crystalogormanwrites

Distracted Driving Takes Hit in S.C.

Posted on August 9, 2014 by crystalogormanwrites

Fulton & Barr, Attorneys at Law
Fulton & Barr: The Legal Pad
Wednesday, August 06, 2014

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’sNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3,331 people were killed and 387,000 injured in crashes nationwide involving distracted drivers in 2011.

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety said in its 2009 Traffic Collision Fact Book that 21 people were killed and 3,723 were injured in distracted driving accidents in South Carolina.

SC passed a law banning texting while driving on June 9, in accordance with the state’s Target Zero campaign in hopes of driving down the number of auto accidents caused by distracted driving statewide.

The law states that drivers cannot send, compose or read a text-based communication on any wireless electronic communication device—such as a cell phone or GPS—while the vehicle is moving. However, when the vehicle is stopped, say at a red light, stop sign or running while parked, the driver is allowed to read and reply to messages.

This law replaces all local city and county laws prohibiting cell phone use while driving, such as Greenville’s Curb Distracted Driving law that banned all hand held use of electronic devices while driving—including talking on the phone.

With the new law, drivers will receive only a warning when pulled over for violating the law during the first 180 days. After that, drivers will be fined up to $50 for each violation. Infractions will not go on driving records or be reported to insurance companies.

Opponents say the bill “lacks teeth” and believe offenders should face more stringent consequences; however, all agree that it’s a step in the right direction.

Quoted from the Aiken Standard, former police officer and owner of Aiken Driving Academy, Steve Deibel said, “It’s good to have (a law) on the books. It’s going to be extremely difficult to enforce, considering what I have read … Somebody can say they were dialing a number or using a GPS.”

SC is the 44^th state to enforce laws against texting while driving.

According to Distraction.gov, text messaging is the most consuming distraction of all, because it requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver. Virginia Tech Transportation Institute reports in its study contracted by the NHTSA that five seconds is the average amount of time your eyes are off the road while texting, and when traveling at 55mph, it’s enough time to cover the length of a football field blindfolded.

Other forms of distracted driving include eating and drinking, grooming, adjusting the radio and talking to passengers.

Below are some tips for avoiding distractions from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association:

Turn off your cellphone and stow it away from hand’s reach.
Let friends and family know that you won’t be available to respond because you’re on the road.
Pull over to make calls, eat and drink, and take care of children.
Prepare in advanced by knowing/finding your route before you start the car.
Know the law—texting while driving is illegal in most states.

Follow these guidelines; your safety is our concern.

If someone you know is injured or killed in a car accident due to distracted driving, we, at Fulton & Barr are here to help. Contact us online or call toll free (800) 868-2110 to set up a free initial consultation.

Posted in Brand Journalism, Civic and Government News, Fulton & Barr: The Legal Pad, Health and Wellness, Law, Professional Blog | Tagged distracted driving, Fulton & Barr, no texting while driving in SC, texting while driving | Leave a comment

Executive finds that service is her calling

Posted on July 28, 2014 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
South Charlotte News (North)
Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Deanne Bennett with girls from tent-dwelling community in Bangalore, India.

DeAnne Bennett lives with purpose.

On April Fools’ Day 2010, Bennett quit her job as vice president of Sales at Univision, an American Spanish-language broadcast television network.

At the time, she had no idea what she wanted to do.

“I didn’t feel fulfilled,” said Bennett, who now lives in Charlotte’s Foxcroft neighborhood. “I was financially successful, one of few female executives and the youngest person in the boardroom, but I was emotionally bankrupt.”

Two years later, after taking some time off living and surfing in Mexico, Bennett decided to volunteer with a ministry that helped girls who had been forced into the sex-slave trade and children living in slums in Bangalore, India.

“I was playing with and holding a 6-year-old little girl at one brothel’s day care, and the male owner matter-of-factly stated that she would be in the streets with her mom in a few years,” Bennett said. “I felt immense sadness for this little girl’s future and knew that I had to do something more.”

One month later, Bennett met with Helena Coelho and Blessy Joseph.

Coelho had moved from Brazil to Goa, India, 20 years ago and founded Bright Lights School, a preschool program that prepares homeless and impoverished Indian children for primary school.

“Not only was Coelho giving these kids the skills essential for learning in the classroom, she was teaching them with love, a simple notion to us but a kindness rarely received by this devastatingly poor, distraught and violent caste,” Bennett said.

Joseph, an India native with a master’s degree in social work, introduced Bennett to the tent-dwelling communities in Bangalore.

