by Jamie Stengle
Associated Press Writer

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP)—Christopher Patlan was hanging out with friends on the Red River when he heard the desperate screams coming from seven teenagers. One minute they were wading in shallow water, the next they plunged into a dropoff 25 feet deep.

Patlan bolted the 10 yards to the river and jumped in, saving 15-year-old DeKendrix Warner. By the time he had dragged the boy to safety, the six others from two families —all nonswimmers—had drowned. Family members, who also can’t swim, watched helplessly.

HELPLESS—The grief of the family is shown as Shreveport Fire Department and Caddo Sheriff’s deputies scour the beach at Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park in Shreveport, La. Monday, Aug. 2, in search of teens believed to have drowned while swimming in the Red River.

The corner of Forbes and South Braddock avenues has a lot of hard work going on. Six days a week the owner and staff at Calli’s Restaurant are committed to the labor it takes to provide good food and customer service in a friendly atmosphere. “I come from a family that believes in hard work,” said 34-year-old Damien Hodges, proprietor of the 75-seat bistro.

For the past year Hodges has been putting his all into the restaurant that was to be a project he and his mother, the late Amril Crichlow, who passed away in the middle of the construction, which started over 18 months ago. Not letting her dream die with her, Hodges and former Allderdice High School classmates Leslie Jenkins, an electrician and Matt Hoffman, the owner of a construction company, continued on and the restaurant opened July 20, 2009.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS—Damien Hodges, owner of Calli’s Restaurant, is celebrating his first year anniversary.

(Part one of a series)

Every year thousands of youths are cycled in and out of the juvenile justice system in Allegheny County. According to last year’s Annual Juvenile Probation Report, as of Dec. 31, 2009, there were 4,032 juveniles under court supervision.

COMMUNITY INPUT—Marc Cherna leads a public meeting seeking feedback from the public on service provided by the county.

Besides the many independent community groups working with youths to keep them out of the system, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services has a number of programs aimed at preventing and reducing criminal behavior and delinquency.

“We serve over 225,000 people in the county every year out of the 1.2 mil and people tend to forget all of these services are paid for with their taxpayer money,” said DHS Director Marc Cherna. “We want more services basically and that’s always a matter of funding. We still have room to improve.”

There was a period of time when there were a limited number of Black men who were elected to the position of ward chairman and they had real, genuine influence.

In the fifth ward when the Republicans were in power, a Black man, Earl Sams, was the man Downtown with influence.

In 1936 when the Democrats came to power, Robert “Pappy” Williams became the most powerful Black in the party and was the driving force to elect the first Black legislator from this part of Pennsylvania. The man was Homer S. Brown, who eventually, through the effort of Pappy Williams, became the first Black judge in Allegheny County.