Fresh Loaf

Marietta anti-illegal-immigrant activist D.A. King has taken his spiel to the top.

According to the Washington Post, King coordinated a rally on Sunday that brought 400 people to protest illegal immigration on the eve of another congressional attempt to try to hammer out immigration reform. The event took place at a park directly across from the White House. King told the crowd, “Anyone with a different agenda against skin color or national origin, you are not welcome … and you will not be tolerated.”

King made headlines in 2005 when he paid homeless individuals $10 to hold anti-illegal-immigration posters and signs outside the Georgia Capitol. Since then, King has hooked up with Roger Hedgecock, a radio talk-show host from San Diego and frequent guest on Rush Limbaugh’s show, to organize national protests such as the one that occurred earlier this week.

To read more about King, check out former CL editor Doug Monroe’s story.

Photo by Doug Monroe

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Gov. Sonny Perdue has responded to the Georgia Association of Elected Officials call for an investigation into the arrest of a Canadian tourist who was detained for a minor traffic violation in Glynn County.

His response: It was an isolated incident so no further investigation is necessary.

That’s because one Glynn County jail employee has already been fired, and two others have been suspended without pay. Glynn County Sheriff Wayne Bennett told the Ottawa Citizen that a miscommunication between an officer and immigration officials led to the Canadian’s 11-hour detainment.

Bennett claimed the immigration check was conducted in anticipation of complying with a state immigration law that goes into effect in July. But GALEO said the law only applies to foreign nationals who are arrested for a DUI or felony, not a minor traffic charge.

In an e-mail, GALEO executive director Jerry Gonzalez said, “we [are] disappointed at the lack of attention to our request … Our contention [is] that there is growing confusion about the implementation of [the immigration law] … and that law enforcement officials around the state may misinterpret the law and its intent.”

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Spelman College has joined forces with Global Fund’s (PRODUCT) RED campaign to help African-American women understand the threat of HIV/AIDS. The (PRODUCT) RED campaign is known for partnering with corporate giants such as Gap and Apple to raise a slew of money to help stop the epidemic.

As part of Spelman’s Empowe(RED) campaign, the college will host students from an Atlanta high school for a workshop on HIV/AIDS on Thursday. Following the workshop, Spelman will take the women to an event sponsored by Magic Johnson, the famed basketball player who has lived with AIDS for more than a decade. Johnson will be in town to talk about the rapid rise of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-Americans are 10 times more likely to contract HIV than whites. Here in Georgia, about 66 percent of individuals with HIV/AIDS are black, even though blacks comprise just 30 percent of the population.

For more info on how you can participate in Spelman’s Empowe(RED) campaign, visit www.theservicecoalition.com. For more info on Magic Johnson’s event, visit www.istandwithmagic.com.

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The Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials has called for an investigation into the arrest of a Canadian tourist who was detained for a minor traffic violation in South Georgia.

According to an article in the Ottawa Citizen, a 23-year-old female was driving to Florida when police pulled her over for running a stop sign and speeding. Even though she had a valid Canadian passport, she was taken to jail, where she stayed for 11 hours.

A Georgia state trooper indicated that it’s routine for police to detain foreign nationals for traffic violations. The procedure was put in place in anticipation of complying with the state immigration law that goes into effect in July.

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A House committee rejected a proposal to hang a photo of Coretta Scott King in the Capitol.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam, D-Riverdale, told the committee the rejection was, “just like calling Mrs. King a nappy-headed nigger,” referring to the now-notorious comment made by radio talk-show host Don Imus, where he called the Rutgers female basketball team “nappy-headed hos.” Rep. Mike Keown, R-Coolidge, told the AJC, “I think Coretta Scott King has been remembered sufficiently[.]“

And these are the people who are leading us?

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The Athens Banner-Herald reported today that one in three girls in several counties in northeast Georgia will have a baby before she’s 20 years old, according to numbers complied by the Northeast Health District. What’s more, if the female is African-American, she has a 38 percent chance of giving birth before she’s out of her teens.

These numbers are alarming, but not completely surprising considering the type of sex ed — or rather, lack thereof — adolescents receive in Georgia. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive research organization in New York, Georgia only is required to teach abstinence as a preventative measure for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

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In October, CL wrote a cover story on the large amount of debt students are saddled with when they enter the adult world. Undergrads, for example, graduate with an average student debt of $20,000, while graduate students in professional programs can face debts as large as $150,000.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

One of the students we profiled, Juandalyn Coffen (above), is a full-time sophomore at Spelman College and works 24 hours a week to try to graduate with as little debt as possible. She was one of the few students we chatted with who had a firm grip on reality.

I just learned that Juandalyn received a full ride from the United Negro College Fund that will cover her education through a Ph.D., and could include a possible stipend. What’s more, she’ll be spending a semester abroad in South Africa this fall.

Apparently, a higher-up at Spelman read CL’s article and told a UNCF officer, who then asked Juandalyn to apply for the prestigious fellowship.

She hopes to become an environmental consultant, or teach, like her father.

Congrats, Juandalyn!

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I’ve received several letters from the cover story I wrote a couple weeks ago about the resurgence of HIV/AIDS among certain populations. One response came from a man who says he’s invented a simple device to help prevent condoms from slipping off. So I checked out his website and found his product, called a “collar.” Here’s an explanation/depiction from the site:

The website notes that the collar is reuseable. And based on the client testimonials — such as, “I tell [my son] to wear a condom and, since I found out about the benefits of collaring a condom, I tell him to collar his as well for extra protection. Now, both of us Collar Up. It’s easy to put on, it doesn’t get in the way of anything and, most important, it does the job. Peace of mind never felt so good!” — folks are loving these.

