A6 Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Nation/Obituaries
Roswell Daily Record
co-creator, 100 set out to retrace march ‘Simpsons’ Sam Simon dies at 59
SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Dozens of marchers set out across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge Monday with plans to walk to the Alabama Capitol, saying the voting rights won by blood in Selma 50 years ago are now under threat. The marchers are recreating the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March of 1965. The 54-mile trek is recreated every five years, but organizers say this year is particularly important. Marchers called for the restoration of the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. The U.S Supreme Court in 2013, in a case also arising out of Alabama, struck down the formula that determined which states had to get permission from the Justice Department before changing voting laws. “The heart of it has been taken out,” Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Charles Steele, 68, said. Steele said about 50 people will try to make the full walk to Montgomery. Here are some stories from the current march:
A new movement
Bernard Lafayette, 74, was just 20 years old when he joined the Freedom Riders to challenge segregation across the American South. He suffered three cracked ribs when he was beaten by a mob outside a bus station in Montgomery. Selma was considered even more dangerous, he said. Lafayette in 1962 volunteered to come to the city as a voter registration director with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee He was beaten by an unknown assailant in
AP Photo
John Rankin, an original marcher from 1965, leads the way as they cross Edmund Pettus Bridge marching towards Montgomery, Ala. Monday, in Selma, to mark the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” a civil rights march in which protesters were beaten, trampled and teargassed by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. 1963, the same night Med- Then and now an African-American presgar Evers was murdered in John Rankin, 68, wear- ident and Jim Crow laws Mississippi. ing an orange reflective are long eradicated, but in A black and white photo vest and an “I love Jesus” some ways Selma is “not stored on the smartphone button, walked past the that much” different. stashed in his jacket pock- charred and abandoned The schools are segreet shows him at the front shells of homes on the gated again, he said, as of the march in 1965, now-closed Craig Air Force white families pay for prialongside Andrew Young base on the outskirts of vate school and the public and other fresh-faced civil Selma. schools are almost entirerights workers. The homes were turned ly black students or other Lafayette smiled at the into a low-rent housing minorities. children, some as young development, but many a s 1 1 , w a l k i n g a h e a d . are uninhabitable after That makes him optimistic b e i n g b u r n e d , v a n d a l - Young marcher Eleven-year-old Desiree about the future. ized or looted. The region “Look at those young remains swathed in pover- Robertson carried an Amerpeople up there. They are ty, he said, noting that the ican flag helping lead the middle school, high school. lock manufacturer where group of marchers down a We were the young people he worked as a lead man rolling stretch of highway. Does she think she’s up in our day. Now we see our- closed more than a decade for the entire 54-mile walk? selves,” Lafayette said. ago. Behind him, young “We have a long way to Well, yeah. “I did it when I was 8. It marchers sang a song with go. People need good jobs,” was fun,” Robertson said. lyrics about Ferguson, Mis- Rankin said. Her uncles marched in souri, and Eric Garner — Rankin was just a teen who died after being placed when he was cracked on 1965 and her grandmother in a choke hold by a police the head by a club during is involved in the civil rights commemorations in officer in New York. “ Bloody Sunday. “That’s a new song. “We were just expect- Selma. Robertson said she is That’s how you can tell ing to go to jail we weren’t you’ve got a movement, expecting to get beat up,” missing school for the march, but learning histow h e n y o u ’ v e g o t n e w Rankin said. songs,” Lafayette said. Fifty years later, there is ry.
Rising price of heroin-overdose antidote worries advocates CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Price hikes are curtailing access to a popular form of an antidote to heroin overdoses, with costs doubling in the past year and the manufacturer’s stock price rising by 70 percent since it went public. Advocates fear the higher cost of naloxone, often sold in the U.S. under the brand name Narcan, will ultimately lead to the deaths of addicts who could have been saved if they’d had access to the drug. Officials across the country have largely agreed it makes sense to hand out naloxone to police, drug users and families of addicts, and in some places they’re now scrambling to negotiate discounts for programs that buy it in bulk for public distribution. “If you have a fire extinguisher that costs several hundred dollars, some people are going to go without and some are going to get burned,” said Daniel Wolfe, director of the international harm reduction program at the Open Society Foundations. Naloxone reverses the effects of opioids — drugs derived from opium, including heroin — on brain receptors. Advocates say it has no major side effects other than opioid-withdrawal symptoms and does not create a high.