“The parents and older children go to work six days a week, leaving behind young children who are vulnerable to abuse, abduction, human trafficking and sex trade,” Bennett said. “It was unbelievable that these young children were being left alone, and Blessy and I started brainstorming ways to provide a safe and educational environment.”

Bennett moved back to Charlotte and opened her own nonprofit, Rippled Purpose, to fund change-makers in India and around the world.

Bennett said education is the best way to combat poverty and end human trafficking. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s 2012 Global Educational Digest, 61 million primary school-age children are not attending school; some 13 million of those live in India.

Rippled Purpose, founded in May 2013, works with Joseph and Coelho to provide funding for educational programs in Goa and Bangalore.

Photograph of students enrolled in Bennett and Joseph’s NEST program (Non-Formal Educational & Skills Training). NEST prepares unschooled 6- 12-year-olds to transition to primary school.

Rippled Purpose also funds a program called Women Empowerment and Viable Economic Sustainability. The WEAVES program provides life-skills training, safe-sex education and women’s health classes to women and girls in Bangalore.

Bennett also is working with producer and cinematographer Joe Dickie on a documentary filmed in February 2010 that she said focuses on human trafficking and the risks for women and children in Bangalore.

With a total budget of more than $68,000 for these projects in 2014, Bennett said, she knew she had to find a better way to fund these programs. She decided that reinventing her principal fundraising tool was the best approach.

Bennett built a retail clothing business called Blessed Lotus, which sells ethnic-inspired clothing and donates at least 10 percent of sales to Rippled Purpose. The business, which started as private fashion trunk shows selling imported Indian tunics and pashminas, has become a line of resort and casual wear designed by Bennett.

“I didn’t know anything about design when I got started,” she said.

Courtesy of DeAnne Bennett- She started the Blessed Lotus clothing line to fund her humanitarian work.

Bennett said her resort-wear line consists of ponchos, tunics and sleeveless dresses, but she won’t make them readily available to the public; she plans to present her designs to companies including Belk, Neiman Marcus and Saks.

Bennett, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rollins College, where she studied political science, economics and Spanish, says her life has changed drastically but that her faith has guided her to a life of service.

“My faith is everything to me. … I know I am exactly where I am meant to be,” she said. “My life is of service.”

Posted in Business, Charlotte Observer, Education, Human Interest, Human Rights, Newspaper, Philanthropy, Traditional Journalism | Tagged Blessed Lotus, Charlotte Observer, DeAnne Bennett, helping India's impoverished youth, India's tent-dwelling communities, international nonprofit | Leave a comment

UNC Charlotte student wins U.N. language contest

Posted on July 19, 2014 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
Lake Norman News
Friday, July 18, 2014

Lauren Klein, a 20-year-old rising sophomore at UNC Charlotte, is one of 60 college students worldwide to win the United Nations’ “Many Languages, One World” essay contest.

The winners of the Many Languages, One World contest represent 26 different countries over six continents

She received round-trip airfare and accommodations to participate in a five-day Global Youth Forum in New York at the end of June. There, the student winners made presentations at the U.N. based on the principles of the United Nations Academic Impact.

ELS Educational Services Inc. and the U.N. Academic Impact created the essay contest to promote multilingualism.

About 1,500 students submitted essays on the importance of global citizenship and fostering multilingualism. The essays had to be written in one of the six official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish.

The essay had to be written in a language that was not the student’s native tongue or their language of study before starting undergraduate coursework. Klein wrote her essay in Russian.

“I have never had an experience before that was at the same time so encouraging, which assured me so well of my own abilities, and inspired me to do more,” said Klein, who’s studying Russian and translation at UNCC.

Klein was encouraged to participate in the competition by her Russian instructor, Yuliya Baldwin.

Baldwin, an award-winning Russian language and Russian literature instructor who has taught at UNCC for 13 years, said, “I am very proud of Lauren’s accomplishments. She worked really hard. … She is exceptionally bright and gifted.”

Baldwin said she encouraged three of her Russian students to participate, but Klein was the only one who submitted an essay to the competition. She mentored Klein throughout the process, inspiring Klein to find a personal focus for the essay and coaching her through the second-round interview.

Klein’s essay concentrated on her unwavering desire to learn Russian, even though she didn’t understand why her parents and grandparents discouraged her from learning the language.

Only after Baldwin’s suggestion, Klein researched her family history and found out that her mother’s great-grandparents were Jewish refugees who immigrated to western Canada from the Russian Empire because of religious persecution.

