Empowerment

On March 1, 2007 ERNEST GALES, SR., beloved husband of Loucylle B. Gales. On Wednesday friends may call at the VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES, 4101 Edmondson Avenue, from 4 to 8 P.M. On Thursday, Mr. Gales will lie in state at Empowerment Temple A.M.E., 4217 Primrose Ave., where the family will receive friends from 11 to 11:30 A.M. with services to follow. Inquiries to (410) 233-2400.

When Michelle Goldsborough returns to St. Michaels from her New Jersey home, it's usually to visit her relatives in the Talbot County tourist spot. Or sometimes she just might check into a room at the Harbourtowne Golf Resort and Conference Center to be alone. But last weekend when Goldsborough visited the resort - where she worked when she lived in St. Michaels - she had plenty of company. And that's just the way she wanted it. About a dozen youngsters - most of them black boys between the ages of 11 and 17 - were with Goldsborough.

INSIDETODAY What They're saying Today's Sun Columnists Empowerment 101 This year, when Michelle Goldsborough visited family in St. Michaels, she brought along about a dozen youngsters in her Black Youth Empowerment Retreat and Black History Tour. Maryland baltimoresun.com/kane Short-circuited Managers of the Mid-Atlantic electricity grid repeatedly silenced a supposedly independent watchdog who was concerned about excessive profits in newly deregulated electricity markets, internal memos, emails and other documents show.

More than 1,200 food fans flocked to Martin's West to nosh on concoctions cooked up by 125 Baltimore-area "Men Who Cook." The event was the seventh annual Gourmet Chefs of Distinction, sponsored by the Baltimore Metropolitan chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.Among those dishing it out: Bill Jews, president and CEO of CareFirst Blue Cross and Blue Shield (pasta salad); Frederick Douglass, president of Douglass Enterprises (Baltimore wings); Jeffrey Pope, Bell Atlantic software engineer (coddies)

AS I PREPARE TO leave office, I continue to be asked, "What is it that you are most proud of over the past 12 years?" I've given it some thought, and the question is not easy to answer, because there is so much of which to be proud.For example:* We've been able to increase the city's General Fund contribution to our public schools by more than 47 percent since I took office. And we were able to negotiate a partnership with the state, which resulted in an infusion of still more money, $254 million over five years for the schools.

City officials are considering three proposals that would replace a Fells Point parking lot with a bed-and-breakfast, an office building or retail shops.Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development agency, said yesterday that it received two unsolicited proposals in April to develop the city-owned site at South Caroline and Lancaster streets, about a block north of the harbor, then, abiding by city policy, issued a request for additional plans.One plan envisions offices and retail shops with a 425-space parking garage and 30 private garages that could be leased by area residents.

A St. Louis company is planning to build a $6 million warehouse on the site of the demolished Fairfield Homes public housing project in southern Baltimore.The project by privately held Madison Warehouse Corp. represents the first major new undertaking announced for Fairfield since the industrial peninsula was designated part of a $100 million federal urban revitalization area nearly five years ago, city officials said yesterday.Officials hope that the project will spur further development in Fairfield, which is part of the federal empowerment zone renewal area and which is undergoing substantial upgrades to its roads, storm drains and water lines.

WASHINGTON -- Six weeks ago, Vice President Al Gore flexed his policy-making muscle, summoning four Cabinet secretaries to the White House to order up the funding for a second round of federal grants for inner city "empowerment zones."He never mentioned his still-undeclared presidential bid during that meeting, according to the vice president's chief of staff. But political fruits of his labors were on national display yesterday, when Gore jetted to vote-rich South Florida to celebrate one of the newest empowerment zones, inner-city Miami.

When the federal government's vaunted South Baltimore program for community-directed environmental action met recently, 14 people showed up. Chemical industry executives. Federal environmental officials. City health and planning employees. And only one of the 16,000 residents in the program's target area: a warehouse worker from Curtis Bay.Halfway through, he fell asleep.One thing was clear: Very little community is left in the Community Environmental Partnership.The pilot project, set up here by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Washington headquarters in 1996, had promised a new era for American regulation of polluters.

On his way out the door of a Hamilton Street lunch spot the other day, a young man casually reached over the shoulder of a diner, grabbed her purse from the corner of a big picture window and ran for daylight.The victim's luncheon partner jumped to her feet and raced out the door in hot pursuit. She yelled for help and, by luck, construction workers were paving at the end of the block. One stepped forward and stripped the purse from the thief's arms.A cheer of sorts went up in the street.

