Prince Georges Afro-American Newspaper December 7 2013

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PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION

Volume 122 No. 18

DECEMBER 7, 2013 - DECEMBER 13, 2013

Court Rules Crack Sentencing Reforms Don’t Apply to Those Already Imprisoned The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Police arrested Dominick Payne and Alex Marshall in connection with the Forestville BP gas station murder and robbery.

Prince George’s Police Investigate Three Slayings 52 Murdered in County This Year By Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writer Prince George’s County police continue to look for the culprit responsible for the slaying of U.S. Postal Service carrier Tyson Barnette as they investigate at least two other fatal shootings that occurred in the last two weeks. Continued on A5

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INSIDE A3

Luke James Visits Duke Ellington School of the Arts

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Senior Living

A sharply divided Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 3 that the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the unfair, unjustified, and racially discriminatory crack cocaine/powder cocaine sentencing ratio from 100-to1 to 18-to-1, does not apply to thousands of individuals who are currently incarcerated pursuant to sentences imposed under the discredited 100to-1 regime. Seven judges concluded that the FSA should apply to those serving sentences under the 100-to-1 federal sentencing structure, but ten judges declared that it should not. “We are deeply disappointed in the outcome of this case. Thousands of people, the majority of whom

are African-American, are still serving time under an unfair drug sentencing regime that has destroyed individuals, families and communities,” said Sherrilyn A. Ifill,

“Today’s decision demonstrates that those who are working to eliminate the impermissible role of race in criminal prosecutions and sentences still have much

Crack cocaine president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

more work to do. We will continue to press this issue in the court”

Ifill added that LDF officials “are heartened that seven judges…were willing to rule in favor of a just application of the Fair Sentencing Act. Their powerful dissents encourage us to remain steadfast in our effort to win the release of those held under draconian and discriminatory sentences.” In 2010, Congress passed the FSA to reduce the irrationality and unfairness occasioned by a federal sentencing structure under which 100 grams of powder cocaine triggered the same sentence as a single gram of crack cocaine. Congress made this change in recognition of the fact that powder cocaine and crack are indistinguishable from one another and the fact that the Continued on A3

In Forestville, Everything’s Coming up Roses By Courtney Jacobs AFRO Staff Writer It may not be as flashy as the new Tanger Outlets, but miles away from the glittering National Harbor, a major commercial step toward economic rebirth in Prince George’s County occurred Nov. 21. After being vacant for over a decade, the Forestville Plaza Shopping Center marked the grand opening of the Roses Discount Store at 7706 Marlboro Pike. It is the first Roses store the Henderson, N.C. chain has opened in Prince George’s A Rose’s Discount Store County, and the biggest one in the country for a retail discount enterprise that once dominated the mountainous regions and rural areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.

Its 122 discount stores compete with Kmart and Wal-Mart on discount produce, apparel and appliances. The opening of Roses is being viewed by county officials as a commercial blossom in a part of the county that once bustled with commercial activity and has seen an economic decline in recent years. “We built this store to serve our community,” said Wilson Sawyer, chief operating officer for Variety Wholesalers, Inc., the parent company of Roses. In addition to its welcome addition as a shopping venue, the store is a job magnet. Roses has hired 83 people, all of them Prince George’s County residents, according to the chain and county labor officials. “This is a humbling privilege to be apart of this,” Lt. Governor Anthony Brown said during the grand opening. “Roses Continued on A5

MGM National Harbor CEO Details Plans for Casino By Byron Scott AFRO Staff Writer

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Lorenzo Creighton has big plans for the Oxon Hill area of Prince George’s County. That’s where the chief operating officer and president of MGM National Harbor hopes to build a $900 million casino resort complex. But two other companies are also vying for the license to build a casino in Prince George’s County. Creighton helms everything from contract negotiations and construction issues to forging relationships in the community and ensuring the project’s success. Creighton, 60, entered the gaming industry after a vacation to Las Vegas in the early 1980s. He was working in the banking industry in Iowa when he took a trip west. “And I was so intrigued [with The Flamingo] that I stayed at The Flamingo,” Creighton told the AFRO. “There was a fight that weekend. I think it was Marvis Frazier. (Frazier won) I had two suits and I put on the best one and I said I am going to go up there and find out how to get a job here.” Creighton never made it to the top office that day, but 20 years later he would be named president of The Flamingo, the first African-American to head a major Las Vegas casino

Courtesy Photo/Prince George’s County Police Department

Police dog Zeva, with Prince George’s County Police Corp. Geoff Brown, her handler.

Prince George’s County Police Graduate K-9 Partners Lorenzo Creighton resort. Creighton was born on Jan. 5, 1953 in Waterloo, Iowa. He graduated from Luther College in 1975 with a Political Science degree. After working for the Iowa Department of Corrections’ Pre-Trial Release Project, he entered the banking industry. After attending law school at Continued on A6

By Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writer The newest members of the Prince George’s Police Department are being celebrated, but hold the cake and punch—these recruits prefer bones and biscuits. The department’s Special Operations Division hosted a graduation ceremony Nov. 15 for its newest K-9 trainees. Each of the graduates completed a tough training program during which they learned and perfected techniques such as

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how to identify explosives and drugs, officials said. The graduates included Slick and Zeva, military dogs who previously served several tours in Afghanistan locating several improvised explosive devices, police said. The ceremony took place at Prince George’s County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89. Officers paid tribute to seven canine patrol units and seven drug-detection teams. Law enforcement officials all over the world credit patrol dogs for Continued on A6


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