INDEXLocal & State ...........................2Commentary ............................4 Business ...................................5Religion ...................................6Health ......................................7Sports ......................................8

local & state news Business news HealtH news

classified Buying or selling a service, looking for for a good job or a good used car? Check out the classifeds .

oBama coming to soutHern u.“The First Term of the First Black President: Is President Barack Obama Good for America and Black People” Speaker: The Son of Man, Leader and Teacher of the New Na-tion of Islam. Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 6:PM ...See Page 3

mortgage applications Applications for home mortgages surged more than 20 percent last week, fueled by a wave of refinancing demand as interest rates dropped, an industry group said on Wednesday....See Page 5

flu season off to slow startCould this be the flu season that wasn’t? After the H1N1-linked drama of prior years, the low number of cases of influenza currently circulat-ing in the United States is reassuring, experts said...See Page 7

Yahoo Inc co-founder Jerry Yang has quit the company he started in 1995, appeasing shareholders who had blasted the Internet pioneer for pursuing an ineffective personal vision and impeding investment deals that could have transformed the struggling company....See Page 5

YaHoo co-founder JerrY Yang resigns religionHappy New Year! It may be the epitome of redundancy but I have given this greeting for 60 years and I mean it as sincerely this year as I have all the years preceding....See Page 6

THEWEEKLYPRESS.COM Celebrating 36 Years Of Service To The Baton Rouge Community 225.775.2002

THURSDAY, JAnUARY 19, 2011 a people’s publication Vol. 36 • No. 35

b a t o n r o u g e , l o u i s i a n a

BATON ROUGE -- The NAACP host its annual Mar-tin Luther King, Jr. Day 2012 Commemoration Program on Monday, January 16 at 8:00

a.m. at Mount Zion First Bap-tist Church, 356 East Boule-vard, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The theme for this year’s event is “We’ve Come This Far by

Faith.”The speaker for the pro-

gram was Bishop Raymond Johnson, founder and pastor of Living Faith Christian Center.

The program also included representatives from Baton Rouge’s varied faith commu-

the annual dr. martin luther King, Jr., march and memorial day celebration

Marchers marching down Government Street heading to the Baton Rouge River Center to complete the march of 2012 MLK Annual Celebration and March. Photo by James Terry III.

Protesters Against Wall Street Greed at the Mount Zion First Baptist Church at 356 East Boulevard. Photo by James Terry III.

See march, on page 3

In the Port-au-Prince sub-urb of Petionville, some 2,500 people subsist in a crowded public park near open ditches flowing with human waste, a grim scene frozen in time two years after Haiti’s earthquake disaster.

Valerie Loiseau, 28, re-called the fateful day -- Jan-uary 12, 2010 -- when she lost everything and her life changed forever.

“I got here at 6:00 pm, a few moments after the earth-quake, with my children, my daughter, a few months old, in my arms, and nothing else.”

Two years after the 7.0-magnitude quake visited near-biblical destruction on Haiti, killing between 200,000 and 300,000 people, she is still in the camp with her daughter Kelida, now three, playing at her feet.

Older children, half-clothed and barefoot, chase a worn football across a filthy clearing, past puddles of pu-

trid waste water.Some 15 percent of Haiti’s

entire population of almost 10 million were either killed or displaced by the quake. Al-most 520,000 survivors still live under tarpaulin in 800 camps dotted around the crowded Caribbean capital.

Shocked in the immediate aftermath of one of the deadli-est disasters of modern times, the international community promised billions of dollars of aid money to “build back better.”

Decentralization -- away from the slum-infested, sprawling capital of three mil-lion -- was the buzzword in a plan to be implemented under the watchful eye of former US president Bill Clinton.

This grandiose vision now appears to have been a pipe-dream.

Less than half the $4.59 billion pledged had been re-ceived and disbursed when the UN last published its figures in September, and the coffers of the aid agencies that run Haiti like a de facto NGO state are also drying up.

More than 50 percent of the quake rubble has now been cleared, but little has been erected in its place and the pace of reconstruction is

Haiti Quake Victims stuck in a time warpA Haitian man sells used shoes in Port-au-Prince amidst earthquake damage

See warp, on page 2

The Friends of Magno-lia Mound Plantation will hold the 12th annual Petite Antiques Forum on Wednes-day, January 25, 2012. Barbara Ross Luck, Curator of Paint-ings, Drawings and Sculpture will hold a symposium at the Louisiana Old State Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge entitled American Folk Paint-ings presented for the Colo-nial Williamsburg Founda-tion. Registration begins at

9:30 at the Old State Capitol followed by lunch and tour of the Jaques Dupre House in Point Coupee Parish.

Ms. Luck received a B.A. in Art from Collins College in Virginia and an M.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in Art History in Richmond, Virginia. She began her association with Colonial Williamsburg in 1970

Jaques Dupre House in Point Coupee Parish.

friends of magnolia mound plantation to Hold annual petite antiques forum, House tour

See tour, on page 3

Page 2 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, January 19, 2012

BATON ROUGE — In honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scout Movement in the United States, Girl Scouts Louisiana East is beginning a yearlong celebration with Cham-pagne, S’mores & All That Jazz fundraising cocktail party on Saturday, January 14, from 8 to 11 p.m. in the Heidelberg Ball-room of the Hilton Baton Rouge Capital Center. The local council invites its friends and support-ers in a toast at this historic event! Sponsors for the event include Clear Channel Radio Baton Rouge, Georgia-Pacific, Capital One Bank, and DeCuir, Clark & Adams, LLP.

“The 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts is a once in a lifetime event, so we’ll be kicking-off the new century of Girl Scout-ing with a Champagne celebra-tion,” said Jackie Alexander, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts Louisiana East. “Proceeds from this fundraiser will support Girl Scouts’ local programming, including our Extravaganza for girls being planned March 17 in Gonzales.”

According to Alexander, The Andy Pizzo Project, a raffle

for door prizes, delicious hors d’oeuvres with complimentary champagne, and a S’mores-in-spired dessert will fill the night with live musical entertain-ment.

Tickets to the cocktail party are available online at www.gsle.org, or by contacting event co-ordinator Cathy Pottschmidt at cpottschmidt@gsle.org, 225-927-8946 or 800-644-7571.

Additional 100th An-niversary sponsors are needed for this January 14 event, the council’s 100th anniversary luncheon in Baton Rouge on March 15, and a Rhapsody in Green gala set for June 23 at the Hilton Riverside New Orleans.

LocaL&State

READER INFORMATION

How to Reach UsGeneral Information . . .225-775-2002

Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225-775-4216

Email Address

. . . . . . theweeklypress@yahoo .com

. . . . . . . . . . thewpres@bellsouth .net

The office is open 8:00 a .m . to 4:00

p .m . Monday - Friday and located at

1283 Rosenwald Road, Baton Rouge,

Louisiana .

Correction PolicyThe Baton Rouge Weekly Press strives

to be fair and accurate . The newspaper

corrects any significant errors of fact

brought to the attention of the editor .

If you think an error has been made,

call 225-775-2002

The Weekly Press

Newspaper is a published weekly in Baton Rouge and distributed every Thursday with a circulation of 7,500. Subscription rates are $65.00 per year for Louisiana residents; $72.00 for one year for out-of-state residents; half price for six months subscription: and $1.00 per single copy.

All money orders or checks should be made payable to The Weekly Press, P.O. Box 74485, Baton Rouge, La. 70874

1283 Rosenwald RoadBaton Rouge, La. 70807-41

Phone: (225) 775-2002 Fax: (225) 775-4216

E-Mail theweeklypress@yahoo.comthewpres@bellsouth.net

Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Closed Saturday, Sunday and all Major Holidays

Come And Study the BiBle With uS!

InterdenomInatIonal theologIcal center (Itc)

School of mInIStryBaton Rouge, Louisiana Extension

Fully Accredited by SACS and AATS

CLASSES mEETS onCE wEEkLyFor more information contact

Dr. Alonzo Campbell(225) 938-5746

alonzojcampbell@yahoo.com

Classes onCe weekly aT: wesley UniTed

MeThodisT ChUrCh 544 Government street Baton rouge, la. 70802

dr. Joe Connelly, senior Pastordr. alonzo Campbell, director/instructor

(225) 938-5746

THOUGHT fOR THE WEEk: If you want to say I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice, for truth and for peace. MLk

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. KINGMany thanks to the many service projects

that were performed in our community for the celebration of MLk day. Now just in case you want to do something next time here are some ideas for you’re planning.

Project Ideas

The MLk Day of Service is a way to transform Rev. Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr.’s life and teachings into community service that helps solve social problems. That service may meet a tangible need, such as fixing up a school or senior center, or it may meet a need of the spirit, such as building a sense of community or mutual responsibility. Here are some project ideas to fit various ambitions and community resources. And in each category, there is always room for your own ideas.

Recruit and Train Volunteers to Be:• Mentors• Tutors• Tax preparation assistants• Host discussions aboutDr. King’s life and teachings• Dr. King’s principles of non-violence• Community challenges and ways to address them• Provide Job Readiness Training in:• Resume writing• Interview skills• Dressing for success• Provide Food Assistance:• Serve meals at a homeless shelter• Bring meals to homebound neighbors• Organize a food donation drive• Improve Children’s Quality of Life:• Build a playground• Run a day camp for children with working parents• Devise craft projects for children in hospitals• Provide Assistance to Families and Neighbors:• Help low-income families find free tax preparation services

and take advantage of the earned income tax credit• Shovel elderly neighbors’ walkways, clear leaves or help

with other yard maintenance• Participate in or create a neighborhood watch program• Improve Health Outcomes:• Arrange a health fair• Organize a blood donor drive• Register bone marrow and organ donors• Beautify the Community:• Remove graffiti from a building and paint a mural• Create community green spaces by planting trees, grass,

and flowers• Reclaim a park or abandoned space for community use• Prepare the Community for Emergency and Crisis Situations:• Distribute fire safety information and check for working smoke detectors• Make and distribute disaster preparedness kits• Host workshops on how to prevent foreclosure in communities disproportionately affected• Keep the Community Connected:• Create on-line and off-line community discussion forums.

Get residents signed up for the on-line discussion and in-

marge's Chit Chat

MARGE LAWRENCE

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAfB) - Twenty new police officers will soon hit the streets of Baton Rouge. The 77th Basic Training Academy for Baton Rouge Police graduated Mon-day morning with a ceremony at Independence Park.

