| SNEAK PEAK AT WHAT'S INSIDE |
| The Truth Teacher |
| Mom on the Rebound |
| Da Rumor Mill |
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By Valerie D. Lockhart
SUN PUBLISHER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
“I’m going to kill you,” yelled 7-year-old Jovan, as he grabbed a butcher knife from a drawer and raced
toward his sister.
Overhearing the commotion, the children’s 75-year-old grandmother and guardian rushed
to the kitchen to stop the 60-pound first grader from making good on his threat.
This wasn’t the first time that Jovan had threatened to kill a family member.
Since being prescribed a series of psychotic drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),
voices have urged him to do harm to himself and to others.
“The voices tell me to kill my grandma, but I love my grandma,” explained Jovan. “I don’t want to hurt my
grandma. The voices tell me to hit my sisters.”
It’s those voices that his aunt, Sharon Dumas Pugh, a community and youth activist, hopes to
silence, as she seeks alternative treatment options.
“He wasn’t hearing voices before the doctor gave him Adderall,” explained Pugh. “He was given 5 mg,
which was the same amount given to a 61-year-old woman. Information from the pharmaceutical
company says that you can give it to children 5 and older.”
Adderall is an amphetamine aspartate that is used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy.
The sudden deaths of 12 American children were linked to Adderall XR. Further research conducted by
its manufacturer, Shire Pharmaceuticals, revealed an increase in the risk of cardiac defect with usage.
As a result, sales of Adderall XR were put on hold in Canada and banned in South Korea. In Thailand,
the drug is classified as a type 1 narcotic.
In a letter sent to Angus Russell, CEO of Shire Development Inc., the Department of Health and Human
Services warned, “Adderall XR is associated with a number of serious risks, some of which
may be fatal. These risks include serious cardiovascular events, hypertension, psychiatric events,
aggression, long-term suppression of growth, seizures, and visual disturbances. Additionally, the PI for
Adderall XR contains a general precaution regarding over dosage as well as precautions for patients with
tics and Tourette’s syndrome. Furthermore, the Adverse Events section of the PI states that Adderall XR is
associated with loss of appetite, insomnia, abdominal pain, and weight loss.”
“My nephew is out of it, when given his medication,” added Pugh. “He’s addicted at 7. His teacher says
that he’s smart as a whip and can do the work. The problem is his behavior. Yet, they want to
label him ADHD and give him drugs, instead of finding out the reason why he’s misbehaving.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that about 4.5 million school age children in the
U.S. are diagnosed with ADHD. Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder.
“I think drug manufacturers should be checked for the amount of medication they are giving children,”
noted Pugh. “How many other children are on those high doses? How is it that the pharmaceutical
companies are saying those milligrams are appropriate for children?”
While Pugh searches for answers, the number of children being prescribed narcotics continues to rise.
Since 1991, the Drug Enforcement Administration notes that there has been a 500 percent increase in
the prescriptions written for Adderall to treat ADHD.
Despite of warnings and research findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows it to be
prescribed to children and found no increased risk of sudden death among Adderall users, prompting
Canada to re-instate sales.
Big profits are had from sales of Adderall to children, earning Shire $1.1 billion in just one year.
But, Shire is not the only one profiting off drug sales.
Some parents are profiting off of the child’s diagnosis to obtain disability payments from SSI.
“There are some parents who want a quick diagnosis. They want me to fill out paperwork, so that they
can go down to SSI. I turn those parents away,” said West Johnson, a license professional counselor and
therapist at Hope Insight. “We educate both parents and the child. We don’t
just medicate the child. You have to get into what’s happening in that child’s life. The parents here for
medication drop out right away.”
Using drug-free methods, Johnson fully evaluates his clients to determine the reason for their behavior
problems and other issues.
It’s those issues that Pugh hopes to discover, as her nephew now undergoes drugfree treatment.
“He wants to be better. He wants to be an engineer,” said Pugh. “And, I’m determined to help him
become an engineer. I just wonder how many other children are addicts, because their parents won’t
stand up for them and find out the source of their problems without using medication.”
