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Vol. 37 No. 6 Website: theaustinvillager.com Email: vil3202@aol.com Phone: 512-476-0082 Fax: 512-476-0179 July 10, 2009

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Austin, TexasPermit No. 01949

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The members ofEbenezer Baptist Church willhonor their Pastor, Dr.MarvinC. Griffin, on his 40Th Anni-versary. The theme is “A RubyCelebration: of the Life, Laborand Leadership of the Lord’sServant,” Scripture: Like 4: 18-19.

A banquet will beheld Saturday, July 11, 2009at the Crowne Plaza Hotel,6121 North IH 35 at Highway290, 6:00 P.M.

The guest speaker forthe 8:00 A.M. Worship Serviceon Sunday, July12, 2009 willbe Dr.Dennis Daniels, one ofDr.Griffin’s sons in the min-istry. He is presently Associ-ate Pastor at Christian FaithBaptist Church in Houston,Texas, Director of the Under-graduate Medical Academy atPrairie View A&M Universityand Professor at Texas A&M

Dr. Marvin C. Griffin tobe honored with 40THPastoral Observance

Health Science Center Collegeof Medicine. Dr.FrankPinkard, Pastor of the Ever-green Missionary BaptistChurch in Oakland, Califor-nia, will be the guest speakerfor the 11:00 A.M. Service. Acelebratory Meal in the Fam-ily Life Center will follow im-mediately after the 11:00 A.M.Service.

The community isinvited to come celebrate Pas-tor Griffin’s 40 years of dedi-cated servant leadership atEbenezer Baptist Church.Deacon Robert M. Organ isGeneral Chair and Co-Chairsare Deacon Louis A. and Sis-ter Betty J. Hudspeth andTrustee General G. and SisterLavon Marshall

For additional infor-mation you may call theChurch at 478-1875

Dr. Marvin C. Griffin

The O.L.C.A.A.A.stands for “The OriginalAnderson Alumni Associa-tion”. The name is synony-mous with saying, “OurRoots”.

This past weekAlumni of the OriginalAnderson High came from allover the United States to cel-ebrate, a gathering which oc-curs every three years. Eventsoccurred over a four day spanincluding: a Golf Tournament,banquet, Anderson HistoricExhibition and other activi-ties.

Mr. Joe Reed, who isthe organization “Chair”,had the brainstorm to estab-lish an Anderson Alumnigroup over twenty years ago,after visiting a friend’s

Anderson Alumni Celebrate 100Years of Laying a Foundation

of Excellence for African Americans

Alumni celebration in an-other state. Joe returned toAustin and in 1988 during areunion of his 1958 Class, hepresented the challenge tomembers to establish an “AllSchool Reunion Organiza-tion”. Joe and DorothyHunter became the foundersof the movement to get the jobdone.

Twenty years laterthe group has multiplied andstrengthened in purpose, andactivities; participating, andsupporting other charitablecauses, redefining their goals,and outcomes.

At this year’s cel-ebration Joe Reed wanted tomake a grand impression onOld Anderson Alumni mem-bers, by encouraging the or-ganizing of over 100 years ofhistorical artifacts including

original news articles, pho-tos, books and other items fora grand exhibition held atDoris Miller Auditorium onRosewood Ave. The exhibi-tion was underwritten by theCity of Austin; encouragedby Pat Moore, Director ofRosewood Park and Rec.,Center, who has been vital increating many programs toinspire young African Ameri-cans in East Austin. Researchand exhibition show wascarried out by Wax Track Gal-lery International Art / Hu-manities Org. an Austinbased 501 C-3 organizationwhich has been funded inpart by the City of Austin De-partment of Economic Devel-opment for 15 years, andTexas Commission on theArts.

See OLCAA page 6

The Austin Indepen-dent School District receivedformal notification from TexasEducation CommissionerRobert Scott that he is order-ing the closure of PearceMiddle School, effective withthe 2009-2010 school year.

The Texas EducationAgency (TEA) determinedthat Pearce Middle Schoolwould again be rated Aca-demically Unacceptable (AU),for the fifth consecutive year,and stressed that it has beenrated AU or low-performingfor eight out of the past 10years for which campus per-formance ratings have beenissued. The letter states:

“This pattern of con-tinuing low performance isnot acceptable and currentlyis unmatched by any othercampus in the state. I [Com-missioner Robert Scott] amtherefore ordering the closureof the Pearce Middle Schooleffective with the 2009-2010school year.”

“I am disappointedand respectfully disagreewith the TEA decision,” saidSuperintendent MeriaCarstarphen. “The Pearcecommunity has come to-gether to ensure that ourchildren know it’s importantto be strong academically,work hard, be persistent andachieve high standards.Their efforts resulted in sig-nificant and meaningful im-provement and I believe that

under the new law, Pearcecould have stayed open andcontinued on this acceleratedpath of improvement.”

AISD projects that whenTEA releases the final Ac-countability Ratings on July31, all student groups atPearce MS will meet the 2009state standards in reading,math, social studies, and writ-ing. For the “all studentgroup,” 72 percent passedreading, 64 percent passedmath, 71 percent passed so-cial studies, and 82 percentpassed writing. The one areawhere the school will not

meet the standard is science,with only 39 percent of theall students’ group meetingthe standard. In this area,Pearce was only two to fivepercentage points away frommeeting required improve-ment and being rated Aca-demically Acceptable. Recog-nizing the need in the area ofscience, the District preparedan academic improvementplan to address the instruc-tional deficits at Pearce.

In addition to meetingthe standards in all areas but

See Closing page 6

Education Commissioner ordersPearce Middle School Closed

Dr. Maria Carstarphen

Mikisa “Lamunda”Harvey is 14 years old and is theonly child of Charlisa Harvey.She currently attends KealingMagnet Middle School and hasbeen accepted into the LiberalArts and Science Academy lo-cated on the L.B.J High Schoolcampus.

Mikisa is an aspiringmusician and has attended theMt.Sinai School of Music for 6years. Mikisa hopes to be theminister of worship someday atone of the local churches. Mikisawon the title of Ms.Talent by per-

Little Miss Juneteenth for2009-2010

forming an anthem titled “I willgive thanks unto Thee” byRossini. She attends RehobothPrimitive Baptist Church whereher pastor is Elder RayHendricks. Mikisa participatesin the music ministry, Sundayschool, Angelic Praise choir andNew Spirit praise dancers.

In her spare time,Mikisa loves to design fashions,listen to music, surf the web anddesign hair styles. Her favoritefoods consist of iced animalcookies, pasta, enchiladas andhot corn.

Adrienne Rison-IsomContributing Reporter

OLCAAA Chair Joe Reid (far r) and Eleanor Davis Thompson (c) share a moment with unidenti-fied guest at the exhibit compiled by Wax Track Gallary. Photo by Adrienne Isom.

AISD blindsided by TEA

The Austin Indepen-dent School District(AISD) received formalnotice on Monday, July 6,that Pearce Middle Schoolwas ordered closed by theTexas Education Agency(TEA) Commissioner Rob-ert Scott, effective withthe 2009-2010 schoolyear.

This means that theschool will not be able toreopen under its presentsituation this fall. And thedistrict has 30 in which todetermine what to doabout the school.

Although this actionis legal and within thelaw, it is totally unreason-able. With a new Superin-tendent taking office justa week ago, this is a veryinsensitive action on thepart of the commissioner.Why couldn’t this letterhave been sent out at theend of the school year sothat the district wouldhave had the summer towork on plans for the up-coming year. However,there is nothing in the lawthat says that the statehas to make its determi-nation at any particulartime.

S u p e r i n t e n d e n tMaria Carstarphen saysthat she will have to moveto come up with a recom-mendation to the board. Inthe meantime she hascall a meeting in the com-munity for Wednesday,July 15 from 6:30 to 8:30p.m. at the school.Carstarphen says thatAISD projects that whenTEA releases the final Ac-countability Ratings onJuly 31, all student groupsat Pearce MS will meetthe 2009 state standardsin reading, math, socialstudies, and writing.They will still be a littleshort in science.

The Superintendentsays that her priority “isto stop perceived cycle offailure and uncertaintyfor students, families andstaff.” She commends thecommunity, parents,teachers and staff on allof the work that has beendone to bring Pearce intocompliance. They were soclose.

Commissioner Rob-ert Scott should take alook at the timing for thisdirective. It does not givethe district time to makethe necessary adjust-ments for the fall semes-ter. This causes a hard-ship on everyone con-cerned, but especially theparents and students whowill now have to makeplans to go to anotherschool.

EDITORIALS/COMMENTARYEditorial, Commentary or Letter to the Editor Fax to 512.476.0179 Email to vil3202@aol.com Mail to 1223-A Rosewood Avenue, 78702

Page 2/THE VILLAGER/July 10, 2009

Gary L. FlowersNNPA Columnist

Black Males Matterin Classrooms

“I think it is necessaryfor students to be exposed toa knowledge transfer systemthat is diverse in terms of thosewho are transferring theknowledge. And that diver-sity should look like the com-munity.” - Dr. AlvinThornton, provost, HowardUniversity Research revealsthat nearly 50 percent of Blackboys fail to complete highschool; score lower on stan-dardized tests; enrolled lessin advanced placementclasses; are suspended andexpelled more than theirWhite, Latino, and Asianclassmates. According to theUrban League’s State of BlackAmerica, Black 4th gradersperform at 87 percent of Whiteboys in the same grade. By the12th grade, Black male perfor-mance in 74 percent that ofWhites. Many believe, as doesthis writer, that the presence

(or lack thereof) of Black maleteachers matters monumen-tally. According to Dr.Jawanza Kunjufu, “Americahas designed a female teach-ing style.” He cites that 83percent of elementary schoolteachers are White females; 6percent are African-Ameri-can; and only 2 percent areBlack and male. In my nativecity of Richmond, Va. I wasthe beneficiary of Black maleteachers, counselors, princi-pals, and schoolsuperintendants. In fact, myfather and uncle were educa-tors. Yet, I am the exceptionrather than the rule relative toother African-Americanmales in the United States ofAmerica. Today, the percent-age of Black male teachers inVirginia is 2.6 percent, com-pared to 2 percent in SouthCarolina, and 9 percent inMaryland and Washington,DC, respectively. Such statis-tics are a vastly different toearlier points in history. Sincethe end of slavery in America,Black people have had a righ-teous reverence for education.In 1900, nearly all Black uni-versity graduates entered theteaching profession. Thetrend toward teaching contin-ued until 1954 when theBrown v. Board of EducationSupreme Court ruling was is-sued that helped to racially

desegregate many industriesbesides education. However,for African-Americans, as theadvent of professional oppor-tunities increasing, the num-ber of Black teachers de-creased, especially AfricanAmerican males. Across thecountry initiatives have beenlaunched to incentize Blackmales to teach. The Call MeMister program is gainingnational attention in the stateof South Carolina betweenClemson University and threeHistorically Black Collegesand Universities (HBCUs),Benedict University, ClaflinCollege, and Morris College.Across the nation, 15 othercolleges and universities areparticipating in Call Me Mis-ter. As President Obama hasfocused his policy attention toensuring that the UnitedStates will by the most liter-ate nation in the world thereis a lot that Congress and statelegislatures can do to in-crease the number of Blackmale teachers. Similar to theCall Me Mister program, law-makers should recruit futureteachers in high school, offerstudent loans at 1 percent, tiecollege scholarships toteacher education majors, andsignificantly increase teacherpay for secondary and collegeprofessors. American educa-tors should look like America.

