PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION
Volume 122 No. 22
JANUARY 4, 2014 - JANUARY 10, 2014
Gun Owners Offered Gift Cards for Guns By Courtney Jacobs AFRO Staff Writer
Hundreds of people lined up outside First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Landover recently to exchange guns for money. Held Dec. 21, event was the latest effort by Prince George’s County officials to remove guns from local streets. Anyone bringing a weapon in to the exchange had the opportunity to swap the weapon for an American Express gift card—no questions asked. Shotguns and rifles earned $50 each. Handguns were worth $100 and automatics and semi-automatics netted the people turning them in $150. Maj. Robert Liberati, commander of the Prince George’s County Police Department Forensic Science Division told the AFRO: “The guns that we are receiving are being turned in totally anonymously. We do not take any names, addresses, or anything like that. Our object here is to take the guns off the
INSIDE A3
Immigration Reform Logjam May Be Near End
B2
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at D.C.’s Arena Stage
Missing for 63 Years
Black Korean War POW Buried in L.A.
street.” Once the guns were surrendered, the people who had brought them were escorted to a room by a police officer, where they were issued a issued a colored ticket based on the weapon they had surrendered. The ticket was then traded for a gift card. Within an hour of the start of the event, all of the gifts cards–totaling $10,000— were gone. First Baptist’s pastor, the Rev. John K. Jenkins, then stepped in and added $3,000 to keep the gun buy back going. ed, police officers were on the verge of telling the waiting gun owners to go home. Rev. John K. Jenkins, First Baptist senior pastor, added $3,000 in gift cards to keep the event going. “We are trying to get guns out of homes and off the streets,” Jenkins told the AFRO. “Guns don’t hurt people. People hurt people using guns. Our desire is to get as many guns off the street as possible, in attempt to lower crime and injury to people. Sometimes people use guns in anger, depression, and suicide. Kids use them to threaten people…We’re just trying to decrease the pain inflicted on many families because of guns.” After gun owners received their gift cards, they were encouraged to attend a briefing staged nearby by Prince George’s Hospital Center on gunshot wounds. “We see a lot of victims from gunshot wounds,” said Continued on A3
Remains of Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Gantt taken to burial site By Zachary Lester and Avis Thomas-Lester AFRO Staff Writers For 60 years, Clara Gantt hoped that her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph E. Gantt, might be alive, despite the fact Clara Gantt and family friend that military officials Trena Thompson at funeral. had notified her in 1951 that he was missing and presumed dead. Gantt, who was born and raised in Baltimore, was working as a medic with the U.S. Army’s Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division when he was taken prisoner on Dec. 1, 1950 during the historic bloody Battle of Kunu-ri, Korea. Clara Gantt, now 94, who was married to her husband for only two years when he became a prisoner of war, was notified in 1953 that he had died of pneumonia in a POW camp on March 27, 1951. But his body was not returned to her. “She was living in military housing in Fort Lewis, Wash., when she got a telegram telling her he was dead,” said Sharon Barnes, the Gantts’ niece. “She was told that she had to move out of base housing. She moved to Los Angeles and she’s been waiting for him ever since.” Clara Gantt’s waiting ended Dec. 21 when her husband’s
Clara Gantt leaves the funeral service. Courtesy photos
remains were returned to the United States. She was reunited with him in an emotional ceremony at Los Angeles International Airport, where she wept over his flag-draped casket. His remains had been found by a Korean citizen earlier this year and after extensive DNA testing in Honolulu, they were identified by authorities. Gantt was buried before hundreds of loved ones and military officials with full honors Dec. 28 in Inglewood, Calif., where Continued on A5
Homelessness Increases in U.S. By Freddie Allen NNPA Washington Correspondent
The downturn in the economy and a lack of local resources have forced more Americans to live under bridges, in their cars and on the couches of other family members, according to a recent report on hunger and homelessness. The 25-city survey, conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors, found that more than 20
percent of homeless people that needed help over the past year didn’t get it and 71
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a nonpartisan group that represents 1,398 cities
“71 percent of the survey cities reported that their emergency shelters were stretched to capacity.” percent of the survey cities reported that their emergency shelters, stretched to capacity, had to turn homeless families with children away.
with populations of 30,000 or more. According to a 2012 report by the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness,
Black families depended on homeless shelters at a rate that was seven times higher than White families. A majority of the cities surveyed reported that unemployment, rising housing costs, and substance abuse contributed to higher homelessness rates. Although Blacks often abuse illegal drugs at similar rates as Whites, Blacks suffer discrimination in housing and hiring that often affects how and where they live. Continued on A3
Fear Pulses Through Crowded S. Sudan Refugee Camp Story on A5
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