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Austin, TexasPermit No. 01949

Vol. 39 No. 47

RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’RAPPIN’Tommy WyattTommy WyattTommy WyattTommy WyattTommy Wyatt

Email: vil3202@aol.comPhone: 512-476-0082 April 6, 2012

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MR. JOHN S.CHASE, 87, passed awayon Thursday, March 29,2012. The funeral serviceswas held on Wednesday,April 4, 2012 at 11am atAntioch Missionary BaptistChurch , 500 Clay, Hous-ton. Rev O. B. Winkley, of-ficiating. The interment wasat Houston National Cem-etery. John Saunders Chasewas born in Annapolis,Maryland, on January 23,1925.

From 1944 to 1946 heserved in the United StatesArmy in the Philippine Is-lands where he saw combatin the Asian theater. He wasdecorated with the AmericanTheater Ribbon, the AsiaticPacific Theater Ribbon, thePhilippine Liberation Ribbonand the World War II Vic-tory Ribbon.

In 1948, he earned aBachelor of Science in Ar-chitecture at Hampton Uni-versity. He went on to be-come the first African Ameri-can to enroll in the Univer-sity of Texas at Austin Schoolof Architecture. He gradu-ated in 1952.

His professional careerbegan that same year whenhe was appointed assistantprofessor of architecturaldrafting at Texas SouthernUniversity and founded JohnS. Chase, A.I.A. Architect,Inc. His early designs in-cluded churches, schools,homes and small publicbuildings.

Chase achieved a num-ber of impressive firsts. Hewas the first African Ameri-can licensed to practice ar-chitecture in the state ofTexas and later was the firstAfrican American admitted

to the Texas Society of Ar-chitects and the HoustonChapter of the American In-stitute of Architects (AIA).He also co-founded the Na-tional Organization of Mi-nority Architects (NOMA)along with 12 other blackarchitects at the AIA con-vention in Detroit in 1971.When President JimmyCarter appointed him in1980, Chase became thefirst African American toserve on the United StatesCommission on Fine Arts.His service on the commis-sion included the creation ofthe Vietnam War Memorial.His architectural imprint canbe seen globally. He wascommissioned to design theUnited States Embassy inTunis, Tunisia. He collabo-rated on the design of theGeorge R. Brown Conven-tion Center and designed theWashington Technical Insti-tute, Links, Inc., NationalHeadquarters, Delta SigmaTheta National Headquar-ters, and the Harris CountyAstrodome Renovation. Onthe campus of Texas South-ern University, he designedthe Thurgood MarshallSchool of Law, Sterling Stu-dent Life Center and theMartin Luther King, Jr.School of Humanities.

Chase is survived byhis wife Drucie RuckerChase and his three childrenJohn S. Chase, Jr. (Brenda), Anthony R. Chase (Dina)and Saundria Chase Gray(Jerome); grandchildren AsaDavis, Chase Gray, JordanChase, Grace Gray andAbyssinia (“Kat”) Chaseand nieces and nephewsLaura Farley, John Farley,Michael Farley and WilliamFarley.

In lieu if customary re-membrances, the family sug-gests memorial contributionsbe directed to the John S.Chase endowed scholarshipfund at the University ofTexas, School of Architec-ture, 1 University StationB7500, Austin, TX 78712-0222 or Hampton Univer-sity, Hampton , VA 23668.

Saturday evening,March 31, 2012 The AustinMetroplex chapter of theNational Women ofAchievement, Inc. presentedits 12th Biennial AfricanAmerican women’s Profilesof Prominence, held at theCarver Cultural Museum.Their motto: Generations ofWomen Moving HistoryForward, in tribute of the lateDr. Connie YerwoodConnor.

Dr. Connor might wellbe considered the “FirstLady” of Austin’s AfricanAmerican community. Shewas the first black physicianwith the Texas PublicHealth Services; the firstblack Director of the Divi-sion of Maternal and childHealth in Texas; and thefirst black chief of the Bu-reau of Personal HealthServices.

In tribute to her lifetimeaccomplishments, the Austinchapter of the Nationalwomen of Achievement, Inc.dedicates their biennial Hallof Fame award and programto her memory. The ConnieYerwood Conner awardceremony, now called the

African American Women’s Profiles of Prominence

Architectural LegendJohn S. Chase Passes

In Houston

Award recipients (l to r) Dr. Gaye M. Lang, Dr.Alicia Moore- Hopkins, Dr. Chiquita Watt Eugene,

Eileen Williams- Persley, Jessie Warren Bradford, andRev. Marion Childress- Usher. Photos by Angela Wyatt

Profiles of Prominence,honors women who haverisen above all obstacles toachieve a higher purpose.

Many women of dis-tinguished achievementswere honored. Eileen Will-iams- Persley (ARTS); Dr.Chiquita Watt Eugene(BUSINESS); GeorgiaJohnson Malone (Forman-Jones CARE GIVER); JessieWarren Bradford (CivicLEADERSHIP); Rev.Marion Childress-Usher(COMMUNICATIONS);Dr. Gaye M. Lang (EDUCA-TION); Dr. Alicia Moore-Hopkins (EDUCATION);Dr. Monica “Moe” FrazierAnderson (HEALTH PRO-FESSIONALS); Karen M.Kennard (LAW); Sheri Jack-son Marshall (PROFES-SIONAL LEADERSHIP);Denise Davis (PUBLIC SER-VICE); Alexis DanielleGeorge (YOUTHACHIEVEMENT); AreleneLois Youngblood (Award ofMERIT); Scottie L. DavisIvory (LIFETIMEACHIEVEMENT) and AliceTaylor King Johnson (LifetimeAchievement- POSTHU-MOUS). Congratulations.

By Angela Wyatt - Villager Columnist

Austin is a unique townwhere folks from all walks oflife live and mingle. And be-cause of the laid back lifestyle of the city, you couldbe standing right next to alegend and not know it.

That was the case lastFriday when people attend-ing the community paradeand the other activities at theCarver Museum and CulturalCenter after the parade.

As Grand Marshals ofthe parade, LBJ PrincipalSheila Henry and myselfwere given the responsibilityof welcoming everyone tothe event. As I approachedthe mike, I spotted a very fa-miliar face in the crowd.

Gil Askey, the legendbehind many classic tracksfrom the Motown era.Gil has worked as com-poser, producer and musicaldirector for performers likeDiana Ross and theSupremes, the Four Tops,The Temptations, StevieWonder, the Jackson Five,Gladys Knight and many,many more. These days GilAskey is more likely to beseen with a bunch of kids inhis adopted hometown ofMelbourne, passing on hisenthusiasm for music, in par-ticular jazz.

He was doing thesame thing last week at theCarver. Gil never goes outwithout a musical instrument.On this occasion it was atrumpet. During the presen-tation by the youth, Gil de-cided to show them some ofhis skills. And although theydid not know he was andneither did their parents, theydid give him the respect oflistening.

In Austin, you neverknow when you will run intoa legend, but it is always ex-citing when you do.

Would YouKnow a Legendif You Saw One?

Native Austinite Gil Askey

Community ParadeSee B.L.JOYCE

Page 5

Discussion PanelSee RACIAL STIGMAS

Page 7

Retake of3rd Court?

See ATTEMPTPage 6

Fired & Forced to RetireSee NYPD

Page 3

DENVER — All season long the slogan was “Unfin-ished business.” Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears of Baylorhave proven undoubtedly they are the most dominate women’sbasketball team in the nation. After annihilating Notre Dame80-61 Tuesday night, the Lady Bears capped an astonishing40-0 season, the first 40 win season in NCAA basketballhistory, and their first NCAA Women’s Basketball Champi-onship since 2005. The 6 foot 8 Griner had 26 points, 13 re-bounds, and five blocks helping lead her team to victory. Whenasked of their historic accomplishment, Griner responded“Looking back when we get older, I’m always going to re-member this moment, always going to remember confettifalling and being here with my team.”

UnFinished Business!UnFinished Business!UnFinished Business!