Meanwhile, there is one question that doctors, drug agencies and parents refuse to answer.
Who’s really doping up your children?
“Momma, Momma come up here. Just come up here, please!”
A cry for justice that only a mother could fully understand were the last words uttered by 17-year-old Je’
Rean DeMonte Nobles, prior to being gunned down on May 14.
Upon arriving at a party store in response to her son’s plea for help, Lavonne Cargill found him lying
motionless in a friend’s arms.
“When I got up there, I saw a kid carrying my son and putting him into his friend’s car,” explained Cargill.
“His friend jumped out of the car and said, ‘Momma, Ja’rean got shot.’ So, I got out of my car
and went and looked at my son. I didn’t try to see where he had gotten shot at or nothing. I jumped into the
car and rushed him to the hospital.”
Unaware of the extent of her son’s injury, Cargill spoke comforting words to him.
“Everything is going to be alright,” she told him. “ I was talking to my son thinking that he could hear us and
stuff, but he was gone.”
Ja’Rean, who was affectionately called Blake by family and friends, died from a gunshot wound to his
heart ending dreams of graduating with his peers from Southeastern High School less than a month
away and then entering the Marine Corps.
While his pleas for help were made to his mother, they were answered by the community.
Word quickly spread throughout the neighborhood that 34-year-old Chauncey Owens was the alleged
gunman.
“By the time I got home (from the hospital), they let me know that the guy who killed my son lived around
the corner from me on Lillibridge,” said Cargill. “He bragged about the way he killed my son.
Everybody in the house knew that he had killed my son.”
It was that bragging and tips from concerned citizens that led Detroit police to the whereabouts and
capture of Owens, who reportedly has a criminal past and was recently arraigned on a first-degree
murder charge and weapons offenses in the slaying of Ja’Rean.
“He escaped from prison and was on probation,” said Cargill. “He was suppose to get off probation in
2011. He did 16 years in prison. Everybody is happy that they got the guy that killed my son, be-
cause they know how my son was. My son loved kids and would give his last. He had respect for people.”
The respect Ja’Rean had for people is the same respect that his mother hopes the media and others will
have for her son.
During the capture of Owens, 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones was accidentally fatally wounded by police
in an alleged scuffle with the girl’s grandmother, Mertilla Jones. However, the family claims
that the girl was struck by a shot fired from an opened door.
The incident has generated much media attention and speculation. Yet, Ja’Rean was left out of reports,
improperly identified by his nickname, “Blake” or referenced only as a nameless 17-year-old
shooting victim.
“They (Aiyana’s family) knew the guy killed my son. I’m sorry about what happened to their daughter. But,
how are you going to sit there and have a murderer in your house?” asked Cargill. “I wouldn’t
have nobody in my house knowing that he had killed someone, because I’m risking my life and my kids’
lives. All of them should be locked up anyway for having a fugitive in their house that killed my son.
Nobody’s talking about that. They talk about the 7-year-old girl and everything else. They don’t talk about
how it really happened. They act like my son wasn’t anything. That hurts me.”
According to Michigan law, it is unlawful to harbor a fugitive.
The State of Michigan’s website notes, “MCL 750.199 was amended to make it a crime to knowingly or
willfully conceal or harbor, for the purpose of concealment from a peace officer, a person wanted on
warrants as follows: Misdemeanor Harboring (93 days) – 1. Arrest warrant for a misdemeanor 2. Bench
warrant in a civil case (except civil infractions) 3. Bench warrant in a criminal case where the crime
charged is a misdemeanor Felony Harboring (4 years) – 1. Arrest warrant for a felony 2. Bench warrant in
a criminal case where the crime charged is a felony."
An investigation is being conducted by Detroit police that could result in others being charged for the
shooting, including Aiyana’s father, Charles Jones.
As both families seek justice, Cargill hopes her family’s justice will come in the form of Owens’
imprisonment.
“When they find that man guilty, then my son can rest,” she added. “I’m not going to miss any time in the
courtroom. I’m going to pray for that man. I hope he thinks about what he did to my son.”
Meanwhile, Cargill reminiscences about the last day spent with her son.
