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VOLUME 17 NUMBER 23
WWW.OCGNEWS.COM
MARCH 1, 2012
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‘Family Feud’ spotlights Atlanta family, small town Montezuma By Valerie J. Morgan and Joshua Smith
T
he Ashmons sure know a thing or two when it comes to feuding. The Atlanta family beat out more than 500 families from across the state in a casting call for the upcoming “Family Feud” television game show. “I thought the casting call meant it would be my family and maybe 20 or 30 families there at the most. When we arrived at the Atlanta Civic Center and there were more than 500 other families, we knew it was serious competition trying to get on the show,” said Shay Ashmon-Franklin, who lives in Lithonia and works in Atlanta as an engineer. Ashmon-Franklin said when she heard about the taping at the Atlanta Civic Center last May, she e-mailed the show stating she wanted her family to compete. Within a month, she was invited. She said her family practiced for the game by playing DVD versions of Family Feud and downloading
the game show’s mobile cell phone application. They gave rapid-fire responses, demonstrating their teamwork and ability to win. “We gave the performance of a lifetime. A week after our audition, I received the phone call from the producers to appear on the show,” Ashmon-Franklin said. In the game show, two families compete with one another to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people. The family with the highest scores wins prizes and gets a shot at a $100,000 grand prize and new car. Family Feud, which has been revived off and on since it premiered on ABC in 1976, is now in its 13th season. Comedian Steve Harvey currently serves as host of Family Feud. Ashmon-Franklin leads the Ashmon family team, which includes her two brothers, Thaddeus and Shannon, and two cousins, Felicia Cephus-Williams and Leroy Cephus, Jr., in three episodes of the show See Montezuma, page 6
CTB President Jim Young ‘a good banker, a good family man’
James “Jim” Young
A
By Valerie J. Morgan
tlanta is mourning the loss of James “Jim” Young, president and CEO of Citizens Trust Bank, one of the largest minority-owned financial institutions in the nation. Young died of lung cancer on Feb. 27. He was 62. Rebecca Young, his wife of over 39 years, said her husband’s death was sudden. He died peacefully at home under hospice care. “This has been such a snowball for our family. He was diagnosed in December, checked into the hospital for treatment in January, and now he’s gone,” said Rebecca Young, who enjoyed traveling with her husband on accompanying him on golf outings. In addition to his wife, Young is survived by three sons, Mel Christopher; Damon; and Justin; and one daughter, Jennifer Young. Cynthia N. Day, the bank’s newly-appointed president and CEO, said Citizens Trust Bank See Citizens, page 6
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The Ashmon family team, L-R: Thaddeus Ashmon, Shay Ashmon-Franklin, Host Steve Harvey (center), Felicia Cephus-Wiliams, Shannon Ashmon and Leroy Cephus, Jr.
Battle ends: One valedictorian will march at Gainesville High’s graduation By Joshua Smith
C
ody Stephens, 17, didn’t set out to make history, but now he has—amidst a controversy that ignited a civil rights battle and drew supporters from Atlanta and around the state to Gainesville in Hall County, where he lives. After much heated debate, Stephens will become Gainesville High School’s first African-American valedictorian and apparently, he will have the spotlight all to himself when he graduates this spring. School officials wanted Stephens and a white student, Charlie Bryant, to be the covaledictorians of the class of 2012. Stephens has a 4.7538 GPA—one one-hundreth of a point higher than Bryant. That decision, however, outraged the state NAACP and Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, sparking protests in Gainesville. The organizations had threatened to call in the U.S. Justice Department and were preparing for a showdown at a school board meeting that was to be held on Feb. 28. The drama unfolded with a different spin on Feb. 27 after the School Board announced it was upholding the principal’s decision for the two students to share the title. Bryant’s family announced the same day, however, their son would withdraw from being recognized at graduation, ending the battle. “Because of Cody’s unique position of being our first African-American valedictorian, we propose that Gainesville High School utilize the upcoming graduation ceremony to celebrate his, and only his, academic record as valedictorian of perhaps one of the most talented classes that GHS has ever produced,” the Bryant family said in a statement released Feb. 27. “In support of this approach, we have made the decision to respectfully withdraw from the ceremonial recognition bestowed at
Photos by Glenn L. Morgan/OCG News
Cody Stephens and his mom, Valerie Stephens, were prepared to fight until graduation day for his right to march as Gainesville High School’s first African American valedictorian.
graduation. We believe that this decision is in the best interest of GHS and our community. More importantly, we feel the decision is in the best interest of two incredible young men, our son, Charlie, and his friend, Cody Stephens.” The school will have no salutatorian this year, according to Superintendent Merrianne Dryer, leaving Stephens to shine in the spotlight alone. State NAACP President Edward DuBose said the Gainesville City Schools took the cheap way out. “We are excited that Cody will be named the valedictorian, as he rightly deserves to be. However, we are totally disappointed in the school system because they ultimately took the cheap way out and let a family make the decision they should have,” DuBose said. “The Bryant family has done what was right. We are disappointed in the school system for attempting to cheat Cody out of the experience he deserves and we will be making our feelings known. We are not finished in Gainesville.” DuBose says NAACP representatives will hold a Town Hall meeting on
March 13 at a place to be determined. “The unified mass meeting will be held to speak out against the poor leadership within the Gainesville School Board and do what we can to ensure that no other student will have to go through something like this in the future,” said DuBose. Valerie Stephens, Cody’s mother, said she, too, is disappointed with the way school officials handled the matter. She had called for
the firing of Gainesville High School Principal Chris Mance, who led the way in the designation of dual valedictorians. “At the end of the day, Cody has the best GPA at 4.7538, and that’s all I needed to know,” Valerie Stephens said. The AP gifted student has a full scholarship to Emory University, where he plans to study creative writing. Cody Stephens is the eldest of three children.