March 17th, 2011 Edition

McCluer North wins state

On

4,500 people,representing

Labor rally draws 4,500

Post-Dispatch silent as St. Louis rises in solidarity with workers

By Rebecca S.Rivas

of the National Education

Parkway School District, became a teacher to make a difference in children’s lives, she said at Friday’s pro-union rally in Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis.

By Rebecca S.Rivas

On Friday, about 4,500 people, representing every union in the St. Louis region, rallied in solidarity with the 200,000 people who attended Wisconsin’s March 12 rally in support of unions’collective bargaining power.

On March 11, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker,

“I wanted to become a member of the American middle class and achieve the American dream,” she said. “My union, the National Education Association, through collective bargaining, has made it possible for me today to be a bona fide member of whatever is left of the American middle class.”

TEENSSKATEFOR DISASTERRELIEF

By Rebecca S.Rivas

Of The St.Louis American

“My union through collective bargaining has made it possible for me to be a member of whatever is left of the American middle class.”

– Jo Wanda Bozeman

Before going out on a call, Scherese Bishop would often say, “I’ve got to go save some lives.”

See SCHERESE, A7

“I felt that since a lot of people lost their houses, I could help and give back by rollerskating because I love to do that.”

Friday,about

every union in the St.Louis region,rallied at Kiener Plaza in downtown St.Louis in solidarity with the 200,000 people who attended Wisconsin’s March 12 rally in support of

Photo by Wiley Price

Of The St.Louis American

Scherese M.Bishop

On Saturday Nile Trice,13, second from left,organized a fundraiser for Lewis Place residents who were victims of the Dec.31 tornado at the St.Nicholas Skating Rink, which doubled as her birthday party.More than 100 people attended, including Gabby Llamas, 13,Rachel Kerwin,12, Tamera Shelton,12, and Jordan Hartmann,13.

Photo by Wiley Price

Nate Dogg dies

Singer Nate Dogg passed away yesterday (Wed., Mar. 16) at the age of 41 after years of ill health. The cause of death is not immediately known, but he previously suffered two strokes, one in 2007 and another in 2008.

The hook singer first came to national attention on Dr. Dre’s 1992 masterpiece The Chronic. He the first of four Grammy nominations in 1995 for “Regulate,” a collaboration with Warren G. His fourth and most recent nomination came for Eminem’s “Shake That” in 2007.

Usher and Tameka sex tape said to have hit the net

A sex tape featuring Usher and his ex-wife, Tameka Foster reportedly surfaced on the internet earlier this week. TMZ was approached several days ago by

someone claiming to have the sex tape. The celebrity news and gossip site says based on the clips they’ve seen that the video is authentic and features Usher and Tameka engaged in risqué sex acts.

Sources close to Usher – without specifically admitting the existence of a sex tape – told TMZ that they believe this video could have been among the things Usher had stolen out of his car back in December 2009. Usher reported more than $1,000,000 worth of jewelry and electronics taken – including two laptop computers.

Beyonce is over Gaga’s antics

Though the two recorded the No. 1 hit “Telephone” together, sources say Beyonce has blasted Lady Gaga as a “selfish egomaniac.” Gaga, born Stefani Germanotta, has reportedly has fired back by branding Beyonce “just another jealous hater,” an insider told the National Enquirer.

“The bad blood between Beyonce and Gaga has been brewing for months, but it really exploded after the Grammy Awards in February,” the insider said – referring to Gaga’s arrival inside a giant egg, carried by attendants dressed in gold.

“Beyonce thought Gaga’s entrance was way over the top and ridiculously selfserving,” said the insider.

“At this point, Gaga is used to people criticizing her, but she never expected it from Beyonce –whom she saw as a friend and supporter. Gaga plans to confront her the next time they run into each other and demand an apology.”

Another source says Beyonce believes that musicians should let their talent do the talking, and she finds it really tacky that Gaga constantly tries to one-up everyone with her ridiculous fashion statements and is telling people that she wants to take Gaga down a few notches.

Rihanna discusses her daddy issues

Vogue magazine’s April 2011 cover girl Rihanna revealed to the publication the betrayal she has experienced by her estranged father, Ronald Fenty, for selling the rights to childhood pictures without her consent and mouthing off to tabloids for a pay day.

“It really makes me question what I have become to my father. Like, what do I even mean to him? It’s really strange. That’s the only word I can think of to describe it, because you grow up with your father, you know him, you are a part of him, for goodness’ sakes! And then he does something so bizarre that I can’t begin to wrap my mind around it. You hear the horror stories about people going behind people’s backs and doing strange things, but you always think, Not

my family. My father would never do that to me. That was the first time. My dad went to the press and just told them a bunch of lies. Because he hadn’t talked to me after . . . . that whole thing . . . He never called to find out how I was doing, if I was alive, nothing. He just never called. He went straight to the press and got a check. And now he does it again.”

D’Angelo pleads guilty after paying for play

R&B crooner D’Angelo has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with a prostitution case in New York City.

The 37-year-old, born Michael Archer, was arrested in March 2010 after he tried to pay $40 for sex with an undercover officer who was posing as a prostitute. The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer entered his plea Friday, according to the Associated Press. The offense is a violation, not a crime.

Prosecutors say he has satisfied conditions, but declined to specify the nature.

Sources: Vogue, TMZ.com, CBS.com, The Associated Press, The National Enquirer and The Long Beach Press-Telegram.

D’Angelo

Civic leaders Teach forAmerica in St. Louis

Congressman, entrepreneur among group of 90-plus guest teachers

By Lydia McGhee

For The St. Louis American

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay and entrepreneur Maxine Clark were among a group of more than 90 civic leaders who did a stint of substitute teaching recently in the St. Louis-area public schools.

The congressman and BuildA-Bear founder were joined by BJC Healthcare CEO Steve Lipstein, St. Louis Zoo President Jeffrey Bonner, Emerson Vice Chairman Walter Galvin and Kwame Building Group principal Tony Thompson (among others) in supporting 2011 Teach For America Week.

Teach For America is a national corps of outstanding recent graduates of all academic majors who commit to teaching for two years in under-served urban and rural schools. All over the country, illustrious guest teachers committed to teaching one lesson in a Teach For America corps member’s classroom.

In St. Louis, Clay led a classroom discussion at Vashon High School in the St. Louis Public School District and Clark guest-taught at Bel-Ridge Elementary in the Normandy School district.

“I’m very proud of this school,” Clay told the students and staff at Vashon. Clay – who attended high school in the Washington, D.C. area while his father Bill Clay served in Congress – shared his commitment to academic equality and greater opportunities for all students.

The congressman concluded his guest-teaching session by connecting with students through small group discussions, then opening the loor to  questions.

n Maxine Clark said it is important for children to see successful people in every field of endeavor.

“Teach for America at Vashon was a terriic experience,” Clay said.

“I hope the students enjoyed it as much as I did! The young faculty leaders are exceptionally dedicated, and the kids are full of energy, enthusiasm and great ideas.”

Build-A-Bear Founder and C.E.O Maxine Clark assisted Kevin Steger’s ifth grade class  at Bel-Ridge Elementary. Using Build-A-Bear’s popular stuffed animals and accessories, Steger taught his students the importance of math and business skills by engagingly demonstrating how math applications are used everyday in work environments.

By creating a ictional retail  space, Steger led his students through multiple activities that challenged students to think imaginatively about business concepts like costs, proits and  sales.

A graduate of the University of California-Irvine, Steger is in his second year of teaching through the Teach For America organization. He says he was inspired to join Teach For America due to his upbringing and his parents’ ierce determination to give him the best education and opportunities available.

“I feel as if a great education opens the door to great opportunities that students in under-resourced schools would not normally receive,” he said. Steger said he is inspired by his students as much as they are inspired by him.

Clark talked about her motivation for starting Build-A-Bear and running an internationally successful business. More importantly, she walked around the classroom and sat with every student, giving fully of her time and attention.

Clark said her parents did the best they could, but credits

her teachers with pushing and believing in her. She said it was those teachers who made her want to make something of herself and to help others. Clark has become a major supporter and advocate of Teach For America. She was instrumental in growing the Teach For America Week participants from 17 volunteers in its inception to 90-plus this year. She said it is important for children

to see successful people in every ield of endeavor.

“Everybody can make a difference,” she said.

As evidenced by the young students who anxiously measured and calculated formulas on bear shoes, clothes and undergarments, Clark and Steger made a difference.

For more information about Teach For America please visit, www.teachforamerica.org.

Build-A-Bear Founder and C.E.O Maxine Clark assisted Kevin Steger闇s ifth grade class at Bel-Ridge Elementary in the Normandy School District as part of 2011 Teach For America Week. Photo by

Wiley Price

EDITORIAL /COMMENTARY

Working people are the majority

We never fell for any of the foolish dreaming about a post-racial America, just because a majority of voters in this county elected a mixed-race U.S. senator who identiies as black to be the president of the United States. But we noticed that no one has attempted to dream out loud about a more equitable America lately. President Obama certainly represents an important accomplishment for African Americans and America overall, both conceptually and in actuality, but this advance in racial accomplishment and consciousness has not been accompanied by greater economic equality in this country – quite the contrary. The rich – white and black – are getting richer, while the poor – black and white – are getting poorer.

President Obama is not to blame for this, and many of his policy initiatives – such as the Recovery and Affordable Care acts – represent short- and long-term efforts toward greater economic equity. In fact, the conlagration in Wisconsin, which cast some sparks to St. Louis on Friday, dates back to the late 1970s, as the current Mother Jones cover story asserts in detail. The corporate elite, organized into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable, went up against organized privatesector labor – and won. What we are seeing in 2011 are the same forces, fronted by the junior governor from Wisconsin, attempting a triumphal mop-up action on public-sector unions. It is itting that the current president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donahue, visited St. Louis on the same day as the solidarity labor rally here, and was met by his own protest. It also is itting that Donahue was the subject of an interview in the Post-Dispatch while the labor rally – more than 4,000 people assembled a short walk from the Post’s ofices

in support of working people – went completely unremarked in the pages of the city’s only daily paper. Civil rights veterans recall when the Post ignored major civil rights protests, so the paper’s new ownership in Lee Enterprises (based in Iowa) is not committing a new outrage for this too-often-disappointing newspaper. However, Lee’s attempts to undermine its own labor unions, at the Post and other papers, have now been joined by a rather blatant act of advocacy journalism by omission. If there was ever a doubt that the Post is increasingly the paper of the corporate elite, we can retire that doubt now.

The Republican-dominated Missouri Legislature is watching events transpire in Wisconsin, and we can expect the same or worse from them. Already they are undermining a ballot initiative that raised Missouri’s minimum wage and tied it to the Consumer Price Index. This initiative passed with 76 percent voter approval. One can only hope that this large majority of Missourians, with this expressed support for the well being of the state’s lowestwage workers, come to recognize soon that electing Republican legislators is not in their best interest. Meanwhile, the corporate assault on public-sector unions will weaken an already struggling labor movement, the plank of the Democratic Party on which the fortunes of the working and middle classes have long stood. With the richest Americans and the most powerful media working together against the majority of the working public, it is time for that working majority – black and white – to devise creative strategies, in solidarity, that will restore some economic equity to this great nation that is challenged to live up to its ideals of equal opportunity for all to live up to their potential.

Commentary

An inherently toxic technology

Eugene Robinson

Nuclear power was beginning to look like a panacea – a way to lessen our dependence on oil, make our energy supply more selfsuficient and signiicantly mitigate global warming. Now it looks more like a bargain with the devil. In recent years, some of the nation’s most respected environmentalists have come to champion nuclear power. But as Japanese engineers struggle frantically to keep calamity from escalating into catastrophe, we cannot ignore the fact that nuclear ission is an inherently and uniquely toxic technology.

The cascading sequence of system failures, partial meltdowns and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was touched off by a once-in-a-lifetime event: the most powerful earthquake in Japan’s recorded history, which triggered a tsunami of unimaginable destructive force. The Fukushima reactors are of an older design, and it is possible to engineer nuclear plants that would never suffer similar breakdowns.

But there is no such thing as a fail-safe system. The Earth is alive with tectonic movement, volcanism, violent weather. We try our best to predict these phenomena, but our best calculations are imprecise. We have computers that are as close to infallible as we can imagine, but the data they produce must

ultimately be interpreted by human intelligence. When a crisis does occur, experts must make quick decisions under enormous pressure; sometimes, they’re wrong.

With nuclear ission, the stakes are unimaginably high. We can engineer nuclear power plants so that the chance of a Chernobyl-style disaster is almost nil. But we can’t eliminate it completely – nor can we envision every other kind of potential disaster. And where ission reactors are concerned, the worst-case scenario is unthinkable.

Engineers at the Fukushima plant are struggling to avert a wholesale release of deadly radiation, which is the inherent risk of any ission reactor. In the Chernobyl incident, a cloud of radioactive smoke and steam spread contamination across hundreds of square miles; even after 25 years, a 20-mile radius around the ruined plant remains off-limits and uninhabitable. Studies have estimated that the release of radioactivity from Chernobyl has caused at least 6,000 excess cases of thyroid cancer, and scientists expect more cancers to develop.

In the Fukushima crisis, there is a good chance that prevailing winds would blow any radioactive cloud out to sea. Japanese authorities seem to be making all the right decisions. Yet even in a nation with safety standards and technological acumen that are second to none, look at what they’re up against – and how little margin for error they have to work with.

At irst, the focus was on the Unit 1 reactor and the struggle to keep the nuclear fuel rods

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Recognizing young leaders

I believe your idea to recognize and celebrate young African-American leaders with a Salute will help foster the kind of esprit de corps needed to encourage them and their peers to stay and work here in St. Louis. Thank you for all you and your staff do for the city of St. Louis.

Craig C. Fowler, managing director BAML Capital Access Funds St. Louis

What is in the heart

At the passing of Shirley Deavens, The American has lost an excellent voice and woman of God. But I believe this is a passing of a torch that belongs to me.

have been on the same page with informing folks about issues such as those you have explored.

Rev. William L. “Jimi” Gwynn III Hope of Glory Christian Assembly, St. Louis

Sharing new perspectives

I always enjoy reading your book reviews and interviews with the authors. These dynamic, multifaceted stories need to be told, and people need to know about them. Great work on sharing new perspectives, new voices.

LaTia S. King The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis St. Louis

immersed in water -- which is necessary, at all times, to avoid a full meltdown and a catastrophic release of radiation. Pumping sea water into the reactor vessel seemed to stabilize the situation, despite a hydrogen explosion -- indicating a partial meltdown -- that blew the roof off the reactor’s outer containment building. But then, attention shifted to Unit 3, which may have had a worse partial meltdown; it, too, experienced a hydrogen explosion. Oficials said they believed they were stabilizing that reactor but acknowledged that it was hard to be sure. Meanwhile, what could be the most crucial failure of all was happening in Unit 2, whose fuel rods were fully exposed. Scientists had no immediate way of knowing how much of that reactor’s fuel had melted – or what the consequences might be. The best-case scenario is that Japanese engineers will eventually get the plant under control. Then, I suppose, it will be possible to conclude that ultimately the system worked. As President Obama and Congress move forward with a new generation of nuclear plants, designs will be vetted and perhaps altered. We will be conident that we have taken the lessons of Fukushima into account.

And we will be fooling ourselves, because the one inescapable lesson of Fukushima is that improbable does not mean impossible. Unlikely failures can combine to bring any nuclear ission reactor to the brink of disaster. It can happen here. Eugene Robinson’s e-mail address is eugenerobinson@ washpost.com

All letters are edited for length and style.

prayer and believing in a higher power. If I can do it you can, too.

Mike Huckabee is a man accustomed to losing himself, literally. In 2003, to deal with his own case of Type II Diabetes, he changed his eating habits and subsequently lost 110 pounds. That’s the equivalent of losing a whole person in some instances.

Baptist ministers I know.

Huckabee had also developed a reputation as a thoughtful and sensitive Republican, sort of a nice guy. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a Baptist minister that led people to think that Huckabee was the type of politician one could work with from both sides of the political isle. Funny thing was, his history doesn’t bear that out.

As a candidate for United States Senate in 1992, while commenting on the issue of HIV/AIDS, Huckabee reportedly stated to the Associated Press, “We need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.” Maybe it’s just me, but somehow that just doesn’t sound like most of the

Lately, Huckabee has taken on an even more sinister proile. In his quest to win the radical conservative vote, he has apparently decided that even the Mike Huckabee of the past isn’t radical enough. Joining the ranks of the absurd, he’s now claiming that President Barack Obama “is not like the rest of us.”

One has to question which “us” Huckabee was talking about. According to Huckabee, most Americans grew up involved in Boy Scouts and Rotary Clubs. Well, the former governor and I are from the same generation, and both grew up in rural Arkansas. Ironically, the backwards glance of my mind fails to see Boy Scouts and Rotary Clubs in my Arkansas hometown; were they present, it is for certain that they brandished a proud “Blacks need not apply” policy. Huckabee also says that President Obama has a different world view from the rest of America. Given the size of the Obama victory in 2008, one can only speculate that perhaps it’s actually Huckabee and his ilk who have the different world view.

As with his pronouncements of the past, in his haste to gain the support of the radical right, it is highly probable that Huckabee is again losing himself. After all, are we expected to believe that a Baptist minister of his stature would conjure up such bombastic assertions, simply for political gain?

But maybe Mike Huckabee is actually onto something. Perhaps Obama does have a different world view; and considering his landslide victory, Americans of good will just might share that world view. Sadly, there remains an aggregate of mean-spirited and angry voices that choose to occupy a space long abandoned by those of us who see progress in change. Huckabee might capture the emotions and fears of a hostile and hopeful right-wing base, but his rhetoric certainly will not allow him to capture the White House. Perhaps in losing, however, Mike Huckabee just might ind himself.

