New Phone Listing for the Greene County School System
The contact numbers for the Greene County Board of Education are:
205-372-4030
205-372-3109
205-372-2101
Greene County High School – 205-372-2052
Robert Brown Middle School
( Grade 4-6) Fredrick Square – 205-372-3269
(Grade 7-8) Barbara Martin – 205-372-9021
Eutaw Primary School – 205-372-1051
By Wesley Lowery , Washington Post
Coretta Scott King
The widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. urged Congress to block the 1986 nomination of Jeff Sessions for federal judge, saying that allowing him to join the federal bench would “irreparably damage the work of my husband,” according to the letter written by King that was previously publicly unavailable and obtained on Tuesday by The Post. The full letter may be read on the Internet. “Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts,” King wrote in the cover page of her 9-page letter opposing Sessions’s nomination, which failed at the time.
“Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”
Thirty years later, Sessions, now himself a senator, is again undergoing confirmation hearings as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, and is facing fierce opposition from civil rights groups.
In the letter, King writes that Sessions’s ascension to the federal bench “simply cannot be allowed to happen,” arguing that as a U.S. attorney, the Alabama lawmaker persused “politically-motivated voting fraud prosecutions” and that he “lacks the temperament, fairness and judgment to be a federal judge.” She said Sessions’s conduct in prosecuting civil rights leaders in a voting fraud case “raises serious questions about his commitment to the protection of the voting rights of all American citizens.”
“The irony of Mr. Sessions’ nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given a life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished twenty years ago with clubs and cattle prods,” she wrote, later adding: “I believe his confirmation would have a devastating effect on not only the judicial system in Alabama, but also on the progress we have made toward fulfilling my husband’s dream.”
During the 1986 hearing, the letter and King’s opposition became a crucial part of the argument against Sessions’s confirmation. Current Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has not previously released the letter, which committee rules grant him the sole authority to reveal.
Buzzfeed News first reported the existence of the letter earlier Tuesday, noting that it was never entered into the congressional record by then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond.
According to a recent statement by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) the U.S. Department of Transportation the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), Alabama’s department of motor vehicles, entered an agreement that fully restores the hours of driver’s license issuing offices in nine predominately African-American counties in the Black Belt region of the state. This agreement is the result of community pressure and legal action against the policy limiting access to driver licensing offices in rural parts of the state, especially in the Alabama Black Belt.
In addition, for the next two years, the agreement requires ALEA to seek pre-approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation before initiating any driver’s license office closures or other reductions in service.
On September 30, 2015, ALEA announced that it would eliminate services at 31 driver license field offices in 30 counties throughout the State of Alabama. The following month, ALEA announced that it would reopen the closed field offices one to two days per month.
On December 9, 2015, DOT informed ALEA that it had determined that these service reductions could potentially come into conflict with ALEA’s responsibilities to ensure non-discrimination as a recipient of Federal financial assistance under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. On that date, DOT further notified ALEA that it was opening a formal Title VI investigation into whether the reduction of driver license services discriminated against African Americans and/or other populations on the basis of race, color, or national origin.
In October 2015 the Alabama New South Coalition and the SOS Coalition for Justice and Democracy held a caravan, which visited all Driver License offices in the Black Belt that were closed by Governor Bentley. The Governor says the offices, which were only open once a week to test and license new drivers, were closed in a budget cutting move to save money for the state. He closed 31 offices statewide in rural counties, which included 11 of 13 offices in the Alabama Black Belt counties.
Since Alabama recently adopted a stringent voter ID law, which requires a state issued photo identification document to vote, many Black leaders considered this another attack on voting and an effort to suppress the Black vote in the state.
In Greene County the Caravan attracted more than 60 people who demonstrated in front of the Greene County Courthouse mid-day holding signs and chanting “No Shutdowns.” Several local political leaders including County Commissioner Lester Brown and School Board member, Carol P. Zippert, addressed the crowd and urged that the offices be reopened on a weekly basis.
The agreement states that the Counties of Greene, Bullock, Butler, Hale, Lowndes and Perry will have their drivers license offices open one day per week; Macon County 2 days per week; Wilcox County will open 3 days per month; and Bibb Counties will open 2 days per month.
This important agreement with ALEA comes one year after the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), Covington and Burling, LLP, and local counsel Herman N. Johnson, Jr. filed a lawsuit on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries, the Alabama NAACP, and four individual voters challenging Alabama’s Photo ID Law and the ALEA office closings as violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the U.S. Constitution.
The LDF noted that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s findings validate the necessity of this lawsuit and confirm the significant hurdles that our clients and other Black and Latino Alabamians face in getting the photo ID needed to vote. These findings also prove that Alabama was wrong in repeatedly arguing that the ALEA closures did not have a disparate impact on Black voters. LDF’s lawsuit will continue to press for the elimination the Photo ID Law, a discriminatory barrier to voting for thousands of people of color.
