January 7 9, 2016 issue

Tiger at 40 B6

Richmond Free Press © 2016 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOL. 25 NO. 2

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Auditor: Top city administrator used city time to work on mayor’s church

www.richmondfreepress.com

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Remembering ‘Unforgettable’ Natalie Cole B2

JANUARY 7-9, 2016

Obama wept His executive order aims to halt gun killings Free Press staff, wire reports

Wiping back tears as he remembered children killed in a mass shooting, President Obama on Tuesday ordered stricter gun rules that he can impose without Congress and urged American voters to reject pro-gun candidates.

The president made it clear he does not expect gun laws to change during his remaining year in office, but pledged to do what he can to make gun control a theme in the months leading up to the November election to replace him.

In a powerful address in the East Room of the White House, President Obama was surrounded by family members of people killed in mass shootings, many of which have taken place during his seven years in office. President Obama’s voice rose passionately as he said the constitutional rights ofAmericans to bear arms needed to be balanced by the right to worship, gather peacefully and live their lives.

He has often said his toughest time in office was grappling with the December 2012 massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad,” he said, tears rolling down his face.

“That changed me that day,”

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Mayor Dwight C. Jones, who also serves as senior pastor of historic First Baptist Church of South Richmond, scrambled Wednesday to contain a potential scandal involving a top member of his administration who attends his church.

The mayor’s goal: To quell any suggestion that First Baptist Church members who hold city jobs are allowed to conduct church business on city time.

The mayor reacted after receiving a report from city auditor Umesh Dalal, the city’s internal financial watchdog, that went public with the allegation involving Emmanuel O. Adediran. Mr. Adediran is Richmond’s director of public works and a volunteer assistant pastor at First Baptist.

The report alleged that Mr. Adediran may have used 38 hours of city time while serving as project manager for construction of the church’s still incomplete satellite Mr. Adediran Mayor Jones building on Iron Bridge Road in Chesterfield County. However, the report did not include any substantial supporting evidence to back up the claim.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Selena Cuffee-Glenn, Richmond’s chief administrative officer, stated that Mr. Adediran would face punishment to eliminate any questions. He is to lose nearly a week of vacation time, even though he might have done nothing wrong.

Ms. Cuffee-Glenn stated that Mr. Adediran “has assured (the mayor) that he only used personal time for matters unrelated to city business.”

“However, out of an abundance of caution, the mayor has Carlos Barria/REUTERS instructed me to take appropriate action in an effort to remove Tears roll down President Obama’s face Tuesday as he recalls the December 2012 shooting any concern,” she stated. “(Mr. Adediran) has been directed to massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Please turn to A4 relinquish 38 hours of accrued vacation leave. All parties are in agreement with this action.”

Mr. Adediran was not immediately available for comment.

This is the first sign of any

By Joey Matthews to help remedy the problem. session Wednesday, Jan. 13. potential conflict between the Sen. McDougle told the Free If approved, the measure would provide a small mayor’s dual roles since he took Young people in Virginia who are convicted of Press in a recent interview he step forward in a criminal justice system that has office seven years ago. marijuana possession or underage possession of alhad finalized a draft of a bill historically discriminated against African-Americans Mr. Adediran is among cohol find those convictions permanently etched on that would expunge marijuana in part by disproportionately steering nonviolent black a number of First Baptist their criminal records. and alcohol convictions from the offenders into the legal system as youngsters to detencongregants who hold posiHistorically, many of those convictions have fallen records of offenders ages 21 and tion centers and then to jails and prisons. tions in the city government. disproportionately on African-Americans, even though under five years after they have For example, from 2010 through 2014, more than Among them is the Rev. Cheryl numerous studies show white people use alcohol and completed their probation or after 36 percent of 10- to 20-year-olds arrested in Virginia Sen. McDougle Ivy Green, who serves as the marijuana at similar rates. the courts have discharged cases for marijuana possession were African-Americans, mayor’s executive assistant and Those convictions have hindered the efforts of taken under advisement. although they comprised only about 24 percent of also is First Baptist’s executive people in communities of color to find jobs, obtain The conservative legislator from Hanover County the state’s population. minister for ministries. educational loans and secure housing. said he would introduce the “narrowly tailored” bill In 2014, 37.3 percent or 2,633 of the 7,118 arSen. Ryan T. McDougle, co-chairman of Virginia’s through the Senate Courts of Justice Committee that Please turn to A4 Please turn to A5 Senate Republican Caucus, is introducing legislation he sits on when the General Assembly starts its new

Bill seeks to expunge teen drug arrest records

27%

RRHA resident’s chilly 3-year ordeal

Black-owned businesses gain from Stone Brewing project

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

For the past three years, Tina Marie Shaw has had to rely on an electric space heater to keep the winter cold out of her public housing unit in Creighton Court.

“I worry about the heater starting a fire,” said Ms. Shaw, who looks after her 9-year-old grandson, Xavia, her pride and joy and an honors student at a Richmond elementary school.

To avoid risk to herself and the child, “I unplug (the heater) at night when I go upstairs to bed, and turn it on in the morning.”

The space heater has been the only option her landlord, the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, has provided to warm the living room and kitchen on the first floor of her two-bedroom apartment.

Three years ago, RRHA removed a leaking radiator from the first floor, but until this week had not replaced it, she said. A gas-fired radiator heats the bedroom area on the second floor.

When the Free Press sent an inquiry Tuesday to T.K. Somanath, RRHA’s chief executive officer, about the radiator and other issues, Charles B. Williams, RRHA’s vice president for property management, responded Wednesday by having a radiator installed in Ms. Shaw’s apartment.

However, Ms. Shaw said the replacement radiator is leaking, too, and may be the same radiator that was removed in 2012.

“If it’s the same one, it was never repaired. If it’s a different one, it Please turn to A4

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

A small space heater provides some warmth for Tina Marie Shaw, who tried unsuccessfully for three years to get the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority to replace a broken, leaky radiator in her Creighton Court apartment. She and her grandson wear coats and blankets to stay warm.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Black contractors have quietly played a big role in the development of the Stone Brewing Co.’s new East Coast brewery off Williamsburg Avenue in Fulton, according to city records.

For example, Glen Allen contractor Dwight Snead and his employees prepared the land for construction, the city Office of Minority Business Development (OMBD) report shows.

Meanwhile, Richmond consulting engineer Janet Daniels and her staff were involved in the structural design as a subcontractor to Draper Aden Associates, OMBD stated.

And Van Williams of Charles City County-based Williams Window & Glass Inc. and his employees installed the glass and glazing in the building, acPlease turn to A4

A2 January 7-9, 2016

Richmond Free Press

Local News

VUU hosts annual Community Leaders Breakfast Jan.15

The 38th Annual Community Leaders Breakfast honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be held 7:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 15, at the Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center at Virginia Union University, 1500 N. Lombardy St. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Robert M. Franklin Jr., president emeritus of Morehouse College.

Dr. Franklin is the James T. and Berta R. Laney Professor of Moral Leadership at Emory University in Atlanta. The author of three books, Dr. Franklin wrote the foreword to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” reprinted by The Trinity Forum in 2012.

Dr. Franklin Tickets are $50 and may be purchased online at www.vuu.edu/community_leaders_breakfast.aspx or in room 208 of VUU’s C.D. King Building at Lombardy and Leigh streets.

Details: www.vuu.edu or call the university’s Division of Institutional Advancement at (804) 342-3938. — LYNDON GERMAN

Dr. Royal named chief of staff at HCA hospitals

Photos by Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

City becomes dumping ground again Just weeks after a community cleanup, these alleys in High- bulk trash is rapidly taking place,” she continued in pointing to land Park have been re-trashed. these examples of what she considers a “disturbing reality.”

Unwanted mattresses now fill part of the alley in the 3300 The problem, Ms. Robertson stated, is that the city is doing block of Utah Place. A pile of tires has been too little to prevent people from driving along dumped in the 3200 block of Fifth Avenue. alleys and dumping “mattresses, old furniture After hearing from angry constituents, and tires free of charge.”

Richmond City Councilwoman Ellen F. RobUnless residents get vehicle license plates Slices of life and scenes or photos of violators, “for law-abiding citizens ertson is blaming the city administration’s in Richmond indifference. living in such communities — tough luck.”

“When we began cleaning alleys, we forcefully warned that However, Ms. Robertson stated she is not giving up unless the city changed its mode of operations in managing trying to find ways to hold accountable those who illegally bulk trash, dumping and accumulated trash, the cycle would dump refuse. start all over,” the 6th District councilwoman stated in a Dec. She is promising to develop a strategy and to share it with 30 email to residents. residents. She urges residents with ideas to email them to Ellen.

“No city policies changed, and the dumping and accumulated Robertson@Richmondgov.com. — JEREMY M. LAZARUS

Cityscape

Dr. Erica M. Royal’s medical responsibilities have increased exponentially in 2016.

The Richmonder is the new chief of the medical staff at HCA’s Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, Parham Doctors’ Hospital and Retreat Doctors’ Hospital.

In her new role, which became effective Jan. 1, she will oversee a medical staff of 1,200 people at the three hospitals.

In addition, she will continue to see patients at Virginia Physicians for Women, where she has practiced medicine as an obstetrician-gynecologist, according to HCA spokesperson Kelly Woody.

On the VPFW website, the Los Angeles native said she was inspired to practice medicine because her mother had multiple Dr. Royal sclerosis and was under the care of many doctors who didn’t seem to have “the answer. I thought I would become a doctor to find some of those answers,” she stated.

“I chose OB/GYN because it was the rotation in medical school that I enjoyed the most and did not mind getting up in the middle of the night to do.”

She said she is a breast cancer survivor and is passionate about all of “women’s health.”

Dr. Royal completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and Spelman College in Atlanta.

She earned her medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.

She did a residency at Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans.

Among the honors she has received, she was named one of America’s Top Obstetricians and Gynecologists by the Consumers Research Council of America. — JOEY MATTHEWS

Author gives money to Albert Hill Middle

Best-selling author James Patterson has given a $3,000 grant to Richmond’s Albert Hill Middle School to support its school library.

The grant is to help the school at 3400 Patterson Ave. increase the library’s collection, according to a release from Richmond Public Schools.

Albert Hill officials said they plan to purchase nearly 300 new books for the school’s students and faculty, the release further stated.

Mr. Patterson has written several books geared toward middle school students such as “Jackie Ha-Ha,” “Public School Superhero,” “Middle School: Save Rafe!” and “House of Robots.”

He partnered with the New York CityMr. Patterson based Scholastic Reading Club nonprofit organization to award grants to 467 schools across the country totaling $1.75 million.

Scholastic Reading Club will match each dollar of Mr. Patterson’s donation with “bonus points” that teachers can use to acquire books and other instructional materials.

“These grants are my humble acknowledgement of some of the terrific work taking place in libraries,” Mr. Patterson said.

Mr. Patterson’s notable works for adults include a series of novels about the fictional psychologist Alex Cross. — LYNDON GERMAN

WE PURSUE

DISTANT

GALAXIES

Work starts on Highland Park traffic roundabout

When we look at the night sky, we see endless frontiers still waiting to be discovered. And thanks to our access to some of the most powerful

Construction of a new roundabout began Monday at one of the city’s biggest and busiest intersections.

The Richmond Department of Public Works started work on the new roundabout on North Side at the intersection of Brookland Park Boulevard, Meadowbridge Road, Second Avenue and Dill Avenue.

The intersection is known as “Six Points.”

One reason for the new roundabout is to decrease accidents at the intersection. In the past three years, five accidents were reported at the intersection.

The project also includes landscaped islands, pedestrian crosswalk markings, handicap ramps and new signs.

The project has received $1.2 million in state and federal funding and is expected to take four to six months to complete.

No street closures or detours are scheduled, however there will be lane closures. — JOEY MATTHEWS

telescopes in the world we are observing the vast distances of space like never before. It’s what made it possible for astronomy student Catherine Zucker to become one of the youngest scientists ever to present her research to the American Astronomical Society. By mapping out “the bones,” or structure, of our very own Milky Way galaxy, we are pursuing a better understanding of how galaxies form across the entire universe.

Learn more at virginia.edu/pursuit

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Richmond Free Press

January 7-9, 2016

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Richmond Free Press

A4 January 7-9, 2016

News

RRHA resident’s chilly 3-year ordeal Continued from A1

has the same problem. All I got was water leaking on the floor. It didn’t get hot. This is ridiculous,” said Ms. Shaw, who reported the latest problem to the maintenance office.

As has been the case since the radiator was removed, RRHA has provided her each winter with a space heater. But she had to take back the one she received in November because it stopped working. She said that despite her repeated requests, the space heater was not replaced until this week when she insisted on having heat in her downstairs.

“It was just too cold,” she said. “We had to wear coats and blankets to be on the first floor. Or we stayed in bed.”

Welcome to the world of public housing tenants like Ms. Shaw, who seem to be facing challenges living in units that are still among the city’s most affordable housing for people with little money.

The future of these units is in question as RRHA and the city call for replacing them with new residential developments aimed at attracting people with a wider range of incomes, not just the poor. Creighton Court and its 504 units are first on the list of RRHA’s large complexes targeted for replacement, despite extensive renovation a few years ago with a federal grant.

With such plans still on the drawing board, RRHA has struggled to keep existing units in good shape, citing waning federal support for public housing. In the past year, RRHA has faced big bills to fight infestations of bedbugs and roaches that have plagued residents in several of its communities.

Ms. Shaw has lived in Creighton Court for eight years. She and other tenants say that RRHA also has raised the cost of living in Creighton Court and other active complexes by boosting the amount they must pay for electricity and requiring them to pay for routine maintenance.

