Fletcher Middle School collecting old cell phones for contest
Posted: April 29, 2010 - 11:12pm
MARY PHILLIPS/For Shorelines
Fletcher students work on their campus recently. The school hopes to win money through a cell phone recycling program.
By Cassidy Shaw
This week, the school reached its goal of 50 cell phones, which has allowed four chances to win the contest's reward of a free concert or a $1,000 "green grant" to help beautify the campus.
The project, in which about 9,500 U.S. schools are participating, began at the start of the year. Its goal is to collect at least 1 million cell phones by the end of the year. The purpose of the project is to recycle and harvest reusable pieces of the cell phones to reduce the amount thrown away in landfills.
Mary Phillips, a teacher in Fletcher's Compass Lab, organized the collection after she learned of the contest on the school district's website.
"For the last two years, Fletcher Middle has participated in recycling cans, plastic bottles and paper products internally," Phillips said. "I saw this as an opportunity to get involved. This is the perfect way for students to bring cell phones to school without getting in trouble."
The 50 collected cell phones were donated by teachers, students and other residents. The first deadline for double entries in the contest is today. But Fletcher Middle will continue collecting cell phones for single entries into the contest through May 24.
Phillips said the school already has a plan for the money if it should win - to beautify its campus.
"This project was combined with our Earth Week efforts," Phillips said. The ultimate goal is to teach the students about recycling and hopefully continue to invest in the greening of our campus."
Cell phones can be dropped off in Fletcher's main office at 2000 Third St., Neptune Beach. Sim cards should be removed, all personal information erased and the battery discharged. Fletcher will send the phones to Samsung, where the materials will be properly disposed of or recycled.
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Women gather at the foot of Atlantic Boulevard to honor other women
It was a locally organized gathering for the "Join me on the Bridge" movement.
Posted: April 1, 2010 - 10:22pm
Back Photo: 1 of 2 Next 
Photos provided by Women for Women International
Several dozen women gathered at the dune walkover at the foot of Atlantic Boulevard last month to join the worldwide "Join me on the Bridge" movement.
1 Atlantic Blvd, Atlantic Beach, Florida 32266
On March 8, about 40 women gathered at noon on the beach access at Atlantic Boulevard in honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. The global campaign called "Join me on the Bridge" is a movement created to promote peace and recognize women in war-torn countries.
Carrie Ferguson, a resident of Neptune Beach since 1984, organized the event with the help of her mother, Sharon Elliot, after she read about the campaign on the Web site www.worldpulse.com.
"A lot of people don't even know this is an international event," Ferguson said. "As soon as I heard about it, I thought, 'I need to do something.' No one was doing anything locally. There were a lot of grassroots efforts across the United States, but nothing happening locally. I thought 'we can do something, no matter how big or small, to have our presence out there that day.'"
Ferguson and the other women who attended the event signed a peace banner and a pledge sheet in support of more government investment in women's issues. The event was hosted by Women for Women International, a nonprofit organization that has been in existence since 1993.
"For me, I think it shows a demonstration that when women gather, we have a unified powerful voice," said Ferguson. "Personally, that day was for peace, to feel that connection as we stood by the ocean across from the continent of Africa, where women of the Congo and Rwanda were also standing on the bridge that connects their two countries. We thought of them."
Bridge meetings took place all over the world on that day, including on the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and in numerous countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America.
The Women for Women organization says 70 percent of the world's poor are women and that 75 percent of civilians killed during wars are women and children. The mission for the campaign is to ensure a greater investment in women's needs to stop the cycle of poverty, violence and oppression.
This is the first year that the campaign was recognized in the Beaches area, but Ferguson plans to make it an annual event. Because the event was organized in only four days, there was not enough time to acquire a permit to hold the event on one of the bridges in Jacksonville.
"Hopefully, if Women for Women will join me next year, we will do it again," said Ferguson. "But it would be nice to get more people and do something on one of the major bridges."
For more information on the Join Me on the Bridgecampaign,visit www.womenforwomen.org/bridge.
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Players By the Sea production looks at emotions following sensational trial
Posted: February 10, 2010 - 12:00am
Players by the Sea
The cast of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992"; the Players by the Sea production centers on the riots in the aftermath of the verdict in the Rodney King beating trial.
The cast of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992"; the Players by the Sea production centers on the riots in the aftermath of the verdict in the Rodney King beating trial.
But Joe Schwarz, director of Players by the Sea's upcoming performances of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," an emotional and award-winning play about the event, is striving for a sense of optimism from the audiences.
"I would like people to walk away [from the play] with hope," said Schwarz. "Although the moment was a horrible time in our lives, I would like to think we have learned from it. These things change us for the better - I hope."
The Beaches community theater will perform the play for two nights only, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
"This is not my America." That's the sentiment Schwarz and others remember experiencing while witnessing the rage following the verdict of the 1992-93 trial. Despite a well-circulated video that shows a circle of officers beating and kicking an African-American man on the ground, the all-white jury found there was insufficient evidence to convict.
"Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" was originally performed as a one-woman show by playwright and actress Anna Devere Smith. Players by the Sea has chosen to recreate it with several actors. The play is powerful, riveting and engaging.
The script includes the monologues of 40 individuals derived from about 400 interviews about the controversy.
Assistant directors Steven Anderson and Barbara Colaciello team up with Schwarz in leading the Jacksonville-based actors' reflections of a pivotal time in U.S. history, exploring issues of race, violence and power. Each actor is challenged to play up to five different characters of various ages, sex and race.
The monologues include interviews with south-central L.A. gang members, ex-gang members, jurors, newscasters, celebrities and political figures. Along with directing, Anderson and Colaciello join the cast to challenge themselves in roles, which they said involve intense emotion and empathy.
"What I think will be interesting for the audience is to watch the different actors transform into different genders and races," said Colaciello. "You really do hear the words and you start to really empathize with people's personal mythology."
The original play premiered in Los Angeles on May 23, 1993 and ran for 72 performances. "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" was nominated for various awards including the Tony Award for best play, and won two Obie Awards.
Anderson brought the play to Schwartz's attention when he said he was inspired by research he did on the piece and other discriminatory incidents such as the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins, an African-American girl. The student was killed by Soon Ja Du, a 51-year-old Korean store owner, on March 16, 1991, just 13 days after King's beating.
The staging of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" shows Players by the Sea's continued desire to engage Jacksonville audiences with eye-opening and thought-provoking pieces that focus on critical moments in history.
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Hope Fund: Family supports the one who supported them
As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, the former nurse’s family rallies around her as she needs more care than ever.
Posted: December 16, 2009 - 12:49am
WILL DICKEY/The Times-Union
Gracie Williams (center) was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2005, so her niece Sherri Randolph, son Will H. Moman and grandson Will J. Moman moved into Williams' home to help care for her.
Gracie Williams (center) was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2005, so her niece Sherri Randolph, son Will H. Moman and grandson Will J. Moman moved into Williams' home to help care for her.
Looking back, the family realized Gracie Williams’ memory had been slowly deteriorating for years, a struggle she tried to cope with by filling up sticky notes with important dates and reminders of things she would otherwise forget.
Things came to a head one night at dinner. When Williams’ son, Will Moman, now 35, took the lid off a pot and saw his mother had made a hodgepodge of barbecue, pizza and steak, he began to realize Williams wasn’t herself.
Williams began losing her memory significantly in 2002, on the heels of losing her husband in 1999 and her sister in 2001. Feeling alone and scared, she sunk into depression.
As her condition worsened, Williams, 71, began to get lost when she went for drives. She forgot to pay bills and do her taxes. Money went missing, including funds her family has never recovered. By the end of 2003, her finances were in shambles and her family began to realize this strong, independent woman was no longer able to care for herself.
“One of the things that sort of hit home with me is she’s always been one that’s on top of her bills, on top of making sure everything’s in order, always structured,” said Williams’ niece, Sherrie Randolph, 42, who thought of her aunt as a second mother. “I noticed bill collectors calling, which is out of the norm for her.”
Even before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2005, the family knew that Williams’ mental capacity was getting worse. To try to keep her at home as long as possible, Randolph moved in with Williams in 2004, and Moman followed in 2006 to help care for Williams.
These days, Randolph and Moman juggle full-time jobs while taking turns in the evenings and on weekends in the evening caring for Williams, since she cannot be left alone. The cousins also care for Moman’s son, Will Jr., who has lived with Williams for six years.
They bring about $4,500 a month into the household, money eaten up by expenses, including bills Williams accumulated before her caretakers moved in. The family’s income includes Williams’ monthly $1,600 from Social Security, which has helped reduce tax debt and other past-due bills, payments she didn’t take care of for years.
During the week, Williams attends an adult daycare program at the Harris House that costs about $1,200 a month. Medicare covers about two-thirds of that, leaving a $480 bill for Randolph and Moman.
Williams’ family members also help pay for the six medications Williams takes each day for Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure and diabetes.
“When you really start equating the bills, it really is paycheck to paycheck,” Randolph said. “I don’t think people realize the strain it puts on the family.”
Many of the medications Williams takes are not offered in generic forms: refills can cost as much as $180 per prescription. Her relatives said even assistance with co-pays for Williams’ medications would be a major help.
Randolph and Moman are also hoping to be able to receive some respite care, in which trained workers would take care of Williams, giving the rest of the family a break.
As Williams has lost her memory, her behavior has changed, another symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, in which sufferers go through stages including combative behavior, paranoia and hoarding.
At times, Williams hoarded her personal belongings in individual plastic bags. She also began to dress in layers of clothing, talk back to the television and become aggressive.
It’s hard for the family to see such changes occur in Williams, who had worked as a nurse manager at Shands Jacksonville for more than 20 years, caring for thousands of patients.
At home, she was a caregiver as well. Any family member in need knew Williams had an open-door policy, Moman said.
“She would give her last to anyone,” he said. “Everything was about family with her.”
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