A ROUNDUP OF LOCAL SPORTSSee pageS 6 and 7

East Central Florida’s Black Voice

A fashion show sponsored by the Women’s Missionary Union of Greater Friendship Church of Daytona Beach is scheduled to feature Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood as well as the church’s pastors and other lo-cal professionals.

The event takes place Sunday, Oct. 21, at Belk’s Pavilion in Port Orange.

Pat Bennett, an organizer of the event said part of the proceeds from the event would go to Florida Memorial University in Miami to help students attend the school.

Deep discountsThose who attend also are asked

to take used clothing to the event that will be donated to the home-less and those in need.

They also will be allowed to shop after the show and will re-ceive a 20 percent discount on purchases.

Bennett added those who do-nate an article of clothing will re-ceive an additional 20 percent off of their purchases.

Among the models in the fash-ion show, which will feature men and women are: Chitwood; Or-

mond Beach ophthalmologist Dr. Allen Jackson; the Rev. L. Ron-ald Durham, pastor of Greater Friendship; and attorney Steven R. Robinson.

Tickets for the 7 to 10 p.m. fund-raiser are $10 and include food served by local participating res-taurants.

For more information, call 386-252-0322 or 386-774-2171.

Police chief, pastor to participate in fashion show to help college, homeless

Investigation clears Henry of elections charges

14 churchesare ready to march to the pollsBY JAMES HARPERDAYTONA TIMES harperjames59@yahoo.com

Dr. L. Ronald Durham said plans are full steam ahead for a combined churches’ “Souls to the Polls” march scheduled Sunday, Oct. 28.

A planning meeting took place at Greater Friendship Baptist Church on Oct. 11.

Durham said local pastors or their representatives attended the meeting along with staff members from Organizing for America, local NAACP President Cynthia Slater as well Ann McFall, Volusia County’s Supervisor of Elections.

“We agreed to gather on the steps of the Volusia County Courthouse at 1:30 p.m. next to Jackie Robinson Ballpark. There will be a brief 10-15 minute opening program to include “Why We Are Here,” Durham said this week.

“After the program we will march from the courthouse to the City Is-land library to vote,” Durham added.

Marching churchesChurches participating thus far are

Greater Friendship Baptist Church, Tubman-King Community Church, Allen Chapel AME Church, New Life Ministries, Stewart Memorial Unit-ed Methodist Church, Mt. Bethel Baptist Church, Hope Fellowship Church, Our Lady of Lourdes Cath-olic Church, Divine Deliverance Church, Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, St. Timothy’s Church, Morning Star Baptist Church, New Mt. Zion Bap-tist Church, and New St. James Bap-tist Church.

Durham said older seniors or handicapped persons should be dropped off directly at the library at 1:30 p.m. Churches and individuals should use the courthouse parking lot if marching, and reserve library parking for the elderly and handi-capped.

Please see MARCH, Page 2

Mayoral candidate responds to droppedinquiry by StateAttorney’s Office

BY JAMES HARPERDAYTONA TIMESharperjames59@yahoo.com

There’s insufficient evidence to show that Derrick Henry violated election laws in his campaign for mayor, the State Attorney’s office has concluded.

“After a thorough investigation by the Office of R.J. Larizza, State Attorney of the 7th Judicial Circuit, a decision has been made that no charges will be filed regarding the

allegations brought forth by the Supervisor of Elections for Volu-sia County, Ann McFall,” spokes-person Klare Ly said in a press re-lease Wednesday.

“There is insufficient evidence to support claims that Daytona Beach Mayoral Candidate Der-rick Henry violated any elections laws regarding absentee ballots and voters registration forms,” Ly added.

‘Timely closure’After learning last Thursday

that Henry would not face charg-es, the mayoral candidate’s cam-paign issued this statement: “A few months ago Ann McFall, the Volusia County Supervisor of

Elections, made statements to var-ious media outlets regarding Derrick Henry’s campaign for Daytona Beach Mayor.

“At that point in time, Mr. Henry re-spectfully request-ed the Supervisor of Elections to turn

her purported ‘inquiry’ over to the State Attorney’s Office. Mr. Hen-ry is pleased to announce that “I have willingly met with the Office of State Attorney R.J. Larizza and they have concluded that I am not a suspect of any violation related to absentee ballots or voter regis-trations.”

The statement from Henry’s campaign added, “I would like to thank the State Attorney’s Office for bringing timely closure to this matter so I can continue to run a positive and successful cam-paign.’’

McFall chose not to comment on the matter to the Daytona Times.

Authorized agentIn a memo that was part of the

report involving the Henry case, Assistant State Attorney Christo-pher Walker said, “These allega-tions stemmed from the submis-sion of absentee ballots and vot-er registration cards procured or submitted with the assistance of

Daytona Mayoral candidate Der-rick Henry.

“There was insufficient evi-dence to support claims that Mr. Henry violated any elections laws regarding these absentee ballots and voters registration forms for his constituents.”

The investigation noted that Henry is an authorized third-party registration agent, allowing him to collect voter registration applications.

“There was insufficient evi-dence to prove beyond and to the exclusion of very reasonable doubt the guilt of any of the indi-viduals applying for the absentee ballots or voter registrations in questions,’’ Walker added.

OCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 2012 www.daytonatimes.comYEAR 37 NO. 42

FREEPRESORTEDSTANDARD

U.S. POSTAGEPAID

Permit #189Daytona Beach,

FLDaytona

www.daytonatimes.com

PEOPLESPEAK

EERF

Major achievement for Palm Coast organization See page 5

Derrick Henry

CHaRLene CROWeLL: Social Security saves 30 percent of retired Blacks from poverty page 4

Tony Cowell ready to make difference as karate teacher

BY JAMES HARPERDAYTONA TIMESharperjames59@yahoo.com

When Tony Cowell isn’t driv-ing trucks for a living, the Day-tona Beach resident is teach-ing karate.

