WSSN Stories

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— SAN BERNARDINO, CA— As the trustee representing Area D of the San Bernardino County Board of Education, Hardy Brown II is running for a second term on the board with goals to continue to build an Inland Empire regional conversation on education, inspire all students in San Bernardino County to master the top skills needed to compete in the 21st Century and graduate well prepared students as they contribute to local, state, national and global communities.

“My goal as your trustee is to continue supporting over 400,000 students in San Bernardino County, as the Vice President of the County Board of Education, Area D covers the cities of Highland, San Bernardino (San Bernardino Unified School District), Rialto (Rialto Unified School District), Wrightwood, Phelan, Pinon Hills and Oak Hills (Snowline Joint Unified School District),” Brown stated.

Brown continues, “It has been an honor to be a part of the “Operation Recognition Veterans Diploma Project”, to support the heroes of San Bernardino County. During times of war, thousands of young men and women across this country left high school and the comforts of home to serve gallantly in the armed forces.”

Hardy Brown II with his wife (far left) and his daughters (middle)

“Their sacrifices ensured our freedom and shaped the course of history throughout the world. After the wars ended, many of these veterans were not able to finish high school for various reasons but led productive lives and helped build our communities. Offered in partnership with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and the county’s Department of Veterans Affairs, we recognize veterans from World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. This event is for veterans or family members of those who are deceased, awarding high school diplomas to those who met the qualifications.”

“I was also humbled that the regionally recognized District Student Advisory Committee (comprised of 24 middle and highs school students) in the Rialto Unified School District selected me as one of their mentors/leaders who advocates for them.”

“I have consistently worked with thousands of students, introducing them to college and career opportunities including college acceptance and scholarships at the annual college fair. I have worked with education leaders in both San Bernardino and Riverside counties on increasing graduation rates and lowering suspensions among our most affected communities and led the San Bernardino County Board of Education efforts to study best practices of effective teachers that have been successful in teaching African American students. This effort produced the African American Task Force, the first of its kind in San Bernardino County,” he said.

Brown has over 22 years’ experience in Social Impact, Community Relations, Fundraising, College Career Development and solicitation of major gifts for multiple national and regional organizations. He serves as the Board Chair of the Black Voice Foundation where he manages all programming, including an annual Footsteps to Freedom Underground Railroad Tour for educators. And has led conversations on empathy and history with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students where learners gain knowledge and expertise of freedom movements. Hardy himself is a lifelong learner. He continues to research and acquire thousands of historical artifacts in order to promote the importance of empathy through history.

An alumnus of the nation’s first HBCU, Wilberforce University, Brown recently returned to school after 24 years to complete his Master of Arts degree from Claremont Lincoln University. One of Brown’s goals was to teach young scholars, including his daughters, that it is okay to find your passion.

Brown has volunteered his time as a board member for the Girl Scouts, United Way, the Legislative Committee for the California School Board Association, and serves on the Board of Advisors for Executive Education at Howard University in Washington D.C.  Brown has been a diversity columnist for the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the Black Voice Newspaper and is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.  

Hardy has been married to his wife Sonietta for 22 years, and together they have two daughters, Peyton, 10-year-old dancer and scholar and Jordan, a Senior History Major at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga.

Hardy Brown for San Bernardino County Board of Education #1368845

Lue Dowdy

By Lue Dowdy

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— Entertainment Services in the I.E. is what it do! Do you need entertainment or assistance at your next event? Well, look no further because LUE Productions got you!

We pride ourselves in offering quality entertainment at affordable rates. We also provide platforms for aspiring artists and models. Contact us today for your free consultation. Allow one of our REPS to get you going in the right direction.

We offer the following services: Promotion (Get more Exposure), let us help get the word out about your project through social media and other platforms; Management (Models, Artists, Comedians, Actors), let us help take the pressure off. Team Work Makes the Dream Work; Event Coordination & Production (We can assist or take the reins), let us plan your next community, private or corporate event; Variety Shows (Bringing the entertainment directly to you), our shows are provided with professionals that are unique and talented. Each individual is handpicked by our company. You’re able to select your own line up, or our team of experts will put together a show that caters to your needs. Each show comes with a show host.

For more information please text us (909) 567-1000 or email us at Lue.info@yahoo.com.

By Erica Chayes Wida

Spanish moss draped over St Helena Island, South Carolina, as Elting Buster Smalls and his children hummed down the earthen path in their 1960s station wagon. It was the summer of 1974, and the harvest from the Smalls’ 20-acre farm – passed down since the late-1800s through their family of newly freed enslaved and runaway West Africans – was bountiful. Smalls and his children packed baskets of fresh honeydew, peanuts and sugar cane, and fish they’d caught in the river, to drop on the porches of local elders who were no longer able to work the land.

