VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

Feb 13, 2012 7:07 AM EST

After yet another push for austerity, Greeks have finally had enough, staging massive riots. Barbie Latza Nadeau on how the euro zone’s other nations are reacting.

The burnt out shells of at least 45 buildings in central Athens were still smoldering on Monday morning after a weekend of angry protests reached its apex on Sunday night in what Greek prime minister Luca Papademos called the worst breakdown of violence since 2008. Broken glass, chunks of marble ripped from the public squares and empty tear gas canisters lined the streets after an all-night battle pitted protesters against security forces who say they were outnumbered by a five-to-one ratio. Hundreds of protesters and police officers were injured and local Greek Sky television reported that at least twice, security forces ran out of tear gas.

Greeks rise up against austerity measures weekend of Feb. 11, 2012

Protests were held across the country, including in the tourist havens of Crete and Corfu, but the violence centered in Athens, where over 80,000 protesters took to the streets burning buildings and destroying property. An estimated 20,000 people also gathered in Greece’s second city Thessaloniki, where looters broke storefront windows and destroyed city parks. On Sunday, protesters were joined by a violent contingent of masked anarchists who took direct aim at security forces under the violent anti-authority mantra of the Black Bloc movement.

Greeks rise up

The demonstrations followed general strikes last week that were meant to warn politicians against passing a biting austerity package that would save Greece from debt default—at a hefty price tag for the population. The $4.3 billion package was ultimately approved by a 199 to 74 margin in a late-night vote, but the victory was bittersweet for Greek leaders. “We must understand and persuade Greek citizens that when you have to choose between bad and worse, you must choose the bad to avoid the worst,” Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament ahead of the vote. 

Greece burns

Greek leaders had until Feb. 15 to adopt the austerity measures, but they were compelled to push the bill through parliament over the weekend—before world markets opened Monday morning—in an attempt to show European leaders led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the country deserved to be saved. Shares in Greek banks rose by 10 percent on Monday in a clear sign of approval that the bill was passed. But the violent reaction led many to wonder whether ordinary Greeks can afford to stay in the euro zone and whether the weekend’s events will become the norm. Concern that the Greek measures are like putting a band-aid on a cancerous tumor have prompted many European leaders to openly question the fate of the euro zone’s single currency. Greek leader Antonis Samaras, head of the conservative opposition who is favored to win Greek elections, warned supporters of contagion among the weaker European economies.  “We should show the Europeans that what is happening in Greece will soon spread to the rest of Europe if we do not change the policy of endless austerity.” 

Protesters mass outside Parliament building in Greece Feb 2012

Smaller economies like Ireland and Portugal, which also have unsustainable debt like Greece, are watching to see what happens.  If Greece defaults and is expelled from the euro zone, they are vulnerable to follow suit. Leaders in debt-laden Italy, which is often touted as “too big to bail, too big to fail,” and where austerity measures like those passed in Greece top the agenda, are equally worried. Italy’s interim leader Mario Monti has received accolades from America’s President Obama for his work on Italy’s economic debacle, but he’s seen as “public enemy No. 1” to many Italians who say they’ll take the Greek approach if austerity measures become too painful. 

Greece and Italy are both run by caretaker governments after their democratically-elected leaders George Papandreou and Silvio Berlusconi were forced to resign last fall. Both countries will have to hold elections by 2013, and many would-be candidates are concerned about the fallout from supporting these hard-hitting measures. The Greek cuts include trimming 15,000 public sector jobs and mandating a 22 percent decrease in the minimum wage in the private sector—the third such slice in less than a year. In practical terms, the minimum-wage cut would drop the base pay for most non-professional jobs from €751 to €600 a month (in U.S. dollars, $1,000 to $795) for those who already have regular jobs and allow employers to pay 10 percent less to new employees they hire.  Pensions, too, will be decreased, as will many welfare services. A 28-percent drop in tourism and rampant cost-of-living increases spawned by the unrest and panic have meant that most Greeks earn barely enough to scrape by. 

Greeks call for global uprisings

Papademos, who has the unsavory task of trying to save the country from economic implosion, called for calm ahead of the Sunday night vote. “This vandalism, violence.. they have no place in a democracy and will not be tolerated,” he said in a television address before the Greek parliament voted. “I call on the public to show calm. At these crucial times, we do not have the luxury of this type of protest. I think everyone is aware of how serious the situation is.”

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, author of the Beast Book Angel Face, about Amanda Knox, has reported from Italy for Newsweek since 1997 and for The Daily Beast since 2009. She is a frequent contributor to CNN Traveller, Departures, Discovery, and Grazia. She appears regularly on CNN, the BBC, and NPR.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.

Former State Rep. Mary Waters, flanked by Rev. Wayne McQueen (r) and Willie E. Burton, outside Chrome Craft plant in Highland Park Feb. 2, 2012

By Diane Bukowski 

February 3, 2012 

HIGHLAND PARK , MI — On the eve of SuperBowl week-end, former State Rep. Mary Waters. a cancer survivor, Rev. Wayne McQueen, and precinct delegate Willie E. Burton called on the National Football League to suspend the Jacksonville Jaguars’ new owner Shahid Khan, whose net worth is $2.5 billion. They demanded that Khan clean up the chemically contaminated site of the former Chrome Craft plant in Highland Park, which he also owns. 

New Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, right, is introduced by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during a news conference at the NFL owners meeting in Irving, Texas, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. The sale from franchise founder Wayne Weaver to the Pakistani-born Khan was unanimously approved Wednesday. The deal reportedly is for $760 million. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

According to former workers at the plant, the site is contaminated with Hexavalent Chromium, a highly dangerous carcinogren which was featured in the movie “Erin Brockovich.” Brockovich and residents near a Pacific Gas & Electric plant in California won a class action lawsuit against the company for hexavalent chromium contamination of the site.

“If the NFL can suspend NFL players for their activities both on and off the field, then surely the NFL must be able to suspend owners from directing their teams if those owners are conducting their businesses in a manner that threatens the public health, safety and welfare of the people of Highland Park and Detroit, Michigan”, Waters said during a press conference outside the plant Feb. 2.

