April 14th, 2016 Edition

Election debacle under scrutiny

Slay won’t run

So-called ‘mayor for life’ won’t seek fifth term next year

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Mayor Francis G. Slay, St. Louis’ longest-serving mayor, will not be running for a fifth term in 2017, he announced at an April 8 press conference held at City Hall. In 2013, Slay became the city’s first mayor elected to a fourth four-year term.

“This is not a goodbye,” Slay said. “I will be mayor for another year. I will have a full and likely controversial agenda to pursue and complete. My health is fine.”

He prefaced his announcement by saying how proud he was of city residents in the April 5 election for voting down Prop E, which would have begun a phase-out of the city’s 1 percent earnings tax which provides one-third of city revenues. Slay was particularly proud that the residents saw past the “most negative and expensive” campaign, led by wealthy investor Rex

STL County election directors testify about ballot shortages in April 5 election

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

JEFFERSON CITY – What happened with the ballot shortages in 60 polling places and resulting disenfranchisement in St. Louis County in the April 5 municipal elections? Who is responsible? What should be the consequences? What can be done to make sure this never happens again? These were the main questions posed by Missouri state representatives during a hearing held jointly by the House Special Committee on Urban Issues, chaired by state Rep. Courtney Curtis (D-Ferguson), and a newly formed task force to investigate the ballot shortages, chaired by state Rep. Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin), on Wednesday, April 13.

n The problem, Fuhr and Fey testified, came with running the April 5 ballot matrix a second time when they were already running behind.

Called to testify: Gary Fuhr, the Republican director of elections in St. Louis County, and Eric Fey, the Democratic election director for the county. Both officials told the same story, with neither casting blame on the other. Their story: It was the tightest turnaround between

Hazelwood picks new leader

By Mariah Stewart Of The St. Louis American

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St.

See SLAY, A6 See NIXON, A7

of

people with criminal histories re-enter the

Order 16-04 will do away with questions relating to criminal history on initial applications, though employers can request information about criminal backgrounds later in the hiring process.

“Ban the box” policies have been implemented in 21 states, and a number of corporations have adopted the policy, including Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Koch Industries, Starbucks and Facebook.

After a six-month search process, the Hazelwood School District Board of Education appointed Nettie Collins-Hart as the new superintendent on Monday, April 11. She is currently the superintendent of Proviso School District 209 in Forest Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. She will replace interim superintendent Ingrid Clark-Jackson on July 1. The school district CollinsHart has led for eight years has approximately 5,000 students. Hazelwood School district, the second-largest in the region with 18,000 students, will be the largest student population she has ever led.

n “The most important job in the world is the classroom teacher.” – Nettie CollinsHart, new Hazelwood superintendent

Kim Mckenzie, communications director for the district, said officials aren’t concerned about Collins-Hart transferring from a much smaller school district.

“Dr. Collins-Hart has an extensive background in education.” McKenzie said.

“During that time she has managed upward of 12,500 students and 10,500 in another area.” Collins-Hart served as assistant superintendent in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, servicing 12,500 students and also in Lawrence Public Schools in Kansas, serving 10,500 students.

Collins-Hart has a doctorate degree in educational policy and leadership from University of Kansas – Lawrence. She has a master’s degree in educational administration and curriculum and instruction, and a master’s degree in English education, from East Carolina University. She also has a bachelor’s degree in English education from the University of North Carolina – Chapel

Nettie Collins-Hart leaves small district in suburban Chicago See HART, A7

Photo by Chris King

State Rep. Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin) and state Rep. Courtney Curtis (D-Ferguson) co-chaired a hearing to investigate ballot shortages in the April 5 municipal elections in St. Louis County at the Missouri Capitol on Wed., April 13.

Louis American

Kathryn Hayden, a facilitator for Mind Full of Words and an education major at Webster University, builds a relationship with Kwame Smith (4), a student at the Julia Goldstein Childhood Center.

Photo by Wiley Price

Did Kenya cause Kim Fields’ exit from RHOA?

Last month actress Kim Fields confirmed rumors that she would not be returning for another season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Her departure was reportedly spearheaded by a co-star’s cattiness.

Insiders tell Life & Style the real reason Fields left the show is because of Kenya Moore those ugly gay rumors about her husband, Christopher Morgan. The source claims Fields even begged Bravo producers to edit out the scene where Moore brought up the rumors –and when they refused, she decided then and there she wouldn’t be back.

Afrika Bambaata denies sexual abuse claims

Earlier this month, Bronx resident Ronald Savage accused rap legend Afrika Bambaataa of the Universal Zulu Nation hip hop collective of sexually abusing him as a teen.

“The former music industry executive and author says he struggled privately with intimacy and struggled with suicidal thoughts for decades from the abuse that occurred when he was 15 years old,” The New York Daily News reported. “But he broke his silence in recent weeks with the release of a self-published memoir entitled ‘Impulse Urges and Fantasies’ that includes the explosive Bambaataa allegations.”

attack on my character will not stop me from continuing my battle and standing up against the violence in our communities, the violence in the nation and the violence worldwide.”

In a statement released by Rolling Stone, Bambaataa denies the “I, Afrika Bambaataa, want to take this opportunity at the advice of my legal counsel to personally deny any and all allegations of any type of sexual molestation of anyone,” The statement read. ““These allegations are baseless and are a cowardly attempt to tarnish my reputation and legacy in hip-hop at this time. This negligent

All is well with Omeeka Days after celebrity blind item site Crazy Days and Nights revealed a blind item claiming that Meek Mill was being unfaithful to his girlfriend, Nicki Minaj, she appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and raised eyebrows with “There’s a boy who likes me. That’s it,” response to the couple’s rumored engagement. Minaj says that the sound bite was taken completely out of context and that the rest of her statement was left out to further fuel breakup rumors.

what I said about Valentine’s Day prior to writing or believing a headline about my comment,” Minaj told her millions of followers in a caption beneath a photo of herself and Mill. “I’m not single. Thank you for coming out. Have a blessed day and get some D.”

50 Cent proposes $23M bankruptcy solution

TMZ reports that 50 Cent and his lawyers submitted their plan for a new deal to the bankruptcy judge presiding over his case. According to court documents, he will pay more than $23 million over the next five years to some of the creditors he owes.

“I used to say I’m not in a relationship even though I was in a 12 year relationship and I just want to go back to that because it’s better to just keep those things sacred,” Minaj told DeGeneres. “So now I don’t really care to say I’m in a relationship or I’m engaged or whatever, but there’s a boy that likes me.

That’s it.”

She then used Instagram to let fans know Omeeka is as strong as ever.

“It would be very remiss of you to watch

50 Cent

Broken down, the documents go on to reveal that 50 will split the settlement amounts among three of his biggest creditors, with Sleek Audio receiving $17.3 million and SunTrust Bank getting about $4.9 mil. Although she got a $7 million judgment in her sex tape case against 50 Cent, Lastonia Leviston has settled on $6 million. In addition to the hefty $23 million settlement, 50 Cent revealed that he’s covering the debts with liquidating some of his assets. At press time 50 Cent’s payback plan is yet to be approved.

Sources: TMZ.com Life and Style, New York Daily News, Instagram, Rolling Stone

Meek Mill

Kenya Moore

Harris-Stowe students host genetics conference

Genetics Society of America funds program that attracted high schoolers

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Three Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) students recently planned and hosted a one-day conference to explore genetics and genomics with about 165 underrepresented students in St. Louis.

“This conference was a mechanism to exhibit sophisticated genetics research to an array of both experienced and novice attendees,” the three student organizers wrote in a statement about the Advocating Translational Genetics/Genomics Conference.

Davinelle Daniels, the lead organizer and recent HSSU graduate, learned about an opportunity to present a proposal to implement a “traineeorganized” symposium, funded by the Genetics Society of America (GSA). Davinelle then recruited Chelsea Pretz, a 2015 HSSU graduate, and Joseph Bradley, an HSSU senior, to collaborate with her in the initiative.

“While this was truly a student-focused and studentled endeavor, the Harris-Stowe faculty and staff were extremely supportive,” the students wrote, “and like most successes in science it was a collaborative effort.”

The conference was free for all attendees and included breakfast, lunch and an afternoon reception. Workshops and panels were geared toward

Illinois budget impasse carnage

There’s an old East African proverb that states that “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

Likewise, when powerful politicians fight, the poor and disenfranchised are the ones who tend to suffer most. Take, for instance, the ongoing budget impasse in Illinois. For the past nine months, wealthy Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and powerful Democratic godfather House Speaker Michael Madigan have been engaged in a political game of chicken in which neither is willing to compromise. Madigan’s solution is to tax the wealthy, while Rauner’s preference would be to cut millions in funding from human service programs. The result: a political stalemate which is threatening to create a permanent underclass and destabilize the lives of the working class throughout the state of Illinois.

Back in January, the United Way of Illinois revealed the extreme state of affairs in their Agency State Budget Survey.

Some of their findings were that 85 percent of statewide agencies have cut the number of clients that they serve, 84 percent of agencies that offer support to the poor have cut programming and 23 percent of agencies will struggle to provide services if the state has not approve a budget by the end of March.

The results promise to be devastating and the carnage has already begun in East St. Louis, especially for senior citizens.

For example, Nathan (formerly Virgil L. Calvert) Nursing Center has officially closed and the Lessie Bates Davis Adult Day Care will close as of mid-April, both due to a lack of funding related to the ongoing state budget impasse. Workers there will likely lose their jobs.

academic levels ranging from high school to professional.

The group felt one of the most memorable moments was the Lift for Life High School student presentations. Two students were awarded summer research opportunities, where they were each paired with a Washington University research lab through the Young Scientist Program.

“Through our experiences we have determined that one of the most efficient ways to diversify STEM careers is to introduce individuals to applied science and mathematics activities as early as possible,” the students said.

The organizers said they received lots of positive feedback from the participants about the academic-specific workshops and mentor-mentee

pairing.

More than 165 attendees participated in the symposium, including 30 students from area high schools. A rare opportunity for high school students, the conference introduced them to a diverse array of genetics research and assigned them mentors who guided them through the poster session and oral presentations.

The students also had the support of longstanding GSA members Jana Marcette, assistant professor of biology at HSSU, Sandra Leal, assistant professor at HSSU and Wendi Neckameyer, professor of Pharmacological and Physiological Science at Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine.

Harris-Stowe is the only

Historically Black College and University in St. Louis.

“We believe that our amazing institution is the component that will diversify the STEM community in St. Louis and beyond,” the students wrote.

“The HSSU student population is heavily weighted in firstgeneration college students.”

The organizers also represent this statistic, they said. Through their personal experiences they recognize the immense importance of scientific conference exposure, they said, which is required to obtain a successful professional career in STEM.

“In the coming years,” they said, “we hope this conference is the pipeline for many more aspiring geneticists.”

As a result, seniors in ESL will have fewer healthcare and lifestyle options due to the arrogance and inflexibility of a few power-hungry Illinois politicians whose lifestyles and compensations will not be impacted.

On a statewide level, the Teen Reach program, which provided meaningful afterschool programming for poor youth, has been eliminated, the victim of the budget standoff. So Illinois’ youth are adversely affected as well.

And while I suggest voting every obstinate politician out of office during their next election cycle, the fierce urgency of now dictates that voters do something in the immediate future. Mahatma Ghandi once said that “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” If that is, indeed, the standard, then the state of Illinois has been weighed in the balance and found wanting because her most vulnerable, the elderly and the young, are being trampled upon by the heavy feet of political elephants.

It’s time to let Rauner, Madigan and their minions know that the people have had enough of being used as political pawns in a suicidal game of political chess.

Voters should call them and tell them how you feel: Governor Bruce Rauner (217-782-0244) and House Speaker Michael Madigan (217-782-5350).

Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com Twitter@JamesTIngram.

Columnist

James Ingram

Photo by Wiley Price

Editorial /CommEntary

Fragmentation costs STL County democracy

We owe a belated congratulations to Adina Johnson, newly elected trustee for the village of Mackenzie, a tiny rectangle of south St. Louis County wedged between the River Des Peres and Route 66. She won a squeaker over her opponent in the April 5 municipal election, Dorothy Berry, 15 votes to 13. Mackenzie’s population, according to the U.S. Census, is 133, all of them white. We also have been remiss in not congratulating Denise McCall (54 votes), B.W. Shelton (49 votes) and Johnetta Williams (41 votes), the top three vote getters in the April 5 trustee election in the village of Uplands Park, and therefore the three newly elected trustees in this 44-acre stretch of Natural Bridge Avenue in north St. Louis County. (Skate King, on its southeast periphery, would be the most visible landmark near Uplands Park.)

Why would anyone care about these two low-vote elections other than the less than 300 registered voters who live in these two tiny municipalities between them? Because they played a key role in disenfranchising an unknown number of people at 60 polling places in St. Louis County on April 5.

According to detailed and credible testimony by Gary Fuhr, the Republican director of elections in St. Louis County, and Eric Fey, the Democratic elections director, officials in these two villages did not meet their deadline to get their elections on the April 5 ballot. So county election officials began the complicated process of blending databases to create a matrix and print a staggering and absurd 323 different ballot styles for this municipal election. And then they had to do it all over again after receiving court orders to add the Mackenzie and Uplands Park elections to the ballot. According to Fuhr and Fey, there was a computer mistake when they redid the matrix after the deadline. Already scrambling to organize a municipal election on April 5 after going through a presidential preference primary three weeks earlier on March 15, they missed this mistake and, as a result, did not print the correct numbers of all ballot styles.

This resulted in an unforgivable civic offense: registered voters going to the poll on election day and not being able to cast a vote because election officials made a mistake. Fey boasted this would never happen on his watch when the election board hired him following Steve Stenger’s election as county executive. Fey’s predecessor as Democratic elections director, Rita Days, is close to Charlie Dooley, Stenger’s predecessor as county executive. She lost her job because similar – though lesser – ballot mix-ups happened on her watch. We agree with state Rep. Courtney Curtis (D-Ferguson), who co-chaired a hearing where Fuhr and Fey testified on April 13, that Fey also should lose his job – especially since he is lead elections director by virtue of his affiliation with the governor’s party. Curtis appeared hungry for revenge against Fey as a surrogate for Stenger, whose election he opposed, but Fuhr has now presided over ballot mix-ups in two recent elections. We agree with state Rep. Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin), who also co-chaired

What we

do

–

and don’t

– know about alternative education

By Luz María Henríquez Guest columnist

Events in Ferguson and other parts of the country, along with recent U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights data, have re-focused public concern about the disproportionate suspensions and expulsions of children of color that feed the “school-toprison pipeline.”

guidance for these programs.

In LSEM’s experience, children already struggling will benefit from more instruction, not less, and should not be left to self-teach. Such programs are highly problematic because they leave children unsupervised during the day and without peer and adult interactions, setting these children up for failure.

By Eugene Robinson Columnist

The Democratic nominee for president will be running against a political novice who is widely despised, or a senator so unpopular that only two of his colleagues support him, or a governor far too moderate for his party’s hard-line base, or someone else chosen at a bitterly contested convention. For Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, what could possibly go wrong?

Plenty. Begin with the fact that the Clinton-Sanders race has devolved into gratuitous and self-destructive nastiness. When challenged, Sanders resorted to the she-hit-me-first defense: “She has been saying lately that she thinks that I am, quote-unquote, not qualified to be president.” The problem is that Clinton never said such a thing. In fact, when pressed repeatedly by “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on the question, Clinton touted herself as the better choice but refused to say that Sanders is unqualified.

Clinton did, in that interview, echo her standard critique of Sanders, which is that his proposals are pie in the sky. She drew attention to his recent meeting with the editorial board of the New York Daily News in which he was asked for details of his plan to break up the big banks. His less-than-complete answers, Clinton said, show that “what he has been saying about

the hearing, that if Fuhr were black like Days, he would no longer be an election official.

But let’s be honest. Sacking Fey and Fuhr might appease a sense of racial equity and the desire to punish election officials whose blunders disenfranchised voters, but it won’t improve the smoothness of organizing elections in St. Louis County. As Fuhr testified, St. Louis County has almost as many political subdivisions as the rest of the state of Missouri combined. Like its shameful municipal courts, St. Louis County’s woefully fragmented electoral map simply defeats attempts to supervise it responsibly. Better Together St. Louis has shown us, in detailed study after study, how expensive this political fragmentation and duplication of government services are. But the pattern of electoral dysfunction in the county shows that political fragmentation costs St. Louis County citizens more than money: on a regular basis, it can cost them the most basic element of democracy, the right to vote.

State Rep. Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) said the Legislature must punish municipalities like Mackenzie and Uplands Park that miss their deadlines with election authorities. “Maybe if you don’t file on time with the election authorities,” Barnes said, “then you’re not a city.” That is the only kind of thinking that is going to get St. Louis County out of the mess that it is in. By whatever means, we must consolidate St. Louis County into fewer, larger, better organized and more equitable political subdivisions. Until then, there needs to be a thorough examination of restructuring the current political process for controlling election boards. The diffuse power to appoint election commissioners currently vested in the governor is not working.

the core issue in his whole campaign doesn’t seem to be rooted in an understanding of either the law or the practical ways you get something done.”