By. Bill Fletcher Jr.NNPA Columnist

The ‘Other’ JulyIndependence Day

When July 4th camearound, the center of attentionfor most people was on cel-ebrating the July 4, 1776 Dec-laration of Independence. Nosurprise there. However, fora segment of African- Ameri-cans, there is actually anotherindependence day that israrely acknowledged outsideof southern New England: theindependence of the CapeVerde Islands that was pro-claimed July 5, 1975. From thelate 1600s through July 5,1975, the Cape Verde Islands(400 miles off the coast of WestAfrica) had been a colony ofPortugal. From these islandsemerged a population of Af-ricans, many of who weremixed with Portuguese, whomigrated to different parts ofEurope and North America.Many Cape Verdeans mi-grated to the USA in the 19thcentury, arriving as whalersand fisherman, settling insouthern New England. Re-lations between CapeVerdeans and other African-Americans were complicateduntil the 1960s due to histori-cal differences between thetwo populations. Whereasmost African- Americanscame involuntarily to the USAin the status of slaves, CapeVerdeans came voluntarily.Second, Cape Verdeans were

raised in the Portuguese co-lonial system that promotedthe illusion that the CapeVerdeans were Portuguese.Thus, the Cape Verdean mi-gration to the USA was the mi-gration of an African people,but an African people whocame voluntarily from a directEuropean colony. For mostAfrican-Americans, CapeVerdeans were simply otherBlack people (Afro-Ameri-cans, African- Americans)who had ‘different sounding’names. For many CapeVerdeans, at least until thetime of both the US CivilRights movement and theCape Verdean (and Guinea-Bissau) struggle for indepen-dence against Portugal, therewas little interest in identify-ing with the descendents ofslaves. Thus, even thoughthere were continuous over-laps in our populations (in-cluding intermarriages), therewere also independent iden-tities. The struggle for the in-dependence of Guinea-Bissauand the Cape Verde Islands(the military side of whichbegan in 1961 under the lead-ership of the African Party forthe Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde,whose principal leader wasthe near legendary AmilcarCabral) not only changed theconsciousness of the peoplein Guinea-Bissau and theCape Verde Islands, butchanged the consciousness ofmuch of the Cape Verdeanpopulation in the USA.It was in that struggle that thefight to affirm a progressiveAfrican identity unfolded.This struggle intersected withthe African American

struggle for human rights,whether in the form of CivilRights or Black Power.Cape Verdeans are an oftenoverlooked segment of theAfrican-American popula-tion, and as such we perpetu-ate the myth that African-Americans are some sort ofdemographic monolith.Rather, Cape Verdeans, muchlike West Indians beginningin the early 20th century,helped to shape and reshapewhat it meant to be African-American. As a result, theircontributions are often takenfor granted as a component of“Black America”, while theCape Verdean heritage is allbut ignored. So, for manynon-Cape Verdeans, the exist-ence of individuals such asthe renowned musicianHorace Silver; the R&B/popgroup Tavares; the late rap-per Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes; orbaseball player and managerDavey Lopes is not seen as aparticular contribution by apopulation which fused withother sections of what weknow as Black America overnearly two hundred years.They are too often seen as justother Black folks…with differ-ent sounding names.So, this independence day,think about the ‘other’ inde-pendence—that of CapeVerde. Take this as a momentto acknowledge a criticallyimportant struggle thathelped to shatter Portuguesecolonialism in Africa. Alsotake this as a moment to ac-knowledge the contributionsto “Black America” by onevery important part of ourdemographic spectrum: CapeVerdean-Americans.

Farrah GrayNNPA Columnist

Don’t Waste Life’s Time

Harry C. AlfordNNPA Columnist

It is interesting. I re-cently had an opportunity tomeet a gentleman who servedas ‘Chaplain’ for a cancertreatment ward of a major LosAngeles hospital. He told methat he provided spiritualcounsel to many people frommany different faith traditionsand from every economicstrata…filthy rich to filthypoor. After further talking, wefound each other interestingenough to sit down for a briefchat, which quickly turnedinto a most engaging conver-sation about ‘Life Economics’.As we talked, the chaplainlooked out of the window to-ward the Hollywood hills andreferred to the disease of can-cer as ‘the great common de-nominator’… bringing peoplewho live at the top of hill, andthose who live at the bottomof it together on one accord. Ithought that was an interest-ing observation and listenedon. The chaplain began un-bosoming a sermon citing thathe had made a profoundlygreat discovery about humanbeings. Being a perpetual stu-dent of life, I of course had toinquire. So, I did. The chap-lain then slowly took a deepbreath, relaxed his eyes,steadied his glare into mineand said…‘Farrah. We are allthe same at death’s doorway.’Okay, admittedly, I didn’timmediately think this to be a‘’great discovery’’. Howeverthere was something in theman’s eye that made me lis-ten deeper to what he was try-ing to say. ’’I ask one ques-tion of every patient I see,’’ hesays. ‘’How do you feel youhave spent your life’s time?And how do you feel youmight spend it differently ifyou are gifted with the oppor-tunity?’’ What a question.The chaplain continued.‘’Farrah. Not one of thesepeople that I have counseled

on their potential death bedshave ever once expressed tome that they wished they hadspent time making moremoney, or that they workedlonger hours, or that they hadspent more time in the office.Not one, Farrah. Not one. Yetin American life. That is allthat we do. We waste our life’stime. And the richer they are,the more filled with regrettheir face is.’’ He said no more,and just left it at that. Therewas nothing but loud silence.I then peered out of the win-dow onto the Hollywoodhills, again seeing all of theexpansive mansions in thedistance; home to many of therich and the famous that arecelebrated daily. Then Ithought of all the patients upand down the hospital’s hall-ways, and to let the curricu-lum of his lesson sink into myconsciousness. All of whichmade me focus with crystalclarity on the value and eco-nomics of Life-Time. It seemsto me that at the beginning oflife we are all (the poor andrich) given something similarto a trust-fund inheritance.Not an inheritance of moneybut something of greatervalue; an inheritance of time.And this life ‘time’ is like anaccount that we withdrawfrom until our time is done.But it is how we manage andinvest this account of timethat determines the quality ofeach segment of our lives. Andmy question to us is, ‘’Are wesure that we are managingthis account wisely, or justsimply spending this timehaphazardly in pursuit ofthings that have no real valueto us in the end?’’ I am abusinessperson like many.However, it is beneficial to usto remember that in our val-iant quest for success and theacquisition of outer wealth,we supposedly do this onlyto increase the quality of ourlives and the lives of our fami-lies. We say often that wewant financial freedom thatwe may spend more time withfamily members. But guesswhat? You are financially freeto do that ‘now’. Why? Be-cause it costs you no money.It only costs us a little of theundervalued currency thatwe spend most of our livesimproperly investing, until it

totally runs out. Our ‘time’.And today, as I reflect uponthe many millionaires that thechaplain told me he watcheddie alone and self-alienatedfrom their families, I wonderif they felt the ‘means’ justi-fied ‘the end’ of their lives. Iwonder if they felt as rich astheir money purported themto be. I earnestly remind us tospend the currency of ourlife’s time wisely. The outer-wealth can not be taken withyou. But the ‘Inner Wealth’will be the net-worth of yoursoul itself.

Winning the UnitedAir Lines Battle

I guess it was just my“calling”. Since my highschool days I could take onan issue, create a movementand lead people to changeand improvement. It’s notthat I particularly enjoyeddoing it. I just had the abilityand would flaunt it when-ever necessary. When it wasannounced that a $1 billiondollar construction job wascoming to the IndianapolisAirport via a new mainte-nance hub for United AirLines, I didn’t think much ofit. Cities around the nation getthese big projects that arefunded through local taxa-tion but Blacks will not get anyof the benefit. Jobs and con-tracts are the last thing we willsee. Oh, they say there will begreat opportunities repletewith good minority businessparticipation. It is usually justa lie. However, IndianapolisMayor Bill Hudnut was astrong advocate for diversity;especially with contracting. Inthe negotiations with theState and UAL he insisted on13 percent of all contracts andhiring go to the minority com-munity. They even had it

listed in the agreement.He was so proud. After all thepublic relations hoopla, I gota call from the city’s Eco-nomic Development Director.He wanted to have breakfastimmediately. When we met hedropped the bomb on me,“The Mayor, as you know, isleaving next month for a jobin Washington, DC. He wantsyou to know that there is go-ing to be a betrayal. Thegovernor’s office is insistingthat the minority contractingcommitment be taken out ofthe United Air Lines deal.They will keep it in print butthey will not honor it. Harry,Mayor Hudnut is counting onyou to stop this betrayal.”I was in shock. I felt likeMichael Corleone in Godfa-ther III, “Just when I was get-ting out; they sucked me backin”. Here I was about to takeon Governor Evan Bayh onceagain. The Democrats thistime would probably fire allcannons at me. I figured theywould isolate me and thendiscredit me and put up a bigrouse about the minority par-ticipation. We were about togo to “front” city and “smokeand mirrors”. I would losesome friends but the onlyfriends I wanted to pleasewere the Black contractorsand entrepreneurs. No oneelse in that city understoodtheir plight. I held a press con-ference announcing that badthings were about to happenand that the Black businesscommunity was going to fightagainst it. As MahatmaGandhi stated, “There arefour phases in activism: Firstthey ignore you; then theylaugh at you; then they fightyou and then you win.” Iwanted to get through the firsttwo phases as quickly as Icould and prepare for the

“mother” of all battles.The sweet thing about thisUnited Air Lines project wasthat it was on the property ofIndianapolis Airport whichmeans federal regulation ap-plies. Not only was a minor-ity contracting program agood idea, it was the law! Allbusinesses regulated or ben-efiting from an airport mustcomply with Title VI of theCivil Rights Act and thatmeant a minority contractingprogram per the Code of Fed-eral Regulations manualnumber 49, part 23. This factassured me that we could win.What we had to do was en-force the law as the state gov-ernment wasn’t. My biggestarsenal was the educationpeace. I taught this law to lo-cal Black elected officials,ministers and the businesscommunity. Before long, theystarted getting it and joinedmy fight. Soon I was not alonebut had thousands cheeringus on. The Black press becamean important weapon. As theWhite press would slandermy character, the five Blacknewspapers in Indianachronicled our struggle andlet the truth be told.Their phony minority partici-pation reports started comingout and I would publicly dis-sect them, prove that theywere lies and actually assessthe monetary damage to theBlack community for eachcharade. We warned theBlack front companies thatthe IRS will learn of their falserevenue and will expect taxesto be paid from the claims.These “Fudge Reports” be-came extremely popular andhelped win my case before thepublic. The movement builtup into the dawning of civilprotest. I got a demonstrationpermit and pledges from a

few dozen churches to sendmembers to the Airport. Theunions who were upset abouta betrayal played on them of-fered 600 protesters to anydemonstration we held. Fi-nally, the new mayor of India-napolis, Stephen Goldsmith,stepped in and provided lead-ership to the whole thing.We met and every phase of theUAL project would have 15percent minority participa-tion at a minimum. TheGovernor’s people were justsick! Our realtors, lawyers,engineers, accountants andcontractors, etc. started rakingin millions of dollars in goodcontracts. We whip them! Itwas a great victory and littledid I know that we just gavebirth to the National BlackChamber of Commerce.