Courtesy of UN Many Languages Tour
Ten contestants were chosen to represent each official UN language. Here’s Klein (second person-from left) pictured with the other Russian-speaking contest winners/delegates.

Klein, who grew up in western Canada and lives in Toronto, Ontario, when she’s not attending UNCC full time, said that unsettling truth made learning Russian more meaningful.

In a translation from her essay, Klein wrote, “I believe that when a person decides to learn the language spoken by the oppressors of her ancestors, she makes the first step to forget the past, live in the present and change the future.”

Klein made the next step during her U.N. presentation on the tenth UNAI principle: “A commitment to promoting intercultural dialogue and understanding, and the ‘unlearning’ of intolerance, through education.”

Klein said her speech’s theme was that the problem is lack of understanding. She made a commitment to write about her U.N. experience in Russian and English. She also plans to create a space where students studying Russian can connect with native Russian college students to learn more about Russian culture from a first-hand perspective. She plans to begin working on those initiatives this summer.

Beyond the U.N. presentation, Klein said the experience gave her a chance to connect with many culturally diverse yet like-minded people and helped her gain confidence in herself and her desired career path.

Klein aspires to be an interpreter or language specialist at the U.N. or another organization with similar goals and values.

The “Many Languages, One World” competition commemorated the 70th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations charter. The event was organized by ELS, in conjunction with Adelphi University, to get students worldwide to discuss, present and continue to share information on the principles of the UNAI.

ELS Education Services Inc. works with international students to help them prepare and get accepted at higher education institutions around the world. UNAI, launched in 2010, connects higher education institutions with the U.N. to promote peace, security, human rights and sustainable development through intellectual engagement and research.

Posted in Achievements and Awards, Charlotte Observer, Education, Events and Galas, Human Rights, Newspaper, Philanthropy, Traditional Journalism | Tagged Charlotte Observer, ELS Education Services, Lauren Klein, UN Many Languages Contest, UNCC Russian Language Dept | Leave a comment

Program turns page on summer reading at Sedgefield

Posted on June 19, 2014 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
South Charlotte News (North)
Wednesday, June 18, 2014

All 458 Sedgefield Elementary students, pre-K through fifth grade, received 6,250 books to take home for summer reading.

Laurie Martin, owner of Simplicity Organizers, reads aloud as 458 pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students sit legs-crossed and absorbed by “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!” by Dr. Seuss.

The reading was part of Sedgefield Elementary School’s Big Read, on June 10. The event celebrates the collection of 6,250 books for the students’ home library and promotes the significance of summer reading to maintain grade-level literacy.

The books were donated to the school through a joint community effort in accordance with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s Give Five, Read Five initiative. The initiative, in its second year, urges parents, business leaders and community members to donate five books to local schools. The goal is for students to have at least five books each to take home and read over summer.

According to the Department of Public Instruction, low-income students with no access to summer reading material lose 2.5 years in literacy by fifth grade, when compared to peers who do have access.

Sophia Crawford, literacy coach at Sedgefield Elementary, said the books will make a difference to students.

“We have students who are significantly behind and those who are significantly above grade-level expectations,” Crawford said. “Based on end-of-grade assessments last year for students in grades three to five, we are definitely a school in need. We had about 30 percent of our students at EOG reading proficiency.”

Students pose with books and Big Read Event presenters. Back row-left to right- Sedgefield Principal Ivy Gill, ALP Director Allison Houser, Laurie Martin, Owner of Simplicity Organizers; Sonja Gantt, WCNC; Blair Kingsbury Oliver, Simplicity Organizers; Sophia Crawford, Sedgefield Literacy Coach; Brennan Sheare, Promising Pages’ Erma the Bookworm.

During the Big Read event, students squealed with excitement in their readiness for summer reading. They took turns standing and shouting out the titles of their favorite books, including “Charlotte’s Web” and “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” during the assembly.

School officials voiced an interest in having books donated for their students’ summer reading during a school meeting in March, because they were concerned about students’ access to books during the summer.

The community’s response was more than officials imagined.

“This means that our school and community partners see our vision for reading, and they feel that it is important to invest in our students and their future… (it) shows our students that reading matters and we love them enough to give them books to read,” said Crawford.

Sonja Gantt, WCNC news anchor encourages students to find ways to enjoy reading. She said, “Whatever you are interested in, you can always find a book about it.”

Each student at Sedgefield, a Title 1 school, was able to take home 13 or more new and gently used books thanks to the collective effort of Augustine Literacy Project, Dilworth Elementary, Park Road Baptist Church, Park Road Montessori School, Sedgefield United Methodist Church, Simplicity Organizers and Keystone Montessori School.

