Herald Palladium 08/31/2015

Copyright (c)2015 The Herald-Palladium 08/31/2015 August 31, 2015 9:07 am (GMT +4:00) / Powered by TECNAVIA

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By RALPH HEIBUTZKIHP Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH — On first glance, the array of paddle-boards lined up at Lions Park Beach Sunday made the Michigan Waterman Challenge seem like any oth-er competitive event of its kind.

Behind all the competitive fervor, though, lie the bigger goals of promoting water safety awareness and build-ing a strong lifeguarding cul-ture in Michigan to prevent deaths from drowning.

Reading people and situations is one of the most crucial skills any lifeguard must develop, according to Bob Pratt, Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project’s director of education.

“You have to recognize what the emergency is, and if there’s an emergency, and then deal with it,” he said. “If you’re competing in these events, it’s going to make you a much better guard.”

Joe Matulis, a physical ed-ucation teacher from St. Johns, seconded those thoughts.

“It keeps me fit,” he said. “Every time I come to the beach, I want to recruit peo-ple to come and build the water safety community.”

Ten people competed Sun-day. Matulis, who also runs Matuli Paddle Surf, orga-nized this year’s challenge.

All proceeds, which came from racing entry fees, go to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project and the ARC Proj-ect, a faith-based group that also provides free surf and water camps for inner-city youth.

Participants competed in five events meant to reflect the conditions and situations lifeguards encounter.

For example, the “Run, Swim, Run” event required entrants to run around a planted flag, then swim in the water, and run back down the beach, at 300 yards apiece.

“Rescues don’t always happen in front of their tow-er,” Pratt said. “Even if they do, you may need to run down the beach a half mile,

get out to the person and bring them back. On a busy day, you may need to run back to your tower, and get ready to do it all over again.”

St. Joseph resident Chris Matulis, who competed with brothers Joe and Mike, also placed “Run, Swim, Run” near the top of the most challenging, and realistic, of Sunday’s events.

“A lot of people think to be a good lifeguard you have to be a good swimmer,” he said, “but you have to be a good runner too because there’s a lot of running in-volved.”

Both Chris and Joe also spent time as lifeguards and surfers in San Clemente, Ca-lif., whose water safety cul-ture is more highly visible

than in Michigan, they said. “I did 10 summers in Cali-

fornia, so I have a lot of ex-

perience,” Joe said. “It (life-guarding) could be big here. It’s a shame that a lot of cit-

ies don’t have lifeguards.”

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015 $1

St. Joseph girls golf still strong despite graduation losses

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Participants leap into Lake Michigan for the 300-yard, open-water swim during the Michigan Waterman Challenge Sunday at Lions Park Beach in St. Joseph.

Program promises to help students finish what they start

By RALPH HEIBUTZKIHP Correspondent

BENTON TWP. — Lake Michigan College’s Start to Finish program aims to help students overcome obstacles that stop them from succeed-ing.

Since it began in 2012, the program has helped 200 stu-dents coming in from Ben-ton Harbor through the Promise Zone scholarship program to stay in school and improve their academic

performance, according to Clint Gabbard, LMC’s vice president of student services. He expects 45 students to en-ter the upcoming year’s pro-gram.

“We’re saying, ‘We want you to start with as much support as you can start with,’” he said.

Tiara Greer-Allen said she appreciates that support, having experienced the pro-gram as a participant and a peer mentor.

Greer-Allen, 22, is a senior at Kentucky State University on a full ride scholarship, studying business adminis-tration with an emphasis on management.

She plans to work in cor-

porate America for five to 10 years and eventually start her own business, she said.

She attended Wayne State University after graduating from Benton Harbor High School in 2011, but soon re-turned home for personal reasons.

“I was having a lot of deaths in my family, and my mom had to keep traveling back and forth, to get me to funerals,” Greer-Allen said. “They (also) didn’t give me any scholarships, even though I did well (in school). Since home is close, I started to go to LMC.”

At her mother’s sugges-tion, Greer-Allen enrolled at LMC in 2013-14, and she

distinguished herself as a scholar. She finished in De-cember 2014.

Though she wasn’t strug-gling in the classroom, Greer-Allen said the Start to Finish experience definitely took her academic skills to another level.

“For me, it was fine-tun-ing,” she said. “They helped throughout the process (of) mandatory study times and meeting with the tutors. If you missed a class, they called. They wanted to know why you missed class.”

Turning The TideSeeing many of the initial

Courtesy photo

Benton Harbor High School graduate Tiara Greer-Allen, 22, took what she learned in LMC’s Start to Finish program to Ken-tucky State University, where she is a senior studying busi-ness administration with an emphasis on management.

