two months ago.

About 1,200 Los Angeles officers staged for hours outside Dodger Stadium before the raid. They were warned that demonstrators might throw everything from concrete and gravel to human feces at them.

“Please put your face masks down and watch each other’s back,” a supervisor told them. “Now go to work.”

Before police arrived in large numbers, protesters were upbeat and the mood was almost festive. A protester in a Santa Claus hat danced in the street. A woman showed off the reindeer antlers she had mounted on her gas mask.

Fireworks exploded in the sky at one point. Later, as helicopters hovered above, someone blew “The Star Spangled Banner” on a horn.

As officers first surrounded the camp, hundreds of protesters chanted, “The people united will never be defeated.”

Campers planning to defend the camp and hold their ground barricaded entrances to the park with trash cans.

The police operation was planned at night because downtown is mostly vacant, with offices closed, fewer pedestrians and less traffic, but a spokesman said it could make officers

more vulnerable.

“It’s more difficult for us to see things, to see booby traps,” Lt. Andy Neiman, told pool reporters.

“Operating in the dark is never an advantage.”

Neiman said the force was prepared to deal with demonstrators holed up in the camp or those who had climbed up trees in the small park.

Gia Trimble, member of the Occupy LA media team, said a lot of people committed to the cause would stay and risk arrest.

“This is a monumental night for Los Angeles,” Trimble said. “We’re going to do what we can to protect the camp.”

In their anticipation of an eviction, the Los Angeles protesters designated medics designated with red crosses taped on clothing. Some protesters had gas masks.

Organizers at the camp packed up computer and technical equipment from the media tent.

Two men who constructed an elaborate tree house lashed bamboo sticks together with twine to push away any ladder police might use to evict them.

Police said they would be able to remove the tree climbers.

Members of the National Lawyers guild had legal observers on hand for an eviction.

Matheson reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press writer Shaya Tayefe Mohajer also contributed to this report.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

HELP WANTED Drivers: Gross $4,000 month. Paid Benefits!

CDL-A, 2yrs OTR Exp. Weekly pay. Still time to get some bling before holidays!

1-888-880-5921 Senior Human Services Leader $10.07 - $12.16 per hour (part-time) The City of Claremont Community and Human Services Department is looking for an enthusiastic, highly motivated, customer service oriented individual with excellent public relation skills to assist with a variety of assignments associated with the Human Services Division, including facility rentals after-hours and on weekends, front counter operations at the Alexander Hughes Community Center, teen programs, special events, and other duties as assigned.

Additional information about job duties and qualifications are available on the City website at www.ci.claremont.ca.us or from the Personnel Office at (909) 3995450. A completed application is required and must be received by Tuesday, December 20, 2011, by 1:00 p.m. EOE

15

Qualified “B” licensed General Building Contractors are invited to submit a sealed bid on Project E11-22, Module 12.12 to the Burbank-GlendalePasadena Airport Authority by 2:05 PM, January 12, 2012.

ADVERTISMENT The Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD), a nonprofit community development corporation seeks reputable private-for-profit corporations, community based organizations, non-profit organizations, minority and woman owned businesses, local educational agencies, institutions of higher learning, literacy providers , and other entities with a demonstrated track record of providing service to youth in South Los Angeles.

CRCD plans to seek resources from the Los Angeles Community Development Department to become a Youth Work Source Center Operator. If this is of interest to your organization, please send a short two page proposal that describes organization history, services can provide at-risk 16-21 year olds, and proposed budget for service to eandrade@coalitionrcd.org or mail to 3101 S. Grand Ave, LA, CA 90007 att: Erika Andrade.

The Work includes, but is not limited to, the following: Installation of new doors, new windows, air conditioning, insulation and correction of some code deficiencies for: Thirty-two (32) Single Family Condo Units.

