Philadelphia Tribune - Index

Philadelphia Tribune - Sunday, November 16, 2008 - Index

Robert Hightower
Tribune Staff Writer
The Goss family is trying to
pick up the pieces of their lives.
After living at 6653 Sprague
St. for more than 30 years, Clay
Goss, along with his wife Linda,
daughter Aisha and son
Jamaal, are forced to not only
find a new house but also try to
make sense of what occurred
last Sunday.
While Clay was sitting in the
living room, Jamaal noticed
that the room was filling with
smoke.
“He said there is something
coming out of the radiator,” said
Clay. “The heater was right
underneath of us.”
This prompted Clay to investigate
to cause of the problem.
“I went down into the basement
to see what was wrong,”
he said. “When I opened the
door to that front part of the
basement, a molten blast came
out. I couldn’t see because
there was so much smoke. It
melted my glasses.”
Thinking quickly, Clay realized
that there was gas in the
home so he made a dash to
safety.
“I held my breath and tried to
close to door, but I couldn’t
see,” Clay said.
Jamaal, who was still in the
house, dialed 911. Happy to see
that he was unharmed, Clay
and Jamaal exited the house.
As the pair waited outdoors,
the fire grew increasingly
stronger.
When the fire department
arrived they were able to contain
blaze but the damage was
already significant.
“The basement was wiped
out,” he said.
In an attempt to help the
family get back on their on feet
and out of dire straights, a
fundraiser will be held at the
Point of Destination, located at
6460 Greene Street (Upsal train
Sunday, November 16, 2008 • Page 5-B
Family displaced by fire tries to rebuild
The home of Clay and Linda Goss, 6653 Sprague St. in Mt. Airy, was destroyed by fire. — ABDUL R. SULAYMAN/TRIBUNE CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
station), this Sunday. The
event, titled “Spaghetti Dinner
and Storytelling,” will last from
2 to 5 p.m. The suggested donation
is $20.
For more information call
Ron at (267) 725-4208, Carol at
(215) 849-7771 or Joslyn at
Philly swindler gets four years
Maryclaire Dale
PHILADELPHIA — An Ivy
League graduate must serve
four years in prison for a brazen
identity theft scheme that netted
him and a glamorous exgirlfriend
more than $100,000
in trips, dinners and luxury
goods.
Edward Anderton, 25, of
Everett, Wash., earned a oneyear
break compared to codefendant
Jocelyn Kirsch
because she continued to commit
crimes after their December
arrest. Kirsch, 22, is serving a
five-year sentence.
“I need to apologize to Jocelyn
because I was a large part of her
downfall. And if the two of us
wouldn’t have met, I don’t think
there’s any chance of it escalating
to where it was,” Anderton
told a federal judge Friday. “So
I’m sorry to Jocelyn for being a
part of her demise.”
The pair admit they stole the
identities of friends and neighbors
in Philadelphia to help
finance a lavish lifestyle, even
though Anderton, a business
graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania, had secured a
Prop 8
From Page 1A
accusations that religious
groups, like the Church of Latter
Day Saints, have overstepped
separation of church and state
boundaries to oppose gay marriage.
However one of the largest
groups supporting the ban is
African Americans.
According to exit polls, seven
out of 10 African-American voters
backed Proposition 8.
Overall, 52 percent of
Californians voted to have marriages,
in what many perceive to
be the nation’s most liberal
state, be restricted to a union
between a man and a woman.
Within the African-American
community, homosexuality has
been more taboo than in other
ethnic groups.
Reasons for the overwhelming
support of Proposition 8 among
Blacks vary, yet many find it difficult
to accept how a group of
people who once fought for the
right to marry outside of their
race, could easily reject the
desire of other Americans seeking
similar freedoms.
Phillip Spivey, a New York
City-based psychologist who
has experience working with
homosexuals, said he believes
that marriage is a right, not a
privilege, and people opposing
gay marriage are expressing a
hurtful bias.
“Fundamentally, it’s discrimination.
There are no two ways
about it,” Spivey said. “A bigoted
African American is no better
than a bigoted white person.”
Like many supporters of gay
rights, Spivey is concerned that
people are allowed the right to
determine the lives of others.
“The poison of Proposition 8 is
that you’re basically voting on
This undated file photo originally released by the Philadelphia
Police Department, shows Jocelyn Kirsch, a student at Drexel
University, and Edward Anderton of Everett, Wash.
— AP PHOTO/PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPARTMENT, FILE
good first job in finance. As the
yearlong scheme went on, they
even broke into the apartments
of neighbors in their upscale
apartment building to steal
credit cards and other items.
