August 25th, 2011 edition

Dr. Walker to succeed Dr. Givens

Harris-Stowe Board of Regents announces new university president

On Tuesday the Harris-Stowe State University Board of Regents announced that Dr. Albert Walker will succeed Dr. Henry Givens Jr. as president of the university. Dr. Walker is currently the president of Bluefield State College in Bluefield, Va. He will begin his new position at Harris-Stowe on October 1.

Dr. Givens announced his plans to retire from Harris-Stowe after 32 years in April. Dr. Walker’s accomplishments as president of Bluefield State include increasing the number of grant awards secured by the college; successful accreditation efforts; and a significant increase in Bluefield’s enrollment, to name a few. He is well versed

WALKER, A8

New report reveals return to old racial disparities in SLFD promotions

By Rebecca S.Rivas Of The St.Louis American

With the notorious history of racial tension among firefighters in St. Louis, recruitment and promotion have long been gray, obscure areas. A recent report attempts to make matters more black and white. The Firefighters Institute for Racial Equality (F.I.R.E.) released a report on the “hiring, retention and upward mobility of African Americans” in the St. Louis Fire

F.I.R.E.has released a report on the “hiring, retention and upward mobility of African Americans”in the St.Louis Fire Department.

Department earlier this month. Since 2007, African Americans have made up 22 percent of the fire-

On Tuesday the HarrisStowe State University Board of Regents announced that Dr.Albert Walker will succeed Dr. Henry Givens Jr.as president of the university.

James Green and Kevin

were promoted to captains in the St.Louis Fire Department earlier this month.

By Marc H.Morial For The NNPA

global interest in the life and legacy of one of the greatest champions of civil and human rights the world has ever 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.

MLK Memorial

The 9th Annual Prostate Cancer Survivors and Awareness Walk took place in a steady rain Saturday morning before the start of the Missouri Black Expo.

Photo by Wiley Price

See MLK, A8

Harry Johnson Sr.

Fondren

Photo by UPI/Bill Greenblatt

False alarm for

Will and Jada marriage fail

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are not splitting and they’ve already got their legal team involved,” a source close to the situation told RadarOnline.com.

“Like any other A-list couple they’re used to inaccurate reports sometimes, but when it comes to their marriage, they don’t appreci ate anyone demeaning it.”

According to the source, the power couple has discussed the report with their legal team and will privately decide how to proceed.

“They’re good sports and they’re laugh ing about it, but they have to talk about it with their legal council to protect themselves,” the source said.

The Smiths issued a statement denying the reports, after new rumors surfaced that the split was due to Jada having an affair with latin pop star Marc Anthony.

“Although we are reluctant to respond to these types of press re-

ports, the rumors circulating about our relationship are completely false,” the Smiths said in a joint statement. “We are still together and our marriage is intact.”

Jamie Foxx to revive ‘Showtime at the Apollo’

Jamie Foxx is fired up about bringing back “Showtime at the Apollo.”

When Foxx took the stage at the Apollo in the Hamptons benefit at Ronald Perelman’s East Hampton estate Saturday night, he announced that he’ll be bringing back the variety show that ended its 21-year run in 2008.

It included performances by professionals and amateurs who were sometimes booed off the stage, including Foxx as a young comedian. He said, “The Apollo did it long before ‘American Idol,’ except the audience were the judges.” Foxx will executive-produce the show for BET. Other performers at the bash, which raised more than $1 million for Harlem education programs, were Alicia Keys, Jon Bon Jovi and Apollo legends Ben E. King and

Bettye LaVette

Toya’s Husband hemmed up when feds find loaded gun

Hip-Hop producer Mickey “Memphitz” Wright was arrested today and Atlanta in Atlanta, after screeners discovered a gun in his backpack. TMZ.com reports that Wright, who is married to Toya Carter, and is featured in the BET reality show “Toya: A Family Affair,” claims he left the gun in his bag accidentally.

The producer has a valid license to carry the gun, but he was arrested, because it is illegal to carry a firearm on a plane. According to reports, Wright is still in custody.

Does Lil Wayne’s ‘How to Love’ have a hot beat?

Lil Wayne is being sued by a guy who claims the beat for “How to Love” belongs to him. A rapper named Rich Rick is suing the production group, Drummer Boyz, and Lil Wayne, claiming Drummer Boyz double sold his beat.

Rich Rick claims he bought the beat that ended up on Lil Wayne’s ‘How to Love’ plus several other masters from the Drummer Boyz

between 2006 and 2009 and says Drummer Boyz sold one of his beats to Weezy in 2010 without his knowledge.

Rich Rick is suing Drummer Boyz and Lil Wayne for breach of contract, fraud and demanding all proceeds from Drummer Boyz agreement with Lil Wayne plus 10%.

Shane Sparks sentenced for Child Molestation charges

The TV personality, best known as a choreographer and judge on Randy Jackson’s hit MTV show America’s Best Dance Crew, was taken into police custody on a felony warrant in 2009 following a criminal complaint filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. Sparks was accused of committing lewd acts upon a child under the age of 16 in multiple incidents between 1994 and 1997.

Last year he pleaded not guilty to six counts of lewd acts on a minor and two counts of oral copulation of a person under 16.

But late last week, the So You Think You Can Dance star pleaded no contest and was handed the jail term of 270 days, as well as five years’ formal probation and an order to complete 52 sex offender counseling sessions.

Sources: Radaronline.com, InTouchWeekly, Allhiphop.com, TMZ.com, NYpost.com

Memphitz

Jamie Foxx

Normandy tries to engage parents

School district launches Parent Engagement Program

By Joyce McRath and Stanton E. Lawrence For The St. Louis American

As we begin our fourth year headed very deliberately toward an era of elevated academic expectations for our students, we pause to conduct a relective look back upon some key junctures on this journey. If we were forced to gauge the bumpiness of the road over which we have traveled during this time, admittedly, it has not been very smooth. It has involved an enormous quantity of change – change in the way that we think about schools and schooling, changes in countless instructional practices, changes in countless processes and systems ...and, sadly enough, many changes in stafing.

Many of the changes, painful though they may have been, were quite obviously necessary.

From the mid-year budget reduction in 2008-09 followed closely by the HIV ruse to the reorganization of the district in 2009-10 and the subsequent absorption of the Wellston School District in 2010-11, the past three school years have been anything but uneventful. We were able to engage a community that has a high degree of interest in the educational preparation of their young people in a collaborative process for generating a ive-year strategic plan.

Beyond Housing’s singular work around building strong communities, engaged families and successful children that yielded The 24:1 Initiative Community Plan has more transformative potential than any other similar effort in the nation. And our school board has reinvented itself and become a driving force for posi-

tive community change. Only three current directors were members of the Board of Education some three years ago. During that period of time, three long-serving directors decided that it was time for someone else to step forward and claim the mantle of leadership. New leadership on the board has brought along with it a renewed energy of excited anticipation as well as hopefulness for continued progress.

Perhaps most importantly of all, the community expressed its overwhelming support for public education in a manner that would be dificult to surpass. Barack Obama Elementary School, a gleaming 65,000-square-foot ediice, awaits the arrival of its eager young students. The new campus, we believe, is relective of a transformed organizational culture throughout our school district.

Yet there remains on the horizon a human resource that we have failed to capture adequately. This group of people is indispensable to our cause of propelling our students progressively along the pathway to college, career and citizenship. Quite honestly, their continued lack of engagement on a broad scale will doom our best-intentioned efforts to fall far short of the mark. We must ind a way to pull our parents aboard as we continue forward.

We always want to recognize those parents who could not be more committed to our shared mission of educating

students. They never miss PTSA meetings or parent conferences; they are always supportive of any activities the schools organize. But these parents are part of too small a group of people who thoroughly understand the connection between school performance and success in later life.

Very compelling research underscores the signiicance of a strong home-school partnership and its relationship to student success. As our less involved parents begin to grasp how much of a difference they can make, hopefully we will observe a shift in their level of engagement.

Our Parent Engagement Program will help us to heighten the awareness of all parents regarding how they can be meaningfully involved in the education of their children. Our parent liaisons will provide additional support as we reach out to homes across the district in hopes of attracting an unprecedented level of parental support.

We will also be calling upon the leaders of our municipalities to assist us as we localize our efforts speciically to the communities in which our parents and other caregivers reside. Come join us as we push forward in the Normandy School District to create a caring school system in which everyone does his or her part to ensure the success of our students.

Joyce McRath is president of the Normandy School District Board of Education and Stanton E. Lawrence is the superintendent of schools.

St. Louis on the cusp of history

By Walle A. Amusa For The St. Louis American

Governor Jay Nixon is to be commended for agreeing to put the local control of the police department issue on the agenda of the Missouri Special Session in early September 2011. There is perhaps no other relic of the Confederacy as invidious, reprehensible and continuing as the act of stripping the City of St. Louis and Kansas City of control of their police departments.

What many people may not know is this: Missouri was a slavebreeding state where black men, women and children were bred like hogs speciically to be sold on the auction blocks. When the Civil War broke out 150 years ago, the Missouri Legislature was controlled by slave owners. Some of the earliest battles of the Civil War were fought in Missouri.

dignity, constitutional protections and privileges that other cities, villages and towns in Missouri enjoyed.

As the war raged, the slave owner-controlled Missouri Legislature led from Jefferson City to Boonville, Missouri to support the Confederacy. One of their last legislative acts was to transfer control of the St. Louis and Kansas City police departments to then-Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, a staunch supporter of the Confederacy.

St. Louis city and Kansas City residents fought, shed their blood and gave their lives in the Civil War to save the Union. The Civil War has been over for 146 years. The Confederacy lost. The Union is safe, yet this punitive act of disenfranchisement taken against these two great cities remains with us till today.

In this regard, since June 1861, the City of St. Louis and Kansas City have been consigned to second-class status, denied the same rights, respect,

For more than 100 years, many of Missouri’s political leaders and community activists have fought to correct this injustice. It has been an uphill battle. For just as long, some leaders and organizations vacillated, hedged, dodged, and found one excuse or another to hold onto this shameless, strikingly paternalistic, unconscionable and totally indefensible legacy. Today, we are very close, but we are not quite there yet. We thank Governor Nixon for understanding the “ierce urgency of now,” heeding the call from broad sections of our communities – political, religious, civic, labor and media – and agreeing to put this issue on the Special Session agenda of the Missouri Legislature in September 2011. We must also thank all the national, state and local elected oficials from all parties and countless community organizations and residents who believe that in this day and age, in this 21st Century of ours, enough is indeed enough! The disparate treatment and disenfranchisement of some Missouri taxpayers and voters must be ended decisively and out into the dustbin of human history. My hope is that all Missouri elected oficials, especially the St. Louis region’s legislators, will unite, put aside all personal considerations and internal squabbles, stand up and ight together as one to create the majorities needed to put this abomination behind us once and for all.

Amusa is CEO of ADE Consulting Services, Inc. Email him at wa2005@att.net.

Joyce McRath

Stanton E. Lawrence

Walle Amusa

EDITORIAL /COMMENTARY

The MLK Memorial and Black St. Louis

Black St. Louis should take special pride in the historic opening of the MLK Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though it should be a beacon of pride for all Black Americans – and, indeed, all Americans and all world citizens who believe in freedom, liberty and opportunity for all – we have special reasons to feel proud.

The memorial, more properly named the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, was the result of a large, complex group effort. But it originally was the brainchild of the African-American fraternity that claimed Dr. King as a member, Alpha Phi Alpha, and within that organization it was a black man from St. Louis, Harry E. Johnson Sr., who led the effort, with support every way from another Alpha from St. Louis, Ty Christian. The love and dedication Harry and Ty have shown for their fraternity, their people and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. should be an inspiring example to us all. Harry and Ty have shown that a noble dream, led by vision and backed with hard work, can build a mountain. It can build the mountain of a monument on the National Mall – the irst such monument in our nation to an African American, to a peace activist and to anyone who did not lead the United States as president and commander in chief. St. Louis has a history of looking down upon itself, and Black America has been doing some soul-searching about the future of its young men. Harry and Ty have shown the world that black men from St. Louis can change this country and world for the better by helping to create a monument to peace, equal opportunity and African-American accomplishment.

At the same time, we ask everyone to consider our lead Business story this week, “Money and the MLK Memorial,” written – as it happens – by another African-American man who spent his early years as a journalist in St. Louis, George Curry (he worked for The St. Louis American briely earlier in his career). Like a good journalist (and George is a great one), he asks hard questions about the MLK Memorial. Speciically, he asks who was willing to contribute to its construction in amounts commensurate to their wealth, and he questions whether Dr. King’s legacy was respected properly by everyone needed to make this dream a reality.

What Curry’s report reveals, according to the last data made public by the memorial foundation, was few large inancial contributions toward the monument from Black America when we now have a sizable class of the super-rich who could have afforded to donate $1 million. Sheila Johnson-Newman, co-founder of BET, and Victor B. MacFarlane, a San Francisco developer, were the only blacks who made contributions of $1

million or more. When we consider that the foundation raised more than $100 million, we have to admit this could and arguably should have been done with 100 phone calls to the very wealthiest African Americans. Most of their fortunes would have been impossible without the sweat, blood and ultimately death of Dr. King and others who confronted segregation and injustice.

This is a reminder that Dr. King’s dream was widely and deeply shared. It is not only the people who beneitted directly from his courageous struggles – African Americans – who remember his struggle and his contributions to the nation’s well being and are willing to support its memory. In St. Louis and around the nation, we honor Dr. King’s life and work best when we demonstrate through our actions that we are willing to marhsal the audacity and passion that were essential to making the changes he championed so well. As Dr. King wrote, “It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people ... but for the appalling silence and indifference of good people who sit around and say wait on time.”

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Courts must not dilute minority vote

As required by both the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Missouri Constitution, every 10 years after the census, Missouri’s legislative districts are redistricted to maintain populations that are as nearly equal as practical. As required by the U.S. Voting Rights Act, no plan for reapportionment may dilute the black vote and deny black voters the opportunity to elect a representative of their choice. In order to have an opportunity for black voters to elect a representative of their choice, districts should be drawn, where possible, at least 50 percent black; provided however, that based on lower black voter turnout, lower black registration rates and a younger aged black population, vis-à-vis white voters, courts have found generally that a district must be 65 percent black in order to give black voters the opportunity to elect a representative of their choice. Thus, in drafting districts, drafters should strive to draw the maximum number of 65 percent majority black districts possible. After the 2000 census, the Missouri state Senate was redistricted in such a manner as to retain the majority-white 1st District and majority-black 4th and 5th districts, respectively, within the city of St. Louis. However, due to the overall level of black population in the city of St. Louis, the 4th and 5th districts were only 54 percent black, respectively. The reapportionment plan also retained 60 percent majority-black populations in the 14th District of St. Louis County and the 9th District in Kansas City. Moreover, a sec-

ond district in St. Louis County, the 13th District, had a 48 percent black majority, which was expected to become 60 percent majority-black over the next 10 years. That has turned out to be true in that the 2010 census shows the 13th District to now be 61 percent black, and the 14th District is now 59 percent black. The 9th District in Kansas City is currently 66 percent black.

In the city of St. Louis, the 4th District is now 53 percent majority-white and the 5th District is 52 percent black. The state of Missouri had an overall increase in population, but St. Louis city had a substantial loss of black population that will result in the loss of a majorityblack state Senate district within the city of St. Louis. However, the black population moved from St Louis city to St. Louis County and, as a result, the majority-black state Senate district moved from St. Louis city to St. Louis County. Thus, overall, for the state of Missouri, there has been no loss in majority-black state Senate districts.

The St Louis Branch of the NAACP has formed a committee to advocate the voting rights of black voters in the St. Louis area in the reapportionment process and has presented a reapportionment plan to the Missouri Senate Reapportionment Commission that preserves the three majority-black state Senate districts in the St. Louis city-county area. Under the NAACP plan, the 13th District will be 59 percent black and the 14th will be 57 percent black. In the city of St. Louis, the 5th District will be 66 percent black.

It has been reported that some commissioners propose to change the 61 percent black 13th District to a 51 percent majority-white district in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. Fortunately, the sole black

commissioner on the Missouri Senate Reapportionment Commission, former State Rep. Terry Riley (D-KC), has staunchly opposed any plan to dilute the black vote in the 13th state Senate district. Thus, the maps are now headed to the courts.

The role of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is a key provision that applies nationwide. This section protects minorities from practices and procedures that deprive minorities of an effective vote. Practices that have the effect of depriving minority voters of an equal opportunity to elect a candidate of choice include minority vote dilution. During every redistricting cycle, minority advocates must ensure that oficials draw plans that do not dilute minority voting strength.

Any dilution of minority voting strength is governed by the principles set forth in the case of Thornburg v. Gingles; this Supreme Court case set forth three factors to establish a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act:

That the minority group is suficiently large and geographically concentrated to make up a majority in a single-member district;

That the minority group is politically cohesive-that is, it usually votes for the same candidates; and

That, in the absence of special circumstances, the white majority votes together to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate.

The NAACP would urge the courts to comply with the U.S. Voting Rights Act and to assure that black voters have the opportunity to elect a representative of their choice in the 13th District as well as in the 5th, 9th and 14th districts.

Pruitt is president of the St. Louis NAACP

COMMENTARY

Rick Perry: extreme Republican

In theory, Democrats should be nervous about Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s decision to enter the presidential race. In practice, though, it’s Republicans who have zoomed up the anxiety ladder into freak-out mode.

Not all Republicans are reaching for the Xanax, just those who believe the party has to appeal to centrist independents if it hopes to defeat President Obama next year. Also, those who believe that calling Social Security “an illegal Ponzi scheme” and suggesting that Medicare is unconstitutional might not be the best way to win the votes of senior citizens.

These and other wild-eyed views are set out in Perry’s book Fed Up! His campaign has already begun trying to distance the governor from his words, with communications director Ray Sullivan saying last week that the book “is a look back, not a path forward” – intended “as a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto.”