BH grad reflects on her own success at LMC

See PROGRAM, page A8

Pope Francis a stranger to U.S. in many waysBy RACHEL ZOLLAP Religion Writer

NEW YORK — When Pope Francis sets foot on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base near Washing-ton on Sept. 22, it won’t just be his first time in the United States as pontiff. It will be his first time in the country – ever in his life.

The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, never followed the foot-steps of so many fellow Roman Catholic leaders of his rank, who sought to raise their profiles, along with funds for missions back home, by networking within the deeply influen-tial and well-resourced U.S. church.

This gap in his resume can be explained in part by Francis’ personality. He was a homebody who loathed being away and felt a profound obligation to stay near the people of his archdiocese. He also famously opposed ladder-climbing, condemning what he called “airport bishops” who spend more

Lifeguard skills tested

Photos by Ron DeKett / HP Correspondent

Erik Mattfolk of St. Joseph, formerly of Sweden, left, and Greg Field of Holland dive for the prize as the two finalists in the Beach Flag competition during the Michigan Waterman Challenge Sunday at Lions Park Beach in St. Joseph. Mattfolk emerged with the prize.

See BEACH, page A8

See POPE, page A8

Competition aims to promote beach safety

Five BH women identified as victims in crashBy HP STAFF

Five women from Ben-ton Harbor have been identified as victims in a South Haven Township crash that claimed two of their lives early Satur-day, according to a news release from South Ha-ven police.

The driver, Lydia Christine McIntosh, 20, died at the scene, and Raven Monae Spencer, 19, died later at South Haven Hospital. Kiana Renee Morrison, 20, and Anacia Lashon Jackson, 19, remain hos-pitalized at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. Informa-tion regarding their con-dition was not released.

Stanesha Leann Perry, 20, was treated and re-leased from Bronson on Saturday.

Sgt. Chris Mersman said his department re-sponded to a 5 a.m. call to southbound I-196. The vehicle left the free-way near Exit 20 and slammed into a guard-rail, he said.

The incident remains under investigation.

Sports, B1

Herald Palladium 08/31/2015

Copyright (c)2015 The Herald-Palladium 08/31/2015 August 31, 2015 9:12 am (GMT +4:00) / Powered by TECNAVIA

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A8 – MONDAY, August 31, 2015 ALMANAC The Herald-Palladium

Benton Harbor yesterdayTemperatureHigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75ºLow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66ºNormal High . . . . . . . . . . . . .77ºNormal Low . . . . . . . . . . . . .56ºRecord High . . . . . . 93º in 1953Record Low . . . . . . 40º in 1986PrecipitationYesterday . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00"Month to date . . . . . . . . . . 1.41"Normal month to date. . . . 3.34"Year to date . . . . . . . . . . 24.74"Normal year to date . . . . 23.64"

Sunrise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:10 a.m.Sunset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8:21 p.m.Moonrise. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:35 p.m.Moonset . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:23 a.m.

Local Outlook

5-Day Forecast for St. Joseph

Today we will see mostly sunny skies with a high temperature of 82º, humidity of 78%. Southwest wind 5 mph. Expect partly cloudy skies tonight with an overnight low of 67º. Light winds. Tuesday, skies will be mostly sunny with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Today, south winds 10 to 18 knots. Waves 1 to 3 feet. Water temperature 65 degrees. Tonight, south winds 10 to 18 knots. Waves 1 to 3 feet.

Cold Front Stationary Front Warm Front Low Pressure High Pressure

L H

This map shows high temperatures,type of precipitation expected andlocation of frontal systems at noon.

40s30s20s10s

90s80s70s60s50s

100s110s

0s

H H

L

Tuesday

Mostly Sunny85º / 68º

Wednesday

Mostly Sunny86º / 68º

Thursday

Mostly Sunny84º / 67º

Friday

Mostly Sunny85º / 66º

Today

Mostly Sunny82º

Tonight

Partly Cloudy67º

Sun and Moon

Air QualityLocal Almanac

Weather Trivia

National Weather Map

Regional Map

Lake Michigan

Michigan Forecast

Expect sunny skies today with highs in the 80s. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Tuesday, skies will be mostly sunny to partly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms, highs in the 70s and 80s.

Today, skies will be mostly sunny with highs in the 80s. Light winds. Expect mostly sunny skies to continue Tuesday with highs in the 80s. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph.

What was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane? ?

Answer: In 1780, a hurricane killed 22,000 people while crossing the West Indies.