Travel photos of their enviable
trips — released by police —
have been widely circulated
online. They show the jet-setters
sporting matching swimsuits by
fancy hotel pools, kissing near
the Eiffel Tower and riding
horseback on a beach.
Kirk Read of San Francisco protests at a candle light vigil at
City Hall for No on Proposition 8 in San Francisco on
Wednesday. — AP PHOTO/DAVID M. BARREDA/MERCURY NEWS
civil rights. If we waited for everybody
to vote on racial equality,
we might not be where we are
today,” Spivey said, adding that
he sees Proposition 8 as “an
obstacle to true equality.”
Kevin Mumford, a professor of
African-American history and
modern America at the
University of Iowa, has written
extensively on Blacks and
homosexuality. His work has
explored the lives of Black gay
men, including writer James
Baldwin and Joseph Beam, the
Philadelphia-born writer and
activist who worked to improve
the image of gay Black men,
especially in media portrayals.
Mumford, himself a gay Black
man, has also researched Loving
v. Virginia, the groundbreaking
U.S. Supreme Court decision
that overturned state miscegenation
statutes outlawing
marriage between Blacks and
whites in 1967.
Mumford said he is frustrated
that Blacks can reject gay marriage
and saddened by the fact
that many do so based on moral
beliefs.
“When it comes to the morality
issue, Black people are still
more negative. They say they
know how to vote because of
what is in the Bible, but that’s
frustrating because racism in
America has often been justified
by the Bible,” Mumford said,
pointing to the justification that
slave owners offered for keeping
Africans in bondage.
The same claims were made
during the Jim Crow era,
Mumford said, adding that such
religious affirmations can lead
to dangerous outcomes for an
entire group of people.
“I’m always kind of dismayed
at the notion of throwing religion
around,” Mumford said. “What
your personal or religious beliefs
are should not literally, word for
A U.S. attorney, after their
arrest, called them “poster children”
for identity fraud.
The ensuing court hearings
revealed Kirsch to be the troubled
product of a bitter marriage
between a North Carolina plastic
surgeon and a nurse who
remarried and moved to
California the week Kirsch graduated
from high school in
Winston-Salem, N.C.,
Kirsch told U.S. District
Judge Eduardo C. Robreno, who
sentenced her last month, that
she started shoplifting and acting
out in middle school. At
Drexel University, she told tales
of being an Olympic shot-putter
with Lithuanian roots and
lavender eyes. The striking eye
color came from contact lenses;
the other claims proved equally
untrue.
Anderton acknowledged
Friday that his working class
parents sacrificed to send him
and a brother to college. His
father, Kyle, works two jobs, as a
Seattle Times delivery supervisor
and at UPS. And he
described himself as a disciplined
student-athlete growing
up. — (AP)
word, get to become the law.
African Americans should be
leery of that kind of talk, especially
if we look at our history in
this nation.”
Ronald J. Sider, a professor of
Theology, Holistic Ministry and
Public Policy at Palmer
Theological Seminary in
Wynnewood, said the use of the
Bible and Christianity to support
slavery and segregation
were obviously wrong, but people
are justified to use religion
as a way to shape their outlook
on issues.
“It is certainly true that slave
owners did use the Bible to support
their treatment of slaves
and that was an abuse of
Scripture,” Sider said. “But, ultimately,
everyone takes their
most basic views as a foundation
for political judgment.
“I think it is appropriate for
Christians and church leaders to
talk about what kind of public
policy is best for our country,” he
continued, adding that Christian
leaders should continue to
speak out on all topics, including
economy, health and education.
“Whether it’s the Jews,
Christians or Muslims, it’s right
for the church to take a stand,”
Sider said. “It’s nothing more
than people talking about what
they believe to be the common
good for the whole society.”
Sider said the Bible explicitly
speaks against homosexuality,
offering Christians confirmation
that such relationships go
against the will of God. It doesn’t,
however give Christians or any
group of people, the right to mistreat
homosexuals.
“Christians do think that the
homosexual practice is wrong,
but the first thing we must do is
love everyone and insist on civil
rights for everyone,” Sider said.
“There have been terrible attitudes
within the Christian
(267) 242-3063.
Luckily, during this entire
ordeal Linda and Aisha were
away for the morning.
Once the flames were doused,
Clay received a general report
predicated on its cause.
“It was the oil heater,” said
Larry Miller
Tribune Staff Writer
Philadelphia police officers
responded with deadly force
against a gun-carrying suspect
Thursday night, killing the
man in a shootout in the
Strawberry Mansion section of
the city.