One problem with this attempted explanation is that the book was published way back in ... the fall of 2010. It’s reasonable to assume that if Perry held a bunch of radical, loony views less than a year ago, he holds them today.

Another problem is that as

recently as Aug. 14, according to The Wall Street Journal, Perry responded to an Iowa voter who asked how he would ix entitlement programs by saying, “Have you read my book, Fed Up!? Get a copy and read it.”

Perry had barely been in the race for 48 hours when he announced it would be “treasonous” for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to increase the money supply before the 2012 election. If Bernanke did so, Perry said, “we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.”

Perry made no attempt to disavow his remarks about Bernanke. Whatever his campaign staff might wish, the candidate apparently does not warm to the task of disavowal.

Soon Perry moved on to the science of climate change, which Fed Up! dismisses as a “contrived phony mess.” Perry told an audience in New Hampshire that “a substantial number of scientists” have acted in bad faith, manipulating data “so that they will have dollars rolling in to their projects.” Perry added that “we’re seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.”

There is overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that human activity – especially the burning of fossil fuels – is contributing to climate change. Multiple investigations have found no evidence of fraud or manipulation of data. Perry’s swaggering stance against climate science is all hat and no

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Needed: charter school reform

While I am somewhat disappointed by the MAP results for charter schools, I am also not surprised. If we did our jobs in the Missouri Legislature this past session and passed real charter school reform (HB 473), we could be on a path for closing the lowest-performing charter schools by the end of the next school year. Every year that a child sits in an underperforming public school is another year that child doesn’t reach his or her full potential.

However, MAP scores are only a snapshot in time of a student’s achievement. Many charter schools are exhibiting growth from year to year as students either catch up to or surpass their grade levels in math and communication arts.

In order to move forward, we have to be serious about closing underperforming district and public schools, giving quality teachers the tools they need to teach effectively while objectively measuring their results, giving parents quality options for choosing a learning environment that’s best for their children, and making sure we all are putting children irst in whatever policy or administrative decisions we make.

State Rep. Tishaura O. Jones, St. Louis

Open letter to the BBC

The National Association of Black Journalists, the oldest and largest organization of black journalists, is disappointed to learn that the BBC, an organization long known for accuracy and impartiality, is failing to adhere to its own values.

In the height of recent riots in Britain, the BBC simplistically asked on the global phone-in program World Have Your Say “Is there a problem with young black men?”

In asking such a question, the BBC offended many in its global audience. The question infers that young black men were the only ones rioting and looting, which we ind to be inlammatory. If that’s the case, we call on the BBC to provide the proof. We are struggling to understand this stunning lack

cattle. “The minute that the Republican Party becomes the antiscience party, we have a huge problem,” candidate Jon Huntsman said Sunday on ABC’s This Week – a declaration that makes me wonder how familiar Huntsman is with the political organization he seeks to lead. Also in his irst week of campaigning, Perry suggested that the military doesn’t respect Obama as commander in chief – and, when asked whether he believes Obama loves America, told a reporter that “you need to ask him.” This is music to the ears of the hate-Obama crowd on the far right. But mainstream voters, whether they support Obama’s policies or not, generally like the president, do not question his patriotism and want him to succeed.

“I think when you ind yourself at an extreme end of the Republican Party,” Huntsman said of Perry, “you make yourself unelectable.” He’s correct. But maybe we shouldn’t take his word for it – he’s Perry’s opponent. Maybe we also shouldn’t take the word of Karl Rove, who called Perry’s remarks “unpresidential,” since Texas apparently isn’t big enough for both the George W. Bush camp and the Rick Perry camp to coexist without feuding.

Sufice it to note that two weeks ago, GOP luminaries were scrambling to ind new candidates. And now, after Perry’s debut? Still scrambling. Eugene Robinson’s email address is eugenerobinson@ washpost.com.

of sensitivity because the BBC has a longstanding reputation of integrity, accuracy and impartiality with very clear editorial guidelines.

In another incident, the BBC allowed historian David Starkey, a guest on the Newsnight television program, to say that “whites have become blacks” in reference to the race of rioters. Even more disturbing, the Newsnight presenter did not challenge that bizarre assertion – on a program that regularly holds people accountable for their views. By allowing the comment to go unchallenged, was the BBC agreeing with the inference that becoming black is monolithically synonymous with being violent?

All of this in a week when a BBC presenter inaccurately said that veteran civil rights campaigner and broadcaster Darcus Howe had been involved in previous riots when in fact he was not and had to correct the presenter on-air.

Is this just a case of shocking incompetence or racism? This raises the question of whether the BBC’s senior editorial ranks need better racial and philosophical diversity to avoid being blind to such insensitive incidents.

Gregory H.

Lee Jr., president National Association of Black Journalists

Canaries in coal mines

As I look at the 10 o’clock news dealing with the violence among young African-American men, I am reminded of Lani Guinier’s book The Miner’s Canary. She indicates how miners utilized canaries as an alarm to inform them when there was poisonous gases in the mines. When the canary picked up the poisonous gases, it died, alerting the miners so they could escape.

We need to understand that our young men are the canaries and the communities they live in are the mines. Based on the number of young men that are being murdered, it is clear that the communities they are in are poisonous. When we allow black male babies to be born in communities where there is gang violence, single-parent homes, drug use and sales, high unemployment rates, poor

public schools, no positive black male images and no recreational activities, it should be no surprised that many of them are dying at a young age.

Jerome Redding Black Jack

Guest Columnist

Adolphus Pruitt

Columnist Eugene Robinson

Annie Malone discontinues

Long Term Residential Care

After 123 years of service, Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center will no longer offer Long Term Residential Care to children, effective October 1. However, Annie Malone will continue to provide Crisis Nursery/Teen Respite, Emergency Placement, Transitional Living Program and Therapeutic Educational Services.

“With the difficult economic times, parenting has become even more challenging. As a result, child abuse, neglect and homelessness, among children and youth, have increased and the need for Respite services has become even greater in our community,” said Angela L. Starks, chief executive officer of Annie Malone.

“We believe by discontinuing the Long Term Residential Care and focusing on Emergency Placement and Short Term Crisis Intervention, we will have a greater impact on reducing incidents of child maltreatment in the St. Louis metropolitan area.”

With the expansion of the Crisis and Respite Program, the service capacity will increase to a total of 24 beds for children and youth.

State awards region

$1.3M in stimulus crime-fighting grants

The Missouri Department of PublicSafety awarded law enforcement agencies in the St. Louis area more than $1.3 million in grants designed to combat illegal drugs and drugrelated crimes, and to strengthen law enforcement efforts. The grants will help ensure the continued strength of Missouri’s multi-jurisdictional drug task forces during tight budget times.

The Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force in St. Louis County will receive $274,866; the Metro Multi-Jurisdictional Undercover Drug Program of the St. Louis Metro Police Department will receive $235,450; the St. Charles County Regional Drug Task Force will receive $234,719; the North County M.E.G. Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force in Bridgeton will receive $51,02; ; the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Investigation Project of the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office will receive $33,168; the Automating Evidence Management to Maintain Evidentiary Integrity Program of the Creve Coeur Police Department will receive $15,378.

Atotal of $7,135,243 in federal Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants that is being awarded will utilize $1,340,236 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Middle schoolers visit mountains

Hazelwood middle school students demonstrate what they learned about paddling a canoe near the Grand Tetons in Wyoming this summer. Students from all six district middle schools visited the Teton Science Schools, where they hiked, camped, learned about ecology and more. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Steve Sandbothe and Carrie Launius, the district’s learning facilitator who also coordinates science,led the drive to raise awareness and interest in the trip. To read student blog entries about the trip, visit http://hsdtetontrip.edublogs.org.

To view more photos from the trip, visit http://photobucket.com/Teton2011. Plans are already underway for another visit next summer. Students and parents will have opportunities during the school year, such as at Back to School Nights or Meet the Teacher activities, to get information about the 2012 trip.

Free classes to help smokers quit

SSM DePaul Health Center Foundation has been awarded $42,529 from the Saint Louis County Department of Health through the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Community Partner grant is part of St. Louis County’s tobaccofree initiative called Let’s Face It.

These funds will allow SSM Health Care – St. Louis to offer free, quarterly, six-week smoking cessation classes at SSM DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton and SSM St. Mary’s Health Center in Richmond Heights. The Freedom from Smoking program is being offered to patients, employees and the community. The course will assist participants in determining their readiness to quit smoking and provide the tools necessary to increase their success rate in becoming smoke free. Space is limited for these on-going classes.

For more information or to register, contact Director of Outpatient Behavioral Health Services Paul Geerling at 314-344-7153.

Dr. King and ourchildren

By Marian Wright Edelman NNPA Columnist

As our nation pauses to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the dedication of a new memorial on the anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington, most will focus on only part of the story.

When many Americans think of the historic March, they think of Dr. King standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial delivering his inspiring “I Have a Dream” words he spontaneously added at the very end of his speech.But too few people remember that the March on Washington wasn’t focused just on racial equality but was actually named the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was a demand for economic opportunity and economic justice for all.

Dr. King said we had come to the nation’s capital that August day to cash a check America had written nearly 200 years earlier. He reminded us that when our nation’s founders wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, they had created a promissory note that guaranteed all Americans the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But instead of honoring that promise for black Americans, America had defaulted on it and given us a bad check that had come back marked “insufficient funds.”

Dr. King said those of us who had come to the 1963 March on Washington – over 200,000 strong – were there to cash our checks because we refused to believe “the bank of justice is bankrupt” or that “there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”

It is a message with special resonance this year and month as our nation’s leaders are locked in bitter debates about our nation’s insufficient funds, whether or not to default on our country’s debts, whether rich and powerful individuals and corporations whose bank accounts are overflowing from the tax breaks and subsidies which drove up huge debts will be asked to contribute their fair share, and whether millions of hungry, homeless, poor and poorly educated American children and families will be asked to sacrifice more and continue to receive bounced checks from the bank of economic opportunity and justice.

Our children need to see their parents going to work and holding a job. Our children need the economic and emotional security employed parents provide. Our children need to know that if they work hard and get a good education there will be a good job in their future.

When Dr. King died calling for a Poor People’s Campaign, there were 11 million poor children in America.Today, with 15.5 million poor children, millions living in extreme poverty, I’ve no doubt he’d be calling for a new Poor People’s Campaign with a sense of urgency. He’s not coming back. It’s up to us to pick up the mantle of justice.

Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund.

Marian Wright Edelman

AWARDEES

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cation field for 19 years and has worked in the Clayton School District for 10 years.

Blair is currently the Counseling Services Director for Clayton High School.

She works with students through the college admission process – from finding the college that is the best fit, to testing and essay writing. She also visits higher-education institutions and works closely with colleges and universities to make sure that the students at Clayton High School have access to the best information while making that important decision.

Between traveling to college campuses and sitting on advisory boards for several schools and the ACT, she said the many commitments of her position pose “a challenge.” But the rewards of her job, in helping students and their families, are many.

“The greatest reward is knowing that you can actually affect the course of someone’s life in a positive way,” Blair said. “Sometimes they know that you’ve done that and sometimes they don’t, but either way it’s equally as rewarding.”

Nikki Doughty: a force for education

Nikki Doughty, MA, is the Director of Admissions, Alumni Relations and Placement at City Academy. City Academy is an independent school in North St. Louis founded on the belief that family income should not determine a child’s access to an exceptional education.

City Academy serves students from early childhood through grade six. Doughty is heavily involved in making sure these students find the best school that fits their needs when they graduate.

Doughty, from an early age, was active in the St. Louis community. She began volun-

teering at the YMCAat age 14 and assisted with the United Way’s Partner with Youth Campaign to raise scholarship funds.

After a stint working for the Democratic Party in Georgia, she returned to St. Louis for a family commitment – and has stayed to help improve the region through her civic involvement and educational efforts.

She said, “In St. Louis, many families don’t have access to innovative, affordable educational programming.” She believes City Academy is part of the solution: “We want to be a force and work to really provide quality education to students in the area.”

Latasha M.McClelland: blending old with new

Latasha M. McClelland, M.Ed., is a 3rd grade teacher at Lexington Elementary School. She is a native of St. Louis and a product of the Normandy School District and Harris-Stowe State College (now university).

While continues to pursue advanced degrees and certification, including a Masters of Educational Administration at University of Missouri–St. Louis, she also serves Lexington as lead teacher and building administrator.

She is an active member of First Baptist Church of Chesterfield, where she sings in the Inspirational Choir and works to promote the church’s global outreach ministries.

“Education gives me an opportunity to give back to my community and to help my students, my school and my community,” she said. “No one is ever too old or too young to learn.”

She appreciates the support of her principal, Barbara Anderson: “She allows me to take some old-school styles, if I can say that, and blend in some new styles.”

For example, McClelland employs the old-school strategy of having students write information on the board and

commit it to rote memory.

“But once we’ve we learned our multiplications, now let’s put it in a rap,” she said. “That would be the old blended with the new.”

Michelle McClure: in love with education

Michelle L. McClure, PhD, serves as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Harris-Stowe State University. She provides leadership over Center for Retention and Student Success, University Library, student academic grievances and university schedules and bulletins. She also is a member of the campus expansion committee and supervised a universitywide renovation project to upgrade technology and classrooms. She started her journey in higher education as a political science major at Truman State University with the intention to become a lawyer. But education made her want to be an educator.

“I received such great education and met such fantastic people along the way, particularly at college – people who cared so much about me and

didn’t even know me,” she said.

“The fact that they cared so much about me and my success, I couldn’t believe you could get paid for something like that! So I decided to pursue a career in higher education.”

After earning her Master’s of Arts in education from Truman State, McClure became an education professor at Marquette University then moved to Harris-Stowe.

“I’m a first-generation college student,” she said.

“Regardless that they didn’t have an opportunity, my parents were determined to push us to college. Fortunately, I went to college and fell in love with education and made it a career.”

Art J.McCoy: eliminating disparities

Art J. McCoy II, PhD, is just a few months into his new job as school superintendent at Ferguson-Florissant School District, where he most recently served as assistant superintendent. The district is the learning hub for approximately 12,000 students in North County.

Previously, McCoy served as executive director of student services in Rockwood School District, director of the gifted program in Pattonville Schools, and a middle school administrator and principal in St. Charles School District. He started off as the state’s youngest certified teacher at age 19.

McCoy is an adjunct university professor, book author and founder of the SAGES Organization, which focuses on eliminating educational achievement gaps.

He is a member of numerous boards and organizations, including the National Superintendent’s Roundtable, Urban Superintendents of America Association and University of Missouri St. Louis Education Leadership Council.

McCoy said, “I’ve been blessed to be able to combine hard work with opportunity and a passion to not be afraid to take risks, to stand up for what’s right and what’s most affecting communities that are impoverished or underserved.”

Marsha Merry: literature as bridge

Marsha Yvonne Merry, NBCT, has been in the education field for 33 years. She began as an English teacher, teaching high school English for 20 years. For the past 14 years, Merry has been the Library Media Specialist at McKinley Classical Leadership Academy in the St. Louis Public Schools.

Merry is a product of SLPS. It was at Cupples School that she developed a love for learning, and she particularly enjoyed literature.

“It parallels with so many other things,” Merry said. “It helps connect a bridge to other subjects.”

Merry has been the recipient of many honors and awards including being a National Board Certified teacher, one the highest achievements in the field.

Having had such a long, successful career, Merry has seen her students grow into adults and continue on to gain success.

Merry said, “The biggest reward is to see your former students as adults, parents and productive citizens in the community – being able to have that impact in the family.”

Natissia Small:serving students effectively

Natissia Small, M.Ed., is the assistant dean for students at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She oversees the Office of PreCollegiate Programs, Bridge Program and the Office of Multicultural Relations.

Under Small’s leadership, the UMSLBridge Program has experienced tremendous growth, expanding its outreach from serving a couple of hundred pre-collegiate students to reaching more than 2,000 families each year. She is a frequent speaker on topics of parental involvement and access to college.

In her second area of responsibility, Small empha-

sizes faculty and staff involvement as mentors, tutors and supporters of multicultural programming activities for UMSL’s diverse student population.

“There is a huge need, when it comes to departments like this being able to serve students effectively,” Small said. Small serves the University of Missouri System on its P-20 Task Force and several committees.

Small has two master degrees from UMSL: in secondary school education with an emphasis in adult education and in counseling.

Small earned a “30 Leaders in their 30s Award” in 2010 and recognition as a 2011 UMSLWomen’s Trailblazer.

Darnell P.Young:teaching by any means necessary

Darnell P. Young, B.S., M.A., is a 7th grade earth science teacher at Crestview Middle School in the Rockwood School District, where he has taught for 27 years. Young also is a freshman boy’s basketball coach and a chess club leader for students in two districts, Jennings and Rockwood, on opposite ends of the county.

“Chess teaches our kids to think critically and apply science process skills, such as making observations, forming a hypothesis, drawing conclusions, analyzing situations and being responsible for your own decisions,” Young said. Young has been nominated twice for Teacher of the Year at Crestview.

He is a Northwest High School graduate who attended Harris-Stowe State College (now university) on a Board of Regents Scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Science in education and then a Master of Arts in teaching at Webster University.

His philosophy on learning is that “education is a continuous process.” Added to that mantra is a quote attributed to Malcolm X: “By any means necessary.” Young said, “That means I will take a kid – wherever he’s at – and by any means necessary, I will get that kid to succeed.”

The St. Louis American Foundation’s 2011 Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala will be held Friday, September 16, at the America’s Center, with the reception starting at 6 p.m. and program at 7 p.m. For information and tickets, please call 314-533-8000 or visit www.stlamerican.com.

Carolyn Blair

Nikki Doughty

Latasha M. McClelland

Michelle McClure

Art McCoy

Marsha Merry Natissia Small

Darnell P. Young

Generations have passed, a century has turned and still his dream leads us forward.