Each officer was officially handed badges at the end of the ceremony. for 21 weeks, these officers have sweated it out, lit-erally, intense physical training along with classroom and pistol range training, has gotten them just what they wanted; a badge pinned to their chests.

More than 350 people ap-plied, only 20 graduated. Baton Rouge Police Chief Dewayne White says their recruits repre-sent some of the best of the best. “We have 350 to 400 applicants that we vetted, took the best of those applicants and this is what we have here today,” said Chief White.

Crislor won three individ-ual awards, but he is not taking any of the credit for them. “I can’t take all the credit, it’s ev-erybody just working together any time we faced a problem just put our heads together and come up with a solution,” said Crislor.

He says the 21 weeks of training were beyond his ex-pectations. He never thought he was going to finish. “I can’t describe it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Looking back on day one I didn’t see this day; if you even thought of this day it’s unheard of. It’s been a long road to be here this and because it’s this uniform is a wonderful feeling.”

Now the newly minted police officers have six more months of training, but this time on the streets. This train-ing began when they walked out of Monday’s ceremony.

20 New Police Officers Hit the Streets Of Baton Rouge

Girl Scouts to Kicks-off 100th Anniversary with Champagne, S’mores & All That Jazz

BATON ROUGE - Coun-cilwoman Ronnie Edwards and LaBAEO presents the hope-inspiring documentary “The Experiment” following five school children from Post-katrina New Orleans educa-tional landscape.

The documentary pre-sentation will be followed by a panel discussion involving parents with children from dif-ferent types of schools. The documentary will be shown in the Southern University Global Conference Center located in T. T. Allain Hall on January 26,

2012 at 6:00 p.m.Please contact Eric Lewis

with the Louisiana State Di-rector of the LaBAEO at 504-232-5034 or by e-mail to this address elewis@baeo.org for more information.

This event is part of the National School Choice Week celebration where advocates and organizations, grassroots networks, parents and students are preparing to handle this week of focused attention on school and parental in their own regions in their own way.

Councilwoman Edwards and LaBAEO Presents “The Experiment” a Documentary

See marge, on page 3

still painfully slow.Most of the tens of thousands

of people who fled Port-au-Prince after the quake have since re-turned to the overcrowded capital, desperate for work and food in a country still lacking another ef-fective pole to attract labor.

[Related: Most Haiti text donors have given more since quake]

Michel Martelly, a former carnival entertainer and pop singer, was sworn in as the new president in May, riding a populist wave and promising to bring the change that the country so badly needs.

But faced with a parliament dominated by his political oppo-nents, it took him five months to even get a prime minister ap-pointed.

Martelly has recently tried to nurture smaller, community-based projects such as a flag-ship housing program -- 6/16 -- aimed at taking residents out of six camps and relocating them to 16 neighborhoods.

Alongside it, he has created the Carmen project, whereby approved home-owners receive funds to repair their houses under the supervision of certified engi-neers.

Josef Leitmann, program manager of the World Bank-run Haiti Reconstruction fund, sees glimmers of progress at last.

“You have a vision of where the government wants to go, and that’s just critical,” he told AfP. “Second you’ve got leadership to take that vision and communicate it to people and inspire people and third you have political will to implement the vision.”

The problems facing Haiti are vast, if not insurmountable, in the short term.

Hundreds of thousands who lost homes in the quake are still in a legal quagmire as there was no paperwork to prove their small holdings.

A cholera epidemic, blamed on UN peacekeepers from Nepal, shows no sign of abating. A year ago, 3,400 people had died and some 171,300 been infected. By the start of 2012, some 7,000 had died, and over 520,000 been infected.

“What we are looking at in Haiti today is not just recovery from the earthquake. It’s not just dealing with a cholera epidemic,” Nigel fisher, the UN’s chief hu-manitarian officer in Haiti, told AfP.

“Those came on top of a country which was structurally broken.”

Experts say the key to Haiti’s long-term sustainability lies in rebuilding its agricultural sector. But the one-time exporter now has to import rice for 80 percent of its population and soil fertility is so poor that most crops can no longer be supported.

The World Bank in Decem-ber approved $50 million for new agricultural projects, investing in key Haitian products such as mangoes, coffee and cocoa that are garnering increased overseas attention.

Loiseau, like most of the quake refugees, needs a miracle. “My hope is God, not the lead-ers of this country,” she told AfP, staring at the passing cars with traumatized indifference.

Warp from page 1

Zumba classes fuse hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow aerobic moves to create a one-of-a-kind �tness program that is calorie-burning and body energizing.

For more information, call225-774-9513 or visit brec.org/zumba.

ZUMBAT.D. Bickham Park, 6850 Pettit RoadMonday and Wednesday6-7 p.m.Ages 16 and older$24 per month

All proceeds from the events will go to support ongoing programs for Girl Scouts throughout south-east Louisiana.

Girl Scout’s mission is to build girls of courage, con-fidence, and character who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts Louisiana East serves girls in kindergarten through 12th grade in the parishes of As-cension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East feliciana, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Washington, West Baton Rouge, and West felici-ana.

Please contact the Regional Service Center at 225-927-8946 or 1- 800-852-8421 and by faxing to this number 225-927-8402.

Visit Us Online @www.theweeklypress.com

Thursday, January 19, 2012 • The Weekly Press • Page 3

Call the McManus law office and get all you deserve

INJURED IN A CAR WRECK?

Charles C. McManusA T T O R N E Y A T L A W

8520 Scotland Ave, Suite C • Baton Rouge, La. 225-774-5771 charlesmcmanus@

mcmanuslawoffice.brcoxmail.comwww.charlesmcmanus.com

If this happens to

you call Attorney

McManus

BATON ROUGE, LA - The Louisiana Department of Rev-enue offers a free seminar to help business operators understand sales tax and other important business issues. The next session is at 10 AM, Friday, January 27 at LDR’s Baton Rouge office, 617 North 3rd Street. For details or to register, call (225) 219 5511.

nity, civic and community en-tities and governmental lead-ers. Mayor/President Melvin “Kip” Holden was invited to participate along with EBRP Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, EBRP School Superintendant John Dilworth, Baton Rouge Chief of Police Dwayne White and City Council Members. The program culminated with the 17th Annual March for Peace from Mount Zion to the Baton Rouge River Center.

The public was invited to attend the program and march also was urged to continue

their day of service in honor of Dr. King by participating in one of many community service projects being imple-mented this day.

The program will culmi-nate with a march for peace from the church to the Baton Rouge River Center and was followed by voter registration drive.

For more information, please contact Kwame As-ante, Baton Rouge NAACP President, at 225-205-0572, or Mike McClanahan at 225-287-4673.

March from page 1

The Louisiana Department Of Revenue Offers A Free Seminar

OPELOUSAS, LA - Ronald Kennedy, Darlene A. Moore, Randell Henry, and Ella Guill-lory will be showing their art on Thursday, February 2, 2012 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Opelousas Museum & Interpre-tive Center located at 315 North Main Street.

These exhibitions is opened to the public and for additional information, please call 337-948-2589 or 337-948-2064.

A Reception Celebrating Of Black History Month Featuring Four Artistic Visions

“The First Term of the First Black President: Is President Ba-rack Obama Good for America and Black People” Speaker: The Son of Man, Leader and Teacher of the New Nation of Islam. Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 6:PM in the Nursing School Auditorium on the Campus of Southern University.

For more information please call 225-229-8747.

President Barack Obama Coming to Southern University

CASA’s newly elected officers are, from left, Michelle St. Martin, Karleen J. Green, Mary H. Thompson and Michelle Weld Lacombe

CASA Elects New Officers

BREC’s Athletics Depart-ment will hold its organizational meeting for the 2012 spring adult flag football program Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at BREC’s Womack Ballroom, 6201 Florida Blvd.

The fees for adult flag foot-ball teams are as follows: $300 per women’s team and $395 per men’s flag team (for the Sunday league). BREC will offer a men’s league on Tuesday nights as well for $450 fee.

Games begin March 11 for the Sunday league and March 13

for the Tuesday league. Space is limited on Sunday leagues to the first 32 paid entries, and space is limited on the weeknight leagues to the first eight paid entries. Any team interested in participating in the league this season should have a representative present at this meeting.

For more information, con-tact Marc Palmer at 225-273-6401 or email mpalmer@brec.org.

It is the BREC mission to provide parks and recreational opportunities for all residents of East Baton Rouge Parish.

BREC Athletics to Hold Adult Flag Football Meeting

EAST BATON ROUGE PAR-ISH – The Recreation and Park Commission of East Baton Rouge Parish held the Rollins Road Park grand opening ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 5794 Rollins Road in Zachary.

This 10.5-acre park features a new covered basketball court converted from an existing tennis court, new concrete walkways, parking improvements and a re-furbished baseball backstop and bleachers. Existing site ameni-ties include a playground, and

a lighted baseball field. Franklin L. Lassiter, AIA

designed the master plan. BREC’s planning and engineering team oversaw site improvements. JReed Constructors, Inc. served as the general contractor.

The “Imagine Your Parks” tax passed by East Baton Rouge Parish voters in 2004 made Park improvements possible.

It is the BREC mission to provide parks and recreational opportunities for all residents of East Baton Rouge Parish.

BREC’s Rollins Road Park Grand Opening

formed about the time and location of the off-line version.• Teach neighbors how to surf the Internet and use email• Make a public space accessible for the disabled neighbors• Develop your own ideas by considering your community’s

particular need

In lovIng memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Perry and Mrs. Mabel Stling. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the late Elnora Miller Myles who was laid to rest earlier this week. Best wishes to the basketball teams of Southern University and LSU. Go Jaguars, go Tigers. HAPPy BIrTHDAy Jacqueline Esco, Catherine Dixon Reedom, and Linda Womack.

Love, Marge

Marge from page 2

BATON ROUGE —The Baton Rouge Chapter of Jack and Jill of America is invit-ing everyone to come out and support “Red Tails”, the movie about the Tuskegee Airmen-- America’s first African American aerial combat unit.

The movie is being re-leased Friday. The group will meet at the Rave The-ater at the Mall of Louisiana for the 7 p.m. movie.

“”We want our families and everybody to pack the theaters so we can show sup-port for this historic movie,” says Deadra Hughes, presi-dent of the Jack and Jill local chapter.

