Month: April 2014

ANNAPOLIS — On Saturday, March 29, 2014, The Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society and Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center presented the 7th Annual Ladies, Hats and Tea. The event was held at The Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center located at 1101 Smithville Street in Annapolis.

The Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center was the only African American high school in Anne Arundel County from 1933-1966. Students commuted from all over Anne Arundel County in order to obtain a high school education. The high school is named in honor of Wiley H. Bates, the fourth black man to hold elected office in Annapolis. Bates provided the funding to purchase the land so that the school could be built.

March was Women’s History month. The Ladies, Hats and Tea honored noteworthy women. It featured live vocal performances, awards, door prizes, local vendors and spoken words of dynamic women such as Alma Cropper who sang “Lead me, Guide Me” a song by Doris Akers, who was honored in 1922 by The Smithsonian Institution as “The Foremost Black Gospel Songwriter in The United States.” In 2011, Akers was inducted into The Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Currently The Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center, also known as The Legacy Center, serves as a boys and girls club, a residential center for the elderly and a museum.

The Wiley H. Bates Scholarship fund provides scholarships to students with a GPA of 2.5. – 3.0 for a college education.

On April 16, 2014, The Legacy Center will host a free reception with light hors d’oeuvres and quilt exhibit entitled “Legacy: Our Collective Stories & Strength” from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Please call to reserve your seat no later than April 10, 2014.

The Legacy Center is a wonderful place to host your own event. It is available for site rental and group tours. For more information, call 410-263-1860 or email: Wileyhbates11@verizon.net

Lisa Su calls what the future holds for her, a mystery.

However, the 18-year-old Towson honors student has left some of the most intelligent individuals in academia without any doubt about how bright her future can be.

The senior at the Carver Center for Arts and Technology is one of 16 students to receive the prestigious Portfolio Gold Medal Scholarship and Writing Awards from the Alliance for Young Artists.

(Courtesy Photo)

An example of Lisa Su’s artwork

“It’s exciting,” said Su, who not only claimed a gold medal for her art portfolio which she titled, “New Life,” but the energetic artist also earned two silver medals for her sculpture work.

Since 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have been the country’s longest-running and most prestigious educational initiative supporting student achievement in the visual and literary arts.

Students in grades seven to 12 from public, private and home schools throughout the country, as well as American-run schools abroad are eligible to participate, officials said.

“The art world is very competitive,” said Su, who will be recognized onstage at an awards ceremony at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall in June.

Her art will also be featured as part of a special exhibit at the Parsons New School for Design and the Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York.

“In making my portfolio, I didn’t think about the competition, but the award and the ceremony, which I’m definitely looking forward to, is very nice,” Su said.

In addition to the medals, Su will receive a $10,000 scholarship for her efforts.

“The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards serve as clear validation of young artists’ and writers’ creative talent, persistence and promise in their respective fields,” Virginia McEnerney, executive director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the administrator of the Scholastic Awards, said in a news release. “It is our honor to share in these defining moments of achievement for our nation’s teens and to elevate their unbelievable talent on the local, regional and national levels. We see it as a privilege to support them on their journey to becoming artists, writers, designers, doctors, business owners or any aspiration they are determined to realize.”

This program year more than 255,000 works of art and writing were submitted to the more than 100 affiliates of the Alliance for regional adjudication.

Leading up to the awards announcement, students who received regional gold and silver keys, as well as honorable mentions, have been celebrated in all corners of the country, according to the release.

More than 100,000 regional award recipients’ families and friends gathered at local exhibitions, ceremonies and readings nationwide to recognize student works spanning the Scholastic Awards’ 28 categories, which include flash fiction, comic art, poetry, jewelry, science fiction and fantasy, sculpture, novel writing, video game design and a special category called “future new.”

Although Su says she is considering attending several liberal arts schools for college, including Carnegie Mellon and Washington University, she is not quite sure what she will pursue for a career once she graduates.

“It’s a mystery,” she said, noting that she remains a huge fan of artists such as Andy Warhol and Zac Posen. “We will have to wait and see.”

For now, though, she is looking forward to the awards ceremony in New York on June 5 and 6, 2014 where the famous Empire State Building will be lit in gold to honor the winners.

“I know that I’ve always enjoyed creating art,” Su said. “As soon as I was able to hold a pencil, I loved art and I’ve learned so much at Carver and I’m just excited right now.”

ANNAPOLIS — Comptroller Peter Franchot alerted taxpayers about a new phishing scam aimed at garnering personal information from taxpayers.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials are reporting incidents of taxpayers receiving emails allegedly from the agency’s Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS). The email using the TAS logo contains a bogus case number and states: “Your reported 2013 income is flagged for review due to a document processing error. Your case has been forwarded to the Taxpayer Advocate Service for resolution assistance. To avoid delays processing your 2013 filing contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service for resolution assistance.”

The email contains a link for the recipient to find contact information for the “advocate” assigned to the case. It asks for personal information such as the recipient’s legal name and contact information and has a link to review reported income.

