Happy New Year
Richmond Free Press © 2016 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 25 NO. 1
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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Inside: Foremost Wishes for 2016 /A3 • 2015 Year in Photos /B3
DECEMBER 31, 2015-JANUARY 2, 2016
Toasting the new year
Staying clean, sober can be daunting during the holidays for those in recovery Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Colorful Kwanzaa festival
By Joey Matthews
The holiday season will be punctuated this weekend by the granddaddy of all celebrations — New Year’s Eve on Thursday, Dec. 31, and New Year’s Day on Friday, Jan. 1. While people throughout the Richmond area will party and pop open more than a few bottles of champagne to toast the new year, the holiday can be a particularly perilous time for people in recovery. It can hold dangerous temptations for those seeking to abstain from using alcohol and other drugs as they join family and friends at parties where such substances might be available. “Knowing I have a disease that wants my life, I tighten up my recovery by going to more meetings during the holidays to ensure I stay clean,” said a Richmond member of the recovery community who identified herself as Dee. She said she is celebrating more than 20 years free of drug use. Several recovering alcoholics and drug abusers talked with the Free Press with the assurance that their identity would remain anonymous. “The holidays are more challenging times because we’re more open to interacting with people, places and things (where people are drinking alcohol or using other drugs). And there are a lot of parties where people are more receptive to enjoying the holidays rather than concentrating on their recovery,” said Duck P., a South Richmond man who is marking 27 consecutive years without using drugs. Even the most innocent of things — holiday sweets and treats — may trip up the unsuspecting. “Some people use rum in their food and that can be a trigger. So I watch what I eat,” said Deborah of Chesterfield County,
Kiran Bhagat paints the face of Jailynn Dames during the Capital City Kwanzaa Festival last Saturday at the Altria Theater. The annual event, sponsored by the Elegba Folklore Society, drew scores of people to the festivities celebrating seven values of African culture that contribute to building and reinforcing family, community and culture. Please see more photos on B2.
City finishes with money loss on UCI bike race By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Remember the world bike races that dominated Richmond for nine days in September? To Mayor Dwight C. Jones and other officials, the races were an unparalleled success, creating an economic boost for the region and putting the area in the world cycling spotlight. Data released earlier this month by Richmond 2015, the regional nonprofit that put on the races, show the cycling competition drew 645,000 spectators — far above the projected 450,000 watchers — and those spectators spent $75 million on Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press food, lodging, transportation, recreation and other items from John Shinholser, who is celebrating 33 years free of drug use, conducts a the UCI Road World Championships’ start on Sept. 19 through recovery meeting Tuesday at the McShin Foundation, a nonprofit he leads at the Sept. 27 finish. 2300 Dumbarton Road. However, such spending did little to fill the city’s treasury, who is celebrating 21 years without using meetings — all-day and all-night sessions according to a Free Press review of city tax earnings during any mood-altering substance. providing a safe haven. Others in the re- September. State and city data show the Richmond City government, “I also stay away from people, places covery community open their residences and things” that I knew in my active ad- so people can play cards, listen to music, at best, collected 2 cents of revenue for every $1 of taxpayer diction, she said. dance and socialize in an alcohol- and money spent to host the competition. In other words, the city fell far short of covering its costs, To help, some Alcoholics Anonymous drug-free environment. undercutting the mayor’s claim that the races “generated millions and Narcotics Anonymous 12-step fellowof dollars of benefit to the City of Richmond and the region as ships in the Richmond area host marathon Please turn to A4 a whole.” According to its own report, City Hall poured $9.7 million in tax dollars into the races since 2011 when it began bidding. The project would be the largest private develop- ing to the developer, Margaret Freund. By Jeremy M. Lazarus The spending covered everySpeaking with the Free Press on Monday, she said thing from street paving to police ment in years in this section of the city and could be Richmond’s apartment boom is heading east into a potential spur to new business growth by bringing some of the 62 units — she cannot yet say how many overtime, litter cleanup and the Fulton community. more people to the area. The multimillion-dollar — would be set aside for lease as working space for ambulance services. The costs The former Robert Fulton Elementary School, long Stone Brewing Co. project in Fulton also is spurring artists, rather than as residences. Gallery space also is also included the $2 million the a haven for artists, is proposed to be a centerpiece the development. to be incorporated into the complex she envisions. city contributed to the Richmond of a 266-unit, $38 million apartment complex to be Ms. Freund understands the role artists can play 2015 organizing group. The new residential development, bounded by Godcalled Studio Row. din, Union and Mt. Erin streets, is proposed for a site as a result of her long history with the former school However, Richmond gained building and the creative people who currently lease just $193,957 in total new revadjacent to the city’s Powhatan Community Center. Under plans now headed to the Richmond Planning space from her there. enue from its share of the state More than 25 years ago, she played with a rock band sales tax and from add-on sales Commission and the City Council for approval in January, the former school, now known as the Fulton that used the building’s basement for rehearsals. She taxes on meals, hotel rooms Hill Studios, is to be renovated to include 62 units bought the building in 1997 from the Garber family, and admissions to concerts and and a café, a concept that won a strong endorsement which originally created the art center, and has kept other events. from the Greater Fulton Hill Civic Association. Please turn to A4 Please turn to A4 The school still will have space for artists, accord-
New Fulton housing development on drawing board
Bill Cosby posts $1M bond after sex crime arrest Reuters
Bill Cosby is pictured in this booking photo taken Wednesday.
Bill Cosby was charged Wednesday in Pennsylvania with sexually assaulting a woman in 2004 after plying her with drugs and alcohol. The arrest marks the only criminal case against the once-beloved performer whose father-figure persona has been damaged by dozens of misconduct
accusations. Hours after the charge was filed, Mr. Cosby, 78, arrived at a courthouse in Elkins Park, Pa., just outside Philadelphia, with his attorney, Monique Pressley, and an unidentified man. Mr. Cosby appeared before Judge Elizabeth McHugh in a brief hearing, where he posted a Please turn to A4
Cleveland police officer not indicted in fatal shooting of Tamir Rice By Hazel Trice Edney
National civil rights leaders are expressing disappointment and calling for new policies after a Cleveland grand jury on Monday refused to indict the police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice only seconds after encountering him with a toy gun. “Has the value of the lives of our children been reduced to a decision made in less than 2 seconds? That is the amount of time it took for one officer to decide whether Tamir Rice should die — less than 2 seconds,” said national NAACP President Cornell Brooks, in a statement. “Life and death decisions are made every day by police officers across the country,” he added, “but the benefit of the doubt is often
given in the preservation of white lives while the presumption of guilt, dangerousness and suspicion, time after time, is reserved for black lives.” Monday’s grand jury decision came more than a year after the Nov. 22, 2014, fatal shooting. In Tamir Rice the incident, police were called by a man describing a person with a gun, but told police dispatchers that the person could be a child and that the gun could be a toy. That information was never communicated to the officers. When police arrived on the scene at Cudell Park, rookie Officer Timothy Loehmann pulled
out his revolver and opened fire upon Tamir within seconds. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty told the media that Tamir was reaching into his waistband for the toy gun, prompting Officer Loehmann to shoot. He said the toy was “indistinguishable” from a real gun even as Officer Frank Garmback, who was driving, pulled up less than 7 feet from the youngster. “The outcome will not cheer anyone, nor should it … The death of Tamir Rice was an absolute tragedy. But it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime,” Mr. McGinty said to media. National Action Network’s Al Sharpton said he is appalled but not surprised “given Please turn to A4