But today, nearly 50 years after Elting first taught his young daughter Victoria Smalls about the traditions integral to their identity, many Gullah Geechee can no longer work the land, as the land – and thereby the Gullah Geechee way of life – is being rattled by climate change.

Victoria, the 13th of Elting and his wife Laura’s 14 children, grew up Gullah – a word she didn’t actually learn until after college in the early 1990s. (Colloquially, Gullah distinguishes whether a Gullah Geechee individual lives north of the Savannah River, while those south of it are referred to as Geechee.) For Victoria, Gullah Geechee wasn’t the mystic, isolated culture of inherited Africanisms and Southern landscapes that had become of interest to 21st-Century academics, tourists and hungry land developers.

“It was just our way of life,” said Victoria, who later moved from St Helena to Charleston, South Carolina, to work on the International African American Museum, which, when it opens in 2020, will illuminate South Carolina’s global historical significance and show the role enslaved Africans and free blacks had in shaping the US.

The Gullah Geechee are descendants of Central and West Africans who are believed to have been trafficked into what is known as the Low Country for their expertise in coastal rice farming and irrigation systems. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, Union General William T Sherman established Special Field Order 15, which designated 400,000 acres of land along the coastline of the Southern US, from South Carolina to Florida, to newly freed black families in parcels of roughly 40 acres each. The isolated geography, which is spread out over 12,000 sq miles known as the Gullah Geechee Corridor, created insulated coastal and island communities, most of which were at least 90% black, with well-preserved cultural traditions.

Gullah Geechee religion incorporates Christianity with African belief systems, much of which was reflected in the lessons Victoria was taught as a child. Respect for nature, as well as elders and community, was sacred. African crafts were passed down for necessity, like cast nets and flat-bottomed boats known as ‘bateau boats’, which Victoria said are based off the West African dugout and redesigned to easily navigate shallow shores and waterways. The craft of sewing pieces of cloth into large, colorful patterns was combined with European quilting to become a creole art form that also allowed Gullah Geechee women to sit and socialize.

The Gullah Geechee are descendants of freed African slaves who inhabited coastal lands in the Southern US (Credit: Gado Images/Alamy)

“We didn’t have a bridge on [St Helena] until 1939. The island was like an incubator for the culture, the language. You don’t hear it now, but when I was growing up I had a very thick accent,” Victoria said.

The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, which strives to preserve the Gullah Geechee sites and stories, describes the Gullah Geechee language as a creole dialect that sprung from the linguistic influences of “European slave traders, slave owners and diverse African ethnic groups”.

“Beaufort was only 7 miles away, and when I was four, five, up to 10 years old, people would laugh at me in Beaufort, even the blacks who were still Gullah Geechee people,” Victoria said. “The nurturing you received on St Helena Island was so wonderful that the language and the way of life and working the land, farming, living off the water and living in tight-knit communities – it was so different than that just 7 miles inland on the mainland.”

The Gullah Geechee Corridor’s isolated geography created insulated coastal and island communities (Credit: David Lyons/Alamy)

Today, the pejorative perception of the Gullah Geechee being uneducated or backcountry has shifted to one in which the identity is celebrated, both by academics and those who grew up in the culture. Yet the Gullah Geechee ways are slipping away.

According to Dr Albert George II, director of conservation at the South Carolina Aquarium who was raised Gullah Geechee, individuals residing in the more isolated communities such as St Helena still subsist on their own agriculture, sourcing food from their farms and gardens and fish from the waterways rather than going to the grocery store. But due to environmental changes, such as rising sea levels and salt water erosion, connecting to the earth through food is becoming a complicated feat.

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By Lou Coleman-Yeboah

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— “Blow the trumpet and warn the people. Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?” [Ezekiel 33:11]. Judgment is about to come to the earth like never before. The storm is about to break in all of its fury. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. [Luke 13:3].

“For if you go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” There will be no salvation. If you reject Christ, there’s no way to be saved. [Hebrews 10:26]. That’s what the writer is saying. There is no other sacrifice, there is no other provision. All you have then is a “certain terrifying expectation of judgment.” This is described as the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries, the fiery furious judgment of hell where the worm dies not, the fire is not quenched, blackness and darkness forever, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in eternal torment. Repent while it is still day!