Last9/5

New9/13

First9/21

Full9/27

0-50 .................Good51-100 .....Moderate101-150 ....Sensitive151-200 ..Unhealthy

The higher the number, the greater the need for people with respiratory problems to reduce outside activity.

Yesterday ............................. 62Main Offender .............Particles

Forecast map for Aug. 31, 2015

Marquette85/69

Green Bay84/65

Oshkosh84/66

Milwaukee83/68

Chicago84/71

Gary84/68

Benton Harbor82/67

Grand Rapids84/64

Midland86/65

TraverseCity85/67

Cheboygan80/64

Sault Ste.Marie82/64

PortHuron84/66

Flint86/64

Detroit85/70

Lansing83/64

Toledo86/66

Upper Peninsula

Lower Peninsula

DO YOU REMEMBER?

TODAY IN HISTORY

25 years ago – 1990

The 1990 membership of the Coloma Area Chamber of Commerce has exceeded the 100 mark for the first time since the chamber was formed five years ago.

Gov. James Blanchard has appointed Benton Township Supervisor Larry Nielsen to the Governor’s Council on Envi-ronmental Quality for the re-mainder of a term ending May 1, 1992.

Members of unions repre-senting Benton Harbor’s teach-ers, paraprofessionals and sec-retaries have voted overwhelming to ratify new two-year con-tracts.

35 years ago – 1980Indiana & Michigan Electric

Co. customers face a whopping 26.5 percent increase in their

electric bills in September as a result of action taken by the state Public Service Commis-sion. The big boost was ap-proved by the PSC based on changes in the price of generat-ing power or purchasing it from outside sources.

Arthur Crump, acting dean of the Lake Michigan College Community Services Division, has been confirmed as dean of that division effective Sept. 1

50 years ago – 1965The proposed annexation of

Pier School district to Coloma was defeated by voters yesterday for the second time and left Pier School officials with less than a week to find a haven for their high school students. The four-proposal annexation issue lost by a nine-vote margin this time. The issue was defeated in June because of a tie vote.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Monday, August 31, the 243rd day of 2015. There are 122 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On August 31, 1965, the U.S.

House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to establish the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

On this date:In 1886, an earthquake with an

estimated magnitude of 7.3 devas-tated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people, accord-ing to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In 1888, Mary Ann Nichols, believed to be the first victim of “Jack the Ripper,” was found

slain in London’s East End.In 1939, the first issue of Mar-

vel Comics, featuring the Human Torch, was published by Timely Publications in New York.

In 1941, the radio program “The Great Gildersleeve,” a spinoff from “Fibber McGee and Molly” starring Harold Peary, de-buted on NBC.

In 1954, Hurricane Carol hit the northeastern Atlantic states; Connecticut, Rhode Island and part of Massachusetts bore the brunt of the storm, which result-ed in some 70 deaths.

In 1962, the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent of British colonial rule.

Promise Zone students crash and burn academi-cally prompted LMC to re-alize a drastic intervention was needed to reverse the trend, Gabbard and Start to Finish Director Louis Thomas told LMC board members last week.

“At the end of that first semester (in 2012), we were looking and saying, they were not prepared,” Gab-bard said. “They did not have their (full) skill set.”

One of the program’s keystones is mandatory ad-vising, which helps identify students who are struggling, and developing a program to get them on track, wheth-er it means returning later or enrolling in an alterna-tive training program, he said.

“If, after three weeks, you are not showing the poten-tial to be successful this se-mester, we’re going to ask you to stop,” Gabbard said. “That’ll protect your stu-dent aid so you won’t lose a whole semester. You’re not going to borrow money that you’ll never pay back be-cause you weren’t success-ful.”

Thomas said the program pairs students with life coaches and peer mentors who teach important skills that pay off later, whether it’s better study habits or time management.

“Students say, ‘Well, I studied the night before,’” Thomas said. “That’s not studying, that’s cramming. We require students to come to the study table consis-tently to get them accus-tomed to studying on a regular basis. Hopefully, af-ter that first year, they start to pick up some of those skills.”

Greer-Allen served as a peer mentor from January to December 2014 after LMC reached out to her as a Promise Zone graduate, she said.

“They (the life coaches) really helped keep me on track, and I started work-ing with them,” she said. “I was there every day. It kept me studying. It kept me on my Ps and Qs when it came to school.”

Greer-Allen drew on her own life experiences to help out her fellow students.

“Almost all of them knew who I was, or I went to school with some of them,” she said. “I played basket-ball, I was vice president of my class, I was the home-coming queen. I just did al-most everything I could.”

