THURSDAY, FebRUARY 11, 2010 a people’s publication Vol. 34 • No. 42

b a t o n r o u g e , l o u i s i a n a

INDEXLocal & State ...........................2 More News ..............................4Business ...................................5Religion ...................................6Health ......................................7Other News .............................8

THEWEEKLYPRESS.COM Celebrating 34 Years Of Service To The Baton Rouge Community 225.775.2002

STATE & LOCAL NEWS BuSiNESS NEWS rELigiON NEWS

CLASSifiEd Buying or selling a service, looking for for a good job or a good used car? Check out the classifeds .

STATE fArm rATE HikE rEjECTEdLouisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said Wednesday that the increase “was determined to be unreasonable.” State Farm had wanted an additional $67.6 million in annual premiums. ...See Page 3

TOp 10 gOOd TAx TimE TipS fOr 2010While the tax filing deadline is more than three months away, it always seems to be here before you know it. Here are the Internal Revenue Ser-vice’s top 10 tips that will help your tax filing process run smoother than ever this year...See Page 5

prE VALENTiNES muSiCALThe Greater St. James Baptist Church located at 1919 Arizona Street pa-stored by Reverend Willie J. Finister invites all ladies to attend their 5th Annual Pre Valentines Musical Male Chorus Round Up...See Page 6

An East Baton Rouge Parish school is drawing some national attention. Sherwood Middle Magnet is being used as the blueprint for how schools around the nation should be operating. t...Page 2

NATiONAL/STATE & COmmuNiTy WATCH HEALTH NEWSSouthern University jump started its Capital Area Heart Walk campus campaign with a kick-off meeting recently in the Dean’s Conference Room of Fisher Hall on the Baton Rouge campus....See Page 7

FEBRUARY: CElEBRAting thE AChiEvEmEnts oF gREAt AFRiCAn-AmERiCAns

Educate, Engage & Inspire Our Readers by Sharing Your Diversityor Community Initiatives

WHO dAT?! NOT dEm COLTS!!!

The New Orleans Saints overcame an early 10-point deficit, pulled off a risky onside kick and won their first NFL title by beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday

New Orleans quar-terback Drew Brees(notes) equaled a Super Bowl record for completions and was voted the game’s most valuable player, while the Saints held his Indianapolis counterpart Peyton Manning(notes) to a single score in the final three quarters, intercepting him for a touchdown that sealed the victory.

From the trophy podium on the field, Brees blew kisses and caught confetti raining down as New Orleans musi-cians Dr. John and Professor Longhair blared from the sta-dium speakers. Coach Sean Payton hung over the railing clapping and shouting down to the crowd as if he were roll-ing on a Mardi Gras float, then waved a newspaper with the banner headline “WORLD CHAMPS.”

New Orleans knows how to celebrate, but for the beleaguered city and its long-bedraggled NFL franchise, the championship touched off a new kind of joy.

“Four years ago, who ever thought this would be happening when 85 percent of the city was under water?” Brees said. “Most people left not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back, or if the organization would ever come back. We just all looked at one another and said, ̀ We are going

Saints Win 1st NfL title by Beating Colts 31-17

NEW ORLEANS - Jubi-lant fans greeted the Super Bowl-winning Saints Mon-day, showering them with “Who Dat!” chants as they returned to their home city as champions.

At a suburban airport, thousands of fans decked in black-and-gold lined the road to cheer their team after its 31-17 win over the Indianapo-lis Colts.

“The Saints kept hope alive in this city that better days were coming,” said Shan-non Sims, a 45-year-old crimi-nal court administrator, as she waited for the team. She said the Saints “were the force that kept us moving forward.”

The city woke up hoarse, hungover and happy, wonder-ing if that Super Bowl thing really happened.

In the French Quarter, stragglers - decked out in Saints jerseys and team colors-

remaining from the all-night party turned to coffee and beignets as dawn broke.

Richard Bourland said he came from nearby Gulfport, Miss., hoping to see history made and wasn’t disap-pointed. The 57-year-old said he pulled his first all-nighter in at least 15 years celebrating.

“I came because it is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Bourland

said as he sipped strong black coffee. “I wanted to ex-perience a miracle and I did. I’m still trying to believe it.”

Fans had trouble believ-ing the Saints’ Super Bowl vic-tory, the first in their 43-year history - it was, after all, just their ninth winning season. Disbelief did not prevent them from throwing a huge “Lom-bardi Party,” however.

The team’s big season

Saints return Home to Heroes’ Welcome

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu was elected mayor of New Orleans in a landslide Saturday. He will replace term-limited Ray Nagin and become the majority-black city’s first white mayor since 1979.

Landrieu, a 49-year-old moderate Democrat, defeated 10 opponents in a campaign that focused on the city’s slow recovery from Hurricane Ka-trina, violent crime and slump-ing city finances. The city’s last white mayor was Landrieu’s father, Moon Landrieu.

Voting came amid Car-nival celebrations and prepa-rations for the New Orleans Saints’ appearance today in the Super Bowl.

As returns came in, ju-bilation spread through the Landrieu headquarters in a hotel ballroom – festooned with black and gold balloons in a nod to the football team. A brass band played Mardi Gras music.

Among the other can-didates were businessman John Georges, also white, who spent $3.4 million of his own money on his campaign, and Troy Henry, a black business

consultant who made his first political run.

Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne projected turnout as high as 45 percent in a city where registered voters number more than 273,000.

Nagin, who was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, made few comments during the campaign. Little known outside New Orleans before Katrina, he became a central figure in the city’s struggle to recover. Polls, however, showed his popularity fell as rebuilding dragged on.

mitch Landrieu Elected mayor of New Orleans

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu

See heroes, on page 2

See saints, on page 2New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees hold the Vince Lombardi championship trophy after the Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Page 2 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, February 11, 2010

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Anything is possible if we believe. Who Dat Nation

THE WHO DAT NATION has been shouting in the streets and rightly so because of the Super Bowl XLIV victory. Not only are the residents of New Orleans are ecstatic, but the en-tire state and nation. With the former residents throughout the USA, many were cheering the team to victory. It has been a great help to the morale of the city. Thanks, Saints-players and coaches!

THE LOUIsIANA FED-ERATION OF MUsIc cLUb JUNIOR FEsTIvAL congratu-late the following students of music for their recent superior performances: Christen Wil-liams, Josef Bell, Daisha Miles, Ashley Robinson, Tevin Wil-liams, Christen Williams, and Trey Williams.

TALENTED TIGER sEN-sATION DANcE TEAM was in performance with other artists recently in what was dubbed, “Winter Fine Arts.” Those participating in this night of great success included O’Neil Robinson who directed, Quiana Green, Jeanette Davids, Carolyn Ward, Lakeisha Daigle and Belle Christey.

MUcH sUccEss TO THE AREA AIR FORcE JU-NIOR ROTc. These students went through the training and, after six weeks, earned their cer-tificates. The group included Patty Southall, Genevie Kirken-dall, Loria Schram and Melvin Ward.

THE MARy bIRD PER-KINs cANcER cENTER was one of the 2009 award winners during the annual competition sponsored by McGraw-Hill South Central Construction and design excellence. The Center’s winning entry was a “Best in the Category Award for Best Small Project at the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Gonzales. Congratulations, Center.

My sENsATIONAL sENIORs are invited to their local centers around town. It is

always a travesty when you stay home alone, when you can be group gospel singing, playing bridge, learning CPR, engaging in chess, and many other activi-ties that are relevant just for you. Your neighbors and friends are all at the center. Won’t you join them?

THE ALzHEIMER’s sERvIcEs are very dear to my heart! (No, I have sometimers, not Alzheimers.) It is sponsored by the Capital Area group and Ms. Scarlett Cartwright can give you more information concern-ing speaker forums.

THE cLAssy LADIEs sOcIAL cLUb has as one of their goals to help those who are in crisis. With that in mind, they presented gifts to families with hardships during the holidays. It is said that they gave toys and family dinners to the needy and are always on the lookout to help others during seasons. Sounds like a winner!

ARE yOU FIGHTING THE FLU? The seasonal flu time is here and the best pro-tection against it is the flu shot. While many have reservations concerning this it may help you have a milder form of the flu than otherwise. The best time to get this shot is now from your primary care physician and, if you are at risk, get your H1N1 shot, too.

