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Section
CI)nrlotte ^os;t
LIFE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2006
Religion 8B
Debutante
slaying
shows
ugly side
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAVANNAH, Ga.—In man
icured bushes on Orleans
Square, where a fountain
bubbles beneath gnarled
oaks, two bouquets of roses
lay near the spot where a
debutante fell to a mu^er’s
bullet before dawn on
Christmas Eve.
A robber shot 19-year-old
Jennifer Ross a few hours
after she danced with her
father at Savannah’s
Christmas Cotillion, her for
mal introduction as a woman
of society in Georgia’s oldest
dty She died New Year’s Day
at the hospital where her
father is a senior ®cecutive.
The shooting in Savannah’s
downtown historic district
has outraged the local elite,
with a group of prominent
business leaders demanding
a fierce crackdown on crime.
It has also put a spotlight
on something residents of
antebellum homes on the
city’s famous squares know
too well, but visitors often are
surprised to learn—
Savannah’s most picturesque
places mask an underbelly of
crime.
‘It’s such a peaceful city
with the Spanish moss hang
ing down. It’s alluring is what
it is,” said Dian Brownfield, a
former president of the city’s
Downtown Neighborhood
Association. ‘1 think people
just can’t imagine any vio
lence happening in a city like
Savannah.”
. .muijiei' of Ross, who ,
haa been studying interna
tional business at Mercer
yUniveraity in Macon, was the
29th slaying reported by
Savannah-Chatham County
police in the past year. None
of the others provoked such
an outcry
In the week after Ross’
death, influential business
owners, bankers and real
estate brokers met at the
Chamber of Commerce
demanding action. Angry e-
mails swamped the mayor’s
inbox. Officials swiftly
ordered sherifiTs deputies,
normally limited to guarding
the courthouse and covmty
jail, to augment police patrols
on the streets. No one has
been arrested in the killing
During Ross’ funeral at St.
John’s Episcopal Church on
Thursday, the pews filled
quickly and more than 100
mourners stocxl silently
aroimd the steps outside
until pallbearers carried h^
casket out.
‘It’s just so senseless,” said
Ross’ unde, Adger Ross.
think Jennifer represents the
everyman scenario, it could
have been any of us. Here we
had a 19-year-old giil, the
world was at her fingertips,”
Others say the Ross fami
ly’s sodal standing fired up a
wealthy and powerful con
stituency I'arely touched by
violence. Ross’ father, Rusty
Ross, is a senior vice presi
dent and attorney for
Memorial Health Univei^ty
Medical Center.
“Where the hell have they
been all this timeT’ was the
immediate response erf* Mayor
Otis Johnson as the City
Council met last wedi.
Johnson, Savannah’s sec-
emd blade mayor, has made
curbing crime a faicHity since
taking office two years ago.
He’s held town meetings,
publidy accused other black
leaders of apathy, and issued
a 2005 task-force report criti
cizing pcrfice fco* setting low
crime-fighting goals and hav
ing too many officers behind
Please see DEBUTANTE/2B
##o
M®clia
MANUAI?
to- a
Fabulous Pregnancy
Ti|>s far Everything frooi Matiagii^ Fibnaids
anti Higli BltKxl IVcssure to Inscnsiliw I^artncrs
and Raging I {nnnoocsi
Guide for moms
Handbook shows how pregnancy affects black women
By Cheris F. Hodges
chemJwdgesf&thecharlonepostrom
So you’re having a baby, your
ankles are swelling, your husband
is now the bi^;est jerk in the world
and you can’t stop crying.
Is something wrong with you?
No, and you’re not alone. It’s all
in the manual.
“The Mocha Manual to a
Fabulous Pregnancy” by Kimberly
Seals-AUers is the first book about
pregnancy written with black
women in mind.
Seals-AUers is an award-winning
journalist and mother of two. So,
she knows what she’s talking
about.
“This book is like having a con
versation with your girlftiend,”
Seals-AUers said. ‘This book gives
blade women everything they need
to know about pregnancy”
Seals-AUers said when she was
pregnant with her first chUd; she
didn’t find any information out
there that spoke to her needs as a
black woman That was the inspi
ration behind her writing the
“Manual.”
“A study showed that coUege-edu-
cated women have the same poor
outcomes in childbirth as poorer
women,” she said.
The reason is quite simple. Seals-
AUen said black women have dif
ferent needs when they are preg
nant than their white counter
parts. Black women have the high-
est rates of twins, 16 out of every
1,000 black births. It’s half than
that for white women
According to the Centers for
Disease Control, 17.5 percent of aU
births to black women are prema
ture. The national average is 11.9
percent.
“Understanding that the com
plexities of our Uves as black
women can influence our responses
to various situations, including
pregnancy is key to helping us
reverse the statistical tide in biridi
outcome,” Seals-AUers writes.