Brittany Griner (42) and the Lady Bearscelebrate Baylor’s perfect 40 - 0 season andtheir first National Championship since 2005.

African American Women’s Profiles of Prominence

EDITORIALS/COMMENTARYTHE VILLAGER Page 2 ~ April 6, 2012 www.theaustinvillager.com

By Ron BusbyPres., U.S. Black Chamber

Special to the NNPA

The Tragic Travesty in Trade and Transactions

The positive demon-strations of support for thefamily of Trayvon Martin fol-lowing his tragic death, andthe nationwide evidence ofunified response (hoodieseverywhere!) in the call forjustice are inspiring signs ofa renewed spirit among Af-rican Americans and others

committed to correcting theobvious inequities exposed inthe wake of this travesty.Clearly, nothing we encoun-ter in the world of businesscan be equated to the sense-less slaying of this youngman, but as Dr. King taughtus in his Letter from a Bir-mingham Jail, “… injusticeanywhere is a threat to jus-tice everywhere…”

We are clear that thereis no way the shock, hurt andgrief Trayvon’s family en-dures because of the abso-lutely inhuman conduct ofone misguided individual canbe compared to the strugglesof businessmen and women.We can’t help, however, butdraw parallels to the inequity

Black business owners mustcontend with each and ev-ery day. When the deck isstacked against you… whenthe courts rule against you…when financial institutionsrefuse to extend credit toyou… when even the govern-ments you support throughyour tax dollars can’t bringthemselves to provide equi-table access to opportunity…well, you get the picture.

As a class, the busi-nesses we work hard to rep-resent face odds NO othergroup faces in this country.And just as there are – incred-ibly – voices that somehowdefend the series of bad deci-sions that resulted in the sense-less snuffing out of a young life,

there are those who believethere is nothing wrong with amarketplace that delivers frac-tional percentage points of op-portunity to Black-ownedbusinesses. You’ve seen thenumbers in this space before.

According to the Cen-sus Bureau, there are 1.9 mil-lion privately held Black-owned businesses across ev-ery industry sector in theUnited States. We employover 921,000 persons, andgenerate $137.5 billion in an-nual revenue. Per the NielsenCompany, African Americansspend over a TRILLIONhard-earned dollars in theU.S. economy. Tragically,even this record spendingdoes not translate to reci-

procity in the form of con-tracting/vendor relationshipsfrom the corporations thatbenefit from our spending.

Tragically, the giantloopholes in regulationsguiding federal, state and lo-cal utilization of ethnic minor-ity suppliers allow for inter-pretations that boggle themind – and devastate ourbusinesses and their hope fora brighter future. It is beyondunfortunate that it takes thesenseless slaying of a futurebusinessman, a future law-yer, a future elected official,a future husband and fatherto cause us to take stock ofall the inequity around us, butit is the re-awakened senseof outrage that will fuel our

commitment to correct thewrongs we see around us.And though our commitmentto improving opportunitiesfor Black-owned businessesacross this country is solidand sincere, the outpouringof support for justice inFlorida fortifies us andstrengthens our resolve to“… stay on the battle-field…”

There is no doubt thatthe same energy that awak-ened so many of us toTrayvon’s murder is the sameenergy that will drive ourachieving economic parity inAmerica’s marketplace. Asalways, thank you for yourcontinued support of theU.S. Black Chamber, Inc.

Affordable Housing Out of Reach

Charlene CrowellNNPA Columnist

Growth in Renters andLow Wages Create SevereHousing Shortage.

Late last year America’shomeownership rate droppedto 66 percent, the lowest since1998. Amid continuing fore-closures and short sales, mil-lions of former proudhomeowners now find the costof their American Dream fi-nancially out of reach. Formany displaced by foreclo-sures, rental housing has be-come a long-term housing al-ternative. But new researchfinds that the huge growth inAmerica’s renters has wors-ened an already troubling

problem: an inadequate sup-ply of affordable housing.

According to Out ofReach 2012, an annual reportby the National Low IncomeHousing Coalition, renterhouseholds rose by nearly 4million between 2005 and2010. In 2012, a householdmust earn the equivalent of$37,960 in annual income toafford the national averagecost of a two-bedroom mar-ket rate of $949 per month.To comfortably afford marketprice for the typical rental, in-comes must meet or exceed$18.25 per hour. HoweverOut of Reach found that the2012 average renter’s wagewas a few dollars less at$14.15.

This gap between hous-ing costs and typical workerearnings will continue to growuntil or unless more affordablehousing becomes available.

Looking ahead, over the nextdecade the report predictsthat the number of renters mayincrease by upwards of470,000 annually. The reportstates in part, “The analysis il-lustrates a wide gap betweenthe cost of decent housing andthe hourly wages that rentersactually earn. The numbers inOut of Reach demonstrate thatthis year in every communityacross the country, there arerenters working full-time whoare unable to afford the rentswhere they live.”

In 2012, many who areseverely cost-burdened areadult workers whose wagesare less than their locale’s fairmarket rent. Determined byHUD on an annual basis, fairmarket rent reflects the cost ofboth shelter and utilities. Thisfederal standard is also usedto determine eligibility forHUD’s Housing Choice

Voucher program and Section8 contracts. Out of Reachfound that in every state an in-dividual working full-time at thefederal minimum wage of$7.25 per hour cannot afforda two-bedroom apartment forhis or her family. In fact, thereare very few places in thecountry where even a one-bedroom apartment at fairmarket rent is affordable tothese workers. Currently 18states have minimum wageshigher than that of the federalgovernment and earlier thisyear, the City of San Fran-cisco became the first in thenation to have a minimumwage above $10 an hour. Un-fortunately, California ratesthird highest in the nation’srental housing costs with$26.02 an hour needed for atwo-bedroom dwelling. Otherstates where a two-bedroomapartment would require an

hourly wage of $20.00 ormore are: Connecticut, DC,Hawaii, Maryland, Massa-chusetts, New Jersey, NewYork, and Virginia.

Based on a federal stan-dard, affordable housingshould cost no more than 30percent of a household’s grossincome. When housing costsexceed this threshold, the resi-dents are considered ‘housingburdened’. When housingcosts more than 50 percent ofhousehold income, the house-holds are ‘severely cost bur-dened’. By 2010, extremelylow-income (ELI) workers,those earning less than 30 per-cent of the area median in-come rose to 9.8 millionpeople, or one out of everyfour renter households. Forevery 100 ELI households insearch of an apartment, only30 affordable units are avail-able. NHLIC estimates that an

additional 6.8 million addi-tional rental units are neededto overcome this shortage.

Commenting on theNLHIC report, HUD Secre-tary Shaun Donovan said,“This perfect storm of grow-ing need and rising costs is whyit is more important than everthat we provide a supply ofaffordable rental homes at thescale that families require andin the places that need them.”

Secretary Donovan hasproposed that HUD’s FY13budget make renewing rentalassistance for over 5.4 millionfamilies the agency’s top pri-ority. Here’s hoping that Sec-retary Donovan’s budget re-quest will fare better than ear-lier housing efforts. In 2008,the National Affordable Hous-ing Trust Fund was enacted forthe purpose of building moreaffordable housing. In 2012,it remains unfunded.

Who Cares about Trayvon Martin?

By George E. CurryNNPA Columnist

The shooting death of17-year-old Trayvon Martinby a neighborhood watch cap-tain in Sanford, Fla. has domi-nated national news lately, withAfrican-Americans more thantwice as likely as Whites tofollow the story very closely,according to a study by thePew Research Center for thePeople and the Press.

The study, conductedMarch 22-25, found that 70percent of African-Americansfollowed the story very closely,compared to 30 percent ofWhites. Women were morelikely to closely follow eventssurrounding Martin’s death

than men, 40 percent to 29percent. There was also a po-litical divide, with 50 percentof Democrats saying they fol-lowed the story very closely,compared to 31 percent ofRepublicans and 26 percent ofindependents. Older respon-dents followed the story moreclosely than younger people.The study found that 40 per-cent of those 65 and older fol-lowed the story very closely,trailed by the 50-64 age group(37 percent), 30-49 (33 per-cent) and 18-29 (26 percent).

