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IHOP® RESTAURANTS CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY WITH 57 CENT SHORT STACKS OF BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

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Birmingham Times
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Ribbon cutting for Cahaba Road improvements set for July 1

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Birmingham Times
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Mayor William A. Bell, Sr. Addresses City Improvements at Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Botanical Gardens Roundabout

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BIRMINGHAM, AL – On Wednesday, July 1, City of Birmingham Mayor William A. Bell, Sr. will address the Birmingham City Cahaba Road project at a ribbon cutting ceremony to highlight the recent improvements to the Cahaba Road roundabout connector between the Birmingham Zoo (the “Zoo”) and Birmingham Botanical Gardens (“The Gardens”). In addition to Mayor Bell, attendees will include members of the Birmingham City Council, community leaders from the Birmingham vicinity, representatives from Sain Associates, Alabama Department of Transportation, Veteran’s Landscaping Company, Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. This project was made possible by Mayor Bell, the City of Birmingham, Representative Spencer Bachus and Nimrod Long. The ceremony will be located at the new roundabout between the two attractions, beginning at 10 a.m.

 “This project connects two great attractions, making them one ultimate destination. This work symbolizes a great partnership between the City of Birmingham, Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Birmingham Zoo. Working closely together, we are continuing to make the City of Birmingham better for all of its residents and for all of our visitors,” states Mayor Bell.

The recent improvements to Cahaba Road include a new roundabout, bike paths, new and wider sidewalks, additional lighting, a new entrance to the Zoo and to The Gardens, among other updates. These updates are expected to create a safer entry to the two attractions, ease of traffic flow, more convenient pedestrian accessibility and improved aesthetics for the surrounding community. The new improvements create an instant connectivity between The Gardens and the Zoo, allowing guests of the Zoo and The Gardens to enjoy both attractions with a single park of their car.

Birmingham Botanical Gardens Executive Director and CEO, Frederick R. Spicer, Jr., states, “We at The Gardens are certainly fortunate to have the Birmingham Zoo as across-the-street neighbors on Cahaba Road. Now, thanks to a federal SAFETEA grant, former U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus’ efforts and matching funds from the City of Birmingham, that road is much safer and much more beautiful. These improvements will enable the pedestrian connectivity in our neighborhood that we have long sought.”

About Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Birmingham Botanical Gardens is Alabama’s largest living museum with more than 12,000 different plants in its living collections. The Gardens’ 67.5 acres contains more than 25 unique gardens, 30+ works of original outdoor sculpture and miles of serene paths. The Gardens features the largest public horticulture library in the U.S., conservatories, a wildflower garden, two rose gardens, the Southern Living garden, and Japanese Gardens with a traditionally crafted tea house. Education programs run year round and more than 11,000 school children enjoy free science-curriculum based field trips annually. The Gardens is open daily, offering free admission to more than 350,000 yearly visitors.

About Birmingham Zoo

Approximately 950 animals of 230 species call the Birmingham Zoo home, including sea lions, zebras, rhinos and endangered species from six continents. The Birmingham Zoo is open daily from 9am to 5pm.  Regular admission is $15* for adults and $10* for senior citizens and children ages 2-12 (*Price not including tax). All Birmingham Zoo Members and children under two-years-old receive free regular admission.

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The Mass Black Male Graduation Ceremony 2015

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Birmingham Times
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2The Mass Black Male Graduation Ceremony 2015
June 20, 2015
Elders in Front, Graduates in Back at Metropolitan Apostolic Church
Black male elementary, high school and college graduates watch African drummers invoke the spirit of past elders into the ceremony.
Black male graduates listen closely for advice and tips to success at Metropolitan Apostolic Church.

 
Graduates were from elementary, high schools, and colleges throughout Chicago.

 
Elder Attorney Keynote Speaker James Montgomery extends a hand of help and hope to the young graduates.

 
Young Warrior Speaker Jasiri X, Hip Hop Artist and Activist from Pittsburgh, inspires graduates to work for change.