Cowell says he teaches ka-rate to bring awareness about the sport and to get more of the community and inner-city children involved in some-thing that’s productive and worthwhile and keeps them off

the streets.“I consider all the students

as my kids whenever they are in my presence. They are my kids. I protect them. I look out for them and I teach them,” Cowell said, noting that he has been practicing karate for 40 years and teaching it for 15 years.

Cowell also teaches a self-defense/exercise class for women.

Builds confidenceHe says karate is an indi-

vidual sport that builds con-fidence and self-esteem in all areas of life – whether it is for other sports or for a physically

demanding job.His classes are taught on

the third floor of Master’s Do-main Church of God in Christ on Bay Street. The pastor of the church, located in downtown Daytona Beach, is Superin-tendent Derrick Harris. Cow-ell says he is looking for a new location that is more visible to the public.

Cowell was born in Brook-lyn, New York, and came to Florida in 1989.

He started out in Miami than eventually made his way to Daytona Beach.

He had been a single parent for almost 20 years until he met Sharonda Irvin, whom he calls his best friend. She works as a recreational leader at the John H. Dickerson Center. They were married a year ago.

Upon arriving in Daytona Beach, Cowell met Larry Jones and Kareem Brown and be-gin working out with them. He became a member of karate teams.

“Karate teaches me to be more self-aware about my sur-roundings and the people that I come in contact with,” he ex-plained.

Good workoutCowell says karate works on

the physical and mental as-pects of the body asa whole.

“It teaches you respect, con-fidence and is a builder of self-esteem as well,” he continued.

Cowell said those who par-ticipate in his class will get a good workout and knowledge of the sport. There also are competitions across the state such as the Gator Nationals held in Daytona Beach.

“We also compete in tourna-ments outside of the state,” he added.

The cost of his classes rang-es from $65 dollars per month for one child to $165 for five ore more children. Classes take place Monday, Wednes-day and Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for younger kids.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Cowell teaches the women’s self-de-fense/exercise classes.

For more information, 386-236-9263 or send an email to CowellS@CODB.US.

An alternate sport for

Midtown kids

Mike Chitwood

Rev. Ronald Durham

From left to right are

Malcolm Crafton

(black belt),

sensei Tony Cowell (third-degree

black belt) and

DeVine Lents

(brown belt),

Schetonia Cowell

(brown belt) is in

front.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY COWELL

M A Y O RDECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006 72 OCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 2012FOCUS

Students to followBethune-Cookman Uni-

versity students will be fol-lowing the example of ar-ea church leaders and are planning a march to the polls on Oct. 29.

The details of the march weren’t available by the Daytona Times’ press time.

Davita Bonner, director of Career Services at B-CU works closely with the stu-dents and confirmed there was a meeting this week to discuss the march. She would only say that it is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 29.

During a campus event on Sept. 15 featuring actress Keke Palmer, Obama for America volunteers were on hand and said their goal was to register 2,000 B-CU students to vote in the Nov.

6 general election.At the event, an Obama

for America spokesman said 750 students had been registered.

There were 1,300 new freshman enrolled at the school this fall with the majority of them staying on campus. That qualified them to be eligible to use their campus addresses as their permanent addresses to register to vote and vote as Daytona Beach residents if they choose to do so.

MARCHfrom Page 1

BRIefs

Fords present Prophetic Conference 2012

The Choice Christian Workshop Center, under the direction of Prophetess Debo-

rah Ford and Deacon Har-old Ford, will present Pro-phetic Conference 2012.

The theme of the event, which will take place Oct. 25-27, is “A Time for Impar-tation.’’

The church is located at 327 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Services will start at 7 p.m. each night. The conference is free and open to the entire family.

Featured speakers will include: • Thursday night, Dr. Linda Roberts,

Power Pack Outreach Ministries, Claxton, Ga.

• Friday night, Prophetess Carolyn Foxx, Shield of Faith Ministries, Deltona.

• Saturday Noon Prayer Luncheon speaker is Sheila Turner. Prophetess Ford is the conference host and will speak Sat-urday night.

For more information, visit Deborahe-fordministries.org or email Ford at drdebo-rahford@yahoo.com.

•••

DBPD, Amscot to give away free bicycle helmets

Free bicycle helmets for children will be given away Oct. 20 by the Daytona Beach Police Department and Amscot Financial Services.

The helmets will be handed out be-tween 9 a.m. and noon at 979 W. Interna-tional Speedway Blvd.

The giveaway is aimed at preschool and elementary school children.

The helmets will be available in three sizes: small, medium and large. They will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, contact DBPD at 386-671-5406 or e-mail JEM@dbpd.com.

•••

Church to host program for veterans

The Brotherhood of Greater Friendship Baptist Church is celebrating veterans on Sunday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day.

“We are asking all veterans to come and worship with us and let us as a church and a community say thanks for your service to God and country,” said Minister Tommie Robinson.

Robinson said veterans should wear something from their time in service or a cap to identify which branch of service they were in.

U.S. Army Captain Craig Robinson, pas-tor of New St. James Daytona Beach, will deliver the message at the 10:45 service.

A free breakfast will be served at 8 a.m. The church is located at 539 George En-gram Blvd.

For further information, call 386-795-7770.

•••

Services being held at Hampton Inn

Dr. Silas Johnson and Dr. Jennifer John-son have announced the opening of the Full Counsel Bible Fellowship Campus at The Hampton Inn in Daytona Beach at 1715 W. International Speedway Blvd.

For more information, call 501-791-0600.