Bidders may obtain construction documents from the Bob Hope Airport’s Web Site at bobhopeairport.com under Business Opportunities and are encouraged to do so prior to the mandatory prebid conference. All Bidders shall register with the Airport Engineering Department via web site or in person at the Home Sound Office. Bids submitted by firms who have not registered with Airport via website or in person will be considered non-responsive. A mandatory Pre-bid conference has been scheduled for December 21, 2011, at 10:00 A.M. at the Bob Hope Airport’s Home Sound Office, 4540 W. Chermak Ave, Burbank, California.

GOVERNMENT

To Place a Classified Ad Call (323) 299-3800

INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB) NO. 1714-A THE BUILDING SIGNAGE AT NICKERSON GARDENS AND MAR VISTA GARDENS HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS.

FAMU Continued from page 4 Becoming a member of these groups — the clarinets were known as “The Clones” and the tubas were the “White Whales” — meant becoming part of a tradition and a band that has played Super Bowls, the Grammys and presidential inaugurations.

But some sections had their own violent initiation rituals. White bought buckets of white paint and asked Barber to cover up the section nicknames on the wall.

“Tim, we have to find a way to eradicate these subsections of the band,” Barber said White told him.

“Cover the names so they see this is not something supported by the band staff.”

While White documented his efforts to stop the hazing, it’s possible he could’ve done more on the front lines, according to Richard Sigal, a retired sociology professor at County College of Morris in Randolph, N.J., who has studied hazing.

“Maybe he just had a problem that was beyond his ability to control it,” Sigal said. But in general, “If the person at the top issued a zero tolerance policy for hazing and oversaw what the people under him were doing, then there was no hazing.”

The details of Champion’s death are unclear. Authorities, the school and an attorney for his family said hazing played a role, but no one has been willing to shed any more light on what actually happened Nov. 19 after the football team lost to its rival Bethune-Cookman. Police have said only that Champion started vomiting and complained he couldn't breathe before he collapsed on a band bus outside their hotel in Orlando.

The university has announced an independent review, and Gov. Rick Scott has asked state investigators to join the sheriff's department in its investigation.

University officials declined interview requests for this story, but president James Ammons, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s

from FAMU, issued a statement late Tuesday.

“The university has a zero tolerance policy toward hazing. Period.

But it is becoming increasingly clear that hazing continues to exist — at FAMU and across the country at other universities, colleges and other elements — because hazing survives and thrives in a culture of secrecy and a conspiracy of silence. I am committed to illuminating this dark corner of Florida A&M University and the American culture ... illuminating it and eradicating it.”

White is fighting his dismissal, which is why he submitted the documents to the school, including dozens of suspension letters for hazing over the last decade, and communications alerting university police.

“Our incidents are few, but nevertheless hazing and harassment continues to be a problem,” White wrote the then director of bands William P. Foster in 1989 after a hazing death involving a fraternity at Morehouse University. “It would be very difficult for the university and the band should someone become killed or hurt because of hazing.”

In the weeks before Champion’s death, White suspended 26 band members for hazing. On Nov. 17 — just two days before Champion died — he sent a letter to alumni, saying while most of them were positive and encouraging of former band members, some “return and perpetuate the myth of various sectional names.”

“You should not return and look down on people who follow university regulations by not participating in sub-organizations,” White wrote.

“This is extremely important and I call on all alumni to assist the band and myself in eradicating all vestiges of hazing in the ‘Marching 100’ band.”

Barber, who rose to head drum major and was in the band from 1996 to 2002, said he was never hazed nor did he participate in it.

He said drum majors were like the generals of the band who tried to keep everyone in order, which makes Champion’s death puzzling. At 26, Champion was likely one of the older band members because he didn’t enter college until a year after high school and struggled at times to stay at the university because of his grades.

Barber in part blames alumni for not taking a stronger stand. Of about

two dozen people contacted by The Associated Press, he was the first who agreed to openly speak about hazing within the band.

Barber went back to FAMU this year and practiced with Champion and the other drum majors. White told him Champion could become the head drum major. Barber also noticed the section nicknames on the white wall were still painted over.

