LAWT 04-19-2012 by LA WATTSTIMES

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L.A. Watts Times Vol. XXX, No. 1280

www.lawattstimes.com

Thursday, April 19, 2012

HOROSCOPES 2

L.A. Watts Times

BY GREG RISLING | ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gunman was shot Wednesday during his arrest by a University of Southern California police officer after a group of students was robbed near the campus, authorities said. The shooting came a week after two Chinese graduate students were killed off-campus as they sat in a BMW, but police said it was too early to determine whether both crimes were linked. “Certainly they are looking very closely into what happened here,” said Los Angeles police Lt. Andy Neiman. “Hopefully, there is a connection, but to say there is one right now would be complete speculation.” Ballistic tests will be done on the handgun used in the robbery and the evidence recovered from last week’s slayings, he said. The shooting of the suspect on Wednesday occurred shortly after 12:30 a.m. near sorority row and the Shrine Auditorium. Police said Jeremy Hendricks, 24, of Compton approached three men and a woman and demanded their belongings. The man loaded up a backpack with the stolen items and two of the victims gave chase, authorities said. They were able to find a USC

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SUMMARY BOX:

Published Weekly – Updates

Beverly Cook – Publisher, Managing Editor 1976 – 1993 Charles Cook – Publisher 1976 – 1998 Melanie Polk – Publisher 1998 – 2010

THE BIG QUESTION: Should students and teachers ever be friends on Facebook? THE BALANCE: There’s a risk of inappropriate contact, but on balance, there’s an academic benefit to social networking. WHAT'S GOING ON: At least 40 school districts nationwide have approved social media policies. Schools in New York City and Florida have disciplined teachers for Facebook activity, and Missouri legislators recently acquiesced to teachers’ objections to a strict statewide policy.

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Department of Public Safety officer, who joined the pursuit. Neiman said the officer confronted the suspect and shot him once in the leg. The shooting was under investigation. It was unclear whether the man pointed the gun at the officer. The man was taken to a hospital and will be booked for investigation of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, Neiman said. Hendricks has a criminal record that includes robbery and burglary and may have been on probation, authorities said. None of the victims were injured and their belongings, along with the handgun, were recovered. Some students said they were concerned for their safety after Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23, were shot and killed about a mile from the USC campus. Investigators have said the attack might have been part of a robbery or attempted carjacking. Some of the victims' items were missing, but police declined to elaborate. Authorities have not yet released a description of the shooter in that attack. A $200,000 reward has been offered leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. A Wednesday evening memorial service was set at the Shrine Auditorium for Qu and Wu, whose families have flown in from China.

Teachers, kids as Facebook friends?

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USC campus officer shoots armed robbery suspect

MOMBASA SQUARE

POLL RESULTS

unlike any you’ve had recently. Move forward. Get into it. Don’t doubt your ability to handle it. Don’t let your mind get crowded with too much useless information. Love is simpler than you think. Soul affirmation: I allow good feelings to flow into my life with ease. CORPIO ~ If someone has told you that you are more mental than emotional, believe them. This week especially your mind will be working a mile a minute to make sure that what you feel is good for you to feel. Cover the mental processes with an emotional facade, but keep thinking about what is best. Soul affirmation: I give special attention to special friends AGITTARIUS ~ Usually you’re not much for gambling. You like to investigate and make sure before you make your move. This week you are lucky. Move on impulse. Follow your heart. Pay close attention to the love needs of your mate this week. The needs of children call. Soul affirmation: I can be whoever I am conscious of being. APRICORN ~ You’ll face a formidable task but if you defeat it you’ll take big steps toward a goal. Weigh in and give it your best. Your energy is high. The task looks larger before you start than it will once you’ve put your shoulder into it. Compromise with a partner. This week will bring more love than usual. Look for it. Soul affirmation: I give thanks for the blessing of life QUARIUS ~ Speak out. Take center stage. Any subject you choose is ripe for the “rap.” People listen. Friends and associates will be impressed. Forgive a jealous soul who lingers nearby. Don’t neglect the home front. Soul affirmation: My love of myself makes me lovable to others. ISCES ~ Enjoy yourself. The need to do that will be very apparent this week. What will not be as apparent is the key to your enjoyment that will depend on the attitude you take to someone who has been getting on your nerves. Don’t think about them. Whenever the picture of their face appears in your mind use your imagination to turn that picture into a cartoon. Laugh. Soul affirmation: I am in tune with the best that is in me this week.

Inside This Edition

ANSWERS FROM 4-12-12

RIES ~ This week, make your spiritual interest pay off in cash. Enough of goodness for goodness’ sake. You’ve got bills to pay. People expect generosity from a big-hearted person like you. Ask them for something in return or they’ll drain you. Soul affirmation: I call on my creative talents to pay my bills. AURUS ~ Compromise to get what you want this week. You’ll want to meet others halfway and, in the long run, you’ll get what you want anyway. You can afford to be gracious and giving. Do it with all your heart and soul. Soul affirmation: My emotions provide me a pathway into the sunshine of my being. EMINI ~ Money matters may seem a little unstable this week; postpone a shopping trip. On the plus side, however, your friends are unusually supportive and wonderful. You’ll enjoy conversations and being with each other, especially after dark! Soul affirmation: I enjoy working with others this week. ANCER ~ Personal goals are important to you this week, and you’ll want to budget some time to spend on formulating plans for your brilliant future. Something that happens without your knowledge is going to prove to be a huge benefit. Enjoy your lucky streak! Soul affirmation: My life itself is my greatest creation. EO ~ Your straight-up attitude is going to come in handy this week. Plain talk is favored; keep it simple so others will understand where you’re coming from. You’ll get a lot done if you stick to a plan this week. Soul affirmation: I forgive, forget and keep on moving toward my good fortune. IRGO ~ This is a good week to think about long-term plans. Your mind is clear and your vision of things to come will be lighted by your razor-sharp instincts. All week long be careful not to sound too sarcastic when you tell people stuff that you know and they don’t. Soul affirmation: I keep my eyes open for the love that is everywhere. IBRA ~ The clever way you think could expose you to an experience for you

April 19 - 25

Thursday, April 19, 2012

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e v e n t LISTINGS

Thursday, April 19, 2012

4 / 2012 happening this month 3

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

4-19-12

Edison International Chairman and CEO: Ted Craver, will talk about energy

policy in California and the country and expected changes in the industry in the next 10 years. WHEN: 8:45 a.m.-9:30 a.m. WHERE: Long Beach Renaissance Hotel, 111 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. The conference includes energy experts, academics and executives from around the country. Parking is available in the hotel’s parking lot.

4-20-12

The Inner Circle Youth Programs:

(ICY) in Watts is grooming a new

all-night, jam-packed sleepover. Designed to underscore the fun opportunities for Girl Scouts, the event will be a night of fun, music, crafts, games for Girl Scouts, friends and moms. Mall Madness will feature: Zumba Dance-Off, Arts & Crafts, Troop Fashion Show sponsored by Justice and Wet Seal and the largest Girl Scout Friendship Circle (Guinness Book of Records at 11:15pm). WHERE: Montclair Plaza, 5060 Montclair Plaza Lane, Montclair, California 91763. For more information call (213) 213-0150.

2nd Annual Rummage Sale: The

Southwest Teen Community Police Advisory Board (C-PAB), a group of middle and high school students who meet monthly with the Los Angeles Police Department, will host their “2nd Rummage Sale”. WHEN: Saturday, 8a.m. to 3p.m. WHERE: 1561 W Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (NE Corner of Harvard / MLK across from police station). For any questions pertaining to this fundraiser, please call LAPD Southwest Community Relations at (213) 847-5800.

4-25-12

A Birthday Tribute to Billie Holiday: generation of young artists. Established artists such as Lili Bernard, Amanda Ferrell-Hale & Jose Lozano, will display their artworks next to art created by the young people from ICY in Watts. WHEN: 6:00 p.m., ICY presents the “Inner Circle Youth Community Art Show: From Here to There”. WHERE: WLCAC Cecil Fergerson Gallery, 10950 S. Central Ave. Los Angeles, CA, 90059. For more information call 323-972-4081.

Freda Payne

Starring Billie Holiday’s pianist Corky Hale and singer Freda Payne, with Special Guest, singer Tricia

Champion of the Afrobeat movement:

Seun Kuti performs with the extraordinary combo, Fela’s Egypt 80, touring in support of his recent album “From Africa With Fury: Rise”. Alongside fourteen talented musicians, Seun enchants audiences worldwide with incendiary live performances. WHEN: at 8 p.m. (doors 7 p.m.) Tickets available at uclalive.org, the UCLA Box Office at 310.825.2101, or via Ticketmaster ($20-$55). Where: UCLA Live at Royce Hall. 340 Royce Drive, UCLA Campus. More information: uclalive.org.