EARLY VOTING DATES:

OCT. 27TH – NOV. 3RDFOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT

VOTE.BARACKOBAMA.COM

THERE’S MORE TO DO, BUT

WE’RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK.

BARACK OBAMA IS NOT JUST A

PRESIDENT FOR SOME OF US.

HE’S FIGHTING FOR ALL OF US.I promised to be a President who would build a better

future; who would move this nation forward; who would

ensure that this generation—your generation—had the

same chances and the same opportunities that our parents

gave us. That’s what I’m here to do. That’s why I ran for

President of the United States of America.

• Supports a city staff ‘Live here, work here’ requirement.

• Supports an improved Local Preference Ordinance for city contracts.

• Supports expanding the city’s events in the urban core, including the expansion of Bike Week down ISB.

• Supports a true community-based mentoring program that brings the Midtown and Scarlett Golden Centers to life using students from BCU, ERAU and DSC.

• Supports a budget that adequately staffs both Community Centers and does not overcharge residents for use of city facilities.

• Supports hiring practices in the city that reflect our 36% African-American population, a goal emphasized during Mayor Yvonne Scarlet Golden’s tenure.

• Supports a Mary McLeod Bethune Festival similar to the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts in Eatonville.

• Supports the restoration of Orange Avenue.

Political advertisement paid for and approved by Derrick Henry for Mayor

Henry Platform for our City’s Core:

a Plan to imProve tHe Heart of tHe City

sheila Turner

M A Y O RDECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006 7COMMUNITY NEWSOCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 2012 3

LOVE TO SHOP HERE. LOVE TO SAVEHERE.

Publix is the real deal.With all the claims of low prices and great values, which grocery store

really does off er you the most? Bottom line, it’s Publix. No gimmicks. No

come-ons. Just straight-up savings that will help keep your grocery budget

in check. Go to publix.com/save right now to make plans to save this week.

Church to hostHarvest FestivalThe Lake Helen United Methodist Church, located at the corner of Lakeview and W. Delaware Avenues, will host its annual Harvest Festival Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fundraiser will coincide with the church’s Pumpkin Patch, open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day. More information: 386-228-2345.

Child, babysittingcertification FridayDeltona Fire and Rescue will offer a child and babysitting safety class from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 19 at Deltona Fire Station 61, 1685 Providence Blvd. The program is for ages 11-15 and covers common safety practices for caring for

children and first-aid proce-dures. Cost is $25 per person and includes refreshments. RSVP at jcaine@deltonafl.gov or 386-575-6907.

Learn how to use library when closed Learn how to take advantage of Volusia County’s public library branches 24/7 during a free workshop at 5 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Daytona Beach Regional Library at City Island. More information: 386-257-6036.

Center plans freetennis tourneyThe Friends of Tennis will present a Flagler Early Learn-ing Day at the Palm Coast Tennis Center Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. The event will

be a free “round-robin” tennis tournament. Children also can take part in the Pre-Halloween “Trunk or Treat.” Pink Walk/Runthis weekendVince Carter’s Restaurant and the Embassy of Hope Founda-tion will join together to host the Second Annual Pink Walk/Run Oct. 20 at Vince Carter’s Restaurant, 2150 LPGA Blvd. All proceeds from the event will be donated to Halifax Health – Center for Oncology. To register, contact Tammy at VCPinkWalk@gmail.com or call 386-290-7162.

Haunted houseat Lilian PlaceThe Heritage Preservation Trust of Volusia County is hosting the Ghost Stories and Folklore of Lilian Place and Daytona Beach Tour this month. Tours will be Friday and Saturday nights, Oct. 19, 20, 26 and 27 from 6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. Tickets are $10. Lilian Place is at 111 Silver Beach Ave. More information: www.heritagepreservationtrust.org or 386-299-5628.

To list your event FREE, e-mail us at news@daytonatimes.com. No phone calls or faxes, please. Events are listed on a space-available basis, and in the sole discretion of the Daytona Times staff. For guaran-teed placement, contact Lynnette Garcia, lgarcia@flcourier.org, phone 954-882-2946, for ad rates.

Community Calendar

Compiled by the Daytona Times

M A Y O RDECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006 7

Republicans tied to voter fraud

OCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 20124 EDITORIAL

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: LONGEST BALLOT IN HISTORY

Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1928-2004), FounderJulia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra Cherry- Kittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Chief Executive Officer

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources

Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor

Lynnette Garcia, Deborah Ford, Marketing Consultants/Sales

Linda Fructuoso, Marketing Consultant/Sales, Circulation

Angela van Emmerik, Creative Director

Larry Steele, Circulation

James Harper, Andreas Butler, Ashley Thomas, Staff Writers

Delroy Cole, Kim Gibson, Photojournalists

MEMBERNational Newspaper Publishers AssociationSociety of Professional JournalistsFlorida Press AssociationAssociated PressNational Newspaper Association

W W W . D A Y T O N A T I M E S . C O M

Central Florida Communications Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857Tampa, Fl 33646, publishes the Florida Daytona Times on Thursdays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com.

Subscriptions to the print version are $59 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, Fl 33646, or log on to www.daytona.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.

SUBMISSIONS POLICYSEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO NEWS@DAYTONATIMES.COM. Deadline for submitting news and pictures is 5 p.m. the Monday before the Thursday publication date. You may submit articles at any time. However, current events received prior to deadline will be considered before any informa-tion that is submitted, without the Publisher’s prior approval, after the deadline. Press releases, letters to the editor, and guest commentaries must be e-mailed to be considered for publication. The Daytona Times reserves the right to edit any submission, and crop any photograph, for style and clarity. Materials will not be returned.