GET WELL WIsHEs are extended to Churchill Paul, Cherrie Seales, Gloria Wood-lief, Jereice Snowden, Blanche Felder, and Mildred Marcelle.

HAPPy bIRTHDAy Wil-liam OQuinn, Jr., Mary Francois and Ivory D. Payne, Jr.

H A P P y b E L A T E D bIRTHDAy to Joseph Dixon, Aaron O’Quinn, and Bethel Captville Jr.

WITH LOvE AND syM-PATHy to the Cloud Family, the Ehrman family and the Pitre family.

Have a very blessed week-end. Go Jags, and go Tigers.

Love, Marge

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The office is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday - Friday and located at 1283 Rosenwald Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Correction PolicyThe Baton Rouge Weekly Press strives to be fair and accurate. The newspaper corrects any significant errors of fact brought to the attention of the editor. If you think an error has been made, call 225-775-2002

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LocaL&Statemarge's Chit Chat

The Housing Authority of East Baton Rouge Parish will begin accepting applications for its Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program Waiting List.

The application period will start 9:00 AM (CT), February 17, 2010,

through September 17, 2010.

Applications will only be accepted during the period the Waiting List is open. Applications will NOT be accepted in person, via mail or fax.

Do not call the local Housing Authority to apply!

If you already have a current application with the HAEBRP, do not apply again. Only one application is needed. Reapplying will not change your position on the Waiting List. Applications are processed in date/time order received and by preference. Individuals can claim one or more preferences on the application. Greatest preference will be given to eligible families who recently left or will be leaving FEMA temporary housing units (THUs) or FEMA funded Alternative Housing Programs such as “Katrina Cottages.” “Recently left” means that the family vacated their unit on or after June 24, 2009.

Next highest preference will be given to eligible families who were living within a county or parish determined as a Presidential Declared Disaster area (individual assistance) during either Hurricane Katrina and/or Rita and were displaced as a result of either storm.

Preference will also be given to:

o elderly (62 years of age or older) head-of-household and/or disabled families o applicants who live within East Baton Rouge Parish at the time of application and initial

eligibility. As an alternative to the online application, individuals can apply by calling toll-free at 800-863-1141 during the hours of 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM (CT), Monday – Friday, beginning 9:00 AM (CT), February 17, 2010. Up to 4000 applications will be accepted via the toll-free phone number.

Do not call the local Housing Authority to apply! For answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding the HCV Waiting List, preferences and eligibility, please visit our website at www.ebrpha.org/s8apply. If you are in need of a reasonable accommodation, please contact the Housing Authority. The Housing Choice Voucher Program is administered in compliance with the HAEBRP’s Administrative Plan and HUD’s rules and regulations.

Apply Online at www.ebrpha.org/s8apply. Online applications are accepted 24-hours a day/7-days per week

beginning 9:00 AM (CT) February 17, 2010, through September 17, 2010.

Call the McManus law office and get all you deserve

iNJURED iN a CaR WRECK?

Charles C. McManusA T T O R N E Y A T L A W

8520 Scotland Ave, Suite C • Baton Rouge, La. 225-774-5771 charlesmcmanus@mcmanuslawoffice.brcoxmail.com

If this happens to

you call Attorney

McManus“Not an authentic wreck site.

BATON ROUGE, LA - An East Baton Rouge Parish school is drawing some national atten-tion. Sherwood Middle Magnet is being used as the blueprint for how schools around the nation should be operating.

The U.S. Department of Education picked more than 300 schools to receive the Blue Ribbon Award. Of those, only six are being looked at as a guide for other schools around the na-tion.

For about three days, a re-search team from New Hamp-shire is spending time inter-viewing staff and students, and watching them work.

“Sherwood has excelled in their test scores, even with a chal-lenging population. More than 50% of students are high pov-erty,” said Cynthia Harvell, with RMC Research Cooperation.

“We’re in the business of

helping children to do better, keep up, make their grade point average. Raise the bar, have them meet the bar and not just let them flounder,” said principal Phyllis Crawford.

The research team says what they are most impressed with is the way teachers help each other. Teachers who teach the same subject often meet for a working lunch, to discuss how to help students better grasp cer-tain concepts. They say they are also impressed with the amount of hands-on support for the stu-dents, during and after school hours. Crawford says students are given three opportunities for tutoring throughout the day. She also says they’ve started a program called “Zero’s Aren’t Acceptable”. The research team says those practices are the reason this school is among the top ten percent in the state.

“There’s no wasted time in this building. There’s a lot of col-laboration between the teachers,” Harvell said.

The principal says being rec-ognized as one of the best should reinforce the importance of public education in this state.

The director of Blue Ribbon Schools says by sharing Sher-wood’s success, they hope to push other schools to provide the same standard of education.

EBR School Attracting National Attention

came four years after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city and destroyed thousands of homes and small businesses.

“After Katrina everyone was hurting,” said Derek Stevens, 27, who was still on Bourbon Street at dawn. “The Saints was the one thing we had that was positive, that made us hopeful.”

Long-suffering fans through-out the city shot off fireworks, danced in the streets and second-lined down the St. Charles Av-enue streetcar tracks.

On Monday morning, Bour-bon Street crews worked at dawn to clean up the remnants of the street party that began before the game ended and stretched into the new day.

“It was crazy the whole day,” said Earl Wheeler, 21, a bartender at one of the Bourbon Street clubs. “It was one really good time. Lots

of love going around. But I was too busy to watch the game. I’m going home to do that today.”

The victory came a day after New Orleans elected a new mayor and several other city officials. But in the area newspapers there was little besides the Saints.

The New Orleans paper, The Times-Picayune, ran a 5-inch headline that said “AMEN.” The subhead read, “After 43 years, our prayers are answered.”

At Lakeside News, which usually sells about 100 copies a day, owner Michael Marcello said he had sold 6,000 to 7,000 by 9:15 a.m.

“I wish I had some,” he said. “I’m out again. This is the fourth time I’ve run out.”

At the Louisiana State Peni-tentiary, commonly called An-gola, the game was on television in all the dormitories, and even

some of the cell blocks where problem prisoners are kept, said prison spokeswoman Cathy Fontenot.

“Normally they wouldn’t have television privileges, but we thought it was such an im-portant game we let them watch this one,” Fontenot said.

Prisoners decorated their dorms with Saints and Who Dat signs, Fontenot said.

“It was really exciting,” Fon-tenot said. “We had prisoners

second-lining through the dormitories and down the walk-ways outside.”

Traffic was light coming into town Monday, and many busi-nesses expected people to stay home. The public schools had scheduled a full day Monday, but planned to let students out early Tuesday to attend a parade planned for the Saints.

Heroes from page 1

to rebuild together. We are going to lean on each other.’ This is the culmination in all that belief.”

Nearly an hour after the game, Saints fans kept chanting their rally cry, “Who Dat?” One player climbed into the stands, others tossed their sweaty pad-ding to souvenir seekers, and Payton held up the Lombardi Trophy so fans along the railing could touch it.

saints from page 1

Thursday, February 11, 2010 • The Weekly Press • Page 3

AfricAn AmericAn HeritAge montH

African American Heritage…continue the legacy through Health and Wellness.

For more information on Health and Wellness or Louisiana2Step, log on to www.bcbsla.com

15HR1082 01/10

Doctor Charles Richard Drew developed a means of preserving blood plasma for transfusions. During World War II, Dr. Drew headed the

program that sent blood to Great Britain for wounded soldiers. He later became the director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank. As an African American pioneer, he dedicated his career to research and medical science.

Dr. cHArles ricHArD DrewAfricAn AmericAn PhysiciAn

The Friends of Magnolia Mound Plantation in associa-tion with BREC will present the 5th annual Black History Month event, a dramatic presentation of the play Sojourner Truth Is My Name, by Pat Sternberg and Dolly Beechman. The play will be directed by local playwright/actor Oneal Isaac. The performance will be at 1:00 PM at the Slave Cabin on the grounds of Magnolia Mound on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 1:00 PM.