Contributing columnist George R. Cotton Sr. serves as director of Development & Alumni Affairs in the College of Science at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

I am a St. Louis native growing up in downtown St. Louis projects (Vaughn and Carr Square Village). I was ordained a pastor on August 30, 2009 and have been writing all my life. I have no college degree in journalism but have taken courses in journalism.

My belief is what’s in the heart can’t be taught. I do believe I have a word from the Lord that qualifies me to speak, write, teach and proclaim liberty to mankind in His name.

As you look to recruit inspirational columnist for your newspaper, I pray you give me the opportunity to express God’s word openly. There could never be another Shirley Deavens; only one original exists in everything, but when God is doing a new thing and there is a changing of the guards – who are you to stand in His way?

Pastor Gloria D. Young-Love St. Louis

Editor’s note: Please submit inspirational messages to cking@stlamerican.com. No more than 500 words, and include your photo as a jpeg file.

Real deal on Easter

Thank you for Bernie Hayes’ informative article on the origins of Easter. I

Those who need insulin

I always enjoy reading The St. Louis American. Sandra Jordan’s article on Roche was very timely and extremely vital to those who need insulin to live.

Marie Davis, executive director Metro St. Louis/Greater Missouri Chapter Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation St. Louis

The Lord and prayer

Have you ever been in love but wasn’t loved in return?

Have you ever gave respect to a person but never got respect in return? Have you ever thought that life was going your way only to find more sorrow? Have you ever climbed to the top of the mountain only to fall off?

Have you ever thought that your job was secured and unemployment was just a word? Have you ever thought that the retirement nest you built was never made?

Have you ever thought that foreclosure couldn’t happen to you? Have you ever prayed?

Have you ever believed?

Well, listen to this; I am a cancer survivor. I have been to hell and back. You know what kept me going? The Lord and

Columnist

Gloria Lammon St. Louis

Guest Columnist George R. Cotton Sr.

The Way I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Mike Huckabee is losing himself

Duncan: fix ‘No Child Left behind’

Last week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told Congress that his department estimates that 82 percent of America’s schools could fail to meet education goals set by No Child Left Behind this year. Duncan urged Congress to fix the law before the next school year begins so that the schools and students most at risk get the help they need.

“No Child Left Behind is broken and we need to fix it now,” said Duncan during testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

“This law has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed. We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible, and focused on the schools and students most at risk.” No Child Left Behind requires all U.S. public schools to meet annual targets, called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), aimed at making all students 100 percent proficient in reading or language arts and math by 2014.

Duncan pointed out, however, that current federal law requires states and districts to implement the same set of interventions in every school that is not meeting AYP, regardless of the individual needs and circumstances of those schools.

The Obama administration’s proposed blueprint for reforming No Child Left Behind recognizes and rewards highpoverty schools and districts that show improvement based on progress and growth. States and districts would have to identify and intervene in schools that persistently fail to close gaps. For schools making more modest gains, states and districts would have more flexibility to determine improvement and support options.

Red Thread at Brown Elementary

These Brown Elementary School fourth-grade students start work on their knit hats as part of the Red Thread Project.The hats are part of a community art project that culminates in mid-May with the Dance of Hats in Laumeier Sculpture Park.Afterward,the students will decide what charitable organization(s) should receive the hats.

African American Citizens of the Year

On Saturday, March 19, the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation will present the African American Citizens of the Year Awards Luncheon at the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation at 2012 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. at 12 p.m.

The 2011 honorees include: Mary Tillman, evangelist and Radio personality; Reuben Shelton III., senior counsel, Monsanto Company; Nicole Roach, Webster University Downtown director; Eddie Davis, president, Center for the Acceleration of African American Business; Larry Blue Jr., co-founder and chairman, National Sales Network St. Louis; Steven Cousins, partner, Armstrong Teasdale; Vincent Edwards, executive director, American Red Cross; Vickie Newton, news anchor, KMOVChannel 4. Tickets are $25 each and are available at the St. Louis Gateway Classic. For additional information, visit www.gatewayclassic.org

Creve CoeurMill Road Closing

As of Wednesday morning, March 16, Creve Coeur Mill Road will be closed for approximately one month at its intersection with Maryland Heights Expressway.

The closure - which will shutter a 500-foot long segment of the road, from the Expressway to an MSD water treatment facility - is related to St. Louis County's “Page-Olive Connector” project. Northbound motorists will be able to continue past the closure on Maryland Heights Expressway (off of which Creve Coeur Mill Road veers at Waterworks Road). Drivers may access Creve Coeur Mill Road north of the closure at the Maryland Heights Expressway/Creve Coeur Mill Road intersection located one mile north of Page Avenue.

Kids soak up good stuff too

By Michelle Obama First Lady

Just as our kids soak up all the bad stuff – all the advertisements and the peer pressure – we know they soak up the good stuff as well.I see it every year when we harvest our White House garden and I watch kids actually getting excited about kale.I watch them clamor to try vegetables they’ve never heard of simply because they planted those vegetables themselves.I see it in the children I meet as I travel around the country. Like the little boy I met last November in Newark. His teacher did a unit on healthy eating.And that afternoon, he went straight home and insisted that his mother bake, rather than fry, the fish she was cooking for dinner.

I see it in the letters I get from young people who proudly tell me what they’re doing to eat better and stay active.One little girl told me that after watching a public service announcement for Let’s Move! on TV, she and her friend put down the junk food they were eating and decided to go for a bike ride instead.And when our kids get engaged like this, when they start taking initiative, and changing their habits, that won’t just affect their generation.

I think Shemeka Hamlin-Palmer, a mom from Jackson, Mississippi, put it best when she said, “I want my son to have a long and healthy life. Therefore, I need to teach him healthy ways of living and he’ll be able to teach his kids the same thing.”

So make no mistake about it, we’re not just doing this for our children, we’re doing it for our grandchildren and for their children too.That’s what we’ve always done in this country, we have struggled and sacrificed to leave something better for future generations. We’ve worked to give them opportunities that we never dreamed of for ourselves.And ultimately, that’s what we’re aiming to do with Let’s Move!

That’s what the momentum we’re seeing all across the country is really about.And today, one year later, Let’s Move! is far more than just a campaign.It is so much more than just a slogan.It’s a nationwide movement, a movement to give our kids everything they need – all the energy, strength and opportunities they need to fulfill every last bit of their potential and achieve every last one of their dreams.

As parents, we want nothing less for our kids.And as Americans, we want nothing less for this country.So let’s keep working.Let’s keep moving.And let’s keep doing everything we can to give our kids the bright futures they deserve.

Edited from remarks made February 9 in Alpharetta, Ga. This concludes the speech, which we have serialized.

Michelle Obama

SKATE

Continued from A1

where she also plays violin for the orchestra. In a couple weeks, she’ll earn her orange belt in karate.

Yet if you ask Nile what her life motto is, she’ll say, “Live life with a laugh.”

Four of her schoolmates confirmed that Nile is “funny” and “silly,” but not when it comes to hard work.

“When it comes to work, she’s serious,” said Rachel Kerwin, 12.

On March 12, more than 100 people attended her birthday party at the St. Nicholas Skating Rink, 1805 Lucas Ave., which she held as a fundraiser for Lewis Place residents who were victims of the Dec. 31 tornado.

“I felt that since a lot of people lost their houses, I could help and give back by roller-skating because I love to do that,” said Nile, who lives in Maryland Heights.

Last year at her 12th birthday party, Nile hosted a “PJs and Pins” fundraiser at Strike and Spare Bowling Alley to benefit children at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Hospital. As a result, the hospital asked her to join its junior board.

“I like the fact that she gets that she’s blessed,” said her mother, Ruby Trice.

“Community service is a big part of our family. For her to find her own connection, it’s really important and rewarding.”

SCHERESE

Continued from A1

Maggie E. Bishop, and her daughter Sch’Erica, 7, and many other family and friends.

Kenneth Farwell, medical officer and battalion chief at Northeast, described Bishop as a quick learner with an outgoing personality.

“Scherese had one of the most bubbly personalities in the EMS service I had ever met,” he said. “I always looked forward to working with her both as a private and as the battalion chief.”

Before going out on a call, Bishop would often say, “I’ve

Nile’s aunt, Pamela Talley, is the president of the Lewis Place Historical Preservation and has lived in the neighbor-

got to go save some lives,” said Acting Fire Chief Bilal Olushola, who worked with Bishop for three years.

“Scherese was one of the best in the field,” Olushola said. “She was very personable and funny, but very serious when it came to saving lives. It was something she really enjoyed doing.”

Angelia Elgin, former Northeast fire chief and a close friend, said Bishop had been excited about finishing her paramedic training. On March 10 she was scheduled to have her final interview with Dr. David Tan, emergency physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the medical director for the fire department.

hood for 28 years.

The Lewis Place neighborhood – a historical landmark in St. Louis for its role in the

“Scherese always made me laugh,” Elgin said. “She always loved working at Northeast. She always gave 100 percent. She’s someone I’m going to miss.”

Brian Fields, paramedic and firefighter at Northeast, said Bishop had a way of making people feel comfortable and brightening up the room.

“She always brought life to each call,” Fields said. “She would find even the smallest thing to make a person happy. She had a good spirit and good attitude.”

Bishop was often found at the fire house with a book in hand, studying for her paramedic certification, he said.

Michelle Battiest, Northeast

fight for fair housing – suffered an estimated $1 million in damage from the New Year’s Eve tornado. The storm displaced many families, including a large number of elderly residents with little or no insurance.

paramedic, first met Bishop in an orientation for new employees in September 2008. From there, they partnered on the ambulance 90 percent of the time that they were scheduled on the same shift, she said. “It got to the point where we knew how each other was going to click on certain calls,” Battiest said. “We almost didn’t have to say anything to each other.”

Battiest and Bishop became like sisters, she said, and Bishop often spoke of her daughter and family.

“You don’t meet a person like that every day,” Battiest said. “If I would measure her as a light bulb, Scherese would be a million watts, if not more. Her personality and her professionalism went hand and hand. We will all get through it, all of us together.”

The U.S. government denied federal emergency assistance to the area. Residents have received some support from relief agencies, and private donations and in-kind support have come in, but not nearly enough, Talley said.

About $1,600 has been raised in relief funds through private sources. “That isn’t a lot of money but for us that’s good,” Talley said. “We’re pretty thrifty.” Nile’s fundraiser added about $1,100 to the fund.

“If you work hard, you can get anywhere,” Nile said. “You just can’t sit there and dream about it. You have to dream it, wish it and do it. I think working hard comes with doing it.” Nile intends to become a lawyer, sign-language interpreter and child psychologist. She aims to attend Harvard University for its prestigious law school and child-psychology program.

Food or clothing donations for Lewis Place residents can be made at Centennial Christian Church, 4950 Fountain Ave., between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Call the church at 314-367-1818. Financial donations are needed to assist homeowners with repairs and rebuilding. Checks can be made out to Lewis Place Historical Preservation, 3920 Lindell Blvd., Suite 206, St. Louis, MO 63108, attention: Pamela Talley. She can be reached at 314-535-1354.

Linda Love, administrator, said the fire district office has been busy all week with service preparations, which will be quite extensive.

“I am sorry to see our sister fallen,” Farwell said. “We deal with the public every day, but when it is your own, it’s different. We are still grieving at this time. And we hope as time goes on, we will be able to get through this.”

Darrion Gunthrie,his niece Darricka Gunthrie,5,and Kiyoka Clark attended the fundraiser Nile Trice organized Saturday at the St.Nicholas Skating Rink,which raised about $1,100 for Lewis Place tornado survivors.

Photo by Wiley Price

Donkeys, ambulances and vacancies

In this business, all of the people do not always agree with you. Last week the EYE cast doubt on a plan to reduce the number of state representatives in the Missouri House of Representatives, and on politics in the Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District in connection to its running a third ambulance. Not all of the people agreed with us.

The Missouri Secretary of State now has approved ballot language for a petition to reduce the number of state representatives from 163 to 103. If the initiative gets on the ballot and is approved, it would go into effect in 2020 for elections in 2022. Note that the timing is calculated so as not to threaten the political pork chops of the people currently serving in the House, which is a tacit admission that the proposal is threatening. According to a Democratic consultant working on the proposal, however, the process is not equivalent to “shooting donkeys” (eliminating Democrats), as the EYE suggested. He argues that reducing the number of state representatives would produce representatives who would be forced to look at issues from a much broader perspective if their districts were larger and more diverse. Currently, except for a very few districts, most of the state House districts are either urban or rural. Reducing the number of districts would create districts with more diverse demographics.

He also argues that a smaller

number of more diverse districts would increase the inluence of the urban areas of the state. Urban areas now produce more than 60 percent of the tax revenue in Missouri but receive less that 40 percent of the representation in the state House. There is also a strong iscal argument for reducing the number of state representatives. Currently, the annual salaries and per diem costs for 163 state representatives is some $4.6 million. The estimated annual savings if the number of state representatives were reduced to 103 would be more than $2.5 million. These savings do not include other costs like employer taxes, pension and health beneits, or the cost of ofice operations and space. Currently there is one state representative for every 36,734 people in Missouri. Compared to other states with similar population, Tennessee has a population of 6,296,254 and 66 state representatives, which translates to a ratio of 78,174 people per representative – more than twice as many as in Missouri. Indiana has a population of 6,080,485 and 100 state representatives, or 60,805 people per reps. In Illinois, which has a population of 12,910,409, there are 118 state representatives –that’s 109,410 people per state reps, very nearly three times as many as in Missouri. In most statewide elections in Missouri, there are seven counties that outvote the other 114 counties. All of these counties are in urban areas. This is why

Democrats often are able to win statewide and control the executive branch of government and at least one of the state’s seats in the U.S. Senate. Reducing the number of state representative districts would help to bring more balance to the state Legislature – it would bring the political balance of the state House closer to the political balance in the state’s population. This, the Democratic consultant maintains, would be good for Democrats.

Ambulances and money

As for the Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District, the ire board’s chairman Derek Mays raised some objections to last week’s coverage in the EYE. He framed his complaint with the acknowledgement that the piece was “an op-ed, not necessarily to be viewed as a normal article premised on journalistic investigation.” We corrected him on that point, as the piece was in fact reported and the district was given an opportunity to share its side. Chief Medical Oficer Ken Farwell told our

reporter Rebecca Rivas that he had been told not to talk to her, and Acting Fire Chief Bilal Olushola responded after deadline, despite repeated calls. We can’t report what we are not told on time.

Now Mays is telling us “our district was on a path to incur a $900,000 loss as of last February. After restructuring, job eliminations, salary reductions and penny-pinching we still ended the year with a $115,000 loss. When we ran a third ambulance at the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, we averaged 1.3 calls with that ambulance per day. In rough math, running these calls would generate a bit less than $9,000 per month on average as a result of insurance billings we would receive. However, to run an ambulance in terms of stafing and vehicle costs the district incurs over $31,000 per month. In other words, to continue running a third ambulance with the current call level would cost the district $22,000 additional per month or more, which equates to more than $250,000 additional loss for the year. That simply would be unsustainable for our district at this point.”

The American will revisit these numbers in a future edition.

Mays added: “Further, it is deeply offensive to many in our district that the tragic incident of Scherese Bishop be used to suggest a third ambulance is desperately needed for our residents. The University City ambulance called to assist arrived on the scene to transport Scherese before she was ready to be transported to the hospital. Regardless of the proximity of our ire house to the scene there would not have been any difference in transport time from the time of the incident to Scherese’s arrival at the hospital.”

This account, too, merits further investigation.

Tragically, district paramedic Scherese Bishop has since died, elevating the stakes on this incident a great deal. See the story on Page A1.

Show-Me vacancy

Aldermanic President Lewis Reed cut up with Chris Molitor, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 73, during the annual St. Patricks Day Parade in St. Louis on March 12. Molitor gave Reed the golden axe for his help with ireighters闇 issues.

Photo by UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Under the assumption that every Show-Me Institute study is a knife intended for somebody’s back, the intended victim of this study would appear to be Paul McKee Jr. and his Northside Regeneration project. If so, Show-Me man Rex Sinqueield may be disappointed. He may ind that McKee is one of the many willing buyers lined up to buy city land and ready to pay. Getting the city off the dime on the vacant land it is holding may help, not hurt, McKee.

Also, it is possible that the study already can count one political corpse in former city development director Barb Geisman, who left her post after Show-Me researcher Audrey Spalding began gathering the data that will be reported in the study.

The American was given a sneak preview of the Show-Me Institute’s forthcoming study on the City of St. Louis’ reluctance to sell its vacant land to willing buyers. It is an inspired piece of nitty-gritty research that asks a number of questions that needed to be asked and will force city oficials to formulate and defend their redevelopment policy.

will celebrate the powerful words of Dr.

and their ongoing ability to lead us toward a better world for everyone. Visit this historic landmark in the heart of Washington, D.C., and feel inspired to turn dreams into actions. Awaken his spirit in all of us.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial

King

Chevrolet is honored to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Opening August 2011 in Washington, D.C. ved.

What tax-advantaged alternatives do I have?

Astrong savings program is essential for any sound financial strategy.

We take Benjamin Franklin’s saying to heart, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” and we save our spare cash in savings accounts and certificates of deposit.

Investors who’ve accumulated an adequate cash reserve are to be commended. But as strange as it sounds, it is possible to save too much. Although this may not sound like much of a problem, it can be if you save too much of what you should be investing.

You see, many investors simply put their savings into the most convenient andstable financial instrument they can find. Often, that turns out to be certificates of deposit (CDs). The benefits of CDs are that they are FDIC insured (up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution) and generally provide a fixed rate of return. Unfortunately, placing all your savings in taxable instruments like certificates of deposit can create quite an income tax bill. In an effort to help provide stability, some investors inadvertently produce a liability. It’s a bit like turning on all the taps in your house just to make certain the water’s still running. Sure, you’ll know that the water’s still running, but a lot of it will go down the drain. The solution is simply to

By Charles Ross PERSONAL FINANCE

turn off some of the taps.

