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Reaction time
w w w. s o u t h p h i l l y r ev i e w. c o m
Coming together
Two police districts are merging next month to the surprise and disappointment of some residents.
JA N UA RY 2 8 , 2 0 1 0
By Lorraine Gennaro R e v i e w S ta f f W r i t e r
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few weeks ago, Judy Cerrone was watching the local news when Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey were on and Nutter announced two districts in the South Police Division would become one. To her shock, she learned the affected were her 4th and the 3rd — two districts housed in the same building at 11th and Wharton streets. Cerrone and others say they feel left out of the information loop, having only heard about the merger through the ruSee POLICE DISTRICTS page 11
Sports Ashley Johns takes Shacaria Goodwin order at Isabella Pizza, 1824 E. Passyunk Ave., Tuesday. Five percent of each sale through Jan. 31 will benefit the Red Cross for relief efforts in Haiti. Photo by Steve Langdon
A Haitian-born senior at Southern collects donations from his classmates, while local businesses raise funds to support relief efforts in the earthquake-ravaged country.
Four more years
Another member of the Neumann-Goretti girls’ basketball program is joining the college ranks at a Division III school. By Bill Gelman..............Page 38
By Amanda L. Snyder R e v i e w S ta f f W r i t e r
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alph Toussaint is the only Haitian at South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St., so when it came time to pick a senior project, which consists of volunteer work and a research paper, his English teacher, Barbara Keating, of Seventh and Cross streets, suggested he focus on his ethnicity. That was before the devastating, 7.0magnitude earthquake struck Haiti Jan.
12, killing more than 150,000. Prior to the earthquake, Toussaint was not sure how to complete the volunteer aspect of his project, but now he is collecting donations for the American Red Cross from his peers to serve his native country. “It’s generated a nice buzz,” Keating, an 11th-grade English teacher, said. “[The students] are understanding it better thanks to this.” Toussaint was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, where his mother Ghis-
laine Casseus and brother Ketler Casseus, 28, still reside. His father, Duval Toussaint, has lived in Philly for seven years and brought him and his sister, Nastatja Toussaint, 22, to West Philadelphia to live with him three years ago. “When I first heard about the earthquake, I was scared because I still have family in Haiti,” Ralph said. “I can’t protect them. I cannot call because there is no communication.” See HAITI page 8