Sojourner Truth, born Isa-bella Baumfree about 1797, was an ex-slave, fiery abolitionist and spell-binding preacher and singer. She became a na-tional symbol for strong black women. A complex woman, she transformed herself from a slave to an itinerant preacher and feminist, whose words of empowerment have inspired people all over the world. This annual event seeks to provide historical programming each

year that demonstrates and in-terprets a view into the other side of plantation life. The event is free and open to the public.

Oneal Isaac is an award-winning actor, storyteller and playwright. He has been the re-cipient of an Artist Fellowship in Theatre from the Louisiana Division of the Arts. He was also Arts Ambassador for the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge and was honored by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities with a Special Hu-manities Award. He has worked in motion pictures, professional and community theater, impro-visational comedy and public radio. He worked extensively as the Assistant Director with PRIME TIME Family Reading Time, the LEH Family Literacy

Program, now used through-out the U.S. Oneal is currently working with the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless as a Case Manager helping survi-vors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Friends of Magnolia Mound Plantation is a member organization of the Community Fund for the Arts. Magnolia Mound Plantation is listed on the National Register of His-toric Places and accredited by the American Association of Museums. This program-ming is partially funded by the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.

For more information, please call Jenny Poulter, Edu-cation Curator, 225-343-4955 or visit friendsofmagnoliamound.org.

The Friends oF Magnolia Mound Present a dramatic Presentation of sojourner Truth is My name

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Hot Breakfast $3.09 Daily Home Made Lunch $4.99Hot and Fresh 15 wings $9.99 • 30 wings $19.99

Mobile Kitchen available for your Catering needs serving for 1 to 1000On sale: Phone cards and postage stamps

Store Hours: Monday through Thursday 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. • Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

1376 North 39th Street Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802

(225) 388-0055

Oneal Isaac

BATON ROUGE - The Southern University Law Cen-ter’s Journal of Race, Gender, and Poverty will host a one-day symposium, “State of the Union: The Progress Report,” from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Friday, February 19, 2010, in 120 and 130 A.A. Lenoir Hall.

The free event will feature noted legal scholars and other academicians discussing current civil rights topics, with the goal of assisting in identifying rem-edies to community problems. The luncheon keynote speaker will be Dr. Peniel E. Joseph, au-thor and professor of history at Tufts University.

Eligible participants may earn up to 5.5 hours of continu-ing legal education credits.

Featured panelists in-clude: L. Darnell Weeden, Asso-ciate Dean, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern

University; Dr. Albert Samuels, Associate Professor of Political Science, Southern University; Deleso Alford Washington, Pro-fessor, Florida A&M University College; Andre Douglass Pond Cummings, Professor, West Virginia University College of Law; Angela Kupenda, Profes-sor, Mississippi College School of Law; Dr. Donald Tibbs, As-sociate Professor of Law, Earle Mack School of Law, Drexel University; and Todd J. Clark, Professor, North Carolina Cen-tral University School of Law.

For more information or to register for the symposium, contact journal editor Kim-berly Spruill, HYPERLINK “mailto:Kspruill@sulc.edu” Kspruill@sulc.edu. For CLE registration, contact Cynthia N. Reed, SULC director of CLE and alumni affairs, Creed@sulc.edu, (225) 771-2155.

BATON ROUGE- State Farm Fire and Casualty Co.’s request for a major rate increase in ho-meowners coverage has been rejected.

Louisiana Insurance Com-missioner Jim Donelon said Wednesday that the increase “was determined to be unreason-able.” State Farm had wanted an additional $67.6 million in annual premiums.

Although the average in-crease would have been 19.1 percent, rates in different areas of the state would have fallen as much as 5 percent to increases of as much as 44 percent - with residents in coastal areas taking the brunt.

State Farm is Louisiana’s largest home insurer with about 27 percent of the market share.

state Farm homeowners rate hike rejected

sulC Journal symposium set

Sojourner Truth

Page 4 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, February 11, 2010

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Events commemorating the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott 50th Anniversary take place Thursday, June 19, through Sunday, June 21, in Baton Rouge at Southern University, Louisiana State Uni-versity and the Old State Capitol, among other locations. United States Ambassador to South Af-rica James Joseph is the event’s keynote speaker; other speakers include Moon Landrieu and his-torians Anthony Badger, Douglas Brinkley, Adam Fairclough and Charles Vincent. All events are free and open to the public. For a complete listing of events, visit www.brbusboycott.org or call (225) 387-6126. The landscaped serenity of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church stands in stark contrast to the thick traffic that rumbles on Government Street toward down-town Baton Rouge. Behind a tall, ornate wooden door, a narrow sanctuary leads to a grand bell-tower at the church’s rear; a long, two-story expanse houses a public

elementary school. But hidden in history is Mt. Zion’s role as a building block for the Southern struggle for civil rights.

In 1948, the Rev. T.J. Jemi-son arrived at this church from his hometown of Selma, Ala. Jemison’s father, the Rev. David

V. Jemison, served as pastor of Sel-ma’s Tabernacle Baptist Church, a launching point for the famed Selma-to-Montgomery march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When the younger Jemison as-sumed his role at Mt. Zion, the church was a decaying wooden

structure. The young, vigorous reverend took on the project of rebuilding it -- and in doing so, the web of segregation began to tear apart.

“This ground right here is the base for the integration of buses in the South,” recalls Jemison, during a recent tour of the church. He speaks calmly and precisely, with the soothing tone that earned him a reputa-tion as one of the South’s great-est orators. (Just last week, at age 89 and amid rumors of declining health, he gave a sermon fittingly titled “A Victorious Faith.”) He is steady and calm in his recollec-tions, only interrupting himself once to shout, “Take your cap off!” to a young man entering the building sporting a Philadelphia 76ers cap. The youngster quickly obliges. “We began building the church in 1953, and I would stand out front and watch the people lay bricks and so forth,” Jemison continues. “I didn’t think

about building anything except the church at first. But we saw the buses heading into south Baton Rouge, filled with people standing behind rows of empty seats. These people had been out all day working in other parts of the city. They were cleaning up for our white neighbors, doing their cooking, and were on their way home. I just thought it was terrible they couldn’t sit down.” Fifty years later, Jemison’s deter-mination is being celebrated as a pivotal moment in the struggle against segregation. The success-ful Baton Rouge bus boycott pre-dated Brown v. Board of Educa-tion by one year and the widely recognized Montgomery bus boycott by two years. In his book Stride Toward Freedom, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that Jemi-son’s “painstaking description of the Baton Rouge experience proved invaluable.” This week-end, scholars, activists and Civil Rights veterans converge on Baton Rouge to honor the bus boycott’s 50th anniversary. In addition to the weekend’s many events, Loui-siana State University’s T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History has established a new Web site (www.brbusboycott.org), which includes an oral history of the boycott. The conference’s orga-nizing committee has founded the Rev. T.J. Jemison & Rev. James L. Stovall Oral History Teacher Fellowship Program to recruit teachers to study the boycott’s history and raise awareness in the community. Organizers say the need to honor and document the boycott is more acute then ever. Facts blur in the aging minds of those few key players still living. More documentation is needed. Plus, the event provides the op-portunity to examine conflicting stories and lingering questions: Did King actually visit or just call Baton Rouge immediately after the boycott? Who deserves credit for organizing the boycott?

Among some veterans, this last question is especially contentious.

