Austin citizens gathered to protest the closing of Highland Mall during Texas Relay weekend.

RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’Tommy Wyat tTommy Wyat tTommy Wyat tTommy Wyat tTommy Wyat t

Vol. 36 No. 46 Website: theaustinvillager.com Email: vil3202@aol.com Phone: 512-476-0082 Fax: 512-476-0179 April 17, 2009

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Austin, TexasPermit No. 01949

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Austin Citizens protest the closing of HighlandMall during Texas Relay Weekend

When the Texas Relayscame to town during the week-end of April 2 - 4, 2009 itbrought with it some very dis-tressing news for Austin’s Af-rican American community. Itwas learned a few days beforethe beginning of the relays thatHighland Mall in NortheastAustin would close its doorsat 2 p.m. on Saturday, Novem-ber 4. Mall officials says that itwas for security reasons.

For many years, the mallhas been a popular meetingplace for African Americans.And it is especially poplarduring relay weekend. Theclosing came as a shock tomany community leaders andvisitors alike.

Austin NAACP Presi-dent Nelson Linder said that itwas an insult to the commu-nity and the visitors. “Closingthe mall sends the wrong mes-sage to visitors and perpetu-ates negative stereotypes,” hesaid. Linder immediatelycalled for a demonstration atthe mall on Saturday, April 11to protest the closing. A groupof Austin citizens joined in theprotest.

In a press release sentout announcing the demon-

stration, it was stated, “De-spite Highland Mall decreas-ing services and its decliningstatus in recent years, AfricanAmericans in Austin havebeen loyal supporters.” Thedemonstration was held from9 am to 12 noon in front of themall.

State NAACP presidentGary Bledsoe was on hand forthe demonstration. It was an-nounce that the NAACPwould file papers questioning

whether the closing was acivil rights violation underthe public accommodationsprovision.

Dillard’s departmentstore indicated that theywould file a suit against themall for allowing the facilityto deteriorate. Dillard’s is themall’s main anchor store andalso operates a Men’s Store inthe mall.

City Council MemberSheryl Cole stated that she

would hosting a croup oftown hall meeting to discussthe situation and to beginmaking plans for next yearsrelays.

Austin is a popularsite for a number of largeevents. Just recently the cityhosted the SXSW Music andFilm Festival one of the larg-est events held in the city,besides a UT football game.Other events such as theMotor Cycle clubs weekend

and the Austin City LimitsMusic Festival are upcom-ing events that will be heldduring the next few week.None of these events havecaused the mall to close orany other change of activi-ties.

The Texas Relays hasa large following of Afri-can Americans, more thanany of the other events. Inanticipation to this crowd,the Austin Police Depart-ment also closed a numberof street in the city aroundthe track field The APDsays that it is for safetyreasons.

A number of citizensspoke out about the numberof streets that were beingclosed at last weeks CityCouncil meeting. After thecouncil meeting, Cole andCity Manager Marc Ott an-nounced that some of thestreets would remain open.However, there were stillmore streets closed than dur-ing any other weekend inthe city.

The NAACP and thecitizens pledged a year longdiscussion about the TexasRelays to insure that thesituation will be correctedbefore next year’s races.

By T. L. Wyatt, Editor

AUSTIN, Texas —Former Southern MethodistUniversity (SMU) football starJerry LeVias will present thekeynote address for the 23rdAnnual Heman Sweatt Sym-posium on Civil Rights at TheUniversity of Texas at Austin.

The theme of this year’sconference is “Sidelined: Ra-cial Politics at PredominantlyWhite Institutions.” The sym-posium will be held April 14-17 on The University of Texasat Austin campus.

LeVias will deliver hisspeech on Friday, April 17, at7 p.m. in the AT&T Confer-ence Center. There will be aspecial screening of the recentHBO special, “Breaking theHuddle: The Integration ofCollege Football,” in the TexasUnion Theatre from 3-5 p.m.LeVias was featured in thedocumentary and will be onhand for a question-and-an-swer session following thescreening.

LeVias was the first Af-rican American footballplayer at SMU and also thefirst African American to re-ceive an athletic scholarshipin the Southwest Conference.LeVias led SMU to theuniversity’s first conference

SMU Football Star JerryLeVias Is Keynote Speaker at23rd Annual Heman SweattSymposium on Civil Rights

football title in 18 years.LeVias was named an All-American in athletics andacademics in 1968. Followinggraduation from SMU, heplayed professional footballwith the Houston Oilers andthe San Diego Chargers.

Other symposium ses-sions include a panel discus-sion with current and formerUniversity of Texas at Austinathletes, a panel discussionfocusing on faculty women ofcolor at the university and astudent panel discussion,“Stop, Look & Listen: Exam-ining the Racial Climate atThe University of Texas atAustin.”

“The Heman SweattSymposium provides a forumto discuss civil rights issuesthat affect all of us, and thisyear’s theme is especially im-portant to those of us inhigher education,” said Dr.Gregory J. Vincent, vice presi-dent for diversity and commu-nity engagement. “We havemade great strides in the ar-eas of discrimination, race re-lations and equity, but the re-ality is more can and shouldbe done. Through open dis-cussion, we have the oppor

See LeVias page 6

At Huston-TillotsonUniversity in Austin, Texas(“HTU”), members of the BetaKappa Chapter of AlphaKappa Alpha Sorority, Incor-porated (“Beta Kappa”) cel-ebrated their annual SkeeWeek 2009 from March 30th

through April 4th. Skee Weekis a week of events organizedby Beta Kappa for the Uni-versity community to enjoywhile connecting with theBeta Kappa members. Theweek began with a jointchurch service with its spon-soring graduate chapter, BetaPsi Omega, to celebrate theblessings of God and hiswonderful works of the Al-pha Kappa Alpha Sorority,Incorporated. Beta Kappahosted a Male AppreciationDinner for the HTU men tohonor their commitment toeducation and providing thecommunity with positive rolemodels. Next, Beta Kappaheld an Ice Cream and GameNight Social that instilled theimportance of the Black fam-ily and how such simple ac-tivities can promote family to-getherness. For the next event

SKEE WEEK 2009 Eventsat Huston-Tillotson University

“Swagger Like Us: Fortune500 Company Program,” BetaKappa teamed up with itssponsoring graduate chapter,Beta Psi Omega, to promotethe significance of having theproper business attire in theappropriate setting, how torun a business, and how tolaunch a new business. BetaKappa also held its annualAzie Taylor Morton Scholar-ship Pageant. Every year,Beta Kappa awards a schol-arship to a deserving studentwho upholds and maintainsthe principles of scholarshipand achievement. BetaKappa is especially proud ofthis event because it gives stu-dents a chance to show offtheir many talents and skillsto other students, faculty, ad-visors and other guests. The“Thank God It’s Friday”(TGIF) event was full of spe-cial games and events duringthe Texas Relays Weekend. The last day of Skee Week2009 was filled with bakedgoods and sponges at BetaKappa’s AKA Suds andSweets Bake Sale and CarWash. Many visitors came

from out of town and sup-ported the lovely ladies of BetaKappa with donations for itsworthwhile events, all ofwhich were filled with excite-ment and great service to thecampus and the Austin Areacommunity.

At a time when smallbusiness has been move to theforefront of the nationalagenda, BiGAUSTIN is pre-paring to celebrate and en-c o u r a g eAustin’smicroenterprises.Betty Dunkerley, formerMayor Pro Tem of the City ofAustin, has been namedHonorary Chair for the BiG |idea Day event, sponsored byBiGAUSTIN, at 11:30 a.m. onFriday, April 17, 2009, at theHilton Hotel Downtown at500 East 4th Street in Austin.The theme is

BETTYDUNKERLEY

LEADS BiGAUSTIN’s BiG|idea

DAYCELEBRATION

See Dunkerley page 6

How soonwe forget!

Why don’t the peoplewho sponsored the TeaParties around the coun-try just say that they arejust disgruntled becausethey are out of office. Itwas clear from the partici-pants that this was clearlya Republican event. Theyare a little concerned thatthey are no longer inpower.

It is hard to believethat they do not under-stand that they lost. Af-ter watching this countrybeing run in the groundfor the last eight years,the Democrats have beenelected into office to cleanup the mess that was leftbehind during the BushAdministration. The eco-nomic crisis, the warsand the loss of educa-tional opportunities wereall left from the Bush ad-ministration.

Now the group istalking about a protestagainst taxation at thesame time that a tax re-duction has just been ap-proved in Washington.They are complainingabout the increase in thenational budget, but fail toacknowledge that wenever knew the real bud-get under the former ad-ministration, because thecost of the war was neverput into the budget. Somost Americans have noidea what this war hasand is costing us. But,when Barack Obama putit in his budget, theycried fowl.

The real reason forthe demonstrations is totry to pave a way for theRepublican Party to holdon to some of those seatsin congress that they arethreatened with losingduring the off year elec-tions. If the Democratscould pick up a couplemore seats, they wouldhave a veto proof con-gress.

Governor Rick Perryis out leading the paradeat the same time that heis turning down thestimulus money fromWashington to help easesome of our economicproblems in Texas. Hedoes not want to give thepresident any credit forproviding this aid.

Barack Obamawillreach the 100th day in of-fice in a few days, but itseems that he has beenin office much longerthan that. We cannot af-ford to let the detractorsdirect our attention awayfrom the real change thatis going on in this coun-try. We must keep oureyes on the prize.

Photo by Angela Wyatt.

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/April 17, 2009

By Marian Wright EdelmanNNPA Columnist

A. Peter BaileyNNPA ColumnistEvery now and then a

columnist with one of the or-gans known as the “main-stream” media focuses on thereal deal about the U.S. eco-nomic system. Such was thecase in a recent column bySteven Pearlstein, an award-winning columnist with theWashington Post.

After praisingGoldman-Sachs Chairman,Lloyd Blankfein, for taking“the first trip through the pub-lic confessional” about WallStreet’s pivotal role in the cur-rent economic crisis,Pearlstein wrote that “thereare some glaring factors,however, that Blankfein, likeother Wall Street leaders,tends to overlook. The mostimportant is culture – in thecase of Wall Street, a culturethat not only tolerates but al-most celebrates taking advan-tage of customers. Here is anindustry in which brokers tra-ditionally get their start mak-ing cold calls to strangers, of-fering bogus stock tips, and

investment bankers cut theirteeth peddling bad mergerand acquisition ideas to cor-porate clients….These days,Wall Street is a place wherethe trading culture has sup-planted the investment cul-ture…”

The reality is that theWall Street culture is not, byany means, limited to WallStreet, especially the part thatalmost celebrates taking ad-vantage of customers. For in-stance, textbook publishers,of whom I am aware as anadjunct professor in the De-partment of Mass Media, Vi-sual and Performing Arts atthe University of the Districtof Columbia, who charge ex-orbitant prices for their prod-ucts cold-bloodedly take ad-vantage of students.