Extra charges hit home with public housing families who largely scrape by. On average, tenants make do with incomes of less than $11,000 a year — well below the Richmond median

income of $40,496 as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau.

(Median income is the midpoint, with 50 percent having higher incomes and 50 percent lower incomes.)

Rent varies for RRHA residents, depending on the source of income. For working residents, RRHA charges 30 percent of income after allowable deductions. The minimum rent, though, can be as low as $50 a month for those who are unemployed or living on Social Security disability income as Ms. Shaw does.

Now 50, she is grateful for the small rent, given that she supports herself and her grandson on the $654 a month she receives in Social Security which is supplemented by $235 she receives monthly in food stamps. She used to work for a recycling company, but suffered a back injury about four years ago that forced her to apply for disability.

Ms. Shaw said that she pays add-ons to her rent if she needs the kind of routine service that landlords in private communities with higher rents often provide without charge.

For example, Ms. Shaw said she was charged $15 to have an RRHA employee unstop a blocked pipe in a sink. “I was told it was stopped up by hair,” she said. “I would have had to pay for it no matter the reason.”

She said she also will have to pay to have a RRHA employee replace the blown light bulb in the overhead light in her bathroom. The fixtures have been installed with special fasteners that require maintenance workers to open them.

That’s typical, she said. “If something goes wrong, we have to pay to have it fixed.”

Tenants who move out also can find themselves hit with substantial charges.

Shauneca Washington was hit with a $409 bill when she moved from her Fairfield Court unit after receiving a housing voucher that allowed her to rent in a privately owned apartment complex.

Ms. Washington said RRHA inflated the final bill by charging her for replacing a medicine cabinet, a hallway door and window shades. RRHA ultimately removed the charges only after she provided evidence that all of those items were in the

Auditor: Top city administrator used city time to work on mayor’s church Continued from A1

Continued from A1

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

This view of First Baptist Church’s satellite sanctuary on Iron Bridge Road, taken in mid-November, shows construction continuing.

Mr. Dalal

Mr. Dalal acknowledged that his investigator could not “verify that the director visited the construction site or attended project-related meetings during (city) business” and found no records to support the claim.

However, “the investigator found that the director participated in conference

calls” related to the construction project and “conducted limited communications (related to the church construction) using the city’s email system.”

As a result, “the investigator estimated that (Mr. Adediran) spent at least 38 hours” on the church project in the 18 months between June 2014, when Mr. Adediran was named interim public works director, and December 2015, when he was named public works director.

The report did not provide any evidence to support the investigator’s conclusion.

Mr. Dalal stated that Mr. Adediran defended himself by asserting that he “typically spends well in excess of 40 hours a week conducting city business” and so could not have engaged in “abuse” of his time.

Mr. Dalal notified Ms. Cuffee-Glenn that the “allegation is substantiated” and recommended that the CAO “take appropriate action as deemed necessary.”

Black-owned businesses awarded 27% of Stone Brewing project $ Continued from A1

cording to OMBD. Eight other black contractors were involved in installation of lighting and wiring and other aspects of the $25.3 million development that is near completion, the records show. The project initially was pegged to cost $23 million, but foundation problems added about $2.3 million to the cost, the Economic Development Authority has reported.

Overall, 11 black contractors on the Stone Brewing project have received a total of $6.77 million in contracts through Nov. 30, the records show.

That’s 27 percent of the total.

Three other minority contractors received contracts worth an aggregate of $1.41 million or 5.6 percent of the total, the OMBD report shows.

The mayor was not immediately available for comment, nor was Rich Johnson of the city’s EDA, which has been responsible for the project.

The high percentage spent with black- and minority-owned companies has been typical of most of the major projects Richmond has undertaken during Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ tenure, including the city’s new jail and four new schools.

The city’s report on the Stone Brewing project indicates that the EDA and Hourigan Construction Co., the project’s whiteowned general contracting firm based in Virginia Beach, sought to largely meet the city’s goal of having up to 40 percent of the work undertaken by black- and minority-owned businesses.

Those levels of inclusion far exceed the inclusion of black-

apartment when she left.

“I’m glad I took pictures when I moved out,” she said. “If I hadn’t, I would have been stuck.”

Electricity also is no longer cheap, Ms. Shaw and others said.

RRHA, which picks up the cost of water and gas, used to provide a subsidy of $43 a month for power use, they said.

However, residents have seen that monthly subsidy drop to under $25 per unit and, for some, to less than $20 a month.

According to bills provided to the Free Press, tenants routinely are charged $60 a month for “excess electric utilities,” a charge for power that exceeds the subsidy. In the summer, the bill can soar to more than $120 a month when the air conditioning is going, the bills show.

Tenants in complexes like Creighton Court apparently have little control over power use. RRHA relies on a central meter on many of the buildings and then splits the charge among each unit, residents said.

Ms. Shaw said that she cannot afford the electricity charge.

Her most recent rent bill shows her unpaid bill for “excess” power now tops $1,000.

She said she was told by the RRHA staff that the only reason that she is not being evicted is that Richmond General District Court judges have barred RRHA from using nonpayment of power bills as justification.

“I think they add a $15 late charge,” she said. “I make sure the rent is paid,” she said, because, given her income, her unit is still the best housing option for her and her grandson.

Obama wept

Mr. Dalal said he began the investigation after receiving a complaint that Mr. Adediran, then interim public works director, was spending “numerous hours during the city’s workday on activities related” to the church’s construction project.

Ms. Cuffee-Glenn

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Water collects on the floor of Tina Shaw’s apartment from the leaky replacement radiator installed by the housing authority on Wednesday.

View of Stone Brewing Co.’s new beer plant going up near Williamsburg Avenue in Richmond’s Fulton neighborhood.

owned and minority contractors in the city’s general procurement for goods and services or in procurement by the state and other cities and counties in the Richmond region.

The city did not make a big fuss about its record of minority inclusion in most of the other recent large projects, nor has it spotlighted the inclusion level in the Stone Brewery project.

The Free Press received the report on the Stone Brewing project in response to a request for information from the city.

From the start of the Stone Brewing development in early 2015, most of the construction attention has focused on Hourigan, the general contracting firm that also has offices in Richmond.

The city put the EDA in charge of building and leasing the production center to Stone Brewing in order to recover the city’s investment over several decades. The EDA hired Hourigan to ramrod construction.

Hourigan also handled the swift, 25-week construction of the Washington pro football

team’s Richmond training camp for the EDA. The EDA also reported a high level of inclusion in the training camp project that was built in 2013. During construction, eight black-owned companies collectively gained contracts worth $2.3 million, or about 29 percent of the $7.8 million

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

spent on actual construction, the Free Press reported at the time, based on city figures.

In the brewery project, Hourigan also had major white-owned firms as subcontractors, including Chewning & Wilmer and Atlantic Constructors, for which the majority of black- and minorityowned businesses worked.

A list of black contractors and their contract awards on Stone Brewing’s new factory, as reported by OMBD: Building Industrial Supply LLC Canterbury Enterprises

Janet Daniels & Associates Hyperion Group

Old Dominion Construction Services Old Dominion Electrical Supply

Dwight Snead Construction

TDU Concrete Virginia Energy & Lighting Vector Technical Services Williams Windows & Glass

Mechanical Interior finishes Mechanical Structural design Mechanical Crane rigging Mechanical

$177,695 $587,904 $4,500 $40,912 $301,056 $30,900 $103,500

Electrical $263,250 Mechanical $51,289 Site work $3,396,829 Mechanical $5,930 Cast-in-place concrete $880,000 Electrical $363,825 Electrical $403,977 Glass and glazing $158,319

Other minority participation: MRF Holdings Dumpsters MSG & Associates Mechanical Northeast Construction Roofing

$15,000 $133,488 $1,259,967

he said, after being introduced by Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son was killed in the shooting. “My hope earnestly has been that it would change the country.”

After that tragedy, the Democratic president failed to persuade Congress to toughen U.S. gun laws. He has blamed lawmakers for being in the thrall of the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby group.

In his executive action, President Obama will require more gun sellers to get licenses and more gun buyers to undergo background checks.

Under the changes, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is issuing guidelines intended to narrow exceptions to a system that requires sellers to check with the FBI to determine whether buyers have criminal records, are charged with crimes or have mental health conditions that would bar them from owning a gun.

Across the nation, gun control advocates and Democratic officials were among those who quickly praised the president’s actions as a modest, but a necessary first step toward reducing gun violence.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, posted a “thank you” to President Obama for “taking a crucial step forward on gun violence.”

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe also applauded the president’s actions.

“The families across our Commonwealth and our nation who have lost loved ones to gun violence make a compelling case for action and Americans are clearly demanding that their leaders take responsibility to ensure that all businesses involved in the sale of firearms conduct appropriate background checks,” he stated in a release Tuesday.

“It would be a violation of the public trust to ignore their pleas for meaningful protections. If these measures prevent a single family from going through the agony that so many Virginians have experienced, they will be worthwhile,” he added.

Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott of Newport News, who represents parts of Richmond, is vice chair of the House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce. He and task force members met with President Obama on Tuesday to discuss the gun proposals. They also attended the president’s announcement.

“I commend the president for taking action to help reduce and prevent gun violence in light of the current congressional leadership’s refusal to responsibly address this epidemic,” Congressman Scott stated in a news release.

“These executive actions will ensure stronger enforcement of current laws, will reduce the number of lives lost to gun violence and will make our communities safer.”

Republicans, on the other hand, were quick to denounce the actions as unnecessary and unconstitutional. They said the measures would not have prevented the mass shootings the president cited as a chief reason he introduced the gun control measures.

A powerful House Republican threatened to block President Obama’s executive action on guns by defunding the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Rep. John Culberson of Texas, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department, warned against enforcing the new gun restrictions.

He said he would use Congress’ “power of the purse” and “use every tool at my disposal to immediately restrict their access to federal funding.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan accused President Obama of “subverting” Congress by taking executive action on gun control.

Virginia Delegate Robert “Bob” Marshall, a Prince William County Republican, told the Free Press on Wednesday, “I don’t think they have the authority to do this at all.”

He said in anticipating the president’s action, he has filed House Bill 83 for the upcoming General Assembly session.

It would “forbid state agencies and employees from helping to enforce federal gun control measures enacted after Dec. 1, 2015,” Rep. Marshall said.

“Virginia is under no constitutional obligation to enforce Barack Obama’s executive efforts at restricting Second Amendment rights,” he added in a release issued Tuesday.

President Obama will further discuss gun violence during a town hall to be televised on CNN at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, and during his State of the Union address 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Richmond Free Press

January 7-9, 2016 A5

Local News

Henrico sheriff may take on Rep. Brat for GOP nomination

By Jeremy M. Lazerua

U.S. Rep. David A. “Dave” Brat, R-Henrico, could face a Republican challenger in his bid for a second two-year term representing the 7th District.

Fresh from winning re-election, Henrico Sheriff Michael L. “Mike” Wade filed paperwork before Christmas with the Federal Election Commission setting up a campaign committee.

Despite the move, he indicated his decision to proceed could be decided this weekend when the 7th District Republican Committee decides whether to nominate the party’s candidate by primary or convention. The current districts stretches west from Henrico to rural Orange County and includes a small piece of Richmond.

Sheriff Wade, 59, told the Free Press last month he believes he would face serious difficulty if Rep. Brat notifies the committee he would prefer a convention, where his supporters mostly likely would dominate the proceedings.

A Tea Party favorite, Rep. Brat, 51, won the congressional seat in 2014, after a shocking GOP primary upset of seemingly entrenched Rep. Eric I. Cantor, then the U.S. House majority leader.

Sheriff Wade said, by running, he is not representing Cantor

supporters seeking to avenge the loss. One reason he is taking a shot at the higher office, he said, is that he could continue to serve as sheriff and would have to give up his office only if he wins the congressional seat.

He was re-elected in November to his fifth, four-year term as sheriff. He will enter the party nomination contest with a bank of goodwill and high marks for his previous 16 years in operating the Henrico County jail, where he has won plaudits for his efforts to Rep. Brat aid inmates and combating recidivism.

Among other things, he has received national recognition for pioneering a 12-step program to assist addicts to change their lives, influencing other jails, including the one in Richmond, to install similar programs.

Sheriff Wade said he believes that his problem-solving approach is what is needed in Congress to end the gridlock.

Among other things, he said he wants to advocate for ways to improve assistance to the mentally ill in jail. That would include, he said, seeking changes in current law to empower family

members to have more say about treatment options. Currently, he said, federal law bars family members who lack a medical power of attorney from having a say in the care of an incarcerated mentally ill relative who refuses their aid.

Political observers believe the sheriff will face an uphill climb to get by Rep. Brat, who serves on the House budget, education and small business committees and has been a reliable conservative vote against ObamaSheriff Wade care, gun control legislation and the recent budget deal that avoided a government shutdown.

A former economics professor at Randolph-Macon University, Rep. Brat won his first term in November 2014 after easily defeating Democrat Jack Trammell, a fellow professor at the Ashland university.

Rep. Brat is expected to campaign on a record of keeping his promises to adhere to conservative Republican principles and his willingness to challenge his party’s leadership in seeking to change Washington while still being accessible to his constituents.

Virginia Legislative Black Caucus outlines priorities

By Joey Matthews

“We call ourselves ‘18 Strong,’ ” said Hampton Sen. Mamie Locke, chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, that has 18 members in the General Assembly.

“We see ourselves as 18 strong voices seeking to do what’s right, not just for constituents in our districts, but speaking for those who don’t see themselves as having voices,” she told the Free Press last week.

The caucus defines its mission as working to “improve the economic, educational, political and social conditions of African-Americans as well as other underrepresented groups in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

Sen. Locke and other caucus members are scheduled to outline the group’s legislative agenda for the upcoming General Assembly session on its opening day, Wednesday, Jan. 13. The presentation will be 10:30 a.m. in the House Briefing Room on the first floor of the General Assembly Building.