When pollsters ap-proached the issue anotherway by asking respondents torank their top stories, therewas also a sharp racial divide.Fifty-two percent of Blacksranked the Travon Martinstory as their top pick, fol-lowed by the presidential elec-tions at 13 percent. Whiteswere almost evenly divided,with 20 percent ranking thedeath of Trayvon Martin asNo.1, edging out the presiden-tial election at 19 percent.Among Whites, the economy

was a close third at 17 per-cent. The economy was a dis-tant third among African-Americans, with only a 7 per-cent ranking.

The wide gulf betweenthe views of Whites andBlacks on race is nothing new.The two communities hold dis-tinctly different views towardlaw enforcement officials.While Whites tend the viewcops as protective allies, manyAfrican-Americans, especiallymales, live in fear of being mis-treated by police officers.

A 2009 study by thePew Research Center foundthat 38 percent of Whites ex-pressed a great deal of confi-dence in local police treatingBlacks and Whites equally.However, only 14 percent ofAfrican-Americans sharedthat view. At the other end ofthe spectrum, 34 percent ofBlacks expressed very littleconfidence in police treatingBlacks and Whites equally, aview shared by 9 percent ofWhites.

Interestingly, the national

news media did not providewidespread coverage of theFeb. 26 Trayvon Martinshooting until a month later. Inthe meantime, the Black Pressand social media kept the storyalive. Release of the 911 tapesand the public outcry that fol-lowed forced national mediaorganizations to take notice. A2010 Pew study found thatAfrican-Americans are highlycritical of news coverage oftheir community.

“Nearly six-in-ten(58%) said that coverage ofblacks was too negative. Justhalf as many (29%) said thecoverage was either fair(28%) or too positive (1%),”the report said. “By contrast,nearly half (48%) of whitessaid that coverage of blackswas generally fair. Just 31% ofwhites thought that news cov-erage of blacks was too nega-tive.” In addition, 51 percentof Blacks said race relationsreceived too little media cov-erage while only 24 percent ofWhites agreed with that opin-ion.

Undergirding all of thosestatistics are different percep-tions about the existence ofracial discrimination.

For example, 43 per-cent of Blacks said there is alot of discrimination againstAfrican-Americans, com-pared with 13 percent ofWhites. In the survey, Whiteswere more likely to say Latinoswere discriminated againstmore than Blacks (21 percentvs. 13 percent).

Eighty-one percent ofAfrican-Americans said “ourcountry needs to continuemaking changes to giveBlacks equal rights withWhites.” Only 36 percent ofWhites agreed. A majority ofWhites – 54 percent – said“our country has made thechanges it needed to giveblacks equal rights withwhites.” Many pointed to theelection of President BarackObama as a watershed mo-ment for race relations in theU.S.

A Gallup Poll conductedthe day after Obama was

elected president in Novem-ber 2008 showed that 70 per-cent of Americans believedrace relations would improveas a result of his victory. To-day, however, 48 percent ofAfrican-Americans and 31percent of Whites believe racerelations have improved underthe president.

In addition, the glowfrom Obama’s election hasfaded over the past threeyears. In 2009, 71 percent ofBlacks thought the election ofObama was one of the mostimportant advances for Afri-can-Americans in the past 100years; today that percentagehas declined to 65 percent, adrop of 6 percent. AmongWhites, there was nearly a 20percent decline, falling from 56percent in 2009 to 37 percenttoday.

Although there should beuniversal outrage against a 28-year-old man shooting todeath an unarmed 17-year-old, interest in the case, like somany other things in America,is heavily influenced by race.

My father left years ago and now returns sick!

Dear Gwendolyn:I am upset with my mother.This is the problem: My father

left us 30+ years ago when hewas a young man. My motherhad to struggle with six chil-dren. She did not seek theusual welfare assistance. Momworked two jobs all the timewe were growing up. All sixof us made a success out ofour lives. This, however, weknow was due to our mother.

We are upset becausedad left us and lived with a ladywho had five children. It was

obvious he provided for themnicely – not thinking of us atall. He returned last year sick.In fact, he is bedridden. Hesuffered a stroke and is para-lyzed down the left side of hisbody. Mom is asking for us tocome and help. Four of mysiblings live out of state. Mybrother and I are the only twowho can help.

Gwendolyn, why did mymother take him back? Why?

GloriaDear Gloria:Only your mother can

answer that. True love is astrange thing. It never dies. Ido understand your concerns.Why should you and yourbrother be tied down with aman who left you?

Let me tell you this: Yoursituation is not an isolated case.Husbands leave wives, playaround when all body parts

are functioning. They walkwithout arthritis. Their vision is20/20. Their hearing is good.They just got to roam.

Gloria, you need to con-vince your mother to call theother woman and her childrento help with your dad. Afterall, she got more of his moneyand affection than your mother.Sounds not good, but love isblind and in this case it’s stu-pid. The responsibility of your

father’s healthcare needs to beshifted. He may need to go intoa nursing home facility. Toooften the caregiver becomesill because the task is too great.

Tell your mother to thinkback to all those nights shehad to be alone – rainy stormynights when a husband is joy.Think about it. Wives need tostop allowing their husbandsto vanish and return old, sick— and broke down.

By Gwendolyn BainesNNPA Columnist

THE VILLAGER Page 3 ~April 6, 2012

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THE PLACE WHERE WE STEP OUT ON FAITH.COME AND STEP OUT ON FAITH WITH US

Sunday School 8:45 a.m. Praise and Worship 10:15 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Study 12:00 p.m.and Praise /Bible Study 6:30 p.m.

(to include Children’s Choir Rehersaland Bible Study with age appropiate Activities)

Rev. Jack C. Gause Pastor

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

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. Rodney L Swisher,B.A., M. Div., Interim Pastor

Bus Ministry Call 512-478-1875

If you have church newsor

to have your church included onthis page, send information to

vil3202@aol.comor

call 512-476-0082.

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 exhibitedis Exemplified.” 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.orgRev. H. Ed Calahan

Pastor

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.

Rev. Lois Hayes, Pastor

AFRICAN ASSEMBLIES of GODCHURCH

The Church of Glad Tidings 2700 Northland Dr. Austin, TX 78756For more information, contact Pastor Jonah Ghartey

512-873-8103 www.allnationschurch@yahoo.com

A growing church ministering to African American andother nationals

Place of Worship

Come worship with us

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

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

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

Church School 9:30 A.M. SunMorning Worship 10:45 A.M. Sun

Bible Study 7:30 P.M. Sun.

Rev. Derwin D. Gipson, Pastor

Advancing the Ministry -Expanding the Church

Imani Community ChurchDavis Elementray Auditorium 5214 West Duval Road

Sunday School 9:00 A.M.Worship Service 10:00 A.M.•Power Hour Bible Life Group 6:00 P.M.

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

Visit:imanichurch.comOffice: 512-343-9300Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Donald-Mims

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

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

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

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

“Ministries For Mankind” Luke 4:18

A.W.. Anthony Mays, Senior Pastor

Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Chruch1701 Chestnut Avenue Austin, TX 78702

Church Phone (512) 476-0838

Morning Worship Service @ 11 a.m.Sundays @ 9:00a.m.- Sunday schoolSunday @ 10:00am Bible Study Monday @ 6:30 pm Bible Study Mid-Week Service each Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., where there is Prayer, Praising, and Preaching going on. Come and worship with us!!!

Rev. Ralph H. Daniels, Pastor

Serving Austin since 1970Let us Fill your next Perscription!

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*Ask your doctor to call your prescription in to usand we’ll have it ready for you when you get here!

CHURCH & TOWN BULLETINwww.theaustinvillager.com

By Gary L. FlowersNNPA Columnist

Last week, CongressmanJohn Conyers (MI), RankingMember of the United StatesHouse Judiciary Committee in-troduced much-needed legisla-tion entitled, “The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Em-ployment and Training Act.” Thebill number for the Act is HouseResolution 4277/870.