The Tuskegee Airmen were trained in Alabama at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, during World War II as a segregated unit. After being admitted to the Army Air Corps, they were prohibited from fight-ing alongside white coun-terparts and faced severe prejudice but went on to become one of World War II’s most respected fighter squadrons. They set them-selves apart from other mili-tary aviators by painting the tails of their planes red. The

Group Asking Community to Support Tuskegee Airmen Movie

airmen were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.

Those attending should arrive at the theater early. Tickets will be sold on a first-

come first serve basis.Members of the Shiloh

Missionary Baptist Church and Del ta S igma Theta Alumni chapter are also par-ticipating.

when she was Registrar at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum. Ms. Luck was at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum for 26 years completing her employment there as the Curator. Since 1998, Ms. Luck has served as the Cu-rator of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture at the Colonial Wil-liamsburg Foundation. She has been involved with numerous exhibitions in her field and has been published in a wide variety of books, journals and magazines.

The symposium will in-

cluded discussion of portraits, genre scenes, landscapes, theo-rems, mourning pictures, fraktur and more and will touch on the tremendous range of subjects created in oils and watercol-ors by untrained or minimally trained artists. Selected examples will be explored in depth. Ms. Luck states; “Roots of the ap-preciation of these paintings pertain to aesthetics and their formal analogies, however, their value as historical documents have never been ignored and

Tour from page 1

See tour, on page 5

The East Baton Rouge Par-ish School System has selected six semifinalists to proceed in the interview process to replace outgoing Superintendent John Dilworth. Three of the six semi-finalist candidates are scheduled to be interviewed on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The remaining three will be interviewed on Monday, Jan. 23. The School Board has sched-uled workshops beginning at 3 p.m. for each interview session. The workshops will take place at the Instructional Resource Center located at 1022 S. Foster Drive.

It is expected each candidate’s interview will last approximately two hours. Board members will be given approximately one hour for questions. Following the Board interview, members of the public are invited to ask questions of the candidates as well.

All candidates will be present in Baton Rouge for the interview process.

EBR Superintendent Interviews Scheduled

HOUSTON, TX — A jury found former Southern Univer-sity athletic director Greg LaFleur not guilty on a charge of prosti-tution.

The jury of six reached its decision Tuesday night, said a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s office in Houston.

LaFleur was arrested in April 2011. According to the police re-port, LaFleur, 52, was arrested on Main Street in Houston for alleged solicitation of a prostitute. LaFleur denied the allegation.

LaFleur, who was fired from Southern University after his ar-rest, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Southern.

“This should have never hap-pened,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “The chick solicited me. I have lived with this for a year. I’m more

pissed off than happy.”Southern spokesman Ed

Pratt released the following statement:

“We congratulate Mr. LaFleur and wish him well.”

At the time of LaFleur’s arrest, the prosecutor’s office in Harris County characterized the case as “straight sex for pay.” According to the police report, LaFleur was accused of picking up an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute.

The former LSU and NFL football player was booked on a misdemeanor charge by the Houston Police Department.

LaFleur was in Houston for the 2011 Final Four matchup.

He had been athletic director at Southern for almost six years, taking over for Floyd Kerr in 2005.

Jury Finds Former SU AD Not Guilty of Prostitution

By Dr. Julianne MalveauxNNPA Columnist

I always feel inspired and elated, but also challenged and chagrined, at some of the celebra-tions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. There are those, too many folks, who want to sani-tize Dr. King and turn him into a dreamer. Too many only quote the part of his “I have a dream” speech that talks about charac-ter content and skin color. Too few remember that in the same speech he said, “We have come to the nation’s capital to cash a check, and the check has been marked insufficient funds.” Dr. King was an economic populist, an anti-war activist, as well as a classically trained theologian. Too many put emphasis on the latter, without acknowledging the former.

That’s why each year, I am excited to receive the State of the Dream report from United for a Fair Economy. This organization does great work in talking about the wealth gap, and their annual foray into exploring the dream has looked at joblessness, homeless-ness, and austerity. Last year their report shared facts on the relative pay that people of color earn in the public and the private sector and concluded that austerity pro-grams that cut government jobs disproportionately affect people of color.

This year’s report focuses on the Emerging Majority, and con-cludes that unless policy shifts are made, the wealth gap will grow even wider than it is today. Ad-

ditionally, they project that by 2042, just 30 years from now when people of color are a majority in our society, nearly 5 percent of the African American population and 2 percent of the Latino popula-tion will be in prison if current incarceration trends continue. The report’s set of policy recommenda-tion’s includes a recommendation to end the war on drugs. Indeed, more than half of those currently incarcerated are casualties of the drug war, some with very minor offenses, and others with condi-tions that warrant drug treatment, not incarceration.

“Economic inequality be-tween whites and people of color will persist unless bold and in-tentional steps aer taken to make meaningful progress towards ra-cial equity, to sever the connection between race and poverty, and ultimately to eliminate the racial economic divide altogether,” the report says in its Executive Sum-mary. But such bold words are be-lied by the growing gap, increas-ing poverty, the unemployment rate differential, and continuing barriers to educational access in communities of color and among those who are low income. While our international competitors are investing in education, we are sim-ply divesting. It is almost as if we have made a decision to devolve into a developing country.

What would Dr. King say about all this? I think he’d be out-side with the folks from Occupy Wall Street, and I think he’d be directing them to a 21st century

By GeorGe e. CurryNNPA Columnist

The United States’ popu-lation is growing increasingly diverse, but the sharp demo-graphic shift is unlikely to close the huge economic gap between Whites and people of color, according to an annual report issued by United For a Fair Economy, a nonpartisan think tank that studies wealth and power in the U.S.

Each year the Boston-based organization issues its “State of the Dream” report near Dr. Mar-tin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

Citing Census Bureau fig-ures, the report notes that Whites constituted 80 percent of the U.S. population in 1980. By 2010, that figure had slipped to 65 percent. And by 2042, Whites will become a minority for the first time since the Colonial days.

“If the trends in racial eco-nomic inequality continue at the rate that they have since 1980, the changing demographics of the country will produce a vast racialized underclass that will persist even after the majority of the country is non-White,” the report concluded.

Examples of racial and ethnic inequality in the U.S. include:

* In 2010, the median fam-ily income of Black and Latino families was 57 cents to every dollar of White median family

income. By 2042, the median Black family will earn approxi-mately 61 cents for every dol-lar of income earned by Whites. Latino families are projected to earn only 45 cents in 2042 on every dollar of White median family income.

• The wealth gap is particu-larly disturbing. In 2007, at the height of the housing bubble, the average White family net worth was five times greater than the average Black net worth and more than 3.5 times the aver-age Latino net worth. If current trends continue, the report states, Black families will by 2042 ac-cumulate 19 cents for each dollar of White net worth. Latinos will have 25 cents per dollar. That means the wealth gap between Whites and people of color in 2042 will be even larger than it is today.

• Education is the most im-portant tool we have to expand social mobility Thanks to civil rights gains, affirmative action and other progress, Black adults are 60 percent as likely to have a college degree as White adults; Latinos are only 42 percent as likely. If current trends continue, by 2042, African-Americans will continue to make progress in closing the education gap. How-ever, the gap will be even larger for Latinos.

• People of color repre-sent more than 65 percent of the prison population, largely because of harsh drug laws and

selective prosecutions that are part of the war on drugs. Blacks are six times more likely to be in prison than Whites. Roughly 65 percent of Black men born since the mid-1970s have prison records. The report observes, “If current trends continue to 2042, the percentage of people of color who have experienced jail time will dwarf even that number.”

To reduce what it calls the “perverse concentration of wealth and power in the U.S.,” the report declares, “We need nothing less than a diverse, pow-erful social movement dedicated to advancing meaningful policy solutions on many fronts to re-duce the racial divide.”

It will take a powerful movement to counter to cor-rupting influence that money has on politics.

“To gain political power necessary to make significant progress toward racial economic equality, the influence of money in politics must be reduced and voting rights for all Americans must be restored and protected,” the reports observes. “Eliminat-ing racial inequality will require a powerful and sustained politi-cal movement, aligned not just along the lines of race, but also by economic interests.”

Authors of the report noted that the Occupy Wall Street movement and similar efforts around the country are steps in the right direction toward build-ing a broad coalition.

In the aftermath of King Day celebrations, it is impor-tant to remember that Dr. King was organizing a Poor People’s Campaign at the time of his as-sassination. Encouraged by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1968, he was creating a movement to address economic injustice.

In his last speech on the eve of his assassination, referred to as the “Mountain Top” speech, Dr. King talked about the need to support Black business. He said, “We begin the process of building a greater economic base.”

Picking up where King left off, the report stated, “It is a moral and economic imperative that we address the racial eco-nomic divide now. If we are to chart a path to a more promising future, one in which the racial economic divide is significantly narrowed and prosperity is more broadly shared, then we must take immediate action to ensure that the coming majority is not further burdened by the legacy of racism and White supremacy in the United States.”

George E. Curry, former edi-tor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a key-note speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

By Harry C. AlfordNNPA Columnist

There has been such an enormous amount of atten-tion given to the production of Bio-Diesel, Ethanol and other forms of alternative energy. You can drive out in the Midwest or Texas and see windmills twirl-ing all over the scenery. How much of a difference has this made to our carbon “foot print”? The answer is disappointing. There hasn’t been much of a dent made. In fact, there may have been more harm than good.

Windmills are not rocket science. People have been using windmills for water power since the 16th century. Energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens invested many millions of dollars and reached a firm conclusion: It is not the answer. He has decided not to build another single windmill. Besides that, virtually all of the parts that go into a windmill are made in China. There is no significant impact on American jobs or energy output.

The most interesting alter-native is Ethanol or bio fuel. This too is an old technology. The history of it goes back to George

Washington Carver, the great scientist of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Dr. Carver did an overwhelming amount of devel-opment with peanuts. Much of this was due to a contractual ar-rangement he had with automo-bile magnate Henry Ford. The auto industry was booming and the demand for oil was grow-ing at an exponential rate. Ford wanted Dr. Carver to come up with a bio fuel to replace the need for oil. The Rockefeller Family and others had the lock on oil and he didn’t want to become overly dependent on them. After years of experimentation on the Tuskegee campus, Dr. Carver and Henry Ford came to this conclusion: It is not feasible to develop bio fuel.

That was over one hundred years ago. The fact still applies yet, environmentalists and politicians have pushed hard to further the development of bio-fuel. It works but not on an economical basis. The less bio fuel you have the more gasoline you will need. However, there is plenty of oil in the world and we just have to develop a cleaner way of using it. That is the bet-ter alternative. Food should be

eaten as hunger still prevails in many parts of the world.

