4th Street Market" Comments on Duluth News Tribune sound racist and hateful

By Scott Yeazle
This month we lost a dear friend, hopefully only for a little while. 4th St. Market closed on April 3rd. This store has been a staple in the community for years. Kids would go in with their pocket money and buy candy. Adults would go in to buy their morning paper and a cup of coffee, then a few hours later come back for a big taco. As I am sitting here writing this, I am reading the different opinions of people online. Unfortunately, any time something happens in the Central Hillside, we are blasted in the media for being a terrible place. The story is the same we heard about with the Bayside Market or any other small business that had to close because of the economy. However when it is something in the Hillside, it is all about the "evils" of the community. There are problems in every community and it takes all of us to come together to make a difference. Two things I hear when I am reading the opinions; and that is racism and hatred. I think people who show hatred for the Central Hillside are jealous of us. I think they are jealous of the great view we have. When I am in the community, I am happy to talk to everyone. I don’t care what color your skin is; you are a person to me. Some people need to get their heads out of their backsides and realize that. People are people!!!!!

Note to all the readers

I am honored to be a leader in the community. This paper is so important to the community so please support the paper. Support the advertisers and the hard workers who write for this wonderful paper. The Hillsider is a month long process and a labor of love for everyone involved.


Scott

Like Gospel Music? Attend GospelFest 2009 at CSS on Sat. April 18

The College of St. Scholastica’s Kaleidoscope Multicultural Club (KMC) concludes its 2008-09 series of events with the eighth annual GospelFest. The musical celebration will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 18, in the Mitchell Auditorium on campus. The event is free and open to the public.

A GospelFest Choir Workshop will be offered at 6 p.m., Friday, April 17, at First United Methodist Church, 230 E. Skyline Parkway in Duluth. Cost for the workshop is $5.

The workshop will be facilitated by Darnell Davis & The Remnant.
Participants will learn about the history of gospel music, vocal techniques and choir etiquette.

Darnell Davis & The Remnant is a community-based gospel ensemble. Davis, the group’s founder and director, has been the key writer for many of the Twin Cities best known gospel groups including Excelsior, James Grear & Company, and the Sounds of Blackness.

The event is sponsored by KMC; St. Scholastica’s Office of Student Affairs, Student Senate and Student Diversity Center; First United Methodist Church; and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

KMC is a student organization at St. Scholastica that promotes diversity throughout campus and the community. During the academic year KMC sponsors a variety of events that represent a multitude of cultures at St. Scholastica.

For more information call (218) 733-2281 or email: nicoshia.wynn AT thrivent.com

Baptist minister says impacts of global warming fall harder on African-Americans than others

Rev.Michael McClain

Recently I attended Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C. as part of my role as a member of the United Methodist Women’s Green Team. Over 700 people of faith from across the nation attended this conference. The theme was “Enough for all.” On the last day we visited our representatives and senators on Capitol Hill.

We learned about environmental racism, in which the people who are already living in poverty are often dealing with the effects of environmental degradation.
I met Baptist minister Michael McClain, a staff-member of the National Council of Churches of Christ Eco-Justice Programs. He spoke about how minority people have often felt left out of the environmental movement when in fact they are the ones who are hardest hit by environmental degradation.

He said, “The worst impacts of global warming fall harder on African-Americans than on anyone else in the United States.” He cited asthma rates are often higher in minority communities, and minorities will pay a higher percentage of their incomes to increasing energy costs.
McClain works to reach out to historic black churches, explain the ways in which climate change is impacting poor people and people of color, and invite them to sign the National Council of Churches’ Faith Principles on Global Warming.

He is also working on home insulation programs, which help people lower energy costs as well as lower their carbon footprint.

If you would like to learn more email McClain at mmclain@nccecojustice.org or visit nccecojustice.org

Duluthians observe Earth Day with events

Spring is coming and people are honoring Mother Nature. Several activities will mark the observance of Earth Day:
• Sat. April 18, Gallery Hop from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free trolley transportation provided through-out the day.
• Tues., April 21, UMD Office of Sustainability will hold a Sustainability Fair from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Kirby Center. University, community and regional organizations will host educational learning activities. • Sat., April 25, Duluth Farmers Market’s annual Earth Day Event with educational information, music, food and local vendors - 11 a.m. to 5p.m.
• Sat., April 25, Respect Your Mother Earth Day Festival, Lief Erikson Park, 12 noon to 9 p.m. music, outdoor art galleries, yoga, food and beer.
Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day in 1970 as a time of environmental teach-ins. He chose dates that would not conflict with religious holidays, college exams or spring breaks.

Nettelton is going Green with composting food waste

After lunch at the Nettleton cafeteria, students put food scraps into a pail so it can be composted. Photo by Kristen K. Hughes

By the Nettleton Green Team and Kristen K. Hughes

Nettleton has a growing group of students that care very deeply about energy conservation and green practices. The passion of our Green Team as it is called has driven the birth of our recycling and composting project that began this year. The Green Team consists of a core group of 5th grade students who devoted time and energy to researching, developing procedures, training, setting up, and running the composting project. The Green Team made visits to Stowe, the DECC, and WLSSD to research composting options. This project would not have succeeded without their hard work and dedication.

The Green Team has taught each grade how to compost. Composting is where you collect the food you did not eat and put it back into the earth so it can grow more food in the dirt composting made. By composting, Nettleton has taken about two tons of compost out of our garbage. Several area groups and businesses, including the Nettleton PTA, Marshall Hardware, and Twin Ports Paper & Supply, made donations allowing us to get our program up and running for this year. The Green Team chose the WLSSD composting program because we can compost more material that way. One of the Green Team’s goals will be fulfilled when our compost dumpster arrives next week so that we don’t have to haul the compost offsite anymore.

Nettleton Composting Facts

• Between 75 - 100 pounds per day are composted.
• Four tons will have been composted by year-end.
• Future plans include reducing waste by eliminating plastic cutlery, napkins and using a milk dispenser.

Duluthians can use the web to fight crime

Caption: Chief Ramsay at a crime prevention meeting in March.
Photo by Naomi Yaeger-Bischoff.

Residents who want to help the police solve crimes and improve neighborhood safety have a new tool at their disposal: crimemapping.com. The website enables visitors to sign up for e-mail alerts regarding police calls and crimes in their neighborhoods.

“You can see what type of police activity has taken place in your neighborhood and potentially help us by being more aware of what is happening in your neighborhood,” says Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay, who encouraged residents to sign up for crimemapping.com alerts at a recent community meeting. He explained that residents sometimes see criminal activity in their neighborhoods but don’t realize it. The alerts aim to jog residents’ memories, prompt them to call in with tips and make them more aware of the types of criminal activities that can go unnoticed day to day.

The police department’s goal is to get 1,000 residents to sign up at crimemapping.com by the end of the year. As of March, 13 Duluth residents had done so.
For more information about the service, or to sign up, residents can go to www.crimemapping.com or to the Duluth Police Department’s website.