Geer-Allen advises future enrollees to use their re-sources.

“You’re not by yourself,” she said. “You have as-signed life coaches. They’ve been through what we’ve been through.”

Moving The NeedleTo boost the program’s

effectiveness, LMC also has added an academic skills class and began providing transportation for students who need it.

Thomas estimates that 15 to 20 students per semester take advantage of LMC’s transportation support.

“Sometimes, there’s a sit-uation if a car breaks down and they can’t get to an exam,” he said. “They can call us, and we’ll pick them up. It’s been a great re-source.”

LMC is looking at get-ting Title III funding to ex-pand the program college-wide, as well.

Key markers like comple-tion rates, GPAs and finan-cial-aid eligibility have in-creased gradually since LMC started the program, Gabbard said.

For example, the 48 stu-dents participating in the fall 2014 program logged an average GPA of 1.91, which rose to 2.21 for those who took the summer class, according to LMC’s fig-ures.

That’s a clear progression from the 0.96 average GPA seen in fall 2011, and 1.62 for fall 2012. There is a long way to go, but it is heading in the right direction, Gab-bard said.

Average completion rates, which reflect the number of classes a student finished, also have risen from 34 per-cent in fall 2011 to 70 per-cent in fall 2014.

Similarly, 16 Promise Zone students graduated during the 2013-15 academ-ic cycle – versus six in 2010-12, and one in 2007-09.

LMC expects 16 students to graduate next year, based on current data.

“Once you see people graduating and getting de-grees, that’s when you know it’s happening,” Gabbard said.

Those results have im-pressed LMC’s partners – which include the United Way and the Upton, Whit-wam and Whirlpool foun-dations – to continue fund-ing the program.

“This was not a grant,” Gabbard said. “We’re into our fourth year of funding with these different entities saying, ‘You moved the nee-dle on some of these things.’”

PROGRAMFrom page A1

A similar logic applied to the “Beach Flags” event, which starts with the 10-per-son group vying for nine sticks. The one left without a stick is eliminated, with rounds continuing until only one person remains..

“‘Beach Flags’ is a matter of sprinting down the beach, because there are times when you need to do that,” Pratt said. “The other thing is, you may need to make mul-tiple rescues in a day. You may need to do it over and over again.”

Other events included an 800-meter beach run, a 300-yard, open-water swim and the Michigan Waterman, which combined running, swimming and paddle-boarding, also for 300 yards apiece.

That’s a far cry from the image of TV shows like “Baywatch,” Pratt said.

“People think it’s a real easy summer job, where you get to look at people in bath-ing suits,” he said. “Unfor-tunately, there’s a lot more to it.”

Pratt also said most me-dia portrayals don’t accu-rately reflect the reality of drowning, which averages 15 to 45 seconds and often involves a victim who’s not showing any apparent dis-tress.

“Many times, people are drowning near other people, and it’s not recognized, be-cause they don’t even know what’s going on,” he said.

Greg Field, of Holland, who also works with the ARC Project, appreciated the opportunity to boost his own skills, “specifically, how to stay safe in open water,” he said.

That’s how beachgoers should treat that setting, Field asserts.

“Most of the time, if they’re at a pool, there is a guard because it’s pretty much mandatory,” he said. “But when they come to the beach, there are no life-guards typically. You’re on your own.”

Faith Hoekstra, the only female competitor, has seen what happens when people encounter trouble in the wa-ter.

“If you’re going into an unknown place, I’d say, take something floating with you until you get used to how the water’s moving,” she said. “Test out the water carefully before jumping in and thinking it’s like a pool.”

Hoekstra, of Grand Rap-ids, estimates she’s rescued 14 people in five years as a lifeguard, which has taken

her to New Zealand, the United Kingdom and na-tional park sites in New York, Virginia and Wyo-ming.

“I love lifeguarding,” she said. “It’d be great if we had lifeguards on the beach. Lifeguards in other coun-tries educate the public, and there’s greater all around safety in the water. This (event) is doing a little part to make more lifeguarding possible.”

Sunday’s event will defi-nitely become an ongoing affair because the need for a stronger water safety culture is so great, Pratt said.

“Unfortunately, we have very few guarded beaches in Michigan,” he said. “One of our long-range goals is to get guards back on our beaches, and, again, create awareness of how danger-ous the lakes can be and how people can stay safe.”

BEACHFrom page A1

time traveling for their own prestige or pleasure than serving their flock.

