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Vol. 39 No. 31 Website: theaustinvillager.com Email: vil3202@aol.com Phone: 512-476-0082 December 16, 2011

RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’Tommy WyattTommy WyattTommy WyattTommy WyattTommy Wyatt

Africans Demand Climate Justiceat U.N. Confab in Durban

Special to the NNPA fromthe Global Information Network

Dec. 6 (GIN) - As the U.N.climate change conference inDurban draws to a close, thou-sands of Africans, internationalactivists, and various environ-mental groups held marches forjustice, organized workshopsand held side conferences innearby areas.

On Saturday, dubbed the“Global Day of Action,” demon-strators urged politicians world-wide to take serious actionagainst climate change.

”We are asking for 100percent change. Today will bethe beginning of a strong move-ment that is going to challengethe rich nations of the world,”said local leader Desmond D’Sa.

”This is not a dress re-hearsal,” added Kumi Naidoo,director of Greenpeace Interna-tional. “Those who are not in-terested in saving lives, econo-mies and environments, like theU.S., must now stand aside andlet those with the political willmove forward.”

Meanwhile, climate nego-tiators from more than 190 na-tions were meeting at the InkosiAlbert Luthuli InternationalConvention Center to advanceprogress on earlier climate ac-cords such as the Kyoto Proto-col, the Bali Action Plan, and theCancun Agreements.

Amidst all the activity, en-vironmentalist Nnimmo Bassey,executive director of Environ-mental Rights Action in Nigeria,assessed the possible outcomesof the world conference in aninterview with Amy Goodman ofthe news show Democracy Now.

“We came to Durban hop-ing that the rich, industrialized,

polluting nations will for oncestep up and take responsibilityby making a commitment to cutemissions at the source, not bycontinuing pollution and thenbelieving that carbon stockselsewhere in the world will off-set their polluting activities,”said Bassey.

He sounded a note ofscepticism. “From what we’veseen over the past week, thereis no chance that we’re going tohave any kind of agreement thatwill show any level of serious-ness that will indicate that poli-ticians understand that this is aplanetary crisis and not just anopportunity to do business orto pat each other on the back.”

On the U.S. proposal tobegin regulating toxic emissionsin 2020, Bassey respondedgrimly: “Eight years from now isa death sentence on Africa… Forevery one-degree Celsiuschange in temperature, Africa isimpacted at a heightened level.So this is very much to be con-demned.”

Zaid Shopeju, executivedirector for Youth Vision Alli-ance Network, a youth-led orga-nization based in Lagos thatempowers youths with leader-ship skills, added: “For over 20or 30 years, the government hasbeen protecting the polluters tothe detriment of the people …These are people that are mess-ing up the livelihood, the life ofpeople living in this place. Andour government is not standingup for us. So it’s high time thatwe, as youths and concernedcitizens, need to rise up to thisoccasion.”

“We have to step up, andwe are doing that already,” saidShopeju.

Global Day of Action (Photo courtesy of Zukiswa Zimela for IPS)

By Hazel Trice Edney(TriceEdneyWire.com) -

Ofield Dukes, the public relationsmogul known as a powerfulmover and shaker in Washingtonpolitical circles, is rememberedthis week - not only as a nationalPR giant - but as a champion forthe Black Press.

“He was a remarkable, ex-traordinary individual whosepresence will be missed beyondmeasure. He was probably theleading advocate of the BlackPress and was one of the greatpioneers,” said Danny BakewellSr., immediate past chairman of theNational Newspaper PublishersAssociation, the Black Press ofAmerica, which Dukes servedfaithfully for decades. “He wasalways there when we asked himto do something. His legacy willbe a light of truth and courageand undaunting pursuit of equal-ity for Black people measuredthrough the eyes of the BlackPress.”

Dukes died Wednesday,Dec. 7, at Henry Ford Hospital inDetroit, where he started his ca-reer as an award-winning colum-nist and editorial writer for theMichigan Chronicle from 1958 to1964. He had returned to his homeof Detroit in the latter part of thisyear, suffering with multiple my-eloma, a blood cancer that affectsthe bones. He was 79.

“While Ofield’s accom-plishments and accolades are var-ied and plentiful over the past four

Ofield Dukes, Dead at 79, Remembered asChampion for the Black Press

decades, the best adjective I canbestow upon him is true and loyalfriend who was like a brother tome,” said John B. Smith Sr., pub-lisher of the Atlanta Inquirer andtwo-term NNPA Chairman, a fetethat he attributes to Dukes’ sup-port. “I will never be able to re-count the many times we dis-cussed various issues pertainingto the Black Press of America andhis foresight and aptitude was al-ways on point...Ofield was amongthe premiere communicationsstrategists you could ever find.”

A viewing was set for 9a.m.-9 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 13,at the James H. Cole FuneralHome Northwest Chapel at 16100Schaefer Highway in Detroit. The

funeral was set for 11 a.m.Wednesday, Dec. 14, at Taber-nacle Baptist Church, 2080 W.Grand Blvd. in Detroit with inter-ment at Woodlawn Cemetery,19975 Woodward Ave. For moreinformation on arrangements:Naomi R. Patton, 313-223-4485 ornpatton@freepress.com.

A Washington, D.C. memo-rial service is being planned forWednesday, January 11.

Richmond Free Press Edi-tor/Publisher Raymond H. BooneSr., who has known Dukes for 50years, remained in touch with himduring his final months.

“We remained in constant

See Dukes page 7

In this NNPA Summer Conference 2006 photo, Ofield Dukesreceives an award from then NNPA Foundation Chairman BrianTownsend and NNPA Chairman John B. Smith Sr. in appreciation forhis years of service to the Black Press of America. The Conferencewas in Detroit that year.

UT Hosts Fifth Annual CommunityLeadership Awards at the Carver

The University of Texas atAustin honored three organiza-tions and five individuals foroutstanding work in educationand public service at the FifthAnnual Community LeadershipAwards Ceremony at the CarverMuseum and Cultural Center onTuesday, December 13. Theevent was co-sponsored by theOffice of the President and theDivision of Diversity and Com-munity Engagement.

UT President Bill Powersand Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, vicepresident for diversity and com-munity engagement presentedThe Austin Alumnae Chapter ofDelta Sigma Theta Incorporated,Town Lake Links Incorporatedand the National Forum forBlack Public Administrators –Central Texas Chapter with Com-munity Partnership Awards.

Dr. Meria Carstarphen,superintendent of Austin Inde-pendent School District; Mr.Albert Hawkins, retired execu-tive commissioner of TexasHealth and Human Services; Mr.Michael McDonald, assistantcity manager for public safetyservices, City of Austin; and Mr.

Marc Ott, city manager for theCity of Austin were eachawarded a Community Leader-ship Circle Award.

Mr. Michael Lofton,founder and executive directorof the African American Menand Boys Harvest Foundation,was honored with the JuneBrewer Legacy Award.

Dr. Gregory Vincent said,“It is with great pleasure that wehonored some of theuniversity’s strongest commu-nity partners. All of the organi-zations and individuals wererecognized for exceptional con-tributions to have to the educa-tion of our children or to out-standing public service.”

(Top photo) The honorees and the crowd gathered for the presentation by UT President Bill Powers and,UT Vice President Gregory Vincent (center left) Anthony Snippes accepts for NFBPA, (center right)Gwen Greene accepts for Deltas, and (bottom) Town Lake Chapter of Links accept as a group. Staff photo.

AfricanAmerican

students beingleft out of the

Dual LanguageImmersionprogram.

The Austin IndependentSchool District Board of Trust-ees voted to approve five AnnualAcademic and Facility Recom-mendations, including expand-ing dual language immersionprograms, addressing over-crowding in North Central el-ementary schools and creatingan in-district charter tostrengthen graduation path-ways. One of the very severe omis-sions that I notices the expan-sion of dual language immer-sion programs to four additionalschools, but none of theseschools are attended by a pre-dominantly Black student body.The language that is being putin this time is Chinese. The U.S. State Department has listedChinese as a critical languagefor our global economy. Does this mean that AfricanAmericans will not play a rolein the global economy? Or ifthey do, will they be the onlypeople in the room speakingEnglish? I went to Taiwan (theRepublic of China) more than20 years ago and was delightedto see that the Chinese Midmanagement level employeeswere being taught the socialgraces of America. At oneevent, I experienced these youngexecutives learning the mostcommon dance techniques. They were learning thedances that were being taughtat the Arthur Murray Studio(they were very popular duringthat time) around the country.Many of them were very de-lighted to be learning thesedances and were looking for-ward to coming to America topractice what they had learned.At one point members of ourparty joined in to add our flavorto the different dances. It appears that the only wayfor Black children to take ad-vantage of the dual languageprograms is to transfer to theschools that are teaching them.However, that may not be pos-sible, if the district limits thenumber of transfers that will beaccepted each year. At the rate we are going, wewill be the only ones speakingEnglish in this country. The one-way Chinese dual language im-mersion programs are to be es-tablished at Doss elementaryand two-way Spanish dual lan-guage immersion programswill be at Blanton, Casey andGalindo elementary schools. From a personal point ofview, I did not speak english wellwhen I finished high school. Ibecame a better englishspeaker by studying French. Adual language instruction couldhelp all of our students.

The Villager & Black Registry Company

Baylor star wins 77thHeisman Trophy

Robert Griffin III beat outpreseason favorite AndrewLuck for the Heisman Trophy,dazzling voters with his abilityto throw, run and lead Big 12doormat Baylor into the na-tional ranking.

The junior quarterbackknown as RG3 became the firstHeisman winner from Baylor onSaturday night by a comfortablecushion over the Stanford star.

Griffin started the season

on the fringe of the Heismanconversation, a talented and ex-citing player on a marginal team,while Luck was already beingtouted as a No. 1 NFL draft pick.

Draft day might very wellstill belong to Luck, but Griffindiverted the Heisman to Waco,Texas, to a school that hasnever had a player finish betterthan fourth in the voting - andthat was 48 years ago. See fullstory page 5.