4-21-12

Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles: In conjunction with Montclair Plaza, is hosting a night of Mall Madness—an

Tricia Tahara

Tahara for One Night Only!!! Corky WHEN: 8:30 Hale p.m. WHERE: Catalina Bar & Grill; 6725 West Sunset Boulevard (just east of North Highland Avenue); Los Angeles, CA 90028. There is $20 Cover Charge. Valet Parking is available. Reservations for the show and dinner can be made by calling Catalina Bar & Grill at 323-466-2210 or online at www.ticketweb.com. For further information about the performance, please visit the website www.catalinajazzclub.com.

Ongoing

Annual Student Art and Design Exhibitions: B.A. Graduates: Works of art ranging from motion graphics, giant posters, rebranding identity, packaging and web design to mixed media assemblage, ceramic sculpture, and paintings, will be featured in two “Annual Student Art and Design Exhibitions: B.A. Graduates” in the University Art Gallery on campus. WHEN: April 16-26; Studio Art: May 717, opening reception May 9, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Gallery open: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays 12 to 5 p.m. COST: FREE! For more information visit http://cah.csudh.edu/art_gallery or call (310) 243-3334.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra: “Play

Me, I’m Yours” by artist Luke Jerram unprecedented free three-week-long art installation by Los Angeles Chamber

Orchestra featuring 30 decorated pianos in 30 neighborhood locations around Los Angeles County. WHEN: Through May 3, 2012. Pianos are on display and accessible for public to play 24 hours per day, 7 days per week). Information available online at streetpianosLA.com, or by phone (213) 622 7001 × 221. WHERE: 30 sites across the Southland!

TO MAKE A CALENDAR SUBMISSION:

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

US Muslim: I was Police handcuff tortured at FBI’s Georgia kindergartner for tantrum behest in UAE

released “tomorrow,” according to an account he gave on Wednesday at a press conference in Sweden, where he has been since September. “It was very hard, because you don’t know why you are in there and the only person you speak to is either yourself, or the wall, AP Photo / Claudio Bresciani or when you go to the restYonas Fikre, a Portland, Oregon Muslim room or when you go to the American, talks to the media at his lawyer's torture place,” said Fikre, who was held for 106 days. office in Stockholm, Sweden, April 18. “I have never been that isolated from human beings in BY MALIN RISING AND NIGEL my entire life.” DUARA | ASSOCIATED PRESS An advocacy group alleges that over the past two years the FBI has PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — His been using aggressive tactics against interrogators usually came in the Muslim-Americans travelling abroad morning. Peeking under a blindfold in to try to pressure them to become a cold concrete cell, Yonas Fikre says informants when they got home. he caught only glimpses of their Gadeir Abbas, staff attorney for the shoes. Council on American-Islamic They beat the soles of his feet with Relations, says there have been severhoses and sticks, asking him about his al instances of FBI agents calling travPortland, Ore., mosque and its imam. elers into embassies or consulates for Each day, the men questioning him in questioning. a United Arab Emirates prison told the The FBI is not commenting other 33-year-old Fikre he would be than to say its agents follow the law.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Fikre, who converted to Islam in 2003, is the third Muslim man from Portland to publicly say he was detained while traveling abroad and questioned about Portland's Masjid asSabr mosque. The mosque, the largest in Oregon, has been in the news on several occasions. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali American charged with plotting to set off a bomb in downtown Portland in 2010, occasionally worshipped there. A decade ago, seven Muslims with ties to the mosque were arrested following a failed effort to enter Afghanistan and fight U.S. forces. Fikre says he met Mohamud a handful of times, but wouldn’t call him a friend or even an acquaintance. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed Wednesday that Fikre was held in Abu Dhabi “on unspecified charges.” Toner said when State Department officials met with him in July 2011, he showed no signs of mistreatment. Fikre, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in Eritrea, a country east of Sudan. He moved to Sudan when he See US MUSLIM, page 15

BY JEFF MARTIN AND JERI CLAUSING | ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA (AP) — A kindergartner who threw a tantrum at her small-town Georgia school was taken away in handcuffs, her arms behind her back, in an episode that is firing up the debate over whether teachers and police around the country are overreacting all too often when dealing with disruptive students. The family of 6-year-old Salecia Johnson lashed out Tuesday over her treatment and said she was badly shaken, while the school system and the police defended how they handled the episode. Across the country, civil rights advocates and criminal justice experts say, frustrated teachers and principals are calling in the police to deal with even relatively minor disruptions. Some juvenile authorities say they believe it is happening more often, driven by zero-tolerance policies and an increased police presence on school grounds over the past two decades because of tragedies like the Columbine High massacre in Colorado. Hard numbers to back up the assertion are difficult to come by. “Kids are being arrested for being kids,” said Shannon Kennedy, a civil rights attorney who is suing the Albuquerque, N.M., school district, where hundreds of kids have been arrested in the past few years for minor offenses — including such things as having cellphones in class, burping, refusing to switch seats and destroying a history book. In 2010, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for inflating a condom in class. In Georgia, Salecia was accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing books and toys in an outburst Friday at Creekside Elementary in Milledgeville, a city of about 18,000, some 90 miles from Atlanta, police said. Authorities said she also threw a small shelf that struck the principal in the leg, and jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame. Police refused to say what set off the tantrum. The school called police, and when an officer tried to calm the child in the principal’s office, she resisted, authorities said. She then was handcuffed and taken away in a patrol car. Baldwin County schools Superintendent Geneva Braziel called the student’s behavior “violent and disruptive.” “The Milledgeville police department was ultimately called to assist due to safety concerns for the student, other classmates and the school staff,” Braziel said in a statement. Interim Police Chief Dray Swicord said the department’s policy is to handcuff people when they are taken to the police station, regardless of their age, “for the safety of themselves as well as the officer.” He said the child was restrained with steel cuffs, the only kind the department uses.

AP Photo/WMAZ-13 TV

Temper tantrum leads to her being handcuffed: Kindergartner Salecia Johnson, 6, is accused of tearing items off walls and throwing furniture at school in the central Georgia city of Milledgeville. The police report says the girl knocked over a shelf that injured the principal.

He said the girl will not be charged with a crime because she is too young. The girl’s aunt, Candace Ruff, went with the child’s mother to pick her up at the police station. She said Salecia was in a holding cell and complained about the handcuffs. “She said they were really tight. She said they really hurt her wrists,” Ruff said. “She was so shaken up when we went there to pick her up.” The police chief said the girl was taken to the squad room, not a holding cell, and officers there tried to calm her and gave her a soda. The girl was suspended and can’t return to school until August, her mother, Constance Ruff, told WMAZ-TV. “We would not like to see this happen to another child, because it’s horrifying. It’s devastating,” the girl’s aunt said. In Florida, the use of police in schools came up several years ago when officers arrested a kindergartner who threw a tantrum during a jelly bean-counting contest. A bill was proposed this year to restrict police from arresting youngsters for misdemeanors or other acts that do not pose serious safety threats. In Albuquerque, Annette Montano said her 13-year-old son was arrested last year after burping in gym class. “I have had some concern for a while that the schools have relied a little too heavily on police officers to handle disciplinary problems,” said Darrel Stephens, a former Charlotte, N.C., police chief and executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. Civil rights advocates, educators and law enforcement officials say a number of factors have led to the arrests. Among them: Some officers are operating without special training. School administrators are desperate to get the attention of uninvolved parents. And overwhelmed teachers are unaware that calling in the police See POLICE HANDCUFF KINDERGARTNER, page 10

Meet the parents of Kendrec McDade Thursday, April 19, 2012

BY YUSSUF J. SIMMONDS CO-MANAGING EDITOR AND BRANDON I. BROOKS CO-MANAGING EDITOR

For parents — especially a mother — one of the most difficult things to experience is having to bury a child. The natural bond between a mother and a child, whom she carried for nine months, is a strong, primal bond. There is a saying that children should always outlive their parents. Kendrec McDade (KMcD), a 19year-young Black man, was recently killed in Pasadena by the local police, and since then, his parents and the community have raised lots of questions about the circumstances surrounding the seemingly senseless killing, most of which have not been answered. The attorney for the family, Caree Harper, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against the city of Pasadena, the police chief and others on April 3, and both she and the parents recently spoke to the Sentinel about how the incident has changed all their lives. It is important to note that even though McDade’s parents came to

speak with the Sentinel, their lives have been so shattered by the loss of their son and they’re so distraught that Harper did a lot of the talking on their behalf, explaining and interpreting of the events from her vantage point. In addition to what has happened thus far, we spoke about the status of the investigation, the filing of the lawsuit and the terrible impact that McDade’s death has had on all their lives. According to Harper, “Kendrec did not die where he was shot; he died at the hospital, and it appeared that there was no attempt to assist him.” In other words, between the time that the shooting occurred and the time he died at the hospital, there did not seem to be any attempt to render first aid, CPR or any other type of emergency treatment that could have possibly saved McDade’s life. It appeared that he was just left to die. When asked in what part of his body McDade was shot, Harper replied, “I don’t know.” When asked, “Didn’t you get a copy of the autopsy?” she replied, “No, that’s why we want an independent investigation.”