Sen. Locke said a unified effort by caucus members, all of whom are Democrats, will be even more critical this session with Republicans controlling the Senate and House of Delegates.

“We have power in our numbers,” she said.

“There are 18 of us and those 18 votes can make a difference,” she said.

Already, the caucus has said it will focus on criminal justice system reforms, funding for education and expanding health care and voting rights and women’s rights among its efforts.

Sen. Locke said the caucus will continue to push for Medicaid expansion to provide health insurance coverage to an estimated 400,000 working Virginians “even though we know it has absolutely no chance of passing.”

She also said caucus members will offer legislation to provide a living wage for workers.

“I don’t see that it will be going anywhere, but our role is continuing to push for those things,” Sen. Locke said She said the caucus also will seek to increase voting rights by supporting early voting opportunities and by blocking any further GOP legislation designed to suppress voting rights.

Other areas of legislative focus for the caucus will include increasing funding for K-12 education and early childhood education, providing more workforce training opportunities, support for universal background checks for gun purchases and upholding women’s choices in deciding their health care needs.

The caucus also is backing a constitutional amendment allowing for the automatic restoration of rights for nonviolent offenders.

Sen. Locke also said the caucus will oppose a proposed constitutional amendment to give the state the authority to determine whether a locality can establish a charter school, removing that authority from local school boards.

She said caucus members also would oppose a constitutional amendment designed to make Virginia a right-to-work state.

“This is an anti-labor amendment,” Sen. Locke said. “They’re saying, ‘We don’t want

Richmond School Board elects new chairman

By Joey Matthews

senting votes. Tichi Pinkney Eppes, 9th District, abstained twice.

“I think we are at a critical time at Before the votes were cast, Ms. our tenure and at a critical juncture in Taylor proposed instituting a policy making progress in Richmond Public whereby the vice chair position would Schools. I felt compelled to continue rotate among board members over the progress that we have made.” the course of the year, but the board Jeffrey M. Bourne, 3rd District, declined to back the plan. told the Free Press on Tuesday that’s Ms. Taylor then challenged the why he agreed to serve as chair of the nominations of Mr. Bourne and Mr. Richmond School Board.

Coleman by nominating herself sepaMr. Bourne It will be Mr. Bourne’s second rately for the posts, and Ms. Pinkney time as chair. He served at the helm of the Eppes seconded both of her nominations. Ms. board in 2013.

Taylor’s nominations did not come up for a Mr. Bourne, 39, is a deputy attorney general, vote either time because the seven members married with two children, the older of whom is had already voted for Mr. Bourne and Mr. enrolled in Richmond Public Schools. He was Coleman. nominated for the position at Monday’s board The two men are scheduled to serve in their meeting by outgoing chair Donald Coleman, 7th positions until Dec. 31, 2016, when the newly District. Outgoing Vice Chair Kristen Larson, elected board will select its leaders.

4th District, then nominated Mr. Coleman as “I’m absolutely excited,” said Mr. Coleman, vice chair. who served two terms as chair after Mr. Bourne.

Seven board members voted to appoint Mr. Mr. Coleman, a Richmond minister, was board vice Bourne and Mr. Coleman to the one-year terms. chair during Mr. Bourne’s first term. “I believe Mamie Taylor, 5th District, cast the lone dis- he’s the right person for this time,” he added.

“This board has made a lot of progress and we need to finish strong, and I believe Mr. Bourne represents that and will push us to finish strong.”

Mr. Bourne, who serves as a deputy attorney general in the office of Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, said he hopes to lead the board by “continuing to strengthen our academic plans and offerings for our students.

“In addition to that, I’d like for us to address Sunday, Jan. 31, is the deadline for people some of the operational things that drain our to enroll in health insurance plans through the resources,” added Mr. Bourne, who has hinted Affordable Care Act’s Federal Health Insurance at a run for mayor this year. “I’d also like for us Marketplace. to find ways to decrease the too-high number of Celebrate Healthcare will hold several Enroll- expulsions and suspensions we have. And, I’d like fests, including three in the Greater Richmond to increase our career and tech-ed offerings.” area, to help people who want to enroll.

In his new role, Mr. Bourne also said he They are scheduled as follows: would seek to “balance thoughtful discussion and • Sunday, Jan. 10: 1:30 to 4 p.m. at Zion debate about an issue with our needs to address Baptist Church, 225 Byrne St. in Petersburg; problems with a great sense of urgency.”

• Saturday, Jan. 16: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mr. Bourne will lead the board as it enters a Tabernacle Baptist Church, 11521 Coalboro challenging budget cycle that is sure to include Road in Chesterfield County; and serious discussions over how to best allocate • Saturday, Jan. 23: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the the city’s scarce financial resources.

Bon Secours training camp for the Washington RPS Superintendent Dana T. Bedden has professional football team, 2401 W. Leigh St. proposed an ambitious $298 million budget in Richmond. that includes an $8.7 million compensation plan Celebrate Healthcare is an organization that that would increase pay for teachers and other advocates and educates consumers on affordable school staff, reflecting their years of employhealth care plans. ment with the district.

Gaylene Kanoyton, president of the organizaMr. Bourne reflected the realities of the tion, said it has helped educate more than 15,000 budget constraints when he concluded, “I think consumers and enroll more than 6,000 people it’s going to be another tight year for Richmond in the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas in Public Schools. But, the School Board is going health insurance plans. to put its fingerprints on the superintendent’s For more information: Go to www.celebrate- statement of needs and prioritize our students healthcare.net or call (757) 287-0277. and teachers by doing so.”

Help available to enroll in health plans

people to join unions.’ ” She said caucus members know the cards are stacked against them in their efforts to pass legislation important to their constituents because of the GOP opposition.

Asked what strategy the caucus will use to overcome its underdog status during the General

Assembly session, Sen. Locke said, “We’re just being very vocal and very loud about the fact that they (Republicans) tend to use their position … not to do what’s in the best interest of citizens. They use those numbers to flex their muscles, instead of asking, ‘Where can we work together?’ ’’

Bill seeks to expunge teen drug arrest records Continued from A1

rests for marijuana possession among that age group were African-Americans, according to data provided by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

By comparison, arrests for alcohol violations were higher among white people ages 10 to 20 in Virginia.

An average of 81.9 percent of arrests for underage possession of alcohol from 2010 through 2014 were of white youths. In 2014, 81.7 percent, or 3328 of the 4,074 people arrested

for liquor law violations were white people.

A former prosecutor in the Hanover County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, Sen. McDougle said he has witnessed the debilitating effects juvenile convictions can have on people once they reach adulthood.

“This may not meet everybody’s wishes and hopes, but we want to try and make sure that when a person under the age of 21 makes a mistake like this, they will not be penalized for life,” he said in a phone interview.

He said the legislation would help the ex-offenders as well as

businesses that otherwise might be forced to dismiss them from consideration for jobs.

“I feel very optimistic about it passing the Senate, but the House will be the more challenging of the two,” Sen. McDougle said.

Republicans hold the majority in both the state Senate and House of Delegates.

“This is a 100 percent sea change from the way things have been done in Virginia,” he added. “In the past, these people would have never had the ability for those convictions to be expunged.”

Richmond Free Press

Ornamental cabbage in the West End

Editorial Page

A6

January 7-9, 2016

Beyond tears We appreciate President Obama’s courageous action Tuesday ordering stricter gun laws to curb the out-of-control firearm violence that is plaguing communities across the United States.

He has done by executive order what the spineless politicians in Congress and the Virginia General Assembly have failed to achieve because they have been bought and paid for by the National Rifle Association and like zealots.

In 2013-14, gun rights groups, including the NRA and the National Association for Gun Rights, spent $31 million nationally in campaign contributions and lobbying activities, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

They outspent by 7 to 1 organizations working to stem the bloodshed through tougher, tighter gun laws. Such advocacy groups spent only $4.5 million on lobbying efforts and campaign contributions during the same period. Their efforts haven’t met with success, despite the growing numbers of Americans who believe change is needed to reduce gun violence.

That’s why President Obama’s improvements are so important and resonated with right-minded people across the nation.

Even some Virginians who consider themselves wedded to Second Amendment rights found themselves understanding the president’s efforts and agreeing with his executive order requiring more gun sellers to be licensed and more gun purchasers to undergo background checks.

His changes also call for enhanced enforcement by ATF agents; sharing of mental health information by states to improve screening of purchasers before gun sales; $500 million for expanded mental health treatment; and enhanced technology for gun safety.

Who, but the most vile among us can argue with such common sense measures?

According to several gun owners organizations, more than 270 million firearms are owned in the United States, with nearly one in three households reporting they own guns.

With such vast numbers, we should be the safest nation in the world, right?

But we’re not.

In 2013, guns took more lives than several diseases, including Parkinson’s, leukemia, hypertension and kidney failure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 33,636 people were killed by guns in 2013. That includes homicides, suicides and accidents. Another 84,000 people suffered nonfatal gunshot injuries.

In 2013, nearly 900 of our fellow Virginians suffered deaths by firearms. The numbers don’t take into account the suffering of families, employers and communities from those losses and injuries.

We live in a nation where toys and cars are regulated with more concern for safety than guns. And the more than 50 mass shootings that have taken place on American soil since 1997 — including the horrendous massacre of 33 people at Virginia Tech — have done little more than prick the conscience of the nation. People cling to claims of their constitutional right to bear arms as they thwart efforts to stem the bloodshed with sensible gun laws.

President Obama’s action Tuesday was not about curbing Second Amendment rights. It’s about curbing gun violence and saving lives.

In Virginia alone, firearms sales skyrocketed about 46 percent in December, compared with sales in December 2014. More than 70,600 criminal background checks for gun purchases were conducted in December, compared to 48,400 the same month in 2014.

Already Republican lawmakers and GOP presidential candidates are vowing to block the president’s actions with lawsuits and their own executive orders if elected that would roll back tougher gun laws.

If we want to see permanent change in the United States and in Virginia, then we must take a page from the NRA playbook and flood our congressional representatives and state legislators with emails, letters, phone calls and visits demanding gun safety laws.

Until that happens, nothing will change.

Fat Cat Tuesday When the work day ended Tuesday, top bosses in the United Kingdom earned more than the average worker will in a year.

Think about that: On just the second work day of 2016, the fat cats running the European nation’s top 100 companies would have earned more than their employees will during the next 11 months-plus.

Talk about inequity.

High Pay Centre, an independent think tank, dubbed Jan. 5 Fat Cat Day to draw public attention to the “continuing problem of the unfair pay gap” between the top 1 percent and the 99 percent.

According to the group, FTSE 100 chief executives are paid an average $7.25 million a year, while the average annual pay of UK workers is $40,414.

That’s a CEO to employee salary ratio of 179:1. Put another way, for each $1 earned by the average worker, the company’s CEO makes $179.

Certainly this phenomenon is not limited to the UK. We have experienced this in the United States, with an obscenely growing gap between the top 1 percent and the 99 percent.

The Occupy Wall Street movement brought attention to it in recent years, prompted, as with the British group, by the global economic collapse.

PayScale reported the ratio of CEO pay to median employee pay for Fortune 100 companies. Here are some examples: Walmart, 1,034:1; Walt Disney, 557:1; McDonald’s, 435:1; Comcast, 370:1; Wells Fargo, 186:1; Verizon Communications, 145:1; Allstate, 103:1; and Costco Wholesale, 57:1.

We take this very seriously. And we call, yet again, for a raise in the minimum wage to give workers a better chance at providing for the basic needs of themselves and their families.

It’s not about whining or jealousy. It all boils down to how we value people.

Without worker bees performing the real work day in and day out, there would be no huge profits for the fat cats to collect.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Athletes, dollars and progress As the University of Alabama football team prepares to line up against Clemson University on Jan. 11 in Glendale, Ariz., to decide the national collegiate football championship, it’s worth noting that the Crimson Tide wouldn’t be “rolling” in success and the money that accompanies it without its African-American players led by 2015 Heisman Trophy Winner Derrick Henry.

According to the New York Times, in 2003, the University of Alabama’s athletic budget was $37 million. Today, it is more than four times that — $153 million. Nick Saban, Alabama’s head coach, receives a salary of $7 million a year. The university gets $9 million this year in licensing fees alone, a figure that will total $103 million through the 2024-25 season. Learfield Sports guarantees Alabama up to $14 million a year for multimedia rights, including programs and game-day radio headsets.

Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., has been expanded twice to reach 101,821 seats and 31,000 people are on the waiting list for season

tickets. There also is a long line of companies waiting and willing to pay six figures for a luxury suite.

The Tide is rolling in cash.

But the university is no different from other major white universities that exploit its athletes for financial reasons.

George Curry According to the NCAA, most of the football and basketball players at the university level are African-Americans.

The Washington Post recently reported: “With the money made from college sports increasing every year, the way colleges treat their athletes has become controversial.

“That’s because college sports is a tremendously lucrative business for everyone but the athletes. The National College Athletic Association will receive $7.3 billion from ESPN for the right to broadcast the seven games of the College Football Playoffs between 2014 and 2026, and $11 billion from CBS and Turner Sports to broadcast ‘March Madness’ over the next 14 years.

“Individual colleges also make out well: The University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team’s trip to the Final Four this

year, for example, brought more than $8 million in revenue to the universities of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Each of the ‘Big 5’ conferences will make an estimated $50 million from the college football playoffs this year.

“And none of this counts the money made from concessions, merchandise and licensing fees.”

The collegiate merchandise market reportedly takes in $4.6 billion each year.

The most disturbing part of The Post article was not that majority white universities are profiting from the sweat of African-American athletes. That has been obvious for years.