EDITORIALS/COMMENTARYTHE VILLAGER Page 2 ~ December 16, 2011 www.theaustinvillager.com

When a Child Kills Himself: Bullying and itsConsequences

By. Julianne MalveauxNNPA Columnist

I hope you watched Ex-treme Home Makeover on Decem-ber 2, as I did. For me it was anopportunity of pride, as Bennettstudent Dominique Walker wasfeatured, with her family, for a tripto Los Angeles, and a home up-grade. Why? Because her familyremained in pain because their 11year old brother killed himself af-ter vicious bullying.

Carl Walker-Hoover washazed because folks thought hewas gay. He was bothered, bul-

lied, and besieged. He tried to talkto folks, but he eventually foundout that no one wanted to hearwhat he had to say. He hung him-self at home, and the familyavoided his b3edroom becausethey were in pain.

Our pain. The child wasbullied and badgered and hecouldn’t take it. He was like morethan 1 in 6 young people who saythat bullying is part of their life.Many manage, and many man-age by becoming bullies them-selves. Many don’t manage.They are left out, dropped out,worn out, pulled out with par-ents so oblivious to the effectof bullying that they think it isjust a childhood thing. A gameyoung people play with eachother. Not.

The worst of it is that theInternet compounds what usedto be simple schoolyard chat-

ter. Now, young people put ru-mors and nonsense intocyberspace about each other.And cyberspace doesn’t simplywhisper, it yells. Young people’sreputations are on the line be-cause bullying has taken on anInternet space.

Carl Walker-Hoover, an 11year old, was “outed” as gaywhen at 11 he probably was onlydifferent. Young people decidedto play with him in the worstway, picking at him and on himand around him and throughhim. One day he awakened andtold himself he couldn’t take itanymore. Now his life can be ourlight and his family can be asymbol against bullying.

What is it about us, hu-man beings that allow us to bat-ter each other? Does it make us

feel better? Do we grow whenothers shrink? Do we flourishbecause they shrivel? While wepay lots of attention to yo0ungpeople and their bullying,shouldn’t we also pay attentionto the adult among us, thosewho thing that we gain becauseothers lose, we rise becauseothers fall, we use our tonguesin a way to diminish, not flatter?As I watched the pain of thewalker family on Extreme HomeMakeover, I realized that per-haps few meant harm, but manycontributed to the utter tragedythat family had to manage.

We are all indebted toABC and the Extreme Makeoverteam for deciding to help thisfamily. They remind us that painand passion reverberate. I saylots of ads following the spe-

cial, and into the next few days,of young people talking aboutthe effects of bullying. CarlWalker-Hoover’s suicide puts aface on bullying and reminds usthat there is a possibility of ananti-bullying movement. Theads tell the story, but can thepeople tell more?

Here’s the bottom line. Wehave all been bullied, one wayor another, with a friend or col-league with a vicious, uglymouth. And because we haveall been bullied, we have all beenbullies in our space. Humanityrequires us to understand thatthe behavior we model is behav-ior that young people replicate.It requires us to understand thateveryone can’t meet a bully, faceto face, eye to eye, and resistthe nonsense that can be called

hazing.For whatever reason, Carl

Walker-Hoover could not standup to his bullies. He had enough.He shared how much of enoughhe had with his suicide. Whoknows what he might have been– an author, a scientist, a leader.When he died he was a youngblack man whose life spread outbefore him, a life he chose to endbecause he could not endure bul-lying. How many more lives willwe lose? How can we learn tovalue every life, and to kick bully-ing to the curb?

I am so proud that Carl’ssister, Dominique, is a Bennettstudent. We hope to use herknowledge to help us grapplewith the many ways we chooseto hurt ourselves. She is a survi-vor of this bullying nonsense, asso many are. She is one of theleaders we have been waiting for!

The Obama Blueprint for Re-Election

By George E. CurryNNPA Columnist

With the next election 11months away, President Obamahas begun sharpening his popu-list message and drawing a sharpcontrast between his vision forAmerica and the Republican al-ternative.

Obama’s speech last weekin Osawatomie, Kan. provided anexample of how he plans to at-tack his Republican opposition.

“There is a certain crowdin Washington who, for the lastfew decades, have said, let’s re-spond to this economic challengewith the same old tune. ‘The mar-ket will take care of everything,’they tell us. If we just cut moreregulations and cut more taxes –especially for the wealthy – oureconomy will grow stronger. Sure,they say, there will be winners andlosers. But if the winners do re-ally well, then jobs and prosper-ity will eventually trickle down toeverybody else. And, they argue,even if prosperity doesn’t trickledown, well, that’s the price ofliberty…That theory fits well on

a bumper sticker. But here’s theproblem: It doesn’t work.”

President Obama realizesthat it will not be sufficient to sim-ply portray his Republican chal-lenger as hawking a discreditedeconomic theory while he high-lights economic inequality. In aninterview that aired Sunday nighton the television program “60Minutes,” Steve Kroft asked:“Why do you think you deserveto be re-elected? What have youaccomplished?”

Without hesitating, Obamareplied, “Not only saving thecountry from a Great Depression.Not only saving the auto indus-try. But putting in place a systemin which we’re going to start low-ering health care costs and you’renever going to go bankrupt be-cause you get sick or somebodyin your family gets sick. Makingsure that we have reformed thefinancial system, so we neveragain have taxpayer-funded bail-outs and the system is more stable

and secure. Ending Don’t Ask,Don’t tell. Decimating al Qaeda,including Bin Laden being takenoff the field. But when it comes tothe economy, we’ve got a lot morework to do. And we’re going tokeep at it.”

It would be a serious mis-take to think that Obama canmatch his 2008 numbers in theupcoming election. Don’t forgetthat his 53 percent of the popularvote was the largest share a presi-dential candidate had attained in20 years.

In his “60 Minutes” interview,President Obama acknowledgedthe economy could be a stumblingblock to his re-election.

“We’ve gone through an in-credibly difficult time in this coun-try,” he said. “And I would besurprised if the American peoplefelt satisfied right now. Theyshouldn’t be satisfied. We’ve gota lot more work to do in order toget this country and the economymoving in ways that benefit ev-erybody, as opposed to just a

few.”The electoral contest be-

tween Obama and the eventual Re-publican nominee begins almosteven, with the president holding 186votes in his core states and the GOPcontrolling 191. As always, the out-come will be largely determined bywhat happens in the 12 battlegroundstates.

Changing demographicscould work to Obama’s advantage.“The six Midwest/Rust Belt states(Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio,Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) areall marked by slow growth and by arelatively small and slow-growingpercentage of voters from commu-nities of color,” according to theCenter for American Progress reporton electoral votes titled, “The Pathto 270: Demographics versusEconomics in the 2012 Presiden-tial Election.”

It continued, “These statesare projected to average around15 percent minority voters in 2012,ranging from a low of 10 percentin Iowa to a high of 21 percent in

Pennsylvania. But this relativelysmall base of minority voters issupplemented for Democrats byfairly strong support among thesestates’ growing white college-graduate populations, who gaveObama an average 5-point advan-tage in 2008.”

The three Southwestswing states – Colorado, Nevadaand New Mexico – have experi-enced a significant increase invoters of color, primarily Latinos.Their projected non-White elec-torate is expected to average 36percent, ranging from 21 percentof the electorate in Colorado to52 percent in New Mexico.

In the three New Southswing states – Virginia, North Caro-lina and Florida – there is both goodnews and bad news for the presi-dent. The good news is that votersof color are expected to comprise 31percent of the electorate. The badnews is that unlike the Southwest,White college graduates in theSouth favor Republicans overDemocrats.

As Obama strategists care-fully craft his re-election, it is obvi-ous that the plan includes resistingefforts to depict him as a weak presi-dent.

When asked in a news con-ference about Republican chargesthat his foreign policy is one of ap-peasement, President Obama re-plied: “Ask Osama bin Laden andthe 22 out of 30 top al Qaeda leaderswho were taken off the field whetherI engage in appeasement. Or,whoever’s left out there. Ask themabout that.”

More Faces of Child Poverty

Would you recognize apoor child when you saw one?Nine-year-old Carolyn Latimoreand her sister Aalijah, eight, arebeautiful little girls with big smileson their faces. But Carolyn,Aalijah, and their older brother,Robert, 17, of Middletown, Ohio,fell into poverty when their par-ents divorced. They’ve lived infour places in the past four yearsincluding a chaotic housingproject where their bikes and toyswere stolen. Their mother, Chris-tine Allen, works nights and goesto a junior college but escapingpoverty is mighty hard in a reces-sion.

Pulitzer Prize-winning re-

By Marian Wright EdelmanNNPA Columnist

porter Julia Cass, on assignmentfor the Children’s Defense Fund,met Christine and her family ear-lier this year. Three-quarters ofpoor children have a working par-ent. Christine began her adult lifeat a disadvantage: no high schooldiploma. She got married andworked. For ten years, she was anursing assistant, earning $10 to$15 an hour. “I was doing per-sonal care for the elderly and Iworked in a lot of Alzheimer’sunits,” she said. Her husband was“making pretty good money” withovertime as a cook in a Bob Evansrestaurant. “We had a little house.We didn’t have to worry aboutbills being paid and food in therefrigerator.” But things changedafter their divorce.

Christine’s experiencesover the past four years are typi-cal of some of the realities of theworking poor. One is the natureof the work itself—frequentlyphysically demanding, sometimesunpleasant, often not fulfilling,and always poorly paid. Bathingand changing elderly people dayafter day, year after year, she said,

“takes its toll”—but after that job,she found herself stuck in a se-ries of other jobs that paid evenless: at a gas station, bowling al-ley, fast food restaurant. It tookher a month, she said, to save$100 for the deposit on an apart-ment in a housing project and twomore years to get out of subsi-dized housing and into her cur-rent house—a well-kept place ina somewhat rundown neighbor-hood. At one low point sheslipped on ice, broke her wrist, andlost her job at a nursing home. Asa consequence she lost the carshe was still paying on. When herwrist healed she rode a bicycleuphill across town to a part-timejob at a Burger King. Christine de-cided at that point she had to goback to school in hopes of doingbetter for her children.