The rapid expansion of the bio fuel industry has put a big strain on the supply of food crops such as corn, sugar, palm oil and wheat. Not only are these crops directly consumed by humans they are also key ingredients in feed for livestock such as cattle, sheep, chickens, turkeys, etc. In addition to livestock, nearly thirty percent of edible items found in a supermarket have such ingredients in them. Thus, the increased demand for bio fuels has significantly increased the price of groceries which has a terrible affect on the consumer price index and inflation. We all feel this every time we buy food.

Lobbyists and fiscally lib-eral politicians have been push-ing for subsidies as incentives to those manufacturing these bio fuels. Fortunately, the annual subsidies that were given to producers of the bio fuels have ended. This thirty year ridicu-lous program has now ended and hopefully our grocery prices will start to decrease. Supplies of bio fuel start to decrease. The largest foreign producer of it,

Brazil, has started cutting back on its sugar cane to ethanol pro-gram as the margins in the pro-duction do not justify much of a future. Another, ethanol giant, China, has also started to de-crease its activity for the same reason. Gasoline prices alone should drop about 95 cents per gallon as a result of this stupid program’s demise.

Actually, the future of en-ergy stewardship will rely on the great engineering capacity found in energy giants such as Chevron, Shell, Exxon and others. They have the engineers and have invested many mil-lions of dollars in finding ways to produce energy in a cleaner, safer and more economical fash-ion. It won’t be environmental groups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Si-erra Club, Greenpeace or any other entity that will provide breakthroughs in the economic efficiency and cleanliness in the energy industry. It will be our corporate giants who will lead the way.

This experiment with etha-nol has been nothing but a “flash

CommentaryThursday, January 19, 2012 • The Weekly Press • Page 4

A Diverse U.S. Population Will Not Guarantee Parity

The views expressed in the editiorial columns are not necessarily the veiws of The Weekly Press or its staff. Address all opinions and comments to: Letters to the Editior, P.O. Box 74485 Baton Rouge, La. 70874 or E-mail them to: theweeklypress@yahoo.com

See work on page 7

By William Jones

I was truly lam-basted when I read about the salary that the former director of the library system in East Baton Rouge Par-ish earned while work-ing here. It is without a doubt that Aaron Brian Felder received the amount of money that he was getting for operating our library system.

I do not care what other sys-tems as such are paying their director. East Baton Rouge Par-ish School system simply does not have that kind of money to pay for a job as such according to my understanding about the money condition from the edu-cational point of view. Here we are the lowest on the pole on everything just above the state of Mississippi in ranking of national school system.

Some of that money could be used to pay for ways to coun-teract our dropout rate. Fur-

thermore the man was hired under a rubber stamp con-dition and without a background check.

I agree with the writer that addressed the matter in our local daily paper dated December 22, 2011. The man was hired as if he was just walking down the street, heard about

the opening, passed by the building, walked in and was given the job. However, with my knowledge of Louisiana, it seem to have been “just one of those good ole boy deals.”

I remind you this is just another case that has taken place. It happen all the time on the state, parish, and local levels where in Louisiana. We have people retiring from one job, only to go on to another high paying job. What do the recent college grads have to look forward to?

That Is The Way I See It.

The STaTe of Union

Dismayed with Library Board

See dream, on page 7

What is the State of the Dream?

One Hundred Years Later and it Still Doesn’t Work

By marC morialNNPA Columnist

“No nation can long continue to flourish or to find its way to a better society while it allows any one of its citizens…to be denied the right to participate in the most fundamental of all privileges of democracy – the right to vote.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Monday, January 16th, America will celebrate what would have been the 83rd birth-day of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The day will be marked from coast-to-coast with parades, speeches, and pilgrimages to the new King Memorial on the National Mall. But in the midst of this outpouring of praise, there is a sinister movement afoot to undo one of Dr. King’s hardest fought victories – the removal of discriminatory barriers to vot-ing and the passage of the Vot-ing Rights Act signed into law

by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965.

In Dr. King’s day, billy clubs, cattle prods and guns kept Af-rican Americans away from the polls. Today, new voter restriction laws on the books or in the works in at least 34 states could deny the right to vote to more than 5 million Americans this year. These laws include new photo ID requirements, elimination of early voting, bans on voting by out-of-state college students, and rollbacks of voting rights for ex-felons who have paid their debts to society. Florida has even eliminated voting on the Sunday before Election Day which has traditionally been a day when African American churches orga-nized “souls to the polls” drives for their congregations.

The mostly conservative proponents of these new laws

Dr. King’s Voting Rights Legacy Under Attack

WilliamJones

To Be eqUal

See attack, on page 7

Thursday, January 19, 2012 • The Weekly Press • Page 5

business

ClassifiedEnvironmental Health Scientist Coordinator: Will coordinate environmental health science projects/ studies such as: inspections, inves-tigations, quality assurance, quality control, & environmental health risk assessment by collecting, analyzing & interpreting chemical, physical, biological, demographic, & other data about toxic environmental contamination, hazardous substance emergency events or environmental regulatory standards; respon-sible for determining eligibility of reported haz-ardous substance emergency events in LA to include in Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance/ National Toxic Substanc-es Incidents Program (HSEES/NTSIP) online system based on criteria set forth by CDC/ATSDR; verifying & validating data entry & developing & maintaining national database. MS in Environmental Science, Public Health or closely related field; knowledge of GIS, ALOHA, SPSS, SAS, working knowledge of MS Office Suite. Job location: Baton Rouge, LA. Send resume to Clay Trachtman, LA De-partment of Health & Hospitals, 628 N. 4th St., P.O. Box 4489,Bin 10, Box 18, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4489. Must refer to Job #11208.

Computer programmerprogram and maintain da-tabase apps & Comp vision

algorithms, do app dev, workflow Charts & dia-

grams, programming, Cli-ent teCh support. masters degree req’d. mail resume:

providenCe engineering and environment group

llC, 1201 main street, baton rouge, la 70802.

help wanted/drivers

drivers: regional. home every weekend

38-44 Cpm. $2k sign-on bonus. 24yoa w/Cdl-a. load

securement training available. 1-800-992-7863 x185

YrC is hiring Combination driver/dock workers! excellent wages,

benefits, pension! full time!home nightly! baton rouge location. Cdl-a w/Combo and hazmat, 1yr t/t

exp, 21yoa req. eoe-m/f/d/v applY at:

www.yrcw.com/careers

drivers: good pay, benefits incl.. free health ins

& bonusesregional work!Cdl-a with X-end, 1yr t/t exp.

req. 1-888-567-4973

shop supervisor:able to supervise, organize and

motivate,exp. w/mack trucks and tankers preferred.good

pay w/ benefits. 1-888-567-4973

Help Wanted (Booth Rental)Licensed Cosmetologist and BarbersIf Interested Contact Gera Dixon Bradford at (225) 803-9812

Discount and insurance offered only with select companies and subject to availability and qualifications. Discount amount maybe lower. Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Allstate Indemnity Company: Northbrook, IL © 2009 AllstateInsurance Company.

DUANE R. JORDAN(225) 775 98343209 LAVEY LANEBAKERa046577@allstate.com

Call me today to see how you can save whenyou combine your home and auto policies.

BATON ROUGE – South-ern University’s Louisiana Small Business Development Center will hold a ‘Small Busi-ness Education Series Kickoff’ at 8 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 28 in the Global Conference Center, Rm. 313 of T.T. Allain Hall.

The workshop is free and open to the public, but ad-vanced registration is required due to limited seating.

Representatives from SU’s College of Business, Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC) at Southern, Small Business Administration, City of Baton Rouge, Louisi-ana Department of Insurance, Black Chamber and Louisiana Economic Development will be in attendance.

Topics to be discussed during the workshop will in-clude writing a business plan, sources of funds for start-up and expansion, small busi-ness resources, and required licenses.

This workshop is highly

recommended for all individu-als interested in determining the feasibility of business ideas, planning to start or have re-cently started a small business, seeking a small business loan, or wanting to learn more about business planning.

To register, call the SU’s LSBDC at, 225.922.0998 or visit the LSBDC website at www.lsbdc.org.

The Louisiana Small Business Development Center at Southern University-Baton Rouge is a partnership program funded in part through a co-operative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administra-tion (SBA), Louisiana Economic Development and Southern University-Baton Rouge.

Please contact Edward Pratt, Southern University Di-rector of Media Relations, or LaKeeshia D. Giddens at (225) 771-4545 or (225) 771-2160 and by e-mailing to edward_pratt@subr.edu or lakeeshia_giddens@subr.edu.

SU to Hold “Small Business Education Series Kickoff”

NEW YORK - Applica-tions for home mortgages surged more than 20 percent last week, fueled by a wave of refinancing demand as inter-est rates dropped, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, jumped 23.1 percent in the week ended January 13.

The MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications climbed 26.4 per-cent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases rose 10.3 percent.

“With mortgage rates

reaching new lows, refinance volume jumped,” Michael Fra-tantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, said in a statement. “Purchase activity also increased as buy-ers returned to the market after the holiday season.”

The refinance share of total mortgage activity rose to 82.2 percent of applications from 80.8 percent the previous week, making it the highest refinance share since October 2010.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.06 percent, down 5 basis points from 4.11 percent.

The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail resi-dential

a foreclosed home is seen for sale in santa ana, California, may 24, 2011.

Mortgage Applications Surge on Refinancing Demand: MBA

SAN FRANCISCO —Yahoo Inc co-founder Jerry Yang has quit the company he started in 1995, appeasing shareholders who had blasted the Internet pioneer for pursuing an ineffective personal vision and impeding investment deals that could have transformed the struggling company.

Yang’s abrupt departure comes two weeks after Yahoo ap-pointed Scott Thompson its new CEO, with a mandate to return the once-leading Internet portal to the heights it enjoyed in the 1990s.

Wall Street views the exit of “Chief Yahoo” Yang as smoothing the way for a major infusion of cash from private equity, or a deal to sell off much of its 40 percent slice of China’s Alibaba, unlock-ing value for shareholders.

Shares of Yahoo gained 3 percent in after-hours trade.

“Everyone is going to assume this means a deal is more likely with the Asia counterparts,” Mac-quarie analyst Ben Schacter said. “The perception among share-holders was Jerry was more fo-cused on trying to rebuild Yahoo than necessarily on maximizing near-term shareholder value.