Detroit Lions' Ndamukong Suh

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell instituted a new off-the-field conduct policy in 2007. It resulted in the suspensions of numerous players, including Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback Michael Vick, Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry, and Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson, for arrests ranging from driving without a license to Vick’s dog-fighting charges. The players ere suspended prior to any convictions. Most recently, the NFL suspended Detr0it Lions’ defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh on Thanksgiving for allegedly stomping another player during a game against the Green Bay Packers. All of the players are Black.

“Are the lives of the urban poor and people of color any less valuable than that of an NFL quarterback?” Waters asked Goodell in a letter she emailed to him Dec. 1.

Waters said she previously wrote Goodell in December asking that Khan’s application to own the Jaguars be denied due to HIS off-the-field conduct. Goodell ignored that demand, and has not responded to Waters’ recent Above, Pacific Gas & Electric contaminated site in Califonria    letter  (click on  Waters letter tp NFL head).

“In the name of environmental justice, I ask that the NFL delay the activities of the Jacksonville Jaguars until properties owned by Mr. Khann are scientifically certified to be free of cancer-causing agents such as Hexavalent Chromium,” Waters wrote. “This action may be the only leverage our community can exert to ensure compliance with the humane business practices.” 

She noted that Khan’s ability to purchase the Jaguars was derived in part from Chrome Craft operations. 

Former Chrome Craft workers and residents of the poverty-stricken area surrounding the plant, located at 318 Midland in Highland Park, have been campaigning to get the property cleaned up since last year. They have established a website at http://cleanupchromecraft.org/. 

Antwine Riggs

Two former workers are featured on the site. 

“I worked at Chrome Craft for 13 years, until it closed in 2009,” Antwine Riggs reported. “During that time there were a lot of problems with the machines that processed the waste from the chroming lines.  One machine that was broken a lot was the dryer that chroming sludge went through – the arm that moved the sludge into the dryer was usually broken so the sludge wouldn’t dry and would spill off the conveyor onto the ground near the container outside.  It probably happened three to four times per week.”

Saad Bolos

“Part of the plant’s chroming system was on the roof of the plant – a series of pipes that fed into the tanks on the chroming line,” former worker Saad Bolos said. “The pipes were PVC, not even metal, about four inches diameter.  One winter one of the PVC pipes burst.  It was filled with chroming bath and it spilled all over the plant property and washed into the alleyway.  I remember the snow turning a yellowish-golden color, the same color your hands would be at the end of a shift, even if you wore gloves at work.”

 “The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] have determined that chromium(VI) compounds are known human carcinogens,” according to a report from the HHHS. The report added that it causes a range of other health problems when inhaled or ingested.nd cause a range of other health problems when inhaled or ingested.

Erin Brockovich continues to campaign for enviironmental justice around the world

“Protecting future generations from exposure to hexavalent chromium—also known as chromium (VI) or Chromium-6 —is a growing priority for federal regulators, the Clean Up Chrome Craft website says. “For example, an influential report by the Environmental Working Group on Chromium-6 in municipal water supplies led the U.S. EPA to issue new guidance to water systems for monitoring the chemical.[In October 2010, the EPA proposed new rules for air emissions from electroplating plants,  and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final rule that provided workers with additional protections by requiring companies to inform their employees of whenever they are exposed to the chemical, regardless of how little.”

Tina Lam, of the Detroit Free Press, wrote in December that former workers are seeking a state investigation of contamination caused by Chrome Craft.

Lam wrote, “The plant . . ., has been cited over the past 20 years for 39 violations of city, state and federal laws regarding its discharges into Detroit sewers, its lack of a permit to store hazardous waste, improper storage of waste and failure to train workers, according to documents obtained by the UAW under the Freedom of Information Act. The NAACP, the UAW, environmental groups and workers are asking the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to investigate. (Click on   to read letter.)

Read Freep article at http://www.freep.com/article/20111213/NEWS05/112130398/Former-workers-seek-state-investigation-of-Chrome-Craft

Former State Rep. Waters is currently running is a threeay campaign race for U.S. Congress, involving the redistricted 14^th district. Her opponents are former State Senator Gary Peters and incumbent U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke.

Aerial view of Chrome Craft plant (red A marker) shows many residential properties surrounding it.

Occupy Detroit demands good bus service for the people Oct. 28, 2011

No notice given; regular monthly “customer comments” meeting Thurs. Feb. 16, 5-7 p;m. D-DOT HQ; contractor’s plans include regionalization  

By Diane Bukowski 

February 9, 2012 

DETROIT – If Detroit bus riders thought they were in bad shape last year, waiting three and four hours for buses that sometimes never came, they will be in shock February 24 when the city eliminates 24-hour and weekend service and institutes drastic cuts in bus personnel. 

ATU Div. 26 President Henry Gaffney speaks at press conference after drivers' sick-out Nov. 4, 2011

Henry Gaffney, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Division 26, represents the city’s bus drivers. He confirmed the accuracy of fliers circulating around Detroit headlined “BUS CUTS/BUS CUTS.” (See flier at top of article.) 

“Mayor Dave Bing said last year that he did not want to see seniors and children waiting long hours for buses in the cold,” Gaffney told VOD. “But he hasn’t even held hearings or informed the public yet that D-DOT will eliminate week-end service beginning Feb. 24, along with night-time service from 1 a.m. to 4 or 5 a.m.” 

The only meeting scheduled on the Detroit Department of Transportation (D-DOT)’s website is a regular monthly “customer comments” meeting Thurs. Feb. 16, from 5-7 p.m. at D-DOT headquarters at 1300 E. Warren, off the Chrysler (I-75) service drive. 

Grand River bus around corner from Rosa Parks Terminal Sept. 2011

Gaffney said bus drivers know about the new schedules because they have been posted at the terminals. He said driver lay-offs were reduced from 163 (cited in the flier) to 78 only three days ago. The fliers call on the public to contact Bing’s office as well as City Council members to express their outrage. 

“The lay-off of 78 drivers is still devastating,” Gaffney said. “We don’t have enough drivers now. People are retiring faster than I can breathe. The least senior drivers are those who work the weekends and so they will go first. The current situation is terrible as it is already. The buses are packed early on and have to pass by many stops because there’s no room. They’re already down to a bare minimum on the week-ends, one or two buses running on each route.” 

