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Posts tagged as “Georgia”

71 Year-Old Bodybuilder Sam "Sonny" Bryant Jr. Inspires at Health and Fitness Expo

By goodblacknews on August 31, 2014

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Sam “Sonny” Bryant Jr. is a rarity.  He is a champion bodybuilder, and at the ripe old age of 71, he is still going strong.
“I just keep competing,” Bryant said at the I’m The Biggest Winner Family Health & Fitness Expo in Austell, Georgia. “I love it. It’s a lifestyle.”
With a body that puts most men half his age to shame, Bryant’s rippling physique is testimony to years-long hard work and dedicated commitment.
He works out twice a day alongside a full time, overnight job.  “I’ve got a room full of trophies,” said Bryant, who was invited to the Expo as part of a roster of quality experts and motivational speakers. “I can’t even count them all.”
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He first hit the gym to relive the stress of a failing marriage. Within months, Bryant was hooked. Now, he can deadlift 425lbs.  “I’ve been doing this for 27 years,” he said. “I used to do three or four contests a year, and I’d always have at least two trophies when I come home, so I’ve got over 70 or 80 trophies.”
sam-sonny-bryant-bodybuilder-_s87dBryant wants to prove that living a full and active life is possible at any age. All you need is the right approach, he says.  “I don’t think about my age,” said the Georgia native. “You’re going to age, that’s inevitable, but you don’t have to get old. I know people younger than me, but they’re older then me.”
“I can’t see giving up; this is my life. People ask me when I’m going to retire. I’m still working a 40 hours a week job. I say, why should I quit? I’ve figured this stuff out. More people die retired than die working.”
He believes it is never too late to improve your health. Bryant, who said he has never ever taken steroids or performance-enhancing drugs, advises fitness newbies to start off slow and keep doing the work.
“There is no age limit on exercising,” he said. “People got life but they’ve not living. Life is getting out and enjoying yourself. You’ve got to be physical. You’ve got to keep your heart strong.”
“You are not going to jump right in and start out wide open. That’s what happens to most people, they jump right in and think they’re going to look for instant results.”
“Once you start pushing your body, then your body is going to get used to it,” he said. “You just keep doing it, keep doing it, take your time and don’t look for that fast-paced stuff, and I’ll come to you.”
article by Kunbi Tinuoye via thegrio.com

Teen Siblings Ima, Caleb, Asha and Joshua Christian Create App to Document Police Interactions

By goodblacknews on August 31, 2014
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Five-O App Inventors Caleb, Ima, Joshua, and Asha Christian (Pine Tart)

Like everyone else in America, Ima Christian has been nervously watching the news unfold in Ferguson, Missouri. The 16-year-old resident of Stone Mountain, Georgia, says that she and her siblings have been in constant conversation with their parents about the recent deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner (who died last month in Staten Island) at the hands of police.
“Our parents try to put everything in context for us,” Christian says. “They try to tell us to focus on solutions.”
So they decided to build their own answer to police abuse. On Monday, Ima Christian (pictured, second from left) and her siblings—principally Caleb, 14, and Asha, 15, with the support of Joshua, 10—are launching a beta version of Five-O, an app that will enable users to rate their interactions with police and view aggregate scores for how law-enforcement agencies fare.
“As soon as we decided that we wanted to make an app, we threw the idea on the white board,” she says.

Ima Christian and her siblings decided to build their own answer to police abuse.