On April 7, Sanders was still hopping mad. At an appearance in Philadelphia, he told reporters that “if Secretary Clinton thinks that I just come from the small state of Vermont, that we’re not used to this, well, we’ll get used to it fast. I’m not going to get beaten up. I’m not going to get lied about. We will fight back.” Clinton clearly wanted to be seen as taking the high road. “I don’t know why he’s saying that, but I will take Bernie Sanders over Ted Cruz or Donald Trump any time,” she said. Does anyone else recall those early debates in which both candidates pledged to forswear personal attacks and stick to the issues? We’re now at the point that it takes days of bitter squabbling before the campaigns can even agree on a time and place for their next debate.

It is no mystery why this once-polite contest has become so testy: What may be the day of reckoning is nigh.

Clinton’s lead in delegates is now big enough that Sanders practically has to run the table

in the remaining states. He needs decisive wins, starting with the April 19 primary in New York. Conversely, Clinton can effectively put the nomination out of Sanders’ reach with a big victory in the state that elected her to the U.S. Senate.

The Clinton campaign’s view is that Sanders is already so far behind that he’ll never catch up; they should know, because that’s the position Clinton was in versus Barack Obama in 2008. It is time, the Clintonistas believe, for Sanders to think about dropping out in the interest of party unity.

Sanders has every right to stay in, and his many supporters in states yet to vote should have the chance to express their preference. But if it’s not time for Sanders to pull out, it’s also not time for him to scorch the earth in a way that damages Clinton’s prospects should she win the nomination.

Democrats begin general election campaigns with a big structural Electoral College advantage. But they forfeit this edge if progressive voters elect to stay home. The party cannot afford to have Sanders supporters – if their candidate loses – licking their wounds and nursing their grievances. It ought to be hard for the eventual Democratic nominee to lose. More Clinton-Sanders nastiness just might do the trick.

Recently, Judge Jimmie Edwards cautioned how “zero tolerance” approaches to school discipline exacerbate racial inequities and fuel the schoolto-prison pipeline, highlighting several solutions, including alternative education programs. While alternative education programs can be a useful tool, children may benefit from other strategies and interventions in their regular classroom setting and these alternative education programs may lack the quality necessary for children to make meaningful educational gains.

At Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM), we represent children in poverty facing school disciplinary proceedings on a regular basis. I witness daily how “zero tolerance” practices cause children to be excluded from school for minor offenses, landing some of these children in alternative education programs.

Alternative education programs, if they exist in a school district, range in quality from full-day programs with live instruction to half-day online courses or self-study programs with little, if any, oversight or instruction. Selfstudy programs and programs that lack adequate instruction time are extremely problematic and contradict the U.S. Department of Education’s

Equally troubling is the placement of children in alternative programs for disciplinary reasons without being formally suspended or expelled. These children are not afforded the legally required due process afforded to long-term suspended or expelled students. They are not afforded the same rights to appeal the school disciplinary action to the superintendent, board of education and circuit court as long-term suspended or expelled students, yet they still end up in an alternative education program. Too often, these children are transferred into alternative placements for an indefinite amount of time with no clear plan of when the child will return to a traditional school setting. This practice is particularly disturbing when that alternative transfer is to a self-study program or a program with very limited instruction, which more closely resembles a longterm suspension or expulsion than a “transfer” into another educational program. Such programs are significantly

Letters to the editor

Missouri and Medicaid

When I was 11, my mother was taken to the hospital in the middle of the night for an emergency C-section. My sister was born a month earlier than anticipated. Today she lives with various developmental delays. Her greatest medical needs are catheterization for continence and occupational therapy for balance. She does not qualify for disability insurance because the doctors focused on saving her life over completing the documentation that would help her claim disability insurance. We are fortunate that our parents have insurance to cover her needs at this point in time. But what will happen when they are gone? I will be responsible for my sister when my parents pass.

My sister should not be limited from accessing the services she needs due to her birth. I want to live in a state that supports the medical

needs of my sister, a state that welcomes her. I do not feel I can remain in the state of Missouri with the current status of Medicaid expansion. I encourage Missourians to reflect on the atmosphere their resistance to Medicaid expansion fosters within the state.

Shelby Bates, St. Louis

Disappointed in voter ID bill

We are very disappointed to see that the Missouri Senate has taken up the voter photo ID issue via HB 1631. We are especially concerned that this will mean a loss of voting rights for persons in poverty and transgender Missourians.

Many Missourians with low incomes do not manage to renew their drivers’ licenses on time due to lack of funds. This may seem horribly

different from or inferior to the traditional educational setting. School districts must afford these children due process protections required for suspending and expelling a child.

There is no publicly available data on transfers to alternative placements, calling into question claims of dramatic reductions of suspensions and expulsions in the districts that employ these alternative transfer practices. This lack of data is especially concerning when children are transferred to significantly different or inferior placements, such as self-study programs. In fact, there is little to no publicly available data about alternative education programs in St. Louis, making it difficult to assess the actual effectiveness of these programs. What we do know is that, according to a national study performed by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, Missouri ranks as the second-worst state in racially disproportionate suspension rates and has the greatest gap in the suspension of elementary children of color, as compared to the suspensions of white children. Missouri also had the highest suspension rate of black elementary school students, according to this same study. While alternative education programs can be an important device to combat the school-toprison pipeline, such programs should only be measures of last resort and the quality of such programs will determine their effectiveness.

Luz María Henríquez is a staff attorney with the Children’s Legal Alliance at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.

irresponsible to you, but, if it does, perhaps that reflects a life that has not included the kind of bad luck, ill health and underemployment that many Missourians experience. When such a situation does occur, should the Missourian also surrender his/her constitutional right to vote? In addition, it is difficult for transgender Missourians to get the gender marker on their drivers’ licenses changed. Only those who can afford gender confirmation surgery –or those who have very good legal help – have a clear path to having a state issued ID that matches how they present themselves in the community. Most Missourians cannot afford such surgeries and help from attorneys. Transgender Missourians should not lose their right to vote.

Jeanette Mott Oxford, executive director Empower Missouri Jefferson City

Guest Columnist Eugene Robinson

Guest Columnist Luz María Henríquez

Photo by Jason Rosenbaum / St. Louis Public Radio

Eric Fey, the Democratic elections director for St. Louis County

Science at Jennings High

Jennings High School sophomore Leniah Lawrence looked at DNA that was extracted from a strawberry in her science class. The school is one of five schools to receive a $2,000 Dannette Ward Science Education Grant from Monsanto Fund. Cross Keys Middle School, Gateway Region YMCA, Hillsboro Elementary School and the Parkway Spark! Program also received grants. The grants are unique in that Monsanto employees volunteered their time to “earn” the funds. In 2015, Monsanto volunteers donated over 830 hours of STEM outreach in St. Louis-area classrooms. This translated to a $10,000 contribution from the company to support a $2,000 Dannette Ward Science Education Grant for each of the five programs, all of which were invited to apply after being recipients of volunteer outreach.

St. Louis County Courthouse art contest

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. - Gamma Omega Chapter is recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the “Miranda Rights” ruling by sponsoring an art contest and bringing this contest to the Saint Louis County-area schools.

The theme is: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you free of charge.

The art contest has two divisions, grades 6-8 and grades 9-12. All two-dimensional media will be accepted, including pencil

drawings, water colors, oil paints, pen and ink, etc. Entries should be no smaller than 8” x 10” and no larger than 11” x14”.

All entries will be judged based on originality and interpretation of the theme. The winning entries will be framed and prominently displayed in the lobby of the County Court Building. First place winners will receive $100 and a certificate, second place winners will receive $50 and certificate, and third place winners will receive $25 and a certificate.

The deadline is April 30. Submit your art at http://www. akagostl.com/event/target-IV-art-contest

Meet my mother board

By Rebeccah Bennett Guest columnist

So here’s a little secret that only a handful of my friends know. I have a mother board.

Now, I’m not referring to the central processing unit of a computer. My mother board is a power circle of great black women who through wit, will and wisdom not only lived life on their terms, but also challenged the bigoted terms of America’s social contract. I thought it fitting to share this resource with others who might need a little help managing the challenges of modern life.

The idea for my mother board came to me in meditation. I was seeking guidance on how not to lose myself while handling life’s heavy lifting – raising kids, being married, taking care of a dying friend, owning a business, working for community change …

What flashed across my mind were images of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Annie Malone and my beloved grandmother Ruby. Later, others came to me as well – Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary Church Terrell, Bridget “Biddy” Mason and my great aunt Anna Rebecca, for whom I am named.

n My mother board is a power circle of great black women.

I was reminded that I am the cultural, if not biological, descendant of all of these grand-mothers, women whose “cotton pickin’” lives paved the way for my “cotton candy” life. As their daughter, I have inherited their intellectual acuity and powers of discernment, their strength of character and matchless stamina, their remarkable resilience and unshakable faith.

The courage of their convictions flows through my veins and affirms that I am not a shrinking violet. On my best days, I am a powerful force for good in this world. And on my worst, I am often self-doubting and confused.

There is no circumstance or condition in my life that these women have not had to endure. Their sacrifices and spirits lift me.

At nearly 30, Mama Biddy was forced to walk 1,700 miles from Mississippi to California where she sued for her family’s freedom. She won it in 1856, later becoming a wealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist. With her nursing and real estate earnings, she founded a school for black children, sheltered the poor and built Los Angeles’ first black church.

When I reflect on Mama Biddy’s life, I am inspired with awe. She and the other women on my board are my mothers. I come from quality stock. And whatever hand life deals me, I’m going to be okay. Rebeccah Bennett is founder of Emerging Wisdom & InPower Institute.

Rebeccah Bennett

Photo by Wiley Price

Sinquefield, who spent $2 million in St. Louis (mostly) and Kansas City to defeat their respective earnings taxes and lost badly in both cities. (He is also Slay’s largest single campaign contributor.)

“It was also one of my final nights staying up late worrying about election returns,” Slay said of April 5, pausing to take a deep breath. “I will not be a candidate for mayor next year.”

He said he doesn’t have plans for his next step. “Hillary Clinton has not asked me to be a running mate,” he said. “St. Louis Football Club has not named me its manager.”

Slay stood alone at the lectern in City Hall and did not take questions afterwards. “I wanted this to be simple,” he said. “I didn’t want this to be an extended eulogy.”

He mentioned the recent “win” of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) selecting North St. Louis as its preferred site to build its new $1.7 billion facility as a sign of better days ahead for the city.

“Although St. Louis is still very recognizably the city I’ve represented in one elected position or another since 1985,” he said, “it is

ELECTION

Continued from A1

Continued from A1 elections that Fuhr has seen in 20 years of working

also a city that has slowly won back some of its swagger as a place to start a business, raise a family, and walk or ride a bike to work. I love what we are becoming.”

Slay has $876,600 in campaign funds, which he will probably contribute to races and issues in the future, he said.

Slay’s unexpected announcement started a firestorm across the city, as people started naming,

and even drafting, potential mayoral candidates, many of them African Americans.

Slay’s most recent mayoral opponent was Lewis Reed, president of the Board of Aldermen. Reed told St. Louis Public Radio that he “absolutely” remained interested in running for mayor.

On April 11, a group of city residents launched the “Draft Tishaura for Mayor of St. Louis” campaign. Tishaura O. Jones is currently running for

elections. They used all of their electronic voting machines for the March 15 Presidential Preference Primary, where turnout was expected to be heavy, and indeed it was, setting a new record for voter participation. There was no time to reprogram the machines for the April 5 municipal election, so they only used paper ballots. They prepared a matrix for the paper ballots, which involves

re-election for city treasurer in the August primary, and she’s unopposed.

“We have the opportunity to address issues that affect us, like poverty, racism and divided communities,” said Draft Tishaura representative Kara Clark. “Tishaura Jones is not afraid to confront these real issues. She brings new ideas, and she has the experience and professionalism to get the job done.”

In a statement on April 8,

merging two electronic systems, and proofread their work.

But then they received a court order that a municipality that had not filed in time (Mackenzie) had to be included on the ballot, and the attorney for another municipality that missed its deadline (Uplands Park) told them that they also had sought a court order and expected to get it.

So they prepared a new matrix to print the ballots, including Mackenzie’s candidate – the tiny village elected one trustee, with the winner getting 15 votes to the loser’s 13 – and a placeholder for Mackenzie, which would eventually elect three trustees (garnering 54, 49 and 41 points) and pass an out-oftown sales tax continuation by a 52-33 margin.

So that those two municipalities that missed their deadlines could hold those elections on April 5, voters at 60 polling places were turned away because their was no ballot for them to cast their votes.

The problem, Fuhr and Fey testified, came with running the April 5 ballot matrix a second time when they were already running behind because they had just finished the March 15 election. As a result, their work was not proofed rigorously and a mistake in the matrix was not caught. So when they proofed the ballots against the matrix, they missed the mistake again. This resulted in inadequate numbers of certain ballot

In one of his administration’s most progressive accomplishments, St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay signed civilian oversight legislation into law in his ofice at City Hall with Alderman Terry Kennedy last May.

Jones responded to inquiries saying, “At this time, I am focused on my re-election campaign for treasurer, and am taking time to consider my options.”

Jones served as a Missouri state representative from 2008 to 2012 and was elected treasurer in 2012.

Many also looked to State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, who released a statement saying her focus is “entirely on being re-elected to serve as senator

styles being delivered to 60 polling places.

For the April 5 election, there were 432 polling places in St. Louis County with 323 ballot styles.

Fuhr and Fey agreed that both an equipment error and human error were responsible.

Curtis grilled Fey, saying at one point he did not intend to leave “a way out” for him to keep his job. Curtis read aloud glowing media coverage about Fey’s being hired by the Board

n Previous ballot mixups in St. Louis County when Rita Days was Democratic director of elections resulted in her dismissal soon after Steve Stenger was sworn in as county executive.

of Election Commissioners where he vowed no registered voter in St. Louis County would fail to vote because of ballot shortages on his watch.

Previous ballot mix-ups in St. Louis County when Rita Days was Democratic director of elections resulted in her dismissal soon after Steve Stenger was sworn in as county executive.

Dogan said there was an appearance of a double standard, since a black woman lost her job over less extensive ballot shortages, whereas these two white men still had their jobs.

for the 5th District.” Dylan Hassinger has filed against her in the August Democratic primary. Other suspected, potential contenders are St. Louis Collector of Revenue Gregory F.X. Daly, Comptroller Darlene Green, Police Chief Sam Dotson and Aldermen Antonio French of the 21st Ward and Lyda Krewson of the 28th Ward.

The St. Louis PostDispatch, which for years has called Slay “mayor for life,” said Slay “may be the best mayor in city history” in an editorial about his decision not to run.

Sherman George, the city’s first black fire chief who was demoted by Slay in 2007 when he wouldn’t make promotions based on a test he opposed, did not agree. Early in Slay’s career, George said he remembers thinking, “’He’s young enough to see the problems we are facing and young enough to pull this city together.’ But instead he created a further separation.”

George said that Slay’s methods of campaigning and governance, especially when Jeff Rainford was his campaign manager or chief of staff, only worsened the racial divide in St. Louis. Unlike Slay, George said, the next mayor “must be willing to dismantle that system.”

State Rep. Josh Peters said that Gov. Jay Nixon ultimately was responsible since he appointed the directors, but Fey corrected him. Nixon appoints the four-member election board, with the advice of the Missouri Senate, and the board hires and fires the two directors. No election commissioner was called to testify. In practice, the county executive has major influence on these board appointments. The previous county executive, Charlie Dooley, was close to Days. Fey was a legislative assistant to one of Stenger’s colleagues on the County Council before being appointed election director after Stenger’s election. Starting with Dogan, the Republicans on the committee and task force tried to impugn the state’s highest election official, Secretary of State Jason Kander, who is making a spirited run for U.S. Senate against a Republican incumbent, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt. But both Fuhr and Fey read the state statue placing responsibility for municipal elections with the local election authority, not the state.

Kander released a preliminary report on April 8, which was consistent with Fuhr and Fey’s testimony. In the report, he suggested that St. Louis County move to an elected county clerk or election authority, rather than the appointed board, since election problems in the county are recurring.

State Rep. Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) said the Legislature must enact dire penalties for municipalities that miss their deadlines with election authorities, given that judges keep issuing orders that force election authorities to redo their work in order to accommodate late filers.

“Maybe if you don’t file on time with the election authorities,” Barnes said, “then you’re not a city.”

Photo courtesy of mayor’s ofice

The governor’s executive order applies to all departments, agencies and boards and commissions in the executive branch. The state has 50,000 employees.

“The action I’m taking today will ensure that state government continues to be a model for increasing economic opportunity, improving public safety and strengthening communities,” Nixon said at a press conference held at the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment downtown.