“It certainly seems things are coming to a head as far as realiz-ing the value of these assets.”

Yang, who is severing all for-mal ties with the company by re-signing all positions including his seat on the board of directors, has come under fire for his handling of company affairs dating back to an aborted sale to Microsoft in 2008.

Yang’s exit comes roughly a month before dissident sharehold-ers can nominate rival directors to Yahoo’s board.

The remaining nine members of Yahoo’s board, which includes Hewlett-Packard executive Vyo-mesh Joshi and private investor Gary Wilson, are all up for reelec-tion this year.

Yang’s departure could be part of a broader board shakeup, said Ryan Jacob, chairman and chief investment officer of Jacob Funds, which owns Yahoo shares.

“If they don’t move quickly on these things, they run the risk of a proxy battle and they are doing everything they can to avoid that.”

The company did not say where Yang was headed or why

he had suddenly resigned. CEO Thompson offered few clues in a memo to employees obtained by Reuters following the announce-ment.

“I am grateful for the sup-port and warm welcome Jerry provided me in my early days here. His insights and perspective were invaluable, helping me to dig deeper, more quickly than I could have on my own, into some of the key elements of the com-pany and how it operates.

Yang and co-founder David Filo, both of whom carried the official title “Chief Yahoo,” own sizable stakes in the company. Yang owns 3.69 percent of Ya-hoo’s outstanding shares, while Filo owns 6 percent as of April and May 2011.

CHIEF YAHOO NO LONGERIn a letter to Yahoo’s chair-

man of the board, Yang said he was leaving to pursue “other in-terests outside of Yahoo” and was “enthusiastic” about Thompson as the choice to helm the com-pany.

Yang, 43, is also resigning from the boards of Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group Holdings.

Respected in the industry as one of the founding figures of the Web, Yang has come under fire over the years from investors and to some extent within the com-pany’s internal ranks.

“Lots of people think he holds up innovation there with old ideas and (is) slow to decide and that he’s not an innovator himself for being at such a high level,” said one former Yahoo employee.

“People have very high ex-pectations for founders. Everyone wants a Steve Jobs,” the employee said, referring to Apple’s co-founder who brought the com-pany back from near death and transformed it into the world’s most valuable tech company.

Some analysts say the Yahoo board’s indecision stems in part from Yang’s sway in the company. Disillusioned by the company’s flip-flopping, they warn that the rest of the board remained much the same as the one that rejected Microsoft’s unsolicited takeover bid when Yang was CEO.

“Jerry Yang was certainly an impediment toward anything happening,” said Morningstar analyst Rick Summer. “This is a company that’s been mired by a bunch of competing interests going in different directions. It was never clear what this board’s direction has been.”

Microsoft’s bid was worth about $44 billion. Its share price was subsequently pummeled by the global financial crisis and its current market value stands at about $20 billion.

More recently, Yang and

Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock have incurred the wrath of some major Yahoo shareholders for their handling of the “strategic review” the company was pursuing, in which discussions have included the possibility of being sold, taken private or broken up.

Yang’s efforts to seek a mi-nority investment in Yahoo from private equity firms enraged sev-eral large shareholders, including hedge fund Third Point, which accused Yang of pursuing a deal that was in “his best personal interests” but not aligned with shareholders’ interests.

Yahoo has also been explor-ing a deal to unload most of its prized Asian assets in a complex deal involving Alibaba, valued at roughly $17 billion, sources told Reuters last month.

Alibaba Group’s founder, Jack Ma, whose personal relation-ship with Yang led to Yahoo buy-ing a 40 percent stake in Alibaba in 2005, said he looked forward to continuing a “constructive re-lationship” with Yahoo.

Susquehanna analyst Her-man Leung said: “I had thought that Jerry Yang was a lifer at Yahoo.

“Without him on the board, this could smooth a potential transaction. What that transac-tion is, is any of our guesses right now.”

Yahoo Co-founder Jerry Yang Resigns

Yahoo inc co-founder Jerry Yang.

in some ways can reveal more about life in the past than their academic counterparts.”

In addition to offering a distinguished expert lecture on Folk Art at the symposium, the Friends of Magnolia Mound Petite Antiques Forum tradition-ally provides a tour of a no-table house and its collections and antique furnishings. This year’s event offers attendees the opportunity to tour the Jaques Dupre House, home of Sis Hol-lensworth. The house stood for generations near Opelousas until it was purchased by Ms. Hollen-sworth and moved to its present location in a former soybean field near Jarreau in Point Coupee Par-ish. She restored and furnished the house with passion. The house is furnished with many Louisiana-made pieces, includ-ing items from her birthplace in Arkansas. Some of her furnish-

ings are featured in the recently published book, Furnishing Louisiana, Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735-1835. The house is also featured on the cover of the Creole Houses, Traditional Homes of Old Louisiana.

Karen Zobrist, Winnie Byrd and Patricia Comeaux are chair-ing the event. The cost per person is $75 for the day which includes the lecture and a luncheon at the Old State Capitol and a tour of the Jaques Dupree House in Point Coupee Parish. Refreshments will also be served before the lec-ture. Free parking in downtown Baton Rouge and shuttle busses from the parking lot to the Old State Capitol and back will be available for all attending.

Please contact Patricia Comeaux, the Executive Direc-tor, Friends of Magnolia Mound 225-771-8396 or 225-272-5487 for more information.

Tour from page 3

Ellerson TransportationFriends and Family Visitation• Angola• DixonCorrectional• HuntsCorrectionalPick-up Location:Piggly Wiggly at 5963 Plank

Road next to the Dollar General Store

Pick-up Time: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.Rates: Adults - $30.00 Children: under 12 - $15.00

CALL: 225-615-2500 FoR moRE inFoRmATion

Page 6 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, January 19, 2012

Religion

Call Walter for Details TODAY! 225.775.2002. Ask about internet radio broadcast specials.

The Baton Rouge Weekly Press Church Directory is a great place to let the com-munity know about your church!

Bishop Ivory J. Payne

ChurCh DireCtory

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. - Hebrews 10:25

By Rev. James L. snydeR Forgive me if I have said this before, but, “Happy New

Year.” It may be the epitome of redundancy but I have given this greeting for 60 years and I mean it as sincerely this year as I have all the years preceding.

The first few years of my life, I had no teeth and so all I could say was “Goo-goo, daa-daa.” It meant the same thing. This year I have all of my teeth but I am not certain how many more years.

The way we start life is the way we usually end life, with no teeth and drooling all the time with a silly grin on our face.

Why is it so cute to have a toothless drool at three months but rather disgusting when you are 93 years old?

We all start life-wearing diapers and if we live long enough we will end our life wearing the same apparatus. I guess it all depends upon what we do between the two events.

I suppose I could be guilty of not learning as much as I could at my age, but one thing I have learned and that is the good things in life are always repeated. Sure, there are some things that we do once in a lifetime and cherish their memories, but the good things in life are those things we continually repeat.

I would wager that in this New Year there would be relatively few, if any, new things. The past year was supposed to carry with it a lot of brand-new things. Most things were those repeated ad nausea for many years.

This year is an election year. Of course, the purpose of this year is to elect a new president. Every four years we elect a “new” president and I have participated in many presiden-tial elections. At least, I went to the voting booth and voted. In all those years of electing a “new” president it has usually worked out that the new presi-dent was remarkably quite like

Here We Go Again; the Art of Redundancy

See Redundancy, on page 7

By Latania andeRson Philip-

pians 1:20 says, “Ac-cording to my earnest expectation a n d m y hope, that in nothing I shall be a s h a m e d , but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death”. (KJV)

What is your earnest expecta-tion? What are you expecting the Lord to do for you today? Have you been praying for a new job, new car, new home or a spouse? Whatever it is you’re believing the Lord for, you must be expect-ing it to come to pass each and everyday. For we don’t know when the Lord is going to bless us with the things we have been praying for, but, when we pray, we must have faith and believe that we receive what we are pray-ing for and have an expectation that it will come to pass each and everyday. No matter how it may seem, EVERYDAY you should be patiently waiting for your prayers to be answered. Your faith in God mixed with hope and believing will bring your prayers into mani-festation. So, BE BOLD, BE NOT ASHAMED of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and live a life

Everyday is a Day of Expectation

LataniaAnderson

See expectation, on page 7

By Bishop ivoRy J. payne

BATON ROUGE, LA – The H. B. Williams Tower of Strength 950 Blount Road was the setting for a Spiritual filled service hosted by The Holy Trinity Baptist Fel-lowship under the leadership of Bishop Harris Hayes.

Ordained were four pas-tors to the office of Bishop: Rev-erend Ivory J. Payne; Reverend Curtis L Shephard, Sr.; Reverend George Veal, and Reverend Leon Figgins.

These men of God stated by their leader and presiding Bishop Harris Hayes has shown evidence of their calling and qualifications for the ministry. And having been examined under the provisions as set by the Holy Bible and within church policies ordain by love for the Sacred work of a Bishop. And in conformation of his commitment to serve Jesus and the church the pastors were ordained as bish-ops. It was competed by lying on of the Hands and with Holy

prayers by the entire:Bishop Ivory J. Payne is

founder and pastor of New Birth Full Gospel Ministries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana;

Bishop Curtis L. Shephard is pastor of New Philadelphia Full Gospel Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana;

Bishop George Veal is pastor of Mt. Calvary and Richmond Baptist Church in Louisiana. and Bishop Leon Figgins is pastor of Plymouth Rock Baptist Church in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Holy Trinity Baptist Fellowship Association Holds Ordination, Consecration Service

Bishop ordination: Bishop Ivory J. Payne Bishop Curtis L. Shepherd, Sr., Bishop George Veal, and Bishop Leon Figgins.

Thursday, January 19, 2012 • The Weekly Press • Page 7

health

version of the Poor People’s Campaign. I think he’d be stand-ing outside some of the banks, asking why they deserve the bailouts that ordinary people can’t get. Just as he occupied a housing project in Chicago, I bet he’d camp out with a family ex-periencing foreclosure. I know he’d be challenging us all.

There have been significant changes since Dr. King was as-sassinated in 1968, and the signs don’t say white or colored any more. The signs don’t have to say it – in some instances out-comes do. In other words, there are no signs on dollars that say white or colored, but African American people have pennies to the dollars of wealth that whites hold. There are no signs that say white or colored on ex-ecutive employment, but you can count the African American CEOs in Fortune five hundred

companies on one, or on a good day, maybe two hands. The signs don’t say segregation, but too many still experience it, and while few in polite company use racist expletives to describe people of African descent in this country, when a talk show host and a Congressman have the utter temerity to describe the First Lady’s body in disparag-ing terms, it takes me back two centuries, to echoes of the Hot-tentot Venus, Sarah Bartjee.