Here’s how Five-O works: Users log in to a dashboard, where they have several options. A Five-O user can create a detailed incident report and rate the professionalism and courtesy of the officer, using an A-F scale. Or they can view police stations by county or state to see how various departments rate. (Those A-F officer interaction scores are averaged out on a 4.0 scale—like a GPA for the fuzz.)
The app also allows people to post messages to a community board. There’s another function called “Know Your Rights,” a Q&A-formatted feature, “so you have your rights at your fingertips at any moment,” Christian says. The family drew the information from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Christian, a senior at Parkview High School, credits her brother Caleb for the idea to create an app for rating police interactions. They decided early on in the project planning stages that Five-O would focus on the good as well as the bad.
“I haven’t really heard of issues happening in Stone Mountain of the scale of what’s in the news,” she says. “I do have relatives who have had negative interactions with police.” She says that friends of the family include police officers, who offer a friendlier model for police interactions. “This is an app to offer up positive experiences. They can be an example.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-Veei0jQM&w=560&h=315]
This is the Christian family’s first app release, but it’s unlikely to be their last. Ima and her siblings are aggressive students of programming, especially for a mobile environment. She and her siblings Asha and Caleb have participated in programs such as MIT’s +K12, Scratch, and App Inventor programs. Ima and Asha Christian are both executive team members in the ProjectCSGirls computer science competition. And they were both 2014 #Include Fellows in the She++ program. Ima is a Codecademy alum as well, and has done coding programs through Stanford.Stanford, incidentally, is Ima’s reach school—she’s also got her sights set onWashington University in St. Louis, Brown, and Columbia—and the graduating senior has also done work at her top in-state choice, the Georgia Institute of Technology. (Ima’s siblings could not be reached for comment, as they were not yet home from school.)
Following Monday’s beta launch for Five-O, the Christian siblings are continuing work on two more projects: Coily, a review app for hair-care products for black girls and women, and Froshly, an app to facilitate meetings for in-bound college pre-freshmen, “so they can greet each other before they meet each other in school.” The Christian siblings started a company, Pine Tart, Inc., to advance their work.
“We don’t have any institutional support right now,” Ima Christian says. “It’s just us. We’re our own team.”
article by Kriston Capps via citylab.com

Georgia Resident Gregory Jarrett Cleans Room, Finds $1 Million Powerball Ticket

By goodblacknews on March 1, 2014
Gregory Jarrett
Decatur resident Gregory Jarrett, 26, found a winning $1 million Powerball ticket while cleaning his room. (Photo Credit: Georgia Lottery)

This story might get a few folks cleaning house more often — according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Decatur, GA resident Gregory Jarrett, 26, found a forgotten, winning $1 million Powerball ticket while cleaning his room.  “I was sitting on the ticket and didn’t even know it,” Jarrett said.
Jarrett matched the first five winning numbers in the January 15 drawing and claimed his prize February 18.  He bought the ticket at the Northside Food Mart in the 500-block of 548 Northside Drive N.W.  He used his siblings’ birthdays when selecting the winning numbers.
“I called for my mom, and I walked toward her, shaking,” he recalled. “She verified it, and at that point, we hugged.”  Jarrett said he will pay off bills with the winnings.
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is an estimated $60 million to a single annuity winner. The Mega Millions game is up to $216 million for Friday’s drawing.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Unsung Black Women in History: Biddy Mason, from Slavery to One of Los Angeles’ Wealthiest Black Entrepreneurs

By goodblacknews on February 11, 2014

From Clutch Magazine:

Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Madame CJ Walker—the list of women typically mentioned during Black History Month is incredibly short. But this year, CLUTCH will celebrate the achievements of black women you may not have ever heard about.

First up: Bridget “Biddy” Mason

Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born on August 15, 1818 in Georgia. Mason was born into slavery and before her death in 1891 she become one of Los Angeles’ wealthiest Black residents and philanthropists.

After working on a plantation in Mississippi owned by Robert Marion Smith, Mason migrated to Utah with the Smiths, who had converted to Mormonism. During the grueling two-thousand-mile journey, Mason herded cattle, prepared meals, and worked as a nurse and midwife. In 1851, Smith moved his brood, including his enslaved servants, to San Bernardino, California.