Christine completed herGED and got a Pell Grant and stu-dent loan to study administrativemedical assisting at the local jun-ior college. Through a temporaryagency she got a job at a nearbyfactory where she earns $8.15 anhour. Although her hours have

been irregular, they made it pos-sible for her to go to classes inthe morning. But now the irregu-lar job she can’t afford to give upis getting in the way of the edu-cation which could lead to a bet-ter one: she’s down to her lastsemester of classes but thecourses she needs run until fiveo’clock and she starts work at2:30. She said the school told hershe could do the courses online“but I don’t have a computer, andI can’t afford the Internet. That’sanother bill!”

On the morning Julia Cassmet them, the girls were up at 7:30,getting dressed and collectingtheir school supplies. Theirbrother had already left. None ofthem ate breakfast. “There’s nomilk in the refrigerator right now,”Christine said. “It’s horrible to saythat. No milk for cereal. But theyget breakfast and lunch at schoolso I don’t have to worry aboutthem being hungry.” “Sometimeswe have granola bars, and everyday we have chocolate milk andorange juice,” Aalijah said.“Sometimes we don’t get orange

juice; we get peaches. And some-times we get those little boxes ofcereal.”

They aren’t the only fam-ily struggling in Middletown,which has steadily lost factoriesand population. Through a U.S.Department of Agriculture pro-gram, Family Services ofMiddletown distributed 26,500lunches in parks this summer soMiddletown children wouldn’tgo hungry while school was out.Millions of children are not solucky in the summer. While al-most 32 million children havelunch provided to them duringthe school year, only 2.3 millionchildren benefit from summerfeeding programs. Federal sum-mer feeding programs have beenplagued by state bureaucracyand need to be simplified rightnow. Not only can child hungerduring long summer months bestaunched, high quality summerlearning programs can staunchsummer learning loss which wid-ens the achievement gap be-tween poor and nonpoor chil-dren. Our nation needs to attend

to the summer feeding needs ofchildren because hunger doesnot stop when school is out.And summer feeding programscan create jobs for cooks andbus drivers and others.

“One of my main goals isto show my kids that you can getout there and make it,” Christinesaid. “Without an education, youcan get nothing. I tell my kids thatevery day. I want them to be bet-ter than Mom.” But for now,Christine and her family remainamong the nation’s working poor.As her children know, schoolbreakfast and lunch programswork. Summer feeding programswork. We have good safety netprograms that work when peopleneed them, and we have to makesure every child who could ben-efit from these programs getsthem as hardworking parents likeChristine continue struggling toget back on their feet during theslow recovery. Help for poor par-ents and children should be pro-tected before tax breaks forwealthy corporations and million-aires.

Is all of this about Texas?

Harry C. Alford NNPA Columnist

The Obama Administra-tion has been making some veryconfusing decisions on seriouseconomic issues. Sometimes itis hard to find logic in any of it.Here are just a few, but big, ex-amples.

BP, a British firm, had aprominent oil rig burst into thebiggest oil leak in United Stateshistory. Almost instantly theAdministration claimed a mora-torium on any offshore oil drill-ing in the entire Gulf of Mexico .This caused instant unemploy-ment for hundreds of thousandsworkers and suppliers. Most ofthose victims are based in thestate of Texas . Texas , that statethat is strongly Republican anddid not vote for the candidateBarack Obama. The moratoriumis now over but there has beenonly one new permit granted

since that time. Many of the rigspacked up and moved else-where such as offshore Brazil .“Salt” in the wounds wouldcome when President Obama se-cured a $1.2 billion US loan(EXIM Bank) for one of thosetransplanted offshore well inBrazil . He even told the Brazil-ians that the US will become thebest customer for their oil.

NASA, the agency whichled the world in space explora-tion, is about to go through asizeable reduction. Much of theactivity and commerce related toNASA is located in the South-east Texas area ( Houston ). Yes,“ Houston there is a big prob-lem” and it will amount to morethousands of jobs and com-merce going away forever.There was more “Salt” put onthe wounds of Texans. The re-

tired space shuttles will beplaced in museums in variouscities. Houston , the linchpin ofthe space activity, was omittedfrom the venue list. How canNew York City get a shuttlewhen it never had a thing to dowith space exploration? Hous-ton should have been the num-ber one selection. In fact, theyshould have at least two of them.Somebody surely hates Texas .

AT&T, the largesttelecom company in the world,announced a proposed mergerwith T-Mobile. This mergermakes a lot of sense. T-Mobileis a German based company andthe merger would bring manythousands of new jobs to ournation – mainly union payingjobs. Texas probably would getthe lion’s share of the new jobs.Broadband deployment in

underserved communities hasbeen guaranteed in the pro-posal. It is the best news of thelast two years and a win, win,and win for everybody. ButNOOO!!! The Administrationthrough the FCC is fighting thismerger with a vengeance. I havenever seen such viciousnesscoming from a federal regulatoryagency in my life. Why is thishappening? Perhaps it has to dowith the fact that AT&T is aTexas based corporation.

There is another great op-portunity for job growth duringthis recession. That is the XLKeystone pipeline. The numberone importer of oil to the UnitedStates is our friendly neighbor tothe north – Canada . The XL Key-stone proposal will construct apipeline, similar to the one inAlaska , from the Canadian oil

fields through various states inour Plains and all the way to theTexas Gulf Coast . Besides thehundreds of thousands of jobs,many union paying jobs, the costof oil will get under control andprevent any more increases.Again, Texas would probably getthe lion’s share of jobs. Also, thepipeline would run through thestate of Oklahoma . Not onecounty in the state of Oklahomavoted for Barack Obama at thelast election. That probably reallyworked them up also. This admin-istration is stone walling on theapproval of the pipeline.

Despite all of this detrimen-tal action against the people ofTexas, the state is still leading thenation in growth and economicmight. More jobs have been cre-ated in Texas in recent years thanNew York, California and Michi-

gan combined. Houston , Dallas ,San Antonio and other cities lo-cated in Texas are models for howlarge cities should be managed.It is pretty much the envy of thenation right now. That thought isprobably adding “gasoline” tothe fire of anger and offensive ac-tions by the White House. Per-haps they should be reminded ofthat great saying: “Don’t Messwith Texas ”!

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Sunday School 8:45 a.m. Praise and Worship 10:15 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Study 12:00 p.m.and Praise /Bible Study 6:30 p.m.

(to include Children’s Choir Rehersaland Bible Study with age appropiate Activities)

Rev. Jack C. Gause Pastor

Ebenezer Baptist Church1010 East 10th Street 512-478-1875 Fax: 512-478-1892

Sunday ServicesWorship Service 8:00 A.M.Sunday School 9:00 A.M.Discipleship Training 10:00 A.M.Worship Service 11:00 A.M.

WednesdayMidweek Prayer Service 7:00 P.M. Child Development CenterAges 0-5 years (Daily) 512-478-6709

Rev. Rodney L Swisher,B.A., M. Div., Interim Pastor

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Agape Baptist ChurchIn “The Centre” Bldg. F-15 7801 N. Lamar Blvd. (SE Corner of N Lamar and 183)

AGAPE is a chuch for all people. “Where Jesus Christ is Magnified and the love He exhibitedis Exemplified.” Come, receive God’s unconditional lovefor you. For there is no greater love!

Church ServicesSunday School 9:30 AMSunday Worship 11:00 AM

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JOSHUA CHAPEL CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

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Sunday ServicesSunday School 10:00 A.M.Worship Service 11:00 A.M.

WEDNESDAY Bible Study 6:30 P.M.SATURDAY New

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AFRICAN ASSEMBLIES of GODCHURCH

The Church of Glad Tidings 2700 Northland Dr. Austin, TX 78756For more information, contact Pastor Jonah Ghartey

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Place of Worship

Come worship with us

Sunday Worship 11:30 A.M.Wednesday Prayer Meeting 6:45 P.M.

St Annie A.M.E. Church1711 Newton StreetAustin, Texas 78704

Voice mail (512) 444-4509E-mail: saamechurch@peoplepc.com

Church School 9:30 A.M. SunMorning Worship 10:45 A.M. Sun

Bible Study 7:30 P.M. Sun.

Rev. Derwin D. Gipson, Pastor

Advancing the Ministry -Expanding the Church

Imani Community ChurchDavis Elementray Auditorium 5214 West Duval Road

Sunday School 9:00 A.M.Worship Service 10:00 A.M.•Power Hour Bible Life Group 6:00 P.M.

Imani Complex & Office,11800 Mustang at Duval Austin, Texas 78727

Visit:imanichurch.comOffice: 512-343-9300Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Donald-Mims

Rosewood Avenue Missionary Baptist Church1820 Rosewood Avenue, Austin, Texas 78702

(512) 476-8201 Fax (512) 476-5693

Weekly ServicesSunday School 9:30 a.m.

Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.Wed. Night Bible Fellowship 6:30 p.m.

Rev. Coby Shorter, IIIPastor

The Spencer & Ora Lee Nobles“Hope Center” (512) 476-6722

Websi te :www.rosewoodbaptistchurch.org

Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church 5900 Cameron Road Austin, Texas 78723-1843

(512) 451-0808 (512) 302-4575 Fax Web Site - www.themount.net

WORSHIP SERVICESSunday Worship - 7:45 a.m. & 11 a.m.Church School - 9:45 a.m.Bible Studies - Mon, 6:30 p.m. & Wed., 12 noonWednesday Night Worship - 7 p.m.

“Ministries For Mankind” Luke 4:18

A.W.. Anthony Mays, Senior Pastor

Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Chruch1701 Chestnut Avenue Austin, TX 78702

Church Phone (512) 476-0838

Morning Worship Service @ 11 a.m.Sundays @ 9:00a.m.- Sunday schoolSunday @ 10:00am Bible Study Monday @ 6:30 pm Bible Study Mid-Week Service each Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., where there is Prayer, Praising, and Preaching going on. Come and worship with us!!!

Rev. Ralph H. Daniels, Pastor

Serving Austin since 1970Let us Fill your next Perscription!

SAVE TIME

*Ask your doctor to call your prescription in to usand we’ll have it ready for you when you get here!

