Richmond Free Press © 2015 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 24 NO. 18
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
B2
ee Fr
Fr ee
VUU concludes 150th celebration with monument unveiling
APRIL 30-MAY 2, 2015
Eruption Baltimore wracked by outrage as protesters turn violent. City, nation look for answers about race, police brutality. Free Press staff, wire reports
BALTIMORE Just hours after Loretta Lynch’s historic swearing in as the new U.S. attorney general and the first AfricanAmerican woman to lead the Justice Department, mayhem erupted Monday in the streets of Baltimore following the funeral for Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old Mr. Gray died of severe injuries on April 19, a week after being arrested, handcuffed and tossed into a police van. His spine was nearly severed and his larynx was crushed while in police custody, authorities have reported. The city of 620,000 became the latest flashpoint in a national movement against law enforcement’s use of lethal force, which demonstrators say is disproportionately exercised against African-Americans and other minorities. The deaths of Mr. Gray and black men in New York City, Ferguson, Mo., Cleveland, Charleston, S.C., and elsewhere in the nation at the hands of police have reignited
a debate about race relations in the United States. While several days of large, peaceful protests had taken place in Baltimore following Mr. Gray’s death, Monday’s action turned violent. Scores of demonstrators — mostly teenagers and young adults — set fires, looted stores and threw rocks and bottles at police officers in parts of the city. Police said at least 15 officers were injured — some with broken bones— and more than 200 people were arrested, including about 34 juveniles. Television helicopters broadcast the eruption that spread through parts of West Baltimore near Mondawmin Mall. One band of about 50 youths stomped on the hood of a police cruiser and smashed in its windows. Another police cruiser was engulfed in flames. Another 140 cars owned by neighborhood residents also were burned or damaged. Masses of looters broke into a CVS drugstore, eventuPlease turn to A4
Tear gas clouds surround a woman demonstrating Tuesday night in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray, who died of severe injuries suffered while in police custody. Police fired the tear gas as part of efforts to prevent further violence. Rioting Monday night resulted in cars and buildings torched and businesses looted. Patrick Semansky/Associated Press
Spotty CARE van service leaves riders in limbo
State police find U.Va. student falsely charged
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
CHARLOTTESVILLE State ABC agents charged University of Virginia honor student Martese Johnson with public intoxication even though they knew he was not drunk, according to a state police report on the controversial and bloody arrest of the 20-yearold African-American that shocked the state. The finding that Mr. Johnson was falsely charged was disclosed Wednesday by Mr. Johnson’s attorney, Daniel Watkins of Williams Mullen law firm in Richmond. It also confirms what Mr. Watkins and the university Mr. Johnson reported just a few days after the U.Va. junior was injured by white Alcoholic Beverage Control agents during his March 18 arrest outside a pub in downtown Charlottesville. He was slammed to the brick sidewalk by the ABC agents and his head was gashed. Ten stitches were required to close his wound. Mr. Watkins has seen the thick investigative report that is now in the hands of Dave Chapman, the Charlottesville commonwealth’s attorney. Mr. Chapman is studying the report and has not yet to decided to release it.
Roderyck Bullock has somewhere to go almost every day, but he doesn’t always make it. His ride sometimes arrives late. Occasionally, it doesn’t show up at all. His ride is GRTC’s CARE service, the specialty door-to-door van transportation for the elderly and disabled. Mr. Bullock is recovering from the amputation of his left foot last year and has become, like hundreds of Richmond residents, dependent on CARE to get from place to place. Mr. Bullock said he would ride a GRTC bus, but the medication he takes and his physical condition put him at risk of falling if he tried to walk to the nearest bus stop three blocks from his Church Hill residence. He said his life frequently ends up on hold because the van Please turn to A4
Free Press staff, wire reports
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Roderyck Bullock waits patiently for one of GRTC’s CARE vans to take him home from the city’s Social Service Center on South Side. He only wishes, like many riders, that the service he relies on would be more reliable.
Schools chief calls for $ to change students’ futures By Joey Matthews
In his first “State of the Schools” address, Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden told an audience of about 300 people Tuesday night that education was “my ticket out of poverty.” “Part of my childhood was spent growing up in the low-income housing of Jordan Park in St. Petersburg, Florida,” he said in an address delivered at the Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center on the Virginia Union University campus. “For 11 of the first 14 years of my life, I slept on a couch in the living room of our onebedroom apartment. My K through 12 school experience included being part of the desegregation movement and being bused 25 miles to school from the southern part of one city to the northern part of another in Pinellas County. “Those challenges built character, and education became my ticket out of poverty,” he added. “So I stand before you today with first-hand experience and full of hope that we (RPS and the community) can overcome our challenges.” He called on Richmond City Council to fully back his administration’s school turnaround plan with adequate funding so students in Richmond’s disadvantaged communities also can escape poverty. Dr. Bedden has asked City Council to provide an additional $24 million in funding for fiscal year 2015-16 to RPS. Mayor Dwight C. Jones, who did not attend the speech, has proposed in his 2015-16 budget plan to maintain school funding at its current level of $262 million. City Council is in the final stages of crafting its budget. Council member Jonathan T. Baliles,
1st District, was the lone council member to attend the speech. Dr. Bedden sought to paint a picture of family circumstances of young people attending Richmond Public Schools. He said 40 percent of RPS students live in poverty and 77 percent qualify for free or Dr. Bedden reduced-price lunches. “Poverty is the result of poor education,” he said. “Prosperity is the result of quality education. But schools can’t do it alone. We need support from the entire Richmond community
— businesses, families, elected officials and non-profit organizations.” Backed by a video screen that read, “The Road to Glory,” Dr. Bedden spoke before an audience comprised mostly of parents, teachers and other schools staff. He has been at the RPS helm since January 2014. He said an increased number of RPS students passed Standards of Learning tests, with greater numbers of students earning Career and Technical Education seals and taking college level courses. But it will take more funding and community support to make greater gains, he said. Dr. Bedden concluded by saying, “The road to glory will lift our students out of poverty
Please turn to A4
Please turn to A4
City Council green lights projects for 2nd Street, North Side, East End By Jeremy M. Lazarus
New apartments finally could rise on the site of the former Eggleston Hotel at 2nd and Leigh streets in Jackson Ward. City Council gave a thumbs up Monday by voting 9-0 to allow the long-stalled project to receive a grant of $250,544 over seven years through the city’s Economic Development Authority. Developer Kelvin Hanson, who initially proposed Eggleston Plaza five years ago, said he hopes to have the $5.8 million project underway this summer. His plans call for building 31 apartments on the corner site, with retail or restaurant space
on the first floor. Plans also include reopening Croaker’s Spot restaurant across 2nd Street and to develop 10 townhouse-style apartments a block away at 12 E. Jackson St. The restaurant has been vacant for several years. The project has been approved for funding through the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The grant is being provided to fill the final hole in the financing, according to city officials, but is contingent upon the project creating 15 full-time jobs. The old Eggleston Hotel was one of the two hotels in Jackson Ward where African-American visitors could stay during the era of segregaPlease turn to A4
James Haskins/Richmond Free Press
Fitness fun Six-year-old Alayzin Smith energetically hoops it up during the 4th Annual Health and Wellness Fair at Blackwell Elementary School in the city’s South Side. The school, along with the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities and the Minority Health Consortium, hosted the spring event to promote community health.