100 Black Men

You knew the tone was set for a sophisticated evening the minute you walked into Martin West's ballroom and were greeted by the sounds of a cool jazz combo at the 10th anniversary Spring Gala for 100 Black Men of Maryland, Inc. Gorgeous gowns and dapper tuxedos on the 750 guests lent further luster to the night. On 100 Black Men members were the added accouterments of kente cloths draped around their tux lapels. Included in the gathering: Walter Carr Jr., event chair; Cleve Brister and Roscoe T. Heigh, event committee members; Rick Larry, 100 Black Men of Maryland board president; Stanley Hackett, Turhan Robinson, Terry Evelyn, Mel Bates, Joseph Smothers Jr. and Kenneth L. Webster, board members; Howard Tucker, 100 Black Men executive director; Michelle McBride, Bon Secours Baltimore Health System managed care executive director; Calvin Street, Maryland Department of Human Resources deputy secretary; Loretta Henry, Food Lion diversity coordinator; Donna Stanley, Associated Black Charities executive director; H. Bernie Jackson, B.J.R.

The annual holiday brunch is always a festive get-together for members and supporters of 100 Black Men of Maryland. But this year, comfort and joy seemed to take on an extra dimension. "This seems like one of the biggest crowds we've ever had," noted president Ray Lucas, as he and event chairman Guy Bragg watched hundreds of people stream into the Martin's West ballroom. "In this kind of economy, this just gives me goose bumps," Lucas added. Members Almie McIntyre Jr. and Mel Bates stood inside the ballroom door, greeting guests.

100 Black Men of Maryland offered helpings of comfort, food and joy at its ninth annual Christmas brunch. About 850 merry gentlemen and women gathered -- to dine, dance and even do last-minute holiday shopping at vendors' tables at the Martin's West event.Exchanging season's greetings: Howard Tucker, 100 Black Men president; Dr. Warren Hayman, vice president; Walter Carr and Rick Larry, brunch co-chairs; Charles Barnum, Teddy Russell and Kenny Webster, brunch committee members; Dr. Thelma Daley, national chair of the NAACP convention; Jasper Cummings, director of alumni relations of Sojourner-Douglass College; Colles Corprew, Baltimore City minority business coordinator; Roslyn Smith, human resources manager at Northrop Grumman; and Chief Judge Robert Bell, Maryland Court of Appeals.

The city of Baltimore is looking to recruit 100 black men to serve as mentors to male youths in some of its most troubled middle and high schools. The initiative, organized by the Urban Leadership Institute, was partly prompted by the increase in violent incidents and disruptions at many city schools this fall. The goal is to give students role models, said David Miller, chief visionary officer for the Leadership Institute, a consulting firm that designs programs for urban youth. About 90 percent of city students are black.

Kenneth Davis knows about the lure of the streets. The West Baltimore youth has friends who gave in to temptations of easy money and glittering jewelry and dealt drugs."

The city of Baltimore is looking to recruit 100 black men to serve as mentors to male youths in some of its most troubled middle and high schools. The initiative, organized by the Urban Leadership Institute, was partly prompted by the increase in violent incidents and disruptions at many city schools this fall. The goal is to give students role models, said David Miller, chief visionary officer for the Leadership Institute, a consulting firm that designs programs for urban youth. About 90 percent of city students are black.

The 100 Black Men of Maryland Inc. held its third African American History Challenge on Saturday - and Oakland Mills Middle School won. Middle school teams from Baltimore City and Prince George's County also participated in the competition, held on the campus of the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville. The youths answered a series of questions about people, places and events in black history. Oakland Mills team members Tiffany Goins, Britanny Harris and Amanda Monique Cobbins each received a certificate, a trophy, a T--shirt and a $50 savings bond.

Donald Everett Rigby, a Baltimore native who as a youth mentor and counselor used an "open door" policy to befriend numerous city youths, died Wednesday of cancer at his Northwest Baltimore home.Mr. Rigby, 64, not only advised and taught disadvantaged youths since the 1980s, but acted as a big brother for many."He was simply just good with children, and children seemed to gravitate to him like a magnet," said his wife, the former Vivian Morgan, whom he married in 1956. "It was just natural that they liked each other."