A paperback textbookfor an Introduction to Adver-tising class that I taught cost$176.00. To add insult to in-jury, textbook publishers fre-quently change editions, thusmaking it difficult for stu-dents to sell used books to oth-ers.

Sneaker manufacturersand athletes who endorsetheir products take advantageof the financial ignorance ofthose who purchase them,including those who will rob,even sometimes kill, in orderto secure money to strutaround in the latest and mostexpensive sneakers.

These are two rathersmall but revealing exampleof how pervasive the takingadvantage of customers men-

tality is throughout theAmerican economy. “You arewhat you wear, what youdrive, what you drink, whatyou smoke, what you snortand what you live in, is thedominant message gangsterrappers relay to their thou-sand of young impression-able supporters, which, ifPearlstein is correct, is muchthe same message deliveredby their peers and elders onWall Street.

But fantasylanddoesn’t last forever. Eventu-ally reality steps forward.Many people in this countryhave been blissfully living ina financial fantasyland since1980 when Reganism, with itseconomic philosophy thatnearly anything one does thatrakes in big money is basi-cally cool, became the domi-nant political, economic andcultural ideology. To combatthe taking advantage ofpeople mentality, every blackcommunity in this country, assoon as possible, shouldlaunch a series of workshops,forums, or classes designed togreatly enhance the financialliteracy of said communities.A financially literate commu-nity is much less susceptibleto financial rip-offs.

As for much of WallStreet and those who share itscultural beliefs, the only ob-servation that seems appro-priate is that the chickenshave come home to roost.

Journalist/Lecturer A.Peter Bailey can be reachedat apeterb@verizon.net .

Greed and Chickens Coming Home to RoostGreed and Chickens Coming Home to RoostGreed and Chickens Coming Home to RoostGreed and Chickens Coming Home to RoostGreed and Chickens Coming Home to Roost

It’s plain that ournation’s health insurancesystem is broken: 46 millionpeople in America lackhealth coverage—nine mil-lion of them children—andthe number of uninsured isgrowing during the currentrecession.

Since 2001, the cost offamily coverage from an em-ployer has climbed by almost80 percent, while workers’earnings have risen only 24percent. And the number ofbusinesses offering employ-ees health coverage is declin-ing. At the same time, the pri-vate health insurance indus-try has made huge profits,and several insurance firmshave provided their top ex-ecutives annual compensa-tion packages exceeding $20million.

Our health insurancesystem enables a few to getrich from insurance profitswhile millions of uninsuredfamilies can’t afford to pro-vide their children regularvisits to the doctor or dentist.This is unjust and costly.

Our health care systemis crying out for reform, andour families and children arecrying out for help. Reformmust include a public health

insurance plan option thatcompetes with private insur-ers to extend comprehensivebenefits through first-ratehealth care providers at anaffordable price. Without thispublic plan choice, the healthof our children will continueto be held hostage to profit-driven insurance companies.

A public health insur-ance plan option would en-courage competition on thebasis of cost and quality, notby avoiding the sick and de-nying care, as is the currentpractice. The plan will alsokeep costs down by negotiat-ing bulk discounts from pro-viders and drug companiesthrough pooling on the modelof the Veteran’s Administra-tion. A public health insur-ance plan option could beavailable nationwide topeople who want it and de-liver services through privatehealth providers as Medicaredoes. Those satisfied withtheir current insurance couldkeep it.

America’s health caresystem failure places strug-gling working families undergreat financial strain, whichis worsened during the reces-sion. Some insured familiesspend more on health carethan on housing or food.

People who lose theirjobs are likely to lose theirhealth coverage, despite thesubsidy in President Obama’seconomic recovery bill allow-ing newly unemployedpeople to buy health coveragethrough their former em-ployer. The high costs of treat-ing serious illnesses are amajor contributor to bank-ruptcy. One study says medi-cal problems were a reason fornearly half of all home fore-closures.

Insurance companieshave not provided solutionsto these huge problems andoften cause them. For manyinsurers, maximizing profitsis paramount and providingquality health coverage sec-ondary. With little oversightor regulation, they controlwho gets coverage, whatmedical procedures they’llpay for, and the prices forcoverage. Insurance compa-nies routinely deny coverageto people with pre-existingmedical conditions or thosethey think will become ill inthe future.

A reason that insurershave been able to continuethese practices is that a fewcompanies control large por-tions of the market in somestates. An American MedicalAssociation survey revealsthat one private insurancecompany controls more thanhalf the insurance market in16 states and a third of themarket in 38 states. With lim-ited competition, many ofthese powerful companiescan ignore pleas to providepatient-focused health care.Insurance companies in thesmall group market spend onaverage 25 to 27 percent ofpremium receipts on admin-istrative costs—or profit—compared to the public Medi-care program’s administra-tive costs in the range of threepercent.

Learn more aboutCDF’s Health Coverage forAll Children Campaign atwww.childrensdefense.org/healthychild.

Marian WrightEdelman is president of theChildren’s Defense Fund. Forinformation about Children’sDefense Fund, go towww.childrensdefense.org.

A Public Health Insurance Plan Can Cover All of Our Children

By Nicole C. LeeNNPA Columnist

History is important. Tounderstand the present wemust understand our past.

A number of U.N. Reso-lutions, conventions and dec-larations show how theworld has struggled with is-sues of racism and discrimi-nation over the years. Wehave seen the 1948 UniversalDeclaration of HumanRights, and the adoption ofthe First Decade to CombatRacism and Racial Discrimi-nation in 1973, but neitherseemed to address the under-lying causes of discrimina-tion.

As we approach theDurban Review Conferencewhich will take place inGeneva, Switzerland onApril 20-24, the discussionseems to focus only in termsof the 2001 World Conferenceagainst Racism.

What we fail to properlyarticulate is that both confer-ences evolved from historicalmovements that have workedto combat global racial dis-crimination and ethnic vio-lence against the mostmarginalized people aroundthe world.

During the 1978 and1983 World Conferences toCombat Racism and RacialDiscrimination, in Geneva,we saw how unjust discrimi-nation began to take the cen-ter stage on the internationalarena as the world addressedapartheid South Africa. Even

though powerful countriessuch as the United States andthe United Kingdom weresympathetic to the apartheidregime at the time, the inter-national forum served as animportant catalyst to galva-nize the world opinion to sup-port the people South Africain their struggle against racialsegregation.

“For me personally, themost vivid memories of thatcomplex and difficult confer-ence were of the ordinarypeople, many of whom hadnever traveled before, whohad come from all corners ofthe globe to tell their own sto-ries,” observed former UNHigh Commissioner for Hu-man Rights Mary Robinsonon the 2001 Durban confer-ence.

That conference ex-panded on the previous gath-erings, amplified its missionin the official title: World Con-ference against Racism, Ra-cial Discrimination, Xeno-phobia and Related Intoler-ance.

Afro-descendant andindigenous organizations inLatin America consistentlypoint to the conference and itsoutcome document as an im-portant catalyst to increasethe visibility of and supportfor their civil rights move-ments.

Durban ignited theacknowledgement in LatinAmerica of the racial dispari-ties existing in many coun-tries. In Brazil, affirmative ac-tion programs saw movementwhich did not exist before.

The forum was impor-tant to African- Americans asit brought the issue slaveryreparations onto the interna-tional stage. Mary Robinsonnotes that “Amongst the moststriking aspects of the con-sensus which emerged out ofDurban was the identificationof a number of specific victimgroups, and agreement onmeasures for redressing the

injustices they continue toface.”

Fast forward to 2009,where we see the U.S. inau-gurate its first Black Presi-dent, Barack H. Obama. Apowerful message is sentworldwide. As a Presidentialcandidate, Obama pledgedthat the U.S. would be moreengaged with the interna-tional community if he waselected.

Sadly, as the DurbanReview Conference preparesto begin, the Obama adminis-tration has chosen not to beengaged in the process thathas been years in the making.Language that the Obamaadministration called “se-verely flawed” was removedfrom the draft outcome docu-ment, and yet still they willnot participate in this vitalconference.

The Administration’sactions are reminiscent ofpast U.S. administrations’non-engagement with the in-ternational community. TheReagan Administrationpulled out of UNESCO, andSecretary of State ColinPowell walked out in Durbanin 2001. Our actions in thepast have emboldened na-tions who do not want dealwith the legacy of discrimina-tion in their own countries toalso pull out of the DurbanReview Conference, and ourabsence in this vital discus-sion sends a clear signal tocountries that taking action tocombat the legacy of racismis not important.

The world is watchingand it does not like what itsees. History is important,and the U.S. will help writethe next chapter in this his-torical battle against globalracism and discrimination. Ican only wonder, what willthat chapter say?

Nicole C. Lee is execu-tive director of TransAfricaForum.

World Conference Against Racism: History is Important

Cuba has proven itselfto be too strong and too proudto die. Despite the full furorof a United States embargoand a pattern of official ha-tred, it has endured and, infact, has gotten stronger.

The U.S. has acted likean imperial power and thatis so embarrassing and con-tradictory of our values. Itseems, at last, our WhiteHouse and Legislature isstarting to come around to agreat reality: Cuba is a nationof people and deserves to betreated as such.

All other nations in theworld have recognized itssovereignty and have enjoyeddiplomatic and trade rela-tions with the prosperous is-land nation. Despite the bul-lying of the US, Cuba has be-come a leader in healthcaredelivery and has the mosteducated population in theworld.

Don’t let the propa-ganda fool you. The averageCuban eats more and is shel-tered better than any othergeneral population in LatinAmerica. The per capitagross national product rivalsthat of Italy. The lifespan of aCuban is superior to that ofan American. The chances ofsurviving major illness arealso greater as theirhealthcare delivery system isconsidered a right for all andnot a privilege for the rich asin this nation. The NationalBlack Chamber of Commercehas been in Cuba twice to-ward the turn of the new cen-tury. We stayed in five starhotels and journeyed in taxisthat were modern MercedesBenz. The cuisine and qual-ity of life was most impres-

Harry C. AlfordNNPA Columnist

The FuTure is BrighT For CuBaThe FuTure is BrighT For CuBaThe FuTure is BrighT For CuBaThe FuTure is BrighT For CuBaThe FuTure is BrighT For CuBasive. The people were genu-inely happy and sociablewith us.Why has America been abu-sive of Cuba over the last cen-tury? Consider it to be racialand imperialistic.