At Toyota, we celebrate differences and the people who make them. On August 28, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial opens in Washington, D.C. May all who visit be inspired to carry on the legacy of Dr. King. The dream continues. Toyota is a proud supporter of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.

MLKmemorial.org

Maquette of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial’s Stone of Hope. Image credit: Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project

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fighters hired and about 25 percent of those promoted, according to the report. The institute argues that these percentages do not keep up with the city’s 50 percent AfricanAmerican population or 39 percent black firefighters currently employed at the department. At this rate, the department’s diversity numbers will sharply decline in the near future.

“We found those numbers unacceptable,” said Fire Captain Abram Pruitt, president of F.I.R.E. “Now we have the hard facts to say this is what’s happening.”

Black firefighters’grievances against promotions in the department, and the tests administered to produce promotions lists, are anything but new in St. Louis or other metropolitan fire departments around the country.

In 1974, F.I.R.E. and the U.S. Department of Justice took St. Louis’fire captain’s test to court. As a result, the city personnel department conducted and published a study, “All Business; fire service testing in a litigious environment: a case history.” The All Business report studied the department’s testing from 1974 to 1994.

In 1974, about 11 percent of

MLK

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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.

the department’s 1,000 uniformed personnel were black and only two percent of supervisors were black.

Over the next 20 years, the number of black fire fighters rose to as high as 40 percent, largely because of a consent decree that mandated hiring on a 50/50 basis.

As a result of a 1980 lawsuit, the court ordered the city to work with a committee to develop a test that was acceptable to F.I.R.E., Firefighters Local 73 (the firefighters’ association, dominated by white firefighters), the Department of Justice and the city.

However, in 2003, the courts stopped supervising the personnel department’s testing process, the report states, and the tests went back to a format that favors white candidates.

The current test is largely multiple-choice, Pruitt said, on which white candidates perform much better.

The All Business report showed that the previous threepart exam tested for a wider knowledge base and produced a more diverse group of candidates. This test had multiplechoice, fire-scene and assessment-center components. The fire-scene portion asked firefighters to assess a situation and apply their knowledge to the scene. Blacks performed better than whites on this portion of the exam, Pruitt said.

Former Fire Chief Sherman George – the city’s first and

Since 2002, the massive fund-raising 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, DC 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

only black fire chief – encouraged this format when asked by the city’s personnel director. However, the personnel director chose a testing firm that George and F.I.R.E. had warned against, EB Jacobs. Its test resulted in a promotions list that overwhelming favored white firefighters. George refused to promote from the list, saying he didn’t trust that the test had adequately tested for job performance.

George ultimately was demoted in September 2007 and resigned the next month.

The F.I.R.E. report tracks promotions in the department since 2007.

The city’s current director of personnel is Richard Frank.

The F.I.R.E. report offers various recommendations to the city’s Department of Personnel, including changes to the department’s testing format, discipline and recruitment process. F.I.R.E. also calls on Mayor Francis G. Slay to pass an executive order outlining the recommendations in the report.

Frank said he was unaware of the report and is “not available to respond at this time.”

Frank was director of personnel when Slay promoted Charles Bryson, an AfricanAmerican, to director of public safety, replacing Sam Simon, who was mired in a scandal that nearly deprived city firefighters of all their airmasks.

It was Bryson who enforced Simon’s standing threat to

eight years old when Dr. King led the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered one of the most wellknown 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.

ASt. Louis native, Johnson is a graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans and received his law degree from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of

demote Chief George over his refusal to promote from the promotions list George said he did not trust. After George was demoted then retired, he was replaced by Interim Chief Steve Kotraba and then by Dennis Jenkerson.

Kotraba and Jenkerson made the promotions from the list created by the EB Jacobs test, which contributed greatly to the racial disparities in promotions outlined in the new F.I.R.E. report.

Jenkerson was a battalion chief when he was promoted to chief over Deputy Chief Charles Coyle, the city’s fire

Law.He served as president of Alpha Phi Alpha from 20012004, 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.

Gospel and health

Gospel songstress

Yolanda Adams brought her Health and Lifestyle Tour to this year’s Missouri Black Expo on Sunday at the America’s Center.

WALKER

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marshal. Coyle recently won his suit claiming he was racially discriminated against by Jenkerson’s promotion over him.

Jenkerson did not return TheSt. Louis American’s phone calls.

Pruitt said F.I.R.E. is undaunted by the official silence.

“We know that the community can get things done,” Pruitt said.

“The community is where we have always gotten support from. When there are enough people who are tired of the status quo, things will change.”

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.

Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League

Prior to becoming president at Bluefield, Dr. Walker held various positions in higher education, including vice chancellor for academic affairs at Elizabeth City State University; vice president for academic affairs at Kentucky State University; vice president for academic affairs at Harris-Stowe State University; and dean of the School of Education at North Carolina A&TState University. He served, for six years, as the Assistant Commissioner of Education in the Division of Urban and Teacher Education for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Jefferson City, Mo.

Dr. Walker holds additional experience in education as a former tenured professor, principal and classroom teacher. During his successful career, Dr. Walker has published numerous articles, taught many courses and received several awards.

Dr. Walker’s is chairman of the Higher Learning Commission’s Board of Trustees (North Central accrediting agency) and sits on the boards of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the American Association for State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).

Dr. Walker is a graduate of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education. He later earned three Master of Arts degrees from Bradley University in the areas of educational administration, elementary education and secondary and community college education. He received his Ed.D. in educational administration from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

Photo by Willey Price

Eight editorials later, a special session

How many editorials does it take to make a governor call a special session of the Missouri Legislature? A whopping eight if the governor is Jay Nixon, the newspaper is The St. Louis American and its the weird, hot summer of 2011. Read ‘em and weep, or gnash your teeth: “We need to finish economic development bill” (June 2), “St. Louis needs economic revitalization” (June 9), “Nixon, good on defense, must play offense” (June 23), “Development bill will be ready for Nixon” (June 30), “Nixon should accomplish dual goals” (July 7), “Nixon must help close Aerotropolis deal” (July 14), “St. Louis must compete in a global world” (July 21) and “Nixon must put local control on the agenda” (August 4). That’s eight editorials, on substantially the same topic, in only two and a half months for a newspaper that sees print only once a week. That count leaves out a news jab on the front page near the beginning of the series, “Nixon stalls on calling special session” (June 16). And that’s just this newspaper. Tony Messenger, the new guy on the Post-Dispatch editorial page (and arguably the best editorial writer in the state), estimates the Post has issued the same call to Nixon four times in the same span. Tony makes this estimate “without looking back,” and who can blame him about not wanting to look back at such a long time of asking for the same, simple thing. Now, we’ve got it.

On Monday afternoon, Nixon issued a proclamation that convenes the First Extra Session of the First Regular Session of the 96th General Assembly at noon Tuesday, September 6. A special session requires

“extraordinary occasions,” and Nixon’s proclamation summarizes them: “the need for economic development legislation, tax credit reform, tax amnesty legislation, enhancement of Department of Revenue collection measures, moving the date of the 2012 Presidential Primary and transitioning the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to local control.”

That promises to give a lot of people what they want and have been asking for, some of us as many as eight times.

Aerotropolis on the agenda

The key pieces here for many of us in St. Louis are “the need for economic development legislation” and the transition “to local control” of the St. Louis police department. Nixon makes only passing reference to a piece of the economic development legislation that has animated The American’s calls for action (cf. “Nixon must help close Aerotropolis deal,” July 14), and it’s bundled in a laundry list of development items, just as Aerotropolis is in the omnibus bill. Nixon proclaims that “the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, Compete MissouriInitiative, data storage centers, recruitment of significant amateur sporting events and the creation of an international export hub to facilitate the expansion of Missouri exports are critical programs that capture Missouri’s bold vision and competitive spirit and will spur economic expansion in all corners of this state.”

Almost lost in the middle, there, was “the creation of

an international export hub to facilitate the expansion of Missouri exports.” But his proclamation borrows language from the Aerotropolis boosters. Nixon notes that “prudently designed economic development programs accelerate Missouri’s economic growth through the creation of a vibrant business climate that attracts new employers to Missouri and encourages existing businesses to expand.”

Here is how we put the situation on July 14, when we were calling Nixon out for doing “nothing” and encouraging African-American leaders to lean on him: “We are mindful of the destructive impact wrought by the decline of the auto assembly industry once crucial to this area. It resulted in the loss of jobs for thousands of our people, with crushing consequences to families and neighborhoods. Closing the deal on both the China cargo hub and Aerotropolis could be transformational for this region’s under-performing economy and its obsolete airport.”

Nixon was a little more specific in a press release about the special session proclamation. Third on his billeted list of “job-creation priorities” we find: “Enacting legislation to

increase exports and foreign trade through the development of an international air cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport – a project with the potential to create thousands of construction jobs, and thousands of additional jobs once the hub is operational.”

As we said about Aerotropolis on July 14: “It could offer sustainable relief for the region’s unemployed who are disproportionately AfricanAmerican. The final version of the Aerotropolis bill had impacts, conservatively estimated by respected industry experts, of 18,468 construction jobs and 10,941 permanent jobs, with a combined economic impact of $17.6 billion over 15 years and $26.8 billion over 20 years.”

Tax credit hacking

It’s essential to note that warring factions of the Missouri Republican Party have made a tentative peace that makes Nixon’s call for the special session possible. That makes progressives who represent disenfranchised urban communities wince at the “implementation of tax credit reform” and this language in the proclamation: “economic incentives and

tax credit programs must be regularly reviewed to ensure those programs are effective in addressing their purpose and provide appropriate return on investment.” Tax credit programs are on the chopping block, including tax credits for affordable-income housing and historic preservation tax credits.

New Missouri primary date

Nixon hopes to get a second crack at “Conference Committee Substitute for House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 282,” which will move Missouri’s Presidential Primary to March 2012. He vetoed the version passed in the regular session, he said, “due to the inclusion of objectionable provisions unrelated to the moving of the date for the Presidential Primary.” With an incumbent Democrat in the White House, the move of the presidential primary date in 2012 is mostly news for Missouri Republicans.

The Kinder game

Speaking of primaries and Republicans, the outlook for the

2012 Republican gubernatorial primary got more interesting in the months we’ve been calling for Nixon to call this special session – with occasional resort to trying to scare the Democrat by making him hear Republican footsteps.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who has long been the presumed Republican challenger to Nixon, has convinced many in the city that he has a genuine devotion to St. Louis and advocates for the city’s interests in Jefferson City. (Needless to say, Kinder’s wildcat attempts to torpedo President Barack Obama’s health care reform were done heedless of the value Obama’s reforms brought to distressed, underinsured urban communities.)

For example, on August 4, we said, “To be very clear, Nixon’s presumptive Republican opponent in 2012, Peter Kinder, has stated his support for local control. If Nixon refuses to do everything in his power to get this bill passed, he will hand his Republican opponent a campaign advantage in the urban Democratic strongholds so crucial to statewide candidates in 2012.”

Meanwhile, since August 4, Kinder has become a running gag in Missouri political circles, thanks to The Riverfront Times’ printing a picture of Kinder grinning with a cocktail waitress who went on to make horrific but unsubstantiated claims about Kinder’s past behavior towards her when she worked as a stripper more than 15 years ago (which Kinder called “bizarre and untrue”). In a slow political season, Kinder’s story has proven to be irresistible. It’s like the bad old days when a new Missouri politician was being indicted every day of the week, and the guessing game was, “Who’s next?” Now the game of the week is trying to figure out Kinder’s actual relationship with this stripper turned cocktail waitress. Listening to these speculations emphatically is not for the prudish or faint of heart.

License Collector Michael McMillan paid his respects last week as St. Louis Community Chancellor Dr. Myrtle E.B. Dorsey was hosted by the Kwame Foundation. Anisha Morrell, special assistant to the chancellor, and community leader Ida Goodwin Woolfolk also were in attendance.

Photo by Rosalind Guy

Obituaries

In Loving Memory

Evelyn Callie Anderson

August 23, 1990 –April 27, 2011

At an early hour on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 an amazing person left this earth. Evelyn Callie Anderson graduated in 2009 from McCluer High School in Florissant, Missouri. During her tenure at McCluer, she played violin for three years in Orchestra and piano for one year in Jazz Band. Evelyn was a talented musician and composer. Evelyn earned a full scholarship at St. Louis Community College and a $28,000 art scholarship from Webster University where she planned to attend this fall. She earned her scholarship to St. Louis Community College by participating in the A+ Program and tutoring reading at Walnut Grove Elementary School and Ferguson Middle School. In addition to music, Evelyn was a gifted artist and photographer. She was a member of

the St. Louis Artist’s Guild, Graphic Design Club, Comic Book Artists and Writers’ club, and Engineering Club. She also volunteered one summer at the St. Louis Zoo. She left a large body of work behind and impacted many lives. She will live on through her art, music, and photographs. Sadly missed by the Anderson, Pannell, McCoy and Johnson family and many other family members and friends. Requiescat in pace, Evy.

Dr. Ruges Richmond Freeman, Jr.

Dr. Ruges Richmond Freeman, Jr. was born February 25, 1917, the firstborn child of Willie Barr Freeman and Ruges Richmond Freeman, Sr. of St. Louis, MO. He attended the public schools of St. Louis, where he was an outstanding student. When he was just 14, young Ruges left home for the first time and began his post-secondary matriculation at Southern Illinois University,

where he initiated the establishment of a chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He left SIU bound for the University of Illinois, where he met and married Maxine Carter of Chicago. To that union, Wilatrel was born.

The Freemans spent most of their married life in St. Louis, where Dr. Freeman worked as an educator with the St. Louis Board of Education. He began as a teacher at Vashon High School, where some of his students were older than he. Dr. Freeman frequently marveled at that although he was a math major, he never has the opportunity to teach it. Always a scholar, he received his Ph.D from Washington University and soon thereafter, he retired from the St. Louis school system and immersed himself in a second career at the University of Southern Illinois at Edwardsville.

Mrs. Freeman’s failing health and his own health issues made it difficult for the pair to remain in St. Louis. So in 1998, after much discussion and deliberation, Dr. and Mrs. Freeman moved to South Carolina where they lived with Wilatrel and her husband, Clyde, until Mrs. Freeman’s death in 2002. After her death, Dr. Freeman continued playing bridge, but it was not long before his poor vision forced him to put aside his avid interests—playing bridge and reading.

Giving is in the blood

Cheryl Polk, 13-year member of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society

Special to The American

“I do not remember a time when I was not giving,” says Cheryl Polk, the number two executive at the United Way of Greater St. Louis. “Growing up as the daughter of a pastor, making a contribution to the benevolent offering, got us in the habit of helping people, even when we did not know their identities.”

Giving continues to be in the blood of the executive vice president and chief of strategy & engagement for the United Way. She was a charter member of the African American Leadership Giving Initiative, now called the Charmaine Chapman Society, which was founded by Donald M. Suggs, Publisher of The St. Louis American. She is a 13year member of the prestigious Alexis de Tocqueville Society – a group of leaders from throughout the community

Cheryl Polk

that contribute a minimum of $10,000 annually to the United Way.

“I give at the de Tocqueville level, because I see the needs in this community every day. I have been to the food pantries and saw empty shelves; I have knocked on doors of seniors during the blistering heat to make sure that they were cool and safe; I have seen the effect that an afterschool program could have on a child,” Polk said.

“One might think that the

contribution is so generous because I work for the United Way, but in fact, I’ve been at this giving level several years prior to joining the United Way team. Outside of the church, it is the first gift that I make because I know how it is leveraged with other gifts.”

Growing up in Omaha, she participated in Girl Scouts, even though she did not realize the group was supported by United Way. She credits that organization with providing her with strong public speaking abilities and early sales training.

“The Girl Scouts had leaders that encouraged us. They created confidence and built early leadership skills in the participants – much like the Girl Scout programs that United Way funds today,” Polk said.

“I do not believe that I would have been as great a student, salesperson, public speaker or financial executive had United Way not invested in that program. It is my obligation and responsibility to give, as well as help the next generation of leaders.” Polk said that her father often quoted the scripture, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

In recent years, Dr. Freeman was a resident of the Life Care Center of Columbia, where he passed away quietly on Tuesday, August 2, 2011. He leaves to mourn his death: his daughter, Wilatrel Freeman Stockton; his son-in-law, Dr. Clyde Stockton; his grandson, Dr. Ruges Freeman Stockton; his sister, Sarah Freeman Martin of St. Louis; a niece, Sarah Martin Cato, also of St. Louis; and a nephew, Paul Freeman, of Mesa, AZ.

In Loving Memory Sana A. Barnett

Happy Birthday My Angel

Sana was born on August 28, 1985. My baby passed away on March 12, 2011. She would be 26 years old today. We miss you deeply and heartachingly every day. You truly left us too soon. When you left you took a lot. What you were will never happen again.

Protecting the innocent from rogue prosecutors

Jamala Rogers

Recently the Kansas City Star featured a front-page article on the legal handiwork of former prosecutor and Congressman Kenny Hulshof. In my opinion, Hulshof is to rural Missouri what Nels Moss is to St. Louis: desecrators of justice. The legal malfeasance of Moss has been exposed by groups like the Center for Public Integrity. Most exposes on these two (and others like them) stop short of advocating – as I do –that their behavior is criminal and should subject them to criminal charges, prosecution and the appropriate punishment.

Both former prosecutors have a string of convictions that have unraveled over the years with the perfection of DNA testing and a brighter spotlight on nagging contradictions at the time of these trials. Many of the victims of these two rogue prosecutors have served lengthy sentences, and some have already been executed. Hundreds of families have been negatively affected, both those whose loved ones were falsely accused and convicted as well as those who were left with no justice when the alleged perpetrator was exonerated and the true criminal not pursued.

The Star points out that the stink of prosecutorial misconduct permeated at least a dozen murder cases associated with Hulshof. Ditto for the trials of Moss. Both have been accused of withholding evidence, destroying evidence, altering evidence, intimidating witnesses, intimidating juries, lying to juries and the list of despicable acts go on.