“Alabama’s decision in 2015 to close driver’s license offices in most of its majority Black counties was an egregious act of racial discrimination,” said Sherrilyn A. Ifill, LDF’s President and Director Counsel. “The ALEA office closings severely limited Black people’s access to transportation and to the photo ID needed to vote in the 2016 elections. We commend the work of the U.S. Department of Transportation in thoroughly investigating this issue and welcome the restoration of services to these rural communities.”
The annual Community Kwanzaa Celebration was held Thursday, December 29, 2016 at the Eutaw Activity Center. The program was sponsored by the Harambe Chapter of 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement and the Greene County Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. The program participants included the local youth engaged in projects of the sponsoring organizations including Harambe members, 2017 Debutantes and members of Delta Academy.
Kwanzaa is a harvest celebration honoring the culture and heritage of African Americans. The seven day observance begins December 26 through January 1. Kwanzaa was founded by Dr. Maulana Karenga at the time of the Watts Riots in California in the 1960’s. Dr. Karenga was seeking a positive approach for rebuilding communities and celebrating African American history and culture. He took the name for the holiday from the Swahili word Kwanzaa meaning first fruits of the harvest. The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa also lift the values to strive for in our lives and communities: Umoja – Unity; Kujichagulia – Self Determination; Ujima – Collective Work and Responsibility; Ujamaa – Cooperatives; Nia – Purpose; Kuumba – Creativity; and Imani – Faith.
The sponsors distributed magnet gifts which displayed the Kwanzaa Principles in Swahili and English as well as the Community Pledge recited by all the participants at the Kwanzaa Celebration.
Eutaw, AL. – A county wide town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 3, 2016 at the National Guard Armory in Eutaw at 6 p.m. The meeting will focus on Greene County’s survival and the latest ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court on Amendment 743. All residents are encouraged to come. Greene County cannot survive without electronic bingo.
On Friday, December 23, 2016, the Alabama Supreme Court issued two rulings, which Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange states, “These rulings show that electronic bingo is illegal in the state of Alabama.”
In the case State of Alabama v. 825 Electronic Gambling Devices et al (Greenetrack), the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of the State, reversing a lower court judgment siding with the casino. As a result, the State of Alabama is allowed to destroy the electronic bingo machines it seized from Greenetrack in 2010.
In its 29-page ruling released Friday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its March 31, 2016 ruling in a similar case involving the legality of electronic bingo machines.
“There is no longer any room for uncertainty, nor justification for continuing dispute, as to the meaning of [the term ‘bingo’]. And certainly the need for any further expenditure of judicial resources, including the resources of this Court, to examine this issue is at an end.
All that is left is for the law of this State to be enforced,” the Supreme Court said.
In a separate case (Macon County Greyhound Park, Inc., d/b/a Victoryland v Marie Hoffman), the Supreme Court ruled that individuals have a right to sue illegal gambling institutions.
“Because the ‘contracts’ containing the arbitration provisions in these cases were based on gambling consideration, they were based solely on criminal conduct, and are therefore void. Consequently, the provisions of those ‘contracts,’ including arbitration provisions are void and unenforceable,” the Supreme Court ruled.
Attorney General Strange emphasized that these rulings, combined with the Supreme Court’s March 31, 2016 ruling against Victoryland, remove any doubt that electronic bingo in all its forms is illegal in Alabama and that local law enforcement should do their duty to enforce the law.
“Local sheriffs and police officers in most parts of the State are enforcing our gambling laws. The sheriffs in Greene and Macon counties must uphold their sworn duty to enforce the law as interpreted by the Supreme Court and not continue to sanction this illegal activity.
“My office stands ready to render any required assistance to enable them to carry out their duties,” said AG Strange.
The Alabama Supreme Court decision ignores the intent and support of the voters of Greene County to overwhelmingly approve Constitutional Amendment 743, which allows for electronic forms of bingo, say knowlegable observers in Greene County.
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled in previous decisions that bingo is a game played on paper cards, with five numbers across and five down. The players must mark their cards and call out a bingo when they have it on their cards. The Alabama high court decision overlooks the changing digitalizing and electronic adaptions of all devices in our society.
“ I am sure that every member of the Alabama Supreme Court has a cellular phone in their pocket and they would not rule that the cellular phone is not a telephone, but they have ruled that electronic bingo machines are not bingo,” said a member of the Greene County school board, which is a major recipient of bingo funds.
“This is a voting rights issue for us now in Greene County. The Alabama Supreme Court should not be allowed to overrule the voters of Greene County who approved electronic bingo. This high court should not be able to strip Greene County of revenues and jobs from electronic bingo,” said Lester Brown, Greene County Commissioner District 1.