Our last major landgrab was during the SpanishAmerican War where wesnatched the Philippines,Guam, Puerto Rico and Cubafrom the Spanish Empire. Wekept our grips on the Philip-pines until the 1960’s. Guamand Puerto Rico still remainterritories without full democ-racy.

Cuba, however, was adifferent story. The Cubansproved themselves to be veryhard to manage. There weremany revolts and movementsagainst the old Spanish over-seer and the new one knownas the United States.

Also, the U.S. Congressconsidered Cuba to be tooBlack. Our southern states didnot want a neighbor that ex-tolled Black Power and inde-pendence.

For decades, Cuba wentfrom one puppet governmentto another. Communism be-gan its presence during the1920’s and picked up steamwith the emergence of FidelCastro during the 1950’s. TheBlack nemeses J.EdgarHoover of the US FBI encour-aged the Mafia to take over thethriving tourism business ofCuba and manipulate itspower.

It didn’t work. FidelCastro, an educated manwhose mother was Black,marched into Havana, Cubawith only 600 soldiers and theCuban masses embraced him.He quickly ran out the Ameri-can interlopers and soughtcover with another world gi-ant, the Soviet Union, whowas all too willing to oblige.

The United States hashad a “hissy” ever since. TheSoviet Union is gone but thegovernment and people led bythe dynamic Fidel Castro areprospering. That old Marxistsaying, “That which does notkill us will make us stronger”.That has been the case withthe matter of US vs. Cuba.Cuba is about to become an

economic power.My old mentor, Arthur

A. Fletcher, observed duringone of our visits to Cuba,“This is going to become theHong Kong of the Carib-bean”.

Cuba is the size ofFlorida with about the samepopulation (12 million)which is about 70 percent Af-rican lineage. Its healthcaresystem is superior to that ofthe United States (every Cu-ban citizen gets a full physi-cal every six months). Cubancivil engineers are regardedas the best in the world andprovide services to many na-tions. Its literacy rate exceeds97 percent and it has the mostreliable workforce. Agricul-ture, cobalt, nickel and, mostrecently oil are providingmuch revenue for the nation.

President BarackObama and Congress areabout to end the ugliness ofour ways towards Cuba. Theembargo and travel restric-tions should be over soonand, Baby, it’s going to beawesome!

The tourism businessfrom US to Cuba will gothrough the roof. You will seemillions of students spendingtheir spring break there. Youwill also see a multitude ofsick Americans going there formedical treatment that willcost only pennies on the dol-lar compared to the US. Pre-scriptions and surgery will beaffordable for most Ameri-cans and the Cubans are will-ing to assist for the good ofmankind.

Imagine, Cuba as abanking center and providingservices to local economiesaround the world. Don’t letme forget: Cubans don’t haveobesity, are physically fit andget plenty of Caribbean sun-shine.

The end result of that isthat they are some of the mostattractive people walking thisearth. Get ready to visit Cubaand enjoy.

Harry Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO ofthe National Black Chamberof Commerce, Inc. Website:www.nationalbcc.org.

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.

April 17, 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

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ChecksCheck Out

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

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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 Sanai 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

MOUNT SINAI MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH&

Invites YOU to Celebrate their 110th Church Anniversary and Homecoming

Sunday, April 19th @ 11am at St. John Tabernaclelocated at 7501 Blessing Avenue.

Featured speaker:Pastor Ralph McCormick

Second Calvary Baptist ChurchCharlotte, North Carolina

“My Church, My Choice, My Challenge” Matthew 16:18

Senior Pastor A. W. Anthony Mays

An Evening with MavisStaples

St. James’ EpiscopalSchool proudly presentsAn Evening with the Leg-endary Mavis Staples. Thiswill be a One Voice Con-cert benefitting the chil-dren of St. James’ Episco-pal School.

This event wi l l beheld on Saturday, April 18

starting at 7:30 p.m. at St.James’ Episcopal Church,1941 Webberville Road.

Please join us for achampagne reception im-mediately following theperformance.

For more informationand ticket prices, contactthe church at 926-4214.

David Chapel cordiallyinvites you to share with usas we celebrate their 85thChurch Anniversary on Sun-day, April 26, 2009 from 10:00a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Our pro-gram theme is: “Remember-ing Our Future: 85 and 50Years Later”. The scripturereference for the theme isJoshua 22:26-29. This cel-ebration will occur at DavidChapel Missionary BaptistChurch, 2211 East MLKBlvd., Austin, Texas.

Our special guest forthis occasion will be Dr. Ray

Owens, Pastor of Metropoli-tan Baptist Church in Tulsa,Oklahoma. He is a regularcolumnist for the OklahomaCity Herald and has pub-lished essays in academicjournals on topics related toeducation and black religion.Currently Rev. Owens servesas the Affiliate Assistant Pro-fessor of Ethnics and BlackChurch Studies at PhillipsTheological Seminary, and anAdjunct Professor of AfricanAmerican Religion at Okla-homa State University-Tulsa.Rev. Owens is deeply in-volved in community work inthe Tulsa area. He serves onthe boards of the Metropoli-tan Tulsa Urban League,Tulsa Metropolitan Minis-tries, 100 Black Men of Tulsaand the Oklahoma Councilfor Community Justice. He isalso an active member of theAlpha Phi Alpha Fraternity,Inc.

Please come out andjoin us in praising the Lord.

If you have any ques-tions, you may call DavidChapel Missionary BaptistChurch at 472-9748.

David Chapel’s 85th Church Anniversary set for April 26

On Sunday, April 26,2009, the First Baptist Churchwill celebrate its 142nd anni-versary. The members andfriends will gather at thechurch to praise God andgive thanks in celebration ofthe many years of continuousChristian service to the con-gregation, community andcitizens of Austin, Texas.

Reverend Doctor HenryL. McGee, Pastor, and mem-bers cordially invite you toshare in the worship and cel-ebration services at 3:30 PMin the church sanctuary, 4805Heflin Lane.

The theme for this cel-ebration is, “Down ThroughThe Years, God Has BeenGood”. (Hebrews 13:8).Throughout its history, FirstBaptist Church has remainedmission oriented and dedi-

cated to establish and main-tain a program of worship thatministers to the spiritual andother needs of its members,families and the community.To provide an educationalprogram that promoteschurch schools, youth orga-nizations, missions, leader-ship, stewardship and familyeducation. And to provideoutreach designed to bringnon-believers into the churchfamily.

Special guest for thisoccasion will be Pastor J. A.Moland and members of theGreater Peace Baptist Churchof Killeen, Texas.

You are welcome to cel-ebrate with the First BaptistChurch family and guest.

For information, call(512) 926-4759.

Church news, announcement? If so, contactthe Villager at

476-0082

First Baptist Church Celebrates142nd Anniversary

Dr. Ray Owens KeynoteSpeaker

Everyone is invited to the firstsermon of Brother TerrillBarnett, on Saturday, April18, 2009 @ 5:00 PM @Inspirational PentecostalChurch, 1602 Linda Street,Bastrop, TX., Rev. George

Sampleton, Pastor. Terrill isthe son of Janet Barnett &grandson of Deacon Elworth& Sister Bobbie Barnett,ofBastrop. Your prayers &support will be appreciated.For more information contactDeacon Elworth or SisterBobbie Barnett @ 512-303-1530.

Bro. Terrill Barnett topreach first sermon

Youth of Today. Hope of Tomorrow.

Page 4/THE VILLAGER/April 17, 2009

Sponsorship

Available

Call for info

476-0082

Jeremy HendersonMcCallum High School

MYEC

Alon RodgersKelly Lane Middle School

Alonzo BlackHendrickson High School

Toni NelsonKIPPSponsorship Available

Call for info 476-0082

Tayla TerryMcCallum High Schol We thought it was an

April Fools joke when the dis-trict posted the principal’s jobat Hendrickson High School,but it was not a joke. Lastweek Terrence Eaton, PISDExecutive Director of Second-ary Schools, started the pro-cess of creating a profile forthe next Hendrickson HighSchool Principal.

If you would like to pro-vide your input and registeryour thoughts / opinions /feelings, go to the HHS webpage at http://

www.pflugervilleisd.net/HHS/ and click on the linkposted just below the bigmegaphone.

On Wednesday of lastweek Brian Lynch and Iqualified, as a doubles team,for the regional tennis tour-nament that will be hostedin San Antonio this week.We will be one of two teamsfrom our district, along withLake Travis High, to repre-sent at the AAAA regionaltournament. After losing toLake Travis, one the topAAAA doubles teams in thestate, in the finals of the dis-trict meet, we will enter asthe lower seed from our dis-trict.

This year we had anumber of teammates fromHendrickson Hawks Tenniswho made quarter-final ap-pearances. The achievementof our teammates was ex-tremely impressive, consid-ering last year whenHendrickson, as a team onlywon one match.

PISD is looking for a new principal for Hendrickson

On Saturday,April11,2009the NAACP, NationalAdvancement for ColoredPeople held a peaceful protestoutside of Highland Mall.They did this protest becauseTexas Relay Weekend theMall Management closed themall down at 2:00p.m justbefore the relay events ended.They decided to do it this yearbecause two years ago andlast year there were someminor fights and arguments

among the crowd that brokeout and the MallManagement felt like theydidn’t have enough securityto stop this from happeningagain. Saturday morningabout 9:00a.m. some AfricansAmericans , anglos andhispanics stood firmly andheld signs outside the Mall .Saying things like “SHAMEON AUSTIN”, “OURMONEY IS GREEN TOO”and “DISCRIMINATION ISILLEGAL”.etc... It turned outto be a big success, we had alot of support. Yes ,I wasapart of it because closing themall down affects me and mypeers. The closing of the mallalso sent a negative messageto relay visitors in our town.The news stations came outand filmed us and the peoplethat were riding by werehonking their horns andsupporting us too. We are allon this earth together andequality is necessary! GODBLESS.

Protest staged at Highland Mallby NAACP

Last Thursday 10 formerKLMS students came to speakto Kelly Lane teachers abouttheir experience going frommiddle school to high school.These students

shared their perspectiveon what 9th grade is “reallylike” and how Kelly Lane pre-pared them for success. Herewere some of the highlights:

· Time management iscrucial. The easiest road to fail-ure is not being able to keeptrack of your stuff and priori-tize all the things you need todo. Athletics, band, school,and other activities will makefor a very busy life.

· More students meansmore social drama. It’s easy to

get caught up in petty argu-ments.

