Florida Sentinel Bulletin

BY LEON B. CREWS
Sentinel Staff Writer

Four bus drivers with the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) have a combined safe driving stretch of 7 million miles.

That’s the equivalent of driving to the moon and back 14 times without an accident.

On May 19th, the drivers were recognized for their remarkable achievement during the Tampa Area Safety Council’s 31st Annual Safety Awards Luncheon.

The four drivers recognized were:
Richard Alvarez, 2 million miles of driving without a preventable accident; Andrew Bell, 2 million miles of driving without a preventable accident; James Chapman, 2 million miles of driving without a preventable accident, and Marion “Rocky” Wells, 1 million miles of driving without a preventable accident.

In addition to the recognition, the drivers will wear a HART patch on their uniforms to distinguish them as a million-mile safe driver.

Pictured: From left to right: Andrew Bell, James Chapman, Richard Alvarez, and Marion Wells.

BY LEON B. CREWS
Sentinel Staff Writer

A group of dedicated adults have volunteered their time, expertise, and knowledge to coach a little league baseball team. The result of their hard work is a Belmont Heights Major League Division Championship, their second in a row.

The team, consisting of 10 to 12 year olds, finished the season with a 19-1 record and will be playing this Saturday, 10 a. m., at the Pinecrest Little League Field.

The team is sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, and managed by Freddie Drayton.

The community is asked to please come out and support the team and cheer them on to victory.

Pictured: In this team photo are: players, Dequan Barb Meikel Dinkens, Devon Wright, Freddrick Drayton, Keron Nelson, Jaisen Randolph, II, Mali Watson, Alick Fortune, Malcolm Hill, Joseph Williams, Eric Brown, and Shawn Lowman. The coaches are Freddie Drayton (Manager), Roy Brown, Xavier Johnson and Willie Barb.

Last week, a longtime Hillsborough County School district employee retired. The Sentinel has learned that Henry Ballard, Jr., has since retained Attorney Delano Stewart to represent him in preparation of filing a grievance.

He was appointed as he first Manager of the Office of Supplier Diversity, created to increase minority participation in the awarding of school contracts, in 2001.

Ballard said, “After reviewing a lot of documents given to me by inside sources, it appeared that there was an incredible difference as to why my position could not be reviewed prior to my retirement.”

He also stated that he was informed that there were a series of meetings about his position that did not include him. He learned the proper procedure to file a grievance weeks before his retirement and “I took those actions.”

The grievance concerns his title change and pay increase.

Tampa Police arrested a 22-year-old woman Monday and charged her with beating her one-year-old for eating her marijuana.

Police said India Couch faces charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, child abuse, child neglect, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Investigators said that the child, who had been left unsupervised, found the marijuana in Couch’s purse, and ate some of it.

Police said that’s when Couch beat the child with a sandal and then hit him hard enough to leave welts. Police said she also attacked her live-in partner with a dumbbell.

Arrest records indicate she’s being held under a bond of $7,500.

BY GWEN HAYES
Sentinel Editor

Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. (Yustina Rusmaryanah) Fields would love for their 6-year-old daughter to participate in the Aloha Day Math Olympiad. They have already registered her for the event.

The Olympiad will be held in Somerset, NJ on Sunday, June 5, 2011 from 9 a. m. – 5:30 p. m.

Pearlyana Liem Fields, a student at Lee Elementary School, has excelled beyond her grade levels. She’s on the Kumon Reading and Mathematics curriculum. Pearlyana was moved into first grade in January after being able to recognize 40,000 words. Nearing the end of the school year, she is at 178,000 words, her parents explained.

Pearlyana has been competing on all levels in all areas since the age of 3. She has first and second place trophies, gold cups and superior ratings in piano, dance, gymnastics. She also has outstanding ratings in writing and math competitions.

Mr. and Mrs. Fields are hoping that they can raise $2,500 to make the trip to New Jersey, arriving on Friday.

Those who would like to contribute may call Fields at (813) 416-7483 for additional information.

Pearlyana has 2 other siblings – Christiana Cynthia Fields (3) and Justin Parker (11).