The Lord clearly points out that the time is short and what is about to come to pass in the fulfillment of His prophecy. He says, as He slew the first-born of Egypt from the Pharaoh to the cattle, so it will be to those that refuse to turn from their evil and wicked ways and seek his gift of salvation.

The warning to repent has been given! 

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live…” [Deuteronomy 30:19]

“Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water… the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. The sixth angel sounded: demonic army of horsemen released to kill a third of mankind…But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” [Luke 10: 1-16]

By James Ramos, San Bernardino County Supervisor, Third District

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our Nation,” John F. Kennedy, 1961.

The Cradle to Career approach that the County of San Bernardino developed with other community leaders is a collective impact methodology that begins with a strong developmental foundation for our young children and follows them through their educational years to give them the best opportunity for a college education while giving them the skills for a career beyond their degree.

I have been a strong supporter of the Cradle to Career initiative since its inception and am proud to announce that because of the strong partnerships we have and the community’s involvement, the Countywide Vision Cradle to Career program has even greater opportunities for our students.  

Generation Go! is San Bernardino County’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth program.  The Workforce Development Board is partnering with the K-12 and the community college system to provide work-based learning for students in career pathways.  Students will co-enroll in a community college work experience class while completing an internship after they take a non-credit work readiness class that teaches the soft skills they need. 

This allows students to graduate high school with some work experience and college credit, and in some cases, with industry recognized credentials.  It is my pleasure to announce that 14 students from Cajon High School and 12 students from San Andreas and Sierra High School completed internships at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and were placed with positions with private employers.

Another 280 students from the San Bernardino and Colton school districts completed the work readiness class over the past few months.  These students will be placed in internships that will be completed during the spring semester. 

As John F. Kennedy believed, education is the key to a stronger future for our communities, our businesses and our nation. 

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, striking approximately 165,000 men each year with about 30,000 dying of the disease, making it second only to lung cancer as the deadliest cancer in men.

Caught early, prostate cancer can be treated, usually successfully, but remember, in early stages, prostate cancer has no symptoms, so don’t wait for “something bad” to happen to Get It Checked.

For almost 30 years, doctors have had a powerful weapon in their arsenal for detecting prostate cancer. In addition to the DRE (a physical exam allowing the doctor to feel the prostate), patients can have a simple blood test called a PSA (which stands for prostate specific antigen) that will detect a majority of prostate problems early. Since the PSA has been used, prostate cancer deaths have declined and the number of successfully treated prostate cancer cases has risen.

During September, Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, Men’s Health Network is urging men to talk to their healthcare providers about prostate cancer.  They also encourage women to get involved and urge their husbands, fathers, brothers, and other loved ones to talk to their healthcare provider about prostate screening, including the PSA and DRE tests. 

Let others know about the risks of prostate cancer and the potential benefits of screening.  Posters, fact sheets, and a social media tool kit, for use at your place of worship, where your work, and for your fraternity or sorority, can all be downloaded for free at the www.ProstateCancerAwarenessMonth.com web site.

A federally staffed panel of experts, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF), makes recommendations about screenings that healthcare providers look to for guidance.  At its meeting in May of this year, the Task Force recommended that men age 55-69 should speak to their healthcare provider about using the PSA test to screen for prostate cancer.  But Men’s Health Network, many other patient advocate organizations, and many healthcare providers don’t think that goes far enough.

Men’s Heath Network urges the following men to talk to their healthcare provider about routine prostate cancer screening:

• All men over age 50, and at age 40 for African Americans
• Men with a family history of prostate cancer
• Veterans exposed to Agent Orange, and
• Men exposed to pesticides and certain other chemicals.

If you are on Medicare, prostate cancer screening is a part of your Welcome to Medicare physical, the free comprehensive physical exam you receive in your first year of eligibility. But you may have to ask for the “Welcome” physical since many healthcare providers don’t seem to know about it. And, Medicare continues to cover prostate cancer screening in following years.

For younger men, over 30 states require that insurance companies offering health insurance in their state provide coverage for prostate cancer tests.  Insurance companies may offer prostate cancer screening in the remaining states, but are not required to do so.

And, know your numbers! When you receive your PSA test results, ask the healthcare provider what your PSA number is, write it down, and compare it against future tests.  If the number goes up in future tests, talk to your healthcare provider.

The bottom line?  Having an annual prostate exam, including a PSA test, just might save your life. No matter what age you are, that annual PSA test creates a benchmark to judge future tests against.

And ladies, if the men in your life don’t want to make an appointment, do it for them – and drive them to the healthcare provider’s office if you have to.