There will be a parentmeeting (students do not needto attend) on Thursday, April16th at 6:30pm in the KLMScafeteria. This is for first-timeband parents. At this meetingwe will discuss everything youneed to know to acquire an in-strument before the 2009-2010school year. If you have alreadyhad a child go through theband program, you do notUpcoming events:

4/14 5:30 Soccer vs. ParkCrest

4/20 5:30 Soccer vs.Dessau

4/20 7:00 pm PTO Meet-ing

4/23 5:30 TAKS PrepPancake Night

5/1 6:00 School Dance

5/11 1:00 8th GradeClass Photo

5/11 5:30 Soccer vs.Pflugerville

5/18 Soccer vs.Westview

5/30 9:30 am 8th GradePromotion Ceremony

Former students returned to KLMS

Well everyone Easterweekend was finally here.Everyone had 3 days awayfrom work and school, tospend time with their fami-lies and have fun.

Easter isn’t just aboutEaster eggs, getting dressedup for one day, and Easterdinner. It’s about the deathand resurrection of JesusChrist. He died to save us

from our sins and rose withall power to give us a secondchance at the tree of life.

A lot of people don’tknow that, because they’venever been to church, don’tbelieve in God, or just don’tcare. Well I’m here to tell you,that if it wasn’t for God send-ing his only son Jesus downto rescue us, we wouldn’t behere.

Then, there are otherswho come back to church, be-cause it’s Easter and thenwhen it’s over, they don’tcome back to church. Icouldn’t wait for Easter Sun-day to see my family and helpdo an Easter presentationand to have Easter dinner.

It was loads of fun. Ihope everyone enjoyed theirEaster weekend and went tochurch for the right reason.Until Next Time....

Hope that you had aHappy Easter

Lexus WrenKIPP

On April 14th at 6pm KIPPstudents participated in theannual spring show in theschools gym. The schoolband and theatere artsstudents in the 6th grade

performed at the show,which included telling ghoststories. All of the studentshad fun performing and theaudience loved the show.KIPP Austin College Prep hasa Science Club! The club isnew, and was just started thisyear by Ms. Eaglin. They meetevery Saturday to learn aboutscience as well as help otherswho are having a hard timewith the subject. They are$100 short of being able toafford to go to NASA, and ifanyone would like to knowhow to help the hardestworking students in Austinwith donations please call512-637-6870.

City leaders decided toclose Highland Mall duringthe Texas Relay weekend!! Iunderstand them wanting toclose a little early to have bet-ter controll of the crowd andto get things cleaned up sothey wouldn’t have to pay forextra work hours, but I thinktwo o’clock was too early.While waiting for Lexus andher friends at the Galaxy, mymom thought we shouldmake a quick trip to the Bathand Body store in the mall. Aswe arrived in the parking lotwe thought man it’s like soempty in the lot, my momstopped and asked an officerabout how we could get intothe mall. The officer outsidethe mall explained the ownerdid not want to pay for extrasecurity and closed the mallat 2. he directed us to a nearby Bath and Body. We under-stand the concern for theprices of the security but theowner should have made bet-

ter plans because I think heknew the relays are duringthis time maybe he could haveeven had a few activities out-side to help the crowd control.Working with the officials ofthe relays may have been agood idea also. I hope the re-lays don’t go some place otherthan Austin, alot of AfricanAmericans are upset also,and I understand that ( I am alittle disturbed by this too). Isthis a race issue? What willhappen now? Am I wrong forhaving concern? Should Iboycott the mall? What wilTexas Relays do next yr? Somany questions I hope every-thing gets resolved. ToniNelson

Raven WyattKelley Lane

Teachers Gone MissingHave I got a story for

you, it begins with a question.Do you have that particularteacher that may aggravateyou so much that you wouldwant he/she to disappear?Well really who doesn’t, wellthat’s what happened at ourschool our entire teacher stafffrom every grade disap-peared. I’m talking about fromthe 8th grade teachers to the6th grade teaches, and thecounselors to Mr. Padavil {ourprincipal}. All coaches andelective teachers, who can saywhere they were, if they weresick, being lazy, or if therewas a big conference day.

Remember the ques-tion I asked, well there’s an-other part to it. With that sameteacher that gets on your verylast nerves, can you say thatthere is something you loveabout he/she, which youmiss when ever they’re ab-sent, I know I do? My favoriteteacher of all I truly missedthe most, her name is Ms.Greer. She is the all time great-est, everything about her, hersmile in the mornings tobrighten our days when we

are so tired because we didn’twant to get of bed this morn-ing, and then there is herquote of the day no one reallyever gets what it mean, but allwhen know is that it was aspecial way of saying sheloves us. Next is Mrs. Palmerif though she may pick on mebecause I am hardly ever ontask, I still love her. The atti-tude she gets when we con-tinuously speak out of turnand I missed her highly in-tense voice. I even missed Mr.McLeod detention slips thathe handed out for the drop ofa pen. I mean really they weregiven to us like free money. Ihave more teachers that Imissed but besides Ms. GreerI truly missed CoachMcKinley/ Coach Walker. Asmuch as I hate running Iwouldn’t mind doing acouple of laps just to see mycoaches. 0h yeah I also misstheir helpful jesters like: “Letsgo, Lets go, Lets go” and“Don’t talk RUN!”

Not to say we were wor-ried or anything, but we des-perately wanted our teachersback. We missed their voices,assignments, detention slips,and anything else that wewould normally complainabout. Our teachers were gonetwo days in a row without awarning that they would begone. Soon our teachers re-turned and we were allhappy in our own way. Weall questioned where theywent but they were silenced.No one told where they fac-ulty had ran off to so every-one forgot about it and neverasked again.

2 p.m. was too early to closethe mall

Annual Spring show heldat KIPP

When your teachersgo missing

S c h o l a r s h i pInformationFlorida A & MUniversity is providing anoutstanding opportunity forBlack women entering collegein the fall of 2009. It is de-signed to address their ab-sence in the field of computertechnology. Dr. Jason Black isthe Principal Investigator ofa recently awarded $552,000NSF Grant entitled African-American Women in Com-puter Science. The grant pro-vides scholarships from

The YouthBrigade

are theYouthof Today

and Hope ofTomorrow.

Florida A&M Looking forBlack Female Students

$4000 to $10,000 per year forfemale African Americanstudents.We need your helpto get the word out about thisgreat opportunity to buildback up the enrollment ofwomen in the CIS Depart-ment. Pass this informationalong to high school or com-munity college student, theirparents, and to guidancecounselors you may know.The full text of the scholar-ship can be found at http://w w w . c i s . f a m u . e d u /~aawcs/

Does the U.S. Constitutionmatter? Is there something init you should be fighting for?For many, the Constitutioninspires, inflames, and in-forms. It fuels passion, sparkspolitical rhetoric, and createscontroversy. On April 6, 2009,the annual ACC ConstitutionDebate program moved thejudges of the Council for Ad-vancement and Support ofEducation (Case) IV DistrictConference to give the hosts,The Center for Public Policy& Political Studies (a nonpar-tisan non-profit center atACC), the Government De-partment, and the Social andBehavioral Sciences Divisionat ACC, an award. Togetherthey won the silver for Cat-egory 5: Best Student Pro-gram. The event beat over 100other District submissions.Peck Young, the Director ofCPPPS attended the recep-tion/awards ceremony to re-ceive the coveted award.

The Constitution: It’sthe perfect topic for a debate.

At the 2008 ACC Con-

April 17, 2009/THE VILLAGER/page 5

ATC

VISITEASTSIDE

BOOKS2415 E. 5TH Street

www.eastsidebooksaustin.com

Marissa HornsbyConnally High School

Culinary Chef. GraphicArtist. Aeronautical Engi-neer. These are no longer justfuture careers, but feasiblepaths for students thanks toa federal grant.

“It gives the kids theopportunity for more coursesrelated to their interests,” En-gineering and Technical Sys-tems academy lead PaulCrocker said. “I believe in of-fering more opportunities,dual credit courses and ar-ticulated credit classes,which give you credit in col-lege.”

In 2006, the district’sthree high schools were pre-sented the opportunity to ap-ply for a smaller learningcommunity grant from theDepartment of Education. Ateam of administrators, in-cluding principal DanielGarcia, met with the districtdirector of career and techni-cal education Gerry Elmore towrite the grant. The schoolreceived more than $700,000to implement the grant for fiveyears.

This grant supports theCornerstone Academy, inwhich freshmen are given theskills to be successful aca-demically and personally,and four career academiesthat allow students to followdifferent pathways of coursesto provide more career-fo-cused curriculum.

“I think part of it iswhen you have too much ofthe same, like status quo,”grant coordinator StefanieMueller said. “It’s okay to bean okay school. What wewanted is to be better than anokay school. This grant waswritten to really focus onwhat we call high school re-design-when you come inand you make things betterfor the students and teach-ers.”

With the developmentof the career academies, teach-ers have taken on new re-sponsibilities. To plan cur-riculum, core teachers sharea common conference periodwith teachers who teach thesame subject. Similarly, teach-ers also share a conferenceperiod with their other teammembers from the four coresubject areas.

“There’s a focus withteachers working together,”Mueller said. “I mean you seethat at the freshman andsophomore levels, whereteachers are teamed together.They work both with student

needs and curriculum needs.So they actually have the op-portunity every day to workin those two different teams.”

The grant has been inplace for two years already.The first year, 2006-2007 wasa planning year, and last year2007-2008 was the first yearfor the Cornerstone Academy.This year the SLC have beenimplemented at the freshmanand sophomore levels. Nextschool year, the SLC will ap-ply to all four grade levels.

“It’s a trial and errorprocess,” Arts, Education andService Academy lead LauraBrown said. “You go in it withwhat you think is best, andsome of it will work and someof it you’ll go in and edit fornext year. You’ll say it was agood idea for this, this andthis, but if affected these prob-lems here, here and here.That’s what we’re looking atright now as we go to our re-treat, to make some decisionsabout where we will be goingand how we’re going to at-tempt to do it on round one.”

These academies will bea small change to freshmen,sophomores and juniors nextyear. Seniors will be placed inacademies, but maintain ex-emption from a required Cor-nerstone Connections class,which teaches skills like notetaking and resume writing.

“It’s really only the 12thgraders who will have no ex-posure,” Mueller said. “Whatwe’re hoping to do with theseniors next year is show themwhat they have. They’re notlimited. There are pathwayrelated courses.”

The career academiescontain four sectors- Arts,Education and Service, Natu-ral Sciences and Medicine,Business and InformationTechnology, Engineering andTechnical Systems.

“It’s just to have stu-dents think about what theirinterests are, and how theycan relate to the courses we

offer,” Mueller said. “I thinkin high school, that word getslost a lot. It’s okay to be inter-ested in a lot of things. There’sjust so many ways to go aboutcounseling people in it. It’sreally more about interests.”