I have been asked many a time why a prosecutor would stoop this low, or how do these upholders of the law sleep at night? These kinds of prosecutors see black, brown and white poor folks as collateral damage in their quest for higher offices. The lives of these unsuspecting victims are dispensable when it comes to racking up wins so

n Never once have they admitted wrongdoing, even in the face of the most obvious examples of unethical practices.

that one can promote oneself as a stand-out champion in the so-called war on crime. In the process, rogue prosecutors (and rogue cops who aid and abet the state) cross the line to become criminals themselves.

In the arena of prosecution, it is not a good thing to have your convictions overturned

by higher courts. This happened on more than one occasion for Moss and Hulshof, who let the reversals roll off them like water on a duck’s backside. Never once have they admitted wrongdoing, even in the face of the most obvious examples of unethical practices.

Dale Helmig, one of Hulshof’s victims, was recently exonerated of the charge that he killed his mother in 1993. Helmig is the 20th inmate to be released from a Missouri prison over the past three decades on an overturned conviction. This should be a troubling fact for the legal system and for citizens who never know when they will be caught up in the web of a prosecutor who sees them only as fodder.

One victim of Moss’s prosecution has lived to celebrate his 40th birthday. Reginald Clemons is one of four codefendants in the infamous Chain of Rocks Bridge tragedy that Nels Moss believed would catapult him into the seat of the St. Louis Circuit Attorney. In planned “Flashing for Justice” activities across the country on August 30 to celebrate Reggie’s birthday, it’s a good opportunity to raise the serious issue of wrongful convictions. It’s past time to hold rogue prosecutors like Kenny Hulshof and Nels Moss accountable for the crimes they have committed; it’s time to take away their shields of impunity.

Evelyn Anderson

Dr. Ruges Freeman Jr.

Wedding bliss in St. Louis

Ebony Campbell and Ishmael Sistrunk were married July 16, 2011 at People’s Community Christian Church in St. Louis, Mo. The church’s pastor, Rev. Bennie B. Ford oficiated the holy union.

The bride is the daughter of Michael Campbell (deceased) and Felicia Dilworth (husband Raymont) and serves as the student support manager at Conluence Academy in St. Louis. She is a graduate of Webster University and is

candidate for master’s degree in educational counseling at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.

The groom is the son of Harold Sistrunk, Jr. (wife: Iris) and Deborah Nelson (husband: Dirk) and serves as the web, I.T. and promotions coordinator at the St. Louis American. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri – Columbia.

Windows Off Washington hosted the elegant reception, where Adrienne Ford, maid of honor, and Ryan Willis, best man, gave rousing toasts to the newlywed couple. Close family and friends rounded out the wedding party.

Jubilation! The wedding party celebrates the newlyweds. Left to right: Zimmawu Reeves, Jenelle Lovings, Eric Voss, Patricia Whitney, Curtis Buckley, Jade Beard, Aaron Donner, Brittany Paris, Ishmael and Ebony Sistrunk, Lacqweda Taylor, Terron Holmes, Kelli Richie, Gregory Brown, Jr., Adrienne Ford and Ryan Willis

Ishmael Sistrunk lanked by groomsmen

Bride Ebony Sistrunk surrounded by her bridesmaids

The bride and groom pray with Rev. Bennie B. Ford before exchanging vows.

The newlyweds are introduced to family and friends at the reception at Windows Off Washington.

Cakes prepared by McArthur’s Bakery. All photos by Lance Omar Thurman Photography

Single ladies prepare to pounce on the bouquet as the bride tosses it overhead. After a mad scramble, Shonte Byrd came out the victor.

“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.”

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 28th, 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.

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

BUSINESS

AUGUST25 – 31, 2011

The Martin Luther King,Jr.Memorial on the National Mall in Washington,D.C.will be dedicated on Sunday,August 28 in a West Potomac Park ceremony on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr.King’s historic “I Have a Dream”speech.Here,sculptor Lei Yixin puts the finishing touches on his work.

Money and the MLK Memorial

Who did and didn’t contribute, and a scandal in the King family

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 Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, but it was Johnson – a St. Louis native, Houston attorney and former president of the fraternity – who made it all happen, raising more than $100 million.

Sheila Johnson-Newman, co-founder BET, and Victor B. MacFarlane, a San Francisco developer, were the only blacks who made contributions of $1 million or more.

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 cover.

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 website 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

SALVATIONIN

EAST ST. LOUIS

United Way grant funds after-school programs at Salvation Army ESL

Special to The American

Lumiere Place and River City Casinos host supplier diversity fair Aug. 30

By Rebecca S.Rivas

American

Of The St.Louis

Arecent St. Louis American report showed that since 2008, Missouri’s 11 casinos have made little progress in making their suppliers/vendors more diverse –despite seemingly aggressive efforts from the Missouri Gaming Commission.

On Tuesday, Aug. 30, Lumiere Place and River City Casinos will offer Missouri casinos an opportunity to turn around their diversity numbers at a vendor fair for minority-owned or women-owned business enterprises. The fair will be held at HoteLumiere from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 30, and a free networking breakfast begins at 9 a.m.

See CASINOS, B6

“She’s an angel sent from heaven,” said Candace Outlaw, age 21. Born and raised in East St. Louis, Outlaw was on a downward spiral at age 18. Then she met Lieutenant Katie Harris-Smith, corps officer with The Salvation Army –East St. Louis. Three years later, Outlaw has turned her life around.

“This United Way grant allows us to do much more and to reach many more children and, hopefully, their families.”

– Lieutenant Katie HarrisSmith

She even volunteers for The Salvation Army, most recently with its summer camp.

“I don’t know where I’d be if not for Katie,” Outlaw said. Harris-Smith, age 55, was commissioned to The Salvation Army in East St. Louis, a United Way partner agency since 1923, four years ago. Since then, she has been a one-person walking billboard for The Salvation Army and its programs. Her office has a large window facing the front of the building. When she sees adults walking by with children, she admits to jumping from her desk and running out after them to make sure they know about the pro-

Lieutenant Katie Harris-Smith,corps officer with The Salvation Army –East St.Louis,listens to some of the children who attended summer camp this year.The Salvation Army – East St.Louis recently received a $25,400 one-time grant from United Way of Greater St.Louis to fund its afterschool programs.

grams inside. “I can take stacks of flyers to the school down the road,” Harris-Smith said. “But it’s not the same as reaching people one-on-

PEOPLEON THE MOVE

(William) Kenneth Freeman, interim chief information officer and vice president at Webster University, has been named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2011 Class of Diverse Business Leaders. Freeman is responsible for all aspects of technology across the university’s domestic and international campuses. Prior to joining Webster in 2011, Freeman served in senior ITleadership roles at Monsanto, CIGNA, UPS and IBM.

State SenatorMaria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis, has been appointed to the Joint Interim Committee on School Accreditation. The committee, composed of House and Senate members with educational expertise, will analyze and review proposed new standards regarding how Missouri accredits its public schools.The Missouri State of Board of Education recently voted to publish the revised standards, although final approval is not expected until December.

Tiffany Fane, a team leader and seventh-grade science teacher at Hazelwood East Middle School, recently spent a week in a professional development workshop at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Fane was one of 80 teachers from across the country selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities as a Summer Scholar. She traveled to New Bedford, Mass., to experience Sailing to Freedom – The Underground Railroad.

Jeremy Mapp of Truman State University is among this year’s scholarship recipients from the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence, and Research of Topeka, Kansas. The scholarship is made possible through partnerships with the National Black United Federation of Charities and contributions from members of the Foundation, which commemorates the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

Kwame finishes construction of Barack Obama Elementary

Kwame Building Group, a St. Louis-based black-owned construction management firm s, has completed work on the new 65,000-squarefoot Barack Obama Elementary School in Pine Lawn. Kwame provided construction management on the project.

The project was funded through a portion of a $23 million, no-tax increase bond issue.

The school features a two-story classroom wing with 26 classrooms to accommodate up to 400 students. Kindergarten through second grades are on the ground floor with direct access to an outdoor classroom and playground. Third through sixth grades, two science labs and an art studio are on the second floor.

The community will be invited to use the school’s cafetorium, library, gymnasium, computer lab and meeting rooms, which are located at the front of the school for convenient access from parking and drop-off areas.

The school was named by students from Garfield Elementary and Pine Lawn Elementary Schools, which the new school replaces.

Community College opens new CenterforWorkforce Innovation

St. Louis Community College will open its new Center for Workforce Innovation 2:30-5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29, at 3344 Pershall Rd., adjacent to the college’s Florissant Valley campus. The 32,000-square-foot center will serve more than 500 students annually and houses some of the college’s newest and most cutting-edge workforce training programs, including the St. Louis Aerospace Institute, which began as a preemployment program for Boeing, an energy technician program and coursework in sustainable construction.

Maria ChappelleNadal

MLK, B6

GRANT, B2

(William) Kenneth Freeman

Tiffany Fane

Jeremy Mapp

High Scores for529 College Savings Program

Looking for a tax-advantaged college savings plan that has no age restrictions and no income phaseout limits— and one you can use to pay for more than just tuition?

Consider the 529 college savings plan, an increasingly popular way to save for higher-education expenses, which have more than tripled over the past two decades — with annual costs (for tuition and fees, and room and board) of almost $37,000 per year for the average privatefour-year college.1 Named after the section of the tax code that authorized them, 529 plans (also known as qualified tuition plans) are now offered in almost every state. Most people have heard about the original form of 529, the state-operated prepaid tuition plan, which allows you to purchase units of future tuition at today's rates, with the plan assuming the responsibility of investing the funds to keep pace with inflation. Many state governments guarantee that the cost of an equal number of units of education in the sponsoring state will be covered, regardless of investment performance or the rate of tuition increase. Of course, each state plan has a different mix of rules and restrictions. Prepaid tuition programs typically will pay future college

GRANT

Continued from B1 one.” Harris-Smith has been with The Salvation Army for 20 years. She started by volunteering after two of her five children attended some of the programs. She has worked as a director of youth services to senior citizens in the divisional headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

tuition at any of the sponsoring state's eligible colleges and universities (and some will pay an equal amount to private and out-of-state institutions).

The newer variety of 529 is the savings plan. It's similar to an investment account, but the funds accumulate tax deferred. Withdrawals from state-sponsored 529 plans are free of federal income tax as long as they are used for qualified college expenses.Many states also exempt withdrawals from state income tax for qualified higher education expenses. Unlike the case with prepaid tuition plans, contributions can be used for all qualified higher-education expenses (tuition, fees, books, equipment and supplies, room and board), and the funds usually can be used at all accredited post-secondary schools in the United States. The risk with these plans is that investments may lose money or may not perform well enough to cover college costs as anticipated.

In most cases, 529 savings plans place investment dollars in a mix of funds based on the age of the beneficiary, with account allocations becoming more conservative as the time for college draws closer. But recently, more states have contracted professional money managers — many well-known investment firms — to actively

“I believe I was put where I’m supposed to be,” she said of her commission. “East St. Louis is home.”

She sees The Salvation Army’s building as a community base for teens, young children, neighborhood associations and other groups needing a place to meet. At first, getting teens to use the building was not easy. Then, Harris-Smith said, in January 2010 that began to change. She made it a point to find out where some of the

PERSONAL FINANCE

By Charles Ross

manage and market their plans, so a growing number of investors can customize their asset allocations. Some states enable account owners to qualify for a deduction on their state tax returns or receive a small match on the money invested.Earnings from 529 plans are not taxed when used to pay for eligible college expenses. And there are even new consumerfriendly reward programs popping up that allow people who purchase certain products and services to receive rebate dollars that go into state-sponsored college savings accounts.2

Charles Ross

Funds contributed to a 529 plan are considered to be gifts to the beneficiary, so anyone — even non-relatives — can contribute up to $13,000 per year (in 2011) per beneficiary without incurring gift tax consequences. Contributions can be made in one lump sum or in monthly installments. And assets contributed to a 529 plan are not considered part of the account owner's estate,

kids were hanging out and got to know them. She said, “I choose to respect the kids. I learn who they are, their name, what they like. I watch to see what it is they do, and I listen to how they feel about themselves. Then, I helped the teens make this their place.”

Demontez McKinney, age 18, a recent graduate of East St. Louis School District 189 and a volunteer with summer camp, said Harris-Smith “is my second mom. She’s awe-

therefore avoiding estate taxes upon the owner's death.

Major Benefits

These savings plans generally allow people of any income level to contribute, and there are no age limits for the student.

The account owner can maintain control of the account until funds are withdrawn — and, if desired, can even change the beneficiary as long as he or she is within the immediate family of the original beneficiary. A529 plan is also extremely simple when it comes to tax reporting — the sponsoring state, not you, is responsible for all income tax record keeping. At the end of the year when the withdrawal is made for college, you will receive Form 1099 from the state, and there is only one figure to enter on it: the amount of income to report on the student's tax return.

Benefits for Grandparents

The 529 plancould bea

some.”

With a smattering of volunteers and a small paid staff, The Salvation Army has its hands full with the children it currently serves and the other adult programs it offers.

With a recent $25,400 onetime grant from United Way of Greater St. Louis, The Salvation Army can change much of that. For its afterschool programs starting this fall, much of the grant will be used for hiring qualified, parttime staff to build and enhance

great way for grandparents to shelter inheritance money from estate taxes and contribute substantial amounts to a student's college fund. At the same time, they also control the assets and can retain the power to control withdrawals from the account. By accelerating use of the annual gift tax exclusion, a grandparent — as well as anyone, for that matter — could elect to use five years' worth of annual exclusions by making a single contribution of as much as $65,000 per beneficiary in 2011 (or a couple could contribute $130,000 in 2011), as long as no other contributions are made for that beneficiary for five years.*If the account owner dies, the 529 plan balance is not considered part of his or her estate for tax purposes.

As with other investments, there are generally fees and expenses associated with participation in a Section 529 savings plan. In addition, there are no guarantees regarding the performance of the underlying investments in Section 529 plans. The tax implications of a Section 529 savings plan should be discussed with your legal and/or tax advisors because they can vary significantly from state to state. Also note that most states offer their own Section 529 plans, which may provide advantages and

the programs. And more staff means more children can participate.

“This grant allows us to do much more and to reach many more children and, hopefully, their families,” Harris-Smith said. “It’s a blessing. All these children, no matter their age, are just looking for someone to care for them. It’s important to know what’s going on with kids, to relate and to address what they’re doing.”

Her success: The joy of watching the children excited

benefits exclusively for their residents and taxpayers. Before investing in a529 savings plan, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully. The official disclosure statements and applicable prospectuses, which contain this and other information about the investment options and underlyinginvestments, can be obtained by contacting your financial professional. You should read this material carefully before investing. By comparing different plans, you can determine which might be available for your situation. You may find that 529 programs make saving for college easier than before.

* If the donor makes the five-year election and dies during the five-year calendar period, part of the contribution could revert back to the donor's estate.

to be at The Salvation Army and to see them mature. Her desire: To influence even a few lives and have them, in turn, do the same thing.

“And hopefully,” she said, “one day they come back to give back.”

The Salvation Army – East St. Louis is located at 616 N. 16th St. in East St. Louis; call 618-874-3136. To give to the United Way, visit www.stl.unitedway.org.

“He could have been one of the greatest if he had worked just a little bit harder.”

– Jerry Rice,talking about the recently retired Randy Moss

INSIDE SPORTS

With Earl Austin Jr.

The ones to watch

Top prep players and teams for 2011-12

By Earl Austin Jr.

Of The St.Louis American

The high school football season begins this weekend in the St. Louis metropolitan area. As we begin another exciting year of prep football, here are a few of the top players to watch this season.

Marquis Bostic (Northwest Academy), DL, (Sr.) – Standout performer at 6’3” and 210 pounds who had 16 sacks for Class 2 playoff participants.

Antonio Brown (CBC), RB, (Sr.) – Tailback who rushed for 1,190 yards and 21 touchdowns to lead Cadets to the Class 6 state quarterfinals.

Galen Brown (McCluer North), QB, (Sr.) – Led Stars to Class 6 playoffs after totaling 1,800 yards and 27 touchdowns as a junior.

D.J. Buckner (Kirkwood), QB, Sr. – Senior quarterback who threw 20 touchdown passes for Class 5 state semifinalists.

Jehu Chesson (Ladue), WR, (Sr.) – A6’4” athlete who is one of the top receivers in the state of Missouri.

Michael Cotton (O’Fallon), LB, (Sr.) – All Southwestern Conference performer who has committed to Indiana University.

Kyle Echols (Fort Zumwalt West), WR, (Sr.) – Talented receiver who had 65 receptions for 1,123 yards and nine touchdowns.

Kahlid Hagens (Maplewood), QB, (Jr.) – Standout junior quarterback who led the Blue Devils to historic season. Threw 24 touchdown passes last season.

Chip Hare (Fort Zumwalt West), QB, (Sr.) – Had more than 4,000 yards of total offense and 36 touchdowns to lead West to Class 6 state semifinals.

Denis Harris (East St. Louis), WR, (Sr.) – Returns as one of the top wide receivers in the metro east and another Flyers’Division I prospect.

Ray Harris (Fort Zumwalt

West), RB, (Sr) – Standout tailback who had more than 2,000 yards of total offense for Class 6 semifinalists.

Trey Hill (Hazelwood East), QB, (Sr.) – Threw for 1,970 yards and 22 touchdowns to lead Spartans to the Class 5 quarterfinals last season.

Lamontiez Ivy (East St. Louis), QB, (Jr.) – Talented junior who is at the controls of one of the most powerful offensive units in the state of Illinois.

Ejay Johnson (O’Fallon), RB (Sr.) – Talented tailback who

rushed for 1,800 yards and 18 touchdowns to lead Panthers to IHSAClass 7Aplayoffs.

TrevorMcDonough (SLUH), QB, (Sr.) – Talented signal-caller who threw for 2,465 yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior.

Michael McHugh (Kirkwood), WR, (Sr.) –Excellent wide receiver who has already given a verbal commitment to attend Northwestern.

