February 21, 2015 - February 21, 2015, The Afro-American
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Volume 123 No. 29
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By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief
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FEBRUARY 21, 2015 - FEBRUARY 27, 2015
Plans for Two Separate Selma Marches Cancelled as Groups Unify WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A very public conflict between the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, the local group that has been commemorating the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March for more than four decades, and the largely White-run The Faith & Politics Institute, a Washington-based group that had organized competing marches in Selma and Montgomery on the weekend commemorating the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” has been resolved with both groups agreeing to participate in a single march in Selma, a coalition of organizations has announced.
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Data Suggests Legalized Marijuana Would Be a Net Positive to Maryland By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. “The organizations in the unified committee will sponsor one march, the sacred Bloody Sunday re-enactment march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 8,” the 10 major organizations said in a joint press release. “No organizations in the unified committee will
sponsor and or participate in any other march.” The Faith & Politics Institute, which focuses on bringing people together to reflect on spiritual values and hold conversations across racial, religious, ideological and party lines,
Continued on A4
Existing data and revenue estimates suggest that legalizing marijuana would be a net positive for the state of Maryland, producing significant economic activity while posing, at worst, a limited public health risk. Economic benefits range from increased revenues to decreased law enforcement costs and potentially resurrecting now idle industrial properties for marijuana cultivation. Additionally, there is limited evidence legalization would substantially increase impaired driving on Maryland roads or lead to harms associated with increased teenage use.
Potential for Increased Revenues to the General Fund
Two bills being considered in the General Assembly – one in the House of Delegates and one in the Senate – would legalize marijuana
for recreational use, while taxing and regulating its production and sale. While neither of these bills are accompanied by a fiscal note (an analysis of the economic impact of a piece of legislation), the fiscal note attached to last year’s marijuana legalization bills estimated an additional $134.6 million in annual general fund revenues for Maryland after the first year, offset by approximately $2 million in initial implementation costs to the state. The revenue estimate is based on self-reported marijuana usage rates of Marylanders from national surveys that may underreport usage since some people do not want to admit to engaging in an illegal activity. “[The $134.6 million] may be a lower number than we expect because [usage estimates] are self-reported, and a lot of people won’t reveal their marijuana use, and also [because of] the potential for Continued on A7
S.C. House Subcommittee Votes to Close State’s Only HBCU By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO A South Carolina House subcommittee has recommended the state’s only historically Black higher education institution, South Carolina State University (SCSU), be completely shut down for one fiscal year, starting in July 2015, in order to address a $17.5 million budget deficit, according to various reports. The recommendation by the SC House’s Ways and Means Higher Education and Technical Colleges Subcommittee also calls for the dismissal of the school’s president and Board of Trustees, the entire faculty, staff, and other state employees.
The subcommittee’s proposal further recommends that the state take over the institution, its outstanding debt, and effectively start from scratch. Students with a GPA of 2.5 or better who qualify to transfer to other instate schools would have their tuition covered by the state for up to four years, according to WLTX 19, Columbia, S.C.’s CBS affiliate. After the vote by the house subcommittee, SCSU released a statement on its website, in which the school promised to fight the
legislation. “SC State students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters are to remain calm, as the proviso is simply a recommendation,” the statement read in part. “Several legislatives [sic] hurdles must be cleared before the proviso is enacted. The SC State University family is vowing to fight to kill the bill.” SCSU President Thomas Elzey told WLTX 19, “I want to make one thing clear: South Carolina State University will not close.” According to the Times and
Democrat Newspaper in Orangeburg, S.C.—the city in which SCSU is located—the college’s financial woes go at least as far back as 2012, when Cynthia Warrick became interim president and inherited a deficit of already $6.4 million. The House Higher Education and Technical College Subcommittee Chairman Jim Merrill, said the vote was the House’s way of expressing frustration at the school’s lack of a plan to address the budget shortfall, according to a report on FOX Carolina’s website. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has said she understands the legislator’s sentiment regarding the university’s pace in developing Continued on A4
Baltimore City Veteran The Trials, Triumphs and Truths Politician Frank Conaway Sr. of 12 Amazing Finishers Dies at 81 By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO
AFRO Archives Photo
Frank Conaway Sr.
Frank Conaway Sr., a legend in Baltimore City life and politics, died unexpectedly Saturday night. He was 81. Born in 1933 in Baltimore, Conaway served two stints in the Maryland House of Delegates, from 1971-75, and again from 1979-83, according to the Maryland state website. Conaway has served as the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City since 1998. He was also the first African American to be named a manager for Prudential Insurance in Baltimore, according to Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore City NAACP and Continued on A7
By Charlene Mayo Special to the AFRO
Being able to finish a task, any task, is a mark of success by anyone’s accounting. In Life Happens…But You Can Finish, the Rev. Frances “Toni” Draper and Pam Love reveal how hard it is to complete a project and break down the science of finishing. Life Happens tells the stories of 12 women who have suffered from traumatic lifestyles but still found strength within themselves to blossom in life. The stories are relatable, and I was intrigued the entire time while reading, anxious to get to the end of each woman’s story to see how she pulled herself up. Domestic violence is a huge problem that affects many man and woman. It is something that can physically and mentally
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distorts a person. Yolanda Cumbess, was a finisher that dealt with abuse from the men she dated. She describes the emotional and physical abuse she endured but that is quickly over-shadowed by her success story. I feel like anyone from the poorest person with little education, to the richest person with the most education can read it, understand it, and walk away with empowering knowledge. Delois Pearsall is another amazing finisher that explains her childhood growing up. Her mother suffered with a mental illness and, for some reason, favored her other siblings. No matter what Pearsall did, in the eyes of her mother it was never good enough. Childhood is an essential part of a human beings’ life. What happens Continued on A4