BENTON HARBOR
B RNle
ROW
The 3rd Annual HaIl Of Fame,
ponsored by Project Love, a youth
televi ion promotion how, was held
during Blac History Month where
12 people were induc d. Also there
w salute to everal Bla k busi-
, where pecial presentations
were given.
Another attraction dded this year
to the Black Hi tory celebration w
"A Bl ck Awaren of Adult Role
Models," where individual w
chosen that have touched the lives of
some youth in the city.
The celebration begin with a din­
ner for family and friends of the in­
- ductees at the Benton Restaurant and
climax at the Pilgrim R t Baptist
Church where wards w given.
Special honored guest t the din­
ner and ward celebration w Roger
Gatlin, a 14 year-old who w
paralyzed after he got hit by a car
while crossln apier Avenue in
front of airplain Junior High
School, October 23, 1991.
ROGER HAS BEEN in many
different hospitals since his accident,
but now he is in the Mary Free Bed
Hospital in Grand R-apids where he
have been ince last December, aid
his mother, Dianne Gatlin.
Part of the proceeds rai ed from
: t1)e Hall of Fame was donated to
: Roger to go toward his medical ex­
: penses.
Sherron Weeks, Director of
Project Love said she has sent letters
to various churches in the com­
munity asking that for the month of
March they take up donations for the
Gatlin family.
People inducted into the Hall of
Fame were nominated by leaders,
individuals in the community and
city officials.
The inductees in the 3td Annual
Benton Harbor Hall Of Fame were:
Dr. Lynn Gray, family physician;
Elm�r Rhodes, retired Benton Har-
. bor police officer; Rev, C.M. Jon ,
p tor and founder of Beautiful Ga
Baptist Church; Mary Defoe, Presi­
dent of the local Twin City Branch
of the NAACP; John Billup , retired
Benton Harbor fire chief; Dr. Rev.
Ellis Hull Sr., p tor of Mount Zion
Baptist Church, Dowagiac; Ollie M.
Hull, Berrien Probate Court register,
Georg We tfield, retired from the
Berrien County Friend of the Court;
Rev. T.N. Wilkins, founder of the
Friendship M.B. Church; Dr. ett
Brown, retired oral urgeon; the late
Rev. W.E. Ellis, founder of Pilgrim
Rest Baptist Church; and Jam F.A.
Turner, Benton Harbor City Com­
missioner.
BI..ACKBUSINESSES honored
were, Howard Pest Control, 1420 E.
Napier, John and Robbin Howard.
owners and CCOS & Unity
Provi ion of Promise Community
Service , 1 9 Pipe tone St., Gwen
Swift, Exec. Director 0 r.
Adult role models honored were:
Benton Harbor Mayor Emma Hull;
Nora Jefferson, Benton Charter
Township Supervi or: D nethel
Whitfield, Executive Director Ben­
ton Harbor Housing Commi ion;
Bertha King, Benton Harbor Area
School teacher consultant; Emma
Fields, Michigan State Extention &
Nutrition Program; Lou Buchana,
and Glenn "Bootlo" Yarbrough,
County Commissioner and Director
of Benton Harbor's Parks and
Recreation Department. .
Some of the inductees shared
their achievements, experiences and
gave advise in a taping for Project
Love, hopefully to influences some
other youth to motivate themselves
and try to reach for the highest goal
they can.
Rhodes, an inve tigator for the
Friend of the Court, was the first
Black police officer in the City of
Benton Harbor. "I have had some
good experiences and some bad ex-
: LMC off raid
for ingle parent
Single parents, homemakers
without marketable job skills, and
: people who have 10 t the financial
: support of a wage-earning spouse
. through divorce, separation, death or
disability are eligible for a special
: type of financial aid at Lake
Michigan College.
According to Leigh Rudman,
coordinator of the LMC Special
Populations- Program, financial as­
sistance is available for the Spnng
and Summer semesters, which begin
May 11 .and June 2, for men or
women of any age who fit into the
above categories.
The Single Parent/Homemaker
Program is in its seventh year at Lake
Michigan College.
THE PROGRAM IS funded by
the Federal Carl Perkins Act and su­
pervised through the Michigan
Department of Education. The pro­
gram pay for a student'S tutition,
fees, books, supplies, and sometimes
child care and transportation -
depending upon financial �ed and
may be used to upplement other
forms of financial i stance , uch
Pell Grants.
