LAWT 08-25-2011

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L.A. Watts Times Vol. XXX, No. 1246

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www.lawattstimes.com

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011

HOROSCOPES

AUG. 25 - 31

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RIES ~ You are often superb at exercising good judgment and rational decision-making. Yet sometimes you are rash. Flip to the observant side of your mentality this week. You will soon find yourself in a situation where there will be strife if you are not careful.

AURUS ~ Just to prove to yourself once again how lucky you are, you should fly into the face of bad predictions. Gamble this week in business, relationships, love—something. Remain truly confident that things will come out in a way that will satisfy you.

EMINI ~ Move through your social environments and festive occasions this week without stopping even for a little while to listen to rumors. Rumors are often untrue.

And for goodness’ sake, believe only good things about friends and your lover.

ANCER ~ Keep focused. Your energies are likely to be spread out this week. Your attention is likely to be pulled in many directions. Let yourself be seduced by the things that interest you most. Concentrate on your affairs. Others need you, but they can wait.

EO ~ Being stubborn won’t get the job done. Work with others so they can work for you. Your ideas are not always the best ideas, so don’t push them too hard this week. You might find yourself in an awkward position with no allies. Give in to your emotional needs, and don’t be afraid to let your guard down.

IRGO ~ This week will bring a tendency to dwell on a past betrayal. Your feelings of suspicion are well founded.

However, do not personalize it. Work against the harmful act but not against the person who committed it.

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IBRA ~ Look forward to excellent financial news based on something you’re likely to do this week. This week might be an excellent week to window-shop for a dream vacation or luxury purchase. You can even window-shop in your imagination for the best possible dream vacation location!

CORPIO ~ In the spiritual realm appearance is not important, but in the physical realm looking good matters a great deal. Love has a foot in both realms. It is your challenge to balance the spiritual and physical aspects of love this week.

AGITTARIUS ~ Stand up and get ready. Be a public speaker this week.

Any subject you choose is ripe for your “rap.” Spin the tale. Tell the story. People will be fascinated by the way you see things.

They’ll be impressed. Watch out for a jealous friend when attention is on you!

APRICORN ~ Be as sharp as you can be this week. Make being alert a personal challenge. Watch carefully for details that might otherwise escape your notice as you search for the best way to get things done at work. Be steadfast in your determination and don’t be pulled into conflict with coworkers.

QUARIUS ~ What do you do when you’re not as lucky as usual? Slow the game down. Risk less. Bet conservatively in all areas of your life. Restrain yourself. Give the job at hand your attention. Live in the present and enjoy what is rather than in anticipation of what luck might have brought.

ISCES ~ Like-mindedness is going to be hard to achieve among your coworkers, but there are likely to be a few who see things as you do. Choose carefully and find someone to walk with you on this week’s journey.

Some words of encouragement might be needed to enlist the person you choose.

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POLL RESULTS

2

Is a married man or woman justified in being angry when a friend dates a former ex?

62.2%

No

37.8%

Rare East Coast quakes rattle large areas

Yes

Visit www.lasentinel.net to vote for Weekender polls.

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded on the East Coast shook buildings and rattled nerves from South Carolina to New England on Tuesday and forced the evacuations of parts of the Capitol, White House and Pentagon.

BY SETH BORENSTEIN AP SCIENCE WRITER WASHINGTON (AP) — The East Coast doesn’t get earthquakes often but when they do strike, there’s a whole lot more shaking going on.

The ground in the East is older, colder and more intact than the West Coast. So when one of those rare quakes strikes, it rattles an area up to 10 times larger than a similar-sized West Coast temblor.

Tuesday’s 5.8 quake in Virginia was centered 40 miles northwest of Richmond. There hasn’t been a quake that large on the East Coast since 1944 in New York.

This earthquake was on an unknown fault. And seismologists say the fault isn’t likely to be pinpointed because the surface never ruptured.

P

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

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Black lawmakers target high urban unemployment

BY CHRISTINE ARMARIO ASSOCIATED PRESS MIAMI, Florida (AP) — Taking the microphone at a church in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Miami, the Rev. Jesse Jackson asked how many in the crowd knew someone looking for a job.

Most of the several hundred people in the televised town hall gathering stood up. How many knew someone facing foreclosure?

Student loan debt? In jail?

Considered suicide? Crowds of people stood up in answer to each of his questions.

“This is a state of emergency,” the civil rights leader and one-time Democratic presidential candidate declared.

The Congressional Black Caucus organized a town hall gathering in Miami to deal with Black unemployment rates Monday evening, one of five taking place in August in distressed communities across the country. At issue is the stubbornly high unemployment rate in the Black community, now at 16.8 percent nationwide, more than double that for Whites, and a figure that does not even include those who have stopped looking for work.

U.S Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat and the caucus chairman, said representatives are frustrated at being unable to advance bills in Congress aimed at encouraging job growth. Caucus members have introduced more than 40 such bills since January and none has passed.

Republicans took control of the House of Representatives nearly nine months ago.

Now the lawmakers are taking to the road to ensure angry constituents that they are doing all in their power to help, while offering a job fair in each city as assistance. In Atlanta, Georgia; Cleveland, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan, the events have drawn thousands, and more than 1,000 people streamed into a downtown convention center Tuesday morning for the Miami job fair.

Another will be held in Los Angeles, Calif., at the end of August.

“We left the complaint counter, and that’s why we’re on this tour,” Cleaver said.

The mounting frustration over jobs is beginning to have political repercussions among Black Americans.

“Unemployment in South Florida, especially in the Black community, is no longer a crisis,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson said before the event. “It’s an epidemic.”

The job fairs come amid a growing debate within the Black community about the Obama administration’s urban agenda. While Black lawmakers have been reluctant to criticize President Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, some are beginning to voice misgivings about the administration’s focus

“Even in good economic times, African American communities experience very high levels of unemployment…”

— Algernon Austin on deficit reduction at a time of high joblessness and poverty in urban areas.

“I think our politicians need to step up and do a better job of helping people,” said Lavern Eli, executive director of Curley’s House of Style in Miami’s Model City neighborhood. “It’s really like they’re playing games with people’s lives because people are hurting. The community is hurting. People are so desperate, just trying to survive.”

Cleaver said he shares the community’s frustration.

“I’m frustrated with the president, but I’m frustrated with me,” Cleaver said in an interview Monday. “I’m frustrated with the tea party. Maybe I should have used my communications skills better to try to convince some of them to work with us. I’m frustrated with the Democratic leadership.

The Republican leadership. The president. I think all of us bear some responsibility; some more than others, however.”

At the town hall on Monday, congressional leaders, a White House representative, Jackson and a church leader fielded questions from an MSNBC moderator about what they’ve done to create jobs, reduce unemployment, push for another stimulus, and address the influence of tea party Republican legislators.

The tea party movement is dedicated to implementing extremely strict controls on federal programs across the board to eliminate large deficits in the U.S. government’s budget process.

Don Graves, executive director of the president’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, told representatives and constituents that Obama is focused on every community in the nation but acknowledged that some have bit hit harder than others.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters told him to be more specific: the Black community.

“We’ve got to target where the greatest need is,” she said.

Wilson said the job fair on Tuesday was expected to offer up to 3,000 jobs, from custodians to janitors, and draw upward of 5,000 people. She said unemployment in her district is about 17 percent, and as high as 40 percent for Black males.

“I think the president is doing as much as he can, and I’m anxious to hear his proposal when we go back in September,” Wilson said, referring to the president’s job creation plan. “But if it includes any funding, we’re going to have to fight.

Because the tea party will stop him.”

As the economy has struggled to

recover, minorities have been disproportionately affected. An analysis of Census data released in July found that wealth gaps between Whites and minorities have grown to their widest levels in a quartercentury, with Whites on average having 20 times the net worth of Blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics.

Algernon Austin, director of the race, ethnicity and economy program at the Economic Policy Institute, said multiple factors are pushing up the Black unemployment rate, including a somewhat younger labor force, less-educated workers and discrimination. He pointed to several studies in which Black and White workers presented the same qualifications to prospective employers. The Black candidate consistently received less favorable responses.

“Even in good economic times, African American communities experience very high levels of unemployment,” Austin said.

Tracey Turner, 40, of North Miami, came to Monday’s event hoping to get some information on jobs. She has been out of work for almost two years, after being laid off

AP Photo/J Pat Carter

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., hosts a town hall meeting in Miami on Monday to address Black unemployment rates. At issue is the stubbornly high unemployment rate in the Black community, now at 16.8 percent nationwide — more than double that for Whites. from her job as an accountant for Wal-Mart in September 2010.

Turner’s unemployment benefits have expired, and she is supporting four children. She has been working temp jobs but has had no work in the past four months.

“It’s killing me,” she said.

Jaron Taylor, an 18-year-old Miami resident, said Tuesday he is desperately looking for work to help

pay for college. Among the booths he visited was one set up by Starbucks.

“I have a good feeling,” Taylor said. “The energy in this room is something. There’s a good vibe.

People are addressing the issue.

They are making sure something will be done.”

Reporter Harry R. Weber in Miami contributed to this report.

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Southern California grocery workers reject contract deal LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of Southern California grocery workers have voted overwhelmingly to reject a health care proposal from major supermarket chains and authorize their union leaders to call a strike, a spokesman said Sunday.

More than 90 percent of voters from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which has about 62,000 members, rejected the proposal from Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons stores.

The rejection automatically authorizes union officials to call a strike after 72 hours.

Union local spokesman Mike Shimpock said the union would not release precise numbers on how many voted but said the turnout was “huge.”

[At press time, the union planned to report the results to the dispute’s federal mediator, and Shimpock said more talks would likely follow.]

“We’re willing to come back to the table and stay there,” Shimpock said. “Our goal here is not to go on strike; we don’t want to go on strike, but unfortunately we’ve been pushed

into a corner by these corporations.”

A four-month strike and lockout that began in 2003 cost Ralphs and other grocery chains an estimated $2 billion.

Vons stressed the fact that negotiations were ongoing.

“The employers intend to stay focused and engaged in the bargaining process,” a Vons release said. “We remain hopeful that we can peacefully reach a settlement that works for both sides. We would urge the union leadership to do the same.”

To prepare for a possible strike, Albertsons has started to advertise for temporary replacement workers to make sure its stores can stay open, chain spokesman Fred Muir said Sunday.

“Asking for strike authorization is a common tactic in negotiations and does not necessarily mean a strike will be called. Getting sidetracked by these tactics — especially when it is clear there is no complete contract offer on the table and because productive negotiations continue — will only delay our ability to reach a fair agreement for our

AP Photo/Nick Ut

Surrounded by supermarket workers, Rick Icaza, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 770, announces that 90 percent of the union’s 62,000 grocery workers authorized a strike vote over the weekend in Los Angeles. associates,” Muir said. “The real work toward getting a fair contract will happen at the negotiating table — and we hope that’s where the union leadership will focus its attention when we return to bargaining.”

Ralphs Grocery Co. spokeswoman Kendra Doyel said her chain is committed to staying at the table to negotiate, and the grocers’ proposal was affordable and good for employees and their families.

“Our employees want to keep working, and our stores are ready to serve customers,” Doyel said Sunday.

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Union members have been working without a contract since March.

Both sides announced last month that they had reached a tentative agreement on the employers’ contributions to pension benefits, but payments to the union health care trust fund have been a major sticking point.

Ralphs currently pays more than 90 percent of employee health coverage costs, Doyel said. Workers hired before 2004 pay nothing for health insurance while those hired later pay either $7 a week for single coverage or $15 a week for family coverage.

The companies’ proposal would raise that to $9 a week for singles and $23 a week for families. That is much lower than the average cost of health care insurance in California, she said.

But Shimpock said that the union is concerned about the long-term sustainability of the health care fund.