The book, which is written in a
conversational style, offers stories
fix»m celebrities who have experi
enced the miracle of childbirth and
medical statistics.
Please see MOMS’/2B
Citrus: Great for eating - and cleaning
By James and
Morris Carey
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
^^ter is when oranges,
tangerines and grapefiouts
are harvested in Northern
CaUfomia. Ilie end result
becomes glazed oranges,
dried oranges, orai>ge
juice, orange soda, lemon
ade, grapefinnt juice and
more. But best of aU, we
end up with a whole line of
cleaning, and c^odorizing
tools as a byproduct of
good eats.
Lemon oU: Not lemon
juice, lemon oil. Lemon oil
is absolutely the very best
^ass cleaner we know of
If you have calcium build
up on your shower then
you need lemon oU.
Simply use a piece of
extra-fine steel wool
dipped in lemon oil to
dean a shower door that
you currently cant see
through because of the
lime deposits. Once the
dooi- is dean, then wipe
the surface down with a
fiiBsh coat of lemon oil and
future lime deposits wont
have a diance. By the way.
we also use car wax to pro
tect glass in the shower
when lemon oU isn’t avail
able.
Lemon juice: Not lemon
oil, lemon juice. Have a
redpe that requires half a
lepion and don’t know
what to do with the rest of
the juice? Lemon juice is
highly addic and is a great
Please see CrrRUS/3B
About this life we live
King holiday slips into party mode
By Cheris F. Hodges
cheris }todges6 ihecharlonepost£om
Twenty years ago, the
United States made Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s
birthday a national holi
day
This effort was sup
posed to keep King’s l^a-
cy alive for generations to
come. During this day,
people were si4>posed to
remember King’s dream
and what he stood for and
worited for - radal harmo
ny across the country
What happened?
Listening to Charlotte
radio this past weekend, I
was shocked that Dr.
King’s birthday has
beccoue a day to party
There were about three or
four parties billing them
selves as MLK jumpKjff
parties.
Could this be whaf s left
of Dr. King’s dream?
We shall overcome so
that we can go to the dub
and drop it like it’s hot?
We have a dream to get
10 percent off at the mall?
Dr. King’s dream is
more than a parade, more
than a party and it cer
tainly hasn’t come true
yet. So what are we really
edebrating?
The meat of King’s
famous “I Have a Dream”
speech is often glossed
over. We’re comfortable
hearing Dr. King call fca*
PHOTO/BLACKVOICES-AOL COM
Honoring King by shaking it fast at the ciub?
Don’t think that’s what he dreamed about.
radal harmony, but what
about what he said about
blacks and poverty?
It still rings true today
In Mecklenbmg County,
neariy 10 percait of the
population lives below the
Rease see KINGy2B
Exercise
helps delay
onset of
dementia
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA-Older peo
ple who exercise three or more
times a week are less likely to
develop Alzheimer’s and other
types of dementia, according to a
study that adds to the evidence
that staying active can help keep
the mind sharp.
Researchers found that
healthy people who reported
exerdsing regularly had a 30 to
40 percent lower risk of demen
tia.
The study, published Tliesday
in the Annals of Internal
Medicine, reached no ccaiclu-
sions about whether certain
types of exercise helped more
than others, but researchers
said even light activity, such as
walking, seemed to help.
“It seems hke we are delaying
onset,” said Dr. Wayne
McCormick, a University of
Washington geriatridan who
was one of the study’s authors.
“The surprising finding for us
was that it actually didn’t take
much to have this effect.”
Some researchers have theo
rized that exercise might reduce
brain levels of amyloid, a sticky
protein that dogs the brain in
Alzheimer’s patients.
The study, fiom 1994 to 2003,
followed 1,740 people ages 65
and older who showed no signs
of dementia at the outset. The
partidpants’ health was evalu
ated every two years for six
years.
Out of the original pool, 1,185
people were later foimd to be
fi^ of dementia, 77 percent of
whom reported zeroising three
or more times a week; 158 peo
ple showed signs of dementia,
only 67 percent of whom said
they exercised that much. The
rest either died or withdrew
from the study
The study could not say if ex^-
dse helped prevented dementia
altogether, because not aU of the
partidpants were followed up to
their deaths.
The fi*equency of dementia
was 13 per 1,000 person years
for those who said they exercised
three or more times a week,
compared with 19.7 per 1,000
person years for those who
reported exerdsing less.
Other researchers said ran
domized studies—in which par
tidpants would be randomly
assigned to either exercise or
maintain their usual habits—
are needed to confirm the find
ings.
Bill Thies, vice president for
medical and sdentific affairs for
the Alzheimer’s Assodation, said
a randomized trial with more
people could help answer ques
tions such as what types of exer
cise might help more than oth
ers.
“You would have to start with
a group that had rou^ily com
mon habits, and change those
habits in one group and not in
the other,” Thies said.
rSTRlJE
PHOTO/WADE NASH