“This is about fairness. Giving folks a fair chance to redeem their lives, support their families and make a contribution to their communities is a value we share as Missourians and as Americans.”

Formerly incarcerated individuals frequently encounter challenges in obtaining employment, which makes it more difficult for them to successfully assimilate back into society, Nixon said.

According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, the unemployment rate for Missourians on parole in 2015 was 44 percent.

Proponents of the “Ban the Box” movement see the removal of the box as an advance in fair hiring practices.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed

HART

Continued from A1 Hill.

Collins-Hart’s 40 years of educational experience also includes teaching ninth grade English and serving as principal of a middle school.

“The most important job in the world is the classroom teacher,” she said at a public forum for finalists last month.

McKenzie said the district’s three main goals for the new superintendent are student

(D-St. Louis) introduced a bill to “Ban the Box” earlier this session (Senate Bill 724). With the bill stalled in committee, Nasheed launched an online petition urging Nixon to implement the policy via executive order that has gathered hundreds of signatures throughout the state.

“Far too often, former offenders knock on the door

achievement, continuing professional development, and community and parent engagement.

“We are confident that we have the very best leadership in place to further enhance academic achievement and support those who are closet to our students,” Desiree Whitlock, Hazelwood school board president, told media on Monday.

Collins-Hart’s appointment comes after the debt-crippled school district came under public scrutiny when it suddenly announced major

n “‘Ban the box’ policies can help to break the cycle of crime and incarceration.”

– Gov. Jay Nixon

of opportunity only to have it slammed in their faces,” Nasheed said. “A non-violent criminal record should not be a

budget cuts for the 20162017 school year due to an approximately $15 million deficit. The cutbacks included laying-off several teacher and administrative positions, eliminating band and orchestra from elementary schools during regular school hours, eliminating field trip funding, and reducing PE classes to once a week.

Collins-Hart’s current school district faced a $14 million deficit and broke even in just a couple years after she began leading the district. After multiple staff

pretense for employers to deny an individual without giving him or her a chance to explain for themselves.”

reductions, Collins-Hart’s salary managed to survive the sweeping budget cuts. For the 2014-2015 school year, she received a $5,000 raise, bringing her salary up to $241,500 with $9,000 in annuities and more than $20,500 in benefits.

Hazelwood’s last superintendent made $230,000. The current interim superintendent makes almost $205,000.

Details of Collins-Hart’s contract with the Hazelwood School District have not been released to media, but the

State Rep. Michael Butler (D-St. Louis) of the 79th District supported the movement by sponsoring House Bill 2086.

“Removing barriers like a criminal records check-box is good policy to improving communities with high unemployment rates,” Butler said. “Making this ‘fair-chance policy’ a practice of the state is

agreement, which includes Hart’s salary, has been signed.

During a public forum last month, Collins-Hart stressed a concern for improving students’ tests scores and said the district should look for local help rather than turn to the state.

“In many ways legislatures are creating policies that impact education without input from educators.” Hart said. “We have to be better advocates for what we want in schools. We need to not look to the

a significant first step.” Several ex-offenders attended the press conference and applauded the executive order’s passage. Eric Schultz, of the Criminal Justice Ministry, said he served two years in prison.

“Once you have that on your record, it’s a game changer,” he said. He said he was lucky to get a job working with other ex-offenders, after his other job applications were passed over.

Toni Jordan works for Let’s Start, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting women in transition from prison life to society. Jordan first went to prison for six months when she was 23, and then again at 40 for 30 months. It was all related to drug addiction, she said.

“This is part of my past, but it’s not who I am,” she said.

Although the executive order only effects state job openings, Nixon hopes to send a strong message to corporations and others institutions in the state, he said.

“These men and women have paid their debt to society and are attempting to successfully return to their communities as productive, law-abiding citizens,” Nixon said. “By giving these Missourians a fair chance to get a job and support their families, ‘ban the box’ policies can help to break the cycle of crime and incarceration.”

state. We need to look to the local. We need to look to the educators of your schools and your school communities to provide the state some guidance.”

When asked why CollinsHart was selected over the other finalists, McKenzie said that community feedback was taken into careful consideration. She said the board “wanted to make sure the community had involvement this time around and they wanted to make sure this person would be in it for the long-haul.”

State Senator Jamilah Nasheed and other legislators watched on Monday, January 11, when Gov. Jay Nixon signed an executive order to “ban the box” that ex-offenders normally have to check on employment applications for state jobs. The press conference held at the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment downtown.

Photo by Wiley Price

City, County pledge nearly $2M to Concordance Academy

Eighty-three percent of Missouri prisoners released to the community struggle with substance abuse; 72 percent will not find a full-time job; and 48 percent without a GED return to prison within two years.

Corporate St. Louis didn’t give these depressing statistics much attention until former CEO and president of Wells Fargo Advisors

Danny Ludeman announced last May that “re-entry” programs for ex-offenders need to be a priority in the region. After retiring, Ludeman learned about the hardships that former inmates face and how it affects families and children, he told The American. More than 14,000 children with an incarcerated parent enter the foster care system each year. Children with incarcerated parents are six to nine times more likely to become incarcerated themselves.

treatment facility. Led by Carrie Pettus-Davis the institute is the first research center in a school of social work dedicated to scientific discovery focusing on the issues of reincarceration.

“Nationally, seventy-seven percent of former prisoners will be rearrested for a new crime within five years of their release, largely due to inadequate support and public policies that act as barriers to reentry to communities,” Pettus-Davis said.

said that Concordance was going to provide all the services the folks in St. Louis needed and there would not be any collaborating with other groups,” she said.

The network of nonprofits has continued to collaborate “like we’ve been doing for years,” she said.

She also said that PettusDavis, prior to joining Concordance, had been doing research with the network for years.

Community members are asked to sign up to speak about the consent decree beginning at 8 a.m. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. If residents are unable to attend the Fairness Hearing, they are asked to mail their comments to Judge Catherine Perry, Thomas Eagleton United States Courthouse, 111 S. 10th Street St. Louis, MO 63102.

Newcomer elected to Ferg-Flor board

“It breaks your heart,” he said. “It’s there. It’s real. We are going to first put services in place that can finally correct this problem. And we want to raise the rhetoric to this problem.”

In May, he introduced the Concordance Academy of Leadership and the Concordance Institute for Advancing Social Justice – a dual-branch nonprofit geared towards reducing prison recidivism and ultimately reducing crime in the region. It’s the first ever public, private and academic partnership focused on lowering incarceration rates in the country, he said. Ludeman became the CEO and president of the Concordance Academy on May 1, 2015.

On April 5, Ludeman announced the organization recently secured as much as $1.95 million in funding over the next three years from St. Louis County, St. Charles County and the City of St. Louis. Concordance has secured more than $12 million in contributions in total from the public and private sectors, including major employers in the region, he said.

“With this additional funding and support from our city and county leaders, local men and women returning from incarceration will receive the assistance necessary in order to rebuild productive and successful lives,” he said, “which in turn positively impacts the safety and vitality of the metropolitan area.” St. Louis County confirmed $300,000 in 2016, with an additional $600,000 in funding by 2018. The City of St. Louis is providing an initial $250,000 in funds to support the academy, with an additional $500,000 over the following two years. In addition, the St. Charles County Council voted in January to confirm $100,000 in funds to the academy this year and possibly for the next two. Ludeman feels that Concordance is going off the beaten path using a “holistic, integrated and evidence-driven model.” Concordance Academy is the service-providing arm, and Concordance Institute is a research center housed at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University that identifies and tests best practices to inform the academy’s work. The academy’s curriculum includes education and job readiness, employment, substance abuse, mental health, cognitive and relationship skills, housing and life in the community. Six months prior to release, the academy assesses each enrollee – academically, cognitively and socially – to create a customized plan for each individual. Upon release, participants engage in a yearlong program. Resources include an internal employment agency and in-patient substance abuse

In St. Louis, there is a strong network of small, underfunded non-profits that provide social services to ex-offenders locally. They’ve been doing it for decades, and they even collaborated with the 30-yearold Project COPE – which Concordance took over. (COPE’s then board chair Candace O’Connor wrote to Ludeman welcoming him to head the organization upon his retirement. The board agreed to transform it into Concordance.)

However, some of these nonprofit representatives, who wanted to go unnamed, said they don’t work with Concordance.

One woman said that Ludeman held a meeting with the small nonprofits soon after he came on board.

“At that meeting, he basically

“As far as what the smaller organizations felt, there could be someone on every corner working with folks – there’s that much need,” she said. “The issue is their unwillingness to give us credit. They want to deny that there is anything good already happening in this town, and they are going to be the saviors of the world.”

Fairness Hearing for Ferguson

U.S. Judge Catherine Perry has scheduled a Fairness Hearing regarding Ferguson’s consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in courtroom 14 South on Tuesday, April 19 at the Thomas Eagleton United States Courthouse at 111 S. 10th St. in downtown St. Louis.

According to unofficial results of the April 5 election for the Ferguson-Florissant School District Board of Education, newcomer Connie Harge will join incumbent Leslie Hogshead on the board for a three-year term. Harge received 36.48 percent of the vote, and Hogshead received 28.81 percent of the vote. Other candidates who sought election to the board were Roger Hines, who received 23.26 percent of the vote, and Donna Dameron with 10.73 percent. Write-in votes accounted for 1.35 percent. The Board will hold a reorganization meeting on April 20 following certification of the results by the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners.

The Concordance Academy Board of Directors

ONE SMALL CHANGE is an ongoing series that challenges us to take very small steps toward being more environmentally-friendly. If we all participate then ONE SMALL CHANGE can make a big difference! participate, then ONE SMALL CHANGE can make a big difference!

BUY RECYCLED PRODUCTS!

Most of us know we should recycle products we’re finished using, but fewer of us have learned to purchase products made with recycled materials. Recycling is cyclical, meaning the products you recycle today then go on to create the products you buy tomorrow. This looping system of using the same materials is saving the planet from destructive mining and deforestation, but we need to do it even more.

The next time you’re in the store take a look at the manufacturing label. It will be near the liney barcode thing. Along with telling you where the product was created it will also list if the product is made from recycled materials. If every home in the U.S. used just ONE paper towel roll that is made of 100% recycled materials, instead of one made with new materials, we would save 544,000 trees! This is one small change with huge potential.

THIS CHANGE SAVES 544,000 TREES FROM DEFORESTATION! !

Clay nominates 11 for service academies

(D-St. Louis) has nominated 11 young people from across the 1st Congressional District to attend one of our nation’s military

His nominees are Conner Buchheit, Hazelwood West H.S.; Dulani Evans, Lutheran North H.S.; Michael Clark, Marquette High School; Laryn Grant, McCluer North H.S.; Austin LaRue, Gateway Science Academy; Emily

Bishop DuBourg H.S.; Matthew Royce, Mary Institute Country Day School; Nile Trice; Pattonville Senior H.S., Colleen McDermott, West Ranch H.S.; Alexandra McMurray, St. Francis Borgia Regional H.S.; and Toni St. Lewis, North County Technical H.S.

“You have already demonstrated the highest standards of academic achievement, athletic ability,

personal character and community service,” Clay said in a ceremony at the University of Missouri St. Louis. And now, you are ready to step forward and join in a long tradition of volunteers who stood tall in the defense of freedom.” You can apply for a future nomination online at https:// lacyclay.house.gov/. The form is

Father’s Support Center gets national accreditation

Fathers’ Support Center received national accreditation through the New York-based Council on Accreditation. The nonprofit center provides educational programs, training and services for men wishing to improve their family and child relationships. It is the only fatherhood-centric agency in the U.S. to earn accreditation from the council.

Only 50 of the state’s more than 54,000 nonprofits have achieved council accreditation, which results from an in-depth analysis of an agency’s administration, management, and service delivery.

“It’s definitive recognition that our fatherhood and family programs are what the community needs,” said Halbert Sullivan, chief executive officer of the center, “and our methods line up well with the strongest practices in the field.” Since its founding, the center has reached over 13,000 fathers and made a difference for more than 32,500 children. In 2014 it had a 78 percent job-placement rate for its clients. To learn about Fathers’ Support Center, visit www. fatherssupportcenter.org.

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay

service academies.

Roeder,

‘Dyed, fried and laid to the side’

I remember an episode of “Sanford and Son,” starring Redd Foxx, where he revealed his conk, meaning his processed red hair, and described it as “dyed, fried and laid to the side.” It brought uncontrollable laughter from the live audience and was described by many in the African-American community as hilarious. The name “conk” came from “congolene,” a combination of lye, petroleum jelly, eggs, potatoes and soap. This is the procedure that Denzell Washington revealed in his portrayal of Detroit Red in the Spike Lee film “Malcolm X.”

Then I looked at the trend and style of other men of African ancestry beginning decades ago and realized that a great number of our parents were ashamed of the texture and appearance of their hair. Media images over the years as well have made some black people ashamed of their African ancestry. We should have been taught that everything about our natural kinky hair began in Africa. The different hair textures of African people ranges from deep ebony, kinky curl of the Mandingos, to the loosely curled flowing locks of the Ashanti.

In the early 15th century, hair functioned as a carrier of messages in most West African societies. The citizens of these societies, including the Wolof, Mende, Mandingo and Yoruba, were people who filled the slave ships that sailed to the New World. Within these cultures, hair was an integral part of a complex language system. Hairstyles were used to indicate a person’s marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, geographic origins, wealth and rank within the community.

Bernie Hayes

Many of the most admired musicians of the early days of R&B, blues and soul music were well known for wearing the conks, including Chuck Berry, The Temptations, Nat “King” Cole, James Brown and Muddy Waters. Dick Gregory used to joke about wearing a stocking cap so tight that it gave him a headache. And number of black men had ‘do rags and made scheduled trips to their hair dresser to get their hair “processed.”

Murray’s Hair Pomade and other gels, oil and grease products helped to keep black men’s hair slicked down to the scalp. Remember many in the black community admired lighter skin and straight hair.

Marcus Garvey, a black freedom fighter in the 1920s advised his followers to embrace their natural hair and reclaim their African heritage. In the ‘50s the Johnson Products Company introduced the Ultra Wave Hair, a “long-lasting” hair straightener for men that could be applied at home.

Eventually, during the 1960s and ‘70s, the Afro emerged, but Blaxploitation movies such as “Superfly” and “The Mack” glamorized black men with long straight hair, and eventually the jheri curl appeared.

These days many men adopt baldness, and some researchers have found that men with bald heads are more likely to be viewed as commanding, dominant and masculine. What is your preference?

Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday night at 10 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m. on KNLC-TV Ch. 24. I can be reached by fax at 314-8373369, e-mail at berhay@swbell. net or on Twitter @berhay.

FIND ALLERGY RELIEF FAST

Don’t suffer, St. Louis!

Between our wide assortment and many convenient locations, you’re sure to find what you need in no time. Stop by Walgreens today.

Eating local

Farm to School creates student learning from gardens to cafeterias

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

Nutrition education is homegrown in the Ferguson Florissant School District, where Kelly Bristow leads the USDA Farm to School program that gives children of all ages an appreciation of food and nutrition – from farm to plate.

The district received a $91,500 grant from the US Food and Drug Administration to support the effort. The students are learning about organic versus processed foods and the advantage of locally grown fruits and vegetables.

“Our overall goal is that we really just want students to know not only where their food comes from, but get excited about eating healthy fruits and vegetables,” Kelly Bristow,

registered dietician at Ferguson-Florissant School District, said. “Some of the money is going to be used to get our students physically to our local farms so they can tour around, see how our fruits and vegetables are grown and really make the connection of how they get their produce to our schools.”

About 2,200 students in grades kindergarten to 12 will visit local farms, she added.

“Another aspect of the program, we actually are wanting to process local foods to put them on our school menu,” Bristow said. “We are working with local farmers – we are in talks with Thies Farms [located between Bellerive and Bel-Ridge, Mo.] EarthDance Farms [Ferguson, Mo.], which is an organic farm, and Lee Farms [in Truxton, Mo.].”

n Students are learning about organic versus processed foods and the advantage of locally grown fruits and vegetables.

While some schools already had gardens, six additional schools created raised beds to grow vegetable gardens where grass used to grow.

“We are hopefully going to use that produce that the students are growing at their schools on salad bars, as well as any herbs they are able to harvest – use those on our school menus too,” Bristow said.

Last year, students processed local tomatoes into marinara sauce, still being served to the 12,000 students in the district.

“They were able to process all those tomatoes and added the herbs and took all the food safety practices and put everything in place to be able to serve it on our school menu,” Bristow added.

While it may not get the fame as a “Ms. Patti’s” pie, this year, three high school students are turning sweet potatoes into tasty, nutritious treats.

“They get paid $10 an hour and they process down at McCluer South-Berkeley [High School],” Bristow said, “and they currently are in the process of taking local sweet potatoes that were from Lee Farm and are turning them into sweet potato muffins.”