Congressman Conyers’Act directly addressesAmerican’s need to work andour current economic crisis, butalso embodies the spirit of theoriginal Humphrey-Hawkins“Full Employment and BalancedGrowth Act” of 1978.

In short, the Act would taxstock and bond trades on WallStreet to finance a fund to createjobs for the jobless.

The “Full Employment andTraining Trust Fund” would cre-ate two accounts to directly fundjob creation and training pro-grams. Monies taxed from WallStreet transactions would be dis-tributed to each account, with67% of revenues deposited in thejob-creation account, and 33%going to the job-training account.

First, job-creation funds

would be allocated based on theCommunity DevelopmentBlock Grant (CDBG) formula,modified to consider unemploy-ment data. The U.S. Depart-ment of Labor would collabo-rate with local elected officials,labor officials, and communitygroups, who are closest to theneeds of our communities on theground, to identify workers foreach project. Americans in needof a job would work on con-struction projects, renovatingschool buildings, weatherizinghomes, neighborhood beautifi-cation, expanding access tobroadband and wirelessInternet, and other jobs. Theprogram would be open tothose who are unemployed forat least 26 weeks, or low-in-come individuals who have beenunemployed for at least 30 days.New jobs would include:

• Up to 30 hours perweek

• Pay prevailing wages,averaging $12-15 per hour, withbenefits

Appropriate safeguardsand strong anti-displacementprotections would help to pre-vent substitution and ensure thatworkers are placed in jobs.

The Answer to UnemploymentSecondly, funds would be

distributed to existing programscovered under The WorkforceInvestment Act for job-trainingprograms, including 1-Stop JobTraining Programs and the JobCorps.

Each account would beestablished through a tax on WallStreet financial speculation suchas stock and bond trades. Thefinancial transactions tax wouldcover:

• Tax rate on each trans-action would be ¼ of one per-c e n t — 0 . 2 5 %• Tax rate for Futures Contractsto buy/sell specified commoditiesat market prices would by0.02% Tax rate for Swaps of fi-nancial instruments between twofirms—0.02%

• Tax rate for Credit De-fault Swaps where a contract isswapped through a series of pay-ments in exchange for a payoff ifcredit instrument (loans) goes intodefault—0.02%

• And contracts betweena buyer and a seller that givesbuyer the right to buy/sell asseton or before expiration date (Op-tions) at an agreed price

All evidence forAmerica’s current pooreconomy points to un-regu-lated and un-enforced lawsof the greedy, which dispro-portionately affected theneedy. Therefore, Con-gressman Conyers’ legisla-tion is needed now to putAmerica back to work.

We should all contactour Congressional repre-sentatives to support H.R.4277/870.

Gary L. Flowers isthe Executive Director &CEO of the Black Leader-ship Forum, Inc.

Read more: http://www.nnpa.org/news/the-answer-to-unemployment-b y - g a r y - l - f l o w e r s /#ixzz1r0g5V1to

Gescard Isnora, one ofthe undercover police detectiveswho shot 50 bullets at an un-armed Sean Bell, was fired thislast Monday almost six yearsafter the sensational killing.

The two other officers in-volved in the shooting, MarcCooper and Michael Oliver,were forced to retire but kepttheir mighty pensions. This hasoutraged many, including theRev. Al Sharpton, who de-manded to know why taxpay-ers still have to end up payingofficers who killed the unarmedman just hours before his wed-ding.

Gescard IsnoraAfter being acquitted in

a tense trial in 2008, thethree officers faced a depart-mental trial. Isnora’s firingwas the result of this trial.

“This is normal but toolate. He is the sacrificial lambof a corrupted police de-partment led by Commis-sioner Raymond Kelly, whohas no credibility and shouldhave resigned long since,”Bell family attorney NevilleMitchell told the AmsterdamNews.

Mitchell said that it is“unbelievable” that the otherdetectives were allowed to

keep their pensions upon re-signing.

“This is a disgrace, butit’s not unexpected, given theprocess that occurred.These persons were notproperly prosecuted by thepolice. If they think that theyacted wrongfully, theyshould have been pros-ecuted just the same way asGescard [was],” the lawyeradded.

In 2006, Bell and twofriends were partying at aJamaica, Queens, club,when police confrontedthem and shots rang out.

Bell passed away andhis friends were seriously in-jured. Today, the Bell familydoes not consider Isnora’sfiring a victory.

“I’m thankful that fi-nally, after six years, the of-ficer was terminated, buthonestly, it should have beenterminations across theboard,” said Nicole PaultreBell, Bell’s fiancée, in a pub-lished report. “It’s little jus-tice for us at this point.”

NYPD Fires Black Sean Bell Cop,Two Others Forced to Retire

Mar. 27 (GIN) – Since becom-ing independent from Portugal in1974, Guinea-Bissau has struggledthrough a dictatorship, threecoups and the 2009 assassinationof President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

Now, the election to replacethe last president, Malam BacaiSanha, who died in January after along illness, is in disarray. Losingcandidates have called the processa fraud and are refusing to take partin any run-off.

Second place finisherKumba Yala, a former president whowas overthrown in a 2003 coup, toldreporters Thursday: “I will not com-pete in a second round, or even athird round of the election becausethese elections are fraudulent.”

Guinea-BissauVote Stalls OverFraud ChargesSpecial to the NNPA from

the Global Information NetworkKumba Yala

THE VILLAGER Page 4 ~ April 6, 2012 www.theaustinvillager.com

YOUTH BRIGADEYouth of Today

Hope of Tomorrow

Managing campaigns for corporationsaround the clock, around the world.

The first week of myclass went a lot better then Iexpected, and I was happyabout that. When I first gotup there to teach the class Ihad some nervous jitters, butthey started to fade the longerI was in front of the class. My

biggest fear were that thekids would get bored andnot be interested in the class.

I started the classoff with a getting to knowyou game, which just in-cluded your name and fa-vorite food. Some of thekids were shy and somewere outgoing.

For the first weekwe made grilled cheese, justto start off simple. All thekids really enjoyed cookingthe grilled cheese. Two kidsgot to come to the front ofthe class and got to cooktheir own grilled cheese. Ireally had fun the first week,I hope all the weeks go aswell as the first week.

The first class is over!

Rickey HayesManor New Tech HS

Olivia SmithLockhart H.S.

I am currently in a clubcalled “ The S.W.A.G Club”.“ S.W.A.G.” in our words,stands for STUDENTSWITH ASPIRATIONSAND GOALS. It was cre-ated by Ms. Brittany Wilson.The club is designed for stu-dents to do their homework,discuss and debate importantissues and life and overall justto better themselves in a posi-

Can you say S.W.A.G.?tive manner that is present-able.

I have been attendingthe club for some time now,and recently we have madeannouncements about ourclub to the school. Last Fri-day, I did the announcementfor our club. I had neverspoken on the intercombefore now. I was nervous,but I wasn’t as nervous as Ithought I was going to be.

The easiness andcomfortableness I did feelwas probably due to the helpof Theatre Arts. TheatreArts has really helped mespeak in front of an audi-ence, more clearly and com-fortable.

Anyways, I am glad Iwas able to inform the ad-ministration and studentsabout the club because Ithink it is a club worth at-tending.

Jaquarry WilsonDel Valle High School

I’m sure that thepreparation for the highlyanticipated mathematics por-tion of the Texas Assessmentof Knowledge and Skills(TAKS), isn’t just becom-ing a daily objective for thestudents at the state recog-nized Del Valle High School,but is also a nonstop focusfor other schools throughoutthe Lone Star State.

In my opinion, it is ab-solutely necessary to reviewthe topics needed for eachand every student to meet the

Math TAKS is Approachingrequirements to pass themath TAKS. Passing the testisn’t the goal for most of usstudents, where as gettingcommended performance is!

Commended per-formance is scoring a per-centage of 90 or above. I,myself, love math and I planto get commended. For aslong as I can remember, myhighest TAKS score was mymath TAKS.

