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She holds would-be burglar at gunpoint until police arrive at her Pa. home

POINT MARION, Pa. - An 85-year-old woman boldly went for her gun and busted a would-be burglar inside her home, then forced him to call police while she kept him in her sights, police said.

"I just walked right on past him to the bedroom and got my gun," Leda Smith said.

Smith heard someone break into her home Monday afternoon and grabbed the .22-caliber revolver she had been keeping by her bed since a neighbor's home was burglarized a few weeks ago.

"I said, 'What are you doing in my house?' He just kept saying he didn't do it," Smith said.

After the 17-year-old boy called 911, Smith kept holding the gun on him until state police arrived at her home in Springhill Township, about 45 miles south of Pittsburgh.

The boy will be charged with attempted burglary and related offenses in juvenile court, Trooper Christian Lieberum said. He was not identified because of his age.

"It was exciting," Smith said. "I just hope I broke up the (burglary) ring because they have been hitting a lot of places around here."

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation promotes home buying at HBCUs By Cassie Chew

Concerned that educational and professional opportunities might take her from one city to the next, Latosha Key was nervous about purchasing a home early in her career. But the 2004 Spelman College graduate was intrigued when she was invited to attend the Student Homeownership Opportunity Program (S.H.O.P.) at the Atlanta University Center last spring.

Although Key, whose father is a builder and real estate developer, grew up learning about real estate, she credits S.H.O.P. with helping her understand how she could benefit financially from homeownership. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation initiative, cosponsored by State Farm, Freddie Mac, the National Association of Home Builders, and the ING Foundation, targets historically black colleges and universities and community colleges in CBC member districts where there are no HBCUs. The program offers two-hour workshops where presenters and panelists -- financial and homeownership experts and professionals from related industries -- teach graduating seniors the ins and outs of purchasing a home. Attendees were also taught about debt management, saving, budgeting, how to establish and maintain good credit, and the economic benefits of homeownership.

Those who complete the course qualify for a $1,000 voucher toward closing costs on a home, which can be redeemed up to two years from their graduation date. The voucher, or grant letter, is provided by a lender participating in the program. In 2004, JPMorgan Chase, Countrywide, and Pinnacle Mortgage sponsored grant letters.

In 2003, its first year, the CBCF took S.H.O.P. to four schools. Simone Griffin, manager of S.H.O.P., says the CBCF plans to visit 36 schools in 11 states during the 2004-2005 school year. "Our ultimate goal is to increase the homeownership rate among African Americans," she says. "We want to help [the younger generation] understand that the wealth-building process involves buying a home."

Teresa Merriweather Orok, associate vice president for institutional research, planning, and outreach at Albany State University in Georgia, is convinced of the program's benefits. "Many of the students talked about how they wanted to move forward [on purchasing a home] but didn't know how," she explains. "The workshop provided a roadmap for them. They discussed what it means to be credit-worthy and how to build wealth."

Key certainly followed that roadmap. The native of Aiken, South Carolina, decided to spend another two years in Atlanta working in network security to fulfill her work commitment to the Federal Cybercorp Scholarship for Service program, which paid the last two years of her tuition. She was confident she'd be able to pay for a mortgage. She got a copy of her credit report and then found a lender who offered her an adjustable-rate mortgage with lower payments during the first five years of the loan. Key was able to put $5,000 down on the home using the stipend she received from her scholarship. In July 2004, Key closed on a $132,000 mortgage on a condo. Three months later, the purchase price for condos in her community was advertised at $140,000.

Griffin says Key was the first student to take advantage of the $1,000 voucher S.H.O.P. provides, although she knows of another half-dozen S.H.O.P. alums who have purchased homes. Griffin cautions students against going through the program just to receive the $1,000 credit. "The [CBCF] wants each student to find the best loan package for their needs," she says. For more information about S.H.O.P., go to www.cbcfinc.org, or call 202-263-2800.

Micro-loans: What they are, how to get them

by Margarette Burnette

August 21, 2008 -- When barber Cedric Tillis decided to open His Place Hair Studio in Marietta, Georgia six years ago, he inquired about getting a loan from a conventional bank but soon realized that he'd need to find other funding sources.