Simplicity Organizers partnered with Augustine Literacy Project, a nonprofit literacy tutoring program, to donate 2,500 of the books collected for Sedgefield.

“Simplicity is a professional organizing company dedicated to simplifying homes and lives,” said Martin.

“Part of our job is to help our clients find wonderful places to donate their unused or unloved belongings. Our clients have an easier time letting go of their belongings when they are going to a good cause.”

Sedgefield’s cause was near and dear to Martin. Inspired by her mother, a reading specialist at Vandalia Elementary in Greensboro, Martin’s company teamed with Augustine Literacy Project to collect 4,500 books; 2,000 of those were donated to Vandalia Elementary in honor of her mother’s birthday April 9. Those remaining were donated to Sedgefield.

Sedgefield was recommended as the ideal recipient by the Augustine Literacy Project, whose volunteer tutors work one-on-one with some Sedgefield students who have reading difficulties.

“We teach children how to read so they can discover the joy of getting lost in a book,” said ALP Director Allison Houser. “It is rewarding to see the community rally around a school and enable Sedgefield students to go home for the summer with an armful of books.”

Posted in Charlotte Observer, Education, Events and Galas, Newspaper, Philanthropy, Traditional Journalism | Tagged Augustine Literacy Project, Charlotte Observer, Sedgefield Elementary summer reading event, Sonja Gantt | Leave a comment

Gastonia twins turn Christian hip-hop into musical

Posted on May 30, 2014 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
Gaston/Catawba News
Saturday, May 29, 2014

Angela Houser and Tangela Brown continue to evolve their storytelling talent from singing to also performing their life’s greatest lessons.

The Gastonia twins, known as the Dream Team Queens, have been performing as Christian hip-hop artists since they signed with Tate Music Group of Mustang, Okla., in May 2010. Houser and Brown, along with nine others – including their children – will perform in their first musical play, “The Resolution,” in Gastonia on April 5.

Houser and Brown’s music expresses the difficulties of growing up in a broken home, where their mother’s drug addiction turned childhood innocence into adolescent dissonance. Eventually, the twins said they were faced with a choice: continue on this destructive path or change.

That change is expressed throughout their music and also in the play.

Pictured left to right: Tangela Brown and Angela Houser. Dream Team Queens will also perform with the Carolina Kings 2014 tour.

Brown and Houser said they decided to work with local playwright Cynthia Stitt, who approached them after their performance at Mount Pisgah’s Baptist Association Youth Revival in July 2013.

Brown, 31, said it took nine months of working with Stitt to complete the play, and they were impressed by her recreation of their story.

“Their performance that day was truly a visual experience,” said Stitt, 44, of the Myrtle community, who has been publishing books and writing plays since 2007. “I could see what they had went through and how they’d changed.”

“The Resolution” brings their past and present story to the stage in what they call “a faith walk” through the twins’ troubled childhood to their life as Christian entertainers and ministers now.

“We wanted to encourage people not only through education but experience as well,” said Houser, 31. “The play and our music does that.”

Five songs from their two albums – “Living Dream,” released in July 2011 and “Generated,” released in May 2013 – accompany the play. One of their most popular songs, “Pray 4 Me” will be part of the performance.

Stitt, a public health nurse administrator for Gaston County Health Department, said she believes Houser’s and Brown’s testimony is eye-opening. She said everyone has bad experiences but can choose to make them better. “That’s ‘The Resolution,’ ” she said.

Stitt said she looks forward to seeing her play reach more people during the performance.

Houser said they hope to sell 600 tickets to the play, raising $3,000 for the youth department at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Belmont, where Brown and Houser are ministers. It will help purchase new technology and support educational field trips.

While the play isn’t being performed in their church, it is being performed in their mother’s, near their childhood home in the Highland community.

Brown said they’ve made peace with their mother, and she will be at the performance. She also said their mother has undergone her own recovery and counsels others with addiction problems.

“I can’t live in my past,” Brown said. “We’ve both moved forward in life in many ways and express that vulnerably in what we do.”

The Resolution will be performing at Friendship Christian Church’s gymnasium located at 221 W Bradley St near the intersection with N. York St.

Posted in Charlotte Observer, Entertainment/Creative Arts, Events and Galas, Human Interest, Newspaper, Traditional Journalism | Tagged Charlotte Observer, Dream Team Queens, Gastonia Christian play, Generated, Living Dream | Leave a comment