“With the amount they’re offering now, the fund would go bankrupt by next September,” he said. “We’re worried about increased costs, of course. But it doesn’t matter if premiums are $2 or $200 if the benefits are eventually eliminated.”

Democrats Clyburn and Becerra, only minorities on debt committee Republicans have no minority or women appointees SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS During her last round of picks for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the so-called “Debt Super Committee”), intended to help solve the nation’s debt crisis, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), thereby adding diversity to this important panel.

The Democrats are also represented by the only woman on the committee, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

The 12-member bipartisan panel will have until November to decide how the country should save $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the Debt Super Committee would have three main goals: to focus economic growth and job creation to reduce debt; to make financial decisions regarding investments, cuts and revenues; and to offer recommendations to help reduce the country’s dependence credit.

“Because the work of this committee will affect all Americans, I called last week for its deliberations to be transparent; the committee should conduct its proceedings in the open,” Pelosi said in an Aug. 11 press release.

While the 12-member panel is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, seven votes must be made to send a final recommendation to Congress for consideration — which means at least one lawmaker must back the plan of the opposing party.

“It's not going to be simple to come to a deal,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Clyburn is currently the third-ranking member of the House Democratic Leadership, with experience on the Appropriations Committee. In a statement Pelosi called Clyburn a “vigorous spokesperson for jobs and economic development.”

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.

Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Duo’s challenges to Obama generate Black community protests — and, some fear, apathy SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS Although Princeton professor Cornel West supported President Barack Obama in 2008, his recent criticism of the nation’s first Black president may be trouble for 2012. Radio personality Tavis Smiley has also joined in the Black chorus of public dissatisfaction of Obama.

It is unclear whether calling the president the “Black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs” and publicly denouncing his policies in a majority of recent interviews will hurt the Obama’s election chances next year. But Rev. Otis Moss III, pastor of Obama’s former church in Chicago, said the intellectuals’ remarks could increase African Americans’ trust of Congress.

“The negative discussion Dr. West is having can only put more apathy in the hearts of African Americans and could

ultimately cause them to lose more faith in the entire political process,” Moss told Newsweek. “Where will that leave us?”

Buddies West and Smiley have teamed to launch a two-week “Poverty Tour,” which will take the duo to different cities as they encourage the president to “wake up.” The purpose of the tour is supposed to be to help America refocus on the “least among us,” according to Newsweek.

But recently citizens have started to fight back. In Detroit, when the “Call to Conscience” bus pulled up in August, a group of people met the two outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center to protest.

“We will not stand silent as Smiley and West criticize the man who brought us health care reform, one of the greatest accomplishments for the poor in this country’s history,” a spokesperson for Detroiters for Better Government told Newsweek.

The West and Smiley approach may or may not have an impact on Black voters. Obama’s approval rate is slowly dwindling: In 2008, 96 percent of African Americans voted for Obama.

In March, Black Entertainment Television (BET) conducted a poll, in which 85 percent of people supported the president. But in a recent Washington Post/CBS poll, African American support dropped sharply — from 77 percent in October 2010 to nearly half of that this month, according to Newsweek.

Steve Harvey disagreed with the tour and said Smiley should let go of the grudge he had when Obama did not make it to his town hall meeting.

“You don’t have any real basis behind your dislike for this man ...

You keep masking it saying it’s not about hate. Then what is it about?

Poverty existed before January 20, 2008. Where was your damn bus

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Whether the impact of recent comments by talk show host Tavis Smiley, left, and Princeton University professor Dr. Cornel West is real or fleeting is being hotly debated. then?” Steve Harvey said, according to the St. Louis American.

He continued: “Who in the hell got two to three days for your [expletive]? I ain’t got time to sit down with your

monkey behind for two, three days, let alone the President of the United States.

We got three wars going on, the economy crashing and we going to sit down with Tavis [expletive] for three days?”

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

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What’s next in Libya key to US politics, economy

BY JIM KUHNHENN ASSOCIATED PRESS

AKA lawsuit reinstated by DC Appeals Court SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS Allegations of financial impropriety within Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. will get an airing in court, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 18, reversing the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by members Barbara McKenzie of the nation’s oldest Black sorority.

Dismissal of the lawsuit questioning $375,000 the sorority leadership gave AKA President Barbara McKenzie was in error, the three-judge panel ruled, reinstating the lawsuit filed by eight members in 2009.

The original lawsuit said the payment to McKenzie was not properly approved by the membership and that the money, which included a $25,000 payout and a $4,000 a month stipend for the president, was used for clothing, jewelry and a wax statue of McKenzie.

The suit was dismissed in 2010 by a D.C. Superior Court judge, who said that the Chicago-based plaintiffs failed to accuse the sorority and its leadership of taking actions prohibited by statute; that the suit wasn’t filed on behalf of the entire membership; and that the court lacked jurisdiction over individual officials who don’t live in Washington.

The panel said that, unlike allegations of impropriety by shareholders of a for-profit organization, dues-paying members of a nonprofit group can sue as individuals and aren’t required to file a class action.

It will take several months even under a stabilized Libya before its oil fields are producing enough crude to start exporting again. But any extra shipments could lower the price of gasoline, which has already come down more than 40 cents a gallon from its peak in May. The news of the rebels’ success was affecting Brent crude, which is used to price many international oil varieties, dropping 92 cents to $107.70 per barrel in London on Monday. It rose back up to $109.44 Tuesday as the strength of the dollar weakened against the euro and other currencies.

“If oil prices continue to head south, that’s a real plus for the economy,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “We can take all the plusses we can get at this point.”

So could Obama. While the president’s overall approval with the public is above 40 percent in most polls, the number that approve of his handling of the economy dropped to a new low of 26 percent in a Gallup poll last week.

By contrast, 53 percent approved of his handling of terrorism.

Still, the rebels’ entry into Tripoli overshadowed two lingering questions: What’s next, and could a more aggressive U.S. involvement have knocked Gadhafi from power much sooner?

In a statement issued late Sunday, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said they regretted that “this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower.”

“Ultimately, our intervention in Libya will be judged a success or failure based not on the collapse of the Qaddafi regime, but on the political order that emerges in its place,” the two senators said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, expressed a similar view.

“The lasting impact of events in Libya will depend on ensuring rebel factions form a unified, civil government that guarantees personal freedoms, and builds a new relationship with the West where we are allies instead of adversaries,” he said.

Former Obama adviser Robert Gibbs, who is assisting the president’s re-election campaign, said the achievement was already evident.

“The American people will see this as a success because we didn’t need to send troops in, didn’t lose American lives and it involved others in the world who also had big interests in Libya’s stability taking a bigger role,” Gibbs said.

But the administration remains aware that today’s successes could turn sour. Obama called on the rebel leadership to work toward a transition that “is peaceful, inclusive and just.”

True justice will not come from reprisals and violence,” Obama said.

“It will come from reconciliation and a Libya that allows its citizens to determine their own destiny.”

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

President Barack Obama speaks about Libya on Monday, while on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The dramatic advance of Libyan rebels over the forces of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi offers vindication, at least for now, for President Barack Obama’s decision to refrain from using U.S. troops on Libyan soil and to let NATO take the lead. But the chaotic scene on the streets of Tripoli on Tuesday illustrated the uncertain path to stability and the hazards that still face the White House.

How Libya moves away from the current turmoil will present the next challenge for Obama and could determine how the public views not only his foreign policy, but in some measure the U.S. economy as well.

Underscoring the volatility, Gadhafi’s whereabouts remained a mystery, fighting between rebels and Gadhafi loyalists continued and oil prices remained in flux.

Still, the news for Obama could not have been much better. The Libyan street was euphoric, rebels overran Gadhafi’s main military compound and hope grew that over time the price of oil — a contributor to dangerous economic lethargy — would dip.

“The Libyan intervention demonstrates what the international community can achieve when we stand together as one,” Obama said at his vacation retreat in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

Obama was careful to emphasize that uncertainty remained and that Gadhafi’s regime could still pose a threat.

Obama telephoned French President Nicolas Sarkozy to talk

about the situation in Libya, among other things. They agreed to continue to work with allies and partners to protect the people of Libya and to support a peaceful transition to democracy.

The State Department also said it wants to give the Libyan opposition between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in frozen Gadhafi regime assets. The U.S. froze about $37 billion in regime holdings in the U.S., but most are in real estate or other property assets.

Back in March, Obama gambled that the way to confront a potential civilian catastrophe in Libya was to build a coalition of NATO and Arab countries to use airpower ostensibly to protect Libyan citizens from a Gadhafi crackdown. But his intent was clear all along: Gadhafi had to go.

The disintegration of Gadhafi’s regime follows the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special operations troops, a major achievement for the Obama administration and one that solidified the president’s standing with the public on his handling of terrorism.

But Gadhafi’s removal has additional implications. A stabilized Libya would mean the country’s oil production could go back online, potentially reducing the cost of oil, which spiked globally in February as the flow of oil from Libya dried to a trickle.

Time and again, the president has cited the uprisings in the Arab world and the increased cost of oil as “headwinds” that have imperiled the economic recovery.

Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa. Before the uprising, it was the world’s 12th largest exporter, delivering more than 1.5 million barrels per day mostly to European markets.

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011

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Popular Florida pastor Rich African nations sit on the eulogized by renowned sidelines as Somalis starve bishop and pastors SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE FLORIDA COURIER

Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of the Potter’s House in Texas, preached the eulogy, delivering a fiery sermon about Thousands clapped, sang, cried, Tims, whom he said called upon him laughed and listened as local and often for spiritual advice. “I knew him national pastors along with elected offi- more as Zach,” the renowned bishop cials paid tribute to Dr. Zachery Tims, said, adding how Tims traveled with founder and senior pastor of New him during Jakes’ “He-Motions men’s tour’’ about 10 years ago.

“He just had this grace and charisma,’’ Jakes said in describing Tims’ personality. “What an incredible individual.’’ Jakes also referred to the challenges Tims faced as a leader and pastor and a man who had been “deeply broken’’ by circumstances in his past.

“The greater the light, the greater the heat … If you stand in the light long enough, the light burns … His death is a wake-up call for all of the clergy to slow down.

You’re moving too fast,” Jakes preached. He later noted: “I don’t know what happened in that (hotel) room … but it was Zach who died, and Dr. Tims who stood up.’’

Pastor Paula White of Without Walls International Church in Tampa said Tims called her his spiritual mother. White told how a few weeks ago Tims spoke of death by saying: “If I die — and I don’t want to die — I want you to know I’m Services for Dr. Zachery Tims, Jr., draw saved and going to heaven.’’

Pastor Riva Tims, ex-wife of thousands.

Dr. Zachery Tims, and the mother of Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, a his four children, also spoke about how predominantly Black megachurch in much Tims accomplished in 42 years.

Central Florida.

“Let us never forget what he accomTims, who led the 8,000-member plished,’’ she told mourners.

New Destiny, was found dead on Aug. Reflections also were made by 12 in a New York hotel. He was 42.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown of Hours before the morning service Florida, along with Orlando Mayor last Saturday, a line of mourners snaked Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor from the front doors of First Baptist Teresa Jacobs and Orange County Church of Orlando to the parking lot.

Commissioner Tiffany Moore Russell.

Obama summer reading list has drama, crime, epics CHILMARK, Mass.

(AP) — A vacationing President Barack Obama seems to be in search of drama, passion and intrigue — at least in his reading material.

The White House says Obama bought two books at a Martha’s Vineyard shop on Friday and brought three others from Washington for his 10-day stay.

One new book is “The Bayou Trilogy,” a collection President Obama of crime novels by Daniel Woodrell set in the leaves the Bunch Louisiana swampland. The of Grapes book other is “Rodin’s store in Vineyard Debutante” by Ward Just, a Haven, Mass., coming-of-age novel set in during a family mid-20th- Century Chicago. vacation in the He arrived with area.