To be considered, applicants
must have applied for and received
their Pell Determination for the
199-1-92 academic year.
The program is de igned far
people to enroll invocational-educa­
tional programs or cl es. They may
choo e from any of the 26 occupa­
tional-vocational areas of study of­
fered at LMC, in addition to co-op
and apprenticeship pro gam in
which tudents work on-the-job
while they attend clas
Some of the mo t popular
programs of study for Ingle parents
and homemaker have included
business, secretarial, computers,
food and hospitality, drafting and
design, electronics, and health areas
such nW'Slng, dental isting and
x-ray technology.
Participants may attend full-time
or part-time, taking one class'or e full
load, and �t i not necessary to com­
plete a degree.
To receive more in/ormation, in­
terested people are asked to call the
LMC Special Populations Office at
(616) 927-3571 or 1-800-252-
1LMC, at. 285.
periences, but I think I played a good
role for some Bl ck youth to follow."
"POLICE WO IS very inter-
e ting, but although a lot of youth
don't care about it today. I would
pe that more youth in the City of
Benton Harbor would 100 forward
in taking up police wor beca it i
needed out there."
Bill up , dvi to the youth were
to, "Be a good Ii tener and try to
learn much you can by others,
because by doing good thin t good
thin hould follow."
Dr. Rev. Hull, pastor of the Mt.
Zion B pti t Church, Dowagiac, and
a contractor in the city, i he
tarted the Minority Contractors
Union, in 1965, where 4SO minority
contractors across the United S
got together and formed an oraaniza
on to lp ch other out.
He ai be h ve belped build
many churches and the Hull' Terra
Apartmen on Britain Avenue in
Benton Township.
"You can be what you want to be,
if you want to be omething," Rev.
Hull id to the youth. "Color has
some hang ups, but it won't top you
if you want to be omebody."
HE AID WHAT wa in­
trumental in his life was, he never
believed in giving up- "You do what
you got to do, to get the job done."
In 1954, Mrs. Hull w the first
Blac to work at tbC Berrien County
Courthouse.
Mrs. Hull said she would like to,
"give credit where credit belongs,"
and that is to the National Associa­
tion for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), aoo the late Mrs.
Lula Lee who told her about the job
opening at the courthouse.
"I'd like for our Black young
people to be Black and proud, not
ignorant and loud," she said, and "to
young people as a whole, if you have .
a dream, go for that dream."
Orthop Ie urg on
n m dto bord
SOU1H HA VBN - Michael
J. Par , M.D., an orthopedic
urgeon in private practice in
Southwe t
Michlgan,
w a
recently
appointed
to the
board of
directors
of the
State of
Michigan
Center for
R u r a I
Health.
The Center for Rur
He81th, recently formed by
state legislature, meets
quarterly and deals with i
related to health care in rural
are in Michigan.
Par also chairs the Rural
and Small Hospi I T Force
of the Michigan State Medical
Society and serves on its
Medicaid Liaison Committee.
ADVERTISE
o AY
"I would hope receiving thi
honor ould bea motivation to all of
the individ in the community",
aid Westfield, a retiree of the Ber­
rien County Friends of Court.
"I have had many helping hands
along the way to motivate me," he
said. "I know that I was instrumental
in helping many young people to
stay out of difficultie and guide
them along, and they found themsel­
ves off to school and off to 00 lege or
into the military."
He said many individuals have
"I think the youth in this com­
munity should know that if you boo
for the stars you j t don't make
it, you might even land on th�
moon," he added.
"I feel that education is an ex�
tremely important thing for all of ,�
said Defoe, President of the TwiI1
City Local Branch NAACP. •
Rev. C.M. Jones, pastor and
founder of the Beautiful Gate Baptisi
Church, said his dvise to the youtn
i ; "whatever you do, make sure yo
get a piritual education."
come bac to him and aid "thank
you for helping me."
"EACH P ON IN tbe com-
munity a responsibility to do the
very best they can for themselv and
their immediate family", Westfield
said'. "I also believe that service to
humanity is the best work in life and
if e are able to motivate other by
offering our very best, then we have
fulfilled ome of the dutie and
responsibilities that lay on our
sboulders. "
Dave Daniets - Security Guard at HPCC reads
the Michigan Citizen ..
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