Gaffney said he cannot understand why transportation is not considered a priority in Detroit. 

City is trying to avoid dealing with riders at public hearings like this one in 2009; since then, dozens of routes have been canceled and hours shortened.

“At least 120,000 people ride the buses every day, not because they want to, but because they have to. A good transit system can bring in millions of dollars to the economy, but we have two failing systems, D-DOT and SMART. SMART laid-off 70 drivers last year and cut their weekend service. What will people do about getting to their jobs and other places they need to go?” 

Management of the Detroit Department of Transportation (D-DOT) has been contracted out to Parsons Brinckerhoff Michigan, Inc. according to a work order obtained by VOD.  Parsons has subcontracted to an obscure start-up company, Envisurage, LLC., whose CEO is Mark Aesch. Aesch was CEO of the Rochester Genessee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) in New York state from 2004 to 2011. Their contract began Jan. 1, 2012, meaning they are effectuating the lay-offs and route cuts. (Click on PBE_0001_NEW to view work order. Under “page display” on PDF menu, click on “single page view” for ease of reading.)

AFSCME Local 312 President Leamon Wilson demanded more mechanics and parts availablity, no contracting out, at City Council public hearing Sept. 16, 2011

The original concept behind contracting out management, according to discussions last year between the Bing administration and AFSCME Local 312, representing bus mechanics, was that it would prevent the lay-offs of mechanics and drivers, increase available work time including overtime, and allow for hiring more workers in the wake of rampant retirements. 

But a primary goal listed in the work order is to “design alternatives to transition the governance structure to exist in a regional authority.”

There have been numerous proposals in Lansing over the years to merge D-DOT and the pseudo-public SMART (Suburbuan Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation). Michigan Gov. Rick Sndyer has now proposed to use federal funding to create a regional authority, bypassing both systems, their workers and riders. Many Detroiters fear that a regional authority will condemn Detroit to second-class transportation status, and mean a loss of funds for Detroit bus routes, as well as jobs for Detroiters.

In its “Operations Plan for DDOT,” Parsons Brinckerhoff/Envisurage (PB/E) says under the heading Evaluate Staff, “We undoubtedly have too many employees and we certainly have too many employees that lack a vested commitment to excellence. All employees will be given the opportunity in very short order to demonstrate their personal commitment to organizational success. Absent that, staff changes will be necessary both financially and culturally.” 

AFSCME says: Hire city youth, no cuts, Detroit won't go to the back of the bus

Through the past years, city administrations have touted diversity and cultural change in departments such as the water department. According to union representatives, the result has been massive privatization schemes that have resulted in the loss of city jobs held primarily by Black Detroiters, and Detroiters’ loss of control over city services, including those that bring revenue to the city. 

PB/E says they will accomplish the “staff changes” through the following means:

•  Establish work plans—tied to strategic objectives—with quantifiable collaborative goals.
• Each month conduct over-performers/under-performers meeting.
• Establish staff reduction plan to bring levels to a benchmark norm.
• Reduce staffing levels to drive savings and match industry norms. 
  

  Occupy Detroit protest last October

The implications are that staff reductions will be tied to performance, not seniority, a violation of union contracts. 

D-DOT receives the majority of its funding from federal and state grants. PB/E’s proposed actions can cause the city to lose millions from the feds. Under the Federal Urban Mass Transportation Act (UMTA), funds can be withheld if the city does not provide “fair and equitable protective arrangements” for D-DOT employees. These include:

• The preservation of rights, privileges, and benefits under existing collective bargaining agreements;
• The continuation of collective bargaining rights;
• The protection of employees against a worsening of their positions with respect to their employment;
• Assurances of employment to employees of acquired mass transportation systems and priority of reemployment for employees terminated or laid off; and
• Paid training or retraining programs.
  

  Mark Aesch--Detroit's new bus czar?

Under the work order, PB/E will be paid $2,068,000 for 11 months of work. Added to that will be “Incentive Compensation,” which could provide as much as $2,015,000 additionally, according to a complex schedule, a total of $4,083,000. 

The order says the company’s goal is to reduce the city’s contribution to D-DOT from $6.3 million a month to $4.6 million a month, or on a yearly basis, from $75.6 million to $55.2 million. That goal is part of the incentive plan, with PB/E given bonuses for every reduction. 

Additionally, there will be hidden costs. 

PB/E says it will hire a five-person senior executive team, which will cost $1.1 million over 11 months. In addition, it says it will perform “staff augmentation” as necessary, in the wake of the lay-offs, with the new workers employed by PB/E. 

The work order creates a new classification of “Senior Management Consultant” at a “Total Average Hourly Rate” of $311.42, including $28.31 an hour in profit and $172.52 in “overhead.” The order does not specify how many of these consultants will be hired. 

PB/E also says it will build “high quality” information systems, with unknown amounts going to contractors, review and renegotiate vendors’ contracts if need be, and analyze D-DOT’s capital program to determine “cash availability” in federal grants. 

PB/E wants to cut number of buses.

“The single most important task we can focus on to drive financial success is to more efficiently schedule our equipment,” says the work order. “Buses that are scheduled simply to burn gas and pay overtime will be eliminated.” PB/E claims that it will identify “standing loads and over-crowding—add service where appropriate.” 

It will also “work to identify appropriate downsizing of the fleet,” while at the same time “defeat all obstacles to increasing fleet availability (drivers, attendance, parts availability, supervision attentiveness) . . . .” 

They also claim they will focus on “communications with the community,” although they have scheduled no public hearings on the proposed cuts. 

Pres. Gaffney said he has spoken with ATU local officials in Rochester, New York, where the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority (RGRTA), where Aesch was CEO. He left at the end of 2011, allegedly to work in “the private sector,”
according to a story on ABC 13.

Prior to his departure, he had unsucessfully proposed combining four Bus riders in Rochester N.Y. (above)         regional transportation systems established by the New York State Legislature in 1969, into one, encompassing 250 square miles. The proposal was criticized as unwieldy.