Black churches arepoised to take a leadershipposition in the battle againstHIV/AIDS, but the ongoingstigma surrounding the dis-ease compromises those ef-forts. In sum, HIV/AIDS canno longer be fought quietlyand in silos. HIV/AIDS diag-noses have increased in allsegments of the Black popu-lation. The Real Men FightAIDS panelists representeddiverse opinions and ap-proaches to addressing HIV/AIDS prevention, educationand stigma. In order to reacha larger audience we need tohave hard conversations, cre-ative outreach, and commit-ted support from leadershiporganizations and media out-lets. We cannot afford to ebband flow our conversations ofHIV/AIDS while this pre-ventable disease continues todevastate our community.

HIV/AIDS: Silence IsNo Longer An Option

By. Lisa Fager Bediako NNPA

Visit the church of your choice on Sunday

JOSHUA CHAPEL CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

1006 Yeager Lane, Suite 102-A Austin, Texas

Sunday ServicesSunday School 10:00 A.M.Worship Service 11:00 A.M.

WEDNESDAY Bible Study 6:30 P.M.SATURDAY New

Member Assimilation 10:00 A.M.

Agape Baptist ChurchIn “The Centre” Bldg. F-15 7801 N. Lamar Blvd. (SE Corner of N Lamar and 183)

AGAPE is a chuch for all people. “Where Jesus Christ is Magnified and the love He exhibited isExemplified.” Come, receive God’s unconditional lovefor you. For there is no greater love!

Church ServicesSunday School 9:30 AMSunday Worship 11:00 AM

Mid-Week ServiceThursday: Praise, Prayer and Bible Study 7:00 PM

Call 454-1547 for TransporationWebsite www.agapebcaustintx.org

Jesus is Coming AgainThe church fellowship where everybody can be somebody!

Maranatha Faith Center4930 South Congress Avenue, C-302 512-750-4628 512-804-2537

Sunday School 9:00-10:00 A.M.Morning Service 10:00 A.M. -12Noon

Floyd Fontenot, Sr., Founder Floyd Fontenot, Jr., Pastor

St. Peter’s United Methodist Church4509Springdale Road 512- 926-1686 Fax 512-929-7281

We invite you to come and worship with us

Sunday ServicesWorship 8:30 A.M.Sunday School 9:45 A.MWorship Service 11:00 A.M.

WednesdayEvening Bible Study 6:00 P.M.

Rev. Jack C. Gause Pastor

Imani Community ChurchDavis Elementray Auditorium 5214 West Duval Road

Sunday School 9:00 A.M.Worship Service 10:00 A.M.•Power Hour Bible Study 6:30 P.M.Imani Complex, 1st and 4th Wednesday

Imani Complex & Office,11800 Mustang at Duval Austin, Texas 78727

Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Donald-Mims

Ebenezer Baptist Church1010 East 10th Street 512-478-1875 Fax: 512-478-1892

Radio Ministry (KIXI 970 AM 9:00 A.M.TV Ministry (ACTV. Ch 32) 9:00 A.M.Bus Ministry Call 512-478-1875

Sunday ServicesWorship Service 8:00 A.M.Sunday School 9:00 A.M.Discipleship Training 10:00 A.M.Worship Service 11:00 A.M.

WednesdayMidweek Prayer Service 7:00 P.M. Child Development CenterAges 0-5 years (Daily) 512-478-6709

Rev. Marvin C. GriffinPastor

Rev. H. Ed CalahanPastor

Sunday Services

Wednesday Service 7:00 - 8:00 P.M.

July 10, 2009/The Villager/Page 3

St Annie A.M.E. Church1711 Newton StreetAustin, Texas 78704

Voice mail (512) 444-4509E-mail: saamechurch@peoplepc.com

Sunday School 9:30 A.M.Morning services 10:45 A.M.

Rev. Derwin D. Gipson, Pastor

Aligned with Mattersof Eternity

AFRICAN ASSEMBLIES of GODCHURCH

A growing church ministering to African American andother nationals

Come worship with us

Sunday Worship 11:30 A.M.Wednesday Prayer Meeting 6:45 P.M.

Place of WorshipThe Church of Glad Tidings 2700 Northland Dr. Austin, TX 78756

For more information, contact Pastor Jonah Ghartey512-873-8103 www.allnationschurch@yahoo.com

David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church2211 East MLK Blvd. Office: 512-472-9748 Fax: 512-472-5399

Sunday ServicesDiscipleship Training 8:15 A.M.Sunday School 9:00 A.M.Worship 10:00 A.M.

Rev. Joseph C. Parker Jr.Pastor

Nursery services available

DOUBLE “R” GROCERYWe cash ALL Tax Refund

ChecksCheck Out

THE AIRPORT FLEE MARKETSaturdays and Sundays

450l East Martin luther King Blvd.

1149 Airport Blvd.

Serving Austin since 1970Let us Fill your next Perscription!

SAVE TIMEAsk your doctor to call

your prescription in to usand we’ll have it ready for you

when you get here!

2115 E. MLK Blvd.512-476-7338

Austin, Texas 78702www.PHRX.Net

Open Mon-Fri 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sat 9 a.m. - Noon

HOSPITAL PHARMACY

Rosewood Avenue Missionary Baptist Church1820 Rosewood Avenue, Austin, Texas 78702

(512) 476-8201 Fax (512) 476-5693

Weekly ServicesSunday School 9:30 a.m.

Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.Wed. Night Bible Fellowship 6:30 p.m.

Rev. Coby Shorter, IIIPastor

The Spencer & Ora Lee Nobles“Hope Center” (512) 476-6722

Websi te :www.rosewoodbaptistchurch.org

“Divine Enpowerment for Bold Ministries”

Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church 5900 Cameron Road Austin, Texas 78723-1843

(512) 451-0808 (512) 302-4575 Fax Web Site - www.themount.net

WORSHIP SERVICESSunday Worship - 7:45 a.m. & 11 a.m.Church School - 9:45 a.m.Bible Studies - Mon, 6:30 p.m. & Wed., 12 noonWednesday Night Worship - 7 p.m.

“Ministries For Mankind” Luke 4:18 A.W.. Anthony Mays, Senior Pastor

Rev. Lois Hayes, Pastor

East SideChurch ofChrist to

observe 75thAnniversary

Check us out on our websiteand look for updates

www.theaustinvillager.com

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St. JohnDistrict

Associationto hold rehersals

Music Ministries ofChurches in St.John regularbaptist district associationdistrict chorus rehearsal willbe held at David Chapel Bap-tist Church, 2211 East M.L.K.on the following dates:

7:00 July 13th Youth-6:00 P.M./Adults- 7:00 July17th Rehearsals will be heldat the Tabernacle, 7501 Bless-ing Ave. Youth-6:00 P.M./Adults- 7:00

July 20th MusicalNight- 7:00 p.m. at St.JohnTabernacle. Attire: Women:Pastel Pink Suit or Dress withSilver Accessories Men: NavyBlue or Black Suit with Pinkshirt or matching Ties.

For additional infor-mation contact: Sis.EdithMcKinney @ (512)926-9133 orSis.Dora Ellis atdorale78660@yahoo.com(personal Chatter) orDoraEl l is779@man.com(church talk)

The East Side Church ofChrist, 3106 East 14 1/2Street, will observe it 75thAnniversary and Home-coming July 10 - 16, 2009.The events will be held atthe Crowne Plaza Hotel at500 N. IH35. The theme for the celebra-tion is “Remembering thePast, - Celebrating thePresent - Anticipating theFuture.” Planned events in-clude a Banquet, Singing,Sunday Morning Worshipand a Gospel Meeting.For information call thechurch at (512) 477-1647.

By. George E CurryNNPA Special Corre-

spondentWASHINGTON (NNPA)

– After Bobby R. Henry, Sr. andhis 18-year-old daughter,Yolanda, had discussed herplans to join the Air Force, he wassurprised to learn that she hadchanged her plans and evenmore surprised by why she hadchanged them.

“She called me on thephone and she said, ‘Daddy, Igot something to tell you,’”Henry recounted. “And I said,‘What is it? I know you told meyou were going into the AirForce. What is it?’ And she said,‘I got a letter from the Air Forceand it was from the medicalpeople and they told me I needto get checked again because I’mshowing that I am HIV posi-tive.’”

Placing that call 18 yearsago from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. toher father in Dayton, Ohio wasone of the hardest thingsYolanda had to do in her younglife. Today, it is difficult forHenry, publisher of theWestside Gazette in Ft. Lauder-dale, Fla., to discuss that conver-sation.

“It shocked me first,”Henry said. “I was totally blownaway. This was my little girl…”Henry’s incomplete sentencedissolved into 20 seconds ofagonizing silence, with tearsstreaming down his cheeks.When a reporter gently surmisedthat it must have been a difficultconversation, Henry replied,“Especially when you were’there.” He added, “You questionyourself. If you were there, couldyou have made a difference?”

Henry, who was divorcedfrom Yolanda’s mother and re-married, knows intellectuallythat even if he had been in thesame city as his daughter, it prob-ably would not have changed theoutcome. Emotionally, he re-mains wracked by guilt andpain.

“If you sit and really thinkabout it – which I have – some-how you just can’t shake it,” hesaid.

The newspaper publisherhas been unable to shake thepast, even though he made adecision to return to his home-town in Florida, where his

Publisher Bobby Henry: When Daddy’s Little Girl is HIV Positive

daughter was living.”I immediately left Day-

ton, Ohio and came back to Ft.Lauderdale and began to findhelp for her anywhere I could,”Henry stated. “Fortunately, thatearly intervention with the virus,to find rhea help she needed andto get her into the counseling sheneeded, it helped prepare her forwhat she had to deal with.”

But Yolanda had diffi-culty dealing with her newhealth status.

“Initially, when she foundout, of course, she tried to find away to deal with it. So, she didthe drug thing – she got ondrugs, dated – what’s the term Iwant to use – no good [men]. Shedid that, searching for love in allthe wrong places.

“The final straw came forher when she got busted withsome pills, some prescriptionpills. She had to go to jail and,no, Daddy didn’t get her out thistime. She did about eight or ninemonths and she went into reha-bilitation. She got out of that, shegot off drugs.”

Not only has she kickedthe habit, she frequently lecturesin hopes of getting teens not tofollow in her footsteps.

“About two years ago, shewas speaking to a group of kidsabout HIV/AIDS,” Henry re-called. “She didn’t know I wasthere – I was back in the back.”

With his voice cracking,Henry struggled to describe thatevent.

“She was talking abouthow you couldn’t get AIDS justfrom touching somebody, howpeople treated folks, differentfolks, with AIDS.” After remain-ing silent for eight seconds,Henry slowly continued thestory.

“As she was speaking, Igot up and I walked from theback of the room, she could seeme coming. She said, ‘Oh, that’smy daddy. I didn’t know he washere.’ So I came up to the podiumwhere she was – we hugged andkissed.

“She always said that herfamily didn’t treat her differ-ently,” said Henry, still trying toregain his composure. “So, rightthen, I decided that wherever shespoke, I would be there to sup-port her and to give my side ofthe story from a father’s stand-

point accepting that this little girldid some things she shouldn’thave done and because of that,she’s now infected with HIV/AIDS.”