Anumber of financial instruments can helpyou to defer or eliminate income taxes. By shifting part of your cash reserves to some of these instruments, you can keep more of your money working for you, and turn off the taps that hamper your money’s growth.

Charles Ross

You can consider a number of tax-advantaged investments for at least a portion of your savings portfolio.

One possibility is a fixedannuity contract. Afixed annuity is a retirement vehicle that can help you meet the challenges of tax planning, retirement planning, and investment

EQUITY

Continued from B1

soon to follow. Roads, highways, exclusionary housing patterns all led to segregated enclaves in suburbia while urban areas suffered benign neglect.

Divisive and spiteful partisan politics also weighs heavily on Glover Blackwell’s mind.

“Cuts to community development block grants, cuts in the area of health – any effort to try and balance this budget

planning. Fixed-annuity contracts accumulate interest at a competitive rate. And the interest on an annuity contract is usually not taxable until it is withdrawn. Most annuities have surrender charges that are assessed in the early years of the contract if the contract owner surrenders the annuity before the insurance company has had the opportunity to recover the cost of issuing the contract. Also, withdrawals made from an annuity prior to age 59? may be subject to a 10 percent federal income tax penalty. The guarantees of fixed annuity contracts are contingent on the claims-paying ability of the issuing insur-

on the backs of America’s most vulnerable ought to raise alarms,” she said.

Even with deep cuts looming, Glover Blackwell insists there’s hope on the horizon. She noted President Obama’s “Sustainable Communities Initiative,” a joint-agency project involving the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation. Glover said this is Obama’s attempt to “reshape the broken and counterproductive way we’ve built our communities.”

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN

ance company. Another tax-exempt investment vehicle is a municipal bond. Municipal bonds are issued by state and local governments and are generally free of federal income tax. In addition, they may be free of state and local taxes for investors who reside in the areas in which they are issued. Municipal bonds can be purchased individually, through a mutual fund, or as part of a unit investment trust. You must select bonds carefully to ensure a worthwhile tax savings. Becausemunicipal bonds tend to have lower yields than other bonds, the tax benefits tend to accrue to individuals with the highest tax burdens. If you sell a municipal bond at a profit, youcould incur capital gainstaxes.

Some municipal bond interest could be subject to thefederal alternative minimum tax. The principal value of bonds may fluctuate with market condi-

“There is $150 million for sustainable communities and additional resources from EPA and other agencies,” she said.

“St. Louis has been lucky enough to get one of the planning grants to really allow communities to think in smart and inclusive ways about how they build community.”

With 25 percent of America’s black and Latino population without access to cars and disproportionately dependent on public transportation, “smart and inclusive” planning means developments that connect people to jobs, schools, housing, health care and grocery stores, Glover Blackwell said.

The Sustainable Communities initiative, coupled with programs such as the Promise Neighborhoods and Healthy Food Financing Initiative, won’t lessen the sting of social service cuts, but they will create jobs and help foster “regional equity” in urban areas, Glover Blackwell said.

When asked what African

tions. Bonds redeemed prior to maturity may be worth more or less thantheir original cost. Investments seeking to achieve higher yields also involve a higherdegree of risk. Bonds mutual funds are subject to the same inflation, interest-rate, and credit risks associated with their underlying bonds. As interest rates rise, bond prices typically fall, which can adversely affect a bond mutual fund's performance.

Anumber of other taxadvantaged investments are available. Consult with your financial professional to determine which types of taxadvantaged investments may be appropriate for you.

Charles Ross is host of the syndicated radio program “Your Personal Finance.”

Contact him at P.O. Box 870928; Stone Mountain, Georgia 30087; or email to charles@ charlesross.com.

Americans must do to capture this moment, Glover Blackwell harkened back to her youth, growing up on Terry Avenue just blocks from the Central West End. She was raised in an era when segregation defined everything for blacks. Yet, Glover Blackwell fondly remembers a sense of community and shared aspirations. She recalled how her parents and other adults relied on black newspapers to keep them informed of the unfolding Civil Rights Movement.

“I actually think that the best things that have happened for this nation is because black people led,” she said. “When black people lead for America, they not only put real force behind a movement for themselves, they help America to see its future.”

Sylvester Brown Jr. is a freelance journalist and founder of When We Dream Together, a local nonprofit focused on urban revitalization.

See Earl Austin’s NCAA bracket

~ www.stlamerican.com ~

INSIDE SPORTS

McCluer North wins state

Stars take Class 5 state championship

McCluer North High School sits atop the high school basketball mountain in the state of Missouri once again after winning its second Class 5 state championship last weekend in Columbia.

As a 1982 graduate of McCluer North and a former player, it’s always nice to see the old school hoist that state championship trophy once again. So, I hope you will indulge me for a moment while I get my clown on while talking about the alma mater.

The Stars concluded its championship season with an impressive 63-53 victory over Troy last Saturday night at the Mizzou Arena. The second state title cements McCluer North’s status as one of the top high school programs in the state. It also establishes head coach Randy Reed’s mounting legacy as one of the most successful mentors in the Show-Me State. When Hall of

Fame coach Floyd Irons departed the coaching ranks after the 2006 season at Vashon, it brought to an end of one of the great dynasties in high school basketball.

Earl Austin Jr.

The closest thing to a largeschool dynasty in recent years has been manufactured by Reed, who was a star player for Irons at Vashon during the late 1970s. In the past seven years, Reed has directed McCluer North to five

district championships, three Final Four appearances and two state titles. The Stars annually play in one of the state’s toughest districts with their Suburban North conference rivals.

Poplar Bluff is the only other school to win two Class 5 state titles since the Missouri State High School Activities Association went to a five-class system. McCluer North’s three Final Four appearances have

40th Anniversary of the 1971 state championship

By Earl Austin Jr. Of The St.Louis American

In 1971, the Vashon Wolverines won the Missouri Class Lstate championship. This year marks the 40th anniversary of that state championship team. American sports editor Earl Austin Jr. takes a look at the ’71 Vashon Wolverines.

The Public High League was on a serious roll with Vashon taking the 1971 Class Lstate championship, making it three PHLstate champions in four years. The Wolverines were not a deep team, but they packed as much talent and athleticism in a six-man rotation as any team did in the history of the league.

The starting forwards were Roscoe Simmons, a high-scoring 6’4” senior, and George “Schoolyard” Wilson, who was a dominant rebounder. In the middle was 6’7” junior LaMont Turner, a freakishly athletic pivotman who could dominate the action on both ends. The starting backcourt featured steady point guard Ernest Poe and 6’3” do-it-all performer Jimmie Clark.

“I wouldn’t mind playing any other team in PHL history with this group.”

– Marvin Neals

“It was a great team,” said Hall of Fame coach Marvin Neals, who was an assistant coach for the ’71 Wolverines. “We had size, outside shooting and great guards. I wouldn’t mind playing any other team in PHLhistory with this group.”

Simmons averaged 19 points a game, mainly on long jumpers. Turner averaged 16 points and 15 rebounds a game. Clark averaged 17 points while playing shut-down defense on the opponents’top players.

Turner played college ball at Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri. He was the first in the long line of Turner brothers who were stars in the PHLfor many years to come. Clark was the St. Louis American PHLPlayer of the Year. He went on to play at Jacksonville University.

The Wolverines were led by a talented young head coach in Ron Coleman. After winning the O’Fallon Tech regional, the Wolverines met PHL rival Northwest in the sectional playoffs. Vashon barely escaped with a 66-65 overtime victory. Saving the day was sixth man, Anthony Byers, who hit the game-winning jumper with eight seconds left in overtime to give Vashon its dramatic victory. The winning shot was Byars’only field goal attempt of the game.

By Earl Austin Jr.

Of The St.Louis American

Incarnate Word won the Missouri Class 5 girls state championship for the second consecutive year. The Red Knights defeated Blue Springs 59-49 last weekend in a hotly contested and very chippy state title game at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia. After trailing by one point after the three quarters, the Red Knights displayed championship form as they outscored Blue Springs 20-9 in the fourth quarter. The Red Knights defeated Blue Springs for the state title last year. IWAalso had to display championship composure as the Wildcats turned the final closing minutes of the game into a National Hockey League goonfest complete with intentional fouls, elbows to the head and assorted other acts of mayhem.

The Blue Springs meltdown at the end of the game will be talked about for a long time.

The Red Knights displayed championship form as they outscored Blue Springs 20-9 in the fourth quarter.

One Incarnate Word player who was the definition of composure was freshman point guard Nakiah Bell, who came through like a seasoned veteran with 16 points, six assists and a four-of-six performance from beyond the 3point line. The 5’4” Bell ran the offense with flawless execution as she appeared to be the calmest player on the floor throughout this contentious game. Senior guard Brittany Carter closed out an excellent career with 12 points while senior Brianna Puni added 10 points and six rebounds.

The state of Missouri also got an eyeful of 6’3” junior center

Taylor Manuel, who displayed remarkable skills and poise throughout the tournament. Manuel scored 19 points in the Red Knights’60-56 semifinal victory over Webb City. In the championship game, Manuel had nine points, five rebounds and six assists. Manuel is one of the most unique players in the nation with her versatility and skill-set. She is a point guard in a center’s body.

Soldan repeats at No.3

Soldan took home the thirdplace trophy from the Class 4 boys state tournament. The Tigers rebounded from a 71-58 loss to Borgia in the semifinals to defeat St. Joseph’s Lafayette 53-43 in the third-place game. It was Soldan’s second consecutive third-place performance in the state tournament.

With Earl Austin Jr.

See NORTH, B5

Incarnate Word Red Knights’ Taylor Manuel (50) connects for two of her nine points during the Missouri Class 5 State championship game against Blue Springs Saturday night in Columbia. The Red Knights went on to win the title 59-49.

McCluer North’s B.J.Young scored a total of 51 points in two games to lead the Stars to the Missouri Class 5 state championship last weekend in Columbia.Young celebrates with head coach Randy Reed after they defeated Troy in the Class 5 Missouri State High School championship on Saturday.

Photo by L.G.Patterson

Photo by L.G.Patterson

See VASHON, B5

By Mike Claiborne

No way, NCAA

Say it ain’t so,Ohio

Congratulations, NCAA, you have done it again. You have messed up something that didn’t need tweaking. The basketball tournament is underway, and you have lost a fan.

While I know everyone has an office pool sheet, I will pass on the festivities this year in protest. Oh, sure, I know someone will tell me I am missing something, but I can’t help it. The NCAAhas messed up college football. They punish students for frivolous acts and they continue to allow coaches to run amuck from one school to another with no real penalty – and now they have fractured the tournament and what it stood for.

To see the teams that get in when they were clearly not one of the best 68 teams is a joke. You see teams that cannot win two road games inconference along with teams who could not stop a nose bleed let alone an opponent when the game was on the line. They only get a pass because they are in the Big 12 and Big 10? Please. Then you have teams that have been omitted because they did not have enough status or some other lame excuse that has made this thing a sham. I will pass this year also because they now have the tournament on more channels than the law allows only because the NCAAsaw some stooges that wanted to be taken to the bank. Face it, folks, there are not enough good teams to fill out a field of 68 and the NCAAknows it, but this was all about the money.

They only get a pass because they are in the Big 12 and Big 10? Please.

Last week, Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel finally admitted he had knowledge of some of his players breaking some NCAArules. Tressel’s players were suspended for five games for next season by the NCAA. The hierarchy at Ohio State found Tressel guilty enough to fine him and suspend him for just two games. While Ohio State is an institution of higher learning, they also have reminded us that they are no dummies as they know how important their coach is and the revenue he and his team bring in annually. So what does the NCAAdo next? I say they should start at eight games for Tressel. Five for the same amount his players got. One for lying, one for not showing adult supervision and one for stupidity. It won’t happen, because the NCAAtakes care of those who make money for member institutions.

National Football Lockout

OK, now we have a lockout. Did anyone notice this is March? There are no games to be played for months, so who cares?

Everyone seems to think the end of the world is near because the billionaires locked out the millionaires. I could care less at this point. The owners are greedy, and the players are dumb. The owners will not open up the real books, because if this comes into the public record, as Ricky Ricardo once said to Lucy, “You have some splaining to do.” The players have no idea on how to get more guarantees, but even if they did most players would blow it sooner than later.

Bye,Bob

An end of an era took place in St. Louis recently as Bob Wallace, longtime general counsel and senior vice president of the Rams, is moving on. Wallace’s role changed with the new regime at the top

HOOPS

Continued from B3

The semifinal game against Borgia was a repeat of Soldan’s loss to the Knights last season in the semis with Borgia lighting it up from 3point range early and often. Borgia hit six 3-pointers in the first quarter and 10 treys for the entire game. Junior forward Randy Holmes

led the Tigers in scoring in both Final Four games. Holmes scored 15 points against Borgia in the semifinals, then followed up with 12 points in the third-place game. Soldan finished the season with a 23-7 record as head coach Justin Tatum continues to build one of the area’s top programs. The Tigers will return virtually their entire nucleus next season as they figure to be one of the state’s top teams and a contender for the state championship. For one more year, the rest of the area will have to contend with the likes of Paul McRoberts, Pete Sanders, Holmes, Devin Booker, Kawan Griffin,

where he was a consultant for the last two years. Before that, Wallace had done everything you could imagine in the NFL when it came to the front office. He was quite active in the community, as he got on board with projects that would have been ignored by others. Bob Wallace made a lot of

Rashard Simmons as the Tigers will try to make one more push for a state title.

STL in NCAA

The St. Louis area will be well represented in the upcoming NCAATournament. Area players in the Big Dance include Scott Suggs of Washington (Washington High), Drew Hanlen of Belmont (Webster Groves), Alex Tyus of Florida (Florida), Josh Harrellson of Kentucky (St. Charles), Jesse Perry of Arizona (Gateway Tech) and Tyler Griffey of Illinois (Lafayette).

Mike Davis #24 of the Illinois Fighting Illini dunks against the Michigan Wolverines during the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis,Indiana on Friday.Despite a lackluster season Illinois still made the NCAA tournament field which has many basketball pundits questioning if the field is getting watered down.

friends with his honesty – as well as detractors, as he could say NO with the best of them. St. Louis was better off with him. He was a real pro who will be missed. Hopefully someone will think enough of another African American soon who will be able to pick up where Bob left off.

Zero in Final Four

After dominating the Class 3 state tournament in recent years, there will not be a team from St. Louis in this weekend’s upcoming Final Four in Columbia. Cardinal Ritter was eliminated by Elsberry in the quarterfinals while Bayless was eliminated by Charleston. St. Louis-area teams have won the past three state titles with Ritter winning last season and Maplewood winning in 2008 and 2009. Ritter also won in 2006 and Lutheran North won in 2005. Ritter junior Cameron Biedscheid closed out a spectacular season by scoring 41 points in the losing cause.

Mike Claiborne

In 1971, the Vashon Wolverines won the Missouri Class L state title led by coaches Ron Coleman and Marvin Neals.

come in a five-year period. No other Class 5 school has been able to match that.

McCluer North’s venture to a state championship was a wild and eventful ride. After winning their first 20 games of the season, the Stars hit a snag in February when they lost four out of five. They lost to Belleville West, McCluer, Hazelwood Central and Chaminade. The 76-58 loss to Chaminade was particularly humbling because it was nationally-televised on ESPNU for the entire nation to see. McCluer North would not lose again. En route to the championship, the Stars defeated their Suburban North rivals McCluer and Hazelwood Central to win the district title. The biggest win of the season came on March 5 when the Stars upended Chaminade 5756 in the quarterfinals in front of a standing-room only crowd at UMSL. The Stars rode the considerable talents of 6’3” senior guard B.J. Young, who concluded a rollercoaster ride of a high school career at the pinnacle of high school basketball. Not only was Young’s great talent on display for the rest of the state, but his maturation as a overall player came to the forefront at the Final Four. You all sides of B.J.’s game at Mizzou. He was terrific. In North’s dramatic comefrom-behind 62-59 victory over Lee’s Summit North in the semifinals, Young turned in one of his super-human closing acts when he scored 19 breath-

VASHON

Continued from B3

After the heart-stopper against Northwest, the Wolverines pretty much cruised the rest of the way to the championship. They defeated DeSmet 5444 in the state quarterfinals as Turner and Wilson controlled the boards. In the state semifinals, Vashon had little trouble in defeating Kansas City Rockhurst 75-57 as Simmons and Clark scored 24 points each while shooting a com-

taking points in the last six minutes and 40 seconds to rescue the Stars in what was easily the most exciting game of the weekend. Young finished with 30 points. In the championship game, Young scored a game-high 21 points, but he became more of a facilitator than a scorer. He picked his spots when to score, but he spent much of the game finding open teammates for easy baskets. As the season wore on, Young discovered the rare talent of making his teammates better and that was when McCluer North took off as a team.

Junior center Jordon Granger was a 6’8” tower of strength in the middle with his long wiry body, deft shooting touch and shot-blocking ability.

Senior forward Akintoye Okinrunboye was an unsung hero of the team with his

Photo by L.G.Patterson

boundless energy on both ends of the floor. Okinrunboye scored 12 points in the semifinals against Lee’s Summit North and 15 points in the championship game. The rest of the team consisted of a collection of quick and athletic players that kept the Stars pressure defense clicking, especially in the postseason. Juniors Tremayne Garrett and Galen Brown were athletic swingmen while small guards Tephon Lindsey, Byron Ray and Caleb Bush provided the quickness. Senior Keaton Turner provided a little muscle off the bench.

McCluer North’s schedule provided the Stars the opportunity to play several top teams as Randy takes on all comers. Any time. Any place. He will play you. In addition to defeating Chaminade, Hazelwood Central, McCluer and Troy, the

bined 22 for 38 from the field.