Photo credit: Brandon I. Brooks for LAWT

Grieving: Kenneth McDade, father, left; Attorney Caree Harper; Anya Slaughter, mother. The trio recently spoke with The Los Angeles Sentinel. Finding out that his son had been killed was in itself a traumatizing experience for Kenneth McDade; the shooting happened not too far from where he lives and it happened at night time. He said, “I did not find out until the next morning.” Spurred by the unusual amount of activity down the street in his neighborhood, “I went by to see what was happening,” he said, “and that’s how I found out my son had

been killed.” He found out by happenstance. In light of the lawsuit that she has filed, Harper, a skilled and competent attorney, is being extremely cautious in all aspects of this matter since the police department is a very formidable adversary. Part of the reasoning for her filing the lawsuit is “ ... to stop the police chief from saying (publicly) some of the things they have been saying about

Kendrec ... He was disrespecting my client’s son.” Additionally, there have been other subtle attempts, bordering on harassment, to dissuade Harper from zealously seeking justice for her clients. She has sent out emails outlining those instances and has also scolded the media for being somewhat complicit in ‘parroting’ the police. See MCDADE, page 14

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

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Ga. woman fights charges in son’s jaywalking death 6

BY GREG BLUESTEIN | ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA (AP) — Raquel Nelson faced a dilemma after she was convicted of vehicular homicide in the jaywalking-related death

of her 4-year-old son: She could serve a year of probation for the conviction or risk a new trial and lengthier penalty for a crime she doesn’t believe she committed. On Tuesday, though, Nelson picked a third option. Her attorney

Metro M etro o Briefs fs Metro M etro Expo Line Openss April 28 Join Metro Metro in celebrating the t opening of the new Metro Metro Expo o Line between downtown LA L and Culver Cityy on Saturday, Saturdayy, April Apr pril Saturday 28. There will be activities at four of the new stations on Satu urday Sunday, and free rides on Expo both botth Saturday and Sunday y, April 28 and an nd etro t Rail system to 80 stations. 29. Expo expands the M Metro

Bike Week Week LA 2012 – May May 14-18 Join Metro Metro and community communitty partners again this year for Bike Week something W eek LA. There’s somethi ing for everyone, including a guided d Work ride of Expo/Mid-City and friendly pit stops on Bike to W ork Day.. Learn more about tak taking Metro Rail Day king your bike on M etro Bus and Ra ail and get some tips to help you stay safe on the road. F or mor re For more information on Bike W eek eek, k, check m etro.net/bikeweek. Week, metro.net/bikeweek.

Go Metro Metro T To o Dodger Sta Stadium adium Take T ake advantage of a winni winning ng combination to reach Dodger Stadium this season. Just Go M etro to Union Station and Metro connect with the Dodger Stadium S Express. Y ou’ll avoid tra;c tra;c You’ll and help reduce air pollut ion; and your same day Dodger tic ket pollution; ticket is good for the fare! The Dodger D Stadium Express is made possible by Clean T ranspo ortation Funding Funding from MSRC. F or Transportation For more information, visit m etro.net metro.net

Get Through Tra;c Tra;c Faster Fasster With ExpressLanes If you drive the I-110 and I-10 I-10 freeways, you’ll want to see a new series of videos d tha h t show h how h Metro’s Metro’s upcoming that ExpressLanes program ca n get you through them faster. fasterr. can Find out about F asTrak® transponders, t congestion pricing FasTrak and more at metro.net/expresslanes. metro.net/exppresslanes.

Metro M etro T To o Buy 550 New Buses

If you’d like to know w more, visit m metro.net. etro.n net.

The M Metro etro Board of Direct Directors tors approved a budget of $297 million million compressed to purchase 550 new 40-foot 40-fo oot transit buses fueled by compres ssed buses natural gas. The new buse es will replace buses that are past 1122 retirement years of age and 500,000 miles which will reach their retirem ment years. age over the new three yea ars.

asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss all criminal charges against Nelson, arguing that prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to charge her with any crime involving the death of her son A.J., who was struck by a hit-and-run driver as Nelson led him across the street. “This was crossing the street with other people to get home,” defense attorney Steve Sadow told the three-judge panel. “It was unfortunate. And it was tragic. But that doesn't make it a crime.” Nelson was charged after A.J. was struck by a van as they jaywalked across a busy five-lane road in suburban Atlanta, and the case against her sparked outrage from activists who flooded the judge’s office with letters and gathered thousands of signatures on an online petition to support her. She and her three children had just stepped off a bus at a stop in Marietta late on the night of April 10, 2010 to return to her apartment complex across the street. Nelson led her children to a median instead of walking to a crosswalk threetenths of a mile away, according to court records, when her daughter darted safely across the street and her son tried to follow. That’s when he was fatally struck by an oncoming van driven by Jerry Guy, who had been drinking earlier in the day while taking pain medication, was partially blind and had two previous hit-and-run convictions from 1997, records show. The decision to prosecute Guy, who fled the scene, was an easy one. He pleaded guilty to hit-and-run charges and was sentenced to six months in prison. But the move to charge Nelson, the grieving mother devastated by her son’s death, struck many as an overreach. Prosecutors didn’t make any arguments at Tuesday’s hearing, an unusual move that surprised observers. But the Cobb County Solicitor’s Office said in a motion that Guy wasn’t to blame for A.J.’s death and that he was only charged because he fled the scene after the accident. “The officers determined that A.J. was killed because his mother walked with him into the roadway under unsafe conditions,” the filing said. “Another driver could have just as easily been the one that hit A.J. In fact, there is evidence that another driver did almost hit the group after the collision.” She was convicted in July of second-degree vehicular homicide, reckless conduct and jaywalking and sentenced to a year of probation. But she accepted a judge’s offer of a new trial instead. The reckless conduct charge was later dropped, but Sadow and Nelson came to court on Tuesday to request the other two charges, both misdemeanors, be dismissed as well. If the charges aren’t dropped and the case goes to trial,

Thursday, April 19, 2012

AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Vino Wong

Raquel Nelson listens to her attorney, Steve Sadow, who is asking the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss all criminal charges against Nelson, who was convicted of vehicular homicide in her 4-year-old son’s jaywalking death. Nelson could face up to three years in prison. Sadow doesn’t want the case to get that far. He argued that prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to charge her with any criminal wrongdoing in crossing the street, and urged the court to find that the death was caused by the van’s driver and not his client’s unfortunate decision.

The late Manning Marable wins history Pulitzer

BY HILLEL ITALIE | ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — The late Manning Marable won the Pulitzer Prize for history Monday, honored for a Malcolm X book he worked on for decades but did not live to see published. For the first time in 35 years, no fiction prize was given. Marable, a longtime professor at Columbia University, died last year at age 60 just as “Malcolm X:

“She has to live with this the rest of her life,” he said. “And it’s critical that there has to be a determination that she did nothing criminally wrong.” The court isn’t likely to make a decision for months, but Nelson said she can’t have closure until it does. “The waiting is very hard, but hopefully this will come to an end,” she said.

AP Photo/Columbia University

Author Manning Marable recently won the Pulitzer Prize for history posthumously. A Life of Reinvention” was being released. Years in the making, the book was widely praised, although some of Malcolm X’s children objected to the troubled portrait Marable offered of the activist’s marriage to Betty Shabazz. “It is so rewarding to see Manning's work honored as a landmark achievement in the documentation of 20th century American history,” Wendy Wolf, associate publisher at Viking, said in a statement.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

African-American students go to Ghana for educational exchange On July 26, 2012, Mothers for Africa, the Nana Sekyiaabea Foundation, is expanding its vision and extending its grasp to touch the soil of Ghana: The foundation will send at least a dozen local young people, from middle-school to highschool age, on a summertime excursion to Ghana, where they will experience being part of an international setting and have the opportunity to interact with the new environment on multiple levels — professionally, personally, and culturally. Bound and determined to introduce these local youths to a new side of life, Mothers for Africa has structured the trip to include a two-week classroom component in which local youths will be partnered with Ghanaian students. Together, the students will receive course instruction on the subject of international trade and commerce. Then they will work together, using their own unique perspectives and fresh takes, to develop a viable business plan that can empower the Los Angeles area community and the Ghanaian community partner. Travel arrangements for this custom Student Exchange Program have been handled by African Express

Travel & Tours (Hesham Elswify, President). The exchange portion of the trip also includes touring a nearby diamond mine, visiting with Ghanaian local leadership and participating in a night of authentic African celebration, including a special naming ceremony! An added bonus to the student exchange program comes at the commencement of the journey when the youths will land in Cairo, Egypt for half a day — just enough time to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx before flying on to Ghana. Mothers for Africa is on a mission to widen its reach across the African Diaspora by providing micro-loans to poverty stricken women and enabling children to go to school in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo through its sponsorship. The goal is to bring solution and empowerment to those in disaster-ridden, underdeveloped African communities by creating and fostering international relationships between Africans abroad and AfricanAmericans here in the United States. Mothers for Africa was founded in 2006 as a nonprofit organization by current President and Vice-President, Nehanda Sankofara and Cheryl See GHANA, page 11

