June 6th, 2019 Edition

St. LouiS AmericAn

Ethical Society of Police calls for firing of cops over racist posts

SLMPD launched internal review of social media use revealed by Plain View Project

By Francene Bethune

For The St. Louis American

The President of St. Louis Ethical Society of Police demanded that St. Louis police officers be fired after the Plain View Project published its review of social media posts by a number of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) officers with racist or bigoted content.

“The officers should be fired,” said Sgt. Heather Taylor,

president of the Ethical Society of Police, which advocates for equity in police work.

“The posts were racist, vile, and steeped in violent ideologies. Many of the officer posts demonstrated views similar to white nationalists and the KKK. That thought process has no business within SLMPD. The officers involved have clearly shown they can’t protect and serve the community they are supposed to

‘Actions must be taken’

Advocates

say data on racial bias in police stops compels legislation, punishment

By Rebecca Rivas

Of The St. Louis American

Black drivers are 91 percent more likely to be stopped in Missouri than white drivers, according to the Missouri attorney general’s 2018 Vehicle Stops report released on May 31. “For the 18th year in a row, the attorney general’s office has released a study that shows black drivers and people of color are disproportionately stopped and searched by law enforcement,” said Alicia Hernandez, of the ACLU of Missouri, at a press conference on Monday, June 3. “A report is not enough. Actions must be taken. Without action, Missouri will remain a

In 2000, Missouri citizens and state legislators who were concerned with bias in

enforcement successfully pushed to pass a state

By Ryan Delaney

Of St. Louis Public Radio

Three courses of algebra stood between Amanda McCleary and a high school diploma.

McCleary, 33, tried twice over the years to earn a GED certificate since dropping out of Vashon High School in St. Louis as a teenager, but the timing wasn’t quite right. When she learned from a friend about a high school for adults being started by MERS Goodwill, “I called instantly,” she said.

McCleary was one of five women in bright blue caps and gowns at the first graduation ceremony in downtown St. Louis on May 29 for the alternative high school program that started in October. A sixth student had to miss the ceremony for work.

McCleary, who clutched her diploma and a bouquet in one hand as she moved her tassel

from right to left with the other, said it meant “everything in the fact that my children are watching me walk across the stage; it just was the icing on the cake.”

MERS Goodwill, the Missouri and southern Illinois branch of the national job training nonprofit, started the Excel Center high schools last year under a state

Photo by Wiley Price

See POLICE, A6

Amanda McCleary, 33, moved her tassel at the first graduation ceremony of MERS Goodwill’s Excel Center high school for adults on May 29.

Photo by Ryan Delaney / St. Louis Public Radio

A post by Thomas Mabrey, a St. Louis police officer, revealed in the Plain View Project’s report on social media posts by police officers from eight departments across the country, including the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

Apollo Nida released from prison

Apollo Nida, the former husband of former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” co-star Phaedra Parks was released from prison after serving five years of an eight-year sentence.

OK Magazine was the first to report that Nida, 40, was released to a half way house in Philadelphia.

In 2014, he pleaded guilty to identity theft and fraud charges and was subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison.

Jay-Z is hip-hop’s first billionaire

According to a new report from Forbes Magazine, Jay Z is Hip Hop’s first official billionaire, thanks to his holdings. They include: Ace of Spades champagne worth $310 million, $220 million in cash and investments, $100 million from the

D’Usse Cognac deal with Bacardi, the Tidal streaming service valued at $100 million, $75 million from Roc Nation, $75 million for the value of his music masters, a $70 million art collection and $50 million in real estate.

Producer, rapper and entrepreneur Dr. Dre was the first in the rap community said to boast a billion dollars in earnings with the sale of his Beats brand to Apple. But the taxes associated with the deal reportedly kept him from reaching the milestone.

Former R. Kelly employee reportedly admitted ‘multiple’ sex tapes featuring minors

Last week it was rumored that alleged victims of R. Kelly reportedly testified in front of a grand jury that the singer transported them across state lines for sex while they were underage.

According to TMZ. com, a former employee also testified and confirmed the existence of several sex tapes involving underage girls.

“Sources directly connected to the case tell TMZ ... the ex-employee testified in front of a federal

grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois Thursday – and claims to have been in possession of multiple tapes in which the singer engages in sex acts with minors,” The celebrity news and gossip site said. “We’re told the former employee told grand jurors R. Kelly paid a large sum of cash to the employee and in return, the employee handed a tape over to the singer. We’re told somehow the tape in question ended up in the hands of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Our sources say the exemployee testified they gave the feds several other child sex tapes featuring Kelly.

“We’re [also] told the former employee said R. Kelly’s crew knew full-well Kelly had a penchant for having sex with underage girls, but rather than blow the whistle on him, they actually helped the singer procure young girls.”

Tommie Lee won’t serve time in child abuse case

cruelty to children in the first degree, three counts of simple battery, family violence, and one count of disrupting public school. She was sentenced to 10 years, with two years to serve and the rest on probation, according to the spokesperson. The two years will be suspended upon completion of a residential recovery program and 12 months of successful aftercare with a psychologist or psychiatrist.

TMZ.com was the first to report the news. According to the outlet, under her probation conditions, she can’t have violent contact with a child, can’t travel outside the state of Georgia without written approval, and can’t attend work or promotional events where drugs or alcohol are present.

Tommie Lee, of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” fame – who was facing up to 54 years in prison for child abuse charges – has been ordered to complete a residential recovery program.

According to a spokesperson for the Cobb County District Attorney in Georgia, Lee, 34, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of

Lee was reportedly given an 11 p.m. curfew and must pay a $1,000 fine in addition to submitting to random drug and alcohol testing. She is already out of custody and in the recovery program, TMZ reports. TMZ.com reported in January that Lee had been indicted on seven charges – three felonies and four misdemeanors. According to AJC. com, the charges included aggravated assault, child cruelty, battery, and aggravated stalking and disrupting a public school for allegedly shoving her child’s head into a metal locker and dragging her by her hair.

Sources: TMZ.com, People.com, OK Magazine, Forbes.com

Jay-Z

Tommie Lee

Madison sailor serves aboard a floating airport at sea

Navy Airman Dijon Bryant builds weapons for aircraft aboard the USS George Washington

By Kayla Turnbow Navy Office of Community Outreach

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A Madison, Illinois, native and 2013 Madison Senior High School graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

Airman Dijon Bryant is an aviation ordnanceman aboard the carrier stationed in Newport News, Virginia. As a Navy aviation ordnanceman, Bryant is responsible for building weapons for the aircraft aboard the ship.

Bryant credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned growing up in Madison.

“I was taught to not be complacent,” said Bryant. “If you are going to do something you should be the best at it. It’s important to always have a plan.”

Named in honor of the first president of the United States, George Washington, the carrier is longer than three football fields, measuring nearly 1,100 feet. The ship, a true floating city, weighs more than 100,000 tons and has a flight deck that is 256 feet wide.

Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the ship. The planes land aboard the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft.

George Washington is currently undergoing a fouryear refueling complex

overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding, a process that includes refueling the ship’s nuclear reactors and modernizing more than 2,300 compartments and hundreds of systems. The carrier is expected to leave the shipyard in 2021 and return to Yokosuka, Japan, as the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier.

A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, according to Navy officials, and that the nation’s prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world’s oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world’s population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea. Bryant is playing an important part in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.

“Our priorities center on people, capabilities and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results and partnerships,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities.”

Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community and career, Bryant is most proud of

n “I was taught to not be complacent. If you are going to do something you should be the best at it. It’s important to always have a plan.”

- U.S. Navy Airman Dijon Bryant

earning Sailor of the Month.

“It made me feel like I was doing my job right,” said Bryant. “I didn’t think I would ever get a recognition like that

U.S. Navy Airman Dijon Bryant is an aviation ordnanceman aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, stationed in Newport News, Virginia. The Madison, Illinois, native is responsible for building weapons for the aircraft aboard the ship.

meals to handling weaponry and maintaining the nuclear reactors. Another 2,500 men and women form the air wing responsible for flying and maintaining the aircraft aboard the ship.

“Our ship’s motto is the Spirit of Freedom, and this motto is evidenced daily in the actions and character of our sailors,” said Capt. Glenn Jamison, commanding officer of George Washington.

“The work they are involved in today is difficult, but is vital to national security, to our maritime strategy, and to our ability to provide compassion and aid when and where needed. I am continually impressed by the level of professionalism and expertise demonstrated by the each and every sailor who serves aboard George Washington.”

George Washington, like each of the Navy’s aircraft carriers, is designed for a 50-year service life. When the air wing is embarked, the ship carries more than 70 attack jets, helicopters and other aircraft, all of which take off from and land aboard the carrier at sea.

All of this makes the George Washington a self-contained mobile airport and strike platform, and often the first response to a global crisis because of a carrier’s ability to operate freely in international waters anywhere on the world’s oceans.

military ties with family members who have previously served. Bryant is honored to carry on the family tradition.

“My uncle is in the Army, and my brother is serving aboard USS Carl Vinson,” said Bryant. “My brother didn’t want to join by himself. It’s been a good experience.”

Sailors’ jobs are highly varied aboard the carrier.

because I was just doing my job.”

Serving in the Navy is a continuing tradition of military service for Bryant, who has

Approximately 3,200 men and women make up the ship’s crew, which keeps all parts of the aircraft carrier running smoothly – this includes everything from washing dishes and preparing

As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied upon assets, Bryant and other George Washington sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.

“Serving in the Navy means I am giving back in some sort of way to my community and anyone else out there that may need help,” added Bryant. “I am doing something to better the country.”

Photo By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Miller

Time to ‘do something about’ racism in St. Louis police ranks

We had an opportunity to advise young protestors during the Ferguson unrest, and one thing we warned them was that police officers are among the most protected of all Americans. Republicans support the police as protectors of private property and the status quo, and Democrats support them because they are organized labor. As organized labor, the police benefit from highly protective agreements negotiated with the government entities that employ them, in addition to civil service protections. Make no mistake: the courageous, mostly young people who rose up in Ferguson five years ago calling for greater police accountability set their hearts and minds on reforming the American profession most resistant to change outside of the armed forces.

A new report by the Plain View Project published by Buzzfeed analyzed the social media posts of police officers in eight departments around the country, including St. Louis. It reveals a number of St. Louis police officers making racist and bigoted comments about, for example, Black Lives Matter protestors and Muslims. If the mayor’s own chief of staff were caught posting items like these – and we would not put it past Stephen Conway – then presumably Mayor Lyda Krewson would dismiss him to show that racism and bigotry would not be tolerated in her administration. Since these are police officers, however, she merely issued a perfunctory statement that racism and bigotry would not be tolerated in city government. In the absence of any real action, that is otherwise known as tolerating racism and bigotry in city government.

We are reminded of how Krewson stood silently behind then-interim police chief Lawrence O’Toole when the veteran copper boasted that his officers “owned the streets” after a night of brutal mass arrests at a police accountability protest in downtown St. Louis. This was the night that police mocked the movement to hold them accountable by adopting its chant, “Whose streets? Our streets!” Krewson offered no objection to this hostile behavior by the public servants in her employ.

The police department itself (make sure you are seated when you read the shocking news that is to come) launched an Internal Affairs investigation of the officers who made the racist and bigoted posts. The department also told the Post-Dispatch (but not this newspaper, which was not granted the interview we requested) that it would start sensitivity training. We anticipate reading racist and bigoted posts about their sensitivity training from officers in the department when and if they start receiving it.

State Senator Karla May (D-St. Louis)

A post by Ronald E. Hasty, a St. Louis police officer, revealed in the Plain View Project’s report on social media posts by police officers from eight departments across the country, including the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

responded more in keeping with the gravity of the situation and the mood of a desperate community. “Police officers that are making racially discriminatory remarks on Facebook and social media, I’m asking you, police officers, all over the state, are you willing to clean your ranks and balance the scale of justice for those who trusted you to protect and serve? That’s my ask as senator. Because if you’re not willing to do something about it, I am.” While we salute and agree with the senator and urge her to do just that, we also remind her that she is dealing with the most protected of all Americans when she vows to try to “do something about” the police in St. Louis.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

St. Louis needs to look at

By LaKeySha Bosley

For The St. Louis American

itself – and change

After having just completed my very first session as a freshman legislator in the Missouri House of Representatives, I wanted to share some thoughts and observations.

First, I am proud the people of the 79th Legislative District entrusted me with the responsibility to represent them in Jefferson City. This has been a roller coaster ride for me, with more lows than highs but also forging the skills to develop meaningful legislation that will improve the quality of life for all in this state.

I am also deeply concerned that our state and our region are plagued with a lack of leadership and vision and by cronyism that inhibits our ability to move forward. Over the years, we have lost ground to cities that we used to look at in our rearview mirrors, like Kansas City, Nashville and Indianapolis. We can only look inward to see how we are failing as a region and what we must do to move forward.

Sadly, this conversation begins with our leadership has failed us. In the face of national and global competition, we have a small group of so-called leaders choosing to find ways to keep a stranglehold on the region by offering plans like Better Together to retain political power instead of developing a common-sense, communityinspired plan to grow our region.

These same people are conspiring to rob the region of our richest asset, St. Louis Lambert International Airport, under the guise of a privatization with the refusal to engage in a transparent process. Virtually every politically connected consultant in the region has been hired as mercenaries to work on this nefarious scheme. When an elected leader who was elected by the slimmest of margins says that the electorate is not intelligent enough to understand and vote on this issue, there is a problem. The interest of the few does not outweigh the interest of our community. The recent scandal involving County Executive Steve Stenger is a classic example of the problems that plague us. The only thing that has claimed more bodies than the Stenger saga is a “John Wick” movie, and there are still many more to come. Unfortunately, in the county executive scandal, everyone named (and not named) are people who are politically connected in both the city and the county and intimately connected to both administrations. Even the media pundits are involved, and yet we continued to operate as though this is business

as usual. To move forward, we must demand change.

Last, as a state we struggle mightily to attract the best and the brightest. We want to be competitive and bring new businesses and jobs to our state, but as a state we engage in selfdestructive behaviors. We do not invest in our infrastructure, our schools are challenged, we rank near the bottom in too many categories, and we fail to support our colleges and universities.

And the recent move to devalue women in the interest of political expediency is insane. Women represent over half of our population, they run many of our major corporations and, most important, we are human beings who should be in control of our bodies. This decision and the poor state of our state will have an impact on people bringing their families here and, worse, women will choose not only to not come here, but they also will leave this state. We must do better. Failing to do so will just place us further behind as a state and as a region. In “The Man in the Mirror,” Michael Jackson sings, “If we want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change.” St. Louis and Missouri has to do just that so we can make that change.

State representative LaKeySha Bosley (D-St. Louis) represents the 79th District in the Missouri House of Representatives.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

The Democrats need a Lincoln –and a General Sherman – in 2020

By Mike Jones

Of The St. Louis American

As Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Constitutional Convention he was approached by a woman who asked, “What have you given us, a monarchy or a republic? Franklin replied, ”A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

Every serious thinker since Plato, including the founders of the United States, have had the same reservation about popular democracy; there is a very thin line that separates democratic rule from mob rule. When democracies begin to disintegrate they produce tyrants, the rise of the Roman Empire was a result of the fall of the Roman Republic.

Athletes need coaches, armies need generals, and political parties need political leaders. What stands between the flawed democratic project that is the United States and a dystopian future that would make “1984” look like the Garden of Eden before the snake is an intellectually vapid baby boomer Democratic leadership class, lacking in character, whose political muscle has completely atrophied.

The sophomoric moralizing of Democratic leadership about constitutional and cultural norms is not about protecting a moral high ground, but rather an excuse for the political cowardice of not confronting an existential evil that is currently metastasizing throughout the American body politic.

Abraham Lincoln was not only arguably America’s most eloquent president but also its most prophetic. In his Second Inaugural Address, given a month before the end of the Civil War and his assassination, he gives the reason for the war and when it will end. For him the cause was unequivocally slavery. “Slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest,” Lincoln wrote. “To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war.”

Lincoln believed that the

war would only end when the nation had paid the full price of the sin of slavery, and God would determine when the debt was paid. As he put it, the war would “continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.”

Slavery, which was maintained by violence, would require a violent death.

Lincoln understood clearly that if the South tried to break the Union, the Union had to break the South. Political leadership like Lincoln gets you generals like William Tecumseh Sherman, the ultimate destroyer, who telegraphed Lincoln the following in 1864, “War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. They wanted war, and I say let’s give them all they want; not a word of argument, not a sign of let up, no cave in till we are whipped or they are.”

Sherman was the military expression of Lincoln’s political will, and Lincoln had the moral agency to deploy him without any reservation. What’s the relevance for us today?

Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War is an interesting analogy to put the 2020 Presidential Election into some historical context. Just about every issue riling the American political system has its root in the unrealized possibilities of Lincoln’s second term. The armed conflict ended in April 1865, but his assassination two weeks later insured the war would continue. Like then, the struggle now is between the forces of the Union versus the Confederacy. The 21st century Confederacy has its Jefferson Davis. The question is: can 21st America still produce a Lincoln?

The point is not to make Lincoln a hero to African Americans, because he was not. The point is to illustrate what effective, principled white political leadership looks like and the difference it can make when the fate of the Republic is at stake. Lincoln understood what was at stake and what was required. History will have to wait until November 2020 to make a judgment about the Democratic leadership of today. Mike Jones is a former senior staffer in St. Louis city and county government and current member of the Missouri State Board of Education and The St. Louis American editorial board. In 2016 and 2017, he was awarded Best Serious Columnist for all of the state’s large weeklies by the Missouri Press Association, and in 2018 he was awarded Best Serious Columnist in the nation by the National Newspapers Association.

Donald Trump is ignorant, lazy, incompetent and amoral, but he’s not stupid. Mitch McConnell is immoral but cunning. Like all hyenas, they have a nose for fear and weakness and the Democratic establishment smells like prey. Trump, McConnell and the dumpster fire that is the current Republican Party are political thugs. To stop political thugs requires you to be a political gangsta. Lincoln and Sherman were political gangstas; that’s why they prevailed over the Confederate political thugs. Democratic leadership can’t spell “O.G.,” let alone be one. History is very often about the path not taken. What would have happened had Lincoln lived? Before you start hyperventilating with the possibilities, remember Lincoln was a man of his times, meaning that like most, if not all, 19th century American white men, he was a racist. His moral objection to slavery was because it stained the soul of white Americans. How he would have addressed the humanity of emancipated African Americans is an open question.

Letters to the editor

Determine our own destiny

The most serious of the Better Together plan’s many flaws was it asked Missouri voters to impose a new form of local government on St. Louis city and county against the will of the people who live there. Now that the plan has been withdrawn, those who believe St. Louis consolidation is a worthy goal should work within the existing state constitutional framework to put forth a plan to be decided solely by local voters. Whatever the future holds for local governance in St. Louis, city and county residents deserve the right to determine their own destiny.

State Rep. LaKeySha Bosley St. Louis

Bad public policy with negative consequences

I support the Committee to Protect the Rights of Victims of Rape and Incest’s referendum petition to overturn HB126. Abortion is very personal subject with complicated moral issues for all involved. With no consideration given to victims of rape and incest, this legislation’s impact reflects bad public policy with negative consequences for Missourians. As such, I support the Committee’s effort to protect women in the case of rape or incest. I invite other likeminded people to join in the committee’s efforts and with financial and personal support of its signature gathering and campaign.