The championship game was an entertaining affair as the Wolverines defeated Kansas City Paseo 78-72 at Kiel Auditorium. The final numbers were impressive. Simons scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Clark had 19 points while shutting down Paseo’s top player Otis Jackson in the process. Turner finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds while Wilson contributed 12 points and 16 rebounds. The 1971 Vashon Wolverines finished the season with a 24-2 record.

McCluer North Stars’B.J.Young drives the paint during Missouri State Class 5 Championship game against Troy.B.J.had a team high 21 points as McCluer North went to win 63-53.

Stars also defeated Southwestern Conference cochampions O’Fallon and Belleville West, along with Belleville East, Indiana state power Gary Lew Wallace, plus district champions Cardinal Ritter, Fort Zumwalt North and Illinois Class 3 regional champion Salem.

The McCluer North took on and defeated the best that the state of Missouri had to offer (and some of Illinois as well). Now, they are on top once again. McCluer North, your 2011 Class 5 State Champions. That sounds nice. Real nice.

Within three years, the two talented young coaches had moved on. Coleman became the head coach at Saint Louis University in 1974 while Neals became the head coach at Soldan. Taking over the Vashon program that year was Floyd Irons.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Much of the information in this story comes from Earl’s book, The PHLin the STL: The Public High League, ASt. Louis Basketball Legacy. The book is available on www.earlaustinjr.com.

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN

Bell Incarnate Word Academy – Basketball

The talented freshman guard came up with a huge performance in the Red Knights’59-49 victory over Blue Springs in the Missouri Class 5 state championship game last weekend in Columbia. The 5’4” Bell scored a game-high 16 points, including a four-of-six performance from beyond the 3-point line. Bell also handed out six assists as she performed with the poise and savvy of a veteran senior under the glare of the state-championship spotlight. Bell was largely responsible for IWAgetting to the Final Four as she sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Red Knights a 48-45 victory over Fort Zumwalt West in the state quarterfinals at UMSLon March 5.

Akintoye Okunrinboye

The 6’2” senior forward was the unsung hero of McCluer North’s Missouri Class 5 state championship team. Okunrinboye had 15 points, four rebounds and two steals in the North Stars’ 63-53 victory over Troy in the state championship game last Saturday night in Columbia. Okunrinboye hit seven of his nine field goal attempts against Troy. In the state semifinals, Okunrinboye had 12 points and seven rebounds in McCluer North’s 62-59 victory over Lee’s Summit North as the Stars staged a dramatic fourthquarter rally.

Nakiah

Nakiah Bell

Financial Focus

By Andre Nelson, financial advisor

a long way toward keeping your portfolio in good shape — enabling you to make healthy progress toward your important long-term goals

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.

Forfurtherinformation contactAndre Nelson at (363) 394-6676 or1-800EDJONES

by

About 35 people stood outside the Metropolitan Square building in downtown St.Louis chanting,“We want health care,not corporate welfare”on Friday afternoon.Various organizations protested a visit from the U.S.Chamber of Commerce’s leader Tom Donohue,saying his agenda to take away power from workers and give it to corporate CEOs and insurance companies is not welcome in St.Louis.Donohue visited with the St.Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association.

PROTEST

Continued from B1

reforms that will help promote job creation and rein in excessive litigation.”

The chamber also supported Walker’s leadership in limiting Wisconsin unions’bargaining rights, and it opposes the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which President Obama signed into law on July 21, 2010.

Montague Simmons, chair of the Organization for Black Struggle who attended the rally, said the chamber aims to promote similar changes throughout the country.

“The National Chambers of Commerce has a whole platform of issues that they’ve pushed throughout the states,” Simmons said. “That’s why you see consistency in what’s happening in Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota and even in Missouri. It’s a coordinated effort to undermined the rights of the working people and protect corporate profits.”

The chamber touted Wisconsin’s reforms as fueling job creation. Donohue has also stated that the “confusing and overly burdensome regulations” of Obama’s financial reform create barriers to job creation.

About 35 people stood outside the RCGA’s office, yelling, “We want health care, not corporate welfare.”

“What made the greatest economy in the history of the world, created more jobs, created more wealth was a freeenterprise economy with free and open trade with open capital markets…and the right to make it in a system with moderate regulation and taxes,” according to the chamber’s statement in regards to Obama’s reform.

However, Simmons pointed to a CNN report released in February that showed middleclass wages have remained the same since the 1980s, but the incomes of the upper class, making $380,000 or more, have increased by 33 percent.

Johnathan McFarland, of Missourians Organizing for

WWT

Continued from B1

breakout sessions or “Bird of a Feather,” a new session formatted for like-minded individuals to engage in more indepth dialogue.

In 2010, delegates were branded as “Geek Gods,” and in 2011 they were styled as “Rock Stars of the Data Center, “ the year’s theme.

“The genesis of the event was to give customers the ability to come in and see the latest and greatest technology without too many salesmen,” said Kavanaugh.

Geek Day brings together a diverse group of companies with a wide range of products and services, but they share a common thread: virtualization.

Anthony Robinson, a virtualization architect at WWT, explained virtualization as the consolidation of multiple physical servers or workloads down into one. Simply, it makes small or large data centers easier to manage. Clients of event participants included the FBI

Reform and Empowerment, said the country can no longer continue to widen the gap between the working and upper class.

“Until we start looking at the situation that brought us to this point, we are going to be in the same situation,” McFarland said. “We got to fix it. People need to realize this won’t get better without us standing up and making it better.”

David Hilliard, a child-support worker and union member of Communications Workers of America, said he attended the rally to protest the chamber’s support for the Wisconsin governor’s actions.

“If the powers that be in Wisconsin have their way, they will set a precedent in the rest of the country, including Missouri,” Hilliard said. “They will try to stop collective bargaining that way they can cut their budgets on the backs of workers.”

Hilliard recognizes that the RCGAis trying to attract business, which he believes is a good thing.

“But let’s try to attract responsible businesses,” he said. “We don’t want to get pushed aside or fired so you can fatten up your bottom line.”

and the U.S. military among many others. What made this year stand out for Kavanaugh was the fact many of the upgraded software on display featured clouds with server, storage, network and application capabilities all in one. In case people didn’t understand what they were looking at, there were people on hand such as Bruce Pugh, a technical marketing engineer for Cisco.

“I’m here to make sure people understand the product from a solution perspective,” Pugh said.

At least 80 percent of the conference attendees were customers. Kavanaugh said the companies were asked to bring a small support staff. This was to ensure that sales reps didn’t bombard customers as they looked at the new technology. With WWTbeing an African American-owned company, most of the event’s racial diversity came from a few African-American businessmen and women, engineers and WWTstaff.

Photo

Wiley Price

Breast Cancer

Gateway to Hope offers no-charge medical and reconstructive treatment for uninsured breast cancer patients in Missouri. Contact 314-569-1113.

Behavorial

Christian Hospital offers free and confidential psychiatric and chemical dependency evaluations at the Christian Hospital Center for Mental Health. The hospital has a geriatric psychiatric unit dedicated to serving the mental health needs of geriatric patients. For more information, call 314-839-3171.

Diabetes

Free, diabetes education program held at various locations by the Diabetes Network of St. Louis. Participants will be offered testing and support for diabetes control. Six sessions will cover monitoring your blood sugar, controlling complications of diabetes, taking care of your feet, living a healthy life through diet and exercise, and personal goal setting. Call Coco Bopp 314-7479533 for more information.

Dental

HEALTH RESOURCES

Free Dental Hygiene Clinic - No charge dental exams, x-rays, cleanings and other dental services for children and adults provided by dental students at Missouri College. Patients needing more extensive dental work (like fillings, crowns, etc.) will be referred to local dentists. For an appointment, call 314-768-7899.

Fitness

Jazzercise every Monday and Thursday, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. – $1 per class at Ferguson Heights Church of Christ, 1239 N. Elizabeth Ave. Ferguson, Mo., 63135. For information, call 314-521-8005.

Information

Missouri 2-1-1 offers referral and information on a wide range of social service and helpful resources. Call 2-1-1.

Medical

Salam Free Saturday Clinic, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Isom Community Center at Lane Tabernacle CME Church, 916 N. Newstead. for those who are uninsured. For information, call 314-533-0534.

St. Louis ConnectCare offers urgent care services to City of St. Louis employees without an appointment, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and most holidays. For more information, call 314-879-6300.

Nutrition

Food Outreachprovides food, meals and nutritional education/ counseling to eligible persons living with HIV/AIDS or cancer in St. Louis. For more information, call 314-652-3663 or visit www.foodoutreach.org.

Angel Food Ministries operates in hundreds of churches nationwide and offers heat and serve meals, canned and fresh food boxes at a reduced cost. Find the nearest locations by zip code at www.angelfoodministries.com.

Prescription Cost Help

Schnucks Pharmacies – now offers certain prescription prenatal vitamins for free and offers no-cost generic prescription antibiotics at select locations.

Wal-Mart Pharmacies – offer select prescriptions for $4 or less for a 30-day supply or $10 for a 90-day supply. View the complete list at www.walmart.com/pharmacy.

Respiratory Health

Free lung function screening - Christian Hospital Breathing Center at Northwest HealthCare, 1225 Graham Rd. For more information, call 314-953-6040.

Sexual Health

St. Louis County Health Department offers free, confidential testing, counseling and treatment at the North Central Community Health Center, 4000 Jennings Station Road, St. Louis, MO 63121. For more information, call 314679-7800.

St. Louis Metropolitan HIV/AIDS Program offers confidential or anonymous testing for HIV/AIDS. The office is located within ConnectCare’s main building in Suite 203 at 5535 Delmar, St. Louis, MO 63112. For more information, call (314) 879-6468.

The real Antonio

Legendary actor speaks on life’s work and Black Rep mainstage debut

By Kenya Vaughn

Of The St. Louis American

“It’s about connecting the myth to a man,” actor Antonio Fargas said about his Black Rep mainstage debut. “I had no idea when we said ‘The Real McCoy’ that it was about a black man.”

As he discussed his upcoming appearance in writer/director Andrew Moodie’s production that pays homage to the 19th century inventor and engineering icon, Fargas touched upon a career in stage ilm and television that has spanned more than ive decades.

He offered a pleasant surprise of his own when he gave the Black Press credit for starting his career.

When he was 14, an ad appeared in the Amsterdam News in his hometown of New York, requesting youth to appear in the ilm adaptation of the play The Cool World. He auditioned.

“I found a home – a new family that dreamed like I dreamed and believed in taking chances, that felt like I felt inside,” he said. “And through the grace of God, I’m here 51 years later.”

He has created a name for himself on stage and in ilm and television – most notably, the Blaxploitation era of the 1970s and as Huggybear in Starsky and Hutch.

The Real McCoy will be Fargas’ mainstage debut, but his relationship with the Black Rep has gone back nearly 20 years. He was often one of the special celebrity guests at the Black Rep’s Woodie Awards – an annual gala that highlighted the best of the season – received a lifetime achievement award one year. The notion of getting Fargas on the Black Rep stage has been brewing since his introduction

Legendary troupe celebrates past, present and future at the Fox

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

It would take two visits to fully capture the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s latest stop in St. Louis. Thanks to Dance St. Louis, the Fox Theatre became the weekend home for the world’s most famous dance company. It was as much a celebration as a dance presentation, a thrilling combination of black history, black power and black dance that created a

common bond among all who watched.

In 2011 AADT, is celebrating 50 years of Revelations – a ballet created by Ailey that vividly illustrates the AfricanAmerican experience from slavery to freedom through movement. The organization is also honoring dance icon Judith Jamison as she enjoys her final bow as artistic director, and welcoming Robert Battle to lead the company into the future.

On Friday evening, the troupe began the show with Uptown. Choreographed

by Matthew Rushing, this homage to the Harlem Renaissance was uncharacteristically underwhelming, brightened only by Clifton Brown’s performance to the words of Langston Hughes for Weary Blues

In Camille A. Brown’s The Evolution of A Secured Feminine, Rachael McLaren poured her heart and soul into an extended solo performance that featured the sounds of jazz ladies Ella

See AILEY, C4

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Stage, film and television star Antonio Fargas. Photo by Wiley Price

Photos 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

Mar. 16 – Mar. 19, Jazz St. Louis welcomes the Ray Brown Tribute Band, Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave. For more information, call (314) 534-1111 or visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., Apr. 2, 8 p.m., Anthony David, Old Rock House, 700 S. 7th St.

Sun., Apr. 3, 7:30 p.m., Fox Concerts presents BeBe & CeCe Winans and Mary Mary, The Fox Theatre. For more information, call (314)534-1111 or visit www.metrotix.com

Sun., Apr. 10, 7 p.m. The I Am Still Music tourstarring Lil’Wayne with special guests, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and Travis Barker, The Scottrade Center. For more information, visit www.livenation.com.

local gigs

Thurs., Mar. 17, 8 p.m., The

Aakash Mittal Quartet @ Joe’s Café(in Christman Studios), 6014 Kingsbury Ave. St. Louis. MO. 63112

Fri., Mar. 18, 8 p.m., The Aakash Mittal Quartet, The Sheldon Arts Foundation Ballroom, 3648 Washington Blvd.

Mar. 20, Tracy Smith Live, Jive and Wail.

Mar., 20 and 27, 6:30 p.m. Sip ‘n Savorwill be presenting Sensational Sunday’s: Jazz @ Eventide Featuring the Black & White Trio, 286 DeBaliviere. For more information, call (314)361-2116 or 704-0289.

special events

Fri., Mar. 18, 2 p.m., The Samaritan Lay Ministry Team presents St. Louis Women Achievers featuring panelists Rita H. Days, ComptrollerDarlene Green and Ald. Kacie StarrTriplett, Samaritan United Methodist

CALENDAR

Church, 4234 Washington. For more information, call (314) 533-3916.

Mar. 18 – Mar. 20, Dontuwannago.com presents STL2 ATLHoops Getaway. Formore information, call (314) 779-7655.

Fri., Mar. 18, 8 p.m., Café Soul, the Loft, 3112 Olive. Fri., Mar. 18, 10 p.m. (8 p.m. doors), Chocolate Girl Ent. presents Unleash Da Mission Male Revue, Blackmon’s Plazza. For more information, call (314) 612-0423.

Sat., Mar. 19, 7 p.m., African Rock & Roll Dance Class + Live Exhibition, International West African dancer Malena Amusa and rock band Queen of the Outcast launch a spectacular dance workshop & showcase at InPower Institute, at 5400 Nottingham Ave., 63109. For more info, visit www.AddLifeStudio.com or call (314) 458 - 4282.

Sat., Mar. 19, 10p.m. (8 p.m. pre-show reception), Global Warmth: the listening party

Machinist Hall, 12365 St. Charles Rock Rd. Call (314) 219-4188. 70strivianight.eventbright.com.

Sat., Apr. 9, 7 a.m., New Life Christian School Spring Extravaganza, 11570 Mark Twain Lane. For more information, call (314) 291-4181.

Sat., Apr. 9, 8 p.m., The Aries Zodiac Birthday Bash, Starlight Room, 8350 N. Broadway.

Makeoverfora Cause and Maatology Productions are seeking stylish gents for the 3rd Annual Mista Couture Charity Style Contest Fathers Day 2011. For an audition, please send a pic wearing your best style and your contact info to: snaphoney2011@gmail.com

Auditions will take place starting at noon, Saturday, March 26 at Ola Styles Studio in Chesterfield.

March, 30 Professional Organization of Women, Inc. (POW), deadline for nominations for their 8th Annual African-American Women of Distinction Awards, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on March 30, 2011. For more information, call (314) 646-9803, email duncanshante1@gmail.com. or visit www.powinc.org.

that embraces us all” featuring producer/turntablist Enoch IS Real’s acoustic guitarist/singer Mario Pascal and percussionist Duane ‘Jingo’ Williams, an ancestral drum call by NIM (Ngoma In Motion), plus the exhibit opening and installation of “Burnt Offerings”, a live demonstration of pyrography (fire writing on wood) by visual artist William Burton Jr Lola, 500 North 14th Street St. Louis, MO 63103.

Sat., Mar. 26, 10 a.m., Wellness Day forthe Community Free Second Looks at tax returns completed elsewhere. Fire Dept will be on hand for the children to look at the fire truck, and they will also check car seats and a nurse practitioner will be giving give free blood pressure Readings as well as other free offerings for the community, H & R Block, 57 N. Florissant Avenue, Ferguson MO 63135 (next door to Shop N Save). For more information, call (314)524-2751.

Sat., Mar. 26, 1 p.m., King C presents the Third Annual Aries Basketball Classic Weekend, North County Tech, 1700 Derhake Rd. For more information, call (314) 4774179.

Sat., Mar. 26, 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. doors), Extraordinary Events presents a 1970’s Dress Up Trivia Night,

Fri., Apr. 29 – May 1, MurderMystery Train Trip from St. Louis To Kansas City. For more information call (314) 219-4188 or visit kcmysteryweekend.eventbrite.c om.

Through May 15, Bob the Builder– Project: Build It will be on site at The Magic House, 516 S. Kirkwood Road, one mile north of Highway 44 in historic downtown Kirkwood. For more information, please call (314) 822-8900 or visit The Magic House online at www.magichouse.org

comedy

Fri., Apr. 1, Mike Epps with special guest Sheryl Underwood, Chaifetz Arena. Visit www.ticketmaster.com.

literary

Sat., March 19, 26, 2pm, FREE Writing Workshops: ForBiz Success & Pleasure, led by founder of AddLife! Studio and international reporter Malena Amusa. 625 N. Euclid Ave. Suite #226. For more info, call 314- 458- 4282 or visit www.addlifestudio.com.

Mar. 19, 8 p.m. (7 p.m. doors) Sip’n savorwill be hosting an open mic and poetry show. Sip n savor, 286

Debaliviere ave. For more information Call 314-3612116.