Still, Francis’ lack of first-hand experience of the U.S. stands out for many, espe-cially those struggling to ab-sorb his unsparing critique of the excesses of global capitalism and wondering whether this first Latin American pope harbors re-sentment over the history of U.S. policies in his native re-gion.

“This trip to the United States will be the most diffi-cult, the most challenging, and the most interesting be-cause he’s exploring a world that for him is more foreign than Asia, than the Philip-pines,” where Francis trav-eled last January, said Mas-simo Faggioli, an expert in church history at the Uni-versity of St. Thomas in Minnesota. “It’s not just a language barrier. It’s a cul-tural barrier.”

Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, an Argentine and one of Francis’ key advisers at the Vatican, said he was aware of but disputed the perception that the pope disliked the United States. Francis’ view that a global economic system focused on maximizing profits was destroying the poor and the environment has landed hard in a country consid-ered the world headquarters for capitalism.

Sanchez Sorondo insisted Francis is not anti-capitalist and said the pope admires America for the principles of the Founding Fathers,

who influenced the indepen-dence movement in his na-tive Argentina. But Francis’ outlook is also shaped by another history, including U.S. ties with Latin Ameri-can dictators, America’s treatment of Mexican and Central American immi-grants, and longstanding U.S. policy toward Cuba, Sanchez Sorondo said. Francis recently helped ne-gotiate a historic thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations that has led to restored diplomatic ties between the countries.

“I don’t think the pope has anything against Amer-ica,” Sanchez Sorondo said in an interview in Rome. “What the pope might have is that he felt the repercus-sions of America in Latin America.”

This is utterly new ground as well for American Catho-lics, accustomed to Francis’ immediate predecessors, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who both lived through World War II, when Americans were con-sidered liberators and gen-erous benefactors who re-built the war-ravaged continent.

When John Paul was Car-dinal Karol Wojtyla, arch-bishop of Krakow, Poland, he traveled extensively in the U.S., especially among American Polish communi-ties. As pope, he found broad common ground with Americans in the fight against communism.

Benedict, the former Car-dinal Joseph Ratzinger from Germany, had been John Paul’s guardian of doctrine for more than two decades, and not only visited the U.S., but also met with

American church leaders regularly in Rome. In 2008, on Benedict’s sole visit to the U.S. as pontiff, he greet-ed President George W. Bush at the White House, where the pope ended his remarks with the phrase, “God Bless America.” That sign-off was taken by many Europeans and others as a stunning nod to the idea of American exceptionalism, Faggioli said.

“Pope Francis – his cul-tural roots, his formation – is completely different,” Faggioli said.

Among those experiences was the 2001 Argentine eco-nomic crisis, which sparked riots, soaring unemploy-ment and a quick succession of presidents as the govern-ment struggled to handle its massive debts. Bergoglio was intimately involved in trying to help Argentines and their leaders emerge from the turmoil, which many blamed on free-mar-ket policies promoted by the U.S.

Yet, that collapse could have easily compelled Ber-goglio to finally visit Ameri-ca. It is common for over-seas leaders to send a local cardinal as an informal em-issary to “make sure that people in Washington, and the U.S. bishops, under-stood the impact,” of Amer-ica’s policies abroad, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst with the Na-tional Catholic Reporter newspaper and author of “Inside the Vatican.”

But that role would have been unthinkable for Bergo-glio. He had very tense rela-tions with much of the Ar-gentine ruling class, often

challenging them bluntly in national forums to abandon partisan self-interest and do more for the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

“It wasn’t like he could get together with them, and say, ‘OK, this is our strategy. Let’s go lobby Washington on these things.’ They often weren’t on speaking terms with one another,” Reese said.

However, Francis’ belief about what it meant to be a faithful churchman was likely the biggest factor keeping him from the U.S., church experts say.

Like all Jesuits, Bergoglio vowed he would not seek higher ecclesial office. He is the first Jesuit in the 481-year history of the religious order to become pope. His 1992 appointment as a Bue-nos Aires auxiliary bishop came as a shock – for him and for Argentine Catholics, most of whom had never heard of him, according to Austen Ivereigh, author of “The Greater Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope.”

Dubbed the “slum pope” for his dedication to the poor, he spent much of his time as archbishop in the shantytowns of Buenos Ai-res. Vacations generally meant staying in his church apartment and reading – just like he did on his Rome vacation this summer.

He didn’t much like to be abroad. In the 1980s, when Bergoglio was sent to Ger-many for a few months for doctoral studies, he grew so homesick that he spent some nights watching planes take off from the airport for Argentina, Ivereigh wrote.

POPEFrom page A1