The dream is certainly a work in progress, but the dream won’t work unless we do. We cannot afford to be smug, glib, or complacent. The UFE report suggests that if we don’t act now, it will get worse later.

Julianne Malveaux is Presi-dent of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Dream from page 4

claim they are meant to prevent widespread fraud – the casting of ballots by people who are not legally eligible to vote. But both the Bush and Obama Jus-tice Departments have looked and not found significant voter fraud in American elections. So let’s be clear – the real reason behind this spate of new laws is to suppress the votes of people likely to support progressive candidates and issues – Afri-can Americans, Latinos, young people, the elderly and people with disabilities. This is uncon-scionable. It is un-American. And it dishonors the sacrifices of generations of Americans who have fought and died to extend the right to vote to every citizen.

Fortunately, a growing number of Americans are fight-ing back. On December 10th, the National Urban League joined the NAACP and a coali-tion of civil rights groups at a “Stand for Freedom” march and rally at the United Nations to protest this blatant attack on voting rights. Attorney General Eric Holder has also expressed concern about the

legality of some of these new laws. Recently, the Justice De-partment struck down a voter ID law in South Carolina and Holder promises to continue to monitor these attempts and stop them when they violate the law. But beating back these efforts will require citizen vigi-lance and action.

In a recent speech at the LBJ Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, Holder urged Americans to “Speak out. Raise awareness about what’s at stake. Call on our political parties to resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hope of attaining electoral success and… urge policymak-ers at every level to reevalu-ate our election systems – and to reform them in ways that encourage, not limit, partici-pation.”

We agree. We must not let the hard-won voting rights se-cured by Dr. King, John Lewis, LBJ and so many others slip away.

Marc H. Morial is President and CEO of the National Urban League

attack from page 4

from the past”. It can work in a limited way to replace oil but it comes at a very expensive price. It is imprudent to go down the same road that Dr. George Washington Carver and Henry Ford journeyed more than a hundred years ago. They showed us that it doesn’t work and nothing has changed. En-ergy efficiency will come as

experimentation and research continues. There is no need to fake it as such folly can bring economic harm to all of us.

Mr. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc(r). Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email: halford@nationalbcc.org

Work from page 4

Health insurance premium increases in five states have been deemed “unreasonable” by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today.

After independent expert review, HHS determined that Trustmark Life Insurance Com-pany has proposed unreasonable health insurance premium in-creases in five states—Alabama, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wyoming. The excessive rate hikes would affect nearly 10,000 residents across these five states.

To make these determina-tions, HHS used its “rate review” authority from the Affordable Care Act (the health care law of 2010) to determine whether premium increases of over 10 percent are reasonable.

“Before the Affordable Care Act, consumers were in the dark about their health in-surance premiums because there was no nationwide transparency or accountability,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Now, insur-ance companies are required to disclose rate increases over 10

percent and justify these in-creases. It’s time for Trustmark to immediately rescind the rates, issue refunds to consumers or publicly explain their refusal to do so.”

In these five states, Trust-mark has raised rates by 13 percent. For small businesses in Alabama and Arizona, when combined with other rate hikes made over the last 12 months, rates have increased by 27.2 percent and 18.1 percent, re-spectively. Independent experts to determine whether they are reasonable reviewed these in-creases. In this case, HHS de-termined that the rate increases were unreasonable because the insurer would be spending a low percent of premium dollars on actual medical care and quality improvements, and because the justifications were based on un-reasonable assumptions.

In addition to the review of rate increases, many states have the authority to reject unreason-able premium increases. Since the passage of the health care reform law, the number of states with this authority increased from 30 to 37, with several states extend-

ing existing “prior authority” to new markets.

Examples of how states have used this authority include:

• In New Mexico, the state insurance division denied a re-quest from Presbyterian Health-care for a 9.7 percent rate hikes, lowering it to 4.7 percent;

• In Connecticut, the state stopped Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state’s largest insurer, from hiking rates by a proposed 12.9 percent, instead limiting it to a 3.9 percent increase;

• In Oregon, the state de-nied a proposed 22.1 percent rate hike by Regence, limiting it to 12.8 percent.

• In New York, the state denied rate increases from Em-blem, Oxford, and Aetna that averaged 12.7 percent, instead holding them to an 8.2 percent increase.

• In Rhode Island, the state denied rate hikes from United Healthcare of New England ranging from 18 to 20.1 percent, instead seeing them cut to 9.6 to 10.6 percent.

• In Pennsylvania, the state held Highmark to rate hikes rang-ing from 4.9 to 8.3 percent, down

from 9.9 percent. Today’s announcement

comes the same week that a report showed that health care spending has grown at remark-ably low rates. According to an analysis done each year by the Centers for Medicare & Med-icaid Services, U.S. health care spending experienced historically low rates of growth in 2009 and 2010. A recent study released by Mercer Consulting also showed a slow-down in the average em-ployee health benefit cost to busi-nesses.

The Affordable Care Act includes several policies, in-cluding rate review, to continue this slow growth. By fighting fraud, better coordinating care, preventing disease and illness before they happen and creat-ing a new state-based insurance marketplace, it helps keep health care cost growth low.

For more information on the specific determinations made today, please visit http://com-panyprofiles.healthcare.gov/

For general information about rate review, visit: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/fea-tures/costs/rate-review/

Affordable Care Act Holding Insurers Accountable For Premium Hikes

the old president. Some political pundits

make a great deal between a Republican and a Democrat. It may be my age, but it seems to me that most Democrats are Republicans in disguise and most Republicans are Democrats in disguise. If I was backed up against a wall with a firing squad in front of me and asked to tell the differ-ence between a Democrat and a Republican, the only thing I could come up with would be the spelling.

A Republ ican when elected will always act like a Democrat and a Democrat when elected will usually act like a Republican. Then they wonder why the voting public is confused.

As far as I am concerned, a rattlesnake wearing a rab-bit outfit does not change its nature. It still has poisonous fangs looking for some human flesh.

What has not changed is the fact that a politician run-ning for office will say any-thing to get elected and then once elected will develop an acute sense of amnesia, which is not that cute.

Whenever I hear poli-

that is pleasing to him. What-ever you are praying for, HAVE FAITH, BELIEVE and EXPECT it each and everyday and it shall come to pass.

NOW THAT’S SOME-THING TO SHOUT ABOUT! AMEN!!

expectation from page 6

Could this be the flu season that wasn’t?

After the H1N1-linked drama of prior years, the low number of cases of influenza currently cir-culating in the United States is reassuring, experts said.

But that doesn’t mean the virus couldn’t still become the wily foe it so often is, they added.

“If you look at the nation as a whole, we are seeing low ac-tivity across the country,” said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention in Atlanta. He stressed, however, that flu season generally peaks in the first couple of months of the year.

“As we move to February, we expect that activity will increase,” Skinner added.

Health-care providers across the country echoed those find-ings.

On the East Coast, all has been relatively quiet. “The activity is pretty low here,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

And out West, the same situation holds true. “Certainly

in the Southwest, it doesn’t seem that activity has been high,” said Angela Golden, president-elect of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. “Even in the urgent care [setting] we’re not seeing a whole lot.”

But Golden, who is based in northern Arizona, added that the season may simply be kicking into gear a little later than usual.

According to the CDC, by the end of the first week of Janu-ary there was a slight uptick in flu activity, but it was still was considered low. Flu incidence was deemed “minimal” across 48 states, and while Colorado and New Hampshire showed slightly higher rates of illness than other states, it wasn’t much more, CDC tracking data indicated.

One barometer of flu activity, the percentage of visits to hospi-tals or doctors’ offices linked to influenza, also suggests a mild season so far. For example, just 1.4 percent of outpatient visits dur-ing the week ending Jan. 7 were for flu, the CDC said, compared to a seasonal average (over the past three years) of 2.4 percent. And just one in every 200,000

people had flu so severe that it required hospitalization, the CDC added.

The best news of all may come from statistics regarding children, who are particularly vulnerable to the flu. According to the CDC, no children in the United States have died from the flu so far, compared to the

four pediatric flu-linked deaths that had already been reported by Jan. 1, 2011.

Still, experts stressed that the influenza virus’s behavior is notoriously unpredictable, so current activity can’t be relied on to predict the rest of the season. Still, there are some encourag-ing signs.

Flu Season Off to Slow Start, So Far

Thursday, March 6, 2008 • The Weekly Press • Page 7

health

Land Line (225) 356-0703Cell Phone (225) 235-6955E-mail: Goodshepherdbapt@bellsouth.net Hours: Mon-Thurs 8am – 8 pm

Good Shepherd Substance Abuse CenterIntensive Outpatient / Inpatient TherapyFor Drugs, Alcohol, Anger Management

Rev. Donald Britton, MA, LAC Clinical DirectorBishop Harris Hayes, Overseer

2873 Mission Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70805 (225) 315-0740

GSRASAC

Indications For Treatment: • Low Back Pain• Pinched Nerves• Pain in Legs• Numbness• Burning Sensation• Muscle Spasms• Nervousness• Arthritis Pains• Scoliosis• Sleepiness• Disc Syndrome

WooDDALe ChiroPrACtiC CLiNiC

6233 harry Drive, Suite C • Baton rouge, Louisiana 70806

(225) 201-0210

Health Care For The Entire Family

office hours: 9:00 a.m. — 12:00 noon 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Monday – Friday

Dr Paul Matthews

Visit Us Online @www.theweeklypress.com

cally pointed out that changes which occur in a human being is redirected to pull from the core of his own humanity to reaffirm self worth and purpose. he will then by nature acquire the will to do for himself and others.

Space is not available to cover concerns of so many people

concerned with the conditions at Jetson. it is happening there. What i do know is that most of these youth can be changed, from contrition in a prepatory school for Angola to rehabilitation for a positive life that may lead to a life of meritorious glory. That is the Way I See It!

SyStem from page 4

all funny or remotely appropri-ate about the use of a lynching reference about Michelle obama,’’ he said. ‘’it’s - i’m speechless.’’