His daughter wasn’t thefirst in Henry’s immediate fam-ily to be touched by the epidemic.His youngest brother, servingtime in prison for bank robbery,died of AIDS at the age of 19.

“He was in prison fight-ing and he got cut,” Henry said.“…He had to be taken to the hos-pital and while he was in thehospital, he got a blood transfu-sion. We got called. We visitedhim. In prison, you don’t getproper health care. Basically,you’re treated like a leper. So, hedidn’t get the basic health care,his health went down, he got acold. He was in the last stages,we went to see him. He diedabout six hours after we had anopportunity to talk with him.”

Henry said he is at peacewith his brother’s death, becausehe was at peace with it before hedied.

“What I think about mostis how he and I would have beenrunning our newspaper,”Henry said, referring to the fam-ily-owned business. “He had

this air about himself. I’m me. If Ijust had somebody to watch myback, I wonder where we couldhave taken this newspaper.That’s the major thing I thinkabout.”

He has also been thinkingabout two more family memberswho were HIV infected.

“I have two aunts – olderaunts. I’m not talking aboutyounger aunts, I’m talking aboutolder aunts at least in their 60s,”Henry stated. “Their boyfriends,messing with some of thoseyoung girls, brought it home. It’ssomething that has touched ourlives.”

And as a newspaper pub-lisher, Henry hopes to touchmany lives – before anyone elsein the family tests HIV positive.

“As ugly as it is, there’s asense of beauty also,” he ex-plained. “…We can perhapshelp some other families under-stand and deal with this, not runaway from it and hide from it.”

He is particularly inter-ested in reaching the youth. Af-rican-American teens representonly 16 percent of those 13 to 19in the United States, but 69 per-cent of all new AIDS cases re-ported among teens in 2006.

Page 4/THE VILLAGER/July 10, 2009

M Y E CM Y E CM Y E CM Y E CM Y E C

ACM

ACC/Girls

science, each studentgroup at Pearce is projected toshow performance increasesin reading, math, social stud-ies, writing, and science. Ofnote are projected double-digitincreases from last year for Af-rican American students inreading (12 percentagepoints), all student groups inwriting (15 to 25 percentagepoints) and Hispanic stu-dents in science (10 percent-age points).

However, despite thispattern of achievement andimprovement, and being pro-jected to meet Federal Ad-equate Yearly Progress (AYP),TEA has determined thatPearce MS will again be ratedAU because science resultswill not meet the standard foreach student group.

In response to theCommissioner’s decision,Board President Mark Will-iams stated, “I truly believethat the Commissioner’s orderto close Pearce Middle Schoolis premature, especially inlight of the academic progressmade by the Pearce studentsthis past year, along with theheightened engagement of thecommunity and the opportu-nity for a new superintendentto take the next steps.”

From the District’s per-spective, the late notificationof the Commissioner’s deci-sion is of critical concern. TheDistrict had hoped for notifi-cation of TEA’s decision inearly June, as was the casewith the notification onJohnston High School in 2008.Although TEA has offered toallow the District to submit arepurposing plan, the TEA

Education Commissioner ordersPearce Middle School Closedfrom page 1

has stated in the July 2 letterthat “additional details areneeded before a repurposingplan can be formally consid-ered by the agency. Any planto repurpose the campusmust be approved by theagency before any instruc-tional use may be made of thefacility during the 2009-2010school year.” Other concernsinclude: less than 30 work-ing days remain prior to theAugust reporting date forteachers, parents and stu-dents need to know nowwhere students will attendschool next year, and staff-ing decisions must be final-ized now.

S u p e r i n t e n d e n tCarstarphen says that herfirst priority is to make stra-tegic decisions in the best in-terest of our students andfamilies at Pearce and tocommunicate those deci-sions swiftly. She will beworking with the Board ofTrustees and the Pearce com-munity to explore short- andlong-term options to bestmeet the needs of students.The Superintendent expectsto provide Trustees with op-tions for consideration, in-cluding an administrativerecommendation in the com-ing days. “The Board andcommunity can anticipatethat the administrative rec-ommendation will be de-signed to stop the perceivedcycle of failure and continu-ous uncertainty for students,families and staff at Pearce,”Superintendent Carstarphensaid.

Reagan High SchoolIn his letter to Superin-

tendent Carstarphen, theCommissioner also addressedthe accountability status ofReagan High School. Al-though Reagan studentsmade significant academicimprovement based upon pre-liminary 2009 TAKS results,Commissioner Scott also ad-vised District officials thecampus would again be ratedAcademically Unacceptable thisyear.

While the campus willremain open, under the cur-rent leadership, the Commis-sioner ordered the District tocontract for professional ser-vices to help improve studentachievement in under-per-forming subject areas atReagan, as well as provide foradditional professional devel-opment.

The District was alsodirected to secure private tu-torial or instructional servicesto assist Reagan students.

On the job for less thanone week, the new Superin-tendent has pledged to do allwithin her power to stay fo-cused on the students andmeasure any recommenda-tion with them in mind. “I willdo what is necessary to ensurethe academic well-being of allstudents in AISD,” saidCarstarphen.

The Superintendent in-vites the public, especiallystudents, parents and staff ofPearce, to attend a July 15Community Meeting from6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the school,where she will talk throughthe options for the school.More details on this meetingwill be made available in thenear future.

(AUSTIN) — The TexasLegislature, in House Bill 8,gave Texas Comptroller Su-san Combs the responsibil-ity of reviewing the perfor-mance of each county ap-praisal district at least onceevery other year. In the offyears, the Comptroller’s of-fice will conduct a propertyvalue study to determine thetaxable value in each schooldistrict. The new law goesinto effect Jan. 1, 2010.

“We look forward to

Comptroller to Conduct NewAppraisal District Reviews

working with appraisal dis-tricts in our reviews andvalue studies to ensure fairand accurate appraisals,”Combs said. “Texas taxpay-ers expect and deserve effi-cient service and uniformappraisals so property taxesare shared equally amongtaxpayers.”

The reviews will covereach appraisal district’sgovernance, taxpayer assis-tance, operating and ap-praisal standards, proce-dures and methods. If anappraisal district fails tocomply with theComptroller’s recommenda-tions within one year, theBoard of Tax ProfessionalExaminers or a successoragency must take actionnecessary to ensure compli-ance.

HB 8 also changed theComptroller’s school dis-trict Property Value Studyfrom an annual study to astudy that must be con-ducted once every two years,except when the study findsinvalid values for a schooldistrict, at which time astudy will be conducted an-nually until the values arevalid. The requirement for abiennial — rather than anannual — study will free upComptroller resources to doa more intensive PropertyValue Study in approxi-mately half the school dis-tricts each year.

The bill created a nine-member Comptroller’s Prop-erty Value Study AdvisoryCommittee to consult withthe Comptroller prior to theadoption of study rules. TheSpeaker of the Texas Houseof Representatives will ap-point one member from theHouse; the Lieutenant Gov-ernor will appoint one mem-ber from the Senate; and theComptroller will appointtwo members representingappraisal districts, twomembers representingschool districts and threemembers who are Texas tax-payers or have expertise inschool district taxation orratio studies.

Tiger Woods provedagain that you cannot deneyhim a win when he begins thefinal day oith a lead or a tie forthe lead. He started the daytied with Anthony Kim, one ofthe rising stars of the game.Kin says that it was Woodswho git him interested in thegame at a very young age.However, this was the firsttime that he had been pairedwith the World’s No. 1.

Kim quickly faded onthe front side, but woods hadto contend with a chargingHunter Mayham, who cardeda six under par for the day andwas the club house leader.Woods had to maintain hiscomposure for the final holesand went to the final hole lead-ing by one stroke, needingonly to par the 18th hole to winthe tournament. There was nodoubt that he would do justthat and doing so, won histhird tournament for the year .

The victory at the Me-morial and the way he wentabout it seemed to quiet thecritics. And so did, to a cer-tain extent, Tiger Woods’ per-formance at the U.S. Open.

Everyone seems to feelbetter about the game of theNo. 1 player in the worldwhen he is finding fairwaysand greens, even if there issome muttering about Woods’“failure” to win one of the firsttwo major championshipsthis year.

In the year’s first twomajors, Tiger Woods twice fin-ished tied for sixth place, in-cluding at Bethpage Black lastmonth.

All of which leads us to

TTTTTigigigigiger Wer Wer Wer Wer Woods wins Aoods wins Aoods wins Aoods wins Aoods wins AT&T NaT&T NaT&T NaT&T NaT&T Nationaltionaltionaltionaltional b b b b by 1 Stry 1 Stry 1 Stry 1 Stry 1 Strokokokokokeeeee

this week’s AT&T National,the tournament at Congres-sional Country Club that isnow in its third year, the onethat came together literally atthe last-minute in 2007 afterthe International dropped offthe PGA Tour schedule in thespring, and the one, of course,that Woods hosts.

Just days removed fromknee surgery a year ago,Woods had to miss the secondinstallment won by AnthonyKim. Woods had tied for sixthin the inaugural event, a tour-nament he will obviously be

highly motivated to winagain this week.

If nothing else, the tour-nament will offer another op-portunity to assess Woods’game as he prepares for theBritish Open, two weeks fromnow at Turnberry.

It was at the OpenChampionship two yearsago that Woods last finishedoutside of the top 10 in astroke-place event. That is aspan of 18 official stroke-playtournaments, 17 of whichhave been played on the PGATour.

By. Alan KingSpecial to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers

W A S H I N G T O N(NNPA) - Many expected a newera in race relations when Presi-dent Obama took office, but thosefeelings have cooled through theearly part of his term, accordingto a new poll. About 51 percentof African-Americans and 31percent of Caucasians polled inmid-November felt that the coun-try had entered a new era in racerelations.

By President BarackObama’s inauguration in Janu-ary 2009, those numbers de-clined to 44 percent of AfricanAmericans and 25 percent ofWhites, according to a poll con-ducted by Essence magazine andOpinion Research.Results of the poll were an-nounced last week in advance ofCNN’s multiplatform Black inAmerica 2 initiative.

The poll of African-Americans and Caucasians re-veals contrasting views on presi-dential politics, the economy, gayrights, abortion and racial dis-crimination. It also showed a soft-ening of optimism for both racesin regards to the effect of Presi-

Poll Reveals Contrasting Race ViewsBetween Blacks and Whites

dent Obama’s election on race re-lations in the U.S.

The CNN programwill delve into these contrastingviews, using the data gatheredby the poll. ‘’Our partnershipwith Essence continues to bringunique substantive insights toour programming initiatives,’’Mark Nelson, vice president andsenior executive produce forCNN Productions, said in astatement. ‘’CNN is very pleasedto once again collaborate with Es-sence Communications andOpinion Research Corporationin support of Black in America2.’’

Moderated by CNNanchor and special correspon-dent Soledad O’Brien, and fea-turing CNN Contributor RolandMartin, the program seeks to in-clude insights and experiencesEssence Editor-in-Chief AngelaBurt-Murray, NAACP Presidentand CEO Ben Jealous, actor/ra-dio talk show host/author SteveHarvey and humanitarian andfounder of the Angel Rock ProjectMalaak Compton-Rock.The poll found that 96 percent ofAfrican-Americans, compared to58 percent of Whites, showed ex-traordinary confidence in the

president’s handling of his job.And 55 percent of AfricanAmericans, compared to 17 per-cent of Whites, found racial dis-crimination to be ‘’a very seri-ous problem.’’