 “They told me we had better start praying,” Gaffney told VOD. He said no one from PB/E, including Aesch, has contacted him, and he has been unsuccessful in contacting any of them. He added that the city has refused to give him a copy of the actual contract with PB/E, and he has had to request it through the Freedom of Information Act.

Gary Rauen is an ATU International Vice-President in Washington, D.C., who worked with the Rochester ATU local for three and a half years while Aesch was CEO of RGRTA. 

D-DOT rider talks with bus driver William WIlliams about common concerns Nov. 4

“My involvement with Mark Aesch during that time was zero, zilch,” Rauen said. “He never even one time met with me and the union regarding routing changes or levels of service. He never got involved with contract negotiations. When he left, we had 378 pending arbitration cases, involving progressive steps of discipline leading up to termination, and there are only 325 drivers in the local. Morale was terrible. If I was CEO of any company, and knew that many cases were pending, my face would have been across the table from the local union. He was a terrible boss, with a totally closed-door policy.” 

Rauen said Aesch’s attitude toward the community was no different. 

Mark Aesch promoting his book

“He’s a fabulous communicator with the politicians, but not with the people, and certainly not with the riders,” Rauen said. “He was about self-serving purposes, writing his book and promoting himself.’ 

Aesch’s book is “Driving Excellence.” His company, Envisurage, is apparently a start-up company that is not even listed on the state of Michigan’s business entity website. 

Envisurage’s website, at http://envisurage.com, says, “Under his leadership in Rochester, Mark successfully introduced the concept of managing a public sector agency with a private sector mindset. The results have led the nation – a reduction in fares, multi-million dollar surpluses and actually reducing their reliance on taxpayer dollars.”

Bing has broken promises made to DDOT drivers, workers, and riders

A recent article from Rochester.com noted that beginning with Aesch’s term as CEO, the RGRTA “scaled back its service to its most profitable routes in the city and first ring suburbs, . . But RGRTA did not simply abandon routes that significant numbers of passengers relied upon for their jobs. It negotiated partnerships with nursing homes, colleges, public schools, hospitals, businesses and other transit-dependent institutions to continue service.”

According to the article, RGRTA now has 50 contracts with such entities, which pay RGRTA to subsidize the service they provide to their constituents.

Rauen noted the RGRTA surpluses resulted from its previous CEO’s integration of the region’s school districts’ transportation into RGRTA, not from anything Aesch did. 

The website says Aesch lives in Tampa, Florida and is also a “Senior Advisor with the global engineering and consulting company, Parsons Brinckherhoff.” 

The Huffington Post notes that while living in Livonia, New York, Aesch contributed $2500 to Republican Rick Perry’s campaign for President. Aesch previously served as district director for U.S. Rep. Bill Paxon (R-New York).

 Attempts were made to contact Aesch by an email service provided on the Envisurage website, which does not list a phone number for the company. Intelius lists Aesch’s addresses in Livonia N.Y. and Tampa, Florida, but does not list an address in Michigan. 

Neither Mayor Bing’s press representative nor Aesch returned VOD’s emails and calls before press time. ATU Pres. Gaffney said D-DOT’s former director, Lovevett Williams, has retired.

Taminko Sanford center, mother of Davontae Sanford, with his family outside court July 29, 2010 Photo by Diane Bukowski

By ED WHITE  
  
 http://www.twitter.com/edwhiteAP

January 30, 2012

IONIA, Mich. — A Detroit hit man in prison for eight murders said he’s willing to publicly take responsibility for four more to help clear a young man who claims he’s innocent of the slayings and confessed at age 14 only to satisfy police.

Vincent Smothers

Vincent Smothers’ testimony would be the most crucial evidence yet to try to persuade a judge to throw out Davontae Sanford’s guilty plea and free him from a nearly 40-year prison sentence. In an interview with The Associated Press, Smothers declared: “He’s not guilty. He didn’t do it.”

Smothers said he never used a 14-year-old accomplice – blind in one eye and learning disabled – to carry out his paid hits, mostly victims tied to Detroit’s drug trade. Ironically, there’s no dispute that Smothers confessed to the so-called Runyon Street slayings when he was captured in 2008, but prosecutors have never charged him and never explained why.

“I understand what prison life is like; it’s miserable. To be here and be innocent – I don’t know what it’s like,” Smothers said of Sanford, who is now 19. “He’s a kid, and I hate for him to do the kind of time they’re giving him.”

Told about the AP interview, Sanford’s attorney said she soon would ask a judge to bring Smothers to court.

Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy has adamantly refused to drop charges against Davontae Sanford

“If we can get Mr. Smothers up on the stand, it would be awesome for Davontae,” Kim McGinnis said Monday.

Smothers, 30, spoke over a phone Saturday at the Michigan Reformatory with a glass window separating him from an AP reporter. He’s 130 miles west of Detroit where he unflinchingly killed people on streets, inside homes and even while he talked on a cell phone. He finally was arrested in an alley in 2008 while holding his daughter.

Smothers quickly confessed to a series of murders, including the execution-style shooting of a Detroit officer’s estranged wife for $50. He says he was paid $60,000 over a two-year period. He eventually pleaded guilty to eight slayings and was sentenced to at least 52 years in prison.

Davontae Sanford in court three years after his conviction

Sanford, meanwhile, has been fighting to get out of prison. A Wayne County judge soon is expected to decide whether to throw out his guilty plea to four killings on Runyon Street in 2007. McGinnis has worked to discredit the police investigation. She discovered major holes, including Smothers’ confession and the fact that a gun used in the murders was found at the home of an accomplice who, like Smothers, hasn’t been charged.

Prosecutors, however, have refused to back away from Sanford’s guilty plea. At times, they have acknowledged that Smothers may have been involved but they won’t rule out a role for the younger man.

“There is no link between me and him,” Smothers told the AP. “I never knew him.”

McGinnis has been desperate to get Smothers on the witness stand. He invoked his right against self-incrimination last year but was willing to allow his attorney, Gabi Silver, to testify about what he told her about Runyon Street. The prosecutor, however, objected and courts said no.