As President Bush pointed out so eloquently during the Black history Month event, the noose represents ‘’more than a tool of murder but a tool of intimidation’’ to generations of African-Ameri-cans. Nooses not only robbed some of their lives but many of their peace of mind.

‘’As a civil society, we must understand that noose displays and lynching jokes are deeply offensive. they are wrong. And they have no place in America today,’’ he said.

Neither o’reilly nor ingraham has been reprimanded by their re-spective employers even though the Fox News personality did offer a half-hearted apology.

At least ingraham didn’t drop the l-word but her suggestion that Sharpton, a former presidential candidate and respected member of the African-American community and beyond, is a petty thief reeks of race-baiting and negative ste-reotyping of African-Americans and black men in particular.

But it’s hardly the first time ei-ther has ventured into questionable and offensive territory. how can

we forget o’reilly’s less-than-informed comments regarding a dinner he shared last year with Sharpton at Sylvia’s in harlem? o’reilly expressed surprise over how similarSylvia’s was to other restaurants in New York restau-rants.

‘’there wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, i want more iced tea,’’’ he said.

As the Washington Post’s rob-inson sadly observed on MSNBC in February, ‘’All you can go by is his words and his actions. And he keeps saying these things that sound pretty darn racist to me.’’

has talk radio learned anything from imus’ decline and fall? of course not, because it didn’t take imus too terribly long to get a new gig.

our nation’s media outlets should not provide a platform for racialhostility and hateful speech now or in the future. What kind of messageare we sending to our chil-dren, our nation and our world?

in such an historic election year, we cannot stand aside and allow individuals to use the airwaves as an outlet for insensitive and misguidedcommentary. if you hear something that offends you, speak up.

talk Radio from page 4

ering all children.the CDF Action Council, build-

ing on the best practices in states and lessons learned about children falling through the bureaucratic cracks of Medicaid and SChiP, strongly urged Congress to enact the All healthy Children Act, S. 1564/h.r. 1688, introduced by representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) in the house and Senator Bernie Sanders (i-Vt) in the Sen-ate. the measure would provide comprehensive benefits including dental and mental health, simpli-fied bureaucracy, and a national eligibility plan for families up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. We thank the 62 house co-sponsors for their support. how-ever, we regret that neither a single house republican nor any other Senator joined them to push for coverage for all children.

the CDF Action Council strongly supports long overdue health cov-erage for everyone in America as soon as possible—because children cannot wait. As SChiP comes up again for reauthorization in early 2009, we hope every Member of Congress will insist on covering every child and pregnant mother now by enacting and adequately funding the provisions of the All healthy Children Act.

Specious claims that we could not find the money—$70 billion over five years—to cover all children is belied by that amount spent in eleven months for tax cuts for the top one percent of richest Americans and in seven months for the iraq War. We do not have a money problem in America: We have a priorities and political will deficit. it is time for all adults to protect the health of our children.

the citizens of the nation must demand that our leaders free our children from the false ideological and political tugs of war among those who put excess profits ahead of children’s lives.

how well did Congress protect children in 2007? Not well enough: 276 Members of Congress had good CDF Action Council Con-gressional Scorecard scores of 80 percent or higher, and 198 of those had stellar scores of 100 percent. But 231 members scored 60 percent or lower—a failing grade from our school days.

Whether Members of Congress are liberal, conservative or mod-erate; Democrat, republican or independent, children need all of them to vote, lobby, speak for and protect them. Adults need to listen carefully to what candidates say they will do for children and fami-lies and, once they are in office, we need to hold them accountable. Please thank your Members of Con-gress with scores of 80 percent or above and let those with scores of 60 percent or below know you are dissatisfied with their performance. And please convey that same mes-sage to each presidential candidate. We must demand that our leaders commit to children as a condition of our vote.

Marian Wright Edelman is Presi-dent of the Children’s Defense Fund and its Action Council whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

ChildRen from page 4

(NAPSM)-A survey commissioned by two leading health organizations found that although two out of three African Americans (61 percent) ex-pressed concern about developing heart disease and two out of five (40 percent) expressed concern about developing Alzheimer’s, only about one in 20 are aware that heart health is linked to brain health.

the Alzheimer’s Association is joining forces with the American heart Association to educate African Americans that by managing their cardiovascular risk, they may also strengthen their cognitive health.

“What’s good for your heart is good for your brain,” says Jennifer Manly, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Associa-tion spokesperson. “every healthy heartbeat pumps about one-fifth of your blood to your brain to carry on the daily processes of thinking, prob-lem solving and remembering.”

“By the year 2030, the number of African Americans age 65 or older is expected to more than double to 6.9 million,” said emil Matarese, M.D., American heart Association spokes-person. “Although Alzheimer’s is not part of normal aging, age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. So it is important that Af-rican Americans take steps now to decrease their risk of heart disease, which research has shown could also decrease the risk of cognitive decline.”

Did You Know?• Compared to the general public,

African Americans have a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and vascular dementia.

• More than 40 percent of African Americans have high blood pres-sure (hBP) and are at risk for stroke, which can lead to greater risk for developing Alzheimer’s or other vascular cognitive dementias.

• every year, more than 100,000 African Americans have a stroke.

• having high cholesterol increases the risk for stroke and may increase the risk for Alzheimer’s.

Manage Your Risks• Watch the numbers. remember

that desirable blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmhg. Keep your body weight in the recommended range and make sure that the total choles-terol is less than 200mg/dL.

• healthy lifestyle choices include staying mentally and physically ac-tive, staying socially involved, reduc-ing your intake of fat and cholesterol and not smoking.

Visit www.alz.org/heartbrain or call the American Stroke Associa-tion, a division of the American heart Association, at (888) 478-7653 or the Alzheimer’s Association at (800) 272-3900 and you’ll receive a bro-chure with heart and brain health information and a free pedometer, while supplies last.

What’s Good For Your Heart Is Good For Your Brain

Research shows a link between heart and brain health, which means impaired heart function could lead to impaired brain function.

apart. You must continue to hold on to your faith and stay before the Lord. But, it may be that the time has come when you may need to take some quality time for yourself and spend some of that time with God.

Get on your knees before God and tell him of how you are feel-ing inside. And maybe the words wont come out exactly as you wish but you can have a good weeping, wailing crying falling, out tantrum and give all those problems to him.

While you are praying, you might forget some of the things that vexed you but God knows what you are going through. he can read the pain, which flows through your tears. even though he knows what’s troubling you, he still wants to tell him about it and bring your problems and burdens to him.

therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hands of God, that he may exalt you in due time, “casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you,”(1st Peter 5:6-7).

After you finished having your tantrum. You may have a stopped up nose and swollen eyes and mucus running down your lip and dried tears on your face, but you’ll feel better after emptying yourself of those things which had been heavy on your heart.

Sometimes we go for weeks or months trying to take matters into our hands and try to solve our own problems. We are not super humans; we can’t handle every-thing alone. We need God’s help. We have to let go of those situ-ations and let God handle them. there are some things we can’t humanly do anything about.

tantRum from page 6

(NAPSi)-here’s an alert worth paying attention to: According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), learning your risk for type 2 diabetes could save your life.

Diabetes is a serious disease that strikes nearly 21 million children and adults in the U.S. it is named the “silent killer” because one-third of those with the disease--more than 6 million--do not know they have it.

For many, diagnosis may come seven to 10 years after the onset of type 2 diabetes. early diagnosis is critical for successful treatment and can delay or prevent some of the complications such as heart diseases, blindness, kidney disease, stroke and amputation.

that’s one reason the ADA holds the American Diabetes Alert® Day, a one-day wake-up call to inform the American public about the serious-

ness of diabetes, particularly when it is left undiagnosed and untreated. the day is held on the fourth tuesday of every March.

on that day, people are encour-aged to take the Diabetes risk test, either with paper and pencil or online. the risk test requires users to answer seven simple questions about age, weight, lifestyle and family history--all potential risk factors for diabetes. People scoring 10 points or more are at a high risk for type 2 diabetes and are encouraged to talk with a health care professional.

An estimated 54 million Ameri-cans have pre-diabetes. those with pre-diabetes have blood glucose lev-els higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

early intervention via lifestyle changes such as weight loss and

increased physical activity can help delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Among the primary risk factors for type 2 diabetes are being over-weight, sedentary, over the age of 45 and having a family history of diabetes. African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific islanders are at an increased risk, as are women who have babies weighing more than 9 pounds at birth.

the Diabetes risk test is avail-

able in english and Spanish by call-ing the ADA at 1-800-DiABeteS (1-800-342-2383) or online at www.diabetes.org/alert.

though the Alert is a one-day call to action, awareness about type 2 diabetes is important anytime of the year, so free Diabetes risk tests are available online and by calling ADA all year long.

A free Diabetes risk test is avail-able all year long to determine the risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Could You Be At Risk?

Free Cancer ScreeningsNo appointment required for most screenings.

If you do not have a doctor and have not been screened in the last 12 months, these cancer screenings are available to you for free.

Presented as part of the comprehensive Cancer Program

of Our Lady of the Lake and Mary Bird Perkins. Screenings

made possible by donor gifts.

(225) 215-1234 (888) 616-4687

Breast Cancer ScreeningTuesday, March 1110am – 12pm & 1pm – 4pm

LSUHSC Mid City Clinic1401 N. Foster DriveBaton Rouge

Colorectal Cancer ScreeningThursday, March 1310am –2pm

Wal-Mart2171 O’Neal LaneBaton Rouge

Breast Cancer ScreeningTuesday, March 185pm – 7pm (Appt required)

Woman’s Hospital9050 Airline HighwayBaton Rouge

Prostate and ColorectalCancer ScreeningsWednesday, March 2610am –2pm

Ed Price Building Materials7835 Airline HighwayBaton Rouge

In Partnership With:

Our Lady of the LakeWoman’s HospitalYWCA Encore Plus

LSU Hospitals Health Care Services Division

Breast Cancer ScreeningFriday, March 1410am – 12pm & 1pm – 4pm

Leo S. Butler Community Center950 E. Washington StreetBaton Rouge

Colorectal Cancer ScreeningMonday, March 1710am –2pm

Brusly Town Hall601 S. Vaughan StreetBrusly

Have You Been Screened?BORDELON’S

SupER SavE, iNc.

Discount Prices • Hay Fever suPPlies • GreetinG carDs

Full line PHarmacy • counselinG • FaxesBlooD Pressure monitorinG • coPies • PerFumes

“We accept all Medicare part d plans”

6920 Plank road • Baton rouge 70811 • (225)-356-0253Bordelon’s pharMacy hours:

monday-Friday: 8:30a.m. to 8:00p.m. • saturday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. • sunday 9:00 a.m. to 1”00 p.m.