Abraham Verghese’s “Cutting for Stone,” a novel AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster about Ethiopian twins who journey to America; David and “The Warmth of Other Suns,” an Grossman’s “To the End of the Land,” epic about America’s great migration a turbulent family drama set in Israel; by Isabel Wilkerson.

may not have the resources to entirely meet the funding gap,” said Houghton, “but they must make a decent contribution and show the true meaning of African solutions to African problems.”

The newly organized Africans Act 4 Africa, known as AA4A, also criticized the continent for not pulling its financial weight.

“Governments must give a reasonable fraction of the $1.4 billion AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor still needed if the A Somali woman holds her daughter in Mogadishu, Somalia, as the worst drought in the Horn of humanitarian disAfrica has sparked a severe food crisis and high malnutrition rates — and the situation is dete- aster in the Horn of Africa is to be riorating, according to the United Nations. stopped,” they declared. said Irungu Houghton of Oxfam.

SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE Tens of thousands of Somalis The African Union initially GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK announced a contribution of around have died in the current famine, and Only four African nations have $500,000 as did Namibia. South more than 12 million people are in contributed emergency funds for Africa also announced an initial desperate need of food aid.

The United States has been the drought-stricken Somalia, and the contribution of more than $150,000. amounts donated have been pitifully But Oxfam’s Anne Mitaru called biggest international donor to date, with about $580 million in aid this small, according to the British aid such contributions “unacceptable.”

“When you look at the South year. Britain is the second-biggest agency Oxfam.

Despite the many oil-rich coun- African economy, one of the largest — donor at $205 million, followed by tries around the continent, only actually the biggest economy on the Japan and Australia. Saudi Arabia, the South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and continent — $150,000 is a poor show,” biggest donor from the Muslim Sudan have stepped up to the plate, said Mitaru. “African governments world, is next at $60 million.

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F E AT U R E

Thursday, August 25, 2011

L.A. Watts Times WEEKENDER

GM, the leading sponsor of the National Memorial

by Yussuf J. Simmonds | Co-Managing Editor According to the history of Washington monuments, the National Memorial in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was completed with lightning speed and that by itself is a tribute to the quality of the man: his life, his work and his accomplishments. Notwithstanding, though he never held political or elective office; he was not the traditional celebrity; nor was he molded in the footsteps of the rich and the famous. But he was rich and famous in his service to his fellow man; many came to hear him speak; and when he dreamed, he dreamt of a world of peace and understanding among men (and women) – peace, “not just the absence of war,” he would say, “but the presence of justice.” That is the King that is being immortalized in Washington, D.C on August 28, 2011.

The National Memorial is located on a four-acre site that is situated adjacent to the FDR Memorial, and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Congress passed a Joint Resolution in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to establish a Memorial in Washington, D.C. honoring Dr. King, who will be standing literally as a King among men (presidents).

As the project began to unfold, its magnitude created many bumps in the road, but as Dr. King would say, “You can disagree without becoming disagreeable.”

Those bumps were smoothened out as time went by.

Though much significance can be attributed to the unveiling of the Dr. King National Memorial on the 48th anniversary of his historic March on Washington, one thing is certain: looking at the events of today, though some progress has been made, ‘the Dream Is Still Unfulfilled.’

McKissack & McKissack, the oldest minority-owned architecture firm in the country, headed up the design team that consisted of construction, architect and building entities. The centerpiece of the memorial is a three-story high sculpture of Dr. King that is made of granite symbolically reflected the character of the man – unyielding, enduring and steadfast. There are walls around the memorial on which selected portions of Dr. King’s speeches and sermons are etched. Those selections were chosen by a group of historians including Maya Angelou, Cornel West, the late John Hope Franklin and Henry Louis Gates.

The controversy over the choice of a Chinese sculp-

tor was one of the bumps in the road and Martin Luther King III seemed to have mitigated that by saying that he’s seen “probably 50 sculptures of my dad, and [I] would say 47 of them are not good reflections” but that “this particular artist – he’s done a good job.” And it appeared that the focus on getting the memorial completed in a timely manner, overcame any and all squabbling.

SPONSORS

The General Motors Foundation and Chevrolet will serve as the Dedication Chair and Dedication Co-Chair is The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation. Dedication Vice Chairs include Aetna, Boeing, BP, Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, GE McDonalds, Travelers, and Wal-Mart Stores.

Major donors include: General Motors, Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NBA, The Walt Disney Company, Coca-Cola Foundation, The Ford Motor Company Fund, MetLife Foundation, Toyota, Verizon Foundation.

COMMENTS FROM SOME WHO KNEW DR. KING AND THE REST, MOST CERTAINLY, KNEW ABOUT HIM.

REV. JESSE JACKSON: “Dr. King was a source of inspiration. Blacks in the South, under the laws of oppressive segregation, were held down by fear; so he had to inspire them to choose hope over fear. Blacks in the North and in the West, it wasn’t so much fear as it was cynicism: the belief that we could not win. Many Blacks went North and West where there was a little more dignity than the Southern oppression; they were free but not equal. Dr. Kings mission was to change the law. It was a struggle to end (unjust) law. But it was also to take our consciousness beyond just legal oppression to economic justice. Many of our freedom allies would not be our economic allies. Dr. King last campaign was to end the war in Vietnam and a war on poverty; and that’s where we are today.”

REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER: “No African American alive would ever believe that the final monument on the mall would be that of Martin Luther King Jr. We, of

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

course, realize that Dr. King is now serving as a reminder to all of us that we must remain vigilant on issues of justice, and his monument, the statue that is now on the mall is a reminder. He’s looking across the city and across the nation … when you look at the sculpture depicting him and the appearance of his facial expression is very serious. I’m looking at you guys … stay on the job and do the right thing.”

XERNONA CLAYTON: “Dr. King was such an usual man … a real man, in that he was honest and truthful to his convictions. He felt that he never wanted any monument, any honor, or anything bestowed or directed to him, personally. If he was here and we needed his approval to have this, we would never have this monument. But we have to keep in mind that this was a man who … when he got the Nobel (Peace) Prize, and got a monetary attachment with it, he gave it all away. He was unselfish … a selfless man who cared more about everybody else than himself.

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: “I think it’s a great honor for Dr. King and for the nation. I think he belong in that environment on the mall because I consider him to be one of the fathers of the nation … having led the nation to a new era of racial justice in his lifetime.”

REV. JAMES LAWSON: “I have mixed feelings about the event, though I look forward to being there.

We have built a monument to a dead hero, and dead heroes are easier to take than live advocates of truth and justice are tolerated. I see it as a historical moment to be more tactful and powerful than any of us understand. King was the Moses of the 20th century for Western civilization; he was a Jesus figure of the 20th century. His voice was the major voice many people around the world heard, and listen for, and by 1967, in the United States, 90 something percent of us Black people said, ‘he speaks for me.’ That has never happened in the history of humankind except for people like (Mahatma) Gandhi of India, and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. But unless Black people, Hispanics and people of goodwill, and women in the United States can really recover that story; we are not going to move to confront our nation, with its obligation to continue this journey.”

DR. MERVYN M. DYMALLY: “As fiery as he was in public life I found him, in private, to be a quiet, modest

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

FAR LEFT: People view the new Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial in Washington, Monday, Aug. 22, 2011. The memorial is to be oƥcially dedicated on Sunday, August 28.

www.lawattstimes.com

and unassuming person. It was my dubious experience to be the last person to drive him from LAX to Anaheim (Orange County) for a meeting for the liberal California Democratic Council, during my tenure as State Senator. This experience was a major high point in my political career.”

GWEN GREEN (In reading a letter she received by those who are putting on the dedication). Ms. Green, it was a pleasure speaking with you today as you would join us in the nation’s capital for this important dedication. We recognized the significance contribution that you’ve made in civil rights struggle and considered an honor to host you. “It is very significant for the first time we have a Black person on the mall with

all the White presidents.”

BEN JEALOUS: “This is an historic moment in civil rights and American history,” stated President Jealous.

“I look forward to honoring the life and legacy of Dr. King on the eve of the unveiling of his national memorial. The work of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is not over. The civil rights community must ensure that his dream becomes a reality”.

JULIANNE MALVEAUX: So even as a statue opens to the public, doors close to too many Americans. Even as people throng to celebrate, there are those who are supportive, but who have had nothing to celebrate in a long time. The debt ceiling has imposed a particular ugliness on the current climate. As cities gird up for fall and winter, they are grappling with the reality that many will be unable to pay for utilities, and have the possibility of freezing this winter. Some were buttressed by federal funds, funds that must be cut. Similarly, there are cities where there is vacant housing and also homelessness. Why not put some of the homeless into vacant homes. Banks are often special villains, chasing profit and repelling the people whose dollars have inflated their bottom line. While (Harry) Johnson’s dream has been realized, Dr. King’s dream for economic justice, which means economic restructuring, remains deferred. This is a dichotomy, AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Thursday, August 25, 2011

and also a tragedy.

DIANE E. WATSON: “It is a monument to justice.

He will be the first African American on the mall and that really marks a turning point for America. We have an African America president because of Martin Luther King. It is the case where he got to the consciousness of America. So rather than judge the person by the color (of their skin) as Martin Luther King spoke, they judged him by the content. And so Martin Luther King has a place in the history of the world because he came and saw that civil rights were given to all in this country, the number one country on the globe.”

WILLIS EDWARDS: “The establishment of this memorial is historic in that our nation’s capitol will now include an African American who has been acclaimed as a peacemaker worldwide.

This memorial recognizes the life themes characterized in all of Dr. King’s speeches of justice, democracy, hope, and love. His life and this memorial should inspire all of us to be committed to positive change and active citizenship.”

LEON JENKINS: “It’s been a long time in the making but it’s a sure sign that America understands the importance of Dr. King’s contributions to the lives of every American. He helped change the face of what America looked like in the corporate room, in the boardroom, in politics, and socially.”

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS (CBC): “America has changed dramatically in the past five decades. For people under 50, it is hard for many to imagine life in the 1950’s and 60’s as compared to the America of 2011. Segregated housing, transportation, restrooms, theaters, and restaurants, coupled with the physical presence of racism, and sexism, religious intolerance and painful accusations of communism are all part of the dark past of America’s recent history. The magnitude of how the Civil Rights movement changed America is truly remarkable and is perhaps without precedent in modern history. Dr. King’s contributions to the changes of the last 50 years highlights the work of many who sacrificed and challenged America to reflect the practices in the words of the founding fathers.”

MYRLIE EVERS-WILLIAMS: “I am honored to be a part of this historic occasion, for the Dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The honoring of this Great American Hero also inspires us to remember the Great Heroes and Sheroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Through the Civil Rights Movement, America has seen many positive changes in this ongoing struggle for Equal Opportunity and Justice. The Vision statement for this memorial dedicates the memorial to the Tenants of Dr. King’s American Dream of Freedom, Democracy, and Opportunity for all. There remains so AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

LEFT: Sculptor Lei Yixin from China, left, and Harry E. Johnson, Sr., President and CEO of the Washington DC Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation, are seen at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

RIGHT: Tuskegee Airmen William Fauntroy, left, and William Wilson, tour the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011.

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much to be done to achieve this Dream for all American citizens. We have a responsibility to enhance the Legacy of Dr. King and the many other Civil Rights leaders who gave their lives, by being activist citizens on behalf of all, but especially those who are less fortunate. We have to Guard the Freedoms and Democracy that Dr. King lived and died for. It is imperative that the history of the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King and his great work be transferred to our next generations.”

ELAINE EASON STEELE: “Rosa Parks would be just as excited as the rest of the country at the great honor being bestowed on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a leader and role model for social justice. Dr. King’s philosophy is more important today because of the mobilization to turn the clock back to the 1950’s.