Obituaries Johnny Wesley Clements
Johnny Wesley Clements,78, went to be with his Lord and Savior on Friday, March 6, 2015. He was born in Maryneal, Texas on Jan. 9, 1937 to Ruby Clements and Lily Hill. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 10 a.m. at Anderson-Bethany Funeral Home Chapel with military honors provided by
It saved Alicia Gibbons’ daughter after an overdose in New Jersey last year. Gibbons received training in the injectable form of naloxone while her daughter, Ashley Gibbons, was in jail. A week after being released in April, Ashley Gibbons overdosed in a bathtub at her mother’s home in Mays Landing. Alicia Gibbons’ boyfriend broke down the door to the bathroom. She said her hands shook as she got the medicine into the syringe to give her unresponsive daughter first one shot of naloxone, then a second. Her daughter convulsed on the floor and vomited; then paramedics arrived. Ashley Gibbons said her mother saved her. “She’s always going to be my hero,” she said. Alicia Gibbons said the price increase is troubling: “I think it’s sad, now that they’ve found something that could save people, they raise the price up.” JSAS HealthCare, a clinic based on the New Jersey shore, began last year training community members to administer the drug and providing it to them with the help of state funds. But a price increase late last year means that instead of buying 400 naloxone kits for a little under $21,000 — at $51.50 per
In this March 2 photo, Alicia Gibbons, left, sits on the couch with her daughter, Ashley, at their home in Mays Landing, N.J. Alicia administered naloxone to save the life of Ashley who overdosed on heroin. kit paid to a third-party is twice as expensive as a distribution company — year ago. that’s now enough for only “Like other companies 200, at just under $100 per in the industry, manufackit, a negotiated discount turing costs for our entire that’s $5 cheaper than portfolio of products, what he was quoted. Three companies mar- including naloxone, have ket naloxone in the U.S., been steadily increasing including a relatively low- due to the continued rise cost injectable version and in costs for raw materia new Epi-Pen-style device als, energy, and labor over that goes for hundreds of the recent several years,” dollars per dose. company president Jason The most popular ver- Shandell said in an email. sion among police and In some countries, nalmany other groups — one oxone costs less than $1 that can be converted per dose, Wolfe said, noting into a nasal spray, sold that a lack of competition by Amphastar Pharmacould be contributing to a ceuticals Inc., of Rancho Cucamonga, California — higher price in the U.S.
Roswell Veterans Honor Guard. Pastor Richard Smith will officiate. On Dec. 5, 1974, Johnny married his wife, Carla June Helmstetler in Roswell. Together they celebrated 41 years of marriage. Johnny served in the Navy from Dec. 8, 1954 to Nov. 8, 1957. After returning home from the Navy, he spent many years working as a life insurance salesman and also retired from Safeway as a butcher after 19 years. Getting to know people and visiting with clients and friends
was a pleasure to him. Leisure time was spent hunting, fishing, golfing, watching football and with his family. Preceding him in death are his parents, Ruby and Lily Clements and his late wife, Margarite Clements. Those left to cherish memories of Johnny are his wife, Carla; four brothers: Ted Clements of Vado, New Mexico, Henry Clements of Corona, New Mexico, George and Martha Clements of Mesa, Arizona, and Billy Ray and Irene Clements of Austin, Texas; three children: Jimmy and
AP Photo
Tracey Clements of Roswell, Terry Clements of Hagerman, Robert Clements of Roswell; one stepson: Rocky Brittain; 10 grandchildren: Rocky Brittain III and Angela Lovato, Monte Clements, Annette Gaytan, Randy Clements, Micheal Coffing, Katherine Sundstrom, Jimmy Clements Jr., Brandie Medrano, Christopher Franco and Jena Becerra; 14 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson. Also surviving Johnny are numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. The family would like to