What’s insulting is the reason most people object to college athletes being able to share in the financial gains they make possible.

The newspaper stated: “In a statistical analysis that controlled for a host of other influences, we found this: Negative racial views about black people were the single most important predictor of white opposition to paying college athletes.

“The more negatively a white respondent felt about blacks, the more they opposed paying college athletes.”

Are you shocked?

So was I. And it’s hard to shock me, an African-American

The high cost of medicines Last year, U.S. prescription drug prices jumped 13 percent, the biggest increase since 2001.

Already, we were paying the highest prescription drug prices in the world. As a result, nearly 35 million people were unable to fill at least one prescription because they could not afford the cost.

That hardship is unacceptable at a time when the top three pharmaceutical companies made a combined $45 billion profit in 2014.

On the main streets of America, far from the hallowed halls of Congress, people know that there is something dramatically wrong with this picture — and they are calling upon their elected representatives to enact reforms.

Recent public opinion polling conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation expresses this public outcry: 60 percent of Americans (including 51 percent of Republicans) say government action to lower prescription drug prices should be a top priority for the president and the Congress.

The rapidly rising — and all too often unaffordable — cost of prescription medicines is an issue for all of us. Yet, even when price gouging by prescription drug manufacturers is obvious, the response by House Republican leaders has been silence. We have received only resistance and delays in response to our demands for hearings and corrective legislation.

For example, an overwhelming majority of Americans (83 percent, including 74 percent of Republicans) favor allowing the federal government to

Rep. Elijah Cummings negotiate with drug companies to lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. Yet, our initiatives to end the ban on Health and Human Services negotiations to lower Medicare Part D prescription drug prices have evoked no support from the Republican congressional leadership.

In the context of the millions of Americans in their congressional districts who are suffering and all too often dying because they cannot afford their medicine, this Republican silence and obstruction is both inexplicable and unconscionable.

If I were more cynical, I would attribute their silence to the massive campaign contributions and lobbying efforts by major pharmaceutical interests, most of which benefit Republican candidates.

Yet, restraining the unsupportable cost increases for health care is as essential to a sustainable U.S. pharmaceutical industry as it is to more balanced government and family budgets.

At times, during the years in which I have been engaged in this ongoing struggle to bring down the cost of essential medicines, I have felt that we in the Congress are trapped in a bad dream.

We must continue to call upon our Republican colleagues to join us in standing up to a prescription drug industry that spent more than $250 million

in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses last year.

Despite the forces amassed against reform, I remain confident in the vision and the political influence of an informed and engaged American public.

In recent weeks, the House and Senate have come together to enact bipartisan budget legislation that includes key provisions of “The Medicaid Generic Drug Price Fairness Act” that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and I sponsored to restrain the cost of generic drugs in our Medicaid program [H.R. 2391 / S. 1364].

The Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is launching an investigation into the pharmaceutical industry — hearings that are comparable to those that Democrats have been seeking in the House and that House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz has agreed to hold.

The leading Democratic presidential candidates have set forth concrete, workable plans to restrain the rising cost of prescription medicines — and, in the House of Representatives, determined Democratic leaders have joined with me to launch the Affordable Drug Pricing Task Force.

We are engaged in a concerted effort to break the silence about the pharmaceutical industry’s abuses and we will not relent until we succeed.

T h e w r i t e r re p re s e n t s Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Special to Trice Edney News Wire From The Afro-American Newspapers

The Free Press welcomes letters The Richmond Free Press respects the opinions of its readers. We want to hear from you.

We invite you to write the editor. All letters will be considered for publication. Concise, typewritten letters related to public matters are preferred. Also include your telephone number(s). Letters should be addressed to: Letters to the Editor, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, 422 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23261, or faxed to: (804) 643-7519 or e-mail: letters@richmondfreepress.com.

who grew up in segregated Tuscaloosa in the shadows of the University of Alabama.

The Post story said, “In every survey to date, blacks are far more likely to support paying college athletes when compared to whites. For instance, in the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), 53 percent of African-Americans backed paying college athletes — more than doubling the support expressed by whites (22 percent).”

So when you see rabid — and often drunk — white fans cheering another touchdown scored

by Alabama’s Derrick Henry or a touchdown pass thrown

by Deshaun Watson, Clemson’s African-American quarterback, in next week’s championship game, don’t be misled. They love it as long as the AfricanAmerican athletes are bringing in millions for the University of Alabama’s athletic department or the sports program at Clemson, but the athletes don’t deserve to get much more beyond their athletic scholarships for one reason — the color of their skin.

The writer is president and CEO of George Curry Media.

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Richmond Free Press

January 7-9, 2016

A7

Letters to the Editor More on Maggie Walker statue and tree site

There should be no distractions Find other ways Re “Strange Fruit? Critic: Oak evokes lynching image at Walker statue site,” Dec. 24-26 edition: Gary Flowers is oh so right. Mr. Flowers understands the process of concentration. The tree and the statue each require individual attention.

The real problem is that so many of our elected leaders never understood culture. Example: Pine Camp Arts and Community Center on Old Brook Road once had an average of 7,000 patrons per month, but now maybe about 500. Complaints about the problems were never answered.

Another example: Putting a slave museum at the very location where Virginia Union University was born and destroying the Craig House for a baseball stadium. The Craig House is perhaps Richmond’s second oldest structure, and served as an arts center for African-Americans from 1938 until 1942. My cousin and I

used to walk there from Van de Vyver School in the 700 block of North 1st Street twice a week to take drawing lessons.

I had no patience for drawing and switched to photography. I created Pine Camp’s photography program in 1978. Out of disgust, I left Pine Camp about two years ago. A person at City Hall told me that art is recreation. Is the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts recreation for the state?

Not understanding culture is the problem. I could write several books on the city’s leadership throughout my life of 87 years in Richmond.

Only Maggie Walker should be on Broad Street. No distraction.

of Jackson Ward.

GLORY4MLW, a Facebook page, directs statue supporters to an Internet petition that recognizes her statue as the focus of the plaza without the tree. Additionally, supporters should attend the important community discussion by the Richmond Public Arts Commission at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12.

My understanding is that the city has a policy to replace trees that are removed for such projects. Therefore, the tree in question certainly will be represented by new tree life. Let the Maggie Walker statue claim the spotlight at Broad and Adams to illuminate the gateway to Jackson Ward toward Leigh Street.

Her full glory is a shining guide to honor our past, our present and our future.

I was both saddened and angry by the headline and article regarding the planned Maggie Walker statue. The city is willing to spend $600,000 on this site, which is now the designated “gateway to Jackson Ward,” which I had assumed was North Belvidere Street.

I found the rhetoric used by Gary Flowers insulting to the intelligence of all residents of Jackson Ward and Richmond.

The city, instead, should invest time and money on CCTV security cameras in the dangerous blocks between North Adams Street and the Greater Richmond Convention Center, which are isolated at night.

Perhaps the city needs to start addressing how Jackson Ward is deteriorating from the neglect by the city in enforcing the minimum, bare basic city codes on the books regarding garbage and the recycling bins that have littered the sidewalks since August, turning a historic neighborhood into a wasteland of street refuse. Or the 6-foot hole on West Clay Street in front of Abner Clay Park, which is three years in the making.

How about the health hazards caused by blocked drains that have made the neighborhood a rat block party? Think about what the failing inner-city schools could do with that $600,000. Just a bit of that money would do wonders for after-school programs, summer jobs and inner-city athletics.

I have the greatest respect for the legacy of Mrs. Walker, but you can count me out on this token gesture by the city that ignores the real ills plaguing the neighborhood. I’m afraid I don’t have time to memorialize Mrs. Walker. I’m too busy memorializing our late son, Jett Higham, who was murdered in a robbery around the corner from the new Maggie Walker plaza on Marshall Street.

CARMEN F. FOSTER Richmond

TONI-LESLIE JAMES Richmond

EARLE P. TAYLOR Richmond

Statue, plaza need to be done right

The legacy of Maggie L. Walker has been for decades a guiding light that shines on the heritage and values of the African-American community of Jackson Ward. A lighted statue that hails her many achievements is a statue long past due in the city of Richmond.

It is unfortunate that the issue of removing a tree at Broad and Adams streets has taken precedence over the long sought efforts to bring a Walker statue to reality. When I first learned about the dilemma regarding the tree and the statue, I walked around the plaza site to visualize how they could coexist in that corner space.

After several plaza visits, it was obvious that an elegant statue in her honor would not allow a 360-degree view, unlike many of the statues of men in Richmond. Such an undertaking needs to be done right — with class, dignity and honor, hallmark principles that represent Mrs. Walker’s legacy and the heritage

to spend $600,000

Donating old phones helps fight domestic violence If you’re looking for an easy way to give back this new year, consider donating your old cell phones to HopeLine, Verizon’s signature philanthropy program that helps those affected by domestic violence.

Since the program began in 2001, Verizon has helped victims become survivors by collecting old phones and turning them into cash support for organizations nationwide. The 11.4 million phones collected, $29 million-plus cash donations and 190,000 phones donated to date have had a tremendous impact.

This support, which totaled more than $200,000 in the Virginia region this year, has empowered dozens of local shelters to offer services to those facing the challenges of domestic violence and to assist victims in rebuilding their lives.

Through this much-needed funding, many community organizations have been able to expand services, including mental health counseling, legal advocacy and 24-hour hotline operations. Other organizations have been able to keep their doors open during tough

economic times.

Prevent Child Abuse Virginia and Virginia’s Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance are examples of nonprofits in Virginia that received HopeLine grants from Verizon in 2015.

If a new smartphone is among the holiday gifts you received this year, consider donating and recycling your old device — any make or model and in any condition — to HopeLine by dropping it off at any Verizon Wireless store or using a postage-paid mailing label found

at www.verizon.com/about/responsibility/ hopeline/get-involved.

Help continue the legacy of HopeLine support — and help the nearly one in four women, one in seven men and more than 3 million children in the United States who are affected by domestic violence.

KATE JAY Atlanta The writer is public relations director for Southeast Markets at Verizon Wireless.

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Richmond Free Press

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Stories by Fred Jeter

VUU’s Kiana Johnson leads CIAA all around the ball

Fueled by transfer Kiana Johnson, the Virginia Here’s how Johnson recalls it: Union University women’s basketball team has “Almost as soon as I got off the plane, I felt taken off like a rocket. at home. It was the family I was looking for.”

The 5-foot-7 dynamo leads the CIAA in Johnson was a two-time, All-State performer scoring (24.8 points per game), assists (8.2 per in Illinois, earning the nickname “Thriller.” game) and steals (4.2 per game) while steering As a mere freshman, she cracked the MSU the Lady Panthers to an 8-1 takeoff under first- lineup, assuming the role of floor leader. year Coach AnnMarie Gilbert.

“I prefer passing to scoring, but I’ll do whatInheriting a squad coming off a 9-18 season, ever the team needs,” she said.

Coach Gilbert felt she needed a quality point In parts of three seasons, 2011 to 2014 in East guard to jump start her inaugural Lansing, she averaged 8.2 points Doubleheader season on Lombardy Street. and 4.5 assists per game while Virginia Union University Johnson, a former three-year logging more than 30 minutes starter at Michigan State University will host Shaw University per game. in a basketball twin bill of the Big 10 Conference, became Thursday, Jan. 7, at BarcoAs a junior, she was leading the dream-come-true addition. the Big 10 with a 2.9 assists Stevens Hall on the VUU Coach Gilbert’s deep roots in campus. to turnovers ratio before being Middle America played a role. suspended from the team late in The Lady Panthers It helped that Coach Gilbert, a will tip off at 5:30 p.m., the 2013-14 season. native Ohioan, is a former head followed by the VUU-Shaw “Some personal issues,” she excoach at Eastern Michigan Uni- men’s game. plained. “It was just better to leave versity (2007 to 2012) and former than to stay.” assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Michigan It was during that general timeframe that State University (2003 to 2006). tragedy struck her young life.

“I’d known Kiana since she was in high school” “I lost my boyfriend to violence — to guns,” at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in she said.

Chicago and “playing AAU” with Lady Fire, Asked to elaborate, she said: Coach Gilbert said. “When I found out she was “He was from the same neighborhood where available, we invited her for a visit.”

I grew up. We started dating in November 2013.

With a wide smile, Coach Gilbert recalls the He was murdered in May 2014.” deciding moments of Johnson’s official recruitJohnson sat out the 2014-15 season, working visit last spring: ing as a cashier and overnight stock person at “We took Kiana out to dinner and were all a Jewel-Osco supermarket in Chicago. having a good time. I noticed her doodling on “I was lost. I was trying to find myself,” she her napkin. Then just before we were going to said of the layoff. leave, she pushed the napkin in my direction.

When the word went out that she wasn’t returning It said, ‘I’m coming to Union.’ to Michigan State University, she was presented “I went “Yes!” with transfer opportunities around the country.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Virginia Union University’s Kiana Johnson drives to the basket during a recent practice with the Lady Panthers.

Coach Gilbert’s connections — Coach Gilbert knew Johnson’s high school coach — lured Johnson from the Windy City to River City.

Johnson became an overnight success in maroon and steel, providing VUU’s bona fide threat to complement 6-foot-2 Lady Walker (averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds) in the paint.

Johnson seldom sits down. Averaging 38.4 minutes per game, she has hit 44 percent (2046) from beyond the arc and is 61-79 from the foul line (77 percent).

Three times she has scored in the 30s.

Once a national power, VUU women’s hoops has been in a bit of a downturn. VUU won the NCAA Division II championship in 1983 and was national runner-up in 1984.

Johnson hopes to play professionally, if not in the WNBA, then overseas. But before signing a play-for-pay contract, she has work to do.