A countywide meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 at 6:00 PM at the National Guard Armory for citizens of Greene County to discuss the impact of this decision and plans for going forward to defend Constitutional Amendment 743.
The Greene County Board of Education, at its regular meeting held Monday, December, 19, 2016, approved a declaration that the entire school system must work to create and promote a positive learning environment for all students. The statement asserts that this is the responsibility and duty of every principal, teacher and all other personnel of the system.
The board established that “…every principal, teacher and other personnel must establish a positive learning environment for all students. An assessment of the positive learning environment will be conducted at the end of each academic year. If sufficient progress has not been made in establishing a positive learning environment, then the principal, teacher and or other personnel may be reassigned or terminated pursuant to the laws of Alabama.”
In his report to the board, Superintendent James H. Carter, Sr. brought further emphasis to the board’s position. “It is imperative that students have challenging standards and curriculum if they are going to be College and Career Ready. If students are going to achieve at their maximum level there should be a genuine partnership between school, family, and the entire school community,” Carter stated.
In his remarks, Dr. Carter said that in order to raise our students’ aspirations, there are two major components necessary. “The first is caring. There must be heartfelt care for students exhibited in all aspects of the education community. Secondly, students must feel like they belong. Every teacher and administrator will be encouraged to speak to each student as they enter the school building and the classroom. Teachers and principals will continue encouraging students to graduate from Greene County High School and take the next step.”Other aspects of Superintendent’s Carter’s remarks were as follows:
* Teachers and students must be sufficient in the use of technology. Technology must be integrated into all subject areas.
* Students will be encouraged to become actively involved in community services.
* Each school will be asked to schedule a school pride day and a school clean-up day.
* Teachers and Principals will set aside 10 minutes per day to have Get to Know My Students Time
* Students should be allowed to have a garden on their campus. This will educate students about the importance of growing your own food. It will also teach students not to be wasteful of food that is prepared for them.
* Professional Learning Community can change the way of educating our children. We know that educators meet regularly, share expertise and work collaboratively to improve teaching skills and improve the academic performance of students.
* Students will have an Early Dismissal at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 20th
* Board Appreciation Month – January 2017.
The board approved the following personnel items:
* Termination of Sondra Terry, Part-time Health Science teacher.
* Resignation of Ivory Robinson, Elementary Teacher at Robert Brown Middle School.
* Payment for additional services contract for 2016 – 2017: (Separate Contract): Codarrin Wilson – Asst. Football Coach; Angel Cardona – Dance Line Sponsor.
* Resignation of Mr. Leon Dowe, Jr., CSFO Greene County Board, effective January 18, 2017.
* Search for a new CSFO.
* Appointment of Mrs. Cillia Morrow, Long-term Substitute Math Teacher at Robert Brown Middle School effective December 19, 2016.
* Authorized signatures of superintendent, board president and board vice-president at Bank of Tuscaloosa.
The board approved the recommended administrative services:
* Authorized the Superintendent to develop procedures for sale of properties at Paramount Jr. High School and Carver Middle School.
* Authorized Superintendent to advertise the sale of surplus equipment and supplies owned by the Greene County School Board.
* Authorized the Superintendent to have drinking water tested for lead.
* Authorized Superintendent to complete refurbishing the restrooms at Robert Brown Middle School.
* Create a career tech public database of real world improving projects that student of all ages can do.
* Field Trip Request for Robert Brown Middle School’s 7 – 8 grade to participate in the Disney YES (Youth Educational Series) Program in Orlando, FL on May 7, 2017.
* Renaming bank account at Citizen’s Trust Bank to Robert Brown Middle School.
* Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll.
* Bank reconciliations as submitted by Mr. Leon Dowe, CSFO.
The board approved the following instructional services:
* Develop a RFP format regarding Public Charter School Authorizer. The Public Charter School RFP will focus on At-Risk Students Program.
* Integrate attendance as part of a teacher performance evaluation.
* A positive learning environment must exist for all students. Therefore, every principal, teacher and other personnel must establish a positive learning environment for all students. An assessment of the positive learning environment will be conducted at the end of each academic year. If sufficient progress has not been made in establishing a positive learning environment, then the principal, teacher and or other personnel may be reassigned or terminated pursuant to the laws of Alabama.
A group of thirty representatives of the Alabama New South Coalition (ANSC) and the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) Direct Action Committee protested the nomination, by President-elect Trump, of Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to become U. S. Attorney General. The protest was held for the past two Tuesdays, in front of the Federal Courthouse Building in Montgomery, where Sessions has his Alabama office.