When Rosa Parks’ arrest on Dec 1, 1955 lead to the successful 381 Day Montgomery Bus Boycott, thrust a 26year old Montgomery, AL. pastor into national prominence. The rest is history.”

ROBERT “BOB” FARRELL: “ It is important to me for two reasons. Number one: to see the acknowledgement of a man who deserves all the contributions and praise and tributes that are due our own heroes, at the same time, I view it as something that represents the collective ‘us’, because at a point, it’s not just Martin Luther King, Jr., the man, it’s the movement he led that made us proud. And he worked his way to the top, he won our collaboration and our cooperation, regardless of the different bases from which we came in the struggle, and it is most appropriate that this American hero has such a dedicated statue right there in the center of our American government.”

DR. MARK PERRAULT: “He was a brilliant, dedicated community servant known especially for his ideas regarding non-violence and he also had a unique visionary intellectual quality built into his DNA.” MARC H. MORIAL: “National Mall on Sunday is not just a historic occasion for African-Americans, but a milepost on the nation’s journey to social justice. My own emotions are touched on so many levels—pride as an African-American, as a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity—King’s own fraternity and the organization that has driven the project from the beginning, as the leader of a national civil rights and economic empowerment organization, but mostly as an American.

For all the mistakes that have been made attempting to carry out the principles outlined by the Founding Fathers, the principles themselves endure: All men—and let us not forget to include women—are created equal, and are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps more than anyone in American history, Dr. King embodied that ideal.”

THE DEDICATION WILL BE CARRIED LIVE ON MSNBC AND CNN AP Photo/Charles Dharapakhira

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis to perform in S. Africa

BY DONNA BRYSON ASSOCIATED PRESS JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Famed American trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis shared memories of his childhood and played a few tunes Tuesday in South Africa as a prelude to headlining Johannesburg’s annual jazz festival.

Marsalis talked about his life Tuesday during a question-andanswer session at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre. Later this week, he will perform at the city’s Joy of Jazz festival.

As a trumpeter, Marsalis has won both jazz and classical Grammy awards. As a composer, he was the first jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize, in 1997 for “Blood on the Fields,” a three-hour work for singers and jazz orchestra that explores the themes of slavery and the creativity of Black Americans.

Marsalis’ tribute to Black American music has not ignored its African roots. His “Congo Square” evokes a New Orleans neighborhood where African slaves performed ancestral dancing and music, and was written for drumming for jazz orchestra and Ghanaian percussionists and singers.

Sibongile Khumalo, one of South Africa’s best-loved singers, welcomed him Tuesday as a “cultural activist” to the Market Theatre.

“We lived in the South, they grew up in segregation,” he said of his parents.

“It wasn’t a picnic.”His jazz pianist father found work scarce as audiences turned to rhythm and blues.

The racial turmoil of the time and the nascent women’s movement created new stresses for his family, he said. He said other boys in his neighborhood were fatherless.

“They’d AP Photo/Denis Farrell want to come The look and sound of success: As a trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis has explored the themes of slavery and the cre- sit in my house to see what it ativity of Black Americans in his music. was like to have a dad,” said Under White racist rule, multiracial audiences and casts challenged Marsalis, who also treated the small apartheid with original art at the audience gathered on a Tuesday morning to a sampling of his trumMarket.

Marsalis, holding his trumpet pet playing.

He praised his father’s integrity lightly between his knees, described growing up in a large family in and his mother’s intelligence, and said both were optimists. small Louisiana towns.

John Kani, an internationally known South African actor and former director of the Market Theatre, said South Africans also were optimists after decades of struggle.

Kani, who took part in Tuesday’s question-and-answer session, said Marsalis’s visit was testament to a growing culture of jazz appreciation

in South Africa, which has its own rich musical traditions.

Khumalo asked Marsalis whether his drive to succeed was in part for his father.

“It was definitely for him,” said Marsalis, whose brothers include trombonist Delfeayo, saxophonist Branford and drummer Jason.

Songwriter Nick Ashford dies at 70

BY NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP MUSIC WRITER NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Ashford, one-half of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson that penned elegant, soulful classics for the likes of Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye and funk hits for Chaka Khan and others, died Monday at age 70, his former publicist said.

Ashford, who along with wife Valerie Simpson wrote some of Motown’s biggest hits, died in a New York City hospital, said publicist Liz Rosenberg, who was Ashford’s longtime friend. He had been suffering from throat cancer and had undergone radiation treatment, she told The Associated Press.

Though they had some of their greatest success at Motown with classics like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Reach Out And Touch Somebody’s Hand” by Ross and “You’re All I Need To Get By”

by Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Ashford & Simpson also created anthems for others, like “I’m Every Woman” by Khan (and later remade by Whitney Houston). Ashford & Simpson also had success writing for themselves: Perhaps the best-known song they sang was the 1980s hit “Solid As A Rock.”

“His music is unmatched in terms of great songwriting,” Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire said after learning of his friend’s death.

“They had magic and that’s what creates those wonderful hits, that magic,” White added. “Without those songs, those artists wouldn’t have been able to go to the next level.”

Others in the music industry also mourned the loss. On Twitter, Alicia Keys wrote, “I’m so sad that he’s gone. ... So many of the greatests are going to a greater place ... what a legacy of infectious music ... man!”

Ashford and Simpson’s relationship stretched more than four decades. They met in 1964 in a New York City church. Ashford, a South Carolina native, had come to the city to pursue a dance career. Simpson was a music student, and after connecting with her, they decided to start to write songs together.

“They were always comfortable with each other and they made all of us comfortable, because they were comfortable,” White said.

Their first major success occurred when they came up with “Let’s Go Get Stoned” for Ray

Nick Ashford Charles. The bluesy, gospel-tinged song became a huge hit for Charles, and soon, they came to the attention of Motown Records and began penning hits for their artists.

They started out writing soulful, romantic works for the duo of Gaye and Terrell that would become instant classics, like “Your Precious Love,” and “Ain’t Nothin’ Like The Real Thing.” In fact, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was originally their hit, until Ross later rerecorded it with a new arrangement that had sweeping pop grandeur and made it her signature song.

Ross may have been their greatest muse: With her, they had some of their biggest songs and helped give her career-defining hits that would distinguish her solo career apart from The Supremes. Among the songs Ross made hits were “Reach Out and Touch,” ‘‘The Boss,” ‘‘My House,” and “Missing You,” a tribute to the late Gaye and others. They also composed some of the music for “The Wiz,” the movie musical that starred Ross and Michael Jackson.

In an industry where marriages and partnerships are fleeting, Ashford and Simpson’s stood the test of time.

“The thing is they were married and working together, that was what was special about them. Everybody admired that,” White said.

The duo, married for 38 years, helped sell millions of records for several artists. They also had success

See ASHFORD, page 19

Thursday, August 25, 2011

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Review: Game reunites with Dr. Dre Rock Hall to honor on “R.E.D.” Aretha Franklin with series

Now, Game has reunited with Dre and the producer’s label, Aftermath Records, for his fourth album, “The R.E.D. Album.” Dre raps on a song and appears on four skits, narrating pivotal moments of Game’s life.

“R.E.D.” is a well crafted album, with a AP Photo/Aftermath/Interscope Records heavy dose of The latest release from The Game, “The R.E.D. Album,” guest appearwas produced by Dr. Dre. ances, including Lil Wayne,

BY JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. Nelly Furtado, Beanie Sigel and E-40.

ASSOCIATED PRESS With his hoarse delivery, The Game’s lyrical flow is strong and on par with Game, “The R.E.D. Album” some of hip-hop’s best, such as (Aftermath/Interscope Records) Wayne, Rick Ross and Drake. He When The Game was dumped by meshes well with Chris Brown on the mentor Dr. Dre after a feud with 50 album’s slow-tempo single, “Pot of Cent a few years ago, the Compton Gold.” rapper used the split as an opportunity But it’s Game’s show, and he to show he could survive on his own shines. He raps with aggression and — and he succeeded with two solid displays a brash demeanor on topalbums since his multi-platinum, Dre- notch tracks served up by Dre, The produced debut, “The Documentary.” Neptunes, No I.D. and Cool & Dre.

Game raps about how he has matured since his drug-toting days on the DJ Premier-produced “Born in the Trap.” He also touches on the violence in Los Angeles urban neighborhoods on the cinematic “Ricky,” which uses dialogue taken from the 1987 movie “Boyz N the Hood.”

There are other tracks on “R.E.D.” that are worth a listen, such as “Good Girls Go Bad,” featuring Drake, “Speakers on Blast,” including E-40 and Big Boi, and “Mama Knows” with Nelly Furtado.

Game doesn’t steer away from his reputation of being a notorious namedropper on this album, dropping references to LeBron James, Betty White and President Barack Obama. There aren’t too many rappers who can pull this off, but Game has made it an effective trademark.

In all, “R.E.D.” is one of Game’s most balanced albums since his debut in 2005. After four albums, he continues to prove that he is a dominating force from the West Coast.

CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: On “The City,” featuring newcomer Kendrick Lamar, The Game raps with fervent attitude and declares himself as one of best rappers of all time, along with the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z and Nas — “in no particular order,” he notes.

NEW YORK (AP) — Aretha Franklin is already a member of AP Photo/Matt Rourke the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but this fall, she’ll be honored by All hail the queen! Aretha Franklin will the hall once again, as part of its be the subject of a week-long celebration by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and American Music Masters series.

See ARETHA, page 14 Case Western University in Cleveland.

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Sony cuts price of PlayStation 3 by $50 to $249

BY BARBARA ORTUTAY AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER

Hip hop icon launches Chicago chapter of Youth Football League

BY ASHAHED M. MUHAMMAD SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE FINAL CALL CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) — Last year, following a spate of youth killings in the city of Chicago, hiphop icon Snoop Dogg came here and promised to open a chapter of his successful Snoop Youth Football League.

On July 30, he made his word his bond as nearly 1,000 youths from across the city joined him to officially launch the inaugural season of the SYFL here in the Windy City.

A full media contingent was present to watch the popular entertainer slap high fives, take pictures and throw passes to the youngsters.

The Snoop Youth Football League began in 2004 in Los Angeles with Snoop Dogg’s personal investment of $1 million. The Chicago division was established as a direct response to the rise in youth violence in the Chicago area and successfully opened the 2011 season in August with chapters representing all parts of the city: the Chicago Chargers (West Side), Bridgeport

ARETHA Continued from page 13 The Queen of Soul will be the subject of a week-long celebration by the hall and Case Western Reserve University. It kicks off Oct. 31, includes an all-day symposium and ends with an all-star tribute concert on Nov. 5. Performers for that show have yet to be announced.

In a statement released Tuesday, the 69-year-old Franklin said she

the maker of the Xbox 360 “will likely wait to see the commercial impact of the price disparity” between the Xbox and the PlayStation. The Xbox 360’s popular 250 gigabyte version costs $300.

A version with a smaller hard drive, 4 gigabytes, is $200.

Microsoft said it does not talk about pricing plans in advance, and so far it has made no announcements about price cuts.

In all, Microsoft has sold 55

NEW YORK (AP) — Sony Corp. is cutting the price of its PlayStation 3 gaming console by $50 in an attempt to drum up demand for the five-year-old machine.

It is now $249, down 17 percent from $299. The last time Sony lowered the price of the PlayStation 3 was in 2009, when it launched a lighter, slimmer model of the video game system.

The worldwide price cut announced Tuesday comes than a Photos by Timothy 6X less A promise made, a promise kept: Snoop Dogg, who launched his Youth month after rival Nintendo Co. Football League in L.A., recently kicked off a chapter in Chicago. cut the price of Hurricanes, South Side Seahawks, time that they are giving you to try its handheld Humboldt Park Patriots, Near North to help you better your life,” said Nintendo 3DS Snoop.

