Baltimore Branch

After five years as head of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, Rodney A. Orange lost the presidency in the organization's election this week.G. I. Johnson, the local NAACP's first vice president, will replace Orange Jan. 1, after winning by a vote of 77-27 Monday night. Johnson has worked in the leadership of the branch for 12 years, six of those as first vice president.Orange, 56, who was forced to temporarily step down from the presidency in July while he ran for the state House of Delegates, said he believes that one of the primary reasons he lost his seat was because he had to leave the organization in order to pursue public office.

Leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People urged Maryland voters Monday to cast ballots in favor of same-sex marriage, saying it is a civil rights issue, not a theological one. Benjamin Jealous, national president the organization, drew on the history of civil rights, and that of his own family, to make the case for marriage equality. "This is a question of what side of history do you want to be on," he said. He referred to the marriage of his parents, an inter-racial couple.

The NAACP has postponed its Baltimore branch's election tomorrow to give the two candidates for president more time to access the local group's membership mailing list. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People stated in a letter to the Baltimore branch's two presidential candidates last week that the election would be held Dec. 10, and both candidates will get time Wednesday to examine the coveted mailing list. The election will be held at the group's national headquarters in Northwest Baltimore instead of the local branch's office, said John White, a national NAACP spokesman.

Images of nearly 6,000 Baltimoreans are the life's work of a photographer who documented racial segregation and early civil rights protests, and also captured candid moments of now-anonymous brides, classmates, football players and black residents of the city. But while Paul S. Henderson left what Maryland Historical Society curator Jennifer Ferretti calls an "unparalleled visual record of civil rights in Baltimore," he didn't leave behind captions. The names of his subjects aren't known, as Henderson didn't keep written files — or they didn't survive.

In a dimly lit underground vault a block from Camden Yards, the Federal Reserve is holding millions of dollars in cash that nobody wants. The money - stored in cloth and plastic sacks piled high on metal shelving units - is in the unloved form of dollar coins, some of them never used. But a 2005 law requires the reserve bank to keep ordering coins regardless of its stockpile, and so vaults in Baltimore and around the country are filling up. "This is just a small portion of what there is nationwide," Dave Beck, senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and regional executive for the Baltimore branch, said as he stood inside a small warehouse filled with money bags, each containing 2,000 coins.

The Baltimore Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will hold its 1992 talent showcase from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. March 21 in Langsdale Auditorium at the University of Baltimore, Maryland Avenue and Oliver Street.The Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) will feature refreshments, a cash prize raffle, art and science exhibits and a performance by the dance-rap group New Arrivals.

Words of encouragement from a variety of men will welcome Baltimore public school students returning to classes tomorrow. Young people fresh from summer vacation will be greeted at the front doors and sidewalks of their school by fathers, elected officials, college students and other men as part of the fourth annual Men of Baltimore Welcome Our Children Back to School campaign. The male leadership campaign was the brainchild of Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, president of the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The Baltimore branch of the NAACP, beset with a lingering deficit and lagging corporate donations, appealed yesterday for support in the wake of the turmoil surrounding the ouster of the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.Five days after the NAACP fired Dr. Chavis as its executive director, the local chapter of the civil rights group set out to court donations and new members.A somber George N. Buntin Jr., executive director of the Baltimore branch, discussed the deficit and called for both financial and volunteer assistance during the mayor's weekly news briefing.

A Baltimore NAACP election has been suspended pending a court hearing on whether an insurgent group of youth members is eligible to vote.Kobi Little, a 23-year-old candidate for president of the 3,300-member city branch, and three youth members who were declared ineligible to vote sued the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Friday for breach of contract.Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman granted an injunction suspending the election, which originally was scheduled for yesterday, for 10 days while a hearing is scheduled on the case.

Rodney A. Orange, who is seeking a seat in the House of Delegates, has temporarily stepped aside as head of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP because of the national organization's policy requiring that candidates for public office not be chapter officers.G. I. Johnson, the local group's first vice president, has replaced Orange on an interim basis while Orange campaigns. Seven other Democratic candidates are running for three House seats in West Baltimore's 44th District in September's primary.

This weekend you may notice former Wachovia branches around Baltimore getting a makeover, swapping out their old logos for brand new Wells Fargo signs. While Wells Fargo has been busy promoting the new and improved services customers will receive, people in my east side neighborhood can't forget all the old services the bank brought to Baltimore during the height of the housing bubble. From 2005 to 2009, Wells Fargo was Baltimore's biggest mortgage lender, and it issued more high-cost subprime loans than any other bank.