David C. Humphreys, email

Cruel, deceitful, and methodical erasure

I received quality healthcare from Planned Parenthood, and I trust Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood helped my husband and I plan our family. What Governor Parson and his administration are doing is a political move that will ultimately hurt Missourians. This rapid move to deny

comprehensive healthcare and be the first state in the nation without access to abortion services is shameful and frightening. Unless the courts intervene, Missouri reproductive services will go dark. I support Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against this cruel, deceitful, and methodical erasure of basic healthcare and privacy rights.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade Springfield

Guest Columnist Mike Jones

Guest Columnist LaKeySha Bosley

Free fishing weekend June 8-9

Missouri State Parks, in conjunction with Missouri Department of Conservation, welcomes the public for a free fishing weekend June 8-9. Fishing licenses, trout permits and prescribed area daily tags are not required to fish during this weekend. Regular fishing regulations, such as size and daily limits, still apply.

A summary of Missouri fishing regulations may be found at https:// tinyurl.com/MO-fish-regs.

For more information about the free fishing weekend, call Missouri State Parks at 800-3346946 or the Missouri Department of Conservation at 573-751-4115.

Crossroads

Hospice seeks student volunteers

Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care welcomes student volunteers who are 16 years or older to donate time to hospice volunteering. By donating as little as 45 minutes per week, healthcare-minded college students can gain insights into the hospice and palliative care industry and other healthcare fields and help fulfill community service hour requirements.

Volunteers share their favorite activities like reading, playing cards or other games, listening to music, or arts and crafts. They can also run errands and provide respite for family members. Volunteers are also welcome to help Crossroads staff in the office, including planning a “Gift of a Day,” which asks a patient to describe a perfect day and then makes it a reality, and writing life journals that chronicle the history, events, and blessings of a person’s life.

Potential volunteers must wait a minimum of one year after the death of an immediate family member or loved one before applying. Volunteers must complete an application, TB skin test, and training session.

For more information or to sign up as a volunteer, contact Sharon Christopher at 636-735-2000 or Sharon.Christopher@crossroadshospice.com or visit CrossroadsHospice.com/Volunteering.

Community partners making a difference at Farragut Elementary

By Patricia Cox For The St. Louis American

Ask Farragut Elementary School fifth graders to name the first African-American licensed pilot, and they will tell you Emory C. Malik. How do they know? The answer is an exciting, interactive curriculum and great community partners.

Last year, Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS) challenged its principals and school leadership teams to develop three-year school plans to help transform SLPS into a “system of excellent schools” in accordance with the first of five pillars in the district’s strategic plan, Transformation Plan 3.0.

At Farragut Elementary, we decided to take a collegiate approach and developed a New Horizons theme, which led to what is now known within our school as Farragut University. And, once again, the key to the success of Farragut University is great community partners. Farragut University is a school-wide program that takes place every Friday afternoon. During Farragut University, our great community partners do the heavy lifting in the classrooms, sharing their expertise with our students under the guidance of our dedicated teachers. From teaching students the ins and outs of photography to showing them how to operate an airplane simulator, our Friday afternoon Farragut University sessions are having an amazing impact on our students’ ability to see beyond the horizon.

Every five weeks, our students begin a new Farragut University section. Community partners such as Saint Louis University, the Saint Louis Chess Club, COCA, the Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., and many others join our school community and introduce our students to a world of “what ifs?”

Students are raving about what they call the “college experience” of moving from classroom-to-classroom to learn about new careers. They are actually gaining a clearer understanding of how what they are learning connects to the real world.

Parents and the community have taken note of the excitement that charges the atmosphere within the school building, especially on Fridays during Farragut University.

Equally important are a couple of key student measurements. Since beginning Farragut University roughly a year and a half ago, student attendance has increased, and there has been a sharp decrease in off-task behavior.

As a school just south of Fairground Park in The Greater Ville neighborhood, we work hard to overcome perceptions of the neighborhood and communicate that safety and security start from within our school. Again, that’s thanks to strong partner support, as assigned local law enforcement officials are part of the Farragut family.

The real stars of Farragut University are our great community partners. They have made a life-changing commitment to our students and to our school, and we can’t thank them enough.

I welcome any parent, grandparent or guardian to visit us at Farragut Elementary School to see first-hand what an amazing school looks like. We are currently enrolling students for the 2019-2020 school year. To learn more about Farragut Elementary, visit www.slps.org/farragut or call 314-669-6532.

Patricia Cox is principal of Farragut Elementary School.

The New Northside Drill Team represented the New Northside Missionary Baptist Church (Rev. Rodrick K. Burton, pastor) at the 109th Annie Malone May Day Parade in downtown St. Louis on Sunday, May 19.

New Northside knows the drill

Patricia Cox

Photo by Wiley Price

POLICE

Continued from A1

law that requires the attorney general to collect and report data every year on traffic stops by law enforcement across the state.

Overall in Missouri, black drivers were 1.48 times more likely to be searched than whites, according to an analysis provided by the attorney general. Although whites are less likely to be searched, the contraband-hit rate for whites was higher statewide – 35 percent – compared with 33.8 percent for blacks and 29.2 percent for Hispanics.

“This means that, on average, searches of blacks and Hispanics are less likely than searches of whites to result in the discovery of contraband,” the analysis states.

In the St. Louis metro area, Brentwood, Ladue and Frontenac police departments had the highest disproportionate stop rates of black drivers compared to white drivers – with 18.56, 16.23, and 13.13 respectively.

What these numbers tell us is the likelihood that a black motorist was stopped in Brentwood is 18.56 times that of a white motorist. Or, in other words, blacks were 1850 percent more likely than whites to be stopped in Brentwood, based on their respective proportions of the Missouri driving population in the 2010 Census.

(Wonk note: These numbers come from taking the values of the disparity indexes for whites and blacks and comparing them directly to one another by dividing their values.)

Brentwood Police Chief Joseph L. Spiess Jr. said it will take the department’s data analyst several weeks to go through the numbers and determine the reasons for disparities.

“They take a look at it and see if there are any officers who need additional training,” Spiess said. All of their officers go through racial profiling

training, he said.

Ladue Police Chief Ken Andreski Jr. said he appreciates the effort to gather the data, but he disagrees with how it’s collected and the picture that it paints of his officers.

“That needs more context,” Andreski said. “We have one of the lowest populations of African Americans in the state (0.88 percent), but we have two major thoroughfares and the traveling population is much different than the residential population.”

The cities that border Ladue have higher African-American populations, he said, and Ladue also has two malls, among other factors. If these things were taken into account, “our disparity index would be where everyone wants to see it.”

Andreski also said that 90 percent of Ladue Police stops

were for “hazardous moving violations,” such as following too close, which could cause accidents – and not things like license plate or tail light violations.

The data can be “shocking,” he said, but he encourages people to dive deeper into the numbers, which his department does every month. And he also said that the police department’s numbers look better in the post-stop data, which show what happens after the stop had been made. (The American will report on this data next week.)

The Frontenac Police Department did not return the The St. Louis American’s request for comment by press time.

Activists said that one of the reasons the numbers for some police departments haven’t

improved or have stayed the same is because some departments don’t believe the vehicle stops study is relevant to them, said John Chasnoff, with the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression (CAPCR).

Particularly in some areas with highways or shopping districts, the police said that there are too many people coming in from outside their districts to get an accurate portrayal in the disparities, Chasnoff said. However this year, resident data was added to the information gathered. It specifically shows the disparity in black residents that live within the district areas. For the Brentwood, Ladue and Frontenac police departments, the disproportion stop rates for black residents compared to white residents are 4.37, 3.90

and 1.74 respectively.

“This is where you dig down into the numbers, you can see that bias still exists and it’s important that police departments and activists sit down together and see what you can learn from them,” Chasnoff said at the June 3 press conference.

Comparatively, the St. Louis and St. Louis County police departments had resident stop disproportion rates of 4.17 and 2.09 respectively. Again, this means that in St. Louis city, black resident drivers were four times more likely to be stopped than white city resident motorists — and two times more likely in the county.

A city police spokesman said in an email, “We have not reviewed the report at this time. As such, we cannot provide any comment.” The county

police spokesman also said they were still reviewing the numbers.

At the June 3 press conference, several advocates and legislators called on state legislators to pass the Fourth Amendment Affirmation Act, which would add consequences to racial profiling.

State Rep. Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin) said that if there isn’t any “teeth” in a law addressing racial profiling, then you won’t achieve compliance.

“We need to get Republicans on board to recognize that it’s a crisis,” Dogan said. “We have data to prove that this has been going on for two decades.”

Another speaker was Sgt. Heather Taylor, a homicide detective with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the president of the Ethical Society of Police, a minority police association in the city and St. Louis County.

Taylor said the only way to get change within the police department is through punishment — and right now there are no consequences to deter racially discriminatory behaviors.

“If they are AfricanAmerican, white, Hispanic, Asian, who cares? If you are a cancer to our community, if you’re a predator and you’re preying on people through your badge and your gun, you have to go,” Taylor said. “Some of them are absolutely embarrassing our department, they’re embarrassing us. They are running a lot of minorities off the department.”

Jamala Rogers with CAPCR said that passing a law would help keep the state guidelines uniform, but that doesn’t mean individual police departments can’t exact their own repercussions.

Roger said, “If you look and see a police officer consistently over the years, their name keeps coming up, it’s your job in your leadership position to then say, ‘This is wrong,’ and send a message to the rest of the police department.”

Continued from A1

contract. A 2017 law called for the opening of alternative high schools for adults, and Goodwill won the contract. The schools are funded through some state monies as well as donations to Goodwill.

McCleary had to get used to being in school again along with work and family life.

“Coming in, being an adult, you probably think this is going to be hard to adjust, but everyone’s here for the same reason, so we just kind of fell in,” she said.

“Everybody helped each other study, so we were each other’s backbone through the whole process.”

She also had a support system outside the classroom.

“Being a mother, fiancé, grandmother now, it’s kind of like I just had to make it work. So it was kind of hard, but I did it,” she said.

More than 750 students are enrolled at three centers in St. Louis, Springfield and Poplar Bluff, taking accelerated classes taught from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eight students graduated from Poplar Bluff on May 28 and seven received diplomas in Springfield on May 30. A fourth center is scheduled to open in Columbia in the fall.

There are a half million adults

COPS

Continued from A1 serve. No action other than termination is appropriate.”

The action the department has taken was to launch an investigation by its Internal Affairs Division. Mayor Lyda Krewson and SLMPD provided statements to that effect but did consent to interviews with The American “These posts are disturbing and unacceptable,” Krewson stated. “We expect professionalism out of every City employee. No exceptions. Last year the city adopted a

in Missouri without a high school diploma, including 80,000 in the St. Louis region, according to U.S. Census figures. They typically earn $10,000 less each year compared to those who completed high school.

The average age of students in the Goodwill program is 34, according to MERS Goodwill Executive Vice President Mark Arens.

“One of the things that almost every single individual says is some version of, ‘I’m doing it for my son, I’m doing it for my daughter, I’m doing it for my kids to show them how important education is,’ and that they can do tough things,” said Arens, who serves as superintendent of the high schools.

Joining McCleary in line waiting to walk into the ceremony was Tracee Brown, 43. Brown tried to contain a smile as she talked about plans to pursue a teaching certificate through St. Louis Community College. But first, she was looking forward to graduating in front of her family.

“It’s going to feel real nice,” she said. “I’ve been waiting on this day.”

For more information on Excel Center high schools, visit https:// excel.mersgoodwill.org/ or call 314-982-8802.

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ rpatrickdelaney. Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

social media policy to ensure accountability and to leave no doubt that such posts are unacceptable.”

Published June 1 on Buzzfeed, The Plain View Project’s report examined social media posts by police officers from eight departments across the country, including SLMPD. The database flagged 416 instances where police officers in St. Louis displayed racist activities that undermine their ability to serve and protect minority communities. According to Buzzfeed, the database was created by Emily Baker-White to examine and compile troubling racist imagery and memes and other

public activity that displayed bigoted views.

Thomas Mabrey, a St. Louis police officer, shared a false news report about an incident titled “Muslim man calls the police and waits to Ambush them… Kills woman police officer. Where is the Media,” according to the Plain View Project.

Mabrey responded, “F these muslem turd goat humpers. Oh, but we must help them. Yea right when it’s ok to rape and murder in a religion o ain’t helping no one.”

This is one of 74 posts by Mabrey that displayed racist or bigoted views. A few days after a scheduled police

accountability protest on July 9, 2016 in downtown St. Louis, Mabrey posted a meme that showed a trucker beaten by rioters. The meme refers to Reginald Denny, a trucker who was nearly beaten to death by rioters in Los Angeles in 1992. The meme said, “Remember Reginald Denny. He stopped when ‘protesters’ were blocking the road.”

Another post by Mabrey targeted the Black Lives Matter movement, calling it a hate group that is the same as the KKK.

Another St. Louis police officer, Ronald E. Hasty, who goes by the alias “Ron Nighthawk” on Facebook,

was flagged 31 times by the database. In one instance, Hasty shared a post that encouraged “kettling” of protesters in St. Louis. The author wrote, “I loved seeing this and I don’t care if people were roughed up. When the police tell you to do something u do it. “It’s called respecting authority. U play u pay. Bottom line.”

State Sen. Karla May (D-St. Louis) spoke about the discriminatory social media posts at a Monday, June 3 press conference dedicated to the Missouri attorney general’s new report on vehicle stop disparities.

“Police officers that are

making racially discriminatory remarks on Facebook and social media, I’m asking you, police officers, all over the state, are you willing to clean your ranks and balance the scale of justice for those who trusted you to protect and serve?” she asked.

“That’s my ask as a senator. Because if you’re not willing to do something about it, I am.” Francene Bethune is a St. Louis American editorial intern provided by the Emma Bowen Foundation, which recruits promising students of color and places them in multi-year paid internships at some of the nation’s leading media, PR and technology companies.

Family and MERS Goodwill staff cheered on graduates from a new adult high school program run by the nonprofit. About 500,000 Missourians lack a high school diploma.

Photo by Ryan Delaney / St. Louis Public Radio

Bourbon Street in Forest Park

ArchCity relaunches ‘Pro Se STL’ guides to police, courts and jails

ArchCity Defenders is partnering with St. Louis County Library and Mound City Bar Association to launch an updated version of Pro Se STL, two local guide booklets that provide information for representing oneself in municipal court and for knowing one’s rights with the police and getting out of jail.

The new guides will feature revised information including Rule 33.01, the Missouri Supreme Court’s updated rule regarding cash bail that goes into effect in July. The guide books, “A Guide to Knowing Your Rights with the Police

and Getting Out of Jail” and “A Guide to Representing Yourself in St. Louis Municipal Courts,” were first published in June 2018.

Blake Strode, executive director of ArchCity Defenders, said the books help the public “navigate a predatory and stressful criminal legal system of police, courts, and jails” and said the re-launch with St. Louis County Library and Mound City Bar would help them reach more people. Kristen Sorth, director of St. Louis County Library, said, “ArchCity Defenders is a valuable resource for residents

of our region.”

Mound City Bar Association is a nearly 100 year old association of AfricanAmerican legal professionals. Its President Danielle Carr said the association is “pleased to have the support” of ArchCity and Strode, who serves on the association’s Executive Committee and co-chairs its Community Affairs Committee. The revised guides are available at www.prosestl.org will replace the current ones on May 30, 2019. For more on ACD’s Pro Se STL initiative, follow #ProSeSTL.

County Library offers free summer lunches at nine branches

St. Louis County Library and Operation Food Search are teaming up to provide lunches to children this summer at nine library locations starting June 3. Meals will be available free of charge for children ages 18 and under.

These branches will offer a nutritious lunch along with activities for kids from 12–1 p.m. Monday-Friday. On Thursdays, the library will offer Operation Backpack, which provides each family in attendance with a bag of groceries to take home for the weekend. Kids will get pizza as a special treat on Fridays.

The free summer lunch program will be offered at Bridgeton Trails Branch, 3455 McKelvey Road, Bridgeton, MO 63044; Florissant Valley Branch, 195 N. Florissant Road S., Florissant, MO 63031;

Indian Trails Branch, 8400 Delport Drive, St. Louis, MO 63114; Jamestown Bluffs Branch, 4153 N. Highway 67, Florissant, MO 63034; Lewis & Clark Branch, 9909 LewisClark Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63136; Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63121; Prairie Commons Branch, 915 Utz Lane Hazelwood, MO 63042; Rock Road Branch, 10267 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann, MO 63074; Weber Road Branch, 4444 Weber Road, St. Louis, MO 63123

Last year, over 17,000 meals were served at nine library locations.

“Providing summer lunches at the library allows us to reach children who are hungry, while also encouraging them to read over the summer,” said Kristen Sorth, director of the St. Louis

County Library. The meals are funded through the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program and coordinated by Operation Food Search. She library provides complementary activities such as board games, crafts and story times during and after the lunch hour. Teen library volunteers help with the program. Information about Summer Reading Club and how to obtain a library card will also be presented during the free lunch meal times. Additional support for the summer lunch program is provided by the St. Louis County Library Foundation, Nature’s Bakery, STL City Wide, Tegna and individual donors. For more information, visit www.slcl.org/summer-lunches.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Members of the Bourbon Street Brass Band danced and played their way through the African Arts Festival on Monday, May 27 at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park.

Post reporter found in contempt of county court

The Political EYE often has found Post-Dispatch reporters, editors and columnists in contempt of the black community and the standards of evidence-based journalism – especially in the paper’s dangerous addiction to huffing swirling rumors of alleged federal investigations into black public officials (for example, Charlie Dooley and Bruce Franks Jr.) that mysteriously never come to light outside of the pages of the Post or produce any indictments.

Now one of its reporters has been found in contempt of court. The press release, crafted by a former Post editor and columnist – Christine Bertelson, director of Strategic Communications for St. Louis County Circuit Court – is so good it should be read in full.

“St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Joel Currier has been found in contempt of court for secretly eavesdropping outside a closed courtroom door and live tweeting expert testimony on the mental fitness of a defendant to stand trial for shooting a police officer in 2016. Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo’s contempt order notes that Currier’s actions may have jeopardized the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” Bertelson wrote in the voice of the court in a press release.

prohibiting mental health information from being made public.

“Currier then left the hearing, but secretly stood outside the courtroom for hours, listening through a crack in the door and live tweeting what he was able to hear. Currier’s first tweet read: ‘After Judge Nellie Ribaudo closed courtroom to the public – i.e. one lone reporter – I spent most of afternoon with my ear glued to the door, live-tweeting details. (Glamorous life of a print journalist.) Wouldn’t have bothered tweeting had I been allowed to stay. #democracy,’ Currier wrote.

“Currier signed the contempt order May 29, admitting he willfully and intentionally violated Judge Ribaudo’s order, Missouri Supreme Court rules and the newspaper’s own professional standards on the use of social media. Currier also acknowledged that he had violated the court’s trust.