KeVonn Mabon (DeSmet), WR/DB (Sr.) – Talented 6’3” 205-pound two-way performer who will be a big-play performer for the Spartans.

Durron Neal (DeSmet), WR/DB, (Sr.) – The most electrifying player in the St. Louis metro area. Excels at several different positions. Committed to Oklahoma.

Donavin Newsom (Parkway North), RB/LB (Sr.) – One of the top linebackers in the state of Missouri. Committed to Missouri.

Edmund Ray (Ritenour), DT, (Sr.) – Dominant 6’5” 295-

See INSIDE, B5

Class 6 semifinals rematch

Hazelwood Central at DeSmet, and other top games this week

By Earl Austin Jr. Of

The St.Louis American

High school football gets underway this weekend in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Here are some of the top games on tap for Week #1 of the 2011 season.

Hazelwood Central at DeSmet, Friday, 7 p.m. – A rematch of last season’s Class 6 state semifinals.

CBC at Fort Zumwalt West, Friday, 7 p.m. – Two highlyranked Class 6 schools with highpowered offenses do battle in St. Charles County.

MICDS at Maplewood,

Friday, 7 p.m. – Opening night battle between two of the top small schools in the area.

East St. Louis at North Gwinnett (GA), Saturday, 8 p.m. – The Flyers venture South to open the season against one of the top teams in the state of Georgia.

SLUH at Parkway North, Friday, 7 p.m. – Excellent matchup between two teams with postseason aspirations after missing the playoffs last season.

• Pattonville at Hazelwood East, Saturday, 1 p.m.

• Lindbergh at Oakville,

Friday, 7 p.m.

• Jefferson City at McCluer North, Saturday, 1 p.m.

• McCluer at Webster Groves, Friday, 7 p.m.

• Eureka at Lafayette, Friday, 7 p.m.

• Francis Howell at Holt, Friday, 7 p.m.

• Ladue at Parkway Central, Friday, 7 p.m.

• St. Dominic at Cardinal Ritter, Friday, 7 p.m.

• Northwest Academy at Jennings, Saturday, 1 p.m.

• Belleville East at Hazelwood West, Saturday, 1 p.m.

• Gateway Tech at Sikeston, Friday, 7 p.m.

• Althoff vs. Collinsville (at Belleville West), Friday, 7 p.m.

• O’Fallon at Cahokia, Friday, 7 p.m.

• Clayton at Lutheran North, Saturday, 1 p.m.

• Mount Vernon vs. Miller Career Academy, Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

CLAIB’S CALL

With Mike Claiborne

Frank Haith,the new basketball coach at Mizzou,is under investigation by the NCAA after a scandal about booster favors broke at his former employer,the University of Miami.

U Miami heat singes Haith

Mizzou coach touched by investigation of former employer

With the cheating and just flat-out stealing by nearly every college team in America and the NCAA, which is charged to regulate the member institutions, left helpless, it appears that Mizzou has stepped in it again. Only this time, is it their fault?

In case you have not heard, some scumbag who went to prison for a Ponzi scheme in Florida has decided to try and take down the University of Miami athletic program. Nevin Shapiro in a jail house confession has acknowledged that he gave tens of thousands of dollars to Miami players and coaches just so he could chum up with the program. In short, he wanted to be the biggest of jock sniffers. Once things went south for him and the “U” turned their back on him, he decided to hand out some payback. Shapiro gave names, dates, places and amounts. He got 20 years in prison and, if it works out his way, 20 years is how long it might take for Miami to recover if the NCAAthrows the book at them.

Now that you have an idea of what is going on at Miami, let’s bring in Old Mizzou.

In perhaps one of the most unpopular hires at Missouri, Mike Alden made Frank Haith the basketball coach. No one really knew Frank Haith. Frank Haith had a losing record in the ACC, and Frank Haith, well … you do the math.

In case you have not heard, some scumbag who went to prison for a Ponzi scheme in Florida has decided to try and take down the University of Miami athletic program.

I am happy to report that still no one knows Frank Haith in the part of town. No one knows if Frank Haith can really coach and Frank Haith is … still doing the math? I bring up Haith because he was implicated by Shapiro as receiving money to get a player. Shapiro went on to say that they had a personal relationship until he met up with legal troubles. While nothing has been proven, the general feeling is that Haith is in serious trouble. Haith is now being investigated by the NCAA for his actions at Miami, and all Missouri can do is wait for their findings. In the meantime, the program is in limbo.

Earl Austin Jr.

DeSmet wide receiver and defensive back Durron Neal is the most electrifying player in the St. Louis metro area.The senior is committed to Oklahoma.

Mike Claiborne

FROMTHE EAST SIDE

By Maurice Scott Jr.

Flyers fly south

ESLopens prep football season in Georgia

The 2011 East St. Louis Senior High Flyers football team will make its debut this weekend after last year’s tumultuous events.

East Side saw its 10- 0 season and a second round playoff berth reduced to 4-6, after the IHSAruled that a player was ineligible because of a residential issue. Some close to the situation felt it was much more than an residential issue. Simply, if that was the case, the whole Southwestern Conference would have forfeited games.

It was indeed a violation, but also a penalty to a lot of innocent people by a few dumb individuals who gave some bad advice to a few. In addition, kids such as Lamontiez Ivy and Anthony

Pierson were dragged in the mud by the press. Many of these people have never attended a Flyers’game, and would never come to East St. Louis to see one of our games. Those of you who have traveled to see one of the most successful high school football programs in the country over the years (712-171 record) are treated to a great experience. People don’t see fights or robberies. When you return to your car, it’s not broken into. Those were some of the crazy things I heard from some

people last year during the rampage on the program in both print and electronic media.

And not once, not once, did anyone retract or apologize to Ivy, nor Pierson, who later was ruled eligible without any residential issues whatsoever!

You made even more of a fool of yourself by not recognizing their efforts in the field and not naming them to allconference teams, nor were they given any Player of the Year considerations. Both had numbers far better than some of the individuals that were considered.

If I were coach Darren Sunkett, I wouldn’t talk to some of you either this year! Especially some of you who do your little radio shows but

never came over to Jordan Stadium in East St. Louis. It’s one of the best in the area!

Anew season and day has come to our great city, and in two weeks, the Flyers will open the Clyde C. Jordan Memorial Stadium for business, and Flyers’fans welcome all of you.

But, first things first, as Darren Sunkett takes what I’m calling “The Big Payback Tour” on the national stage in Suwanee, Ga. to take on the Bulldogs of North Gwinnett High School. Kick-off is set at about 8 p.m. on Saturday night. The game is a part of the Progressive Insurance Classic. The Bulldogs entered the season as the No. 8- ranked

CLAIBS

Continued from B3

When Haith was hired by Mizzou, there was no question or concern raised about his integrity or background. Either his alleged actions with Shapiro were too covert, or no one really bothered to look close considering the program was not that good in the first place. Perhaps Mizzou is not as attractive of a job as we think. After all, no real tradition, no Final Four appearances and beating Kansas has become more of a dream than reality.

team in Georgia’s Class AAAAA rankings. They lost to No. 6 McEachern High 26- 17 in the Corky Kell Classic in the Georgia Dome last Saturday. The Flyers have a ton of talent again, but lost some key offensive lineman to graduation. Jeremy Nichols will be one of the key weapons, but the program will be put on the shoulders of the most talented

and 18 touchdowns. In addition, he had eight rushing touchdowns. Ivy is being recruited from schools all over the country with offers from Kansas and Minnesota, among others on the table. I’m sure Darren Sunkett will give Ivy an opportunity to air it out on Saturday night, as McEachern lit-up the Bulldogs secondary last week for 337 yards passing. It should be another great season of high school football on the East Side, and I’ll be following the Flyers all the way to state this year.

Alden took the long shot in hiring a guy that he thought would be a pleasant surprise. He got a surprise, all right. I think the Haith era is over before it starts. He has very little support and he has no real track record that tells you he is a good enough coach that you would give him the benefit of the doubt. Athletic departments survive on winning, followed by donations. If you are not winning, then the donations will be harder to come by. Money is tight, and Missouri is in no position to play games here on a serious situation that could decide its future for years to come. Missouri is in a tough spot, and Frank Haith is in a tougher one. In the era of NCAAsilliness where athletes break rules because they can, coaches are different. They are held to a higher standard. While some things have changed in Columbia over the last few years when it comes to race, in this case race has nothing to do with the survival of Frank Haith. Only the truth does. Better yet, the truth in a timely manner, as this is about the future of two athletic departments, Miami and Mizzou. Miami has bigger problems than Missouri, but for Tiger fans this is as big as it gets.

East St.Louis Senior High Flyers football stars Lamontiez Ivy (below) and Anthony Pierson (above) are back after being unfairly dragged through the mud by local media last year in the ESL residence scandal.

Maurice Scott

Lamontiez Ivy

Jennings Jr. Warriors win gold at Show-Me State Games

The Jennings Jr.Warriors fourth-grade boys basketball team recently won back-to-back gold medals at the ShowMe State Games in Columbia,Mo.The Jr.Warriors defeated the Rug Rats from St.Louis 42-40 to win their second consecutive gold medal.The team members are (front row):Joshua Randle,Vaughn Smith,James Little,Jesse Little,Beau Miller.(Standing) Coreon Jones,Marquise Simmons, Vernell Sims,Derrick Taylor.The coach is Vaughn Smith,Sr.

INSIDE

Continued from B3

pound defensive tackle who is headed to Missouri.

Paul Rice (Gateway Tech), QB (Sr.) – Excellent quarterback who accounted for more than 2,000 total yards and 28 touchdowns last season.

Demetrius Robinson (Ritenour), WR, (Sr.) – Abigplay receiver at 6’4” who had 900 yards receiving for Class 5 state runners-up.

Michael Scherer (MICDS), LB/RB (Sr.) –Excellent two-way performer who has committed to the University of Missouri.

Brandon Sheperd (Parkway Central), WR, (Sr.)

Excellent 6’4” two-way performer at wide receiver and defensive back. Being recruited by several Division I schools.

Rayshawn Simmons (WebsterGroves), QB, (Sr.) –Talented dual-threat quarterback who returns to lead the Class 5 state runners-up from 2011.

Vincent Valentine (Edwardsville), DT, (Sr.) – A 6’4” 315-pound two-way lineman who is one of the best in the metro east.

Reggie Webb (Jennings), DL, (Sr.) – Returning Suburban East Conference Defensive Player of the Year who had 20 sacks last season.

Lamore Wise (Miller CareerAcademy), LB, (Sr.) –All PHLperformer who had

10 sacks on defense and 1,012 yards and five touchdowns on offense.

Teams to Watch

Class 6

DeSmet, Fort Zumwalt West, Hazelwood Central, CBC, McCluer North, Eureka, Pattonville, Lindbergh, Francis Howell

Class 5

Webster Groves, Hazelwood East, Kirkwood, Parkway North, Parkway Central

Class 4

MICDS, Union, Ladue, Miller Career Academy, Clayton, Gateway Tech

Class 3

Cardinal Ritter, John Burroughs, Lutheran North,

McCluer South-Berkeley

Class 2 Maplewood, Northwest, Herculaneum

Continued from B1

(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 super bucks. 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 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

CASINOS

Continued from B1

At the fair, the two casinos will be looking for potential vendors. Charles Felton, regional director of purchasing for Lumiere Place, said both Pinnacle Entertainment casinos are looking for suppliers for “everything.”

“We buy equipment, we buy cars,” he said. “We buy so much here it’s unbelievable.”

Felton recommends businesses having a list of their products with a price list. Vendors should also take advantage of getting a free booth to display their products for potential buyers.

In the past, Felton said they held the MBE/WBE vendor

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 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, AOLTime 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 con-

fair once a year, but he is now planning on hosting the fair twice a year In part, because he is working hard on a diversity rebound.

From 2009 to 2010, Lumiere led all casinos in its percentage of minority supplier spending, with 20 percent average. However, this year that number dropped down to 3.7 percent. Felton said the commission changed its requirements this year. Mainly it required Lumiere to report its expenses to major companies, such as Coca Cola, which they had not been required to do before. “That added $5 million to our expenses. It’s going to kill our numbers,” he said. “It will take us a year to do it, but we will be back to number one

The Martin Luther King,Jr.Memorial on the National Mall in Washington,D.C.will be dedicated on Sun.,Aug.28

sumers.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

again and get our percentages back in the 20s.” In 2008, the Missouri Gaming Commission decided to attack the lack of inclusion among the state’s casinos by requiring them to submit quarterly reports on the gender and racial make-up of their workforce, as well as their supplier/vendor businesses.

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

vendors in 2011 than they did in the first quarter of 2008.

“It will take us a year to do it, but we will be back to number one again and get our [inclusion] percentages back in the 20s.”

– Charles Felton, Lumiere Place

According to quarterly reports from 2008 to 2011 obtained and analyzed by The St. Louis American, eight of the 11 operating casinos spend less money with minority suppliers and

When the commission started documenting the numbers in 2008, the casinos’ total expenditures averaged 3.5 percent on minority suppliers and vendors. Considering that the average for Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) vendors among state agencies was 7.26 percent in 2010, the number was already low.

Yet in the first quarter of 2011, the average on minority spending dropped to 2.6 percent.

Harrah’s St. Louis also

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’s 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 youngest 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.

decreased in its spending with MBE vendors and suppliers –from 8.19 percent spend in 1st quarter 2008 to 2.62 percent in 2011.

Fred Keeton, vice president of diversity for Caesars Entertainment, said the percentages don’t accurately reflect the casino’s MBE purchasing because there were “no uniform reportingguidelines” for gaming companies to use when reporting MBE/WBE spending in 2008.

“Each casino used different definitions when reporting, making those number misleading,” he said.

However, aside from the percentages, the casinos’ spending amounts show a clear decline. In 2009, Lumiere Place purchased $2 million from MBE vendor spending,

Dexter counter-sued, 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 editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPANews Service, can be reached through his website, www.georgecurry.com

and in 2010, that dropped to $1.5 million. Harrah’s spent $1.5 million with MBE suppliers/vendors in 2008 and $886,000 in 2010.

Ameristar St. Charles was one that increased its minority vendor spending from $691,625 in 2008 to $928,027 in 2010 (still less in total dollars than Lumiere Place).

Felton said the commission’s new requirements will be good for everyone in the long run.

“But in the short term, everyone is playing with a new set of rules,” he said. “My goal is to be better over each quarter, and we’ll go from there.”

For more information on the fair or obtaining a vendor booth, contact Charles Felton at 314-881-7777.

Ready for prime time

Healing with ‘Honey’

Actress and singer’s soul remedy launches with ‘Pearl Bailey…By Request’

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

A Spoonful of Honey is one of the most unlikely names of a theater company, ever. But for Lisa Harris, the moniker was a no-brainer.

“Honey has been healing medicine for me,” said Harris, founder and artistic director for the all new Spoonful of Honey Theatre. “And theater is supposed to provide healing with the show.” In 2005, she had a sinus infection and an allergic reaction to medication that resulted in a bacterial infection in her blood. She lost 30

After attempts to treat her condition with a barrage of medications, she was as

as she had ever been.

“I said, ‘I’m tired. I’m not taking another pill.’” After doing internet research, she found Manuka Honey. “I put a spoonful on a piece of bread or in my tea,” she said, “and I haven’t been sick since.”

She is hoping to offer a remedy through the arts with her new theater company named in tribute of her own

Savvy St. Louisans don’t want to miss this event. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. presents the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship and Awards Gala – September 16 Mike Claiborne’s popular Dirrty Muggs Band will perform. Among the list of VIP awardees for this year: Darnell Young (Crestview Middle School), Rayna Blackshear (Cardinal Ritter College Prep), Carolyn Blair (Clayton High School) and Superintendent of the Ferguson-Florissant School District Dr. Art J. McCoy II Rave reviews for “The Help”! The St. Louis chapter of Girl Friends, Inc. viewed the movie as a group on Saturday August 13 at the cushy Moolah Theatre in the CWE. Following the viewing members enjoyed a good old-fashioned 1960s-style luncheon at the home of Carol Williams. Hostesses adorned with petal pushers, cat eye glasses and pearls were Dianne Powell, Jeralyn Williams James and Carol Williams Linda Wilson and Jeralyn planned the themed event. The Southern fare was delicious and included The Best Soup This Side of the Mississippi, Charleston Chicken Casserole, Pascagoula Peas with Pearl Onions, Jackson Jigglin Jell-O, Sister Shubert’s hmmm hmmm good Rolls, Georgia Peach Cobbler with Sweet Cream Custard and Tunica Sweet Tea. We were excited to see Michelle Williams who is off to Westminster College this fall. Southern belles for the day who enjoyed this lively afternoon included; Adrienne Glore Malaika Horne, Christina Bennett Marva Williams Joyce Price Shirley Kayira Vickie Newton Alison Nash Dula, JoAnn Adams, Sandra Murdock Bettye Reed and Kay Shaw. Last weekend’s pool party at Mar-

and

By Dana Grace Of The St. Louis

Gary Vincent and Roz Gonsalvez White-Vincent star in Spoonful of Honey Theatre’s inaugural production Pearl Bailey…By Request Friday, Aug. 26 at the Missouri History Museum.

Dana Grace

See POTPOURRI, C4

See HONEY, C4

Actress Tracy Ellis Ross has a new television series Reed Between The Lines scheduled to air on BET this fall. Ross co-stars with Malcolm Jamal Warner.

Just a few months after a visit to the Scottrade Center in April, rap star Lil Wayne played to a packed Verizon Amphitheater Sunday as his “I Am Still Music” Tour teamed up with Hot 104.1 FM for Super Jam 5. Wayne was the main attraction for an evening of hip-hop

R&B that including the likes of Lloyd, Keri Hilson, Rick Ross and The Far East Movement.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

How to place a calendar listing

1.Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican.com OR 2.Visit the calendar section on stlamerican.com and place your listing Calendar listings are free of charge, are edited for space and run on a space-available basis.

concerts

Wed., Aug. 31, 9 p.m., Freaky Muscato presents The Wine and Women Tour starring Murphy Lee, The Old Rock House. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com or call (314) 534-1111.

