LAWT-5-06-2010

Page 1

May 6, 2010

SERVING LOS ANGELES COUNTY WITH NEWS YOU CAN USE

Vol. XXX, No. 1178 FIRST COLUMN

MAY DAY — (AP) Juan R. Doban (top left) said he wanted to make one thing clear to everyone with his sign, which in part declared, “I work to support my family.” Doban was one of an estimated crowd of 50,000 demonstrators who marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles May 1 to demand an overhaul of immigration laws, including Arizona’s new law requiring authorities to question people about their immigration status. Organizers handed out Tshirts that read, “Legalize Arizona” and “Boycott Arizona.” Marchers waved American flags, along with many from other countries, including Mexico, the Philippines, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Pictured below, marchers protest. Two people were arrested during the demonstration — one for vandalism and one for public drunkenness, Los Angeles Police Officer Cleon Joseph told The Associated Press. May 1 is recognized as the international day to observe the contributions of workers.

Shani Davis Enjoys Making the Most of His Olympic Moment BY NANCY ARMOUR AP NATIONAL WRITER

CHICAGO (AP) — Shani Davis bounded onto the stage, grabbed the mic, and flashed the smile he’s been showing more often than his Olympic gold medal lately. The speedskater had never done stand-up comedy before the night of April 30, but that hardly mattered. It’s been one adventure after another since the Vancouver Games, and Davis is embracing every one of them. “It’s a total different feeling than four years ago,” he said. “This is such a more positive, more natural, happy feeling. It’s not forced, it’s not pretend. I’m not pretending to be anything I’m not. I’m just really enjoying it. “I’m taking everything in, and it’s recharging my batteries that have been drained by all the negative stuff that’s been going around in the past. I feel like a totally new person.” Davis is one of the best speedskaters the United States has ever produced. He’s the first AfricanAmerican to win an individual gold

Photo by MARTIN DE JONG

Shani Davis

medal at a Winter Games, taking the 1,000 meters in Turin. By defending that title in Vancouver, he joined Eric Heiden and Irving Jaffee as the only American men to win more than one speedskating gold medal. A second straight silver in the 1,500 meters gave him four Olympic medals. A week after the Vancouver Games ended, he won his third straight overall World Cup. That kind of resume should have earned Davis fame and fortune, like good friend Apolo Anton Ohno enjoys. But while he’s wildly popular in Europe, he’s been more of a puzzle back home. His triumph in Turin was spoiled by a nasty spat with teammate Chad Hedrick over the team pursuit. In the aftermath, he distanced himself from U.S. Speedskating and the American media. But after winning the 1,000 in Vancouver, Davis talked about it being his moment, his party. And boy, has he lived it up, revealing a fun-loving personality. “From my hard work and dedication to the sport, all these other opportunities are starting to open for me,” he said. “It’s just fun. I’m enjoying it. It’s a beautiful thing.” He’s been honored at NBA games in both Chicago, his hometown, and Milwaukee, where he trains. He walked a New York runway—in a kilt, no less. He joined Oscar winner Mo’Nique on her TV show. He raised the flag before a Chicago Fire game. Last week he visited the White House, where he presented President Barack Obama with a U.S. team jacket and joined Michelle Obama at

See DAVIS, page 12

Photos by JERRY SULLIVAN/LOS ANGELES GARMENT & CITIZEN

Mortgage Meltdown’s Next Potential Bite: Foreclosed Properties as Public Health Risks BY JERRY SULLIVAN LABEEZ.ORG

Here’s another way the mortgage meltdown appears poised to come back to bite hard-pressed communities in Los Angeles: Empty houses run the risk of becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus and other diseases. Government officials in Los Angeles are alerting the public about

Black Prison Journalist Pens Readable Autobiography BY MARY FOSTER AP WRITER

Wilbert Rideau, who went to prison as a terrified 19-year-old and emerged 44 years later as an awardwinning journalist, has written “In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance,” an account of the time he spent in prison and the crime that sent him there. Rideau tells his story in riveting detail, beginning with how he grew up a poor black kid in heavily segregated Lake Charles, La. He writes about the crime that landed him on death row at Angola, Louisiana’s penitentiary, then known as the bloodiest prison in the nation: It was an ill-conceived bank robbery hatched by a naive kid who planned to finish in time to meet his ride home so he wouldn’t have to face the danger of waiting for the bus in the white part of town. Rideau also makes a convincing argument that he was kept in prison far longer than anyone else convicted of murder in 1961 because he is a black man who killed a white woman — bank teller Julia Ferguson. The amazing part of Rideau’s

Photo by LINDA LABRANCHE

Wilbert Rideau

story, however, is his transformation from an uneducated, prejudiced teen to a thoughtful, well-read adult who became so well respected by prison wardens that they began calling on him for help and advice. Rideau became editor of The Angolite. He writes of his goal to make the magazine a truly independent journal of prison life. Several wardens supported the effort, especially C. Paul Phelps. Rideau became close to Phelps, and dedicated his book to him.

The Angolite won several national prizes, including a George Polk Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Rideau has surprisingly kind words for Angola’s wardens, except for Burl Cain, the present warden. Among other things, he accuses Cain of undermining the independence of The Angolite and of keeping awards Rideau had won for his work on several video projects. Rideau’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the then-existing death penalty in 1972. He was found guilty of murder twice more, but was finally freed in 2005 after a manslaughter conviction, for which he was sentenced to 21 years. This allowed him to be freed for time served, after 44 years behind bars. The picture of prison life painted by Rideau isn’t the one portrayed in many movies. There is violence and brutality, especially for the weak, who become slaves of powerful prisoners, providing sex and other services, he writes. But Rideau mostly shows that prison is a place where people are still

See JOURNALIST, page 12

what is expected to be a busy breeding season for mosquitoes. The heavy rains of the past several months, which led to some instances of flooding in Los Angeles and other areas, have left a lot of standing water behind in ditches, gutters, drain pipes, and any containers left in the open. Any standing water is a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes, especially as the weather warms up. Foreclosed and unoccupied properties continue to pose a challenge for efforts to control the mos-

quito population this year, so public officials are asking residents to report any vacant houses that might be sources for breeding. The recent wave of foreclosures hit many inner-city neighborhoods particularly hard, thanks in part to marketing efforts that focused on Latino American and African American homebuyers with offers of sub-prime mortgages. Sub-prime mortgages and other non-standard financing methods — so-called “exotic” loans — grew in See FORECLOSED, page 12

NEWS IN BRIEF THE SOUTHLAND L.A. Council Vote Means DWP Rate Hike is Permanent (AP) — Electric bills for Department of Water and Power customers in Los Angeles will jump about 5 percent in July, despite a last-minute effort to make the rate hikes temporary. The City Council voted 9-5 April 27 to let the planned increase stand, conduct another review, and hold off on Councilwoman Jan Perry’s motion to take jurisdiction over the DWP’s decision. Perry says a temporary rate hike would force the DWP to be more transparent before the next planned rate hike on Oct. 1. The council approved the rate hike earlier last month after a stalemate with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s appointees on the public utility’s board.

Some council members complained that they thought the rate hike would only last three months and didn’t realize the increase would be permanent.

Report Finds L.A. County’s Infant Mortality Rate Up (AP) — A report finds child abuse cases in Los Angeles County are down, but the infant mortality rate is up. The Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect report released April 27 found reports of physical, mental and sexual abuse and severe neglect dropped 7.2 percent from 200408. Infant mortality increased from 4.9 to 5.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007, the most recent year for which complete data are available. The council’s executive director

www.lawattstimes.com

See BRIEFS, page 5


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.