Enlarge A Greenpeace protester is arrested outside the Duke Energy Center uptown. Photo: Charlotte Observer

Posted: February 22nd, 2012 Lee Howard

Six Greenpeace protesters were arrested after unfurling a sign in front of the Duke Energy Center uptown. They were protesting the company's recently approved rate hikes. The protesters hung a banner that read "Duke Energy: no dirty rate hikes."

Sit at the elbow of a black barber and be enlightened. Charles Randolph-Wright's "Cuttin' Up" is playing at Actor's Theatre. The show runs through Mar. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Also at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Tickets are $24 to $29 per person.

Davidson College is protesting a Piedmont Natural Gas pipeline proposed across land the college owns. In a recent letter to state regulators, college officials said they have “significant concerns” about the project. The college also accuses PNG of withholding information about the pipeline, the construction of which should begin in March.

Lindora Richardson was driving Charlotte-Mecklenburg school bus 295 last week when she noticed smoke coming from the engine. The bus then burst into flame. But Richardson helped all the kids get off the bus before anyone was injured. She, this past week, received an award for her heroism from Charlotte Fire Chief Jon Hannan.

Charlotte resident and LGBT activist Scott Bishop will be honored as North Carolina Volunteer of the Year at the Human Rights Campaign's annual gala, held Feb. 25 at the Charlotte Convention Center. The HRC fights for the civil rights of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender (LBGT) community. Bishop got involved after writing a $35 check to the cause years ago. "After I sent the money, they kept calling me asking for more, to the point where it was just annoying," Bishop says. "Then a friend dragged me to their annual gala where I watched this emotional video about what they do to further equality, and well, I got it."

Posted: February 21st, 2012 Carla Hough

In 2009, Jorge Flores-Rojas was convicted of running a sex trafficking ring between Charlotte and Washington, DC. Picking up vans of young women and girls each week, some smuggled directly from Mexico, he would force them to engage in sex acts with as many as 20 men a day. This is not an isolated case.

Due to the active highways and high immigrant population, the FBI has ranked North Carolina as #8 on its list of states to watch for human trafficking. Charlotte, as the largest city between DC and Atlanta, is particularly vulnerable to becoming a hub for such activity. 

On February 18, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office and NC STOP joined forces to present the informative and engaging "Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery" workshop at Trinity Presbyterian Church. 

The morning began with an introduction by Diane Schneider, president of the Charlotte AAUW. Queen Thompson, an AAUW member who served as event chair, wanted to bring local attention to a subject that many don't often think of as occurring in their own neighborhoods. 

"We have learned from history that anytime there's a sore or virus that goes unchecked, it spreads," she said. The topic is one especially important to Thompson, who has served as a social worker for over 44 years.

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Posted: February 20th, 2012 Lee Howard

It’s hard to know how much of Sunday’s sermon at First Christian Church Them Siu was able to absorb. A native of Vietnam, Siu doesn’t speak much English. But God was in His house, and that was good enough for Siu.

First Christian played host Sunday, Feb. 19, to The Rev. Nicole Massie Martin in a sermon exchange. Massie Martin’s home church is off Beatties Ford Road. She led the congregation in place of the church’s pastor, Jolin Wilks McElroy, who also attended as part of Crossroads Charlotte's Xchange Sermons program.

Massie Martin’s message was an exploration of Mary of Bethany, also known as Mary Magdalene, sister of Lazarus. In her gratitude for Jesus’ raising her brother from the dead, Mary bathed Jesus’ feet in an expensive and aromatic oil. She then swabbed his feet with her hair. It was an act of supplication demonstrated before a household of guests that included Judas.

Judas, the rough equivalent of Jesus’ accountant, perceived Mary’s act as wasteful. The cost of the oil in those days would have been the equivalent of a year’s wages. Judas decried that the oil should have been sold to help provide for the poor. When Jesus and his followers ever did collect money, Judas also was inclined to help himself to the till.

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Posted: February 16th, 2012 Lee Howard

Four steps to solving the homeless paradigm: Prevention, housing and services. But first, it starts with people.

“This is a problem that is impossible to solve individually,” Temple Beth El volunteer Judy Seldin-Cohen this week said to a gathering at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library uptown. “But it is a problem we can solve together.”

We’ve all been there. There’s the shabby fellow standing on the street corner with a “Will work for food” sign written on a piece of cardboard. Under current economic circumstances, it’s not an unfamiliar sight anywhere in Charlotte. You roll down your window, flip the guy a buck before the light turns green, and you’ve done your good deed for the day.

But curing homelessness is much more complicated than handing out loose change. An ensemble cast of experts on homelessness, church organizations and non-profits have launched Solve the Puzzle Charlotte, a project designed to make local homelessness a thing of the past within the next 10 years.

A group of about 60 met this week at the uptown library to view the new Solve the Puzzle Web site (click here for the site).

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