As students takeclasses as part of the careeracademies, they’re able to fur-ther learn about specific pro-fessions and what it takes toachieve their goals.

“I like math, solvingproblems and figuring outways to solve problems,”sophomore Jeffery Brindlesaid. “I want to be an envi-ronmental engineer. In orderto do that, I need to stay inschool and go to a good col-lege. I also need to get to knowother people in the professionand get connections for a job.I am very into protecting theenvironment and findingnew ways to help the envi-ronment at my home.”

Supporting the SLC isthe community via an Advi-sory Board. This enables in-dustry connections betweenwhat students learn in theclassroom and what’s hap-pening in the work place, aswell as apprenticeships, in-formal talks, career dayevents, field trips, guestspeakers, internships, jobshadowing, mentoring andquestion-and-answer ses-sions.

“I met with the commu-nity and I got really great feed-back,” Mueller said. “ Peoplewho work for the RoundRock Express, defense attor-neys, and they all say thesame thing as far as what theywant from our students whenthey leave here. They wantthem to be able to analyze,critically think about thingsand what’s going on in theworld.”

Goals for the programinclude increases in theschool’s four year graduationrates, grade level promotionrates, student attendance rates,enrollment in career and tech-nical education courses aswell as increase in parental in-volvement. These comethrough high school redesign,and changing what was inplace.

“Change is hard,” Muellersaid. “Anytime you have some-one come in and tell you thingsare going to change, it’s hard. Asmore teachers become involvedand really see the impact on thestudents, the more dedicatedand hopeful they are.”

Connally Smaller Learning Communitiesprovide New Directions

El Paso NAACPfirst chartered unit inTexas – 1915 –

America’s history is aninspirational story of pio-neers who gambled their livesand those of their families insearch of liberty and freedom.But that remarkable historybears the taint of a history thatchallenged these lofty goalswith years of denying freedomand liberties to many of itspeople. Spanning centuries,America has persecuted ra-cial and ethnic groups,women, children and those ofsexual orientation. Amidstthese abuses, those heapedupon the African immigranthave been the most long last-ing and cruelest. From its in-ception, slavery in Americaestablished and institutional-ized the denial of civil andhuman rights to peoplebrought forcibly onto Ameri-can soil.

In 1909, a group of sixtycitizens, Black & Whitebanned together to establishan organization that remainsthe single organization linkedto civil rights advocacythroughout the world; theNational Association for theAdvancement of ColoredPeople. Known internation-ally as the NAACP, this orga-nization quickly establishedbranches throughout theUnited States of America.

The first branch of theNAACP in Texas was estab-lished in El Paso in 1915. Thefounding of this unit cannotbe told without the relating ofthe life of its most noted char-tering member, Dr. LawrenceAaron Nixon, Black physi-cian and voting-rights advo-cate, was born in Marshall, onFeb. 7 or 9, 1884, the son ofCharles and Jennie(Engledow) Nixon. He at-

tended Wiley College inMarshall and received hisM.D. degree in 1906 fromMeharry Medical College,Nashville, Tenn.

He began practice inCameron, Milam County,Texas. In 1909 there were tenlynchings of Black men inTexas, one of which occurredin Cameron on Nov. 4 andinfluenced Nixon to becomea civil-rights advocate. In De-cember he moved to El Paso.There he established a suc-cessful medical practice,helped organize a Methodistcongregation, voted in Demo-cratic primary and generalelections, and in 1910 helpedto organize the local chapterof the National Associationfor the Advancement of Col-ored People.

In 1924 NAACP FieldSecretary William Pickensvisited El Paso and an-nounced that the NAACP in-tended to test the constitu-tionality of the Terrell Law.The Terrell Law was passedin 1923 by the Texas Legisla-ture, which stated “In noevent shall a Negro be eligibleto participate in a Democraticp r i m a r yelection…in…Texas.” On July26, 1924, with the sponsor-ship of the NAACP, Nixontook his poll-tax receipt to aDemocratic primary pollingplace and was refused a bal-

lot. Thus began a twenty-yearstruggle in which Nixon andhis El Paso attorney, Fred C.Knollenberg, twice carriedtheir case to the United StatesSupreme Court.

In 1927 Nixon v.Herndon, Justice OliverWendell Holmes wrote thedecision that Nixon had beenunlawfully deprived of hisrights under the FourteenthAmendment. In 1932 JusticeBenjamin Cardozo ruled forNixon again, in Nixon v.Condon, holding that politi-cal parties are “custodians ofofficial power…the instru-ments by which governmentbecomes a living thing.” TheNixon cases were major stepstoward voting rights, butthere were legal loopholesunder which the state and theDemocratic partyqv contin-ued to deny primary votes toBlacks. It was not until thedecision in Smith v. Allwrightended the White primaryqvthat the way was cleared, andon July 22, 1944, Dr. and Mrs.Nixon walked into the sameEl Paso voting place andvoted in a Democratic pri-mary. Nixon was marriedfirst to Esther Calvin, whodied in 1918, then in 1935 toDrusilla Tandy Porter, whosurvived him. He had fourchildren. Nixon died onMarch 6, 1966, as a result ofan automobile accident.

Sources: Conrey Bryson,Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon and theWhite Primary (El Paso, TexasWestern Press, l974); Dr.Lawrence A. Nixon Papers,Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Uni-versity of Texas, Austin.

NAACP Centennial CelebrationHistory of Texas Branches

Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon

Cooperative Programming at ACC brings CASE IVDistrict Excellence Award

for 2008 popular Student Constitution Debate Eventstitution Debate, which washeld on September 24 atACC’s Eastview campus, over400 students, 15 facilitators,and 10 experts experiencedthe above emotions. Separategroups of students were givenunique topics, which referredto different aspects of the Con-stitution, to discuss. Expertsexplained the case law be-hind each issue, and ACC fa-cilitators got the conversationsgoing and kept debates civil.The end purpose of the dis-cussions was to have eachgroup come up with majorityand minority opinions thatexpressed the group’s think-ing about their issue. By theend of the evening, everyonehad learned something newabout the Constitution, abouthow to work together in agroup on a complex issue, andabout themselves.

“The Constitution is oneof the most important docu-ments in our history as wellas in modern politics,” saidPeck Young. “And, it is alsoprobably the most debateddocument in our history.”

“In 2007, we had almost200 participants. In 2008, wehad 400 student attendees,”recalled Jeffrey Millstone, aninstrumental part of the pro-ducing team and Governmentprofessor at ACC. “We are ob-viously tapping into a need ofstudents to understand howthe government, then andnow, affects them, and howthey can affect it back.”

The keynote speaker forthe 2008 debate was Dr. Gre-gory J. Vincent, Vice Presidentfor Diversity and CommunityEngagement at the Universityof Texas. Dr. Vincent’s spe-cialty was Constitutional law.His biography can be viewedat www.utexas.edu/diver-sity/about/bio.php.

The 2009 Debate will beheld on September 23, begin-ning at 6:00 pm at the LBJ Li-brary, 2313 Red River St. Aus-tin, TX 78705. This event is freeand open to ACC students,staff, and faculty. For more in-formation, please go contactCarla L. Jackson atcjackso3@austincc.edu or512-223-7049.

The Texas Coalition of BlackDemocrats (TCBD) voted at its lastquarterly meeting, to publicallyvoice opposition of the recentlySenate passed Voter ID Bill (SB362).The Coalition also calls for all StateLegislators to vote against the bill

in the House, on behalf of the per-sons who will be adversely affectedby the bill. This bill is consideredto be aimed at those who are notable to fight for themselves. “More attention must be givento the welfare of our economy and

the betterment of Tesas and hercitizens. Unemployment, educa-tion, home foreclosure, health careissues all should have taken pre-cedence over the Voter ID bill,”said Daniel Clayton, State Presi-dent of the TCBD.

Black Democrats oppose the Voter ID Bill (SB362)

Page 6/THE VILLAGER/April 17, 2009

Butler School

tunity to reflect on pastactions and explore strategiesfor changing climate on cam-puses around the country.”

The symposium isnamed for Heman Sweatt, thefirst African American to at-tend The University of Texasat Austin School of Law. Thelandmark case that allowedSweatt into the school pavedthe way for the admission ofAfrican Americans to for-merly segregated collegesand universities throughoutthe United States. The annualevent focuses on compellingcivil rights issues generatedaround a particular theme. Itis organized by theuniversity’s Division of Diver-sity and Community Engage-ment and supported by manydepartments at the university.A complete schedule of eventsis below. All events are freeand open to the public.

SMU FootballStar Jerry LeVias IsKeynote Speaker

from page 1

“A New Time. A NewWay. Help Austin’s SmallBusinesses Shine.”

“Her selection was criti-cal this year,” said JeannettePeten, President and CEO ofBiGAUSTIN, “because smallbusiness growth is essentialto the economy. BettyDunkerley lends an expertiseto this process both as aformer Budget Director andMayor Pro Tem of the City ofAustin. She understands thestakes and has been a sup-porter of small business foryears. We’re really glad tohave her help.”

As Chair, Dunkerleyhas worked tirelessly withgreat enthusiasm gatheringfinancial support forBiGAUSTIN. “

Although this is a timeof economic difficulties andchallenges for all of us, I be-lieve that America and Aus-tin, will make it throughthis—and be the stronger forit,” said Dunkerley. “To do it,we must work together help-ing each other, helping ourneighbors, helping MainStreet Austin. That is why Ihave asked large companies,entrepreneurs and individu-als to join me in helping smallbusinesses by supportingBiGAUSTIN in their efforts to

train and assist thesemicroenterprises.

Small businesses pro-vide two-thirds of the jobs inAustin. Consequently, theirsuccess is vital to the strengthof this economy. BiGAUSTINhas classes to help people getstarted toward successful en-trepreneurship and money toset them up with SBA loans.BiGAUSTIN also helps smallbusinesses through compre-hensive education, tailoredbusiness counseling and flex-ible loans. Each year at theBiG|idea Day annualfundraiser luncheon,BiGAUSTIN showcases en-trepreneurs to help them net-work with bankers, venturecapitalists and corporationsas potential suppliers, part-ners and customers.

Three small businessowners will compete in“American Idol” style for thebest business plan presenta-tion. The winner will be se-lected “LIVE” by the audi-ence and receive $10,000 inprizes and cash. ShaminaSingh, Chief Operating Of-ficer and Director of Commu-nications and Strategy forCitiBank’s Global Communi-cations Relations Division, isthe featured guest at the lun-cheon.