The ANSC and SOS have issued a detailed statement opposing Session’s nomination. The statement says:
“We are compelled to issue this statement, because as citizens and residents of Alabama, we are intimately knowlegable and keenly aware of the harm that Senator Sessions has brought to our people and our state. We are issuing this statement as a warning to people in other states of the United States that Jeff Sessions is singularly unfit, manifestly unqualified and totally insensitive to serve as the chief law enforcement agent for our great nation.
“We are especially concerned that as Attorney General, he will be charged with enforcing civil rights, voting rights, and human rights laws, as well as being the primary caretaker of our criminal justice system. A criminal justice system and the policing mechanisms that support it are in urgent need of reform. By education, temperament and actions over the past 40 years, Jeff Sessions has shown himself to be unfit, unqualified and insensitive to serve in this critical position.”
The ANSC, SOS and other groups will continue to protest Session’s nomination. On Friday, December 16, 2016, at 11:00 AM the NAACP, the Alabama Moral Movement, ANSC, SOS and other organizations will protest at the Vance Federal Office Building in Birmingham, where Sessions has another of his state offices
At its regular meeting on Monday night, December 12, 2016, the Greene County Commission agreed to submit a grant proposal on behalf of The Alabama Gulf Coast Railroad to the FASTLANE II program of the U. S. Department of Transportation.
The Alabama Gulf Coast Railroad runs from Columbus, Mississippi to the ports of Mobile, Alabama Pensacola, Florida, on the Gulf Coast. The 348-mile railroad provides freight services to industries in Pickens, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Wilcox, Monroe and Escambia counties in Alabama; and Escambia and Baldwin counties in Florida.
The proposed project will provide support for major and minor improvements to 114 bridges along the route of the railroad. These improvements will allow the use of 286,000 pound standard maximum weight freight cars, so customers can increase their shipping capabilities and competitiveness.
The project costs a total of $16.1 million. The A&GC Railroad has contributed $7 million, the Florida DOT has made a 5% match at $ 769,000 and the DOT FASTLANE grant request is for $ 8.3 million. The Railroad needed a state or county government sponsor to submit the grant. The Greene County Commission agreed to be a sponsor and will receive some administrative fees for serving as the fiscal agent for the grant.
The Greene County Commission received a financial report from Paula Bird, County Finance Officer, showing total expenses for the two months (October and November 2016) of the fiscal year were $1,276,482.50, which is 11.11% of the budget and in line with the projections for the year. She also reported $ 3.54 million in cash on hand; $681,151 and $390,094 in bond sinking funds; and an escrow for Greenetrack funds of $83,343.In other business, the Commission:
• approved travel for staff to training programs,
• approved County Engineers request to change County Road 119 to a dirt road,
• adopted holiday calendar for Dec. 23 and Dec. 30,
• employed Vernon Nickson, as van driver for the Eutaw Nutrition Center,
• extended County Engineers contract until December 2021.
Nigerian church collapse
Dec. 12, 2016 (GIN) – Newly-installed steel girders supporting a megachurch filled with Nigerian parishioners snapped abruptly during a Saturday church service, trapping hundreds and leaving a trail of tragedy for close to 200 congregants who lost their lives, according to local sources.
Mortuaries in the southern Nigerian city of Uyo were overflowing after the incident, Etete Peters, medical director of the University of Uyo teaching hospital, told the Associated Press.
In anticipation of the consecration service for the church founder, Apostle Akan, and a visit by the state governor, congregants told reporters on the scene that builders may have been pushed to finish the enormous structure earlier than planned.
The governor of the Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom, Emmanuel Udom, was inside the building when the girders fell onto worshippers and the corrugated iron roof caved in. Emmanuel escaped unhurt.
According to Reports Afrique, an online news service, Apostle Akan had urged engineers to remove the center scaffold that held up the roof to create more space in the church.
Journalists at the scene said church officials tried to prevent them from documenting the incident, trying to seize cameras and forcing some to leave the area. Later, Gov. Udom downplayed the number of fatalities – from 160 to 23 – blaming the discrepancy on shoddy reporting.
Body counts are now a matter of dispute since a lower number of fatalities was released by the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Akwa Ibom State Branch, Dr. Aniekeme Uwah, and higher numbers were released by foreign news agencies.
An article titled “Tell the Public the Truth about the Total Number of Victims and Casualties Now,” demanded an end to a “shameful coverup in order to undermine the gravity of the avoidable disaster.” The article, by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong, appeared in the online news service Sahara Reporters. Effiong is the convener of the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, a megachurch was again the scene of a tragedy on the same day when a stampede occurred at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos State. Worshippers were reportedly attempting to reach the General Overseer, Prophet TB Joshua, as he led a special healing service.
Three worshippers have been confirmed dead after the stampede which occurred around 4:30 a.m., according to PUNCH.