Martin’s death spurs scrutiny of legislative group

BY MIKE BAKER | ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Few people know the American Legislative Exchange Council by name, but they may know the laws the organization develops. For decades, the group of lawmakers and private sector officials has worked closely to draft legislation that focuses on everything from the fairly mundane, like tax policy and cable TV regulations, to the controversial, such as voter ID laws and Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” statute. That last one pulled it into the spotlight in recent weeks after the death of teen Trayvon Martin. The law gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight, and ALEC — as the group is known — has worked in recent years to spread it to other states. Liberal activists saw a chance to turn the spotlight on an organization they have long criticized — a move ALEC calls unfair. “The past month has been the largest amount of exposure about ALEC probably in its history,” said

AP Photo/ Donald Traill

Trayvon Martin’s mother (Sybrina Fulton), father (Travy Martin) and brother (Jahvaris) appear on BET’s 106 and Park on Monday. T.J. Holmes (far left) is the interviewer. Lisa Graves, a leader at the Center for Media and Democracy, which along with other groups has been targeting the organization. As the furor over the Martin case grew along with the public pressure campaign, ALEC started to lose support from the private sector, including the Coca-Cola Co., Kraft Foods Inc., McDonald’s Corp., PepsiCo Inc. and the Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation. ALEC announced Tuesday that it was eliminating its public safety task force that had dealt with the “Stand Your Ground” law and said it was refocusing those resources on economic matters. The group said liberal foes are simply trying to score political points by taking See DEATH SPURS SCRUTINY, page 10

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Thursday, April 19, 2012

He’s Got the Whole City in His Hands By Kenneth Miller

Enigmatic Andrew Bynum holds key to Lakers

LAWT Contributing Writer

The face of the Lakers franchise, Kobe Bryant, is expected to return to action any day now, but Lakers fans need look no further than enigmatic young center Andrew Bynum as to where the fate of the fabled purple and gold rests for this season and beyond. When the Lakers brain trust decided plucked an obscure McDonald’s All-American out of Solebury School in New Jersey in 2005, many scratched their heads and began flooding social media with their annual criticism of Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak. In what has since become known as a relative weak draft, with only Deron Williams living up to the hype, Bynum has turned out to be the grand larceny of that draft — and perhaps the decade — thanks in no small part to coowner Jim Buss. It was Buss’ acumen that saved the post-Kobe era Lakers with that No. 10 selection. Now, seven years later, Bynum in his first season as an All- Star has managed to do something that few thought possible the last few years — stay healthy! After playing in 46 games and averaging a paltry 1.6 points and 1.7 rebounds during his rookie campaign, he managed to play a full slate only once in ’06Ϋ’07 when his points pushed south to 7.8 and his rebounds increased to 5.9. Nothing gaudy about those numbers, but during those injury-plagued campaigns, he averaged near double-doubles in points and rebounds, with a peak of 13 points and 10 boards in ‘07Ϋ’08.

L.A. Watts Times WEEKENDER

During the Lakers back-to-back titles of the decade, Bynum was a spoke in the wheel added to the dynamic duo of Kobe and Pau Gasol. He made headlines for parking his car in disabled spaces and, last year during a playoơ sweep at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, earned a four-game suspension for collaring pint-size J.J. Barea. If this guy was the Lakers’ future, then it was a dark cloud exploding at dusk or down and the Lakers could only pray that Bryant could play forever. Barea’s immaturity and lack of professionalism have resurfaced in spurts again this season, in the process costing his team games and raising questions about the Lakers’ lofty investment of $58 million in him. The appetite of Dwight Howard to play alongside Bryant and, in a Lakers’ uniform for years to come, was appealing, but a deal for either Bynum or Gasol for the Magic strong man never materialized — and the Lakers should thank their lucky stars. Howard decided to stay in Orlando, Bynum has been fortunate to stay healthy and the Lakers’ championship hopes and the future are resting on his wide shoulders. Bynum is enjoying his best season as a pro at the tender age of 26. He ranks 22nd in the league in scoring at 18 points per game, third in rebounding with 12, sixth in blocked shots with 111, but he has played in three games more than Howard. Who looks better in a Lakers jersey now? During the four games Kobe has been out with a shin injury, it has been Bynum carrying the load. He has enjoyed games with 30 rebounds in one and 30 points in another in just the past two weeks alone. Lakers fans want their star Kobe to return with the same old menace, but Kobe is old — and the new is Bynum. Not just for this season but for years beyond.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

www.lawattstimes.com

AP PHOTO/KEVORK DJANSEZIAN

PHOTO CREDITS COVER: AP PHOTO/ALEX GALLARDO TOP RIGHT: AP PHOTO/JAE C. HONG TOP LEFT: AP PHOTO/MARK J. TERRILL CENTER: AP PHOTO/MARK J. TERRILL FAR RIGHT: JEFF LEWIS

D-Wade feeling heat for making valid point 10

BY PAUL NEWBERRY | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Go ahead, bash Dwyane Wade all you want. Call the NBA superstar unpatriotic, greedy, just another millionaire athlete who doesn’t understand how good he’s got it. Then listen, really listen, to what he tried to say. A lot of people are making a lot of money off the Olympic Games. Sponsors. Executives. Television networks. Governing bodies. Vendors. Everyone, it would seem, except the athletes. It’s a multibillion dollar pie — why shouldn’t they get a slice? “Look, what Dwyane Wade said isn't entirely wrong,” former U.S. Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr. told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Maybe he went about addressing the issue clumsily. But the issue he is addressing is real. “Do the Olympic Games exploit the athlete? Absolutely. Do the Olympic Games exploit patriotism? Absolutely.” A day earlier, Wade was quoted as saying there should be some compensation for NBA stars who give up a good chunk of their summer to play in the

AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) dunks the ball as Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley, rear, looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 10 in Miami. Olympics. The Miami Heat guard was a member of the American teams in 2004 and 2008, and he’s agreed to compete once more at the London Games, which begin July 27. “It’s a lot of things you do for the Olympics — a lot of jerseys you sell,” Wade said. “I do think guys should be compensated.” The backlash was immediate. On message boards, fans accused Wade of defaming the Olympic movement, of not caring about his country, of only being concerned about padding his already hefty bank account. There were calls for him to be left off the U.S. team. Even some fellow Olympians considered his view out of line. “When you’re walking in the opening ceremonies behind your flag, you’re thinking about all the people who stood for this country in the armed services, all the men and women who sacrificed and represented our country to the fullest,” said American fencer Tim Morehouse, who won a silver medal at Beijing. “You shouldn't be thinking, ‘Man, I should be paid for this.’ If that’s the way you’re thinking, you should just stay at home.” Recognizing the maelstrom he stirred up, Wade issued a statement Thursday saying he didn’t want any Olympic pay. He also tweeted that pride

for his country “motivates me more than any $$$ amount” — which shouldn’t be in question, anyway, since he’s poised to join a very small club of U.S. hoopsters who have competed in three Olympics. What a shame it turned out this way. There was a real opportunity to make some significant changes in the whole Olympic structure, changes that would’ve benefited all athletes — not just a small group of NBA millionaires who don’t really need the money anyway. We’re talking about those who are barely scraping by, who have to take a part-time job to make ends meet, who dip into their own pockets to pay training and travel expenses because their obscure sports don’t generate enough money to pick up the tab. You know, the majority of athletes in London this summer. “I’ve been waiting for one iconic athlete who would look beyond his own success and fame to help all those other athletes who have nothing to speak of,” said Evan Morgenstein, the agent for a number of high-profile swimming stars such as Dara Torres and Amanda Beard. “No one makes that much money. We’ve been looking for the messiah.” See D-WADE, page 11