BETTY DUNKERLEYLEADS BiG AUSTIN’s BiG|idea DAY

CELEBRATION from page 1

(L to r) Former Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley and BiGAustinFounder Jeannette Peten

By. Patrice J. HolmesSpecial to the NNPA from the

Dallas WeeklyDALLAS (NNPA) - An 18-month long acquisition hasbrought new life to one ofAmerica’s most recognizedmarket leaders in African-American hair care products.Johnson Products has beensold from Proctor & Gamble(P&G) to Eric and ReneeCottrell-Brown, daughter andson-in-law of former Pro-Lineowner Comer Cottrell. Brown,who will serve as chief execu-tive officer for the company,said Johnson Products has achance to return to the great-ness it once enjoyed.

“This represents an op-portunity for Johnson Prod-ucts to come back to the leg-endary position it once held,”Brown said. “It has beenviewed as a beacon in the Af-rican-American corporatearena and the highest degreeof professionalism.”

P&G sold its JohnsonProducts Company unit to anewly formed independententity comprised of Los An-geles-based private equityfirms Rustic Canyon/FontisPartners, LP and St. CloudCapital LLC, along with PlusFactor, LLC, where Brown isthe owner, and Opus CapitalPartners. With this transac-tion, Brown said the four ven-ture capitalist companiesplayed a tremendous role inmaking the Johnson Productstransition a success.“We are looking to rebuild tobe as big as possible so we canbe strong, retain earnings andinvest enough money inJohnson Products to propel itto grow,” Brown said. “Wewere fortunate enough to ac-quire a well capitalized com-pany and we are positionedto survive in tough times.”

Cottrell-Brown, who willserve as executive vice presi-dent of Johnson Products,said the company’s past suc-cess and recent resurgence isan opportunity to fill a void.“The acquisition of JohnsonProducts represents the re-newal of a family of productsthat revolutionized the ethnichair care industry starting inthe 1950s, and a next stage ofgrowth for a legendary com-pany that has been an iconicfigure and model of successfor African-Americans,” Mrs.Cottrell-Brown said.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Brownhave extensive experience inthe ethnic hair care arena,having both held senior ex-ecutive positions with the Pro-Line International, Inc. Theirpassion and business savvyis what Mrs. Cottrell-Brownsaid will provide them with aplatform to bring product in-novations and promotions toa unique multi-cultural con-sumer group and reintroducethe brands to a new genera-tion.

“We have an outstanding,motivated team, and we areextremely excited and opti-mistic about the future of thisnew venture,” she said.Comer Cottrell, founder ofPro-Line International, saidhe is excited and pleased to

Johnson Products Under NewManagement, Black Hair CareOwnership Returning to Dallas

congratulate the Browns ontheir acquisition of JohnsonProducts.

“We have always had agreat deal of respect for thecompany and its founder. Theacquisition will perpetuatethe legacy of minority owner-ship and contributions to theindustry.”Founded in 1954 by GeorgeEllis Johnson, Sr., JohnsonProducts, formerly headquar-tered in Chicago, has been amainstay brand for more thana half-century in the African-American community. In1971, the company becamethe first minority-run enter-prise to be listed on the NewYork Stock Exchange.Through peaks and valleys ofbusiness developments,Johnson Products has beensold and bought to companieslike Carson in Savannah,Georgia, L’Oréal, Wella, andfinally Proctor & Gamble,each of which Mrs. Cottrell-Brown said could not makeJohnson Products the centerof their business attention.

Today, under the leader-ship of the Browns’ full focus,Johnson Products, which hasannualized sales of more than$23 million and participatesin a global market that thecompany estimates to be ap-proximately $1.8 billion, of-fers more than 30 hair careproducts, including theGentle Treatment and UltraSheen brands and the man-agement team brings morethan 55 years of experience tothe newly formed company.It has helped launched someof the industry’s most suc-cessful ethnic hair carebrands, including the Soft &Beautiful, Comb-Thru andJust-For-Me product lines.

The new transaction alsomeans changes for JP’s geo-graphical make-up. The com-pany is currently headquar-tered in California, with prod-ucts manufactured in Mexico.But Mr. and Mrs. Brown, whohave been married for 28years, said they are hoping tocreate jobs by moving themanufacturing to the U.S.and bringing the core of thesales and marketing to theirnew Dallas office.

In bringing the epicenter toNorth Texas, the Browns saidthey will continue to partnerwith their community as theyhave done in the past byreaching out to services andorganizations that focus onAfrican American education,

women and youth like theUnited Negro College Fund,and Boys and Girls Clubs.

“Johnson Products willlook for opportunities to part-ner with organizations thatmean something to the com-munity—they need volun-teers and leadership in corpo-rate America,” said Mr.Brown who has been on theadvisory board at Universityof Texas at Arlington andserved with UNCF in Dallasand Junior Achievement.“Improving the communityalso allows them to buy ourproducts.”

Johnson Products hasbeen supported by leadingfood, drug and mass retailersas well as beauty and barbersuppliers for more than 50years. Jay Forbes, president ofthe Forbes Connection LLCand former vice president ofDrug Store News, said hewelcomes JPC back to the fore-front of the ethnic hair careindustry.

“In a market that demandsinnovation, creativity andthoughtful product position-ing, I cannot think of two moretalented individuals who bet-ter understand the ethnicconsumer and the retail com-munity,” said Forbes. “I’mcertain that Renee and Eric,with their collective experi-ence over many years contrib-uting to the growth of the Pro-Line family business, will ex-cel in re-energizing JohnsonProducts, a great legacy com-pany with outstandingbrands.”The Brown’s are equally con-fident in the transformationthey can make in the JohnsonProducts name. Historically,African American hair carecompanies have slippedthrough the cracks, many clos-ing, being sold and vanishingfrom store shelves, butJohnson Products founderbelieves this will be the re-vival the African Americanhair care industry needs.

“It makes me extremelyhappy to know that thebrands of Johnson Productswill be owned by people whounderstand the African-American consumer marketand care about the brands,”said Mr. Johnson, 82, whosecompany became part ofProcter & Gamble in 2003.“Eric Brown and ReneeCottrell-Brown will be suc-cessful in re-energizing thecompany, and I wish them thevery best in their endeavors.”

Special to the NNPAfrom GIN

(GIN) - Zimbabwe’s gov-ernment ministers say they’vegiven themselves 100 days toend the nation’s internationalisolation and normalize rela-tions with the European Union,Britain, the US, and White Com-monwealth countries.

Part of the initiative, alsodesigned to revive the economy,includes greater freedom andownership rules for the newsmedia, improved prison condi-tions, and a possible new con-stitution.

In return, the unity gov-ernment of President RobertMugabe and Morgan

Harare Proposes Plan to End Isolationand Woo Donors

Tsvangirai wil l seek $8.5 bil-lion from international donorsfor its short-term emergency re-covery program.

The pledge has drawnskepticism from many localarea analysts who say Westerndonors are unlikely to be per-suaded.

A key need, says JohnAkokpari, a senior lecturer inpolitical studies at the Univer-sity of Cape Town, is tostrengthen the rule of law inZimbabwe, where invasions ofwhite-owned farms continue byso-called war veterans have leftan estimated 100 white com-mercial farmers with land,down from 4,500 when the

president began his controver-sial land seizures in 2000.

Mugabe, he adds,must first seek suppor t fromthe Southern Africa Devel-opment Community andthen reach out to the West.‘’If they can convince GreatBritain, I think the otherswill follow. Bu t I thinkwe’re talking weeks if notmonths, before a decision.’’

Meanwhile, oppositionleader Morgan Tsvangirailearned Saturday that hisgrandson, a toddler, haddrowned. The tragedy followsless than a month after hiswife, Susan, died in a car crashthat he himself survived.

God’s Power inChris t ian Fel lowshipChurch will celebrate its22 nd Anniversary f romApril 24 - 26, 2009. Thetheme for th is year i s“Ministering out of God’sSufficiency”. The week-end of celebration beginson Friday, April 24 at 7:30p.m. with Minister Timo-thy Thompson from Pente-costal Temple COGIC, SanMarcos, Texas as the guestspeaker for the eveningservice . A ‘Night ofPraise’ will begin at 7 p.m.on Saturday, April 25 withvarious guest vocal, in-strumental and dramaticartists ministering. OnSunday, April 26, serviceswill begin at 3:30 p.m. withguest speaker PastorTravis A. Morris of Em-powerment Temple ofAustin, Texas.

God’s Power inChris t ian Fel lowshipChurch has been part ofthe Aust in communitysince 1987 and everyone isinvited to join with them asthey celebrate their 22nd

Anniversary. The churchis part of God’s PowerMinistry, under the leader-ship of Apostle Elijah Hol-land, and is located at5537 Loyola Lane, near theintersect ion of LoyolaLane and US Highway 183.Regular Sunday worshipbegins at 10:30 a.m. everySunday, with WednesdayPrayer beginning at 7 p.m.immediately followed byBible Study at 7:30 p.m.

God’s Power inChristian

Fellowshipcelebrates

its 22nd

AnniversaryCelebration

Elgin Juneteenth Organization presents JuneteenthPageant: Phenomenal Queen of Queens…Still I Rise!

This pageant is open to all surrounding cities: The ElginJuneteenth Organization in cooperation with the City of Elginis looking for young ladies from ages 6-22 years of age to par-ticipate in the Elgin Juneteenth Pageant. The pageant shallconsist of the following: Elgin Little Miss Princess (6-9) yearsold, Elgin Little Miss Juneteenth (10-13) years old, Elgin MissTeen Juneteenth (14-18) years old and culminating with thetitle Elgin Miss Juneteenth (19-22) years old. For more infor-mation or your Pageant packet contact Elsie Williams at(512)281-6322 or elwms2001@yahoo.com

Johnson Products’ Eric Brown and Renee Cottrell Brown

EMPLOYMENT/BIDS/PROPOSALS/PUBLIC

INFORMATION/FOR SALE/FOR RENT/MISC

April 107 2009/The Villager/Page 7

FFFFFor infor infor infor infor informaormaormaormaormation calltion calltion calltion calltion callGary WGary WGary WGary WGary Wararararardian adian adian adian adian at (512) 350-1272t (512) 350-1272t (512) 350-1272t (512) 350-1272t (512) 350-1272

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.