Sun., Mar. 20, 7 p.m., Mother Earth Awakens: A Spring/Solstice Poetry Concert Celebrating Women’s History Month Featuring: Poet, Professor, Artist, Activist, Word Smith, Word Warrior & Word Weaver Ms. Shirley Bradley LeFlore accompanied by David A. N. Jackson and other guest musicians and artists. Additional poets include MANTRA, and the debut of works, writings, and poetry by Léna Oluwa Amia Jackson. GYACOMMUNITYGALLERY& FINE CRAFTSHOP, 2700 Locust St. Louis Mo. 63103

Sun., Apr. 10, The St. Louis Poetry Center will present the benefit reading “Do Thy Will” featuring Shakespeare’s sonnets read by fourteen members of the community, Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd. For more information, call (314) 973-0616 or visit www.stlouispoetrycenter. org.

Through March 27, Dramatic License Theatre presents Driving Miss Daisy starring Dennis Lebby, Dramatic License Theatre at Chesterfield Mall(Upper level mall entrance near Sears, next to Houlihan’s). Reservations are required. For more information, call (636)220-7012.

Through Sun., Apr. 10, The Black Rep presents The Real McCoy, The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. For more information, call (314) 534-3807.

Mar. 18 – Mar. 20, Maatology presents Snap, Honey , The Space, 3016 Locust ( in between Cardinal and Garrison Avenues) in Midtown St. Louis. For more information, email snaphoney2011@gmail.com!

Mar. 25 – Mar. 27, STOMP, Fabulous Fox Theatre. For more information, call (314) 534-1111.

Sat., Mar. 19, 1 p.m., Exploring Art: Dreamscapes with guest speaker Bill Wischmeyer, Architect of Record for the Pulitzer Building, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. Call (314)754-1860 or visit www.pulitzerarts.org

Mar. 19, 7 p.m., Jacoby Arts Center30th Anniversary Fundraiser, 627 East Broadway in Alton, Illinois. For more information, visit the Center’s website at

Mike Epps offers fans April Fools Day funny at the Chaifetz arena.For more information,see COMEDY.

www.jacobyartscenter.org or call (618) 462-5222.

Through March 25, The Europeans, a photography exhibit is being presented at Webster University’s May Gallery. American photojournalist Damaso Reyes has spent the past five years living and traveling through Europe from Germany to Kosovo documenting how these monumental historic changes have an impact on the lives of ordinary Europeans. Using the themes of economics, politics, immigration and identity Damaso’s images show how daily life in Europe is subtly evolving into something new that is changing the face, color, and culture of the continent. May Photography Gallery, Sverdrup Building, Webster University, 8300 Big Bend Blvd., 2nd Floor. For more information call (314) 246-7673 or visit www.webster.edu/maygallery.

Sat., Mar. 26, 1 p.m., The Pulitzerhosts Dreamtime Storytime, a series in which writers, artists, readers and dreamers read stories related to dreams and ask visitors to share their own dreams. Dreamtime Storytime is every fourth Saturday or the month for the duration of the exhibition Dreamscapes. The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. Call (314)754-1860 or visit www.pulitzerarts.org

Through March 29, Recent Paintings by Stephen Hoskins, University City Public Library, 6701 Delmar. For further information, contact the library at 314-7273150.

April 8 – April 10, The GreaterSt. Louis Art Association presents the SemiAnnual Art Fairat Queeny Park, Greensfelder Recreation Center in Queeny Park, 550 Weidman Rd, Ballwin, Mo.

Through April 21, Framations Art Gallery presents Those Who Dream by Night, a juried exhibit of artwork focusing on themed work. Framations Gallery, 218

North Main Street, St. Charles, MO 63301. For more information, call (636) 724-8313.

lectures

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Estimating, Bidding and Proposal Preparation, The Missouri Regional Certification Committee (MRCC) partnering agencies, METRO, Lambert Airport Authority, MoDOTand several community agencies are holding a Free – Outreach Seminar for all D/M/WBEs and business owners on information on how to prepare proposals. The guest speaker is Ron Wiese, Vice President of Estimating for Alberici Constructors, Inc. The seminar will be held at Harris Stowe State University in the (Telecommunity RoomLibrary) 3026 Laclede Ave. Pre-registration is required. For more information, call 314 982-1400 Ext. 1352 to sign up.

Thurs., Mar. 24, 10 a.m., An AARP“Community Listening Forum”,AARP Information Center 600 N. Kingshighway. RSVPto the AARPInformation Center office at 314-361-0550.

Fri., Mar. 25 – Sat., Mar. 26, Better Family Life Healthy Marriage Conference with special guest speakers Pastor Michael Jones of Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church (Friday speaker) and Jeffrey Wright of Urban Ministries (Saturday speaker), Hilton St. Louis Airport, 10330 Natural Bridge Rd. For more information, visit www.ahealthymarriage.org or call (314) 454-0622.

Mar. 31, 1 p.m., The Civil Rights Enforcement Agency (CREA) along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development will celebrate April as Fair Housing Month with their exciting informative annual program. The theme for this year is “Building Inclusive and SustainableCommunities

Free from Discrimination.”

St. Louis City Hall Rotunda. Fri., Apr. 29, 7:30 a.m., The first-everDowntown Housing Summit, featuring guest speakers reporting on national and regional housing trends reflected in the just completed 2010 Census and the future of downtown living. For more information, visit www.downtownstl.org.

health

Friday, Mar. 18, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., American Red Cross Blood Drive at Christian Hospital in the Detrick Building Atrium on the Christian Hospital campus, 11133 Dunn Rd., at the I270/Hwy. 367 interchange. Walk-ins are welcome but appointments have priority. For an appointment please

It is regularly held the first and third Mondays of the month. Call 314-SSM-DOCS (7763627) to register.

Tues. Mar. 22, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Free A1C diabetes screenings for Diabetes Alert Day at Northwest HealthCare, 1225 Graham Rd. in Florissant. Screenings are sponsored by Express Scripts Foundation.

Sat. Mar. 26, 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Saint Louis University CancerCenter2011 Health Fair, 3655 Vista Ave., St. Louis. Free cancer screenings by appointment only for head and neck, prostate, breast and skin cancer; physician seminars, center tours, health information, displays, refreshments. Free parking in TenetCare lot. Register at 1-888-8898, option 2.

Sat. Mar. 26, 9 a.m. – Undy 5000 5K run/walk at Forest Park, Upper Muny Parking lot, St. Louis. Proceeds benefit the Colon Cancer Alliance. For more information, go to www.undy5000.org.

Sat., Mar. 26, 9 a.m.,Free colon cancerscreening kits by the American Cancer

contact Sandy Barnesat 314653-5719 or slm9123@bjc.org or visit the American Red Cross website www.redcrossblood.organd use the sponsor code: christianhospital.

Sat., Mar. 19, 9 a.m., The Mammogram van visits Murchison Tabernacle CME Church, 7629 Natural Bridge Rd. Call (314)383-4855 for an appointment.

Mon. Mar. 21. 1:00-2:30 p.m., Sharing Losses through Bereavement Support Group, SSM Home Care & Hospice, 1187 Corporate Lake Dr. Sharing Losses provides a supportive setting in which to discuss the process of grief, to identify and to cope with emotions, such as emptiness, loneliness, anger and guilt. The group is open to anyone in the community who has experienced the loss of a loved one.

Society- Metro East, Memorial Hospital, 4500 Memorial Dr.,Belleville, Ill. Tues. Mar. 29, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., Gateway Regional Medical Ctr., 2100 Madison Ave. Granite City, Ill. Walk-ins available 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. at Heartland Healthcare in Wood River, Collinsville and Edwardsville, Ill. For more information, contact the ACS at 618-288-2320 option 3. Sat. Mar. 26, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Imagine Schools First Annual Health Fair, at Imagine Environmental Science & Math, 1008 So. Spring Ave. For more information, contact Josephine Fields, RN at 314-361-4940.

Mar. 26, 47th annual Christian Hospital Auxiliary Charity Ball, Saint Louis Science Center’s James S. McDonnell Planetarium in Forest Park. To support or attend the 2011 Charity Ball please call 314-653-5193 or 314-653-5634.

Fri., Apr. 29, St. Louis American Foundation’s 11th Annual Salute to Excellence in Healthcare, The RitzCarlton. For more information, call (314) 533-8000.

Progressive soul artist Anthony David returns to St.Louis for a special show at the Old Rock House.See CONCERTS for details

Continued from C1

to the company by fellow actor Erik Kilpatrick. Black Rep founder Ron Himes often asked.

“A lot of times Ron would ask me to do something it would be difficult, because I was still living in Hollywood and still waiting for the phone to ring on a TV job or a film job,” Fargas said.

“And theatre was sort of an afterthought because theatre is about love, it’s not about money and fame – especially black theatre. All of the stars lined up for this one.” Fargas says that Moodie’s play is both a celebration of black history and storytelling.

“All of the material and

AILEY

Continued from C1

Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter.

But Ailey as many have come to know would really take the stage with Battle’s The Hunt. From the onset of the pulsating tribal music to the intricate high energy and fast-paced movement, it snatched the breath from the audience.

research that Andrew did gives us a pallet of colors of things to choose from for us to create this picture,” Fargas said. But what excites him most about his upcoming role and all of his artistic experiences is

the process. “It’s not just the performance, and you can equate that with athletes,” Fargas said. “It’s not just what you do on Sunday, but it’s about practice. It’s about digging

As St. Louis’ own Antonio Douthit circled the stage alongside the company’s strongest male members, Battle’s choreography inspired a sense of wonder and optimism for the next chapter of Ailey. Revelations was introduced through a video presentation that featured Ailey and Jamison speaking about and dancing in early presentations of the piece. The performance then moved audiences to their core with the tragic ache for existence of Pilgrim of Sorrow, the spiritual warfare of I Wanna Be Ready and the joy of Rocka My Soul Saturday’s showcase

SINGLE

Continued from C1

an opinion-oriented “how to get a man” guide. As a licensed therapist, Buckingham brings tools from his trade to help bring black women from beyond the woes of what they are missing from the opposite sex. Next Thursday (Mar. 24), Buckingham will return home to screen his debut documentary A Black Woman’s Worth: My Queen and My Backbone at the Tivoli, based on his 2006 book

would be classic Ailey from start to finish. The revival of Ailey’s 1974 ballet Night Creature accompanied by the music of Duke Ellington kicked off the afternoon show. The movements of the piece implied a celebration of

of the same name. “It all depends on your view, what lens you’re looking out of,” Buckingham said. “I look at the positive. This documentary highlights the value of black women. At the end of the documentary, I have people talk how black women have been instrumental in their lives and how they’ve come to a place where they appreciate it. ” Harvey faults women in their quest for love and recommends somewhat superficial solutions to the problem. Buckingham goes beyond women’s appointed duty to keep their hair done

“Theatre is about love, it’s not about money and fame – especially black theatre.”

– Antonio Fargas

in and finding things in the character and finding things in each other. All of that is part of the energy and the love that it takes to really give of one’s self.”

The Black Rep’s production of the Real McCoy is now playing and will run through April 10 at the Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square). For more information, call (314) 534-3810.

Harlem in its heyday, instead of overstating it like Uptown had done the night before. The raw emotion that lingered in Yannick Lebrun’s performance Robert Battle’s In/Side once again left an expectant sense of wonder for the company’s future. It was a perfect segue into Anointed, which celebrated the legacies of Ailey and Jamison. Douthit was flawless in his portrayal of Ailey. His perfect form and range of motion incorporated every inch of his body – from extended fingertips to pointed toes.

In Saturday’s presentation of Revelations, Douthit and Lebrun joined Jamar Roberts, Kirven James Boyd and Vernard J. Gilmore to create a fabulous five of dance talent. Thanks to them and the works of Robert Battle, all eyes will be on Ailey as they dance into the future.

and body together while imposing a sexual boundary system suggested in Harvey’s book.

“Black women are constantly being undervalued, because we have brothers who don’t understand what their value is,” Buckingham said.

“If I don’t know what I’m worth, then it’s hard for me to value you. As black men, we are constantly being knocked down, so we strike out against those we perceive to be less than and more inferior than us, which is our women and our children. If both people are walking in the dark, then how can you value the other person?”

As he reflected on the fact that most of his successes were based on the strength of the black women in his life –starting with his mother and four sisters – Buckingham decided to project positive images and pay homage through his writing.

He hopes that his writing, music and new film serve as

gratitude for the sacrifices that black women have made for generations. Buckingham also wants to spark a movement to help women lift themselves into an atmosphere of self-love – which Buckingham believes to be a prerequisite to romance.

“Look at what you’ve done and what you’ve been through and see the positive in that,” Buckingham said.

“If you love and appreciate yourself first, you can find what you are looking for.”

A Black Woman’s Worth will debut at the Tivoli (6801 Delmar in the University City Loop) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 24. The film will serve as the kickoff of Coalition for Healthy African American Relationships and Marriages (CHAARM) St. Louis R.E.A.L. Love weekend of workshop and activities.

For more information, call (314) 425-9315 or visit http://realloverhcs.eventbrite.com/

Europeans through American eyes

Damaso Reyes photo show at Webster through March 26

By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American

In the 1950s, Swiss photographer Robert Frank traveled around the United States documenting post-war American life, resulting in the influential book, The Americans

Not only did Frank capture some of the most controversial and critical moments in U. S. history, but he also continues to inspire photographers around the world.

Damaso Reyes, a freelance photojournalist and Brooklyn native, is one of them.

For the last six years, Reyes has traveled Europe in a parallel project called The Europeans, which is on display at Webster University’s May Gallery, 8300 Big Bend Blvd., until March 25.

In 2002, Europe was at a turning point, with major European countries transitioning their national currencies to the euro and more countries joining the European Union.

“I thought it would be interesting if an American would document the changes that Europe and its people are experiencing as the European Union expands and continues to integrate,” Reyes said.

In April 2005, Reyes bought a one-way ticket to London with a couple hundred dollars in his pocket. Now after six years of photographing in Kosovo, Austria, the United Kingdom and Germany, Reyes has compiled a hint of his overall project for the Webster University show.

“For me, the work is incredibly varied,” Reyes said. “My goal is to show the broad swath of European life, and I want my viewers to feel as close as I did when I was standing there.”

Perhaps the photos that are most personal to Reyes are those of asylum seekers in Austria, he said. Through a Ford

Foundation grant, he explored the Austrian asylum seeker program for three months. Reyes also received a Fulbright grant to complete his work in Austria. This past winter, the World Policy Journal published these photos, along with an article Reyes wrote.

“The thing that I learned most about spending time with asylum seekers is how passionate and intelligent they are,” he said. “They really want an opportunity to make a better life. They are not often portrayed with the full depth of their humanity.”

In the spring of 2005, Reyes was embedded with the U.S. military’s peacekeeping troops in Kosovo. One of his photos portrays young ladies sitting in a grassy field, and in the foreground is a hand of U.S. soldier. It begs the question of whether the encounter was happy one or not.

“In reality, it was a friendly situation,” he said. “I try to create photographs that the viewers have to bring their own personal experience to understand. You are encouraged to create your interpretation of that photo, and hopefully raise your own questions about the photos.”

Reyes, a photojournalist for over 10 years, began his career as a stringer for the New York Amsterdam News, where he was an intern and later served as Southeast Asia bureau chief from 2001 to 2003. His work has appeared in many publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle and New York magazine.

For the next phase of the project, Reyes said he plans to move to Barcelona, Spain.

“I feel like all the pictures have an important message about what is happening in European society right now as it is evolving,” he said, “but hopefully people can see something of their own lives and own experience in these images as well.”

Visit the May Gallery on the second floor, west wing, of the Sverdrup Building at 8300 Big Bend Blvd. Hours are MondayFriday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Damaso Reyes’ show The Europeans is on display at Webster University’s May Gallery, 8300 Big Bend Blvd., until March 25.

Antonio Fargas was eager to pose with ‘Real McCoy’ writer/director Andrew Moodie as they readied for rehearsal at the Grandel Theatre. Photo By Wiley Price

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

By Melanie Adams

Discover St. Louis with the History Museum

A tour for every taste

The Missouri History Museum’s Discovery Tours are lively excursions designed to both entertain and enlighten the participants. Inspired by the Museum’s exhibitions and programming and by our region’s past, these tours – a few of them are described in detail below –explore historic themes at various sites throughout the city and surrounding area. All tours will be led by noted historians or local specialists on the tour’s subject matter.

Built to Last: An Architectural History of St. Louis

Date: Saturday, April 16

Tour Leader: Michael R. Allen

St. Louis’s architecture offers a rich illustration of the past and the vision of the future the city once held for itself. This tour begins at the Missouri History Museum, where you will explore some of the distinct features of this fabulous building. Next, we’ll board the bus to follow an architectural timeline through St. Louis neighborhoods. Lunch is included, as are: An architectural tour within the History Museum itself

Robert Archibald, Missouri History Museum president, as he discusses historic symbols of St. Louis, some of which may surprise you. Move on to visit bridges, monuments, and businesses that evoke memories of the city’s storied past and have become symbols of St. Louis to the world at large. Enjoy a lunch (included in the fee) at Hannegan’s Restaurant

A drive through some of the oldest neighborhoods: Carondelet, Soulard and Lafayette Square

A trip downtown, including a tour inside of a building and lunch

A pass by the James Clemens House on the way to A 1920s and 1930s walk through Midtown around the Masonic Temple, Coronado Hotel, Continental Building and others

In Central West End, a look at several 1930s–1960s buildings and ending at the city’s first motel, the Bel Air on Lindell

Symbols of St. Louis

Date: Saturday, June 25

Tour Leader: Linda Koenig

Iconic places can become representative of a city’s history. When you think of St. Louis, what comes to mind? The Arch? Busch Stadium? Begin your day with a talk by Dr.

Delta Day at Capitol

Members of St. Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. met with legislators recently during Delta Day at the State Capitol. Back row: the

state Representative Tishaura O. Jones, Rita

Rising to greatness and service

Relections on Barbara Smith Conrad and Henry Givens Jr.