Pointing a finger to the Barco-Stevens Hall rafters, Johnson told a visitor, “It’s time for another banner.”

Rams wreak ‘Havoc’ at home and on the road

“Havoc” is alive and well at Virginia Commonwealth University, even though its founder, former Coach Shaka Smart, has left for Austin, Texas.

In examining the Rams’ recent basketball statistics, you’d hardly suspect Coach Smart had been replaced by Coach Will Wade.

In a four-game sweep Dec. 22 to Jan. 2, the Rams — now 9-5 — outscored the visitors by an average of 21.2 points while making 49 steals and forcing 84 turnovers.

VCU’s defensive formula is all about “Havoc,” which describes a feverish defensive style that exhausts and frustrates foes, leading to turnovers and quick-strike scores.

Against the University of Buffalo, the Rams tormented the Bulls into 31 lost possessions in winning 90-69.

The Rams’ relentless harassment of George Mason University in a Jan. 2 game forced the Patriots to lose the handle 22 times against the Rams, who won 71-47.

Coach Wade is a former assistant coach under Coach Smart and he used a similar style during the past two seasons as head coach at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

At UT-C, he gave “Havoc” the name “Chaos.”

It adds up to same thing. In fact, when Coach Wade was introduced to VCU last spring, he delighted his audience saying,

“Just so you know, ‘Havoc’ still lives here.” VCU actually filed in June with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to keep the name “Havoc” for itself.

Starting this week, VCU was first in the Atlantic 10 Conference in steals (10.6 per game) and in turnover margin (plus 6.2).

Overall, VCU began the week with 148 steals to its opponents’ 80, and has forced 252 turnovers compared to 166 of its own.

Also, thanks to senior guard Melvin Johnson, VCU also has a 105-80 edge in three-point baskets.

Johnson, out of St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, N.J., is 53 for 116 (46 percent) behind the arc.

Something else unchanged is the Rams’ passionate following. The four home wins drew sellout crowds of 7,637 fans, increasing the string of consecutive full houses at the Siegel Center to 75.

The uproarious crowd only adds to all the confusion VCU causes with its wide array of frenzied full- and half-court defensive ploys. The wilder, more unscripted the action, the more the Rams fans enjoy it and the further the home team tends to pull away on the scoreboard.

Johnson hit four three-pointers and had 22 points against George Mason University to raise his career total to 1,291. That enables him to pass Danny Kottak and Chris Cheeks and move

up to 21st place on the school’s all-time list.

Johnson has scored at least 20 points on seven occasions and averages 18.6 points.

Leading VCU in steals is reserve guard Doug Brooks with 24, despite playing just 17 minutes per game.

Brooks is the closest player Coach Wade’s version of “Havoc” has to VCU career steals leader Briante Weber of the VCU Class of 2015.

Second in VCU scoring, at 12.3, is Korey Billsbury, the senior transfer from Oral Roberts University. The Rams other transfer player, Ahmed Hamdy-Mohamed, had career highs of 16 points and eight rebounds in routing George Mason.

Junior JeQuan Lewis averages nine points while leading with 65 assists. The Tennessean had 16 assists and only four turnovers against University of North Florida on Dec. 30.

The Rams are 8-1 at home and now need to establish their defense and all-round skills outside Richmond.

Next up is a trip to Missouri to play St. Louis University of the Atlantic-10 Conference on Sunday, Jan. 10. The 4 p.m. tipoff will be televised by NBC Sports Network.

VCU returns home Wednesday, Jan. 13, to face Fordham University in a 7 p.m. Atlantic-10 match at its always rocking home on Broad Street, where “Havoc” remains the trademark.

Henrico High gym becomes ‘Buckingham Palace’

It’s about time for De’Monte Buckingham to be entered into the discussion of the Richmond area’s all-time, high school basketball greats.

At least since the 1970s, few players have piled up more points — and more championships — than the Henrico High School megastar.

Unofficially, the muscular, 6-foot-4 do-it-all senior has turned Henrico High’s gymnasium into “Buckingham Palace.”

With Buckingham the leading light, the Warriors have become basketball royalty under Coach Vance Harmon.

First, consider Buckingham’s team achievements: • Since Buckingham’s arrival on the Azalea Avenue campus in 2012, the Warriors are 90-10 entering this week and have won 38 of the last 39 games over two seasons.

• Henrico High won the 2013 AAA and 2015 5A State titles, and was State 5A runner-up in 2014. Three regional crowns served as stepping stones.

• The Warriors, ranked No. 1 in the area this winter, started 10-0 after trouncing No. 2 St. Christopher’s 87-74 in the final of the Henrico Holiday

Tournament. The Warriors’ average winning margin has been 26 points.

• Coach Harmon’s squad is vying for something no local public school has ever accomplished — winning three State crowns in four years.

Now for Buckingham’s individual accolades: • He entered this week with a career 1,649 points, including 249 this season in 10 outings.

He is likely to play another 20 games, possibly worth another 500 points.

• He is a two-time All-State and is State 5A Player of the Year in 2015.

• He is nearing Henrico High’s scoring record of 1,687 set by Ken Foster in the late 1960s.

• He is closing in on the Henrico County record of 1,717 points set, coincidentally, by Coach Harmon himself as a student at Douglas Freeman High School in the late 1980s.

“I certainly hope he gets it,” Coach Harmon said. “In fact, I can’t think of a scenario where he won’t.”

In last year’s 5A semifinals, in which Henrico High beat Freedom High 96-70, Buckingham may have produced the best all-round

All-Day Basketball The 8th Annual VirginiaPreps.com Challenge will take place Saturday, Jan. 9, at J.R. Tucker High School, 2910 N. Parham Road, in Henrico County. Defending State 5A champion Henrico High School will meet Lake Taylor High School of Norfolk in the last of six scheduled games.

Here’s the schedule: Noon Tucker High School of Henrico vs. Nansemond River High School of Suffolk 1:45 p.m. Albemarle High School vs. Varina High School of Henrico 3:30 p.m. James Monroe High School of Fredericksburg vs.

Williamsburg Christian Academy 5:15 p.m. Bethel High School of Hampton vs. L.C. Bird High School of Chesterfield 7 p.m. Blue Ridge School vs. John Marshall High School of Richmond 8:45 p.m. Henrico High School vs.

Lake Taylor High School of Norfolk

stat line in state history: 24 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 blocked shots and 7 steals.

“Buck is like the Swiss Army knife — he does so much,” said Coach Harmon.

The 205-pounder can play any position but is likely to be a small forward or shooting guard at his college destination, University of Richmond.

De’Monte Buckingham

“Buck has a collegeready body now,” Coach Harmon said. “Physically, he’s a horse. And he has polished his shooting. He’s at 80 percent from the foul line and 35 percent from beyond the arc. He should have no trouble moving to the perimeter.”

Buckingham was leaning heavily toward Virginia Commonwealth University before Rams Coach Shaka Smart left last spring for the University of Texas. The University of Virginia was another serious suitor.

Buckingham’s older brother, Daz Starke, was a basketball standout at Highland Springs High School and now plays professionally in Chile.

Another older brother, Nicholas Buckingham, is a track sprinter at VCU. The case for ranking Buckingham with the all-time greats is based on a combination of team and individual marks.

Only a handful of public school ballers have ever topped 2,000 points. They include Tyrese Rice (2,328 points for L.C. Bird High), Tyree Evans (2,251 points for George Wythe High), Kendrick Warren (2,134 points for Thomas Jefferson High) and Travis McKie (2,094 points for John Marshall High).

But none of them ever won a state title. Also without a state crown was L.C. Bird’s Kenny Williams (1,603 points).

Clyde Austin (2,158 points) won one state crown for Maggie L. Walker High School in 1976. Moses Malone (2,124 points) claimed two state titles for Petersburg High School in 1973 and 1974. Besides Petersburg, the only area squad with consecutive crowns was hybrid Marshall-Walker High School,

which was state champion in 1982 (led by Ron Wade) and 1983 (led by Willie Jennings).

Led by Frank Mason, Petersburg High came close to several states titles, but no cigar.

Highland Springs prevailed in 2003 and 2007 with different casts.

Mike Perry, Otis Fulton and Keith Valentine were brilliant All-State stars at Thomas Jefferson High, but combined for just one state title.

Gerald Henderson of Huguenot High and Paul Pressey of George Wythe High graduated to NBA stardom, but never came close to state trophies.

John Kuester and Les Henson each led Benedictine to a string of state Catholic school championships, but this comparison is limited to public schools. Current NBA player Ed Davis is another player from the Benedictine private schools juggernaut.

Meanwhile, the Warriors’ Buckingham continues to shine as the marquee attraction at “Buckingham Palace.” If he hasn’t done enough yet to garner “all-time” status, he has the next three months to convince any doubters.

January 7-9, 2016 B1

Richmond Free Press

B2 January 7-9, 2016

Happenings

‘Unforgettable’ Grammy winner Natalie Cole mourned at 65 Reuters

James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

Natalie Cole performing at the 2015 Richmond Jazz Festival at Maymont.

Ms. Barnes

Mr. Cannon

Grammy Award-winning singer Natalie Cole, whose biggest hit came in a virtual duet with her late father, the legendary Nat King Cole, of his decades-old hit “Unforgettable,” has died.

Ms. Cole, who was 65, died Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles from “ongoing health issues,” her family said.

Ms. Cole’s career spanned five decades in the R&B, soul, jazz and pop genres. In 2015, she had canceled appearances citing medical reasons.

“Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived — with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever,” said a statement signed by Ms. Cole’s only child, Robert Yancey, and her sisters, twins Timolin and Casey Cole.

Tributes quickly poured in from admirers and entertainers alike.

Ms. Cole broke out in 1975 with the hit “This Will Be,” which won the Grammy for best R&B female performance and also earned her the Grammy for best new artist.

Critics compared her to Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin. But her career floundered in the

Mr. Dunnaville

Chief Justice Hassell

1980s because of her heroin addiction.

She bounced back, and her career reached the superstar level in 1991, when she recorded “Unforgettable ... With Love.” The album contained songs associated with her father, the silky-voiced baritone who was one of the most popular performers of the 1940s and ’50s but died before his daughter began her solo career.

Using technology that was cutting edge at the time, studio engineers merged her voice with her father’s in the song “Unforgettable,” which had been a hit for Mr. Cole in 1951.

The result was a moving, sentimental No. 1 hit 40 years later that actually sounded as if the two were singing a duet.

The song and the album earned Ms. Cole three Grammy Awards.

“I thank my dad for leaving me such a wonderful, wonderful heritage,” Ms. Cole said in accepting her awards.

Ms. Cole was 11 when she first sang professionally, with her father. But she went to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst with no plans of an entertainment career. While in college, she performed with bands and set aside plans for being a child psychologist.

Her mother, Maria Cole, also had been a singer with the Duke Ellington and Count Basie bands.

Sen. Locke

Dr. Perkins

The success of “Unforgettable” capped her comeback after a dark period of heroin, crack and alcohol abuse. In her 2000 memoir, “Angel on My Shoulder,” Ms. Cole said she turned to drugs because of unresolved issues in her life, including being molested as a child and her father’s death when she was 15. She was married three times.

She portrayed herself in “Livin’ for Love: The Natalie Cole Story,” a 2000 television movie that depicted her drug addiction. She spent six months in a rehabilitation program at the Hazelden Clinic in Minnesota and told CBS in 2006 that “those people gave me my life back one day at a time.”

Ms. Cole was diagnosed with hepatitis in 2008 from sharing needles with drug addicts, and underwent kidney transplant surgery in 2009. This past autumn, she canceled several concerts scheduled for November and December, citing a recent medical procedure.

Her 2008 album of pop standards, “Still Unforgettable,” included another duet with her father, “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home.”

Her most recent work was 2013’s “Natalie Cole en Espanol.”

Her other hits included “Everlasting,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “I’ve Got Love on My Mind,” and “Good to Be Back.” In all, she won nine Grammys.

Mr. Robinson

Ms. Spencer

2016 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honorees They can only be described as sculptors.

They are responsible for the making and shaping of strong communities.

They are the 2016 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History who are being honored at a ceremony next month.

The honorees were announced this week by Dominion and the Library of Virginia, sponsors of the annual program celebrating the outstanding achievements of African-Americans.

This year’s honorees: • Melody C. Barnes of Richmond, former domestic police adviser for President Obama.

Currently, she is vice provost for global student leadership initiatives at New York University and a senior fellow at the university’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.

• The late Thomas Cannon Sr. of Richmond, a humanitarian and philanthropist who, as a postal worker, contributed more than $150,000 to area nonprofits and community service organizations during his lifetime.

• Clarence M. Dunnaville Jr. of Roanoke, an attorney and civil rights activist now living in Richmond. After sitting in on arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education case in the early 1950s, he decided to go to law school to combat injustice. He worked in Richmond with the law firm of Hill, Tucker and Marsh for several years.

• The late Chief Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr. of Norfolk who became the firstAfrican-American chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2003. A graduate of Harvard Law School and partner at McGuireWoods law firm in Richmond, he served 12 years on the state’s highest court.

• Sen. Mamie E. Locke of Hampton, dean of the School of Liberal Arts and professor of political science at Hampton University. Sen. Locke was the first African-American mayor of Hampton, serving from 2000 through 2004.

Currently, she represents Hampton and Newport News in the Virginia Senate and is chair of the

Ringing in the New Year Brian Richardson and Jasmine Valentine, below, cheer with hundreds of others inside Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center as a new year rolls in last Thursday. Charles Johnson, right, turned out in New Year’s gear, including celebratory eyewear, to party with the crowd to live entertainment. Organizers moved the previously free city event from its prior locations at Brown’s Island and Carytown to the Siegel Center and charged a fee.