Listen to Nancy Lockhart’s interview with Davontae’s mother Taminko Sanford and his attorney Kim McGinnis by clicking on link below:

“I’ll testify if possible and answer all questions truthfully. Anything I will say will be the truth,” Smothers told the AP. “I don’t lie.”

The prosecutor’s office had no comment Monday about Smothers’ willingness to testify. Silver said Smothers has “always wanted to right this wrong.”

“It’s too bad that a kid who didn’t have anything to do with this crime is sitting in prison. That to me is a tragedy,” Silver said.

With short hair, clear face and a thin build, Smothers looks much younger than his 30 years. He smiled often during the interview and expressed dry humor, especially when he described odd jobs – drywall, plumbing, roofing – while a student at Detroit’s Kettering High School and later a factory job in Warren.

“You sound surprised,” Smothers said of his resume.

He declined to talk about why he became a hit man but said, “I understand people think I’m a monster.”

“Over the course of my young adulthood, I developed a hard heart where people didn’t matter … When you grow up in the city there’s just certain facts of life,” Smothers said.

Ed White can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/edwhiteAP

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/01/30/1807085/apnewsbreak-detroit-hit-man-says.html#storylink=cpy

Click on http://www.change.org/petitions/new-trial-for-davontae-sanford to sign petition for a new trial for Davontae.

Autistic Teen Fatally Shot by Police in Calumet City Home: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

 Information provided by CBS Chicago

February 2, 2012

CALUMET CITY, Ill. (CBS) — Police in Calumet City were defending their actions Wednesday after officers shot and killed a 15-year-old boy, who has a form of autism, after he [allegedly] threatened them with a knife.

15-year-old Stephon Watts with little relative

Stephon Watts’ family said he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome — a high-functioning form of autism — and attention deficit disorder.

As CBS 2′s Susanna Song and WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller report, they claimed the boy was only holding a butter knife. Police would only describe it as a “kitchen knife.”

The deadly encounter happened at the boy’s home at 541 Forsythe Av. in Calumet City, police said.

Calumet City Police Chief Edward Gilmore said the boy cut a police officer through his shirt sleeve with a “kitchen knife.”

Stephon's mother Danelene Powell-Watts

“I think they did everything they possibly could to avoid this,” Gilmore said. “It’s unfortunate that we had to get to this situation.”

As CBS 2’s Suzanne Le Mignot reports, Stephon’s mother, Danelene Powell-Watts, arrived at the police station in Calumet City on Wednesday shortly before police held a news conference to discuss the shooting.

Powell-Watts was screaming, livid, and inconsolable after her son was killed. She was furious that officers used deadly force against her son this time, rather than subduing him with a stun gun.

“They shot my son,” she yelled as officers as she was blocked from entering the Calumet City police station. “Every last one of you know my son has autism.”

Gilmore said police had been called to the home 10 times since 2010 to deal with the boy. Stephon’s father called police again Wednesday morning after the teen had become aggressive.

“We tried to do everything we could to keep him from being a victim, as he was an offender. He chose to be an offender,” Gilmore said.

The chief said police were called to the home to get Stephon under control, as they had been before. But that didn’t work, he said.

“When he slashed the officer’s arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but to defend himself,” Gilmore said.

Stephon’s family said police have used a stun gun on him in the past.

“They didn’t have to murder him. This is nothing but murder and they shoot to kill,” Powell-Watts said. “He had a butter knife and … my husband said that he lunged at the police officer.”

Stephon’s uncle said police had subdued his nephew with stun guns before.

Calumet police converge on Powell-Watts home; Calumet City is in southern Illinois.

“They didn’t have to shoot him. They could have tasered the child. He’s only 15 years old,” Wayne Watts said. “They could have tased him, like they did him before, took him to the hospital and he would have been fine and that’s what I want to know. Why couldn’t they do that to him so that he could still be breathing with us right now?”

Gilmore said a stun gun wasn’t used because the lead officer did not have a stun gun.

Five officers responded to the Watts home after Stephon’s father called police, according to Gilmore. Two entered the house, heading to the basement where they found Stephon. One of those two officers did have a stun gun with him.

“Unfortunately today, when he slashed the officer’s arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but defend himself,” Gilmore said.

From Your Black World 

February 2, 2012 

An unarmed teen in the Bronx was shot dead by police, right in front of his mother.  Ramarley Graham, a 19-year old boy, was shot in the chest as he ran into his mother’s apartment on Thursday afternoon [Feb. 2].  Police are saying that they thought the teen was grabbing a gun when he adjusted his waistband.

“They chased him into the house,” his mother Constance Malcolm, 39, told the Daily News.

“Nobody deserves to be shot in their own home.”

Ramarley Graham

The teen was then rushed to the Montefiore Medical Center, where died soon thereafter.  Police had approached Graham when they saw him doing a drug deal on the street.  That’s when he ran away to the Williamsbridge Apartment complex.  The officers were behind him when he ran into the bathroom to flush the marijuana down the toilet.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says that he doesn’t believe there was a struggle before the young man was shot.

“Show me your hands! Show me your hands! Gun! Gun!” This is what Kelly says the officers yelled at Graham as they proceeded to shoot him.

“We need to continue to gather facts at this juncture,” said Kelly. “We see an unarmed person being shot. That always concerns us.

The two officers involved in the shooting have been placed on restricted duty.

Now video of the pursuit has emerged which shows the police pursuing the teen, as well as them kicking in the door to gain access to the teen after he runs into the house. After police gain entry into the home, the teen was fatally shot and found to be unarmed.

Graham’s six-year-old brother and grandmother were in the home at the time he was shot and Graham’s brother is seen crying on the video [as he is taken out by police officers].

This is not the first teen shooting of the week. On Wednesday, Chicago police shot a 15-year-old autistic child who pulled out a butter knife.

http://yourblackworld.net/2012/02/black-news/unarmed-teen-shot-chest-front-mother/

Jorge Rivas of ColorLines.com adds:

The Graham shooting is the third time in a week that a member of the NYPD had killed a suspect. On Jan. 26, an off-duty police lieutenant shot a 22-year-old carjacking suspect in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. And on Sunday, an off-duty detective shot a 17-year-old in Bushwick, Brooklyn, during a mugging, authorities said. 