 

These are some of the top Black male readers in the country who were awarded large cash prizes for reading well, not basketball, not sports, not dancing or rapping. First place was $250.00.
These are some of the top Black male readers in the country (Reading Warriors) who were awarded large cash prizes for reading well–not basketball, not sports, not dancing or rapping. First place was $250.00.  Nine large cash awards were presented to readers.


There was no news coverage of this event even though we sent five media advisories to every television station, many radio stations, and all the major newspapers in Chicago.  If one of our boys had started shooting in the church, we would have led on the 10:00 pm national news! But because we were celebrating the kind of achievement that can turn around the violence, poor education and economic despair in the Black community, it seemed that no one was interested.  Even Black people were not interested.  Two day earlier, 2 million people turned out to cheer on the Black Hawks.  We seem to have our priorities straight! – Phillip Jackson, The Black Star Project

(All photos by Billy Montgomery and Catherine Jackson)

 

MAYORS OF PHOENIX AND BLACKSBURG (VA) WIN 1ST PLACE FOR LOCAL CLIMATE PROTECTION EFFORTS

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Birmingham Times
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Award Winners Announced at U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting in San Francisco

San Francisco, CA – Phoenix and Blacksburg, VA are the nation’s top winners in the 2015 Mayors’ Climate Protection Awards, an initiative sponsored by The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Walmart.  The winners were announced today during the Mayors’ Climate Protection Awards luncheon, which was held in conjunction with USCM’s 83rd Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

The annual awards program, now in its ninth year, recognizes mayors for innovative programs that increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An independent panel of judges selected the winners from a pool of applicants.

“Mayor Stanton and Mayor Rordam are changing the energy future of their cities and the nation, showing how local innovation can offer solutions to our growing climate challenges,” said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. “Mayoral leadership and successful local initiatives are a crucial part of our nation’s arsenal in combating climate-harming emissions.  The programs we are saluting today truly qualify as City-3.0 solutions.”

  

“We congratulate the winning mayors, especially Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam, for their leadership in showing how curbing greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency and solar also boosts local economies and quality of life in our communities,” said Brian Monahan, Walmart.com’s Vice President of Marketing. “Cities and businesses together know that we can grow smarter and be more efficient in the use of our energy and other resources.” 

“Energize Phoenix was a remarkably successful energy efficiency program that is saving local businesses and residents $12 million every year,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “With this public-private partnership, we turned an urban corridor into a green urban corridor, and transformed tens of millions of square feet of commercial and residential space into shining examples of how cities can take the lead in creating a more sustainable future.”

 

“Our citizens who took part in Solarize Blacksburg and our town are the real winners,” said Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam. “We are also so pleased to see so many other Virginia communities following our lead on solar energy, as all of us move toward a future of clean energy.”

 

 “Since 1970 when the mayors of this nation supported the first Earth Day, mayors have been leading the world in showing how to confront our climate challenges,” said Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran. “Our nation’s cities could do so much more if other governmental leaders could simply agree that supporting mayors and their efforts is a bipartisan option for addressing the energy and climate challenges before all of us.”

 

FIRST PLACE WINNERS

Phoenix, AZ Mayor Greg Stanton — $25,000 for the Energize Phoenix Program, a three-year program to incentivize building energy efficiency improvements along an urban corridor served by light rail.  Phoenix’s Energize Phoenix Program (EPHX), a large-scale, three-year building energy efficiency program, has catalyzed $56 million in energy upgrades along a 10-square-mile urban corridor of Phoenix surrounding the newly-constructed Metro light rail.  Phoenix partnered with Arizona State University and APS (Arizona’s largest electricity provider) to leverage $25 million in program funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and $31 million in utility funding to transform the downtown core into a green corridor. It focused on a diverse mix of single- and multi-family residential buildings and small commercial buildings offering significant rebates and financing for energy efficient upgrades.  (Large City Category – population over 100,000)

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burg, VA Mayor Ron Rordam — $15,000 for his Solarize Blacksburg to support the increased use of solar energy by city resident. In early 2014, the Town of Blacksburg launched Solarize Blacksburg, the first initiative of its kind in Virginia, to make solar energy more affordable and less complicated for the average citizen. Working with local solar installers, the town and its community partners assumed resonsiblity for a number of front-end costs – engaging the public, marketing the program, performing satellite roof assessments, and arranging favorable financing, among other activities – in exchange for reduced installation costs for the homeowner, lowering costs by 16 percent with an average savings to homeowners of $3,256 per installed solar array. To date, 21 other Virginia communities have followed the city’s lead and created “Solarize” programs in their own communities.