The suspect has been identified
as 32-year-old Norman
Lamont.
According to police department
spokesman Lt. Frank
Vanore the incident started just
before midnight.
Three plainclothes officers
were on patrol in the 1700 block
of North Taney Street investigating
an unrelated narcotics case.
They had focused on two suspects
when another man, identified
as Norman, appeared on
the east side of the street.
“As they were going down the
1700 block of Taney, a third
male appeared on the east side
of the block. That male was
described as firing in the direction
of the police officers,”
Vanore said. “One of the officers
returned fire and gave chase.
There was a second confrontation
and shots were exchanged
in the 1800 block of North
Taney Street.
According to Vanore, Lamont
ran down an alley and addition-
church towards gays, but we
must be clear that God loves
everybody, including gay citizens.
He doesn’t like when we live contrary
to his will, whether that’s
being a homosexual or when a
heterosexual commits adultery.”
Cheryll Rothery-Jackson, an
educator and psychologist in
Northwest Philadelphia agreed
with Mumford that the Bible is
often used to support unfair
practices. Like Spivey, she has a
number of gay patients, who, in
light of Proposition 8, have
expressed fear and concern
about the way heterosexuals
treat them.
“They feel like they are the last
group that it is OK to oppress,”
she said. “They’re deeply hurt
and justifiably so. They desperately
need our support and advocacy.”
These feelings of inequality are
even more unsettling when born
out of religious beliefs, Rothery-
Jackson said.
“We are religious people, but
that often prevents us from even
getting accurate information.
We’re afraid when we hear misperceptions
about gay people,
like they molest children. But the
fact is that 90 percent of molesters
are heterosexual,” Rothery-
Jackson said.
“When you don’t know the
facts, you operate out of fear,”
she added. “We are among the
Clay.
With the home they had
known for so long completely
destroyed, the immediate order
of business became the issue of
housing.
Because calamity came so
unexpectedly, the only option
the family had was to temporarily
disperse to different locations.
Linda went to live with a
friend. Clay and Jamaal (and a
dog that Jamaal, who has special
needs) went to live with
another friend while Aisha went
to live with a neighbor. Clay
presently resides in a hotel. He
also received some financial
assistant from the American
Red Cross.
Another strain the fire produced
hinged on the topic of
employment. Clay, an assistant
professor of English at Morgan
State University in Baltimore,
had to conceive a way to get to
work and still deal with everything
that had just transpired.
As it stands now, he hasn’t
been to work since the fire.
However, he does have a daughter,
Uhuru, who lives near the
campus. The proximity of her
residence to the school will
allow him to resume making a
living. Jamaal will also be living
there.
“The whole thing is to try to
keep the family together so that
we can look at each and we are
seeing each other,” Clay said.
SWAT team kills
man who shot
at police officers
Norman
Lamont
al officers were
called to the
scene, including
a SWAT team.
Vanore said that
Norman barricaded
himself in
the alley and
engaged in
another confrontation
with
police.
“During a
search of the alley an officer
with the SWAT team fatally shot
the suspect,” Vanore said.
Investigators recovered a .38
revolver from the scene that had
been fired. Lamont was pronounced
dead at the scene at
1:30 a.m.
Court documents show that
Lamont had a lengthy criminal
past, with 17 prior arrests and
Vanore said that Lamont had
walked away from a halfway
house after a conviction for
armed robbery.
“This was the same early
release program that Daniel
Giddings had walked away
from in August,” Vanore said.
Giddings was killed in a
shootout with police officers
back in September after fatally
shooting Police Officer Patrick
McDonald.
Giddings also had an extensive
criminal history.
most homophobic of all groups,
yet everyone of us has somebody
in our lives that are gay and we
very quietly tolerate them.
“At the end of the day, God is
the judge of us. We as people
don’t have the right to judge,”
Rothery-Jackson said. “What’s
done behind closed doors
between two consenting adults is
their business.”
Spivey, the psychologist, said
African Americans, especially
those in the church, have always
been fearful of acknowledging
homosexuality. However, as
times change, he sees an opportunity
for the race to be more
open to gays.
“There are a lot of gay folks in
the Black church community.
We are the originators of the
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy,”
Spivey said. “But as a psychologist,
I don’t see this as healthy
because it has limitations. There
is something to be said about
being yourself and being able to
do so in the open.
“But it’s inevitable that the
generations are different and
perhaps the election of Obama is
pointing the way,” Spivey said. “I
can see younger Blacks pushing
for gay equality. It’s just a matter
of time that things will change all
over the country, just like the
way the electoral map changed in
its support of Obama and the
Democratic Party.”