"I did a little research on small business loans, but I didn't think I'd be a good candidate. First, my business was a startup, and second, I didn't have any collateral," Tillis says.

Many beginning entrepreneurs face Tillis' situation, but Bob Anderson, a business loan officer with Alternatives Federal Credit Union in Ithaca, New York, says there are other affordable options. "Don't stop at the first ‘no' or negative reaction, and don't immediately go to credit card financing," he says. "It's worth the time and effort to search out a lender in your community that has a micro-loan business program."

Micro-loans are defined by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as an amount of $35,000 or less, and they often come packaged with business education, something that's crucial for new entrepreneurs. If you know where to find them and what their requirements are, you have a better chance of getting your fair share.

"To find a lender, look at some of the nontraditional, micro-enterprise development organizations," says Leslie Ackerman, director of Alternatives' Business CENTS small business development program. "The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the main nationwide micro-loan support group. You can search their Website (www.microenterpriseworks.org) for AEO members listed by state. Many of these organizations offer business training, too."

Alternatives is an AEO member that offers the Business CENTS program. It includes seminars, training courses, and workshops for people who are considering entrepreneurship.

"I didn't know there were so many doors open to me when I was starting out," says Tillis. "I felt like I was a man alone in the process." In addition to contacting the AEO, contact your local SBA office (www.sba.gov) to find additional regional resources.

Know what your business can offer. When you apply for a loan, know why a lender would want to do business with you. That means you need a business plan--even if your company already exists. "We get a lot of inquiries, but it's the serious people who write the business plans," say Frances Wimberly, president of Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp., in Tampa Bay, Florida. "The most important parts of the plan are the financial projections. If the owner is already in business, they also need to include tax returns and personal financial statements. In addition to having a business plan, the owner's credit needs to be reasonable, and they need to have at least 5% to 10% of the borrowed amount in cash as borrower equity. They also need some type of collateral for the loan."

If your business doesn't have collateral, you may have to put up your personal assets--a home or a car--for security. Depending on the financial institution, the entire loan application process usually takes up to three weeks.

Get educated about your financial picture. Micro-loans shouldn't be used to cover up fundamental business problems. "Lately, I've seen a trend of a lot of businesses looking for short-term capital because they're feeling pinched in this economy, and the bills are piling up," Ackerman says. "But if you use a loan as a Band-Aid for an ongoing problem, it could turn into a crisis down the road."

Owners can avoid this by making sure they know how to read their financial statements and can anticipate rough times. "No matter where my funding comes from, I know I still have to save money, plan and prepare when managing the shop," Tillis says.

By PEGGY HARRIS Associated Press Writer

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (AP) -- Centennial Baptist Church sits silently on a downtown street, its doors locked and window panes so clouded light has trouble getting in. The roof is sagging and some shingles are missing. The foundation has started to crack.

A National Historic Landmark, the church was built by a black architect and was pastored by the Rev. Elias Camp Morris, president from 1895 to 1922 of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., the largest historically African-American Baptist denomination in the country.

Today, the original pews and the church pipe organ serve no heavenly purpose, and neither will get any use until the 103-year-old building itself can be restored and possibly turned into a cultural center.

Pigeons have replaced Protestants in the sanctuary.

"It is on its last leg," says Henrietta Williams of Little Rock, president of the E.C. Morris Foundation and a former church member. "If we don't go on and move, it's going to continue to deteriorate. So we're at a crucial point."

About $450,000 in private and state funds have been spent just to keep the building stable, and a restoration architect is working with the Morris Foundation. The federal government granted the project $300,000 in late 2006 toward renovating the exterior. But the grant was conditioned upon the foundation getting matching funds. So far that has not happened.

To jog the process, the foundation is working with preservationist Ruth Hawkins of Arkansas State University, who successfully led efforts to save an Ernest Hemingway haunt in Piggott, a Depression-era meeting place for black and white farmers in Tyronza and a historic plantation home in Lakeport.

Hawkins, director of the Delta Heritage Initiatives, proposes a three-way collaboration with the foundation, and Arkansas State and Southern Financial Partners, a community development group.

She and foundation members envision a fully restored Centennial Baptist as a black heritage museum and cultural center, featuring African-American history and gospel music and becoming a stop on a Music Heritage Trail along the region's existing national scenic byways.

Phyllis Hammonds, who grew up in Centennial Baptist and established the foundation in 2004, says it is critical that African-Americans be involved in developing programs at the proposed cultural center and that educational materials be "unsanitized."

"I want to preserve the integrity of our history," Hammonds stresses.

A former slave, Morris became pastor of Centennial Baptist in 1879 to a congregation of about 25 members. Six years later, he was named president of the National Baptist Convention, preaching self-determination and the right of blacks to establish their own churches and maintain their own church leadership independently of the white religious community.

To build Centennial Baptist, Morris engaged black architect and church member Henry James Price, who was most likely self-taught. The Gothic-Revival style building, capable of seating 1,000, was dedicated in 1905 and the congregation grew to capacity.

Morris started Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, helped mediate volatile race relations during segregation and established a publishing house that continues to operate in Nashville, Tenn., where the National Baptist Convention is now headquartered.

"I see him as the precursor to Martin Luther King," Hammonds says. "Not only was he an organizer, he was a humanitarian, an entrepreneur. He was an author. He took care of the poor. He spoke for the disenfranchised. He was the person who was recognized and well-respected in both communities, African-American and the white communities."

With church membership dwindling in recent decades, the congregation held its last service at Centennial in 1994 and turned the property over to the foundation in 2006. Supporters stabilized the building with $250,000 they raised in private funds and another $200,000 from then-Gov. Mike Huckabee.

The foundation secured the federal grant with the help of Southern Financial Partners and has applied for a $350,000 grant in donations from the Walton Family Foundation and others, managed by Southern Bancorp and Southern Financial.

Williams says she hopes a partnership with Arkansas State will convince the Walton charity that matching funds will be used for a project that has lifelong promise.

"The Waltons are concerned. ... They don't want to infuse money into this project and then we're not able to maintain it. And that's a legitimate concern," Williams says. "I understand the business aspects of it."

After restoring the exterior, the group will need about $600,000 to restore the interior and $500,000 for the pews and pipe organ. Up to $250,000 a year will be needed to operate the building as a cultural center and museum, Williams says.

The figures are daunting, but stronger are the childhood memories Williams has of her church life in east Arkansas.

"The older ladies would teach us how to usher and wear our gloves," she recalls.

Williams' father was the church janitor, and she remembers dusting the pews before services. There were Easter egg hunts, cookouts, and she was married at Centennial Baptist. Hammonds was one of her bridesmaids.

"Here we are a national landmark building and if we lose it you can't get it back," she says. "I would hate that if we didn't complete this thing. You would pass by and say, 'That used to be a national landmark.' It would be a tragic loss."

***

After he bought his first home, state Assemblyman Hector De La Torre uncovered a dark chapter in its history: A covenant attached to the original deed declared that the house, like all the others in his South Gate neighborhood, could be occupied by white people only. Minorities could stay there -- but only as servants.

It is a discovery that has startled any number of California homeowners. Many of the state's vast subdivisions, particularly in Los Angeles County, were once governed by restrictive racial covenants designed to enforce segregation. Those covenants have been illegal for more than half a century, but their offensive rules remain part of some deeds. Most home buyers encounter the issue when they are asked to sign a disclosure as part of the escrow process, pledging to ignore any racist language.

De La Torre (D-South Gate) decided that wasn't good enough. This year, he proposed a law that would require racially restrictive covenants -- it is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands statewide -- to be stricken from the public record at the time of the next sale.

The bill has run into stiff opposition from real estate agents, title insurance companies and county recorders who complain that it would be expensive and create a bureaucratic nightmare that could slow real estate transactions -- to little purpose since the covenants are already illegal.

The bill also has ignited a philosophical debate about the proper approach to the segregated time in California's history.

"The bill has a good heart, and so does Mr. De La Torre, but this bill is attempting to rewrite history," said Stanley Wieg, a lobbyist for the California Assn. of Realtors. "What they are trying to do is go back and change what are really artifacts of a less enlightened time."

But De La Torre and his supporters, which include the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, insist that expunging the covenants is necessary, in the same way that it was necessary to get rid of signs next to segregated drinking fountains and restrooms. De La Torre said he got the idea for the legislation after reading a biography of legendary state Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh and his push for civil rights, including fair housing. He decided he wanted to continue that legacy by getting rid of the covenants.

"It is offensive to have people, minorities, have to sign documents that denigrate them," he said, referring to the disclosures that many sign. "We need to wipe away the stain of that time in our history."

Racially restrictive covenants first came into vogue in the years after World War I as blacks began migrating in large numbers from the South to jobs in the North and West.

After some attempts at racially restrictive zoning were outlawed as unconstitutional, developers hit upon covenants -- in which buyers signed private contracts pledging not to sell their house to blacks as a condition of purchasing their home. Some covenants also excluded Jews, Italians, Russians, Muslims, Latinos and Asians from buying.

They were widely used in many areas, but particularly in Los Angeles County because so much of its housing was built in the 1920s through the '40s, the heyday of covenants.

The covenants were not enacted by the government but were private contracts between homeowners. Owners who sold their house to a black family, for example, could be sued for damages by other homeowners in the neighborhood. Black home buyers could also be sued.

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Shelley vs. Kraemer that covenants were unenforceable.

But although it has been six decades since they were outlawed, historians and policymakers argue that covenants are no mere historical artifact.

"The fallout from these is still with us," said historian Becky Nicolaides, whose book "My Blue Heaven" examines covenants in South Gate.

Los Angeles Councilman Ed Reyes, who wants the City Council to pass a resolution supporting De La Torre's bill, said Los Angeles' unequal distribution of services can be traced back to covenants. Areas that were thick with them, such as parts of the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, tend to have more parks and historically have received more public services, Reyes said.

Opponents of De La Torre's bill make it clear that they are not endorsing the covenants or their racist legacy.

But expunging them is not so easy.

For years, following an earlier state law, real estate industry professionals did their best to ignore the racist language of the covenants, acting as if the contracts didn't exist.

As a result, there is no master list of which neighborhoods had them. The bill, if passed in its present form, would require county recorders and their attorneys to spend hours researching titles on each house that changes hands and excising the language.

"In its current form, it is totally unworkable. . . . The requirements would shut down the recording process for [real estate] transactions," said Craig Page, executive vice president and counsel for the California Land Title Assn.

Opponents note that state law already makes it possible for homeowners to wipe offensive language from their property's record. Few, however, have taken advantage of that option: Officials estimate that fewer than 100 people statewide have done so since the law was enacted in 2005.

De La Torre's bill will have its next hearing in Sacramento on Aug. 4.

Policymakers say they are watching with interest. "This is a good conversation that needs to be had," said former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson Jr., who is now a member of the Los Angeles City Council and the chairman of its housing committee.

Wesson, who is black, added that he took a personal interest in the subject because he believes there is a covenant attached to his Mid-City house. "Without a doubt, I couldn't have lived there," he said.

By Jessica Garrison Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Jesse Jackson Apologizes for Off-Air Remarks About Obama

2008-07-10

Virginian - Pilot

From wire reports The Rev. Jesse Jackson formally apologized to Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday for disparaging comments he made during a recent off- air moment after an interview with Fox News.

"For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize," Jackson said at a news conference inside his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago . "My support for Senator Obama's campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal."

Jackson said he did not want his remarks to distract from the Illinois Democrat's presidential bid.

Jackson said the "hurtful and wrong" comments Sunday came in response to a question from a fellow guest during a break from taping "Fox & Friends." The guest asked about speeches on morality Obama has given at black churches.

Jackson said at the news conference that he had replied that Obama's speeches can come off as speaking down to black people and that there were other important issues to be addressed .

Excerpts from t he video, which Fox News began airing Wednesday, included a slang reference to Jackson wanting to cut off Obama's testicles. The report bleeped out the slang but made clear what Jackson said.

Jackson said he remains committed to trying to help Obama win.

Jackson said he had not spoken about the matter yet with Obama. "We have a relationship that can survive this," he said.

Obama's campaign issued a statement after Jackson ended his news conference. Obama " of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology, " spokesman Bill Burton said.

This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune.

(c) 2008 Virginian - Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

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Drawing on Our Fears

Magazine cover inflames rumors, ruffles feathers

by Marcia A. Wade

July 16, 2008 -- Tuesday night on Larry King Live, Sen. Barack Obama once again affirmed that he is a Christian, pledges allegiance to the flag, and was certainly not raised in a Muslim household. The interview was prompted by the July 21 cover of The New Yorker, which depicts Obama and his wife Michelle as unpatriotic, flag-burning, Osama bin Laden-loving, combat boot-wearing, fist-bumping militants.

In a statement, The New Yorker, known for its irreverent--and often provocative--cartoons, states that in that same spirit, the cover art, entitled "The Politics of Fear," was a satirical mirror meant to reveal the "prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd" attacks on Obama. Instead, the cover has outraged many who say it was done in bad taste. Obama's opponent, Sen. John McCain, called it offensive. The reaction spawned a media blitz that has the controversial cover as top news on many popular Websites, newspapers, and TV shows.

In defense of its decision to run the cover by Barry Blitt, The New Yorker also notes in its statement that articles in the magazine frame Obama in a serious light, citing one that informs readers about his political rise in Chicago.

"The imagery of the cover has more influence than the actual magazine itself," says Michael Fauntroy, assistant professor of public policy at George Mason University. "I'm a fan of political satire, and I understand what they were trying to do. Sometimes satire can be so inflammatory that people lose sight of what was originally intended."

Since Obama's campaign began two years ago, hundreds of e-mail smears and Websites proclaiming his allegiance to Islam have sprouted. Radio personality Rush Limbaugh has attacked Obama's wife, Michelle, as a racist. The most inflammatory sites display--out of context--photos of Obama adorned in traditional African dress when visiting the grave of his Kenyan father, a Muslim who was an absentee father.

Nevertheless, Fauntroy doesn't believe that the cover will harm Obama or do anything to help McCain. "The kind of people who would be influenced by that cover already believes he is a closet Muslim," Fauntroy says. "If anything, it helps Obama because it shows that they won't give him a fair shake."

Fauntroy says he was more concerned about the depiction of the senator's wife, emphasizing that she is not on the ballot. "That portrayal of her plays into the Fox News Channel's stereotype of the angry black woman," he says. "That, symbolically, is dangerous territory."

Obama's response to the controversy included downplaying the cartoon. "I've seen and heard worse... I do think that in attempting to satirize they probably fueled some misconceptions about me instead," Obama said on CNN's Larry King Live Tuesday night.

While on the show, Obama also attempted to distinguish his foreign policy agenda from Republican John McCain and commented on the housing crisis and changes that need to be made with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "Perpetuating the strategy in Iraq is costing us elsewhere," said Obama, adding that a recent attack in Iraq that left nine servicemen dead shows that things aren't getting better as President Bush and McCain claim. Obama also said that Gen. David Petraeus, the outgoing leader of U.S. military operations in Iraq, is doing a "terrific job with the cards that have been dealt to him."

A spokesperson from The New Yorker says that there were currently no definite plans to do a similar satirical cover with McCain.

"Every day that The New Yorker cover is on the front page is a day that Obama's message is being obscured," Fauntroy says. "We aren't talking about healthcare, foreign policy, or the address he made [Tuesday] to the NAACP."

Copyright © 2008 Earl G. Graves, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Some markets see investor activity, multiple offers, price gains

Paula Bean, an Orlando Realtor, says that many of the sellers who contact her these days owe more than they paid for their homes or are facing foreclosure.

"Most of the leads I get are all upside down -- they bought at the wrong time in the market," Bean said, adding that about 90 percent of all e-mail and phone leads she receives are related to sellers who are facing the prospect of foreclosure or short sales.

And the first question she hears from buyers: "'Is this a good time to buy? Are we at the bottom?' If I knew the answer I would have more money than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett put together."

While many markets are feeling the weight of a housing downturn, there are some bright spots of activity even in markets with backpedaling prices and plummeting sales.

Investors are active in the market, Bean said. "(They) are buying everything they can get their hands on. You can buy for 40 cents on the dollar." Some of the larger investment groups are buying up entire residential complexes, she noted.

The Florida Association of Realtors reported that Realtor sales of single-family resale homes in Orlando fell 28 percent in March 2008 compared to the same month last year, with the median sales price dropping 11 percent. There were 1,312 sales in March 2008 compared to 1,822 sales in March 2007.

The Orlando condo market has been particularly hit hard by the market downturn -- the state Realtor association reported that sales of resale condos in Orlando dropped 60 percent from March 2007 to March 2008, from 259 to 104, and condo prices dropped 20 percent.

Florida is among the leading states in foreclosures, Bean noted, and data company RealtyTrac reported this month that Florida is ranked fourth in the nation for its foreclosure filings rate of one per every 97 households in the first quarter. The state also had the second-highest volume of properties with foreclosure filings in the quarter, at 87,893. California topped the list with 169,831.

Foreclosures are definitely an active market segment in the Indianapolis area, said Pat Haddad, a broker associate who leads a real estate team at Keller Williams Realty, Indianapolis, though the transactions can be delayed by bank procedures.

"Every Realtor I talk to is showing more pre-foreclosures. Banks are taking forever to get back on offers made on these homes. We have been told banks are overwhelmed with the foreclosures and pre-foreclosures and they are understaffed," she said.

"I personally have three offers out there where the buyers and I have been waiting two or three weeks to hear back. One of these offers is a cash offer of nearly $500,000. I have heard of waits up to three months and more on these offers."

Haddad is carrying more listings than usual these days, and "buyers seem to be taking a little longer to pull the trigger and they are expecting sellers to be motivated, if not desperate. Consequently, buyers are offering less and negotiations are taking longer."

Days on the market has crept into the 80s this year after running in the high 70s last year. "In many areas we have seen values drop," though that is not true for all areas. That compares to an average of about 130 days on market in the Orlando area in March, according to an Orlando Regional Realtor Association report.

High-end homes in the Indianapolis area seem to be spending the most time on market, Haddad said, as there is a smaller buyer pool for those homes. "First-time home buyers are still out here buying. They are typically in the $100,000 to $150,000 range."

Buyers are in the mindset that they may get a better deal if they wait to buy, while sellers think they may get a better deal if they wait to put their homes on the market, she said.

In Assonet, Mass., a southern suburb of Boston, broker Mike Motta said the winter months were slow though he has seen sales picking up.

The average days-on-market time has increased about 20 percent in the past year, he said.

In the past three months, sales have been most active in the $150,000 to $300,000 range, he said, with sale prices coming in at about 10 percent below the original list price, on average.

Higher-end properties, from about $450,000 on up, are moving more slowly these days, he said.

"First-time buyers and investors are out in force, driven by the abundance of foreclosed property in the lower price ranges. The number of higher-priced and luxury homes on the market is less, so those sellers seem to be staying put for awhile."

Prices have not been hit hard and there are still properties with multiple offers in the Upper Montclair, N.J., market area, said Christine Lane, who leads The Lane Team for RE/MAX Village Square.

"Prices are still high," she said. "It's a bargain to buy here in comparison to Manhattan, and that has kept our prices high. We're still seeing multiple bids on properties."

The average price in the area is about $750,000, she said, and the cheapest homes are in the $300,000-range.

Homes priced from $1.5 million to $2.2 million have been slower to move than in some of the other market segments, Lane said.

Her team is handling about 40 listings, she said, and homes typically don't stay on the market for more than two months. Condo units are selling well in the area, she said, with some recent projects successfully selling most of the units.

The Corvallis, Ore., market has seen average price increases this year compared to last year, said Mark Fullwiler, a Realtor for Coldwell Banker Valley Brokers, while sales have dropped.

Days on market has increased from about 111 in 2007 to 131 so far this year, Fullwiler said.

Corvallis has an estimated 8.5 months' supply of for-sale inventory, he said, meaning it would take that long to sell off based on the latest sales pace. There aren't many foreclosures in Corvallis or the surrounding county, he said, and the unemployment rate in Corvallis is low at 4 percent.

Jesse Clifton, a Realtor for ERA Northern Lights Realty in Fairbanks, Alaska, said foreclosure activity has been low in her market area, too, and most of the pre-foreclosures "were cured through a non-short sale or via the lender adjusting terms."

He said that a local bank "has been very proactive in adjusting terms to keep buyers in their homes, at least according to what I'm seeing when scouring public records."

Even so, the Fairbanks market is still "struggling somewhat," he said.

"We were fortunate in that we didn't see the run-up in prices due to speculative building and 'wannabe' investors buying in hopes of a quick flip," though members of the military service population in the region have tended to rent or move into base housing in the past year rather than buy homes in the community because of the sluggish housing market, he said.

Sales fell about 35.5 percent in the first quarter compared to the same quarter last year, while days on market is up about 153 percent and the average sales price rose about 1.8 percent.

Clifton said that median prices are "relatively steady," and "we're seeing a dramatic increase in the amount of time it's taking to move a property and a much slower overall market."

He expects that prices will need to adjust down perhaps 3 percent to 10 percent to propel sales.

"Our upper-end market has taken the biggest hit," she said, and sellers have taken an equity loss ranging from about 15 percent to 25 percent in the past two years, which "isn't entirely attributable to changes in the financial markets ... as much as a change in the demographics for buyers."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Seven more police officers were taken off street duty Thursday as investigators look into the videotaped police beating of three shooting suspects during a traffic stop.

Thirteen of the estimated 15 officers on hand during the Monday incident have been taken off the streets as investigators pore over the television news footage, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told a news conference Thursday.

The video shows officers kicking, punching and beating the men, who are all black. On his syndicated radio show Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton, compared it with the videotaped 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King by a group of white Los Angeles police officers.

"I've not seen anything like that since Rodney King, and it's worse than Rodney King, and we cannot allow our community to be under siege," Sharpton said. "We've got to stop this nonsense in our community, acting like you got to be a certain level black to be treated within the law."

But Ramsey denied the beating was racially motivated, saying at least one officer involved, a sergeant, is black.

"I know everybody's trying to make this into a racial thing. I don't believe it is," Ramsey told The Associated Press later Thursday. "We just had a policeman murdered on Saturday ... and emotions are running high," he said about Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, 39, who was shot while responding to a bank robbery.

On Monday, police stopped the suspects' car while investigating a triple shooting in the area. No weapons were found in the car or on the suspects, but officers said they had seen an occupant of the car shoot three people on a drug corner moments earlier, Ramsey has said.

The three suspects - Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins - each were charged with attempted murder and related counts in connection with the shooting, according to court records. Each was treated at a hospital and was being held Thursday in lieu of bail of $100,000 or more, Ramsey said.

An attorney for the three, D. Scott Perrine, has said his clients had nothing to do with the triple shooting and that the beating was totally unjustified.

Bear, DE (BlackNews.com) - Darrell "Coach D" Andrews, motivational speaker, consultant and author of the books Believing the HYPE-Seven Keys To Motivating Students of Color and The Purpose Living Teen--A Teen's Guide To Living Your Dreams is becoming one of the more recognizable voices for minority youth relationship building in the education market. His HYPE (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence) Program was nationally recognized for teaching minority students key soft skills for academic and personal success. Coach D communicates a positive yet informative message to all key stakeholders in education, "Parents and schools must get over their differences and unify around synergistic goals. Reaching all of our students through effective relationship building and parental involvement should be two priorities. I have found that many African American and Latino Parents are using their past education experiences as a foundation for their interaction with schools. If the experience was beneficial, their children usually get high parental involvement. If it was negative, they avoid the school like it was a plague and their children get little to no parental involvement. This has a damaging effect on student academic performance. My mother had a negative school experience however she did not use this as a foundation for our academic experience. She built effective relationships with my brother and I as well as the school. As a result, both my brother and I have college degrees."

Coach D recommends three strategies to help schools and parents collaborate with the goal of seeing all of our children succeed:

1. Make Student Success The Goal--Parents and schools should come together and have regular discussions on the subject of student achievement. There should be parent-school compacts with the goal working together towards student success.

2. Help Students Make The Dream Connection--Parents and schools should help students identify talents and abilities that they can connect to their current education. Parents and teachers can improve their relationships with students by helping them go after their dreams.

3. Plan A Celebration--Once a system is in place and it is working, celebrate it by recognizing innovative parents, educators and students. A family that PRAISE together stays together.

Coach D is available for interviews and speaking engagements. Please call his office toll free at 1-866-426-2243 or visit his website at www.coachdspeaks.com for more information.

CONTACT: Toni Gross 1-866-4COACHD info@CoachDSpeaks.com