The Baton Rouge bus boy-cott officially lasted only eight days -- but was months in the making. In early 1953, the Baton Rouge city-parish council voted to raise bus fares. The move an-gered African Americans who

comprised 80 percent of bus ridership and paid full fare, but were forced to sit or stand be-hind the first 10 seats -- whether they were filled or not. On Feb. 11, 1953, Jemison spoke before the council to denounce the fare increase and ask for the end of the practice of reserving seats for whites. The council voted unanimously on Feb. 25 to cre-ate Ordinance 222, which upheld segregation but allowed blacks to board the bus starting at the back, and whites to board starting at the front. Ordinance 222 was initially applauded in the black community as it allowed more room for sitting when the bus was majority black, which was typically the case. However, Ordinance 222 went unenforced. In early June 1953, Jemison tested the new law by sitting in the white section. The driver asked him to move. He refused, and the driver steered the bus directly to the po-lice station. An officer boarded the bus but sided with Jemison. This incident and others like it provoked the all-white drivers to strike in protest of Ordinance 222 on June 15. Four days later, state Attorney General Fred LeBlanc declared 222 unconstitutional, ruling it violated the state’s seg-regation laws, and the drivers returned to work. After the attorney general’s ruling, black leaders formed the United De-fense League (UDL) and sued the City of Baton Rouge in state court to desegregate the buses. On July 19, during the legal maneuver-ings, Rev. Jemison announced on radio station WLCS that a boycott would begin the next morning, with a “free ride” system to be established to transport people as needed. Horatio Thompson, the African-American owner of several Esso gas stations, donated gas at-cost to drivers who gave free rides in their own cars, and the first day of the boycott en-joyed an 85 percent drop in bus ridership. By the third day of the boycott, the buses were 99 per-cent empty. During the boycott, the UDL held nightly meetings at churches and other locations. The organization was negotiating a deal with the council to preserve the essence of 222, but still keep the buses segregated, with the first two seats reserved for whites, and the back bench reserved for blacks. On June 24, a huge crowd gathered at Memorial Stadium. Jemison declared the boycott was over. Although many protesters wanted to push the boycott fur-ther and end the segregationist policy, the majority approved of the compromise. “People still want to know why I didn’t push further, and take King’s path toward ending all segregation,” Jemison says. “That wasn’t my interest. I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps, and become president of the National Baptist Convention, which I did in 1982. King accomplished so much for people; as his good friend, I sup-ported and backed him the whole way. But I chose to stay focused on the church, not the whole coun-try.” Willis Reed tells a differ-ent boycott story. “People often attempt to position themselves as leaders in the black community, but they’re not real leaders,” says Reed, during an interview in his office at the Baton Rouge Post, a free weekly African-American newspaper where Reed, at 89, still serves as editor, owner and sole reporter.

Reed’s office is cluttered with piles of loose papers and multiple pictures of both Bill Clin-

The Origin of the First Bus Boycott Happen in Baton Rouge, LouisianaBlack History

See boycott, on page 5

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BaTOn ROUGE, La – This February, in celebration of Black history Month, cox will offer a special category in the On Demand menu that profiles the contributions of african americans in american history, film, music and television. The special collection of program-ming is available to cox Digital cable customers On Demand through February 28.

From music, to documen-taries, movies, comedies and more – cox Digital cable cus-tomers can access this special category of programs by tuning to cox channel one. From there, choose Movies, then the Black cinema category for a lineup of hit movies, or choose FreeZ-

one and then Black Experience for programming from some of the most popular networks including E!, BET, cnn, Food network, Fuel TV, hBO, hGTV, history channel, investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Logo, MTV, national Geographic channel, nick, showtime, spike, starz, sundance channel, TcM, Travel channel and Vh1.

“cox’s On Demand li-brary allows our digital cable customers a chance to explore many genres of programming related to the Black Experience at their own convenience, with most titles available for free,” said colleen Levy, vice president of Marketing. “We’re happy to offer our customers easy access

to culturally relevant content, all with the power of On De-mand.”

in addition, The Black cinema category is premier-ing during Black history Month and will remain a category on a monthly basis. The category features some of the most ac-claimed, award-winning and in-fluential films created by or fea-turing the most celebrated black directors, actors and themes. Prices for the films range from $1.99 to $5.99. Examples of mov-ies available include:

• Spike Lee’s brutally hon-est “Do the Right Thing,” (1989) and the powerful Malcolm X (1992)

• Steven Spielberg’s heart

wrenching “The color Purple” (1985) and historical “amistad” (1997)

• Ed Zwick’s harrowing “Blood Diamond” (2006)

• Denzel Washington’s multi-award-winning “antwone Fisher” (2002)

• Taylor Hackford’s musi-cal homage to Ray charles, “Ray” (2004)

• Tyler Perry’s comical “i can Do Bad all By Myself” (2007)

additional information and programming details can be found at www.cox.com/louisiana.

Please contact ann Ruble at 225.237.5141 (office) or 225.317.1807 (cell) ann.ruble@cox.com for more information

cox offers Black History Month Programs on Demand

By D. H. Stepter

While the tax filing dead-line is more than three months away, it always seems to be here before you know it. here are the internal Revenue service’s top 10 tips that will help your tax filing process run smoother than ever this year.

start gathering your records Round up any documents or forms you’ll need when filing your taxes: receipts, canceled checks and other documents that support an item of income or a deduction you’re taking on your return.

Be on the lookout W-2s and 1099s will be coming soon from your employer; you’ll need these to file your tax return.

Try e-file When you file

electronically, the software will handle the math calculations for you. if you use direct deposit, you will get your refund in about half the time it takes when you file a paper return. E-file is now the way the majority of returns are filed. in fact, last year, 2 out of 3 taxpayers used e-file.

check out Free File if your income is $57,000 or less you may be eligible for free tax preparation software and free electronic filing. The iRs partners with 20 tax software companies to create this free service. Free File is for the cost conscious taxpayer who wants reliable question-and-answer software to help them prepare a return. Visit iRs.gov to learn more.

consider other filing op-

tions There are many different options for filing your tax return. you can prepare it yourself or go to a tax preparer. you may be eligible for free face-to-face help at an iRs office or volun-teer site. Give yourself time to weigh all the different options and find the one that best suits your needs.

consider Direct Deposit if you elect to have your refund directly deposited into your bank account, you’ll receive it faster than waiting for a paper check.

Visit iRs.gov again and again The official iRs Web site is a great place to find every-thing you’ll need to file your tax return: forms, tips, answers to frequently asked questions and updates on tax law changes.

Remember this number: 17 check out Publication 17, your Federal income Tax on iRs.gov. it’s a comprehensive collection of information for taxpayers highlighting everything you’ll need to know when filing your return.

Review! Review! Review! Don’t rush. We all make mis-takes when we rush. Mistakes will slow down the processing of your return. Be sure to dou-ble-check all the social security numbers and math calculations on your return as these are the most common errors made by taxpayers.

Don’t panic! if you run into a problem, remember the iRs is here to help. Try iRs.gov or call our customer service number at 800-829-1040.

top 10 Good tax time tips for 2010

nEW ORLEans- Blue Runner Foods started its new “cans for Fans” effort in order to raise its younger customers’ social consciousness and help them find a way to get involved in supporting haiti in its time of need.

Richard Thomas, Presi-dent of Blue Runner Foods, wanted to find a simple way for his customers to help the people of haiti.

“after what we have been through with our own natural disasters, we knew the people of Louisiana would want to find a way to make their own contri-bution. We thought this would be a simple way for anyone to

make his or her own individual effort,” he said Jan. 26, the day the project began.

Blue Runner beans and rice are an ideal food for disaster relief because of their durable packaging and shelf-stability in harsh conditions.

For more information on the “cans for Fans” effort, please become a fan of “Blue Runner Foods” on Facebook or visit the company’s Web site, www.bluerunnerfoods.com.

GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1.877.770.STOP1717 River Road North • 225.709.7777 • 1.800.447.6843 • www.hollywoodbr.com

Blue runner Foods using Facebook to help Haiti with “cans for Fans”

ton and Edwin Edwards -- “two favorites of mine,” Reed says. The paper, with a 5,000 circulation, is an endeavor that Reed says “leaves me a poor, tired man.” in 1994, the Louisiana Press as-sociation recognized his efforts by inducting him into the “50-year club.”

Reed, who is among the participants at the anniversary celebration, contends he is the primary force behind organizing for the boycott, having founded in late 1952 the First Ward Voters League, a group that he says pre-dates Jemison’s UDL by “months and months.” it was the First Ward Voters League, Reed says, that held the first organizational meeting to protest the segregated bus system. he recalls the illegal gathering at the all-black capital high school was not allowed by the school’s principal. The group got in the school by elevating a small boy through an open win-dow in the back. “it was in that auditorium, on that night, that i introduced Rev. Jemison to Baton Rouge,” Reed says.

The First Ward Voters League has several events planned to mark the 50th anniversary out-side of the conference events, and Reed has printed hand-outs bearing the motto “set the Re-cord straight.” in addition to his work at the newspaper, Reed also worked for the federal civil Rights commission, including a stint

examining the racial policies of public schools in Bogalusa. he says the civil Rights-era struggles are relevant, though often misunderstood: “There’s no way in the world to make you feel how we felt back then. We worked against a system created against us. We had police officers looking for any excuse to smack a stick across our heads. you can not talk about this enough. People can’t be reminded enough.”