The IRS advises taxpayers who may get this message to NOT click on the link and to forward the email to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. Taxpayers also may find instructions for forwarding the message on its website at IRS.gov.

“I urge all taxpayers who have received suspicious emails to forward them immediately to the IRS,” Comptroller Franchot said. ”Do not click on any links or reply to the message. The IRS and the Comptroller’s Office do not contact taxpayers in this fashion, and we do not ask people to confirm their reported income online. Please be careful of your personal information, and be sure to tell your friends and neighbors to be careful of any suspicious-looking messages that ask for personal information.”

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — “Opening Day” came a few days early at the Hubert V. Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball in Baltimore County.

Audrey Simmons, executive director of the museum and widow of Hubert “Bert” Simmons, spoke at the opening day ceremony on March 27, 2014 in Owings Mills. “I’m tremendously happy,” she said. “I only wish that the great Hubert V. Simmons could be here. But I know, they keep telling me, he’s smiling down on all of this.”

The grand opening is the result of the tenacity and years of hard work of both Simmons and Rayner “Ray” Banks, a baseball enthusiast and curator of the museum.

Previously operating under the name Negro Leagues Baseball Museum of Maryland, Inc., it had been housed in various temporary locations, including a church basement since 1996, until Baltimore County offered to give it a permanent home in the new library.

The new facility houses artifacts, photos and memorabilia from the Negro Leagues and is a tribute to Hubert “Bert” Simmons, a Northwest High School graduate who played for four different teams in the Negro Leagues, including the Baltimore Elite Giants in 1950.

Housed on three floors of a new $30 million building, the museum boasts exhibits featuring Leon Day, a Baltimore Elite Giants player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York and Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, one of only three women who played in the Negro Leagues.

Five years after his death in 2009, Bert Simmons’ vision of sharing an important part of American history became a reality.

Following his baseball career, Simmons taught in Baltimore City schools for 30 years and coached little league, high school and college baseball for more than 40 years. His wife Audrey said it was always his dream to create a museum to honor the players of the Negro Leagues.

“Bert loved the game, but we must not forget his devotion to education and the well- being of kids in school, “ she noted. “How well I remember his constant efforts to assure that the youngsters who were entrusted to his care learned to appreciate the history of those who struggled to bring equality into the lives of African Americans who had for so many years been denied the liberties that had been promised by our constitution.”

Baltimore County Community College student and baseball player DeSean Rabb, spoke at the opening of the museum and understands the significance of the moment. “For me the Negro Leagues were more than just about baseball,” he said. “In their quest to integrate the major leagues they were also desegregating America game by game. “

The Hubert V. Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball is located in the Owings Mills Library at 10302 Grand Central Avenue, Owings Mills, Maryland 21117.

BALTIMORE — On Friday, March 28, 2014, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb joined 45 United Way of Central Maryland (UWCM) volunteers to read to elementary-aged children as part of National Reading Month, aiming to promote the importance of early-grade reading.

Volunteers, including Lardarius Webb, read Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat,” completed a reading comprehension activity and made the signature red and white Cat in the Hat hats with students. Webb joined volunteers from BGE and other organizations at Callaway Elementary School. United Way volunteers also conducted Dr. Seuss themed reading activities at Carroll Child Care Centers in Westminster on March 24, and partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bel Air on March 6 to have a Dr. Seuss party.

Research shows that 57 percent of third graders in Maryland cannot read at grade level. Poor readers in fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school, which increases one’s chances of having a child while still a teenager and becoming impoverished or incarcerated. In late 2012, UWCM launched a local program, READ LEARN SUCCEED, aimed at helping children achieve grade-level reading by fourth grade. Currently there are 23 READ LEARN SUCCEED volunteer sites located across central Maryland.

“I always tell kids that school is the platform to be whatever you want in life – whether it’s a professional athlete, business person or any profession. It’s key that we inspire kids early with a love of reading so that they don’t fall behind in school,” said Lardarius Webb.

Earlier this year, Webb was appointed as the Baltimore Ravens representative on “Team NFL,” a national collaboration between United Way and the NFL to decrease the high school dropout rate. Through this partnership, Webb is recruiting volunteer readers, tutors and mentors for “Team Webb.” Interested volunteers can sign up at www.unitedway.org/teamwebb. Volunteers from central Maryland who sign up with Team Webb will be matched with a weekly volunteer opportunity convenient to them.

“As Dr. Seuss said, ‘Oh the things you can find if you don’t stay behind!’ Cultivating an early love for reading is critical in ensuring that children don’t fall behind in school. We’re grateful for Lardarius Webb and all of the volunteers this month who are helping change the odds for students from low-income families by showing them that reading and learning can be fun,” commented Mark Furst, president and CEO of UWCM.

In central Maryland, National Reading Month volunteer activities are being spearheaded by a partnership between United Way of Central Maryland, the Weinberg Foundation’s Library Project and the Mayor’s Reading Club.

United Way of Central Maryland is working to change the odds for families and communities through programs focused on education, financial stability and health. For more information about United Way of Central Maryland, please visit www.uwcm.org.