EmploymentEmploymentEmploymentEmploymentEmployment

Misc.STEEL BUILDINGSRecession Disc. Avail

30X40-105X105Call for Deal, Avail LTD

www.scq-grp.com Source #OV$Phone: 512-430-4318

CUSTOMER SERVICE REP./MARKETER NEEDED

Salary Plus Commissions, Car Allowance& Expense Account

Travel 3-4 days per week requiredCall: 800-883-9235 Ext. 306

Ask for Brenda

MBE/WBENOTICE TO

SUBCONTRACTORSCapital Excavation Com-

pany is soliciting bids from MBEand WBE owned Businesses for thefollowing City of Austin: (GROUP1 Southwest Street Reconstruction)Fax your bid to (512) 440-0844.Capital Excavation Company is anEqual Opportunity Employer. Werequest that all bids be in by April16, 2009, at 9:30AM.

City of Austin Purchasing OfficeAdvertisements 04/13/2009

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 inthe solicitation. For construction contracts, the MBE/WBE or DBE Pro-gram Packet is a separately bound volume of the Project Manual. ALLBIDS AND COMPLIANCE PLANS NOT RECEIVED PRIOR TO THEDATE AND TIME SET FORTH WILL BE RETURNED TO THE BID-DER UNOPENED. SPECIAL NOTICE: Solicitations issued on behalf ofthe Electric 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),in the Reception Area, 10th FL., Ste. 1045, Office of Contract and LandManagement, OCLM, 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 EngineeringDesign & Surveying, PWD, Ste. 760, OTC. First time bidders are encour-aged to attend the pre-bid conference to assure their understanding ofOwner’s bidding and contracting requirements, particularly M/WBE Pro-curements Program requirements. Cashiers or Certified Check Payable tothe City of Austin or acceptable Bid Bond must accompany each bid.Bidders will be required to provide Payment/Performance bonds as speci-fied in the bidding documents. The City reserves the right to reject any andall Bids and to 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. ONION CREEK 24-INCH SOUTH ZONE WTM 36-INCHCENTRAL ZONE WTM (CIP 3960 2207 7031). IFB 6100 CLMC042.Pickup bid docs at OTC, STE 760, Attn: Gabriel Stan 974-7151 after 4/13/09. A refundable deposit of $50 is required. For info Yuejiao Liu, 974-7216. A MANDATORY Vendor Conf will be held at OTC, 8th flr conf rmat 10:00A on 4/22/09. Offers due prior to 10:30A on 5/21/09. Complianceplans due prior to 2:30P on 5/21/09. Offers will be opened on 5/21/09 at2:30P.

2. 2009 MISCELLANEOUS STREETS SLURRY SEAL & MI-CRO-SURFACING (CIP 8500 6207 4100). IFB 6100 CLMC028. Pickupbid docs at OTC, STE 760, Attn: Gabriel Stan 974-7151 after 4/13/09. Arefundable deposit of $50 is required. For info Joel Brundrett, 974-4080.A MANDATORY Vendor Conf will be held at 4411-A Meinardus-street& Bridge conf. rm at 11:30A on 4/22/09. Offers due prior to 11:30A on 5/14/09. Compliance plans due prior to 3:30P on 5/14/09. Offers will beopened on 5/14/09 at 3:30P.

3. DITTMAR GYM ENCLOSURE-REBID (CIP 8603 8607 6302).IFB 6100 CLMC017A. Pickup bid docs at OTC, STE 760, Attn: GabrielStan 974-7151. A refundable deposit of $150 is required. For info DavidTaylor, 974-7132. A MANDATORY Vendor Conf will be held at 1009Dittmar Rd, Austin, TX 78745 at 1:30Pon 4/21/09. Offers due prior to11:00A on 5/7/09. Compliance plans due prior to 3:00P on 5/7/09. Offerswill be opened on 5/7/09 at 3:00P.

B. SERVICES AND SYSTEMS CONTRACTING / C. COM-MODITIES - Solicitations will be issued, and sealed bids or proposalsmay be received at the Purchasing Office, Municipal Building, 124 W. 8thSt., 3rd floor, 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. SAP0114 VEHICLE TIRE REPAIR & REPLACEMENT (IFB

BEST VALUE). A Vendor Conf will be held at Service Center # 1 Conf Rm,6301 A Harold Court, Austin, TX 78721 at 10:00A on 4/16/09. Offers dueprior to 12:00P on 4/28/09.

2. MRH1032 CREATEAUSTIN MASTER PLAN PRINTING(IFB BEST VALUE). A Vendor Conf will be held at Municipal Building,124 W.8th Str. Rm. 310, Austin, TX 78701 at 9:00A on 4/21/09. Offers dueprior to 10:00A on 4/29/09.

3. AMC0001 LANDSCAPING, MOWING, AND GROUNDSMAINTENANCE for GRACY WOODS/NORTHSTAR PARK. AMANDATORY Vendor Conf will be held at 12133 Metric Blvd, Austin,TX at 10:00A on 4/23/09. Offers due prior to 2:00P on 4/30/09.

4. AMC0002 LANDSCAPING, MOWING, AND VEGETATIONCONTROL for CRYSTALBROOK SUBDIVISION. A MANDATORYVendor Conf will be held at Crystalbrook Subdivision near 5909 Coolbrook,Austin, TX at 1:00P on 4/21/09. Offers due prior to 3:00P on 4/30/09.

C. SOLICITATION COMMODITIES1. CEA0007 CAPTIVE REPAIR PARTS & TIRES FOR BMW

MOTORCYCLES. Offers due prior to 12:30P 4/28/09.THE CITY OF AUSTIN HEREBY NOTIFIES ALL OFFERORS

THAT IN REGARD TO ANY CONTRACT ENTERED INTO PUR-SUANT TO THIS ADVERTISEMENT; MINORITY BUSINESS EN-TERPRISES WILL BE AFFORDED EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES TOSUBMIT OFFERS IN RESPONSE TO THIS INVITATION AND WILLNOT BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST ON THE GROUNDS OFRACE, COLOR, SEX, NATIONAL ORIGIN OR DISABILITY INCONSIDERATION FOR AN AWARD.

Request for Proposal

AUSTIN COMMUNITYCOLLEGE DISTRICT (ACC)is requesting qualificationsfrom individuals, small busi-nesses and firms for the purposeof selecting a pool of qualifiedproviders for goods, trades andservices throughout the AustinCommunity College District.This is step one of a two stepprocess.

Request for Qualifications No. 961-09030RW

All sumissions of quali-fications must be submitted tothe Purchasing Department byno later than 2:00 p.m., CentralTime, on Thursday, May 7, 2009.

The Request for Qualifi-cations is available in the ACCPurchasing Office [(512)223-1044] between the hours of 9:00a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Mondaythrough Friday or on the ACCPurchasing website at http://www.austincc.edu/purchase/advertisedbids.php All re-sponses must be sealed and re-turned to the ACC PurchasingOffice, ACC Service Center,9101 Tuscany Way, Austin,Texas 78754, by the date andtime indicated above. Electroni-cally transmitted responses willNOT be accepted unless other-wise stated in the documents.

The ACC Board of Trust-ees reserves the right to rejectany and/or all responses andwaive all formalities in the so-licitation process.

REQUEST FOR SUB-CONTRACTOR & VENDORPROPOSALS TO AUI CON-TRACTORS, INC., FOR THE

BRAZOS STRRETSCAPEIMPROVEMENTS FROMCEZAE CHAVEZ TO 11TH

STREET BY 2:00PM, FRIDAYMAY 1ST 2009.

Proposals may be hand de-livered, or mailed to MitchChappell, Emailed tomchappell@auigc.com or faxed to817-926-4387. Proposal Docu-ments may be reviewed at the Aus-tin area plan rooms. AUI, as part ofa Good Faith effort encourages mi-nority-owned and women-ownedbusinesses to submit proposals andtake advantage of this opportunityto be selected as a subcontractor orsupplier for the referenced project.All Subcontractors & Vendors mustbe registered to do Business withthe City of Austin prior to bid date.

By. George E CurryNNPA Special

CorrespondentWASHINGTON (NNPA)

– After leading the global ef-fort to reduce HIV/AIDs, thefederal government is finallydirecting more attention andfinancial resources to the epi-demic at home by focusing onAfrican-Americans, the groupthat bears the brunt of the dis-ease, and aggressively enlist-ing the help of community-based groups.

At a news conference herelast week, officials from theWhite House, the Departmentof Health and Human Servicesand the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC),announced a 5-year communi-cations campaign, called the ActAgainst AIDS Leadership Initia-tive, that will focus on educa-tion, prevention and treatmentand using 14 nationally-knownBlack groups, including theNational Newspaper Publish-ers Association (NNPA), tomake people aware of the dan-gers of HIV/AIDS.

“Act Against AIDS seeksto put the HIV crisis back onthe national radar screen,” saidMelody Barnes, assistant to thepresident and director of theWhite House Domestic PolicyCouncil. “Our goal is to remindAmericans that HIV/AIDS con-tinues to pose a serious healththreat in the United States andencourage them to get the factsthey need to take action forthemselves and their commu-nities.”

No community has beenmore devastated than African-Americans.

Although Blacks repre-sent only 12 percent of the U.S.population, they account forhalf of all diagnosed AIDS cases.Black women account for 61

Obama Administration HIV/AIDSEffort Targets Blacks

percent of all new HIV infectionsamong women, a rate nearly 15times that of White women.Black teens represent only 16percent of those aged 13 to 19,but 69 percent of new AIDs casesreported among teens. Onestudy found that in five majorU.S. cities, 46 percent of Blackmen having sex with men wereinfected with HIV, compared to21 percent of White men havingsex with men.

An analysis by the BlackAIDS Institute in Los Angelesdisclosed that if Black Americawere a separate country, thenumber of African-Americanswith HIV would rank 16th in theworld, with more infectedpeople than Ethiopia, Botswanaand Haiti.

Dr. Kevin Fenton, directorof the CDC’s National Center forHIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDand TB Prevention, said the newfederal initiative complementsother work done by the CDC tocombat AIDS.

“The Act Against AIDScampaign works directly to con-front complacency and put theU.S. HIV epidemic back on thefront burner, back on the na-tional radar screen,” Fentonstated. “The campaign is de-signed in phases and will fea-ture public service announce-ments (PSAs) and online com-munications as well as targetedmessages and outreach to thepopulations most severely af-fected by HIV.”

He explained, “We willbegin with African-Americansand future phases extend toLatinos and other groups, in-cluding other populations of gayand bisexual men.”

The first phase of the cam-paign was created the raiseawareness about HIV/AIDS. Anew Web site,NineAndaHalfMinutes.org, hasbeen created to provide basic in-formation about prevention,testing and treatment.

A site notes, “Before wecan stop any epidemic, we firsthave to recognize the magnitudeof the disease. HIV is still a threatacross the United States. Andeven though there are treatmentsto help people with HIV livelonger than ever before, AIDS isstill a significant health issue.”