In Baltimore City Man gets 25 years in prison for robbing woman in her home A Baltimore man was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday in city Circuit Court after being convicted of robbing an elderly woman at gunpoint in her Ashburton home, then leaving her tied up in a basement closet. A jury convicted Michael Brown, 38, of the 3400 block of Copley Road on April 9 of robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and using a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence.

DENVER -- After a 3-year-old boy was killed in a drive-by shooting in December, 100 black men fanned out through a black neighborhood here. They knocked on doors until leads resulted in three arrests several days later.After rival gangs firebombed four houses in the same northeast Denver neighborhood in January, more than 1,000 men turned out for a five-hour protest rally, the All Black Men Conference. The firebombings stopped.It has been nearly six months since the Million Man March, the gathering of hundreds of thousands of black men in Washington in October organized by the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan.

In Baltimore City Man gets 25 years in prison for robbing woman in her home A Baltimore man was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday in city Circuit Court after being convicted of robbing an elderly woman at gunpoint in her Ashburton home, then leaving her tied up in a basement closet. A jury convicted Michael Brown, 38, of the 3400 block of Copley Road on April 9 of robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and using a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence.

The 100 Black Men of Maryland Inc. held its third African American History Challenge on Saturday - and Oakland Mills Middle School won. Middle school teams from Baltimore City and Prince George's County also participated in the competition, held on the campus of the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville. The youths answered a series of questions about people, places and events in black history. Oakland Mills team members Tiffany Goins, Britanny Harris and Amanda Monique Cobbins each received a certificate, a trophy, a T--shirt and a $50 savings bond.

You knew the tone was set for a sophisticated evening the minute you walked into Martin West's ballroom and were greeted by the sounds of a cool jazz combo at the 10th anniversary Spring Gala for 100 Black Men of Maryland, Inc. Gorgeous gowns and dapper tuxedos on the 750 guests lent further luster to the night. On 100 Black Men members were the added accouterments of kente cloths draped around their tux lapels. Included in the gathering: Walter Carr Jr., event chair; Cleve Brister and Roscoe T. Heigh, event committee members; Rick Larry, 100 Black Men of Maryland board president; Stanley Hackett, Turhan Robinson, Terry Evelyn, Mel Bates, Joseph Smothers Jr. and Kenneth L. Webster, board members; Howard Tucker, 100 Black Men executive director; Michelle McBride, Bon Secours Baltimore Health System managed care executive director; Calvin Street, Maryland Department of Human Resources deputy secretary; Loretta Henry, Food Lion diversity coordinator; Donna Stanley, Associated Black Charities executive director; H. Bernie Jackson, B.J.R.

Donald Everett Rigby, a Baltimore native who as a youth mentor and counselor used an "open door" policy to befriend numerous city youths, died Wednesday of cancer at his Northwest Baltimore home.Mr. Rigby, 64, not only advised and taught disadvantaged youths since the 1980s, but acted as a big brother for many."He was simply just good with children, and children seemed to gravitate to him like a magnet," said his wife, the former Vivian Morgan, whom he married in 1956. "It was just natural that they liked each other."

DENVER -- After a 3-year-old boy was killed in a drive-by shooting in December, 100 black men fanned out through a black neighborhood here. They knocked on doors until leads resulted in three arrests several days later.After rival gangs firebombed four houses in the same northeast Denver neighborhood in January, more than 1,000 men turned out for a five-hour protest rally, the All Black Men Conference. The firebombings stopped.It has been nearly six months since the Million Man March, the gathering of hundreds of thousands of black men in Washington in October organized by the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan.

Whatever it is that has separated the men from the boys in Baltimore's Cherry Hill community, people there are trying now to bring them together again.About 25 black men and 50 young boys gathered yesterday over grits, eggs and hash browns in the basement of the Hemingway Temple AME Church to launch what they say will be a program to connect the neighborhood's boys with men who will become positive forces in their lives.It was one of eight such Men/Youth Day breakfasts in the Baltimore and Annapolis areas yesterday organized by The 100 Black Men of Maryland, a year-old group of black professionals who want to break the cycle of violence.