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles invites vendors to submit firm fixed price bids for the Building Signage at Nickerson Gardens and Mar Vista Gardens housing developments. Copies of the IFB may be downloaded from the internet at www.hacla.org/cgs. Bids will be accepted at 2500 Wilshire Blvd, Penthouse Floor, Suite A, Los Angeles, CA, 90057, until 2:00 p.m. (local time), December 7, 2011.

11/24, 12/1/11 CNS-2210195# WATTS TIMES

“We need to do more,” Barber said.

Associated Press writers Brent Kallestad and Gary Fineout in Tallahassee and legal affairs reporter Curt Anderson in Miami also contributed to this report.

SUH Continued from page 10 That’s for other teams to worry about.”

Suh has already been fined three times for roughing up quarterbacks and another time for unsportsmanlike conduct. He leads the league with nine personal fouls since 2010, according to STATS LLC — two more times than teammate Cliff Avril and three more than Philadelphia’s Jason Babin, San Francisco’s Dashon Goldson and Denver’s D.J. Williams.

Suh grabbed Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton and threw him to the turf after he had gotten rid of the ball in a preseason game this year. He was docked twice last year for shoving Chicago’s Jay Cutler high in the back and for twisting Cleveland’s Jake Delhomme’s face mask and slamming him to the ground. He also was fined $5,000 during Week 9 in the 2010 season for unsportsmanlike conduct.

He has been able to absorb the fines, making $40 million guaranteed with a chance to get paid as much as $68 million in his five-year contract he signed after Detroit drafted the former Nebraska star No. 2 overall in 2010.

Suh’s reputation, though, has just taken a big hit and it will cost his team that is clinging to hopes of earning a spot in the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season.

“Obviously, it hurts to lose any player for two games much less a player like Ndamukong Suh,” Schwartz said. “But there’s accountability for our actions and that’s a situation where something happened after the whistle. We want to be as tough and physical and play as hard as we can between the snap and whistle, but anything that happens after that we put our team in a bad position and we have to pay the consequences for and that's the position we’re in right now.”

Suh can try to work on his image and channeling his passion, but he won’t get off an unwanted list of players who have been suspended for on-field conduct during the Goodell era.

Most famously, Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was suspended for five games in 2006 for swiping his cleats across the head of helmetless Dallas center Andre Gurode.

Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams was forced to miss a game in 2007 after his third illegal horsecollar tackle of that season. Tampa Bay’s Elbert Mack had to sit out of a game during the 2008 season for a helmet-to-helmet blow, his second flagrant hit in three games. Eric Smith was suspended for a game that year for a helmet-to-helmet hit. Two years ago, Carolina’s Dante Wesley

missed a game for a hit to the head.

Vanden Bosch said he’s not sure Suh’s suspension was merited.

“There’s not a lot of precedent,” he said.

Decades ago, what Suh did was just part of the doing business on the field.

Not anymore.

“It’s a different game, covered differently these days,” said four-time Super Bowl winning linebacker Matt Millen, whose playing career started three decades ago with the Oakland Raiders. “What’s deemed crazy now, wasn’t crazy back in the day. Now more than ever, you have to keep your poise and control emotions when you feel like you have to retaliate. What you learn is, you don’t have to get back at the guy right then and that you’ve got time to take care of field justice.”

Hall of Fame defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene said he suspects Suh has learned a lesson.

“I hated for that to happen to him and I’m sure he does now, too,” Greene said. “With time, he’ll learn how to funnel his fire, but I hope he never loses that fire because he has to have it to play the position.”

AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins in Green Bay, Wis., and Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in New York contributed to this report.

16

Thursday, December 1, 2011

the joy of a smarter,

stronger

network.

You may have heard. AT&T and T-Mobile are planning to come together.

What will that mean to you?

More cell sites and spectrum means better service sooner.

And it means your Internet is about to take a big leap forward with LTE — a super-fast mobile broadband technology.

We are going to deploy it to more than 97 percent of all Americans, giving you access to a cutting-edge wireless network and all the opportunities it brings.

So, the moment something worth celebrating happens in your friends’ lives, you’ll know.

MobilizeEverything.com

© 2011 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.