Mattie Barnes, 98, of Amarillo died Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008.

Services were at 1 p.m. Saturday January 26, 2008 in The Church at Quail Creek with Elder William Fifer, pastor of Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ, officiating. Burial in Llano Cemetery by Warford-Walker Mortuary, 509 N. Hughes St.

Mattie “Mother” Barnes was born June 9, 1909, in Austin. She moved to Amarillo in 1960. She was a homemaker and a faithful mother at Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ.

Survivors include a brother, James Earl Hughes and wife Pauline of Dallas; a daughter, Essie Lee Sutton of Amarillo; a stepdaughter, Lillie Settles and husband Rollie of Phoenix; two stepsons, Harvey Barnes of Fort Worth and Lewis Barnes and wife Coretta of Houston; six grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; 43 great-great-grandchildren; and a host of other relatives and friends.

The family will be at 2004 N.W. 13th Ave.

Robert Trevor Jerome “Big Rob” Jenkins, 24, of Amarillo died Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008.

Services were at 11 a.m. Friday January 25, 2008 in Citychurch with Don Lane, pastor, officiating. Burial in Llano Cemetery by Warford-Walker Mortuary, 509 N. Hughes St.

Robert T. Jenkins was born June 15, 1983, in Amarillo to Patricia Jenkins and Francis Ashur. He attended Hamlet Elementary, Horace Mann Middle School and graduated from Palo Duro High School in 2002. Robert loved to fish and play video games. He was an active member of Citychurch.

Survivors include his parents; two brothers, Jeremiah Jenkins and Patrick Clemons, both of Amarillo; his grandmother, Emma Mae Franklin of Amarillo; four aunts, Shirley Neighbors of Gulfport, Miss., Janelle Wooten and Robin Jenkins, both of Amarillo, and Annie Wooten of Fort Worth; four uncles, Henry Wooten and Thomas Wooten, both of Amarillo, Robert Clyde Wooten of Gulfport and Michael Jenkins of Tucson, Ariz.; and a host of great-aunts, great-uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.

By David Pittman, davi...@amarillo.com

Organizers of a substance abuse halfway house in Amarillo are awaiting word from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on whether their program will receive funding.

The AWARE Program held a public hearing Tuesday night January 23, 2008 at its facility, 1201 S.W. Eighth Ave., to gauge public opinion on starting a halfway house for substance abusers on parole, probation or mandatory supervision.

The 30-bed transitional treatment center would house 20 men and 10 women at the AWARE Program facility.

“By treating these people, we’ll reduce the amount of recidivism,” said Paul Walker, who runs a similar halfway house in Plainview. “We’ll reduce the amount of violence. We’ll reduce the amount of dependence on social services.”

More than 30 people attended. Only one person wrote on the sign-in sheet at the front door they were against establishing the house.

AWARE should know by mid- February if the nearly $400,000 annual funding for the house is approved, Executive Director Alan Graves said. It will open by mid-April if approved.

Organizers of the house hope it will provide substance abusers a safe, structured transition from the criminal justice system to everyday life.

If an abuser leaves prison with no place to go, it makes becoming addicted to drugs much easier, supporters said at the hearing.

“They have no option to transition out of that system,” Graves said. “This program will allow them to do that.”

Carlas Williams said she would have liked to have such a house when she left prison.

“I didn’t have nowhere to go,” Carlas Williams said. “My family packed up and left. I went back to the dope house.”

At least one couple was concerned that the halfway house would negatively impact the neighborhood.

The state Legislature appropriated money to add 3,000 beds for readjustment programs for substance abusers. AWARE hopes Amarillo will benefit from the additional beds.

“This is a community problem,” said Joe Sanchez of the Amarillo Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. “It takes a whole community to fight this disease.”

Education key to King’s vision
By Sean Thomas, sean.thomas@amarillo.com

A proclamation from the city of Amarillo was presented to 6- year-old Karien Garza as part of Monday’s celebration in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

But what will Garza know about the bus boycott, of King’s work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the protests in Birmingham, Ala., and his more than 20 arrests?

Those who marched Monday - in fewer numbers, but with no less enthusiasm than King’s marches - said they would work to educate the younger generations to make sure King’s legacy wasn’t sequestered to the annals of forgotten history.

“The importance is unity and equality for all people,” said Idella Jackson , executive committee member of the NAACP, which organized the event in its eighth year. “The dream is still alive and needed today. We are making some progress, but we still have some to go.”

Click Here to Watch Video Highlights of the 2008 MLK Celebration

The road and hurdles ahead were embodied in every part of Monday’s event that brought out more than 150 people to march.
Iris Lawrence , a former Potter County commissioner, remembers segregated Amarillo. She remembers the sit-in at Paramount Theater and ending up in jail with her father and fellow protesters.