“On April 12, 2019, Judge Ribaudo held a hearing to determine whether her courtroom should be closed during testimony offered by two psychiatrists who separately had examined the defendant. At the hearing, Currier requested that the courtroom stay open, noting public interest in the case. The public defender argued that the mental health information be kept confidential. Judge Ribaudo closed the courtroom, citing state law (Missouri Revised Statute 552.020)

“’Although the press and the public have a right of access to criminal proceedings, that right is qualified and must be carefully balanced with a defendant’s rights to a fair trial,’” Judge Ribaudo wrote in her contempt order. ‘Not only does the court seek to correct the behavior of Mr. Currier, but the court has to work toward learning if Mr. Currier can be trusted to not violate future court orders and the Missouri Supreme Court Rules. Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.’ Unfortunately, the court cannot fully know how Mr. Currier’s violation of the court’s order may have on the underlying litigation which Mr. Currier tweeted about, nor can Mr. Currier rewrite history. In crafting this resolution, the court is keenly aware that it is unable to ensure the violations of Mr. Currier will not impact the ability for the parties to have a fair trial.’

“Although contempt of court is punishable by fine and/ or jail time, Judge Ribaudo’s order only requires Currier to write letters of apology to the defendant, the police officer, prosecutor and public defender. Currier is also required to participate in an educational program with court staff about issues relating to freedom of the press and the right of parties to litigation to have a fair trial.”

There is a lot to unpack here.

The EYE is well aware of the gonzo journalistic credo that the reporter does anything

to get the story, respecting no rule other than the public’s right to know. But this phrase stands out: “The public defender argued that the mental health information be kept confidential.” There already was a public defender in the court room, and that person was not a Post reporter. And that public defender rightly defended the privacy of his or her client’s mental health information.

The matter of mental health relates to the black public official most recently maligned in the Post on no firmer evidence than a rumor of a “federal investigation.” The Post editorial about Franks’ resignation from the Missouri House of Representative rejected Franks’ explanation of his action – that he was concerned about his mental health – and insinuated that he was really fleeing a “federal investigation,” with the only source being “city officials” who allegedly “alluded” to said investigation.

The EYE also really feels for

the judge when she writes that “the court has to work toward learning if Mr. Currier can be trusted to not violate future court orders and the Missouri Supreme Court Rules. Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.”

The EYE wonders the same about much reporting in the Post where race is a factor –and nearly all of the paper’s editorials, which Bertelson, now flacking for the 21st Judicial Circuit, edited from 1997-2007.

Currier probably won’t be able to follow in Bertelson’s footsteps in pushing out message for the court he treated so contemptibly, but she is a reminder of what a springboard to political jobs the Post newsroom and editorial board have become. She first left the newspaper in 2011 to work as a speechwriter and adviser to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon. Other Posties who used the revolving door between the newspaper and paid political work include Jake Wagman, a Post political reporter who

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Joel Currier was not arrested for contempt of court (as in this protest file photo) but rather ordered to write letters of apology to the defendant, the police officer, prosecutor and public defender.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

went on to do opposition research (hatchet jobs, for real) for many of the politicians he had covered. Paul Hampel covered Steve Stenger’s winning campaign for St. Louis County executive and then went to work for Stenger at a senior level. (Current County Executive Sam Page retained Hampel, which bolsters the EYE’s suspicion that Hampel ratted on Stenger rather than playing along with his fraud boss.) Koran Addo covered Lyda Krewson’s winning campaign for St. Louis mayor and then went to work for Krewson pushing out her messages. (Not that Addo covered that campaign corruptly; he did not.) Count

former Post reporter Doug Moore (now pushing message for Page) among the region’s politicos who came from the newspaper, and the EYE surely is overlooking some.

Former Post Publisher Joseph Pulitzer famously said that a “newspaper should have no friends,” but currently at the Post reporters and editors see a future employer, if not a friend, everywhere they report a political story.

Bill Miller pleads to fraud

Hampel appears to have kept his hands clean while Stenger did his dirty work, and the EYE suspects he passed leads to his former colleagues at Post and possibly to the U.S. attorney; his role in Stenger’s downfall may never be known publicly. No such virtue for Stenger’s Chief of Staff William Miller, the son of a newspaper man, publisher of the Washington Missourian. Miller was one of the county staffers named in full in the Stenger indictment which, as the EYE pointed out at the time, meant the feds had the goods on him and it would only be a matter of time before he did a perp walk of his own. On May 31, Miller pleaded guilty today to one count of aiding and abetting honest services wire fraud/ bribery. Reading the indictment of Stenger, it’s possible to conclude that the feds had more on Miller and that the single count reflects his cooperation with the investigation.

“In aiding and abetting Stenger’s criminal scheme,” the feds’ press release reads, “Miller communicated with, and personally met with Sheila Sweeney, then the CEO of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, in order to persuade and ensure that Sweeney and the Partnership Board, of which Miller was a member, awarded the lobbying contract to Company One, over a second lobbying firm which had also bid on the lobbying contract.” The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Restitution is mandatory. Like Stenger, his sentencing is scheduled for the fateful date of August 9.

Protestors rally to keep abortion services in Missouri

Planned Parenthood says, ‘We aren’t going anywhere’ as judge rules on state licensing renewal fight

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

A temporary restraining order remains in place while the battle to offer abortion services in Missouri plays out in a St. Louis court. Oral arguments for a preliminary injunction against the state were heard Wednesday, June 5. After the first hearing on Tuesday, Judge Michael Stelzer granted Planned Parenthood’s request to block the state from forcing doctors in training to testify in court.

On Friday, May 31, just hours before Planned Parenthood’s license expiration, Stelzer granted the temporary restraining order. Last week, as the battle for the facility’s license moved from the statehouse in Jefferson City to the courthouse in St. Louis, women’s repro-

Thursday, May 30.

n “Planned Parenthood has served Missouri for more than 87 years, and we aren’t going anywhere. While Governor Parson abandoned our patients, we will not.”

– Dr. Colleen McNicholas

ductive health advocates protested, marched and rallied in downtown.

Planned Parenthood is the only provider that makes abortion services available in

to be protected during a

in

Missouri. Those on the front lines for legally retaining women’s reproductive rights promise their fight is not over.

“Planned Parenthood has served Missouri for more than 87 years, and we aren’t going anywhere. While Governor Parson abandoned our patients, we will not,” stated Colleen McNicholas, D.O., an obstetrician-gynecologist at Reproductive Health Services at Planned Parenthood. “Our doors are open today, our doors will be open tomorrow, and we will fight to make sure all patients continue to receive the care they need and deserve.”

Contingency plans are in place to get Missouri women to Illinois clinics that offer

See ABORTION, A11

Our children are watching

By Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D. Of The St. Louis American

Often times as adults, I think we are unaware of how our actions and behaviors are interpreted by children. We engage in conversation, watch television shows and even listen to radio broadcasts not considering how those conversions affect our children. We erroneously believe children are not paying attention. Yet, they are. Recently, my 12-year-old proved that to me. We were riding in the car on our way to school listening to talk radio. The discussion involved the recently passed legislation banning abortion in Missouri after eight weeks. I listen to this station every day, and never had my daughter engaged in conversation about the topics until that day. She asked me: “Why are men making decisions about a woman’s body?”

Stunned, I simply replied, “Good question. Why are they?”

n My 12-year-old asked me: “Why are men making decisions about a woman’s body?” Stunned, I simply replied, “Good question. Why are they?”

I was so proud of her at that moment. At the age of 12, she felt ownership of her body and felt a kinship with other women around the globe. As I sit back and listen to the moral, legal, and medical arguments of abortion, I often ponder whether or not opponents of abortion think that pregnancy termination is an easy decision. Women do not just wake up one day and decide to proceed with that procedure. It is one of the toughest decisions a woman will ever make and one that she will not forget. Therefore, for me, I wish our debates could be more about pregnancy prevention and teaching boys and men not to violate women’s bodies. However, in this highly polarized environment that we live in now,

Neighboring states expect more Missouri abortion patients

Providers in Kansas and Illinois say about half their clients already come from MO

By Lauren Weber Kaiser Health News

As the last abortion clinic in Missouri warned that it will have to stop providing the procedure as soon as Friday, abortion providers in surrounding states said they are anticipating an uptick of even more Missouri patients. At Hope Clinic in Granite City, Ill., just 10 minutes from downtown St. Louis, Deputy Director Alison Dreith said her clinic was preparing for more patients as news about Missouri spread.

“We’re really scrambling today about the need for increased staff and how fast can we hire and train,” Dreith said.

And at a Trust Women clinic in Wichita, Kan., that already has to fly in doctors, the staff didn’t know what it would mean for their overloaded patient schedule.

“God forbid we see that people can’t get services in Missouri,” said Julie Burkhart, Trust Women founder and CEO. “What is that going to mean on our limited physician days?” If St. Louis’ Planned Parenthood clinic is unable to offer abortions, the group said, Missouri would be the only state in the country to not have an operating abortion clinic. Five other states —

A10

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN • JUNE 6 – 12, 2019

Nikia Paulette, a worker at Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, called for women’s rights

rally

front of the Wainwright Building in downtown St. Louis on

Denise HooksAnderson, MD

Protesters marched against Missouri

Gov. Mike Parson for his opposition to abortion rights in downtown St. Louis on Thursday, May 30.

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Wiley Price

Free eye exams and glasses at four County Library branches this summer

Free eye exams and prescription glasses to children age 4 through grade 12 will be provided at four St. Louis County Library branches this summer. The Eye Care Charity of Mid-America will provide preliminary vision screenings in its Mobile Vision Clinic:

• Friday, June 7, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural Bridge Rd.

• Friday, June 21, 10 a.m.2 p.m., Weber Road Branch, 4444 Weber Rd.

• Tuesday, July 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Lewis and Clark Branch, 9909 Lewis-Clark Blvd.

• Friday, July 19, 10 a.m.2 p.m., Rock Road Branch, 10267 St. Charles Rock Rd.

No appointments will

be made; children will be examined on a first-come-firstserved basis. Those wishing to have an eye exam must have a completed parental permission slip.

Children who learn through the screenings that they need an exam or those who already know they need glasses can visit the Mobile Vision Clinic at:

• Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural Bridge Rd. Friday, June 14, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. or Friday, June 28, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Weber Road Branch, 4444 Weber Rd. Friday, July 5, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, July 12, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. or Friday, July 19, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Lewis and Clark Branch, 9909 Lewis-Clark Blvd. Tuesday, July 16, 10 a.m.-3

to a safe abortion, and we’ll do anything we can to take care of those people.”

Continued from A10

medication-assisted or surgical abortions.

“We have a health center in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where we provide abortion care. We will be connecting our Missouri area patients to that facility and to our partner, Hope Clinic for Women, which provides abortion care, in Granite City,” said Angie Postal, vice president of Education, Policy and Community Engagement, Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region of Southwest Missouri.

“We are going to keep fighting, but we are also going to make sure that anyone who needs an abortion has access

Continued from A10

that conversation is often missing.

On Wednesday, May 29, Governor Mike Parson took to Facebook Live to call out Planned Parenthood for what he described as a series of deficiencies that were cited by the state Department of Health and Senior Services, claiming this was not a prolife issue but rather an issue about women’s safety and health. However, just last week, Parson signed into law one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, limiting abortions to eightweeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for incest or other forms of rape.

In a statement after the restraining order was granted, Parson said, “We are committed to and take seriously our duty to ensure that all health

Fortunately for me, I have not had to treat a woman with sepsis secondary to a botched back-woods abortion. Just reading the case reports alone gives me chills. These women would present to the hospital with fevers, elevated white counts, and many of them died. We have to understand that when people are desperate and feel like they have no options, they will proceed to extreme alternatives to seek help. My preference is that we shift this discussion toward contraception. Did you know that some employers refuse to cover contraception at all or

p.m., Tuesday, July 23, 10

a.m.-3 p.m. or Tuesday, July 30, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Rock Road Branch, 10267 St. Charles Rock Rd. Friday, July 26, 10 a.m.-3

p.m., Friday, August 2, 10

a.m.-3 p.m. or Friday, August 9, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Parental/guardian

consent forms must be completed to be eligible. Forms may be picked up in advance at any SLCL location or downloaded at www. slcl.org/eyecare. Spaces are limited. Line numbers will be assigned based on the order of arrival.

For more information on the screenings, visit www. slcl.org/eyecare. For more information on Eye Care Charity of Mid-America http://www.eccoma.org/.

Third Dr. Calhoun follows psychiatrist father’s footsteps to Yale

Grandfather was pioneering African-American dentist in Macon, Georgia

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

On May 19, Amanda Calhoun received her medical degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine and officially became the third Dr. Calhoun.

Her grandfather, Dr. Emory Martin Calhoun Sr., attended Meharry Medical and Dental School and was one of the first African-American dentists in Macon, Georgia.

“At that time, the medical licensing board of Georgia was purposefully failing AfricanAmericans in their medical and dental licensing exams,” Dr. Amanda Calhoun said.

“You had to register in

facilities in Missouri follow the law, abide by regulations, and protect the safety of patients.”

Planned Parenthood said the state health department has become a political tool of Gov. Parson. The state is putting the squeeze on doctors who are contracted to perform abortion services at Reproductive Health Services to force them to submit to an interview, which is outside of the renewal application process.

“The state, over the past several years, has changed the way they interpret their own regulations, and so they’ve made it impossible for us to comply because they keep moving the goalpost,” Postal told The American. “Shame on them for playing politics with people’s health. Let’s be clear – women and girls will die if we don’t have access to

charge an expensive co-pay?

So you don’t want women to have an abortion, but you won’t cover birth control?

In addition, many states, including Missouri, refused to expand Medicaid. So you don’t want women to have an abortion, but you also don’t want to take care of the baby when he/she arrives. Again, makes no sense at all. As a society, we waste

person for the exam, so my grandfather had his white friend register him. When my grandfather passed his licensing exam with flying colors and walked onstage to collect his license, jaws dropped because he had outwitted the racist administration.”

Her father, Dr. Joshua Calhoun, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist trained at Yale and Harvard universities. He is the medical director of Hawthorn Children’s Psychiatric Hospital, 1901 Pennsylvania Ave. in St. Louis the only state psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents in Missouri.

“My dad takes care of children with complex

safe, legal abortion in Missouri. That’s what happened before 1973, and that’s the future that people that sponsored and passed this legislation want.”

On Thursday, May 30, just one day before the license was set to expire, demonstrators for women’s reproductive rights demonstrated at different sites in downtown St. Louis, including a march to a nearby state office building where they cheered for women’s continued right to choose what happens to their own bodies.

“I’ve had two abortions. I was 19 and scared to death, and Planned Parenthood was there for me,” Nia said. “When I was 37 and in a bad situation and had to make that choice, and that may be the last time I had the chance to have a baby – I still made that choice and Planned Parenthood was

so much time debating old arguments instead of working collaboratively to find new ways to solve problems. We have diseases, such as Lupus, that have no cures. We have ethnic communities, such as African Americans, whose health outcomes as it relates to chronic kidney disease are worse than the outcomes in the non-Hispanic white populations.

Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia — reportedly have only one abortion clinic. And 90 percent of U.S. counties didn’t have an abortion clinic as of 2014, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research and advocacy group.

For some, this echoes back to the days before abortion was legalized nationwide in 1973 with the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, when patients who could afford to travel would go to more liberal states like California or New York where abortion was legal. But providers in Kansas and Illinois say this influx from Missouri isn’t new. About half of their clients already come from the Show Me State. To the south, in neighboring Arkansas, where a 72-hour waiting period will go into effect in July, the vast majority of its patients still live within the state. Over the past 10 years, four Missouri abortion clinics have closed because of increased regulations, including a mandatory 72-hour waiting period after receiving counseling on abortion, thus requiring two trips to a facility; requirements that physicians have hospital admitting privileges within 15 minutes of their clinics; and a rule requiring two-parent notification for minors and one-parent notarized consent. All those limits left one clinic in downtown St. Louis to serve the whole state.

psychiatric issues who have been in and out of other hospitals, sometimes dozens of times,” Amanda said. “He is amazing.”

The newest Dr. Calhoun is now following in her father’s footsteps to Yale University to specialize in child and adolescent psychiatry.

“I plan to continue my global psychiatric research as well as anti-racism social activist research for the African-American community,”

Dr. Amanda Calhoun said.

“I hope to be half the psychiatrist that my dad is and as witty as him and my grandpa. I am so proud to join the ranks!”

[expletive] there for me.”

Those in the fight to continue women’s reproductive rights include those who look beyond today on behalf of the future of women.

“My name is Lauren, I’m 16 years old and I’ve never been pregnant, I’ve never had an abortion and I’m not sexually active, but I know people who are, and I am here to support them,” she said. “I’m tired of coming out here and marching and speaking up for these rights that we should already have –these human rights.”

While they were outside the state office building, a small group of demonstrators made their way inside the building – resulting in 16 arrests for trespassing. St. Louis police said two received summons and were released and 14 were booked.

Therefore, let’s encourage our legislators to spend more time finding money to fund research or work on legislation to curb gun violence. There are many more pressing issues that deserve our attention.

Now Planned Parenthood, which operates that final abortion clinic, said it will be forced to end its abortion services altogether by Friday if the state suspends its license The closure is not related to new anti-abortion laws that Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, signed last week to ban most abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. The new laws don’t take effect until August.

Already the number of patients in Missouri seeking an abortion at the clinic from April 2018 until this April had dropped by 50 percent compared with the same period the previous year. Planned Parenthood spokesman Jesse Lawder attributes two-thirds of the decrease to the clinic’s refusal to do pelvic exams for abortions performed through medication — recently required by the state — thus forcing all such abortions to be performed out of state For Dreith, while she expects the Missouri numbers to continue to grow at her Illinois clinic across the Mississippi River, it’s not the only state sending patients her way.

“Patients were literally coming to us from the last remaining clinics in Kentucky … so that they wouldn’t get past 24 weeks,” Dreith said. “We don’t want these patients in surrounding states traveling [to] New York [or] California like they once had to.” That’s how it was prior to the Roe v. Wade ruling, according to Mary Ziegler, a professor at the Florida State University College of Law who is writing her third book on the history of the legal battle around abortion access. She anticipates the pattern of privilege will repeat itself.

In short, just like in biblical times when the Pharisees wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery, we must be reminded of our own personal issues. Right now, we all need to put down our stones, go back to our homes and get busy doing work to advance our communities instead of pointing fingers and alienating our neighbors. Our children are watching!

Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D., is an assistant professor at SLUCare Family Medicine and the medical accuracy editor of The St. Louis American.

Dr. Amanda Calhoun and Dr. Joshua Calhoun, her father

Black women win cannabis business pitch competition

Ignite Missouri tries to boost prospects for diversity in emerging health sector

By Rebecca Rivas

The St. Louis American

Missouri’s medical marijuana boom is near.

On Tuesday, June 4, Missouri rolled out it regulations for people to apply to cultivate, dispense and manufacture medical marijuana. But, those applications come with hefty price tags. To apply to become a dispensary or manufacturer, it costs $6,000 and to cultivate it costs $10,000. That means that these companies need to have capital ready to go — because few banks are giving out loans in this industry yet, business owners said.

“Anyone interested is going to have to have a significant investment that’s nonrefundable,” said Tiffany Brewer, the small-business owner of JoJo’s Juice Bar. “People of color find that is a barrier.” Brewer and her team will be applying to open a dispensary and center called Live Roots, which would also offer community services. On May 19, Brewer won one of three awards at Ignite,

n “I have an invested passion in ensuring that the cannabis movement is well representative of the community that has been most impacted by it.”