(Small City Category – population under 100,000)

In addition to the first place winners, Honorable Mentions were awarded to mayors in five large cities and five small cities for their exceptional achievements in efforts to promote climate protection:

LARGE CITY HONORABLE MENTIONS:  Steve Adler, Mayor of Austin (TX), Marni L. Sawicki, Mayor of Cape Coral (FL),

Michael B. Coleman, Mayor of Columbus (OH), Gregory A. Ballard, Mayor of Indianapolis, (IN), Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville (KY)

SMALL CITY HONORABLE MENTIONS:  Lioneld Jordan, Mayor of Fayetteville (AR), Jonathan F. Mitchell, Mayor of New Bedford (CT), Setti Warren, Mayor of Newton (MA), Kevin McKeown, Mayor of Santa Monica (CA), Laurel Lunt Prussing, Mayor of Urbana (IL)

Brief descriptions of ALL winning programs can be found at: usmayors.org/climateprotection/2015awardees.

For more information about USCM’s 83rd Annual Conference, please visit www.usmayors.org.

About The United States Conference of Mayors — The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

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Registration under way for Be Someone Summer Leadership Chess Camp

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Birmingham Times
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As founder and the driving force behind the Be Someone (www.besomeone.org), mentoring program, Orrin Hudson works with young people, helping them to build productive, fulfilling futures.
Since founding the nonprofit, Be Someone, in 2001, Hudson has taught more than 40,000 kids across the nation the meaning of making every move count and the program continues to expand.
“My goal is to mentor 1 million students in all 50 states by 2020. I need the help of dedicated business people, community leaders and educators to continue this work,” Hudson said.
Hudson will be conducting a nine-week Summer Leadership Chess Camp for ages 6-19 June 22—Aug. 6. Half-day training will be offered 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and full-day training will be offered 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Be Someone Training Center, 949 Stephenson Road, Stone Mountain.
Investment for this world-class training is $99 per week for the half-day sessions and $149 per week for the full-day sessions. Early drop-off and late pick-ups are also available. Seats are limited.
To enroll or sponsor a camper, call 770-465-6445 or e-mail  orrin@besomeone.org.

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Friend Says Charleston Church Shooter Showed Signs Of Racial Hatred, Feared ‘Blacks Were Taking Over the World’

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Birmingham Times
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LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — In recent weeks, Dylann Storm Roof reconnected with a childhood buddy he hadn’t seen in five years and started railing about the Trayvon Martin case, about black people “taking over the world” and about the need for someone to do something about it for the sake of “the white race,” the friend said Thursday.

On Thursday, Roof, 21, was arrested in the shooting deaths of nine people during a prayer meeting at a historic black church in Charleston — an attack decried by stunned community leaders and politicians as a hate crime.

In the hours after the Wednesday night bloodbath, a portrait began to take shape of Roof as someone with racist views and at least two recent run-ins with the law. On his Facebook page, the young white man wore a jacket with the flags of the former white-racist regimes of South Africa and Rhodesia.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Joseph Meek Jr. said he and Roof had been best friends in middle school but lost touch when Roof moved away about five years ago. The two reconnected a few weeks ago after Roof reached out to Meek on Facebook, Meek said.

Roof never talked about race years ago when they were friends, but recently made remarks out of the blue about the killing of unarmed black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida and the riots in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, Meek said.

