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2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited DECEMBER 21 – 27, 2017
Vol. 89 No. 39 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Keep truckin’
Future engineer
A child played with toys and dreamt of Christmas during the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis’ staff holiday party at Myseum on Monday, December 18.
Scholarship awardee Shauniece O’Neal wants to heal the Earth – and make the Olympics By Sophie Hurwitz For the St. Louis American
Photo by Lawrence Bryant
Black police organization backs John Hayden for chief ‘Our community is calling for accountability’ By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American When Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole got up to speak a public forum on Thursday, December 14 where the community got to meet the six finalists for St. Louis police chief, several members of the crowd stood up and sang Christmas songs with protest lyrics.
And the protests against O’Toole only got more intense as the evening went on. At one point, activist Elizabeth Vega interrupted O’Toole to yell out, “We asked for him to be fired, and you have him up here potentially getting a promotion. That is the problem. Ask him to leave.” About half the room at Saint Louis University School of Law Clinic Courtroom
stood up and applauded, including some wearing police uniforms. O’Toole is among the three local candidates, along with Major John Hayden and Captain Mary Edward-Fears. Two are from Texas and one is from Oklahoma. Four are AfricanAmerican. See CHIEF, A7
Clemons pleads guilty to killing and raping Kerry sisters On Friday, December 18th, Reginald Clemons finally pled guilty to murdering and raping Robin Kerry and Julie Kerry in 1991.
State reduces charges to murder 2, takes death penalty off table, leaves open parole By Chris King Of The St. Louis American Reginald Clemons murdered and raped Robin Kerry and Julie Kerry on April 4, 1991, and robbed their cousin Thomas Cummins, he admitted on Friday, December 18. Clemons pled guilty before St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison as part of an agreement that reduced his murder charges from first to second degree and sentenced him to five consecutive life sentences. The agreement leaves Clemons eligible for parole. Clemons and the state also agreed that “neither See CLEMONS, A6
HEALTH
SPORTS
Shauniece O’Neal, 2017 St. Louis American Foundation scholarship awardee, has been on the move during her first year at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where she plans to major in civil engineering. O’Neal said she chose that major because “I’m really good at math and science, so I’m like, how can I make that into a career?” Although she originally wanted to be an environmental engineer, not many schools offered that as an undergraduate degree, O’Neal said. Now, she Shauniece has an alternate plan: O’Neal She’ll major in civil engineering for her undergraduate education, and then go back to school for a graduate degree in environmental engineering. “I like the environment,” O’Neal said, “And I wanted to do something to help people and help animals and stop all the damage that’s being done, or at least combat it.” Alongside her classes, O’Neal is an outstanding athlete. She competes in track and field as a thrower, as she has been doing since her freshman year at Hazelwood Central High School. Last summer, O’Neal competed in the Junior Olympics, and she hopes to compete in the Olympics during her junior year of See O’NEAL, A7
Public libraries offer free mobile Wi-Fi City and county cardholders can now check out ‘hot spots’ American staff The public libraries in St. Louis city and county now offer Wi-Fi hotspots for checkout. The mobile hotspots will allow people to connect to the Internet, anywhere, any time with a Wi-Fi enabled device. “Meaningful internet access is essential for economic stability and educational attainment,” said Kristen Sorth, director of the St. Louis County Library. “By addressing the digital divide, we are providing important infrastructure for our community.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey, 22 See WI-FI, A7
Pool photo by St. Louis Post-Dispatch
LIVING IT
‘Addiction is slavery’
Holiday basketball tournament preview
Jaidyn’s Christmas joy
St. Louis hosts Opioid Summit, as state seeks solutions
‘Tis the season to be jolly and enjoy basketball tournaments, that will be going on around the St. Louis metro area for the next two weeks.
Third-grader to perform with Moscow Ballet in ‘The Great Russian Nutcracker’
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