Buffalo Criterion, 1988-11-24

              we make america better when we aid our people — e l goodwin sr we record buck history every d/ff voice of the black community the criterion is dean of all minority media the buffalo criterion price only 25 per copy nati-,.ifslly — 30c wny's oldest and largest afro-american weekly for over 60 years — featuring paid legitimate circulation vol 64 - no 49 established in 1925 thursday november 24-30 1988 rochester niagara region robinson calls for continued funding of heap it's called success shoppers get a lift with very merry play areas pastor to mark 50th year the second temple baptist church 812 east delevan avenue in buf falo will sponsor a cele bration marking rev sam uel b sutton's fifty years as a partor with a special service and banquet on sunday dec llth friends from churches he has served in lacka wanna coeymans and buffalo will gather at the church for the morning service and at samuel's grand manor in the evening to remember old times and to congratulate rev sutton on his accom plishments he began his career as a pastor in 1938 when he was called to pastor the mount olive baptist church in lackawanna n.y at the time he was assistant minister to rev j h mcdavis at the pleasant grove baptist church of buffalo early in his career he adopted stewardship teaching as his special mission and taught tithing both in all of the churches he served and in special workshops and conventions in 1948 he was called to pastor the riverview bap tist church in coeymans new york near albany he remained there until called to second temple in 1968 where he still pastors rev sutton was born in lilly georgia he moved to pittsburgh pennsyl vania in 1919 and became a member of the corinthi an baptist church where . he was ordained to the diaconate and served as sunday school superinten dent in 1928 he moved to buffalo and affiliated with the friendship baptist church where he served as an usher deacon choir member and presi dent of the young peoples social club he was licensed to preach while at friendship by its pastor the late twilius davis rev sutton was educat ed in the pittsburgh public school and attend ed howard-rogers-wil liams college in mem phis tennessee and the buffalo bible school which later became a part of houghton college while in coeymans he was a member of the rotary club in buffalo he is board member of the urban league and a member of the naacp he has served as vice president of the empire state baptist convention and for many years was chairman of the steward ship commission for the state during which time he became known as mr stewardship for his work in that field more recently he serv ed as moderator chief executive officer of the western district baptist association and continues to serve as a representa tive to the social service commission of the nation al baptist convention u s a rev sutton is married to the former margaret jefferson of cleveland ohio and has three daughters by a former marriage paulyne sutton and helene stevens both of albany n v and gwendolyn hardin of memphis term and has one step-daughter lynn ruffin of cleveland ohio rev samuel b sutton election 88 the significance of the black vote by norman hill now that the 1988 election and all of the attendant hullabaloo are finally over we need to sit back and take a look at the impact of the black vote on tin results the most obvious fact is that black voters did not swing the presidential election but if we look beneath the blaring headlines we can find a great deal with which to be satisfied the black vote decided the new jersey senate race white voters preferred conservative republican pete dawkins by 54 percent to 46 percent but blacks gave incumbent democrat frank lautenberg an overwhelming 79 percent to 18 percent edge it appears that black votes also made the difference in connecticut's senate contest where democrat joseph liberman narrowly beat incumbent republican lowell weicker in what was a virtual dead heat this reminds us that even in states where blacks constitute only a small portion of the electorate they hold the balance of power in close elections of course black votes were crucial in many of the 71 congressional districts in which black make up 20 percent or more of the population president of the philip randolph institute all 23 black congressional incum bents were reelected and donald payne carried new jersey's l()th congressional district to become that state's first black representative so there are now 24 blacks in the house of representatives an all-time record in addition early estimates indicate that the black share of the total vote cast was a bit higher this year than in 1984 even the results of the presidential election show the importance of the black vote blacks gave mike dukakis some 86 percent of their votes which winner george bush received only about 12 percent but these numbers show that the black vote is the most solid element of the black-labor alliance for economic and social justice and because of demographic factors and the voter participation acti vities of such organizations as the a philip randolph institute the black vote will become a greater portion of the total vote in the years ahead now what does that mean for the future of american politics for one thing it means growing political influ ence for blacks and therefore despite what some cynics say it also means adoption week observance underway in erie county mother daughter open hearts homes to seven children november 20-26 th is adoption week in erie cot-alt tke sal—m—yd ay an article from the community minority tcamtjy this story alliances for adoption li'k'.hrn'.idini mrs alma burse and ms cynthia yarbourough are the mother.and daugh ter team who have unself ishly