The mathematics de-partment at Del Valle hasmade numerous announce-ments as to why we need notbe absent on any day lead-ing up to the TAKS, becausewe would then be missing outon a review over an objec-tive that is to be on the testthat we might desperatelyneed to go over again be-cause we are not very strongin that specific area. I’m ex-cited for the challenge!

Marshay HatcherPflugerville High School

The cast of “The Class-room” are now selling “IHeart Beef Tips” t-shirts allthis week. Shirts can be or-dered in the cafeteria andclassroom E209.

We’ve Got Beef TipsYouth shirts are $10,

and extra sizes are $12. Theproceeds will be donated tothe Panther Celebration. ThePanther Celebration is an allnight, drug-Free, alcohol-free party for our graduat-ing Seniors on GraduationNight.

The goal is to providean alcohol, drug and to-bacco free environment forour graduating seniors. A llparents/guardians of 2011graduates are welcome andencouraged to participate.

Don’t be left out, getyour t-shirt today and helpsupport our Seniors on theirbig night.

Will PurcellNew Manor Tech HS

On March 31, I wentto the annual Austin UrbanMusic Festival held onAuditorium Shores. Themain headliners were Af-ter 7, Boyz II Men, andBabyface. Overall I reallyenjoyed being there andthere were plenty of ac-tivities for children aswell.

During the festival, Imet Ms. Bern NadetteStanis who p layedThelma on Good Timesand I also got her auto-graph. I sat with my fam-ily during the festival andate a delicious turkey leg.Also during the festival, Ihelped KAZI set up thelights for their station.

Before Boyz II Mencame out on stage, rapperV.I.C. performed. All the

Austin Urban Music Festivalwomen were dancingduring V.I.C.’s perfor-mance and some womeninlcuding one of my cous-ins got on stage to do theWobble Dance.

When Boyz II Mencame out, all the womenwere screaming and clap-ping while I was record-ing most of the perfor-mance with my Ipod.That was the second timeI saw Boyz II Men per-form at the Urban Festi-val and they were stillgreat. When Boyz II Menwas done performing, afunny comedian did greatimmitations until it wastime for R & B singer/songwriter Babyface tocome out on stage.

After that, Babyfacestarted to perform andthe crowd went wild. Irecorded some ofBabyface’s per for-mances and overall he didvery well while he was onstage.

When Babyface fin-ished performing, every-body started leaving. Ihad a really good time atthe Urban Fest and Ihope to go again nextyear.

Soccer season is justaround the corner forPflugerville Middle School,and tryouts for the Pantherswill be held on April 10ththrough April 13th. Tryouts

Andrae HatcherPflugerville Middle School

Soccer Tryoutsare after school on the fieldnext to the gym.

The coaches for soc-cer this year will be Mr.Dauer and Mrs. Stroube.Students in seventh andeighth grade are allowed totryout. Students also needan up to date physical to try-out.

I enjoy playing soccerand plan to tryout. I havebeen training and practicingso I can do well at tryouts.Making sure to perfect myfoot trap and dribbling.

Looking forward toa great tryout. Good luckPanthers.

Last thursday myschool had their first trackmeet. We didn’t do as wellas we thought. I hurt my-self and wasn’t able to fin-ish my last race.

This thruday was go-ing to be the time wheremy school was going toshow out. The bad part isI don’t know if I can runin this meet just yet. Myside has gotten hurt and Ihave to figure out whathappened and if I’m ableto run thursday or not.

I am in two relays ,(the 4 by 1 , and 4 by 2 ).There is no one faster than

ALL GIRLS TRACK MEETTHURSDAY

Dezhia GorrerClint Small Middle School

me that can take myspot, and they don’t haveenough time to practicehand offs or anything.

I hope I can runthough so I won’t let myteam down. I also wantto run badly so my teamcan really show what wehave. We weren’t reallyin shape.The only team that beatus was Gorizki MiddleSchool. They have agood team, but I knowwe have a better one ifwe rea l ly t r ied . Myschool always does bet-ter the second time insomething if it’s the be-ginning of the season.

I really don’t likethis season, because wehave fewer track meets.When I ge t to HighSchool all sports arebetter and longer. We getmore conditioning andlearn many more thingswe hadn’t learned inMiddle School.

Last week all 7th and8th graders at Dailey MiddleSchool took the STAARtest. S.T.A.A.R. (State ofTexas Assessment of Aca-demic Readiness) replacesthe TAKS Test. On Tues-day and Wednesday the sev-enth graders took the Read-ing part while the eighth

Jaylon KnightenDailey Middle School

All District Bandgraders took the Math andon Thursday March 29th

eight graders took the Read-ing and only seventh gradePre AP took the math. Ithink the STAAR test washarder than the TAKS but Ithink I did okay.

I received news frommy band teachers that I wasselected to participate in thesecond annual MiddleSchool All-District Band.The All-District Band is madeup of the best middle schoolmusicians from Del ValleMiddle School, OjedaMiddle School and DaileyMiddle School. This is agreat honor and I am goingto enjoy playing challengingmusic with other musicians inour school district.

The Pflugerville Commu-nity Library encourages residentsto “Get Caught Reading” inhonor of Get Caught ReadingMonth in May. The PflugervilleCommunity Library enjoys see-ing their patrons reading. To cap-ture that enjoyment, snapshotsof family or friends reading canbe submitted to be posted in thelibrary or on many social mediasites.

To participate, submit pic-tures of you and your friends“caught” reading in various lo-cations across Pflugerville.

Adrian JacksonPflugerville High School

Get Caught ReadingIf you are creative yourphoto could end up hang-ing in the library. By send-ing or giving your phototo the City of Pflugerville,you and all persons in thepicture give consent to theCity to use the photo invarious library promotionsto include but not limited toFacebook and Twitter, fordisplay in the Library, and inpromotions of the Pfluger- villeCommunity Library (media,newspaper and library bro-chures). You can also send yourphotos to Amanda Cawthon atamandac@pflugervilletx.gov ordrop off a photo at the front deskof the library. Be sure to includethe name of the persons in thephoto and phone contact infor-mation. The deadline for submis-sion is April 30.

So get together with greatfriends, find the perfect book,take that snapshot and get caughtreading!

THE VILLAGER Page 5 ~ April 6, 2012www.theaustinvillager.com

YOUTH BRIGADE/ENTERTAINMENT

Women In Jazz

Getting studentsto write for fun is very dif-ficult, some think it is bor-ing and a waste of time.PISD has added an incen-tive for those students thatwould be willing to writefrom the heart, about anytopic of their choice. Stu-dents will have their workpublished.

PISD will havetheir annual The WriteStuff event, scheduled forSaturday, April 28 atKelly Lane Middle Schoolf rom 9-11 a .m. Thisyear’s anthologies includeapproximately 500 proseand poetry entries alongwith original artworkfrom K-12 s tudentsacross the district. It isvery exciting to work hardon something and then be

Write Stuff 2012

Darius HatcherPflugerville Middle School

able to be recognizedfor it.

Three local pub-l i shed authors wi l lpresent writing work-shops for the studentswho submitted their writ-ing for publication in ananthology. Var ianJohnson, author of MyLife as a Rhombus andSaving Maddie , wi l llead the middle schoolstudents through an inter-active writer’s work-shop, while the elemen-tary students will have anopportunity to hear twolocal authors. CynthiaLeitich-Smith, author ofHoller Loudly, IndianShoes and several otherchildren’s books andGreg Leitich-Smith, au-thor of the recently re-leased Chronal Enginewill both present to theyounger students. In ad-dition, the students whoattend will have the op-portunity to read theirown work aloud fromtheir anthologies beforetaking them home tokeep.

Teachers and librar-ians of students whosubmitted work will alsoreceive a copy of theanthologies to keep inclassrooms and libraries.

This previous week-end we competed a tTexas Relays. We ran the4x100 meter relay andthe 4x200 meter relay. Iwas first leg for both ourrelays. We ran the 4x200on Friday, it was the pre-lims. We were in the heatwith the fastest team,Garland.