What will they think of next?

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I just attended a symposium at Georgia Tech on video games that play with reality. It was a fascinating conference filled with cutting-edge innovations that showed games not only entertain, but also educate.

One of the best panels was titled “Playing with Health” and featured a variety of speakers who’ve helped people understand and cope with their environments and health — from autistic children to individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Ken Graap, co-founder of Virtually Better (located in Atlanta), showed a great slideshow on how a virtual world could potentially help heavy marijuana users lower their cravings. The “game” works like this:

Virtually Better has created several virtual rooms — the neutral room, the paraphernalia room (adorned with joints, cigarettes, black lights, Grateful Dead posters, etc.) and the party room (people smoking up, fresh pizza on tables). A person starts in the neutral room and then is taken to the other rooms. When he or she gets to the paraphernalia and party rooms, a USB port emits the smells of pot, pizza, cigarettes, etc. while music and conversations come through headphones. Throughout the game, a person’s heart rate is measured to gauge the intensity of that person’s craving.

The company has found that these virtual rooms, scents and sounds can “turn on” a person’s craving in a matter of minutes.

So of course — as Graap pointed out — wouldn’t this make the person want to go find a joint ASAP after leaving the lab?

The simulation brings the person back into the neutral world at the end, and cravings, data show, lower — not back to the initial state, but significantly from the height of the game. And it seems legit: the National Institute for Drug Abuse funds the project. Virtually Better hopes to use the data from these virtual worlds to figure out new ways to treat people with substance-abuse problems — from pot to cigarettes to crack and even possibly meth. And that could be really cool.

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The DeKalb County Commission will vote today on a zoning change that would allow taller buildings to be erected in efforts to revitalize Emory Village.

The Druid Hills Civic Association, not surprisingly, is against the zoning change. Its president, Bruce MacGregor, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “We will act as a prudent steward of our treasury and a prudent defender of the neighborhood.”

I�m not for a proposal to construct four-story buildings in the village, but something has got to be done to change that place. It�s pathetic. Panera has shut down, Park Bench � the only watering hole in walking distance � is long gone and the boutique, Ego, which finally offered students some semblance of shopping in the area, has also vanished.

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I received an e-mail from an Atlanta police officer yesterday after CL wrote about the repeal of DC-6, a broad disorderly conduct charge that Atlanta officers have cited more than any other nontraffic crime. The charge is a “catch-all” because it�s up to an officer�s discretion, in many instances, as to whether a person is arrested for the charge.

Anyway, here�s what one officer had to say:

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While scanning various General Assembly bills for an upcoming story, I came across a ridiculous proposal that would allow employees to keep guns in their cars if they’re banned in the workplace. I’m not sure how likely it is that such a proposal would pass — then again, we do live in Georgia — but I couldn’t help but imagine the following scenario:

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After the news hit about MARTA chairman Ed Wall�s alleged romp in the bathrooms of the Hartsfield-Jackson airport, CL decided to do a bit more research.

On the popular gay website www.cruisingforsex.com, the Atlanta airport is listed as a top spot for men to have sex with other men. Consider the following comments:

“Just stand at the first set of stalls and pull your cock out. Traffic comes and goes so be discreet about it. I have jacked off with plenty of guys here.”

Or: “Cruisy toilet behind the AirTran Ticket counter.”

If the reports that Wall chose the hook-up location are true, then he could�ve benefited from this warning, posted on the site in February: “On the news at least twelve guys have been arrested there by undercover cops.”

Oops.

What�s more, a web search for Michael Pettry, the man from Indiana who allegedly gave Wall oral sex, turned up this: According to Indychoir.org, Pettry earned a “Bachelor of Music in organ performance at Ball State University.”

Organ performance. Ball State. ‘Nuff said.

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There’s a new political action committee out there that might just actually do some good: Student Loan Justice. It’s a grassroots group that helped U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton create her proposed Student Borrower Bill of Rights. Sure, Congress just approved a measure that would cut interest rates on federally subsidized loans, but it doesn’t address any of the student-loan abuses.

The Clinton proposal would stop some of the abuse. The measure would, among other things, ban “school as lender” programs, where colleges urge students to use certain lenders because the schools get kickbacks — usually by getting university activities underwritten — from lending giants.

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Despite all the criticism the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received — from the exodus of top scientists to the low morale of employees — the public recently rated the organization the best federal agency. The poll, conducted by Harris Interactive, was released a week after a government survey showed only 40 percent of CDC employees trust their leaders.

The varying results make you wonder: Is the public not reading the news or do they not care that the nation’s leading public-health agency could be suffering from bureaucratic changes and budget cuts? Or are CDC employees a bunch of whiny, decently paid scientists who’re just uncomfortable with change?

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A Louisiana judge ruled Wednesday that a state law that prohibited illegal immigrants from driving in the United States constitutes “an impermissible attempt to regulate immigration and conflicts with federal immigration law.”

This is huge. The Georgia General Assembly passed one of the nation’s most comprehensive immigration crackdowns ever last year that, among other things, bans immigrants from receiving social services and establishes penalties for businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

Proponents of Georgia’s law insisted it could withstand a legal challenge. But a ruling such as this — and from a Southern state, no less — could possibly get the ball rolling on a lawsuit against Georgia. After all, Georgia’s law, like Louisiana’s, directly infringes on the federal government’s immigration powers. This could get ugly.

– Alyssa Abkowitz

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