Regarding theeconomy, 51 percent of AfricanAmericans and 69 percent ofWhites felt financially secureenough to provide sufficientlyfor their children. Yet, 86 percentof African Americans and 59percent of Whites expect theirchildren will be better off thanthemselves.

‘’Notably, we are look-ing forward to addressing theseracial disparities via our latestco-production withCNN…which will offer a pro-ductive dialogue among thecountry’s top thought-leaders,’’Burt-Murray said in a statement.

Actor and radio talkshow host Holly RobinsonPeete, TV personality JudgePenny Brown Reynolds, actorand AIDS activist Sheryl LeeRalph, principal of CapitalPrepatory Magnet School StevePerry, and Founder and execu-tive director of the Black AIDSInstitute Phill Wilson will alsoweigh in on the discussion.

Susan Combs

July 10, 2009/THE VILLAGER/page 5

Jamie Foxx

HTU

The African Diaspors SectionBy Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

A Rising StarThe Diaspora column,

which was created to spot-light African business own-ers and also highlight the in-novation of teachers, nurses,doctors, politicians, pastors,and students of African de-scent is presenting a RisingStar. Consequently, thediaspora will be highlighting,Messa Adjavon who will beattending the University ofTexas at Austin McCombSchool of Business Master ofBusiness (MBA) program,which is one of the most pres-tigious business schools inthe world. Furthermore,Messa Adjavon has been ableto get into a top ten businessschool that has trained acountless number of Africanleaders. In the near future,when Messa graduates, heplans to give back to bothCentral Texas and the Africancontinent. Messa was born inAbidjan, Ivory Coast, from afather who is Togolese and ofan African-American motherfrom Austin Texas. He wasreared in a multi-cultural andinter-racial environment, thencame to the United States to

attend Drexel Uniniversitylocated in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. During hissecond year at Drexel Univer-sity, he wanted to also attendDrexel’s graduate program.The graduate programwould allow him to finish hisBachelor Degree while givinghim one extra year to finishhis master degree. However,he believed that best thing todo was to get some experi-ence through working, whichwould help him with his“networking”. After gradua-tion, he went to work for amajor pharmaceutical com-pany on the East Coast of theU . S .In 2006, Messa desired topursue a master’s degree pro-gram which caused him toturn his “eyes” to the Univer-sity of Texas at AustinMcComb School of Business.So, the first thing he did wasto visit the UT campus andmeet with the admission ad-visors. Secondly, complete anapplication; thirdly take the(exam for the Master of Busi-ness program); fourthly, writea series of essays; fifthly, at-

tain a numerous recommenda-tion letters; and finally prayand fast for good results. Af-ter all these series of steps,Messa got accepted at his firstchoice university. Moreover,he believes that living and at-tending school in CentralTexas will give him an edgeon his professional life.During and after his graduatestudies, Messa has the desireto give back to both the Cen-tral Texas region and to theAfrican continent. He wantsto work with young African-American youth, bymentoring and counselingthem. Moreover, he wishesthat young African-Ameri-cans would enroll into collegeand go all the way to the mas-ters program. Furthermore,Messa wants to open up amarketing consulting com-pany for foreign investmentswhich would provide jobs tolocal people living in the area.Finally, he wants to give backby creating water projects. Thewater projects would help toeradicate a numerous waterborn diseases, like malariaand cholera.

Fighting for the EnvironmentPrior from the creation

of the Clean Water Action or-ganization, pollution in theUnited States went un-checked by government or bycivil organizations. As a re-sult, David Zwick foundedClean Water Action in 1972,which helped in drafting thepassage of the Federal WaterPollution Control Amend-ments of 1972, commonlyknown as the Clean Water Actclean. The clean water actpassed by congress requiredthat all waterways in theUnited States be drinkable,swimable and fishable. Afterthe passage of this federal act,the clean water action

organization’s main goal isto make sure that provisionwould be enforced. Moreover,the Clean Water Action iscontiuosnously and activelyseeking to keep water safeand clean for people, ani-mals and and from pollution.In 1988, Clean Water Actionopened its doors in AustinTexas with the objective tokeep water and air clean andsafe; keep people involved inthe process by empoweringthe community to hold theirelected officials accountable.Currently Clean Water Ac-tion is working on two cam-paigns which are: the Ameri-can Clean Energy Act of

2009 and a water conservationproject. The Clean Energy Actcalls for the use of clean andrenewable energy such aswind and solar energy, whichwould in term bring jobsthroughout the state of Texas.The water conservationproject seeks to protect Texas’waterways from drying outduring droughts. Also,through this project CleanWater Action is seeking tokeep the price of water usagelow, so that people can savemoney on their water bill.CLean Water Action can becontacted at:www.cleanwateraction.org or(512) 474-0605

CHICAGO WHITE SOX AGAIN TO PAYTRIBUTE TO NEGRO LEAGUE

ALL-STAR GAMECHICAGO – On Friday,

July 10, the Chicago White Soxwill host the second annualDouble Duty Classic – anevent celebrating the historyand tradition of NegroLeague baseball in Chicagoand promoting the next gen-eration of inner-city baseballplayers. This summer marks76 years since the first NegroLeague East-West All-StarGame was played at OldComiskey Park in Chicago.Prior to the game, a special,private forum will be held atU.S. Cellular Field’s Confer-ence & Learning Center, be-ginning at 10:30 a.m., and fea-ture a question-and-answersession with White Sox gen-eral manager/senior vicepresident Kenny Williamsand moderated by MichaelWilbon of ESPN and theWashington Post. Wilbonand Williams will addressand answer questions from

the young athletes participat-ing in the Double Duty Clas-sic. A number of former Ne-gro Leaguers also are sched-uled to attend the game andforum. “The Double DutyClassic is about honoring thelegacy of the many great play-ers who worked and sacri-ficed so that we all could en-joy this game,” said Williams.“With this event, we also hopeto share that legacy with thenext generation of players andensure they carry that on asthey develop as players andas people.” The game, whichwill be played at U.S. Cellu-lar Field, begins at 1:05 p.m.and will feature the top highschool players from across thecountry (Illinois, Arkansas,Michigan, Missouri, NewYork, Texas and Wisconsin).The White Sox Amateur CityElite (ACE) high school travelteam will represent the city ofChicago Chicago in the All-

Star showcase. Players willwear uniforms honoring theNegro Leagues’ East-WestAll-Star teams. Each team willcarry a roster of players fromboth the ACE team and play-ers from across the country.Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffewas born on July 7, 1902 inMobile, Ala. and played forthe Chicago American Giantsof the former Negro Leagues.At the age of 41, Radcliffeearned MVP honors for hisperformance during the 1943season with the AmericanGiants. Nicknamed “DoubleDuty” because he oncepitched the first game of adoubleheader and caught thesecond, Radcliffe was one ofthe most dynamic players inthe Negro Leagues and all ofbaseball. Beginning in 2002,until the year of his death inChicago in 2005, Radcliffethrew a ceremonial first pitchprior to a White Sox game.

Red Cross Retreat toGrow Youth Leaders

fun and engaging youthretreat runs july 25-26

Austin, Texas, July 6,2009 – Recruiting and train-ing exceptional volunteers isnothing new to the AmericanRed Cross of Central Texas.With a dedicated corps of over1,200 volunteers and moreCentral Texans getting in-volved every day, the RedCross relies on volunteers todeliver vital services to the 9-county service area. Nowmore than ever, the Red Crossis looking to Central Texasyouth to be the volunteers oftomorrow. Now with thissummer’s Youth LeadershipDevelopment Retreat, grow-ing the leaders of tomorrowjust got more fun.

Running July 25through July 26 at Texas StateUniversity in San Marcos, theYouth Leadership Develop-ment Retreat (LDR) welcomesmotivated youth interested inbecoming better leaders aswell as anyone who wants tostart a Red Cross Club at theirschool.

Through fun and en-gaging seminars, group par-ticipation activities, andhands-on learning, youngpeople will get a chance toexpress their creative ideasand work together in a foster-ing environment. They willlearn more about the RedCross plus build a number ofother skills ideal for any lead-ership situation.

The cost for the event is$40 per person, and includesan overnight stay at the TexasState dormitories, all meals,instructional materials andLDR t-shirt. Although theRed Cross is not providingtransportation, there will bea carpooling system for thoseparticipants interested.

To register, go to http://www.centex.redcross.org/volunteer/youth.php.

FREE AFRICAN FILMSCREENING EVERY

THURSDAY AT 7 PM!

There will be Africanfilm screenings every Thurs-day at 7 PM starting with“Blacks Without Borders” adocumentary about AfricanAmericans who have movedto South Africa and the joysand challenges they faced.The free film screening will beat 1009 East 11th Street in theTexas Music Museum build-ing across the street fromWells Fargo on July 16, 2009,Thursday, at 7:00 PM fol-lowed by an open discussion.African refreshments and Af-rican music will be available.Please contactAfricanAmericanOutreach@gmail.comfor further questions. Thisfilm is one of dozens of Afri-can films that will be shownto the public for free everyThursday. Donations are ap-preciated to continue this “nocost” to the community.www.BlacksWithoutBorders.net

‘I Came to Say, Thank You’Tribute by Rev. Al Sharpton,

Michael Jackson Memorial ServiceAll over the world today

people are gathered in loveviduals to celebrate the life ofa man that taught the worldhow to love. People may bewondering why there’s suchan emotional outburst. Butyou would have to under-stand the journey of Michaelto understand what he meantto all of us. For these that sithere as the Jackson family - amother and father with ninechildren that rose from aworking class family in Gary,Indiana - they had nothingbut a dream. No one believedin those days that this kind ofdream could come true, butthey kept on believing andMichael never let the worldturn him around from hisdreams. I first met Michaelaround the 1970 Black Expo,Chicago, Illinois. Rev. JesseJackson, who stood by thisfamily till now, and from thatday as a cute kid to this mo-ment, he never gave updreaming. It was that dreamthat changed culture all overthe world. When Michaelstarted, it was a differentworld. But because Michaelkept going, because he didn’taccept limitations, because herefused to let people decidehis boundaries, he opened upthe whole world. In the mu-sic world, he put on one glove,pulled his pants up andbroke down the color curtainwhere now our videos areshown and magazines put uson the cover. It was MichaelJackson that brought Blacksand Whites and Asians andLatinos together. It wasMichael Jackson that made ussing, “We are the World” andfeed the hungry long before

Live Aid. Because MichaelJackson kept going, he createda comfort level where peoplethat felt they were separate be-came interconnected with hismusic. And it was that com-fort level that kids from Japanand Ghana and France andIowa and Pennsylvania gotcomfortable enough witheach other until later it wasn’tstrange to us to watch Oprahon television. It wasn’t strangeto watch Tiger Woods golf.Those young kids grew upfrom being teenage, comfort-able fans of Michael to being40 years old and being com-fortable to vote for a person ofcolor to be the President of theUnited States of America.Michael did that. Michaelmade us love each other.Michael taught us to standwith each other. There arethose that like to dig aroundmess. But millions around theworld, we’re going to upholdhis message. It’s not aboutmess, but it’s about his lovemessage. As you climb upsteep mountains, sometimesyou scar your knee; some-times you break your skin. Butdon’t focus on the scars, fo-cus on the journey. Michaelbeat ‘em, Michael rose to thetop. He out-sang his cynics,he out-danced his doubters;he out-performed the pessi-mists. Every time he gotknocked down, he got backup. Every time you countedhim out, he came back in.Michael never stopped.Michael never stopped.Michael never stopped.I want to say to Mrs. Jacksonand Joe Jackson, his sistersand brothers: We thank youfor giving us someone that

taught us love; someone whotaught us hope. We want tothank you because we knowit was your dream too.We know that your heart isbroken. I know you havesome comfort from the letterfrom the President of theUnited States and NelsonMandela. But this was yourchild. This was your brother.This was your brother. Thiswas your cousin. Nothingwill fill your hearts’ lost. But Ihope the love that people areshowing will make you knowhe didn’t live in vain. I wanthis three children to know:Wasn’t nothing strange aboutyour Daddy. It was strangewhat your Daddy had to dealwith. But he dealt with it…Hedealt with it anyway. He dealtwith it for us.So, some came today, Mrs.