Side Raiders and the Pilsen Jets. player.

A good deal: The cost of PlayStation 3 is going down.

Triumph out of tragedy “This is the beginning of someThe 3DS After the tragic death of 16-year lets thing that is going to be here 20 players years from now,” Snoop Dogg told old Derrion Albert in September view 3-D games and videos without million Xbox 360s worldwide, and the eager youngsters and their 2009, SYFL President Tonja Styles special glasses. It launched with Sony has sold 52 million units of coaches. “Know and understand that took immediate action, with the goal much fanfare but lost sales momen- the PS3. Nintendo is still No. 1 with you all are a part of something that is of attacking the problem of youth tum. The value of 3-D hasn’t been 86 million, though sales of the congoing to be very historic. This foot- violence in Chicago. While many apparent to everyone. Handheld sole have slowed down considerball league here is going to change a stood around and complained, she gaming devices are also facing com- ably. lot of your lives … Some of you are went to work trying to find someone petition from the iPhone and other Sony is also launching its handgoing to make it to the next level, who could effectively and consis- smartphones with games such as the held PlayStation Vita in the U.S. high school football, college foot- tently work with the children who wildly popular “Angry Birds.” early next year. It will cost $249 for are living in what she described as a ball, even the NFL,” he added.

The latest price cut should give a Wi-Fi-only version, and $299 for a The SYFL now services nearly “war zone.” the PlayStation 3 a boost, just as the version that will also have cellphone Styles reached out to Snoop previous one did in 2009.

4,000 youths throughout California. service.

Chicago was the first city outside of Dogg and intervened on behalf of Jack Tretton, the CEO of Sony “It is no secret that the California to get teams, and Snoop Vashon Bullock, one of the young PlayStation 3 has been struggling Computer Entertainment America, told The Final Call the strong men caught up in the melee that for some time against the Microsoft said Sony is cutting the price in growth has led to expansion in San claimed Derrion Albert’s life.

Xbox 360 in North America,” August instead of closer to the holi“Vashion Bullock, who many of though it did slightly better in days to get it to people during the Diego and Las Vegas. In addition to the athletics, the program offers you all know, was involved in that Europe, said Jesse Divnich, an ana- back-to-school shopping season. educational programming and time- tragedy, expelled from school for lyst at Electronic Entertainment While the holidays are the busiest ly guidance from Snoop himself, two years as a senior, not able to go Design and Research. time for video games, August and who at a young age was caught in back to Chicago Public Schools for Divnich does not believe September are also lucrative as colthe snare of gang violence and the two years,” said Styles at the press Microsoft Corp. will follow with its lege students stock up on games for conference. “We were able to get own price cut immediately. Rather, their dorm rooms. legal system.

“It’s all about how you put in him back into school,” she added.

Styles went on to recount how in your work when you’re out here …

When your coaches are talking to April of 2010, she took Bullock to for the league and mentorship under way to have the top teams in you and trying to coach you, listen Normal, Ill., to meet Snoop Dogg, opportunities in medical careers. the league compete regionally to the coach … They know more who immediately gave Vashion She also spoke of sponsorship from against each other, culminating in than you and are trying to help you. Bullock an internship. When she the Federal Reserve Bank of the SYFL Super Bowl, for which the The coaches don’t get paid to be out approached Snoop about bringing Chicago, which is offering financial teams would travel to California and here—it’s volunteer work. It’s their the SYFL to Chicago, he was on empowerment training for the play in the championship game. board immediately. “Snoop said youth.

Snoop reminded the youth that without hesitation, ‘Let’s do it!’ ” “I am so proud, I am so honored despite the different neighborhoods said Styles. that against all odds, against all the and teams, having fun, unity and Styles — the driving force doubters and those who didn’t want discipline are the keys to success in behind bringing the league to to see this day happen and thought life. “We’re the SYFL. We play for was “thrilled and delighted” to be Chicago — told The Final Call we weren’t going to make it — one league,” Snoop told the crowd. honored and planned to take part in there has been strong support within we’re here! We’re in the building!” “Yes, you play for your team, but the Chicago business community to said Styles. when we all come together, it’s the festivities. stem the tide of violence that SYFL or nothing. It ain’t about the SYFL Commissioner Haamid Franklin returned to the concert brought infamy to Chicago infa- Wadood regularly tells stories of individualism — it’s about the unit.” scene this year after surgery for an mous over the last two summers. youths and their parents sacrificing To learn more about SYFL, visit undisclosed condition.

She announced partnerships with in order to be involved in the foot- http://www.snoopyfl.net. For inforPast honorees include Bessie doctors at Midwest Orthopedics at ball league, especially in areas mation on Chicago teams, go to Smith, Les Paul, Janis Joplin and Rush Medical Center, who have plagued by gang violence. He told http://www.snoopyflchicago.org or agreed to provide medical treatment The Final Call that plans are also call 312-794-7809.

Woody Guthrie.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

15

Before Miami’s mess, there was Experts: 49ers had no choice about security moves SMU’s death penalty

AP Photo/Ben Margot

AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News/Vernon Bryant

SMU football coach June Jones, center, along with quarterback Kyle Padron (2), linebacker Youri Yenga (45) and offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum Jr. (70).

BY RALPH D. RUSSO AP COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER If you think the emerging scandal at Miami is the worst college football has ever endured, you might not remember SMU. Even now, what happened at Southern Methodist University in the 1980s casts a shadow over the Miami case, the most startling to come from college football’s assembly line of embarrassments in recent years.

A former University of Miami booster and convicted Ponzi scheme artist says he provided Hurricanes players with cash, prostitutes, cars and other gifts from 2002 to 2010, and that several coaches knew and even participated as improper benefits were handed out.

The Yahoo Sports story about Nevin Shapiro’s self-described misdeeds has many fans asking whether Miami — if the allegations are found to be true — could be in danger of having its football program shut down by the NCAA. The so-called death penalty has only been handed down once — to SMU. SMU players had been getting paid with funds provided by boosters for years, and top school officials — not just coaches — were involved. “In the nine years I served on the (NCAA) committee on infractions, I never saw another one that was even close to what occurred in the SMU case,” said University of Oklahoma law professor David Swank, a former NCAA vice president.

As serious as the Miami case looks, Swank said the violations Shapiro claims to have been a part of are not severe enough to warrant the Hurricanes being treated the same way as the Mustangs. “In that case you had the involvement of basically members of the board of trustees and the regents,” he said. “And it was repeat violations, which made it a very serious case."

SMU had been sanctioned multiple times in the 10 years leading up to receiving the death penalty for recruiting violations, including being placed on three years’ probation in 1985. But the money kept flowing because school officials, including former Texas Gov. Bill Clements, the head of SMU’s board, were afraid that players already on the payroll would expose the cheating if they were cut off.

Miami football was hit with NCAA

sanctions in 1995 after a financial aid scandal involving at least 50 players.

The Hurricanes received three-year’s probation, a one-season bowl ban and were stripped of 24 scholarships.

But that involved an entirely different administration at Miami.

At SMU, there was systematic cheating that had been going on for years.

“You had an infractions case and then very shortly thereafter you had a second infractions case involving many of the same people," Swank said.

“At Miami ... it looks like it focuses on one outlaw.”

Much like the Miami case, the SMU scandal came to a head at a time when NCAA investigations were rampant in college football. Some SMU supporters claimed the Mustangs were merely trying to keep up with Southwest Conference rivals Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU and Arkansas.

“Every school had been investigated,” said Bo Carter, the former longtime sports information director of the Southwest Conference and Big 12.

“In the ‘80s, no one had very strong compliance programs. The conferences were trying to enforce things through self-policing.”

The result, Carter said, was a “lawless mentality.”

ESPN analyst Craig James, who with fellow tailback Eric Dickerson formed the famed Pony Express backfield for SMU from 1979-82 but says he wasn’t aware of the rampant rule-breaking, said back then boosters had far more access to players and recruits.

“They could help in some ways with recruiting ... it was not uncommon to see supporters around the university back in that era,” he said.

In the years that have passed since SMU football was shut down, rules have been tightened and compliance departments at universities that have major athletic programs have grown substantially. Yet in the last 18 months, Southern California, Ohio State, Auburn, Oregon, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and LSU have all either been investigated or sanctioned by the NCAA. “If the assertions are true, the alleged conduct at the University of Miami is an illustration of the need for serious and fundamental change in many critical aspects of college sports,”

NCAA President Mark Emmert said.

Earlier this month, he led a group of university presidents — including Miami’s Donna Shalala — in drafting an outline for changing academic standards for student-athletes and the parameters of athletic scholarships, as well for streamlining the NCAA rulebook.

They also talked about imposing stiffer penalties on rule-breakers and coming up with a sentencing standard to provide more consistent penalties.

“We absolutely must put this climate of rule-breaking behind us,” Penn State President Graham Spanier said during the retreat.

Specifics on how remain unclear.

And all the talk doesn’t necessarily mean the NCAA is about to start handing down more death penalties to send a message. Julie Roe Lach, NCAA vice president of enforcement, told The Associated Press she senses a movement toward more suspensions for coaches and postseason bans for teams.

Emmert said the death penalty should still be an option; however, “I would only support the death penalty structure in very rare circumstances, so I don’t know that people are as adamantly opposed to it as they are reserving it for the most egregious violations.”

See SMU, page 17

During a preseason NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders in San Francisco, fists fly in the stands. The NFL and the mayors of the two cities jointly called for an end to “intimidation” and acts of violence at sporting events.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers’ swift response to fan violence during a game against the Oakland Raiders may not prevent future outbursts of unruliness, but it was a reasonable step toward restoring confidence in stadium security, experts said Tuesday.

Team officials announced on Monday a ban on post-kickoff tailgating, use of post-game DUI checkpoints and enhanced police presence after two shootings, a beating and fights marred Saturday’s preseason game at Candlestick Park.

In addition, the team president said he wanted the NFL to postpone next year’s preseason game with the Raiders.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” said Steve Adelman, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based attorney who specializes in venue safety and security. “You have to do something to show your fans — everybody for that matter — that what happened Saturday will hopefully never happen again.”

He added, however, that the team can’t guarantee that problems won’t occur. “What they can do is everything that is reasonably possible to prevent these bad things from reoccurring,” Adelman said.

The free-swinging fighting at Saturday’s game was witnessed by the mayors of San Francisco and Oakland, along with being captured on video and replayed on the Internet. More than 70 fans were ejected from the stadium, 12

people were arrested and dozens of medical calls were made. Officials said those were unheard of numbers for a typical home game at Candlestick Park.

After the game, two men were wounded in separate parking lot shootings; earlier, a third man had been beaten unconscious in a bathroom. All were in fair condition. No one was arrested. And police were investigating what prompted the attacks and were trying to identify suspects.

The 49ers team took appropriate action rather than imposing tougher knee-jerk reactions, said Jason Maloni, a senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications, a Washington, D.C.-based crisis communications firm that works with athletes and sports organizations.

“I think that it’s far preferable than taking such draconian measures like raising ticket prices or cutting off serving alcohol after the second quarter at games,” Maloni said. “I don’t think this is anything more than having genuine intentions for fan safety.”

The violence in San Francisco is a reminder of an attack at another rivalry game. San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was severely beaten by two men in Los Angeles Dodgers gear outside Dodger Stadium after the archrivals’ season opener nearly five months ago. Two men charged in that beating have pleaded not guilty.

See 49ERS, page 17

16

Cardinals, Fitzgerald agree to $120 million deal

BY BOB BAUM AP SPORTS WRITER TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Cardinals and Larry Fitzgerald have agreed to an eight-year deal that could pay the star receiver as much as $120 million, making it one of the richest deals in the NFL. The agreement, with guarantees near $50 million, is by far the biggest in the franchise’s history.

