Spielberg’s ‘Ready Player One’ Tops Holiday Box Office
MLK’s Final Days Remembered
News Observer Bakersfield
Volume 44 Number 31
Serving Kern County for Over 40 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Witnesses Forever Changed by
MLK’s Final Days
FILE - In this Apr. 3, 1968 file photo, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy.
By ADRIAN SAINZ and KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ Clara Ester’s eyes were fixed on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he stood on the concrete balcony of the Lorraine Motel. King was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers’ strike, and Ester, a college student, had been marching alongside the strikers as they sought better pay and working conditions. She and some friends had gone to the motel for a catfish dinner when she saw King chatting happily, not far
from where she stood. Then Ester heard the shot. It was 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968. “I’m still looking at him,” Ester recalled. “He looked like he was lifted up and thrown back on the pavement. Next thing I remember, I was stepping over his body, and I’m noticing that he’s struggling for air.” King’s death changed the world and altered the lives of those
who lived through it. Some would spend the rest of their lives fighting for racial equality and economic justice. Others, including Ester, would struggle to come to terms with what they saw. King had won victories on desegregation and voting rights and had been planning his Poor People’s Campaign when he turned his attention to Memphis, the gritty city by the Mississippi River. On Feb. 1, 1968, two sanitation workers were crushed when a garbage truck compactor malfunctioned, sparking a strike by about 1,300 black sanitation workers weary of horrible working conditions and racist treatment in the dirtiest of municipal jobs. The words that would come to signify their protest _ “I Am a Man” _ were not a given with everyone in Memphis at that time. “We didn’t have a place to shower, wash our hands, nothing,” said Elmore Nickleberry, who at 86 still drives a truck for the department. King tried to lead a peaceful march on March 28, but it turned violent. Storefront windows were smashed, and police wielded clubs and tear gas. King went back to Atlanta but vowed to return to show that non-violent protest still worked. Criticism mounted in the press. He was suffering headaches and feeling depressed. He met with his advisers, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, and “talked himself out of the depression.” He flew back to Memphis on the morning of April 3. Mike Cody was among the lawyers working to persuade a judge to lift an injunction against a new march who met with King in his motel room. “King felt strongly that unless he could get a success here in Memphis, with these workers using nonviolent, civil disobedience, then he would never get the Poor People’s March in Washington that summer,” said Cody, 82. Cody was in the crowd later that evening at the Mason Temple. Though King was ill, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy asked him to address the thousands who turned out despite a thunderstorm. “It’s a tin roof, so that’s banging. There’s rafters up there above us, and the rafters are blowing with the wind and hitting each other and hitting the walls from the fierceness of the wind and the rain,” said the Rev. James Lawson, a prominent civil rights activist. Continued on page A6
Cutting & Clearing Wildfire Risks SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—As part of its effort to reduce wildfire risks, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) customers in some areas will see increased work to prune or remove trees, as well as reduce vegetation and brush near and under PG&E power lines. This work is being done to enhance fire safety, as a precautionary measure intended to reduce the risk of wildfires and to comply with new state regulations in high firethreat areas. New fire-safety regulations, adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in December 2017, require utilities to maintain greater minimum vegetation clearances to increase the safety of overhead power lines in high fire-threat areas. The new standard requires 4 feet minimum distance between trees and power lines in these areas year-round, where previously
this was required only during fire season. In some cases, the 4 feet of minimum clearance is an increase from the previous requirement of 1.5 feet. “At PG&E, nothing is more important than public safety, and the safety of our employees and contractors. We support the state’s effort to develop new fire-threat maps and fire-safety regulations and are working hard to complete this important safety work,” said Kevin Dasso, PG&E vice president of Electric Asset Management. PG&E contract arborists will inspect vegetation for compliance with the new state regulations and schedule any necessary tree work. During these field inspections, PG&E contractors routinely notify customers regarding work to be performed, including those who live in areas with the increased clearance re-