The American spoke recently to Kevin

Barriers in oral health

By Candace Wakefield, DMD For The St. Louis American

n “The singlemost nutritional factor influencing cavities is dietary sugar.”

– Dr. Candace Wakefield

The Surgeon General’s report on Oral Health indicates there have been efforts to improve oral health and decrease the severity of dental decay and other oral diseases. Unfortunately, oral health disparities still exist. Most notably these differences are evident amongst racial/ethnic groups, influenced by socioeconomic factors such as status, gender, and geographic location. The Center for Disease Control has found that people with lower levels of education and income, as well as specific racial/ethnic groups, have higher rates of oral disease. Research has shown that there has been a rise in tooth decay in low-income and minority children aged 2-5 years old. As documented by the CDC, there are more adult, black, non-Hispanic and Mexican Americans with untreated tooth decay than white, non-Hispanics. Concerning disparities that exist between educational levels, adults 35-44 years old, with less than a high school diploma, presented with untreated tooth decay as well as periodontal disease nearly three times that of those with at least some college education. It has been noted in the Missouri Oral Health Plan 20152020 that Missouri has lower dental visit rates and more missing teeth among adults than what is observed nationally. Conversely, more Missourians with access to community water systems receive an optimal level of fluoridated water compared to the national average. Community water fluoridation greatly reduces the percentage of tooth decay when compared to well water or other sources. The single- most nutritional factor influencing cavities is dietary sugar. Unfortunately, people living in low-income areas also have limited options as it relates to making “healthy food choices.” Limited access to preventive dental care is also related to whether there is a dental care provider in the area in which they live, reliable transportation and if the practice accepts Medicaid. Other barriers that could hinder a person from receiving quality care may include: limited access to and availability of dental services, lack of awareness about the state of their oral condition, the cost of dental treatments as well as a sense of fear related to dental procedures. The result of these inequalities often leads to pain, dental complications, lack of concentration, time missed at school and / work, an increased risk of infection and higher costs for treatment that could have been prevented if treatment were recognized, identified and

See DOCTOR, A13

Jarron White, a senior at McCluer North High School completes a batch of sweet potato muffins baked after school in the kitchen at McCluer South Berkeley High School. The USDA Farm to School program provided resources to purchase the sweet potatoes that students are employed to turn into muffins that will be sold in cafeterias throughout the FergusonFlorissant School District.

Photo by Wiley Price

Candice Wakeield, DMD

Obesity is almost at epidemic proportions; it has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years nationwide.

Rosa Cataldo, DO, MPH, director of the Healthy Weight & Wellness Center at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in New York, said the most effective approach to addressing weight loss in children are lifestyle-based modifications that involve parents.

“Childhood obesity is a serious – and growing – problem in the United States, so parents should be concerned about their child’s weight,” said Dr. Cataldo. “We are not talking about a few extra pounds, but rather a condition that can have a negative effect on a child’s overall health.”

After a medical assessment and monitoring, the heart of the Center’s program is nutrition and activity level changes. Specialists work to educate the family on meal planning, label reading, food choices and recipe modifications. Though its Fit Kids for Life program, they also work to improve patients’ overall fitness level and calorie burning activity.

As winter transitions into spring, Dr. Cataldo stresses that now is a great time to make changes for your entire family.

The top four tips for parents and children getting healthy together:

1. Go Outside: Being outside is an easy way to make exercise feel effortless. Bike riding, playing soccer and playground activities are just a couple of ways to play as a family.

EATING

Continued from A12

Overweight kids?

Four simple warm weather solutions

Kids should wear a pedometer to track their physical activity and help make sure they take at least 10,000 steps a day.

2. Stay Hydrated: Be mindful to drink water throughout the entire day, especially after exercising. Stay away from giving children sugary beverages, including juices, sodas and sports drinks

3. Choose Fresh: This is the easiest time of the year to eat fresh foods. Head to a local farmer’s market where fruits and veggies are in season and cheaper. Embrace seasonal salads and grilling on the barbecue. After fresh vegetables, frozen is the second best option.

4. Read Labels: Label reading is important year around, but checking ingredients is often a forgotten step. Make sure to pay attention to the order of the ingredients; if sugar is one of the first three listed, it’s too high in sugar. Rethink the product if there’s a long, laundry list of ingredients, especially with long, complicated names.

The bottom line is that obese children grow into obese adults, who can develop a long list of life-threatening illnesses or conditions that impair quality of life. However, parents can break the pattern. With early involvement, parents can set the example to help their children get and remain healthy through adulthood.

Concannon, undersecretary of the USDA Food Nutrition and Consumer Services, who oversees the Farm to School program in the nation’s schools. He said 27 percent of Missouri schools participate. The program promotes local purchasing within 100 miles, school gardens and student engagement throughout the process. The gardens become areas of focus for students, piquing their interest in how foods are grown and creating a willingness to try salads and new foods.

“And those garden principals can be brought into either the math program or earth science, even in art,” Concannon said.

Ferguson-Florissant’s grant allowed the district to expand its Farm to School activities.

“We are very pleased with the fact that they are availing themselves of it,” Concannon added. Schools are starting to plant gardens now, sprouting seedlings by the end of the school year – with plans in place for taking care of the gar-

dens over the summer.

“We are also in the process of planting carrots, possibly green beans and summer squash … so hopefully we’ll employ the students for a little bit of a summer job and freeze vegetables to then use on our school menu next year,” Bristow said. Moreover, students’ late summer crop will bring a fall harvest for school menus.

“We look forward to the fall with planting those fall vegetables and having those available on our salad bars,” Bristow said, “Things like sweet potatoes and a lot of the fall squashes – we’ll start planting in August and so we’ll plant them when the students get back and they’ll be able to see the entire plant life process.”

She said many of the schools where the district is putting in gardens are building it into their curriculum, for students to learn about science, math and reading in a completely new way.

“These are almost outdoor classrooms with these gardens,” she said.

Public, private and parochial schools are eligible for the USDA program. For more information, visit http://1.usa.gov/1ghQdw9.

How sodium sneaks into your diet

Did you know the saltshaker in your kitchen is not the largest culprit for sodium in the American diet? Rather, it is the sodium in prepackaged processed foods and meals from restaurants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it accounts for more than 75 percent of sodium – and sodium is found in all sorts of foods – even if it does not taste salty.

Most of it is eaten in grains, meats, processed poultry, soups, sandwiches and snack foods, and it doesn’t take much to consume more than what is recommended.

While 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends reducing sodium to less than 2,300 milligrams per day, the recommendations are different for African Americans at any age, adults over age 51, and individuals with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease – (which is about half of the U.S. population and the majority of adults). They should reduce daily sodium intake much further to 1,500 mg per day. The American Heart Association says the body only needs less than 500 mg of sodium to function properly. Why does this matter? Because the majority of adults eat much more sodium than recommended – 3,400 mg per day, according to the American Heart Association, increasing the risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and other serious medical conditions. Learn more at www.cdc.gov/salt.

Tips for reducing sodium

DOCTOR

Continued from A12

rendered sooner. In an effort to improve quality of life and eliminate oral health disparities, proven interventions such as community water fluoridation, school based dental fluoride and sealant programs have been implemented. Schoolbased sealant programs provide sealants (thin coating on the chewing surfaces of the teeth to prevent cavities) to children who may not receive routine dental care. Increasing state and community dental health and preventive oral health services are also potential strategies. Although major improvements have occurred in the nation’s oral health, we still face many challenges. Governmental agencies and professional organizations are continuing to evaluate and address the disparities that exist.

Candace Wakefield DMD is a pediatric dentist at The Children’s Dental Zone

At home: Use lemon juice and salt-free herbs and spices

Reduce and limit added salt while cooking

Taste food before adding salt

Read nutrition labels – choose items with less than 20% DV of sodium

Eating Out: Check online for chain restaurant’s nutritional info to find lower-sodium options

Ask that salt not be added to your food as it is cooked

Use small amounts of condiments

Sources: CDC, FDA

Being outside is an easy way to make exercise feel effortless.

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

PRESENT:

Healthy Kids Kids

Healthcare Careers

Focus On Mealtime!

Nutrition Challenge:

One reason many of us overeat is because we simply aren’t paying attention! Have you ever grabbed a bag of chips while watching a movie, and before you know it the bag is empty? It is very important that we are aware of all of the food that we eat. Here are some ways to think about what we’re eating.

> Don’t eat in front of the television. Make sure all of your meals are at the table.

As the weather warms up, one great way to get outside and stay active is to try gardening! As soon as the threat of frost has passed, ask your parents where you can start a small vegetable garden.

You’ll only need a small area of dirt. Look for a spot that gets several hours of sun a day. Working with an adult, you can begin digging up the area.

The ground is usually pretty solid and hard after a long, cold winter and you can start “working” the soil to get it ready for

Weathering theStorm

Spring brings many wonderful things: flowers, warmer weather, fun latenight outdoor play… but it also brings storms! Remember to use caution when storms are predicted. When a storm hits, follow these safety procedures.

> Watch the local news for storm predictions and updates.

> Have a family plan for where to go if you hear a tornado warning or siren. If

> If you do want a snack while playing a video game or working on your computer, take a break and sit at the table for your snack.

> And as always, eat slowly and enjoy every bite.

Sitting at the table allows you focus on your foods, enjoying the taste. It also helps you stay more aware of your stomach’s “full” signals, reducing the amount you eat.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

your garden. You might also want to explore ways to protect your plants from local pesky animals that just might want to come by for a taste.

Digging, planting and weeding a garden is a great way to bend, stretch, work muscles and increase your heart rate. If all goes well, you will be enjoying your very own home-grown vegetables this summer!

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1

you have a basement, that is usually the best place to be!

> Stay away from windows.

> Do not stand under a tree in a storm. Trees can attract lightening.

> Never, ever play in flooding water, ditches or storm drains.

As a class, discuss other ways to stay safe in a storm.

Learning Standards: HPE 5, NH 5

Cinnamon Chips with Fruit Salsa

Ingredients:

10 (10 inch) Wheat tortillas, Butter-flavored cooking spray, 2 Tbsp Cinnamon sugar, 1 Cp Chopped fresh fruit (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat one side of each tortilla with the cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray. Bake 8-10 minutes. Repeat until all have been heated. Cool before eating with optional fruit salsa.

Tamika

Smith, RN, BSN, MS

Where do you work? I work at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Where did you go to school? I graduated from University City High School. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Goldfarb School of Nursing in St. Louis and a Master of Science in Healthcare Informatics from SIUE (through BJC), St. Louis, Missouri.

What does a registered nurse do? I give babies medications; I feed them and change their diapers. I also weigh babies on a baby scale and give them baths.

Why did you choose this career? I chose nursing because I like helping children. It feels good helping others.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? My favorite part of the job is when babies get to go home with their parents. I enjoy watching babies grow. And it’s really great to see babies improve and learn, such as when they start to take a bottle.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

The St. Louis American’s award winning NIE program provides newspapers and resources to more than 7,000 teachers and students each week throughout the school year, at no charge.

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

Lucas Crossing Elementary School

4th grade teacher

Trina Moorehead, shows Ravyn Thomas, Omaruy Franklin, Ataxia Bland and Marian North how to use the newspaper to find words of encouragement as a STEM lesson. Lucas Crossing Elementary is in the Normandy Schools Collaborative.

Have you ever had someone take credit for a good idea that you had? When inventors have good ideas, they receive a patent from the government that gives them credit for this idea. In order to receive a patent, an inventor has to be sure that it meets the criteria for receiving a patent. In order to be able to get a patent, it must be a process, a machine, a manufactured good, or an improvement of any of these. Next, the patent will fit into one of two categories—a design patent or a

How to Receive a Patent

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

Are you ready to be an inventor? Your goal is to create a device that will lift a tennis ball in the air without using your hands.

Materials Needed:

• Tennis Ball • 2 Plastic Cups

• 2 Feet of String • Broomstick

• 50 Pennies • Tape • Scissors

• Table • Meter Stick

Procedure:

q Your goal: Use two cups, string, scissors, tape, a broomstick, a table, and up to fifty pennies to create something that will allow you to lift a

MATH CONNECTION

plant patent (if it is a new type of plant created through scientific processes). Third, check to make sure there is not already a patent in place for this idea. To do this, you can search the United States Postmark Trademark Office (USPTO) database. Finally, a lawyer will assist in the process of filling out a patent application.

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting detail. I can make text to text connections.

Tennis Ball Lift

tennis ball 50 centimeters into the air without using your hands.

w Sketch your design.

e Build your design.

r Revise as necessary.

t Evaluate: What did you build? What was the most difficult part? How did you solve the obstacle?

Learning Standards: I can use prediction, trial and error to solve a problem. I can evaluate and revise my strategy. I can draw conclusions.

Mixed Review

Inventors see a problem and think of ways to solve it. They have sharp minds and strong critical thinking skills. Practice your critical thinking skills with these math review problems.

z If the original price of a video game is $39, and it is on sale for 50% off, how much does the game cost?

x Which is the better buy—a 4-pack of museum tickets for $57, or a 9-pack of museum tickets for $110? ___________

c How would you write 43% as a decimal? __________

How would you write 43% as a fraction? __________

v The track team voted for a team captain. If 85% of the 60 team members voted, how many track team members voted in the election? ___________

b A train traveled at the same speed for 5 hours. It went 113 miles in all. How fast was the train going? Write your answer as a decimal. __________ miles per hour

Learning Standards: I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve a problem.

SCIENCE STARS

African-American Inventor Miriam E. Benjamin

Miriam Benjamin was born in 1861 in Charleston, South Carolina. She was the oldest of five children. Benjamin moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where she attended high school. She attended Howard University’s medical school and worked as a clerk for several government departments. Then, she attended Howard University’s law school because she was interested in learning about patents. Her brothers, Lyde and Edgar, were both attorneys and inventors who received patents. Benjamin also worked as a school teacher in Washington, D.C.

She was the second AfricanAmerican woman to receive a patent (patent number 386,289) on July 7, 1888. She invented the gong and signal chair. This device was used in hotels. With this invention, the hotel customer could be comfortably seated and press a button on the back of the chair which caused a light to signal the wait staff. The wait staff could easily see who needed help. This allowed the customers to receive prompt service. Benjamin created this device because she noticed many hotels seemed over staffed; they had too many employees. There were several workers walking around to be available when someone needed them. The hotels were able to save money because they did not have to hire as many workers. In her patent application, Benjamin explained that her invention would “reduce the expenses of hotels by decreasing the number of waiters and attendants, to add to the convenience and comfort of guests and to obviate the necessity of hand clapping or calling aloud to obtain the services of pages.” Benjamin’s invention was so successful, it was used in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today, a similar current device is used on airplanes to signal airline attendants during a flight

Learning Standards: I can read a biography about a person who has made a contribution in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. I can make text to text and text to world connections.

Leo Fender, inventor of the Telecaster and Stratocaster, could not play guitar.

Ruth Wakefield, the inventor of the chocolate chip cookie, sold the idea to Nestle Toll House in return for a lifetime supply of chocolate.

MAP CORNER

Enjoy these activities that help you get to know your St. Louis American newspaper.

Activity One — Noun/Verb Stories: Choose a story in today’s newspaper. Rewrite the story in sentences that only contain two words—a noun and a verb. For example, “Snow predicted. Coats needed.”

Activity Two —

Tax

Money:

Clip three pictures of news items from the paper to illustrate the various ways tax money is spent.

Learning Standards: I can use a newspaper to locate information. I can write for a specific purpose and audience. I can identify the purpose of taxes.

The upsidedown ketchup bottle earned its inventor, Paul Brown, $13 million.

Leonardo da Vinci never built the inventions he

Photo by Wiley Price/St. Louis American

Cost-cutting plan at UMSL wins committee approval

Chancellor says $15M budget gap can be eliminated without cutting degree programs

By Dale Singer St. Louis Public Radio

Plans to eliminate 85 positions and make other cuts to help erase a $15 million budget gap at the University of Missouri-St. Louis won approval Monday, April 11 from the campus budget and planning committee.

The group, made up of faculty, staff and students, had sought more information about the two-year plan after it was introduced by Chancellor Tom George at a meeting last week. More

details were provided, but George said he did not want public discussion to become too specific until anyone who would be losing a job could be notified personally.

Figures presented to the campus budget and planning committee said 62 percent of the job cuts would come through layoffs, with 9 percent from retirements and the rest from not filling positions that are currently open.

The campus has about 1,300 positions, so the cuts would amount to 6 percent of the total positions or 4 percent of positions now filled.

No degree programs would be eliminated under the proposal and no cuts would be made to the budget for undergraduate scholarships

“We’re holding all of our classes, not like some other universities I’ve been hearing about, particularly Illinois, which is eliminating courses

and classes,” George said in an interview. “We’re not doing that. So in terms of the students, they’re going to still get the same services they were getting before.”