When asked about Reed’s charges, Jemison demurs. “i’m not going to comment on what he said about me and the bus boycott,” he says. “it’s too late in my life now to be contradic-tory. Willis Reed was a mem-ber of my church. he’s a good man, and did a lot of good for the people, and i won’t say anything to take all that away from him now.”

Boycott from page 4

WashinGTOn -- Mo-torola inc. reportedly has revised its plan to break it-self up and may combine its cable set-top business with its wireless-phone unit before spinning them off into a sepa-rately traded company.

The Wall street Jour-nal reported Wednesday that schaumburg, i l l . -based Motorola /quotes/comstock/13*!mot/quotes/nls/mot (MOT 6.62, -0.01, -0.15%) is close to unveiling its new strategy after an ex-tensive review of its existing plan. Previously, the company had been expected to sell its networking division, which includes the set-top busi-ness, and spin off the wire-less unit.

attaching the set-top business to the wireless-phone unit could make it easier to spin off the mobile division, a proposal Motorola

first announced in 2008. yet the company was forced to delay the move after wireless sales and profit tanked and the economy entered a deep recession.

With the economy slowly recovering and Motorola’s handset unit apparently on the mend, a spin-off seems more realistic. Motorola co-chief Executive sanjay Jha said last month that the wireless business would turn profitable again by the fourth quarter.

in the past few months, the company has released a slew of new phones based on Google’s android software, including the brisk-selling Droid, and it’s sharply cut costs in preparation for a spin-off. Jha, a former Qualcomm inc. executive, is slated to run the handset business once it

Motorola revamping Plans to Break up

See Motorola, on page 7

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Page 6 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, February 11, 2010

Religion

Sunday Morning Worship - 10:45 AMLord’s Supper -3rd Sundays

Sunday School - 9:30 AMPrayer Service - Wed. @ 6:00 PM

Bible Study - Wed- @ 7:00 PM

Mission Statement: New Hope Baptist Church is a family of baptized believers who worship the Lord our God in spirit and in truth, teach the saved to reach the lost and minister to the needs of others, while encouraging one another through acts of love and living in obedience to Gods Word

New Birth Full Gospel MiNistries

1283 Rosenwald Road • Baton Rouge, La. 70807Phone: (225) 775-6713 •

Fax: (225) 775-4216ivory J. payNe, pastor

order oF serviceSunday Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 A.M.Holy Communion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3rd Sunday1:00 P.M.Sunday School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:00 A.M.Bible Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thursday 7:00 P.M.

“THe NeW LiFe”Therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold

all thing are become new. —I Corinthians 5:17

NEW HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH5856 Greenwell Springs Road • Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70806

Telephone: (225) 926-0246 • Facsimile: (225) 927-8500 • Toll Free # 1-888-700-6174

E- Mail Address # nhbc@nhbc.brcoxmail.com

Pastor Leo D. Cyrus Sr., Pastor

Sunday Morning Worship - 10:45 AMLord’s Supper -3rd Sundays

Sunday School - 9:30 AMPrayer Service - Wed. @ 6:00 PM

Bible Study - Wed- @ 7:00 PM

CHurCH SCHeduLe

Mission Statement: New Hope Baptist Church is a family of baptized believers who worship the Lord our God in spirit and in truth, teach the saved to reach the lost and minister to the needs of others, while encouraging one another through acts of love and living in obedience to Gods Word

Good Shepherd Full Gospel B.C.The People’s Church

2865 Mission Drive • Baton Rouge, 70805 • Telephone (225)356-5873Bishop H. Hayes, Pastor

Hour of Power 12 NooN eacH wedNesdaySunday School 8:00 AMChurch Service 9:00 AMLord’s Supper 2nd Sunday 6:00 PMBible Study Wednesday 7:00 PMSister/ Brotherhood 6:00 PM

you will Be Blessed uNder THe aNoiNTed MaN of God

St. Mary Baptist Church“The Church that Love Built”

1252 N. Acadian Thruway East • Baton Rouge, LA. 70802

Telephone (225) 387-2926Rev. Conway L Knighton, Pastor

Sunday School 9:30 a.m.Worship Service - 11:00 a.m.

Lord’s Supper - 1st Sunday 11:00 a.m.Prayer Meeting - Wednesday 6:00 p.m.

Bible Study - Wednesday 7:00 p.m.Thursday 10:00 a.m.

Greater Central People Baptist Church9012 Scenic Highway • Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70807

(225) 241-9946

Sunday School .............................................................. 7:30 a.m.- 9:00 a.m.Church Service ............................................................................... 9:00 a.m.Lord’s Supper ............................................................ 4th Sunday, 9:00 a.m.Prayer Meeting ......................................................... 6:00 p.m. WednesdayBible Study.............................................. 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Pastor, Bishop John ThomasCo-Pastor Evangelist Barbara Thomas

JESuS NaME aPoSToLiC TEMPLE, iNC.2548 Weller Avenue

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70805Telephone: (225) 356-1160

Communion 1st Sunday ........................ 1:00 p.m.Sunday School ................. 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.Bible Class Tuesday ...............................7:30 p.m.Mission Night Thursday .........................7:30 p.m.Deliverance Night Friday .......................7:30 p.m.

BishoP JiMMiE & RosE LEE WADE

Church Directory

If you would like your church to be included on the Church Directory. Please Call The Baton Rouge Weekly Press for details at 225-775-2002 or, e-mail us with your billing address to thewpres@bellsouth.net

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. - Hebrews 10:25

thewpres@bellsouth.net Radio Broadcast 1st & 3rd Sunday WXoK at 8:00 am

Shekinah Shalom Covenant Tabernacle Full Gospel Ministry

8141 Greenwell Springs Roads Building C-1Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70814

Ph: (225) 927-2269

Sunday Service 10:00 a.M.Wednesday Midweek 7:00 P.M.

intercessory Saturday 10:00 a.M.

Dr. audrey Briggs, Pastor

By DonalD lee

When the Rev. Michael Horne, senior pastor at Believer’s International Church in Arling-ton, Texas, stepped into the pul-pit Sunday morning (Jan. 31) to deliver an in-season Word from God to the 100-plus members and guests gathered, there was one thing in particular that he wanted everyone to understand.

God only blesses faith in action.

“What inspired me to seek God concerning the Word on Sunday morning is the fact that during the time when there is a famine in the land, people hold back on their seed, but at the same time they are believing God for a visitation,” said Horne, or “Pastor Mike,” as his flock affectionately calls him.

“And God is coming to per-form what He said he would, but if there is no seed in the ground in your obedience toward Him, then where is the increase going to come from?” said Horne, who, using the 13th chapter of Mat-thew as his guide, preached from the subject “What Is Your Seed? Where Is Your Seed?”.

“Because we know that, biblically, God works through seed time and harvest,” Horne, 39, said, adding that “seed” is represented by the people of God paying their tithes, giving offer-ings and helping others in need. “And because of the pressures of trying to maintain, we have allowed the enemy to rob us of our season.”

“God is going to send the former and the latter rains to your season, but if you don’t have any seed in the ground, what’s going to get watered? If there is no seed, there is no increase,” said Horne, whose storefront

church he co-pastors with his wife, Proph-etess Wanda Horne, is located at 2001 E. Divi-sion St., Suite 123.

The Rev. Michael Horne wanted every-one within the sound of his voice to clearly understand that it’s not enough to just sow a seed.

“In order for you to sow seeds, they have to be sown in faith. Sometimes there’s a faith and trust issue,” the Rev. Michael Horne said. “And we have allowed our situations to rob us of our faith because we’re in survival mode.

“And since we’re in survival mode, we’re holding on to what we have and the end result is that’s all we’re going to have, and not increase,” he said.

The Rev. Michael Horne’s message hit home with many sitting in the pews of the multi-ethnic church.

“The message today gave me encouragement,” said 57-year-old Dottie Anderson, who is white and one of a good mix of members at Believer’s International who is of a non-African-American ethnicity.

“Pastor Mike’s an excel-lent minister. I’ve been to a lot of churches, but when I walk into Believer ’s International, the Lord is always there,” Ander-son said, noting that the message reinforced an age-old practice of hers. “I’ve been a seed sower for years and years, and, yes, God has answered many of my prayers (because of it).”