Fitzgerald and team presiAP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez dent Michael All smiles: An eight-year agreement — plus guarantees — B i d w i l l could bring Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry appeared at a Fitzgerald (11) one of the richest deals in the NFL. hastily called news conference Saturday night to receiving records.

Fitzgerald has topped 1,000 announce the agreement.

Fitzgerald insisted he “hates this yards receiving in five of his seven part of sports,” but he certainly has NFL seasons, including the last four. made a boatload of money. This is the He caught 90 passes for 1,137 yards third major contract he has signed, last season even though Arizona had and he doesn’t turn 28 until Aug. 31. one of the worst offenses in the “Growing up, since I was 7 years league while struggling to a 5-11 old, this has been the game I love and record, in large part because of poor something I have been so passionate quarterback play in the wake of the about,” Fitzgerald said, “and to have retirement of Kurt Warner.

While Fitzgerald said he never to talk about it on the business side is a little bit uncomfortable. But I am insisted the team make a big move really happy to put it behind us and it for a quarterback — “I am not anywouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for one to hold a hammer over anyone’s the Bidwill family’s hard work in head” — the Cardinals traded for Kevin Kolb from the Philadelphia making this thing happen.”

The Cardinals had said they Eagles, then signed him to a fivewanted Fitzgerald’s new contract year, $63 million contract, with $21 wrapped up by the start of the regular million guaranteed. Fitzgerald, who season, and they made it with two organized team workouts during the lockout, had a practice session with weeks to spare.

Bidwill, son of the team’s owner Kolb long before the trade.

Fitzgerald will be under contract Bill Bidwill, said the Cardinals’ intent is to have Fitzgerald retire as a to the Cardinals through the 2018 season. It is not known whether the Cardinal “but not anytime soon.”

Fitzgerald, the third overall park deal contains the kind of terms that in the 2004 draft at the age of 19, gave him huge leverage over the spoke of the opportunity to spend his team under its current deal — specifically a ban on making him a franentire career with one team.

“It is an honor,” he said. “I am so chise player and a no-trade clause.

The contract could have widefortunate. Not many players have that opportunity but Michael has allowed spread ramifications around the me that opportunity and I just want to NFL, particularly in the case of runrepay him with great effort and win- ning back Chris Johnson, who is holding out for a new deal with the ning. That is what is important.”

The 6-foot-3, 218 pound receiver Tennessee Titans.

Johnson tweeted “congratulahas become the franchise’s career leader in receptions with 613 and tions to (at)LarryFitzgerald god is needs just 294 yards to surpass Roy good” and Fitzgerald responded with Green for career yards receiving. In “thanks CJ you up next my guy.”

AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker Arizona’s surprise run to the Super Bowl in the 2008 season, Fitzgerald in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to shattered most of the NFL playoff this report.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Raiders use 3rd-round pick for Pryor

BY JOSH DUBOW AP SPORTS WRITER NAPA, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Raiders have always been seduced by size and speed so it came as little surprise that they used a thirdround pick Monday in the NFL’s supplemental draft to select former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

Pryor’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said his client was excited about going in the third round after waiting until last Thursday to find out he’d even be eligible for the supplemental draft and not working out for teams until Saturday. “We’re tickled and thrilled that Terrelle went in the third round and to the Raiders,” Rosenhaus said.

“The third round is quite an accomplishment for a young man who had his pro day 48 hours ago and didn’t know he would be in the draft until Thursday morning and wasn’t able to meet with any decision makers.”

The Raiders used the 18th selection of the third round for Pryor, forfeiting a pick in that round in the 2012 draft.

Pryor immediately headed to the Bay Area after being drafted, and Rosenhaus said he hoped to finalize a contract as soon as possible to get Pryor on the practice field. Rosenhaus has already negotiated a third-round deal with the Raiders this summer with rookie cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke.

“We’re optimistic this will be a smooth negotiation,” he said. “We enjoy working with the Raiders and he’s very excited.”

Pryor will be able to practice immediately after signing and play in the remaining two exhibition games.

But he will not be eligible to practice with or play for Oakland during the regular season until the team’s sixth game.

While there has been some speculation that Pryor’s future could come as a receiver or a tight end, Raiders coach Hue Jackson said he views Pryor as a quarterback and he will start his career there. “The guy had a very storied career at Ohio State,” Jackson said. “He can throw it, he can run with it. He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s played in big games. He’s another young athlete that we’ll add to the mix that plays quarterback and we’ll work with him and get this guy to be a good player.”

When he was allowed to enter Monday’s draft, he was handed a fivegame suspension by Commissioner Roger Goodell — the same number of games he would have sat out had he returned to Ohio State. Pryor has said he will not appeal the suspension.

Pryor gave up his final season with the Buckeyes after an investigation into the team’s memorabilia-forcash scandal that cost coach Jim Tressel his job.

His selection by the Raiders is hardly surprising: Oakland often makes bold moves in the draft because owner Al Davis covets size and speed.

Pryor ran a 4.36 in the 40 during his workout for 17 NFL teams Saturday.

At 6-foot-5 and 232 pounds, he is similar in height to JaMarcus Russell, the LSU quarterback chosen No. 1 overall by the Raiders in the 2007 draft.

But Pryor is much more mobile.

As a junior, Pryor had his best season statistically, throwing for 2,772 yards and 27 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He also ran for 754 yards and four scores while helping the

Former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor was declared eligible for Monday’s NFL supplemental draft, though he must sit out the first five games after he signs a contract.

AP Photo/Tribune Review, Barry Reeger

Buckeyes win the Sugar Bowl.

“We all know how Al Davis likes big players who can run, and Terrelle brings a dimension of size and speed that’s unique to the quarterback position,” Rosenhaus said. “The Raiders are a good fit for him because they have had an unsettled quarterback situation for a number of years and have worked in a number of different players. Any young quarterback would like the opportunity to go there and compete and be the guy.”

Oakland’s starting quarterback is Jason Campbell, now in his second season with the Raiders after being acquired from Washington, where he spent five seasons. Campbell is in the last year of his contract, as are backups Kyle Boller and Trent Edwards.

The Raiders considered drafting a quarterback to groom for the future in April but did not find the right fit. Now they have Pryor to fill that role.

Pryor said he’s thankful for the opportunity to play in the NFL. “The type of guy that you’re getting is a competitive guy, a feisty guy that wants to win and will do anything to win,” he told the NFL Network.

“Work hard and a person that is just opportunistic. I’m just waiting for an opportunity and when I get it, I’m going to have success.”

Pryor will be joined by a former teammate when he signs with the Raiders. Oakland had drafted cornerback Chimdi Chekwa in the fourth round in April, and Chekwa gave Pryor a glowing review.

“He was a guy who can make the throws on the football field,” Chekwa said. “He also has that threat of scrambling and running. When we needed a big play in college, he made that play.

When we went against him in practice, first-team offense versus first-team defense, we had to spy him, do different things. He makes you have to account for the quarterback running.”

Oakland is now without picks in the second, third and fourth rounds next year. The Raiders traded the 2012 second-round pick along with a 2011 seventh-round selection for third- and fourth-round picks this past draft to take offensive lineman Joe Barksdale and running back Taiwan Jones. They sent their fourth-round pick a year ago to the Redskins for Campbell.

Oakland could recoup some picks

as compensation for losing Nnamdi Asomugha, Zach Miller and Robert Gallery as free agents.

No other players were chosen in the draft. Also eligible were former Georgia running back Caleb King, former Northern Illinois safety Tracy Wilson, former Western Carolina cornerback Torez Jones, former Lindenwood University defensive end Keenan Mace, and former North Carolina defensive end Mike McAdoo.

opinion

Thursday, August 25, 2011

To Be Equal

Alpha Phi Alpha Brother Brings Dream of King Memorial to Life

BY MARC H. MORIAL NNPA COLUMNIST “We build this memorial because … when our nation was about to split in two – black versus white, rich versus poor – Dr. King said we should live together as brothers or perish as fools,” said Harry E. Johnson, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation.

On August 28th, the 48 anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial will become the first on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to honor a person of color, a non-president and a man of peace.

More than 250,000 people are expected to be on hand next Sunday when President Obama delivers the grand opening keynote speech.

More than a quarter century in the making and at a cost of $120 million, the Memorial promises to rekindle global interest in the life and legacy of one of the greatest champions of civil and human rights the world has ever Marc H. Morial known. In these times of rampant domestic and international turmoil and division, Dr. King’s message of justice, democracy, hope and love is needed more than ever.

The MLK Memorial project was the brainchild of Alpha Phi Alpha, the world’s oldest intercollegiate fraternity founded by African American men.

Fraternity leaders conceived the idea in 1984, 16 years after Dr. King’s death and only months after President Reagan signed the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday into law.

Dr. King himself was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha as were National Urban League legends Lester Granger and Whitney M. Young, Jr., who were also colleagues and friends of Dr. King. I too am a proud Alpha Phi Alpha brother.

Since 2002, the massive fundraising effort needed to bring the MLK Memorial project to fruition has been led by former Alpha Phi Alpha President and Houston lawyer, Harry E. Johnson, Sr. Under Johnson’s leadership, the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation has raised more than $114 million from scores of corporate donors and thousands of citizens who want to ensure that Dr. King’s legacy endures.

Harry Johnson was just 8 years old when Dr. King led the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered one of the most well known speeches in American history. He says that he owes much of his success as a lawyer and activist to the inspiration of Dr. King and the changes he brought about through non-violent action.

Johnson is a graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans and received his law degree from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law. He served as president of Alpha Phi Alpha from 2001-2004, and for his leadership of the King Memorial project, was awarded the prestigious “President’s Award” at January’s Trumpet Awards Gala in Atlanta.

Carved out of a granite boulder and situated on the Tidal Basin in a direct line between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the MLK Memorial will be a fitting tribute to Dr. King. According to Harry Johnson, “Drawing from Dr. King’s speeches and using his own rich language, the King Memorial will be a public sanctuary where future generations of Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation can come to honor Dr. King.”

We applaud Alpha Phi Alpha and Johnson for their leadership of this important project and urge all Americans to visit this historic new addition to the National Mall.

Marc H. Morial is the president and CEO of the National Urban League.

17

A Dream Both Realized and Deferred

BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX NNPA COLUMNIST If one were to look up “tenacity” in a dictionary, one might well simply search for logo of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, or a photograph of the MLK Memorial Foundation’s Executive Director Harry Johnson, Sr. In 1984, the men of Alpha Phi Alpha proposed a national memorial to Dr. King, and they continued to push until President Bill Clinton signed legislation in 1996 proposing the establishment of the memorial. The Alphas used their congressional juice to get an area and foundation established and to take leadership in raising money for the memorial.

One of their own, former Alpha President Harry Johnson, Sr., has been indefatigable in his efforts to take the King Memorial from concept to reality. I am sure that there were times when Johnson wondered whether the dream of a King monument would be realized.

This weekend, however, on the 48th anniversary of the “I Have A Dream” speech, Johnson’s dream, and the dream of millions, has come to fruition. The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument is the only recognition of an African American on the National Mall. It is the only tribute on the Mall to someone who has not been a president of the United States.

It is tempting to use metaphor to suggest that the inclusion of an African American icon on the Mall suggests inclusion of African Americans in our society. It is tempting to use the grand sweep to discuss how far Black folk have come — from segregation to inclusion, with the inclusion reflected in the White House, with President Obama presiding over what is, unfortunately, a crumbling nation and a shattered economy. We can wax eloquent until the real deal of our national reality slaps us in the face.

This is, of course, to take nothing away from the majesty of the celebration of the monument. There is an excitement around the way this monument, against all odds, has been constructed and is being celebrated.