George plans to make the final decision on the cuts by the end of this month. During the 90-minute committee meeting, he acknowledged the stress that the process has put on the campus, calling it a time of “terrible angst.”

Officials emphasized that the number of positions that will be eliminated through layoffs, retirements or jobs that go unfilled might still change.

Savings from compensation, plus elimination of activities throughout the campus, are expected to make up $12 million of the budget gap. The rest would come from $3 million in anticipated revenue.

But even that is uncertain, George said, particularly $1 million he projected in increased revenue from higher tuition and fees for the coming school year. The university system’s board of curators has yet to vote on what those final numbers will be as the Legislature continues its debate on how much it will support the school.

George acknowledged that the construction on campus might make it seem as if UMSL is in better financial

shape than it actually is. The dollars for building projects are separate from those for operations, he said, and financing for the construction was earmarked for that purpose and raised either privately, as is the case for a new business school, or from fees approved by students, as was the case for a new recreation center. The campus anticipates a 3 percent drop in enrollment, and if that is greater than projected, George said even more cuts could have to be made. But, he added, the plan presented to the committed was designed to be a worst case scenario, and he doesn’t think it will have to adjusted downward.

George acknowledged the toll that the financial problems have taken on staff members who are worried about their jobs. But, he said, getting UMSL’s budget back on track should lead to stronger times ahead.

“If we can start putting dollars back into the institution, strategically,” he said, “hopefully we can start turning around the morale.”

The University of Missouri’s Board of Curators holds the license for St. Louis Public Radio. Edited for length and reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

UMSL Chancellor Tom George

Corporate Creole

Ann Cuiellette Marr brings New Orleans family values to World Wide Technology

By Chris King

St. Louis American

The

Of

Ann Cuiellette Marr makes human resources decisions for a $7.2 billion company based in St. Louis County with almost 4,000 employees around the world, including offices in Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, China, England, India and the Netherlands. But it all started with a guy who was dating the best friend of one of her sisters in New Orleans.

That guy was Arnold W. Donald, who is now CEO of Carnival Corporation. He made his way from New Orleans to St. Louis first, and when his family friend Ann later moved to town as a trailing spouse and settled in, he suggested she go to work for his friend David Steward, who had recently founded World Wide Technology. At that time, the only thing “world-wide” about the company Steward founded with Jim Kavanaugh was its vision. Marr said the company had 130 employees then and was doing $150 million in business – fractions of the numbers for her employer at the time, Enterprise Holdings, where she was human resources

n “It was crazy. I was leaving the largest car rental company in the United States for what was almost a start-up.”

– Ann Cuiellette Marr

manager for St. Louis operations.

“I went to talk to Dave and Jim, and next thing I was leaving Enterprise,” Marr said. “It was crazy. I was leaving the largest car rental company in the United States for what was almost a start-up.”

Donald made the introduction because he knew that Steward and Kavanaugh intended to grow their company and needed a human resources executive like Marr. But she was surprised at the totality of their need in this area.

She inherited one part-time human resources employee. As for human resources policy, their

virtually was none. “It was a blank sheet of paper,” Marr said.

She is a risk-taker at heart, and figured if she didn’t succeed she would eventually find another job. But the company co-founders made her believe that they and she would not fail.

“Dave is so genuine, heartfelt, such a spiritual person, I easily felt very at home with him,” Marr said. “Jim was such a dynamic, passionate guy. When he talked about how he wanted to grow the company, I wanted to be a part of that.”

Marr described the company as “a systems integrations and value added reseller.” Asked to put it more plainly, she said, “We help companies innovate their businesses. We go in and make businesses more effective and more efficient.”

Nicole Tate, a utilities business development manager at WWT (and a black woman who claims Malcolm X as an inspiration), explained it well in a video posted on the company site. “We help our customers better utilize their technology,” she said, “and get more revenue out

Ferg-Flor students advance in business competition

Iceis Fort, a sophomore at McCluer North High School, along with sophomore Diamond Smith and freshman Yahcyria Tinnon from McCluer South-Berkeley High School, have qualified to compete at the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Leadership Conference. The conference will be held April 24-26 in Springfield, Missouri.

Fort qualified by placing first at the Missouri District 9 Leadership Conference in the area of Client Services. The Client Services competition is a roleplay event that requires competitors to provide customer service to a client, and it is based on real-life scenarios.

Tinnon placed first in the Word Processing category. She was required to produce a packet of business documents, based on the guidelines provided, using Microsoft Word.

Smith competed in the Intro to Business category, where her score was among the top 25 scores in the state. She was required to complete a timed test of 100 questions. In the district-level competition, the students competed against students who represented over 20 St. Louis area high schools.

Delrish L. Moss was named chief of police for the Ferguson Police Department. Previously he was a major in the Miami Police Department, where he supervised the Public Information/ Community Relations sections. He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the NAACP.

LaTanya Buck was appointed as the inaugural dean for diversity and inclusion at Princeton University. She is leaving her position as founding director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion at Washington University in St. Louis. She is an alumna of Vashon High School.

Turan Mullins was appointed assistant dean of students and director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Maryville University. He previously served as assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Programs, as well as an assistant director for enrollment at Maryville.

Amy Hunter was selected for a 2016 Humanities Award by The Missouri Humanities Council. She is the director of racial justice for YWCA Metro St. Louis. Each year the council recognizes citizens for their achievements in and dedication to the humanities. She was recognized for Exemplary Community Achievement.

Arthur J. Smith has published a book of poetry, “The Expanding Mind of Arthur J. Smith: A New Concept to Poetry.” This 169-page book is divided into six sections and includes color collages for illustrations. It is available on Amazon and other online booksellers.

Melissa Hamilton was elected president of the inaugural Chicago Fire Foundation’s Associates Board. The board will work to support the foundation’s mission of improving the quality of life throughout Chicagoland through sportsbased youth development and direct service programs. She is a native of Florissant.

Delrish L. Moss

Turan Mullins

Amy Hunter

Arthur J. Smith

LaTanya Buck

Melissa Hamilton

Ann Cuiellette Marr, a native of New Orleans, is vice president of global human resources at World Wide Technology, a $7.2 billion company headquartered in St. Louis County.

Photo by Wiley Price

When changing jobs, should you leave 401(k) money behind?

By Nathaniel Sillin

With the average American spending only 4.6 years at any given job, it’s never been more important to have a plan for any retirement funds you’ve accrued at any employer.

A big problem that began during the 2008 recession but continues today involves loans, hardship withdrawals and complete cash-outs of 401(k) plans. A 2015 Boston College study (http://crr.bc.edu) reported that 1.5 percent of retirement assets “leak out” of 401(k) plans and personal IRAs each year, reducing an individual’s wealth at retirement by about 25 percent. Meanwhile, a 2014 Fidelity Investments study sounded a particularly urgent alarm about 401(k) cash-outs and workers under the age of 40. The mutual fund giant noted that 35 percent of all participants were simply cashing out their 401(k) assets when leaving a job. However, for workers aged 20-39 – indeed, those with the longest savings horizons – that number jumped to 41 percent.

So what should you do?

A great deal depends on your age, time to retirement and specific needs.

Start by taking an inventory of your retirement assets. Either alone or with the help

of a qualified financial or tax expert, put together an official list of current and former 401(k) plans, personal IRAs or, depending on your years of work history, assets from traditional defined benefit retirement plans that were popular more than 20 years ago. Then see where you are. Make sure you always review retirement options whenever you change a job. If an employer is highly motivated to get you on board, query the company about the retirement savings options that would fit the position you’re interviewing for. Ask hiring managers in general terms about how well their retirement options have performed and if you would have the option of rolling over your 401(k) assets to that employer. If, for example, your prospective employer has a more generous matching feature than your current employer has, that could create a favorable environment for transferring those assets. If not, you may want to keep your money in your employer’s existing plan or consider a rollover to a personal IRA with the features you’re looking for. Ask plenty of questions. Evaluate IRA choices carefully. If you are considering rolling your former employer’s assets into

a personal IRA, evaluate your tax situation, both Traditional and Roth IRA options and their performance and fee levels before you arrange for a transfer. Go for the best-performing

investment options that fit your needs and anticipated retirement date. Employerbased 401(k) plans generally disclose investment choices and investment fees (http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/

publications/401k_employee. html). It may be a good idea to get qualified help to review those documents. Age is important. There’s typically a 10 percent penalty if you withdraw money from a 401(k) or IRA before

Southwest Airlines expands at Lambert

Southwest Airlines is expanding its terminal operations at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport with the addition of two new gates in Terminal 2. The airline will begin using Gates E31 and E33 this week, which will expand its full time gate use at Lambert to a total of 13. The expansion comes with the addition of several new daily flights including service to two new non-stop destinations. As of April 12, Southwest provides two daily

if you lose or leave your job at age 55 or later (or earlier for certain public employees), you can generally take 401(k) withdrawals without penalty. An IRA rollover requires the account holder to be at least 59 ½ years old before they can take a penalty-free IRA distribution. While keeping your money invested as long as possible is key to a successful retirement, withdrawal issues are also important to consider based on your age and time to retirement. Invest on your own. It’s

Whether you roll over a former employer’s retirement assets every time you switch or decide to keep your money in certain plans, get help if you need it.

Nathaniel Sillin directs Visa’s financial education programs. To follow Practical Money Skills on Twitter: www. twitter.com/PracticalMoney.

roundtrips to both Des Moines, Iowa and Wichita, Kansas. On that same day, the airline began year-round service to Seattle, Washington, an upgrade

Business BrieFs will begin nonstop service to Oakland, California, Cleveland, Ohio and Portland, Oregon for a total of 43 destinations. Southwest Airlines is Lambert’s largest carrier boarding 3.3 million passengers in 2015.

from seasonal service in the summer in past years. The airline is also adding additional flights to Tulsa, Oklahoma and Minneapolis-St. Paul,

Minnesota. The expansion and improvements will also accommodate more growth this summer when Southwest will top 100 daily flights from St. Louis beginning June 5. On that day, Southwest

State proposes rules to promote business diversity

Sets 10 percent M/WBE procurement goals

American staff

The Missouri Office of Administration has put forward new rules to increase efforts to promote diversity, provide greater opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses, and encourage the creation of small businesses.

The proposed rules are the outcome of the steps set forth in Executive Order 15-06 to help eliminate the lingering effects of discrimination and ensure a level playing field for all Missouri business owners.

The rules are also intended to enhance the economic health and prosperity of minority and women-owned business enterprises through the use of M/WBE contract benchmarks established in state contracts for supplies, services and construction that are consistent with the findings of the most current disparity study.

The new rules include:

• Efforts to streamline the application process to become M/WBE certified with the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), thereby reducing the burden on businesses seeking certification.

• Upon certification, additional information about available M/WBEs will be obtainable in the state’s online M/WBE directory, which should increase the utilization of M/WBEs in the procurement process.

• Amendments to existing rules within the Office of Administration’s Purchasing and Facilities Management, Design and Construction

Divisions were also put forth to carry out the provisions of Executive Order 15-06 including setting the overall participation goal for M/WBEs at 10 percent, respectively.

In October of 2015, the governor signed Executive Order 15-06, which incorporated the recommendations by the State of Missouri’s Disparity Study Oversight Review Committee

and outlined a series of steps to ensure the state’s contracting process promotes diversity and greater inclusion of M/WBEs.

Executive Order 15-06 also implements one of the key recommendations of the Ferguson Commission, which called for the establishment of a statewide program for M/ WBEs with outcome measures that incorporate capacity building, mentoring, and education with respect to the

state and local procurement system.

Earlier this year, the Office of Administration announced a new online application system for M/WBEs that will reduce the amount of time it takes to submit the necessary documentation to obtain M/ WBE certification. The new system will also reduce the time OEO spends reviewing and tracking information.

For fiscal year 2014, the

General Assembly adopted the Governor’s recommendation and appropriated funding to support a disparity study, completed in October of 2014. The study found that “extensive evidence that discrimination on the basis of race and gender continues to operate in Missouri’s markets and that disparities exist between the availability of M/ WBEs and their utilization on state contracts and associated

Gov. Jay Nixon meeting with the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus.

subcontracts, as well as throughout the wider Missouri economy.”

The proposed rules will be filed with the Missouri Secretary of State and the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. A 30-day period for public comment and/or public hearing will follow. Follow the Office of Administration on Twitter @ MissouriOA.

n “Friends can come and go, but banners hang forever.”

– Kobe Bryant, who played his last NBA game Wednesday night and won five title with the L.A. Lakers

J’Den Cox wins upset at Olympic Trials

By Umar Lee For The St. Louis American

Columbia, Missouri native J’den

Cox entered the Olympic Trials for American wrestling in Iowa City this past weekend as a longshot in the 86 kilogram freestyle division, coming off his second NCAA Championship win in his junior season at Mizzou.

A low seed, Cox defeated number one seed Jake Herbert in his second match. In the finals, Cox met Kyle Dake in a best two-out-of-three match up. Dake won four NCAA titles for Cornell University and is the only wrestler to accomplish the feat of winning four titles in four weight classes. In the first match, Cox posted a dominant 8-1 win. Dake came back in the second match and beat Cox 5-3. In the rubber match to take it all, Cox won a hard fought match 4-3. Cox being the naturally bigger man proved to be too big and strong for Dake in addition to holding a speed advantage.

The United States hasn’t qualified the 86 kilogram freestyle weight class for the Rio Olympics yet. So now Cox must go to Mongolia in two weeks and finish in the top three of competition there in order to qualify. If Cox fails to finish in the top three in Mongolia, he’ll have an opportunity in Turkey in May where he’ll have to finish in the top two. If Cox fails to do either, the United States won’t be represented in the Rio Olympics at that weight class. On the Greco-Roman side, the Mango brothers, who grew up in north St. Louis County, competed. Two-time Olympian Spenser Mango (CBC High School, Northern Michigan University,

The NBA is set to become the first major U.S. sport to allow advertising directly on team jerseys. According to ESPN, a vote by the owners is expected to pass by the end of the week and the jersey ads will go into effect beginning in the 2017-18 season. Be careful sports fans, heads are about to explode. Sports fans are already starting to take to Twitter and other social media avenues to bash the decision. Empty threats of never watching NBA basketball again and demands that the NBA owners stop being greedy are being made left and right. The owners will approve 2.5-by-2.5-inch patches to be allowed for placement on the left shoulder of your favorite team’s jersey. To some, this represents the natural evolution of sports marketing. To others, it’s the trigger of the

Sistrunk

Mizzou junior J’Den Cox reacted with emotion when he beat Kyle Dake in Iowa City on Sunday to advance in the

Trials in the

kilogram freestyle division. See COX, B7

The late Buck O’Neil’s continuing snub by the Veterans Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame is one of the great injustices in American sport. He should be inducted for his stellar career in Negro League baseball as a player and manager. He was also MLB’s first African-American scout, and later became the first black coach when hired by the Chicago Cubs in 1962.

Possibly, his greatest accomplishment helped create a St. Louis icon and treasure. O’Neil signed Lou Brock to his first contract. The Cubs were stupid enough to trade him to St. Louis, and the rest is history.

SportS EyE

With Alvin Reid

Always classy Brock gets Cards’ season off in style

lasted until 1982 when it was topped by Rickey Henderson Brock was 35 years old that season, and it was the eighth of 10-consecutive seasons in which he stole at least 50 bases.

Henderson would also top Brock’s all-time stolen base record of 938 on May 1, 1991.

Alvin Reid

In October, the 76-year-old Brock felt leg pain on a flight home from Washington, D.C., where he had taken part in an autograph show with other Cardinal Hall of Famers. Within weeks, he had his left leg amputated below the knee because of a diabetes-related infection. Brock learned he had Type 2 diabetes 15 years ago, but was meticulous in what he ate and exercised regularly.

K.C. details cost of bill

The Kansas City Sports Commission is putting a dollar amount on what the so-called “religious freedom” bill could cost that region. With debate on the bill scheduled to begin this week in the Missouri House, Kathy Nelson, the president and CEO of the sports commission, estimates it could cost Kansas City more than $50 million.

“Of all years for this to play out, it’s playing out in a bid cycle,” Nelson said during a recent press conference. “This could impact events held in our city for the next 10 years.”

n “They asked if I could throw out the first pitch, and that’s a challenge. I’m like, Whoa!’”

– Lou Brock

Regardless, the infection also spread to his heart, lungs and kidneys, which led to heart bypass surgery. You can’t keep a good man down for long – if at all. Brock, clad in his red Cardinals Hall of Fame jacket, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Monday’s home opener at Busch Stadium III, six months after his surgery.

“I thought I could participate in the parade, but then they asked if I could throw out the first pitch, and that’s a challenge,” Brock said. “I’m like, Whoa!’”

While it was from 35 feet, Brock threw a strike and set the tone for the Redbirds’ 10-1 thrashing of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Brock set the seasonrecord for stolen bases with 118 in 1974, a mark which

Continued from B5 plenty of time to watch the practice migrate to the States.