In Graham’s case, police found a small bag of marijuana in the toilet at the home he entered after the pursuit, they claim. 

“It’s likely the story will thicken and the NYPD will argue the cop acted in self defense, but right now it looks like the cops killed a kid trying to get rid of a little pot,” said Seth Freed Wessler, Colorlines.com’s investigation reporter.  

“Despite directives from the NYPD Commissioner to stop arresting people for simple possession of marijuana, the NYPD actually conducted more marijuana arrests in 2011 than in the previous year,” Wessler said. 

In New York City, marijuana arrests strike people of color the hardest. Last year the NYPD made a near-record number of low-level marijuana arrests, making 2011 the second-most prolific period for marijuana arrests in NYC history. Close to 87 percent of those arrested for marijuana were black or Latino, while only 10 percent were white. 

“The daily practice of harassing black and Latino kids with stop and frisk policing and then arresting them for simple possession of pot would be bad enough even if it did not lead to shootings. In this case in the Bronx, it looks like the day-to-day drug war left this 18-year-old kid dead,” Wessler said.

Filmmaker/professor Johanna Fernandez, Mumia Abu-Jamal and National Lawyers Guild President Heidi Boghosian during visit Feb. 2, 2012

From Johanna Fernandez

February 3, 2012

Comrades, Brothers and Sisters: 

Heidi Boghosian and I just returned from a very moving visit with Mumia. We visited yesterday, Thursday, February 2. This was Mumia’s second contact visit in over 30 years, since his transfer to General Population last Friday, Jan 27. His first contact visit was with his wife, Wadiya, on Monday, January 30.

Mumia Abu-Jamal with son decades ago

Unlike our previous visits to Death Row at SCI Greene and to solitary confinement at SCI Mahanoy, our visit yesterday took place in a large visitor’s area, amidst numerous circles of families and spouses who were visiting other inmates.  Compared to the intense and focused conversations we had had with Mumia in a small, isolated visiting cell on Death Row, behind sterile plexiglass, this exchange was more relaxed and informal and more unpredictably interactive with the people around us…it was more human.  

There were so many scenes of affection around us, of children jumping on top of and pulling at their fathers, of entire families talking intimately around small tables, of couples sitting and quietly holding each other, and of girlfriends and wives stealing a forbidden kiss from the men they were there to visit (kisses are only allowed at the start and at the end of visits). These scenes were touching and beautiful, and markedly different from the images of prisoners presented to us by those in power. Our collective work could benefit greatly from these humane, intimate images.

When we entered, we immediately saw Mumia standing across the room. We walked toward each other and he hugged both of us simultaneously. We were both stunned that he would embrace us so warmly and share his personal space so generously after so many years in isolation. 

He looked young, and we told him as much. He responded, “Black don’t crack!”  We laughed.

Mumia's supporters at rally outside courthouse in Philadelphia 2011/Photo by Diane Bukowski

He talked to us about the newness of every step he has taken since his release to general population a week ago. So much of what we take for granted daily is new to him, from the microwave in the visiting room to the tremor he felt when, for the first time in 30 years, he kissed his wife.  As he said in his own words, “the only thing more drastically different than what I’m experiencing now would be freedom.” He also noted that everyone in the room was watching him.

The experience of breaking bread with our friend and comrade was emotional. It was wonderful to be able to talk and share grilled cheese sandwiches, apple danishes, cookies and hot chocolate from the visiting room vending machines.

One of the highlights of the visit came with the opportunity to take a photo. This was one of the first such opportunities for Mumia in decades, and we had a ball! Primping the hair, making sure that we didn’t have food in our teeth, and nervously getting ready for the big photo moment was such a laugh! And Mumia was openly tickled by every second of it. 

When the time came to leave, we all hugged and were promptly instructed to line up against the wall and walk out with the other visitors. As we were exiting the prison, one sister pulled us aside and told us that she couldn’t stop singing Kelly Clarkson’s line “some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this.” She shared that she and her parents had followed Mumia’s case since 1981 and that she was overjoyed that Mumia was alive and in general population despite Pennsylvania’s bloodthirsty pursuit of his execution.  

We told her that on April 24 we were going to launch the fight that would win Mumia’s release: that on that day we were going to Occupy the Justice Department in Washington DC. She told us that because she recently survived cancer she now believed in possibility, and that since Mumia was now in general population she could see how we could win. She sent us off with the line from Laverne and Shirley’s theme song – “never heard the word impossible!”- gave us her number, and asked us to sign her up for the fight. 

We’re still taking it all in. The journey has been humbling and humanizing, and we are re-energized and re-inspired!!

In the words of City Lights editor, Greg Ruggiero:”

“Long Term Goal: End Mass Incarceration.  Short Term Goal: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!”

–Johanna Fernandez

Facebook Link to Photo

http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Lawyers-Guild/338038119888

SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!

Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org 

Mumia: ‘[We’ve] made one step. We have one more to go’

 

By Nayaba Arinde
Amsterdam News

Pam Africa (r) interviews Mumia's attorney after 2011 Philadelphia court hearing, NY Councilman Charles Barron in center/Photo by Diane Bukowski

“Getting Mumia moved into general population is a victory, but the real victory-and what we are working toward-is to bring him home. We are steadily working on that,” said Pam Africa from Philadelphia’s MOVE organization.

While supporters mull over the victory of getting Mumia Abu-Jamal off death row and into the general population of the medium-security facility SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, Pa., it is as Abu-Jamal himself said: “One step. We have one more to go.”

For almost two months, the worldwide army of supporters of the iconic “political prisoner” waited for news about the Mahanoy prison authority’s ultimatum that Abu-Jamal must cut his decades-old locks in order to enter general population.

The movement, being what it is, refuses to be predictable but is always strategic. And so, after having endured nine years in solitary confinement in protest and refusing to cut his hair, Abu-Jamal decided to trim his hair to the shoulder-length requirement and indeed come out of solitary. Continue reading →

Robert Davis

By Diane Bukowski

February 7, 2012

Ingham County Circuit Court Chief Judge William Collete issued a formal ruling today that meetings of the Public Act 4 review team for Detroit must be open to the public, under the state’s Open Meetings Act (OMA).