JEff PaRkER, flORida TOday and ThE fORT MyERs nEws-PREss

What is happening to the Re-publican National Committee (RNC) in the state of Florida and in other important swing states concerning the issues of voter fraud and voter suppression is like a glaring, unexpected cli-max of a Shakespearean drama.

For the past four years, the RNC has labored tirelessly and in some instances mysteriously to raise the issue of voter fraud in the national political debate. In addition, it has been leading the charge in many state legis-latures to enact unprecedented voter suppression laws alleged-ly as a necessary remedy to pro-tect the public from the cruelty of voter manipulation and mis-chief.

But now the RNC itself stands naked and exposed for being the real culprit of substantial voter fraud combined with systematic voter suppression.

Strategic Allied Consulting is the company founded and head by Nathan Sproul, the former executive director and leader of the RNC in the state of Arizona. In 2012, Sproul was employed by the RNC and the Mitt Rom-ney campaign to do voter work in five swing states: North Car-olina, Florida, Virginia, Nevada and Colorado.

The public record shows that Sproul was paid more than $3 million this year by both the RNC and the Romney campaign to do voter registration drives in those five states. In Florida, from January through September 2012, Strategic Allied Consulting was paid $1.3 million.

FDLE investigatesThe Florida Department of

Law Enforcement has launched an immediate criminal investi-gation of Sproul and the Strate-gic Allied Consulting because of allegations of criminal acts of voter fraud across the state of Florida. There are allegations of dead people being registered to vote as well as numerous other voter registration infractions in attempt to increase Republican voter rolls.

As soon as the news hit about the criminal allegations, the RNC’s national office fired Sproul and his firm. Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, was quick to emphasize, “We take the in-tegrity of elections extremely se-riously. We have zero tolerance for even the mere allegation of impropriety.”

Of course that sounded good coming from the RNC in its at-tempt to distance itself from the more than 220 allegations in 10 different counties relating to Sproul in Florida. But the RNC’s prior actions and continued ac-tions concerning this issue dis-play a total contradictory set of facts and serious problems.

History of mischiefThe RNC has had a long-

standing working relationship with Nathan Sproul even though there were prior allegations of voter tampering and other ir-regularities dating back to 2004. There was no “zero tolerance” at that time. There was no fairness, no justice and no equality. There is a history of mischief and crim-inal conduct in this regard.

Sproul and his companies, which have been directly linked to voter suppression, trickery and fraud, have actually been paid more than $21.2 million by the Republican Party over the past nine years.

Our democracy needs to be protected from these acts of in-timidation and injustice. Voting and the right to vote are sacred. We have fought too long and too hard to sit back and allow these regressive and illegal acts of vot-er manipulation and suppres-sion to continue.

Black Americans and all Americans have to demand jus-tice and the equal protection of voting rights for all people. The next two weeks of campaign-ing leading up to the election on November 6 that will enhance or change the course of history. Let’s make sure that we all con-tribute to going forward instead of going backward.

Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is president of the Hip-Hop Sum-mit Action Network and Edu-cation Online Services Corpo-ration and can be reached at drbenjamin.chavis@gmail.com. Click on this story at www.daytonatimes.com to write your own response.

Is Israel bullying Obama?A “power politics” move is cur-

rently at play that could set the stage for the end of the world. What is your perspective on whether Iran is seeking a nuclear weap-on? Or, are Americans, President Barack Obama, and the Western world being bum rushed into mili-tary adventurism?

Do you understand that the fate of the species is at stake?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Israel is “bully-ing the United States” over the al-leged threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon by using the prospect of an Israeli military attack on Iran to force President Obama into mili-tary action.

Considered persona non grata among Westerners, at the 67th U.N. General Assembly in New York, Ahmadinejad made what is likely his final address to the world body. As in previous years, Ahmadinejad assailed the United States, Israel and Europe, and called for a new world order.

Marching ordersHe also said, “Americans should

be insulted if their government takes marching orders from Isra-el.” Ahmadinejad’s perspective is that Israel has no rightful place in the Middle East and is “an incon-sequential interloper.” Ahmadine-jad’s assessment is that “a few oc-cupying Zionists” are telling the U.S. and President Obama what

to do concerning Iran’s nuclear is-sues.

The U.S. Senate just voted 90-1 to support the Israeli position, but to be fair, Ahmadinejad made valid points worth considering. For decades, the U.S. has been at Israel’s beck and call. During re-cent months, Israel has stepped up threats of a unilateral strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

With the U.S. Congress on its side and elections just weeks away, the pro-Israel lobby is exerting con-centrated pressure on Washington to lay down certain “red lines” be-fore Iran.

Israel condemnedPresident Obama is being bul-

lied by a premiere power in Amer-ican politics and popular culture because he continues to resist mil-itary adventures of Israel. Ralph Bunche, an African-American, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, for agreements he brought about that started the new state of Israel.

Since then, Israel has regularly violated international laws and de-fied numerous U.N. resolutions.

Most of the world opposes Isra-el’s policies, and especially its op-pression of the Palestinians. Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian who served as secretary-general of the United Na-tions, said, “The whole world de-mands that Israel withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories.”

For more than 60 years, Black politicians who call themselves the “conscience of Congress” have been reliable supporters of Israeli issues and practices.

Though Blacks oppose any crit-icism of Obama, the Israeli lobby openly castigates the president. Amid tension between the U.S. and Israel over Iran’s nuclear am-bitions, Israeli-supporters criticize President Obama for “failing to put Israel at ease.”

When Obama addressed the U.N. General Assembly, he issued a stern warning to Iran, but stopped short of drawing the “red lines” Is-rael Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu demanded.

It’s time to make peace in the Middle East. Instead of a new war front, Obama needs encourage-ment and support toward taking fair and measured actions on this issue.