“He said blacks were taking over the world. Someone needed to do something about it for the white race,” Meek said, adding that the friends were getting drunk on vodka. “He said he wanted segregation between whites and blacks. I said, ‘That’s not the way it should be.’ But he kept talking about it.”

Meeks said Roof also told him that he had used birthday money from his parents to buy a gun and that he had “a plan.” He didn’t elaborate on what it was, but Meeks said he was worried — and said he knew Roof had the “Glock” — a .45 caliber pistol — in the trunk of his car.

Meek said he took the gun from the trunk of Roof’s car and hid it in his house, just in case.

“I didn’t think he would do anything,” he said.

But the next day, when Roof was sober, he gave it back.

Meek said that when he woke up Wednesday morning, Roof was at his house, sleeping in his car outside. Later that day, Roof dropped Meek off at a lake with his brother Jacob, but Roof hated the outdoors and decided he would rather go see a movie.

Jacob said that when he got in the car, Roof told him he should be careful moving his backpack in the car because of the “magazines.”

Jacob said he thought Roof was referring to periodicals, not the devices that store ammunition.

“Now it all makes sense,” he said.

Joseph Meek said he didn’t see his friend again until a surveillance-camera image of a young man with a soup-bowl haircut was broadcast on television Thursday morning in the wake of the shooting. Meek said he didn’t think twice about calling authorities.

“I didn’t THINK it was him. I KNEW it was him,” he said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group that tracks hate organizations and extremists, said it was not aware of Roof before the rampage. And some other friends interviewed said they did not know him to be racist.

“I never thought he’d do something like this,” said high school friend Antonio Metze, 19, who is black. “He had black friends.”

Roof used to skateboard while growing up in the Lexington area and had long hair back then. He attended high school in Lexington and in nearby Columbia from 2008 to 2010, school officials said. It was not immediately clear whether he graduated.

“He was pretty smart,” Metze said.

Meek’s mother, Kimberly Konzny, said she and her son instantly recognized Roof in the surveillance camera image because Roof had the same stained sweatshirt he wore while playing Xbox video games in their home recently. It was stained because he had worked at a landscaping and pest control business, she said.

“I don’t know what was going through his head,” she said. “He was a really sweet kid. He was quiet. He only had a few friends.”

State court records for Roof as an adult show a misdemeanor drug case from March that was pending against him and a misdemeanor trespassing charge from April. Authorities had no immediate details. As for any earlier offenses, juvenile records are generally sealed in South Carolina.

Court records list no attorney for him.

Meek said Roof’s mother and her boyfriend live in Lexington, and his father lives in Columbia.

Roof displayed a Confederate flag on his license plate, according to Konzny, but that is not unusual in the South.

His Facebook profile picture showed him wearing a jacket with a green-and-white flag patch, the emblem of white-ruled Rhodesia, the African country that became Zimbabwe in 1980. Another patch showed the South African flag from the era of white minority rule that ended in the 1990s.

In Montgomery, Alabama, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Richard Cohen, said it is unclear whether Roof had any connection to any of the 16 white supremacist organizations the SPLC has identified as operating in South Carolina.

But Cohen said that based on Roof’s Facebook page, he appeared to be a “disaffected white supremacist.”

In a statement, Cohen said the church attack is a reminder that while the post-Sept. 11 U.S. is focused on jihadi terrorism, the threat of homegrown extremism is “very real.” Since 2000, the SPLC has seen an increase in the number of hate groups in the U.S., Cohen said.

“The increase has been driven by a backlash to the country’s increasing racial diversity, an increase symbolized for many by the presence of an African American in the White House,” he said.

White suspect confesses to deadly attack on black U.S. church – CNN

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Birmingham Times
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CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – A 21-year-old white man confessed to shooting dead nine black people at a historic South Carolina church, and hoped his actions would start a race war in the United States, CNN reported on Friday, citing unnamed law enforcement officials.

Charleston Police spokesman Charles Francis declined to comment on the reports of a confession.