Kansas City will host 16 championships through 2018, more than any city. Next year, Kansas City will host the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship, NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Regional and numerous soccer championships.

The sports commission estimates $51.1 million in economic activity from those events and $3.1 million in state tax revenue.

“The proposed constitutional amendment will have a detrimental effect on our ability to attract future sports business to Missouri and terminate the millions of dollars of visitor spending our sports industry generates on a yearly basis,” Nelson said.

Sad end to young life

In February 2010, I wrote a column for the short-lived

Everything is NASCAR is jampacked with ads. Boxers routinely have sponsorship logos stitched into their shorts. The NBA has also launched test cases. Both the D-League and the WNBA already allow large

globe-democrat.com on a decision by Brandon Bourbon – a running back from Potosi – to eschew a scholarship offer to play football at Stanford for a full ride at the University of Kansas.

It was light-hearted and I really didn’t criticize Bourbon. I just wrote what the conversation would be like if he were my son. The column

sponsorship logos on player jerseys.

Instead of banning advertisements on NBA jerseys, I think the league should allow two sponsor patches. One side should be reserved for the

was picked up by espn.com and, boy, did I hear it from some of my fellow Jayhawks. Bourbon’s KU career never really took off because of knee and leg injuries. He finished his career last season with Washburn University in Topeka. He was named a team captain and rushed for 937 yards and four touchdowns while earning co-offensive

gigantic, gazillionaire international companies. The other side should be saved for local businesses. How else will we see Russell Westbrook rock an Uncle Louie’s Auto Salvage patch or Joakim Noah wearing a Wanda’s Wig House patch?

Bye Bye Manny

Former multi-division boxing champion Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao stated that he will retire from the sport of boxing. If true (never trust boxing retirements), Pacquiao’s final fight against Timothy Bradley was a nice bout to walk away with. The 37-yearold Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KO) outboxed and punished Bradley, knocking down the former champ twice en route to a comfortable decision victory. Pacquiao intends to retire to a career of politics and charitable work in the Philippines. Though he earned a cool $20 million for the fight (compared to Bradley’s $4 million), PPV numbers were a big disappointment for HBO and Top Rank Promotions. According to ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Bob

MVP honors. On April 2, his family reported that he had not been seen in two days. A missing person report was issued. The story ends tragically.

According to the Maries County Sherriff’s Office, the 24-year-old Bourbon took his own life last week. A farmer discovered Bourbon’s silver minivan on Friday about

Arum expects the final PPV numbers to come in between 400k and 500k. There should no surprise by the low numbers though. This was a fight that nobody outside of Bradley and Arum wanted. Pacquiao comfortably beat Bradley twice already, although he was robbed on the scorecards by the judges in the first fight. After all, you can’t talk about corruption without boxing.

A matchup versus super lightweight champion Terence Crawford would have been a huge PPV event. Instead, Arum wanted to keep the money in-house and Pacquiao obliged. Still, there are already rumors that Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will both come out of retirement to dance once again. However, since Arum is on record saying there’s a 50/50 chance of Mayweather-Pacquiao II, I’ll use my Pinocchio translator to interpret that as a 99% chance that it won’t happen. If Pacquiao truly is finished, I salute him. He had one heck of a career.

80 miles from Potosi in a field just north of Vienna, Missouri. The search was over.

Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows. His Twitter handle is @aareid1.

Heavyweight title departs STL St. Louis-native Charles Martin (21-1-1, 21 KO) won the vacant IBF title back in January after a bizarre injury to his opponent Vyacheslav Glazkov. Martin’s first attempt at a title defense failed miserably after he was knocked out in just two rounds by UK heavyweight Anthony Joshua Joshua (16-0-0, 16 KO) was a heavy favorite despite being the challenger and did not disappoint.

Though the title is bogus, an explosive fighter like Joshua having a belt sets up some interesting things in the heavyweight division. Joshua is a powerful but flawed heavyweight, much like WBC champion Deontay Wilder If Wilder gets past Alexander Povetkin in May, he and Joshua may be on the fast-track to a unification bout. If that fight happens, I guarantee that it won’t last anywhere near 12 rounds. Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk

Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Ted Simmons at the St. Louis Cardinals 2016 home opener on Monday, April 11.

Photo by Bill Greenblatt / UPI

By Earl Austin Jr.

Of The St. Louis American

The five members of the 2016 St. Louis American “Fab Five” All-Star Basketball Team have a tremendous blend of talent and winning pedigree.

First-team members Jayson Tatum, Jordan Goodwin, Xavier Sneed and Jordan Barnes were all members of the St. Louis Eagles’ 17U team that advanced to the championship game of the Peach Jam in the Prestigious Nike Elite Youth Basketball League last summer. The fifth member, Daniel “Peanut” Farris, brought back the championship tradition at Vashon by leading the Wolverines to the Class 4 state championship.

Here is a capsule look at the members of the St. Louis American “Fab Five” Boys First Team.

Jayson Tatum (Chaminade): The St. Louis American Player of the Year, the 6’9” Tatum finished his

career as one of the alltime greats in St. Louis high school basketball. As a senior, Tatum averaged 29.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals in leading the Red Devils to the Class 5 state championship. A McDonald’s All-American, Tatum is now Chaminade’s career-leading scorer and the Gatorade National Player of the Year. He will be playing at Duke next season.

Jordan Goodwin (Althoff): The 6’3” Goodwin led the Crusaders to the Illinois Class 3A state championship, the first in the school’s history. A tireless worker, Goodwin is one of the

‘Fab Five’ boys

most relentless competitors in the country. As a junior, Goodwin averaged 18 points and nine rebounds to lead Althoff to a 32-3 record. Only a junior, Goodwin has already received a number of scholarship offers from NCAA Division I schools around the country.

Xavier Sneed (Hazelwood Central): A repeat performer on the first team, the 6’6” Sneed led the Hawks to a 24-5 record and a berth in the Class 5 sectionals. A high-flying performer, Sneed averaged 20.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and two assists while making 48 3-pointers and shooting 85 percent from the free throw line. He is also one of the top defensive players in the state. Sneed is headed to Kansas State.

Jordan Barnes (CBC): A three-year starter at point guard for the Cadets, the 5’10” Barnes earned the reputation as one of the state’s biggest clutch performers with one gamewinning shot after another. As a senior, Barnes averaged 17.4 points and four assists while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent from the free throw line in leading the Cadets to a 20-9 record and a district championship. Barnes is headed to Indiana State.

Daniel Farris (Vashon): The Wolverines returned to its state championship glory thanks to the young man they call “Peanut.” A 5’10” junior point guard, Farris averaged a team-high 14.9 points a game in leading Vashon to a 26-4 record and the Class 4 state title. The bigger the stage, the

Gateway 15Us win championship

The Gateway Basketball Club 15U team won the championship at the Adidas All-American Tournament last weekend in St. Louis. Gateway defeated the Illinois Bears 78-63 in the championship game to finish with a 4-0 record for the weekend. Front row, left to right: Bryce Bussard (Ladue), Amorey Womack (Cardinal Ritter), Mario McKinney (Vashon), Hayden Thomas (Twin Rivers), Tayari Goodwin (Parkway North), Evan Asleson (DeSmet), Luther Taylor (Whitfield). Back row, left to right: Trey Griffey (Lafayette), Idris Mitchell (Henderson, KY), Erik Lahm (Lindbergh), Marcus Washington (Trinity), E.J. Billinger (Fort Zumwalt South), Moses Okpala (Ladue), Head Coach Marcus Wilson, Assistant Coach Pat Sodermann.

Cox after upsetting

Continued from B5

and United States Army) fell short in his attempt to make his third Olympic team. In the tradition of the sport, Spenser removed his shoes in the middle of the mat announcing his retirement. Ryan Mango (Whitfield High School and Stanford University) also fell short in his quest to make the Olympic team.

Charles Martin crushed in London

Two major events happened this weekend in the world of boxing. Only one involved a native St. Louisan and led to the creation of a new star in professional boxing. The other event, of course, was Manny Pacquiao defeating Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas during their third meeting and allegedly Pacquiao’s last bout as a professional prizefighter. Meanwhile, across the pond at the O2 Arena in London, England, St. Louis native Charles Martin defended his newly won International Boxing Federation championship in the heavyweight division against 2012 Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua.

The bout didn’t go well for the American. In fact, the most impressive moment of the night for Martin was his ring entrance featuring a cape and a crown. As soon as the bell rang, Joshua found a home for

his right hand. In the second round Joshua sent Martin to the canvas twice, and the referee called a halt to the bout. Martin will now return to America to regroup under the guidance of his advisor Al

James Proctor

MICDS – Baseball

Haymon, and Joshua is in line for big unification bouts with Deontay Wilder and the Tyson Fury – Wladimir Klitschko rematch winner. Follow Umar Lee on Twitter @STLAbuBadu.

The 6’5” right-hander is off to a great start to his senior year as the ace of the Rams’ pitching staff. Proctor pitched a complete game one-hit shout out in the Rams 6-0 victory over Priory last week. He struck out 10 batters while walking only two in this stellar performance. For the season, Proctor is already 3-0 with a 1.65 earned run average. He has given up only five hits and four runs while striking out 22 hitters and walking only 10. Proctor is headed to Princeton next season.

bigger the performance you got from Farris, who loved to take over tight games in the fourth quarter. Farris will return next year season as the Wolverines make a bid for a repeat.

St. Louis American Boys “Fab Five” All-Star Teams

First Team

Jayson Tatum 6’9” (Sr.)

Chaminade Jordan Goodwin 6’3” (Jr.)

Althoff

Xavier Sneed 6’6” (Sr.)

Hazelwood Central Jordan Barnes 5’10” (Sr.)

CBC Daniel Farris 5’10” (Jr.)

Vashon

Second

J’den

Kyle Dake

MARR

continued from page B1 of their assets.”

A “game changer” in the company’s explosive growth, Marr said, was a major contract from Cingular (now AT&T) which led WWT to expand in Edwardsville. “We made a huge investment in a facility where we manage all the parts for AT&T that go into those big, tall towers,” Marr said. “It’s still today a huge piece of our business.”

Marr said the company recently made a very different move that promises to be its next game-changer when it acquired Asynchrony, a software company that specializes in mobile applications, last June for an undisclosed sum. That company brought 240 employees into WWT, and Marr said there are now more than 300 in that department.

“This is different than what we have done,” she said of the new mobile app line. “It will be a differentiator for us. Everything is an app now.”

Marr said the company has grown steadily, in part, because it has navigated economic downturns successfully. After the mortgage-backed securities debacle of 2007, she said, WWT did not lay anyone off, but the company also stopped hiring and went a year without offering raises.

“We kept training people,” she said, “so when the economy came back, as it always does, we would still be ready to go.”

She said Steward and Kavanaugh had candid conversations with employees throughout the downturn, and that kept people loyal to the company. “People are empowered when the CEO tells it like it is,” she said. “People have confidence in that. Even if it is bad news, they are hearing it from the source.”

Core values

Ann Marr has a spread sheet of all of the successful people who have paid good money – as much as $11,000 one year – to a local charity for the privilege of having her cook her family recipes in their homes.

into a book. “I had this folder with things falling out of it, all these little pieces of paper,” she said. “Katrina motivated me to do something with it.” It’s a rich book, and not only in the recipes.

“Our family legacy was deeply rooted in our connection to the great Voodoo Queen of New Orleans – Marie Laveau. My great-grandmother, Seliniere Glapion, was one of the offspring of the great Marie Laveau,” she writes.

“Superstitions and traditions were prevalent, and there were times when my mother would create a ‘cure’ for an illness by wrapping herbs in a cheese cloth, dipping it in tea, then placing it under your pillow at night. You accepted the gesture, didn’t ask questions about the ritual and were amazed at the results.”

Certainly, the value of having a functional team around you was something she learned from her family before she came to St. Louis or wrote the WWT human resources policy from scratch.

That relates to the company’s core values, which are listed on the white board in her office, basic stuff like trust, humility, embracing change, having a passionate work ethic, being a team player, acting with honesty, integrity. The company describes this as the “Path to Success.”

asked for a copy of the book she produced one immediately from the shelf behind her desk.

“When we are hiring, we look at the core values along with other qualifications,” Marr said. “You can be brilliant, but if you don’t work well in a team you won’t last here.”

The company also hands out a kind of playbook to every new employee, who is compelled to read “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni. Like finding the company’s core values listed on the white board in her office, when Marr was

The company’s economic success is evident in its revenues, but Marr is just as proud of the company’s regular ranking in “Best Places to Work” polls and reports. Among many other similar recognitions, WWT has made Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For for the past five years in a row.

“It’s all about the culture,” she said. “You have to make people feel engaged and empowered in a team environment.”

Her own culture as a native of New Orleans is surviving in this corporate environment. On the wall

of her modest, uncluttered corner office, facing the door, hangs a carnival mask. One shelf has copies of her book that she likes to sign and give to guests, “Classic Creole: A Celebration of Food and Family” (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2011), published under her maiden name, Ann Cuiellette.

The twelfth of 13 children, she grew up cooking with her mother, Baylissa Cuiellette, and her grandmother, Manuella Morris, both now deceased. She got a little more serious about her cooking when a friend challenged her to offer a home-cooked Creole meal as an auction item. She now has a spread sheet of all of the successful people who have

paid good money – as much as $11,000 one year – to a local charity for the privilege of having her cook her family recipes in their homes.

“I have now cooked in some fabulous kitchens,” she said.

Sam and Marilyn Fox’s kitchen was especially memorable.

“That was the biggest kitchen I have ever seen,” she said. “My husband hates it. I come home from these things and say, ‘Look at this kitchen.’”

However, she dedicated the book to her husband, Craig Marr (an attorney), and their two daughters, Eve, 30, and Mia, 27.

It was the devastating tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that inspired her to collect her family recipes and stories

“Being in this large family defines who I am, how I treat people, my work ethic and respect for the dignity of others,” she said. “I have five older sisters. I’m the youngest daughter – I’ll always be in a sorority and I will never be its president. And I have seven brothers. Nobody messes with someone who has seven brothers!”

That large family and their festive atmosphere attracted people to the Cuiellette house.

“We always seemed to have others gather around the table for dinner or just to be a part of the party-like atmosphere that existed in our house,” she writes in her book.

WWT would eventually benefit from this good food and energy, since one of those many party-goers, Arnold Donald, would eventually connect her with the company.

“Arnold used to come to the house,” Marr said. “Everybody was always welcome, and everybody always came to our house.”

Musical masterpieces from the Diaspora

FredO pays homage to African composers

April 16-17

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“I don’t think our youth will be encouraged to consider careers in classical music if all the works established institutions make them play is written by dead white men,” said Fred Onovwerosuoke, composer and founder of African Musical Arts.

This idea is what compelled Onovwerosuoke, also known as FredO, to create his organization 22 years ago. African Musical Arts performs choral and classical music by composers of African descent.

Onovwerosuoke, who was born in Ghana to Nigerian parents, is himself a composer and scholar who has researched and recorded music all over Africa.

Keeping the music alive and teaching it is also the driving force behind African Musical Arts’ presentation of “Tribute to Great African Composers” taking place this Saturday and Sunday.

“We have been doing what we are doing with the classical component of our programs because people don’t know enough about black composers,” FredO said. The show aims to give people of color an opportunity to see and hear themselves within the genre.

FredO was eager to reference a National Endowment of The Arts survey that said less than 2 percent of musicians in all American major orchestra are African-American or Latino – combined.

“I will buy season tickets to classical music concerts and a whole season long the percentage of black composers played will be like 1 percent,” FredO said. “And the whole season long, the black musicians I’ll see in our major orchestra will be less than 2 percent. That is what compels me to do what I do.”

“Tribute to Great African Composers” is a five-movement piece composed by FredO that pays

See AFRICAN, C4

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St.

American

Louis

“I want to thank Nelly for his support of Make A Wish,” 18-year-old Avis told the crowd at the 10th Annual Black And White Ball held Sunday night at The Four Seasons.

“Make-A-Wish gave me something to look forward to at the end of my chemo,” Avis said. “It was the light at the end of my tunnel. I was like, ‘As soon as I’m done, I get to go to Rio.’” In the 10 years Nelly has been presenting the black tie gala, most of the buzz is around the celebrities and glamour – the outfit preparations that begin as soon as the elaborate gowns and dapper tuxedos hit the

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Fans of the film series will be surprised to see the attention “Barbershop: The Next Cut” devotes to addressing the gun violence plaguing the Chicago region when the much-anticipated sequel hits theaters this weekend.

Popular director Malcolm Little and “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris team up to pick up where the beloved franchise left off nearly 15 years ago.

Violence is no laughing matter, but it could have worked in the film, considering the “comedy with a message” formula of “Barbershop.”

“The Next Cut” seeks to illustrate the “laugh to keep from crying” mantra African Americans know all too well when dealing with community-wide crises.