William Reed is head of the Business Exchange Network and available for speaking/semi-nar projects through the Bai-ley Group.org. Click on this sto-ry at www.daytonatimes.com to write your own response.

Social Security saves 30 percent of retired Blacks from poverty

Although many Americans are living longer, a new public policy analysis reveals that a dispropor-tionate number of older people are also living in poverty – partic-ularly if they are a person of color.

According to the AARP Public Policy Institute, Social Security keeps about 30 percent of African-Americans and Hispanics retirees from poverty. Yet another 20 per-cent of these two groups at ages 65 or older, live in poverty at a rate that is double that of Whites.

The reasons for these disparities are tied to multiple factors. Years of working for lower wages do not allow for aggressive savings or in-vestment portfolios. Additionally, many people of color have held jobs that did not provide for pen-sions or retirement accounts. For other workers whose employers provided some kind of retirement plan, often the benefits are small-er.

Asians best offAmong all people of color, AARP

found that higher-income Asian-Americans were the most like-ly to receive diversified incomes in retirement years that included interest, dividends and rental in-come from assets.

For Black and Latino retirees, more than a quarter eventually re-ly on Social Security for 90 percent

of their family income, says AARP. According to the report, “The me-dian annual Social Security fam-ily income of older minorities is roughly 26 percent lower than that of older whites.”

The worst disparities in Social Security benefits were found in comparing women by race and marital status. Never-married Af-rican-American women usual-ly receive benefits at much lower rates than married women of col-or. By contrast, older White wom-en regardless of marital status re-ceived benefits at much similar rates to White men.

When to retireFortunately, the Social Secu-

rity Administration provides op-tions to increase the amount of monthly benefits by determining the best time to retire.

For example, most consumers can receive Social Security bene-fits as early as age 62. The trade-off is that the monthly payments will be lower than those choosing to wait for full benefits.

Full retirement age changes started taking effect in 2000, and will change gradually from age 65 to age 66 or 67, depending on date of birth. For those born between 1945 and 1954, full retirement age is 66.

Regardless of when people choose to retire, Social Security recipients are eligible for cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). After no COLAs were offered in 2010 or 2011, this year retirees will receive a 3.6 percent adjustment. Last week, the Labor Department indi-cated an estimated 2013 increase will be in the range of 1.5-1.7 per-cent.

Anyone planning to retire is ad-vised to contact Social Security three months before the date de-sired for benefits to begin.

According to AARP, “Social Se-curity is and will continue to be the main source of income for low- and moderate-wage retir-ees; but improvements in other programs would alleviate pover-ty and income insecurity among older Americans.”

Charlene Crowell is a com-munications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org. Click on this story at www.daytonatimes.com to write your own response.

Blacks ignored and taken for granted

What will it finally take for Black people to accept the fact that we have no real political clout? A lit-tle influence, yes, but no power. If our voting bloc were as strong as we like to think, the Republicans would not ignore us and the Dem-ocrats would not take us for grant-ed.

If we had real political pow-er, both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama would have accepted the invitation by the National News-paper Publishers Association (NN-PA), NAACP, American Urban Ra-dio Network, MSNBC-TV, and the Grio, to a debate at Lincoln Univer-sity on October 9. But both candi-dates declined.

Yet, Romney did more than a half-hour and Obama did an hour on the Spanish-language TV net-work, Univision, both answering questions specifically related to Hispanics. Jewish people always get their audience with the candi-dates, and the gay groups never fail to get their face-time with the pres-ident – Romney won’t have any-thing to do with them – but Black folks never get the same positive response when it comes to being included in such events. Ever won-der why?

We can’t waitNot that we learn anything new

from political debates, as scripted as they have become. But it would be nice to have the candidates dis-cuss specific Black issues every now and then. It would be great to see several, not just one, Black reporter asking both candidates questions relevant to Black people. You know, the way the Hispanic and Jewish people do.

So what does all of this mean? Is it that Blacks are willing to accept symbolism and platitudes over substance and pragmatism? Does it mean that we are willing to do the opposite of what MLK decried when he wrote the book, “Why We Can’t Wait?’’

King opposed the gradualist ap-proach to the work in which he was engaged, noting that Black people had been waiting for 300 years and could ill-afford to continue to keep waiting.

Independent actionHistorian Carter G. Woodson

wrote, “The Negro should endeav-or to be a figure in politics, not a

tool for the politicians. This higher role can be played not by parking all of the votes of a race on one side of the fence as both Blacks and Whites have done in the South, but by independent action.”

Malcolm X characterized the same principle in more color-ful words. He said, “Any time you throw your weight behind a polit-ical party that controls two thirds of the government, and that par-ty can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you are dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party, you’re not only a chump, but you’re a traitor to your race.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also said, “The emergency we now face is economic, and it is a desperate and worsening situation.” He was talking about “silver” rights, not civil rights.

Not only can we not afford to wait, we can no longer afford, as if we ever could, to be ignored and taken for granted.

Jim Clingman is an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati and can be reached through his website, blacko-nomics.com. Click on this story at www.daytonatimes.com to write your own response.

NNPA COLUMNIST

JAMES CLINGMAN

NNPA FINANCIAL WRITER

ChARLENE CROwELL

wILLIAM REED

BUSINESS EXCHANGE

DR. BENJAMIN F. ChAVIS, JR.

NNPA COLUMNIST

M A Y O RDECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006 7COMMUNITY NEWSOCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 2012 5

QFRC13430000_AA_11_Ear_BW_DaytonaTimes(10x10).indd 1 9/26/12 8:42 AM

Here’s a toast to celebrat-ing the symbolic mortgage burning that took place Saturday at the African-American Cultural Society (AACS).