Dylann Roof is due to face a bail hearing later on Friday, where he will appear by video link from the Charleston-area detention center, to which he was brought by police following his arrest in North Carolina, 220 miles (354 km) north of the nearly 200-year-old Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dylann Roof is seen in this June 18, 2015 handout booking photo provided by Charleston County Sheriff's Office. Roof, a 21-year-old white man, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of having fatally shot nine people at a historic African-American church in South Carolina. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Wednesday's attack as a hate crime, motivated by racism or other prejudice.
© Charleston County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via Reuters Dylann Roof is seen in this June 18, 2015 handout booking photo provided by Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. Roof, a 21-year-old white man, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of…

U.S. officials are investigating Roof’s attack, in which four ministers were killed including a Democratic state senator, as a hate crime. It comes in a year of turmoil in the United States, where police killings of several unarmed black men has provoked angry national debates about race relations, policing and the criminal justice system.

Roof had intended to set off new racial confrontations with his attack, CNN reported, citing a law enforcement source. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley told NBC’s “Today” show on Friday that she would prefer to see Roof tried on state charges and believed state prosecutors should pursue a death sentence.

“This is an absolute hate crime,” Haley said. “We’ve been talking with the investigators because we’ve been going through the interviews, they said they looked pure evil in the eye.”

 

South Carolina is one of just five U.S. states that does not have a hate crime law, which typically imposes additional penalties on crimes committed because of a victim’s race, gender or sexual orientation.

President Barack Obama said Thursday the attack stirred up “a dark part” of U.S. history and illustrated the continuing dangers of the nation’s liberal gun laws, which gun-rights supporters say are protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The church, known as “Mother Emanuel,” was founded in the early 19th century by black worshippers who were limited in how they could practice their faith at white-dominated churches. Burned to the ground in the late 1820s when one of its founders drafted plans for a slave revolt, the church was later rebuilt.

Compounding anger over the incident, the South Carolina capital continues to fly the Confederate battle flag, that was the symbol of the pro-slavery South during the U.S. Civil War.

  • Police stand outside the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
    Police stand outside the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
  • Police identified Roof as the shooter who opened fire during a prayer meeting inside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, June 17, 2015, killing several people.
    Police identified Roof as the shooter who opened fire during a prayer meeting inside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, June 17, 2015, killing several people.
  • Police respond to a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston, a U.S. police official said.
    Police respond to a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston, a U.S. police official said.
  • Police respond to a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, and was still at large, a U.S. police official said.
    Police respond to a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, and was still at large, a U.S. police official said.
  • Worshippers embrace following a group prayer across the street from the scene of a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
    Worshippers embrace following a group prayer across the street from the scene of a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
  • A police officer uses a flashlight while searching the area following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
    A police officer uses a flashlight while searching the area following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
  • A man looks on as a group of people arrive inquiring about a shooting across the street Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
    A man looks on as a group of people arrive inquiring about a shooting across the street Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
  • Police close off a section of Calhoun Street near the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
    Police close off a section of Calhoun Street near the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
  • A suspect is arrested as police respond to a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston.
    A suspect is arrested as police respond to a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston.
  • Lisa Doctor joins a prayer circle down the street from the Emanuel AME Church early Thursday, June 18, 2015 following a shooting Wednesday night in Charleston, S.C.
    Lisa Doctor joins a prayer circle down the street from the Emanuel AME Church early Thursday, June 18, 2015 following a shooting Wednesday night in Charleston, S.C.
  • Police walk down the street from the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. ()
    Police walk down the street from the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. ()
  • People concerned about relatives seek information from police nearby the scene of a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston.
    People concerned about relatives seek information from police nearby the scene of a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 17, 2015. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston.
  • Worshippers gather to pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the scene of a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
    Worshippers gather to pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the scene of a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
9/13 SLIDES © Randall Hill/Reuters

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In addition to the church’s leader and Democratic state Senator Clementa Pinckney, other victims included three pastors – DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49; Sharonda Coleman Singleton, 45; and Reverend Daniel Simmons, 74.

