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2010 Census Road Tour Recently Launched in Pine Bluff
The 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour stopped in Pine Bluff, AR on Wednesday, January 6 to teach community leaders and members the vital importance of completing and mailing back the census form this March.
Sharing a message of "Be Counted," a press conference was held at 10 a.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center, located at 211 West 3rd Avenue in Pine Bluff.
Residents stopped by the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour to:
• Fill in a larger-than-life 10 question Census questionnaire with the actual questions from this spring’s survey
• Record their story in one of two Portrait of America video kiosks
• Learn about the importance of the Census to their community
• Get great giveaways
This launch is part of simultaneous national and regional cross-country Road Tours in which participants will learn about the 2010 Census and the positive impact their participation can have on their community. Census data are used to apportion seats in Congress, and directly affect how more than $400 billion per year in federal funding is distributed to state and local governments and non-profits.
In February and March 2010, the Census Bureau will mail or deliver more than 130 million questionnaires to households across the United States.
Residents should promptly complete and return the forms by mail.
(Photo Credit: U.S. Census Bureau, Public Information Office)
UAPB Student Receives Vaughan Scholarship
Jasmond Smith, a Junior Broadcast Journalism major at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), was awarded the David Vaughan Performing Arts Scholarship. The Little Rock, AR native is the current editor-in-chief of the Arkansawyer, UAPB’s student newspaper.
“Besides financially, [the scholarship] will help me stay focused because by being a recipient,” says Smith, “I realize that someone is always watching my actions, and that someone may be of prominence. This is definitely one of those instances!”
Upon graduation, Jasmond plans to pursue a graduate degree in Human Resource Management or Educational Leadership and eventually come back and teach at UAPB.
Jasmond expressed her gratitude for being selected, “I would like to acknowledge God, my family for instilling strong morals in me, and my professors for challenging me and bringing out my best qualities. This scholarship is also of great is importance for me because I am a first generation college student and the only female to go to college in my family. “
David Vaughan died October 2, 2003. His untimely demise halted a promising career in theatre arts.
According to David’s mother Rose, he had a love for the Arts. “He always loved to write,” she says, ”At the age of 8, he acted in a play called The Crucifixion, that started it all.”
Vaughan went on to participate with Mississippi Boulevard, Port City Players and the John McLinn-Ross Players. A Performing Arts major and a playwright himself, David had written a play called “And the Books Were Open”, directed by former UAPB theatre professor Steve Broadnax. He had plans of moving to New York to write plays and perform on Broadway.
He is survived by his father, Earl Vaughan; mother, Rose Vaughan; sister, Kellie Vaughan-Pugh-Noble (Loyd); nephews Draymond and Drayton Pugh-Noble and aunt, Joyce Bracy-Vaughan.
Jasmond Smith, UAPB student, was recently awarded the David Vaughan Performing Arts Scholarship
The world's most famous groundhog saw his shadow on February 2, predicting that this already long winter will last for six more weeks.
The Associated Press reported that Punxsutawney Phil emerged just after dawn in front of an estimated 13,000 witnesses.
According to German superstition, if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says, spring will come early.
Since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 15 times, and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.
Rowley said the Groundhog Day festivities are Pennsylvania's largest tourist gathering in the winter. And if Phil's forecast proves correct, it should bring even more tourists to the state.
"It's six more weeks of skiing," Rowley said.
According to Punxsutawney Phil's website, www.punxsutawneyphil.com, his official forecast as read February 2, 2010 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:
"Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye,
On Gobbler's Knob on this glorious Groundhog Day, February 2, 2010, Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators awoke to the call of President Bill Deeley and greeted his handlers, John Griffiths and Ben Hughes.
After casting a joyful eye towards thousands of his faithful followers, Phil proclaimed, "If you want to know next, you must read my text. As the sky shines bright above me, my shadow I see beside me. So six more weeks of winter it will be."
'Punxsutawney Phil' Predicts Six More Weeks of Winter
Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter after seeing his shadow early February 2, which was Groundhog Day.
