Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2013)
News Roosevelt High School Earns Top Honors During 40th Annual Northwest Orchestra Festival Abdul-Alim (violin), Bronwyn Early (violin), Amy Dong (viola), Nick Loucks (cello) and Will Langlie- Miletich (bass), performed Dvorak’s Bass Quintet. Musical groups from Seattle’s Roosevelt High School took top honors Saturday in three divisions at the 40th Annual Northwest Orchestra Festival hosted by Mount Hood Community College. Roosevelt was recognized for outstanding performances in the Small Ensemble Division, the String Symphony Division and the Large Orchestra Division. The orchestras, under the direction of Anna Edwards, involve more than 90 students in grades 9-12. The groups performed works by Ludvig von Beethoven, Antonin Dvorak and Joseph Suk. Throughout the daylong festival, Roosevelt musicians turned in outstanding performances. Omari Abdul-Alim (violin, pictured) performed a dynamic solo in Suk’s Serenade for Strings and freshman violinist Josephine Cheung impressed the judges with her solo in the freshman orchestra’s performance of Vivaldi’s L’estro Armonico. Concertmistress Bronwyn Early and flute soloist Evan Pengra- Sult provided key leadership and outstanding performances for the Symphony Orchestra. Court: TV Anchor Can Keep MLK Papers By Holbrooke Mohr The Associated Press JACKSON, Miss (AP) — A Mississippi television anchorman can keep documents and other materials tied to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., that the civil rights leader’s estate sued to obtain, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday. King’s estate sued WLBT-TV’s Howard Ballou in September 2011 in U.S. District Court in Jackson. The estate wanted posses- sion of documents, photographs and other items that Ballou’s mother got while work- ing for King. Maude Ballou worked as King’s secretary Pull Quote goes here from 1955 to 1960 and kept documents dur- ing the time King led the Montgomery Improvement Association and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the law- suit said. Maude Ballou said King gave her the material. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee dismissed the estate’s lawsuit on March 23, saying there was nothing to contradict Maude Bal- lou’s testimony that King gave her the mate- rial and that the statute of limitations had passed. A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Cir- cuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the decision Friday based on the statute of limitations ruling. The panel said the clock started when Maude Ballou left King’s employment in 1960, not when the estate asked Howard Ballou for the material in 2010. The estate said it didn’t know about the material until a newspaper wrote about that year. “Thank God justice prevailed,’’ Howard Ballou said Friday in a telephone interview. “I’m just happy for my mother.’’ King’s estate, a Georgia corporation oper- ated as a private company by his children, is known to fight for control of the King brand and has sued media companies that used his “I Have a Dream’’ speech. One of the estate’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for com- ment Friday. It wasn’t immediately clear if the estate planned to ask for a rehearing or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The documents described in court records include a sermon; a statement King made the day after a landmark Supreme Court rul- ing on segregation; and a handwritten letter to Ballou’s mother from civil rights icon Rosa Parks. After working for King, Ballou’s parents went to work at what is now Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, where Leonard Bal- lou was as an archivist. Leonard Ballou apparently stored the material in the university’s base- ment, unbeknownst to anyone, until it was discovered by the university in 2007 and returned to the Ballou family. The court record says the university con- tacted Howard Ballou about taking posses- sion of the material because his father was deceased. His mother is alive. Ballou’s lawyer, Robert Gibbs, said Bal- lou’s parents were personal friends of King and the letters, photographs and other items were gifts that rightfully belong to Ballou’s family. Gibbs said Friday that the 5th Circuit rul- ing clears up any issue of ownership, but he’s prepared to fight if the King estate appeals the ruling. The 5th Circuit panel “decided the statute of limitations issue, which does clear up the ownership issue, because the ownership claims they were making should have been made a long time ago,’’ Gibbs said. Page 6 The Seattle Skanner March 13, 2013 The Roosevelt Quintet took top honors in the small ensemble category against stiff competition from as far away as Boise, Idaho. The ensemble, comprised of Omari In an unusual twist, the Roosevelt Symphony Orchestra performed in the finals competition under the baton of a student conductor. Director Edwards explained to the audience that a family emergency – the death of her father – had caused her to miss 10 days of school in the weeks leading up to the festival. Edwards commended the musicians for their hard work in her absence, and in recognition of that dedication, invited student conductor — bassist Will Langlie- Miletich — to conduct the orchestra in its final performance of the fourth Movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. The Roosevelt performance took top honors, Kamiak High School from Mukilteo, Wash. placed second and Seattle’s Garfield Symphony Orchestra was third. WE’RE ALSO ONLINE AT WWW.THESKANNER.COM LOCAL AND NORTHWEST NEWS NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS OPINIONS AND EDITORIALS BIDS, JOBS AND CLASSIFIEDS BOOK AND MOVIE REVIEWS CURRENT EVENT LISTINGS AND MUCH MUCH MORE!