CHURCH & TOWN BULLETINwww.theaustinvillager.com

The public is invited tothe Rehoboth Baptist ChurchAnnual Christmas Program ,“Jesus is the Reason for theSeason” Party, and Feast onSunday, December 18th at 5 pm.

The program will consistof intergenerational, seniorsaints, young adults, children,holiday skit , Christmas

Rehoboth Baptist ChurchChristmas Program

speeches, praise worship,praise dancing, spiri tualawareness, and dinner.

Rev. R.A. Hendricks isthe Pastor, located at 5303Samuel Houston Ave., Aus-tin, TX 78721 (512) 926-1265.Rehoboth is “The Church onthe Hill Endeavoring to doGod’s Will”.

The Ebenezer Drama Min-istry will present the production“Angels We Have Heard OnHigh,” Sunday, December 18, at4 p.m. at the church located at1010 East 10th Street. Admissionis free and the public is invitedto attend.

“Angels We Have HeardOn High,” will include skits andmusic that will tell the greatChristmas Story from the view-point of the angels that wit-nessed the birth of Jesus Christ.The cast and musicians will in-

Ebenezer Drama MinistryPresents “Angels We Have

Heard On High”clude talented members ofEbenezer.

In addition, to the pro-duction, there will be be a re-ception in the Fellowship Hall.This production will be a greatway to celebrate the true spiritof the Christmas Season.

For more information callthe church office at 512-478-1875. The Ebenezer BaptistChurch has been serving theAustin Community for morethan a century. Rev. RodneySwisher is the Interim Pastor.

On Wednesday, December 7, the Capital Area Food Bankreceived a trailer full of H-E-B long grain rice as part of H-E-B’scontinuing efforts to prevent hunger in Texas. The donation wasvalued at $27,000 and tips the scales at 39,600 lbs. Statewide, amajor food donation valued at $250,000 (322,800 pounds) of staplefood has been made by H-E-B for the Holiday Season to 15 FeedingAmerica Food Banks.Pictured from left to right: Joanna Linden,Chief Development Officer, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas; HankPerret, President and CEO, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas; LeslieSweet, Director, Public Affairs, H-E-B and Charlie Ward, Chief Oper-ating Officer, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.

JEC

The City of Austin Office ofHomeland Security and Emer-gency Management (HSEM)kickedoff a year-long celebrationof its 30th anniversary with a Pub-lic Safety Open House December15 allowing the public a rare lookinside the Austin/Travis CountyEmergency Operations Center.

The third annual event willincluded a tour of the facility aswell as tips on emergency pre-paredness that could save aperson’s life.

The free open house wasfrom 3 to 6 p.m. at Emergency Op-erations Center, 5010 Old ManorRoad. HSEM, in cooperation withthe Travis County Office of Emer-gency Management and severalother partners, will host a series ofevents throughout the upcomingyear leading up to the grand 30th

anniversary celebration next De-cember.

Homeland Security andEmergency Management kicksoff 30th anniversary celebration

The Office of EmergencyManagement (OEM) was createdin response to the tragic Memo-rial Day flood in 1981 that killed13 people. Then-Mayor CaroleKeeton McClellan and the Aus-tin City Council approved an or-dinance Dec. 9, 1982, that di-rected OEM to develop andimplement an emergency pre-paredness plan for the city.

Since then, the office —now known as the Office ofHomeland Security and Emer-gency Management — hastaken proactive steps to protectthe Austin community during,before and after emergencies ordisasters.

For more information, con-tact Austin HSEM at (512) 974-0450 or visit www.austin hsem.com. Follow HSEM on Facebookat www.facebook.com/DisasterReadyAustin.

The Agape BaptistChurch Family cordially invite allto its Miracle of Christmas Cel-ebration, Friday, December 16,2011 at 7:00 p.m. Reverend ElvinTyrone, Pastor of the Little ZionBaptist Church, Manor, Texaswill deliver the Miracle Message.

The Miracle of Christmas Service atAgape

This will be a candlelight service.Agape is located at 7801 NorthLamar Blvd. , Bldg F-15 on theSoutheast Corner of NorthLamar and 183. Pastor H. EdCalahan and the Agape Familyinvite all to come and receiveGod’s unconditional love.

Resources available tostudents, employees who wantto quit smoking

AUSTIN, Texas (Decem-ber 13, 2011) – All Austin Com-munity College District cam-puses and facilities will besmoke-free beginning January 2.In order to help students andemployees comply with the newpolicy, the college is makingsmoking-cessation resourcesavailable.

ACC is partnering with theSeton Tobacco Education Re-source Center to offer free ces-sation classes. The next six-weeksession begins January 10 atHighland Business Center; theprogram is open to students andemployees as well as employees’spouses and dependent chil-dren age 18 and older.

“ACC understands thechallenges faced by people whowant to stop smoking,” says Dr.

ACC Smoke-Free PolicyTakes Effect January 2

Mary Hensley, executive vicepresident of college operations.“We are committed to providingsupport and making our stu-dents and employees aware ofresources that can assist them.”

ACC is already smoke-free inside buildings. The newpolicy, approved by the boardin October, also prohibits the useof smoke-producing tobacco oncollege grounds and in ACC-owned vehicles. Signage withreminders about the change willgo up over winter break.

Visit the Human Re-sources webpage for additionaldetails about the tobacco edu-cation classes and other cessa-tion information.

MERRYCHRISTMAS

ANDHAPPY NEW

YEAR!

nd

THE VILLAGER Page 4 ~ December 16, 2011 www.theaustinvillager.com

YOUTH BRIGADEYouth of Today

Hope of Tomorrow

Managing campaigns for corporationsaround the clock, around the world.

Jaylon KnightenDailey Middle School

Marshay HatcherPflugerville High School

Olivia SmithLockhart H.S.

Tori Smith, Lockhart Junior High School

Darius HatcherPflugerville Middle School

Adrian JacksonPflugerville High School

By Deria Good

Dailey Middle School

Rickey HayesManor New Tech HS

Jaquarry WilsonDel Valle High School

Andrae HatcherPflugerville Middle School

Our varsity girls bas-ke tba l l t eam p layed the

Navarro Panthers and won!The score was 53-52. I didnot see the game, but crowdmembers told me that it wasa amazing game!

Our lady lions weredown by 21 and made a greatcomeback! In the past, thepanthers have beat the lady li-ons numerous times. It hasbeen three or four years sincethe lady lions have beat thepanthers. It just shows thathard work and team work willpay off against any opponent.

LHS Girls make a comback!

If you know me, thenyou know I absolutely loveto vo lun teer ! Help ingpeople is one of those fewthings that will put a smileon my face no matter howmad or sad I am. In my opin-ion, it is about doing what-ever you can to make a dif-ference. Even if i t takeshours, maybe even a fewdays! If I could, I would joinany volunteer group pos-sible. When I think about

Operation Blue Santathose people who aren’t asblessed to give such as oth-ers, it hurts my heart.

Joining UT Outreachhas had many benefits forme. We do all kinds of vol-unteer work and communityservice. Just recently, wevolunteered at Operat ionBlue Santa. I must say thatvolunteering there was oneof the most memorable expe-r iences I have had. BlueSanta is an organization thatmany are familiar with. Itwraps presents for childrenall over the Austin area, aswell as other surrounding ar-eas.

The organization alsobuys turkeys and other fooditems for those in need. WhatI like most about OperationBlue Santa is that it stops atnothing to give all that theycan! I aspire to be this way.Giving is the best feeling forme. It makes me feel goodknowing that I put a smile onsomeone else’s face.

A Busy Week at Dailey

Early release day forDailey Middle School is Fri-day Dec 16th we will get outat 1pm. This will start the be-ginning of our Winter Break.

School will resume back onJan 2 for Dailey students.Thursday Dec 15th we willhave Junk food Day. This pastweekend I played in a footballtournament in Bastrop as partof the All Star team. The AllStar Team consists of severalplayers from the Round RockTeam and Capi ta l Ci tyBearcats team. On Saturdaywe won both games but onSunday we didn’t do too wellwe lost so we were done forthe day and overall I think wetook third place for the Seniordivison.

I would like to wish ev-eryone a Happy and Safe Holi-day.

Start of Winter Break

. Last week the seventhgrade boys and girls basket-

The start of sportsba l l t eams went aga ins tBarton Bobcats. The seventhgrade girl’s B team won 18 to8, the seventh grade girl’s Ateam won too, 29 to 22, andthe seventh grade boy’s Bteam won too, 38 to 18. Un-for tuna te ly, the seven thgrade boy’s A team lost. Thisweek we went to GoodnightRattlers. Now for countdownof Christmas Day(not count-ing today) - n ine days(aweek and two days). Wellthat is all for now see you allnext week.

On Friday,December16,2011 Pflugerville ISD willhave an early release dayforChristmas Break. The el-ementary schools will be re-leased a t noon , middle

school studentswill be re-leased at 12.45 pm, and highschool students will be re-leased at 1:30 pm.

Christmas Break beginsDecember 19,2011 and endsJanuary3,2011. Students arev e r yexcited for the upcoming holi-days, and all the festivities.Keeping busy for the holi-days should notbe a problem,with decorat ing the t ree ,planning Christmas parties,baking cookies, or entertain-ing guests.

So enjoy this time ofyear with family and friends,relax, eat good food, andhave a Merry Christmas, anda Happy New Year.

Early Release/Christmas Break

The Pflugerville Pan-ther are getting ready for theupcoming Winter Break. Stu-dents had the opportunity totake Holiday pictures thisweek. Students wore holiday

The Holidays are Herecolors and got together withf r iends to t ake funholiday school pictures.

For an exciting holidayactivity, students voted forwhich admin is t ra to r theywanted to be Santa this year.It was a great opportunity, wehad so much fun.Students and teachers will behaving their Winter Break forthe next few weeks from De-cember 19 through January 3.Classes will resume on Janu-ary 4th.

I hope everyone has awonderful Holiday and mayyour spirits be filled with joy.

The Pflugerville MiddleSchool Choir students had yetanother choir social. Studentswere rewarded a skating party

The Pflugerville Pan-thers were very busy justbefore the Holidays, withBasket-Ball Tournaments,Adopt-A-Child, and Mid-Term assessments.