By state Rep. Steve Webb

For The St. Louis American

It was with great pleasure that the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus co-sponsored a recent event at Harris-Stowe State University. Hundreds turned out to see When I Rise, a documentary ilm detailing the life of a truly inspirational black woman: Barbara Smith Conrad. I have been personally touched by her story, and I encourage everyone to watch this ilm.

At the University of Texas in 1957, Ms. Conrad was cast in an opera to co-star with a white male classmate, fueling a racist backlash from mem-

bers of the Texas Legislature. When she was expelled from the cast, the incident escalated and she persevered as an early pioneer in the movement to create a more open and diverse university community. The small-town girl, whose voice and spirit stem from her roots in East Texas, emerged as an internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano. Many people in the St. Louis area have persevered much

like Barbara Conrad, and many continue to strive for the betterment of the African-American Community.

One of those deserving our collective praise and gratitude is our event host, Dr. Henry Givens Jr. His tireless decades of work at Harris-Stowe State University have made the dream of a quality higher education for young African-American men and women a reality. He has transformed the lives of count-

State Reps vote

“English-only”

By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St.

Louis American

The Missouri House approved a bill Wednesday March 9, 106 to 52, that would require the state’s driver’s license exams be offered only in English.

House Bill 167, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nolte, R-Gladstone, moved to the Senate on Thursday March 10, for its irst read.

Nolte and other supporters said the measure ensures that license applicants can read

English road signs and would streamline the state’s driver’s license tests, which are currently administered in a dozen languages, including Spanish, Chinese and Bosnian.

Opponents, including union representatives and immigrant advocates, say the change will do more harm for immigrants than good for the state. It will also hurt the state’s global competitiveness.

The House Transportation Committee approved the

less young Missourians. His spirit has lifted many to achieve when hopelessness would have been easier. He is a one-of-akind leader, and I hold him in great esteem. I also want to thank AT&T for funding this documentary and Ms. Conrad’s trip to St. Louis. You know, we often think about AT&T as just a company with a great network or reliable service, but to me they are more than that. John Sondag, president of AT&T, and his team run an exceptional company in Missouri, employing thousands of our friends and neighbors, and they do many things quietly to better our community. AT&T has always been there for Missouri, and they have always been there for the African-American community. We need more companies like AT&T. In closing, please do take the time to watch When I Rise! It is being shown on PBS; please check your local listings. I know you will ind it as inspiring and uplifting as I did. Thanks again Dr. Givens and AT&T, for all that you do. Webb represents District 74 in the Missouri House and chairs the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus

on driver’s tests

legislation by a vote of 8-3 in February.

At the committee hearing, more than 20 groups testiied against the bill, including State Farm Insurance Companies and several other insurance groups, American Immigration Lawyers Association; American Civil Liberties Union – Eastern Missouri; and Missouri Association for Social Welfare.

Many said the bill does not ensure that all drivers understand English because foreign

visitors are allowed to drive using their home country license while visiting Missouri.

Others said that by impeding an immigrant’s ability to drive, it poses an obstacle for a legal immigrant to assimilate into United States society by removing the immigrant’s ability to maintain a normal lifestyle. A similar measure proposed by Rep. Cynthia Davis, RO’Fallon, failed last year.

Honorable Iris Ferguson, Mary Lynom, Kimberly Knox; Front row:

Holmes-Bobo, Richelle Clark.

Barbara Smith Conrad

Rep. Steve Webb

PHOTOS BY MYCHAL BRIDGES and CARL BRUCE

~ CELEBRATIONS ~

Graduation

Military training grad

AirForce AirmanAsia D. Moore graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX. She is the daughter of Angela and David Jaboor of Florissant, MO.

Birthdays

Marquerite Sills — March 14

Terry Major — March 19

Mary Winbush — March 18

Oren K. Major — March 20

Kayleb Henderson (3) — March 22

Lonnell Matthews — March 22

Shaylin ASimmons (5) — March 22

Reunions

Honored Art work garners honorable mention

Tyran Brooks, a senior at Pattonville High School, was recently selected to have his art work featured in Florissant Valley Community College’s High School Art Exhibit. Tyran was awarded honorable mention for a piece in the exhibit.

Anniversary

Golden anniversary

Adrian T.and Florence E. Stewart recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a party shared by family and friends. Although their anniversary was on Jan.21, 2011, the celebration was postponed due to bad weather in January. The Stewarts are the proud parents of three children, grandparents of six and great-grandparents of seven.

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

Beaumont High School Class of 1965 is looking for all classmates interested in celebrating our 45-year reunion. We are in the process of planning a dinner/dance.Your contact information is needed ASAP. Pleaseemail LaLinda Newsom Diggs at lalindadiggs@sbcglobal.net.

Beaumont High School Class of 1971 is planning its 40th reunion. All classmates, please e-mail your contact information to beaumont71alumni @yahoo.com. The Beaumont 1971 Alumni Committee looks forward to hearing from each of you.

Cardinal RitterCollege Prep High School is seeking members of the classes of 1981, 1996 2001 and 2006 for upcoming reunions. Please contact Alumi Affairs Director,

Tonya Farr at 314-446-5506 or tfarr@cardinalritterprep .org for more information.

Cardinal RitterPrep. High School Class of 1986 is preparing for its 25-year reunion. We are looking for all classmates to update information and participate in monthly meetings. Please contact Mike Reynolds at (314) 578-9621mreynolds@cardinalritterprep.org or Sylvester Williams at (314) 629-4429sylwilliams@cardinalritterprep. org.

Central High School Class of 1971 is preparing for its 40-year reunion in 2011. We are looking for all classmates of 1971. We need your contact information to complete our class directory. Please email your information to Preston Kerns or Alice Manuel Robinson at centralclassof71@yahoo.com.

Hadley Technical High School class of 1961 is preparing for its 50-year reunion in 2011. We are seeking contact information to complete our directory. For more information contact Ralph Johnson 314-477-2042 or William Perry 314-5313170.

O’Fallon Technical High School Class of 1981 is beginning preparations for the 30year class reunion in 2011. We are seeking classmate contact information to complete our class directory. Please email Chrystal Riley at kittstark@ aol.com for information.

Riddick School Neighborhood will host its first reunion, September 2-4, 2011. For information please call:Catherine Kendricks at 314-741-4059, Wanda Anderson Simms at 314-3837046 or Wanette Anderson Johnson at 314-869-9692.

Soldan High School Class of 1971 is preparing for its 40year reunion.The Reunion Weekend will be June 10-12, 2011 at the Sheraton Westport Chalet. Please forward your email and other contact information to Anita “Slim” Thomas at 314-385-9554 or email: anita1971slim@ yahoo.com.You will also receive additional information on upcoming events.

Soldan Class of 1981 is having a board meeting and class mixer Mar. 19, 2011 at Talayna's Restaurant, 310 Debalieve Ave. The meeting for the board will be from 5 to 6 p.m. The class mixer will be

from 7 p.m. - until. For more information, Contact Larry Hill (901) 289-8335 or larryhillforsheriff@ gmail.com or Johnny Franklin (314) 5652056 jfstar@sbcglobal.net.

Soldan International Studies High School Class of 2002 is preparing for its 10-year reunion in 2012. We need your contact information to complete our class directory. Please email your information including mailing and email address to soldanclassof2002@yahoo.com. For more information please contact Denise Cobbs at 314-3231228 or email: denisecobbs83@yahoo.com. Please join our Soldan Class of 2002 group on Facebook. Soldan High School 2nd

Annual All Class Alumni WinterDance (Class of 1909-2010), January 22, 2011, 8 pm - 1 am at the Starlight Room (Inside Lights on Broadway), 8350 N. Broadway (Baden Area). Door Prizes, Free Food, Drink Specials. Tickets $15 in advance, $20 at the door. For more information please call Anna at 314-517-9026, Verlean at 314-277-6428 or Vince at 314-503-2926. Visit our website: 70cos.org.

SumnerHigh School Class of 1986 is beginning preparations for its 25th Class Reunion for the Summer of 2011. Anyone wishing to attend please contact (Betsy) Elaine Lomax at lainielo@yahoo.com or call (314) 495-5138.

Reunion notices are free of charge and based on space availability. We prefer that notices be emailed to us! However, notices may also be sent \by mail to: Kate Daniel, 4242 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108. Deadline is 10 a.m. on Friday. If you’d like your class to be featured in a reunion profile, email or mail photos to us. Our email address is: reunions@ stlamerican.com

Shaylin A. Simmons

Asia D. Moore

RELIGION

House committee targets Islam

Republican congressman singles out Muslims for terrorism probe

By Eugene Robinson Washington Post

WASHINGTON – U.S.

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is convening hearings whose premise offends our nation’s founding ideals and whose targets are law-abiding members of a religious minority. King has decided to investigate Islam.

A Republican from Long Island in his 10th term, King seems untroubled that the freedoms of religion and association are guaranteed by the Constitution. His public exercise in Islamophobia can do no good – and much harm.

The legitimate-sounding goal of this exercise, King explained on CNN, is to investigate “self-radicalization going on within the Muslim community” and the threat of homegrown Islamic terrorism. Who doesn’t want to uncover al-Qaeda sleeper cells? Who doesn’t want to do everything that is possible -- and legal – to prevent terrorist attacks?

But King further alleges that Muslim Americans have failed to demonstrate “suficient cooperation” with law enforcement in uncovering potential terrorist plots. With this libel, King casts doubt on the loyalties of millions of Americans solely because of their faith. This is religious persecution -- and it’s un-American and wrong.

King says he only wants to root out potential terrorists and

bears no animus toward the vast majority of Muslim Americans. But he once complained that “unfortunately, we have too many mosques in this country,” and on another occasion offered the ludicrous opinion that “80 to 85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists.” His claim to be free of anti-Muslim bias lacks credibility. The irony is that it would be perfectly appropriate for King and his committee to look into any and all potential sources of domestic terrorism, emphasis on any and all. Before the 9/11 attacks, people seem to forget, the deadliest single act of terrorism on U.S. soil had been perpetrated by a right-wing loser named Timothy McVeigh – who was not, as it happened, a follower of Islam. For more than a century, the most remorseless and violent terrorist organization in the nation was the Ku Klux Klan. Watchdogs such as the Southern Poverty Law

Center would be happy to share with King voluminous information about heavily armed militia groups out in the backwoods, training for some imagined Armageddon.

But the fact is that the 9/11 atrocities were indeed committed by men who espouse a version of Islam – one that the vast majority of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims reject as warped and blasphemous. It’s also true that al-Qaeda and its afiliates continue to mount attacks against the United States and the West, and that jihadist ideology is a deadly weapon. Some conservatives make a frank argument for ethnic and religious proiling as an antiterrorism tool. They scoff that failing to single out Muslims for extra scrutiny is nothing but political correctness. These self-styled “realists” are stoking irrational fears while ignoring rational ones. King offers no support for his insinuation that Muslim Ameri-

cans are giving aid and comfort to terrorists; to the contrary, Muslim clerics and worshipers in this country have been vocal in their rejection of jihadist rhetoric and violence. And unless King believes Muslims are clairvoyant, why would he expect them to be any better than Christians, Jews or anyone else in identifying lone-wolf gunmen or bombers whose private torment becomes obvious only in retrospect?

Security hearings that focus exclusively on Muslim Americans serve only to amplify the rumblings of Islamophobia that seem to become louder and crazier by the day.

Bad enough is the ridiculous controversy over the proposed Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan that became known as the “Ground Zero Mosque.” This episode taught Muslim Americans that even a mainstream cleric, speciically bent on building an institution for interfaith outreach and understanding, is not welcome to enjoy the nation’s guarantee of religious freedom.

Worse is all the ugly noise – it doesn’t qualify as debate – about the imagined encroachment of Islamic sharia law. As a threat to the American way of life, the chance that our justice system would be taken over by “creeping” sharia is less likely than the emergence of Godzilla from New York Harbor. Yet state legislatures are taking up actual legislation to guard against this imaginary Islamic threat.

The narrative that al-Qaeda uses to recruit suicide bombers is that the United States and the West are not ighting terrorism but trying to destroy Islam. Peter King, with his little hearings, is about to make it harder to refute the jihadists’ big lie.

Eugene Robinson’s e-mail address is eugenerobinson@ washpost.com.

By Angelita F. Jackson Guest Columnist

I pray that when you read this book, that it will touch your heart and help you to draw nearer to God when you pray, fast, obey, study God’s word and truly worship Him sincerely.

To purchase a copy of the book on True Worship It’s A Lifestyle! ($20 per book) you can email ajackson@stlamerican.com or angelitajackson@ ymail.com or you can call 314-520-3245.

My reason for writing True Worship It’s A Lifestyle! was to show that God loves us and that he wants to have a true relationship with his people. God wants us to surrender our all and to be totally committed to Him by worshipping him in spirit and in truth. In John 4:23-24, the scripture reads, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” In John 3:16, it explains how God showed his love for us by giving His son. The verse reads, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It’s up to every individual to make a choice to build a personal relationship with God. Jesus already paid the price for our sins on the cross. All we have to do is repent and ask God to forgive us for all of our sins. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: No one comes to the Father, but by me.” Our reason for existence is to worship the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” This is the irst and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. In today’s society, there are certain rules that everyone must abide by. There are rules which are enforced by the law and if we break them we will be punished. God also gave us some guidelines which are called the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are mainly here to help us become like Christ and have the values of love to and for one another. A true worshiper is humble and seek ways to please God by obeying his commandments. If we take a look at the Ten Commandments, the irst commandment reads, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. God is a jealous God. He wants us to worship Him and Him alone. In Exodus 34:14 it reads, “For thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.” God wants us to worship him wholeheartedly. In order for us to have “True Worship,” we must have a personal relationship with God.

Angelita F. Jackson

Rep. Peter King

Advising corp helps students apply to college

By Josh Murray For The St.Louis American

While attending Riverview Gardens High School in St. Louis, Brandon Guthrie knew what he wanted next. He wanted to go to college. However, it wasn’t that easy. There were ACTtests to take. There were college applications to complete. There were financial aid forms to turn in.

The process was daunting, but it was one he was determined to handle. And handle it he did. Guthrie achieved his goal of going to college and attained another goal when he graduated from the University of Missouri in August of 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

After graduation he decided to give back. Having just completed this satisfying journey, he set out to show others what was possible.

“I wanted to be able to help children who are dealing with some of the same struggles I dealt with as a high school senior, being an ethnic minority, first-generation student of a single-parent family,” Guthrie said.

So, he applied for a position with the Missouri College Advising Corp (MCAC). The

Program

hires MU grads to mentor to Missouri high schoolers

MCAC hires recent MU graduates to work in partnership with high schools across Missouri. The advisers help students find their “best-fit” postsecondary institution and guide them through the college planning and admission process.

Guthrie got the job and was placed in Soldan International Studies High School in St. Louis. He aids the students in everything from choosing a major and finding a school that offers it, to registering and preparing for the ACT.

“I am also a listening ear for my students,” Guthrie said. “Many of them are very comfortable talking to me because I am so close to their age.”

Guthrie does a lot of individual work and has started working with students in the 10th and 11th grades, as well as those that are seniors.

“Through that, he’s already getting them focused on college prep at the junior level instead of waiting until their senior year,” said Alice Manus, assistant principal at Soldan ISHS said. The MCAC is one of 10 founding member institutions in the National College

Advising Corps (NCAC). In 2008, Missouri placed nine college advisers in seven urban and rural high schools and three community colleges. By the fall of 2009, the program grew to include 13 advisers servicing 11 high schools and three community colleges. For 2010-11, MCAC has 14 advisers working at 11 high schools and three community colleges.

College advisers are placed in high schools and are immersed in the high school setting. They spend hours before, during and after school with students, working in both one-on-one and group settings. They also facilitate campus tours, traveling with students on visits to a variety of institutions.

The program was imple-

The Missouri College Advising Corp hires recent MU graduates to work with high schools across Missouri to help students find their best-fit postsecondary institution and guide them through the college planning and admission process.

The success of the program is evident in the numbers. Soldan ISHS, for example, has seen a 3.6 percent increase in college-going students in the last two years. Across inaugural partner schools, there was an average increase of 6.3 percent in college-going students after the second year of the program. Of the partner schools added in 2009-10, there was a 4.6 percent average increase in college-going students after one year. During this same period, the average college-going percentage statewide increased by 0.3 percent, from 65.2 to 65.5 percent.

mented with a $1 million grant over four years from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. MU also provided some funding in addition to some external funders. The group of external contributors continues to grow.

“We are striving to have 20 high school advisers next year,” said Beth TankersleyBankhead, MCAC executive director.

Guthrie would like to attend graduate school, earn his master’s degree and eventually pursue a Ph.D. in Education Administration. He has his sights set on being a high school principal. Almost in tears after showing Guthrie her acceptance letter from Missouri, one future Mizzou student looked up at Guthrie and thanked him for believing in her. She said she appreciated that he did not allow her to give up on her goal.

“That,” Guthrie explains, “makes waking up at 5:45 every morning worthwhile.”

Celebrity Swagger Snap of the Week

The legends of Hip-hop caused an aftershock of parties that spread throughout the St. Louis area. Corey of Top Choice Entertainment allowed hip-hop stars Doug E. Fresh and Kurtis Blow to get up close and personal with fans like comedienne Kym D. Saturday night at EXO.

A comeback for hip-hop throwback. To say that I was thrilled by the audience performances and costumes for the Salt N Pepa hip-hop show would be the understatement of the new millennium! Now some of y’all didn’t take the hail damage and thunder thighs brought on by two decades and three babies into consideration when you broke out your break dancingAdidas suits back out, but all was forgiven for the sake of nostalgia. I must say that I was more thrilled by what was going on from the guests than the artists. I was wondering to myself “how is a show that starts at 8 p.m. gonna be able to squeeze in Kool Moe Dee, Kurtis Blow, Biz Markie, MC Lyte AND Salt N Pepa?” I’ll tell you how; by having a one-and-a-half song set requirement.

