Two Harlem Globetrotters Pass Away

Meadowlark Lemon

[From article]
Basketball great Meadowlark Lemon passed away aged 83 at his Arizona home on Sunday.
He was one of the greatest and most popular to ever play the game despite never competing in the NBA and instead playing for the Harlem Globetrotters for all 24 years of his professional career.
He was known for making unbelievable half-court shots during games, some from behind his back without ever looking at the hoop.
In addition to his natural skills, he also had a funny side, and his antics during games and the pranks he would pull on opposing teams earned him the nickname 'Clown Prince'.
[. . .]
The advent of the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s caused some to brand the Globetrotters as minstrel show stereotypes, with much of the criticism falling on Lemon.
'I'm an athlete but athletes are entertainers and entertainers can be comedians,' Lemon told the Los Angeles Times in 2004.
'I'm all of the above.'
Lemon left the Globetrotters in 1979 but returned for 50 games in 1994. He also started three comedy-basketball teams of his own over the years but none caught on like the Globetrotters.
[. . .]
In 2003 he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and cited for making significant contributions to the game.
Lemon was married twice and had 10 children. In 2015 his ex-wife, who he divorced in 1977, and 48-year-old son sued him for $250,000 in child support they said he did not pay.




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3376303/Meadowlark-Lemon-star-Harlem-Globetrotters-dies-83-report.html

Harlem Globetrotters 'Clown Prince' Meadowlark Lemon known for his jaw-dropping half-court shots and game pranks dies aged 83
Meadowlark Lemon passed away at his Arizona home on Sunday aged 83
Arguably the team's best loved player after playing 23 seasons
When he joined in 1954 the team competed against other major opponents, but after the NBA was formed switched to trick plays and antics
Lemon was known for his half-court hook shots and gags like chasing down referees and pouring buckets of glitter over referees' heads
Wilt Chamberlain called him the greatest player of all time
By Reuters
Daily Mail (UK)
Published: 08:24 EST, 28 December 2015 | Updated: 14:46 EST, 28 December 2015



* * *

Gentle giant: Holman's wife said he was peaceful off the court and he later went on to work as a counselor at a children's home.

[From article]
One of basketball's greatest entertainers, 'General' Lee Holman, has died aged 61.
The Harlem Globetrotter, who played for the exhibition team from 1976 to 1982, died on Christmas Day, his wife said.
Holman passed away two days before his former Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, who died aged 83 on Sunday.
The General, who lived in South Carolina, was regarded as one of the team's great playmakers and was a leader on the court.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3379562/Gentle-giant-former-Harlem-Globetrotter-General-Lee-Holman-dies-aged-61-Christmas-Day.html

Gentle giant and former Harlem Globetrotter 'General' Lee Holman dies aged 61 on Christmas Day - the same week fellow team member Meadowlark Lemon died
'General' Lee Holman died on Christmas Day aged 61, his wife Loula said
Basketball great played for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1976 to 1982
He was a leader on the court but a gentle giant back at home, Loula said
The 6ft 8ins star died at hospital, surrounded by his friends and family
Former Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon also died this week, aged 83
By Ollie Gillman For Dailymail.com
Published: 18:27 EST, 30 December 2015 | Updated: 19:30 EST, 30 December 2015

Misguided Black Leadership Keeps Many Impoverished

[From article]
Following the Great Migration after the Civil War -- the journey of thousands of blacks to the North -- and beginning in the early 1910s, the Harlem Renaissance began to take form. From this movement sprung a successful Black community structure: the arts and institutions flourished, and a middle and upper-class of employees and business owners that had not existed before for the black community appeared.
Something started changing towards the end of the 1930s, though -- those middle and upper-class black men and women began to leave.
[. . .]
Following the Great Migration after the Civil War -- the journey of thousands of blacks to the North -- and beginning in the early 1910s, the Harlem Renaissance began to take form. From this movement sprung a successful Black community structure: the arts and institutions flourished, and a middle and upper-class of employees and business owners that had not existed before for the black community appeared.
Something started changing towards the end of the 1930s, though -- those middle and upper-class black men and women began to leave.
[. . .]
Instead of looking up to leaders who continue to foment strife, anger, and division, who interrupt speeches and chant for the death of police, why not these men and women who forging their own path, not content with their current station? Something tells me there is a reason few have heard these numbers -- anger and pessimism is easier, and being provocative gets better ratings.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/how_black_lives_emreallyem_matter.html

December 31, 2015
How Black Lives Really Matter
By F. F. Fiore

NYPD Busts Major Illegal Gun Ring In East Harlem

Samuel Barreto, aka ““Scrappy,” the ringleader of the gun ring seen in court.