quirements. This may require PG&E to prune and cut back tree limbs or remove trees the company has not previously worked on as part of its vegetation management program. Inspections and work will occur in the CPUC High Fire-Threat District (HFTD). PG&E is scheduled to complete the first phase of this work by September 2018. In addition to the increased clearance work, PG&E will be working in some high fire-threat areas to reduce vegetation and brush near or under its power lines that can act as fuel in case of a wildfire. This work, part of PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program announced last week, will provide access for emergency responders including CAL FIRE and local fire departments responding to wildfires. PG&E’s efforts will maintain existing fuel Continued on page A2
Family Dies when SUV Goes Off Cliff By PAUL ELIAS and TOM JAMES Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A family that gained attention for an emotional photograph of an African-American boy hugging a white police officer at a 2014 protest was killed when their SUV plunged off a scenic California highway, authorities said Wednesday as they asked for help figuring out what happened. “We have every indication to believe that all six children were in there,” Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said, appealing for tips to retrace where the siblings and two parents had been before the vehicle was found Monday in rocky ocean. “We know that an entire family vanished and perished during this tragedy.” Some friends described married couple Jennifer and Sarah Hart as loving parents who took their adopted kids to Bernie Sanders rallies, while some neighbors said they called child welfare officials in their rural Washington state community over concerns about possible abuse or had noticed red flags. The California Highway Patrol has not determined why the vehicle went off an ocean overlook on a rugged part of coastline. A specialized team of accident investigators was trying to figure that out, Allman said. “There were no skid marks, there were no brake marks” at the turnout on the Pacific Coast Highway where the vehicle went over, the sheriff said. Investigators have no reason to believe the crash was intentional, he said. The 100-foot (31-meter) drop killed the women, both 39, and their children Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; and Abigail Hart, 14. Hannah Hart, 16; Devonte Hart, 15; and Sierra Hart, 12, have not been found. The Harts lived in Woodland, Washington, a small city outside Portland, Oregon, and had a recent visit from Child Protective Services, Clark County sheriff's Sgt. Brent Waddell told The Associated Press. He said the sheriff's office later entered the house and found no obvious signs of trouble or violence. It appeared the family planned a short trip because they left behind a pet, chickens and most of their belongings. Next-door neighbors Bruce and Dana DeKalb said they called child services Friday because they were concerned that Devonte Hart, who hugged the officer at the protest, was going hungry. They said he had been coming over to their house too often in the past week asking for food. The DeKalbs also recounted that three months after the family moved into the home on 2 acres with a fenced pasture in May 2017, one of the girls rang their doorbell at 1:30 a.m. She “was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her,” Bruce DeKalb said. “She said that they were abusing her. It haunted my wife since that day.” In 2011, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to a domestic assault
FREE!
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Charles Barkley Gives to Black History $250,000
HERNANDO, Miss. (AP) _ Charles Barkley has donated $250,000 toward educating Mississippi and Alabama high school students about African-American history. The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tennessee reported Thursday the basketball Hall of Famer and TV analyst’s donation to the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi will help fund a digital course on African-Americans’ contributions to public service, science, art and sports. The course is taught through a partnership between the foundation and education technology company EVERFI. Barkley says in a statement every child in his home state should have an opportunity to know their history. The Alabama-native says he was born during the civil rights era and has gratitude for Medgar Evers, Congressman John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation CEO Tom Pittman and EVERFI CEO Tom Davidson say thousands of students will be involved.
Hundreds Rally for Reform after Police Killing
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ The family of Stephon Clark joined hundreds of people in renewing calls for reforms nearly two weeks after the 22-year-old unarmed black man was killed by Sacramento police. Clark’s fiancee, Salena Manni, stood on stage with his two young sons, grandmother and uncle for the gathering Saturday organized by Sacramento native and former NBA player Matt Barnes. Barnes amplified calls for charges against the two officers who are on administrative leave. The peaceful demonstration that drew between 200 and 300 people to a downtown park came a day after a private autopsy released by the family showed Clark was shot from behind. About 150 people attended another vigil and protest Saturday night outside a sheriff’s department office.