For a couple of the artists this limit actually worked in their favor Kool Moe Dee only has one hit and Biz Markie should never be allowed to perform for more than ive minutes at a time. Kool Moe Dee was up irst and he came out looking like a chocolate Heavy D. What….? Y’all were thinking it. Kurtis Blow had me a nervous wreck when he irst broke into his pop, lock and drop/headspin combo, but he is surprisingly agile and lexible for an elderly man.Again…y’all were thinkin’it. There is something about his energy that gets me hype (old slang to pay homage to old school) so I was excited by the end of his set. I was dreading Biz Markie because I igured he would break the energy. I was right. He performed like he had just run two laps around the Chaifetz and took to the stage. That Michael Jackson tribute more than likely had the King of Pop ready to break out of his crypt just to say “Beat it!” to the Biz.

MC Lyte came to the Lou for the irst time in ages. Once I got beyond the fact that she looked like the…um…manly member of Total (remember them?) I think his name was Pam and her overzealous backup/hypeman woman I was beyond ecstatic because of her set. She RIPPED IT for old times sake! Doug E. Fresh had the folks on their feet from hello, but the truth is he’s been doing the exact same show for at least two years. Salt N Pepa had a new show – and one less member – but while it wasn’t the pits like last time there was nothing spectacular about their headlining show closer. Even so, the show was cumulatively a near win, just on the strength of audience participation.

Ain’t no party like an old school hip hop after party. Daylight savings time was a nonfactor as folks shimmied in their airbrushed outits to partake in the post-show festivities following Salt N Pepa and ‘nem. The roof was all but torn off of the EXO by the time I arrived – probably because of special guests Doug E. Fresh and Kurtis Blow. And Lola was _____(insert new slang for “poppin’ like dynamite) thanks in part of former Diggable Planets frontwoman LadyBug on the ones and twos and the fact that MC Lyte rolled through. I know that the pictures will start a few rumors, so I will go ahead and nip them in the bud before they get started. Despite the likeness in their hair texture and skin tone, Ladybug is NOT Rob Kirk’s biological mother. And MC Lyte is not Needles’ biological father.

A potpourri of shout outs. Although I refuse to partake in the primetime coonery courtesy of the Basketball Nonwives club, I must say that my curiosity to see reality TV OG Tami Roman serve it up to the soon-to-be former Mrs. Ochocinco lead to a hidden treasure. Who did I see lighting up the studio audience but my beloved Joel P.E. King. He’s in L.A. on the verge of blowing up with his stage production situation, but managed to be the cherry on top for Tami’s venom sundae. Y’all will see the episode sooner than later. In unrelated props, I want to give a shout out to Teddy B. of BFree Paparazzi. He’s been most gracious with respect to offering his helping photo hand to Partyline and the online gallery, so I’m over the moon about him creating his own publication.

Tracy’s wail. Remember that girl I gave a shout out to for delivering ire a few Fridays back at Café Soul (which is coming up tomorrow night at the Loft, btw…doors open at 8 p.m.)? Well her name is Tracy Smith and she is going to be center stage with a set all to herself Sunday evening at the Jive and Wail (1227 Washington). The show starts at 6 p.m. and you best believe she will be bringing the heat.

Global Warmth’s ire. Since I already said heat, I might as well mention that Global Warming will continue its Lola takeover on Saturday night. For those of you who don’t know, I feel it is my appointed duty to hip you to the event –which is presenting a special expanded version this month. This ain’t the place to stand on the wall – shoot, with Enoch Is Real on the ones and twos you couldn’t if you wanted to! That being said it is one of the few places where people go for the primary purpose of GETTING.DOWN. on the danceloor. This weekend’s edition will be extra special with Jingo on the drums, Pinky Thomas bringing the dance and visual artist William Burton Jr. creating “burnt offerings” on site. A preshow event will take place at 8 p.m., but the party starts at 10 p.m. I have never been disappointed – even if I was a bit overcrowded and humidiied once or twice at the smaller venues– by any of the dozen or so that I’ve attended! What have we done for you lately? I’ll tell you…we’ve added some not-sopetty cash to our ticket give away to see Ms. Jackson. That’s right, not only will you get a chance to see Janet pop her pleasure principle all across the Fox from sixteen rows back, you can get a meal at the City Diner and pay for your babysitter with the $100 cash prize we’re throwing into the mix. For those of you who want to win – and share a stroll down Janet Jackson’s 30 years in the music game – visit us on Facebook. If you haven’t done so already, please don’t forget to give us a like and join the nearly 9,000 members of our Facebook Family!

Needles showed love to legendary raptress MC Lyte after she came out to unwind at Lola Saturday night

Eye Candy alum Brittanye Skye and Tamar head into the party Saturday night @ The City

The lovely Eva and Art celebrated their Notice Me nominations Thursday night @ Amnesia

Salt N Pepa gave each other the homerun side-eye at the start of their show Saturday night @ Chaifetz Arena

Quicc and Lulu peeped the seams Sunday night @ Fire and Ice Fashion Show

These beauties were a breath of fresh air Saturday night @ EXO

Sid Shurn and his lovely daughter Nikole partied hard Thursday night @the 14th annual Pisces Party @ Lights on Broadway

Kierra celebrated her b-day in style with her girls Saturday night @ EXO

The Galloways did it big for the Grand Opening of their new Eastside spot Posh last week

Ladybug turned it out on the turntables thanks to Rob Kirk Saturday night @ Lola

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

Protect yourkidneys – they purify yourblood

By Consuelo H.Wilkins,M.D.

Of The St.Louis American

The human body is truly amazing, and you certainly don’t have to be a doctor to appreciate that. In order for us to walk, talk, think, see, hear and complete the many tasks that we often take for granted, the human body must perform many very complex and detailed functions all at once and with minimal effort.

Take the kidneys, for example. The human body has two kidneys, one on each side, and each about the size of a fist (4-5 inches tall and 2-3 inches wide). These bean-shaped organs are near the middle of the back, just below the rib cage. The kidneys function as sophisticated machines, filtering about 200 quarts of blood and removing two quarts of waste products and excess fluid each day.

Blacks with chronic kidney disease progress to kidney failure much faster than whites and they less likely to receive a kidney transplant.

Not only do the kidneys filter the blood, but they also make urine and release three important hormones: renin, erythropoietin and calcitriol. Renin helps regulate blood pressure. Erythropoietin, or EPO, stimulates the bone marrow to make red blood cells.

Calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, helps maintain calcium for normal chemical balance throughout the body.

Consuelo H. Wilkins,M.D., Medical Accuracy Editor

It’s hard to imagine how such a small organ can be responsible for so many important tasks. Because each kidney contains about a million nephrons, small units which hold tiny filtering systems, the kidneys are very efficient. Most people can have very normal lives with just one healthy kidney.

Because the kidneys do an outstanding job, it is often difficult to know when the kidneys are being damaged. The most common causes of kidney failure destroy the kidney over many years, so the damage may not be apparent for decades. Diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension) are the most common causes of kidney disease. In diabetes, the body is unable to breakdown glucose (a form of sugar), so the glucose remains in the blood. The excess glucose in the blood causes damage to the kidney’s filtering units causing them to stop functioning. By keeping glucose levels controlled, kidney disease can be prevented or delayed.

High blood pressure damages the small blood vessels in the kidneys, which decreases the kidneys ability to filter the blood. It is important to control high blood pressure to prevent this damage. Some medications, including ACE inhibitors or ARBs, have been shown to delay or prevent kidney disease in both diabetes and high blood pressure. When the kidneys fail, the body retains chemical wastes and excess fluids. If 85 percent or more of kidney function is permanently lost (commonly called endstage renal disease), dialysis or a kidney transplant is necessary.

More than 25 million Americans have chronic kidney disease and African Americans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans are at increased

risk. Blacks with chronic kidney disease progress to kidney failure much faster than whites and they less likely to receive a kidney transplant, so many have dialysis as regular treatment. Dialysis is a process in which excess fluid and waste are removed from the body using a filtering system. The most common type of dialysis is hemodialysis, and it uses a special filter to clean the blood. The dialyzer functions as an artificial kidney. During hemodialysis, blood is pumped outside of your body through the machine. Most people undergo dialysis at a specialized center three times a week for three to four hours each time. Home dialysis can also be done but is often more frequent (five to seven times a week) but with a shorter duration (two to three hours each time).

Think about these facts. Ahealthy kidney is the size of a fist and can function well even when more than half of the kidney is damaged. If you have kidney failure and need hemodialysis, you have to be connected to a large machine three to seven days each week and the costs associated with dialysis are about $70,000 each year.

Protecting these remarkable organs should definitely be the goal. To learn more about your kidneys and ways to prevent kidney disease, visit www.kidneyemo.org.

Consuelo H. Wilkins, M.D., is medical accuracy editor of The St. Louis American and associate professor of medicine and psychiatry, Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science, at Washington University – St. Louis

YourHealth Matters

Abi-monthly special supplement of the St. Louis American

March 17, 2011

YourHealth Matters provides up-to-date information, from an African-American perspective, about one of the most important subjects in evryone’s life – their personal health.

Donald M. Suggs, President and Publisher

Kevin Jones, Senior Vice President, COO

Dina M. Suggs, Senior Vice President

Chris King, Editorial Director

Consuelo Wilkins, MD, Medical Accuracy Editor

Sandra Jordan, Health Reporter

Debbie Chase, Director of Health Strategy & Outreach

Sonia Dulaney, Onye Ijei, Barb Sills, Sales

Michael Terhaar, Art/Production Manager

Angelita Jackson, Cover Design

Wiley Price, Photojournalist

Agnes Rusan of St.Louis finds home dialysis a great option for managing her end-stage renal disease,the result of uncontrolled high blood pressure. Formerly,her dialysis took place in a facility.Switching to an at-home method gave her energy,freedom and the ability to work.

Home fordialysis

Treating herself has meant freedom for Agnes Rusan

By Sandra Jordan

Of The St.Louis American

Agnes Rusan of St. Louis is working, going to the grocery and handling everyday chores that most people take for granted. Kidney dialysis three times a week at a local facility used to take up the bulk of her day and her energy, which made those simple tasks more difficult.

“I was doing it three times a week and I was on the machine four to four-and -ahalf hours,” Rusan said. “When I got off, I had to go home, get into bed – probably couldn’t do anything for the rest of the day.”

Rusan has been on dialysis since 2005 due to kidney failure after being treated for high blood pressure since she was 16 years old. That was in the mid-1970s, at the height of afro hairdos, bell-bottomed pants and “doing your own thing.”

Looking back, Rusan admits that things could have turned out better.

“Had I been doing the right things, like eating right and controlling my weight, I could have prevented it,” she said.

Dialysis is her life-saving treatment for end-stage renal disease, but she always felt tired.

“When I went to the grocery store, I had to ride in one of those buggies,” she

said. “I was just drained, emotionally and physically.”

She received her treatments at Affiliated Hospitals Dialysis Center, where the healthcare team decided to train Rusan to do her own dialysis in her home, using a portable hemodialysis device, called an NxStage System.

“I do everything that you would do at the center. I am actually doing hemodialysis,” Rusan said. “You have to get trained to put your needles in. And once you are trained at doing it, it actually forms a buttonhole – so you are using blunt needles. They don’t hurt at all.”

Within two weeks of beginning her hemodialysis at home, Rusan said, she

felt better, which allowed her to leave the buggy parked at the grocery for someone else.

“The first thing, I saw that I could walk longer,” she said.

“I used to could walk just down the hallway, and I would get tired from my bedroom to my front door. And then I just started walking longer, and I was, ‘Hmmm, I am not getting tired!’”

Now Rusan said she walks around in the shopping malls and feels fine. She also enjoys bowling.

Home dialysis may not be for everyone with permanent kidney failure.

Photo by Wiley Price

HEALTH BRIEFS

Robotic surgery improving results forkidney patients

Robotic surgery offers the same or better results than minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures for treating kidney tumors, and can potentially help more patients because it is not as difficult for surgeons to learn, according to a new study led by specialists at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Chronic renal insufficiency – a condition in which damaged kidneys fail to remove enough waste from the bloodstream in the form of urine – has been linked to cardiovascular disease and other illnesses leading to hospitalization and sometimes death.

Hidden damage to kidney function has been overlooked in more than a fourth of patients with small kidney tumors, according to earlier studies. Standard treatment for small kidney tumors has traditionally been radical nephrectomy – surgical removal of the entire kidney, part of the ureter, the adrenal gland, and some surrounding tissue.

But with improvements in 3D imaging scans, surgeons have been able to more precisely locate these tumors, allowing them to remove only the diseased portion of the kidney. The result of such partial nephrectomy has been an overall drop in related cardiovascular problems and death.

Yet, researchers note that most kidney tumor patients still undergo radical nephrectomy, often because their surgeons haven’t mastered advanced laparoscopic –or “keyhole” – surgical techniques.

But, according to the new Henry Ford study, robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN) may help solve this.

“RPN appears to have a shorter learning curve when compared to alternative minimally invasive techniques,” according to Rogers and his team. “Recent comparative studies have demonstrated favorable-to-equivalent outcomes for RPN when compared to laparoscopic partial nephrectomy.”

The findings were published in a recent issue of the journal Current Opinions in Urology

Blacks have unequal access to kidney transplants

Not all racial and ethnic groups have equal access to kidney transplantation, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology. The results indicate that the reasons for these disparities are varied and that more focused efforts are needed to address them.

For most individuals who develop kidney failure or end-stage renal disease, kidney transplantation is the best treatment option. Unfortunately, certain racial and ethnic groups are less likely to receive kidney transplants than others.

Dr. Yoshio Hall of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues investigated rates and determinants of kidney wait-listing and of deceased-donor kidney transplantation among more than a half-million non-elderly adults of different racial and ethnic groups who began dialysis between 1995 and 2006. Patients were followed through 2008.

The researchers found that the annual crude rates of deceased-donor transplants from the time of dialysis initiation were lowest in American Indians/Alaska Natives (2.4 percent) and blacks (2.8 percent), intermediate in Pacific Islanders (3.1 percent) and Hispanics (3.2 percent), and highest in non-Hispanic whites (5.9 percent) and Asians (6.4 percent).

Blacks, American Indians, and Alaska Natives face continued difficulty in accessing transplant waitlists, primarily due to socioeconomic factors; while Hispanics and Pacific Islanders encountered delays from waitlists, which may be negatively influenced by regional organ availability, linguistic isolation, and perhaps cultural isolation.

Activity extends life of transplant recipients

Low physical activity increases kidney transplant patients’likelihood of dying early, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology. The results suggest that patients need to exercise to fend off an early death.

Inactive people in general face increased risks of developing cardiovascular disease and of dying prematurely. Individuals with chronic kidney disease, particularly those on dialysis, tend to get little exercise, but most increase their activity levels modestly after receiving a kidney transplant. Maintaining heart health is particularly important for kidney transplant recipients, who have a four- to six-fold increased risk of dying from cardiovascular causes than individuals in the general population.

Dorien Zelle of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands and her colleagues studied the health of 540 kidney transplant recipients between 2001 and 2003, assessing physical activity through questionnaires and recording deaths until August 2007. With regard to the guidelines for minimum requirements of physical activity, 260 (48 percent) patients did not meet the criteria and 79 (14.6 percent) were completely inactive.

During the study period, 81 patients died, with 37 heart-related deaths; the lower the level of physical activity, the higher the rate of deaths. Specifically, cardiovascular deaths occurred in 11.7 percent, 7.2 percent, and 1.7 percent of patients considered inactive, moderately active, and active, respectively. Deaths from any cause occurred at rates of 24.4 percent, 15.0 percent, and 5.6 percent in these respective groups.

Peritoneal dialysis shows no additional risk

Patients with end-stage renal disease who opt for peritoneal dialysis experience no greater risk of catheter infection than those who undergo hemodialysis, a retrospective study at UTSouthwestern Medical Center has found.

Peritoneal dialysis, or PD, is dialysis through a tube in the abdominal cavity. It is less costly, easier on the body and provides greater mobility than hemodialysis, the more common procedure in the U.S.

“Patients actually survive better on peritoneal dialysis, have a better quality of life and the procedure is cheaper,” said Dr. Ramesh Saxena, associate professor of internal medicine at UTSouthwestern and a senior author of the study, available online in the Journal of Vascular Access. “Factors such as obesity, age and abdominal surgeries should not be considered as barriers in selecting patients for peritoneal dialysis.”

PD is easier on patients because it mimics natural kidney function through a continuous process of replenishing the body with healthy fluids. It also affords greater flexibility for patients since the equipment is portable and can be self-administered.

Yet while 95 percent of end-stage renal disease patients end up on dialysis, most in the U.S. are referred to hemodialysis, which is administered through the arm at a dialysis clinic.

Saxena said nephrologists in the U.S. do not receive enough training in peritoneal dialysis, though it is a common form of dialysis worldwide.

YOUR HEALTH QUESTIONS MATTER

How do painkillers react with alcohol?

Medical toxicologist Dr. Michael E. Mullins responds

“I have heard various reports on how the most popular painkillers have reactions with alcohol that are very bad for your stomach and/or liver. What are the facts on how the most common over-thecounter painkillers (aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen) interact with alcohol in your system?” – C.S.

The answer comes fromDr. Michael E. Mullins, a medical toxicologist and assistant professor and research director of Emergency Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine,St. Louis

First, aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen are all very safe and effective when used as directed in the normal doses.

The extent to which there may be a problem related to alcohol use depends largely on how heavily one drinks alcohol.For someone who occasionally enjoys one or two drinks / beers / glasses of wine, there is no additional risk when using any of these three over-the-counter pain relievers.

As Paracelsus, the father of modern toxicology, wrote five centuries ago, “Only the dose determines the poison.”

On the other hand, for someone who is an alcoholic (drinking two or more drinks per day every day or nearly every day), the risks start to increase.