On October 2, 2009, RODNEY SPENCER EVANS, SR.; beloved husband of Patricia A. Evans. On today, friends may call at VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES (RANDALLSTOWN), 8728 Liberty Road from 5 to 8 P.M. On Thursday, services for Mr. Evans will be held at The Empowerment Temple, 4217 Primrose Avenue, where the family will receive friends 11 to 11:30 A.M with services to follow. Inquiries

The Marriotts Ridge High School PTSA will sponsor a presentation for parents by Peter Spevak, co-author with Maryann Karinch of Empowering Underachievers: How to Guide Failing Kids (8-18) to Personal Excellence, at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in the school's Commons. Parents experiencing stress because their child is struggling academically will hear strategies to motivate their child and teach him or her to be in control. Admission is free. Reservations are not needed. Information: Marjorie Ford, 410-313-5446.

Mitzi McCain's huge hopes for Inauguration Day included a grand gospel brunch at a Washington hotel in the heart of Pennsylvania Avenue's pomp and pageantry. Jumbo television screens on three spacious levels would broadcast President Barack Obama's history-making oath. And the hotel balcony's giant floor-to-ceiling windows would make the perfect place to gaze at the first couple striding down the inaugural parade route. Instead, McCain found herself in a meeting room in the bowels of the JW Marriott, about to bear witness to a defining moment in American history as she might in her Pikesville home - on a small, run-of-the-mill TV. "It's disappointing," she said, flatly.

Many bands, even in today's reality TV, Internet-savvy world, go through a stretch of paying dues. The story usually goes something like this: For a while, the group travels from gig to gig in a beat-up van, selling its CDs at shows. A buzz starts. Eventually, a suit at a major label catches wind of the group's "fresh" sound and offers a contract. By the time mainstream pop audiences hear said band's music, all the style kinks have usually been smoothed out. Well, that is not the story of Cute Is What We Aim For. The emo-pop band, whose name originated from an inside joke, landed a major-label deal soon after forming and posting songs on its MySpace page.

J.L. CHESTNUT JR., 77 Civil rights lawyer in Alabama J.L. Chestnut Jr., the first black lawyer in Selma, Ala., and a prominent attorney in civil rights cases across a half-century, died Tuesday morning at a Birmingham hospital of an infection after an operation. A Selma native who earned his law degree at Howard University, Mr. Chestnut returned to his hometown in 1958 and became a key legal figure in the civil rights battles in Selma. Later he defended blacks in major voter fraud prosecutions and helped black farmers make financial claims against the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Management skills session scheduled The Association of Community Services is offering a four-part series of skill-building sessions for new and experienced managers from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sept. 18 and 25 and Oct. 2 and 9. The Management Skills: Supervision series is designed to train new supervisors in skills needed to manage employees and to serve as a refresher course for those with experience. Registrants can sign up for all four weeks or for individual sessions, to be held at Bridgeway Community Church, 9189 Red Branch Road, Columbia.

Karen Heyward-West is the president and CEO of the Franciscan Center in Baltimore, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in September. The center was founded in 1968 and is dedicated to providing emergency assistance to those in need. The center serves more than 8,000 men, women and children each year through programs, including transportation and medical supplies. What Manner of Man: a Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Lerone Bennett Jr. After reading this book and looking at my life and my own personal testimonies, I was encouraged and humbled at the same time that this great man was able to be successful against all odds physically, mentally, spiritually and most of all socially during a time where it was not popular to do so. Just Who Will You Be?

On July 31, 2008, GREGORY TYRONE CRAVEN. Survived by wife Sheilah A. Craven, son, Minister Duwande J. Newman, brother, Richard H. Craven Jr., sisters, Gloria Gordon, Lisa Darlington and Judy Waddy and a host of other family and friends. Friends may call the family owned WYLIE FUNERAL HOME P.A. OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, 9200 Liberty Road Thursday from 6-8 P.M. Services Friday Empowerment Temple AME Church, 4217 Primrose Avenue, 11:00A.M. wake 11:30A.M. Funeral . Interment Following. Inquiries : www.wyliefuneralhome.

On May 28, 2008, ANTHONY "TONY" JONES, survived by mother, LaTonia Jones, father, Travis R. Owens, brother, Daniel J. Gilbert Jr., grandmother, Cynthia Jackson, great grandparents, Willie Jones, Alfred Malone and Marie Hinton and a host of other family and friends. Friends may call the family owned WYLIE FUNERAL HOME P.A OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, 9200 Liberty Road Sunday from 1-4PM. Services Monday at the Empowerment Temple AME Church, 4217 Primrose Avenue 10:00am wake 11:00am Funeral. Interment Following.

On May 28, 2008, ANTHONY 'TONY" JONES, survived by mother, LaTonia Jones, brother, Daniel J. Gilbert Jr., grandmother, Cynthia Jackson, great grandparents, Willie Jones, Alfrerd Malone and Marie Hinton and a host of other family and friends. Friends may call the family owned WYLIE FUNERAL HOME P.A. OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, 9200 Liberty Road Sunday from 1-4 P.M. Services Monday at the Empowerment Temple AME Church, 4217 Primrose Avenue 10:00A.M. wake 11:00A.M. Funeral. Interment Following. Inquiries : www.wyliefuneralhome.