Blacks Largely Left Out Among High-Paying Jobs By BOB SALSBERG and ANGELIKI KASTANIS Associated Press BOSTON (AP) - Fifty years after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, black Americans are still struggling to gain a foothold in the nation’s more prestigious and lucrative professions. That’s according to an Associated Press analysis of government data that found black workers are chronically underrepresented compared with whites in technology, business, life sciences, and engineering, among other occupations. Meanwhile, black are proportionately overrepresented in lower-wage fields, such as food service and maintenance. In Boston - a hub for technology and innovation _ white workers outnumber black ones by about 27-to-1 in computerand mathematics-related professions, compared with the overall ratio of 9.5-to-1 for workers in the city. King earned his doctorate in Boston in the 1950s. Experts cite numerous causes, including lack of educational opportunities and systemic discrimination in hiring and promotions.
California Father Released from Immigration Detention
This March 20, 2016 photo shows Hart family of Woodland, Wash., at a Bernie Sanders rally in Vancouver, Wash. Authorities in Northern California say they believe all six children as well as thier parents were in a vehicle that plunged off a coastal cliff.
charge in Minnesota. Her plea led to the dismissal of a charge of malicious punishment of a child, online court records say. Bill Groener, 67, was a next-door neighbor of the family when they lived in West Linn, Oregon, and said the kids were home-schooled. “They stayed indoors most of the time, even in really nice weather,” Groener said. He said the family didn't eat sugar, raised their own vegetables, had animals and went on camping trips. “There was enough positive there to kind of counteract the feeling that something maybe wasn't quite right,” Groener said. He said they were neighbors for about two years and that “privacy was a big thing for them.” The family got attention after Devonte Hart was photographed during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon, over a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the shooting of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri. The boy, holding a “Free Hugs” sign, stood crying. A Portland officer saw his sign and asked if he could have a hug, and
an emotional Hart embraced him in a picture that was widely shared. At the time, Jennifer Hart wrote on social media: “My son has a heart of gold, compassion beyond anything I've ever experienced, yet struggles with living fearlessly when it comes to the police. ... He wonders if someday when he no longer wears a ‘Free Hugs’ sign around his neck, when he's a full-grown black male, if his life will be in danger for simply being.” The family traveled to many festivals throughout the area including events for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders - and were known for wearing matching T-shirts. Zippy Lomax, a Portland photographer who knew the Harts, told the Oregonian/Oregonlive.com that the reaction to the 2014 photo overwhelmed them, with negative attention focused on the multiracial family with lesbian parents. “They kind of closed off for a while, honestly,” Lomax told the newspaper. But she added that “Jen and Sarah were the kind of parents this world desperately needs.”
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A father arrested by immigration officials after dropping off his daughter at day care in California has been released from a detention center and will be allowed to remain in the U.S. Fernando Carrillo walked out of a U.S. immigration office in San Francisco on Monday and hugged his daughter as dozens of supporters cheered around him. His attorney, Hedi Framm-Anton, said Carrillo proved to an immigration judge he would be persecuted if he returned to Mexico. Carrillo was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in October after he was convicted of a drunken-driving offense. Officials said he had been previously deported. Carrillo’s wife, Lourdes Barraza, told KTVU-TV that the ruling in her husband’s case was an “Easter miracle.”
5 killed, 1 Injured in Head On Crash
WASCO, Calif. (AP) _ A head-on crash has killed five people and injured one on a central California highway. California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Rodriguez tells Bakersfield TV station KGET that three adults and two juveniles died Sunday night on State Route 43 in Wasco, north of Bakersfield. A surviving teenage boy with major injuries was flown to a hospital. A woman driving a pickup truck south veered northbound lanes and collided with a sedan. The pickup driver is among the dead. Rodriguez says she is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol.