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An
Irresponsible Choice?
It
may seem a little odd, on the face of it, to name an abstinence-only
education program “Responsible Choices.” At the least, “The
Responsible Choice” would fit somewhat better. But it’s even
more ironic that the title that the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services chose for an initiative in the fiscal year
2005 budget that will double the funding for abstinence education
is a registered servicemark of Planned Parenthood Federation
of America.
PPFA has used the phrase for its own comprehensive sexuality-education
programs since the late ’90s, and registered the rights to
the phrase in 1999.
On March 10, PPFA president Gloria Feldt sent a letter to
HHS secretary Tommy Thompson demanding that HHS cease and
desist using the phrase. “Your use of Responsible Choices
as the title of your so-called ‘abstinence-only’ initiative
is extremely confusing and troubling, considering the fact
that your program not only denies choice but also deliberately
censors medically accurate information,” she wrote.
PPFA has gotten no response to the letter, and the phrase
remains on the HHS Web site. PPFA’s managing director for
media relations, Gustavo Suarez, said if they did not hear
back in the next week they would send another letter, but
declined to speculate on whether the organization would consider
bringing legal action.
—Miriam
Axel-Lute
Imprimatur
Granted
Grand
Street Community Arts, the organization working to transform
Albany’s St. Anthony’s Church into a community center, has
received a key grant that will allow the physical restoration
project to move forward.
In the first week of March, the group received notice from
Wendy Nicholas of the Northeast regional office of the National
Trust for Historic Preservation that it had been awarded a
$2,000 grant from the Preservation Services Fund. This will
allow Grand Street Community Arts (formerly Mansion Community
Arts) to hire an architect with preservation and restoration
experience. The architect will assess the exact condition
of the church and develop a restoration plan.
GSCA member Tom McPheeters explained, with a combination of
surprise and satisfaction, that the NTHS grant approval process
“didn’t take that long.” The application was filed in January,
and the approval letter was dated March 5. McPheeters credited
the detailed work of grant writer Caroline Sharkey. “We have
one of the best grant writers in the area,” he said.
Beyond the money, McPheeters said the grant is significant
because it will help the group develop a relationship with
NTHS, a national organization in the forefront of the preservation
movement. It was the trust’s designation of Albany’s School
No. 10 as a significant endangered building, many argue, that
drew attention to a plan to demolish the ornate 19th-century
structure and replace it with a big-box drug store. The school
was subsequently renovated and incorporated into the Brighter
Choice Charter School.
While the process of restoring the church building continues,
GSCA is moving forward with its plans for a summer gardening
project for Grand Street. According to McPheeters, Youth Organics
(YO!) will begin in April as a two-day-per-week program, and
expand when the school year is over. GSCA also has a Web site,
www.MCArts.org, up and running.
—Shawn
Stone
Friends
in High Places
Ansar
Mahmood, a Pakistani immigrant from Hudson who has spent more
than two years in a detention facility outside of Buffalo,
has received the support of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.),
thanks to many hours of effort by those working for Mahmood’s
release.
Mahmood, who pled guilty on the advice of his public defender
to helping two other immigrants whose visas had expired get
an apartment and a car, was facing deportation even though
he had been sentenced only to time served [“Taking on the
Deportation Machine,” Newsfront, Sept. 25, 2003].
His supporters say he’s a hard-working, honest man caught
up in the post-Sept. 11 hysteria. They have been lobbying
elected officials for months to add their voices to the cause
of granting Mahmood “supervised release,” which would be similar
to parole. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) was the first to
sign on.
Schumer, after an unusual private meeting with two advocates
for Mahmood, issued a press release on March 17 saying he
supports supervised release for Mahmood. “The FBI cleared
him of any links to violent crimes, he has been a model prisoner,
and he has strong support within the community,” said Schumer.
“This is not a terrorism case.”
Bob Elmendorf, a spokesperson for Mahmood’s defense committee,
said Schumer’s support has given them a big boost. “We had
a good case before that. His coming out really buttressed
it, no doubt about it,” he said. “I think [Mahmood] will be
released, he won’t be deported. We believed that when we had
media attention alone, but now we have congressional attention.”
Elmendorf said interest from other elected officials really
picked up once Schumer made his announcement; the defense
committee is in contact with “about 10” who are interested,
he said, but they haven’t yet “made any promises.”
—Miriam
Axel-Lute
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