– Sarah Ceti

Missouri’s first cannabis entrepreneurs pitch competition, where more than $9,000 in cash and business services went to the winning teams.

There’s an “overwhelming number of minorities” who are interested in getting a piece of the cannabis economic boom in Missouri, Brewer said. However, instead of applying for a license, they will most likely end up going the “ancillary route,” such as transporting and other supporting business endeavors, she said, because

of the hard vetting process and the requirements that the state has put in place for applications.

All three of the winners of the Ignite competition were African-American women based in North St. Louis County, who plan on applying to open dispensaries.

The other two winning teams were: MajestiKs LLC, led by community advocate and herbalist Marne Madison, who seek to open a wellnesscentered cannabis dispensary; and Pure Leaf Collective, led by founder and CEO Taronda Ransom, who seek to open a cannabis dispensary offering 100 percent organically grown products, 100 percent vegan edibles, online ordering, a pharmacy-style drive-through window and delivery service.

Nine teams pitched their ideas, and about 80 percent of the 50 participants were AfricanAmerican.

The competition – and the bootcamp before it – was organized by Florissant native Sarah

See CANNABIS, B6

Free website connects young people to job training

Lonnie G. Bunch III was elected the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by its Board of Regents. Bunch is the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He becomes the first African American to lead the Smithsonian and the first historian elected secretary. In addition, he will be the first museum director to ascend to secretary in 74 years.

Patrice Reddick is newly announced as president of National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. – Metropolitan St. Louis Chapter. Its mission is to advocate on behalf of black women and girls to promote leadership development and gender equity in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment. Reddick joined the organization in 2010 and her leadership role within the organization includes 1st vice president of Programs. She is network director of Central Intake for SSM Behavioral Health Ministry.

Jamison M. Armstrong graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas as U.S. Air Force Airman. He completed an intensive, eightweek program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills. He is a 2019 graduate of McCluer North High School.

Staci Wadlington was named2019 Principal of the Year for the FergusonFlorissant School District. She is principal at Airport Elementary School. “She works tirelessly for absolutely everyone in this building,” said Kim Davis, dean of Students at Airport Elementary. She was selected by a panel of district administrators on several data points and anecdotal observations.

(Ladi) Adefala

Oladipupo (Ladi) Adefala was elected to the Board of Directors of Delta Dental of Missouri, the state’s leading dental benefits provider. He is a cyber-security expert with Fortinet, who advises clients from a variety of industry sectors on cyber security strategies and risk management. He has served in strategic technical and leadership roles in enterprise network, mobility and advanced cyber security solutions, and has held information technology and security positions at several national corporations.

American staff

The St. Louis Regional Youth Employment Coalition, in partnership with the ClarkFox Family Foundation, has launched Blueprint4Careers, a free web platform that connects students and young people to training programs for middle-skill jobs. The open and free platform is accessible to any individual across the region and will be marketed specifically to youth ages 17-25 living in in St. Louis and North St. Louis County. Featuring content from the Nine Network’s American Graduate initiative, the platform allows users to explore high-demand occupations that offer livable wages and career advancement opportunities without a four-year degree, learn

St. Louis Regional Youth Employment Coalition launches Blueprint4Careers n “There are numerous high-quality credentialing and apprenticeship programs in the St. Louis region, however there is a lack of awareness among young people.”

– Katie Kaufmann, Ready By 21 St. Louis

more about what it looks like to work in our region’s high-growth industries, and create an account to find free or affordable work training

programs.

“We know there are numerous high-quality credentialing and apprenticeship programs in the St. Louis region, however there is a lack of awareness among young people – particularly with youth of color,” said Katie Kaufmann, director, Ready By 21 St. Louis.

“Blueprint4Careers will strengthen our regional talent base by better connecting young people to education and training programs that lead to middle-skill jobs and support their success in life.”

Middle-skill occupations are an essential part of Missouri’s workforce and currently account for four out of every 10 jobs, according

Stephani Hudson joined the School District of University City as St. Louis County Special School District area coordinator. She will be working in Brittany Woods Middle School, University City High School and Lieberman Learning Center to supervise all special education programming. She will work closely with students, parents and staff to coordinate Individual Education Programs, or IEPs. She is currently an SSD area coordinator at Riverview Gardens High School. On the move? Congratulations! Send your good professional news and a color headshot to cking@stlamerican. com

Oladipupo

Patrice Reddick

Stephani Hudson

Staci Wadlington

Lonnie G. Bunch III

Jamison M. Armstrong

Of

Tiffany Snow-Wesley, Marne Madison, Kris Newell, Mary Maslak, Gabriel Lona, Dimitri Gamez, Jocelyn Hillis, Tiffany Brewer and Taronda Ransom at Ignite Missouri’s first cannabis entrepreneurs pitch competition on May 19. All three of the winners of the Ignite competition were African-American women based in North St. Louis County, who plan on applying to open dispensaries.

Photo courtesy Ignite Missouri

By Karishma Furtado and David Dwight IV For The St. Louis American

The proposed demolition of the Wellston Housing Authority, a public housing development that serves almost entirely Black St. Louisans, paired with an insufficient plan for maintaining the Wellston community repeats a troubling pattern of disinvestment in historic black neighborhoods. We call on HUD to radically listen to the communities and individuals that will be devastated by those actions, apply a racial equity lens to its plans, and lean into its position as a key policy and systems actor with the potential to help heal and restore a community as opposed to throwing it away. Across the last century, St. Louis has regrettably seen the destruction and redevelopment of many historic black neighborhoods including Mill Creek Valley, EvansHoward Place, PershingWaterman, Clayton, and Kinloch. Often, the rationales given to the communities pointed to the

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to the Missouri Economic Research. Blueprint4Careers provides direct access for young people to navigate and participate in careeraccelerating opportunities and fills the demand for middleskill occupations that will help maintain a strong regional economy by promoting

Open letter to HUD on Wellston housing crisis

substandard condition of the existing housing, the potential for urban renewal, and the need for new infrastructure. These rationales ignore the history of neglect and disinvestment by governmental, financial, and private institutions that have created the substandard conditions. The proposed actions by HUD place Wellston dangerously on the edge of joining this list of decimated black neighborhoods. A principle of the Ferguson Commission that we feel is critical to all of our work is radical listening. This consists of taking the time to hear what the communities we intend to serve have to say, trusting them to be the experts on their experiences, and then formulating plans and taking action accordingly. It is clear: the community of Wellston was not properly consulted and does not want this course of action. They do not want to fall prey to the toxic pattern of discarding black communities in the name of urban renewal intended to benefit others. They want to enjoy the baseline of investment and optimism that so many other neighborhoods

educational programs that meet workforce needs.

“Our region’s youth are the future of our workforce,” said Maxine Clark, CEO of the Clark-Fox Family Foundation and founder of Build-ABear Workshop. “For our region to thrive and continue to grow, we must provide opportunities for our youth to develop the skills they need to succeed. By increasing career visibility and readiness with Blueprint4Careers, we

in our region experience and expect.

The Ferguson Commission—after its comprehensive, regional study, which included over 3,000 St. Louis community members— next encourages us to judiciously apply a racial equity lens.

This means asking ourselves for any given action, program, or policy being considered: Whom does this benefit? Will this differentially impact racial and ethnic groups? And, what is missing that will intentionally decrease or eliminate racial disparities?

The answers to these questions undoubtedly show that the destruction of the Wellston Housing Authority would be a shock felt almost entirely by a low-income black community. Ninety-nine percent of Wellston is black compared with 24 percent of

are investing in tomorrow’s workforce.”

Blueprint4Careers is the newest platform in the Blueprint4 suite created by Clark. Launched in 2015, Blueprint4SummerSTL provides free and easy access to thousands of summer opportunities across the St. Louis region for students ages 3-18. Blueprint4Summer College Prep lists information about pre-college and college access programs for high

St. Louis County. The disparate impact is clear and egregious.

The third principle of the commission calls on us to recognize the historical treatment of black neighborhoods in our solutions by prioritizing a policy and systems approach.

This technique enables us to understand how disparate outcomes are the product of the way our institutions, practices, policies, and laws were built and how they continue to impact community health today. It calls us to reach beyond reaction to symptoms—a neglected public housing complex—and to instead implement solutions that address the root causes of inequities.

This means situating the lack of opportunities to thrive for so many of our black neighbors and communities—reflected in

school students on university campuses in all 50 states.

Blueprint4Careers now rounds out the resource suite of student trajectories by listing information about career credentialing and apprenticeship programs in the St. Louis region. Founded in 2018, the St. Louis Regional Youth Employment Coalition is made up of 25 partners, and aims to shift the population level unemployment rate for African Americans ages 20-24, which is currently five

many indicators of access and wellbeing—within the broader context of local, state, and national systems and policies that not only passively fail to serve them but actively damage them. It also means acknowledging that weakening neighborhoods and destroying low-income housing when affordable housing is already exceedingly scarce goes on to have profound impacts across the lives of those whose homes and communities are lost.

Jason Purnell of Health Equity Works at Washington University in St. Louis reminds us of this by saying that a child who can’t hear, can’t see, hasn’t slept, can’t breathe, has been traumatized, hasn’t eaten, and doesn’t know where they’re going to sleep doesn’t have the opportunity to learn. The planned actions of HUD will have profound and adverse ripple effects across the lives of those displaced. Similarly, when tasked with examining the underlying causes of the civil unrest after the death of Michael Brown, the Ferguson Commission

times higher than the region’s overall unemployment rate.

Partners include Accenture, Better Family Life, Covenant House Missouri, ClarkFox Family Foundation, Family and Workforce Centers of America, Fathers’ Support Center, Ferguson Youth Initiative, Kingdom House, MERS Goodwill, Midwest CyberCenter, MO Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Nine Network, NPower, Ready By 21, SLATE Missouri Job Center,

identified a long-standing history of disinvestment in black communities as one of many interrelated factors that feed our persistent racial disparities across most life outcomes. It called for investment in more and better affordable housing and policy-based commitments to help predominantly Black neighborhoods thrive. Forward Through Ferguson lends its voice to those calling for the proposed demolition of the Wellston Housing Authority to halt until HUD and local partners have taken the vital first steps to apply a racial equity lens, radically listen to affected community members, and commit to a systems and policy approach. We must ensure that Wellston does not join the list of black St. Louis neighborhoods lost to history due to systemic neglect and redevelopment. This letter was sent to HUD and the Housing Authority of St. Louis County. David Dwight IV is lead strategy catalyst and Karishma Furtado is research and data catalyst at Forward Through Ferguson.

Special School District of St. Louis County, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, Saint Louis Community College, St. Louis County Department of Human Services, St. Louis Internship Program, St. Louis Regional Chamber, STL Youth Jobs, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc., and United Way of Greater St. Louis. For more information about Blueprint4Careers visit, http://blueprint4.com/ careers/.

Karishma Furtado David Dwight IV

n “I want to be on this stage. This is what I worked for my entire career.”

Sports

Theotis Brown rumbling back to St. Louis as XFL continues run of minority hiring

~ See ‘Sports Eye’ page B4 ~

St. Louis American Girls

All-Area Track & Field Team

It was excellent season for the girls’ track and field athletes in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Not only did the area produce many standout individual performers, but East St. Louis, Parkway North and Trinity brought home state championships.

To honor the achievements of the area’s top girls’ athletes, here is the St. Louis American All-Area Girls Track and Field Teams.

First Team

100-meter dash: Alicia Burnett (Jr.) Parkway North

200-meter dash: Alicia Burnett (Jr.) Parkway North

400-meter dash: Courtney Williams (Jr.) Nerinx Hall

800-meter run: Claire Ayers (Sr.) Washington

1,600-meter run: Anna Karner (Sr.) Lafayette

3,200-meter run: Anna Karner (Sr.) Lafayette

100-meter high hurdles: Michelle Owens (Jr.) McCluer North

300-meter low hurdles: Angela Arinze (Jr.) Webster Groves

4x100-meter relay: East St. Louis (Veronica Sherrod, Markia Lampley, Faith Mitchell, Jariah Turner)

4x200-meter relay: McCluer North (Kyra Perry, Kayla Perry, Michelle Owens, Lauryn Taylor)

4x400-meter relay: East St. Louis (Shonjahnea Griggs, Faith Mitchell, Maysha Vickers, Jariah Turner).

4x800-meter relay: Wentzville Liberty (Karlie Wooten, Megan Venurella, Adrienne Rocketts, All Kruger).

Long Jump: La’Qwasis Stepney (Sr.) Belleville West Triple Jump: Brooke Jenkins (Sr.) Pattonville High Jump: Eliza Maupin (Fr) Webster Groves

Shot Put: Nia Lyles (Sr.) Webster Groves Discus: Diamond Richardson (Sr.) Pattonville Javelin: Megan Fortner (Sr.) Northwest-Cedar

In most professional sports, championships are determined by some type of tournament. Usually, a league’s best teams/ competitors engage in a series of matchups until the top two faceoff for all the glory. That’s the way things are done in basketball, baseball, football, track and field, golf, tennis, hockey, soccer, etc. Even college football eventually caved to the pressure and created a mini (but still imperfect) tournament to try to create a clear and undisputed national champion.

Then there is boxing. Unlike other major sports, boxing lacks a central commission. The sport is regulated and controlled by various commissions, sanctioning bodies, TV networks and promoters. The result is that championship bouts are not always between the best fighters in the world. Instead, relationships between the fighters’ aforementioned entities often determine which

fights can be easily made. Add in fighters’ egos, purse splits demands and location preferences and it is easy to see why mega fights in the sport of boxing often take years to materialize, if they ever happen at all. That is a big reason why we ended up with a title fight between (then-) WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and unheralded Andy Ruiz Jr. While the boxing world was clamoring for a unification bout between Joshua and WBC champ Deontay Wilder, the towering knockout artists took turns making excuses as to why they couldn’t or wouldn’t fight right away. Joshua claimed, on video, that he would fight Wilder for $50 million. When Wilder’s promotional team sent Joshua an offer for that amount, it was declined. Wilder later refused to agree to a fight unless there was an explicit 50/50 purse

— Demarcus Cousins of Golden State Warriors

Earl Austin Jr.

Sistrunk

Photo by Wiley Price

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Theotis Brown rumbling back to St. Louis as XFL continues run of minority hiring

Former St. Louis Cardinals standout running back Theotis Brown has been named director of player personnel for St. Louis’ XFL franchise, the league announced last week.

Brown’s addition in St. Louis is one of an impressive series of African-American coaching and front office hires by the XFL, which includes St. Louis head coach Jonathan Hayes.

A collegiate star at UCLA, Brown was drafted by the football Cardinals in 1979 and played here through the 1981 season. After a pair of respective seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs, Brown’s career was cut short after just six years after he suffered a heart attack.

relationship with on of the world’s most accomplished actors, a man he met at Skyline High School in Oakland. His locker mate was Tom Hanks.

“I used to say I went to school with a guy who was a two-time Academy Award winner,” said Brown.

“People would say, ‘James Earl Jones?’ ‘Denzel Washington?’ Or they would say, ‘Tom Hanks?’ I always used to say the difference between Tom Hanks and me was height and money – I was taller, and you figure out the rest.”

Maybe he can convince his old locker mate to come to a game in St. Louis.

He teamed with running back Otis Anderson while a Cardinal, and the pair had a highly entertaining program on KMOX called “The Otis and Theotis Show.” Brown remained in the Kansas City area after his retirement and worked for the Dallas-based Willis & Woy Sports Group as director of collegiate recruitment.

“The athletic world is a small world, it really is. Everybody wants to get in it, but not everybody can,” Brown recently said on Seahawks website.

“But once you’re in it, you’re in the club. There’s approximately 1,600 active players in the NFL, and for every 1,600 that are active, there are 16 million wishing they could have just that one opportunity, that one shot to see what they can do.”

Brown also has a unique

XFL shaming NFL in hiring

The XFL’s commitment to diversity began last November when Doug Whaley, former Buffalo Bills general manager, was named the league’s senior vice president of football operations. He will report directly to XFL Commissioner and CEO Oliver Luck.

Whaley served in the Bills’ front office from 2010 to 2017, earning his way up the ranks before being named GM in 2013. He was assistant GM and pro personnel director, and then held the GM role for four seasons. He was serving as the director of college recruiting for the NFL Players Association’s Collegiate Bowl before joining the XFL. In Houston, Brian Michael Cooper was recently named president of that XFL franchise. He brings more than 20 years of experience as a sports

attorney, agent, executive and advisor, and is a four-time Super Lawyers Texas Rising Star. Before returning to his law practice in 2017 at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, he served as director of sports programming for DISH Network.

“One measure of our success will be how well we engage the community. Another measure will be how effectively we tap into Houston’s passion for football. In both instances, I look forward to planting firm roots for the XFL by building a passionate, loyal fanbase for our Houston team,” said in a release upon his hiring.

He served as senior associate athletic director at Rice University from 2008 to 2010 before being named president of the NBA G-League Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

The XFL franchise in Washington, D.C. also has a black executive serving as president.

Erik A. Moses was recently named to the position after serving as senior vice president and managing director of sports, entertainment and special events for Events DC.

Pep Hamilton, who is also black, was named as the team’s head coach in April.

“I can think of no better next step than to work with this great community to establish the XFL in DC and across the entire Washington region and cultivate a passionate, loyal fan base for our team,” Moses said.

Hamilton said Moses “is exactly the right partner for the job, and I can’t wait to get started building our DC team.”

The XFL has also hired two women, respectively, as team presidents in the league’s two largest metropolitan areas.

Janet Duch, a veteran executive at Madison Square Garden who was serving as senior vice president of on location experiences, will help guide the New York franchise.

Heather Brooks Karatz, who served as executive vice president and general counsel of the Los Angeles Football Club and Banc of California Stadium, has been named president of the XFL football team in Los Angeles.

Winston Moss, L.A.’s head coach, is one of the three black men heading teams in the eight-squad XFL.

Commissioner Oliver Luck has so far proven that the XFL can and will find experienced and deserving African Americans and women to fill vital on-field and front office jobs.

I’m sure NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is keeping an eye on the XFL, which will kick off its comeback season in February 2020. Hopefully, this

will spark more minority hiring as head coaches, team presidents and other front office jobs – which are woefully lacking in the NFL.

Black athletes and activism

Several high-profile black athletes and journalists joined in Washington, D.C. to discuss sports and activism in a series of panel discussions at Entertainment and Sports Arena.

Hosted by The Atlantic and Washington Mystics WNBA franchise, the event drew John Carlos, writer Jemele Hill and many other socially conscious athletes.

Hill said some black athletes are proving “that there is a lot of reward to using your voice.”

“I’m thinking specifically of LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick. Now obviously with Colin Kaepernick, it cost him his NFL career. But that being said, he’s one of the most powerful voices of his generation. LeBron is still highly paid. I think that (some athletes) see that those fears that they have that they will lose something, financially or otherwise, are unfounded or that they can survive if they really feel passionate about something.

“I don’t mean this to sound shallow, but in many ways, they’ve helped to make activism kind of cool.”

Carlos, who joined with Tommie Smith in a blackgloved, black power salute

during the national anthem that cost them their respective gold and silver medals at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, said he is encourage by increased athlete activism.

“They’re realizing that they’re the voice for the voiceless. They’re using their platforms now in sports across the world to make political statements. Social statements. They’re encouraging others. It’s a domino effect,” he said. Other athletes taking part in the discussion included former USNWT soccer goalie Brianna Scurry, former NFL tight end Martellus Bennett and Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud.