Ira Curry: Georgia Mega Millions Winner To Claim $173.8 Million

By goodblacknews on December 20, 2013

Ira-Curry
Georgia lottery officials said a Mega Millions winner came forward today to claim her share of the $636 million jackpot.  Ira Curry, of Stone Mountain, Ga., is $318 million richer and is one of two lucky ticket holders who will split the second largest jackpot in the game’s history.  Lottery officials said Curry purchased the ticket in Atlanta at Gateway Newsstand and chose the numbers herself by picking family birthdays and throwing in the lucky number seven.
Georgia Lottery chief executive Debbie Alford said Curry, who has so far stayed out of the spotlight, plans to take the lump sum payout, a cool $123 million after taxes.  A second winning ticket was sold in San Jose, Calif., at Jenny’s Gift Shop, California lottery officials said. That person has not yet come forward.  The winning numbers from Tuesday night’s drawing were: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7.
The $636 million jackpot grew from a modest $12 million prize in October. Twenty-one winless drawings later, it became the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, according to lottery officials. The record jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions prize in March 2012.  Last October, Mega Millions changed its rules to increase the jackpot by lowering the odds of winning. The chance of winning the jackpot is now about 1 in 259 million. Before the rules changed, the odds were 1 in 176 million.
Mega Millions revamped its game after Powerball ticket prices doubled from $1 to $2 in January 2012, accounting for the swelling jackpots and tons of media attention.  Mega Millions is played in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
article via newsone.com

Georgia Residents Ralph and Tillie Lee Pullin Still Going Strong After 75 Years of Marriage

By goodblacknews on October 14, 2013
Ralph and Tillie Lee Pullin are one of the longest-living married couples in Georgia, and it's getting them plenty of unexpected attention.
Ralph and Tillie Lee Pullin are one of the longest-living married couples in Georgia, and it’s getting them plenty of unexpected attention.

GEORGIA – An African-American couple is celebrating an extraordinary milestone in their marriage.  Ralph and Tillie Lee Pullin have been husband and wife for an incredible 75 years.  They tied the knot in 1938 after two years of dating. Despite inevitable ups and downs, their union is still going strong.  Now the couple’s long-lasting devotion to each other is generating unexpected attention. They have received a proclamation from their mayor and a congratulatory letter from President Obama.

“I am so excited, I am telling you,” said Mrs. Pullin in an interview with local television station.  Mr. Ralph Pullin, Sr, of McDonough, Georgia, said in the same interview that it was a strong attraction at first sight.  “She had to sit on part of my knee!  And that got my attention like– a live wire,” he said.
Though, their courtship was not without challenges. For two years, the pair kept their relationship secret from Mrs. Pullin’s mother instead telling her that Mr. Pullin was dating his wife’s older sister.  The lovebirds finally wed on September 17, 1938. The pair – one of the longest-living married couples in Georgia — went on to to have 8 children. They have 6 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, with another on the way.

ATL Principal Jason Stamper Saves Student From Dog Attack

By goodblacknews on October 10, 2013

Jason Stamper atlanta principal dog attack
Jason Stamper (pictured), the principal of technology at the New Schools at Carver in southeast Atlanta, told WSB-TV 2 that it’s his job to protect students and that’s what he did when he saved one of his students from a dog attack.  After hearing from other students that someone was being attacked by dogs on campus, Stamper sprung to action.
At first he jumped into his car and used it in his first attempt to scare off the dogs.  “Didn’t work and actually I had some tennis rackets in my car and I actually was able to get them off with some tennis rackets,” he explained.  His daring actions saved 16-year-old Carver student, Azarius Lowe. But Stamper did not want to take all of the credit, saying that cops and other school staff helped too. The dogs are still on the lose. Animal control has set up traps to catch them, but they caught a dog not connected to the attack.
The boy’s father, Arthur Steverson, was thankful that Stamper helped his boy and treated him as his own son. He said he wasn’t afraid for himself when he fought off the dogs, but was afraid for Azarius after seeing his injuries. The boy is recovering from the attack and will be OK.
article via newsone.com

Antoinette Tuff: The Hero Who Helped Avert Tragedy in Atlanta Elementary School Standoff (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on August 22, 2013