But even as we relish and enjoy the moment, it is important to ask “What would Martin say?” as we celebrate.

He said, “The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil, or to consume the abundant animal life around them.” When he uttered these words, the poverty rate was about 10 percent; now it exceeds 12 percent, with the rate for African Americans and Latinos flirting with 25 percent.

Shouldn’t some of our celebration of Dr. King include the continuation of his fight against poverty? Somehow poverty isn’t often referenced, the socially blind cruelty simply accepted. We cringe at those who stand on streets begging for money, and mor-

Julianne Malveaux

alize that they ought to get work. Yet we see unemployment data that suggest that there is little work to be had.

We don’t connect the dots. We are, in the words of King “socially … cruel and blind.”

So even as a statue opens to the public, doors close to too many Americans. Even as people throng to celebrate, there are those who are supportive but who have had nothing to celebrate in a long time. The debt ceiling has imposed a particular ugliness on the current climate. As cities gird up for fall and winter, they are grappling with the reality that many will be unable to pay for utilities, and have the possibility of freezing this winter. Some were buttressed by federal funds, funds that must be cut.

Similarly, there are cities where there is vacant housing and also homelessness. Why not put some of the homeless into vacant homes? Banks are often special villains, chasing profit and repelling the people whose dollars have inflated their bottom line.

Here is what Dr. King said: “We are called upon to help the discour-

aged beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. … You see my friends, when you deal with this, you begin to ask the question, ‘Who owns the oil?’ You begin to ask the question, ‘Who owns the iron ore?’ You begin to ask the question, ‘Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water?’ ” Dr. King spoke to economic restructuring. So does the tea party, though from another perspective. Too many have been silent about the economic disparities that define our nation, even as they celebrate Harry Johnson’s amazing accomplishment. While Johnson’s dream has been realized, Dr. King’s dream for economic justice, which means economic restructuring, remains deferred.

This is a dichotomy, and also a tragedy.

Julianne Malveaux is an economist and president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, NC.

49ERS Continued from page 15 Stow, 42, a Santa Cruz paramedic, suffered severe brain injuries and remains hospitalized in serious condition.

Since the incident, the Dodgers have increased police presence at games, installed more lighting in the stadium parking lot and hired a new security chief, said Josh Rawitch, a team spokesman.

When the 49ers took action, Maloni said, the team helped protect not only its fans but also its business.

“Because if you can’t bring your kids to a game because there’s violence in the stands or in the parking lot, then the fans — including the most die-hard, —will be content to stay at home and watch the games on their 54-inch flat screen highdefinition televisions,” he said.

SMU Continued from page 15 Ivy League executive director Robin Harris served on the infractions committee for 41/2 years before leaving in the late 1990s for an Indianapolis law firm that sometimes represents NCAA rule-breakers. Harris said she never saw a case she thought deserved the death penalty.

“We didn’t ever have a situation where we thought it would be appropriate, but we had some cases where it technically was in play,” she said. “I wouldn’t rule it out (being used sometime), but hopefully it would be rare and it should be rare.”

The NCAA hit USC with some of the toughest sanctions in recent memory last year, banning the Trojans from postseason play for two seasons and taking away 30 scholarships over a three-year period.

Even coach Lane Kiffin acknowledges it could take USC football seven years to bounce back from the penalties.

SMU has never fully recovered from the imposition of the death penalty.

The Mustangs were not allowed to

play football in 1987, and school officials chose to cancel the ‘88 season, too, taking a year off to rebuild. But the damage was too great.

SMU’s final AP rankings from 1981-84 were No. 5, No. 2, No. 12 and No. 8. After the death penalty, the Mustangs did not play in a bowl game until 2009.

James said SMU’s punishment was too harsh.

“I can’t say that we didn’t get what was coming our way,” he said. “But it absolutely put a cloud over our institution for 25 years. It lumped everyone into the same group of cheaters.”

Swank agrees with Emmert that the death penalty must be used sparingly.

“I don’t think it is appropriate to totally destroy an athletic program of an institution because of violations unless ... you go back to something similar to what you had in the SMU case,” he said.

“I don’t think the Miami case is one that really deserves that.”

AP Sports Writer Mike Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

18

Where would Dr. King stand on Wal-Mart workers?

BY GARY L. FLOWERS NNPA COLUMNIST This week the nation and the world celebrate the life and legacy of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., with the dedication of his memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. For Americans, Dr. Martin Luther King should not only have a national memorial in Washington, but also should have his face on Mount Rushmore, rather than stone images of American presidents whose policies were antithetical to the ideals of Native Gary L. Flowers Americans (Sioux, Lakota) on whose sacred land the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were forged.

History reminds us that Dr. King is the true architect of American democracy. For example, Washington said freedom fighters that formed the Black Republic of Haiti should “ … starve to death.” Jeffersonian democracy, as it was called, permitted only White males to vote and own land. Teddy Roosevelt was a rabid racist who supported the bigoted movie “Birth of a Nation.” And while Lincoln moved the policy pendulum closer toward racial equity with his Emancipation Proclamation and his support for the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, it took 95 years for freedom, citizenship and voting to be enforced by federal law.

Enter Dr. King.

Dr. King is the architect of American democracy because he influenced progressive public policy for ALL Americans, regardless of race, religion or resources. As Dr. King marched outside on the Main Streets of America, President Lyndon Johnson coerced Congress into passage of seminal legislation: the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act, all of which still impact American justice today.

More than any other, Dr. King was a “man of the people.” At 26, fresh out of graduate school with a Ph.D., he, along with Mrs. Rosa Parks, led the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott to challenge the application of federal laws of racial segregation in transportation to state law. He walked with the people for 381 days. At 34, he marched with students in Birmingham, Ala., to secure a public accommodations bill in Congress. At 39, he brought dignity to sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., by advocating for their right to organize and receive fair wages.

Today, the workers at Wal-Mart — the world’s largest company — face issues similar to those faced by Memphis garbage workers in 1968: respect, fair-paying jobs and a voice in workplace policies. To date, Wal-Mart officials have taken a rigid stance against workers’ rights to organize, which assures lower wages. Predictably, the poverty-level jobs do more harm than good for individual employees as well as the communities in which they live.

However, recently Wal-Mart hourly “associates” gathered at the corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to petition for improved working conditions.

The associates believe that Wal-Mart is stronger as a global company because of the collective values its workers embrace — a hard work ethic, compassion for one another and honesty. Together workers have launched the “OUR WalMart” Campaign, which calls on company executives to do the following: • Practice the words of founder Sam Walton in “ … listening to everyone in your company … “ • Allow workers to join OUR Wal-Mart partnership without workplace retaliation • Ensure confidentiality through an “open door” policy • Recognize that most hourly workers earn less than $10 per hour rather than the $13 per hour promoted by Wal-Mart • Recognize that most hourly worker are given less than 40 hours per week, rendering them ineligible for full-time benefits • Work closely with associates to partner for the good of the entire company I believe if Dr. King were alive today, he would reiterate the words prophetically proclaimed at Mason Temple in Memphis on the rainy night of April 3, 1968 (the night before he was assassinated). On that night, Dr. King essentially said, “ … God sent me here to say you are not treating His people right … ” He went on to say that, while companies such as Coca Cola and Sealtest Ice Cream have the right to make a profit, they also have a moral and Godly duty to treat their employees with respect. Dr. King would call for partnership over protest, dignity over dollars, and collectivism over confrontation.

Wal-Mart may well represent “America, Incorporated.” As such, the same American ideals espoused by Dr. King, Congress and the White House over the past 50 years should be basis for a corporate giant partnering with its common workers. In order for our nation to rise out of the recession, Wal-Mart, the White House and the workers must put partnership first.

Gary L. Flowers is Executive Director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum, Inc.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Three stories you won’t read this MLK weekend

BY GEORGE E. CURRY NNPA COLUMNIST In the hoopla surrounding Sunday’s dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. statue on the National Mall in Washington, Harry E. Johnson, Sr., the visionary and fundraising engine behind the project, will finally get his due. Placing Dr. King on the Mall was a project of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, but it was Johnson, a Houston attorney and former president of that fraternity, who made it all happen, raising more than $100 million.

In the excitement of placing a statue of the first African American on the Mall, there are three stories that readers should be aware of, though few journalists, if any, will tell.

The first story is surprising. Among the million dollar donors to the MLK memorial project, only two African Americans had joined that select club as of July, according to the list of donors compiled by the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial Project Foundation. The Web site list of all donors of a million dollars or more has been removed from the site. But records examined in July showed that Sheila Johnson-Newman, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), and Victor B. MacFarlane, a San Francisco real estate developer, were the only Blacks who had made personal or corporate contributions of $1 million or more.

Many Black stars hosted fundraisers or provided other support, but only MacFarlane and Johnson-Newman put up the superbucks. Missing in action were the big-name athletes and entertainers. I don’t have to list them – you know who they are.

It is also interesting to look at corporate donations. The General Motors Foundation, under the leadership of Rod Gillum, was in a class by itself, giving $10 million. It was followed by the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation with a $5 million contribution. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the National Basketball Association each donated $3 million. The Walt Disney Company donated $2.7 million. Contributing $2 million each were the Coca-Cola Foundation, the Ford Motor Fund, MetLife Foundation, Toyota Foundation and the Verizon Foundation.

The federal government provided approximately $10 million and Alpha Phi Alpha, the driving force behind the King memorial, donated $3.4 million.

An additional 39 companies or individuals gave at least $1 million, including Delta Airlines, General

George E. Curry

Electric, Star Wars creator George Lucas, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

The second story unlikely to be covered this week is the lack of donations from certain Fortune 100 companies. More than a dozen companies contributed less than $100,000 or nothing at all to the King memorial. They include Citigroup, Philip Morris, Home Depot, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, AOL Time Warner, Goldman Sachs Group, United Parcel Service (UPS), Allstate, Sprint and American Express, according to records available as of July.

Many of those companies actively court Black consumers.

Some even quote Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech from time to time.

Yet, when it is time to honor the dreamer, they are asleep at the switch.

The third story you won’t be reading about this weekend is in equal parts sad and familiar. It is yet another example of the King children’s greediness. Harry Johnson, head of the Mall project, should be given the Nobel Peace Prize for being able to deal with the family dysfunction.

According to documents examined by the Associated Press, the Mall foundation has paid Intellectual Properties Management, a company owned by the King children, approximately $800,000 for the use of Dr. King’s words and image.

Records show that the foundation paid the King entity $761,160 in 2007 to use Dr. King image and words in fundraising materials. It also charged the memorial a management fee of $71,000 in 2003.

The firm representing the Kings issued a statement saying the fees would go to the Martin Luther King Jr. King Center for Social Change in

Atlanta. It said the fees will help offset donations that would go toward erecting the memorial instead of the King Center, where both parents are buried.

The King family has had its own version of the television show “Family Feud” for years. Dexter, the younger brother, was named head of the King Center but was released within months by his mother, Coretta Scott King. In 2008, Martin III and Bernice sued Dexter, claiming he had misused MLK Center assets and failed to properly involve them in family business matters.

Dexter countersued, charging that his two siblings had misused King Center funds and kept money that should have gone to the Center. Under pressure from the judge, the Kings settled out of court. But they have never been able to shed the image of profiting from the name of their father.

David Garrow, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Dr. King, said the civil rights leader would have been “absolutely scandalized by the profiteering behavior of his children.” He told the AP, “I don’t think the Jefferson family, the Lincoln family … I don’t think any other group of family ancestors has been paid a licensing fee for a memorial in Washington. One would think any family would be so thrilled to have their forefather celebrated and memorialized in D.C. that it would never dawn on them to ask for a penny.”

George E. Curry, former editorin-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com.