Photos by Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.

• Dr. Claude G. Perkins of Richmond, the 12th president of Virginia Union University. Dr. Perkins earned degrees from Mississippi Valley State University, Perdue University and The Ohio State University. A former superintendent of schools in Clark County, Nev., and Kansas City, Mo., Dr. Perkins came out of retirement in 2009 to become president of VUU, where he has increased student enrollment, retention and scholarships.

• Michael Robinson of Henrico, who retired in 2014 from the Seattle Seahawks after helping the team to a Super Bowl title.

A 2011 graduate of Varina High School, he played quarterback and wide receiver at Penn State University, helping lead the team to a Big Ten Conference title in 2005. He was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year the same year. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft and, in 2011, was named to the Pro Bowl

with the Seahawks as a fullback. He also hosts free football camps in the Richmond area and founded the TEAM EXCEL program, which stresses academics, attendance and community service to high school students.

• The late Anne Bethel Spencer of Lynchburg, who was known as a Harlem Renaissance titan. She was the first AfricanAmerican woman poet to be published in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry in 1973.

She lived in her Virginia home her entire life and became friends with Harlem Renaissance writers such as James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois. The Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum is a Virginia Historic Landmark and her work is preserved in numerous libraries, including the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collection Library at the University of Virginia.

For more information on past honorees and current events, visit www.lva.virginia. gov/public/smw.

John Marshall-Thomas Jefferson alumni basketball game Saturday at Ashe Center Past basketball greats from John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson high schools will face off for a good cause.

Former players from both schools will tip off at 1 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center, 3001 N. Boulevard.

Among those scheduled to play are current Thomas Jefferson boys basketball coach Kendrick Warren, Thomas Meredith and Leonard Hughes.

Players scheduled to represent John Marshall are Ronnie Wade, Milton Bell and LaMar Taylor.

Former cheerleaders from both schools are scheduled to perform at halftime.

Advance tickets to the game cost $10. Children age 4 and younger will be admitted free.

The game is hosted by “Friends of John Marshall,” an organization created by the school’s alumni to benefit the school’s student athletes.

Proceeds from the game will be presented to the athletic

programs at both schools.

For more information: Call A.C. Davis at (804) 366-0082 or Blair Paige at (804) 873-5020 or email friendsofjohnmarshall@ gmail.com.

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Richmond Free Press

January 7-9, 2016

Happenings

Personality: Robert N. Barnette Jr. Spotlight on board chairman of Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration Robert N. Barnette Jr. says he was inspired to accept the position as board chairman of the Richmond-based Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration after reading “Billion Dollar Divide,” a report by the Justice Policy Institute in April 2014.

“I wanted to lend my voice to a worthy cause,” he says.

He quotes former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who sponsored the National Criminal Justice Commission Act: “With so many of our citizens in prison compared with the rest of the world, there are only two possibilities. Either we are home to the most evil people on Earth or we are doing something different — and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter.”

The nonprofit Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration focuses on state laws, legislation and policies that lead to the lockup of so many African-American men, women and children.

Mr. Barnette says the organization’s main goal is to help reduce the mass incarceration of African-Americans, and is working to educate community leaders, pastors, politicians and others about the “bad” laws that lock people up and what’s needed to better the lives of African-Americans in Virginia.

A lot of that is being done by the organization’s board, which is comprised of pastors, NAACP leaders, academicians, community leaders and social activists from localities across Virginia.

Mr. Barnette also serves as president of the Hanover County Branch NAACP and says the two groups work together on the mass incarceration issue.

Currently, the alliance is gearing up to advocate for several legislative changes when the General Assembly session starts Wednesday, Jan. 13.

One law the alliance is working to change is raising the threshold for felony grand larceny in Virginia. Currently, a person accused of taking something valued at $200 can be charged with a felony. The alliance is working to increase that value to $1,500.

The threshold “was last increased in 1980 to $200,” Mr. Barnette explains. “Given the steady increase in consumer prices, based on the Consumer Price Index, $200 in 1980 is valued at about $600 today.”

Mr. Barnette says alliance members will meet with members of the House of Delegates and the state Senate, and send letters, faxes and emails to legislators seeking the change.

“I think chances are better than they have ever been to raise the threshold in the current Republican-controlled General Assembly,” he adds.

“A wide array of community leaders, church leaders, statewide church leadership organizations encompassing many denominations, activists, taxpayers and consumers have come together in a historic way working to bring about change in Virginia’s outdated and punitive $200 felony grand larceny threshold.”

Here’s this week’s crusading Personality, Robert N. Barnette Jr.:

the implementation of the Affordable Care Act by expanding Medicaid coverage to all individuals at or below the poverty level ($14,404 a year for an individual and $29,327 for a family of four) who are under the age of 65, are not enrolled for Medicare benefits, and are not qualified for another mandatory Medicaid category; and support for legislation that requires background checks on all who purchase guns and to institute a statewide ban on military assault weapons and a limit on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Other leadership roles in the community: chair, Hanover County Electoral Board; board chair, Hanover Department of Social Services; board member, Hanover County Sheriff’s Citizens Advisory Board; president, Virginia Army/Air National Guard Enlisted Association; Richmond regional board member, Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership; vice president, Richmond Chapter of the West End High School Alumni Association.

Number of board members for the Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration: 16.

When and where the Alliance meets: March and October at Thirty-first Street Baptist Church, 823 N. 31st St., in Church Hill. We also meet during January before the State of Black America address.

To help accomplish the goal of raising the felony grand larceny threshold to $1,500, the alliance has: Contacted groups such as the Virginia State Conference NAACP and members of 100 branches, the Baptist General Convention of Virginia with pastors and members in 1,200 congregations, the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond & Vicinity, the Richmond Crusade for Voters, the African American Family Initiative, the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Goochland & Vicinity, the African-American Lecture Series Committee, the Henrico Ministers’ Conference, the Virginia unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Men on the Mainline and many other concerned statewide groups, organizations and citizens. We are formally calling on all General Assembly members, Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the Virginia Retail Merchants Association to introduce, fully support and pass this legislation.

Other issues we will lobby for during the General Assembly session: Push for a living wage of $15 an hour in Virginia; increase participation of African-Americans in employment and procurement at state-supported colleges and universities in Virginia; support

What one person can do to help restore rights: Contact the local branch of the NAACP and speak with their restoration of rights person and start the process.

What community organizations can do: Help local NAACP branches sponsor restoration of rights workshops and information sessions in their local areas. Ask local general registrars to conduct training sessions on restoration of rights.

Alliance’s financial support comes from: Churches and other partners that see value in our efforts in the communities in which we advocate.

No. 1 challenge: Communication — getting the word out.

How I plan to address it: Ensure the information is disseminated to the general public through various communication vehicles.

What families of prisoners can do: Continue to visit incarcerated family members and be as supportive as possible.

We could do more if: We were able to focus media coverage on this issue. It is one of the most important means of policy change at our disposal.

What people think when they first meet me: That I’m quiet and reserved.

Branch of the military I served: U.S. Air Force.

How does your background in the military help you in your efforts to advocate for others: My military experience helps me stay focused on the mission, which requires critical insights balanced with personal moral certainties that only a broad exposure to great ideas, courageous thinkers and extraordinary leaders can encourage.

Perfect day: A day when I have experienced the peace and joy that life has offered.

Perfect evening: Dinner and a good movie.

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Occupation: Safety engineer, Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. Place of birth: Chase City in Mecklenburg County, Va. Education: Associate degree, Community College of the Air Force; bachelor’s degree, Virginia Commonwealth University; master’s degree, Central Michigan University.

Family: Wife, Janice H. Barnette; and two daughters, Alicia Mickleberry and Ashley Blizzard.

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Best late-night snack: Any type of fruit.

What I do to unwind: Read and watch TV mysteries.

If I could have one wish, it would be: To abolish the death penalty.

Person who influenced me the most: My grandmother, Ellen Barnette.

The book that influenced me the most: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” by Bryan Stevenson.

What I’m reading now: “The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future” by Joseph E. Stiglitz; “At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA”

by George Tenet.

Best time of my life: When my two daughters were born and being selected as the 10th State Command Chief Master Sergeant of the Virginia Air National Guard.

My next goal: Retirement.

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Richmond Free Press

B4 January 7-9, 2016

Obituaries/Directory

Dr. Frances C. Welsing, 80, renowned psychiatrist best known for her views on the origins of white racism Free Press wire reports

WASHINGTON Dr. Frances Cress Welsing used her platform as a psychiatrist in the nation’s capital to battle white supremacy.

Dubbed the “Queen of Black Consciousness,” she won attention for her views on white racism, including her assertions that white racism is because of a deficiency of melanin, the pigment that darkens skin, and that white people oppressed black people out of fear of black domination.

In her 1970 paper, “The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism,” she wrote that melanin deficiency fueled “an uncontrollable sense of hostility and aggression” among white people toward people of color.

Dr. Welsing is probably best known for her 1991 book, “The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors,” that was based on 20 years of research and is now considered required reading on the psychological origins and manifestations of white supremacy.

Dr. Welsing died Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, in Washington. Her family said she succumbed to complications from a stroke. She was 80.

Born in Chicago in 1935, Dr. Welsing was the daughter of physician Henry Cress and schoolteacher Ida Mae Griffen. After earning her bachelor’s degree at Antioch College and her medical degree from Howard University, Dr.

Welsing did a residency as a psychiatrist in Washington and then joined the Howard faculty as an assistant professor.

In the wake of the controversy over her 1970 paper, she was dismissed from Howard. She then spent more than 20 years as a child psychiatrist Dr. Welsing with the District of Columbia Department of Human Services.

She was fearless in expressing herself and willingly took on the likes of Dr. William Shockley, who theorized that black people are genetically inferior.

During a 1974 debate with Dr. Shockley on “Tony Brown’s Journal” on PBS, she debunked his notions and even compared his theories to those of Nazi Germany during World War II. Dr. Welsing gained renewed attention with the publication of “The Isis Papers,” in which she expanded on her themes that white supremacist attitudes stemmed from a fear of genetic annihilation and that white people are the result of a genetic mutation that turned them into the outcast offspring of the original peoples of Africa.

“In the white supremacy mind-set,” she wrote, “consciously or subconsciously, black males must be destroyed in significant numbers, just as they

Former Free Press writer, Don E. Dale, dies at 73 Donald Edward Dale was known Hospital in Germany. He also was for his ready smile, quick wit and a reporter and news anchor for sharp intellect.

American Forces Television.

He had a multitude of talents, Mr. Dale was editor of the working as a public relations student newspaper at the Unispecialist with the Virginia versity of Richmond. Later, he Museum of Fine Arts for more was a Top 40 DJ for WENZ in than 25 years. After retiring in Highland Springs and several 2004, he wrote part time for the other radio stations before being Richmond Free Press from 2005 hired at WTVR. through 2007. He also wrote for Mr. Dale, who loved to read Mr. Dale Style Weekly. and travel, also did interviews From 1969 to 1978, he was a reporter and for WCVE-TV’s “Richmond Memories” later news director at WTVR, Channel 6. programs.

He was fired shortly before Christmas 1978 At the Free Press, Mr. Dale was known after he aired what turned out to be a false for his ability to quickly craft interesting, report that Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr. had died informative articles. One of his most imin a car crash. Mr. Dale apologized soon portant articles, written in 2006, exposed after the report was aired. An investigation the Virginia Supreme Court’s decades-long did not reveal the source of the incorrect discriminatory policy of male-only gender use information. of “he” or “his” in the court’s information Mr. Dale is being remembered following and on its website. his death Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, in RichThe late Free Press Editor/Publisher mond. He was 73.

Raymond H. Boone led a successful fiveA gathering to celebrate his life will be year campaign through news and editorial held from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17, in the coverage that prompted the high court in Virginia Room at Brookdale Imperial Plaza, 2011 under Chief Justice Cynthia D. Kinser 1717 Bellevue Ave., on North Side. to change the language to contain genderMr. Dale, a Richmond native and resident, neutral references. served from 1966 to 1969 as an operating Mr. Dale’s survivors include a half-brother, room medic with the Air Force 36th Tactical Robert E. Dale of Richmond.

Mission Statement: People of God developing Disciples for Jesus Christ through Preaching and Teaching of God’s Holy Word reaching the people of the Church and the Community.

Zion Baptist Church

“The Church With A Welcome”

Sharon Baptist Church

2006 Decatur Street Richmond, VA 23224

22 E. Leigh Street, Richmond, VA 23219 • 643-3825 thesharonbaptistchurch.com Rev. Dr. Paul A. Coles, Pastor

SUNDAYS 8:00 a.m. .... Morning Worship 9:30 a.m. .... Church School 11:15 a.m. ...Morning Worship

WEDNESDAYS 6:00 p.m. ..... Prayer Service 6:30 p.m. ..... Bible Study

�

THURSDAYS 1:30 p.m.

Bible Study

Dr. Robert L. Pettis, Sr., Pastor Sunday Service 10 a.m.

Church School 8:45 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Study 7p.m.

Transportation Services 232-2867 “Reclaiming the Lost by Proclaiming the Gospel”

were in earlier days when there was widespread lynching and castration of black males.”

Musician Chuck D credits Dr. Welsing with being the intellectual inspiration for the 1990 Public Enemy album “Fear of a Black Planet.”

Her assertions about white genetic inferiority were met with criticism from some biologists who derided her claims as pseudoscientific. She also was criticized for suggesting that white men imposed homosexuality on black males to reduce the overall black population.

Margaret C. Crews, 80, left mark as Richmond teacher Margaret Edwina “Wina” Clay Crews loved literature and was passionate about guiding children through their formative years.

