For the week of Dec. 3-9

December 3

1847—Frederick Douglas and Martin R. Delaney establish “The North Star” and it goes on to become a major anti-slavery newspaper.

1922—Ralph Gardner is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a pioneer chemist whose research into plastics led to the development of so-called hard plastics and aided product developments in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.

THOMAS HEARNS

1982—Thomas “The Hit Man” Hearns defeats Wilfredo Benitez for the WBC Junior Middleweight boxing title. Hearns becomes the first person to win boxing titles in five different weight classes.

by Maryclaire Dale

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Jerry Sandusky’s brief call to a TV sportscaster may have done more to raise concern over child-sex crimes than three decades of church-abuse cases.

Sandusky, 67, quickly denied being a pedophile when Bob Costas asked him.

But Penn State’s retired defensive coordinator paused, and rambled, when asked whether he’s sexually attracted to children.

TARNISHED MASCOT—Students walk by a statue of a Penn State Nittany Lion mascot at the Penn State-Beaver campus in Monaca, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

“He doesn’t want to label himself what he is,” said former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who once led a grand jury investigation into the Philadelphia archdiocese and is working with the charity Sandusky founded to conduct an internal investigation. “This is a pattern of conduct that is so classic in its context: the grooming, the young boys, the gifts, the flattery, the meals, the trips, the jock thing, the touching.”

(NNPA)—Police are investigating the role of bullying in what they are calling the suicide of a 10-year-old girl from Chadbourn, N.C., who they say hanged herself.

According to North Carolina’s NBC affiliate WECT, Jasmine McClain’s body was discovered by her mother, Samantha West, in the family home Nov. 14.

JASMINE McCLAIN

West explained that other parents have said that her daughter was ridiculed for not wearing the latest fashion trends. Authorities are investigating the alleged assertions.

“She had anything she wanted,” West told WECT. “She may not have [had] the best in the world, but she had what she wanted and what she needed.”

November 26

1873—Macon B. Allen is elected a judge in Charleston, S.C. Allen holds the distinction of being America’s first Black lawyer having been admitted to the bar in Massachusetts on March 5, 1845. During Reconstruction he decided to aid the former slaves in the South by moving to South Carolina and running for judge.

TINA TURNER