Thursday, April 19, 2012

DEATH SPURS SCRUTINY Continued from page 7

advantage of the Martin tragedy. “We are a target because our opponents believe they have the opportunity to attack an effective, successful organization that promotes free-market, limited government policies that they disagree with,” said Ron Scheberle, the council's executive director. “This is an all-out intimidation campaign designed to promote government-based solutions rather than the free-market principles,” he said. ALEC was founded more than 30 years ago by a group of state legislators and conservative policy advocates, and the organization quickly drew the support of major Republican leaders such as North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms. Private sector entities are considered “equals,” and can purchase access depending on the size of the ALEC membership fee. During the Reagan administration, it began using task forces and pushed for moving various federal government duties to the states. A task force that focuses on insurance issues, for example, is co-chaired by Colorado Rep. Glenn Vaad and State Farm Insurance lawyer Emory Wilkerson. ALEC’s strength is built around its coordination between private sector companies and legislators who can push laws in their states. Graves contends that ALEC improperly places lawmakers and corporate lobbyists in cozy settings where they jointly formulate legislation that gets introduced in states around the country. “We’re in a democracy where most Americans think corporations already have too much influence,” Graves said. “To institutionalize that influence in this way is a huge problem.” In the case of the Florida law, ALEC said it did not inspire the law but instead used it as a model that other states could mimic, arguing that it doesn't allow you to pursue a confrontation but allows you to defend yourself from an immediate danger. Similar statutes now exist in 24 other states. Opponents of the law fear that the statutes lead to too many unnecessary deaths caused by trigger-happy people who feel they are in danger. Prosecutors and police have generally opposed the laws as confusing and

prone to abuse by criminals. George Zimmerman, charged last week with second-degree murder in Martin’s death, maintains that he shot the teen in self-defense after Martin attacked him. His attorney plans to cite the law, which is part of the reason that authorities were reluctant to charge Zimmerman initially. Martin’s family claims Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was the aggressor and targeted Martin as suspicious mainly because he was Black. Gun rights are not a primary focus of ALEC’s activities, as the group has task forces assessing issues ranging from the regulation of cable television to how states hire attorneys. They have championed various Republican causes, such as pushing voter ID at polls. Democrats and advocacy groups have argued that the voter ID laws will suppress certain voting demographics, and ALEC said in response this week that it was also dismantling its task force on elections. Bob Williams, a former Washington state lawmaker who has participated in ALEC since 1978, said the group has been particularly successful in driving government transparency reforms — such as putting budgets online and giving the public a chance to review the documents before they are passed. Williams, who works mostly on tax and fiscal policy for ALEC, said conservative think tanks have more sway in the process than companies who may also raise concerns or provide input. “I haven’t seen the corporate interests drive the tax and fiscal agenda at all,” he said. Among the financial supporters who have been on the defensive in recent weeks is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which said it provided a $376,000 grant to ALEC to educate the group's members about the foundation's education goals. Chris Williams, a spokesman for the foundation, said they believe it's important to engage with policymakers across the political spectrum, but they don’t plan on giving another ALEC grant in the future — in part because of the backlash tied to the Martin case. “It’s made it pretty distracting to try to do work with them,” Williams said.

POLICE HANDCUFF KINDERGARTNER Continued from page 4

to defuse a situation could also result in serious criminal charges. Albuquerque school officials have declined to comment on the arrests there. Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque teachers union, said students’ bad behavior is more extreme these days. From sexual harassment in elementary and middle school to children throwing furniture, “there is more chronic and extreme disrespect, disinterest and kids who basically don’t care,” she said. In Texas, a December report from the nonprofit public interest group Texas Appleseed says more than 275,000 non-traffic tickets are issued to juveniles each year. While it

is unclear how many are written at school, the group says the vast majority are for offenses most commonly linked to school-related misbehavior such as disruption of class, disorderly conduct and disruption of transportation, Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, who wants to eliminate student ticketing, said educators and police need to better distinguish between those students they are afraid of and those they are mad at. “If you are afraid of someone because they bring a gun or drugs, of course we come down hard,” Whitmire said. “It’s the kids that just make you mad that you don’t need to make a crime.’

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Colts keeping quiet about decision on No. 1 pick BY MICHAEL MAROT | ASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Colts general manager Ryan Grigson says he has decided who to take with the No. 1 pick in next week’s NFL draft. He's just not giving away the secret yet. Grigson told reporters Wednesday that the Colts have settled on their choice, but there is no rush to sign that selection before the draft begins on April 26.

D-WADE

Continued from page 10

GHANA

Continued from page 7

Faheem, respectively. Mothers for Africa was established with the desire to, and goal of, contributing to Africa’s healing from massive suffering over the years. The foundation raises money, establishes resources for education and pro-actively seeks to provide solutions for poverty, disaster and war-stricken individuals, families and children across the African Diaspora. Currently most of the financial focus and grassroots campaigns are directed toward providing relief to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Ghana. Adds Sankofara: “Mothers for

when rights fees from the rest of the world are factored in. Morgenstein said the figure should be much higher — a minimum of 45 percent of the television revenues going to the athletes, more in line with the labor agreements for the major U.S. professional leagues. “All the executives in the blue blazers are clinking their glasses of wine at their retreats,” the agent said. “The athletes are nothing more than indentured servants. That’s the hideous truth of the Olympic movement.” But give the guys who run the movement credit: They’ve managed to persuade athletes the world over, both rich and poor, that competing for love of country should be enough. It’s a concept that many find hard to shake, even if they clearly understand the concept of fair compensation in their regular jobs. “It’s not about the money to me,” said Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who has competed in three Winter Games for his native Finland. “It’s an honor. You represent your country. And that's pretty much all I need.” Here’s hoping a certain Miami Heat guard returns to the fray, bearing a different message. “Dwyane Wade is a hero,” Morgenstein said. “Believe me, there are plenty of athletes who want to scream out to him, ‘Don’t get on the lifeboat and leave us on a ship that’s going down. Take us with you.’ I’m hoping that someone will hear his voice. He could the messiah of Olympic athletes.”

Africa was formed to provide assistance to the African Diaspora because African countries make up the poorest in the world, followed next by Caribbean countries, followed by Africans who reside in western countries or in South and Central America; they are the poorest in their nations.” For more information or to donate online for the Student Exchange Program and other projects, please visit our website www.mothersforafrica.org or call us at 626-710-4304. 626-710-6676. All donations are tax deductible.

BY TIM DAHLBERG | ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The urge struck me about halfway through Mike Tyson's latest adventure, just after he told the audience about how his mother loved the bottle more than she loved him. Or maybe it was when the big video screens showed a young Tyson serving as a pallbearer for Cus D'Amato, the man who molded his boxing career and was the only man he really loved. The former baddest man on the planet once made opponents and anyone who came into his path shake with fear. On this night, though, it was all I could do not to run up on stage and give him a big hug. Surely a lot of those gathered in a hotel theater just down the hall from where Tyson had some of his biggest fights felt the same way. How could they not after watching him bare his soul for assorted VIP’s and anyone willing to pay $117.49 to hear his story? It was billed as “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth,” and there’s still time to catch it if you have the cash and can get to the MGM Grand hotel before Wednesday’s final performance. Beware, though, because this is more about Tyson’s greatest misses than it is about his greatest hits. “Many of you wondered what the hell Mike Tyson was going to do on stage tonight,” Tyson said at the beginning of the show. “I was wondering the same thing.” Actually, I had a good idea because I’ve been listening to it for years. So did Tyson, because the show is mostly scripted — credit is given to wife Kiki — and he knows the subject material because he’s lived it. That he’s still alive at the age of 45 after all that living is remarkable enough, a fact Tyson himself acknowledged on stage. Any combination of the women, the fights, the drinking and the heavy cocaine use could have done him in at any time. “I’m coked up and fat,” he said at one point, gazing up at a Los Angeles police booking shot of himself on the video screen. “I’m a fat cokehead.” That he’s transformed himself into something far different than his fearsome former self is even more remarkable. He’s now America’s Guest, a comedian/actor/storyteller who finds it both therapeutic and financially lucrative to talk about a time gone by, when he mesmerized the world with his wild and crazy ways. Some of it can still make you shift uncomfortably in your seat, like when Tyson talks about being with Japanese prostitutes before his upset loss to Buster Douglas in Tokyo. Some of it makes you wonder, like his conflicted feelings toward ex-wife Robin Givens, 20 years after their divorce. Some of it makes you laugh, none more so than the 10 minutes Tyson devoted to his infamous street brawl with fellow fighter Mitch “Blood” Green in New York. “I hit him so hard I broke my hand,” Tyson said. “But I broke his

AP Photo/SPI Entertainment, Kirvin Doak Communications, Erik Kabik

In a photo provided by SPI Entertainment, Mike Tyson speaks during his show, "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth," on opening night, Saturday, April 14, 2012, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. face, too.” The idea of Tyson doing a one-man show that people would actually pay to see seems a bit ludicrous. Somehow, though, it works — in a lot of ways. His thin, high-pitched voice isn't made for the stage, but the tales he tells are compelling and he delivers them with a showman’s flair. He’s backed by a singer and a five-piece band, and the message he brings in a show that runs nearly two hours is one of redemption and forgiveness. Redemption for himself. Forgiveness for others, like his alcoholic moth-

er, and promoter Don King. “When I first met Don I didn’t realize I was meeting the (insert your own word here) devil,” Tyson said. “But Don and I made peace. Forgiveness is my new motto. I hope it works for me.” Forgiveness goes only so far, though. The people in Indiana who put him in prison for three years for rape apparently don’t merit it, even as Tyson acknowledges the lockup may have saved his life. “There’s a lot of things I could have gone to jail for and I deserved to go to See MIKE TYSON, page 15