For 35 years, the Richmond native followed those passions to leave an indelible mark of excellence on hundreds of children as an English teacher with Richmond Public Schools.

“Our parents taught us to go to school and get our education and pass it on to others,” said her sister, Joyce Dennis, who taught in Richmond for 39 years.

Mrs. Crews took that admonition seriously.

She began her teaching career in 1957 at her alma mater, Armstrong High School.

She later moved to Thomas Jefferson High School, where she taught for several decades before retiring in 1992.

“She was loved by so many people, including so many of her former students who always talked about what a mark she made on their lives,” said Mrs. Crews’ son, Keith Crews.

Mrs. Crews is being remembered following her death Jan. 1, 2016, in Richmond. She was 80.

Her life will be celebrated at a funeral 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 2900 Hanes Ave., on North Side. She is to be buried at Riverview Cemetery.

Mrs. Crews was born Oct. 24, 1935, to Abner and Margaret Clay. She was raised in Jackson Ward, where her father was active in business, civic and political life.

Abner Clay Park in Jackson Ward, which was dedicated in July 1980, was named for her father, a former president of the Jackson Ward Civic Association.

Mrs. Crews earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1957 from Virginia Union University and completed several graduate level courses at Columbia University.

While attending VUU, she joined the Alpha Eta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

Mrs. Crews married her college sweetheart, Jerry C. Crews Sr., in October 1959.

FirstM iBaptist Church dlothian

13800 Westfield Dr., Midlothian,VA 23113 804-794-5583 • www.fbcm1846.com

Service Times Sunday

Church School 9:45AM Worship 11:00AM

Tuesday

Bible Study 12 Noon

Wednesday Youth & Adult Bible Study

j 7:00PM Prayer & Praise 8:15PM

fÑÜxtw à{x

Van Transportation Available, Call 804-794-5583

To advertise your church: Worship Service • Gospel Concert Vacation Bible School • Homecoming • Revival

call 804-644-0496

Richmond Free Press We care about you and Richmond.

However, her overall study of racism focused on strengthening and nurturing black children and ensuring stable home foundations as a way to ultimately challenge the white supremacist structure.

“We must revolutionize ourselves,” she said in a 1987 interview published in Essence magazine. “Whether white people are consciously or subconsciously aware of it, they are behaving in a manner to ensure white genetic survival.

We must know this truth. And the truth is the first step toward real strength.”

They raised two sons — Keith and Jerry Jr. — in Richmond.

“She was beautiful, graceful and kind to everyone,” said her son, Keith, who is an assistant principal at Harry E. James Elementary School in Hopewell.

In her spare time, Mrs. Crews supported her children and grandchildren in their various concerts, plays, sporting events and recitals.

She also was active in several civic and social organizations, including the Richmond Chapter of The Girl Friends Inc., the Edgehill Civic Association and the Panther 100 Club, supporting VUU athletes, that was co-founded by her

Sixth Baptist Church Theme for 2016: Becoming a Five-Star Church of Excellence With Mission, Growth, Prayer, Purpose, Vision We Are Growing In The Kingdom As We Grow The Kingdom with Word, Worship and Witness

Sunday, January 10, 2016 10:40 AM Worship and Praise 11:00 AM Divine Worship Message by: Pastor

Sermon Series: Prayer Power Message #3: Prayers About Child Rearing ~ Judges 13:8-12

Starting Soon “Refueled: Each Week Stay Tuned”

Rev. Dr. Yvonne Jones Bibbs, Pastor

Twitter sixthbaptistrva

400 South Addison Street Richmond, Va. 23220

Facebook sixthbaptistrva

(804) 359-1691 or 359-3498 Fax (804) 359-3798 www.sixthbaptistchurch.org

Mount Olive Baptist Church Rev. Darryl G. Thompson, Pastor

2016 Theme: The Year of Restoration



8775 Mount Olive Avenue Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 (804) 262-9614 Phone (804) 262-2397 Fax www.mobcva.org

(near Byrd Park)

Sundays

8:00 a.m.

Early Morning Worship 9:30 a.m.

Sunday School 11:00 a.m.

Morning Worship

Tuesdays

Noon Day Bible Study

Wednesdays

6:30 p.m.

Prayer and Praise 7:00 p.m.

Adult Bible Study

Ebenezer Baptist Church 1858

“The People’s Church”

216 W. Leigh St. • Richmond, Va. 23220 • Tel: 804-643-3366 Fax: 804-643-3367 • Email: ebcoffice1@comcast.net • web: ebcrichmond.org Sunday Worship Sunday Church School Service of Holy Communion Service of Baptism Life Application Bible Class Mid-Week Senior Adult Fellowship Wednesday Meditation & Bible Study Homework & Tutoring Scouting Program Thursday Bible Study

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Rev. Pernell J. Johnson, Pastor

Mrs. Crews

husband.

Mrs. Crews also was a member of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church for more than 70 years, where she was an active member of the St. Anne’s Guild.

She was predeceased by her husband and her son, Jerry Jr. Survivors include her son, Keith Crews of Hanover County; her sister, Joyce C. Dennis of Richmond; four grandchildren and numerous other family and friends.



11:00 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

Every 3rd Sunday 2nd Sunday, 11 a.m.

Mon. 6:30 p.m.

Tues. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Wed. 7:45 p.m.

Wed. 4:30 p.m.

Wed. 6:00 p.m.

Thurs., 11:45 a.m.

Dr. Levy M. Armwood, Pastor  Dr. Wallace J. Cook, Pastor Emeritus

Richmond Free Press

January 7-9, 2016

B5

Faith News/Directory

By Joey Matthews

One after another, speakers at the 75th Annual Emancipation Proclamation Day Worship Celebration at Fifth Baptist Church in the West End passionately implored listeners to get involved in community betterment.

Lynetta Thompson, president of the Richmond Branch NAACP, drew shouts of “Amen” and “Hallelujah” when she said, “Black churches, we need your help. We need for you to be a voice for the voiceless,” she stressed.

She urged audience members to step outside the walls of the church to perform community service and become active in groups such as the NAACP that work for social change. The Bible, she said, has more than 300 verses speaking to seeking social justice and helping the poor.

Ms. Thompson said churches should create a social justice outreach ministry and that church members should go to the General Assembly, City Council, School Board meetings and into the community as advocates for the downtrodden.

“We need for you to sow back into our community,” she said. “We need laborers. The world knows how powerful the black church is when we stand as a community. We need to rebuild, renew and refocus to save ourselves.”

Dr. Marlon Haskell, president of the 200-member Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Rich-

‘We need to rebuild, renew and refocus,’ Emancipation Day speakers say

Clement Britt

An audience member lifts her hand in praise as she listens to an inspirational song from the Greater Metropolitan Choir on New Year’s Day at the 75th Annual Emancipation Proclamation Day Worship Celebration at Fifth Baptist Church in Richmond’s West End.

mond and Vicinity that sponsors the annual New Year’s Day event, echoed those thoughts.

“We need to move forward in the liberation that God has granted to us,” he said. “We need to reach back to help our young brothers and sisters and show them a better way.”

He said members of the ministers’ conference will advocate for social justice legislation at

the General Assembly session that starts Wednesday, Jan. 13, and urged others to get involved as well.

Nearly 400 people attended the service that marked the 153rd anniversary of the issuance of the freedom document

by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The presidential act freed slaves in the pro-slavery Confederacy, a move that fig-

Event supporting Muslim community Sunday, Jan.10

ured prominently in the Union’s victory over the Confederacy in the Civil War. Richmond Delegate Delores L. McQuinn, chair of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission, minced no words in her call to action.

“We need to wake up and let’s make things change!” she said, her voice rising.

She said it’s time for people

Good Shepherd Baptist Church

Triumphant

Baptist Church

2003 Lamb Avenue Dr. Arthur M. Jones, Sr., Pastor (804) 321-7622

The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and several partner organizations are hosting “Standing Together,” a public event featuring speakers and panelists from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds exploring themes of interfaith understanding, solidarity and community.

The event, designed to demonstrate support for the Muslim community, will be held 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, at Congregation Beth Ahabah, 1111 W. Franklin St. Details: www.inclusiveva.org/standing-together-rva or (804) 515-7950.

Bible Study: Tuesday - 9 a.m.

Wednesday - 7 p.m.

5106 Walmsley Blvd., Richmond, VA 23224 804-276-2740 • 804-276-6535 (fax) www.BRBCONLINE.org

Communion - 1st Sunday



everence e with e evanc R ing Dr. Morris Henderson, Senior Pastor bin

SUNDAYS Church School 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship 10:30 a.m. ❖

WEDNESDAYS Bible Study 12:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. ❖

MONDAY-FRIDAY Nutrition Center and Clothes Closet 11:30 a.m. & 1:00 p.m.

823 North 31st Street Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 226-0150 Office www.31sbc.org

1701 Turner Road, North Chesterfield, Virginia 23225 (804) 276-0791 office (804)276-5272 fax www.ndec.net

& Church Anniversary!

Bishop G. O. Glenn D. Min., Founder Mother Marcietia S. Glenn First Lady

Sunday 8:00 a.m. Sunday School 9:00 a.m. Worship Service

Wednesday Services Senior Citizens

. Theme: , “Building Monuments for Present and Future Generations” “What Mean These Stones” Scripture: Joshua 4:21 - 24

Noonday Bible Study 12noon-1:00 p.m.

Sanctuary - All Are Welcome!

Bible Study Count: noonday Wednesday night 7 p.m. Prayer

Sunday, January 17 & 24, 2016 9:00 AM - NDEC

Saturday

Saturday, January 23, 2016

8:30 a.m. Intercessory Prayer

Banquet

You can now view Sunday Morning Service The Omni Richmond Hotel “AS IT HAPPENS” online! 100 S. 12th St., Richmond, VA 23219 Also, for your convenience, For more information we now offer and to purchase your banquet tickets go to: www.ndec.net “full online giving.”

Visit www.ndec.net.

Early Morning Worship ~ 8 a.m.

Sunday School ~ 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship ~ 11 a.m.

4th Sunday Unified Worship Service ~ 9:30 a.m.

Bible Study: Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Radio Ministry: Sunday: 9:30 a.m. {1540 AM}

“MAKE IT HAPPEN” Pastor Kevin Cook

❖

New Deliverance Evangelistic Church

Riverview

Baptist Church 2604 Idlewood Avenue Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 353-6135 www.riverviewbaptistch.org Rev. Dr. Stephen L. Hewlett, Pastor Rev. Dr. Ralph Reavis, Sr. Pastor Emeritus

SUNDAY SCHOOL - 9:45 A.M. SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE 11:00 A.M.

Moore Street Missionary

Baptist Church

1408 W. Leigh Street • 358-6403

Dr. Alonza Lawrence Pastor

Church School Presents

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Program

Sunday January 17, 2016 9:00 A.M.

Speaker: Dr. Cavell Phillips

11:00 AM Mid-day Meditation

Broad Rock Baptist Church

Thirty-first Street Baptist Church

20 th NDEC Founders’

Dr. Sylvester T. Smith, Pastor “There’s A Place for You”

6:30 PM Prayer Meeting

Prayer Services: Wednesday (1st & 3rd ) 7 a.m.

Every Wednesday 8 p.m.

o

1127 North 28th St., Richmond, VA 23223-6624 • Office: (804) 644-1402

Tuesday Sunday 10:30 AM Bible Study 9:30 AM Church School 6:30 PM Church-wide Bible Study 11:00 AM Worship Service 6:30 PM Men's Bible Study (Each 2nd and 4th) (Holy Communion Thursday each 2nd Sunday) Wednesday (Following 2nd Sunday)

Church School - 9:30 a.m.

Worship Service - 11:15 a.m.

C

to call on legislators to enact common sense gun laws, to protect voting rights and to ensure health care coverage for all.

“Let’s leave with an intentionality and commitment to make this world a better place,” Delegate McQuinn said.

The Rev. Earl M. Brown, who co-pastors Fifth Baptist Church with his son, the Rev.

Ricardo L. Brown, said, “We have many challenges before us,” mentioning examples such as the terrorist group ISIS, massive flooding in Missouri and Illinois and crime in Richmond.

“In spite of it all, we’re still here and we’re still being emancipated,” he said.

The Greater Metropolitan Choir, a mix of choir members from various area churches, also brought the audience to its feet several times with inspiring renditions of classics such as “Thank You,” “How Excellent Is Thy Name” and “I Feel Your Spirit.”

The Rev. Elmore E. Warren Jr., a Richmond native and senior pastor of Whitestone Baptist Church in Baltimore, offered the main message, “From private pain to public praise.”

He told the audience, “Think where we have come from and where we are today, and we have so much to thank God for.”

He soberly added, “We’ve got a long way to go and the road ahead is much harder.”

Minister and radio personality Cavell Phillips led the community event. Elected officials attending included Richmond City Council members Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District, and Cynthia I. Newbille, 7th District, and the Rev. Roscoe Cooper III, the newly elected Fairfield District representative on the Henrico County School Board.

Donations were collected to provide money to area NAACP branches. The ceremony concluded with the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

St. Peter Baptist Church

Dr. Kirkland R. Walton, Pastor

Worship Opportunities Sundays: Morning Worship Church School Morning Worship

8 A.M. 9:30 A.M. 11 A.M.

Unity Sundays (2nd Sundays) Church School 8:30 A.M. Morning Worship 10 A.M. Thursdays: Mid-Day Bible Study 12 Noon Prayer & Praise 6:30 P.M. Bible Study 7 P.M. (Children/Youth/Adults) 2040 Mountain Road • Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 Office 804-262-0230 • Fax 804-262-4651 • www.stpeterbaptist.net

Richmond Free Press

B6 January 7-9, 2016

Sports Plus

Tiger at 40 Associated Press

Ten days after Tiger Woods turned 24, he picked up his 16th career PGA Tour victory by beating Ernie Els in an epic battle at Kapalua.