Our Adopt -A-Chi ldprogram was December 9,2011, all the parties were fan-tastic and made many chil-dren happy. The children re-

This upcoming fridayat Manor New Tech HighSchool there will be a stu-dent vs. s taff basketballgame. The s tudent havewon the game the last threeyears in a row. The staff saythey are to determine to won

Student Vs. Staff Basketball Gamethis year. Of course the stu-dents aren’t just going to letthe teachers win, they aregoing to have to earn i t .Teachers have tried to usesecret weapons in the past tot ry and win . They havebrought students that havealready graduated, or playdirty and all those effortshave failed. I’m pretty confi-dent that the students willprevail again this year. Weuse this game to earn moneyfor the school, so when canmake improvements to ourschool. If you want to see thestudents beat the teachersagain then come to ManorNew Tech High School onFriday, December 16th

Tierra GoodHornsby-Dunlap Elementary

On December 12, 2011, all6th, 7th and 8th graders will be tak-

ing the Math Mock test. A mocktest is a test to see how muchyou’ve learned the past semes-ter. Also on the 12th, there willbe a boys basketball gameagainst Elgin. It will be held atDailey. On December 13th, therewill be another mock test. It willbe for Reading. On December14th, progress reports go home.December 15th is Junk Food Dayand lastly December 16th is earlyrelease day and we will be outfor the Winter break. That’s onebusy week!

There are many thingshappening at Hornsby duringDecember. The first grade Win-ter Musical was on December 8,2011 in the cafeteria. We turnedin all the box tops we collected

Hornsby Happeningson Friday, December 9th. I col-lected a lot, but I wish I had more.I found more after the deadlinewas passed. We will be havinga Winter Dance on Wednesday,December 14th from 3-5 p.m. Thecost is $3 and you can also or-der pizza by the slice for $1 aslice or get a whole box for $10.In order to go to the dance, youmust have good behavior withno referrals to the office and youmust turn in your permission slipwith the $3. It should be fun.On Friday, December 16th, wehave early release day at 12:00and then it’s Winter Break untilJanuary 3rd.

Panther Updatece ived g i f t s and manyyummy treats to eat.

The las t Baske tba l ltournament was this weekand all the players workedreally hard to bring homeawards andachievements.

Mid-Term assessmentswere this week from Monday,December 12, 2011 throughFriday, December 16, 2011.Hoping that all students didtheir best and worked reallyhard to pass these assess-ments.

Thanks to all of ourpanthers who supported andsponsored these Pfantasticevents. I hope everyone hasan amazing Holiday, MerryChristmas and Happy NewYear.

The Skating Partyat Skate-Land for all their hardwork in choir class and perfor-mances this year.

The Choir Social was heldafter school from 3:45 to 7:30 pm.Members were asked to bringcertain items and supplies toensure that every one enjoysthemselves. Babaro studentswere asked to bring soda, BabaroJR. was assigned to bringchips and dip, and brownies andcookies were provided by the BelCanto students.

I had a fun time skatingand hanging with my friends. Itis very wonderful when we gettogether, because we are

something like a family.Thanks Ms.Sedatole for all yoursupport and hard work.

I don’t like this time of theschool year , because we haveto take all these test to see wherewe are. The test do help me morebut I think if we need help weshould just ask and not take somany test. Taking the test makesit hard and boring to be inschool. I understand we’re inmiddle school and have more

SCHOOLS GETTING HARD

Dezhia GorrerClint Small Middle School

work than elementary, but hav-ing projects back to back is notcool.

The projects we have putmore pressure and stress on us,because we’re worried we mightnot finish in time and the teach-ers don’t care.

If you’r involved withsports it doesn’t make it anybetter. We have to rememberplays, school work, choir music,and more. I think we should havemore time on half of the stuff welearn.

The staff rushes us. Likegive us time to learn this first andget it before moving on. Theolder you get the harder schoolgets. All students might as wellstart studying as hard, long, andgood as you can, becauseschool is not a joke AT ALL.

10-Week MEND ProgramOffered by YMCA Teaches Kids,Parents How to Lead HealthyLifestyles

Austin, November 3,2011— Registration is currentlyopen for the winter 2012 sessionof MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nu-trition, Do It!), a FREE childhoodobesity intervention program forchildren and their parents offeredby the YMCA of Austin.

MEND is a 10-week pro-gram that uses techniques devel-oped by health experts to helpchildren between 7 and 13 yearsof age who weigh more than theirideal weight. In this program, chil-dren and parents learn how to befit and healthy with lasting re-sults. MEND combines three keyelements of safe, effective weightmanagement and sustainedlifestyle change: healthy eating,regular physical activity, and be-havior change. Children and fami-lies who attend the MEND Pro-gram learn important skills andknowledge to help them managetheir weight and feel f i t ter ,healthier, and happier for the restof their lives.

Registration Open for FreeChildhood Obesity Intervention

ProgramChildren must between 7-

13 years of age, be overweight orobese, and not suffer from diabe-tes or debilitating asthma. Thewinter session will start on Sat-urday, January 7, and Saturday,January 14, 2012. Classes gener-ally meet on Saturday morningsand one evening each week. Loca-tions include Rodriguez Elemen-tary, Barbara Jordan Elementary,and six other sites in North Aus-tin, Central-East Austin, South-east Austin and Hays County.

MEND helps parents andchildren feel more confident andboost self-esteem, get in shapeplaying fun games, set goals toreach and maintain a healthyweight, learn to cook deliciousand healthy meals, turn conflictaround food into family fun, andmake new friends.

The program is offered free ofcharge thanks to a grant from the St.David’s Foundation and a supplemen-tal grant from the RGK Foundation.

For additional information con-tact Missy Quintela at missy. quin tela@austinymca.org or 236-9622. Moredetails and registration forms are avail-able at www.austinymca.org.

THE VILLAGER Page 5 ~ December 16, 2011www.theaustinvillager.com

SPORTS

By: Terry Davis

@terryd515

Longhorns BasketballRound up

Defense, defense, defenseis what the Texas Longhorns bas-ketball team is known for. HeadCoach Rick Barnes is doing hisbest to drill this concept into thecurrent Longhorns players. If aplayers decides to take a playoffhe will be sitting next to Barnes tohave the concept reinforced.

The Texas Longhorns bas-ketball team returned home to facethe University of Texas at Arling-ton Mavericks. The Maverickscame into the game with a 4-2record. The Texas team did notlose any of the hot shooting thatthey had in the second half of theUCLA game. The Longhornswould finish the game with a 48percent shooting percentage.The Longhorns defeated theMavericks by a score of 80-62.

Freshman LonghornSheldon McClellan had a careernight in the first half. McClellanscored 17 point in the first half topower the Longhorns to a 35-28point halftime lead. McClellanwould finish with a game high of23 points he also had a career highsix rebounds. Longhorns headcoach Rick Barnes had to punishMcClellan in preseason practicebecause he refused to take openshots, because he doesn’t alwaystake the open shot.

Barnes also stated, “He istremendously talented. He stilldoesn’t understand how good he

can be”. The Mavericks CoachScott Cross on McClellan, “I didknow him, just from watching himin high school. I knew he was agreat player’.

McClellan on his careernight, “I think my shot was justfalling in and my teammates dida good job of finding me in theopen court. I took advantage ofthe open shots that kept comingto me” McClellan scored 13 ofthe first 17 points in the first 9minutes.

In the game Longhornsgame against the Texas StateBobcats defense and JulienLewis was the theme for thenight. For the second consecu-

tive night a Longhorn freshman,Lewis would have a career high inpoints with 19. The Texas’ defensewould at one point in the secondhalf force the Bobcats into shoot-ing a game low of 18 percent.

The Longhorn crushed theBobcats 86-52. Texas held theBobcats to 35 points under theirseason average. Texas StateCoach Doug Davalos stated,“When you play Texas, you ex-pect to see a good defensive team,but you can’t help them out byshooting contested shots”.

The Longhorns will hostthe Temple Owls at 1:30 on Satur-day December 17 at the Erwin Cen-ter.

Julien Lewis. Photo courtesy of the Texas Longhorns

Austin Toros turn over their roster

On Thursday the AustinToros management had to go intocrisis management, because four oftheir starters were suddenly re-moved from the roster to pursue theirdream in making a NBA roster. Theplayers are Justin Dentmon, Cardell

Johnson, Lance Thomas and LukeZeller.

Dentmon, Johnson andThomas were called to New Orleansto fill their roster. At the time, theHornets had only 5 players undercontract. Zeller was called up to

the parent club in San Antonio.Dentmon and Thomas has re-ceived additional exposure thissummer when they play for thePan-American basketball teamthat won a bronze medal in Mexicothis summer.

Despite losing four startersthe Toros played two games atRio Grande Valley Vipers last weekon Friday and Saturday. In thegame on Friday, the Toros had 7players to score in double digits,led by Stefan Welsh with 20 points.In the game on Saturday night thenew group of Toros would playthe Vipers again, but this time theToros would pull out a 106-105 win.Omar Reed would lead the Torosin scoring with 26. The win pushesthe Toros record to 4-2 on theyoung season.

The Toros return to the CedarPark Center for three straight gamesthere. The first game is ThursdayDecember 15 against the Texas Leg-ends at 7:30, Friday December 16against the Vipers at 7:30 and Sun-day at 3:00 against the Legends.

Justin Dentmon

TEXANS TO THE PLAYOFFSBy: Terry DavisFor the past few years the

Houston Texans wereeveryone’s sleeper pick to makethe playoffs. This year was noexception. With the arrival ofWade Phillips, as the DefensiveCoordinator, and Jonathan Jo-seph, and other key additions toshore up the defense that hasbeen a thorn in the side of theTexans over the past few years.The Texans were positioned tomake the playoffs this year.