Tues., Sept. 6, 7:30 p.m., Santana, The Fox Theatre, For more information, visit www.metrotix.com or call (314) 534-1111.

Sat., Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m., Superstars of Soul starring El DeBarge, The Isley Brothers, Keith Sweat and After7, Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com orcall (314) 534-1111.

Sat., Sept. 17, 2 p.m. & 5 p.m., Yo Gabba Gabba, The Fox Theatre. For more information, call (314) 534-1111 or visit www.metrotix.com

local gigs

Aug. 28, A-List Band SummerNights Concert Series featuring Live Music R&B, Motown, and Jazz, Quintessential Dining & Nightlife, 149 N. Main St., St. Charles MO 63301.

Sat., Sept. 3, 6:30 p.m., (6 p.m. doors) Chuck Flowers In Concert: ATribute to Stevie Wonder, The InSpot, 5854 Delmar.

special events

Through Aug. 28, 7th annual Downtown Restaurant Week. This year, 26 of Downtown St. Louis’finest dining establishments are participating in the promotion, offering a special 3-course dinner menu for a fixed price of $25 per person,

plus tax and tip. Downtown Restaurant Week is presented by Lumiere Place Casino & Hotels, Terrazas de los Andes wines, Pearl vodka, and Stella Artois. For more information including menu choices, visit www.downtownrestaurantweek.net

Fri., Aug. 26, 9 p.m., Global Warmth: Undaground, the release soiree for “Miracle...3”, Brennans, 4659 Maryland.

Sat. August 27, 7a.m. - 7p.m., Neighborhood Flea Market, Saint Louis ConnectCare. Proceeds benefit uninsured/underinsured patients at Saint Louis ConnectCare. Space will be available to residents on the northeast parking lot at Delmar & Belt. Call Judi at (314)8796494 for details.

Sat., Aug. 27, 9 a.m. (8 a.m. registration) HIDDEN TREASURES MINISTRIES presents their1st Annual 5K Walk forthe Homeless, 8944 St. Charles Rock Rd. (directly behind St. John Municipal Center). For more information, visit www.agapefellowshipcenter.com or call 314-497-9145 OR 314-537-0687.

Saturdays through Aug. 27, Ms. Bridget’s 2011-2012 Dance YearRegistration & Open House, 11726 St. Charles Rock Rd., Ste J. For more info, call (314)291-1660 or visit http://www.msbridgets.com/

Sat., Aug. 27, 12 noon, The University City High School Alumni Association invites all University City High School (UCHS) alumni to its annual Family Picnic & Open Grill, Heman Park. The park is located at the corner of Shaftesbury and Midland in University City. For more information, visit www.uchsaa.org, call 314-290-4126 or email picnic@uchsaa.org

Sun., Aug. 28, 5 p.m., Independence Centerpres-

CALENDAR

ents Fusion 2011, Soulinfused Americana with a modern Motown twist compliments of Fresh Heir and Brothers Lazaroff Enjoy a Fusion Dinner by SqWires, Harvest, Cravings, Duffs, and The Scottish Arms and cocktails by Purus Vodka,Have the opportunity to score amazing Raffle Prizes including tickets and green room passes to Jimmy Kimmel Live. Independence Center Rooftop. For more information, visit www.independencecenter.org.

Aug. 27, 8 a.m., Mass cleanup of Washington Park Cemetery. This is definitely a community-wide effort and ALLare welcome to come and support. Please bring any tools and/or machinery that you have available. For further questions contact Kevin Bailey at Amge2009@aol.com or (314)355-6253.

Sat., Aug. 27, 8:30 a.m. (7 a.m. registration) The Little Sisters of the Poorare hosting their2nd Annual 5K Competitive Run/ 1-Mile Fun Run-Walk, Carondelet Park. All proceeds to benefit the Little Sisters of the Poor residence in north St. Louis city for the care of our needy elderly in the St. Louis metro area. Registration and info at 314421-6022 or online at www.getmeregistered.com/lit-

tlesistersofthepoor

Mon., Aug. 29, 11:30 a.m. & 6:15 p.m., Regional Arts Commission presents a free information session about Patron Manager, affordable software forsmall to medium sized arts organization, RAC, 6128 Delmar. RSVPto diane@stlrac.org.

Sept. 2 – Sept. 4, Missouri Muzic Fest, Boone County, This first ever Labor Day Weekend hip-hop and R&B music festival is hoping to attract 75,000 visitors to the three day event. Two worldrenowned DJs will spin the beats at the 2011 Missouri Muzic Festival, happening Labor Day Weekend (September 2, 3, 4) on the historic Boone County Fairgrounds at 5412 N. Oakland Grove Rd. in Columbia, Mo. www.missourimusicfest.com.

Sat., Sept. 3, 9 a.m., AAA Education is the Key to You Success PrayerBreakfast and Awards Program, All Faith Banquet Hall, 4301 State Street East St. Louis, IL 62205. $500 Scholarships awarded to two 2011 from East St. Louis Senior High,School Dist. #189. Special Awards will be presented to two Outstanding Citizens of East St. Louis, IL. Deadline

for nominations August 20, 2011 ( limit 1 page and to East St. Louis Citizens only). For more information, call 314243-3188 or 618-271-2190.

Sat., Sept. 3, 7 p.m., Come kick it with RukkaPuff, an ALLKNOWING ent and Sho Me Records production, Fucifonos, 9369 Natural Bridge.. Call 636-226-5934 for more details.

Sun., Sept. 4, 7 p.m. doors (8 p.m.) LaborDay Weekend Old Skool Party 2, at Fucifinos, 9369 Natural Bridge at 170, Hosted by Niecy Davis. Call 314-337-8087 for more information.

Sun., Sept. 4, 8 p.m., The 13 Black Katz present “Ala Blacken,” Kemoll’s at the Metropolitan Square Building (#1 Metropolitan Square).

Thurs., Sept. 15, 11:30 BMASTL’s monthly Marketing Masters Luncheon featuring keynote speakerTom Haas, CMO at Siemens Corporation, The Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel, 7730 Bonhomme Ave.,Clayton, MO, 63105.

Sat., Sept. 17, 9 a.m., Mill Creek Annual Picnic, Heman Park.

Sat., Sept. 24, 11 a.m., U City Jazz Festival, Heman Park, For more information, visit www.ucityjazzfestival.com

Sun., September11, 2 - 5 p.m., more than 3,000 people are needed to volunteerfor the 9/11 Day of Service & Remembrance. United Way of Greater St. Louis has organized dozens of projects throughout the community for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to pay tribute to those who were lost and those who rose in service. To find out about available projects and sign up, please contact United Way at www.stlremembers.orgor 314539-4296.

Thurs., Sept. 29, 6 p.m., Episcopal City Mission Gala Fundraiser“Moment in Time,” Crowne Plaza Hotel, Clayton, MO. For more information, call (314) 436-3545.

Sun., Oct. 9, 2 p.m., Our Second Act Incorporated fundraiser starring Kim Massie, the Diva of blues, soul and R& B, Coco Soul and D.J.Mr. We, Robert Probstein Golf and Tennis Club House in Forest Park. Proceeds from the fundraiser will support

scholarships for women over the age of 55. For more information, call (314) 875-9932.

comedy

Sat., Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m., Urban Vibe Entertainment presents THE COMEDY EXPLOSION featuring Earthquake, Adele Givens, Nephew Tommy, J. Anthony Brown, Tony Rock. The Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com or call (314) 534-1111.

Fri., Oct. 28, 8 p.m., Fox Concerts presents Chris Tucker, The Fox Theatre. For more information, call (314) 534-1111 or visit www.metrotix.com.

Fri., Aug. 26, 7 p.m. Natural Nights will highlight the community’s overwhelming support of the Millions March forLibya, Not Just a Book Store, 4501 Manchester Ave. (Manchester and Taylor). For more information, call (314) 725-0040.

Fri., Aug. 26, 5 p.m., Author Jamala Rogers will be signing her new book TheBest of “THE WAY I SEE IT”& other Political writings (1989-2010). Not Just a Book Store, 4501 Manchester Ave. (Manchester and Taylor). For more information, call (314) 725-0040 or visit www.notjustabookstore.net.

Sat., Aug. 27, 1 p.m., Author Lydia L. Douglas will be signing her new books “Grieving God’s Way & Finding The Right Path For You,” Not Just a Book Store, 4501 Manchester Ave. (Manchester and Taylor). For more information, call (314) 725-0040 or visit www.notjustabookstore.net.

Sat., Sept. 10, 8 p.m., Lady Brown Entertainment presents Coffee House Open Mic Night, Not Just a Book Store, 4501 Manchester Ave. (Manchester and Taylor). For more information, call (314) 725-0040 or visit www.notjustabookstore.net.

Wed., Sept. 14, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library Foundation presents Suspense Night 2011, The free event brings together seven suspense authors from across

Freaky Muscato presents The Wine and Women Tour starring Murphy Lee.For more information, see CONCERTS.

the country. St. Louis County Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. The event is in partnership with the 2011 Bouchercon Convention which will be held from September 15-18 at the Renaissance Grand Hotel. Bouchercon is an annual national convention of mystery writers and readers (www.bouchercon2011.com).

theatre

Fri., Aug. 26, 8 p.m.,

Spoonful of Honey Theatre Company presents Pearl Bailey…By Request starring Roz White – Vincent, Missouri History Museum, Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park. For more information, call 314-598-6075, e-mail lrharris@aspoonfulohoney.com or visit www.aspoonfulohoney.com.

Fri., Aug. 26 – Aug. 28, JPEK Creative Works and Dwayne Bess Group present Issues of Love starring Kendra C. Johnson, The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square.

Mon., Aug. 29, 7 p.m., Hawthorne Players auditions forHerb Gardner’s Tony Award winning play “I’m Not Rappaport,” Florissant Civic Center Theatre, Parker Road and Waterford Drive 63033. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Parts for five men and two women, including an 80year-old African-American superintendent of an apartment building. For more information visit: www.hawthorneplayers.com or e-mail: hawthorneplayers@att.net

Sept. 1 – Sept. 11, Mustard Seed Theatre’s 5th season opens with Falling, written by Artistic Director Deanna Jent, Black Box Theatre at Fontbonne University. For more information, or to make a reservation please visit www.mustardseedtheatre.com.

Sep. 9 – Sept. 25, Gitana Productions presents the orig-

inal play

Inalienable Rights: From Pearl Harbor To 911 Regional Arts Commission in the University City Loop. A panel discussion will follow the matinee performance at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 11, the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

arts

Through August 27, Mad Art Gallery proudly presents Past/Passed by Robots, an exhibit by Jeffrey Sass featuring Keith Buchholz, Mad Art Gallery.

Through August 28 PPRC Photography Project: BarnesJewish Hospital Center for Diversity & Cultural Competence, an exhibit at two locations. LOCATION 1: Through Aug. 28 at PPRC Photography Project Gallery, 427 Social Sciences and Business Building at UMSL, 1 University Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63121.

Through September4, The Gallery at The Regional Arts Commission presents Critical Mass Creative Stimulus 2011 featuring the art of Emily Hemeyer, Sarah Paulsen, Alex Petrowsky & Lyndsey Scott Curated by Sarah Colby, Opening Reception: Friday,August 5: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Gallery Talk Thursday, August 186 p.m. (reception 5:30 p.m.) The Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar Blvd.

Through Sept. 16, FormerSt. Louisian Christine Flavin’s show Where I Am Now, a photography exhibit in Gallery FAB at the University of MissouriSt. Louis. Areception will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 12 in the gallery. Gallery FAB is at 201 Fine Arts Building at Rosedale Drive and Florissant Road in St. Louis County (63121). For more information, call 314-516-6967.

Sept. 16- Sept. 18, the17th Annual MOSAICS Missouri

Festival forthe Arts, more than 110 juried and invited artists from across the state, region and country will exhibit, discuss, and sell artwork. Main Street in St. Charles. For more information on the MOSAICS Missouri Festival for the Arts, call 314-482-5476 or visit www.stcharlesmosaics.org

lectures

Through Aug. 26, Application Deadline for University of Missouri-St. Louis Bridge Program FREE Saturday Academy Program. For more information, visit 2011www.umsl.edu/~precollegiate to register. (314) 5165196 or precollegiate@umsl.edu for more info.

Dynamic Marriage Course, 8-week Marriage Enrichment Class, This 8 week, interactive, self educating course creates real and lasting change in your marital relationship. September 2011 Classes are forming. Contact 314-265-5124 for

Fri.,Aug.26, 5 p.m., Author Jamala Rogers will be signing her new book “The Best of ‘THE WAY I SEE IT’ & other Political writings” (1989-2010). See LITERARY for details.

more information.

Sat., October8, 10 a.m., the Black Alumni Council of Washington University presents “YourMind on Your Money – YourMoney on YourMind,” Alumni House Living Room, 6510 Wallace Circle.To register, call 314935-5645 or e-mail wubac@wustl.edu

health

Sat., Sept. 3, Trinity Mt. Carmel Baptist Church will host a health fairwith free health screenings, 11755 Mehl Avenue, Florissant MO 63033. Giveaways, Safety helmets for kids, raffles and free food. For more information call 314-837-7878.

Tues. Sept. 13, 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. – St. Louis Regional Health Commission 10th Anniversary Summit, The Chase Park Plaza HotelKhorassan Room. 12 Noon key note address and lunch. Free registration at http://stlouis-regional-health-

commi.ettend.com or call 314446-6454x1101.

Tues. Sept. 13, 2nd Annual Health Missouri Health Literacy Summit, “Health Literacy Tools forBuilding a Patient-Centered Health Home, Hilton Garden Inn, Columbia, Mo. Keynote speaker is Dr. Howard K. Koh, 14th assistant secretary for Health, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Registration $150 ($175 after August 15). For more information, go to http://www.healthliteracymissouri.org.

Thurs., Sept. 15, 4:30 p.m., Prostate CancerAwareness Happy Hour, Men - take charge of your health and set the date to learn about your health and your prostate! Christian Hospital Physician Office Building 2, 11125 Dunn Road Cancer Care Center Lobby. Space is limited; please call 314-747-WELLto make your reservation.

Thurs., Sept. 22, 11 a.m., OurSecond Act, Inc. presents ADay of Mind, Body and Spirit Rejuvenation, featuring inspirational message, nail care muscle therapy and more. Richmond Heights Community Center, 8001 Dale Ave. For more information, call (314) 875-9932.

Oct. 1 ,Majic 104.9 and Hallelujah 1600 present the 2nd Annual Sista Strut 3K Breast CancerWalk. Forest Park. For more information on the 2nd Annual Sista Strut 3K Breast Cancer Walk or to register online, visit www.sistastrutstl.com or www.kmjm.com. To volunteer contact Melanie Powell-Robinson, 2011 Sista Strut Committee Chair at sistastrutstl@gmail.com

Sat., Oct. 1, 9 a.m., Women’s CancerAwareness Luncheon - Bowling OverCancer, Christian Hospital Atrium, 11133 Dunn Rd. Paul F. Detrick Bldg. Please call to register. Space is limited. 314747-WELL, or 1-877-747WELL.

Sat., Aug. 27, 10 a.m., Believers Temple Word Fellowship presents “We Believe” Community Church Picnic, Castle Point Park located at 2465 Baroness Dr. St. Louis MO 63136. For more information, please contact Believers Temple Word Fellowship at 314-388-0801 or visit website at www.btwf.net

Sat., Sept. 3, 11 a.m., Church of God in Christ, Inc. Eastern Missouri First Jurisdiction Intercessary PrayerCaptain Evangelist Leverna M. O’Neal and EMFJ PrayerWarriors present The Riverside Prayer, The Gateway Arch At the Mississippi River. Sept. 10 – Sept. 25, City Hope Bible Church will be celebrating their 8th church anniversary during the entire month of September with the following events: Saturday, September 10, 2011, free benefit concert outside from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the church. Week of September 12, 2011, the church is having a Good News Club from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for children ages 5 to 12 (all ages are welcome) at the church to provide age appropriate Bible lessons, creative learning activities, inspiring missionary stories, meaningful songs, and life-changing Scripture memorization. The week will end on Friday, September 16th with an Award Ceremony and Fun Day. Saturday, September 24, 2011, the church is hosting a Women’s Workshop on How to study the Bible for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with lunch provided.Sunday, September 25, 2011, City Hope Bible Church is celebrating the church’s 8th Anniversary with Rev. Jim Smith as the Guest Speaker. City Hope Bible Church, 5868 West Florissant Avenue.

Two jams for Miles

Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) is being remembered by BBs Jazz, Blues & Soups, WSIE Jazz 88.7-FM and the Miles Davis Festival.

Miles Davis Festival

Aug. 29 and Sept. 19

American staff

BBs Jazz, Blues & Soups and WSIE Jazz 88.7-FM is honoring legendary jazz composer and bandleader Miles Davis with two jam sessions to celebrate the Miles Davis Festival’s 85th birthday tribute to East St. Louis’ native son: on Monday, August 29 and Monday, September 19. Delano’s Redmond’s new crop of young lions are calling themselves Miles to Go Jazztet. Jamming with this young group are three jazz veterans and mentors: saxophonist Willie Akins, trumpeter Anthony Wiggins and Adaron Jackson on piano.

Award winning multimedia artist Edna Patterson Petty will exhibit her latest work and poet Darlene Roy (president of the Eugene B. Redmond’s Writers Club, who is celebrating its 25th anniversary) will co-host with vocalist Alyia Coates.

“Working with East St. Louis and St. Louis’ young and brightest student musicians over the past few months has given me a lot of pleasure says Deborah Granger, producer of the St. Louis/E. St. Louis Miles

at BBs

Davis Festival. “I am happy to reach back to help the young people in the area where Miles Davis and I grew up.”