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Wade was poised to take on that role, but it appears the strong gust of negative public opinion sent him fleeing for cover. Maybe it would help if a few more high-profile athletes joined him on the firing line, crafting a message that focuses on helping all Olympians. Hall and his longtime agent, David Arluck, have talked in the past about starting a union to represent athletes in their dealings with the U.S. Olympic Committee, but the idea never got very far. Now, the last thing we want to see is a strike on the eve of the opening ceremony, or the next Olympics being called off because of an IOC lockout. That said, there’s no doubt that the current labor arrangement is far too onesided in favor of those who watch the games from the private boxes, decked out in tailored suits. “The culture has to change,” Arluck said. “There’s always been a lot of talk about unionizing. But nothing has really happened. That’s a real shame.” For a start, Hall suggested, how about setting aside 5 percent of all TV revenues for the men and women we're actually watching on the tube? NBC will be paying $4.38 billion for U.S. broadcast rights at the next four Olympics. Using Hall’s modest figure, that would create an athletes’ pool of $219 million — which breaks down to roughly about $8,400 per athlete (the Summer Games are supposed to be capped at 10,500 athletes, while the much-smaller Winter Games generally have about 2,500). The number grows

Team owner Jim Irsay has said repeatedly that the Colts would take Peyton Manning’s successor with the top pick, presumably using it on either Stanford’s Andrew Luck or Baylor’s Robert Griffin III. Indy brought in Luck for a private workout this month and also for an interview. Griffin has not traveled to Indy for any personal meetings and is widely expected to be taken by the Redskins with the second overall pick.

Musings from a night with Mike Tyson 11

Philly jazz lovers seek to repair Coltrane house Thursday, April 19, 2012

BY KATHY MATHESON | ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHILADELPHIA (AP) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Music enthusiasts in the City of Brotherly Love are looking to rekindle a love supreme for the deteriorating John Coltrane House, a preservation effort that mirrors a broader mission to reclaim and promote Philadelphia's rich jazz heritage. Cultural officials gathered more than 100 local jazz musicians on Friday for a group photo in front of the rowhouse where Coltrane, a renowned saxophonist, lived from 1952 to 1958. It became a national historic landmark in 1999. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are serious about our music here in Philadelphia, and jazz has meant a lot to this city,â&#x20AC;? Mayor Michael Nutter said. He and other city officials hope jazz lovers will donate money to save the brick house in the tough Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. Unoccupied for the past several years, the Coltrane home has fallen into severe disrepair; homes on either side are boarded up. The run-down property is an apt symbol of Philadelphia's jazz history, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a legacy that has certainly been too often neglected and not celebrated,â&#x20AC;? said Gary Steuer, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief cultural officer.

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

A love supreme: Jazz lovers and cultural officials in Philadelphia are promoting a fundraising effort to save the run-down house that John Coltrane lived in from 1952 to 1958. Philadelphia claims jazz greats including Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner and Grover Washington Jr. Last

year, musicians and club owners formed the Philadelphia Jazz Coalition to promote the current scene and the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s musical legacy.

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Coltrane played with the Miles Davis Quintet for part of the time he lived here on 33rd Street. He later became known for a pioneering jazz style that incorporated Indian and African influences. Seminal recordings include â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Love Supreme,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;My Favorite Thingsâ&#x20AC;? and, with Davis, â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Round Midnight.â&#x20AC;? Coltrane eventually moved to

Rapper G. Dep convicted in 1993 NYC shooting

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New York but continued to own the Philadelphia house until his death in 1967. It remained in the family, and a cousin lived there until several years ago; she sold it to devoted fan Norman Gadson in 2004. However, Gadson died before he was able to rehabilitate the property. His family recently created a nonprofit organization to spearhead a revival. Local and national preservation groups are supporting the effort and hope to raise $50,000 for immediate repairs and stabilization. Ideally, future plans for the home will include programming and neighborhood engagement, said Walter Gallas, director of the northeast field office for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Gallas, who attended Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event, said historic homes-turnedmuseums often struggle with attendance and finances because they fail to take on interactive, broader roles in the community. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They have to become more relevant to what's going on right now,â&#x20AC;? Gallas said. Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events were part of National Jazz Month. The mayor declared it â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jazz Appreciation Dayâ&#x20AC;? in Philadelphia and presented a proclamation to 92-year-old drummer Charlie Rice, who still plays in local clubs. Coltrane was among many notable musicians with whom Rice has performed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;John Coltrane was one of the nicest human beings you ever wanted to meet,â&#x20AC;? Rice said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He really (rose) from the bottom on up to the top.â&#x20AC;?

NEW YORK (AP) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A once-rising rapper was convicted Tuesday of a 1993 killing after recently telling police he'd shot someone while trying to rob him years Doing the right thing: Rapper G. Dep faces ago. a 15-years-to-life prison term because he G. Dep hugged his lawyer confessed to a shooting. after hearing the jury's verdict in an unusual trial that came about brought him to where he is today,â&#x20AC;? only because of his confession, which Ricco said after court. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably he didn't deny making but suggested making the most powerful statement a was mismatched to the slaying with rapper of his era can make, which is to be accountable and to do the right which he was charged. The 37-year-old rapper faces at thing.â&#x20AC;? Prosecutors, though, saw G. Dep least a 15-years-to-life prison term at as a man who'd committed a deliberate his sentencing, set for May 8. Regardless, he remains convinced and deadly crime, then provided the he did the right thing by coming for- proof years later. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eighteen years ago, the defenward, defense lawyer Anthony Ricco dant made a calculated decision to said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He has a conscience and a heart, steal from, shoot and kill an innocent and his conscience and his heart See RAPPER G. DEP, page 14

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Saxophonist Love dies; part of Memphis Horns duo

Review: ‘Treme’s’ new season brings the good vibes BY CRISTINA JALERU | ASSOCIATED PRESS

An early ‘ebony and ivory’: Wayne Jackson, left, and Andrew Love. BY ADRIAN SAINZ | ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tenor saxophonist Andrew Love, who formed the award-winning Memphis Horns duo with trumpeter Wayne Jackson and played unforgettable lines behind the royalty of soul, rock, pop and R&B, has died at age 70, his wife said Thursday. Willie Love told The Associated Press on Friday that her husband died Thursday night surrounded by family and friends at his Memphis home. Love had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Love is best known for his work with Jackson as The Memphis Horns. The two were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in February, only the second instrumental backup group in history to receive the honor. “He played with such feeling. He played with grace, soul,” Willie Love said. “Andrew played notes from his heart.” Love, who was Black, and Jackson, who is White, played together on 52 No. 1 records and 83 gold and platinum records, according to Memphis-based Stax Records. They backed up Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Neil Diamond, Isaac Hayes, the Doobie

Brothers, U2, Jack White and Alicia Keys, and many other American pop music acts. The Memphis Horns could sound soulful and romantic on one song, loud and rousing on another. They provided the horn tracks on dozens of well-known songs, including Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” Al Green's “Let’s Stay Together,” and Steve Winwood’s “Roll With It.” Jackson said he first heard Love play at the Manhattan Club with the Willie Mitchell band. They were first paired together as part of the Stax Records’ Mar-Key Horns. “I knew we would be perfect together,” Jackson said in a statement released Thursday. “He had a big tone and I had a big tone, and I knew that they would blend in the most natural, beautiful way.” Love and Jackson also backed Otis Redding with Booker T. & the MGs at the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival. In 2008, Jackson and Love were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. “He continued to uplift and attract all of us to him throughout the time he endured illness,” said former Stax Records owner Al Bell. “That spirit is what you hear in his music.”

Various Artists, “Treme, Music from the HBO Original Series, Season Two” (Rounder Records) It doesn’t take long for “Treme’s” second season soundtrack to find the pulse of the good old New Orleans. Music is the city's bread and butter, and music is the force that powers it to emerge from the ashes left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The show’s themes of survival, reinvention, community and heritage are clearly illustrated by this remarkable album. The 18 tracks collated from the street and from live club performances of acclaimed artists saunter between genres but don’t stray from the Big Easy’s styles. Everything from traditional jazz to Cajun music, roots rock, brass bands and R&B makes an appearance on this eclectic yet coherent album. The Hot 8 Brass Brand starts the party with some sexy trumpets and drums that almost veer into hip-hop in “New Orleans After the City.” A vocalist raps: “This is my city, my town/New Orleans/It’s where I want to

be/that’s the place for me” in a bold introduction to the real star of the show. Tom McDermott and Evan Christopher’s clarinet and piano-laden “Heavy Henry” strays into Woody Allen spring-in-New York territory, lending the compilation a slight out-ofbody experience. The Iguanas infuse some Latin fire into the scene with “Oye, Isabel,” while Aurora Nealand and The Royal Rob Brown plays Delmond Lambreaux in ‘Treme,’ a Roses recall the spirit series about New Orleans' post-Katrina struggles. of the1940s with “Ferry the spirit of New Orleans that one can Man.” The Mardi Gras carnival gets almost smell the cigarette smoke in the name checked in two tracks, most out- jazz club, feel the neighbor keeping the standingly in Steve Riley, Steve Earle beat, and taste the Sazerac. CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: and the Eunice Revelers’ “Le Danse de Mardi Gras,” a Cajun song and dance Galactic, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and rapper Juvenile’s tour de force in mixed with chanting. The greatest strength of this album “From the Corner to the Block” is so is the immediacy of the sound; the live catchy you might forget for a second recordings make one feel so close to you are not in New Orleans.