Jackson, to say goodbye toMichael. I came to say, thankyou. Thank you because younever stopped, thank you be-cause you never gave up,thank you because you nevergave out, thank you because

you tore down our divisions.Thank you because you eradi-cated barriers. Thank you be-cause you gave us hope.Thank you Michael. Thankyou Michael. Thank youMichael!

Prior to this week, there were 419,000 Jackson digital trackdownloads in Europe/Oceania through the first 25 weeks of 2009;this week alone there are 552,000 digital track sales.

Page 6/THE VILLAGER/July 10, 2009

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The exhibition was amajor undertaking involvingthe solicitation of membersfrom across the country tosend items to Austin, by mail,or email; digital photos, andhand carry items. A variety ofmeetings were held to collecthistorical objects, and to scanitems. The result was the larg-est showing of African Ameri-can History which has everbeen exhibited in Austin. “Tobe frank I have visited manymuseums in other cities, andhave never seen this muchAfrican American local his-tory together.” Director of theGallery stated.

The importance of theculture that L.C. Anderson es-tablished had a great impacton events which followed toimprove life for all AfricanAmericans in the future. Allsignificant accomplishmentsof Blacks in Austin past theyear 1907 is connected withL.C. Anderson High in somemanner. Most African Ameri-cans from Austin who aresuccessful have an origin fromAnderson High, and in Texas,have benefited from L.C.Anderson’s efforts.

Old Anderson HighSchool was not just anotherhigh school in Austin, Texas,but in 1907, the year of its es-tablishment, it was the onlyhigh school

in Austin, that AfricanAmericans were allowed toattend. L.C. Anderson is thename associated with Ander-son High. The school was ac-tually named for his brotherErnest Anderson. He and hisbrother were graduates of FiskUniversity, an institution ofhigher learning for AfricanAmericans. Descendants ofslave parents from Tennessee,L.C. Anderson loved educa-tion an vowed to become aleader to improve educationfor all African Americans.

Many people are un-aware that such names as L.C.Anderson and other local fa-miliar names were at the rootof almost every viable publicschool institution, and insti-

tutions of higher learning forAfrican Americans, not onlyin Austin, but other schoolsthroughout Texas, such asPrairie View A & M Univer-sity, and Paul Quinn Col-lege, in Waco. Of course theestablishment of AndersonHigh in Austin, directly ef-fected institutions such asTillotson College, and SamHuston College which werelocated just blocks away fromthe high school.

At the same time,and before Anderson becameinspired to become an edu-cation pioneer, Senator Mat-thew Gaines, a twice es-caped, and then finally freedslave became the first Afri-can American to hold the of-fice of a Texas Senator.Gaines fought to establishregular public school accessfor all children in Texas. Hewas also a rebel for the causein submitting hate crime billsto stop violence againstblacks at the voting polls.Gaines is credited as beingone of the main establishersof Texas A & M University.Prairie View of course, wasthe African American “Sepa-rate, but Equal” establish-ment. L. C. Anderson wasnamed Principal to PrairieView College.

Anderson workedhand in hand with E. L.Blackshear, and H.T.Kealing. All three belongedto the Colored Teachers StateAssociation of Texas whichwas based in Prairie View,Texas.

Segregation, orderedthe establishment of Ander-son High, along with manyother status quo conditionswhich affected every area oflife for African Americans ofthose times. Separate, but ofcourse never equal, did havesome positive effects. AfricanAmericans had strong edu-cation programs, with caringteachers, who taught a cur-riculum of pride in AfricanAmerican Culture, alongwith high personal stan-dards. Dynamic music pro-

grams formed by B.L. Joyce,and Alvin Patterson, leadAnderson High to becomeknown throughout the stateof Texas for its infamous “Yel-low Jacket Marching Band”.They inspired the careers offamous musicians whichemerged from Anderson suchas: Gil Askey, Motown pro-ducer and writer for suchgreats as Diana Ross, andMichael Jackson, and JazzGreat Kenny Dorham. Localand national political figuressuch as Nelda Wells Spears,Judge Harriet Murphy, JudgeHeman Doyle of Houston,many lawyers such as EsterSellers, and too many othersto name rose up from Ander-son like a torch held highwhich can never burn out.Life improved, and was neverthe same for African Ameri-cans in Texas after L.C. Ander-son and his associates. Out-standing football and awardwinning track teams domi-nated the circuit in Texas. Stu-dents such as “HollywoodHenderson”, and “NightTrain Lane” dominated head-lines in their transcendinginto Pro Football.

Friday activities in-cluded a banquet held at theSheraton Hotel, downtown lo-cation. The invited speakerwas Raymond Whitley Jr..Whitley was the O.L.C.A.A.first Vice Chairman, and nowthe newly elected Chairmanto succeed Joe Reid who isstepping down. Joe said hewill remain available to helpwith advice wheneverneeded. Whitley’s high pointof his speech was to initiatethe effort to acquire a perma-nent building for the Alumnito meet, and house Andersonhistory. He and his wifestarted with a pledge of $2000dollars to start the quest for abuilding. The organizationalso inducted 20 alumni intoits Hall of Fame, and gavethree scholarships of onehundred dollars each to wor-thy high school seniors. Sat-urday was “Back to School”At the old Anderson site onThompson Street, with a tourgiven by Billy Harden, andLarry Britton who are bothassistant principals in theA.I.S.D.. The tour was an emo-tional reminiscence of the olddays. Saturday night was thedance that included three lo-cal bands. Sunday includeda breakfast buffet, Sunday ser-vice with speaker Reverend /Dr. Zan Holmes who deliv-ered a message to encouragethe masses.

Old Anderson wasfinally closed in 1971 whenwhite parents of white stu-dents refused to integrate toattend the school, by movingout of the area, causing blacksto be bused elsewhere. JoeReid stated, “We finally man-aged to find who we believewas the last Anderson gradu-ate to receive his diploma.

That person was OliverWright.

Overall the reunionregenerated a camaraderiethat has never been equaled inAfrican Americans in Austin,until L.C. Anderson lead aninstitution, that not only up-

lifted education for blacks, butalso created a great culture.One visitor stated, “OnJuneteenth under oak trees faroff in Texarkana, Texas, hewould hear stories aboutAnderson High in Austin,and how tough they were on

the field. My grandfatherwho attended Ralph BuncheHigh said their band was un-touchable! He stated…wewould say… those YellowJackets are coming! They aresomething else!”

The ex-classmatesand faculty members of theOriginal L.C. AndersonHigh School came togetheranother year for their cel-ebration of 100 extraordi-nary years. In addition to thewhole class reunion, TheOld Anderson High, class of1960 join to celebrate their49th year of wonderful andjoyful memories of the past,present, and good times tocome in the future for a lun-cheon at the Victory Grill on1104 East 11th Street, Aus-tin, TX 78702 on Friday July3, 2009 .

Seeing all the smil-ing faces and love filledhugs, everyone was ready

and looking forward to en-joy the special afternoonluncheon. “I am looking for-ward to this afternoon cel-ebration, we’re going to eat,sang songs, dance, kick backlaugh, smile, and enjoyeachother’s company. Firstthing were going to play afew break the ice games andthen we’re going to playmany games and activitiesand have some door prizes,we are going to just haveFUN!!”, says .Edward Roby.

Roby continued toexpress, “As the years go bywe all try and stay in touchwith one another and keepupdated, recently one oftheir fellow classmatespassed away and the classcommittee helps out with the

preparations of services andassists the families.”

Roby has been thePresident of the 1960 class re-union committee since 2002,there are 14 active membersin the Committee.

The class reunionshave been held for the past 49years. Nationally for allgraduated classes but thisyear the class of 1960wanted to have a smallgathering for their specificclass. The class of 1960 hasalso established a organiza-tion for the up coming se-nior graduates to apply for$1500.00 scholarship draw-ings that the Old AndersonHigh School class contrib-uted.

By Angela WyattStaff Reporter

(Left to right) Precious Robeson , Original L.C. Anderson graduates of 1960 and Edward Roby,President of Original L.C. Anderson 1960 class reunion. Photo by Angela Wyatt.

Celebrating 49 Wonderful Years

Anderson Alumni Celebrate 100 Years ofLaying a Foundation

of Excellence for African Americans from page 1

L. C. Anderson (top 2nd from Left) is shown with brother Ernest and other class mates at Fisk University.

Barton Springs Pool Free Swim Day July 11The Austin City Council and Austin Parks and Recreation Department invite the public

to Austin’s Annual Free Swim Day at Barton Springs Pool on Saturday, July 11, 2009. The Austin City Council has directed the City Manager to implement an annual

free swim day at Barton Springs Pool on the second Saturday in July, and waive the pool entreefee for people visiting Barton Springs Pool on that day.

Barton Springs Pool will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 11. There isa $3 entrance fee to Zilker Park from Barton Springs Road. However, parking is free on thesouth Barton Springs Pool entrance parking lot off Robert E Lee Road. The Austin Parks andRecreation Department reminds everyone that July is National Parks and Recreation Month.

For more information, contact Victor Ovalle, Program Manger, Public Informationand Marketing, (512) 974-6745.

EMPLOYMENT/BIDS/PROPOSALS/PUBLIC INFORMATION/

FOR SALE/FOR RENT/MISC

JANITORIAL WORKERSNEEDED

ISS Facility Services, Inc. has open-ings for supervisory, floor men, andgeneral cleaners for part-timeevening employment. Apply at ISSFacility Services, Inc. Austin, M-F,between 4-6 pm, 8101 CameronRoad # 304. ISS Facility Services,Inc. is an Equal opportunity Em-ployer (EOE) and promotes a Di-verse Workforce.

Employment

July 10, 2009/THE VILLAGER/Page 7

Apply at HR5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.

6th Floor, Austin, TX 78752Job Line (512) 223-5621hhtp://www/austincc.ed

EEO/AA/M/F/D/V

AustinCommunity

College

Omni Hotel

SENIOR CAMPAIGNREP.

For full job descriptionsplease visit www.sierraclub.org/ca-reers/conservation.Provide experi-enced leadership and strategic plan-ning for the Texas Coal

component of the WesternCoal Campaign. Sierra Club is anequal opportunity employer com-mitted to a diverse workforce.

