Track & Field Notebook Montenae Roye of Ladue (right) will be an athlete to watch at the Missouri Class 4 State Championships this weekend.
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Vol. 83 No. 8
CAC Audited MAY 26 – JUNE 1, 2011
COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Tyrice Jenkins: unifier, valedictorian
Tyrice Jenkins had to switch high schools his senior year – from the Wellston School District to Normandy – yet still graduated as valedictorian.
Student eases Wellston schools into Normandy district with highest grades By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American
“My oldest sister used to give me a dollar every time we got an A.”
It’s certainly not that Tyrice Jenkins, 18, is lazy. Valedictorians aren’t lazy. Especially one like Tyrice, who had to switch high schools his senior year – from the Wellston School District to Normandy – yet still graduated with the best grades in the school. Yet some people confuse Tyrice’s laid-back nature and aversion to stress as being languid,
– Tyrice Jenkins
he said. In December 2009, Tyrice did not bat an eye when the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE) made the deci-
sion to dismantle the state’s lowest-performing school district, Wellston, and have the Normandy School District absorb its students. While some Wellston students said they would rather drop out than go to Normandy, he left himself open to opportunity. Despite the media hype, there was never any hostility between Wellston and Normandy students, he said. Some attribute this cool transition to students like Tyrice. See JENKINS, page A7 Photo by Maurice Meredith
Akbar smeared in Guyanese political spat
Swinging in style Jariyah Knox, age 2, swung away a recent afternoon at Beckett Park in North St. Louis with her aunt, Jelonda Knox.
Farrakhan’s right-hand man demands apology for false criminal allegations By Chris King Of The St. Louis American Akbar Muhammad just learned the hard way that all politics is local, even if local politics can generate instant international news. While visiting Georgetown, Guyana (the capital city of the small South American republic) last week, he was detained on suspicion of involvement with drugs and terrorism – charges with no basis in evidence or fact, but rather local political rivalry. Muhammad – the St. Louis-based international representative of Min. Louis Farrakhan – answered police at his Georgetown hotel early last Thursday morning only when they threatened to bust down the door. Akbar He was taken to the headquarters of Muhammad Guyana’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which he described as “their equivalent of the FBI.” Though he had been shocked to hear he was suspected of involvement with drugs and terrorism, when the interrogations got underway, police were more interested in local politics than international criminal conspiracies. “They sit me in this chair, and all of them ended up asking this one same question: ‘What political party have you met with in See AKBAR, page A7 Photo by Wiley Price
The Rev. John Nelson Doggett Jr., a pioneer in civil rights nationally and locally, passed away on May 15, 2011 at the age of 93.
Homegoing for Rev. Doggett Civil rights leader remembered by family, NAACP By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American When the Rev. John Nelson Doggett Jr. arrived in St. Louis nearly 50 years ago, he quickly became one of the city’s most beloved adopted sons because of his work as a champion in the Civil Rights Movement and in the church. As a community convened to mourn his passing on Saturday morning at Union Memorial United Methodist Church, it was apparent that he felt the
same about St. Louis. “My father loved two things more than anything else in life,” John Doggett III said of his father. “He loved Juanita, and he loved St. Louis.” Doggett passed away on May 15, 2011 at the age of 93. His wife Juanita T. Doggett – a legendary educator – passed away last year. Until her death, she was right at his side in his community service and See DOGGETT, page A6
Photo by Wiley Price