The ruling was a response to a  motion for a restraining order filed on behalf of Highland Park School Board member and AFSCME Council 25 representative Robert Davis. 

Bloomberg News reported that Collette said the review team “flies in the face of the Open-Meetings Act,”  during the hearing in Mason, Michigan.

Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette

Bloomberg quoted Collette as saying the panel is “more than an advisory committee,’ and that it has “a right to review records. They have the right to issue subpoenas, and they have the right to require people” to talk, which “goes far beyond public advisory power.”

The lawsuit was filed by Attorneys Andrew Paterson and Carl Marlinga Feb. 1, against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and State Treasurer Andy Dillon. 

“This is a victory for open government and democracy,” Bloomberg quoted Paterson, who said he will file for a declaratory judgment ruling that the previous actions of the team , violated the open-meetings law. This would void anything the panel has already done, Paterson said in an interview.

To date, the review team has met secretly in Lansing Jan. 10, and conducted closed-door sessions with individual members of Detroit’s City Council.

“It’s quite upsetting to know that a governor and the treasurer and the review team are meeting in secret about something so important that’s going to affect the city of Detroit for years to come,” Davis said in published remarks. 

Treasurer Andy Dillon had hoped to be governor but lost the Democratic Primary to Virg Bernero.

“Treasury is disappointed with the decision, given the possible chilling effect it could have on a review team and the review process,” Terry Stanton, spokesman for Treasurer Andy Dillon, said. “As noted previously, the department’s position, for more than 20 years, has been that a review team is not a public body and is therefore not subject to the Open Meetings Act. 

“It is important to note that the injunction does not stop the review team process, it simply means that review team meetings must be open, unless or until the court rules otherwise. We are reviewing the injunction and will consult with the Attorney General to determine the appropriate course of action.”

Brandon Jessup

Brandon Jessup, Chairman and CEO of Michigan Forward, which is conducting a petition campaign to repeal PA 4, said in a release, “Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law is wrong. We support the early informal opinion of Judge Collette [made Feb. 2]. Governor Snyder should take every step outlined in our January 23 communication to his and the State Treasurer’s office. The appointment of Emergency Managers in Flint and Highland Park School District should be reversed. The review teams in Detroit and Inkster should be disbanded and new reviews should be conducted in all 4 of these communities.  All findings, activities and expenses of review teams in Detroit, Flint, Highland Park and Inkster should be published immediately and made public. 

He added, “The exclusion of community members severely discredits the ‘early warning’ theory often used by Michigan’s Chief Executive [Snyder],” Jessup said. “Public Act 4 provides a blank check to special interests focused on selling public assets, eliminating public contracts and dissolving Democracy.” 

READ THE LETTER  fr0m Michigan Forward and the NAACP to Snyder and Dillon. 

Michigan’s Open Meetings Act (click on Michigan OMA and FOIA  to read the OMA) defines a “public body” as “any state or local legislative or governing body, including a board, commission, committee, subcommittee, authority, or council, which is empowered by state constitution, statute, charter, ordinance, resolution, or rule to exercise governmental or proprietary authority or perform a governmental or proprietary function, or a lessee thereof performing an essential public purpose and function pursuant to the lease agreement.”

The governor appoints the review teams under state statute Public Act 4, making them public bodies. 

Behind closed doors

The OMA defines “meeting” as the “convening of a public body at which a quorum is present for the purpose of deliberating toward and rendering a decision on a public policy.” It goes on to limit closed sessions, which must be called by a two-thirds vote of the body, to consideration of limited matters such as litigation, employment contracts, and “to consider material exempt from discussion or disclosure by state or federal statute.” 

A close reading of Public Act 4 (click on Public Act 4) shows nothing specifying that meetings of review teams are closed to the public.  However, State Treasurer Dillon said before the first meeting of the Detroit review team, “Under Public Act 4 the meetings that we hold are confidential and we’re not subject to the Open Meetings Act.” 

The Detroit review team held separate meetings with members of Detroit’s City Council, as review teams did with governing bodies in other cities like Inkster. Council members JoAnn Watson and Kwame Kenyatta refused to meet with the team, citing their belief that Public Act 4 is unconstitutional. 

Former Detroit School Board member and activist Marie Thornton, who attended more educational sessions on state law held by the Michigan Association of Public School Boards than any other board member, has contended for years that such meetings must be open to the public. 

Marie Thornton

“The Jan. 10 meeting on Detroit’s finances was illegally closed,” Thornton said. “Additionally, the review team violated the Open Meetings Act when it met secretly with Detroit City Council members and officials from other cities. It is not legal for public officials like Gary Brown to discuss issues affecting the public, such as retiree benefits, behind closed doors with a public body, without facing public scrutiny.” 

Thornton asked, “How do we even know for sure that Detroit has a financial emergency?”

The City Council illegally held a closed session with representatives of Ernst & Young to discuss the city’s finances. Ernst & Young is  a multinational accounting firm which is being sued by the states of New York and New Jersey for helping Lehman Brothers cook its books prior to the company’s collapse, which triggered a domino effect on Wall Street.

In 2008, when Thornton was on the school board, Gov. Granholm declared a financial emergency for the Detroit Public Schools. Despite continued attacks by the majority of the school board, Thornton fought single-mindedly against the closed sessions held then by the DPS review team with board members. She was the ONLY board member to vote against a Consent Agreement which led within several months to the appointment of an emergency manager, Robert Bobb. 

Bobb further devastated DPS with more school closings, the appointment of high-paid cronies, and the lay-off and privatization of thousands of DPS workers’ jobs. 

Thornton, who has continued to stress that secret meetings of review teams violate the OMA at public forums including those held by the NAACP, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding the minutes and all other information pertinent to the meetings of the Detroit review team.

The case is Davis v. City of Detroit Financial Review Team, 12-112-CZ, Circuit Court, Ingham County, Michigan (Mason).

Poor families and children are being victimized by Michigan state government

By Rob South | rsouth@mlive.com  

February 02, 2012

 LANSING – As tax season starts in full swing, a new report says low income families will be hardest hit by a state tax reform package passed last year.