But the overload of stress and drama strangle all the funny from the film. The bad outweighs the good as the dark tone proves much too hefty for the film to bear. That’s not to say that the filmmakers were not right in taking on the epidemic. But they fell far short of the mark in providing the proper balance between hard truth and heavy laughter.

“The Next Cut” was so bombarded by gloom that it’s a fair assessment to

FredO

T- Pain

Nelly with one of the Make-A-Wish recipientsBow Wow, Nelly and Jermaine Dupri

Orlando PaceBlack and White Ball attendees

Ms. Jackson and Nelly

Photos by Lawrence Bryant and John Scott

How to place a calendar listing

1. Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican. com OR

2. Visit the calendar section on stlamerican.com and place your listing

Calendar listings are free of charge, are edited for space and run on a space-available basis.

concerts

Sat., Apr. 16, 5:30 p.m., Marian Middle School’s 15th Annual Marian Magic Dinner Auction. Come experience how we are educating girls for life. We will honor the Bannister Family and the Monsanto Fund for their long-time support of our mission to break the cycle of poverty. We look forward to having KSDK NewsChannel 5’s Sports Anchor Rene Knott and Reporter Heidi Glaus with us at the event. Four Seasons Hotel, 999 N. 2nd St., 63102. For more information, call (314) 771-7674 or visit www. marianmiddleschool.org.

Sun., Apr. 17, 6 p.m., Kranzberg Arts Center presents the Mo Egeston All Stars: What Is Progressive Soul? feat. Coco Soul and Mario Pascal. 501 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www. brownpapertickets.com.

Sun., Apr. 17, 7:30 p.m., The Pageant welcomes Floetry 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Tues., Apr. 19, 8 p.m., The Pageant welcomes Lupe Fiasco. 6161 Delmar Blvd.,

63112. For more information, visit www.thepageant.com.

Fri., Apr. 22, 6:30 p.m., North County Community Development Corp presents a Gospel Fest Celebration Featuring Dr. Dello Thedford and the Gospel Symphonics, the Jennings Senior High Choir and the Jennings Senior High Dancers. 8850 Cozens, 63136. For additional information, call (314) 833-3514 or visit www. northcountycdc.org.

Sun., Apr. 24, 8 p.m., Old School 95.5 FM presents Spring Jam starring Anthony Hamilton with special guests Angie Stone and Lyfe Jennings. The Fox Theatre. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Fri., Apr. 29, 7 p.m., The Ready Room presents B.o.B. 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www. ticketfly.com.

special events

Sat., Apr. 16, Imagery International’s 10th Annual Because I’m Worth It Gala. Come out for an evening of food, live music, laughter,

Calendar

Featured Event

Sat., Apr. 16 & 17, Tribute to Great African Composers. A concert of over 200 singers and musicians. 560 Music Building, 560 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 652-6800 or visit www.africanarts. org.

and empowerment. This year we are taking this event to another dimension with a dinner theatrical production, Dear God. The cast stars Tish Haynes-Keys, Rochelle Gates, Pastor Miki King, and other local actors. 1Norwood Hills Country Club Dr., 63121. For more information, call (314) 707-8103 or visit www. imageryintl.com.

Thur., Apr. 21, 6 p.m., 2016 Voice for Children Foster the Future Gala with keynote speaker Lucas Boyce, author of Living Proof: From Foster Care to the White House and the NBA. Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel, 800 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, visit www.voicesstl.org.

Sat., Apr. 23, 6 p.m., Ladies Night Out Entertainment presents Queen and Her Prince Mother & Son Soiree. Mothers & Sons, Grandmothers/Grandsons, Aunts/Nephews of ALL ages are invited to join us for an evening of fun with our sons. Refreshments, Music, Dancing, Shopping, Entertainment. Brentwood Community Center, 2505 S. Brentwood Blvd., 63144. For more

information or for tickets, call (314) 480-0311 or visit www. LadiesNightOutEntertainment. com.

Thur., Apr. 28, 6:30 p.m., Aim High 2016 Luminosity Gala. Join friends and community leaders for a fun-filled evening with a wide selection of cocktails, appetizers and live music while we help celebrate Aim High’s 25 Years of Inspiration, Determination and Achievement. This event is particularly special because some well-known St. Louis natives will be joining in the celebration. Entertainment will be provided by Brian Owens and the Deacons of Soul. Aim High is a personal and academic enrichment program for fifth through eighth grade students who have demonstrated potential. Barnett On Washington, 3207 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 432-9500 or visit www. aimhighluminosity2016. eventbrite.com.

Fri., Apr. 29, 11 a.m., The St. Louis American Foundation’s 16th Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards

Luncheon. Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, 1335 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, call (314) 5338000.

Fri., Apr. 29, 5:30 p.m., American Heart Association and Edward Jones present Girls Night Goes Red. Join us as we celebrate the power of women in the fight against heart disease and stroke. Hear passionate stories of survival and hope, designed to inspire and empower you, and all the women in your life, to make healthier choices for your mind, body, and soul. We will have healthy and delicious hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, and great prizes with appearances and demonstrations from local health vendors. Edward Jones Headquarters, 12555 Manchester Rd., 63131. For more information, call (314) 692-5673 or visit www.heart. org/GirlsNightGoesRedSTL

Fri., Apr. 29, 6:30 p.m., North Side Community School presents 2016 Friends Helping Friends. Join us for a night of friends, fun and motorcycles. The evening will feature cocktails and dinner with entertainment, a live auction. A special tribute to Martin Mathews of Mathews-Dickey’s Boys’ & Girls’ Club for his longstanding commitment to the children of north St. Louis. The Moto Museum, 3441 Olive St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 385-9502 or visit www. northsidecommunityschool. org.

Apr. 29 – May 1, HarrisStowe State University presents the Inaugural Male Empowerment Summit, hosted by Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack and featuring Pastor Jamal Bryant and Dr. Steve Perry.

Sat., Apr. 30, 7 p.m., Dignity Period’s 2nd Annual Spring Gala. Menstruation is a taboo subject in Ethiopia, which can lead to fear and shame, and most girls must make do with inadequate – and sometimes unsanitary – substitutes for menstrual hygiene products. Girls often stay home from school to avoid embarrassing accidents, causing them to fall behind and even drop out. Our mission is to keep adolescent Ethiopian girls in school by ensuring that they have access to quality menstrual hygiene products. Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd., 63110. For more information, call (314) 704-1501 or visit

www.dignityperiod.org.

Sat., Apr. 30, 9 p.m., Supernatural: Spring Edition. A Celebration of fros, locs, curls, cuts and the pursuit of nappiness. Setting the mood with afro-funk, soul bombs, house grooves, that ol’ ill hip-hop ish and more will be Nappy DJ Needles of The Soulition. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

comedy

Sat., Apr. 16, The Festival of Laughs starring Mike Epps and Rickey Smiley and featuring Earthquake, Tony Rock and Coco Brown. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Thur., Apr. 28, 7 p.m., Secure Entertainment presents the Out Hrrr Laughing Comedy Show Featuring Jason Jenkins, Willie C, Innergy, Joie Krack, and Tree Sanchez. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Mon., Apr. 18, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books presents Nicole Marie Burton of Ad Astra Comix – The Panel is Political: Using Comics for Social Change. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 3676731 or visit www.left-bank. com.

Wed., Apr. 20, 7 p.m., Phyllis Lawson signs and discusses Quilt of Souls. When fouryear-old Phyllis Lawson is sent to live with her grandmother in Alabama, she has no idea what to expect. She needed a miracle, and that miracle took the form of a tattered old quilt—a family heirloom stitched together from the clothes of her grandmother’s loved ones, telling the tragic stories of their lives and deaths. Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. left-bank.com.

Sun., Apr. 24, 1 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Kwame Alexander, author of Booked. In this follow-up to the Newbery-winning novel The Crossover, soccer, family, love, and friendship, take

Old School 95.5 FM presents Spring Jam

starring Anthony Hamilton with special guests Angie Stone and Lyfe Jennings. For more information, see CONCERTS.

center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams. Helping him along are his best friend and sometimes teammate Coby, and The Mac, a rapping librarian who gives Nick inspiring books to read. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 367-6731 or visit www. left-bank.com.

Mon., Apr. 25, 7 p.m., Natural Bridge Debut Writer Series presents Poet Roger Reeves. Reeves investigates violence and the politics of poverty, gender, race and self… Reflecting traditions and aesthetics from Audre Lorde to the Black Arts movement, from Whitman to Lil Wayne, King me is poignantly lyrical… Even as the poet exposes the most appalling acts of humanity, here there is great tenderness and generosity. UMSL at Grand Center, 3652 Olive St., 63108. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Sat., May 7, 10 a.m., St. Louis Indie Book Fair. There will be over 100 titles to choose from in fiction and nonfiction, ranging from children’s to adult. 32 authors will be present to sell, sign, and read from their work on stage. We will also host the Pitching Hour where writers can pitch their story ideas to the publishers present for possible publication. St. Louis Public Library Central Branch, 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 258-6251 or visit www. markpannebecker.com.

theatre

Apr. 15 – 16, Dance St. Louis presents Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater. With passion, power and spectacle, the 40 dancers, singers, musicians highlight a mosaic of Hispanic cultures from around the world. Ensemble Español brings sophistication

to the art, seducing the crowd with romance mixed with unpredictable choreography.

Touhill Performing Arts Center, One University Blvd., 63121. For more information, call (314) 534-6622 or visit www.dancestl.org.

Apr. 20 – May 1, The Black Rep presents Twisted Melodies starring Kelvin Roston Jr. The Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth on the Campus of Washington University. For more information, visit www. theblackrep.org or call (314) 534-3810.

Apr. 23-Apr. 24, KMW Productions presents “The Wake Up Call,” UMSL’s J.C. Penny Auditorium. For more information, visit www. kmwproductions.org.

arts

Apr. 16 – Aug. 14, Laumeier Sculpture Park presents Gigi Scaria: Time. The New Delhi-based artist’s new exhibition focuses on “social mapping”—whether territorial, cultural, environmental or of the hierarchies and systems of our global communities. 12580 Rott Rd., 63127. For more information, visit www. laumeier.org.

May 6 – 7, Black Speculative Arts Movement 2016. BSAM is an annual comics and art convention. Events include spoken word performances, a black thought poetry workshop, networking events, several lectures in the areas of art, politics, music, and much more. Harris Stowe State University, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information

and a complete schedule, visit www.facebook.com.

May 6 – 8, Emerson presents the 29th Annual Art Fair. Come out for local food and beverage vendors, hands-on activities for kids, special wine and beer tasting events, live music and 150 juried artists from across the country. Event proceeds support our presentation of temporary exhibitions, education programs and public events. Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Rd., 63127. For more information, call (314) 615-4278 or visit www. laumeier.org.

lectures/ workshops

Apr. 18 – 22, SLATE hosts FastTrac New Venture

A five-day workshop for aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs. Designed specifically for entrepreneurs in the early stages of business development, FastTrac New Venture not only helps you uncover the answers, it also helps you determine the questions to ask. Dislocated workers or laid off workers registered with jobs.mo.gov, can attend this workshop at no cost. Please call 314-657-3768 for details and pre-requisite requirements. 1520 Market St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 657-3768 or visit www.missouribusiness.net.

Sat., Apr. 23, 8:30 a.m., NCCJ St. Louis presents the Interrupting Racism Workshop. Through short presentations, experiential activities, reflection and dialogue, participants will cultivate a stronger awareness of their racial socialization,

how it plays out in their interactions, and ways they can interrupt racism whenever it arises. Adams Park Boys & Girls Club, 4317 Vista Ave., 63110. For more information, call (314) 432-2525 or visit www.nccjstl.org.

Apr. 14 – 16, 2016 Global Health & Infectious Disease Conference and Trainee Oral Symposium, and FIHTM Symposium. All events are free and open to the public. For more information or to register, visit www.publichealth.wustl. edu.

Apr. 21 – 24, Kossuth Church Of God In Christ 80th Church Anniversary: God’s Sovereign Intent Proclaimed By The Church. Guest Speakers: Friday 7pm & Sunday 11:15 am - Bishop Joseph Shannon; Sunday 4:00 pm - Bishop Brandon Porter. Saturday 7 pm - Musical. 3801 Eld. Robert Strong, Sr. Way, 63115. For more information, call (314) 580-4922 or visit www.kossuthcogic.org.

Sun., Apr. 24, 8 & 11 a.m., Leonard M. B. Church 155th Anniversary. 100 N. Compton, 63106. For more information, call (314) 477-7954 or visit www.leonardbaptist.org.

Sun., Apr. 24, 4 p.m., The Annual Wilberforce Alumni Musical Feast featuring The 60 Plus Voices Community Gospel Choir Of St. Louis Missouri Under the Direction of Susanne Palmer, St. Paul AME Church, 1260 Hamilton Ave. For more information, call (314) 385-8900.

Sat., Apr. 30, Lane Tabernacle C.M.E. Church Hats, Hankie and Pearls Brunch, New Northside Conference Center, 5939 Goodfellow. For more information, call (314) 5330534.

The Pageant welcomes Floetry. For more information, see CONCERTS.

Nelly took some time to revisit some of his hits, as Jermaine Dupri and Bow Wow joined in.

Got money on my mind I can never get enough

AFRICAN

Continued from C1

homage to other African composers who have inspired him. It speaks to the celebration of Ghanaian Independence, the tragic experiences of Darfur, and merges Eastern and Western African experiences over the course of the composition.

“One thing that will stand out is that the rhythm is different,” FredO said. “Immediately you know the music is African. It’s unquestionable.”

Maestro Marlon Daniel from New York returns to St. Louis to conduct the performances.

Music, poetry, dance of the Diaspora

Aside from the actual “A Tribute to Great African Composers” piece, African Musical Arts will stage music, dance and poetry of the African Diaspora.

World-renowned soprano Alison Buchanan will return to St. Louis to perform works by AfricanAmerican composers Adolphus Hailstork, Florence Price, Uzee Brown, Tania Leon and Moses Hogan.

Several special features will include Attah Poku, Ashanti Royal Court Drummer from Ghana. In his first St. Louis visit, he will perform

Continued from C1

Nelly’s got a big heart, and I’m very grateful for that.”

“We’ve been talking about a few things moving forward with Make-AWish,” Nelly said. “We’re trying to put together something really special. We are in the baby stages. The talks have been overwhelming, and I don’t want to give too much away – I’ve said too much already.”

Big ups for ‘Big O’

This year’s Black and White Ball also paid homage to Orlando Pace for his years on the field as a member of the now-defunct St. Louis Rams. Highlights from his professional career were screened. Fellow teammates spoke of him being an integral element of the 1999 Super Bowl champion team. It was also made known that Pace is among the incoming class of the Professional Football Hall of Fame before Nelly welcomed “Big O” to the podium.

“It still brings chills to hear ‘Hall of Famer,’” Pace said. “St. Louis has some great sports fans.”

He thanked Nelly for lending his celebrity for such a good cause over the past decade.

“I came to the very first Black and White Ball,” Pace said. “And each year, it gets better and better.

After party

All I do is win, win, win … no matter what

Every time I step up in the building everybody’s hands go up … and they stay there

By the time headlining performer

T-Pain sang his hook on the DJ Khaled club banger, he already had the crowd in the palm of his hands.

No remnants of the dinner portion of the program remained. Tables and chairs had been broken down and carried out as the room transformed into one of the hottest parties of the year featuring the brightest stars in STL.

T-Pain and his hype man ran through some of his most popular hits of the mid-2000s, and a captivated audience rapped, sang and danced right along with him. Many of them would not have instantly been pegged as fans.

One of the things the Black and White Ball does best is bring together elements of local tastemakers that would not otherwise collide.

Radio and television personalities, local recording artists, the corporate community and the club scene came together under a groove kicked off by The Dirty Muggs. It continued with T-Pain before being closed out by Nelly, Shad Moss (better known as Bow Wow) and Jermaine Dupri.

Nelly took some time to revisit some of his hits, as JD and Bow Wow joined in.

Sunday had turned to Monday when the confetti dropped for the grand finale.

Juvenile’s “Back That Thang Up” blared through the speakers, and guests happily obliged.

“This year was lit,” one of the most glamorous guests yelled out.

She then assumed the position for one last twerk before calling it a night.

“There are a lot of African Americans who write in a European style too – and there is nothing wrong with that. That music is also important because our people wrote it,” FredO said.

“They are going to hear a diverse mix of music by a wide variety of composers of African descent – and I think the audiences will be able to say, ‘Wow, we can write.’”

He has seen the lasting impact merely exposing young people of color to composers and musicians who look like them. Most recently, FredO experienced it first-hand through a residency program with Ferguson Middle School called Sonic Safari.

“For them to be working with a

SHOP

Continued from C1

reconsider the film’s classification as a comedy. Creating the ebb and flow in a manner to preserve the funny in light of the drama should have been handled with much more care.