Miles Davis was born in Alton and grew up in E. St. Louis.He played his irst gig in St. Louis. He has sold the #1 album in the history of jazz –– still today –– and changed the direction of music at least ive times in his career.

In 1982 Miles Davis returned to East St. Louis with then-wife Cicely Tyson for the dedication of the Miles Davis Elementary School. Poet Eugene B. Redmond recalls this being “a big deal for our community.”

The Miles Davis Festival will feature Delano Redmond’s “Miles To Go” Jazztet. Players include young trumpeter Brady Lewis; Carlos Brown Jr., on sax; Everette Benton, drums; Marvin Cooper, bass; Garrell Lewis, tenor sax; Javier Staples, trombone; and Kayla Coates on drums.

“From where I sit,” Granger said, “I am beginning to see why people from all over the country are stepping up to mentor this new talent.”

For more information, visit http://milesdavisfestival.com.

POTPOURRI

Continued from C1

vin T’s was a big success but partygoers Atty. Jerryl Christmas and Atty. Stacey Hancock Cross say they are planning a repeat performance because the rain cramped their swimming for a couple of hours!

A few St. Louisans enjoying the poolside festivities included Hope Whitehead Inez Ross Soda Lo, Mike Cross, Keith Williamson, Michelle McMahon Jackie Christmas Rochelle Woodiest, Alyson Singield and Annette Slack Jerryl Christmas is excited about his new ofice suite located in Olivette. Shared with longtime friends and fellow attorneys Inez Ross, Joan Miller, Mary Monroe and Hope Whitehead, Jerryl wants everyone to stop by to see the new ofice located at 9668 Olive St. Rd This popping location also houses Cathy Hughes’ local Radio One stations Foxy 95.5 and Hot 104.1 More literary news from Gail and Wendell Allmon. Daughter Wendi Allmon Duplessis and Granddaughter Remmi Duplessis are featured on pages 40 and 44 in the September 2011 issue of Essence Magazine. The Mother-Daughter duo is

HONEY

Continued from C1

healing. It makes its theatrical debut on Friday, Aug. 26 with Pearl Bailey…By Request at the Missouri History Museum.

The production pays tribute to the late singer/actress/ comedienne and stars her good friends, husband and wife acting team Gary Vincent and Roz Gonsalvez White-Vincent.

“I’ve been really good friends with Roz and Gary since we did the irst Tell Me Something Good at the Black Rep back in 1997,” Harris said.

“I believe so much in Roz. I know her singing, and I know that she and Gary are just phenomenal together. Roz is Pearl Bailey while telling her story in between the songs, with these wonderful punchlines while singing the songs. She interacts with the audience and the band. It’s really fun. This is the perfect show for my irst season.”

Harris is an accomplished singer and actress in her own right. She enjoyed an extended run as a three-time winner of the legendary Showtime at the Apollo’s Amateur Night, where her lone backstage request was – you guessed it – a spoonful of honey.

“It would coat my throat, and I would go on to win,” Harris

said.

She said it was through her healing that her true purpose was revealed.

“I felt like it was it was another chance and a lesson,” she said.

“You have something to offer, and you could have been taken out without sharing. I feel the responsibility. My main mission is to die empty. People out here are waiting and are hungry for the gift we have inside of us.”

The idea to form her own company began with a seed planted by another St. Louis theater’s artistic director.

“Deanna Jent, who is a pro-

fessor at Fontbonne and director of Mustard Seed Theatre, had us become the artistic director of our own theater as a class project,” Harris said. “Spoonful of Honey went on to become my thesis.”

Harris went on to teach drama at Jennings High School and fell in love with the process, but longed for more.

“I thought, ‘If I can’t invest in myself, then who will?’” Harris said.

So she walked away from her teaching career and her singing and acting career to focus on her theater full-time.

n “Some of us can’t leave. That doesn’t mean we aren’t good . So I’ve always wanted to create something where we don’t have to leave.”

“My thing is to push and to get all of those people who always wanted to perform,” Harris said. “I want to create a new era of creativity in the area. Some of us can’t leave. That doesn’t mean we aren’t good . So I’ve always wanted to create something where we don’t have to leave.”

A Spoonful of Honey’s production of Pearl Bailey… By Request will be presented on Friday, Aug. 26 at 8 p.m. at the Missouri History Museum, Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www. aspoonfulohoney.com or call (877) 422-9529.

Wendi Allmon Duplessis, daughter of Gail and Wendell Allmon, is featured in the September 2011 issue of Essence Magazine

– Lisa Harris

Roz Gonsalvez White-Vincent

This Week in Black History

August 27

1963 – African American activist and intellectual giant

W.E.B. DuBois dies in Accra, Ghana at the age of 95. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, DuBois was one of the most dominant figures in the African American struggle against racial oppression for nearly 40 years. He helped found the Niagara Movement (precursor to the NAACP) in 1906 and helped organize the first Pan African Conference in London.

1975 – Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie dies at the age of 83. He had worked to modernize the East African nation and rescue his land from foreign white control. Forced to flee Ethiopia when the Italians invaded in 1936, he would later return to lead a resistance movement which freed the country from European domination in 1941. Selassie traced his heritage all the back to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of the Christian Bible. Many Blacks worldwide considered him a holy figure. Indeed, the Rastafarian religion gets its name from his original name Ras Tafari Makonnen. Selassie’s full title was “His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and elect of God.”

August 28

1955 – The body of Emmett Till is recovered from the Tallahatchie River near Money, Mississippi. The 14-year-old Chicago native had been kidnapped, tortured and murdered the previous day for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Till’s savage death became a rallying cry for the early Civil Rights Movement. Justice was never done in the case, however. The two white men responsible for his death were found not guilty by an all-white Mississippi jury. But both men – Ron Bryant and J.W. Milam – a few months later would brag in an interview with Look magazine

1963 – The historic March on Washington for Black rights takes place. It was the largest civil rights demonstration in American history drawing people from throughout the nation to Washington, D.C. It was at this march that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

August 29

1920 – Jazz legend Charlie “Yardbird” Parker was born on this day in Kansas City, Missouri. The saxophonist and composer was one of the leading and most influential figures of the Jazz Age.

1958 – Michael Jackson is born on this day in Gary, Indiana. The “King of Pop” was the seventh of nine children. He died June 25, 2009 apparently after being given a powerful drug to enable him to sleep.

August 30

1800 – The Gabriel Prosserled slave rebellion is stopped before it can start because of bad weather and betrayal by two slaves who told their white masters of the impending revolt. Gabriel had me-

ticulously planned the rebellion and organized an estimated 1,000 slaves to participate in an attack on Richmond, Virginia. One historian described the 24-year-old, 6’3” rebel as “a fellow of courage and intellect above his rank in life.” After the betrayal, Gabriel and 15 of his co-conspirators were hanged on October 10, 1800. Note: Most history texts refer to him as Gabriel Prosser but although he was a slave of Tomas Prosser there is no indication that he ever used “Prosser” as his last name.

1838 – The first African American owned magazine – Mirror of Freedom – begins publication on this day in New York City.

1966 – Prominent civil rights attorney Constance Baker Motley is confirmed to the U.S. District Court in New York. She thus became the first African American female to hold a seat on the federal bench. Baker-Motley had participated in the historic Brown v. Board of Education case which led to the desegregation of the nation’s schools. She was also an advisor to civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. BakerMotley died in September 2005.

August 31

1935 – Frank Robinson, the first African American to manage a major league baseball team, was born on this day in Beaumont, Texas. Robinson became player-manager of the Cleveland Indians in 1975. He kept the job for about a year. He became manager of the San Francisco Giants in 1980.

2002 – Jazz great Lionel Hampton died on this day at the age of 94. Hampton gained international fame as a “big band” leader and for his amazing abilities playing the vibraphone.

Taylor Media Services - SirajT12@yahoo.com - 202-6578872

Take a hike or bike, St. Louis

STL landmarks are stops on miles of area trails

With the 100 degree heat behind us (hopefully) now is a great time to service your bike or buy a new pair of walking shoes to tackle one of many St. Louis area trails. Outdoor lovers seeking an active getaway will find plenty of picturesque spots to explore in the Gateway City. Here’s a few suggestions for you.

Within the national park surrounding the 630-foot-high Gateway Arch, walking and jogging enthusiasts can amble along a 1-mile, 1.5-mile or 1.7-mile tree-lined, paved path. The eastern boundary of the longest route is along the mighty Mississippi River; the western edge borders the skyline of St. Louis’ downtown business district. The walkways pass through green space and along reflecting ponds and provide a close-up look at the Arch, a celebration in stainless steel that honors the explorers and pathfinders who played a part in the nation’s westward expansion.

Maps showing the location and distance of each course are available at the Arch information center, at concierge desks at many downtown hotels and at the Arch bike rental kiosk located near the Gateway Arch Riverboat Cruises dock.

Hikers and cyclists will find happy trails on the Confluence Greenway, a 200-mile riverside park network of biking and hiking trails that includes the Riverfront Trail, an 11-mile paved recreational greenway that begins in just north of the Gateway Arch at Lenore K. Sullivan and Biddle Streets at the old Laclede Power building on Laclede’s Landing. The trail parallels the Mississippi River and ends 10 miles north at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.

Now open only to pedestrians and cyclists daily from sunrise to sunset, the Chain of Rocks Bridge roadway was the portion of historic Route 66 that linked Illinois to Missouri. The bridge offers breathtaking views of the Mississippi River and is a perfect place to spot bald eagles during late winter/early spring.

City Cycling Tours conducts daily guided, narrated, leisurely paced bicycle tours of Forest Park. The 2.5 to 3-hour-long program covers a 12-mile route with 20 stops that describe the history of the park, architectural and natural features and background on the cultural

Hikers and cyclists will find happy trails on the Confluence Greenway, a 200-mile riverside park network of biking and hiking trails that includes the Riverfront Trail, an 11-mile paved recreational greenway that begins in just north of the Gateway Arch at Lenore K. Sullivan and Biddle Streets at the old Laclede Power building on Laclede’s Landing

institutions that call the park home. Helmets are provided and there is a wide-range of comfortable bike frame sizes available. Start times are flexible and group rates are available. Call 314-616-5724 for reservations.

For those who wish to explore the park and surrounding neighborhoods on their own, bike rentals are available at Big Shark Bicycle Company. It’s located just minutes from Forest Park at 6178 Delmar in The Loop neighborhood.

A fine place to walk is Tower Grove Park adjacent to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Tower Grove, established by Garden founder Henry Shaw, is considered the finest example of a Victorian walking park left in the United States today. Visitors can stroll on tree-lined paths which gently curve past statues, fountains, an octagonal bandstand with a curving cupola roof and the whimsical gazebos that dot the park.

Grant’s Trail in south St. Louis County is a very popular six-mile trail that connects parks, residential area and schools. The trail goes past Grant’s Farm and the White Haven Historical Site, the former home of President Ulysses S. Grant after whom the trail is named, and along wetlands, a pond and an ecological facility.

Just north of St. Louis is the start of the 185-mile Katy Trail, the nation’s longest rails-to-trails project. Named for the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad line –nicknamed Katy – the flat, crushed limestone gravel path is perfect for bikers or hikers of all ages and ability levels as the grade never exceeds 5 percent. Bicycle rental services are located at trailheads of the 8-foot-wide, wheelchair accessible trail. To learn more about St. Louis area trails, log onto www.explorestlouis.com

St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission

W.E.B DuBois

Birthdays!

Carlton

Latosha

Bridgette Simpson — August 24

Anisah Hassan — August 24

Vera Spears — August 24

Ashley Henderson (22) — August 25

Mary Buckley–August 30

Sharon Clayton (63) — August 29

~ CELEBRATIONS ~

Anniversary Johnsons celebrate golden anniversary

Charley and O.J. Johnson celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a vow renewal celebration on August 12, 2011 at Norwood Hills Country Club. They were surrounded with family and friends from St. Louis, Atlanta, Long Grove, IL, Lee’s Summit and Chicago. The vows were officiated by their pastor, Rev. Brenda Hayes, of St. Peter AME Church.Thank God for50 years!

Wedding anniversaries:

Betty & Jack Thompson 52 Years August 30

Claudette & Morris Carson 7 Years August 25

Beaumont High School Class of 1966 will have their 45-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-16, 2011.Friday night - Meet & Greet; Saturday night - Dinner Dance and Sunday morningBrunch.All events will be held at TheSt. Louis Airport Renaissance Hotel.Please contact Josh Beeks 314-3030791 or Evelyn Wright- 314479-7674.

Farragut/Beaumont Neighborhood Reunion Committee is having a picnic atFarrgut School Yard. If you grew up in the neighborhood or went to Farragut or Beaumont you are more than welcome to attend. Farragut School: corner of Ashland and Clay, Sept. 10, 2011, Noon until8 p.m. For more information call: Sylvia Boyd at 314327-8330.

Harris-Stowe State University is calling on the classes of 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011, with the class of 1961 being the “Golden Class,” for its 50-year reunion at the annual Gold Gala in October.If you or anyone you know is a member of any of these graduating classes and would like to participate, please contact the HarrisStowe Office of Alumni Affairs at (314) 340-3390 or alumni@hssu.edu.

Northwest Class of 1981 30th reunion, Oct. 7-9, 2011, Hilton St Louis Airport, 10330 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63134, 314-4265500, $75 per person/$140 for couples, $79 king/ $84 queen double, money order or cash only please.Payable to: Northwest Class of 81 Reunion. For information contact: Annette Irving at 314640-1193, Karen NealCinningham at 314-477-5435, Donna McRae at 314-3692748 or Sharon Scott at 314484-7067.

Old Neighborhood Reunion, Inc. Street Festival “A Decade of Caring” Saturday, Sept. 17, 12-6 pm, 2700 block of Howard Street. Greet old

friends and neighbors, hot dogs, soda, attendance prizes, entertainment.

Soldan High School Class of 1962 is in the process of planning our 50th class reunion for the second weekend in August of 2012. We are calling all classmates to come and celebrate this momentous occasion. Your contact information is urgently needed. Please call Bobbie Brooks at 314-8389207 or Hiram Wilkens at 314803-5580. You may email Sam Harris at harrissam@hotmail.com

Soldan International Studies High School Class of 2002 is preparing for its 10-year reunion in 2012. We need your contact information to complete our class directory. Please email your information including mailing and email address to soldanclassof2002@yahoo.com. For more information please contact Denise Cobbs at 314-3231228 or email: denisecobbs83@yahoo.com. Please join our Soldan Class of 2002 group on Facebook.

SumnerAlumni, 46-51, Annual Fall Festival, Sun., Sept. 11, 2011, at the Savoy Banquet Center, 119 S. Florissant Rd., from 3-7:00

p.m. There’ll be bingo, karaoke, trivia, bid whist, bridge, bonanza and more; game prizes, too. For more information, contact Pauline Wolfe, 314-869-2847 or Althea Jackson, 314,383-3601.

SumnerHigh School Class of 1987 is looking for all classmates interested in celebrating our 25-year reunion. We are in the process of planning. Your contact information is needed ASAP. Please emailyour information to:sumnerco1987@gmail.com

Vashon and O’Fallon Branch Graduates of 1966, 45th Class Reunion Dinner/Dance Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011, 5:30 p.m. to midnight, Embassy Suites/Airport, 11237 Lone Eagle Drive, Bridgeton, MO 63044.Meet and Greet,

Friday, Sept. 30, 2011, Cypress Village Apts Club House, 11324 Hi-Tower Drive, St. Ann, MO 63074, 7 p.m. – midnight, admission $5. Baccalaureate Service, Sunday, October 2, 2011, Mercy Seat Baptist Church, 4424 Washington, St. Louis, MO 63108 beginning at 3:30. For more information contact: Marilyn at 314-438-8338, Betty at 314-524-3324 or e-mail us at vashonclassof1966@yahoo.com

Vashon Home Coming Football Game Vashon vs. Sumner at Sumner High School, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011 at 1:30pm. We need all former football players, cheerleaders, band members, majorettes, spirit squad, pom-pon, all students, andall staffof Vashon High School to come out to support our football players. ForT-Shirts contact, Coach Reginald Ferguson 314-533-9487.

Do you have a celebration you’re proud of? If so we would like to share your good news with our readers. Whether it’s a birth, graduation, wedding, engagement announcement, anniversary, retirement or birthday, send your photos and a brief announcement (50 words or less) to us and we may include it in our paper and website – AT NO COST – as space is available Photos will not be returned. Send your announcements to: kdaniel@stlamerican. com or mail to: St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 4242 Lindell Ave St. Louis, MO 63108 FREE OF CHARGE

Reunion notices are free of charge and based on space availability. We prefer that notices be emailed to us! However, notices may also be sent by mail to: Kate Daniel, 4242 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108. Deadline is 10 a.m. on Friday.

If you’d like your class to be featured in a reunion profile, email or mail photos to us. Our email address is: reunions@ stlamerican.com

Photos by Carl Bruce & Kent Epps

Grandmother Lillie Curry.

included the lighting of the unity candle and jumping of the broom. The reception program followed in the masterfully decorated ballroom. It began with the introduction of the bridal party, the bride and groom, the couple’s irst dance, the cutting of the cake, father /daughter dance, mother/son dance, toast to the bride and groom (and yes, her father cried), the blessing, dinner and then dancing to the tunes of DJ Stan Richardson III In addition to the bride and groom’s parents, the Honor Party included Tiara’s Grandparents Ruthie Gibson and Winston and Bettye Reese, Tiara’s Aunt and Uncle Robin (Anthem BC/BS) and James Walker (SLAA) and Terrence’s

Members of the Wedding Party were Maid of Honor Marquita Roberson, Matron of Honor Darletta Stagge and Bridesmaids Dayonne Williams Richelle Reese Kayla Thomas, Erica Shaw, Kelli Nicholson Jittaun Curry Latoya Anthony, Best Man Michael Tillman Groomsmen Gary Anthony Cliff Young Brandon Barnes, Justin Gage (Tennessee Titans), Deon Devers Taurean Rollins and Terry Wright

The wedding planners Charlotte Clay and Gabrielle Davis had everything on point during this top-notch affair. Tiara and Terrence met by chance in June 1999 at a mutual friend’s grandmother’s home. Tiara was with her uncle who introduced her to Terrence. Terrence was off to college to play football. They tried a long-distance relationship for a couple of years. Distance was a

problem and education a priority for both; they eventually decided to be buddies.

