Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024
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Volume 10, Issue YY
‘Fight for diversity’ President of U.S. Urban League ‘zooms’ into Lorain County Richard Perrins The Community Guide
“Democracy is not perfect. Democracy is not always fair, particularly to Black people and other left-out communities. But democracy is better than monarchy, oligarchy or authoritarianism. We must understand that is why we fight for democracy all the time.” That’s what Marc Morial, the president and CEO of the National Urban League, told a crowd of about 150
people gathered at tables in Avon’s Emerald Event Center. Morial was the keynote speaker for the Lorain County Urban League’s 10th annual Diversity and Inclusion Conference. His speech, delivered via Zoom, followed the conference’s theme — “Defend Democracy, Demand Diversity, Defeat Poverty.” The National Urban League is a nonprofit that empowers Black Americans and other underserved
demographics to achieve economic and civil equity. Morial, who’s been the president and CEO of the organization since 2003, said the fight to maintain democracy and civil power in underserved populations must be a constant one in the face of gerrymandering and other factors that seek to limit it. As one facet of its operations, the National Urban League offers educational and workforce training. Morial said recent conver-
sations around companies that refrain from making diverse hiring and operating decisions, could limit the support those companies get from the Urban League and all Black Americans. Given the growth in the Black population and economic power in the country, those that are discriminated against must push back. “We must fight for diversity,” Morial said. “We deserve a seat at the table “We have to do more to hold those that go retreating
RICHARD PERRINS / COMMUNITY GUIDE
Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, delivers the keynote speech at the Lorain County Urban League’s 10th annual Diversity and Inclusion Conference via Zoom. from us accountable.” Morial then referenced the third pillar of the conference’s theme — fighting poverty. He said to fight poverty, we should work to centralize battles to raise the mini-
mum wage and institute a child tax credit, measures to build the social safety net. “You all at the local level, you’re fighting these battles every single day. “We have to keep fighting those battles.”
Cockfighting ring is raided Owen MacMillan The Community Guide
Honoring families of the fallen
DAVE O’BRIEN / COMMUNITY GUIDE
The Lorain County Gold Star Families Memorial Monument, located behind the Old Lorain County Courthouse in downtown Elyria, will be dedicated in a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 29. Gold Star Families are those that have lost a family member in active duty military service. Story on A2.
ELYRIA — Nearly 40 mistreated animals are on the road to recovery after the Friendship Animal Protection League broke up a cockfighting operation in Elyria last week. On Sept. 4, using a warrant from the Elyria Municipal Court, Friendship APL humane officers raided a residential property in Elyria after an investigation into complaints of alleged cockfighting there. League Humane Officer Vickie McDonald did not give the location of the warrant. She said she could not share many details of the alleged perpetrators or the ring itself because criminal charges are still pending. “We have been investigating this for a little bit, it’s not something we stumbled upon,” McDonald
said. Officers seized 27 chickens, 11 hens and 16 roosters, as well as 11 dogs. McDonald said the seizure of the dogs was “incidental” to the investigation. “The roosters are in varying medical conditions; they are not all critical,” McDonald said. “We have some that are essentially uninjured … and we have some that are much more critically injured.” But, McDonald said, all of the birds are treatable, have begun to receive treatment at the Friendship APL in Elyria and are expected to fully recover. Many of the roosters had clearly been injured in prior fights and since recovered, and most of them had their spurs — sharp bony growths on the back of their legs — removed. Roosters use their See RAID, A2
What to say about the Browns? Yep, the season started CLEVELAND — We are now officially into Year 3 of the Browns waiting for Deshaun Watson to heal, get unsuspended and/or play better. Sunday at Haslam Acres, the Dallas Cowboys — no steamrollers they — showed the home team how Jim far they still have to go to be taken Ingraham seriously. The final score was 33-17, and it was not that close. Nevertheless, with the Browns trailing 30-10 at the start of the fourth quarter, management inexplicably decided to shoot off a couple fireworks, perhaps in order to make the most loyal fan base in the NFL think they were having a
good time. They were not. By that time the stampede to the parking lots had begun. The last half of the fourth quarter was played before family and friends. At no time in the game did it feel like the Browns were going to win, a sentiment, more or less, shared by coach Kevin Stefanski. “Really sloppy. Disappointing,” said the two-time NFL Coach of the Year. “We had a lot of not-good-enough, and that’s on me.” For most of the game the crowd looked and sounded like a painting. Can’t blame them for that. There was not much to get excited about from a team See BROWNS, A5
Clip & save Browns schedule on Page A4
INSIDE THIS WEEK Wellington
Fall sports underway for Dukes. A6
In a pickle
New Premier Club opens. A5
Oberlin
Allen Art Museum reopens. A4
SPORTS A6 • CROSSWORD A7 • SUDOKU A7 • KID SCOOP A8