Labron Mason, 35, and his wife, Valerie Mason, 48, are al-ways expecting a powerful move of God when they fellowship with other members and their

pastors at the 3-year-old church.

“I am a big be-liever in giving service time and Word as well as financial seeds,” La-bron Mason said. “As he said, I believe the rain is now and I’m ac-tually seeing my seed being watered and it is really wonderful to see the favor that God has placed on my life

as a result.”Pastors Michael and Wanda

Horne’s vision for Believer’s In-ternational Church centers on positioning the ministry and the gifts and callings within the people to operate at a kingdom level and to think outside of the box. Their goal is always to reach the lost souls and disciple them and nurture them in God and nurture the gifts that God has placed on the inside of them and to help them to reach their full potential in God.

“We’re tired of the normal routine of church and our goal in this up and coming season is to take the church outside of the box,” the Rev. Michael Horne said. “We’re believing God for revival within our youths in our community as well as the kingdom. We’re more interested in healthy growth rather than numbers.”

Prophetess Wanda Horne said God is causing blessings to rain down on those who are making kingdom principles ap-plicable to their lives.

“When you think about the kingdom of God, we think about how last season will be more like the former. In that for-mer season (in 2009), we had a few people come to Christ, but it wasn’t what we were looking

for,” Prophetess Wanda Horne said, noting that the church is believing God for an increase in souls to whom they can wit-ness. “We had just enough to get us over. I believe in this new season, 2010, that God is going to bring the outpouring of His Spirit, which is going to bring an explosion of souls into the body of Christ.

“Remember, as Pastor Mike talked about, seeds from his harvest in relation to the souls. Think about seeds in the ground that fail to germinate. Who can get the latter rain? It would be wasteless on seeds that fail to germinate,” Prophetess Wanda Horne said. “We must first un-derstand that a seed needs water to germinate. And the water is a representation of the Holy Spirit and once the seed germinates, it grows. And just before harvest time, a healthy rain, a dose of the Holy Spirit makes all the dif-ference between a lukewarm, mediocre crop and a vibrant, healthy and mature crop sealed with goodness.”

Believer ’s International Church holds service at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays. Bible study and family night are at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. For more informa-tion about Believer’s Interna-tional, please call (817) 548-0022 or visit the church Web site at http://www.believerschurchint.com.

For churches, businesses and other organizations look-ing to promote your vision and would like to inquire about the Rev. Donald Lee’s public rela-tions/promotional writing ser-vices, please call the Rev. Lee, a pastor and free-lance colum-nist-reporter, at (225) 773-2248 or e-mail him at pastordonjlee@yahoo.com.

Arlington, Texas Pastor’s Message About Sowing Seeds Aimed at Preparing Congregation for Great Blessings

BATON ROUGE - The Greater St. James Baptist Church located at 1919 Arizona Street pastored by Reverend Willie J. Finister invites all la-dies to attend their 5th Annual Pre Valentines Musical Male Chorus Round Up. Featuring

some of Baton Rouge’s finest male chorus that will be taking place on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

For more information, please contact Brother Arthur Ray Thomas at (225) 344-3228 or 938-7424.

The 5th Annual Pre Valentines Musical

BATON ROUGE - The Voices of Zion Gospel Chorus would like to invite the public to their 22nd Annual Post-New Years musical. This year the musical will be honoring Mr. Donald Ray (FATS) Johnson with the Richard Sterling, Jr. Award for Excellence in Di-rectorship.

Mr. Johnson is one of the leading guitarist in the state of Louisiana. He is a member of the LightHouse Gospel Sing-ers of Baton Rouge and serves as guitarist for several local churches. He is currently in the hospital and they want to show their love and ap-preciation for his service to

the Lord. They are inviting local

groups, choirs, and dance min-istries to come out and be a part of this worthwhile event to honor one of their very own, while celebrating the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This year’s musical will take place on Saturday, Feb-ruary 27, 2010 at the Greater Saint James Baptist Church located at 1919 Arizona Street and it pastored by Willie M. Finister at 7:00 p.m.

If you require additional information, please contact Dorothy Perkins at (225) 753-7375 or Curtis Morris at (225) 927-7883.

Voices of Zion Gospel Chorus, Inc. to Host Their 22nd Annual Post-New Years Musical

DonaldLee

Reverand H MartinPRAYeR SeRViCeWeDNeSDAY 12:005013 WiNDFALL COURTBATON ROUGe, LA. 70812FOR DiReCTiON CALL 225-358-8100We are seeking Prayer Warriors and SingersRemember Acts: 16,25-26

Thursday, February 11, 2010 • The Weekly Press • Page 7

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BATON ROUGE - South-ern University jump started its Capital Area Heart Walk cam-pus campaign with a kick-off meeting recently in the Dean’s Conference Room of Fisher Hall on the Baton Rouge campus.

Paula Dawson, Regional Vice President of the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk, spoke to the group about the importance of raising funds for the American Heart Associa-

tion. Abigail Lacy, Heart Walk Director of the American Heart Association’s Greater Southeast Affiliate, made a presentation on how to recruit walkers and raise funds for the campaign.

The group also discussed fundraising ideas such as a lunch and a t-shirt sale.

All funds raised by the uni-versity will be donated to the American Heart Association.

Attending the meeting

were LaKeeshia D. Giddens, SU Capital Area Heart Walk Campus Campaign Coordina-tor, Earl Lee, Rhonda Robinson, Graylin Hammond, Jocelyn B.

Lewis, Christina Crump, Pa-mela Lee, Juanita Horton, Tony Moudgil, Robbie Robinson, Patricia Coleman and Dedria London.

Southern Holds Capital Area Heart Walk Kick-off Meeting

From left, LaKeeshia D. Giddens, SU Heart Walk Campus Campaign Coordinator, Paula Dawson, Regional Vice President of the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk, Abigail Lacy, Heart Walk Director of the American Heart Association’s Greater Southeast Affiliate, Juanita Horton and Christina Crump pose for a photo after Southern’s Capital Area Heart Walk kick-off meeting on Jan. 21. Southern is planning several events to raise funds for the Capital Area Heart Walk, set for March 27, at LSU’s Old Front Nine. Photo courtesy of SU Office of Media Relations.

Thursday, March 6, 2008 • The Weekly Press • Page 7

health

Land Line (225) 356-0703Cell Phone (225) 235-6955E-mail: Goodshepherdbapt@bellsouth.net Hours: Mon-Thurs 8am – 8 pm

Good Shepherd Substance Abuse CenterIntensive Outpatient / Inpatient TherapyFor Drugs, Alcohol, Anger Management

Rev. Donald Britton, MA, LAC Clinical DirectorBishop Harris Hayes, Overseer

2873 Mission Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70805 (225) 315-0740

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Dr Paul Matthews

Visit Us Online @www.theweeklypress.com

cally pointed out that changes which occur in a human being is redirected to pull from the core of his own humanity to reaffirm self worth and purpose. he will then by nature acquire the will to do for himself and others.

Space is not available to cover concerns of so many people

concerned with the conditions at Jetson. it is happening there. What i do know is that most of these youth can be changed, from contrition in a prepatory school for Angola to rehabilitation for a positive life that may lead to a life of meritorious glory. That is the Way I See It!

SyStem from page 4

all funny or remotely appropri-ate about the use of a lynching reference about Michelle obama,’’ he said. ‘’it’s - i’m speechless.’’

As President Bush pointed out so eloquently during the Black history Month event, the noose represents ‘’more than a tool of murder but a tool of intimidation’’ to generations of African-Ameri-cans. Nooses not only robbed some of their lives but many of their peace of mind.

‘’As a civil society, we must understand that noose displays and lynching jokes are deeply offensive. they are wrong. And they have no place in America today,’’ he said.

Neither o’reilly nor ingraham has been reprimanded by their re-spective employers even though the Fox News personality did offer a half-hearted apology.

At least ingraham didn’t drop the l-word but her suggestion that Sharpton, a former presidential candidate and respected member of the African-American community and beyond, is a petty thief reeks of race-baiting and negative ste-reotyping of African-Americans and black men in particular.