It lists the following facts:• Every 9½ minutes (on

average), someone in the UnitedStates is infected with HIV, thevirus that causes AIDS.

• In 2006, an estimated56,300 people became infectedwith HIV.

• More than 1 millionpeople in the United States areliving with HIV.

• Of those 1 millionpeople living with HIV, 1 outof 5 do not know they are in-fected. (People who have HIVbut don’t know it can unknow-ingly pass the virus to their part-ners.)

• Despite new therapies,people with HIV still developAIDS.

• Over 1 million peoplein the United States have beendiagnosed with AIDS.

• More than 14,000 peoplewith AIDS still die each year inthe United States.

The second phase, set tobegin this summer, will focuson African-Americans. To assistmany cash-strapped organiza-tions, the CDC is providingmany groups $100,000 to hire anAIDS coordinator, thus insuringthe issue will gain higher vis-ibility in each organization. Inaddition to the NNPA, the part-ner groups are: 100 Black Menof America, American UrbanRadio Networks, Coalition ofBlack Trade Unionists, Congres-sional Black Caucus Founda-tion, National Action Network,NAACP, National Coalition of100 Black Women, NationalCouncil of Negro Women, Na-tional Medical Association, Na-tional Organization of BlackCounty Officials, National Ur-ban League, Phi Beta Sigma andthe Southern Christian Leader-ship Conference.

“Reducing the dispropor-tionate toll of HIV in Black com-munities is one of CDC’s topdomestic HIV prevention pri-orities, and African-Americanleaders have long played an es-sential role in this fight,” Dr.Fenton said. “This new initia-tive will further harness the col-lective strength of some of thenation’s leading African-Ameri-can organizations to reach di-rectly into the communitiesthey serve with critical, life-sav-

ing information.”Fenton credited Phill

Wilson, president of the BlackAIDS Institute, and C. VirginiaFields, president of the NationalBlack Leadership Commissionon AIDS, with helping the CDCto craft a broad community-based approach to curbing HIV.

Ironically, the decision toexpand communications effortscomes at a time when the pub-lic seems less knowledgeableabout AIDS. Drew Altman,president of the Kaiser FamilyFoundation, said his organiza-tion recently conducted a ma-jor public opinion survey thatproduced some troubling find-ings.

“We found that the per-centage of the American peoplewho say they have seen, heardor read a lot about HIV/AIDSin the U.S. has fallen from 34percent five years ago to just 14percent today,” he said. “Thepercentage for African-Ameri-cans reporting this has fallenfrom 62 percent to just 33 per-cent.”

Dorothy Height, presi-dent of the National Council ofNegro Women, spoke on be-half of the 14 partner organiza-tions. She said, “If we’re goingto deal with this great disease,which really is preventable inour communities, in our lives,it will take all of us, all of ourorganizations, our elected offi-cials, our government agencieslike CDC, our businesses, ourchurches, our labor groups andour universities.”

She explained, “By tak-ing the steps we can to protectourselves and loved ones, andby refusing to remain silent,today, we are here to say thatwe have a sense of how wemust work together to over-come this disease.”

CDC’s Dr. Kevin Fenton.George E. Curry/NNPA photo.

Melody Barnes, Director,WhiteHouse Domestic Policy CouncilGeorge E. Curry/NNPA photo.

Dorothy Height Speaks for 14Groups Phill Wilson/For theNNPA photo.

BLBLBLBLBLAAAAACK REGISTRCK REGISTRCK REGISTRCK REGISTRCK REGISTRYYYYY20092009200920092009

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Page 8/ THE VILLAGER/April 17, 2009

Villager SportsvilleVillager SportsvilleVillager SportsvilleVillager SportsvilleVillager Sportsville

By GeorBy GeorBy GeorBy GeorBy Georggggge Hare Hare Hare Hare HardindindindindinSporSporSporSporSportsBeatsBeatsBeatsBeatsBeattttt

YMCA

Toros end regular season and gain berth in playoffsThe Austin Toros, in

their last regular NBA De-velopment League homegame of the season, easedpast the Rio Grande ValleyVipers 110-106 Friday,April 10. Malik Hairstonscored 41 points andDwayne Jones had 31 in thecontest before 2,598 fans atAustin Convention Center.It was the second time thisseason Hairston made 40points or more. Jones alsoset a D-League record insnagging 28 rebounds. With28 rebounds Jones broke hisown record of 23 set earlierin the season while playingTulsa. The Toros ended thegame with a 31-18 mark anda berth in the NBA D-Leagueplayoffs. The 31 victories isa record for the regular sea-son.

Others scoring indouble figures for Austinwere Carldell “Squeaky”Johnson, 11, and EricDawson, 10. Craig Windercontributed 27 points to RioGrande’s losing effort, fol-lowed by Julian Sensleywith 20, Jared Jordan with14, and Kurt Looby, whohad 10. Looby was toprebounder for Rio Grandewith 15.

At one point the Vi-pers had a 13-point leadwhile the Totos’ biggestlead was 7 points. The gamewas tied five times. Austin’sfield goal percentage was 48percent, versus 46.9 percentor Rio Grande. Austin made

IN THE BASKET—Eric Dawson dunks one for the AustinToros at the Austin Convention Center Friday, April 10. The Toroswon over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers 110-106. Photo by GeorgeE. Hardin

SOUVENIRS—Toros fans reach for T-shirts tossed by members of the Capital City Dancers at the Toros’ last regular homegame. Photo by George E. Hardin

74 points in the paint, com-pared to 64 for Rio GrandeValley. From the free-throwline the Vipers were slightlyahead with 61.5 percentcompared to 59.1 percent forthe Toros. There were fla-grant fouls against bothteams—at 5:34 in the thirdperiod against the Vipers’Craig Winder and at 1:44 inthe third against the Toros’Dwayne Jones.

The Toros wereplaying without the servicesof guard Marcus Williams,who was signed by the SanAntonio Spurs, the Toros’NBA affiliate-owner. Will-iams, 22, who played twoyears at the University ofArizona, was an All-LeagueFirst Team Selection thisseason with the Toros. Dur-ing two seasons and 45games with the Toros Will-iams averaged 23 points. 7rebounds and 5.3 assists.He was selected the D-League Performer of theWeek for the week of March30 after averaging a tripledouble of 27.5 points, 10.5rebounds and 11.5 assists inthree games.

DeMarcus Nelsonalso was called up from theToros for an NBA team. TheChicago Bulls signedNelson, who played fouryears at Duke and wasundrafted by the NBA in2008. Before joining theToros he played for theGolden State Warriors.

Nelson brought to 79 thenumber of NBA playerswho have served on NBA D-League rosters.

As The Villager wasgoing to press, the fourth-seeded Toros were sched-uled to play the fifth-seededIdaho Stampede in a first-round playoff gameWednesday, April 15. TheToros were able to get thehome-court advantage inwinning over Rio GrandeValley 120-106 in a roadgame Saturday, April 11.The playoff game was set for7:30 p.m. at Concordia Uni-versity Fieldhouse, 11400Concord University Drive.

In another perk forthe Toros, Quin Snyder,head coach, was chosen asrecipient of the NBA D-League Dennis JohnsonCoach of the Year Award, asvoted by other coaches inthe league. Chris Alpert, vicepresident of basketball op-erations and player person-nel for the D-League, said,“Under Quin’s guidance,Austin has remained one ofthe top teams all season. Hispreparation, organizationand knowledge of the gamemake him a tremendous as-set to Austin, and theleague.” The award honorsthe memory of the late Den-nis Johnson, former coach ofthe Toros.

The NBA D-Leaguewas founded in 2001 and isthe NBA’s official minorleague. It consists of 16

teams with direct NBA affili-ations. An expansion teamwill join the league in Port-land, Maine, for the 2009-10season. And the AnaheimArsenal will move to Spring-field, Mass., for next season.

SerenaWilliams

loses rank astop women’s

playerSerena Williams is los-

ing her rank as Women’sTennis Association’s No. 1tennis player to DinaraSafina, a 22-year-old Rus-sian, after Williams held thetop spot for 11 weeks, and atotal of 72 weeks during hercareer. Williams’ loss 6-4, 3-6and 6-1 to Klara Zakopalovain the Andalucia Open inMarbella, Spain, made wayfor Safina to rise in the newrankings which will be re-leased on April 20. In theAndalucia competition Will-iams, 27, played with an in-jured left thigh, which wastaped. She then withdrewfrom the next tournament shewas scheduled to participatein, the Family Circle Cup inCharleston, S. C.

The sore left thighwas seen as a factor as Will-iams lost recently 6-3, 6-1 to19-year-old VictoriaAzarenka in the finals of theSony Ericsson Open in KeyBiscayne, Fla. She was hop-ing for her sixth women’s title,which would have been arecord and her third in suc-cession. Azarenka, whotrains in Arizona, only wonher first title three monthsago.

Safina will be the sec-ond Russian, after MariaSharapova, to hold the first-place position. Her brother,Marat Safin, was formerlyranked No. 1 on the ATPWorld Tour. Safina movedinto No. 1 status without everhaving won a Grand Slamand is aware she still may beviewed in some quarters asuntested. She said on her Website, “It’s good to reach theNo. 1 ranking and it is adream every girl who has everwanted to play professionaltennis shares. There’s noquestion that while I’m veryproud of my results over thepast year, I would have likedto reach this achievement ina different manner. I hope toprove to everyone over thecoming months that I meritthe honor of being world No.

1.”In 2008, Williams

won over Safina 6-4, 6-1 at theSony Ericsson Champion-ships but lost to her sister,Venus, in a second roundrobin match.

Williams holds cur-rent singles championshipsin the U.S. Open and the Aus-tralian Open and has won 20Grand Slam titles, 10 insingles, eight in women’sdoubles and two in mixeddoubles. She plays right witha two-handed backhand. Hercareer earnings of$23,978,104 since she turnedpro in 1995 are the highestany woman has won in anysport. Four years ago Tennismagazine placed her as the17th-best player of the previ-ous 40 years.

Williams’ friendlybut serious competition withVenus has resulted in themplaying each other in fourconsecutive Grand Slamsingles finals. Overall theirrivalry is at a 10-10 tie.

Serena has createdcomment in the tennis worldbecause of her flashy outfits.She created her own line ofdesigned clothes known asAneres, her name spelledbackward.

The 2009 NFL Drafttakes place April 25-26at Radio City Music Hallin New York City.Teams select amateurcollege players in sevenrounds, spread out overtwo days. Good luck,Horns!

(To Left:)Serena Williams