“Earlier, we cracked jokes on one another. Before my son left out the door, he said, ‘Momma, I love you,
and I’ll be back,’” she noted. “I miss my son. I wish that he will walk in and say, “Mom, I’m home.’ He had
his whole life ahead of him. He can’t call me any more. I don’t want to let him go, but I’ve got to do what I’ve
got to do. I have to be strong for my son. When they talk about justice, I want justice too.”
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” -- 2 Corinthians 3:17
Stretching out her arms, 74-year-old Evelyn Bingham smiles and then offers a hug to a depressed-looking
woman.
As the spirit of generosity flows from Bingham and onto the woman, “Thank you” is suddenly uttered.
“I don’t see them as strangers,” explains Bingham, a retired business owner who has lived in Detroit
since age 6 and makes it a habit to go out and hug people at least once a week. “Everybody needs human
touch. Some have no families. Hugging comes second nature to me. It’s a desire to bring some peace
and comfort to another person. It brings me joy and is my way of serving people.”
For 18-year-old Edward Hollis, his spirit moves him to visit sick children at Children’s Hospital of Michigan
and to accompany others on field trips.
“Most people would not do it, because they look at the kids as being too sick to do the things that normal
kids do,” said Hollis, a senior at Henry Ford High School in Detroit. “They should be able to do everything
that another child does. We shouldn’t take away their fun just because they’re sick. Adults need to be
positive influences on today’s youth, so that they’ll grow up and help others. I’m sure that someone helped
them, when they were young.”
When it comes to helping people, Ma’at Seba is able to look beyond past wrongdoings and even
prison bars to help those in need.
The Detroit-based entrepreneur and motivational speaker offers renewed hope to those incarcerated in
the Mound Correctional Facility.
“Typically, society looks at people in correctional facilities as undesirables, when in fact they are the result
of society’s failure to create and maintain a moral structure,” said Seba. “They are human too. Everybody
deserves an opportunity to change and to transform their life into the person that they truly desire to be.”
Change is something that Miguel Geronimo has spearheaded in the Brightmoor community.
Acres of vacant lots once littered with trash and strewn with knee high weeds and grass have been
transformed from dumping grounds and into community gardens.
“It’s an advantage for both me and the community, because we get to eat off of it,” said Geronimo, a
representative with the Great Seal National Association of Moor Affairs that started and maintains many of
the gardens. “The community is able to come and pick food for free anytime that they want. We ate collard,
turnip and mustard greens, potatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers, soy beans, sunflower plants, bell
peppers, corn, and tomatoes from July to November. This year, we’ve added cabbage and lettuce. One
neighbor makes sure that the grass around the gardens is cut. It has not only beautified the neighborhood
but is also teaching families how to feed themselves.”
Lessons can be learned from these four individuals. Although they come from different areas in Detroit,
vary in age and have diverse backgrounds, they share a common trait - “spirit of Detroit”.
It is that spirit that organizers of the “This is Our Detroit” coalition hope to spread among others when they
kick off the campaign with a rally on Saturday, May 22 at 2 p.m. in front of the Spirit of Detroit
statue at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.
“There is a great deal of hope in our city,” said Rev. Dr. Joseph Jordan, one of the campaign organizers
and a member of the Council of Baptist Pastors. “Our campaign will celebrate that hope and the great
things about our city as we commit to move forward.”
A collaborative effort is needed to move forward, say organizers.
“Detroit is a great city that may be down now, but we have been down before and always find a way to pick
ourselves up, dust ourselves off, get to work and move forward,” said Wayne County Commissioner
Bernard Parker. “This is what ‘This is Our Detroit’ is all about - getting to work.”
For many Detroiters like Evelyn Bingham, Edward Hollis, Ma’at Seba, Miguel Geronimo and members of
the This is Our Detroit coalition, their work is powered by the “Spirit of Detroit”.
“It’s going to take a continuation of people who are interested and willing to work to make our city a better
place,” added Bingham. “It’s just like when the sun isn’t shinning. Those are the days when we
have to make our own sunshine.”
| Who is to blame when a child becomes... |