Mrs. Lillian R. Harris Cusseaux quietly transitioned to her heavenly home on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at St. Joseph’s Hospital. On April 28, 2011, she celebrated her 86th birthday at home with her family.

Mrs. Cusseaux, affectionately called “Lil”, a Tampa native born to the late Ira and Adaline Harris, was raised in Hyde Park and educated in Hillsborough County Schools, beginning at Dobyville Elementary, George W. Carver Junior High and Don Thompson.

She was from a very large family blessed with the gift of music, singing and preaching. Her siblings included Lorenzo, Reva, Charles, Frances, Anna, Albert, Fannie, Gloria and Harry. Deceased siblings are Freddie, Vivian, Nathaniel and Richard.

Ray Williams Funeral Home will be in charge of arrangements. The service will be held on Friday, at 1 p.m., at New Mount Zion M. B. Church, 2511 E. Columbus Drive.

***For full story see Tuesday’s Sentinel****

BY TAMECA JOHNSON
Freelance Writer

The school year is quickly coming to a close for students across the Bay Area.  For the staff at A. T. Jones Academy in North Tampa, the wind down brings reflections of extreme highs and minor setbacks.

Jones Academy came under fire by the Hillsborough County School District when it discovered administrators had mistakenly enrolled nearly two dozen four-year-olds into the public charter school program. Hillsborough School officials forced Principal Brenda Kearse to withdraw all of the students in question, leaving the school in jeopardy of having to repay nearly $80,000 in state funds used for the children’s education.

Ms. Kearse and the Board of Directors at Jones Academy quickly put together a plan to implement a new program called Accelerated Scholars, which is now up and running.  It is independent of Jones Academy, but is located at the Ehrlich Road campus.

Jones Academy is a K-5 free charter elementary school that specializes in Math, Science and Technology.

Ms. Kearse says getting through this year was a short-term goal.  The 37-year veteran of public schools says she plans to continue efforts to keep Jones Academy on the cutting edge of technology, with help from such sources as Apple Computers. Apple representatives toured the school and verbally committed to providing Jones Academy with more of the latest iPad technology.

BY IRIS B. HOLTON
Sentinel City Editor

Last Sunday evening, Kevin King had taken a nap during the early evening. He remembers his wife, Krisheena, had gotten up and the next thing he knew she was calling him.

“My wife started screaming my name as she saw the barbeque grill and the garbage can flying away in the backyard. We grabbed whatever we could and went under the house into a crawl space.”

King said they were there between 30 and 45 minutes without any knowledge of what was going on. “We couldn’t see anything. It was like a wall cloud and we could hear the hail beating against the house.”

King said there was no cellular telephone service and they couldn’t find out any information. King went outside of the crawl space and into their garage. Once there, he turned on the radio and went back into the crawl space with his wife who is 7 months pregnant. Neither of the Kings had ever experienced being in a tornado.

King stated that he moved to Joplin to accept a job with a battery manufacturer after graduating from college. His wife is a native of West Palm Beach.

Plant City police have arrested a Lakeland man in connection with a shooting that occurred at the Sav-A-Lot warehouse located at 4003 Amberjack Boulevard.

On May 25th at 12:34 p. m., Plant City police received a 9-1-1 call in reference to a shooting at the Save-A-Lot warehouse.

Officers arrived minutes later and found a man with non-life threatening injuries had already been taken to a hospital for treatment.

It was also determined the suspect, who was later identified as 53-year-old Andrew Lee Brown was still armed, possibly setting fires, and inside the building with other employees.

Officers entered the building to locate Brown and to evacuate the remaining employees.

After a search of the building, Brown was found in a back corner of the warehouse. He was armed and ordered to surrender. He complied without incident.

Brown is the former employee of a company sub-contracted by Sav-A-Lot to transport goods from the warehouse. His motives were not known at the time of the shooting.

The shooting victim was identified as Aaron Huey, 25, and he is expected to recover from his injuries.

Brown has been charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, eight counts of aggravated assault, shooting into an occupied building, one count of aggravated battery, and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent felony. He is being held without bond.