“I’ve just kept fighting, pushing in my own little way,” Lawrence said. “It’s good to see we can do these things now … Many of us then didn’t know we were suffering. It was the way it was.”

Even the music for the event spoke of doing more, that there was still much left to be attained. Soldiers of the Lord performed “Yes” by Shekinah Glory Ministry. The lyrics of the song call for those listening to do more: “He’s calling you higher … there is more I require of thee.” Read more »

By Tamara Jones, Amarillo Globe-News Correspondent

Like mother, like daughter. Following in her mother’s footsteps, 39-year-old Ann Billington has been transporting Amarillo school children for 15 years.

Billington’s mother, Ressie Martin, drove a bus for Amarillo Independent School District for 25 years.

Billington currently buses students from neighborhoods in northwest Amarillo to and from Windsor Elementary, Bonham Middle and Amarillo High schools.

Last year, Billington was promoted to safety trainer, responsible for teaching new drivers how to transport children in a safe manner.

The promotion was especially gratifying because she has struggled with a reading disorder her entire life.

“I am overcoming, but I’ve always been ashamed until I started realizing other people are worse off than me,” Billington said.   Read more »

Teacher learned values as child
By Nicole King - nico...@amarillo.com

Palo Duro assistant football and basketball coach Michael Jackson was the featured speaker at the 8th Annual Amarillo NAACP Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. Jackson has been married to his wife, Idella, for 12 years. The couple has three children. Jackson, 35, is also a history teacher.

Q: You weren’t alive when King was. What were you told of King growing up?

A: My mother, who will be 84, and my aunt told me a lot of things. Myself, I like history a lot, and I had a history teacher when I was in school that was African- American. Also, I’ve learned from the older educators around here. If you can read, you can learn.

Q: What do you think King would think of today’s society?

A: I think he’d disagree with a lot of stuff. When he died, we were in the Vietnam conflict. I don’t think he’d agree with the conflict we’re in right now. I don’t think he’d agree with the education system now. I don’t think he’d agree with segregation the way it is. I don’t think the community, in general, is as close as it used to be. Some of the discipline things, I think he would say we could do a better job of. The economic side of it, I think he would say that we could do a better job.

Q: As a teacher, do you see yourself as a role model for students?

A: I’m a role model. The kids have it easier than when I was growing up. The kids today, they want things easier and they get in trouble. I wanted things and I kept working. There are some kids who really work hard and keep working. It’s a different world today.

Q: How is it different today than when you were a kid?

A: I guess I was different. I feared my mom, and I didn’t want to do anything that I had to tell my parents about. Kids are different today.

Q: What do you see as issues facing today’s black community?

A: Issues that affect everybody. Parenting, no father-figure there, teen pregnancy. Education-wise, getting back to basics. Tell (students) that they can achieve some things with education.

This page contains my random thoughts. They could change frequently, or seldom, as my moods suggest, depending on news items or other events that motivate me and arouse my passions.

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed. A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,Then one day he was shootin at some food, And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.

Oops, I’m sorry, wrong tune.

This is the story of 55-year-old Timothy Elliott, a two time convicted bank robber. Mr Elliott was first convicted of armed robbery and Larceny in 2001 and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the Barnstable County House of Correction. Now fast forward to 2006 where Mr. Elliott pleaded guilty to the unarmed robbery or a Cape Cod bank. The Massachusetts Court ordered Mr. Elliott to five years probation and to undergo treatment through the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Also as part of his probation the Court issued the following conditions: “to not gamble, purchase lottery tickets, or visit establishments where gaming is conducted, including restaurants where Keno may be played.”

While it’s not clear why the anti-gambling conditions were placed upon Mr. Elliott, nevertheless it was a court ordered requirement.

Mr. Elliott was being evaluated and treated at Massachusetts’ Taunton State Hospital as ordered by the court, were he was allowed to leave his treatment facility unsupervised during the day. On Friday November 23, 2007 Mr. Elliott walked into a Hyannis Massachusetts convenience store and purchased a $10 lottery scratch-off ticket.

Turns out that the ticket was a $million dollar winner!!! Oops!!! Now he’s got a million dollar problem.

How would you approach this situation?

• Send a friend to collect your winnings?
• Or contrive some other scheme to collect?

Well, Mr. Elliott did the honest thing, he went to claim the winnings himself. Two days after scratching the winning ticket, he claimed the first of his 20 year annual payouts $50,0000 - about $35,000 after taxes. He also earned himself another court date to determine the penalties for violating his probation and what happens to the winnings.