We didn’t place inthe 4x200, because ouranchor leg pulled up sowe weren’t able to finish

Destini GorrerLBJ High School

the race. This hurt, be-cause we could havebeaten Garland and notonly have been rankedhigher in the nation butwe would have been sit-ting first going into thefinals.Garland was onlybeating us by 5 meterswith 100 meters left to go,our anchor was comingfor their anchor.

Saturday morning weran the 4x100 meter pre-l im. Later on in theevening all the finalswould be run. We got3rd in our heat, running aslower time before. I ranthe fastest time in my timeof running track in highschool which was a 11.6!I couldn’t be more proudof myself.The top 9 advance to thefinals and we ended upgetting 15th. Good jobladies we have District,Regionals and STATE tofocus on!

Good Texas Relays

B.L. JOYCE COMMUNITY PARADE

Grand Marshals and TheDel Valle High School Band

Del Valle High march down Rosewood Ave.

Turner Robert Recreation Center Youth Group

Gilbert Askey performs with theOrtega Elem. Superstar Chior

Superstar Chior of Ortega Elementary

Reagan High School Band

Grand Marshals sheila Henry, Tommy Wyattand Superstar Chior

CITY ~ STATE ~ NATIONAL ~ WORLDTHE VILLAGER Page 6 ~ April 6, 2012 www.theaustinvillager.com

Housing Fair

Austin City Council

On April 3 and 5,2012 the Austin CityCouncil will convene tohear, discuss, and vote onitems. During the Austincity council, they will dis-cuss on issue rangingfrom law-suit against thecity; fire department andpolice department issues;health and human issues;economic developmentissues; water manage-ment issues to zooning is-sues. Moreover, theirvote on certain issuestend to affect both thecity residents and thosewho work in Austin. Thefirst item of the Austincity council was to ap-prove of the last sessionagenda. Also the AustinHousing Finance Corpo-ration will meet on April5, 2012.

On April 3, 2012,the Austin city council willmeet to discuss the issuesof the electric rate in-crease. Moreover, theAustin city council hassought to find ways to re-solve the hike in electric-ity rate. Over the years,the city of Austin hasbeen able to keep theelectric rate of its residentlow. However, the city ofAustin has been experi-ence a population boom;

therefore , i t make i tharder for the city of Aus-tin and Austin Energy tokeep a lower rate. Then,on April 5, 2012, theAustin City Council willalso meet to discuss theissue of Tax increment

When the AustinHousing Finance Corpora-tion meet they will haveseveral items on theiragenda. They will seek to“approve the minutes ofMarch 8, 2012 Boardmeeting of the AHFC; Ap-prove a resolution amend-ing the Fiscal Year 2011-2012 Austin Housing Fi-nance Corporation GrantOperating Budget (Resolu-tion No. 20110912-AHFC001) to appropriate$1,071,839 from theHousing Trust Fund forhousing and communitydevelopment programs in-cluding the Housing Devel-oper Assistanceprogram;Approve a reso-lution amending the FiscalYear 2011-2012 AustinHousing Finance Corpora-tion Grant Operating Bud-get (Resolution No.20110912-AHFC001) toappropriate $1,071,839from the Housing TrustFund for housing andcommunity developmentprograms including the

Housing Developer As-sistance program; Autho-rize negotiation and ex-ecution of AmendmentNo. 1 to the Fiscal Year2011 - 2012 ServiceAgreement with the Cityof Austin for the HousingTrust Fund in the amountof $1,071,839 for a totalcontract amount not toexceed $7,692,409; Au-thorize the negotiationand execution of a loan tothe GUADALUPENEIGHBORHOOD DE-VELOPMENT CORPO-RATION in an amountnot to exceed $600,000for the development ofeight rental units (four du-plexes) in the Guadalupe-Saldaña Subdivision toserve low-income resi-dents, including disabledpersons and senior citizens;Approve a resolution reap-pointing HumbertoLumbreras, Director, on theBoards of Directors for theArbors at Creekside Non-Profit Corporation, theAustin Inner-City Redevel-opment Corporation, theVillas on Sixth Non-ProfitCorporation, and theAHFC Village on LittleTexas Non-Profit Corpo-ration for terms beginningon May 1, 2012, expiringon July 28, 2013.”

Attempt To Retake The 3rd Courts of Appeals

In the 2012 electioncycle, the Central Texas Demo-cratic party is aggressively try-ing to gain a majority on the 3rd Court of Appeal. For in-stance, there are four differentcandidates running on the 3rdCourt of Appeal, which is madeup of a panel of 5 judges and 1chief justice. Some of the can-didates running under theDemocratic party for the 3rdCourt of Appeals, include:Diane Henson, Karen Watskin,Andy Hahcock, and BryanCase.

Each of the candidateshave a vast experience in thelaw. For instance, JudgeHahcook,Judge has 12 yearsof judicial experience as an as-sociate judge hearing cases in-volving children and families.Moreover, Bryan Case BryanCase has served TravisCounty as the Director of theAppellate Division in the Dis-trict Attorney’s office for 15years, and served in the DA’soffice for more than 24 years.In addition he has served bothas a prosecutor and as a de-fense counsel. Since 2005,Karen Watskin has handledappeals in the state courts ofappeals in Texas for more than20 years and has been recog-nized as a specialist in civil ap-pellate law by the Texas Boardof Legal Specialization.

The Third Court of Ap-peals is composed of a ChiefJustice and five justices. It hasintermediate appellate jurisdic-tion of both civil and criminalcases appealed from lowercourts in the twenty-four coun-

ties in Texas listed below; in civilcases where judgment renderedexceeds $100, exclusive ofcosts, and other civil proceed-ings as provided by law; and incriminal cases except in post-conviction writs of habeas cor-pus and where the death pen-alty has been imposed. TheThird Court of Appeals sits inAustin, and is arguably the mostimportant court of appeals in thestate because it hears appealsof cases involving the actionsof state agencies and govern-ment officials.

Local Businesses Sought Boost From Austin Urban Festival

During the week-endof March 31-April 2,2012the Austin Urban Festivalheld their annual event. Atthe event, there were sev-eral businesses that camefrom other cities; while therewere numerous local busi-ness also present at theevent. These local busi-nesses chooose to attend theevent because they believedthat they would get alot of

traffic and also quick expo-sure of their products. Overthe last three days, numer-ous local business ownermentioned that they had theopportunity to meet and talkwith customer.

Some of the localbusinesses that werepresent at the event include“Bing” and Tombas. TheTomba group mentionedthat “they have been at-

tending the event since 2006.Moreover, they men-

tioned that “they seek fam-ily oriented event like theAUF. In addition the groupTomba mentioned that theyhave kept in contact withthose who stopped at thebooth during the event. Fur-thermore, they mentionedthat event does boost theirsales, and they are lookingforward to the next AUF

Karen Watskin Andy Hahcook

By Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

By Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

By Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon

CLASSIFIEDS ~ PUBLIC INFORMATIONTHE VILLAGER Page 7 ~ April 6, 2012

EMPLOYMENT/BIDS/PROPOSALS/

PUBLICINFORMATION/

FOR SALE /FOR RENT/MISC

BIDS/PROPOSALS

Employment

www.theaustinvillager.com

City of AustinPurchasing Office

The City of Austin Purchasing Officeinvites you to view current bid solicitationsat http://-www.ci.austin.tx.us/purcase/vs/p2.htm. Vendors are encouraged to registeron-line in the City’s Vendor Self ServiceSystem. Once your company is registered,you will receive notifications about new bidopportunities. For additional information re-garding current bid opportunities or Ven-dor Registration, please call the PurchasingOffice at 512-974-2500. For information onthe City of Austin’s Minority-Owned andWomen-Owned Procurement Program andthe certification process, please contact theSmall & Minority Business Resources De-partment at 512-974-7600 or visit theirwebsite at http://www.-ci.austin.tx.us/smbr.