Texas Congregations Unitedfor Empowerment, Inc. (TCUE), anon-profit organization comprisedof a collective of primarily AfricanAmerican churches in Central Texas,in mutually beneficial business part-nerships with financial institutionsand businesses, is hiring a part-timeExecutive Director. This staff per-son will identify, recruit and con-tractually engage new churches, aswell as new business partners andnew alliances with financial institu-tions offering unified TCUE pro-grams and services. The successfulcandidate must be self-initiated,implement the mission of obtainingthe new contracts, be accountableto the TCUE Board of Directors byembracing TCUE’s vision, mission,goals, objectives, programmaticemphases, marketing and imple-ment the administrative detailsthereof. A college degree or itsequivalent and proven experience inclosing new business is required.Compensation is based upon a ne-gotiable nominal base salary plusprimarily commission tied to newbusiness. Resumes should be mailedto The Texas Congregations Unitedfor Empowerment, Inc., P.O. BOX684932, Austin, TX 78769-4932.

P/T Exe. Dirirector

City of AustinPurchasingOfficeAdvertisements07/06/2009

On October 2, 1995, a revision to the City’s MBE/WBE DBEsOrdinance became effective. The Ordinance establishes new goals for MBE/WBE or DBE Participation Bid/Proposal. Bidders are required to docu-ment efforts to solicit MBE/WBE or DBEs in the Compliance Plan. TheGoals for each project and the instructions and forms for the CompliancePlan are included in the MBE/WBE or DBE Program Packet included in thesolicitation. For construction contracts, the MBE/WBE or DBE ProgramPacket is a separately bound volume of the Project Manual. ALL BIDSAND COMPLIANCE PLANS NOT RECEIVED PRIOR TO THE DATEAND TIME SET FORTH WILL BE RETURNED TO THE BIDDERUNOPENED. SPECIAL NOTICE: Solicitations issued on behalf of theElectric Utility Dept. (Austin Energy) are no longer advertised in theAustin American Statesman. Notices will be posted on the City of AustinPurchasing website at: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/purchase

A. CONSTRUCTION ADVERTISEMENTS - ALL CON-STRUCTION SEALED BIDS addressed to the City of Austin will bereceived PRIOR TO date and time indicated for the following project(s), inthe Reception Area, 10th FL., Ste. 1045, Contract and Land ManagementDepartment, CLMD, One Texas Center (OTC), 505 Barton Springs Rd.,Austin, TX, then publicly opened and read aloud in the 10th FL. Confer-ence Room, Ste. 1045, unless otherwise indicated in the advertisement. AllBids received after the time set forth will be returned to the bidder un-opened. The OWNER’s Official opening the Bids shall establish the timefor opening of the Bids. All Bid Deposits are refundable upon return ofdocuments within the specified time frame and in good condition, unlessotherwise indicated. UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, Project Manu-als, Plans and Addenda may be obtained at the Office of Engineering De-sign & Surveying, PWD, Ste. 760, OTC. First time bidders are encouragedto attend the pre-bid conference to assure their understanding of Owner’sbidding and contracting requirements, particularly M/WBE ProcurementsProgram requirements. Cashiers or Certified Check Payable to the City ofAustin or acceptable Bid Bond must accompany each bid. Bidders will berequired to provide Payment/Performance bonds as specified in the bid-ding documents. The City reserves the right to reject any and all Bids andto waive any informality in the bids received.

Bidders must attend any Mandatory Pre-Bid Conference and areencouraged to attend any non-mandatory Pre-Bid Conference to ensuretheir understanding of Owner’s bidding and contracting requirements, par-ticularly MBE/WBE Procurement Program requirements. If the Pre-BidConference is mandatory the Bidder must arrive and sign-in within fifteen(15) minutes of the scheduled start time of the meeting, otherwise theBidder will not be allowed to submit a Bid for the project.

1. BLUNN CREEK WAREHOUSE ROW PONDS 1 & 2 (CIP4850 6307 6215). IFB 6100 CLMC065. Pickup bid docs at OTC, Ste. 760.Attn: Gabriel Stan 974-7151 after 7/6/09. A refundable deposit of $75 isrequired. For info Roger Hickman, 974-7240. A MANDATORY VendorConf will be held at OTC, 8th FL. conf. rm. at 2:00P on 7/22/09. Offersdue prior to 11:00A on 7/30/09. Compliance plans due prior to 3:00P on7/30/09. Offers will be opened on 7/30/09 at 3:00P.

2. MCBETH RECREATION CENTER IMPROVEMENTS (CIP8603 8607 6309). IFB 6100 CLMC060. Pickup bid docs at OTC Ste. 760.Attn: Gabriel Stan 974-7151after 7/6/09. A refundable deposit of $75 isrequired. For info Robert Egan - 974-7220. A MANDATORY VendorConf will be held at McBeth Recreation Center Gym, 2615 Columbus Dr.,Austin, TX at 2:00P on 7/15/09. Offers due prior to 9:30A on 7/30/09.Compliance plans due prior to 1:30P on 7/30/09. Offers will be opened on7/30/09 at 1:30P.

3. ABIA PARKING GARAGE REPAIRS (CIP 4910 8107 3129).IFB 6100 CLMC063. Pickup bid docs at OTC Ste. 760. Attn: Gabriel Stan974-7151 after 7/7/09. A refundable deposit of $50 is required. For infoRobin Camp, 974-7830. A MANDATORY Vendor Conf will be held atRoom 157 Planning and Engineering Bdlg. 2716 Spirit of Texas Dr. Austin,TX at 10:00A on 7/14/09. Offers due prior to 10:00A on 8/13/09. Compli-ance plans due prior to 2:00P on 8/13/09. Offers will be opened on 8/13/09 at 2:00P.

4. MUNICIPAL COURT AND POLICE NORTHEAST SUBSTA-TION – DESIGN BUILD (CIP 8607-4607-0800, 8607-8707-0040) RFQCLMA006. Pick up at OTC, 10th FL., Ste.1045 after 6/29/09. No Depositis required. For info call MaryLou Ochoa at 974-7215 and for projectspecific questions direct to David Smythe-Macaulay at 974-7152. A MAN-DATORY pre-submittal meeting will be held on Tuesday, 7/14/09 at OTC,3rd FL. Training Rm, at 1:30P. Responses due prior to 3:00P on 8/3/09.

B. SERVICES AND SYSTEMS CONTRACTING. / C. COM-MODITIES - Solicitations will be issued, and sealed bids or propos-als may be received at the Purchasing Office, Municipal Building, 124W. 8th St., 3rd FL., Room 308/310, telephone number (512) 974-2500,Austin, TX until the dates and times specified on following item(s):

B. SOLICITATION SERVICES AND SYSTEMS1. MRH1039 LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE This

is a request for information only. No award will be made from this request.Responses due prior to 2:00P on 8/19/09.

2. AMC0004 GRAFFITI REMOVAL SERVICES (IFB –BEST VALUE). MANDATORY Pre-Bid Meeting on 7/14/09 at 10:00Aat 124 W. 8th St. 3rd FL. Conf. Rm. All offers due prior to 4:00P on 7/21/09.

3. SAP0117 REBID AUTOMOTIVE BODY REPAIR SER-VICES (IFB – BEST VALUE). A Pre-Bid Conf. will be held at FleetServices Conf. Room, 1190 Hargrave St. at 10:00A on 7/14/09. Offers dueprior to 12:30P on 7/21/09.

4. CB30072 LANDSCAPE SERVICES FOR AUSTIN PUBLICLIBRARY CENTRAL COMPLEX. Offers due prior to 10:30A on 7/21/09.

5. MRH1037 ROLLING OWNER CONTROLLED IN-SURANCE PROGRAM (ROCIP) ADMINISTRATORA vendor Confwill be held at 124 W. 8th St. 3rd FL. Conf. Rm. at 1:00P on 7/16/09. Offersdue prior to 2:00P on 8/13/2009.

6. MRH1038 CONSTRUCTION SAFETY MANAGERFOR THE ROLLING OWNER CONTROLLED INSURANCE PRO-GRAM (ROCIP)A vendor Conf will be held at 124 W. 8th St., 3rd FL. Conf.Rm. at 3:00P on 7/16/09 Offers due prior to 2:00P on 8/13/09.

7. BKH0058 REBID THINNING OF VEGETATION ONWQPL. A Pre-Bid Conf will be held 6201 FM 967, Buda TX at 8:00A on7/16/09. Offers due prior to 11:30A on 7/22/09.

C. SOLICITATION COMMODITIES1. STA0214 24-MONTH REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FOR

INSERTS AND COUPLINGS Offers due prior to 7/21/09 at 11:00A.2. STA0215 24-MONTH REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FIRE

HYDRANT UPPER BARRELS & STEMS Offers due prior to 7/22/09at 11:00A.

THE CITY OF AUSTIN HEREBY NOTIFIES ALL OFFERORSTHAT IN REGARD TO ANY CONTRACT ENTERED INTO PURSU-ANT TO THIS ADVERTISEMENT; MINORITY BUSINESS ENTER-PRISES WILL BE AFFORDED EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES TO SUB-MIT OFFERS IN RESPONSE TO THIS INVITATION AND WILL NOTBE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST ON THE GROUNDS OF RACE,COLOR, SEX, NATIONAL ORIGIN OR DISABILITY IN CONSID-ERATION FOR AN AWARD.

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DANCE UMBRELLAANNOUNCES ITS

FIRST“AFRICAN ARTSDANCE & DRUM

CAMP” FORYOUTHWITH

WASHINGTON,D.C. BASED

COYABA DANCETHEATRE

AUSTIN, TX – AfricanArts Dance & Drum Campwill take place July 27 – Au-gust 8, Monday through Fri-day from 12:00 – 4:00pm.Students ages 7 -14 are eli-gible to participate. The campwill take place at St. JamesEpiscopal Church, 1941Webberville Rd., and willculminate with two perfor-mances at Akins High Schoolon August 7th & 8th. Drumsand costumes will be pro-vided.

Coyaba Dance Theater(CDT) is a contemporaryWest African Dance Com-pany founded by SylviaSoumah in 1997. The mis-sion of Coyaba is to presentauthentic portrayals ofdance, music and other artis-tic and educational pro-grams focusing on the diverseethnic groups of the AfricanDiaspora and the AfricanAmerican experience.

Coyaba Dance Theateris the 2001, 2004 recipients ofthe “Washington D.C. DanceAwards for OutstandingGroup Performance.” Thecompany has performed andtoured at locales worldwide,including World CultureOpen in Seoul, Korea, BoulySonko, Dakar Senegal; LeBagatae, MoustaphaBangoura, Conakry, Guinea;Dance Africa D.C. and Chi-cago; the John F. KennedyCenter for the PerformingArts, and the Bars of WolfTrap.

Since its inception in1977, the mission of DanceUmbrella has been to promotethe knowledge, appreciationand practice of dance.Throughout the years, DanceUmbrella has engaged over10,000 K-12 youth in its edu-cational programs - takingworld class dance artists toschools for performances andlecture/demonstrations.This summer, Dance Um-brella will solidify its commit-ment to youth with its first“Youth Dance Camp.” Ex-ecutive Director, PhyllisSlattery states, “These campsare for kids, not dancers, (al-though some may be aspiringdancers), but our goal is to getkids to move their bodies, freetheir imaginations and haveFUN!”