If the alcoholism leads to liver disease (cirrhosis) and varicose veins in the esophagus (esophageal varices), taking aspirin or ibuprofen may increase the likelihood of bleeding from the varices or may increase the severity of the bleeding because both (especially aspirin) make the platelets (clotting cells in the blood) work less effectively.

Also, if the alcoholism leads to stomach irritation (gastritis) or stomach ulcers, both ibuprofen and aspirin can increase the irritation and bleeding because both ibuprofen and aspirin interfere with making a natural chemical (prostaglandin) that protects the lining of the stomach from its own acids.

Acetaminophen, in normal doses, is the least risky.It does not increase bleeding or irritate the stomach. In overdose, acetaminophen can cause serious liver damage that can be fatal in some people.Because heavy alcohol use damages the liver, many people – includ-

ing many doctors – assume that acetaminophen and alcohol together cause more liver damage or that a person with alcoholic liver damage cannot take acetaminophen.This is an area of some controversy among liver specialists and toxicologists.

There are case reports and case series of alcoholics who get liver damage that gets blamed on acetaminophen.Usually the patient claims to have taken only the normal dose, with no medical proof to confirm this.

We know, however, that heavy drinkers consistently say that they drink less than they really do.If I had a dollar for every patient I had in the ED who got into trouble after “just two beers,” I would be a rich man today.The flaw in all of these reports is that the doctors

believe the patient tells the truth about the dose of acetaminophen even though they assume that the patient lies about their alcohol use.

It turns out that this may not be true. Alcohol and acetaminophen affect the liver in different ways.Scientific studies of alcoholic people taking normal doses of acetaminophen do not cause liver damage.

No matter how much you drink, you should never take more than eight tablets of all acetaminophen-containing medicines in one day.This includes over-thecounter medicines such as Tylenol, Tylenol PM, Excedrin and generic acetaminophen.This also includes prescription pain relievers such as Percocet, Vicodin, Lorcet, Norco or almost any medicine with a name ending in “cet.”

If you are a light or occasional drinker, then normal doses of acetaminophen, aspirin or ibuprofen are safe.

If you are a heavy drinker, normal doses of acetaminophen, aspirin, or ibuprofen are still usually safe unless you have alcoholic liver disease.

As Paracelsus, the father of modern toxicology, wrote five centuries ago, “In all things there is poison.There is none which is not poison.Only the dose determines the poison.”

Let us hear from you. Do you have a health-related question? Email it to yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com

Rather than a personal reply, a health professional will provide an answer that we will share with all readers in a future issue of Your Health Matters. Your privacy will be respected.

Kidney disease treatment by the numbers

Overall, an average of 3.7 million adults in the United States were treated for kidney disease each year between 2003 and 2007, according to the latest data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Kidney disease can lead to renal failure and may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

The federal agency also found that:

• Spending for kidney disease treatment averaged $25.3 billion (in 2007 dollars) a year from 2003-2007.

• About half this amount ($12.7 billion) paid for outpatient care, while $9.1 billion went for hospitalizations, $1.5 billion for emergency room care and $1.4 billion for prescription drugs.

• Annual per-person costs for averaged $16,315 for hospitalizations, $4,581 for outpatient care, $1,607 for emergency department care and $643 for prescription drugs.

• Medicare paid roughly one-fifth of overall kidney treatment expenses for people ages 18 to 64 through its End-Stage Renal Disease program, which covers kidney dialysis and transplants for people of all ages. Medicare also covered two-thirds of kidney disease treatment for people age 65 and older.

• Medicaid paid for nearly 14 percent of the kidney disease treatment care of patients ages 18 to 64 and roughly 8 percent of patients age 65 and older.

Salmonella risk prompts recall of Skippy Reduced Fat Peanut Butter

Unilever has a limited recall underway of its Skippy brand Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread and Skippy Reduced Fat Super Chunk Peanut Butter Spread, because it may be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. The product was distributed to 16 states, including Missouri and Illinois.

The peanut butter is in 16.3 ounce plastic jars with UPC numbers 048001006812 and 048001006782 located on the side of the jar’s label below the bar code. It has “Best if used by” dates of MAY1612LR1, MAY1712LR1, MAY1812LR1, MAY1912LR1, MAY2012LR1 and MAY2112LR1.

Unilever reports no illnesses related to this recall. Routine sampling by the company revealed reduced fat peanut butter may contain the bacteria.

Consumers are urged to discard the product immediately and call the company for a replacement coupon at 1-800-453-3432 — S.J.

On the ‘Fringe’of reform

Why we should stop worrying and embrace health care

By Dr.Will Ross For The St.Louis American

I recall a time in the mid 1990s when I jettisoned my comrades who were advocating for a single-payer health care system, as I had become more committed to incremental and achievable measures as a path to meaningful health care reform. In retrospect, I’m not admitting that I have been necessarily hoodwinked, but I do feel I may have abandoned some core principles out of a desire for pragmatism and expediency.

My incremental reform advocates and I felt somewhat vindicated with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in March 2010, which would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 32.5 million by 2014. There is no more critical component to ensuring success of the health care reform law than the individual mandate; it alone would reduce the number of uninsured by 21.5 million (41 percent).

In order to cover individuals with preexisting illnesses, healthier people are brought into a larger pool of covered lives, with the ultimate advantage of overall reduced costs. Otherwise, adverse risk selection would occur, where only the sickest individuals would enroll and insurance costs would subsequently skyrocket, pushing immediate and long-term savings from the ACA out the door.

lips” pledges from politicians will attest.

In fact, Americans have two problems with the individual mandate: the words “individual” and “mandate.” Anything labeled “mandate” is considered anathema to American beliefs of personal autonomy.

Republicans have seized the individual mandate as evidence that President Obama plans to introduce a barrage of “job-killing” taxes that infringe on our individual autonomy. They have the upper hand in the propaganda war and Americans are running scared. Even some stalwart Democratic operatives are artfully distancing themselves from the individual mandate.

The inequities in our society and the runaway costs of health care dictate that we embrace the individual mandate.

Unfortunately, mischaracterization of the individual mandate provision threatens to undermine the long-term health and fiscal benefits of the ACA. The term “individual mandate” is indeed misleading.According to Jack Balkin at the Yale Law School, not all individuals are obligated to pay. Exceptions were made for dependents,persons receiving Medicare or Medicaid, military families, persons living overseas, persons with religious objections or personswho already get health insurance from their employers undera qualified plan.

Also, although federal judges have issued rulings insisting the mandate is not a tax, in my reality it sure sounds like a tax – one which peoplewould not have to pay if they purchased health insurance. The jury is still out on whether Congress has the authority under the Commerce Clause to mandate the purchase of health insurance. I do know that Americans are characteristically highly individualistic and tax-averse, as a litany of “read my

Dr.Will Ross

Last year, after several visits to Capitol Hill, I reluctantly ceded ground to those calling for elimination of the public option plan for insurance reform. I am not so eager to capitulate on the individual mandate; there is simply too much at stake. A recent report from the Urban Institute indicated uncompensated care costs would decline by $42.4 billion with the mandate, compared to $14.7 billion without the mandate. Eight percent of the nonelderly would remain uninsured with the mandate, compared to 14.9 percent without the mandate.

In other words, it would cost the government much more to reduce the number of the uninsured if there were no mandate. This fact appears to be lost on those pursuing an aggressive, ideologically-driven agenda to constrain government spending.

Most recently, Florida U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled that ACA’s socalled individual mandate went too far in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty. He went even further than Virginia’s U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson’s ruling against the constitutionality of the mandate by stating “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void,” (By “not severable,” he means there were no a priori clauses written to allow other components of the health care law to stand in the event one component was ruled unconstitutional).

With two judges ruling in favor of the individual mandate and two ruling

against it, the ultimate showdown will be in the U.S. Supreme Court. Hopefully Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke for the court in assuring there would be no fasttracking of the individual mandate lawsuits for final adjudication. We clearly need time for more intelligent, substantive debate.

While Americans may be mixed in their overall support of health care reform, they generally support the individual components of the law. ANovember 2010 report by the Lake Research Partners, commissioned by the Missouri Foundation for Health, found that to be particularly true in Missouri. According to the report, most Missourians supported individual components of the law, despite opposing the law overall.

Between 72-78 percent of all Missouri

reform

voters strongly favored prohibiting caps on coverage, allowing individuals to keep their health care plans, providing tax credits to small businesses, and removing co-pays from preventive care.

As Missourians and all Americans realize that these provisions rely on all of us making personal contributions, the individual mandate will become less of a boogeyman.

The individual mandate should be ruled constitutional based on its individual merit and in the context of instituting necessary health care reform.

Last month I watched an episode of the TVshow Fringe, in which a scientist becomes the victim of a bioterrorist attack. On exposure to an unknown biohazard the scientist’s skeleton is rapidly resorbed, reducing him to a crumpled, jellyfish-like mass. Highly improbable, but good science fiction.

With the absence of the individual

See REFORM, page 8

Friday, Mar. 18, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., American Red Cross Blood Drive at Christian Hospital in the Detrick Building Atrium on the Christian Hospital campus, 11133 Dunn Rd., at the I-270/Hwy. 367 interchange. Walk-ins are welcome but appointments have priority. For an appointment please contact Sandy Barnesat 314-653-5719 or slm9123@bjc.org or visit the American Red Cross website www.redcrossblood.organd use the sponsor code: christianhospital.

Mon. Mar. 21. 1:00-2:30 p.m., Sharing Losses through Bereavement Support Group, SSM Home Care & Hospice, 1187 Corporate Lake Dr. Sharing Losses provides a supportive setting in which to discuss the process of grief, to identify and to cope with emotions, such as emptiness, loneliness, anger and guilt. The group is open to anyone in the community who has experienced the loss of a loved one. It is regularly held the first and third Mondays of the month. Call 314-SSM-DOCS (776-3627) to register.

Tues. Mar. 22, 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. Free

CALENDAR

A1C diabetes screenings at Christian Hospital Diabetes Institute on hospital campus at11155 Dunn Rd. Suite 101N, Professional Bldg. 1. Screenings are sponsored by Express Scripts Foundation.

Tues. Mar. 22, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Free A1C diabetes screenings for Diabetes Alert Day at Northwest HealthCare, 1225 Graham Rd. in Florissant. Screenings are sponsored by Express Scripts Foundation.

Sat. Mar. 26, 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Saint Louis University CancerCenter 2011 Health Fair, 3655 Vista Ave., St. Louis. Free cancer screenings by appointment only for head and neck, prostate, breast and skin cancer; physician seminars, center tours, health information, displays, refreshments. Free parking in TenetCare lot. Register at 1888-8898, option 2.

Sat. Mar. 26, 9 a.m. – Undy 5000 5K run/walk at Forest Park, Upper Muny Parking lot, St. Louis. Proceeds benefit the Colon Cancer Alliance. For more

information, go to www.undy5000.org.

Sat. Mar. 26, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. –Imagine Schools First Annual Health Fair, at Imagine Environmental Science & Math, 1008 So. Spring Ave. For more information, contact Josephine Fields, RN at 314-361-4940.

Sun. Apr. 10, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. – A Tasteful Affair23, Chase Park Plaza Khorassan Ballroom, 212 N. Kingshighway, St. Louis, an annual fundraiser for Food Outreach. More than 40 restaurants and caterers are providing the tastings; live and silent auction items. Tickets are $50 in advance and $65 at the door. The VIPPreview Party from 1-2 p.m. is $123 (includes main event ticket). Food outreach provides nutritious meals for low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS or cancer. For more information call 314-652-3663 x. 122 or visit www.foodoutreach.org.

Sunday, May 1, 2 p.m. – Heart & Soul 5K Race, at Creve CoeurPark. Event includes prizes, awards, health/ fitness stations; music and entertainment. Proceeds will benefit KaBOOM!, the national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. Register at www.heartandsoulrun.com.

Sat. June 18, 7 a.m. - 2nd Annual Ronald McDonald House Charities of Metro St. Louis’Bike Ride in Forest Park. The event has five race options: To ride, volunteer or for more information, visit www.rmhcridestl.com, 314-9324146 or e-mail lfletcher@rmhcstl.com.

Sun. June 19, Katy Trail Father’s Day Family Bike Ride, to benefit prostate cancer research at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and

REFORM

Continued from page 7

mandate in the Affordable Care Act, we will be unable to realize savings sufficient to cover the bulk of uninsured Americans, leaving us at the periphery of meaningful health reform. The health care law, like our TVscientist, may degenerate into an amorphous facsimile of its former self.

This may seem highly probable and desired by some groups, but it is based on bad science and an unwillingness to acknowledge the facts. Even modest health care reform without the individual

Washington University School of Medicine. Riders can start from a designated KATYTrailhead and ride to Defiance, Mo. Pre-registration is $10.00 ($15.00 day of ride). For more information, or to sign-up, go to www.fathersdaybikeride.com.

Sundays, 10 a.m., Alcoholics Anonymous Group 109 meets in the 11th floor conference room at Christian Hospital, 11133 Dunn Road at I270/Hwy. 367. This is an open meeting for alcoholics, drug addicts and their family and friends.

Mondays, 7 p.m., “Tobacco Free for Life” support group – free weekly meetings at St. Peters Mo. City Hall. Supported by SSM Cancer Care; RSVP initial participation to 636-947-5304.

Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., Help fora drug-free life - chemical dependency information meeting. Call 314-839-3171.

Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., STEPS Schizophrenia Support Group This nationally recognized program provides education and support for those with schizophrenia. Group is facilitated by an experienced STEPS nurse. For more information, call 314-839-3171.

First Thursdays, 10 a.m. – Family Support Group by NAMI St. Louis, The Alliance on Mental Illness at the Grace Hill Murphy-O’Fallon Health Center, 1717 Biddle St. No registration needed; no cost. For more information, contact Allen Daniel, 314-814-8579.

Free psychiatric and chemical dependency evaluations are confidential at the Christian Hospital Center for Mental Health. Call 314-839-3171.

mandate is better than our current approach; one alternative is replacing the mandate to buy insurance with a system to automatically enroll people in health plans.

Nonetheless, the mandate is unquestionably the backbone of the current reform act. The inequities in our society and the runaway costs of health care in the U.S. dictate that we proceed accordingly with judicious, meaningful health care reform and embrace the individual mandate.

Will Ross, MD, MPH, is associate professor of Medicine and senior fellow at the Center for Health Policy at Washington University School of Medicine.

Rusan has been on dialysis since 2005 due to kidney failure after being treated for high blood pressure since she was 16 years old.

DIALYSIS

Continued from page 3

Susan Ronning, RN, BSN, is the home hemodialysis coordinator at the center who trained Rusan. People who are motivated to participate in their own health care with a strong desire to maintain their independence make good candidates for home dialysis, but each physician and clinic makes those determinations.

For Rusan, home dialysis gives her the energy, freedom and mobility to normalize her daily life. She administers dialysis at home more often than she would receive treatment at a health center, but it also takes less time.

“I do my dialysis in the evening when I get home from work, so I’m usually on the machine by 6 p.m. and I’m off by 8:30 – 8:45 p.m.,” Rusan said.

“At home, I’m only on for two-and-a-half hours. It takes about a half-hour to prep the machine though. At home is a lot shorter time and it doesn’t wear your body down as much, I guess, but you do it more, because I do it five days a week versus three days per week.”

Rusan said her doctor was able to reduce her days of home dialysis from six to five days a week, because it is working out so well for her.

“I would tell anybody who is capable of doing it at home that they really, really should do it,” Rusan said. “Give it a try.”

What is end-stage renal disease?

End-stage renal failure means the kidneys are no longer able to filter toxins and excess fluids and minerals from the body.

Diabetes, high blood pressure and a family history of kidney disease can cause the tiny blood vessels located on the kidney filters, known as glomeruli, to narrow so that blood cannot pass through to filter fluid wastes.

Photo by Wiley Price

PROFILING PEOPLE IN HEALTH

‘Guardian angel for the underprivileged’

Sharon Morgan

Position: Assistant director, Development and Corporate Education International Affairs, Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine

St. Louis Connection: St. Louis native and niece of the late Bennie G. Rodgers, one of the founding fathers of The St. Louis American

CareerSuccess:

As the assistant director of Development and Corporate Education for the Department of Internal Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, Morgan enjoys going out into the community helping to organize events to improve health literacy in the St. Louis community. Morgan developed a program where resident physicians conduct interactive presentations on health topics at local homeless shelters and offer free medical screenings and one-on-one counseling to those in greatest need. She has worked with over 300 homeless clients during the past four years, primarily at Gateway 180 Homelessness Reversed, the largest family emergency shelter in Missouri.

Morgan strives to help area health providers become more effective working with patients from diverse backgrounds from all over the world.

“Sharon is always behind the scenes trying to find creative new ways to help the underprivileged while staying anonymous,” said one Washington University physician. “She is like a guardian angel for the underprivileged in our community.”

Sharon also encourages others to get involved and draws upon her extensive list of contacts to help obtain donated food, medical supplies and financial resources for the needy throughout St. Louis. She serves on the board of directors of Gateway 180 Homelessness Reversed and she has taken her mission globally by hosting multiple events to support clinics in Africa while helping medical residents in St. Louis gain more exposure to international health issues.

Affiliations: Member, Mentors In Medicine; member, Global Health Scholars in Medicine; board member, US Army Medical Recruitment; member, St. Louis Professionals in Healthcare Quality Association; member of Sons of Lwala St. Louis Chapter (Grassroots organization dedicated to improving healthcare in Lwala, Kenya); board member, Gateway 180 Homelessness Reversed

Awards: Hometown Hero’s Program of Innovation Award, Gateway Homeless Services, 2008; Kansas City Medical Recruiting Company Award; United States Army Recognition Award, United Negro College Fund Certificate of Appreciation

Education: Continuing education currently at Washington University in Political Science and International Studies

Personal: Member of the San Francisco Temple Christian Assembly Church, influenced greatly by the late Bishop Dwight H. McDaniels.

Sharon Morgan