Also killed were Cynthia Hurd, 54, a public library employee; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; Tywanza Sanders, 26; and Myra Thompson 59, an associate pastor at the church, according to the county coroner.

Area residents, including a group of nuns, filed past the historic church early Friday that was the site of Wednesday’s shooting. Many tearfully offered prayers and left flowers near the line of yellow police tape, behind which law enforcement agents continued to gather evidence.

 

Article: Harriet McLeod

What Is a Father in Today’s Society?

By
Birmingham Times
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What Is a Father in Today’s Society?

Kimla Lemmons-Greene

With Father’s Day rapidly approaching I started pondering who really is a father and what the difference is between a father and a Daddy, so I did the only thing I knew to do to get a semi politically correct answer, I Goggled it.  What I discovered was amazing:  A father has to actually donate his sperm for the child to be conceived and a daddy is the informal word used for father or is used as a term of endearment.

I found this to be somewhat perplexing since I was reared by my stepfather but never called him daddy.  My father who donated his sperm to create us did everything short of killing my brother and me yet we refer to him as “Daddy”.  I will go to my grave giving my stepfather the respect due a father.  He did everything including working two and sometimes three jobs to provide for three children that he inherited when he married my mother. So to all the hard working men who have sacrificed and reared children that they didn’t donate their sperm to create, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

Now, for all the single mothers acting as both parents such as myself I commend you!  I know how difficult and frustrating it can be rearing children alone with and without a support system. I know what it’s like to work two jobs just to keep the essentials in the house. To you I say, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

Now for the more complicated and often delicate matter of two mommies or two daddies let me express that I don’t weigh in on this subject for or against.  The way I view it is if there is a child with no parents what is the problem with having gay or lesbian parents?  As long as they provide a loving household and the upbringing that will produce a productive well functioning member of society, to them I say HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

I know that there will be those who will frown up my final scenario of who should receive kudos for being more than daddies or sperm donors and to you I say, “Unless you have an adopted child that you are rearing or a foster child that you are rearing, sit back and let the FATHER’S enjoy their day!

Now if you have gone over and beyond what the court has ordered you to do and you spend as much time with your child/children as you can or maybe you’re behind on your payments, but you still provide what you can in a timely manner and still are an active part of your child/children life, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

If you are a sperm donor that hasn’t spent more than six months with your child/children whether it was all at one time or in increments you don’t qualify for a FATHER’S DAY well wish.  If you are court ordered to pay child support and you have ignored this order you should already know you don’t qualify. If you haven’t tried to make some type of provisions for your child or children you are just that a sperm donor. Last time I checked they didn’t have an official holiday for you.

To all of the true fathers no matter what capacity you may be in I wish you a VERY HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

 

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Kimla Lemmons-Greene Biography

I am a newly published freelance writer.  I live in Mayflower, Ar.
with my two children. I have a BA in Mass Communications from the
University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

Who Should We Wish a “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY”To?

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Birmingham Times
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Who Should We Wish a “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY”To?

Kimla Lemmons-Greene

With 83% of families in this country being headed by single mothers who should get FATHER’S DAY well wishes and gifts?  Long gone are the days where the household consisted of one mother and one father and 2.5 children (how do you get .5 of a child)? In today’s complex society you have single mothers doing the jobs of both parents and to them that are holding it down for both parents I say,” HAPPY FATHER’S DAY”!!!  Being a single mother who has a nonexistent support system and no child support I know how frustrating life can be.  But, hold on every year you get older so do your child/children, and soon the struggle will hopefully be over.  I would not dare forget to acknowledge you when you and you alone do the job of two people.

To the single fathers that don’t have legal custody of your children, yet you spend time with them and go over and beyond what the courts have ordered you to pay, I wish you a HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!To the father’s of children whom your DNA did not help to create I say, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!

I want to especially thank you because you’re doing the job another man created yet didn’t feel the benefits were worth waiting for.  For example look at such people as basketball great Shaquille O’Neal and comedian D.L. Hughley whose biological fathers chose not to be a part of their lives until they had achieved fame and fortune.  There are more examples of deadbeat dads than I have time to write about in this column, but now that their DNA has 1produced a human being of wealth that they didn’t contribute to and all I can say to them is shame on you!

