4-Year-Old Boy (African American He Is) Suspended For "Touching" His Aide - Another Race Problem Masked By Mainstream Media

Two days ago, I reported that the news of a 4-year old suspended for rubbing his head in the chest of his teacher's aide at the La Vega Primary School after she gave him a hug was actually a racial issue and I speculated that the boy was black by the name of his father, DeMarcus Blackwell.

Well, I was right about that. Here's a link to the story and a Windows video that is a television news cast on this stupid matter:

http://www.kxxv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5785699

This story has received a ton of coverage all over the Internet and from bloggers like The Volokh Conspiracy and Blonde Sagacity , and rightfully so. I'm trying to find out what the latest news on this is.

I was also trying to locate photos of any of the La Vega people in charge and in an effort to test my hypothesis that they are all White, including the teacher's aide. I didn't yet, but I did find their webpage. It has the emails of the principal Elicia Krumnow, and two other administrators. The only photo I located was of "Golden Apple Award Winner" Karen Musselman, who's worked there for eight years, and yes, who's White. She's pictured here.

My point here is that if there was an administrator who was Black in the ranks, this matter would not have unfolded in the way it did. It's really terrible that American society can still be such that it's predicatable in this way, but it is. This is basically a story of a kid being excluded for a simple innocent action; what is racism but a way to exclude a person from participating in mainstream society?

I'm still wiling to bet that if the boy was White it would be far less likely that this would have happened; that's sad. I'm going to lay this bet: the teacher's aide is Whte and female and has a complex set of problems: how she reacts to displays of affection, sex, and black men, even as boys, and that with all three, she's conflicted. Thus, this action, this stupid action that we are all informed of thanks to the Internet.

If you want to call the school and issue a word or two about this matter, here's the contact info:

Elicia Krumnow, Principal
La Vega Primary School
4400 Harrison
Waco, TX 76705

Phone: 254-799-6229

You can also contact the Board of Trustees of the La Vega School District:

Mildred Watkins - President
Rodney Outlaw - Vice President
Dr. Tamra Walthall - Secretary
Henry C. Jennings - Assistant Secretary
Phil Bancale
Randy Devorsky
Kevin P. Harris

c/o La Vega Independent School District
3100 Bellmead Drive
Waco, Texas 76705

Phone: 254-799-4963
Fax: 254-799-8642

NY Giants' Mathias Kiwanuka Performing Well In 2006

Another Great Article By Giants Beatwriter & Blogger Arthur Staple of NEWSDAY-My comments at the end.

Kiwanuka doing more than expected
December 13, 2006

This final season for Ernie Accorsi hasn't exactly gone as he'd planned. He probably figured the Giants would improve on last season's 11-5 record and go deeper into the playoffs before he retired after 36 years in the NFL. Instead, his prized quarterback has been under fire, his Hall of Fame defensive end is injured and his potential Hall of Fame running back is retiring along with Accorsi.

But the season can still be redeemed. And a large part of how the Giants withstood the barrage of injuries and poor play over their four-game losing streak can be traced to a decision Accorsi and his staff made in April, one that was seemingly a head-scratcher at the time.

The Giants traded down in the first round of the draft and selected Mathias Kiwanuka, a long, lean defensive end. "You can never have too many pass rushers," Accorsi said at the time. It sounded like a hollow cliché then: With Pro Bowlers Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora and improving second-year DE Justin Tuck, where would Kiwanuka play?

Accorsi is hardly feeling vindicated now. Just relieved that Kiwanuka not only has played, but done a very solid job for a rookie. For three games, he was the only true pass rusher on the field for the Giants, with Strahan out for five games and counting, Umenyiora out for six and Tuck done for the year.

"He's saved us," Accorsi said yesterday. "It's like a rookie pitcher. You start him off in middle relief to work him in slowly, but he ends up in the rotation. Kiwanuka didn't just end up in the rotation, he was our No. 1 starter for a month."

True, the Giants didn't win in that month, and Kiwanuka figured prominently in two of the losses. His failure to put Vince Young on the ground was one of many costly mistakes in the loss to the Titans. His fumble after an interception gave the Cowboys life in the first quarter when a Giants score could have made things difficult for Dallas.

But Kiwanuka hasn't missed a beat, or a play. He's been on the field for every defensive snap since he took over for Umenyiora against the Bucs seven games ago, and he still has kickoff and punt coverage duties.

That he quickly recovered from both errors - and from having his Cadillac Escalade stolen out of the Giants Stadium parking lot, which would be enough to push you or me over the edge on its own - speaks to the other reason Accorsi drafted Kiwanuka.

"Even after those two unfortunate events, I didn't worry about him the way I would another rookie," Accorsi said. "He's such a serious, mentally strong kid. He's had to do a lot more than we'd have thought this year, and under fire, too. This stuff is only going to help him."

It's helping his wallet, too. According to a person familiar with Kiwanuka's contract, the rookie could earn an extra $150,000 on top of his $275,000 salary for 2006, $50,000 for playing 60 percent of the defensive snaps and having four sacks, which he reached in Charlotte on Sunday, and $100,000 for being named first-team All-Rookie. He and No. 1 overall pick Mario Williams of the Texans seem to be shoo-ins at end. Kiwanuka also can trigger escalators in his 2010 salary with the sack and playing-time numbers this season if he stays on course.

Strahan already is a near-certainty to miss Sunday's game and a real question mark to return before the playoffs. "If we didn't think he was coming back, we'd have put him on IR," Accorsi said. So Kiwanuka will be counted upon to provide Umenyiora with a capable complement the rest of the way.

It's a far cry from April, when Accorsi told his coaching staff that he "wasn't drafting a guy to stand next to me in the tunnel."

You really can't have enough pass rushers.

And my Take: No, you really can't have too many Studs on the D-line. I remember sitting at the draft With Zennie, and Next level Scouting's and now Yahoo Sports' John Murphy and being mildly surprised that The Giants would select another Defensive end except for depth. That was 7+ months ago. Guess Ernie Accorsi thought ahead, knowing that Strahan wouldn't play forever.

My Lamar Hunt Story

As you may know, Kansas City Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt passed away yesterday at the age of 74 and from complications developing from prostate cancer. What you may now know is that Lamar Hunt is truly a kind man.

Now I'm not passing myself off as his good friend or buddy. Not even close. I'm just an acquaintance. But Mr. Hunt did something I will always remember -- indeed, I have a reminder of it. It's a note from him.

I met Mr. Hunt at my first NFL Owners Meeting as I headed the effort to bring the Super Bowl to Oakland. This meeting was in the fall of 1999, specifically November 1-3rd, and at the Hyatt Regency O'hare. Because the league's business in naming the Houston Texans the 32nd NFL Franchise had been conducted at the previous NFL meeting, the schedule was shortened and the "Super Bowl Policy Committee Meeting" that was to be the destination for the Oakland and Alameda County elected officials involved was moved up one day. Now, only one Oakland representative was in Chicago to be at that meeting.

Me.

I presented the case for Oakland to a committee that consisted of then-NFL Chief Operating Officer Neil Austrian, NFL Senior Vice President of Special Events ("Mr. Super Bowl) Jim Steeg, the now late NY Giants Co-Owner Bob Tisch, Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay, and Mr. Hunt.

After a presentation that Mr. Irsay said was "outstanding" both he and Mr. Hunt were kind enough to just grab my bags and help me pack my equipment. All the while Mr. Hunt said "So where are we going this weekend, Jim?" And basically teasing Irsay about the upcomming game between the Colts and the Chiefs. So there I was being helped by these giants of the league and just plain having a great time talking. Mr. Hunt asked me what I thought about the talent of Peter Warrick (I told him I thought he had other-worldly speed and that he should be gotten if possible.) Then Mr. Hunt gave me his card and told me to keep in touch.

Much later -- in late 2000 after we lost to Jacksonville for the right to host the 2005 Super Bowl -- I got a small envelop in the mail and which contained one 3-by-5 inch note paper with a message scribbled on it. "From The Desk Of Lamar Hunt."

The hand writing was such that I had to read it and re-read it, but Mr. Hunt thanked me for leading Oakland's effort and encouraged me not to give up. Given all that I'd went through, it was more than welcome. But what got me then and now is that the note didn't come from the City of Oakland or the mayor, or any California official, or from anyone connected with the Oakland effort. It came from Lamar Hunt.

For that, Mr. Hunt always has a special place in my heart and memory.

Lamar Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs Owner Passes At 74

AFL founder, Chiefs owner Hunt dead at 74

NFL.com wire reports

DALLAS (Dec. 14, 2006) -- Lamar Hunt, the pro sports visionary who owned the Kansas City Chiefs and came up with the term "Super Bowl," died Dec. 13. He was 74.

Hunt, the son of a famous and wealthy Texas family, died at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas of complications from prostate cancer, Chiefs spokesman Bob Moore said.

