A machinist at work at a plant in Oregon. Image: AP Photo/The Columbian, Steven Lane)

Meyer Tool, an engine parts manufacturer based in Cincinnati, has agreed to pay $325,000 in back wages and interest to 60 African-American workers who were rejected for entry-level machinist positions. The company reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, putting an end to the race-discrimination case.

According to Fox 19 in Cincinnati, the OFCCP “found that Meyer Tool didn’t give equal consideration without regard to race to qualified job applicants.” In addition to the cash payment, the company will offer 11 of the applicants positions and training to all employees.

The company still hasn’t copped to doing anything wrong, and continued to defend itself through its legal representation.

“Meyer Tool has made changes to its recordkeeping procedures and carefully monitors those procedures to ensure this does not occur again,” said Colleen Lewis, a partner at Dinsmore. “As always, Meyer Tool Company remains committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and diversity.”

The case has been going on for seven years and, according to Lewis, this will put an end to the case and the expense.

More on Madame Noire Business!

• Census Shows 27.6 Percent of Black Americans Live in Poverty
• No to OWS: Jay Says He Never Supported Occupy Wall Street Movement
• Vh1′s Jackie Christie and Stylist Rochelle Moseley Encourage Next Generation of Entrepreneurs
• Put Your Pride Aside: Why You Should Take The Job You Need Until You Can Get The One You Want
• Celebrities, Freebies and (Maybe) Some Shopping: A Look at Fashion’s Night Out
• Vogue’s First Fashion Week In Africa Highlights Renewed Interest in the Continent

dailymail.co.uk

This story is giving me serious flashbacks. I went to a Catholic Highschool and remember being lectured nearly every day up until graduation about the consequences of our families cheering too loudly at the commencement ceremony—as if we had any control over them. The threats seemed pretty baseless but a Cincinnati student is actually being denied his diploma because he received too many cheers when he walked across the stage.

Anthony Cornist is a popular student at Mt. Healthy High School and when he achieved the pinnacle of high school achievements, he received roaring support from family, friends, and even some teachers. But when all was said and done, Anthony didn’t receive the diploma he earned from the school, he got a letter from the principle instead, stating:

 ”I will be holding your diploma in the main office due to the excessive cheering your guests displayed during the roll call.”

Anthony and his family were shocked. He told WCPO News, “I did nothing wrong except walk across the stage.”

What’s crazier is principal Marlon Styles is demanding 20 hours of community service before Anthony can officially graduate, and get this, the hours can be split between Anthony and his family, or the senior can perform them all himself. The teen’s mother, Traci Cornist says the school is insane.

“I don’t understand how he’s being punished for something he has no control over. I just thought that was ludicrous… I have no clue where the logic comes in.”

“He’s definitely not doing the community service,” she said. “I’m definitely not doing the community service.”

More on Madame Noire!

• What’s Black Enough For You?
• Confession: I Felt Joy Hurting a Man
• Well, Hiya To You! Shouting Out Some Of Our Favorite Black Imports From Britain
• Why I Think Natural Hair is Indeed a Political Statement
• Where You Been Cherie Johnson?
• Grieving Over a Girlfriend: 7 Ways to Move on After a Break-up…Between Friends
• What’s Black Enough For You?

Youngwritersblock.org

It’s one thing to say open your Bibles to Acts Chapter such and such so I can tell you what God has to say about sexual immorality, it’s another to install a stripper pole in the church as a constant reminder. A pastor in a suburban Cincinnati church has opted for the latter and it’s sitting right smack dab in the center of the pulpit.

As part of his “Battle of the Sexes” series, Pastor Mike Scrugg of Light of the World Ministries is using some strong visual props to drive home his messages.

“With our bed on one side is what men want or desire–your stripper pole, your video games, your sports. The woman’s side is orderly, neat, it’s all about love, candy, teddy bears, roses and being wined and dined and cherished.”

From Pastor Scrugg’s perspective, single people are having too much sex and married couples aren’t having enough; he says it’s his job to get through to the members.

“We talk about sex, we talk about drugs, we talk about faith, we talk about relationships; things that people are dealing with on a day to day basis.

“We push the envelope that’s true. I definitely don’t take it out of context. Some people might say he’s going to hell, he’s wrong. We want to talk about it we don’t want them to guess at it assume it’s wrong it right we want to talk about it.”

The pastor’s approach is certainly radical, considering some churches barely even discuss anything dealing with sex, other than to tell people don’t do it if they’re not married. Pastor Scruggs said he prefers to lay it all out on the line.