AP — Sam Simon, a co-creator of “The Simpsons” and animal-rights advocate who made a midlife career shift into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social causes, has died. Simon died Sunday at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., his agent, Andy Patman said. He was 59. He was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer in 2011. After stints writing for “Taxi,” ‘‘Cheers” and “The Tracey Ullman Show,” Simon helped launch “The Simpsons.” During his writing and producing career, he collected nine prime-time Emmy awards. He left “The Simpsons” after its fourth season under a deal that rewarded him with ongoing royalties from the show, which is now in its 26th season. He then established the Sam Simon Foundation, which rescues dogs from animal shelters and trains them to assist the disabled. He also donated to Mercy for Animals and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, among other groups. In 2013, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Norfolk, Va., headquarters were christened the Sam Simon Center in recognition of his support for that organization. Simon also funded a Los Angeles food bank. In an interview with The Associated Press in 2013, Simon voiced a desire to spend all of his money on charitable causes. “I’m supporting the charities that I supported during my lifetime,” he said, “and I want to continue to do that.” Simon had grown up in Beverly Hills across the street from Groucho Marx, though his father was in the garment industry, not show business. After turning his drawing talent into a job at an animation studio that made cartoons for kids, Simon submitted a script, on spec, to the ABC comedy “Taxi.” His script was bought and produced, and Simon, in his 20s, was hired as a staff writer and soon rose to be the showrunner. From there he joined a new NBC sitcom called “Cheers,” where he was staff writer for its defining first three seasons. In 1987 he became a writer and executive producer on the Fox sketch-comedy series “The Tracey Ullman Show,” where he was teamed alongside James L. Brooks, with whom he had worked on “Cheers” and “Taxi,” and cartoonist Matt Groening. This trio became the founding fathers of “The Simpsons.” On Monday, Groening saluted Simon’s “phenomenal talents, sharp intelligence and sly sense of humor,” while Brooks called him “truly one of the great ones. He found so much outside the work to give him pleasure and left so much behind for others.” “The Simpsons” began as interstitial cartoon clips aired during the otherwise live-action “Ullman” show until, in 1989, it was spun thank all his friends who helped during the last few months of his life. Services are under the direction of Anderson-Bethany Funeral Home and Crematory.
Walter McTeigue
Services are pending at Ballard Funeral Home and Crematory for Walter McTeigue, 57, who passed away Sunday, March 8, 2015 at his home surrounded by his loved ones. A further announcement will be made once arrangements have been finalized.
AP Photo
In this Feb. 1 photo, Sam Simon arrives at the Writers Guild Awards, in Los Angeles. Simon, a co-creator of “The Simpsons” who made a midlife career shift into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social causes including animal welfare, died Sunday after a long bout with cancer. He was 59. off as a Fox half-hour of its own. Simon was named creative supervisor, and he hired the first writing staff as well as creating several Springfield citizens, including Mr. Burns, the cadaverous industrialist, and Dr. Hibbert, the buffoonish physician. The show — TV’s first successful prime-time animated series since “The Flintstones” nearly three decades before — caught the public off-guard with its sassy but perceptive look at the culture and opened the door for a new television genre of animation geared toward adults. “With ‘The Simpsons,’ people didn’t know what they were gonna see,” said Simon. “They didn’t have a clue.” The show was given time and free rein to flourish by the fledgling Fox network, which desperately needed a hit. “I don’t think you get that sort of creative freedom with any broadcast shows today.” Simon left “The Simpsons” in 1994 owing to a strained relationship with Groening. Not only did he not play any subsequent role in the series, he claimed to never have watched it after stepping away, even as his name remained in the weekly credits along with Groening’s and Brooks’. It was a lucrative departure. Simon’s exit deal entitled him to royalties from “The Simpsons” that, more than a quarter-century later, annually paid Simon tens of millions of dollars. That annuity bankrolled the causes and alternative lifestyle (including amateur boxing and high-stakes poker) that increasingly he came to embrace. “I’m not sad,” Simon declared in 2013, as he battled an illness that his doctors were saying might claim him within months. “I’m happy. I don’t feel angry and bitter. I want to do whatever I can to survive.”