But it’s hardly the first time ei-ther has ventured into questionable and offensive territory. how can

we forget o’reilly’s less-than-informed comments regarding a dinner he shared last year with Sharpton at Sylvia’s in harlem? o’reilly expressed surprise over how similarSylvia’s was to other restaurants in New York restau-rants.

‘’there wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, i want more iced tea,’’’ he said.

As the Washington Post’s rob-inson sadly observed on MSNBC in February, ‘’All you can go by is his words and his actions. And he keeps saying these things that sound pretty darn racist to me.’’

has talk radio learned anything from imus’ decline and fall? of course not, because it didn’t take imus too terribly long to get a new gig.

our nation’s media outlets should not provide a platform for racialhostility and hateful speech now or in the future. What kind of messageare we sending to our chil-dren, our nation and our world?

in such an historic election year, we cannot stand aside and allow individuals to use the airwaves as an outlet for insensitive and misguidedcommentary. if you hear something that offends you, speak up.

talk Radio from page 4

ering all children.the CDF Action Council, build-

ing on the best practices in states and lessons learned about children falling through the bureaucratic cracks of Medicaid and SChiP, strongly urged Congress to enact the All healthy Children Act, S. 1564/h.r. 1688, introduced by representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) in the house and Senator Bernie Sanders (i-Vt) in the Sen-ate. the measure would provide comprehensive benefits including dental and mental health, simpli-fied bureaucracy, and a national eligibility plan for families up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. We thank the 62 house co-sponsors for their support. how-ever, we regret that neither a single house republican nor any other Senator joined them to push for coverage for all children.

the CDF Action Council strongly supports long overdue health cov-erage for everyone in America as soon as possible—because children cannot wait. As SChiP comes up again for reauthorization in early 2009, we hope every Member of Congress will insist on covering every child and pregnant mother now by enacting and adequately funding the provisions of the All healthy Children Act.

Specious claims that we could not find the money—$70 billion over five years—to cover all children is belied by that amount spent in eleven months for tax cuts for the top one percent of richest Americans and in seven months for the iraq War. We do not have a money problem in America: We have a priorities and political will deficit. it is time for all adults to protect the health of our children.

the citizens of the nation must demand that our leaders free our children from the false ideological and political tugs of war among those who put excess profits ahead of children’s lives.

how well did Congress protect children in 2007? Not well enough: 276 Members of Congress had good CDF Action Council Con-gressional Scorecard scores of 80 percent or higher, and 198 of those had stellar scores of 100 percent. But 231 members scored 60 percent or lower—a failing grade from our school days.

Whether Members of Congress are liberal, conservative or mod-erate; Democrat, republican or independent, children need all of them to vote, lobby, speak for and protect them. Adults need to listen carefully to what candidates say they will do for children and fami-lies and, once they are in office, we need to hold them accountable. Please thank your Members of Con-gress with scores of 80 percent or above and let those with scores of 60 percent or below know you are dissatisfied with their performance. And please convey that same mes-sage to each presidential candidate. We must demand that our leaders commit to children as a condition of our vote.

Marian Wright Edelman is Presi-dent of the Children’s Defense Fund and its Action Council whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

ChildRen from page 4

(NAPSM)-A survey commissioned by two leading health organizations found that although two out of three African Americans (61 percent) ex-pressed concern about developing heart disease and two out of five (40 percent) expressed concern about developing Alzheimer’s, only about one in 20 are aware that heart health is linked to brain health.

the Alzheimer’s Association is joining forces with the American heart Association to educate African Americans that by managing their cardiovascular risk, they may also strengthen their cognitive health.

“What’s good for your heart is good for your brain,” says Jennifer Manly, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Associa-tion spokesperson. “every healthy heartbeat pumps about one-fifth of your blood to your brain to carry on the daily processes of thinking, prob-lem solving and remembering.”

“By the year 2030, the number of African Americans age 65 or older is expected to more than double to 6.9 million,” said emil Matarese, M.D., American heart Association spokes-person. “Although Alzheimer’s is not part of normal aging, age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. So it is important that Af-rican Americans take steps now to decrease their risk of heart disease, which research has shown could also decrease the risk of cognitive decline.”

Did You Know?• Compared to the general public,

African Americans have a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and vascular dementia.

• More than 40 percent of African Americans have high blood pres-sure (hBP) and are at risk for stroke, which can lead to greater risk for developing Alzheimer’s or other vascular cognitive dementias.

• every year, more than 100,000 African Americans have a stroke.

• having high cholesterol increases the risk for stroke and may increase the risk for Alzheimer’s.

Manage Your Risks• Watch the numbers. remember

that desirable blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmhg. Keep your body weight in the recommended range and make sure that the total choles-terol is less than 200mg/dL.

• healthy lifestyle choices include staying mentally and physically ac-tive, staying socially involved, reduc-ing your intake of fat and cholesterol and not smoking.

Visit www.alz.org/heartbrain or call the American Stroke Associa-tion, a division of the American heart Association, at (888) 478-7653 or the Alzheimer’s Association at (800) 272-3900 and you’ll receive a bro-chure with heart and brain health information and a free pedometer, while supplies last.

What’s Good For Your Heart Is Good For Your Brain

Research shows a link between heart and brain health, which means impaired heart function could lead to impaired brain function.

apart. You must continue to hold on to your faith and stay before the Lord. But, it may be that the time has come when you may need to take some quality time for yourself and spend some of that time with God.

Get on your knees before God and tell him of how you are feel-ing inside. And maybe the words wont come out exactly as you wish but you can have a good weeping, wailing crying falling, out tantrum and give all those problems to him.

While you are praying, you might forget some of the things that vexed you but God knows what you are going through. he can read the pain, which flows through your tears. even though he knows what’s troubling you, he still wants to tell him about it and bring your problems and burdens to him.

therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hands of God, that he may exalt you in due time, “casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you,”(1st Peter 5:6-7).

After you finished having your tantrum. You may have a stopped up nose and swollen eyes and mucus running down your lip and dried tears on your face, but you’ll feel better after emptying yourself of those things which had been heavy on your heart.

Sometimes we go for weeks or months trying to take matters into our hands and try to solve our own problems. We are not super humans; we can’t handle every-thing alone. We need God’s help. We have to let go of those situ-ations and let God handle them. there are some things we can’t humanly do anything about.

tantRum from page 6

(NAPSi)-here’s an alert worth paying attention to: According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), learning your risk for type 2 diabetes could save your life.

Diabetes is a serious disease that strikes nearly 21 million children and adults in the U.S. it is named the “silent killer” because one-third of those with the disease--more than 6 million--do not know they have it.

For many, diagnosis may come seven to 10 years after the onset of type 2 diabetes. early diagnosis is critical for successful treatment and can delay or prevent some of the complications such as heart diseases, blindness, kidney disease, stroke and amputation.

that’s one reason the ADA holds the American Diabetes Alert® Day, a one-day wake-up call to inform the American public about the serious-

ness of diabetes, particularly when it is left undiagnosed and untreated. the day is held on the fourth tuesday of every March.

on that day, people are encour-aged to take the Diabetes risk test, either with paper and pencil or online. the risk test requires users to answer seven simple questions about age, weight, lifestyle and family history--all potential risk factors for diabetes. People scoring 10 points or more are at a high risk for type 2 diabetes and are encouraged to talk with a health care professional.

An estimated 54 million Ameri-cans have pre-diabetes. those with pre-diabetes have blood glucose lev-els higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

early intervention via lifestyle changes such as weight loss and

increased physical activity can help delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Among the primary risk factors for type 2 diabetes are being over-weight, sedentary, over the age of 45 and having a family history of diabetes. African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific islanders are at an increased risk, as are women who have babies weighing more than 9 pounds at birth.

the Diabetes risk test is avail-

able in english and Spanish by call-ing the ADA at 1-800-DiABeteS (1-800-342-2383) or online at www.diabetes.org/alert.

though the Alert is a one-day call to action, awareness about type 2 diabetes is important anytime of the year, so free Diabetes risk tests are available online and by calling ADA all year long.

A free Diabetes risk test is avail-able all year long to determine the risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Could You Be At Risk?

Free Cancer ScreeningsNo appointment required for most screenings.

If you do not have a doctor and have not been screened in the last 12 months, these cancer screenings are available to you for free.