Universal Music wins union support to acquire EMI

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Universal Music Group has won the qualified support of two North American artists’ unions for its proposed $1.9 billion acquisition of the recorded music division of the U.K.’s EMI Group Ltd. The unions gave their conditional backing in letters to the Federal Trade Commission. In their letters, SAG-AFTRA and the American Federation of Musicians said they would support the deal if

there were adequate mechanisms to ensure that Universal complies with its commitment to re-invest in artist

development. The European Commission is also examining the deal, which was announced in November. The EC has said it will decide by Aug. 8 whether the takeover would impede competition in Europe. Universal is a division of France’s Vivendi SA.

UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH RELATIVITYMUSICMEDIA AN APATOW/STOLLER GLOBAL SOLUTIONS PRODUCTION A NICPRODUCED HOLASSTOLLER FILM “THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT” JASONSEGEL EXECUTIVE HAEL ANDREWS PRODUCERS EMILY BLUNT RHYS IFANS CHRIS PRATT ALISON BRIE BY MICWRITTEN RICHARD VANEDIRECTED JASON SEGEL BY JUDD APATOW NICHOLAS STOLLER RODNEY ROTHMAN AUNIVERSAL PICTURE BY JASON SEGEL & NICHOLASSTOLLER BY NICHOLASSTOLLER © 2011 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES STARTS FRIDAY, APRIL 27 CHECK

What a difference guns make 14

BY MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN NNPA COLUMNIST

On April 16, 2007, our nation suffered its deadliest shooting incident ever by a single gunman when a student killed 32 people and wounded 25 others at Virginia Tech University before committing suicide. Five years later, have we learned anything about controlling our national gun and gun violence epidemic? A look at just a few of the sad headlines across the country so far this year suggests we haven’t learned much, if anything at all. In February of this year, a 17-yearold high school senior, who other students described as an outcast who’d been bullied, shot and killed three fellow students and injured two more at Chardon High School in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. Would this have happened without a gun? In Washington state, three children were victims of gun violence during a three-week period at the end of February and at the end of March. A three-year-old died after shooting himself in the head with a gun left under the front seat of the car while his family stopped for gas. The 7-year-old daughter of a police officer was shot and killed by her younger brother after he found one of their father’s guns in the glove compartment of the family van. And an 8-year-old girl was critically wounded at school when her 9-year-old classmate brought in a gun he found at home that accidentally went off in his backpack. Would this have happened

Marian Wright Edelman

without a gun? There already has been a rash of shootings in Chicago this year, including the especially violent weekend in mid-March when 49 people were shot and 10 were killed. One of the victims was a 6-year-old girl who was sitting on her front porch with her mother getting her hair brushed before a birthday party when she was killed by shots fired from a passing pickup truck. Would this have

happened without a gun? And in Florida, unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed walking home from the store in February after being followed by selfappointed “neighborhood watch captain” George Zimmerman. Would Trayvon’s death have happened without a gun? Now that George Zimmerman has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder, Trayvon Martin’s family is finally moving forward in their quest for justice. As a nation we can’t afford to keep waiting for common-sense gun control laws that would protect our children and all of us from indefensible gun violence. It’s time to repeal senseless gun laws such as the “stand your ground” laws enacted by 21 states. The laws have grabbed so much attention in Trayvon’s case and allow people in Florida to defend themselves with deadly force anytime and anywhere if they feel threatened. More than 2 million people have signed online petitions saying they want to repeal these laws. It’s time to require consumer safety standards and childproof safety features for all guns and strengthen child access prevention laws that ensure guns are stored safely and securely to prevent unnecessary tragedies like those in Washington state. And in a political environment where the too secretive and powerful advocacy group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) pushed stand your ground laws in other states along with other “model bills” that See EDELMAN, page 15

Thursday, April 19, 2012

MCDADE

Continued from page 5

Harper stated: “I wonder if the Black media will stand in support of me as I stand as the voice of the local California tragedy for the McDade family and as I endure social media attacks such as the one below. I wonder if the DJs and hosts who covered and are covering the story will urge their listeners to go on social media sites and support the McDade family and the attorney fighting for their civil rights.” And prior to Kendrec McDade’s funeral, she sent out the following: “The parents of Kendrec McDade is laying their son to rest at 10 a.m. on April 7, 2012, at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Altadena, CA. A private viewing of Mr. McDade will be held this afternoon in Pasadena, CA. “Should there be a heavy police presence in the form of marked patrol units; helicopters circling the area; or random detentions of young men attending either event, our office will view this as harassment, intimidation and just plain disrespectful. The Law Offices of Caree Harper will have private investigators present at each event videotaping any and all police activity that would give the appearance of harassment or unlawful profiling of attendees.” Initially, because of Harper’s diligence in researching California Penal Code 148.3, (a) that the Pasadena Police Department arrested the perpetrator (Oscar Carillo) and charged him with indirectly causing McDade’s death by the telling of a scurrilous lie. The referenced penal code states in part: “Any individual who reports, or causes any report to be made, to any city, county, city and county, or

RAPPER G. DEP Continued from page 12

person on the street,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement. The rapper, born Trevell Coleman, made his surprise confession in late 2010, almost a decade after his career's brief heyday. As part of rap impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs’ roster of talent at Bad Boy Records in the late 1990s and early 2000s, G. Dep scored a rapchart hit with “Special Delivery,” and the video for his “Let’s Get It” helped popularize a loose-limbed dance called the Harlem shake. His career lost steam, and his life spiraled into drug use, disarray and a slate of arrests on drug, trespassing and other charges. But he had finished a drug-treatment program and had released a new album online in the months before he went to a police precinct to say he’d fired at someone on a Harlem corner when he was about 17 to 19. The victim grabbed the rapper’s .40-caliber gun, and he pulled it back and fired at the man three times. Then, he said, he rode off on a bicycle, unsure whether the man had been struck. Authorities paired his account with the 1993 death of John Henkel, 32.

state department, district, agency, division, commission, or board, that an ‘emergency’ exists, knowing that the report is false, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine.” In another reference to Carillo’s lie, Harper stated, “In one interview, Oscar Carrillo says that when you are so afraid for your life, you don’t think about what you are saying in the 911 call ... “Well, he was so afraid for his life that he pursued the alleged perpetrators instead of running a few feet back to the taco shop and yell for help. Did police search Carrillo’s car and confirm that he was not armed? What gave him sudden superman courage to pursue after being so ‘scared’? “Again, Carrillo was not the triggerman. The officers each made their own independent decision to shoot, but the police had a duty to ask these questions investigate the contradiction that night.” Throughout the interview, Anya Slaughter, Kendrec McDade’s mother, said very little, and she seemed emotionally drained and still obviously distraught. However, when asked what she would like us to do: Tell the public on her behalf? She responded, “Activate your social media skills ... generate social media coverage to get proper attention. This is not the first time these officers have been involved in these kinds of shootings. We want to get that word out ... we want the press to get online and get the word out.”

Henkel was shot three times with a .40-caliber gun at the same corner in October 1993, when G. Dep was nearing his 19th birthday. “The more you study the evidence, you’ll see it just matches up too greatly for coincidence,” Assistant District Attorney David Drucker said in an opening statement. But Ricco questioned whether police had made the right match. He noted discrepancies between G. Dep's statement and Henkel’s shooting — including that the rapper said he thought the shooting happened in February or March rather than the fall, and described the victim as blond and clean-shaven when Henkel had brown hair and wore facial hair. The rapper, he said, has no way of knowing for certain whether Henkel was indeed the man he shot. He ultimately filled in some of the details from information police gave him, the lawyer said. G. Dep is married and a father of three school-age children, the youngest of them 7-year-old twins. His wife and mother wept after hearing the verdict, and his relatives are heartbroken and torn about his decision to speak up, Ricco said.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

15 Qualified “B” licensed General Building Contractors are invited to submit a sealed bid on Project E12-1, Module 12.14 to the Burbank-GlendalePasadena Airport Authority by 2:05 PM, May 17, 2012.

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 (30) Single Family Residential 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 April 26, 2012, at 10:00 A.M. at the Bob Hope Airport’s Home Sound Office, 4540 W. Chermak Ave, Burbank, California.