In a dimly lit underground vault a block from Camden Yards, the Federal Reserve is holding millions of dollars in cash that nobody wants. The money - stored in cloth and plastic sacks piled high on metal shelving units - is in the unloved form of dollar coins, some of them never used. But a 2005 law requires the reserve bank to keep ordering coins regardless of its stockpile, and so vaults in Baltimore and around the country are filling up. "This is just a small portion of what there is nationwide," Dave Beck, senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and regional executive for the Baltimore branch, said as he stood inside a small warehouse filled with money bags, each containing 2,000 coins.

Frederick-based BlueRidge Bank said Tuesday it opened a Baltimore area branch in Towson. The bank, which was established in April 2008, also hired Tim Daly to lead the new office as executive vice president and Hugh Robinson as senior vice president. Daly previously served as senior vice president for Chevy Chase Bank's commercial banking division for the Baltimore market, while Robinson was executive vice president and senior lender at Bay National Bank in Baltimore. BlueRidge Bank has nearly $100 million in assets.

The Baltimore branch of the NAACP requested Friday that city and school leaders hold a three-hour public hearing solely devoted to parent testimonies about school bullying. In an e-mail to school and City Council officials, Marvin Cheatham, president of the chapter, said that a recent bullying panel hosted by the organization pointed to an "urgent necessity" for such a hearing to understand how pervasive the issue is in city schools. Cheatham also said that recent reports of bullying and cheating in city schools indicates the need for a partially elected school board that answers to the public.

The Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is asking for volunteers, and particularly men, to help distribute reward fliers on Saturday following a recent string of rapes in the city. "This could be our mother, sister, daughter, grandmother, niece, aunt - you get the message," branch President Marvin L. Cheatham wrote in an e-mail. He promoted a $2,000 reward for information leading to an indictment in the rapes. Organizers plan to gather at noon on Saturday at Knox Presbyterian Church at 1300 N. Eden St. - Matthew Hay Brown

Exhibit on Baltimore NAACP opens today at central Pratt A new exhibition sponsored by the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People opens today at the Central Library, 400 Cathedral St. Titled "97 Years and Counting," the exhibition contains memorabilia from the nearly century-old Baltimore branch of the NAACP. On display are historic photographs, posters and documents from the NAACP's start in 1912 through the civil rights movement and the organization's work today.

The national NAACP invalidated an election for president of the Baltimore branch last night after candidate Larry Young learned that his name had not been placed on the ballot, said a spokesman for the civil rights group. John C. White said a field officer found "serious questions surrounding the decision by branch officials to omit the names of Young and others on the ballot." Under the rules of the NAACP's constitution, the national office has the authority to intervene in branch elections when there is evidence of possible violation of the association's rules and regulations governing the election of officers.

The Daiwa Bank branch in Baltimore is expected to be liquidated or sold to another bank by February, according to Daiwa spokesman Mike Pascale.The downtown Baltimore branch is one of 17 U.S. offices of the Japanese bank that has been ordered expelled by the U.S. government by Feb. 2, Mr. Pascale confirmed.But he said the bank hopes that "appropriate extensions" to the Feb. 2 deadline might be granted.The government on Thursday ordered Daiwa to close its U.S. operations. At the same time, prosecutors announced a criminal indictment accusing a senior Daiwa executive of directing a cover-up of $1.1 billion in bond trading losses.

After Kawasaki on Charles Street closed three years ago when its owners pleaded guilty to hiring illegal workers, the building was bought by the owner of the popular Joss Cafe & Sushi Bar in Annapolis. Renovations were clearly under way, but nothing happened until a couple of weeks ago when the Baltimore branch of Joss (413 N. Charles St., Mount Vernon, 410-244-6988) quietly opened. Heather Lee, general manager of both locations, said the Baltimore menu is a little different, with more of a focus on sushi, fewer Japanese entrees and more small plates.

Head of city NAACP branch says he'll resign Saying he needed to give "a real serious wake-up call" to the leadership and the membership, the president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP said he will step down after more than two years in the post. Marvin "Doc" Cheatham said yesterday that he would leave the civil rights organization on July 24. He said that the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been fortunate in that it has received a number of awards for its work, but that exposure has led to more requests for help.