Now we get to the sensitive subject of gay and lesbian parents who have opted to take a child that would still be in the system hoping and praying for a family to adopt or foster them just so they can have a stable home.  I am not going to say it’s wrong or right for two mommies or two daddies to rear a child.  What I am going to say is as long as that child is removed from the system and is placed in a loving home where they can grow up to be productive human beings in society, to the parents I say:  “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY”!

To all the parents who like my stepfather took on the responsibility of raising three children that had none of his DNA, but was humble enough to give us the best life he could afford.  I say to him and all the men like him:  “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY”!

If you were fortunate enough to be reared in the home with the father whom you share the same DNA with please take the time to at least thank him for providing you his DNA.  I realize that all men that provide their DNA to help create a child are not fathers but merely sperm donors that mothers have chosen to stay with.  However, if this does not fit you and your upbringing by all means celebrate and wish that man a “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY”!!!

Now for my final point if you have been court ordered to pay child support and haven’t, please don’t expect anything on June 21, 2015.  If you haven’t spent time or spent any money on your child/children you should not expect any sort of kudos on Father’s Day.  This is a day set aside to recognize those who have provided, nurtured, and spent time with the child/children they helped to create, or chose to rear. For you the only thing I can say is there’s always next year.To everyone serving in the capacity of a father HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

 

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Kimla Lemmons-Greene Biography

I am a newly published freelance writer.  I live in Mayflower, Ar.
with my two children. I have a BA in Mass Communications from the
University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS of Republican Politicians

By
Birmingham Times
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0

    THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
       of Republican Politicians

1.YOU SHOULD WORSHIP NO OTHER GOD
Except McCain has a net worth over $10,000,000; Romney over $200,000,000
Except they wanted churches to receive federal tax dollars
Except they regularly ignore the golden rule

2. YOU SHOULD NOT MAKE YOURSELVES ANY IDOL
Except with invulnerable nuclear submarines, they wanted to excessively fund the military
Except they wanted to place a fallible Star Wars system into the heavens
Except they wanted to budget $4.2 billion or $17 per American for bomb shelters in the 1980s

3. YOU SHALL NOT USE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD IN VAIN
Except they condoned Reagan making decisions based on astrology
Except George W. Bush and McCain regularly used profanity throughout their adult life
Except they regularly rebuke the Spirit of Jesus Christ

4.REMEMBER TO OBSERVE THE SABBATH
Except Bush and McCain seldom went to church as adults
Except they condoned Bush taking 1,020 days of vacation as president
Except they do not practice faith, hope and charity

5. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER
Except for decades, they opposed health care reform for mothers and fathers
Except Bush and McCain were lazy and mediocre students
Except Bush, McCain and Romney lived off the names of their fathers

6. YOU SHALL NOT KILL
Except they have condoned 3,000,000 child malnutrition deaths per year
Except for decades, they have opposed stronger gun control laws
Except they regularly try to weaken the Endangered Species Act

7. YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY
Except for Gingrich, Governor Sanford, Governor Arnold, Senators Vitter and Ensign, etc.
Except Bush and McCain were womanizers for a decade
Except McCain filed to marry Cindy while still legally married to his first wife

8.YOU SHALL NOT STEAL
Except they want corporations to pay little or no taxes
Except they want the very rich to have non-taxed foreign bank accounts
Except they want the 99 percent to pay more taxes

9. YOU SHALL NOT LIE
Except they repeatedly misled the public about Iraq
Except Romney flip-flopped at least six times on major positions in 2012
Except they tend not to believe global warming can contribute to droughts and fires

10. YOU SHOULD NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S POSSESSIONS
Except they regularly take from the middle class and give to the very wealthy
Except they were in power when the economy started to collapse before the 2008 election
Except they teach apathy (not love) of three billion poor neighbors

Sandy McKay
Cedan City, UT

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