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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

NEWS ROUND-UP -- TUESDAY MORNING 17 JULY

THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
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by Michael Monks 
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EASTSIDE ORGANIZES TO GET BLACK MEN INVOLVED IN SCHOOLS
"It's squarely on our shoulders and we are not stepping up to the plate," said Jerry Avery, an Eastside resident and member of the Covington School Board of the lack of involvement of black men in the lives of the City's youth and spending at least an hour a week in the schools. "As men in this neighborhood it is our responsibility and we're not there." Avery and neighborhood leader Clint Jackson organized a meeting Monday night at OASIS, Inc on Greenup Street to brainstorm ideas on how to get more men involved, but even the meeting was evidence of how that involvement is lacking. "We got four men from this neighborhood (at the meeting). It's unacceptable."
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Joining the four men at the meeting were Covington City Commissioner Steve Frank and Reverend Richard Fowler. Frank commented that there are not enough black members of the police department, fire department, or even the city government. "We're committed to trying to do something as we reorganize to fix a lot of these problems," Frank said. The visibility of black men in the schools and the community was a constant theme throughout the meeting.
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"It's our fault," Avery said. "We are not blaming the City. We're blaming ourselves. Children believe what they see and they don't see us there." Avery and Jackson are at Holmes High School frequently and see the difference that can be made when members of the community take an active role in helping to keep order in the school so that teachers can focus solely on teaching. "(Teachers) only got forty-five minutes to teach the whole class but if they're spending ten minutes with this knucklehead and ten with that one, they only got twenty-five minutes. But if we're there, they get the whole forty-five minutes."
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Jackson was disappointed in the low turnout saying that he had verbal commitments from many more men who said they would attend. "We all know this community and the black males are stubborn and hard-headed," Jackson said. "We have black males still festering over things that happened (between them) twenty to twenty-five years ago. But we're going to get through this. It's too important."
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"We got to go with what we got," Avery said. "Look at where we're starting. This is not where we're going to end." 
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VOCAL CRITICS APPOINTED TO SANITATION DISTRICT BOARD
Described as "two of the most ardent critics" of Sanitation District One, the new appointees to SD1's board of directors are expected to continue their scrutiny of the organization's finances:
A majority of Kenton County Fiscal Court has agreed with Judge-executive Steve Arlinghaus’ recent decision to name local developer Rick Wessels and Northern Kentucky Tea Party activist Garth Kuhnhein to the board. The two have questioned the organization’s spending practices and argued that there was a lack of sufficient financial oversight under former General Manager Jeff Eger.
Both plan to continue their watchdog role. “I don’t know that I want to criticize the existing board or anyone that’s leaving, but I plan to be hands-on and try to keep my eyes on what’s going on down there,” Wessels said.
Cincinnati Enquirer/Cindy Schroeder & Mike Rutledge 
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HEAT ADVISORY ISSUED FOR AREA TILL 8:00PM
Another hot one... Heat index could topple one hundred degrees. Drink lots of water and avoid strenuous outdoor activity!


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DON'T MISS MONDAY'S NEWS!
Licking Riverside gets statewide exposure in Kentucky blog; the President and the Governor discuss the Brent Spence Bridge; A 5-day old baby escapes injury in bad crash on Madison Pike; Plus, a Kentucky man's final wish goes viral. Click it.
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QUICKIES
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President of Kentucky District Judge Association collapses at church, dies Herald-Leader 
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US Rep. Ben Chandler: Obama is still best candidate, not attending national convention is not a snub cn|2
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Agriculture Commissioner James Comer warns against drought stricken silage WKYT 
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LESBIAN COUPLE KICKED OUT OF KY PARK TO APPEAR AT RALLY
The City of Richmond, Kentucky has yet to consider an anti-discrimination ordinance that includes protections for gay citizens, but a rally Wednesday hopes to change that. A lesbian couple recently kicked out of a park after being seen kissing for a maternity photo will appear at the rally:

William Sharp, staff attorney for the ACLU of Kentucky, said the park, based on available facts, would be considered a public accommodation subject to anti-discrimination protections, according to the news release.
"In the same way a restaurant is privately owned and operated but open to anyone in the public to visit, the privately funded side of E.C. Million Park would likely be considered a public accommodation since it is open to the public to enjoy," Sharp said in the news release. "Were there a local or statewide anti-discrimination fairness law in place, the young couple would be protected by that law."
Covington joins Louisville and Lexington as the only Kentucky cities to extend such protections to gays.
Full story: Herald-Leader 
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF TOLERANCE
Via The Atlantic Cities:
The map above shows how metros across the U.S. score on the Tolerance Index, as updated for The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited. The chart below shows the top 20 metros. Developed by my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Kevin Stolarick, it ranks U.S. metros according to three key variables—the share of immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index, which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial groups.
You can see a larger version of the map at the link below. Cincinnati/NKY does not score the worst possible rating, but shows room for improvement. We also rank behind Louisville and Lexington. 
Full story with map: The Atlantic Cities 
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SPORTS
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Scott HS names a new football coach and a Holy Cross baseball player is invited to a prestigious event Cincinnati Enquirer 
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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ALL OF BOB ROSS'S PAINTINGS?
We have only a vague idea. Some Ross actually sold. Before becoming a TV star, Ross was an Air Force Master-Sergeant in Alaska. There, he painted and sold gold pans. Later on, Ross taught lessons year-round, and he regularly gave free paintings to his students. Sometimes Ross kept his paintings, eventually donating them to charity. A couple of his pieces even found their way onto the black market: during Joy of Painting’s second season, a burglar stole 13 reference paintings from Ross’ van.
There's more to the story: Mental Floss 
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Let's relax and paint a quiet pond and some happy little trees...

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