Antoinette TuffDECATUR, Ga. (AP) — The 911 tapes from a frightening standoff and shooting at an Atlanta-area school show how a school employee’s calm demeanor and kind approach helped end the ordeal without any injuries.  Police said Wednesday that school bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff was heroic in how she responded after being taken hostage a day earlier by Michael Brandon Hill, a 20-year-old man with a history of mental health issues. Hill went to the school armed with an AK 47-style rifle and nearly 500 rounds of ammunition, police said.
On a recording of a 911 call released Wednesday, Tuff can be heard relaying messages from Hill to DeKalb County emergency dispatchers before convincing him to surrender. She tells the dispatcher that Hill said he wasn’t there to hurt the children but wanted to talk to an unarmed officer.  “He said, ‘Call the probation office in DeKalb County and let them know what’s going on,’” Tuff is heard telling the dispatcher. “He said he should have just went to the mental hospital instead of doing this, because he’s not on his medication.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MelQCClmDD8&w=420&h=315]

Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson Announces $1.2M Grant to Help Ex-Offenders Turn Their Backs on Crime

By goodblacknews on August 9, 2013
Rep. Hank Johnson with Charles Sperling, alongside the Board of Directors and staff at STAND
Rep. Hank Johnson with Charles Sperling, alongside the Board of Directors and staff at STAND

LITHONIA, GA – Congressman Hank Johnson has just announced a $1.2 million federal grant to a metro Atlanta community-based project that is committed to helping offenders straighten out their lives.  Standing to Achieve New Directions (STAND, Inc.) will receive the award from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services.  The non-profit organization, established in 1999, provides services for ex-inmates, with an emphasis on rehabilitating former prisoners and helping repeat offenders break their cycle of crime.
“It’s absolutely critical to bridge a pathway for individuals coming out of incarceration experiences so they can successfully reintegrate into society,” says Charles Sperling, executive director and founder of STAND.  The grant monies will facilitate a new initiative, launched this month, to support about 90 newly released inmates every year over a period of three years. The scheme, which is offered on a voluntary basis, will provide a spectrum of resources and support, from behavior health services and housing to employment needs.
“STAND has a proven track record of helping former inmates turn their lives around,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), in a statement. “Encouraging people released from prison to be productive members of society not only strengthens our communities; it saves taxpayers billions of dollars.”

A $147 Million Signal of Faith in Atlanta’s Public Schools

By goodblacknews on August 7, 2013
The new North Atlanta High School features amenities like a video production center and a cafeteria resembling a mall food court. (Dustin Chambers for The New York Times)

ATLANTA — The most expensive public high school ever built in Georgia opens Wednesday in an old I.B.M. office building.
With 11 stories, a 900-car parking deck and views fit for a corporate executive, the school, North Atlanta High, looks very much like the fancy office buildings and glittery shopping strips that populate its Buckhead community.  The school cost about $147 million. That is small change compared with the Robert F. Kennedy high school complex in Los Angeles, built in 2010 for $578 million — a figure critics liked to point out was more expensive than Beijing’s Olympic stadium.
But in the Deep South, where the median cost of a new high school is $38.5 million, it might as well be the Taj Mahal.  As a result, some in this antigovernment, tax-sensitive part of the country are grumbling, especially since the project was $50 million over its original budget.  “The raw numbers themselves in terms of the cost of construction should give pause to any taxpayer,” said Edward Lindsey, a lawyer and a Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives.
But for the Atlanta Public Schools, which are just beginning to recover from a cheating scandal that in March brought indictments against 35 educators, including a former superintendent, the shining new school is being pitched as an important step toward redemption.  About 48,400 students will attend public school in Atlanta this year, about 400 fewer than last year.  “We have a special obligation here,” said Howard E. Taylor, the new principal. “The district is digging out of a historic crisis.”
He and other educators say that the new school building is an opportunity to show that a large, urban public high school can be a viable alternative to the rising tide of charter schools, voucher systems and private education.  Some of the 1,400 students who will attend the school this year come from the wealthiest families in the region, but others, Mr. Taylor said, are homeless. Nearly half are black. About 27 percent are white and 20 percent are Hispanic. They speak more than 40 languages.  “If there was ever a model for an urban high school, this is it,” he said.