New Jobs for the Weekof 3/25/2012

Assistant, AdmissionsRio Grande Campus

Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

$2,256-$2,820/MonthlyJob# 1202029Assistant II,

AdministrativeHighland Business Center

Note: Student orientations andregistrations may be

located off campus.Monday-Friday,

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.Some evenings

during high peak student egistration periods

$2,046-$2,558/MonthlyJob# 1203005

Assistant, Senior StudentFinancial Aid

Round Rock CampusMonday & Tuesday8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.,Wednesday-Friday

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.(40 hours to be arranged

including minimumone late night). Saturdayhours as needed

Job# 1203004Apply at HR

Middle Fiskville Rd.6th Floor,

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

EEOC/AA/M/F/D/V

AUSTIN COMMUNITYCOLLEGE

Austin Travis County In-tegral Care (ATCIC) is currentlysoliciting proposals through a Re-quest for Proposals (RFP) processfor Group Health, Dental, BasicLife/AD&D, Voluntary Disability,Voluntary Life, Vision Insurance,Wellness Programs and EmployeeAssistance Program (EAP). RFPsmay be picked up between 8 a.m.and

5 p.m. at Frost InsuranceAgency, 401 Congress Ave., 14thFloor, Austin, TX 78701, beginningMonday, April 2, 2012. RFPs mayalso be mailed or sent electronically,by contacting Rebecca Hawes atrhawes@frostinsurance.com. Thedeadline to submit a proposal un-der the RFP is 5 p.m. on Monday,April 23, 2012. HistoricallyUnderutilized Businesses (HUBs),including Minority-Owned Busi-nesses and Women-Owned Busi-nesses, are encouraged to apply.

Round Rock ISD is cur-rently accepting sealed bids andproposals. Solicitation documentsmay be obtained from the RRISDweb site at www.roundrockisd.orgunder “EROC Purchasing Pro-gram” or by calling 512-464-6950.

NOW TAKINGAPPLICATIONSEBENEZER VILLAGEAffordable Independent Se-

nior Living Located at 1015 East10th Street and Waller. The apart-ments are for persons 63 years ofage or older. Spacious One BedRoom Apartments in a gated se-cure community with

· Individual Front En-trance and Porch ·Carpeting ·Washer And Dryer Connections·Community Pavilion.

No pets allowed except asaids to the disable. All units ADAaccessible Equal Housing Oppor-tunity, Handicap Accessible. Con-tact: Van Johnson, Executive Di-rector or Mary Hurst East AustinEconomic Development Corpora-tion 512-472-1472.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Batten & Shaw, Inc. is currently seeking bids from qualified Subcontractorsand Suppliers for the St. David’s Medical Center ADA Remediation project.

Austin, Texas and surrounding area businesses are invited to attend the DiversityMeet & Greet to learn more about opportunities associated with this upcoming project.

Batten & Shaw, Inc. and HCAare strongly committed to the development and implementation of initiatives

which promote the inclusion of local, minority, and women-owned businesses.

Bid Packages: Casework * Concrete and Asphalt Paving * Parking Lot StripingHandicap Signs/Wheel Stops * Concrete Sidewalks and Ramps* Doors/Frames/Hardware * Flooring, Tile and Resilient * Painting

* Signage * Drywall, Metal Stud Framing and Ceilings * Plumbing, Sprinkler,HVAC Test & Balance * Electrical, Fire Alarm and Nurse Call

For information regarding the bid packages for this project, contact:Jason Pomeroy, ADA Division Manager (615) 292-2400 x 331 Email: jasonpomeory@bsinet.usor Brian Lawrence, Project Estimator (615) 292-2400 x 330 Email: brianlawrence@bsinet.us

To RSVP for the upcoming Meet & Greet, contact:Rhea Kinnard at (615) 941-8396 - Email: kinn0167@aol.com

Refreshments will be provided!

When: Thursday, April 12, 2012 * 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.Where: St. David’s Medical Center - MOB Classrooms A & E 919 E. 32nd Street *Austin TX 78705

Getting ConnectedEvent to Feature NewPanel Aimed at Succeed-ing in Creative Industries

(March 2012) Aus-tin, TX -— The City ofAustin is getting morecreative in its approach toassisting aspiring small-business owners. Austin’sCity-run Small BusinessDevelopment Program(SBDP), which fostersthe growth of new andexis t ing bus inessesthrough a wealth of sup-port ive tools and re-sources, will host GettingConnected, its fifth annualsmall-business resourcefair, on April 12 from 3 to7 p.m. at Palmer EventCenter, 900 Bar tonSpring Road. And thisyear, in an effort to pro-vide added resources forsmall-business owners inthe creative industries, theSBDP is adding a freepanel discussion titledPutting Creative Projectsin the Profit Margin.

The new panel dis-cussion, which begins at4:30 p.m., was developedby the City’s CulturalArts Division, and fea-tures entrepreneurs andbusiness owners whohave been successful inthe creative industries.Panelists include glass-blower Carlyn Ray, whowas a participant in thisyear’s Faces of Austinshor t - f i lm program;writer, director and pro-ducer Jason Neulander,who founded and servedas artistic director of theSalvage Vanguard The-

City of Austin’s Small BusinessDevelopment Program

To Host AnnualSmall-Business Resource Fair

a t re ; and Jenni ferChenoweth, a visual art-ist and entrepreneur.

“This year, we areexcited about a new ad-dition to our long-estab-lished Getting Connectedevent,” says Rosy Jalifi,Assistant Director of theEconomic Growth andRedevelopment ServicesOffice. “The Putting Cre-a t ive Projec ts in theProfit Margin sessionwill feature three suc-cessful business owners increative fields who willshare their business jour-neys and lessonslearned. Austin is recog-nized as a hotbed of cre-ative talent. We want tohighlight the way an aspir-ing talent can cultivate andsustain themselves as anAustin business.”

The free GettingConnected event will alsoinclude exhibitors frombusiness-centered non-profit and networking or-ganizations, governmentprograms and agencies,area chambers of com-merce and community-development corpora-tions whose missions in-clude helping businessowners succeed. TheBizAid Business Orienta-tion, at which attendeescan learn more about Cityresources for businesses,will take place at 3:15p.m. and again at 5:45p.m.

“The goal of GettingConnected is to providean informal se t t ingwhere Austin entrepre-neurs can net work with

government agencies,nonprofits and communityorganizations that offerprograms and servicesthey need,” says SBDPAdmin i s t r a to r VickyValdez. “Our s tudieshave identified that one ofthe major needs of small-business owners is accessto information as theystart, sustain or expandtheir businesses. To ad-dress this need, for thelast five years, the City ofAustin’s Small BusinessDevelopment Programhas provided a businessresource fair to facilitateinformation sharing andto develop helpful busi-ness relationships. Weencourage anyone who isthinking about starting abusiness to come to Get-ting Connected to find themany no-cost resourcesavailable to them.”

Registration for boththe BizAid Business Ori-entation and the creativeindustries panel is re-quired and can be madeonline at www.GettingConnected.info, or bycalling (512) 974-7800.

The SBDP is a divisionof the City of Austin’s Eco-nomic Growth and Redevel-opment Services Office, andis committed to providing op-portunities and resources tosmall businesses to help themgrow and prosper in a com-petitive business environment.For more information aboutthe SBDP, the Getting Con-nected business resource fairand the new creative panel dis-cussion, visit www. AustinSmall Biz .com.

The Cuttin’ Up TheDance Flo’ 1st Annual LineDance Team Competition isa community event that willprimarily focus on the talentsand creativity of vocationallytalented youth who have beenstruggling in a traditionalschool setting. Each team ofseven to twelve membersmust create and name anoriginal line dance using any

Cuttin’ Up The Dance Flo’1st Annual Line Team Dance Competition

music not being used for acurrent line dance.

There will be first, sec-ond and third place winnersin four age categories andthey are as follows: fourteenthrough eighteen year olds,nineteen through twenty fouryear olds, twenty-fivethrough fifty nine year oldsand sixty plus years young.