Members raised their champagne glasses after arriving “at the very im-portant destination. At that stop, the mortgage pay-ments for their beautiful building had left the train.”

They threw the bash, en-joying a buffet and dance music deejayed by Don-ald Bryant. The hosts were: Amenities Chair Dorothy G. Robinson, Melissa Ar-nold, Shirley Hinds, John Reid and Seconia Reid. In-cluded were Jean Tanner, Dora Campbell, Janice Wil-liams, Brenda Russell and bartender Gary Wagner.

Incorporated in 1991

The society accom-plished its vision through hard work involving time and talent and the sup-

port of community efforts. Its mission is to preserve and perpetuate the cultur-al heritage of the African Diaspora. They also rent the premises for weddings and other occasions.

It was reason for Mort-gage Elimination Chair Li-onel Holder to thank the members - both past and present - in that a $380,000 mortgage was paid off in 12 rather than 15 years.

Accompanied by Hold-er’s efforts were commit-tee members James W. Al-len, Victor R. Krause and Stephanie E. Robinson.

Following the organiza-tion’s 1991 incorporation, the timeline for construct-ing the cultural center in-volved purchasing five acres on U.S. 1 by Land Acquisi-tion Chairman Courtland Coke - and creating an as-sets portfolio through past officers: President Clarence Mauge’, Vice President/Treasurer Walter Boone and Public Affairs Chair-man James Robinson.

A Design and Planning Committee was chaired by Louis P. McCarthy, and in January 2001, build-ing construction began through Chairman William Robinson with the support of a kitchen cabinet, head-ed by former officers: Pres-ident Lionel Holder, Vice President Walter Boone, Board Chairman James T. Lee, along with Clarence Mauge’ and Phillip Horne.

The members then cele-brated the 10th anniversary in their brand new cultur-al center on Nov. 17, 2001. Keynote speaker Susan L. Taylor, former Essence Magazine editorial direc-tor, and honorary chair Florida Congresswoman

Corrine Brown were pre-sented for the gala.

Pledges, special events

In a series of pledge campaigns, the Mortgage Liquidation Committee ar-rived on the scene in 2004 and presented a concert with vocalist Bartee’.

These were the endeav-ors by Chairman James W. Allen, Jean Boone, Walter Boone, Loretta Bryant, Ev-elyn Corbin, William Dab-ney, and William Day. In-cluded were Ray Hender-son, Lionel Holder, Alber-to Jones, Clarence Mauge’, Stephanie E. Robinson, Edwina Rucker, Jean-

nette Smith and Jean Tan-ner. Mortgage liquidation and the other campaigns considerably lowered the debt until pay off through the Mortgage Elimination Campaign.

The building takes lots of money to run, and hav-ing pushed for funds were: Diana McKie Robinson through her creative plays, Erma and Robert Brooks by developing educational programs, Jeanette Wheel-er through her Youth Real-ity Shows, and Lynda Ba-ton through organizing her trips.

And so, here we were Sat-urday celebrating a mort-gage burning with Chair-man Holder, AACS presi-

dent Edmund G. Pinto, Jr., Board Chairman Richard P. Barnes and Chaplain Muri-el M. Carey.

A good time was had by all, including Alfredo Ne-gron, whose wood-carved baobab tree graces the contributors’ names that paid off the cultural cen-ter’s mortgage. The baobab tree grows in Africa, pro-viding food, water, shelter and relief from sickness.

•••The Center for Contem-

porary Dance returns to Matanzas High School Au-ditorium Nov. 3, 4 p.m., at 3535 Old Kings Road North, Palm Coast.

The dance troupe will bring the adaptation of “An Evening of Dance” through “socially-aware artists who see their bodies as pow-erful instruments for pur-poseful storytelling.”

The troupe, “supported by the finest, professional-producing dance today,” made its Palm Coast de-but with Ambassador An-drew Young for the Afri-can-American Cultural So-ciety’s 20th anniversary in October 2011.

Melinda Morais of the society’s executive board has committed to bring the creative, cultural diversity of the dance company.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased from the Af-rican American Cultural Society by calling 386-447-7030, or Aimee’s Hallmark Shop, 386-445-0985.

•••As always, remember

our prayers for the sick, af-flicted and bereaved.

Cultural Society pays off building early

By Jeroline D. Mccarthy | Daytona Times

Palm Coast Community news

Carl Straker, Oct. 24.

Birthday wishes to:

Happy Birthday to You!

Taking part in the symbolic mortgage burning were African-American Cultural Society President Edmund G. Pinto Jr., Mortgage Liquidation Chairman James W. Allen, Board Chairman Richard P. Barnes and Mortgage Elimination Chair-man Lionel Holder.

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M A Y O RDECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006 7 october 18 - october 24, 20126 SPORTS

Free MammogramsA limited offer from Halifax Health and the Komen Foundation

Halifax Health – Center for Oncology has

received a grant from Komen Central Florida

to provide mammograms for women in our

community who would otherwise not be able to

access this vitally important screening.

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Men’s basketball team ready for 2012-13bY ANDreAS bUtLerDAYtoNA tIMeS butleramj@yahoo.com

The men’s basketball team at Bethune-Cookman begins its new season on Nov. 9 at St Bonaventure. Their first home game is Nov. 27 against North Flor-ida.

Here’s a preview of the new season.

2011-12: 18-17 overall, 11-5 for fourth in MEAC; runner-up in MEAC tour-nament.

Head Coach: Gravelle Craig, second season 18-17 overall.

Key losses: Anthony Breeze (10.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Garrious Holloman (11.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg); Stanley Elliott (5.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg).