Presented as part of the comprehensive Cancer Program

of Our Lady of the Lake and Mary Bird Perkins. Screenings

made possible by donor gifts.

(225) 215-1234 (888) 616-4687

Breast Cancer ScreeningTuesday, March 1110am – 12pm & 1pm – 4pm

LSUHSC Mid City Clinic1401 N. Foster DriveBaton Rouge

Colorectal Cancer ScreeningThursday, March 1310am –2pm

Wal-Mart2171 O’Neal LaneBaton Rouge

Breast Cancer ScreeningTuesday, March 185pm – 7pm (Appt required)

Woman’s Hospital9050 Airline HighwayBaton Rouge

Prostate and ColorectalCancer ScreeningsWednesday, March 2610am –2pm

Ed Price Building Materials7835 Airline HighwayBaton Rouge

In Partnership With:

Our Lady of the LakeWoman’s HospitalYWCA Encore Plus

LSU Hospitals Health Care Services Division

Breast Cancer ScreeningFriday, March 1410am – 12pm & 1pm – 4pm

Leo S. Butler Community Center950 E. Washington StreetBaton Rouge

Colorectal Cancer ScreeningMonday, March 1710am –2pm

Brusly Town Hall601 S. Vaughan StreetBrusly

Have You Been Screened?(ROCKVILLE, MD – New

research published in a recent edition of the American Jour-nal of Audiology, a journal published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing As-sociation (ASHA), reported that cardiovascular health positively impacts hearing over time, par-ticularly among older adults.

Growing older can con-tribute to decreased hearing acuity; however, age is only one of many factors that contrib-ute to the decline. The study, conducted by ASHA member Kathleen Hutchinson, Rachael Baiduc, and Helaine Alessio, reports evidence that cardio-vascular fitness has a protective role in hearing loss prevention. Other health and fitness deter-minants, body composition,

blood pressure, and blood lipids displayed no significant relation to hearing sensitivity, whereas muscle strength was inversely related.

A common explanation of how cardiovascular fitness may influence hearing is through the effect on blood circula-tion, especially to the organs and muscles on the inner ear, in particular, the stria vascularis in the cochlea. Metabolism and blood flow are directly related to the vascular pattern of the cochlea.

The research findings ap-peared in the January 19, 2010 edition of ASHA’s American Journal of Audiology. The entire article can be read at http://aja.asha.org/cgi/rapid-pdf/1059-0889_2009_09-0009.

New Research Gives New Meaning To The Phrase “Listen To Your Heart” With Heart Health Comes Hearing Health

becomes independent.In 2009, the mobile division

generated $7.1 billion in sales, down from $12.1 billion in 2008. The profitable set-top business totaled about $4 billion in sales last year.

Removing the set-top busi-ness from the networking divi-sion could also make it easier to sell it. Aside from cable boxes, the networking division also makes equipment for wireless cell tow-ers, among other things. The two product lines aren’t particularly compatible.

If Motorola proceeds with its latest plan, the main company would keep the brand name and sell specialized radios and related equipment to governments and public-safety organizations.

In 2009, the so-called Enter-prise Mobility business posted net income of $1.1 billion on sales of $7 billion.

Shares of Motorola rose 9 cents Wednesday to close at $6.63. The stock fell slightly in after-hours trading.

As jobless Americans lost private health insurance cover-age and joined the Medicaid rolls during the recession, U.S. health spending jumped 5.7 percent to $2.5 trillion in 2009, government projections show.

That means that American taxpayers will foot the bill for more than half of U.S. health care expenditure by 2012, the report’s authors said.

Overall, health care’s share of the gross domestic product (GDP) -- a measure of the value of goods and services produced in the United States -- climbed 1.1 percentage points to 17.3 percent in 2009.

That’s the largest one-year increase since 1960, when officials began tracking total U.S. health care spending, analysts noted in a report published online Feb. 4 by the journal Health Affairs.

“This is certainly a very steep rate of growth for health share of GDP,” said Christopher J. Truffer, an actuary in the Cen-ters for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Office of the Actuary and one of the authors of the report.

Health care’s rate of growth eclipsed the rate of overall eco-nomic activity in the nation, with GDP tumbling 1.1 percentage points to $14.3 trillion in 2009.

Spending by public payers outpaced private health care spending in 2009, driven by sharp increases in Medicaid enrollment, up 6.5 percent, and spending, up 9.9 percent, the report found.

Overall, the numbers re-flect both faster public health spending growth, tied to Med-icaid, and slightly faster private health spending growth, but at fairly low levels compared to his-tory, Truffer explained. “So the impact of the recession is being seen in the private health spend-

ing growth,” he said.Health spending by

private payers in 2009 grew just 3 percent to $1.3 trillion, restrained by a 1.2 percent decline in private health insurance enrollment. That decline occurred despite an increase in federal subsidies to support “COBRA,” the continuing health coverage that workers who were en-rolled in their employer’s health plan may purchase after they’re laid off.

Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, which rep-resents Fortune 500 compa-nies and large public-sector employers that provide health coverage for more than 50 million workers, retirees and family members, said the impact of the recession on the number of unemployed who lost their health coverage “is especially disturbing.”

She said there is a press-ing need to control health care costs and grow the economy.

“It is a great concern that health care spending contin-ued to rise so sharply when the GDP declined,” Darling said. “The nation cannot af-ford the very expensive health care system we have.”

Government to Pay for More Than Half of U.S. Health Care Costs

Motorola from page 5

3875 Florida BoulevardBaton Rouge, Louisiana 70806

Phone: (225) 344-6044Fax: (225) 344-65651-(800)-838-1804

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Diane Andrews

Page 8 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, February 11, 2010

You think you know East Baton Rouge Parish Schools?

E A S T B AT O N R O U G E S C H O O L S

B

East Baton Rouge Schools E A S T B A T O N R O U G E S C H O O L S

E A S T B A T O N R O U G E S C H O O L S

East Baton Rouge Schools

WE’LL MAKE YOU THINK

THINK AGAIN!

Every EBR Parish

high school offers

Honors or Advanced

Placement courses.

In 2009, our District

Performance Score

increased by 5.7 points.

East Baton Rouge

Parish public schools led

the state in National Merit

Semifinalists in 2009.

For the fourth consecutive

year, the EBR Parish School

System has been recognized for

a Blue Ribbon School by the

U.S. Department of Education.

THINK EBR SCHOOLS.COM

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Other News

Courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.

Work hard, stay out of trou-ble, and you will succeed. These words reflect the up-by-the- boot-straps philosophy of American society. It is a noble creed, but one that is followed inconsistently. In many instances, hard work is viewed with suspicion; success is perceived as a threat.

That scenerio applies to Louisiana’s celebrated regi-ment of black men during the

Civil War: the Native Guards. The story of the Native Guards began with their enrollment as part of the Louisiana militia and ended with their participation in the civil rights movement during Reconstruction. As a militia unit, the Native Guards paraded with Confederate troops and sought to contribute to the Southern cause in other ways. After the fall of New Orleans, many of the officers and some of the men embraced the Old Flag by forming the first officially-sanctioned black regi-

ment in the Union Army. Dur-ing the war, the Native Guards fought at Port Hudson, Mansura, and Mobile. They also guarded prisoners, built fortifications, and contributed to the Union war effort in numerous other ways. Their service in the Union Army was as honorable as it was con-troversial. When the war ended, veterans of the Native Guards entered a third phase of their unusual career when they took up the struggle for black civil rights.

The war and its aftermath provided the men of Louisiana’s Native Guards with the opportu-nity to earn the right to be treated as equals in a free society. How-

ever, at every turn their attempt to achieve equality was rebuffed. The Confederate authorities used them to counter northern propa-ganda, but never intended to let them fight. The Union Army let them fight, but made them dig ditches when their capacity for fighting became evident. During reconstruction, whites accepted them for their labor, but repudi-ated their quest for equal rights. Pawns of three governments, the men of the Native Guards worked hard and did their duty, but as one of their officers wrote to his mother from Port Hudson in April 1864, “Nobody really de-sires our success[,] and it’s uphill work.”

The Louisiana Native Guards’ StorySchool for black soldiers and freedmen at Port Hudson, Louisiana

The Native Guards began with their enrollment as part of the Louisiana militia and ended with their participation in the civil rights movement during Recon-struction.

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