Photo: Chad Rachman
[From article]
Police on Tuesday took down a ring of East Harlem gun traffickers who had been flooding the ​same streets where NYPD cop Randolph Holder was shot and killed last week​ with illegal weapons​, officials said.
Tuesday’s takedown came just hours before Holder’s wake in Queens — and exactly one week after ​he was gunned down in East Harlem.
​Six men ​are ​charged with selling undercover cops more 74 guns over a nearly one year.
“Each of the buys took place in residential neighborhoods in broad daylight, with two of the final sales taking place on East 102nd Street near the site of violence which culminated in the death of police officer Randolph Holder last week,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance told reporters after the men’s arraignment.
[. . .]
The six men indicted Tuesday are accused of selling 74 firearms to an undercover cop beginning last summer and continuing through this past August, court documents show.
The crew’s ringleader, Samuel “Scrappy” Barreto, was the person who arranged the deals between his associates and the undercover officers. He also personally sold most of the guns to the officer, authorities said.
[. . .]
In one of the larger buys from last summer, Barreto gave the officer a small arsenal of weapons, including a Tula Arsenal .38 caliber revolver, two Cobra .380 caliber semi-automatic pistols and a Beretta .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol, all with matching ammo, in exchange for $3,000, documents show.
Officials said many of the guns sold by Barreto and his crew came to New York City through the “Iron Pipeline,” a trade route for black market arms dealers who funnel guns from southern states.
“We are having this conversation against a very, very painful backdrop,” Mayor de Blasio said.
“We know for a fact, the gun that killed officer Holder originated in South Carolina,” he continued. “We keep seeing this pathway illustrated over and over again: a gun from South Carolina kills one of our finest here on our streets.”
“What adds to the pain of that loss is that these guns are so available.”

http://nypost.com/2015/10/27/nypd-busts-gun-ring-in-east-harlem-neighborhood-where-cop-was-killed/

NYPD busts gun ring in East Harlem neighborhood where cop was killed
By Rebecca Rosenberg, Ben Feuerherd and Daniel Prendergast
New York Post
October 27, 2015 | 1:50pm

NYPD Busts Large Synthetic Marijuana Ring in East Harlem

A man holds a K2 cigarette in East Harlem, an area where the use of the synthetic marijuana has exploded.
Photo: Getty Images

[From article]
The suspects were identified as Abdullah Deiban, Faris Nasser Kassim, Morad Nasser Kassim, Nageab Saeed, Waldie Saeed, Mohamed Saeed, Hamid Moshref, Mohamed Salem, Mohamed Almatheel and Fikri Nagi.
They’re expected to appear before US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on Wednesday afternoon, Bharara said.
“Deiban, Faris Nasser Kassim, Morad Nasser Kassim arranged the importation of illegal synthetic compounds in powdered form from China to the United States via commercial delivery services,” according to a law enforcement statement.
“Upon the arrival of the compounds in the United States, Deiban, Faris Nasser Kassim, and Morad Nasser Kassim then arranged for the illegal synthetic compounds to be retrieved and transported to a processing facility, where they directed other co­-conspirators to mix the illegal synthetic compounds with chemical solvents including acetone and/or flavoring additives and to spray the resulting liquid mixture onto tea leaves.”

http://nypost.com/2015/09/16/police-bust-massive-synthetic-marijuana-ring/

Police bust massive synthetic marijuana ring
By Larry Celona
New York Post
September 16, 2015 | 11:45am

Blight is in the Eyes of the Beholder

Blight is in the Eyes of the Beholder

Jane Jacobs' explained blight in her book "The Death an Life of Great
American Cities." Government officials and professional planners declare
diverse,
thriving, exciting and safe neighborhoods blighted. Bankers refuse to grant
loans to residents of those neighborhoods.
If they are allowed to survive the "blighted" neighborhoods can unslum
themselves without outside help. But if the power of eminent domain is applied
to destroy a neighborhood there is no defense. Has Columbia adopted the
practices of Robert Moses?

--
Roy Bercaw, Editor
ENOUGH ROOM
Cambridge MA USA


EVICTIONS MADE (TOO) EASY
By TOM ELLIOTT
New York Post

September 19, 2007 -- TO realize its planned expansion in Manhattanville,
Columbia University will need the power of eminent domain - that is, the ability
to force property owners to sell at a "fair" price, below what they'd otherwise
hold out for. The prospect of such takings has probably caused more resentment
than any other part of the school's plan.

Technically, the power would be exercised by the state-run Empire State
Development Corp. (ESDC) - which must first reach a formal finding that the area
is "blighted."

But the ESDC has subcontracted the study that will make that determination to
the consulting firm of AKRF - which Columbia itself has already hired to help
sell its overall plan to city officials.

This arrangement inspired locals like Nick Sprayregen to sue - demanding the
ESDC produce its communications with AKRF to see if the consulting firm is truly
acting as an independent arbiter.

A judge agreed: "While acting for Columbia, AKRF has an interest of its own in
the outcome of [ESDC's] action, as AKRF, presumably, seeks to succeed in
securing an outcome that its client, Columbia, would favor." But ESDC's appeal
of that ruling won't be heard until December, so everything's going ahead for
now.

Complicating matters is the fact that AKRF, which specializes in
environmental-impact statements, has been the government's go-to consultant for
just about every major development over the last six years.
[...]