The Reid Roundup

All props to Andy “The Overweight Lover” Ruiz for his stunning defeat of Anthony Joshua in Saturday’s heavyweight title bout. Ruiz becomes the first boxer of Mexican heritage to hold a heavyweight crown – let alone three, which he won with the upset win … As for Joshua, brother you should be ashamed of yourself … Who told the world the St. Louis Cardinals would sweep a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs last weekend? That would be me … Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs were at Saturday’s Stanley Cup Finals game in St. Louis. Mahomes chugged down what looked to be a beer to the delight of the crowd and received a huge ovation when he appeared on the scoreboard video screen. Both Mahomes and Kelce were sporting Blues jerseys … A neutral site preseason game here in St. Louis featuring the Chiefs would be cool … Speaking of Mahomes, I keep reading about his possible regression in 2019 after his scintillating, All-Pro season last year. Why are we not hearing as much regression talk about other young quarterbacks, especially Sam Darnold of the New York Jets? He has to learn a new system under first-year head coach Adam Gase Odell Beckham Jr. showed up for one Cleveland Browns voluntary practice last week and missed the rest. Head coach Freddie Kitchens said he missed “A lot. The offense.” Beckham did show up early for mandatory minicamp, which began Wednesday … The Browns are also hoping often troubled St. Louis native Sheldon Richardson can get his act together after the defensive tackle was signed to a free-agent contract during the offseason.

Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest and is a New York Times contributor. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and appears monthly on “The Dave Glover Show” on 97.1 Talk.” His Twitter handle is @aareid1.

Alvin A. Reid

Theotis Brown talks with St. Louis Cardinals head coach Bud Wilkinson during the 1979 season.

Team Ramey wins championship at Show Me Showdown

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When that didn’t work out, Wilder immediately announced a rematch that nobody asked for against Luis Ortiz followed by a highly-coveted one against Tyson Fury

The most-lucrative heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson seemed less likely than a battle royal between Donald Trump and the leading Democratic candidates for the White House. As if that wasn’t far-fetched enough, Ruiz, a free-swinging, belly-bouncing, 11-to-1 underdog told the boxing world to hold his beer. Ruiz dropped

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Hill Pole Vault: Kelly Ross (Jr.)

MICDS)

Second Team

100: Lauryn Taylor (Jr.)

McCluer North

200: Danielle Frank (Jr.)

Hazelwood Central

400: Madison Fuller (Sr.)

John Burroughs

800: Keilah Wilkes (Fr.)

Joshua four times en route to becoming the first fighter of Mexican-descent to become heavyweight champion of the world.

Ruiz only got a title shot because Joshua’s original opponent, Jarrell Miller, was scratched from the fight after failing three drug tests. Ruiz was chosen as the replacement because Joshua’s team assumed he would be an easy knockout victim for “AJ” in his first fight on American soil. For the record, Ruiz is not a bum. Despite his resemblance to a tatted-up Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the new champ has fast hands, good power (obviously) and solid boxing skills. For many experts though, his ceiling was

Pattonville

1,600: Lila Bensky (Sr.) Ladue

3,200: Ally Kruger (Fr.) Wentzville Liberty

100HH: Scout Regular (Jr.) Incarnate Word Academy, Akilah Heffner (Soph) Trinity

300LH: Veronica Sherrod (Jr.) East St. Louis

4x100: McCluer North (Kyra Perry, Mauriyoni Tate, Michelle Owens, Lauryn Taylor)

4x200: East St. Louis (Veronica Sherrod, Faith Mitchell, Brionna Graham, Markia Lampley)

as a fringe contender. He was thought to be a guy who could compete for title opportunities, but not actually win them.

Think of a contemporary Chris Arreola

Now he has become a modern-day Corrie Sanders Sanders was another fitness-challenged heavyweight with fast hands. He shocked the world by knocking out WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko in a stunning upset in 2003. Sanders exposed Klitschko’s “suspect” chin in the same way Ruiz did to Joshua on Saturday night.

Klitschko eventually found his way to Manny Steward

The Hall of Fame trainer helped shore up Klitschko’s defense led him to greater suc-

4x400: Pattonville (Demisha Anglin, Keilah Wilkes, Brooke Jenkins, Kendall Battle)

4x800: Lafayette (Grace Kirtley, Hope Ware, Kelsey Johnson, Anna Karner)

Long Jump: Brooke Jenkins (Sr.) Pattonville

Triple Jump: Brooke Moore (Fr) Trinity

High Jump: Christa’nae

Wright (Jr.) Normandy

Shot Put: Diamond

Richardson (Sr.) Pattonville

Discus: Tae’la Jackson (Sr.)

Clayton Javelin: Sydney Juszczyk (Soph.) Trinity

The ST. LouiS AmericAn PreP AThLeTeS of The Week

Lauryn Taylor

McCluer North – Girls Track & Field

The junior sprinter was one of the top performers at last weekend’s Missouri Class 5 state track and field championships in Jefferson City.

Taylor won three state championship medals last week in the sprints for the Stars. She won the state title in the 100-meter dash

in a time of 11.97 seconds. She also anchored the Stars to state championships in the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays. As a sophomore in 2018, Taylor earned All-State honors as she finished fourth in the 100 at the state championships.

cess and 18 consecutive title defenses. It remains to be seen whether Joshua can bounce back from his humiliating defeat and rebuild his confidence to become a dominant champion.

He’ll get a shot to earn back his belts later this year after exercising his rights to an immediate rematch. That bout will likely take place in the UK in either November or December.

If Joshua wins, it could set up a rubber match, because after all, boxing fans love a good trilogy. More likely though, a Joshua victory would lead for him to take his belts and go find the path of least resistance to help rebuild his reputation.

Pole Vault: Elizabeth Schilling (Sr.) Lafayette

Austin Achievement Awards

Athlete of the Year: Alicia

Maybe Wilder stays undefeated in the meantime. Maybe his chin will checked or he will get outboxed by Ortiz or Fury in his upcoming rematches.

One thing is clear, the more fighters use delaying and dodging tactics, the more often compelling matchups like Joshua vs Wilder will go up in flames.

Let’s be clear. A single loss, even to an overwhelming underdog, does not end a career. A loss to a highly-regarded, unbeaten champion such as Wilder would have done much less damage to Joshua’s reputation. Furthermore, Joshua’s loss didn’t just hurt his reputation. His loss also hurt his earning power.

Wilder’s bank account was

most-certainly affected also. While the WBC champion was not even in the ring Saturday, his role in delaying the fight either cost or postponed what would have surely been a career high payday. Hopefully other fighters will take note. If you insist on taking the “easy” route, a hard lesson may be waiting just around the corner.

Be sure to check In the Clutch online and also follow Ishmael on Twitter @ishcreates. Subscribe to The St. Louis American’s YouTube page to see bi-weekly sports videos starring Ishmael and Melvin Moore at youtube.com/stlamericanvideo

The standout junior sprinter enjoyed a big performance in leading the Flyers to the Illinois Class 2A state championship in Charleston. Johnson took home two gold medals from last week’s state meet. He won the state title in the 400-meter dash in a time of 47.65

seconds. He also anchored the Flyers’ 4x400-meter relay team to a state title in a time of 3 minutes 18.13 seconds. Johnson also took home a third All-State medal when he finished in fifth place in the 200meter dash.

the Year:

Burnett (Parkway North) Team of the Year: East St. Louis, Trinity, Parkway North Freshman of the Year: Eliza Maupin (Webster Groves), Brooke Moore (Trinity) Sophomore of

Sydney Juszczyk (Trinity) Junior of the Year: Alicia Burnett (Parkway North) Senior of the Year: Madison Fuller (John Burroughs)

Congratulations to the Team Ramey CCM 17U boys’ basketball team on winning the championship at the Prep Hoops Show Me Showdown last weekend in St. Louis. Team Ramey defeated the Gateway Basketball Club 54-40 in the championship game to finish the weekend with a 5-0 record. The team members are (left to right) Clemente Brooks, assistant coach; Didane Moore (Granite City), Glenn Valentine (Cardinal Ritter), Brandon Ellington (Cardinal Ritter), Elijah Bishop (Soldan), Gary Clark (Cardinal Ritter), Wes Gould (SLUH), Jaylen Boyd (Ladue), Lamontay Daugherty (Mehlville) and Jason Boyd, head coach.

Photo by Earl Austin Jr.

CANNABIS

continued from page B1

Ceti and her husband Zeta, who own Green Rush Consulting. The couple, who are based in Oakland, California, helps people land cannabis licenses across the country.

Sarah realized that nothing was being done in Missouri to ensure that some of the limited number of available cannabis licenses will go to minority business owners.

“I have deep roots in St. Louis and have an invested passion in ensuring that the cannabis movement is well representative of the community that has been most impacted by it,” she said.

The Ferguson unrest was a big part of the couple’s decision to hold the Ignite competition, she said. Five years ago, Sarah’s mother died from a rare form of cancer, and she helped wean her mother off of opioids with medical marijuana. Her mother died two days before Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson Police officer on August 9, 2014, igniting a national movement challenging racial inequities in policing. Her mother’s funeral was held at her family’s church in Ferguson, very close to the Ferguson Police Department where protestors had gathered that day. Her mother was a faith leader who fought for racial and gender equality.

“This really is a full-circle event for me and my family and hopefully making positive social change within the communities,” she said, and one that honors her mother’s legacy at the same time.

The cannabis industry is dominated by white males, she said, but she believes there is enough opportunity to create “economic justice for our communities who have really struggled because of systemic racism.”

On November 6, 2018, Missouri voters approved Amendment 2 to permit state-licensed physicians to recommend marijuana for

Anyone interested in doing business in Missouri’s new medical marijuana sector “is going to have to have a significant investment that’s nonrefundable,” said entrepreneur Tiffany Brewer. “People of color find that is a barrier.”

medical purposes to patients with serious illnesses and medical conditions.

While the application requirements rolled out this week, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services won’t begin accepting applications for cultivation, manufacturing, and dispensing facilities until August 3. The state department anticipates medical marijuana being available for purchase as early as January 2020, according to the state website.

If minorities are looking to get into this industry, Sarah recommends connecting with Minorities for Medical Marijuana and Oaksterdam University, who led the bootcamp prior to the pitch competition.

The competition judges are also good resources, she said. They included Charles Wu, cannabis investor and educator who serves as chief revenue officer of Agrinamics and Minorities for Medical Marijuana; Lance McCarthy, economist and investment advisor who founded Ferguson

1000, an initiative to create jobs in Ferguson; Leah Heise, a D.C.-based cannabis regulatory compliance attorney; and Derek Mays, corporate lawyer and founder of REAL Cannabis Co.

“The largest challenge is the financial challenge,” Sarah said, “and that’s why we did the pitch event. We wanted to connect the people who have the skills and the expertise with the people who have the capital. They are some differing demographics in those groups. It was an intentional action towards creating that ideal economy where everyone has a piece of the pie.”

Coming up this month, The St. Louis American will feature articles about the three winners of the Ignite pitch competition.

For more information on Minorities for Medical Marijuana, visit https:// minorities4medicalmarijuana. org/. For more information on Oaksterdam University, visit https://oaksterdamuniversity. com/.

Financial Focus

By Aaron Ezell

Photo courtesy Ignite Missouri

Spring Music Festival show goes on without Jaheim ‘It feels like home’

Remaining lineup of music veterans deliver solid night of R&B

By Kenya Vaughn Of The ST. Louis American

A majority of the buzz surrounding Friday night’s Spring Music Festival was the ongoing debate as to whether R&B singer Jaheim would actually show up. Yes, he was reportedly booked. Yes, he was on promotional material. But neither have stopped him from being absent before. They would have to wait until just before the show to learn that he had done it again. The sighs of disappointment could be heard repeatedly as fans made their way to the entrances at Chaifetz and to learn from signs posted on the door that Jaheim would not be a part of the lineup. Friday night marked the third consecutive time that Jaheim missed a show in St. Louis –with no official explanation given. Though for his latest absence, he implied to his social media following that he wouldn’t be there, despite his name being on the bill. His absence was confirmed a few hours before the show. Refunds were offered. Some guests took advantage. The rest were treated with an enjoyable evening of R&B that reflected the 1990s and 2000s.

Guests were slow to arrive, but the Chaifetz appeared to have a full house by evening’s end. Several thousand were on a single groove and into the evening’s vibe that found the throwback sweet spot that reflected the Generation X and Y throwback era that is now on the cusp of being officially old school.

Sounds curated by 95.5 FM’s DJ Kut and comic relief from veteran funnyman Damon Williams were woven between the lineup that included Donnell Jones, Avant, Monica and Tank.

Jones was first up. He seemed to be suffering some sort of vocal issues. Despite perfunctory singing voice, he seemed intent on giving the audience a show – a feat he achieved by compelling the crowd to sing along to his greatest hits, including his cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Knocks Me Off My Feet” as well as his own “Where I

Funding

‘The V’

Filmmaker Damien D. Smith raising capital to shoot first feature narrative at home

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“‘The V’ is a love letter to my city,” said filmmaker and actor Damien D. Smith. “When I was writing this, I wanted to highlight and accent St. Louis the best way I can.”

He’s lived in New York and Los Angeles –where he currently resides – with a film resume that includes acting, production and direction. But bringing “The V,” his first full-length feature narrative home, is top of mind. Not only has he written a story that is so St.

Louis, but he wants to raise the money to film it here. “It would have been easier for me to shoot ‘The V’ in L.A. or Atlanta, where there is a tax credit, but I particularly wanted to bring this

St. Louis native Damien D. Smith is in the process of raising money to begin shooting his first full-length feature narrative, “The V” in St. Louis.

home to my people,” Smith said. “I want to use this film to teach my people how to fish – to show my people there are other opportunities in the entertainment industry besides being oncamera, to show my people what we can do and help promote the arts and use the film to be able to show everybody ‘you can do this.’

“The V” is a fictional story set in St. Louis at the fictitious Victory High School, about a legendary basketball coach with the most wins in the history of high school sports – who is hiding a very dark secret.

“It’s not based on any real person,” Smith said. “It’s an amalgamation of all the stories that have been going around from the Sanduskys to the doctor from the Women’s National Gymnastics Team.”

The story is told through the eyes of two high school students. One is coach’s newest recruit. The other is the editor in-chief of the high school’s newspaper and blog – whose family history gives her a vested interest in taking the coach down.

“She is using journalism as a tool to fight back,” Smith said.

Smith has already received acclaim as a filmmaker. He has three short films under his belt as

See FILM, C4

Fond memories as Muny Kids alum Erin Moore returns for ‘Guys and Dolls’

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St.

n “I was telling her when we sat in rehearsal on the first day that I had that moment of remembering having so much fun here in the summer.”

- Erin Moore

Erin Moore’s road for a career that has spanned film, television and stage began at the Muny. She was in the inaugural group of Muny Kids before graduating to Muny Teens and earning her Actor’s Equity Association card as a 17-year-old performer in the “King and I” and “Anything Goes.” Next week she will be back with years of experience – and a good friend – when she takes the stage as a member of the ensemble of “Guys and Dolls ” for the opening production of the Muny’s 101st Season. Moore met Alicia Lundgren while studying at Fordham University in New York, where they were a part of the Alvin Ailey Fordham BFA Program – which is a joint initiative between the Ailey School (a separate entity from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company) and Fordham. They’ve remained friends – and worked together on television and on Broadway in the Tony Award nominated musical “Shuffle Along.” But having Lundgren see where Moore received her early education in musical theater is a special memory on its own. “She’s here with me and it’s like, ‘this is place,’” Moore said. “I was telling her when we sat in rehearsal on the first day that I had that moment of remembering having so much fun here in the summer,” Moore said. “I have so many memories of the place. It feels like home.”

She remembered sitting in the music room. She remembered the campus. She also remembers waiting to get “the call” from Muny Company Manager Sue Greenberg.

“Sue was the one who let you know that you booked a show.”

Moore’s first call from Greenberg was for the musical “Annie” when she was just a child.

“I really think that it was a place – even growing up as a kid – to experience theater at a really high level,” Moore said. “It’s a really great theater. It holds up to any regional theater in the country. To be able to have grown up there and experience that as a kid and as a teenager – and get my first job – to have this place be the place where you learned the ropes, that was the biggest thing for me.”

After Fordham, Moore relocated to Philadelphia where she danced with the famed troupe Philadanco for three years. After touring the world as a concert dancer and working

Erin Moore – dancer, actress and member of the inaugural cohort of Muny Kids – will return to the Muny stage for the 101st season opener ‘Guys and Dolls,’ which runs from June 10 – June 16.

See MUSIC C4

Tank

Donell Jones

Monica

Avant

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

Fri., June 7, 7 p.m., The Pageant presents Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Fri., June 7, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Symphony Orchestra hosts an Evening with Ledisi Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.slso. org.

Sun., June 9, 3 p.m., UMSL Alumni Association hosts Unforgettable – A Tribute to Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole. Performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with vocalists Dee Daniels and Denzal Sinclaire. Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.umslalumni.org.

Through June 9, Jazz St. Louis presents Matthew Whitaker. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.jazzstl.org.

Mon., June 10, 8 p.m., Old Rock House presents J.S. Ondara with Adam Melchor 1200 S. 7 th St., 63104. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sat., June 15, 6 p.m., The Eta Boule Foundation Salute Fathers & Mentors feat. Nick Colionne with Lynne Fiddmont. Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., June 15, 6 p.m., Fox Theatre presents The O’Jays: The Last Word Tour with special guest Stephanie Mills 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Fri., June 21, 8 p.m., JHowes Events, LLC presents Throwback Legends Live

in Concert: Project Pat & Crunchy Black. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., June 22, 11 a.m., The Omicron Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. presents Pink Pizzazz Scholarship Brunch featuring Denise Thimes, Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel. For more information, e-mail rbritt@ stlamerican.com

June 22 – 23, Gateway Men’s Chorus’ Stonewall Remembrance Concert. Featuring solemn pieces through disco celebrations, GMC shines a light on this important time. Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Blvd., 63121. For more information, visit www. touhill.org.

Sat., June 29, 7 p.m., An Evening with Melba Moore With special guest Lamont Hadley Sr. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

local gigs

Tues., June 11, 7 p.m., St. Louis Blues Society presents Little Dylan. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63103. For more information, visit www. thedarkroomstl.com.

Thur., June 13, 6:30 p.m., Grace Hill presents Whitaker Urban Evening Concert Series feat. Marquise Knox Also enjoy face painting, crafts, and food trucks. St. Louis Place Park, 2100 Saint Louis Ave., 63106. For more information, visit www. gracehillsettlement.org/whatwe-do/community.

Fri., June 14, 7 p.m., City of Jennings presents Little Dylan in concert, Koeneman Park, 8937 Old Lucas & Hunt Rd.

The Guide

Kenya Vaughn recommends

Fri., June 14, 7p.m., Fubar presents Snap Dogg. 3108 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www.fubar. com.

Fri., June 14, 7:30 p.m., Jazz St. Louis presents Father’s Day with the Bosman Twins Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103.