More than winning his fifth straight PGA Tour event — the longest streak since 1953 — it was how he won. Woods and Els matched eagles on the 18th hole in regulation and birdies in the playoff, and then Woods ended it on the second extra hole with a 40-foot birdie putt that was downhill, into the grain and broke hard to the left.

Els saw the future that January day in 2000, and it was daunting.

“I think he’s a legend in the making,” Els said at the time.

“He’s 24. He’s probably going to be bigger than Elvis when he gets into his 40s.”

Tiger Woods entered his 40s on Wednesday, Dec. 30.

Bigger than Elvis?

No, because golf isn’t in the same galaxy as rock and roll.

But he was right about Woods being a legend in the making, and it didn’t take long. Woods’ 15-shot victory in the U.S. Open that summer at Pebble Beach was the most dominant in 140 years of major championships. He had the career Grand

Eric Risberg/Associated Press

Tiger Woods greets Ernie Els on the 18th green of the Mercedes Championships in Kapalua, Hawaii, in January 2000, after they both sank eagle putts to force a playoff.

At 24, Woods won on the second playoff hole for his fifth consecutive PGA Tour victory and the 14th of his young career.

Slam at 24 and remains the only player to win multiple majors in back-to-back seasons.

“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses,” Adam Scott said.

“We’ve only seen one bloke out here who did everything better than anyone else.”

His legacy on the golf course is secure no matter what happens the rest of his career, and Woods referred to anything else he achieves as “gravy.” That struck a tone of resignation from Woods, who always wanted to be seen as an athlete instead of a golfer and now can do little more than walk.

Three surgeries on his lower back in just over 18 months make it hard to gauge his future.

There is a tendency to celebrate his 40th birthday by looking back, making it feel more like a retirement party. It’s an easy trap. Woods hasn’t won in more than two years, and when he won his last major in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, Jordan Spieth had just finished his freshman year of high school.

When he turned 30, Woods was No. 1 in the world.

At age 40, he is No. 416.

When Woods turned pro at 20, the No. 1 player in the world was 41-year-old Greg Norman. Woods is 40, and the No. 1 player is 22-year-old Spieth.

“Where do I see myself in the next five to 10 years?” Woods wrote in a recent blog on his website. “I am still playing golf at the highest level and winning tournaments and major championships. My foundation has been implemented around the globe, and we’ve helped out not just millions, but when I’m all said and done with my life on this earth, it will hopefully be billions.”

From the pinnacle of winning majors to the depths of injury, scandal and divorce, the impact of Woods has not changed. Golf is in a good spot with the next generation of stars — Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day at the moment — though none move the needle like Woods.

The reminder came at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., which Woods played for the first time. The tournament printed an additional 39,000 tickets when he signed up, and it set attendance records each day. That doesn’t happen with Spieth and McIlroy. It doesn’t happen with Phil Mickelson.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem recalled being asked at Torrey Pines this year if he was troubled to see Woods struggling with his short game. He was coming off a career-high 82 in the Phoenix Open. As a fan, Finchem hated to see it. As a commissioner, he wasn’t concerned.

“They said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘He’s going to tee it up Thursday morning. You know anyone that’s not going to be watching?’” Finchem said. “Everybody wants to see what he can do. Two years from now, he comes out and starts playing OK — or a year from now, whatever it is — he’ll have a huge impact.”

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Tiger Woods waits during a practice round at the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament in January 2015. Because of poor scores, he didn’t qualify to play in the tournament’s final two rounds.

Els was runner-up to Woods for the second time in three months at Kapalua in 2000, and he would go on to finish second to Woods three more times that year. He saw it coming. Els knew it was coming in 1996 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes when Woods consulted him on whether he should turn pro.

Is this what he would have expected 20 years later?

Woods has 79 PGA Tour victories (second only to 82 by Sam Snead) and 14 majors (trailing the 18 won by Jack Nicklaus).

The only reason to suggest those numbers should be higher is because Woods achieved so much so quickly. The standard kept going up.

Woods is hopeful his 40th year brings good health and a chance to compete again. He remains four majors short of Nicklaus — no one has ever won more than three majors in their 40s. The odds are against him historically, physically, maybe even emotionally.

“If that’s all it entails,” Woods said in The Bahamas about his career, “then I’ve had a pretty good run. But I’m hoping that’s not it.”

Legal Notices/ Employment Opportunities City of Richmond, Virginia CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Monday, January 11, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber on the Second Floor of City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, to consider the following ordinance: Ordinance No. 2015-255 As Amended To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Performance Agreement, as amended, between the City of Richmond, the Economic Development Authority of the City of Richmond and Fulton Hill Properties, LLC, for the purpose of providing an economic development grant to facilitate the development of at least ten affordable housing units and ten workforce housing units in the area generally bounded by Carlisle Avenue, Goddin Street, and Union Street.

Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so.

Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at www.Richmondgov. com and in the Office of the City Clerk, City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23219, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Jean V. Capel City Clerk

Divorce VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER JACQUELYN WHITE, Plaintiff v.

JOHNNY WHITE, SR., Defendant.

Case No.: CL1500568-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, whose whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 3rd day of February, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

CUSTODY virgiNia: iN thE CIRCUIT cOurt OF the COunty of Chesterfield KELLY ELIZABETH McMILLAN, Plaintiff v.

ROBERT CAS SATKOWSKI, Defendant Case No.: CL15-3159 OrDEr Of puBLicatiON

The object of this suit is to obtain a name change for the minor child, Cooper Lane Satkowski. It appearing by affidavit that the Defendant’s last known address was 7352 Roosevelt, Avenue, Mechanicsville, Virginia 23111, the Defendant’s present whereContinued on next column

Continued from previous column

Continued from previous column

abouts are unknown, and diligence has been used by or on behalf of the Plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city the Defendant is without effect, it is ORDERED that the Defendant appear before this Court on or before February 4, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. and protect his interests herein.

An Extract, Teste: Wendy S. Hughes, Clerk I ask for this: Vera Duke, Esquire (VSB#17207) CLIFFORD & DUKE, P.C. 909 North Courthouse Road Richmond, VA 23236 (804) 379-2119 (Telephone) (804) 794-7659 (Fax) dukeclifford@aol.com (E-mail) Counsel for Plaintiff

Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493

virgiNia: iN thE JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Of thE city Of richmOND Commonwealth of Virginia, in re MY’KEI KHALIL MAY-CRISS, Juvenile Case No. JJ0088404-08

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Shasha Donald May, (Father), and UNKNOWN (Father) of My’kei Khalil May Criss, child, DOB 9/1/2013, “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: visitation; adoption consent; determination of religious affiliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendant Shasha Donald May (Father), and Unknown, (Father) appear at the above-named Court and protect his/her interest on or before March 23, 2016 at 9:00 A.M. Court Room #5.

Kate D. O’Leary, Esq. 730 E. Broad St., 8th Floor Continued on next column

SEEKING GENERAL CONTRACTOR Better Housing Coalition is a non-profit affordable housing corporation providing high quality affordable housing in the Richmond metropolitan area.

Better Housing Coalition is seeking sealed proposals from qualified general contractors to coordinate exterior and interior repairs at The Columns on Grove Apartments at 1621 Grove Ave. Richmond, VA 23220. Davis-Bacon wage rates will apply.

A mandatory pre-bid conference will be held on January 19, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at 1621 Grove Ave. Richmond, Virginia 23220. Copies of the plans and the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be provided at the conference. The request for proposal (RFP) will set forth the terms and conditions of the engagement and submission.

The deadline for bid submission to Better Housing Coalition offices at 23 West Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23220 is 4:00 p.m. Thursday February 4, 2016. This deadline must be met for consideration. Any responses received after the deadline will not be considered. A public bid opening will be held at 10 a.m. on February 5, 2016 at Better Housing Coalition offices.

Better Housing Coalition encourages Minority Owned Business Enterprises, Section 3 Business and businesses that employ Section 3 residents, to respond to the RFP. For additional information, please contact Greg Tucker at Better Housing Coalition, 804-644-0546, ext. 113 or by email at g.tucker@betterhousingcoalition.org.

virgiNia: iN thE JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Of thE city Of richmOND Commonwealth of Virginia, in re Nehemiah Elliot, Juvenile Case No. JJ0088004-09

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Unknown, (Father), of Nehemiah Elliott, child, DOB 11/12/2010, “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: visitation; adoption consent; determination of religious affiliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendant Unknown, (Father,) appear at the above-named Court and protect his/her interest on or before February 23, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. Court Room #2 (MCG) Kate D. O’Leary, Esq. 730 E. Broad St., 8th Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493

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Richmond Free Press call 644-0496

Notice of Funding Availability (Due Date Extension)

Affordable Housing Trust Fund The City of Richmond hereby invites interested parties to apply for Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) dollars to assist with housing production and housing supportive services targeted to low and moderate income citizens.

The Due Date will be extended from January 14 to January 21, 2016. Funds are intended for projects and programs that are aligned with regional, state and federal plans, and follows best practices to address the housing needs of this population. Projects and services will be evaluated to determine whether they are eligible for AHTF funding and ready to proceed. Projects and services must demonstrate a need for AHTF funds in order to proceed and/or operate. AHTF funds may not be used to supplant existing commitments of permanent financing.

Application packages will be available on the City’s website at the following address: http://www. yesrichmondva.com/neighborhood-revitalization/ Affordable-Housing-Trust-Fund or via email upon request at Econdev@richmondgov.com. Application packages will also be available at the Main City Library located at 101 E. Franklin Street, Richmond, VA. All projects/ programs funding request must be submitted on the current application form and must be in compliance with Application Guidance (AHTF-101). Applicants must submit one hard copy of their applications and a digital file on a thumb drive. An informational meeting will be held on December 15 from 1pm until 3pm at 1500 East Main Street Suite 400. Please direct all questions to the Department of Economic Development at 804-6465633. Applications for funding will be accepted by the City until January 21, 2016 at 4:00pm. All applications received after the deadline will be rejected and returned to the sender. Decisions regarding funding of requests are scheduled to be made by the City by March 30, 2016. The City of Richmond does not discriminate on the basis of disability status in the admission or access to its programs.

Virginia Relay Center – TDD users dial 711.

SEEKING ELEVATOR CONTRACTOR Better Housing Coalition is a non-profit affordable housing corporation providing high quality affordable housing in the Richmond metropolitan area.

Better Housing Coalition is seeking sealed proposals from qualified elevator contractors to repair existing elevator at The Columns on Grove Apartments at 1621 Grove Ave. Richmond, VA 23220. Davis-Bacon wage rates will apply.

A mandatory pre-bid conference will be held on January 20, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at 1621 Grove Ave. Richmond, Virginia 23220. Copies of the plans and the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be provided at the conference. The request for proposal (RFP) will set forth the terms and conditions of the engagement and submission.

The deadline for bid submission to Better Housing Coalition offices at 23 West Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23220 is 4:00 p.m. Thursday February 4, 2016. This deadline must be met for consideration. Any responses received after the deadline will not be considered. A public bid opening will be held at 10 a.m. on February 5, 2016 at Better Housing Coalition offices.

Better Housing Coalition encourages Minority Owned Business Enterprises, Section 3 Business and businesses that employ Section 3 residents, to respond to the RFP. For additional information, please contact Greg Tucker at Better Housing Coalition, 804-644-0546, ext. 113 or by email at g.tucker@betterhousingcoalition.org.

Freelance Writers: The Richmond Free Press has immediate opportunities for freelance writers. Newspaper experience is a requirement. To be considered, please send 5 samples of your writing, along with a cover letter to editor@richmondfreepress.com or mail to: Richmond Free Press, P. O. Box 27709, Richmond, VA 23261. No phone calls.

Sell For TBlC Media riChMond F/T. Experience preferred. Great compensation!

Endless Support! Must have own vehicle. Call (804) 643-0990 or email resume to thomas@tblcmedia.com. EOE. TBLC Media RiChMond, LLC is seeking F/T bilingual administrative assistant with excellent computer and interpersonal skills.

Call (804) 643-0990 or email resume to avillaman@tblcmedia.com. EOE. St. Peter Baptist Church Dr. Kirkland R. Walton, Pastor 2040 Mountain Rd • Glen Allen, VA 23060 Office 804-262-0230 • Fax 804-262-4651 www.stpeterbaptist.net

SILVER STRINGS ENSEMBLE

seeks additional youth members who have 2 or more years of experience playing either the violin, viola, cello or double (upright) bass.

Rehearsals are held 2nd & 4th Thursdays: 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

If interested, reply: spbcmusic@verizon.net

The City of Richmond is seeking to fill the following positions: Trades Superintendent – Floodwall, Storm Water Division 35M00000806 Public Utilities Apply by 1/31/16 Pressure Control Technician II 35M00000344 Public Utilities Apply by 1/17/16 Drafting Technician II, Tech Services Division 35M00000620 Public Utilities Apply by 1/17/16 Utility Plant Electrician, Waste Water Division 35M00000250 Public Utilities Apply by 1/17/16 For an exciting career with the City of Richmond, visit our website for additional information and apply today! www.richmondgov.com EOE M/F/D/V The Richmond Free Press is seeking a reliable and creative person for a part-time graphics position.

Enthusiastic individual must be proficient in Macintosh Creative Suite Design software (Indesign and Photoshop) to produce accurate, high quality cameraready advertisements and news page layouts for print production. Duties will include weekly website maintenance. Meticulous attention to details. Ability to be flexible and work under deadline cooperatively in a team environment is essential. Submit resumé and samples of work to address: Human Resources, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, Richmond, Virginia 23261 No phone calls please