For recovery for broken families, a new facility in Athens is offering help. "We want to be giving hope to the hopeless, life to the lifeless, power to the powerless," said Sr. Pastor Mercury Bynum. "We currently already have staff on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is just simply how we function." As a church, "Church on the Move," located in a former nursing home on Lila Street, has Sunday school and church services. As a mission, it has programs ranging from "Mothers Against Methamphetamine" to "Overcomers," which helps people overcome everything from drugs to eating disorders. [continues 348 words]
When Robert Chunn's supporters asked him to run for a spot on Dania Beach's City Commission, some say the city's power brokers only wanted to dilute the black vote. But Chunn, a former drug user turned community activist, may have surprised even his staunchest supporters with his showing at the polls in the March 2001 election. He parlayed his anti-drug message into the second-highest vote total in last year's election -- which meant that he automatically would be the city's mayor the second year of his term. [continues 594 words]
Dr. Ira Weiner moved into Fort Lauderdale's Colee Hammock neighborhood six years ago, hoping to enjoy the lushly landscaped, tree-canopied, quiet area off trendy Las Olas Boulevard. But Weiner now finds himself living uncomfortably close to a clinic where people yell, smoke, play basketball, and run loud trash compressors at all hours of the day and night. Several residents have complained to the city about Fort Lauderdale Hospital, a five-story drug and alcohol treatment facility at 1601 E. Las Olas Blvd. [continues 403 words]
Spurred on by irregularities in the presidential election, two Broward lawmakers are pushing bills that would allow released felons to vote in elections without going through a lengthy process of getting their rights restored. State Sen. Mandy Dawson and Rep. Chris Smith, both Fort Lauderdale Democrats, believe Florida puts too many roadblocks in the way of felons who seek to restore their civil rights after gaining release from prison. Their bills would automatically restore those rights. ``In our society, we tell people, you do your time, you come out, you should become a productive member of society,'' Smith said. ``But it's hard for a person to become a productive member of society if they're not allowed to participate in society.'' [continues 620 words]
A church pastor on Wednesday criticized Fort Lauderdale police for pursuing a drug suspect onto the church parking lot and scuffling with him in front of schoolchildren. Michael Arthur, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, is charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, carrying a concealed knife, possession of marijuana and possession of cocaine, Reed said. Police said they chased the suspect on foot for a block, catching up with him at Mount Bethel Baptist Church in the 900 block of NW 12th Avenue. [continues 267 words]