While the changes don’t take effect until the 2012 tax year, the Michigan League for Human Services hopes some credits helpful to the poor can be restored by then, particularly the $600 per-child tax deduction.

The League released a report that says the tax plan will hit poor families 1,000 times harder than wealthy households. (To read full report, click on TaxChangesHitLowIncomeFamiliestheHardest[1].)

Families making less than $17,000 a year would pay one percent more in taxes in 2012, while families making more than $334,000 would see their taxes go up by only .001 percent, the report states.

Gilda Jacobs, president of Michigan League for Human Services

Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of the League, wants to see a fair tax structure that doesn’t hit the poor harder than the wealthy.

 “We want to be sure that we have shared sacrifice.” she says. “If you’re making $17,000 a year, this is going cost you about $100. That’s a lot of money to these people. That’s a car payment, that’s a winter utility bill. It’s huge.”

State Rep. Jud Gilbert, R- Algonac, chair of the House Tax Committee, says the bills were part of a larger package aimed at streamlining the tax code. He says about $1.4 billion in tax credits, including tax credits to businesses, were eliminated. The package also reduced the Earned Income Tax Credit – another credit for the poor – from 20 percent to 6 percent of the federal credit.

Gov. Snyder signs tax reform legislation into law. Pictured (from left) are: Lt. Gov. Brian Calley; Rep. Jud Gilbert, R-Algonac; Speaker of the House Jase Bolger, R-Marshall; Snyder; Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe; and Sens. Mark Jansen, R-Gaines Twp.; Darwin Booher, R-Evart; Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive Twp.; and Mike Kowall, R-White Lake. (5/25/2011)

 “I think what we’ve done in the revamping of the tax code,” says Gilbert,” is people are paying the same rate on the same amount of income. “

Jacobs points out that the package also included $1.6 billion in tax cuts to businesses. She says when the changes are fully implemented next year, business tax revenues would be cut 83 percent and individual income taxes would go up 23 percent. 

The report offers four recommendations to restore equity to the tax structure:

• Implement a graduated income tax

• Extend the sales tax to include services

• Create a low-income sales tax credit to offset new sales taxes

• Restore the Earned Income Tax Credit (IETC) to 20 percent. 

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/michigans_poorest_families_hit.html 

Website for the Michigan League for Human Services is at http://www.milhs.org. Also go to http://saveoureitc.com/, a website campaigning to save the earned income tax credit.

WW II collaborators with shaven heads are paraded through town by the French Resistance on Bastille Day

By David Rambeau

February 2, 2012

We know their names,Ike McKinnon, Irvin Reid, Shirley Stancato, Glenda Price, and Conrad Mallett [appointed to the Detroit Emergency Manager Review Team by Governor Rick Snyder].

What we must decide on is their political, ideological and cultural allegiance; is it to our community or to those who would intensify our political and economic oppression and exploitation? 

Conrad Mallett

The proverb says, “Where you stand depends on where you sit.” These five plan to sit with those who would disenfranchise the people of Detroit through the imposition of an emergency manager on the city, and with this so-called manager dictate brutal social changes which will complete the deconstruction of our urban institutional and governmental landscape.

Historically throughout Michigan, the emergency manager (EM) dictat emanating from the state government has been perpetrated by both Democratic and Republican administrations (Blanchard, Engler, Granholm, Snyder) on urban areas, Flint, Pontiac, Highland Park, Benton Harbor and Detroit, on city governments and school systems, heavily populated by Black and poor people.

Glenda Price

These so-called managers have summarily removed locally elected public officials, laid off workers, cut workers’ salaries and benefits, sold municipal assets, privatized services, and after a period of time, often two years or more, disappeared from view with the local situation frequently in worse shape than when they first appeared on the scene.

What they never do is examine the systemic social processes that have caused the financial crises, identify or plan productive developments which will alter the people’s condition in the present and the future, or educate and involve the public in the transformative process. Of course, why should they; these are not in the interest of those who appointed them in the first place.

(ITEM: For an in-depth analysis of social change read, “The Rise And Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy, Random House publishers, 909.83 K385r in your Detroit Public Library, another urban institution undergoing severe financial stress.)

Isaiah McKinnon

Fortunately, opposition has arisen from several sources to the disenfranchisement of voters. A petition is circulating to delay and overturn Public Act 4, the emergency manager law. A congressman from Detroit has asked the U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, to investigate the legality of Public Act 4; local activists have begun to organize to oppose the financial review process and pundits have begun to characterize the appointed members of the review team.

One writer called The Five “window dressing.”

Irvin Reid

You’ve seen this before. Boss is making a duplicitous announcement while holding a press conference and brings in a few supernumeraries to stand behind him to fool or confuse the people. In this case, five Black faces from high places. And they collaborate with the charade.

After Boss leaves, they will be required to sign off on the fiscal review process while expressing their “concern” for the people whose voting rights have been seriously compromised. Meanwhile, Boss will continue his work eliminating the earned income tax credits, taxing pensions, enacting voter ID legislation, destroying public workers’ unions, limiting workmen’s compensation, welfare and food stamp benefits, drug testing for welfare benefits, eliminating public worker residency requirements as well as sundry other social benefits for the urban poor and black people. The EM is just one tool in Boss’ trick bag and Five Collaborators out of previous, present or long-term self- interest go along for the ride and the rewards. 

Shirley Stancato

If you watch the Military Channel, 112 on cable, you’ll regularly see WWII documentaries which feature the war in Europe, particularly France. France had many collaborators with the German occupation and after the French were liberated, they frequently seized the collaborators and publicly shaved their heads.

If and when you see these five pictured in the corporate press or on television making an eloquent comment about how “This is a critical juncture for the city, and we have to decide how we can best provide services to our citizens and ensure they benefit from the best outcome.” imagine the five with sullen faces and freshly shaved heads.

******

David Rambeau

David Rambeau is the long-time host of For My People which airs on Ch 50, WKBD-TV, Saturday mornings at 6:30 a.m.
For more info: 313-871-3333 messages only

projectbait@att.net
(website address – www.projectbait.blakgold.readyportal.net)