4 Pharmacist On Duty

We carry Both name Brands & Generics Drug

better prices! better savings!

serving the Baton rouge community for over 30 years

ticians say that when they are elected they are going to change things I know I am either listening to a fool or someone who is trying to fool me. Hundreds of politi-cians have run on the plat-form of changing Washington DC. Well, how has that been working?

The coming presidential election will be the same as every other one in the history of the United States.

In spite of that, there are a few things I am glad will not change.

The things that are re-ally important in life are those things that do not change.

For instance, I am glad the sun comes up every morn-ing. Even though every day is a new day, the same sun starts the day with its rising.

reDunDancy from page 6

Page 8 • The Weekly Press • Thursday, January 19, 2012

sports

Custom Drapery•Roman Shades

•Upholstered Headboards •Slip Covers •Cushions

•Bedding •Pillows •Fabrics• 30%off fabric in January

25 years Experience We come to your location.Call Charlotte Harris to schedule your consultation

225-936-8649

© 2012 Regions Bank. *NO PURCHASE OR BANKING RELATIONSHIP REQUIRED. PURCHASE OR BANKING RELATIONSHIP WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. The 2012 Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Essay Contest (the “Contest”) begins on 01/15/12 and ends on 02/29/12 at 11:59:59 PM Central Time (the “Contest Period”). The Contest is open only to legal U.S. residents of AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MS, MO, NC, SC, TN, TX, and VA (the “Eligible States”) who at the time of entry:

(a) are 13 years of age or older; (b) are enrolled in 12th grade in a public or private school (or home school) located in one of the Eligible States (and have not yet graduated 12th grade); (c) have (and maintain through graduation) a minimum 2.0 grade point average in school; and (d) plan to attend an accredited college or university in the Fall of 2012. To enter, Contestants must submit a completed Official Entry Form, a current high school transcript, and a 500-word essay that addresses how an African American individual (living or deceased) has been an inspiration in the Contestant’s life. Please visit www.regions.com/ridingforward for Official Entry Form, entry/essay requirements, full Contest details, and Official Rules. Twenty-five (25) Contest Prizes will be awarded. Contest Prize consists of a check in the amount of $5,000 made out to winner’s college/university (ARV: $5,000). Sponsor/Operator: Regions Bank, 1900 5th Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203. Regions salutes Rev. Shuttlesworth and is pleased to have been able to contribute to his Foundation. Rev. Shuttlesworth’s name and image are used with permission of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth Foundation.

HIS EFFORTS CONTINUE TOMOVE US FORWARD TODAY.He fought for justice with courage and integrity. He stood by his policy of nonviolent resistance

through the most dire times. And he devoted himself – body and soul – to end racial oppression.

Regions salutes Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a man whose dedication to equality for all continues to

inspire us, humble us and move us forward today.

In honor of Black History Month, Regions is proud to offerthe Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Essay Contest.*

Twenty-five $5,000 scholarships will be awarded to high school seniors in Regions’ banking areas

who will attend college this year. To enter, write a 500-word essay about an African American, past or

present, who has inspired you. For more details and to enter, visit regions.com/ridingforward.

11RB-0032-FS size revised - 1/6/12Baton Rouge Weekly Press News

6.4” x 10”RUNS: 1/19/2012

SAN FRANCISCO - Drew Brees overcame five New Orleans turnovers and a 17-point deficit to put the Saints on the brink of their first road playoff victory in franchise history.

He could only watch as Alex Smith and the San Francisco 49ers stole it away in the closing sec-onds, ending the Saints’ chances at another Super Bowl run.

Brees capped his record-setting season by throwing for 462 yards and four touchdowns, throwing two go-ahead strikes in the final 5 minutes only to see the 49ers rally for a 36-32 playoff victory Saturday.

“It stings right now because

of the expectation level that we had coming into this tournament and understanding that if we win here we’re into the NFC champi-onship game and anything can happen,” Brees said. “That’s tough. Tough to swallow at this point.”

Brees threw a 44-yard touch-down pass to Darren Sproles to give the Saints (14-4) their first lead of the game with 4:02 to play. He then answered Smith’s 28-yard touchdown run with a 66-yard scoring pass to Jimmy Graham with 1:37 to go that had New Orleans close to victory.

But the defense failed to close it out, allowing the 14-yard game-

winner from Smith to Vernon Davis with just 9 seconds to go for San Francisco (14-3).

“There is a finality to the playoffs,” Brees said. “You go from thinking of the NFC cham-pionship to all of a sudden you’re going home and there’s no more football until next year.”

All those passing records Brees set turned out to mean noth-ing. Brees shattered Dan Marino’s 27-year-old mark of 5,084 yards passing by throwing for 5,476. He had 468 completions this season, breaking Peyton Manning’s 2010 mark of 450. He finished the sea-son completing 71.6 percent of his passes, breaking his own 2009

Saints Get Knocked Out By 49ers, 36-32

NFL record of a 70.6 completion percentage.

He followed that up with 466 yards passing in a first-round win over Detroit and then a record-setting 40 completions in a losing cause against the 49ers. Brees has had the top two regulation play-off games in NFL history the past two games.

“They ended up making one more play than we did tonight,” coach Sean Payton said. “I was proud of how we fought. I was proud of our guys despite some of the early adversary - the turn-overs.”

The Saints committed four first-half turnovers starting with running back Pierre Thomas get-ting knocked out by Donte Whit-ner on a hard hit near the goal line before fumbling on the opening drive. Brees then threw a pair of uncharacteristic interceptions, the first ending a record streak of 226 straight postseason passes without one.

Courtney Roby then lost a fumble on a kickoff to set up one of David Akers’ three field goals. Sproles fumbled on a punt in the third quarter to set up another field goal, but even with all of that, the Saints were in position to win.

Sproles took a short pass from Brees and sprinted down the field for his score that made it 24-23. But the oft-maligned Smith, whom most 49ers fans did not want back in San Francisco this season, de-livered in the clutch.

He fooled the Saints on his 28-yard touchdown run around left end to put San Francisco back ahead. But Brees answered quickly, threading a perfect pass to Graham that beat Patrick Wil-lis and Whitner to put the Saints ahead 32-29 on a 2-point con-version with thoughts of going to a third NFC title game in six seasons.

“I think we got too excited,” Sproles said. “We didn’t think they could score like that, but they did. They proved I was wrong.”

Smith completed five passes for 85 yards, mixing a couple of dumpoffs to Frank Gore with a pretty 47-yarder to Davis down the left sideline. Then with the Saints needing just one more stop to force the 49ers into a game-ty-ing field goal attempt, Davis got inside of safety Roman Harper for the game-winner, absorbing a hard hit from the safety to make the catch in the opposite end zone from where Dwight Clark made

“The Catch” 30 years ago to start the 49ers dynasty.

The Saints did not play soft coverage to protect the late lead with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams still calling up blitzes until the end. New Orleans got burned when Davis

“That is not our style of de-fense,” safety Malcolm Jones said. “We don’t play prevent, we have never played it, and nothing is new. Nothing has changed so we live by the blitz and we die by the blitz.”

And the 49ers live to play another game. San Francisco tri-umphed in its first playoff game in nine years and will move on to face the New York Giants or defending champion Green Bay Packers, who play Sunday. A win by the Giants would give the 49ers the home field.

Davis, who wept on the side-line afterward days after saying he was overwhelmed early by Har-baugh’s thick playbook, finished with seven catches for 180 yards. It was the most yards receiving by

a tight end in a playoff game.Smith went 24 for 42 for

299 yards with three TD passes and the touchdown run. He also helped the Niners become the first team in NFL history to score two lead-changing touchdowns in the final 3 minutes to win a playoff game, according to STATS LLC.

“Guys were so confident, as long as we had time we had a shot,” Smith said.

Notes: Sproles had a playoff-record 15 catches for 119 yards. ... The Saints had lost five fumbles all season, and then gave three away against San Francisco. ... Brees finished the regular season and playoffs with 6,404 yards passing, surpassing Marino’s 6,085 on the way to the Super Bowl in the 1984 season. ... The Saints converted an NFL-record 56.7 percent of their third downs in the regular season but just 5 of 14 this game.

Copyright 2012 The Associ-ated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be pub-lished, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BATON ROUGE - Justin Hamilton made two field goals in overtime, including the go-ahead basket, to lead LSU to a 65-58 victory against Auburn in a Southeastern Conference game Tuesday.

Hamilton’s first came almost two minutes into the extra period, putting LSU ahead 58-56. Neither team scored again until Andre Stringer ’s 3-pointer with 1:22 left gave LSU a 61-56 advantage.

Rob Chubb then scored Auburn’s only points in over-time with a field goal.

On LSU’s next posses-sion, Hamilton got loose for a layup. Then teammate An-thony Hickey completed the scoring with two foul shots with 3 seconds remaining. Auburn committed four turn-overs in overtime.

Hickey led LSU (12-6, 2-2) with 18 points, and Hamil-ton finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Ralston Turner added 11 points and Storm Warren 10 for LSU.

Frankie Sullivan paced Auburn (11-7, 1-3) with 19 points, while Chubb had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Hamilton Lifts LSU Past Auburn 65-58 In Overtime

LSU’s Men Basketball coach Trent Johnson.

ITTA BENA, Miss. - Cor-J Cox scored 23 points off the bench to lead Mississippi Valley State in a 77-56 rout of Southern University on Monday night.

Five Delta Devils (6-11, 5-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) scored in double figures as MVSU grabbed sole possession of first place in the conference. Paul Crosby added 18 points and 14 re-bounds, Kevin Burwell had 12 points and Falando Jones

and Terrence Joyner chipped in 11 each.

The Delta Devils led 37-30 at halftime and held the Jaguars (8-11, 4-2) to just 9 of 25 shooting (36%) in the second half.

MVSU made 44.1% of its shots (30 of 68), including 11 of 35 from 3-point range. Cox took 12 of those 3s, making four.

The Delta Devils scored 23 points off 21 turnovers and out rebounded Southern 42-32.

Derick Beltran led the Jag-uars with 15 points and Quinton Doggett and Mike Celestin added 11 each.

Mississippi Valley State beats Southern U. 77-56

Saint player Darren Sproles

Visit Us Online @www.theweeklypress.com