This year was no excep-tion. Before the status of thePeyton Manning of the India-napolis Colts was known andbased on the Texans offensivefire power, everyone picked theTexans to make the playoffs thisyear. The time is finally here, theTexans will be in the playoff thisyear and will host at least onegame in the playoffs. The lasttime a Houston professionalfootball team made the playoff,was the Houston Oilers in 1983.Twenty eight years later the Tex-ans will break that playoff

drought. With the unbelievable

comeback by rookie quarterback TJ Yates the Texans de-feated the Cincinnati Bengalsin Cincinnati with a six yardtouchdown pass to wide re-ceiver Kevin Walter with two

seconds left in the game. Withthe touchdown the Texans woulddefeat the Bengals 20-19.Coupled with a loss by the Ten-nessee Titans to the New Or-leans Saints gave the Texans theAFC South Divisional Champi-onship.

Now the Texans have theirsights on a couple new goals.The first is to get though the restof the season without any addi-tional major injuries. Also TheTexans have a chance to havethe best record in the AFC whichwould mean if they continue win-ning they would not have toleave Houston for the playoffs.

The Texans will play the ex-plosive Cam Newton and theCarolina Panthers next week atReliant Stadium at 12 noon. ThePanthers come into the gamewith a great offense, but the de-fense of the Panthers is very sus-pect. Also four days later theTexans will have to travel to In-dianapolis to face the Colts for aThursday night contest on De-cember 22 at 7:00 pm.

TJ Yates scrambles outof the pocket. Photo courtesy ofHouston Texans

VILLAGER SPOTLIGHTRobert Griffin III wins Heisman

Most people may knowRobert Griffin III as a quarterbackfrom the University of Baylorwho just won the Heisman tro-phy. Others know him as the per-son who has brought the BaylorBears to respectability as a foot-ball team in the Big 12. If this ishow you know Griffin, you re-ally do not know him as all.

Griffin was born in Japan,where his parents, Robert Jr. andJacqueline, both were Army Ser-geants were stationed there. Thefamily would later move to Wash-ington state, then New Orleansand finally to Copperas Cove,Texas in 1997. RG3 would gradu-ate from Copperas Cove HighSchool and play basketball, foot-ball and run track.

Griffin is affectionatelyknown as RG3. RG3 entered Baylorin the spring of 2008 a semesterearly, because he finished all thenecessary credits need to gradu-ate high school at the age of 17.Griffin initially committed to playfor the University of Houston un-der head coach Art Briles. WhenBriles left Houston to coach atBaylor Griffin switched his oralcommitment to Baylor. The majorreason Griffin switch was Brilespromised Griffin that he could playfootball and run track.

In his first semester atBaylor Griffin would run track andfinish first in the 400-meterhurdles at the Big 12 Conference

and the NCAA Midwest Re-gional Championship meets. Hebroke the NCAA Midwest Re-gional 400-meter hurdles record.Griffin finished in third place inthe NCAA meet and participatedin the U.S. Olympic Trials. RG3has played four years at Baylor,but he was injured in his sopho-more year after three games andreceived a medical redshirt for anadditional year to play collegefootball.

Griffin finished his under-graduate work in Communica-tions with a 3.67 GPA and is cur-rently pursuing a Masters in Com-munications. Griffin has the op-tion to return to college becausehe has another year of eligibilityleft and would like to pursue a lawdegree. Despite having another

year of left to play football atBaylor he would have to get per-mission from the NCAA to if hechoose to continue playing foot-ball.

RG3 has many awards andaccomplishments. The best rec-ognition that Griffin receives arethe ones that comes when thecameras are not rolling andpeople talk openly about him as aperson. Griffin is a far better per-son than he is an athlete. Peoplelove to talk about how selfless heis or how kind he treats every-one. People who do not knowGriffin are surprised when theyhear him speak for the first time.They often say how well-spokenhe is. Once you know Griffinnothing about him will surpriseyou.

Robert Griffin III

Huston-Tillotson Basketball Round up

WomenThe Hutson-Tillotson

Lady Rams are not only doingthe little things these days. Theyare also winning games. For thethird straight game the LadyRams came out on the winningend of a basketball game. A vic-tory over Southwestern Assem-blies of God University Lions onSaturday by a score of 68-62 winand a win over Texas CollegeSteers were the Rams victims thisweek. With the win the LadyRams improves to 3-5 and 3-3 inthe RRAC.

In the SAGU game theLady Rams trail that game at half-time 31-27 and fell down by 10points at one point in the sec-ond half. However the LadyRams did not show any quit andbattled back for the victory. TheLady Rams were led by KevettaWilliams with 18 points andKandice Smith had 13 points anda grabbed 13 rebounds. TheLady Lions fall to 3-6 and 0-3 inthe RRAC.

Kandice Smith #35 in the low post against SAGU

In the Lady Steers gamethe Lady rams were challenge the

Lady Steers for forty minutes.There were nine lead changesand the game was tied seventimes. At the 1255 mark of thefirst half the Lady Steers had a19-10 lead and the defense of theLady Rams would hold the Steersscoreless for 5:55 and take a 19-17 point lead. The Game wouldbe close until the Rams defenseheld the Lady Steers scorelessfor another five minute stretch inthe second half and take a thir-teen point lead 55-42 with 6:50left in the game.

The Lady Steers wouldcut the lead to three with 10 sec-onds left in the game, but the

Lady Rams were able to hit theirfree throws at the end of the gameto close it out. The final score inthe Texas College game was also68-62. The next home game forthe Lady Rams will be January 7at the Branch Gym.

MenChristmas is the season for

giving, however it does not workso great in a basketball game. Ithas become a trend that the Ramsof Huston-Tillotson get behindearly in basketball games this yearand they were not able to over-come the deficit.

Against the Lions of SAGUin Branch University the Rams

were down 12-0 at the five min-utes of the game. The Rams wereout shot from behind the threepoint line by ten. The Lions made13 three pointers while the Ramsonly made 3 from behind the arch.The final score of the game was86-64 SAGU. The Rams only hadtwo people in double figures scor-ing Ronzelle Fort with 25 andCharles Jones with 15. FidelisAriguezo with ten rebounds.

In the game against TexasCollege the blueprint was thesame. The Rams did not scoreuntil the 1504 mark of the firsthalf and fell behind by a scoreof 9-2. The Rams would even-tually fall down by twenty with5:20 left in the first half, butwould cut the lead don to 15with 2:13 left. The Rams wouldgo into the half down by a scoreof 40-20.

The Rams would not quitand would battle back to cut thelead to eight on several occa-sions in the second half. How-ever the lead of Steers was justtoo much for the Rams to over-come. The final score of thegame was 80-73 Texas College.The Rams fall to 0-8 and0-6 inthe RRAC and the Steers im-prove their record to 7-4 and 3-2in the RRAC. The Rams wereled by Ronzelle Fort with 26pints and 8 rebounds.

The Men will travel toplay Texas State University inSan Marcos and will returnhome to pay at 7:30 the Univer-sity of the Southwest in theBranch Gymnasium.

By: Terry Davis

Ronzelle Fort #35 establishes position on the high post.Photos by Terry Davis

CITY ~ STATE ~ NATIONAL ~ WORLDTHE VILLAGER Page 6 ~ December 16, 2011 www.theaustinvillager.com

Left - Right ( Texas State Representative Dawna Dukes, Bruce Elfant Constable of Precinct 5and Mayor Pro-Tem Sheryl Cole) Photos by Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

BLACK AUSTIN DEMOCRATSBy Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

Left -Right (Judge Cliff Brown of 147th District Court, Honorable Wilhelmina Delco, formerState Representative., Judge Charlie Baird candidate for Travis County District Attorney office)

Last week, the Black Aus-tin Democrat with the help of theHuston Tillotson Democrats, Uni-versity Democrats ( University ofTexas) , St. Edwards UniversityDemocrats organized a holidayceremony celebration. At theevening, there were severalelected officials, candidates run-ning for office; and also activemembers of the Travis CountyDemocratic Party. During theevening, five active Democraticmembers were honored and rec-ognize for their hard work on be-half of the party. The five honor-ees were : Andy Brown, AmberGoodwin, Cecilia Crossley, AliciaDel Rio and Micheal Litt. In addi-tion, the evening was also focusedon the upcoming elections.

Moreover, each honoreewere recognized for their hardwork on behalf of the party. Forinstance, Andy Brown who hasserve as the chair of TravisCounty Democratic Party since

2008 was recognized for the fol-lowing: “helping to raised over$1.4 million for the DemocraticParty, helping win contestedraces in Travis County for theDemocratic candidates. Whilemuch of Texas suffered devas-tating losses in 2010, TravisCounty won every county-widerace, helped Bill White win ev-ery single State Representativedistrict in Travis County andhelped significantly increasestraight ticket turnout in Con-gressman Doggett’s districtover 2006 levels in 21 key pre-cincts–all while saving funds tosmoothly run the Party in the2011 interim.” In addition an-other honoree like Micheal Litt,who serve as the Central Texasfield director for Organizationfor America, has successfully“organized volunteer teams incampaigns for Health Reform,Financial Reform, the 2010 Mid-terms, the Repeal of Don’t Ask

Don’t Tell, the Dream Act, and the2012 general election.”

Not only did it serve as aplatform to honor certain mem-ber of the Democratic Party, butalso a time to reflect and also cel-ebrate the numerous accomplish-ment of the Travis County BlackAustin Democratic (BAD). Ac-cording to Gerald Washington thePresident of the BAD, the orga-nization “was success in elect-ing the three different Austin citycouncil candidates.” In otherwords, the BAD endorsement ofKathie Tovo, Laura Morrisson,and Chris Riley helped them wintheir races. Furthermore, thePresident of BAD mentioned that“they were success in gettingCongressman Llyod Doggett re-elected.” Moreover, their en-dorsements and support in the2012 general elections would becrucial for the all the candidatesrunning for office in TravisCounty.

“The Fliers Guy”After consulting with

other small business owner,Mr Don Bryant decided toopen up his own business. Forthe past three years, Mr DonBryant has been building uphis business, which is calledthe “Fliers Guy.” AlthoughDon Bryant is from Brooklyn,New York, he believes thatCentral Texas is a good areato engage in business. Ac-cording to Mr. Don Bryant“being his own boss give hima lot of joy and hapiness be-cause he is in control of hisown destiny.” Furthermore,he stated that “being charge

means that he does not haveto answer to anyone else.”