Key returners: Adrien Coleman (11.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg); Kevin Dukes (11.7 ppg), Ricky Johnson (6 ppg); Javoris Bryant (6.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg); Mikel Trapp (2.9 ppg); Paul Scotland (3.3 ppg); and Alex Smith (1.9 ppg, 1.1 rpg).

Key newcomers: Myron Repress, Malik Jackson; and Allen Dempster.

After four consecutive winning seasons, Bethune-Cookman is ready to take the next step.

B-CU is looking to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tour-nament and make the NCAA Tournament.

In 2010-11, the Wild-cats were the MEAC regu-lar season champions and in 2011-12 they made it to the tournament champi-onship game losing to Nor-folk State.

Head coach Gravelle Craig is entering his sec-ond year leading the pro-gram after serving last sea-son as the interim coach.

“It’s been a familiar ex-perience getting ready for this season. I have been here for eight years,” said Craig.

B-CU added much need-ed size bringing in 6’ 8’’ junior center Myron Re-press from City College of San Francisco, 6’7’’ fresh-man forward Allan Demp-ster and 6’ 7’’ junior guard Malik Jackson from Miami Dade College.

“The biggest thing will be getting them caught up defensively. Malik is a big guard that can shoot and gives us size on the param-eter. Repress is a big post presence especially on de-fense,” commented Craig.

‘A team thing’The Wildcats return a

core of players, including their leader in senior point guard Kevin Dukes.

“I’m just working hard trying to get ready for the season. I’m shooting every-day, even late at night. I’m talking to my teammates all the time and doing all that I can to be a good leader,” stated Dukes.

They also return a po-tent scorer in junior guard Adrien Coleman.

“I think that we will have a balanced scoring attack. It’s a team thing. We have to keep our drive and de-termination all season,” re-sponded Coleman.

The Wildcats also have sophomore guard Ricky Johnson who got a lot of ex-perience last year.

“Ricky has a great basket-ball IQ. Both Ricky and Kev-in are point guards. Kev-in likes to play with Ricky because it frees him up to shoot. I can play them to-gether in three guard sets. We can get away with it in conference but it’s a prob-lem against bigger teams in non conference games. Mikel Trapp and Paul Scot-land will play guard,” said Craig.

Another player B-CU will depend heavily upon is se-nior forward Javoris Bry-ant.

“I hope that my late sea-son momentum from last year carries over. I believe that everything comes to-gether this year. I just have to be consistent,” answered Bryant.

“We are expecting a big year from him. He could be our x-factor this year,” add-ed Craig.

With their personnel, the Wildcats feel that they can throw different lineups and play various styles.

“I think we will be fine of-fensively with a lot of guys returning. We are cutting some offensive sets and will let guys play more. We will try to get play up tem-po and get some transition three’s. On defense, we will try to do more zone,” com-mented Craig.

Outlook: B-CU has add-ed much needed size. The Wildcats are a veteran team. They should be in the MEAC title race although Savannah State and Mor-gan State will most likely be the favorites to win it.

They have a tough sched-ule facing NCAA tourna-ment teams in St Bonaven-ture and Pittsburg. They al-so have UCF, LSU and Kent State on the schedule. If B-CU stays healthy, the new guys catch on fast and have momentum come tourna-ment time they will give themselves a chance to do something special.

Volleyball: B-CU falls to FAMU

The Wildcats (3-20, 3-2) lost to rival Florida A&M (6-8, 5-0) 3-0 in MEAC play on Oct. 12.

FAMU now leads B-CU by two games in the MEAC South Division.

Krysta Gardner had 10 kills with seven digs, Janeen Davis added nine kills, Monica Lowe had 21 assists and Delicia Pierre contributed seven kills with two blocks for B-CU.

The Wildcats were to face North Florida on Tuesday. They play at Coppin State and Morgan State on Oct. 21-22.

Football rested; bowling ready

After a bye week, the Wildcats will host defend-ing MEAC champion Nor-folk State University in the Biker Classic on Oct. 20.

Norfolk (2-5, 0-4) is aver-aging 18.9 points per game while giving up 23.4.

B-CU (4-2, 3-0) is aver-aging 25.8 points per game and 223.8 rushing yards per game. The Wildcats led the nation and the MEAC in turnover margin (2.50), takeaways (22) and turn-over differential (+15).

The women’s bowling team begins its season on Oct. 19-21 at the Tulane In-vitational in New Orleans, Louisiana. B-CU is ranked No. 18 nationally and is led by senior Staci Hilliard.

B-CU ROUNDUP

ANDreAS bUtLer/DAYtoNA tIMeS

Ricky Johnson speaks to the media during Media Day. Johnson will be a key contributor to the Wildcats this upcoming season.

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A Drug Free – Smoke Free Work Place

M A Y O RDECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006 7SPORTSOCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 2012 7

Atlantic’s Ronni Williams to pick college next monthBY ANDREAS BUTLERDAYTONA TIMESbutleramj@yahoo.com

Ronni Williams, Atlantic High School basketball star will an-nounce which college she will play for on Nov. 9 at 1:50 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium.

“She will make her decision at that time in the school’s gymnasi-um,” confirmed George Butts, At-lantic’s head coach.

Williams will choose between Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Ten-nessee and defend-ing champion Bay-lor. She also was re-cruited by Miami, LSU, Maryland, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Texas and others.

The 6’1” senior guard/forward is a

five-star prospect who is ranked 13th overall and No. 3 at the wing position on ESPN’s Top 150. She also is listed as Florida’s top 2013 prospect. She is an ESPN Rise All-American as well.

Last season she averaged 20.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.9 steals and 2.7 blocked shots per game.

Williams owns school records for most points in a game (46), most rebounds in a game (26), and most block shots in a season (93).

She is also Miss Atlantic High School for 2012-13.

