Chicago Crusader 05/23/09 E-Edition

Page 1

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY Blacks Must Control Their Own Community

CRUSADERIL@AOL.COM

•C•P•V•S• AUDITED BY

To The Unconquerable Host of Africans Who Are Laying Their Sacrifices Upon The Editorial Altar For Their Race VOLUME LXVIV NUMBER 4 —SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009

PUBLISHED SINCE 1940

25 Cents and worth more

Pay to play at south side lakefront beaches Free parking no longer as park district install pay boxes this fall By La Risa Lynch A game of hoops and a jog along the lakefront is going to cost south side residents. The Chicago Park District recently voted to implement parking fees on possibly five lakefront beaches on the south side. Come this fall, residents will have to bring their wallets and their water bottles to cough up

Alderman Leslie Hairston a $1.00 for one hour of parking with a two-hour limit. The move signals an end of an era where south side residents enjoyed the lakefront beach free. The park district will install pay boxes on several south side beaches, including 31st Street, 63rd Street, South

Shore Cultural Center and Rainbow Beach. But some residents enjoying last week’s warm weather at 63rd Street Beach contend the city should stop reaching into their pockets to solve the city’s financial woes. South Shore resident Tony Allmon called the idea to pay for parking bogus. He and a few friends was barbecuing jerk chicken at 63rd Street Beach, where nightly African drumming attracts large crowds during the summer. “It ain’t even about the parking,” Allmon said. “You are charging for somebody to come up here and enjoy themselves and that is being greedy.” Denean Dixon, a Woodlawn resident, said residents already dig deep in their pockets to go downtown and to museums. Enjoying the lakefront for fishing, boating or even a picnic shouldn’t come with a price or a time limit, she said. “That’s not right,” said Dixon, who uses the lakefront walking trail to stay fit. Several ballplayers shooting hoops on the park’s west end, agreed, but wondered what the park district will charge next paid bike racks. “Where does a person who doesn’t have money as it is go now,” said Rodgers, a South Shore resident who declined to give his first name. “People are losing jobs everyday. It makes no sense.” Park District spokesperson Zvezdana Kubat downplayed the criticism. She noted the monies raised for the pay boxes would help fund park district programming and operations. She added that both the dis-

trict and the city are facing huge deficits. Zubat said the park district were looking into options to fix its budget woes instead of raising property taxes, which she noted has remained flat for the last four years. “There is a recession going on,” Zubat said. “We’re trying to generate money

somehow, and this was one of the options we were looking at.” The pay boxes, she contends, will generate $700,000 in the first year with that amount expected to double in the second year of operation. (Continued on page 3)

MRS. ALMA GRAVELY christens the USS Gravely (DDG) in honor of her late h u sb a n d V i c e A d m i r a l S a m u e l L . G r a v e l y , J r . V A d m . G r a v e l y w a s t h e fi r s t African-American to achieve Flag Rank in the Navy making him a pioneer in the Navy for Afri can-America n officers a nd sailors. Vi ce Ad miral Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., retired from the Navy on August 1, 1980.

Police still searching for suspect in murder of retired Simeon teacher By J. Coyden Palmer At Crusader press time, Chicago police were still trying to determine who killed a 70-year-old retired teacher in his South Shore home over the weekend. Floyd Butler of the 7300 block of south Merrill was discovered shortly after 1:00 A.M. by family members who said the door to his home for over 20 years had been kicked in. Neighbors described Butler as one of the best men they knew and are shocked and saddened by his death. Many were too distraught to talk with reporters, but Ed De Haas said he and Butler were friends as well as neighbors.

“He was my best buddy on the block,” said DeHaas, overcome with emotion. “I don’t know why anyone would do something like this to an elderly man who did so much to help people.” Administrators, faculty and former students at Simeon also had great things to say about Butler. He taught African American Studies at the south side school where he began teaching in the 1970s. Gregory Sutton, an architecture teacher at Simeon remembers Butler well and said his teaching went well beyond the classroom. “He was great, not only as a teacher but (also as a) mentor to [students], teaching them about life skills,” Stapleton said. “He

also coached football alongside Al Scott for many years and was just a great man.” Butler graduated from Northeastern State (Oklahoma) in 1966 and was a fouryear Letterman for the Redmen. He went on to participate in the Chicago Bears

training camp in 1967, before beginning a career in public education in the Chicago public schools system. He was inducted into the Northeastern State Athletic Hall of Fame on Jan. 16, (Continued on page 2)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Chicago State president demands public apology from trustee Leon Finney or else See Story on page 2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Chicago Crusader 05/23/09 E-Edition by The Crusader Newspaper Group - Issuu