opened their hearts and homes to seven chil dren in need of permanent homes their desire afl adopt children who are in desperate need of perman ent homes was realized through ihe recruitment and advocacy by the buffalo urban league's community alliances for minority adoption pro gram camap camap was designed to increase the adoption rate of special needs minority children by recruiting minority fami lies m the community • amap is a community ii sed program rs burse raised chil dren of her own including cynthia and all her children have established independent living her love tor children motivated her to share that love with four children who were recently placed in her home ms cynthia yarbor ough is raising four children and wants to make a difference in their lives mrs burse and ms yarbourough are single parents who are juggling careers and raising special needs children an option that they did not have to take it is extremely difficult raising children as a single parent however it takes commitment and dedica tion to adopt special needs children mrs burse and ms yarborough have demonstrated these quali ties in their efforts to ensure lhat every child has a right to a permanent loving home environment that will foster proper development camap has recruited many families/individuals from the community who have adopted black dren after the recruit ment camap establishes a close working relation ship with prospective adoptive parents prepares them to work with ecdss and supports them through the adoption pro cess camap works in conjunction with ecdss this worthwhile program is funded and supported by ecdss the buffalo i'rban league's community alli ances for minority adop tion salutes all those parents who have made a commitment to the well bring of our children by adopting we need more people like mrs burse ms varborough and the rest of the adoptive par ents who have willingly reached out to our children by providing a permanent home and the nurturing that they desperately need you can become part of the adoption family and care enough to make a difference in a child's life by adopting a special needs child because as the african proverb goes children are the reward of life you can be single you don't have to own your home cr be wealthy you can be divorced or legally par ated to adopt a child for more information call 892-2227 or write to the buffalo urban league's community alli ance for minority adop tion at 626 humboldt pkwy . buffalo n y 14211 police recruitment team gives real life picture acting detectives roy rhodes left and clayton silver right face the what you see isn't always what you get and in the case of television pro grams like miami vice and hill street blues don't give an accurate picture of what police work is really like acting detective john walterich a member of the police community services team conducting the current police recruitment drive for buffalo officers say people are aware that there may be a distorted portrayal of police work on television so are prone to ask what the life of a police officer is all about the questions arise these days as an 1 1-member police recruitment team and the buffalo civil service commission conduct a campaign to find candidates for buffalo police officers recruiters are visiting area colleges churches commu nity groups and shopping malls in search of young men and women looking for a career in law enforcement and the recruiters are particularly interested in reaching minorities because of the dictates of court orders interested candidates ask some unusual questions noted walterich like whether a police officer has to pay parking tickets the short answer is yes another wants to know whether an officer can take the police car home the answer is no can women officers wear makeup and jewelry no microphones during a radio interview on the buffalo police recruitment drive others are lured by specific jobs desirous of becoming a member of the underwater recovery team or the swat team but many of these specialized squads explain recruiters are filler on an extra assignment basis called in only when the need arises and there are the inevitable questions about weapons and dangerous situations has the officer ever been fired at or fired back the answer is maybe but it is not something that happens most of the time at this point however the questioner develops an appreciation of the serious responsibility of the police officer the crux of all the questions are what is it like to be a police officer during the course of the buffalo police recruitment drive these questions will be answered by the recruitment team from police community services lieutenant ronald christopher a 20-year veteran and police community services coordinator since 1977 acting detective richard blachowski a korean war veteran a police officer for 29 years and a member of the east side human services acting detective john wal terich a police officer for 28 years a korean war veteran and police repre sentative on several boards and committees in downtown buffalo and rusk elected director-at-large brian i rusk a former national director of the polish american congress from 1980 to 1988 and director of public affairs for daemen college of amherst n v was elected saturday for a 2-year term as a national director-at-large an nounced richard b so lecki national vice presi dent for the polish ameri can congress mr rusk was previous ly one of 125 national directors and is now 1 of 10 national directors-at large for the polish american congress which represents over 13 million polish americans through out the country mr rusk has helped ■ o chair three telethons with election'bb — see page 7 pouce recruitment — see page 3 rusk - see page 7 see page 7 see page 4 see page 2