What fans of the franchise get with “Barbershop: The Next Cut” is a clear case of when the purest of creative intentions are lost in the process of poor execution. The result is a cross between the stereotypical urban stage play and an afterschool special.

It’s been a decade since moviegoers have been to “Barbershop.” Owner Calvin (Ice Cube) is forced with facing the reality

black composer and to have them ask me questions about what goes on in my brain when I’m writing different sections – nothing brings me more joy than watching our young people have that experience,” FredO said.

“I feel that if they are exposed to black composers this early in their life, it opens their horizons. We have to play music that these black brothers and sisters have written over the past 100 years.” He feels the future of classical music rests on creating an environment that mirrors the world –and getting major musical institutions on board with inclusion.

that the neighborhood that houses his beloved shop has become an urban battlefield. Calvin lives with the constant fear of his shop and his family becoming collateral damage, but he and his employees decide to take action for the sake of peace in the streets.

And if the angle of gun violence weren’t enough, marriage and relationship drama is stuffed in –because you can’t have a black movie without a complicated relationship angle, right?

The cast is the bright spot of “The Next Cut.”

“The Next Cut” stars St. Louis own’ Cedric The Entertainer along with Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Eve, Nicki Minaj, Regina Hall, Deon Cole, JB Smoove and Common. As usual, Cedric The Entertainer

“drum poems” with St. Louis Poet Laureate Michael Castro. Dancer and choreographer Jana Thomas will lead IMI Dancers in interpretive dances.

“Tribute to Great African Composers” will also feature The Festival Orchestra & Mass Chorus – which is comprised of singers and musicians from Legend Singers, Songs of Africa Ensemble, St. Louis Children’s Choirs, St. Louis Women’s HOPE Chorale, IMI Chamber Players, University City Symphony Orchestra and other musical friends.

“It’s not a popular battle to fight, but someone has to fight that battle –with love and education,” FredO said. “And that’s what we have been doing for 22 years.”

Performances of “Tribute to Great African Composers will take place on Saturday April 16, 7:30 p.m. at the 560 Music Center (560 Trinity Ave. in University City) and Sunday April 17, 3 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church (6800 Washington Ave. in University City). Tickets are available at www.africarts.org and other outlets or by phone at 314.652 6800.

stands out among the cast as “old head” barber and comic relief. But for the third installment he’s given a run for his money with JB Smoove and Deon Cole. The trio of comedians managed to waddle through the film’s serious tenor and eke out the few laughs “The Next Cut” manages to elicit.

Regina Hall is probably the biggest asset to the latest ensemble of characters that are mostly unfamiliar to the franchise. Her connection to her role as co-owner Angie provides the type of balance and authenticity one hoped to see throughout the film.

“Barbershop: The Next Cut” opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, April 15. The film is rated PG-13 with a running time of 109 minutes.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Celebrations

First

Anniversary

Reunions

Beaumont High Class of 1968 48-year reunion will be June 10--12, 2016. Friday: Bowling Kick-Off, Saturday: Black n’ White Speak Easy Party and Sunday: Family n’ Friends Picnic. Meetings will be at Florissant Valley Library Branch, 195 New Florissant Rd., Florissant, MO 63031 on

Saturday March 26, April 23 and May 28 from 1-4 p.m. For more information call (314) 869-8312.

Beaumont High Class of 1971 is planning its 45th year reunion for July 22-24, 2016. Please send your contact information (address and phone number) to Gladys Smith at beaumont1971alumni@aol. com.

Beaumont High Class of 1984 can stay updated via our Facebook page “Beaumont Class of 1984”. We meet the last Friday of every month. Contact Rochelle Williams at rochellewilliams001@yahoo. com.

Birthdays

We want to give a special shout out to our little hero, Adamare Dashawn Carter, on his seventh birthday on April 17. Happy Birthday! We love you! From Granny, Papa, Rodney and Cheryl Our beloved, beautiful, virtuous daughter Jerricah, Happy 21st Birthday on April 17! We love you dearly and thank God for you! We are so proud of the Christian young lady you have become. Eternally, Mommy and Dad (Mr. and Mrs. Lusajo) and Shay Kasyupa Sr.

Happy 75th Birthday to Shirley A. Williams on April 16! To God be the glory!

Cole School Alumni & Neighborhood Friends age 50 and older reunion weekend will be held May 12-15, 2016. For more info call Andrea at 314-369-3052 or check our Facebook page at coleschoolstlouis.

Harrison School All-Class Reunion, Saturday September 10, 2016, 6:30-10:30 pm at Ambruster Great Hall, 6633 Clayton Rd, St. Louis, MO 63117. Tickets are $60 per person. For more info Contact: Judy Darris 314-443-6741, Yolanda beck 314-346-8103 or Làshell Tolliver 314-420-3566.

Soldan Class of 1971 is planning its 45th year reunion for: June 17-19, 2016 at the

Ameristar Casino Resort & Spa, One Ameristar Boulevard, St. Charles, Mo 63301.

Soldan Class of 1976 reunion will be held June 10-12, 2016. For more information, email soldanclassof1976@yahoo. com or Facebook: Soldan

High School Class of 1976.

Sumner High Class of 1964 70th Birthday Gala will be held Sat. Aug 13. 2016 at the Norwood Hills Country Club at 6:30 pm. Please contact Joyce Camp for additional information 314-423-8821 or Yvette Allen 314-997-2214 or Fannie Clark Rogers 314-3554337 your Gala Committee.

Sumner High Class of 1971 is planning its 45th year reunion for August 12-14, 2016 at the Holiday Inn Earth City. Contact: Rita Shields at 314-868-7989 or email ritashields@att.net, Al Wilhite 314-302-3448 or email 27alhouse@sbcglobal. net for more information.

Sumner Class of 1976 will celebrate its 40th Reunion July 15 - 17, 2016 at the Holiday Inn Earth City and Shalom Church City of Peace. Contact B. Louis at 314.385.9843 or email: sumnerclassof76@ yahoo.com for info and/or with your complete mailing address and telephone number(s) or join our Facebook page Sumner Class of 76.

Do you have a celebration you’re proud of? If so we would like to share your good news with our readers. Whether it’s a birth, graduation, wedding, engagement announcement, anniversary, retirement or birthday, send your photos and a brief announcement (50 words or less) to us and we may include it in our paper and website – AT NO COST – as space is available Photos will not be returned. Send your announcements to: kdaniel@stlamerican. com or mail to: St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315 Pine St. St. Louis, MO

and

Happy Anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. Keely! Carlos and Kim will celebrate one year of marital bliss on April 12. May you be blessed with many more! Love always, Nikki

Shirley A. Williams

Jerricah

Religion

The Message

Mississippi ‘religious freedom’ bill unconstitutional Put demands on God

Plus, Pastor Traci Blackmon joins ‘Revival’ tour

American staff

On April 5, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law House Bill 1523, a controversial “religious freedom” bill, which says that the state government cannot punish public employees, social service providers and businesses that refuse to provide services to people because of a religious opposition.

The law is unconstitutional, said Elizabeth Sepper, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, and an expert on legal issues surrounding religious liberty.

Sepper joined six law professors from Mississippi and New York who issued a joint statement against the new law. Sepper and her colleagues argue that the law contradicts the religious freedom granted by the First Amendment by authorizing religious exemptions that would harm the rights of others and that fall disproportionately on single parents, unmarried women, and, in particular, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Mississippians.

The statement says that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment forbids the government from singling out any particular religion or belief to favor or disfavor.

“Since the Supreme Court decided Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, it has been understood that the Establishment Clause restricts legislative accommodations for religious beliefs where such accommodations would cause a meaningful harm to other private citizens,” the statement read.

The Missouri House is considering a similar bill, known as SJR39, which passed the Missouri Senate in March.

“Missouri should not join Mississippi in the new Jim Crow,” Sepper said. “SJR

39 solves a problem that doesn’t exist, and would do serious damage to equal citizenship and economic stability in the state.”

– Neil Schoenherr, Washington University

Pastor Blackmon joins ‘Revival’ tour

The Rev. William J. Barber II, architect of the Moral Monday Movement and founder of Repairers of the Breach, and the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., senior minister emeritus of The Riverside Church, president of Healing of the Nations Ministries and national minister for the Drum Major Institute, launched a 15-state moral revival tour, “The Revival: Time for a Moral Revolution of Values.”

The tour commenced at The Riverside Church in New York City on Sunday, April 3. Featured speakers included Barber, Forbes, the Rev. Traci Blackmon (pastor of Christ the King Church in Florissant) and Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network.

The first phase of the tour will run to January 2017 and include stops in 15 states and the District of Columbia. The revival will include trainings for clergy and community leaders, direct actions in state capitals on three Mondays in September, and actions in Cleveland and Philadelphia on the heels of the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. For more information, contact Jennifer Farmer at 202-487[0967 or jfarmer@ advancementproject.org.

This column is all about not putting limits on a limitless God. In church the sermon was all about how we as finite creatures do a pretty good job of trying to put the infinite being of God into some way, shape or form that we can understand. The problem with that is we can’t do it. Our brain won’t let us comprehend all knowing, all powerful, everywhere since before time began and after it stops. These terms all, before, after, presuppose there is a limit to time and space and power and understanding and things. It is the way of a finite being which happens to be us. These are human characteristics and it is how we have come to rationalize life. It begins at birth. It ends at death. But does it? Pastor was teaching that as long as we operate that way, we limit what we think we’re able to do. His point and mine is don’t put man’s limits on God’s promises.

Each one of us has an image of ourselves on the inside of who we are and what we can do. It has been shaped by friends and family, situations and circumstances, what we want and what we have. For many of us that image is in direct conflict with what God sees and knows He has placed within us. It’s time for all of us to put demands on God. I am not being arrogant or presumptuous. I am trying to be humble, respectful and obedient. God has been saying forever to ask Him. As a matter of fact, He says, ask, seek, and knock. In each instance your action is promised a positive reaction. Don’t ask. Don’t get Your faith dictates what you ask for. Do you have enough faith to take the limits off God and demand from Him the inheritance that is yours as delivered by the finished work of Jesus Christ?

If you think the answer will be no, you won’t ask. Unbelief limits God. If you don’t believe it’s possible, then all things become impossible. Disobedience limits God.

How? Why? By negating a willingness to believe we are truly blessed and highly favored, made in the image of almighty God and destined to be great for Him. Who wants to expect everything when the world has taught you that you don’t deserve anything?

My proof of what I’m saying is Matthew 4:11. After the devil tempted Jesus with everything in the world, He refused in the name of God. “The devil left Him and angels came and attended Him.” In the name of the devil, Jesus was aware enough to say no thank you. And because He knew where His blessings lay, God sent angels to attend Him and in God’s name gave Him everything the devil had promised. Think about that. Are you making any demands on God? He’s just waiting on you to recognize He’s your God, daring you to ask so he can give.

The Missouri House is considering “religious freedom” bill, known as SJR39, which passed the Missouri Senate in March.

Columnist James Washington

Swag Snap of the week

Black and White Ball turns ten. It’s hard to believe it has been a decade, but Nelly’s 10th Annual Black and White Ball went down on Sunday at The Four Seasons and it was everything anyone could hope for. Nelly has nailed the “short program, long party” concept for galas and it should be embraced as the international standard. In the past few years, the ball has been lighter on celebs, but honestly it just gives our local stars an opportunity to shine –and that’s exactly what happened. T-Pain tore it up as the headliner, but so did Dirty Muggs as the featured entertainment. Though I’d recommend that they chop Rihanna’s BBHMM and, more importantly, Iggy Azealia’s “Fancy.” Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri were about it on the side of national celebrities, but just about every local worth seeing was in the place to be.

Belles of the Black and White Ball. Now it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for, a rundown of the best dressed. Though Ira DeWitt had it on lock for team black and white, most people typically wear black or white instead of black and white. So I decided I was going to have them go head to head in an outfit battle. Because so many came with the thunder, it was an impossible mission. At first it was team black, then Melanie from The Marquee set it off for team white. Then Christina Bailey put the ball back in Team Black’s corner. Mugo Odigwe from Channel 4 kept team black in the lead for a minute, then Sarita Moody a.k.a. Slay-rita (because she never gets it wrong) came through for the white with double points. It went back and forth like this until I just gave up. But I will say this: the ladies of Radio One St. Louis were especially on point. I saw that classic face beat Princess Stormm. And new promo director Chesley Waddell proved with her stunning gown that you can be seductive with every inch of your body covered. On the flipside (and outside of the Radio One team) stylist Kita and promotions maven Lisa West showed that you can keep it classy in outfits that leave little to the imagination. As far as the men go, I’m torn between Yung Ro and Niddy. Since Nelly and Miss Jackson aren’t eligible, I’m going to go with Cornell and Jamila Boone for my best dressed couple. It was a close one between the Boones, Teddy and Makeda Blackett and Mousie and Smitty

Emerging 30. My first round of festivities for the weekend popped off Thursday at the Rustic Goat for DELUX Magazine’s Emerging 30 celebration. It was so packed that they probably should’ve moved it over to The Lux. I got to see a few of my favorite future movers and shakers in the house and I must say the look of the crowd was everything one would hope from a sexy club scene shot of an uppity urban film like “Love Jones” or “Brown Sugar.” One of my alltime local celebrity crushes Bradd Young was in the building. Other folks were serving too...especially the honorees. I’m loving Asha Hornaday’s new hair game. And let me just take a moment to say that my girl Mai Lee has one of the sweetest spirits EVER. Shout out to the DELUX folks for encouraging the folks on the way up.

A memorable night with Monica and Chante. I made my way to the Ambassador to check out Monica and Chante Moore Friday night and thought I was going to have to do my first ever standing review. The Mo Investment Ent. promoters zoomed past like they owed me money when I asked them about a seat. However, instead of putting them on blast, I’m going to use the space to shout out my boy Reno for putting in serious work to hook a sista and her crew up with a seat for the night – and the gracious April of April’s Apples for being so gracious at the table. It set the tone for me getting my life from the show! I was ready to be unbothered when Chante Moore sang to those tracks, but her voice was so fantastic that I was able to get over it. And when she obliged Gregory aka the Twisted Poet when he perched on the stage before she got a chance to have her pick, she was alright with me. I guess the key to eternal youth is to get a record deal as a toddler because Monica has hardly aged in her 25 years in the game. She was snatched for dear life in a silk pajama short set and some thigh high boots. And put on a show like it was her last. I was stomping my feet and shaking the tables by the way she threw down. I was so thrilled that what started out to be a janky experience turned out to be a great night.

An ordinary Young Thug. My issues with promoters continued on Saturday with the Presidential Promotions presentation of Young Thug Phil from Liquid Assets vouched for me and they were cool with letting me in, but insisted that I wait on our photographer John Scott, which is not how we operate. I don’t have the space to go into detail, but they seemed new so I’ll give them a one-time pass. The moral of the story is that you don’t bite the hand that writes about you. Next time I won’t be so nice. But I know y’all came to hear about Young Thug, so let me get to it. I was preparing for Young Thug’s number one fan Cuba Gooding Jr. to read me for filth after I compared him to a blinged out Treasure Troll in all of his glory, but Thug looked surprisingly normal. I was quietly disappointed with his regular colored hair and average fitting clothing. Now he did change into a child sized Michael Brown Jr. memorial T-shirt halfway into his set…in the middle of the stage…but even that was pretty innocuous compared to what I was expecting. The only bad news from the show is that every time the building is recycled into a new club, the sound gets worse. And at Lux Saturday night, the left side had to deal with having no speakers working whatsoever. I was like “who ever heard of a sound-impaired club?” That’s exactly what it is. It didn’t seem to bother Thug. He sang his few little songs –and I hit it before he did.

Bow Wow, Jermaine Dupri, Chanel “Na Na”, Miss Jackson, and Nelly as they strolled into the 10th Annual Black and White Ball Sunday night @ The Four Seasons.

DELUX Emerging 30 Honorees Taylor Smith and Jennifer Larkin chilled out at the official after party Thursday night @ HG

Tiffany, Erica, Bri, Kim and Nikki took in some throwback R&B Friday night @ The Ambassador

Former Ram and soon to be NFL HOF inductee Orlando Pace with his lovely wife Carla Sunday @ Nelly’s Black and White Ball @ The Four Seasons

Kiara, Mary, Stacey, Bianca, Steph and Laura Friday night @ Mood

Young Buck hung out with Fat-Fat, Jr, Sheed and Lil Hen Friday night @ The Marquee

Asha Hornaday and Jermaine Dupri @ Nelly’s 10th Annual Black and White Ball Sunday night @ The Four Seasons

Yanni, Kara, and Tia were in the building @ The Lux Saturday night to see Young Thug

Dorothy Jones and Nettie Kelley MUA made their way to The Ambassador to check out Monica and Chante Moore

Ayana and Jai in the building to see Young Buck Friday night @ The Marquee

Young Thug took a moment to hang out and take a pic with Michael Brown Sr. and the Brown family Saturday night @ The Lux.

Photos by Lawrence Bryant & John Scott