You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

Black Facts August 26, 1960 Branford Marsalis, jazz saxophonist and icon, is born.

August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. gives his “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

August 29, 1957 Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights legislation since 1875. The bill establishes a civil rights commission and a civil rights division in the Justice Department. It also gives the Justice Department authority to seek injunctions against voting rights infractions.

August 28, 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial opens on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Source: blackfacts.com

Thursday, August 25, 2011 T.S. No.: AF11-112 Loan No.: 10-CB-10969 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 8/20/2010. UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier's check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, or savings association, or savings bank specified in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state will be held by the duly appointed trustee as shown below, of all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the hereinafter described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust described below. The sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest and late charges thereon, as provided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be greater on the day of sale.

Trustor: Berdichev, Inc., a California Corporation Duly Appointed Trustee: Cal Vista Home Loans, Inc., A California Corporation Recorded 11/9/2010 as Instrument No. 20101611792 in book , page of Official Records in the office of the Recorder of Los Angeles County, California, Date of Sale: 9/7/2011 at 10:30 AM Place of Sale: AT THE FRONT ENTRANCE TO THE NORTHRIDGE BRANCH OF THE LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY, 9051 DARBY AVENUE, NORTHRIDGE, CA 91325 Amount of unpaid balance and other charges: $169,617.18 Street Address or other common designation of real property: 10969 South Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90061 A.P.N.: 6074-013-020 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address or other common designation, if any, shown above. If no street address or other common designation is shown, directions to the location of the property may be obtained by sending a written request to the beneficiary within 10 days of the date of first publication of this Notice of Sale. Date: 8/10/2011 SECTION 1692(E): THIS COMMUNICATION IS WITH A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE American Foreclosure Services, as agent to the Trustee 9016 White Oak Avenue #AFS Northridge, CA 91325 (818) 781-9800 Kim Kaufman, Trustee Sales Officer Ad #14627 2011-08-18 2011-08-25 2011-09-01 T.S. No.: AF11-113 Loan No.: 10-CB10000 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 8/11/2010. UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier's check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, or savings association, or savings bank specified in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state will be held by the duly appointed trustee as shown below, of all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the hereinafter described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust described below. The sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest and late charges thereon, as provided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be greater on the day of sale.

Trustor: Berdichev, Inc., a California Corporation Duly Appointed Trustee: Cal Vista Home Loans, Inc., A California Corporation Recorded 10/1/2010 as Instrument No. 20101402760 in book , page of Official Records in the office of the Recorder of Los Angeles County, California, Date of Sale: 9/7/2011 at 10:30 AM Place of Sale: AT THE FRONT ENTRANCE TO THE NORTHRIDGE BRANCH OF THE LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY, 9051 DARBY AVENUE, NORTHRIDGE, CA 91325 Amount of unpaid balance and other charges: $203,498.08 Street Address or other common designation of real property: 11000 South Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90061 A.P.N.: 6074-018-019 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address or other common designation, if any, shown above. If no street address or other common designation is shown, directions to the location of the property may be obtained by sending a written request to the beneficiary within 10 days of the date of first publication of this Notice of Sale. Date: 8/10/2011 SECTION 1692(E): THIS COMMUNICATION IS WITH A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE American Trust Deed Services Corp. as agent to the Trustee 9016 White Oak Avenue #AFS Northridge, CA 91325 (818) 781-9800 Kim Kaufman, Trustee Sales Officer Ad #14655 2011-08-18 2011-08-25 2011-09-01 T.S. No.: 10-10546 Loan No.: 1067 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 10/23/2009. UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier's check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, or savings association, or savings bank specified in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state will be held by the duly appointed trustee as shown below, of all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the hereinafter described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust described below. The sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest and late charges thereon, as provided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be greater on the day of sale.

Trustor: VIRGIL EVERAGE, AS TRUSTEE OF JUDY B. MCGEE TRUST UTD SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 Duly Appointed Trustee: American Trust Deed Services Corp. Recorded 10/30/2009 as Instrument No. 20091641080 in book , page and rerecorded on --- as --- of Official Records in the office of the Recorder of Los Angeles County, California, Date of Sale: 9/14/2011 at 10:30 AM Place of Sale: AT THE FRONT ENTRANCE TO THE MID VALLEY LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY REGIONAL BRANCH, 16244 NORDHOFF STREET, NORTH HILLS, CA 91343 Amount of unpaid balance and other charges: $159,121.79 Street Address or other common designation of real property: 1531,1531 1/2, AND 1533 EAST 81ST STREET, 1604 E. 81ST ST., 1617 E. 81ST ST., AND 1617 EAST 81ST ST. #B (GARAGE), 1507 EAST 24TH ST. LOS ANGELES, California 90001 A.P.N.: 6028-007-016;6027-003-002;6027-002-016;5118-020014 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address or other common designation, if any, shown above. If no street address or other common designation is shown, directions to the location of the property may be obtained by sending a written request to the beneficiary within 10 days of the date of first publication of this Notice of Sale. Date: 8/17/2011 SECTION 1692(E): THIS COMMUNICATION IS WITH A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE American Trust Deed Services Corp. 9016 White Oak Avenue Northridge, California 91435 (818) 781-9800 Kim Kaufman, Trustee Sales Officer Ad #14803 2011-08-25 2011-09-01 2011-09-08

19

NOTICE INVITING BIDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Long Beach, California, acting by and through the City’s Board of Harbor Commissioners (“City”) will receive, before the Bid Deadline established below, sealed Bids for the following Work: TRENCH DRAIN GRATE IMPROVEMENT AT PIER T LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA AS DESCRIBED IN SPECIFICATION NO. HD-S2424 Bid Deadline:

Prior to 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 27, 2011.

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

Place for Submission of Bids: 1. By Delivery Any Calendar Day Before the Bid Deadline Harbor Department Administration Building 4th Floor, Plans and Specifications/Program Management Office 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 2. By Delivery on the Same Calendar Day as the Bid Deadline Harbor Department Administration Building Lobby 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 Bid Opening: As soon as practical after the Bid Deadline Harbor Department Administration Building 6th Floor Board Room 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 Contract Documents Available: Date/Time: Beginning Thursday, August 25, 2011 Monday –Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Location: Harbor Department Administration Building 4th Floor, Plans and Specifications 925 Harbor Plaza Long Beach, CA 90802 Pre-Bid Meeting: Date/Time: Wednesday, September 8, 2011, 10:00 a.m.

Location: 5th Floor Conference Room, Harbor Department Administration Building, 925 Harbor Plaza, Long Beach, CA. Job walk immediately following.

Project Contact Person: Erwin Liang-Project Engineer 562-590-4143 phone 562-901-1729 fax liang@polb.com NIB -1 Contract Documents. Copies of Contract Documents in CD format may be obtained, at no cost, at the Plans and Specifications Office, 4th floor, Harbor Department Administration Building, 925 Harbor Plaza, Long Beach, CA 90802 during the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday beginning Thursday, August 25, 2011. To arrange to receive a CD of the Contract Documents by courier at the expense of the Bidder, call (562) 590-4146.

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

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

NIB -2 Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting. The engineering staff of the City’s Harbor Department will conduct a pre-bid meeting at 10:00 a.m., on Wednesday, September 8, 2011, in the Conference Room, 5th floor, of the Harbor Department Administration Building. Note that attendance at the pre-bid meeting can be used to satisfy a portion of a Bidder’s good faith efforts to meet the SBE/VSBE participation goals listed below.

NOTE: EACH BIDDER MUST ATTEND THE MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING. FAILURE TO ATTEND THE MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING SHALL DISQUALIFY YOUR BID. NIB -3 Summary Description of the Work. The Work required by this Contract includes, but is not limited to, the following: 1. Remove and dispose of existing steel plate and other demolished materials.

2. Furnish and install steel angles, trench drain grates, bolts, and other miscellaneous materials.

3. Remove and reinstall steel trench drain grates.

4. Repair concrete spall.

FAILURE OF THE CONTRACTOR TO COMPLETE THE WORK WITHIN THE CONTRACT TIME AND OTHER MILESTONES WILL RESULT IN ASSESSMENT OF LIQUIDATED DAMAGES IN THE AMOUNTS ESTABLISHED IN THE SPECIAL CONDITIONS. NIB -5 Contractor’s License. Each Bidder shall hold a current and valid Class “A” California Contractor’s License to bid this Project.

NIB -6 Contractor Performed Work. The Contractor shall perform, with its own employees, Contract Work amounting to at least 50% of the Contract Price, except that any designated “Specialty Items” may be performed by subcontract and the amount of any such “Specialty Items” so performed may be deducted from the Contract Price before computing the amount required to be performed by the Contractor with its own employees. “Specialty Items” will be identified by the City in the Schedule of Bid Items.

NIB -7 SBE/VSBE. This Project is subject to the Port of Long Beach (POLB) Small Business Enterprises (SBE)/Very Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) Program. The combined SBE/VSBE participation goal for this project is twelve percent (12%), of which a minimum of zero percent (0 %) must be allocated to VSBE’s. POLB expects all Bidders to achieve the combined SBE/VSBE participation goal. Award of the Contract will be conditioned on the Bidder submitting an SBE-2C Commitment Plan demonstrating the bidder’s intent to meet the combined SBE/VSBE participation goal. If the Bidder’s Commitment Plan does not demonstrate intent to meet the combined goal, the Bidder shall demonstrate that it made an adequate good faith effort to do so, as specified in the Instructions to Bidders (ITB 18).The Port’s SBE Program staff is available to provide information on the program requirements, including SBE certification assistance. Please contact the SBE Office at (562) 499-3472 or sbeprogram@polb.com. You may also view the Port’s SBE Program requirements at www.polb.com/sbe.

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

NIB -9 Trade Names and Substitution of Equals. With the exception of any sole source determination that may be identified in this paragraph, Bidders wishing to obtain City’s authorization for substitution of equivalent material, product, or equipment, are required to submit a written request for an Or Equal Substitution using the form included in Appendix A together with data substantiating Bidder’s representation that the nonspecified item is of equal quality to the item specified, thirty five (35) calendar days after Bid Opening. Authorization of a substitution is solely within the discretion of the City.

NIB -10

NOT USED.

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

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

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

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

Issued at Long Beach, California, this 2nd day of May, 2011.

NIB -4 Contract Time and Liquidated Damages. The Work shall be completed within one hundred and eighty (180) calendar days as provided in Paragraph SC - 6.1 of the Special Conditions, from a date specified in a written “Notice to Proceed” issued by the City and subject to adjustment as provided in Section 3.1 of the General Conditions.

DRIVERS LOCAL Flatbed and Tanker Runs!

1yr CDL-A driving required Estenson Logistics. Apply: www.goelc.com 1-866-336-9642

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

Richard D. Steinke Executive Director of the Harbor Department, City of Long Beach, California

ASHFORD Continued from page 12 as their own entity, but despite “Solid As a Rock,” their songs were dwarfed by those they penned for others. They continued to craft hits even into the new millennium: They are credited as co-writers on Amy Winehouse’s “Tears Dry On Their Own.” In recent years, the pair continued to perform. They also were own-

ers of the New York City restaurant Sugar Bar, where many top names and emerging talents would put on showcases.

In 2002, Ashford & Simpson were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Ashford is survived by his wife and two daughters. Rosenberg said there is no information yet on funeral arrangements.

20

Thursday, August 25, 2011

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963, Washington, D.C.

On the anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech, history will once again be made on the National Mall. The Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial will be unveiled as the first and only tribute to a man of peace and to a person of color. This August 28 th, why just read about history when you can be a part of it? Come to Washington, D.C. and celebrate what will forever stand as a testament to his timeless ideals and legacy of peace.

Awaken his spirit in all of us Chevrolet is honored to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.