Dixon and defense lift Warner

Defense lifted Warner Christian Academy to a 21-7 win over Crys-tal River on Homecoming in South Daytona this past week.

The Eagles defense fueled by James “Trey’’’ Paytas (14 total tack-les, three for loss, one sack, one in-terception) and Josh Harris (12 to-tal tackles, three sacks, one forced fumble) pitched a shutout for three quarters. The Eagles also had three

key fourth-down stops and forced four turnovers.

The win was a good one for Class 2A Warner over 5A Crystal River.

“The defense really showed up. We knew it would be hard fought game.

We played a very good game and got a big win against a pretty good team,” said Steve Allen, Warner’s head coach.

Marcus Dixon also ran for 181 yards and three scores for Warner.

“We have been working hard in practice. We have some talent. Ev-eryone is stepping up and making plays,” commented Dixon.

14-0 lead in thirdCrystal River (4-2) was driving,

but on fourth down and three yards to go Paytas tackled Dallas Baldner to stop the drive.

Warner (6-1) responded with a five-yard touchdown run from Dix-on to take a 7-0 lead with 5:31 to play in the second quarter.

The Pirates were threatening again but Paytas intercepted Jo-seph Lafluer at the four-yard line in the final minutes of the half.

“We did a good job getting to the ball tonight. On that play, I came from the other side of the field. I just dove and got the ball,” Paytas remarked.

Following a Pirates fumble, War-ner capitalized on Khalil Hicks’ 11-yard score to take a 14-0 lead with 8:17 to play in the third quar-ter.

Late Warner scoreCrystal River got within 14-7 on

Dallas Baldner’s five-yard score with 5:09 to play in the game. The drive followed a Warner turnover.

Warner responded with a one-yard score by Dixon to make it 21-7 with 2:33 left.

Baldner finished with 174 yards rushing with a score for Crystal Riv-er.

Bentlee Critcher and Antonio Hamm each had an interception and Mario Goss a fumble recovery for Warner.

Some of this week’s top games

New Smyrna (6-0, 2-0) at Sea-breeze (4-3, 1-0)

A win would all but give NSB the 6A-9 district title while a Seabreeze win would put that team in the driv-er’s seat. Both teams can score, but who plays defense best will win.

Seabreeze lost two way star play-er Charles Nelson to an injury last week, so it may be a tough win.

DeLand (4-3, 2-0) at Jacksonville Sandalwood (4-2, 1-1)

This is a big game in district 1-8A with both teams in contention for the title and playoffs. DeLand is coming around but has a tough test on the road with the Saints.

Tavares (2-4, 1-1) at Atlantic (5-1, 1-1)

The Atlantic Sharks are still alive for the playoffs and should get this win at home.

Taylor (4-2, 1-0) at Wildwood (1-6, 0-1)

A win would put the Taylor Wild-cats in the playoffs. They are ex-pected to win.

Prep Sports Seven Football1. New Smyrna (6-0), 2. Warner

(6-1), 3. Atlantic (5-1), 4. Flagler Palm Coast (5-2), 5. DeLand (4-3), 6. Seabreeze (4-3), tie 7. Taylor (4-2), Trinity (4-2), Others: Mainland (3-3).

Previous ranking1. New Smyrna, 2. Warner, 3. At-

lantic, 4 Flagler Palm Coast, 5. Sea-breeze, 6. University, 7. Taylor.

VOLUSIA COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

REVIEW

EARLY VOTING DATES:

OCT. 27TH – NOV. 3RDFOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT

VOTE.BARACKOBAMA.COM

THERE’S MORE TO DO, BUT

WE’RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK.

BARACK OBAMA IS NOT JUST A

PRESIDENT FOR SOME OF US.

HE’S FIGHTING FOR ALL OF US.I promised to be a President who would build a better

future; who would move this nation forward; who would

ensure that this generation—your generation—had the

same chances and the same opportunities that our parents

gave us. That’s what I’m here to do. That’s why I ran for

President of the United States of America.

Come learn about the diversity, opportunity and professional integrity of Daytona State College!

Graphic Designer #11287Creative Services Department

To apply online now please visit www.DaytonaState.edu Daytona State College offers competitive compensation, along with

great benefits, on-campus amenities and tuition reimbursement. If unable to see us online, call Human Resources at 386-506-4505.

Equal Opportunity/Equal Access Employer

Where learning works

Ronni Williams

BRIEFS

Obama supporters to meet Saturday

Supporters of President Barack Obama’s will meet at 347 N. Ridgewood Ave. in Daytona Beach on Sat-urday, Oct. 20, at 10 a.m.

“We’re down to the final 20 days - so if we’re going to win this, we’ve got to get out and organize right now,” the Obama campaign stated in a release this week.

“Folks in Florida are planning to make this weekend a big one - by get-ting together to make calls, knock on doors, and have one-on-one conversations that will win this election,” the release continued.

For more information go to http://my.barackobama.com/Take-Action-This-Weekend.

Free help for job seekers

Residents interested in getting help putting to-gether a resume and cov-er letter and learning how to dress for success, get interview job tips as well as being educated about work ethics are invited to participate in a free Job readiness program Nov. 5, 6, 7 at the Palmetto Park Neighborhood Network Center.

Seating is limited. The center is located at 704 Hawk Street in Daytona Beach, behind the John H. Dickerson Center. Those interested can call 386-255-4761 and ask for Ms. King. Computers and In-ternet services and faxing are available at the center for free.

AdvertiseFor all local sales for The Daytona Times & WPUL AM 1590 News Progressive Talk,

Sports & Inspiration call Deborah E. Ford at 386-492-2908 Ext. 12

M A Y O RDECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006 7OCTOBER 18 - OCTOBER 24, 20128

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