Tiara says she received an email from Terrence on January 16, 2010 asking her to go out on a date. She accepted, and the rest is history. Terrence proposed on June 17, 2010. Tiara and Terrence gave birth to a son, Terrence Jr. on January 8, 2011. Tiara believes Terrence was God-sent. She always prayed for a husband who adored her like her dad does her mom. Tiara says Terrence is a blessing to her, their son and her daughter Chloee Holland and their extended family and friends.

I asked Tiara if she had any words of wisdom, and she wants everyone to know she believes “God always answers prayers.”

Tiara and Terrence will live in St. Louis.

Local ilm to screen at London festival

Playwright Farwell, director Coker travel to attend

American staff

St. Louis playwright Mario Farwell and screenwriter/director Niyi Coker, a professor at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, will be attending the screening of Pennies for the Boatman at the “I Will Tell” Film International Festival in London, England on September 2. Pennies for the Boatman was written for the screen and directed by Coker, based on Farwell’s award-winning play The Seamstress of St. Francis Street Set in North St. Louis during the summer of 1958, Pennies for the Boatman offers a dual proile of Helen, a stolid African-American seamstress, and Camilla, the tempestuous prodigal sister who roars back into town like a force of nature. The storm stirred up by Camila’s unexpected arrival unearths long-buried family secrets. James Abernathy Jr. is director of photography, and Rebecka Jackson-Moeser edited the ilm. Coker, Abernathy and Michael Murray were producers, and the late E. Desmond Lee, John Hylton, Marcel Bechtoldt and Nasser Arshadi were executive producers. The Seamstress of St. Francis Street won the inaugural E. Desmond Lee Playwriting Competition in 2008. Coker is the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of African /AfricanAmerican Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Bride Tiara with her parents, Pamela and David Reese.

Below: Guests dancing at the reception

Left: The lower girl and a bridesmaid enjoy the celebration

Front: Chloee Holland. Back row: Pamela Reese, Tiara and Terrence Curry, David Reese

Above: TJ and Chloee

Mario Farwell

Niyi Coker

RELIGION

Sociologist studies impact of education on religion

Educated congregations mean less literal interpretation of scripture

Special to The American

Regardless of a person’s educational background, he or she is less likely to approach the Bible in a literal word-forword fashion when surrounded by a greater number of church members who went to college, according to a Baylor University sociologist.

“When you go to Sunday school and everyone is talking about the cultural and historical background of a passage and its literary genre – a way of reading often learned in college – it’s likely to rub off on you,” said Samuel Stroope, a Baylor doctoral student, in an award-winning research paper.

Using national data from 387 congregations and more than 100,000 worshippers, he explored the interplay between church members’ educational backgrounds. His paper will appear in the journal Social Science Research in the fall.

The article, titled “Education and Religion: Individual, Congregational, and Cross-Level Interaction Effects on Biblical Literalism,” was chosen by the Association for the Sociology of Religion for its Robert J. McNamara Award for Outstanding Student Paper.

Stroope said his research illustrates the power of the social inluences inside congregations in shaping how people read Scripture. His motivation to explore the topic came from research literature showing a strong relationship between how much education people complete and how they view the Bible. But no one had explored whether fellow worshippers’ education might also play an important role, he said.

The data Stroope used came from the

U.S. Congregational Life Survey, a large and uniquely structured survey of churches and their members ielded in 2001.

Stroope presented the paper on Aug. 20 at the Association for the Sociology of Religion’s annual conference in Las Vegas.

The chair of the committee reviewing student research praised the “strong social structural component to the analysis.”

The paper “moves beyond description in an attempt to explain social phenomena,” said Dr. Rachel Kraus, associate professor of sociology at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

Christ Deliverance Ministry provides food supplies

Christ Deliverance Ministry is in their 14 year of providing free school supplies for inner-city youth in their Annual Back 2 School Rally/Health Fair. In recent years they have been able to provide free school supplies to over 500 area youth. This year’s fair was held August 14.

Christ Deliverance Ministry is a holistic church. Vendors provide free health screening, beauty tips, poisoning prevention, cancer awareness, chiropractors, parale-

Samuel Stroope, a Baylor University doctoral student, used national data from 387 congregations and more than 100,000 worshippers to explore the interplay between church members’ educational backgrounds. His article is titled “Education and Religion: Individual, Congregational, and CrossLevel Interaction Effects on Biblical Literalism.”

gals, nursing home assistance and dental information at its events. This year a barber and beautician were available for kids and youths.

Our guest speaker for this year’s rally was Sultan Muhammad. His endeavor is to spread the word to many youth and adults through his handbook entitled My Transformation from the Gang Mentality as well as through his weekly gang violent prevention education workshops. Muhammad is a father, mentor as well as a positive role model majoring in psychology.

Christ Deliverance Ministry is located at 725 Goodfellow Blvd. For more information, call 314.361.0065. Overseer Tommie C. Ringo is the senior pastor and Cynthia Ringo is the pastor.

Back-to-School Gospel Skate

New Jerusalem Temple Church of God (8204 Page Blvd., Vinita Park, MO 63130) will host a Back-to-School Gospel Skate

5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, August 27 at the St. Louis Skatium located at 120 E. Catalan Ave. at the corner of E. Catalan and S. Broadway Ave. in South St. Louis. Tickets are $5 and include skate rental.

Leave doubt behind

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. (Romans 4:20)

God has so many promises in store for you. For all the promises of God in Him are yes and in Him amen to the glory of God through us (2 Corinthians 1:20).

The only way you will receive what God has in store for you is by faith. In God’s Kingdom we must believe before we receive anything from the LORD, this is the process of faith.

Jesus dealt with this very thing in John 20:29 when He corrected one of His disciples. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you believe: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

God is very merciful and forgiving but He has very low tolerance for doubt and unbelief. If you stop right now and take a good look back over your life and all the many things God has performed for you and all the times He showed up and showed out on your behalf, doubt would not stand a chance.

The problem is that most of us tend to forget so quickly how much God has already done for us. We allow our situations and circumstances to cause us to lose focus on the faithfulness of God.

In the Book of Exodus the children of Israel were guilty of this very thing. Between

the big miraculous deliverance from Exodus and the command to enter the promised land in the Book of Numbers, 10 of the 12 Israelites had totally lost their conidence and trust in God’s mighty Hand because they began walking by sight and not by faith. In Numbers 13-14 they took one look at the prosperity of the land and tried to igure out how they could take possession of it instead of allowing God to fulill His word to them.

Joy Blair

And when they could not see themselves with the promises of God, they focused on all the obstacles while making excuses for why it was impossible for them to walk in their divine path chosen for them. They saw their enemies as giants and themselves as grasshoppers.

God’s purpose for taking them through the wilderness was to work wonders among them before their eyes. God did not want them to get to their dreams and allow some giant to cause them to doubt His promises. And the same for us today we must trust that God will never leave us nor forsake us even in our wilderness. If you murmur or complain about your situation, then it’s obvious that you do not trust or believe God for victory. Stop complaining and start training your mouth to speak God’s word until you see your manifestation.

Send your Message column (no more than 500 words) as a Word document and pasted text to cking@stlamerican. com and attach a photo of yourself as a jpeg ile. Please be patient; we will run columns in the order received.

Celebrity Swagger Snap of the Week

R&B starlet Keri Hilson was on tap once again for Super Jam. The “Pretty Girl Rock” singer returned to St. Louis with Lil’ Wayne, Rick Ross and Lloyd. She was eager to get up close and personal with fans like Kenneth McCowan during a pre-show meet and greet Sunday at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

Salute sip. I just wanted to keep the bug in y’all’s ear that the hottest gala in the galaxy is on its way! The St. Louis American Foundation’s 24th Annual Salute to Excellence in Education is goin’down on September 16th at America’s Center. So, be mindful of the summer barbecue you consume because it just might make the difference between you belle of the ball and bustin’ up out of your gown on the dance loor once the Dirty Mugs get things crackin’ at the oficial afterparty. I’m excited and hungry and countin’down the days until I debut my Kris Jenner mother of the bride gown tribute!

More summer soul. This month’s Café Soul rolled in deep like Adele’s teaand-crumpeted shape rolls onto concert stages. When I carelessly drifted into The Loft last Friday, I expected a full-on soulful extravaganza. Luckily, the lineup gave me just that. I was welcomed to a lashback of my lovely time at the Anita Baker tribute last month by Ife Jacobs who served the crowd with Baker’s “Rapture.” The highlight of the night for me was one who could have easily be fooled as Miguel’s cousin from Highcheekboneville, GAthat offered the second helping of Prince’s “Purple Rain” that night. Reminiscent of Randy Watson’s “Greatest Love of All” scene from “Coming to America” sans Soul Glow jheri curl, ole boy gave a serenade of all serenades. What was funny is that he professed that he was a bit hoarse and to bear with him… yet he immediately lapsed into a bay at the moon. As this former American Idol hopeful skipped from the stage to the loor to give the gift of wail to a girl’s face, I quietly gasped. This is the stuff that deinitely makes Café Soul the one stop shop for memorable moments. Tales of the Beleaguered Shape. Unfortunately, the beleaguered shape in this tale would be mine as I attempted to make my way down to the beneit show at The Pageant featuring Monica and Nelly with the St. Lunatics. Having exchanged phone calls and text messages with multiple people behind this event, I was assured that I would have no problem getting in. Well clearly this was a lie that was laid like Trina’s disobedient lace front hair line. First of all, I have to tell you that I made two trips down there to the box ofice. Because I knew the organizers of the show may have been in complete disarray (which is usually the case with most), I was prepared to just go ahead and pay my own way in. Much to my dismay, there were no tickets to be sold the day of the event. Flustered, I decided to wait for members of team behind the show to arrive and let them know the trouble that I was havin’. I was told to just give the box ofice my credentials and I would immediately gain access in. Lies! When the box ofice staff saw my shape walk back in, I’m sure they thought I was just some random that was pressed to be on Nelly’s jock. As I unfurled my name and even went as far as showing a press badge, there wasn’t enough notepads, sticky notes, or Morse code to be deciphered that would have my name on it to get in. At this point, I was completely over it. To me, a good handler would have physically made sure that press was handled properly but I suppose inding a good seat and drink all the while takin’as many BFree Paparazzi pictures as possible were higher on the priority list. (side-eye)

Glow: A FreeTime & 1st Fridays Production. Things fared much better when I left a trail of smoke and hit it down to Mike Shannon’s for 1st Fridays and FreeTime’s Glow party. Luckily for me, this was an event that I was gladly welcomed into! (who knew?!)Anice night was picked for this outside venture as everyone showed up with the brightest outit they could muster. Neon translucent overhead lights with lit-up color-coated drinks were a nice touch.Although many of the ladies were lookin’nice in their bold coloring choices, others needed to go back to the drawing board. One decided to take a cue from Elvira mistress of the dark and throw on a sheer black overcoat that seemed more appropriate for the bedroom than a night on the town. Another looked like she was auditioning for the Kinloch revival of Dreamgirls as she threw on a sparkling pink Supreme’s dress stolen right out of Mary Wilson’s closet. All in all, this was a nice affair to be had by all.

Weezy F. Baby: The Rapping Repeat. To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to the Lil Wayne show at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Sunday. Considering that the miniature rapper was just here only a few months ago, I wasn’t expectin’him to really serve me with anything different than he did before. With that sentiment, he didn’t disappoint. Now don’t get me wrong, I like me some Weezy as much as the rest of Labadie Street, but it would have been nice if he presented something more than the same EVERYTHING. Also, if I could be frank (would you have it any other way?) that Shanell girl that Wayne has been tryin’ to shove down our throats lately really needs to take the nearest seat. I’m not knockin’her ‘cause she seemingly has a good voice, but I feel her placement in the middle of Wayne’s show is ill advised and so is that terrible toilet chain jump rope she has hanging from her nose.As soon as she hits the stage, everyone collectively takes their seats (think of Michelle of Destiny’s Child doing a solo). But other than that, I wasn’t extremely upset with Wayne’s showin’ as he went H.A.M on some songs like “I’m Goin In,” “Go DJ,” and “6 Foot 7 Foot.” As for the openers… Lloyd: a reminder that just because you are all of 4ft 5, doesn’t mean you can’t be a star, especially if you can whine the house down; Keri Hilson: the most tired girl on the block…..not even a whole compact of Maybelline and Cover Girl could hide that fact; Rick Ross: please keep the shirt down. The stomach tumor/octomom at third trimester look has never been what’s hot in the summer.

Window Seat. Them 13 Black Katz are at it once again, with their upcomin’ Window Seat ala Blacken, September 4th. The event will go down from 8pm2am at the Metropolitan Square Building downtown. DJ Nune will be takin’ on Lamar Harris at the Top of the Met (42nd loor) while DJ Big Hurt will be crushin’ the dance grooves at Kemoll’s on the 40th loor. Don’t forget your “Blacken”

attire.

Shaunice, winner of Hot 104.1’s Pretty Girl Swag Contest, strikes a pose with R&B Heartthrob Lloyd before Superjam 5 Sunday @ Verizon Wireless

Nicole and Dervon caught some great performances Friday night @ Cafe Soul @ The Loft

Gospel star Yolanda Adams with STL funnyman Arvin Mitchell @ Missouri Black Expo @ America’s Center Photo by Maurice Meredith

Nicci Roach and soul sensation Bilal @ Vanita Applebum’s Suite Soul Spot Wednesday @ The Old Rock House

State Representative Chris Carter III with popular

and radio personality Free Saturday @ Missouri Black Expo

Kenitoria,Shelly and Jossie were on deck to kick it with Derrty Ent. Friday night @ The Broadway

BrittanyandTonya’sprettyfacesshineSaturday

Glow @ Mike Shannon’s Outfield

Marvin F. Cockerll and Focus serving up their red hot funk @ Saturday night @ Jazz at the Bistro

Missouri Black Expo’s Tom Bailey with R&B Singer Johnny Gill @ The MBE Mainstage @ America’s Center Photo by Maurice Meredith

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

. LOUIS AMERICAN

Special to The American

On July 7, The Reid Scholarship Foundation (RSF) held its 2011 Scholarship Reception at the 100 Black Men Building in Saint Louis. Scholarships were awarded to seven outstanding AfricanAmerican men who will enter college this fall:

• Sam BrownUniversity City High School,

• Lee FuquaHazelwood West High School,

• DaWon BakerHazelwood East High School,

• Donathan WaltersCardinal Ritter High School,

• Jibri RobinsonCardinal Ritter High School,

• Hezekiah McCaskillParkway North High School

• Jarrod DoyleMcCluer North High School.

Seven young black men receive college scholarships

The Reid Scholarship Foundation recently awarded scholarships to Sam BrownUniversity City High School;Lee Fuqua- Hazelwood West High School;DaWon BakerHazelwood East High School;Donathan Walters- Cardinal Ritter High School;Jibri Robinson- Cardinal Ritter High School;Hezekiah McCaskill- Parkway North High School;and Jarrod Doyle- McCluer North High School at the 100 Black Men Building in Saint Louis.

The Reid Scholarship Foundation is a non for profit 501 (c) (3) organization, which was founded in direct response to the growing number of African American males not attending/graduating from college. The Foundation provides financial assistance towards education advancement opportunities for African-American males, and empowers its scholarship recipients to become leaders in the community and catalyst for social change.

2011 RSF Scholarship recipients seated from left to right:Sam Brown,Lee Fuqua, DaWon Baker,Donathan Walters,Jibri Robinson,Hezekiah McCaskill,and Jarrod Doyle.

2011 RSF Board Members standing from left to right:Ebony Tidwell,Selena Eunice Washington,Aisha White,DeMarco Davidson,April Warren-Grice,and Misha Sampson. RSF Board Members Not Pictured:Sabrina Baldwin,Ebony Ingram,Ada Johnson,and Monica Perry.

Nelly plays benefit for Vatterott College Scholarship Fund

One of the most celebrated musicians to come from St. Louis will be on stage giving a benefit concert to help raise funds for the Vatterott College Scholarship Fund. Nelly, a two-time Grammy Award winning artist and hip hop sensation, will perform at The Pageant August 20, 2011, starting at 7pm. Joining Nelly will be Grammy Award winning R & B artist and actress, Monica. Born Cornell Haynes in Texas, Nelly grew up in St. Louis and maintains a strong connection to the community. “I see myself in the students of Vatterott. Just as I reached my goals, I want to help them reach theirs. I am happy to help those who are trying to help themselves.”

Founded in 2010, the Vatterott College Scholarship Fund is used to offer support to high achieving students that otherwise might not be able to benefit from Vatterott or L’Ecole Culinaire training and education. To qualify, students must demonstrate financial need, have an excellent attendance

history, a high grade point average, and have completed at least two terms of a Vatterott program. All proceeds raised by this event will be used to provide scholarships to qualified student applicants from Vatterott College or L’Ecole Culinaire in St. Louis.

“Having an artist of Nelly’s caliber show such commitment to our students is a great honor for us. His commitment to education is evident,” said Pam Bell, Chief Executive Officer and President of Vatterott Educational Centers, Inc. “We’re proud to partner with one of St. Louis’most talented entertainers to help our students attain their educational goals.”

Sponsorship packages including tickets to the concert are currently being offered to businesses and organizations. Alimited number of individual tickets are on sale. Inquiries may be sent to tickets@vatterott.edu <mailto:tickets@vatterott.edu > or by calling 314-2641852. For event information, please visit http://vatterottcollege.edu/nelly.asp.