Moreover, the “FliersGuy” is a licensied distrubutionbusiness center that offers avariety of products. Some of theservices that the business of-fers are the following: the dis-tribution of fliers costing .25cent a copy of a minimum of500 copies. Also, the businessoffers moving services. In ad-dition, his business servicesthe greater Austin areas, suchas: North Austin, Pflugerville,Round Rock and Hutto.

Finally, the owner of the“Fliers Guy” believes that if a

person wants to own a busi-ness, then he or she must be a“people person.” In otherwords, a person must be ableto communicate effectivelywith all people. According toDon Bryant “a people personknows how to smile evenwhen it is not the right circum-stance. Furthermore, DonBryant mentioned that “a busi-ness owner must enjoy whathe/she does.” Finally, hehopes that more AfricanAmericans would seek to be-come their “own boss” so thatthey can control their owndestiny.

By Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

Karen Huber Re-election CampaignKick Off

Last week, the incum-bent Travis County commis-sioner Karen Huber held akick-off re-election cam-paign. In front of her sup-porter she off ic ia l ly an-nounced her intention to runfor the Travis CommissionerPrecinct 3, position. KarenHuber is running for re-elec-tion, to build on some pro-grams that was establishedduring her first term. Someof the issues and programthat she worked on, include:“ fighting for the enforce-ment and expansion of wa-ter qual i ty s tandards fornew development that willkeep our water clean and en-sure a sustainable supply forthe future; Protecting wateravailability for those whose

sole source of water is wellwater Pursuing alternativemethods for funding roadconstruction and promotedevelopment of a mass transitsolution to relieve conges-tion. Aggressively search forways to improve highwaysafety.”

If re-elected as TravisCounty Commissioner, thenshe would carry out certainduties, such as being one ofthe chief policy-making forTravis County. Furthermore,the commissioner court setthe tax rate , determines feesfor many county services,and determines how the col-lected revenues will be dis-t r ibuted among di f ferentcounty departments to pro-vide services to the commu-

nity. Moreover, Precinct 3 cov-ers a large part of WesternTravis County, which cover cit-ies such as: Austin, Oak Hill,SunsetValley,Cedar Park,VolenteBeach, Jonestown, and Rolling-woods.

Prior from being electedas a commissioner in 2008,Karen was an active voicefor the cities and communi-ties located in the Westernhalf of Travis County. Shehas worked with non-profito rgan iza t ion l ike ScenicTexas to ensure the preser-vation of a “ healthy andbeautiful Texas’ country-side.” Not only is she an en-vironmental conservationistbut also a business woman,who believes in “smart andthoughtful growth.”

John Sisson Announcement to Runfor Sheriff

By Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

By Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

Last Sunday, JohnSisson officially announcedhis intention to run as aDemocrat for the TravisCounty Sheriff position. Ac-cording to John Sisson, the”Office of the Sheriff is one ofservice and would work to cre-ate a healthy relationship be-tween law enforcement andresident that safe communitiesdepend on.” He mentionedthat he would seek to “ in-crease diversity among the

ranks, streamline operationsand anticipate changes in thecriminal justice system thatcould affect the Department’srole in public safety.”

Moreover, John Sissondoes have previous experience.Some of his experience includesbeing Deputy Constable withTravis County Constable. Asdeputy constable, he believesthat “he will bring his on theground experience and practicalleadership skills to the office of

Sheriff.” In addition, some of hislaw enforcement experiences in-cludes the following: Patrol Of-ficer for ten years ; swat teamfor two years; over 4000 hoursof law enforcement training;master peace officer license, thehighest level of TCLEOSE Po-lice Officer certification; and 43commendations, including theDistinguished Service Crosswith Valor, The Superior Cita-tion, and the Thirty Year Hon-orable Conduct Medal.

Karen Huber

Capital City AfricanAmerican Chamber of Com-merce seeking Nominations for30th Anniversary Awards Pro-gram

Austin, TX-- The CapitalCity African American Chamberof Commerce (CCAACC )Board of Directors is seekingnominations for the 2012 SmallBusiness Awards. This black-tie awards gala, sponsored byHEB and Frost Bank, is of par-ticipation significance toCCAACC because it marks the30th Anniversary year for theorganization, which wasfounded in 1982.

“CCAACC is proud tohighlight the accomplishmentsof notable African- Americanbusiness and community part-ners. We are committed to dem-onstrating the economic vi-brancy of the African-Ameri-can business communitywithin the Central Texas regionand look forward to commemo-rating 30 years of operation forthe Chamber,” said Natalie Ma-deira Cofield, President & CEO

Nominations Open for 2012 SmallBusiness Awards

of CCAACC.Recognizing the sig-

nificant contribution African-American business ownersand community leaders maketo the Central Texas economy,the awards are designed toacknowledge the accomplish-ments of African-Americanbusiness and community lead-ers. “This year’s awards pro-gram seeks to highlight thebroad spectrum of entrepre-neurs and community part-ners that contribute to the Af-rican American business land-scape,” stated AshtonCumberbatch, Vice President,Government and CommunityRelations, Seton Healthcareand Interim Chair, Capital CityAfrican American Chamber ofCommerce. “As such we arehighlighting youth andemerging leaders as well ascorporate supplier diversitychampions,” he continued.

To nominate a smallbusiness, please read the eli-gibility requirements for eachcategory and submit your fi-

nal nomination on-line atwww.capci tychamber.org .Please note the deadline fornominations is January 16,2012. The award ceremony willtake place on February 9, 2012at the Omni Hotel, downtownAustin at 6:45PM.

For more informationregarding sponsorship and/ormembership with the CapitalCity African American Chamberof Commerce please contactKisha Williams, Director of Op-erations, at 512-459-1181 orkrw@capcitychamber.org.

Business Award Catego-ries: -Small Business of theYear -AustinPreneur of the Year-TeenPreneur of the Year

Leadership in DiversityAward Categories: -DiversityChampion of the Year -Corpo-rate Partner of the Year

Professional LeadershipAward Categories: -LifetimeAchievement Award (Presentedto Chamber Founders) -Emerg-ing Business Leader of the Year(age 18-35) -Ambassador of theYear (Individual)

Dec. 6 (GIN) – Not every-thing glows brightly in thetrade deals China is cuttingwith Africa although they arethe envy of western countries

including the U.S.After investing almost a

billion dollars on the Africancontinent, Chi Jianxin, head ofthe China-Africa Develop-ment Fund, admitted all is notwell.

China has not been ableto realize a profit, Chi said in arecent interview in Beijing.The Asian giant is still seek-ing a “beneficial result” in thelong term, he told a reporterwith Bloomberg News.

“When we started, wedidn’t have investing experi-

ence in Africa, and we hopedto have a quite good profit inthree to five years so we couldexit investments,” said Chi.“But we’ve seen it’s not as easyas that.”

China is Africa’s largesttrading partner and has signedagreements worth billions ofdollars with African govern-ments, seeking natural re-sources to feed its economicgrowth in exchange for build-ing roads and railways, andnurturing a market for its prod-ucts.

China Admits a Downside in Trade with AfricaSpecial to the NNPA from the Global Information Network

(Photo by GIN)

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touch until the last weeksbefore his death. In our last tele-phone conversation, he re-mained courageously upbeatwhile cherishing the blessingsof his life as he faced the realityof his future,” Boone said.

Boone met Dukes as amember of the Johnson-Humphrey Administration,which Boone was covering as areporter for the WashingtonAfro American. “We immedi-ately struck a lasting friendshipin 1964,” Boone recalled.

After Humphrey lost hispresidential bid against RichardM. Nixon in 1968, Dukes estab-lished Ofield Dukes & Associ-ates, beginning a stellar PR ca-reer. The first African-Americanrecipient of both the Gold andSilver Anvils, the highestawards of the Public RelationsSociety of America (PRSA),Dukes was among the mosthighly sought after public rela-tions executives in Washing-ton. Motown was his first cli-ent.

Yet, he remainedgrounded, never forsaking hispassion for the progress ofBlack people.

“As a standout in poli-tics, education and business,his foremost concern was howhe could help others and ad-vance the cause of humanrights,” Boone said. “He knewthe importance of the BlackPress and was a strong advo-cate for its mission to give astrong voice to the voiceless.”

Dukes organized the firstCongressional Black CaucusDinner in 1971 and worked te-diously in his final years to keepthe CBC and Black Press con-nected.

“He will be sorely missedfor his many years of service tothe Democratic party, the Con-gressional Black Caucus andThe Black Press of America,”says Dorothy Leavell, formerNNPA president and formerchair of the NNPA Foundationof which Dukes served as aboard member for six years. “Heloved the Black Press and heserved it faithfully throughouthis career. We shall all miss hisservice to the Fourth Estate.”

Leavell specifically re-called Dukes’ working for BlackPress inclusion in briefings withPresident Clinton as well as theinclusion of the Black Press onadvertising buys with theDemocratic National Committee.Dukes was the architect of thecollaboration between CBCmembers and NNPAF’s WireService to syndicate CBC op-editorials to NNPA’s 200-plusmember newspapers.

Among CBC stalwarts,Dukes was especially close toU. S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

Ofield Dukes, Dead at 79, Remembered asChampion for the Black Press from page 1

“As a Member of Con-gress, I have been blessed to callmany wonderful people myfriend, but none more thanOfield Dukes. I am extremelysaddened by the passing ofsuch a great man who had sig-nificant impact in not only mylife, but that of my colleagues inthe Congressional Black Cau-cus, dating back to its found-ing,” Rangel said in a statement.“Aside from his many accom-plishments in business, politicsand his personal life, Ofield wassimply a true and kind personwho sought to make our coun-try a better place for all. I willforever miss his virtue, justnessand sincerity.”

Dukes’ accomplishmentsare extensive:

He was born Aug. 8, 1932,in Rutledge, Ala., served in theU.S. Army from 1952 to 1954,earned a journalism degree atWayne State University in 1958and got a job at the Chroniclethe same year.He left theChronicle for Washington, D.C.in 1964 to serve as deputy direc-tor of information for thePresident’s Committee on EqualEmployment Opportunity underPresident Lyndon B. Johnson.In 1966, he joined the staff ofVice President Hubert Humphreyas a consultant and continuedas a consultant to every Demo-cratic presidential campaignsince then.