Dance Umbrella pre-sented CDT in Austin in 2006at the State Theatre and whilein residence, the companytoured schools in Austin andElgin, and performed for over3,600 K- 6 students. Duringthat time, Artistic DirectorSylvia Soumah and Slatterybegan talking about develop-ing a summer program foryouth in Austin. Soumah hasdeveloped a reputation in herhome town of D.C. for hercommitment to youth, com-munity and education.Soumah’s career was bornout of a dance camp experi-ence.

The fee to participate inthe African Arts Dance &Drum Camp is $100. Drumsand costumes will be pro-vided. For more informationor to register, contact DanceUmbrella at 512-450-0456 orv i s i twww.danceumbrella.com.

If interested in donat-ing a tax-deductible scholar-ship to a deserving child inneed of this experience, pleasecontact Dance Umbrella, 512-450-0456.

VATICAN CITY – PopeBenedict XVI on Wednesdayreplaced the cardinal respon-sible for lifting the excommu-nication of a Holocaust-deny-ing bishop as part of theVatican’s effort to reconcilewith an ultraconservativegroup.

The commission thathad been in charge of the effortwill now be under the author-ity of a powerful office seen asclose to the pontiff, the Vaticansaid. Cardinal Dario CastrillonHoyos, who had been leadingthe reconciliation, is steppingdown after reaching the cus-tomary retirement age of 80, theVatican said.

Hoyos had been head ofthe Pontifical “Ecclesia Dei”Commission, which wascharged with healed theschism with the ultraconserva-tive Society of St. Pius X.

The effort to reconcilewith the Society of St. Pius Xwill now be headed by Cardi-nal William Levada, the high-est-ranking U.S. churchman inthe Vatican hierarchy. Levadaheads the Vatican’s powerfulorthodoxy watchdog, the Con-gregation for the Doctrine ofthe Faith, which Benedictheaded for decades before be-coming pope in 2005.

Archbishop MarcelLefebvre founded the Pius so-ciety in 1969 in opposition tothe reforms of the SecondVatican Council, which in-cluded outreach to Judaismand other religions.

The Vatican in 1988 ex-communicated four of its bish-ops after they were conse-crated without papal consentby Lefebvre.

Shortly before the excom-munication of Bishop RichardWilliamson and the three other

Society bishops was lifted inJanuary, Williamson denied inan interview with Swedish TVthat 6 million Jews were killedby the Nazis. He said about200,000 or 300,000 were mur-dered and none were gassed.

Jews and Catholicsaround the world voiced out-rage and Williamson laterapologized for the “hurt”caused by his remarks butdidn’t recant them.

Hoyos said he and otherofficials knew nothing aboutWilliamson’s denial that theNazis killed 6 million Jews.Benedict made a rare acknowl-edgment of a Vatican mistakein March, saying in a letter toCatholic bishops worldwidethat he was unaware of thebishop’s positions when helifted the excommunication.

The Vatican saidHoyos’ tenure at the commis-sion had run out and did notmention the controversy whenannouncing that Levadawould now directly handlethe reconciliation process.

The Vatican saidBenedict had expressedthanks to Hoyos and saidLevada’s office would handleupcoming talks with the Soci-ety because it is most suited toresolve doctrinal differences.

On Wednesday,Benedict reiterated that untiltheological differences withthe Society are resolved, thegroup has “no canonical sta-tus in the church and its min-isters cannot legitimately exer-cise any ministry.”

The Society has been de-fiant, with new priests beingordained last month in Swit-zerland and Germany. TheVatican had said any ordina-tions would be considered in-valid.

Vatican replacescardinal in Holocaust

controversyBy ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer

Pope Benedict XVI, second from right, flanked by BishopJames Harvey, second from left, and by personal secretary BishopGeorg Gaenswein, right, delivers his blessing at the end of theweekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. (APPhoto/Gregorio Borgia)

Michael Jackson’sdaughter Paris Jackson (L)and two sons Prince MichaelJackson II (also known asBlanket) and Prince MichaelJackson I (R) wave at the endof a memorial service for theirfather music legend MichaelJackson at the Staples Centerin Los Angeles, California,July 7, 2009. Michael

Jackson’s family and closefriends held a private serviceat a Los Angeles cemetery onTuesday as fans crowded intothe city’s downtown area fora star-packed public memo-rial to the “King of Pop.

“ REUTERS/GabrielBouys/Pool (UNITEDSTATES OBITUARY ENTER-TAINMENT)

Villager SportsvilleVillager SportsvilleVillager SportsvilleVillager SportsvilleVillager Sportsville

By George HardinBy George HardinBy George HardinBy George HardinBy George HardinSportsBeatSportsBeatSportsBeatSportsBeatSportsBeat

Page 8/The Villager/July 10, 2009

Amanda Van Dyke rising as a Longhorn athlete

Amanda Van Dyke isrising in the ranks of trackand field athletes at the Uni-versity of Texas at Austin. Sherecently returned from the U.S.Outdoor Track and FieldChampionships at HaywardField on the campus of theUniversity of Oregon at Eu-gene. She is a graduate ofConnally High School andearned a scholarship to UTon the basis of her perfor-mances while at thePflugerville school. She hadseveral other scholarship of-fers but chose UT she saidbecause of its excellent pro-

TRUE LONGHORN—Amanda Van Dyke shows her schoolspirit with a Hook ‘em Horns sign. She has completed her firstyear at the University of Texas as a scholarship student in trackand field. Photo by George E. Hardin

gram and the outstandinghead coach, Beverly Kearney.

The Oregon competi-tion, Van Dyke said, “is anannual event where all theU.S. athletes come to try toqualify for the Pan AmericanChampionships which thisyear will be in Trinidad andTobago.” She was in fifthplace in juniors division ofthe shot put with a personalrecord throw of 48.6 feet(14.78 meters). “I am the firstalternate to go just in casesomeone can’t make it,” shesaid.

“This year at UT,” shesaid, “I’m taking part in theshot put, weight throw anddiscus. My strongest event isthe shot put.” She said therewere seven people in the UTgroup that went to Oregon,including Texas Ex MichelleCarter and ChalondaGoodman, an incoming fresh-man.

Carter, with a toss of 59feet 2 inches for first place inthe shot put in the nationalcategory, will represent the

U.S. at the 12th IAAF WorldChampionships July 31-Aug.2 in Berlin.

Goodman will be goingto the Pan American Cham-pionships as a result of win-ning the juniors 100-meterswith a wind-aided 11.9.Goodman, who is fromNewnan, Ga., is the worldjunior leader in the event. ThePan American Champion-ships will be in Port of Spain,Trinidad, July31-Aug.2.

Former LonghornSanya Richards took firstplace in the 400-meters in Or-egon with 50.96 and will beon the U.S. Nationals team atthe World Championships.

Van Dyke won theTexas UIL shot put statechampionship three times ina row while a student atConnally. Referring to herfirst year in college, she said,“I worked real hard duringthe off season. I got stronger.And I made the All-Big 12team. In all my meets I madeit to the finals.” She said, “Thecoaching is outstanding. My

coach, Rose Brimmer, spendsso much time trying to get mewhere I need to be. She’shelped me tremendously.”

College athletics, shesaid, “is a whole differentcompetition level. The bigthing is time management ifyou want to be an athlete incollege. I get up about 5:30every morning and my daydoesn’t end until about 11o’clock. It’s OK though. It’sfun.”

Van Dyke is majoringin education at UT andwants to be a coach.

“We’re very proud ofAmanda,” said her father,Thomas Van Dyke. “Wethink she’s done exception-ally well not only on thefield of play but academi-cally.” Referring to his wife,Karon Van Dyke, he said,“We enjoy the traveling, fol-lowing behind and support-ing Amanda.”

Amanda also had an-other strong supporter inher grandmother, JohnnieVan Dyke.

Williams sisters’ winning vindicate father’s coaching

Serena Williams Venus Williams

It was a sister act allover again as Venus Williamsand Serena Williams metagain Saturday, July 4, in thefabled Wimbledon champi-onships and Serena claimeda 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over herbig sister. It was the thirdWimbledon championshipfor Serena and the 11th timeshe had won a major title dur-ing her career. They huggedwarmly after it was over andreverted to being sisters ratherthan opponents.

New rankings putSerena at No. 2 in the worldand Venus at No. 3, follow-ing, oddly enough, DinaraSafina who lost to Venus inthe semifinals. Noting thatshe holds three Grand Slamtitles, Serena was candid in

stating she should be No. 1.Venus has won the

Wimbledon singles title twotimes in the past three yearsand she and Serena are theonly sisters and the onlywomen to have played eachother four consecutive timesin Grand Slam singles.

Venus, at age 29, is15 months older than Serena,was restricted by a left kneethat has been a continuingproblem and was bandagedas she played.

Another highlight atWimbledon was the Williamssisters’ 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory overthe Australians SamanthaStosur and Renate Stubbs inthe women’s doubles. It wasthe ninth women’s doublesGrand Slam title, their fourth

at Wimbledon.The sisters’ perfor-

mance is again a vindicationof the methods used by theirfather, Richard Williams, incoaching his girls. He beganteaching the girls tennis whenthey were preschoolers inCompton, Calif., hoping atleast one of them would be-come a champion. His hopeshave been realized as the Wil-liams sisters have raised thebar for women’s tennis.

Early on the girlswere victims of racism andwere ridiculed when facingwhite opponents. As a fatherhe stood up for them, railedagainst the discriminationthey faced when dealing withpeople who thought tennisshould be restricted to the

country club set. However, healso emphasized to them that“Education is power, notchasing around some tennisball.”

When Richard Will-iams found the tennis acad-emies were less than willingto teach his daughters he de-cided to become their maincoach. As he worked outsidethe tennis establishmentmany sports writers calledhim ignorant because he wasnot well educated. They criti-cized his manner of speak-ing, ridiculed his teachingtechnique and said he was

hindering rather than help-ing his daughters. He stoodfirm, believing in his own ap-proach and the potential tal-ent of his daughters. Toweather the storm of criticismhe adopted and attitude ofindifference to the main-stream tennis world and ex-pressed that feeling in no un-certain terms, creating furthercriticism. Williams alsocoached other neighborhoodchildren in Compton butnone of them persisted androse through the ranks to be-come millionaire superstarslike Venus and Serena.

Team to open up stadium for fans to pay respectsNASHVILLE, Tenn.

(AP)—Steve McNair(notes)fans wanting to pay their re-spects to the former NFL quar-terback will be able to at thestadium where he created somany memories.

The Tennessee Titansare opening LP FieldWednesday and Thursday

from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fans canleave personal messages in abook that will be given to theMcNair family. Video boardswill show McNair highlightsand a photo mural of his ca-reer with the Titans will be ondisplay. The ticket office alsowill be accepting donations tothe Steve McNair Founda-

tion. McNair was found shotto death Saturday. A memo-rial service is being heldThursday night in Nashville.There will be a funeral serviceSaturday at the University ofSouthern Mississippi inHattiesburg with a privateburial in his hometown of Mt.Olive.

From L to R:Team photo ofSteve McNairand game photoof Steve McNairwith Ex-UT QB,Vince Young.