Sun., June 16, 6 p.m., Sound Solutions, LLC presents a Tribute to Luther Vandross Performance by the Black and White band feat. James White. The Signature Club, 9002 Overland Plaza, 63114. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., June 20, 4:30 p.m., Parties on the Plaza feat. Dirty Muggs. West Port Plaza Dr., 63146. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Sat., June 22, 8 p.m., R U Still Down?!: An Art & Music Tribute to Tupac Shakur. The Fellowship, 3453 S. Jefferson Ave., 63118. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., June 27, 8 p.m., Old Rock House presents Southern Avenue. 1200 S. 7th St., 63104. For more information, visit www.

metrotix.com.

June 28 – 29, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., Denise Thimes Sings Carmen McRae. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.jazzstl.org.

special events

Sun., June 9, 10 a.m., E. St. Louis Vendor Fair 2019. Shop and support small business. Clyde C. Jordan Senior Citizens Center, 6755 State St., East St. Louis, IL. 62203. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sun., June 9, 4 p.m., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Gamma Omega Chapter and the Ivy Alliance Foundation present a SophistAKAted Sunday Day Party. Privilege Lounge, 129 Flower Valley Shopping Center, 63034. For more information, visit www. akagostl.com.

Sat., Jun 15, 8 a.m., St. John AME presents Vendor Summerfest 2019, participating vendor items include: jewelry, MARY KAY, AVON, household goods, crafts, clothing and

The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Salute to Women in Leadership, among the 2019 honorees are Jenifer Lewis, Regina Belle and Bernadette Stanis. See SPECIAL EVENTS for details.

more, St. John A.M.E. Church, 547 Washington Street, St. Charles, MO 63301. For more information, call (314) 7125463.

June 15, 8 a.m., 3rd Annual MidSummer Bites Dream. A collection of the best food makers from the region. Tower Grove Farmer’s Market, Pool Pavilion, 4256 Magnolia Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Sat., June 15, 11 a.m., 13th Annual Juneteenth Celebration. African dancers, singers, jewelry, vendors, and more. Sabayet, 4000 Maffitt, 63113. For more information, visit www.sabayet.org.

June 15 – 22, Delmar Loop Week. Each day includes a different event such as a Juneteenth Celebration, Taco Tuesday, Pride Day, and more. University City, 63130. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., June 15, 5:30 p.m., The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Salute to Women in Leadership, among the 2019 honorees are Jenifer Lewis, Regina Belle and Bernadette Stanis, Marriott Grand Hotel, 800 Washington. For more information, visit www.ulstl. com or call (314) 615-3668.

June 15 – 22, Delmar Loop Week. Each day includes a different event such as a Juneteenth Celebration, Taco Tuesday, Pride Day, and more. University City, 63130. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Mon., June 17, 9 a.m., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. presents the Annual Kappa League Scholarships Fund Golf Tournament. Glen Echo Country Club, 3401 Lucas and Hunt Rd., 63121. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

June 17 – 21, 1st Annual Juneteenth Celebration & Comedy Festival. Harris Stowe, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Fri., June 21, 7 a.m., The Soulfisher Ministries presents the 5th Annual Educate Now to Achieve Later Golf Tournament. Norwood Hills Country Club, 1 Norwood Hills Country Club Dr., 63121. For more information, visit www.thesoulfisherministries. com.

Fri., June 21, 5 p.m., Food Truck Fest 2019. Tilles Park, 9551 Litzsinger Rd., 63124. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Sat., June 22, 11 a.m., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Omicron Theta Omega Chapter presents Pink Pizzazz Scholarship Brunch feat. Denise Thimes Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel, 9801 Natural Bridge Rd., 63134. For more information, visit www.akaomicronthetaomega.org.

Sat., June 22, 12 p.m., Girls With Goals presents Black Business Expo II. More than 40 Black owned businesses will be in attendance. Hilton Garden Inn St. Louis Airport, 4450 Evans Place, 63134. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., June 22, 10 a.m., Fiesta in Florissant 5th Annual Car Show. Knights of Columbus Park, 50 St. Francois St., 63031. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sun., June 23, 5 p.m., Sauce Magazine’s Saucy Soiree. St. Louis Union Station, 1820 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., June 29, 11 a.m., Wellston Community Coalition and Young Voices with Action, Inc. present the 4th Annual Black Wallstreet Festival. Wellston Loop, Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. & Hodiamont Ave., 63112. For more information, visit www. youngvoiceswithaction.org.

Sun., June 30, 5 p.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., St. Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity,

Inc., Nu Chi Chapter present the Annual STL Alumni Greek Step Show. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave., 63102. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

literary

Thur., June 6, 6 p.m.,

Subterranean Books hosts author DuEwa Frazier, author of Alice’s Musical Debut. The story reimagines one day in the early childhood of notable jazz pianist, harpist, and organist Alice Coltrane. St. Louis Public Library – Central Branch, 1301 Olive. For more information, visit www.store. subbooks.com.

Sun., June 23, 7 p.m.,

Sistahspeak presents The Sanctuary. A seasonal open mic that debuted March 2018. Calling all poets, singers, comedians, musicians, and anyone who wants to share their voice. Voce, 212 S. Tucker Blvd., 63102. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

art

June 7 – 9, 16th Annual Webster Arts Fair. View works from 105 artists from across the country, enjoy food and entertainment, and hands on activities. Bompart & Lockwood, 63119. For more information, visit www. webster-arts.org.

Sat., June 22, 9 a.m., Loop Arts Fest 2019. Experience art in all forms from culinary arts to literary arts to musical arts to visual arts. Delmar Loop, 63130. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Thur., June 27, 6:30 p.m., Contemporary Art Museum presents Artist Talk: Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Sepuya challenges the history of photography and deconstructs traditional portraiture. 3750 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. camstl.org.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

comedy

June 7 – 9, Helium Comedy Club presents Bill Bellamy 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117. For more information, visit www.heliumcomedy.com.

theatre

Fri., June 7, 7:30 p.m., Beyond Measure, LLC presents Level Up. The AfroKuumba Dancers display the roots of dance from the African diaspora. Grandel, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

June 7 – 8, Ignite Theatre Company presents Disney’s 101 Dalmatians – Kids. Roger and Anita live happily in London until someone plots to steal their dogs. .Zack, 3224 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sat., June 8, 7 p.m., Enigma: A Family Bound By Secrets. Once tragedy strikes, four sisters find themselves in more than usual tiffs that will lead them to a breaking point. The Sun Theatre, 3627 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

June 12 – 13, A Call to Conscience, Inc. presents

For more information, visit experienceopera.org/brunch or call (314) 961-0644.

lectures and workshops

Sat., June 8, 10 a.m., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Omicron Theta Omega Chapter and West Side Missionary Baptist Church 3rd Annual present a Financial Empowerment Workshop. 2677 Dunn Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.financialpower2019. eventbrite.com.

Sat., June 8, 11 a.m., NPower Missouri invites you to Shift the Hustle: Opportunities for Women in Tech. Ameren Corporation, 1901 Chouteau Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Tues., June 18, 5 p.m., Grace Hill Women’s Business Center presents a Legal Clinic. Meet with an attorney from Legal Services of Eastern Missouri to discuss business related questions. 2125 Bissell St., 63107. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

health

Next to Normal: The Thelonius Monk Story

The play will tackle the issues of mental illness as it relates to disparities in health care, police interaction, and education. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., June 16, 11:30 a.m., The Archway Links and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis present a special brunch celebrating the world premiere of “Fire Shut Up In My Bones.” Brunch guests will include Terence Blanchard, Kasi Lemmons and Charles Blow. Centene Center for the Arts. Price of brunch includes ticket to the production.

Sat., June 8, 7:30 a.m., 2019 Komen Greater St. Louis More Than Pink Walk. Downtown St. Louis – Soldiers Memorial, 1315 Chestnut St., 63103. For more information, visit www.komenmissouri.org/ stlwalk.

Sat., June 8, 11 a.m., Salvation Army 3010 Apartments Health and Wellness Fair. 3010 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., June 13, 6 p.m., American Lung Association invites you to The Evening of Promise Gala. A culinary

experience to try bites of all types of different food while raising money to prevent lung disease. Bissinger’s, 1600 N. Broadway, 63102. For more information, visit www. alaumw.ejoinme.org.

Sat., June 15, 8 a.m., Bethesda Hospice Care 7th Annual 5K Memorial Walk/Run. Veterans’ table, children’s activity table, and more. Queeny Park, 550 Weidman Rd., 63131. For more information, visit www. bethesdahealth.org.

Sat., June 22, 1:30 p.m., Health Education Forum. St. Louis County Library –Prairie Commons Branch, 915 Utz Lane, 63042. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., June 23, 8 a.m., 7th Annual Head for the Cure 5K. Funds raised benefit brain cancer research and programs at Siteman Cancer Center and the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative. The Muny, Forest Park, 63101. For more information, visit www. secure.headforthecure.org.

Tues., June 25, 6 p.m., Mercy Hospital South Nursing Career Fair. We are looking to fill a variety of nursing, student nursing and patient care associate positions. 10010 Kennerly Rd., 63128. For more information, call (314) 3464147.

spiritual

Fri., June 14, 6:30 p.m., The Neighbors of Fountain Park present The 6th Annual Juneteenth Gospel Explosion. This year’s theme is “So if the Son Sets You Free, You Are Free Indeed.” Centennial Christian Church, 4950 Fountain Ave., 63113. For more information, visit www.cccstl.org.

Thursdays, 6 p.m., Coffee Cake & True Islam, 4529 Emerson Ave.

Theatre presents The O’Jays: The Last Word Tour with special guest Stephanie Mills. For more information, see CONCERTS.

Continued from C1

a director. His film “Daddy’s Big Girl” won the Gentleman Jack Real to Reel national short film competition. He was presented his award at the 2018 American Black Film Festival.

“My three short films, for me they were business cards for me – and helped me to find my voice and what I want to say as an artist,” Smith said. He understands very clearly that a full-length feature is an altogether different beast.

“It is an experience that I have been anticipating and somewhat fearing since I started this journey as a director,” Smith said. “ It’s a sprint, it’s a marathon, a 4x4 100, it’s a decathlon – it’s all those

things. I have to pull a lot of things together.” The next item on his plate is the financing. He is looking to raise between $100-$120K so that he can begin filming.

“Raising money is stressful,” said Smith. “I wish I could just focus on the art and not fundraising. But until I get to that position, I have to hustle.”

He is already envisioning the process of filming “The V.”

The idea of having the people who raised him come down on set to watch him in action, brought a smile to his face.

“My family rarely gets to see me working,” Smith said. “It’s going to be the longest amount of time I’ve spent in St. Louis since I moved out.” He wants to have St. Louisans working alongside him on every aspect of the film – from crew and staff to the musical score and soundtrack.

formed as a character inspired by Josephine Baker with the San Francisco Symphony.

Continued from C1

as a commercial dancer, Moore decided she would return to New York to pursue a career in film, television and stage. Her years in the Muny benefited her quite handsomely.

“I felt like having done theater as a kid, I knew the ropes,” Moore said. “ I didn’t feel out of my element. I felt like I was making a career switch, but I knew how to navigate. I knew the culture. I knew I how things went. I was definitely not a fish out of water and that was certainly from growing up and doing it here.” She came back to the Muny in 2012 as a veteran performer to be a part of their productions of “Aladdin” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

Since then she’s continued to appear on Broadway and on television.

She was on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” She did “Saturday Night Live” with Kanye West. She even per-

“I think it’s interesting because I came back at one point in my career in 2012,” Moore said. “And now I’m at a different point in my career in 2019.”

More recently, she recently appeared in the FX Network’s “Fosse/Verdon,” a series highlighting the work of legendary choreographer Bob Fosse and his muse /former wife celebrated dancer Gwen Verdon.

“It was a really amazing job to do because obviously its Fosse and it being period and it being so iconic and getting to learn the choreography,” Moore said. “The episode I did was ‘Big Spender’ from ‘Sweet Charity.’ I was getting to learn the choreography from people who danced with Fosse – like Mary Ann Lamb and Mimi Quillin.”

Next month she’ll make an appearance on the season three premiere of the Emmy Award winning Amazon Prime show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” In the meantime, audiences can catch Moore in the place that gave the foundation she needed

“I’ll get to show the world the potential of St. Louis,” Smith said. “I’m always representing where I’m from no matter what circle I’m in – because the world needs to see that I am a product of the Northside.”

Part of why he wants to film here is to show other people who only have limited perceptions – and misconceptions –about the city, and to show off what a beautiful place it is.

“Those are the type of things that drive me,” said Smith. “I can’t wait to be like, ‘Hey, I’m up under the arch directing a movie.’

‘I’m up under the arch, in my hometown shooting a movie I’ve written and that I’m directing.’ I can’t wait for that.”

To donate in support of the film, visit https://tinyurl.com/ DamienSmithTheV.

to help her navigate her career.

“It’s nice to come back and have that community be exactly how I remember it,” Moore said. “Of course, they are now 101 (years old) and constantly evolving in the best way, but it still feels like how I remember and that is what I think is awesome about it being a community.

To leave and come back at a different place in my career and a different age and not even live here anymore and it still feels the same as when I was a kid and a teenager. That’s pretty cool.”

The Muny’s presentation of “Guys and Dolls” will take place from June 10 – June 16 at The Muny in Forest Park. Sponsored by Wells Fargo Advisors, the production is directed by Gordon Greenberg, co-choreographed by Lorin Latarro and Patrick O’Neill with music direction by Brad Haak. Muny legend Ken Page is among the featured cast. For tickets and/or additional information, visit muny.org or call (314) 361-1900.

MUSIC

Continued from C1

Wanna Be.”

Avant brought pristine vocals and a powerhouse of a female background singer to cover the parts of his regular collaborator KeKe Wyatt. He’s usually not top of mind when one considers a list of top R&B live performers, but Avant is indeed reliable when it comes to giving a solid, wellrounded performance. Such was the case Friday night as he presented his catalog of urban radio hits. He pointed out that he hasn’t been recognized by the mainstream industry for his contributions to the R&B/Soul genre, but thanked the fans who have supported him for more than two decades. His biggest hit “Separated” was placed in

the middle of his set – and he defiantly continued a set that included his cover of Renee and Angela’s “My First Love” and “Nothing In This World” as he went long for his portion of the show and the timekeeper came on stage to nudge him off. Among the bonus material was a quick tribute to Luther Vandross.

Monica gave a show that was a throwback to her “Miss Thang” days. Her vocals were still intact from 25 years ago – when the then 14-year-old with a grown up voice and an “around the way” attitude gave young female listeners of R&B music a star that they could directly relate to. She took those fans on a musical memory lane journey thanks to her teen anthems “Don’t Take It Personal,” “Like This and Like That” “Before You Walk Out My Life” and “For You I Will.” She paid tribute to fallen hip-hop star Nipsey Hussle during “Angel,” and hinted at her current personal life situation – which includes a

a bit of “Love

asked the audience if she could sing what’s she’s feeling and jumped right into “So Gone.” The show closed with Tank – who kicked his set off with “Sex Music.” And that’s exactly what he provided the audience with during his 45 minutes on stage. “We don’t need no clothes for this,” Tank sang as he took his shirt off and put his chiseled chest and abs on display. He focused primarily on his “Savage” album – an impressive mix of mid-tempo tracks and ballads that are raunchy beyond imagination, but showcase his skills as a singer, songwriter and performer. “Maybe I Deserve” was the about the only exception, as far as Tank nostalgia – though he gave the faithful fans who stayed until the end of the show a performance of “Please Don’t Go” and his cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” as a finale.

divorce from former NBA star Shannon Brown. Starting with

all over me” she

R&B crooner Tank focused primarily on his “Savage” album – an impressive mix of mid-tempo tracks and ballads that are raunchy beyond imagination, but showcase his skills as a singer, songwriter and performer. Photo By Lawrence Bryant

Celebrations

Star Students

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, 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

Reunions

Beaumont Class Of 1969 will celebrate its 50-year reunion Sept 20-22, 2019 at Embassy Suites St. Charles.. Come join us as we celebrate these golden years, “Living Life Like It’s Golden.” For more information contact Dennis Hayden 314 276-6188 or beaumontclassof1969@yahoo. com or send your questions to P.O. Box 155, Florissant, MO 63032.

Beaumont Class of 1974 is planning its 45-year reunion for the weekend of July 26-28, 2019. To update us with your information please email us at ten55jw@yahoo.com, forward communications to Beaumont Alumni 1974, PO Box 37091, St. Louis MO 63141 or call James White, 314-494-5554. Details coming soon!

Beaumont Class of 1979 is

planning its 40-year reunion. All activities are scheduled for the weekend of September 27-29. The location is The Airport Marriot at 10700 Pear Tree Drive, St. Louis 63134. For more information, contact Milton Jackson at 314-2764392 or Yolanda Lockhart at lockhartyo08@gmail.com.

Kinloch Class of 1969 is planning its 50-year reunion on August 21, 22 and 23. Dinner dance at Orlandos, 2050 Dorsett Village Plaza. For information call Ruben at 314239-5202 or Ophelia at 314280-6596. Classmates please respond by April 2019.

Northwest Class of 1969 is planning a 50-year reunion June 7-9, 2019. Contract Evelyn (McClendon) Hines for details at (314) 361-5150.

Northwest Class of 1979 is planning on cruising for our 40-year reunion and would love for you to join us! Date to sail is set for July 20, 2019 and you can feel free to contact: Duane Daniels at 314-568-2057 or Howard Day at 414-698-4261 for further information. Please don’t miss the boat!

Soldan Class of 1974 Alumni

Association is planning its 45-year reunion. Please get your contact information to dhblackjack@charter.net or call 314-749-3803.

Soldan Class of 1979 is planning its 40-year reunion for the weekend of August 2-3, 2019. Yearlong reunion activities will begin with a kickoff at Soldan High School Homecoming on Saturday, October 13, 2018 prior to the game at 1 p.m. For more information or to assist with reunion activities, please email at: soldanclassof1979@gmail. com or call Barbara at 314 456-3391.

Sumner Alumni Association hosts its 11th Annual Scholarship Awards Luncheon & Fashion Show June 1, 2019, Noon until 4pm honoring our own Dr. Ronald L. Gregory, Ms. Keri R. Burns, LPC ‘92 our Master of Ceremony and KMJtheDJ. The cost is $50 to attend and it comes with a cash bar, free parking, attendance prizes and more. For more info, contact B. Louis at 314.385.9843 or email: sumneralumniassn@yahoo. com.

Sumner Class of 1969 50-year reunion, June 28-30,

2019. Looking for classmates of 1969 to contact us with your updated information via address:sumnerclass1969@ gmail.com or our FB page: Sumner High.

Sumner Class of 1979 will hold its BIG 4-0 Reunion Cruise, June 22-27, 2019. For further information, email your contact information to sumner1979@ymail.com or call 314-406-4309. Join our Facebook group at Sumner High Class of ‘79. Vashon-Hadley Old School Reunion 1960-67

October 19, 2019, 2-6 pm at The

St. Michael’s Temple celebrates 50 years

Founding Archbishop Michael A. West Sr. welcomes the public on July 7

By Deborah Mason For The St. Louis American

This year marks many historical and notable 50-year anniversaries: the tragic, unforgettable assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., two Americans walked on the moon, and Woodstock. This year will also give a nod of honor and respect to one of St. Louis’ most out-reaching, effective, and vibrant ministries. St. Michael’s Temple of the Expanded Mind, Inc. will celebrate its 50-year anniversary and St. Michael’s United Spiritual Church, Inc. will celebrate 49 years, concurrently.