US MUSLIM Continued from page 4

was a boy, then moved with his family to San Diego in 1991, then later to Portland. He married in 2008 and says he traveled to Sudan in December of the following year to pursue business opportunities. Fikre says that in April 2009 he was asked to go to the U.S. Embassy to discuss concerns about “safety and security” for U.S. citizens. Instead, he claims, two FBI agents told him he was on the U.S. government no-fly list, and they could help get him off it if he gave them information about the Portland mosque and helped them with a “case” they were working on. Fikre says he declined. Fikre says he traveled to Scandinavia to visit relatives, and then to the United Arab Emirates to pursue business possibilities with a friend who had moved there from Portland. According to Fikre, non-uniformed police pulled him out of his Abu Dhabi neighborhood on June 1, 2011, and took him to a prison. Fikre says he was held there for more than three months, with his captors asking him questions like those he was asked at the U.S. Embassy in Sudan — details about the Portland mosque. He says one of the worst moments was when a U.S. Embassy representative visited him in the prison on July 28. He says he was warned by his interrogators not to tell the representative he was being beaten, or “hell would break loose.” He said he tried to wink and signal to her that he was under duress, but she didn’t notice. “She was the only person that I felt could get me out of that position at the moment because she is my representative to the outside world, she's my representative to my embassy and she just left me there and she walked away,” Fikre said. Toner confirmed State Department officials were granted access to meet with him on July 28. “According to our records, during the July 28 visit, Mr. Fikre showed no signs of mistreatment and was in good spirits,” Toner said. “He reported that he had been treated professionally and was being well-fed and did not have any medical conditions or concerns.”

Fikre says the beatings and interrogations continued, and that during the last days of his confinement an interrogator acknowledged the FBI had requested that he be detained. State Department officials requested to visit Fikre again in September, but learned days later that he had been deported to Sweden, Toner said. Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI office in Portland, said she could not discuss specifics of the case. “I can tell you that the FBI trains

EDELMAN

Continued from page 14

benefit some corporate bottom lines or special interests such as the NRA, it’s time for all of ALEC’s corporate sponsors to walk away from enabling or acquiescing destructive laws that protect guns, not children. It’s a tragedy that five years after Virginia Tech so little has changed. How many years must we wait until tragic headlines about school shootings, children dying, and people using the “shoot first and ask questions later” defense to take the law into their own hands go away? When will we finally

MIKE TYSON Continued from page 11

jail for,” he said. “But this wasn’t one of them. I didn’t do it and I will never admit doing it.” Strangely enough, the show barely touches on the biggest moments in Tyson’s career. There’s no footage of him knocking out Trevor Berbick to become the youngest heavyweight champion ever at the age of 20, nothing on the video screen from his 91-second destruction of Michael Spinks. The only two fights he really talks about were among the lowest moments of his life. He’s seen getting knocked out by Douglas, and there are pictures of him biting Evander Holyfield’s ear. He explains the Douglas loss to the fact he was cavorting with Japanese prostitutes instead of training. The ear biting, he says, was mostly Holyfield’s fault for head butting and the fact referee Mills Lane “hated my guts.”

its agents very specifically and very thoroughly about what is acceptable under U.S. law,” she said. “To do anything counter to that training is counterproductive — we risk legal liability and potentially losing a criminal case in court.” When Fikre was released on Sept. 14, he had lost nearly 30 pounds. He has applied for asylum in Sweden. He, his attorney and the Council on American-Islamic Relations are demanding the U.S. Justice Department investigate his treatment.

get the courage to stand up as a nation and say ‘enough’ to the deadly proliferation of guns and gun violence that endanger children’s and public safety? Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund, whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go towww.childrensdefense.org.

Fair enough. It’s Tyson’s show, so he can say what he wants, even if he risks rewriting history in the process. But this show is more about feelings than punches and, if you couldn’t figure it out when he was talking about his beloved Cus, you got the idea at the end when the band played “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and Tyson added the voiceover of his troubled life. The audience that mostly filled the 740-seat Hollywood Theater on this night was a loving one, with one woman shouting out “You’re doing great, Mike” as he paused during one particularly bleak story. They gave him a standing ovation when he took the stage, and many did the same when he finally left it two hours later. A good night for all. About the only thing missing was a group hug at the end.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY PROPOSED FY2013 BUDGET The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will hold a public hearing on its proposed FY2013 budget (July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013) at 2:30 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. The meeting will be held in the MTA Board Room on the 3rd floor of the Gateway Plaza Building, One Gateway Plaza, and Los Angeles, CA 90012. Copies of the budget document will be available for public distribution 15 days in advance of the hearing and can be obtained by E mail to the Records Management Center (RMC) at RMC@metro.net. The document can also be picked up at RMC on the Plaza level of the Gateway Building or viewed on the internet at www.metro.net. CNS#2291311

GOVERNMENT PUBLIC NOTICE PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 2012-2013 ONEYEAR ACTION PLAN FOR THE LOS ANGELES URBAN COUNTY The 2012-2013 Action Plan (Action Plan) is the fifth annual implementation plan of the Five-Year 2008-2013 Housing and Community Development Consolidated Plan for the Los Angeles Urban County (Consolidated Plan). The Consolidated Plan describes the housing and community development needs, as well as activities to address those needs through the Los Angeles Urban County Program, as defined and funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As required by HUD, the Consolidated Plan brings together, in one (1) consolidated submission, the planning and application aspects of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME), and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Programs. The Urban County Program’s geographic area encompasses 48 participating cities, and the entire County’s unincorporated areas. Project descriptions, resources to be utilized, and proposed accomplishments for the 2012-2013 Fiscal Year (July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013) are delineated in the Action Plan. In addition, the Action Plan addresses monitoring standards and procedures. A public hearing on the Action Plan will be held before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on: May 22, 2012 – 9:30 a.m. Board Hearing Room – 381 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 West Temple Street – Los Angeles, CA 90012 Copies of the proposed document will be available during a 30-day public review and comment period from April 20, 2012 to May 22, 2012 at the following locations: 1st District Anthony Quinn Library, 3965 Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles (323) 264-7715 East Los Angeles Library, 4837 E. Third St., Los

Angeles (323) 264-0155 La Puente Library, 15920 E. Central Ave., La Puente (626) 968-4613 Montebello Library, 1550 W. Beverly Blvd., Montebello (323) 722-6551 South El Monte Library, 1430 N. Central Ave., South El Monte (626) 443-4158 2nd District Carson Regional Library, 151 E. Carson St., Carson (310) 830-0901 East Rancho Dominguez Library, 4205 E. Compton Blvd., (310) 632-6193 East Rancho Dominguez Lennox Library, 4359 Lennox Blvd., Lennox (310) 674-0385 View Park Library, 3854 W. 54th St., Los Angeles (323) 293-5371 Willowbrook Library, 11838 Wilmington Ave., Los Angeles (323) 564-5698 Woodcrest Library, 1340 W. 106th St., Los Angeles (323) 757-9373 3rdDistrict Agoura Hills Library, 29901 Ladyface Ct., Agoura Hills (818) 889-2278 Malibu Library, 23555 W. Civic Center Way, Malibu (310) 456-6438 San Fernando Library, 217 North Maclay Ave., San Fernando (818) 365-6928 West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood (310) 652-5340 4th District El Segundo Library, 111 W. Mariposa Ave., El Segundo (310) 524-2722 Hacienda Heights Library, 16010 La Monde St., Hacienda Heights (626) 968-9356 Hawaiian Gardens Library, 11940 Carson St., Hawaiian Gardens (562) 496-1212 Lomita Library, 24200 Narbonne Ave., Lomita (310) 539-4515 Rowland Heights Library, 1850 Nogales St., Rowland Heights (626) 912-5348 South Whittier Library, 14433 Leffingwell Rd., Whittier (562) 946-4415 5th District Altadena Library, 600 E. Mariposa St., Altadena (626) 798-0833 Duarte Library, 1301 Buena Vista St., Duarte (626) 358-1865 La Verne Library, 3640 D. St., La Verne (909) 596-1934 Lake Los Angeles Library, 16921 E. Ave. O, Suite A, Palmdale (661) 264-0593 Littlerock Library, 35119 80th St. East, Littlerock (661) 944-4138 Quartz Hill Library, 42018 N. 50th St. West, Quartz Hill (661) 943-2454 Assisted listening devices, agenda in Braille, and/ or alternate formats are available upon request. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, other auxiliary aids and services, or reasonable modifications to Board meeting policies and/or procedures, such as to assist members of the disabled community who would like to request a disability-related accommodation in addressing the Board, are available if requested at least three (3) business days prior to the Board meeting. Later requests will be accommodated to the extent feasible. Please telephone the Executive Office of the Board at (213) 974-1431 (voice) or (213) 974-1707 (TTY), from 8: 00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Copies of the proposed document are also available for review at the Community Development Commission (CDC), 2 Coral Circle, Monterey Park, CA 91755. Citizens wishing to submit written comments during the public review and comment period may mail them, postmarked no later than May 22, 2012, to the CDC, to the attention of Raymond Webster, Development Specialist, CDBG Division, who can be reached at (323) 890-7317* if there are any questions. 4/19/12 CNS-2296896# WATTS TIMES

Thursday, April 19, 2012