The event will take

place at Doris Miller Audito-rium located on 2300 Rose-wood Avenue on Saturday,August 25, 2012 from 10:00am to 4:00 pm. Teams fromAustin, Houston, Dallas, Ft.Worth, San Antonio and sur-rounding cities are expected tocompete.

Contact StephanieTouchstone at 512.796.1450for additional information.

In conjunction with theTexas Relays, a panel of expertsdiscussed how racial stigmasaffect and challenge student ath-letes on and off the field at a freepublic forum March 30.

“Moving Past Racial Stig-mas to Help Students Succeed”was from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. at

the George Washington CarverMuseum and Cultural Center,1165 Angelina St.

With college costs rising,athletic scholarships are a ticketfor many student athletes to af-ford a college education. At thesame time, higher expectationsfor both high school and college

sports put many of these studentathletes under tremendous pres-sure.

The 85th Clyde LittlefieldTexas Relays at the Universityof Texas, brings hundreds ofhigh school and college athletesfor competition each year.

Panel participants in-cluded:

· Meria Carstarphen,Ph.D., Superintendent, AustinIndependent School District.

· Michael Lauderdale,Ph.D., Professor, University ofTexas.

· Margo Frasier, PoliceMonitor, City of Austin.

· Jamey Harrison, Ph.D.University InterscholasticLeague.

· Damon Luckett, Men-tor, UT Athletics Department.

The discussion was mod-erated by Brian “BJ” Jones ofthe CBS Sports Network andco-moderated by Mayor ProTem Sheryl Cole. Dr. GregoryVincent, Vice President of Di-versity and Community Engage-ment at the University of Texasat Austin, delivered the openingremarks, followed by the rec-ognition of exemplary Austin areastudent athletes.

Honored athletes were:· Eduardo Banda: Foot-

ball, Lanier High School.· Torre Blake: Volley-

ball, Austin High School.· Dillon Bodt: Football,

Bowie High School.· Keegan Bradley:

Football, Travis High School.· Derius Collins: Foot-

ball, Lyndon B. Johnson HighSchool.

· Townes Donovan: Vol-leyball, McCallum High School.

· Amethyst Gamez: Girlsbasketball and track, BowieHigh School.

· Kandice Gowdy-Barnes: Girls basketball, LanierHigh School.

· Jesse Hernandez: Bas-ketball, Eastside High School.

· Alexis Hyder: Girlsbasketball, Lyndon B. JohnsonHigh School.

· Michael Lopez: Base-ball, Lanier High School.

· Jacob Moore: Foot-ball, Crockett High School.

· Simone Rath: Volley-ball, Ann Richards High Schoolfor Young Women Leaders.

· Darienne Serne: Girlsbasketball, Reagan High School.

Mayor Pro Tem Cole andDr. Vincent were co-chair s at aprivate reception following thepanel discussion. Receptionhosts included State SenatorKirk Watson, State Rep.Dawnna Dukes, Travis CountyJudge Sam Biscoe, AustinMayor Lee Leffingwell, theCapital City Chamber of Com-merce and the Carver Museumand Cultural Center. The cel-ebration was sponsored by UT’sOffice of Diversity and Commu-nity Engagement and the City ofAustin.

Texas Relays Panel Discusses Racial Stigmas;Strategies for Success for Student Athletes

Panalist (l to r) Jamey Harrison, Ph.d, Michael Lauderdale, Ph.d, Margo Frasier, Damon Luckett andMeria Carstarphen, Ph.D. Photo by Thomas Wyatt.

THE VILLAGER Page 8 ~ April 6, 2012 www.theaustinvillager.com

By: Terry Davis

@terryd515

SportsJ’Covan Brown

Enters His Name forThe NBA Draft

Austin- Junior guardJ’Covan Brown will forgo hissenior year at the University ofTexas. Brown is coming offhis best year at Texas. He ledthe Big 12 Conference in scor-ing with 22 points per game.Brown was named to theUnited States Basketball Writ-ers Association player of theyear for Region VII. RegionVII includes Arkansas, Loui-siana and Texas.

Statement from J’CovanBrown:

Brown thanked I want tothank the fans and everyone atThe University of Texas fortheir support over the last threeyears. I especially want to

thank the entire coaching staff,including Coach Terry (nowthe head coach at FresnoState) and Mrs. Randa (Dr.Randa Ryan, Senior Associ-ate AD for Student Services).

I’m not sure anyone re-ally knows how much I loveUT. It was always my dreamto be a Longhorn, and I havelived that dream and becomea better person. There werea lot of reasons to come backto school next year, most im-portantly getting my degree

and being around my team-mates every day. But the timehas come for me to pursue acareer in professional basket-ball and take care of my daugh-ter, Jordyn. This has been a dif-ficult decision, but it is the bestdecision for myself and my fam-ily. I’ll continue to go to classand complete the spring semes-ter here at Texas, and I willcome back to finish my degreein the future.

Texas head coach RickBarnes said, “Our staff wishesJ’Covan and his family nothingbut success as he moves for-ward. We’ve literally seenJ’Covan grow up and maturebefore our eyes over the lastthree years here, and we areproud of the man that he hasbecome. We respect his deci-sion and understand his needto provide for his daughter.”

J’Covan Brown

Magic Johnson Makes HistoryWith The Dodgers

Magic Johnson. Photo by Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Erving “Magic”Johnson has thrilled fansfor years as basketballplayer for Michigan Stateand the Los Angeles Lak-ers. Johnson and his in-vestment group purchasedthe Los Angeles Dodgersout of bankruptcy from itsprevious owner FrankMcCourt.

Johnson is part of theGuggenheim BaseballManagement LLL. Thepurchasing group includesMark R. Walter as its

controlling partner, aswell as Earvin “Magic”Johnson, Peter Guber,Stan Kasten , BobbyPatton and Todd Boehly.

Frank McCour tstated, “This agreementwith Guggenheim reflectsboth the strength and fu-ture potential of the LosAngeles Dodgers, andassures that the Dodgerswill have new ownershipwith deep local roots,which bodes well for theDodgers, its fans and theLos Angeles community.We are delighted thatthis group will continuethe important work wehave started in the com-munity, fulfilling our com-mitment to building 50Dream Fields and help-ing with the effort to cure

cancer.”Earvin “Magic”

Johnson stated, “I amthrilled to be part of thehistoric Dodger franchiseand intend to build on thefantastic foundation laidby Frank McCourt as wedrive the Dodgers backto the front page of thesports section in ourwonderful community ofLos Angeles.”

The Dodgers werebased in Brooklyn beforemoving to Los Angeles.The purchase by Johnsonand his group marks thefirst ownership by an Af-rican American in MLB.The Dodgers was also thefirst franchise to have anAfrican American base-ball player in MLB withJackie Robinson.

Hometown Heroes

Ricky Williams’ Statue Is Unveiled

By: Terry DavisOne of the most popu-

lar Texas Longhorns will beremembered forever. Texasunveiled the statue of the like-ness of former star running

Ricky Williams. Photo by Terry Davis

back Ricky Williams beforethe beginning of the Orangeand White game this year.

The statue is a life sizelikeness of the former run-ning in full pads and with his

signature dreadlocks. Will-iams played for Texas from1995 to 1998. While atTexas Williams, he won ev-ery award that was possibleto win. In his senior seasonhe won the Heisman Trophy.

Williams was drafted bythe New Orleans Saints in the1999 NFL Draft with the 5pick. In his second year withthe Saints he was named tothe NFL Pro Bowl. Williamsplayed for three teams in theNFL over his 11 year career.Williams also played for theMiami Dolphins and the Bal-timore Ravens. Williamsplayed with the Ravens in the2011 season and announcedhis retirement after the sea-son ended.

When asked about thestatue dedication Williamssaid, “It still hasn’t hit me yet.I got a chance last summer togo up and see the statue as itwas being finished and it wascool. It was cool to be a partof it, but to actually see it inthe ground –it was clay whenI saw it- actually didn’t see itin the ground, in its finishedform. It’s going to be neat.I’m looking forward to it.”

Ricky Williams, his family, and his new statue. Photo courtesy UT Athletics.