“We try to make it relevant, straight forward; we don’t sugar coat anything,”

He’s not lying about that and there’s no harm in preachers having an open and honest discussion about the questions it’s members no doubt have in reference to the bedroom anyway. I just don’t know if you need a stripper pole to do it.

What do you think about this pastor’s approach to sharing the word?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• Happy Until They Got Married: Broken Celebrity Couples
• Training Day: Things You Should Never Have To Teach Your Man
• Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems: Mega Millions Winner Won’t Share Money With Lotto Pool
• Do You Go Too Hard For Your Favorite Celebrity?
• Uh Oh: Is Swizz Beatz Creeping With His Ex?
• Charlie Bell:Kenya’s Recklessly Spending My Money To Get Back At Me
• An Open Letter To Mary J. Blige Re: Her Buffoonish Burger King Commercial
• What Does It Really Mean To Think Like A Man?

Money makes the world go ’round, and apparently it also makes students at one of Cincinnati’s high schools actually come to class.

Dohn Community High School is an alternative charter school in the city, pegged as sort of a “last chance” for teens who have dropped out to turn their lives around. After “trying everything else” to get it’s students to come to class, Principal Ramone Davenport found money would do the trick. Last week the school starting an incentive program that pays seniors $25 per week and underclassmen $10 weekly in Visa gift cards for showing up to class every day, being on time, and behaving in school. Every week a student is paid, an additional $5 goes into a savings account that will be paid out at graduation.

Aware of the criticisms, Principal Davenport told Fox 9:

“People will say you’re rewarding kids for something they should already be doing anyway, but they’re not doing it.”

“The target is graduation,” School Chief Administrative Officer Ken Furrier said. “We do almost everything we can to get the kids there.” In a separate interview, he added, “Money is important to them. We can’t teach them if they’re not here.”

Private donations and federal Workforce Investment Act dollars are funding the program which is expected to cost $40,000. Only time will tell if the incentives actually work and translate into higher graduation rates, but as some have pointed out, what happens when these kids graduate and the incentives for doing what you’re supposed to do stop?

What do you think about this program? Is it necessary considering these kids’ circumstances or does it send the wrong message?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• Single Setbacks: Distractions That Keep Us From Dating
• Keep It Short! Ladies Who Look Better With Short Hair Cuts
• Chris Brown: Can We Forgive and Forget?
• Love & Life Lessons I Learned From “Love & Basketball”
• 6 Ratchet Behaviors Ig’nant People Should Give Up for Lent
• My BFF: The Non-Celebrity Besties of The Famous
• Pregnant Teen Paralyzed in Shooting Dies Months After Giving Birth to Baby Girl
• Show Off Your Shape! Style Tips To Flatter Your Body

Andre Davis, a Cincinnati wrestler who goes by the stage name “Gangsta of Love” was sentenced to 32 years in prison yesterday for having sex with women and not informing them that he had tested positive for HIV.

The 29-year-old was convicted in November when prosecutors said he violated state law by not telling a dozen sex partners about his HIV status. On Monday, Davis told the judge he is a sex addict and that his addiction grew worse when he lost his dream of becoming a professional wrestler after contracting HIV. In July 2009,World Wrestling Entertainment told Davis they wouldn’t hire him because he failed a physical and tested positive.

Davis claimed he didn’t tell anyone about his status because he didn’t want his family to know, saying “I a not a monster,” but the prosecution shot back, calling him “A manipulative man and a liar.”

Medical privacy laws prevented attorneys from mentioning whether or not other women had contracted the virus from Davis, but his attorney argued that the state law regarding HIV and felonious assault is poorly written because it doesn’t require proof that there has been harm or an attempt to commit harm. After Monday’s sentencing, he told the Associated Press he would file an appeal on Davis’ behalf.

Do you think 32 years is a sufficient sentence for Andre Davis?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• Things Black Mothers Say
• Celebrity Mistresses: The Good, The Bad, and The Trifling
• 7 Curl Defining Products to Get Your Curls and Coils Poppin’
• How to Attract a Healthy Relationship This Year
• 6 Ways to Tackle Relationship Arguments
• He Loves Me: Men Who Just Adore Their Wives
• Evening Eye Candy: Larenz Tate

I’m having déjà vu reading about the case of a white Cincinnati resident who is attempting to put the city right back in Jim Crow era with her discriminatory pool policy. On Sept. 29, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission found landlord Jamie Hein to be in violation of the Ohio Civil Rights Act when she posted an iron sign that read “Public Swimming Pool, White Only” at her duplex. Now Hein wants the commission to reconsider its decision.