Now was honesty really the best policy?

Yes!!!!, the Massachusetts judge ruled that Mr. Elliott can keep his winnings even though he violated probation when he purchased the lottery scratch-off ticket.

On a final note, when placed on probation for the last bank robbery, the $65 monthly probation fee was waived because Mr. Elliott was indigent. The fee has been reinstated.

Frizell Elease Terrell Williams, 71, of Amarillo died Monday, Jan. 14, 2008.

Services were at 11 a.m. Monday January 21, 2008 in Greater Love Temple with the Rev. Jackie Riles, pastor, officiating. Burial in Llano Cemetery by Warford-Walker Mortuary, 509 N. Hughes St.

Frizell Elease Terrell Williams was born May 9, 1936, in Avery, Ga. She was the daughter of Stafford Terrell and Lizzie Brassell-Terrell. She was married for 35 years to Johnnie Williams.

Elease was a faithful member of Greater Love Temple and well-known in the Texas and Georgia communities as “Kiddo.” She also acquired the name “Aunt Old School.” She loved going to church, cooking, baking, quilting, and on special occasions, she loved to make her famous potato salad. She was also an avid bowler with many accolades, such as State Champion Texas Women’s Bowling Association, Division 4 Doubles Champion in 1998.

Elease also worked and volunteered at the Amarillo United Citizens Forum Black Historical Cultural Center.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Lizzie Brassell-Terrell; a sister, Lovie Austin; and two brothers, Walter Terrell and Allen Terrell.

Survivors she leaves to cherish her memory include her husband, Johnnie Williams; a son, Johnnie Keith Williams; three sisters, Classie Roberts and Hester Joan Hines, both of Stapleton, Ga., and Vivian Gibson of Augusta, Ga.; two brothers-in-law, Gene Austin of San Francisco and Jimmie Roberts, husband of Classie; a goddaughter, Sarah Brazier and her two daughters, Danelle and Sandra Brazier and their children, who called her Ms. Alamese; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Most qualified candidate with over 27 years, of Law Enforcement Experience with the Texas Department of Public Safety as a State Trooper and as a Sergeant of Criminal Intelligence Service. Frank’s Goals to Improve the Potter County Sheriff’s Office.

• Bring potential revenue to Potter County by creating a “Narcotics Interdiction Unit”

• Re-establish the respect and integrity of the Sheriff’s Office

• Re-establish good relationships with local Law Enforcement Agencies

• Hold quarterly “open” meetings throughout the county to hear the issues and concerns of the citizens

• Work with Commissioner’s Court for the benefit of all citizens of the County

• Correct the deficiencies in the Co. Detention Center and address the need for future expansion

• Experience which will bring strong training values

• Increase security where it is needed within Potter County buildings

Respect, Integrity, and Service are the words that describe Frank Frausto on a personal level as well as on a professional platform. Born in Morton, Texas on November 13, 1955, he was the fourth born child of six children to Frank Frausto Sr. and Maria Elena Frausto. After Frank suffered the loss of his father when he was only five years of age, his mother raised their family on her own in the San Antonio Area. It was because of her dedication and love that she became his hero. He is the father of two sons, a daughter, and a proud grandfather of three.

Read more »

Educating Children of Color—A Summit
by L. Arthalia Cravin

The word “summit” means “the highest point or part of a hill, or the highest point of attainment or aspiration.” Government officials often meet in exclusive and highly guarded places in order to discuss diplomatic or other governmental business of an important nature. The word “summit” connotes urgency, or a condition that has reached a crisis.

This past Saturday I attended a summit called “Educating Children of Color.” It was held on the campus of Colorado College in Colorado Springs. The college itself was founded in 1874 and has a history of being unkind to the educational needs of black students. One local historian, the late Mrs. Lulu Pollard, who was born in Colorado Springs and died in 2007, often shared her own family’s history as it related to Colorado College. More specifically, one of her brother’s obtained degrees from Colorado College in the 1950s with superior grades and honors but was told that he could be a janitor at the college but not teach. This small fact is not unusual because Colorado Springs itself has a history that roughly parallels the Deep South’s treatment of African Americans, including the Ku Klux Klan. But as the phrase goes, “We’ve come a long way.” But on the matter of education, have we really? I would venture to guess that the number of individuals “of color” attending the summit exceeded the number of peoples of color who have graduated from Colorado College during its 133 year history. In attempting to get information on the number of “people of color” who have graduated from Colorado College, I was given the royal runaround-a la, “Who do you write for and what are you writing about?”

Read more »