On July 7, a grand celebration to commemorate the golden 50-year anniversary of St. Michael’s Temple will take place during the 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. services, at the church’s headquarters, 6520 Arsenal Ave., St. Louis MO 63139. Many invited guest pastors, community leaders, choirs and musicians will be on-hand to mark this event with euphoric praise of this phenomenal spiritual leader and his church’s ministry. All are invited to attend. This is an open-door celebration.

Founded in St. Louis’ North City in 1969, St. Michael’s Temple is “a spiritual encounter with a Spiritled leader” – namely, Archbishop Michael A. West Sr. Preaching at local houses of worship since the tender age of 6 – a full 66 years – West launched a dynamic church ministry 50 years ago that is yet in full vigor. West, who holds several degrees in theological and philosophical studies, is a noted Bible scholar, counselor, educator, keynote

speaker and conference leader. A spiritual conference is held at the St. Louis-based headquarters annually.

West is the lead shepherd of 22 churches nationally, primarily in the Midwest region, but also, East and South. Hundreds of students have matriculated through the St. Michael’s Institute of Higher Learning, an interdenominationally accredited theological school, which West established and where he has served as president for 47 years. The institute challenges students and is a place where they are encouraged not to accept the status quo. The Institute has been responsible for granting degrees in various fields of study, such as, theology, church and business administration, history, and ecclesiastical research.

West imparts knowledge and wisdom to countless young ministers and pastors on issues related to church growth and development, business management, leadership

create a favorable and lasting impact on today’s society for generations to come, for the cause of Christ.

West wears many hats, and he wears them all very well. He has been a licensed funeral practitioner for the past 53 years and has worked in the funeral industry for 58. West has either been or is

n Many invited guest pastors, community leaders, choirs and musicians will be on-hand to mark this event with euphoric praise.

and team building. He has employed considerable skills to train and mentor many of the area’s even senior pastors and other church leaders to be more intentional and effective in their local church community – to

currently the president or a serving member on boards too numerous to list. A superlative husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, his legacy will be continued into infinity.

St. Michael’s Temple is a vital

ministry, a beacon of hope, that has fed the hungry through their own high-end food pantry, and distributed tens of thousands of food baskets over the years. The ministry has aided consistently the disenfranchised of our city, has fellowshipped and collaborated with government officials, civic leaders, community outreach organizations, such as Better Family Life, Inc., pastors and their churches - of all denominational persuasions.

“This is where the expanded mind of this ministry comes into focus,” West notes. The unique worship experience at St. Michael’s Temple incorporates many of the basic elements and tenets of Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Methodist.

St. Michael’s has an amazingly open-minded and liberal personality, an institution based on a feeling of community. The values of fairness, concern for our fellowman, the underprivileged, the poor and the spiritually bankrupt, are the very

Archbishop Michael A. West Sr. founded St. Michael’s Temple of the Expanded Mind in St. Louis’ North City in 1969. The church’s headquarters now are at 6520 Arsenal Ave.

foundation of this ministry.

“In recent times, as our country is challenged, the St. Louis metropolitan area has turned to the clergy for support. The soul of the emerging movement has been Archbishop Michael West,” said James Clark, VP of Better Family Life’s Community Outreach.

“Through his visionary leadership, a body of over 60 pastors came together under the banner of ‘Common Crisis, Common Ground.’ This movement of neighborhood churches has supported such initiatives as Operation Clean Sweep, The St. Louis Metropolitan Area Gun Violence De-Escalation Centers, The Power of Employment Neighborhood Church Job Fair Series, and Grill to Glory. These efforts are organizing neighborhoods and providing neighborhood churches a platform for sustained leadership.” Other events to celebrate the 50-year anniversary will take place throughout the year.

ANNUAL GIVING MANAGER

Forest Park Forever has an opening for an Annual Giving Man- ager. Interested applicants should apply online at: https://www. cbizems.com/extranet/recruiting. aspx?id=2A2725CB-7BD6-40E19E12-4BEC3B92A10E&src=stlamerican&rqid=8716CE54-FDFC4E56-BED9-0A2CF80E591B Equal Opportunity Employer.

LIBRARY ASST III

The St. Louis County Library is seeking qualified applicants for a full-time Library Asst III at the Mid-County Branch in Clayton, MO. Responsible for performing a variety of circulation duties to meet the needs of Library customers and other clerical duties as assigned. Bachelor’s degree required. Hours: 40 hours per week, evenings and weekends are required. Salary $33,758, plus paid vacation. Apply online at www.slcl.org. Equal Opportunity Employer.

BI PROGRAMMER ANALYST

Responsible for administering and maintaining SQL databases. Also responsible for database development efforts across all teams To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational. com/careers-page/

COORDINATOR –

ACCOUNT SERVICES-

POLICY OPERATIONS

Responsible for providing client / customer support for the department’s operational functions to include the production of Primary and Excess Workers’ Compensation, Commercial Auto, General Liability, Excess Liability and Specialty Lines transactions (New Business, Renewals, Endorsements, Cancellations, Reinstatements and Non-renewals). This position includes the accuracy in which transactions are issued, correct billing and proper distribution of final product to our customers To apply, please visit: https://www. safetynational.com/careers-page/

FIREFIGHTER/ PARAMEDIC

Maryland Heights Fire Protection District is accepting applications for the position of Firefighter/Paramedic. Qualifications and requirement packets may be picked up from District Headquarters at 2600 Schuetz Road Maryland Heights, MO. 63043 beginning May 20, 2019 through June 5, 2019 between 09:00am and 3:00pm Monday-Thursday. Completed packets must be turned in no later than 3:00pm on June 5, 2019.

Maryland Heights Fire District is an Equal Opportunity Employer

COORDINATOR - TREATY REINSURANCE

Provide technical support to Treaty Reinsurance (TRe) Department underwriters. Responsible for day-to-day Department operational needs, to include: booking premium-related transactions, maintaining systems data and business reports, handling contract wording approval processes, and adhering to daily and seasonal SOX compliance processes.

To apply, please visit: https://www. safetynational.com/careers-page/

LEAD TEACHERS

Lead Teachers with current pre-school CDA credential or current infant/toddler CDA credential. Please reply to Center Manager Linda Davis at (314) 679-5440.

ARE YOU AN ANOINTED MUSICIAN? SOMEONE WHO PLAYS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD?

Small but Mighty St. Louis Church has an immediate opening for a Pianist/Minister of Music to lead its 15 member gospel choir. Contact Bruce Fleming for details at 314-398-3932.

PRICING ACTUARY

Perform pricing analyses for Loss Portfolio Transfers (LPT) and support pricing initiatives. To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational. com/careers-page/

METABOLISM & RESIDUE

CHEMISTRY SCIENTIST I

Bayer CropScience L.P. seeks Metabolism & Residue Chemistry Scientist I to work in Chesterfield, MO, & support Bayer safety programs as well as enforce workplace safety. Duties include acting as GLP study director or principal analytical investigator for regulatory & investigative metabolism & residue studies, etc. Apply at https://career.bayer.us, #40693.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing & Opportunity Council (EHOC) seeks: FT EDUCATION COORDINATOR

Visit www.ehocstl.org/job-opportunities for info EHOC is an equal opportunity employer.

PERSONAL CARE AIDE

MedStar Home Health Services is seeking caring individuals that would like to earn up to $11.00 per hour taking care of disabled individuals in their homes. To learn more about this opportunity contact us at (314) 782-7311 or via email at info@medstarcds.com. TEACHER’S/TEACHER’S AIDE

FULL-TIME REGISTERED DIETITIAN

Food Outreach

seeking a full-time Registered Dietitian to provide individual counseling for low-income, chronically ill clients and their caregivers, and group education for volunteers as well as ongoing nutritional guidance to Food Outreach regarding menu planning, food production, sanitation and safety and monitoring quality assurance. Email resume to marysue@foodoutreach.org.

BUILDING INSPECTOR

City of Pagedale is seeking an experienced building inspector. Must be certified and licensed in St. Louis County. Send resume to City Clerk, 1420 Ferguson, Pagedale, Mo. 63133 or cityclerk@cityofpagedale.org No Phone Calls, please.

DIRECTOR CORPORATE COMPLIANCE - CLAIMS

Under the direction of the Vice President, Corporate Compliance, responsible for overall management of the Claims Compliance Unit of the Corporate Compliance Department which Unit encompasses claims compliance and broker licensing/appointments.

To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational.com/ careers-page/

COORDINATORFINANCE- ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

To assist the Finance and Accounting Department with cash receipts, accounts payable, and to assist in other accounting and administrative duties. To apply, please visit: https://www. safetynational.com/careers-page/

RFP #: 57819154 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) is requesting sealed proposals to remedy condensation issues at the Bosley Residence Hall dining facility located on the University’s campus at 3017 Laclede Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103.

A mandatory Pre-bid conference and walk-through of the Bosley Residence Hall dining facility will be held on Thursday, June 12, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.

The sealed proposals will be accepted (in sealed envelopes, clearly marked “PROPOSAL FOR BOSLEY RESIDENCE HALL DINING FACILITY

CONDENSATION” in the Purchasing Office (Room 105) of the Dr. Henry Givens, Jr., Administration (HGA) building located at 3026 Laclede Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103, until Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. The proposals will then be publicly opened and read in Room 123 of the HGA building at 10:15 a.m.

A Minority Business Enterprises participation goal of 10% and Women Business Enterprises participation goal of 10% has been established for this contract.

A copy of the Request for Proposals can be obtained by contacting Barbara A. Morrow at email address: morrowb@hssu.edu, faxing: (314) 340-3322 or calling (314) 340-5763.

The University reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive all informalities in proposals.

LETTING #8697

REPLACE 4160V FEEDERS FOR TRANSFORMERS 8 & 10 IN TERMINAL 1

GARAGE

AT ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on Tuesday, June 25, 2019 then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http:// www.stl-bps.org/planroom.aspx (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies). Mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, at 1:30 PM in the Ozark Conference Room at the Airport Office Building, 11495 Navaid Rd., Bridgeton, MO 63044. All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stlbps.org (Announcements).

PUBLIC NOTICE

Restoration Advisory Board Membership Solicitation for the St. Louis Ordnance Plant

The Army is exploring public interest in forming a Restoration Advisory Board (RAB to address ongoing environmental restoration activities for operable Unit 2 at the former St Louis Ordnance Plant, Hanley Area #2, located at 6400 Stratford Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri. A RAB is designed to promote community involvement by giving interested citizens an opportunity to regularly review and discuss the progress if the environmental cleanup activities with St. Louis Ordnance Plant decision makers. Participation in a RAB is voluntary and the Army does not provide any form of financial compensation to community members who choose to participate. Members will be asked to attend regular meetings related to ongoing activities. If you want to take part in this process, please contact Barry McFarland between June 1 and June 30, 2019.

Barry McFarland Environmental Protection Specialist

Phone: (316) 681-1759, extension 1419

Email: barry.l.mcfarland2.ctr@mail.mil

proposals

by

in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on July 9, 2019, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www. stl-bps.org/planroom.aspx (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies). All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No.F 19 001, Asphalt Paving Repairs, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, Meramec, Wildwood, Corporate College, until 2:00 p.m. local time, Thursday, June 20, 2019. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 5464 Highland Park Drive (Plan Room). Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office, at the above address or by calling (314) 644-9770

Pre-bid Meeting: None, By Appointment Only

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

SEALED

BIDS forKaty Trail

Replacementof TrailBridges Near Augusta, Missouri, ProjectNo. X1813-01 willbereceived byFMDC, Stateof MO,UNTIL 1:30 PM,6/27/2019. For specificproject informationand orderingplans, go to:http://oa.mo. gov/ facilities

SEALED

BIDS for UpgradeHVAC, Multiple Buildings, FortLeonard Wood ReadinessCenter, ST.Robert, Missouri, ProjectNo. T1839-01 willbereceived byFMDC, Stateof MO,UNTIL 1:30 PM,6/27/2019. Forspecific project informationand orderingplans,go to:http://oa.mo. gov/ facilities

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Bids for St. Louis Community College on B0003824 for Shoretel Maintenance will be received until 2:00 P.M. (local time) on Friday, June 21, 2019 at the Dept. of Purchasing, 3221 McKelvey Road; Bridgeton, MO 63044, and immediately thereafter opened and read. Bid documents can be accessed on our website at www.stlcc.edu/purchasing or by calling (314) 539-5227. EOE/AA Employer.

BID PROPOSAL

The Annie Malone Children and Family Services Board of Directors (ANNIE MALONE) requests proposals for Construction Management Services for renovations at four buildings: the Administration Building at 2612 Annie Malone Drive, our dormitory at 2516 Annie Malone Drive and our two facilities at 5355 Page Ave. Project details and bid information can be found at www. anniemalone.com/construction. For more information contact Sara Lahman, CEO, at 314-531-0120 or email slahman@anniemalone.com

KELLER CONSTRUCTION INC.

Requests subcontractor and or material supplier quotations from Illinois Department of Transportation Certified subcontractors, suppliers and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises for the letting to be held June 14, 2019. Interested parties should contact Keller Construction at (618) 656-0033. All quotations must be submitted by 4:30 PM Thursday June 13, 2019. Keller Construction is an equal opportunity employer.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: REPAIRS TO #2 INCINERATOR. The District is proposing for this Service. INDUSTRIAL FURNANCE COMPANY was used for this service. Any inquiries should be sent to gjamison@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is

in a timely manner. Any inquiries should be sent to ameyer@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: FAIRBANKS REPLACEMENT RAS PUMP. Best The District is proposing single source procurement for this equipment because HYDRO KINETICS CORPORATION is the only known available source. Any inquiries should be sent to gjamison@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 11:00 a.m. on July 9, 2019 to contract with a company for: OIL & LUBRICANTS.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 10005 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314-768-6254 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFP’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 11:00 a.m. on July 11, 2019 to contract with a company for: SAFETY FOOTWEAR & SAFETY CLOTHING. A non-mandatory prebid conference will be held on June 26, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at 2350 Market Street St. Louis, MO 63103. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 10008 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314-768-6254 to request a copy of this bid.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

SEEKING DISADVANTAGED BUSINESSES

L. Keeley Construction Co., 500 S. Ewing Ave, Suite G, St. Louis, MO 63103, 314-421-5933 is seeking disadvantaged businesses for the City of Greenfield, Illinois, Greenfield Water Treatment Plant Rehabilitation Project for subcontracting opportunities in the following areas: Selective Demolition, Concrete Rehabilitation, Cast in Place Concrete, Concrete Finishes, Precast Concrete Structures, Masonry and Tuckpointing, Structural Steel and Misc Metals, Rough Carpentry, Metal Roof and Wall Panels, Joint Sealants and Expansion Control, Doors and Frames, Overhead Doors, Glazing, Painting, Signage and Plaques, Toilet Accessories, Mechanical and Process Piping, Process Integration, HVAC, Electrical, Earthwork, Water Treatment Equipment. All disadvantaged businesses should contact, IN WRITING, (certified letter, return receipt requested), Pete Hyatt, to discuss the subcontracting opportunities. All negotiations must be completed prior to bid opening Friday, June 21st at 2pm. Proposals will be evaluated uniformly and objectively with subcontracts being awarded to the lowest, responsible bidder considered to be appropriately qualified by the prime contractor.

SAINT LOUIS ZOO

2019 HIPPO/RHINO BARN PAINTING RFP

The scope of the project includes: The St Louis Zoo is seeking a contractor for a project to remove paint on steel columns, and concrete walls in the Hippo Rhino building at the Saint Louis Zoo. Re-painting and re-sealing is to follow the removal, using specified materials listed in the bid documents on 6-6-2019 located at: https://www.stlzoo.org/about/contact/ vendoropportunities MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING & SITE INSPECTION: On 6/20/2019 at 9:30AM at The Living World building on Government Drive in Forest Park, lower level. Sealed bids marked with project name will be accepted on or before 7/11/2019 at 2:00PM.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Millstone Weber, LLC is soliciting proposals for Reconstruction of Taxiway K from Taxiway F to Cargo Apron, Letting No 8696 at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Please phone 636-6888794, fax 636-949-3129 or email bob.stubbs@millstoneweber.com or ryan.taylor@millstoneweber. com, quotes to Bob Stubbs by 5:00 pm Monday, June 3rd. Subcontract work includes, removals, concrete, bituminous pavement, PCC backfill, hauling, landscaping, striping, and electrical. Plans and Specifications are available for review on City of St Louis website http:// www.stl-bps.org/planroom.aspx or at Millstone Weber office.

LETTING #8688

ELECTRICAL UPGRADES TO MAINTENANCE BUILDINGS A AND B

AT ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on Tuesday, June 25, 2019 then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps.org/planroom.aspx (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies). ). Mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, at 2:30 PM in the Ozark Conference Room at the Airport Office Building, 11495 Navaid Rd., Bridgeton, MO 63044.

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

Women

Enterprises (WBE), and Service Disabled Veteran Enterprises (SDVE) for THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PROJECT NUMBER CP190721 TRANSLATIONAL PRECISION MEDICINE COMPLEX (TPMC)

Located on the campus of The University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri

The initial bid solicitations include Fire Sprinkler, Exterior Envelope, Structural Concrete Frame and Miscellaneous General Trade Packages Interested parties should access documents on the UM System website http://operations-webapps.missouri.edu/pdc/ adsite/ad.html or contact Caleb Johnson EMAIL: caleb.johnson@whiting-turner.com for access to bid packages or further information Future solicitations will be made for remaining bid packages upon release of updated design (Late July 2019)

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company 2519 Madison Avenue, Suite 200 Kansas City, MO 64108 Phone: 816-921-0100

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR FIRMS SEEKING PROJECT FINANCING THROUGH THE NEW MARKETS TAX CREDIT PROGRAM ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE ST. LOUIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The St. Louis Development Corporation (“SLDC”), a Round 15 New Markets Tax Credit allocatee, hereby requests proposals from firms wishing to receive project financing from SLDC’s New Markets Tax Credit allocation. For a copy of the RFP please visit our website at http:/ /stlouis-mo.gov/sldc by selecting the RFP/ RFQ link for a complete copy of the RFP, or contact:

BILL SEDDON ST. LOUIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 1520 MARKET STREET, SUITE 2000 ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63103 (314) 657-3705 (PHONE) (314) 613-7011 (FAX) seddonb@stlouis-mo.gov.com

Proposals are due no later than 4:00 P.M. Central Daylight Time on Tuesday, July 2, 2019.

SEALED BIDS

SEALED BIDS

SEALED BIDS

Services,Electrical, CentralRegion, State ofMissouri, ProjectNo.

byFMDC,State ofMO.UNTIL 1:30PM, 6/20/2019. For

project informationand orderingplans,go to:http://oa.mo. gov/ facilities

ZASIDIQ-9022, willbereceivedby FMDC,Stateof MO, UNTIL1:30PM, Thursday,June6, 2019.Forspecific projectinformation andordering plans,go to:http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on June 25th, 2019 to contract with a company for a: Missouri One Call Application Software. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be iden-

, WesternMissouri CorrectionalCenter, Cameron,Missouri, ProjectNo. C1926-01willbe received byFMDC,State ofMO,UNTIL 1:30PM,5/23/19. Forspecificproject informationand orderingplans,go to:http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

INVITATION TO BID

JUNE 1 -30, 2019

ST. LOUIS CELEBRITY SENIORS, INC.