The landlord posted the sign when a black teenage girl was visiting her parents who lived in the complex. Hein indicated the move was necessary because the girl used chemicals in her hair that would make the pool “cloudy,” according to the commission.

Parents of the teenager filed a discrimination charge with the commission and moved out of the duplex, and the commission determined that the sign “restricts the social interaction between Caucasians and African-Americans and reinforces discriminatory actions aimed at oppressing people of color.” Still, the organization is obligated to hear Hein’s request for reconsideration.

One summer when I came home from college, I invited three of my friends to go swimming in the pool complex where my mother lived. Almost immediately a white woman came over to me and asked what I was doing there and demanded to see my pool pass, which my mom neglected to tell me I needed. I was then asked a series of questions about where I lived, who my parents were, and whether they rented or owned a condominium there. After the interrogation subsided and I voiced my opinion about their obvious race policing, one woman told me, “we just had to make sure you belong; and now it’s your job to do the same when you see people you don’t think belong here.” Anger was not the word for how I felt at the time. A former black coworker of mine also told me that one of her white friends asked that her husband not swim in their pool because of the products he puts in his hair.

I’m not sure what leg Hein has to stand on in trying to prove her actions weren’t discriminatory. If the commissioners uphold their original finding, the case would be referred to the Ohio attorney general’s office, which would represent the commission’s findings before an administrative law judge. Penalties in the case could include a cease-and-desist order and even punitive damages to be determined by the administrative law judge. Parties could still reach a settlement before resorting to legal action, though, commission spokeswoman Brandi Martin said.

Have you ever had an incident like this happen at a public or residential pool?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• How to Avoid the 45 Year-Old ‘WTF-I’m-Still-Single’ Moment
• How to Know When to Have Sex With Him
• 7 Ways Men Wish They Could Satisfy You
• Changing Faces: Common Cosmetic Surgeries Performed in 2011
• The Hatey Bunch: Biggest Celebrity Haters?
• Unforgivable Hood Baby Names: Celebrity Edition
• Young, Black and Fly: Malia Obama’s Trendsetting Style

Not that McDonald’s colorful Playland area is supposed to be the safest place on earth, but there’s something incredibly sad about knowing that something meant to let children be free to frolic and be innocent can be used as a grounds for predators. But then again, with some parents preoccupied with phone conversations and overly-big Big Macs sometimes and no one to watch who comes in and out, I guess it makes sense that these areas would be a predator’s own playground.

A young girl and her grandmother learned that the hard way at a McDonald’s near downtown Cincinnati on Oct. 29. While playing in the Playland area, the 5-year-old girl was approached by a young man around the ages of 12 to 15 who “digitally” assaulted her (as in using digits or fingers in case you weren’t sure) and then forced the girl to do the same to him anally. The child’s grandmother said that she knew something was wrong when the little girl came back to her looking especially upset as the Playland was preparing to close. She later told the police that she saw the young man leaving the Playland, but before she could figure out that he had done something (and shouldn’t have been that old in the freaking Playland in the first place), he had already left. The young man, once again, is said to be between the ages of 12 and 15, white, with black hair and blue eyes, wearing light blue jeans, a gray long-sleeve T-shirt and a jacket. The franchise owner and employees of this McDonald’s (in Anderson Township) are said to be fully cooperating with police.

How horrific for both the child and her grandmother. I can’t imagine the confusion and fear going through that young girl’s mind while she was being sexually assaulted by someone more than double her age. I also can’t imagine where in the hot hell her grandmother was. Playland areas, whether at McDonald’s or the open outdoor park, are obviously not the end all to be all of safety. No matter where you take children, whether they are your offspring, your grandchildren, your nieces, your nephews or a friend’s baby, children have to be watched at all times somebody. Call me overprotective, but I don’t see how this could have happened if this child’s grandmother had been walking around watching her slide through tubes and scamper around. Children are soooo easily influenced. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched my niece try and play with some random kids she met while trying to get through a tube at Chuck E. Cheese. For this young man to have enough time to penetrate the child and have her do the same to him, there was clearly not enough adults around watching the Playland and the kids in it.  And aside from these horrific assaults, children can get hurt playing around in those tight spaces with other kids. In the end, she was five, not 10. There was no reason she should have been able to run into the Playland and not been supervised by at least one person.