Lamar Hunt 1932-2006

Lamar Hunt founded the AFL and helped shape the modern NFL.

Hunt battled cancer for several years and was hospitalized the day before Thanksgiving with a partially collapsed lung. Doctors discovered that the cancer had spread, and Hunt had been under heavy sedation since last week.

"He was a founder. He was the energy, really, that put together half of the league, and then he was the key person in merging the two leagues together," said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Hunt's neighbor. "You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody that's made a bigger contribution (to the NFL) than Lamar Hunt."

The son of Texas oilman H.L. Hunt, Lamar Hunt grew up in Dallas and attended a private boys' prep school in Pennsylvania, serving as captain of the football team in his senior year. His love of sports led to his nickname, "Games."

Hunt played football at SMU, but never rose above third string. His modest achievements on the field were dwarfed by his accomplishments as an owner and promoter of teams in professional football, basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer and bowling.

Hunt's business dealings were also the stuff of headlines. Hunt didn't need to make money -- his father was an oil wildcatter who was often referred to as the richest man in the world. But he tried to build on his father's wealth.

Along with two brothers, Hunt tried to corner the silver market in 1979 and 1980. Their oil investments also soured in the 1980s. Some estimated the family's losses in the billions.

Hunt also suffered setbacks in the world of pro sports, but overcame them.

When NFL owners rebuffed Hunt's attempt to buy a franchise and move it to Dallas, Hunt -- ignoring his father's advice -- founded the AFL. He owned one of the AFL's eight original teams from the inaugural 1960 season, the Dallas Texans.

The Texans, however, struggled in head-to-head competition with the expansion Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. Convinced that both franchises would suffer as long as Dallas remained a two-team city, Hunt moved the Texans to Kansas City in 1963.

"I looked around and figured Kansas City could be a success," he told The Associated Press. "By our fourth or fifth year, we started to succeed. The Cowboys, of course, did very well, too."

Hunt realized his dream of becoming an NFL owner after the two leagues reached a merger deal in 1966.

In 1967, the Chiefs lost the first AFL-NFL championship -- it was then called the World Championship Game. Three years later, the Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings for the title.

By then, the championship game had been christened the Super Bowl. Hunt came up with the name while watching his children play with a SuperBall.

In 1972, Hunt became the first AFL figure to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and each year the Lamar Hunt Trophy goes to the winner of the NFL's American conference.

Hunt long campaigned to let teams other than Dallas and Detroit play at home on Thanksgiving Day. To honor his effort, the NFL scheduled a third game on the holiday this year -- in Kansas City. Hunt missed it, though, because he was in the hospital and couldn't get the game on TV.

For several years, Hunt also owned the minor-league baseball Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, but his 1964 effort to bring major league baseball to the Dallas area failed. After the 1971 season, the Washington franchise moved to suburban Arlington and became the Texas Rangers.

In 1967, Hunt was one of 10 original founding partners in the Chicago Bulls basketball franchise. He was the last remaining original owner.

Also in 1967, Hunt started the first organized effort at a pro tennis tour with World Championship Tennis, and in 1968 he helped bring pro soccer to the United States with his Dallas Tornado of the old North American Soccer League.

More recently, Hunt and his sons owned Hunt Sports Group, which manages Major League Soccer franchises in Dallas, Kansas City and Columbus, Ohio.

In 1969, Hunt tried to buy Alcatraz, the island in San Francisco Bay that once housed a federal prison, and develop it with a tourist park and shopping destination. The idea died amid local protest.

Hunt created Worlds of Fun, a $50 million amusement park, and Oceans of Fun, a $7 million water recreation park, in Kansas City. He opened a pro bowling arena in Dallas -- actress Jayne Mansfield was the opening-night draw.

Hunt was part of H.L. Hunt's "first family" -- the wildcatter had 15 children by three women. Despite huge losses in the silver and oil markets, family members kept much of their wealth protected by elaborate trusts, and their names have long dotted lists of the wealthiest Americans.

Counting pro football, Hunt has been inducted into eight halls of fame, including ones for soccer and tennis as well as the Texas Business Hall of Fame and the Kansas City Business Hall of Fame.

Hunt is survived by wife Norma, children Lamar Jr., Sharron Munson, Clark and Daniel; and 13 grandchildren.


AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

NFL WEEK 15 INJURY REPORT -- TUESDAY

FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-PER-15 12/12/06

WEEK 15 INJURY REPORT -- TUESDAY
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS AT SEATTLE SEAHAWKS on Thursday
San Francisco 49ers
OUT T Adam Snyder (Knee)
QUESTIONABLE TE Eric Johnson (Knee); LB Derek Smith (Hamstring); CB Shawntae Spencer
(Ankle); LB Jeff Ulbrich (Foot)
PROBABLE DT Anthony Adams (Knee); T Jonas Jennings (Ankle)
Listed players who did not participate in ''team'' practice:
(Defined as missing any portion of 11-on-11 team work)
TUES Adam Snyder; Eric Johnson; Derek Smith; Jonas Jennings
Seattle Seahawks
OUT C Robbie Tobeck (Hip); WR Darrell Jackson (Toe); TE Itula Mili (Concussion)
QUESTIONABLE DT Rocky Bernard (Foot); G Floyd Womack (Groin); WR Bobby Engram (Illness)
PROBABLE DE Joe Tafoya (Calf)
Listed players who did not participate in ''team'' practice:
(Defined as missing any portion of 11-on-11 team work)
TUES Robbie Tobeck; Darrell Jackson; Itula Mili; Rocky Bernard; Floyd Womack

NY area Fans STILL Getting Squeezed By NFL network

NY area Fans STILL Getting Squeezed By NFL network-from today's NY times sports section.

By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: December 13, 2006
The NFL Network has offered Time Warner and Cablevision an opportunity for their New York-New Jersey subscribers to see Rutgers play Kansas State in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 28 if they accept the network’s weeklong free preview.

Yesterday, Time Warner and Cablevision — with about 4.5 million customers in the local market — did not show enthusiasm for the offer. Cablevision’s response showed that it did not want to give the channel much exposure.

Cablevision said it expected to carry only the pregame programming before the Texas Bowl, the game and any postgame coverage, not the full week from Dec. 24 to Dec. 30. It would be available to Cablevision’s Family Cable customers on Channel 14.

In doing so, Cablevision would eliminate the NFL Network’s hope of showing the breadth of its programming to customers who had not seen it and might demand it from Time Warner and Cablevision.

Maureen Huff, a Time Warner spokeswoman, said, “We just received the proposal and are looking at it.” She declined to say whether Time Warner was considering the same limited response as Cablevision.

League spokesmen refused to comment on whether Cablevision’s response violated the terms of the weeklong offer. “We will review their full response,” said Joe Browne, a spokesman.

Time Warner and Cablevision have refused to carry the NFL Network, at a monthly subscriber fee of 70 cents, on a broadly available tier like expanded basic.

The free preview, a common marketing tool in cable, especially for movie channels, was offered by Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League, during a telephone conversation yesterday with Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey. The league has received several hundred phone calls from fans who want to see the Rutgers-Kansas State bowl game.

Lautenberg has been lobbying the league to broaden the coverage of the Texas Bowl ever since it appeared possible that Rutgers would play in it. “The bottom line is that people in New Jersey need to be able to watch Rutgers play, and now we have a way to do that,” Lautenberg said in a statement.

The league chose to provide the free preview rather than license the game to local broadcast stations in the New York-New Jersey or Manhattan, Kan., areas, or stream it to broadband Internet users on NFL.com.

And my Take: This is just another slap in the face by The NFL network to it's NY area fans. People who don't want to pay for the Poor service of Dish Network or to Give Verizon anymore money. Some of us really want this Coverage, but we are happy That CABLEvision and Time Warner are standing up for us customers. It would be nice to have the free Preview though.

Indianapolis Coach Problem - Defensive Line Injuries Galore!

Yep.

You know I'm really surprised at how the media misses the important details in football. Take the Colts Defense. Do you know that three of their defensive line people -- two of them starting tackles -- have been out for the year?

Look at this:

20 Doss, Mike Defensive Back IR Knee 12-11-06 - 04:40 PM
96 Goddard, Johnathan Defensive End IR Foot 12-11-06 - 04:40 PM
23 Mungro, James Running Back IR Knee 12-11-06 - 04:40 PM
90 Reagor, Montae Defensive Tackle Non-Football Illness/Injury 12-11-06 - 04:40 PM
97 Simon, Corey Defensive Tackle Non-Football Illness/Injury 12-11-06 - 04:40 PM

That list also includes Mike Doss and for some reason Bob Sanders is missing from this sheet, which comes from their website. That's six defensive players. It's not to so much the Colts personel as just plain injuries. But the Colts have to find a way, and there's an answer at least for the short term.