Accepting written narrative applications from St. Louis Metropolitan area 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that are seeking volunteers and/or financial assistance for social service, scientific or educational programs for 2019/2020. Narrative must not be more than 500 words and include proof of nonprofit status. Any questions should be directed to Ellen White at (314) 630-7538 or by email at ewhite5341@sbcglobal.net

Mail applications to:

St. Louis Celebrity Seniors, Inc. P.O. Box 4113 St. Louis, MO 63136

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on June 17, 2019 to contract with a company for: SAFETY GEAR – ARC FLASH PROTECTION. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9970 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

com or call 314-735-6050

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:

Advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, imitation, or discrimination because of race,color, religion, sex, handicap, familial\status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.“We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.”

Call Angelita Houston at 314-289-5430 to place your rental/real estate ad today!

No Jaheim. No Problem. Okay, maybe there was a problem – because folks got all worked up to see him, even though he hasn’t shown up the past three times he was scheduled to come here. And Jaheim stopped exactly short of saying he wasn’t coming to the Spring Music Festival either, but the folks believed that he would manifest anyway. If I could have the type of faith in my spiritual life that y’all did in Jaheim this past week – I would be the next religious guru. I honestly believe that him not showing was for the best – because there would have been some sort of drama. Either he would have shown up hours late – or looked and sounded a whole hot mess – or both. But in his absence, the only negative notes I have to report came from Donnell Jones’ vocal cords – and that Avant was giving the folks working behind the scenes the blues by not getting off the stage like he was supposed to. I enjoyed myself once. DJ Kut was killing it on the tables and Damon Williams had me cackling both during his opening and in between acts. When he got to talking about the girls with those store bought curves, he said they are out here asking the doctor to take a piece of their shoulder blade and shape a booty out of it – and then them walking around looking like raptors. I almost went to heaven. Donnell didn’t sound as bad as that time he was at that Valentine’s Day concert at the Ritz – but he was close. I was disappointed because he put on a good little show at Ballpark Village last year. Oh well. Maybe he was sick again. Speaking of sick, Avant can’t win for losing with y’all. He was all sorts of fluffy names when he was representing for team chunk his last couple of visits to town. And now that he got that body snatched, y’all were quietly acting like he looked like he only had six months to live. Listen, he looked fine to me. The weight loss was drastic, but he’s the same size as he was when he first came out. He sounded the same too. And it ain’t too many that can hold their own against KeKe Wyatt, but that background singer he had was singing those notes. Monica came out in a white Carmen Miranda (yes, the Chiquita banana lady) blouse, some sequined pants and orthopedic shoes. She essentially gave us not only the songs, but the fashion and footwear of her “Miss Thang” days. Come to find out she had surgery. However, that doesn’t excuse the pants or the blouse. I’ll give her a pass on the feet though, since she sounded good and looked great. So did Tank. I knew he was nasty, but those songs from “Savage” are low-key audio pornography. If it were anybody else, I would be offended. But he’s still so fine, that I didn’t mind it at all. He had a good mix of slow jams and dance tracks – though I would have loved to hear more of his throwbacks.

It’s Prime (55) Time. After months of teasing Prime 55 – the sexy new restaurant owned and operated by African Americans (namely Tony “T-Luv” Davis and Orlando Watson with executive chef Tyler Wayne) – is open for business. They are a week in, and it has been bustling since day one. And if you taste the food, you will understand why. If I’m, not careful, those lobster fries are gonna make it so that I’m up in Salute wearing a Missy Elliott “I Can’t Stand The Rain” Hefty bag to hide my rolls. They are perfectly seasoned, crispy fries with a cheesy Cajun lobster sauce that will make sure that the idea of cheese fries won’t ever be the same for anyone who orders the appetizer. They have healthy options – like the cauliflower steak and the pear salad. But I had to taste what I felt like the people would want to know about. So, I’ll be walking Koeneman Park all week to make up for the epic cheat meal that I indulged in at Prime 55 – including the namesake steak. Just thinking about it made me lose the ability to formulate the words to express how delicious it was. And I’ve never had a plus-sized cheesy tater tot as a side for my steak before, but it won’t be the last. I’ve talked about the food, because I am a foodie, but the vibe was everything as well. Ooh, that food was so good! I’m sorry. I just flashed back. Be sure to hit them up for lunch or dinner. You won’t be sorry.

Happy b-days are in order! One of my favorite folks and one of my favorite DJs celebrated their b-days this weekend with special events that nothing but death could keep me from. First off, Linda Robinson had her birthday happy hour at the Marquee on Friday. Because she is ALWAYS giving back, as usual she chose to use her party for a purpose. This year she asked folks to donate to the Rickey Whittington Foundation. How can anyone not love Linda. Happy birthday girl. Did I tell you how much I am loving the silver hair on you? Okay, on with the parties. Sunday afternoon, Derrty DJ AJ had the Signature Club on lock with a wonderful laid back vibe of a white party. I saw some of my faves, including some folks I hadn’t seen in a minute. It was quite the cute set. Soul under the stars. As I promised I would last year, I made my way back to Heman Park for their summer outdoor Starlight Concert Series – which goes down at 6:30 p.m. Monday nights in June, July and August. This week, it was my girl Tiffany Elle. She has had my attention since slaying a Lauryn Hill tribute a few years back. I had actually decided to turn around because I had another engagement, but when she started in with Jade’s “Don’t Walk Away,” how could I not oblige? She killed that cover. I felt a special kind of way about it because I hadn’t heard that song performed live – like ever. And since I’m talking about things that I’ve never heard, can we discuss for a second why Phil has been sitting behind the piano and keeping that voice to himself all these years? I could tell he was a bit nervous, but he had no reason to be, because he was giving us all sorts of life singing Daniel Caesar’s verse as Tiffany served a version of H.E.R.’s “Best Part.” I’m so glad I stuck around!

Kenya and Joseph walked over to Heman Park to enjoy the sounds of the latest Starlight Live Concert Monday evening

Singer Adrianne Felton-King and her husband Johnny King enjoyed the soulful sounds of Tiffany Elle @ The Starlight Concert Series Monday evening @ Heman Park

Januari couldn’t help but jam as Tiffany Elle sang a great mix of old and new R&B Monday night @ The Starlight Concert Series @ Heman Park

Beauties Beth and Michelle stopped through the Signature Club to show love to DJ AJ’s Gemini All White Day Party Sunday evening

Pinkie, Theresa, Alyssa and Kristina made a ladies’ night of the Spring Music Festival Friday night @ Chaifetz Arena

Kim and Toby continued their night at the Spring Music Festival after party with DJ Kut Friday night @ The Marquee

Erica and Staci mingled @ The Marquee Friday night for the Spring Music Festival

Tonya and Christina caught some quality R& B @ The Spring Music Festival Friday night @ Chaifetz Arena

Whitney and birthday boy DJ AJ celebrated Sunday with his Gemini All White Day Party @ The Signature Club

Sinita and DJ Kut of 95.5 FM were in the booth as Kut prepared to set the tone for the Spring Music Festival Friday night @ Chaifetz Arena

Maurice Falls managed to grab a selfie with blues rock star Gary Clark Jr. just ahead of his performance at the Stanley Cup Final Game 3 pregame block party on Market near City Hall Monday night.

Take Charge of Your Health

• Top Tips On How To Take Charge Of Your Health

• Free Screening For Women If You Qualify

• Show Me Healthy Woman

• Breast & Cervical Cancer What You Need to Know

City of St. Louis Department of Health

How to Take Charge of Your Health

When it comes to your health and well-being you need to think not only about your body, but your mind and spirit too. Everything about you and your life matters, and deserves your time and attention. Schedule time for fitness, shopping for and preparing healthy meals, “down time” to relax and have fun and a checkup with your doctor. Doing so will help you balance your own health and wellness needs with your everyday commitments.

Understanding risk factors

Part of learning how to take charge of your health involves understanding your risk factors for different disease. Risk factors are things in your life that increase your chances of getting a condition or disease. Some risk factors are beyond your control, such as your age, sex, family history, race or ethnicity, or health problems you may have. Risk factors you can control include.

• What and how much you eat;

• How much physical activity you get;

• Whether you use tobacco;

• How much alcohol you drink;

• Whether you have unprotected sex;

• Whether you wear your seat belt; and

• Whether you use medicines as directed. You can have one risk factor for a disease or you can have many. For some diseases, the more risk factors you have, the more likely you are to get the disease. How do you find out what risk factors you have? Schedule a general checkup. And ask your doctor or nurse about your personal health risks and what you can do to lower your risks.

Steps to healthy living

Together, the powerful steps that follow will help you to take charge of your health and control many risk factors for disease.

Know your healthcare options:

• If you have health insurance learn about your benefits and preventive services.

• If you need health insurance, visit www.healthcare.gov to learn what options you have under the new health care reform law.

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Get important tests and vaccines

• Ask your doctor or nurse what screening test and vaccines you need and how often you need them. Screening tests can help find health problems early, such as high blood pressure, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer and bone loss. Vaccines can protect you from harmful infections, such as the flu and human papillomavirus (HPV).

• To find out what vaccines you might need visit www.vaccines.gov

Eat healthy

• Balance calories to manage body weight. If you are overweight, enjoy your food, but eat less and avoid oversize portions.

• Eat mainly,

- Fruits and vegetables (make half your plate fruits and vegetables);

- Grains (at least half of your grains should be whole grains, such as whole wheat, oatmeal and brown rice);

- Fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk, cheese, yogurt

City of St. Louis Department of Health

and other milk products;

• Lean sources of protein, including more fish, as well as beans and peas, unsalted nuts, eggs, skinless poultry, lean meat and soy products; and

• Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

• Cut back on sodium. Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals and choose the foods with lower numbers.

• Limit foods that contain saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol or added sugars.

• Drink water instead of sugary drinks like soda and energy drinks.

• Choose foods that provide more potassium, dietary fiber, calcium and vitamin D.

• Use food labels to make healthy plate at meal times and adopt healthy eating habits.

Get moving

• Pick an aerobic activity that’s easy to fit into your life Aerobic activities make you breathe harder and your heart beat faster. If you choose activities at a moderate level, do at least two hours and 30 mins a week. Walking fast, dancing and raking leaves are examples of activities that take moderate effort. If you choose vigorous activities, do at least one hour and 15 minutes easch week. Jogging, jumping rope, swimming laps and riding a bike on hills are examples of vigorous activity. You can combine moderate and vigorous activities. Do aerobic activities for at least 10 minutes at a time.

• Do muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days each week. Include all major muscle groups.

• Start slowly if you have been inactive and do a little more as you are able. You can build up by being active more often or longer, or by increasing your effort.

Quit smoking

• The minute you quit smoking, your health begins to improve and you begin to lower your longterm risk of many serious diseases

Keep your teeth and gums healthy

• Brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste at least twice daily.

• Floss your teeth daily.

• Get regular checkups. Ask your dentist how often you need a dental exam Limit alcohol

• If you choose to drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For women, that means no more than one drink per day. One drink equals

• 12 fluid ounces of regular beer;

• 5 fluid ounces of wine; or

• 1.5 fluid ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits Get enough sleep

• Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep every night.

Manage stress

• Set realistic standards and goals

• Make time each day to relax and unwind, even if only for a few minutes.

• Reach out to people who encourage and support you. Ask for help when needed.

• Find outlets, such as a hobby or volunteer work.

• Learn healthy ways to cope with daily stress.

• Talk to your doctor if emotional problems interfere with daily living.

• If you are having thoughts about suicide or hurting yourself, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255)

Practice safe sex

• Keep in mind that you cannot tell if a person has a sexually transmitted infection (STI) by the way he or she looks. Many STIs have no symptoms.

• Be faithful. Having sex with one uninfected partner who only has sex with you will lower your risk of getting an STI.

• Use a condom correctly and every time you have vaginal, anal or oral sex to lower your risk of STIs. Most other birth control methods do not protect against STIs.

• Women 26 and younger can get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which protects against the types of HPV that cause most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts.

• Ask your doctor if you should be tested for STIs and if and when you should be retested.

Know your HIV status

• If you have risk factors for HIV, get tested. Some risk factors are having unprotected sex with multiple partners or being treated from as STI. All pregnant women need to be tested for HIV.

Stay safe

• If you are a victim of sexual assault or violence and abuse in your home, you are not alone – call for help. The following hotlines are available 24 hours a day;

• National Domestic Violence Hotline 800-799SAFE (7233) TDD: 800-787-3224

• National Sexual Assault Hotline 800-656-HOPE (4673)

• To learn more about these types of violence, as well as stalking, dating violence and more visit www.womenshelath.gov/violence-against-women

• If you find yourself in danger try to find a safe place away from your attacker. Then call 911 or the police.

• Remember, the victim is never at fault.

Use medicines as directed

• Follow the label information carefully.

• Use your prescription medicine only as directed. Do not stop taking your medicine until your doctor tells you it’s okay to stop.

• Tell your doctor about all the over-the-counter and prescription medicines you use. Also, tell your doctor about any vitamins, diet supplements and herbs you use. This is especially important if you are or are planning to become pregnant.

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Cervical cancer

All you need to know to keep yourself

From the American Cancer Society

• Cervical cancer testing should start at age 21. Women under age 21 should not be tested.

• Women between the ages of 21 and 29 should have a Pap test done every 3 years. HPV testing should not be used in this age group unless it’s needed after an abnormal Pap test result.

• Women between the ages of 30 and 65 should have a Pap test plus an HPV test (called “co-testing”) done every 5 years. This is the preferred approach, but it’s OK to have a Pap test alone every 3 years.

• Women over age 65 who had regular cervical cancer testing in the past

and loved ones aware.

10 years with normal results should not be tested for cervical cancer. Once testing is stopped, it should not be started again. Women with a history of a serious cervical pre-cancer should continue to be tested for at least 20 years after that diagnosis, even if testing goes past age 65.

• A woman who has had her uterus and cervix removed (a total hysterectomy) for reasons not related to cervical cancer and who has no history of cervical cancer or serious pre-cancer should not be tested.

• All women who have been vaccinated against HPV should still follow the screening recommendations for their age groups.

Show Me Healthy Women and Wisewoman Programs

Thousands of Missouri women are eligible for a FREE Mammogram and Pap Test. Are you one of them? Mammography can detect some breast cancer about two years before physical symptoms develop. Half of the women diagnosed with cervical cancer are between the ages of 35 and 55.

Free exams listed below are available through Missouri’s Show Me Healthy Woman program. Women age 50 to 64 or older - if not covered by Medicare Part B - may be eligible for free:

• Pap tests and pelvic exams

• Clinical breast exams

• Mammograms and diagnostic services

Free treatment for breast or cervical cancer through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment (BCCT) program, may be available to Show Me Healthy Woman clients who are diagnosed with cancer through a provider. Treatment through BCCT must be received in the state of residence and is not available to women who are not U.S. citizens.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. Both men and women have heart attacks, but more women die from them. In Missouri, one-third of City of

Some women-because of their medical history (HIV infection, organ transplant, DES exposure, etc.) – may need a different screening schedule for cervical cancer. Talk to a health care provider about your history.

Women age 35 to 49 may be eligible for free:

• Pap tests, pelvic exams and clinical breast exams

• Diagnostic services for breast or cervical screenings that are suspicious for cancer

Women age 35 to 64 or older - if not covered by Medicare Part B - may be eligible for free: (In limited areas)

• Cardiovascular tests (Blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol)

• Lifestyle management counseling

Did you know?

City of St. Louis Department of Health

all female deaths are from heart disease. Unfortunately, early symptoms of both heart disease and stroke may go undiagnosed. WISEWOMAN partners with the Show Me Healthy Woman breast and cervical cancer early detection program to include WISEWOMAN services as part of the annual well-woman health screening.

WISEWOMAN strives to help low income women know their risk of heart disease and stroke and learn ways to reduce their risk with healthy lifestyle habits. WISEWOMAN Screening Tests include:

• Blood Pressure

• Cholesterol and HDL cholesterol

• Blood glucose

• Height and weight for body mass index (BMI)WISEWOMAN Lifestyle Education provides tips, strategies and tools to help women:

• Eat a heart healthy diet

- Include more fruits and vegetables

- Limit saturated and trans fats

- Balance food intake for a healthy weight

- Eat less salt

• Be physically active

- Include moderate physical activity daily

- Build and maintain strength and flexibility

WISEWOMAN

You may qualify if you meet the age and income requirements, WISEWOMAN heart health screening and education are also available through many program providers. To reduce risks of heart disease and stroke, you’ll set goals that are realistic and achievable. You’ll also have the tools and guidance you need to start feeling better and live like your life depends on it!

How to Become a WISEWOMAN Client

If you are a Show Me Healthy Woman participant, you are eligible for WISEWOMAN services. If you are ready to develop healthy behaviors such

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as quitting smoking and maintaining a healthy weight, then let WISEWOMAN help you reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. WISEWOMAN is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program. Federal legislation stipulates that WISEWOMAN funds may only be used for prevention services. WISEWOMAN cannot pay for treatment services or medication.

For more information about Show Me Healthy Woman and Wisewoman call: 866-726-9926

City of St. Louis Department of Health 1520 Market St. #4050 St. Louis, MO 63103 314–612–5100 www.stlouis-mo.gov/health

Lyda Krewson Mayor

City of St. Louis Department of Health

Breast Cancer Data Brief

City of St. Louis Department of Health

9, 2018 Center for Health Information, Planning, and Research

Background

Breast cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the breast. All women are at risk for breast cancer. Men can also have breast cancer, but it is very rare. In 2014, 236,968 women and 2,141 men in the United States were diagnosed with breast cancer.1 Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women irrespective of race or ethnicity. One in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. From 2003 to 2012 in the United States, the incidence rate of breast cancer remained level among women. Within the same period, the death rate from breast cancer decreased significantly by 1.9% per year among woman due to better screening, early detection, increased awareness, and continually improving treatment options. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women. In 2014, 41,211 women and 465 men in the United States died from breast cancer.1

City of St. Louis Surveillance

In 2014, the breast cancer incidence rate was 97.87 per 100,000 people, which is higher than incidence for the state of Missouri, 83.87 per 100,000 population, and St. Charles, 83.39 per 100,000 population.2 As seen throughout the state and nationally, from 2001-2014, the incidence of female breast cancer remained level among women. During the same time period in the City of St. Louis, the incidence rate of breast cancer increased by 0.6% per year. The incidence rate was 86.25 per 100,000 population in 2001, compared to 92.72 per 100,000 per population in 2014.2 In the City of St. Louis, breast cancer incidence rates showed a disparity among Africans-Americans compared to whites. The incidence rate of breast cancer increased at a rate of 1.4% per year among Africans-Americans and decreased 0.3% per year among white women, 2001 to 2014. Mortality rates from breast cancer have decreased in St. Louis City since 2001, yet AfricansAmericans are still disproportionally affected. From 2015 to 2016, Africans-Americans had a higher rate of 17.05 per 100,000 when compared with whites, 13.50 per 100,000.

Melba R. Moore, MS, CPHA Interim Director / Commissioner of Health

Breast Cancer Incidence Rates for St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles and Missouri State, 2014

St. Louis City St. Charles St. Louis County Missouri

City of St. Louis Department of Health