No insurance and limited funds?  Watch for free screenings in your area.  Many healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics, and health fairs offer free prostate screenings in September and at other times during the year.

Take any opportunity you can to Get It Checked (www.GetItChecked.com).

Resources:

Prostate Cancer Awareness Month:  www.ProstateCancerAwarenessMonth.com

Prostate Health Guide:  www.ProstateHealthGuide.com

Get It Checked (screening guidelines for men and for women): www.GetItChecked.com

Men’s Health Network:  www.MensHealthNetwork.org

By Lue Dowdy

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— Video Shoot for Rap Artist Mack Pepperboy is What it Do! This Sunday in the beautiful city of Lake Elsinore it will be a movie. The making of Mack Peppperboy’s new hit single, “Right There,” featuring R&B Singer Yung Muusik will take place.

The shoot will also star the beautiful and sexy Coffee Brown of Coffee Brown Entertainment. There will also be special appearances by Tresunda De La Cruz, Lue Productions’ BBW Queen; Riisha Shelby of Diva Outlaw; The Bourne’s; Comedian Mac Rome; L.P. model Porscha Dillard; Jonathan Fields of Ambiance Magazine; James McCoy a.k.a. OJ; Jasmine Hall; Essence Johnson; Mrs. Perris and Mrs. California.

The videographer for the shoot will be Nycee Dreams and we’ll be on set with Ilondon Fog Studios. Our management team at LUE Productions/LPM is excited and happy for our artist. It’s been a moment due to him being in hibernation working diligently on his new project titled, “It’s The Pepperboy”, which will drop at a later date.

“On this project you will be able to hear the difference and the growth in his writing skills. He’s connected with other talented and unique artists in order to bring forth a new sound,” Deeveatva Bourne, Core member of LUE Productions Management Team, stated.

Please be on the lookout for this fiery artist based right here in the Inland Empire. The video shoot will be wrapped up that evening in Riverside. You can catch his performance live at Status Night Club for Legendary Entertainment’s artist spotlight. Doors open at 9 p.m. The event will be hosted be KG. Early arrival is strongly suggested.

Until next week L’s!

Publisher’s Commentary By Wallace J. Allen 

Nike has voted! The Nike 30^th Anniversary advertising campaign features Colin Kaepernick and the phrase “Just Do It!”  The signature Nike theme phrase implies much more than accomplishing a sports goal! Colin Kaepernick’s image widens the context to include protesting injustice and inequality!

Please register so you can vote! Ask your friends, real and virtual, to verify their registration and reregister if need be!  You can register via your computer. You can register at your County Registrar of Voters/ Elections Office. You can help others register via your computer.

Once registered you can then vote your conscience. I hope that you will vote with me and with Nike as we seek justice and equal access in this great country that our forefathers/mothers have vested their lives to create!

Publisher’s Commentary By Wallace J. Allen

If you are a jazz, wine or a have-a-good-time connoisseur, join me this Saturday at the IE Jazz Experience.  WssNews is proud to be one of the sponsors of the PHAT X production of the 2018 Inland Empire (IE) Jazz Experience in Rancho Cucamonga, on the intimate grounds of the Mountain Vista Winery.  Come and experience a day of great live jazz music and bands, great wines, a selection of food vendors and a marketplace!

Our Artist lineup for this year: Jason Weber, Michael Haggins, Vaughn Fahie, Jazz Zone and more… Just added we will be featuring a Paint n Sip experience throughout the festival for those that want to learn how to paint and sip on some great wine. In our tasting room, sample great wines, various wine demonstrations, fun lectures, live entertainment, and workshops.

The Mountain Vista Winery is at 10013  8^th Street Rancho Cucamonga. Gates open at 2 p.m. Tickets are $35 general and $100 VIP. For more information, visit IEJazzExperience.com   or call (909) 657 204-6249. 

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—-REDLANDS, CA– The City of Redlands invites individuals to apply for positions on the Airport Advisory Board. Members are appointed by the City Council.

The Airport Advisory Board acts in an advisory capacity to the City Council in all matters pertaining to the administration, operation, development, improvement and maintenance of the Redlands Municipal Airport. The Airport Advisory Board meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m.

Applications for this position will be accepted until all vacant seats are filled.

Residents interested in applying for the non-salaried position may request an application form from the City Manager’s Office, Civic Center, 35 Cajon Street, Suite 200,  Phone:  798-7510, or by downloading an application from the City’s website at http://cityofredlands.org/city-hall/commissions___boards.