In 2002, Radio Onefounder Cathy Hughes namedthe building that houses threeof her Detroit stations the OfieldDukes Communications Centerbecause of his sustaining impacton her career.

Known to spout wisdomand encouragement, Dukestaught as an adjunct professorat Howard University for l7 yearsand at the American UniversitySchool of Communications foreight years.

He is founder of the BlackPublic Relations Society ofWashington and was a memberof the Washington, DC/NationalCapital Public Relations Societyof America Hall of Fame and theVirginia Communications Hall ofFame.

The PRSA Detroit, whichwill hold its first diversity sum-mit in February, has namedthevice to syndicate CBC op-edi-torials to NNPA’s 200-plus mem-ber newspapers.

Among CBC stalwarts,Dukes was especially close toU. S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

“As a Member of Con-gress, I have been blessed to callmany wonderful people myfriend, but none more thanOfield Dukes. I am extremelysaddened by the passing ofsuch a great man who had sig-nificant impact in not only my

life, but that of my colleagues inthe Congressional Black Cau-cus, dating back to its found-ing,” Rangel said in a statement.“Aside from his many accom-plishments in business, politicsand his personal life, Ofield wassimply a true and kind personwho sought to make our coun-try a better place for all. I willforever miss his virtue, justnessand sincerity.”

Dukes’ accomplishmentsare extensive:

He was born Aug. 8, 1932,in Rutledge, Ala., served in theU.S. Army from 1952 to 1954,earned a journalism degree atWayne State University in 1958and got a job at the Chroniclethe same year.He left theChronicle for Washington, D.C.in 1964 to serve as deputy direc-tor of information for thePresident’s Committee on EqualEmployment Opportunity underPresident Lyndon B. Johnson.In 1966, he joined the staff ofVice President Hubert Humphreyas a consultant and continuedas a consultant to every Demo-cratic presidential campaignsince then.

In 2002, Radio Onefounder Cathy Hughes namedthe building that houses threeof her Detroit stations the OfieldDukes Communications Centerbecause of his sustaining impacton her career.

Known to spout wisdomand encouragement, Dukestaught as an adjunct professorat Howard University for l7 yearsand at the American UniversitySchool of Communications foreight years.

He is founder of the BlackPublic Relations Society ofWashington and was a memberof the Washington, DC/NationalCapital Public Relations Societyof America Hall of Fame and theVirginia Communications Hall ofFame.

The PRSA Detroit, which willhold its first diversity summit in Feb-ruary, has named the summit afterDukes and is also providing a schol-arship in his name, according to theDetroit Free Press.

Dukes is survived by hisbeloved daughter Roxi Victorian, aperforming arts graduate fromHoward University; a grandson;and three sisters, Anne Harris, BettyHayden, and Lou Brock.

“His kind, like that, thereain’t no more Ofield Dukeses,” saidSam Logan, publisher of the Michi-gan Chronicle, in an interview withthe Detroit Free Press. TheChronicle honored Dukes upon its75th anniversary in November.“There will not be another,” Logansaid.

Concludes Ray Boone: “Wecan best pay tribute to Ofield byemulating his high level of expertiseand unswerving commitment to jus-tice.”

By Dwight OttSpecial to the NNPA from

the Philadelphia TribuneGOP hopeful wants to in-

still work ethic in poor childrenby putting them to work — as jani-tors

Poor kids, especially inprojects and inner city neighbor-hoods, should be hired as part-timejanitors for neighborhood schools.

So was the declaration ofRepublican presidentialfrontrunner Newt Gingrich in brain-storming recently about ways tolessen unemployment and eco-nomic decline in urban areas.

Clarifying remarks he madelast month in a speech at Harvard,he said redesigning child labor lawsto allow 14- and-15-year-olds towork would help curb the lack of awork ethic in many poor neighbor-hoods. It would also allow schoolsto give such mid-teens part-timejobs as janitors or janitorial assis-tants.

Gingrich said that success-ful people he knows started workearly by doing small jobs likebabysitting and shoveling snow.

Such simple answers tocomplex questions have some lik-

Gingrich’s Idea Exploits Stereotypes

ening Gingrich to the Grinch whostole Christmas. His commentshave gained weight as he has risenin the polls in the last two weeksahead of Republican frontrunner forthe presidential nomination MittRomney.

Speaking with the pomp andauthority of a child study expert,Gingrich diagnosed the unemploy-ment problems in inner cities as akind of self-perpetuating cycle oflack of work leading to more lack ofwork and more Americans beingcrippled by a merry-go-round ofpoor work ethic.

Sizing up the problem assuch, Gingrich immediately offeredhis own remedy for the country. Hissolution — put lazy and helplessinner city youth to work. It was a

solution, some experts say hark-ened back to the days when the ste-reotype of welfare queens refusinghusbands, was used by the RonaldReagan campaign in 1980 to helpfrighten the country into ultimatelyimplementing workfare reform as anantidote to welfare, ironically, dur-ing the Clinton Administration.

This time Gingrich hasthrown his own form of dynamiteinto the presidential race ignitingcontroversy and accusationsagainst him of race baiting. Catch-ing stiff flak, Gingrich backpedaleda bit to say he obviously was nottalking about the “working poor,”but rather households where thereis no work.

“They have no money. Nohabit of work,” the politiciansaid.”[They have] No concept ofworking and nobody around themwho works. ‘No concept of I do thisand you give me cash,’ unless it’sillegal.”

What was left unsaid, ac-cording to critics, was that Gingrichwas speaking about Black and His-panics who, more than any othergroups, fit the profile of the “verypoor” inner city kids Gingrich de-scribed.

Republican PresidentialCandidate Newt Gingrich

Special to the NNPA fromthe Florida Sentinel-Bulletin

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Thefired director of Florida A&M’sfamed “Marching 100” band saidhe repeatedly warned universityleaders over two decades aboutthe dangers of hazing and that he’sbeen made the scapegoat for aband member’s death in which thepractice is suspected.

Julian White, 71, said hesuspended 26 band members forhazing two weeks before drummajor Robert Champion’s deathon Nov. 19. He reported his ac-tions to university administrators,he said.

Hazing has been “rampanton university campuses,” and thesuspensions would serve noticeit wouldn’t be tolerated at A&M,he said.

But instead of being sup-ported, White said, he was sec-ond-guessed, particularly fromsome parents of band members,and said the punishments wereakin to suspending star footballplayers. “And so the band mem-bers were apprehensive. `Doc,you think we can go without 19trombone players?’” said White,who replaced “Marching 100”founder William P. Foster as direc-tor in 1998. “And other folks. ̀ Doc,do you think you can do it with-out them?’ My comment was, itdoesn’t matter, I am not going tosacrifice the performance for theprinciple.”

After A&M’s football teamlost its annual game against rivalBethune-Cookman, Champion

FAMU Band Director: I Warned Them About Hazing

collapsed on a bus parked out-side an Orlando hotel. The 26-year-old junior had been vomit-ing and complained he couldn’tbreathe shortly before he becameunconscious. When authoritiesarrived about 9:45 p.m., Cham-pion was unresponsive. He diedat a nearby hospital.

Authorities have not re-leased any more details, exceptto say hazing allegedly played arole. Less than a week later,White, a tenured professor, wasfired by FAMU President JamesAmmons.

“I walked into his officeand he said, `Doc, I don’t knowany other way to put it, this is itfor you,’” White recounted. “Hesaid `you can resign or you canbe terminated.’”

Ammons, meanwhile, metMonday with former Florida At-torney General Bob Butter-worth, who was named last weekto head a task force investigat-ing what led to Champion’sdeath. “If some strong actions

had been taken, then RobertChampion may be alive now,” saidWhite, who was asked by thestudent’s family to speak atWednesday’s funeral service.

White, who was thelead drum major as a student, saidhe fears the tragedy could doomthe showy high-energy, high-stepping band that has performedat Super Bowls, the Grammys andpresidential inaugurations and inParis on France’s 200th anniver-sary.

Since Champion’s death, theschool has shuttered the marchingband and the rest of the musicdepartment’s performances.

Shutting it down was a mean-ingful decision, White said. Theband would have been the first ofthe Historically Black Colleges andUniversities to perform at CarnegieHall. “That hurts,” White said.

Hazing has a long history inmarching bands, particularly at his-torically black colleges, where a spotin the band is coveted for its tradi-tion and prominence.

Drum Major Robert Champion

SpawGlass Civil Construction, Inc. is preparing a bid forthe City of Austin Harold Court East Regional Service Center Im-provements project and is seeking qualified MBE/WBE subcon-tractor and supplier participation. The Project is comprised ofapproximately twelve thousand linear feet of gabion walls from sixft to eighteen ft in height, a structural concrete combination sedi-mentation/bio-filtration pond approximately one acre in size andapproximately six ft deep complete with concrete ramps, weir walls,an underdrain system, concrete splitter box, installation of approxthirteen hundred LF of storm drain including reinforced concretepipe, reinforced concrete box culverts, junction boxes, inlets, con-crete retards and related appurtenances, one twin forty-eight inchreinforced concrete headwall with energy dissipaters, two headwallsfor two 4x6 box culverts, installation of a Stormtrooper type waterquality device into the existing storm sewer system, pond access/maintenance road, installation of soil erosion blankets, vegetativeplanting of bio-filtration pond, block sodding of sedimentationpond, full re-vegetation of all disturbed areas according to the con-struction plans and City specifications extension of an existingsidewalk and construction of new sidewalk compliant with Sub-chapter E requirements, construction of seven new ramps ac-cording to City of Austin standards Type I and Type II meetingAmerican with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.. All sub-contractor proposals are due by no later than Thursday, De-cember 22nd at 8:00 AM. Proposals can be sent via fax to(281) 517-8282. Plans and specifications are available for view-ing in SpawGlass’ Houston office at 13800 West Rd., Houston,TX 77041. A disc of the project documents will also be pro-vided to interested bidders upon request. For all project ques-t ions , p lease con tac t Char les Car l son , by e -mai l(charles.carlson@spawglass.com) or telephone at (281) 970-5300.

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