I’m not trying to say that it’s all her grandmother’s fault (apologies if it even sounds like that). You can also ask why doesn’t McDonald’s have employees watching the kids in the Playland too? I’m not talking some big, burly security guard, but just an employee to ensure there is no rough housing or that people who probably shouldn’t have the ability to play with such small children (like a 130 pound 12 to 15-year-old for example) can’t. Fingers could be pointed for days, but in the end, I’m really just trying to say that we all need to be more attentive out here these days. I can only hope that others can take this incident as an example of why all eyes should stay open when it comes to the protection of children. Even it wasn’t her grandmother, or an employee supervising the play area, someone should have been looking out for this child. I know it’s hard enough to watch one child (your own) when you send them off into these recreational areas covered with nets, plastic and cushioned walkways, but any child attacked by a young man like this could have been your child, so it never hurts to keep an eye out for other people’s babies, because you just never know. These days, it literally takes a village to raise and watch out for a child, because things and people have totally changed.

More on Madame Noire!

• Ready For A Ring? Find Out What Men Look for When Choosing A Wife
• The Future of Famous: Cute Kids Of Our Favorite Celebrities
• The Jingling Baby: Bold and Fashionable Bracelets
• Husband Hunting? 10 Traits To Look For In A Spouse
• Does Your Relationship Need a Refresh
• She Get It From Her Mama! Mother & Daughter Stars We Love
• Hair Drama: What Not to Do When You Decide to Weave it Up

Kyle Willis

24-year-old Kyle Willis, father of a 6-year-old daughter living in Cincinnati, passed away on Tuesday after having struggles with his wisdom teeth. Knowing they needed to be pulled (as was recommended by a dentist), Willis passed on the procedure because as an unemployed individual, he didn’t have dental insurance to cover or help with the costs. According to ABC News, after he decided not to get his wisdom teeth pulled, Willis’ face began to swell and his head started to hurt more and more. A trip to the emergency room left Willis with the option to pay for both antibiotics and pain medication. But once again, because of the costs, Willis just decided to only buy pain medication, which was not what he needed to deal with his teeth in the long run. As was stated earlier, Willis passed away on Tuesday. The issues with his wisdom teeth? They started two weeks ago.

Willis’ death has definitely pushed the conversations about receiving proper health care when you don’t have medical insurance to the forefront. With unemployment consistently increasing, more and more folks are left without coverage, so many people are skipping procedures they need because they can’t afford them. They believe they can just “tough it out.” As Willis’ situation proves, it’s not as simple as it sounds.

According to ABC News, the Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported that 33 percent of people surveyed skipped dental care or dental checkups because they couldn’t afford them. I know many of us know that toothaches are absolutely, positively no joke, and provide some of the most debilitating pain possible. But at the same time, many of us also wait until things get really bad to seek help. Hopefully if you’re reading this and know you’ve been allowing yourself to live in pain because of the costs of medical procedures you need done, you’ll be able to find a way to get what you need accomplished soon enough. I’m about to quit playing and get this root canal I’ve been avoiding ASAP…

(Cincinnati City Beat) — Andrew Williams is still standing, much to the chagrin of Cincinnati officials and some of his neighbors. The city of Cincinnati has attempted on numerous occasions to close William’s nightclub — known variously as Club Oasis, Club Ritz and Club Aqua Nite Life — through legal means but he continues to stay open to fight another day.  In this latest David versus Goliath tale, Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge David Stockdale recently struck down the city’s dance hall license law, declaring it unconstitutional and that it violates Ohio law. Stockdale ruled the law interferes with a business’ right to operate once a license has been issued, along with failing to provide for a hearing before or after a renewal decision is made.  “I feel elated and happy to see the legal process working in our favor,” says Williams, who continues to operate the club in Roselawn.  The 50-year-old’s elation also extends to the dismissal of a city citation charging him with unlawful operation of a dance hall. Williams believes the dance hall license, a $2,000 annual fee, is used by the Cincinnati Police Department to oversee the operation of dance halls that cater to one particular clientele: African Americans.

Read More…

(USA Today) — When Timothy Thomas was shot by a Cincinnati police officer in April 2001, sparking riots in the city’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, officers only knew from a dispatcher that Thomas had more than a dozen warrants.  Today, they would know that the warrants were for minor infractions, things such as failure to wear a seat belt.  Also today, they could call for help from an officer specially trained in handling people with mental health problems. They carry Tasers to use as an alternative option to their guns. And they’re reminded of a new police department culture that stresses customer service as much as it does catching bad guys.  In the rioting that followed Thomas’ death, fires were set around Over-the-Rhine, a police officer was shot but unhurt when the bullet hit his belt buckle, and a citywide curfew was imposed — the first in more than 30 years.  The changes since Thomas’ death and the ensuing riots are many. The results have been dramatic.  In the six years before the riots, 15 men — all African-American — died in confrontations with police. In the last 10 years? Eight, six of them black.

Read More…