4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial


Are Law Enforcement Officers Protecting and Serving or Endangering Citizens?


innocent one year old baby should not have been put in the line of fire. According to video footage and eye witnesses, the police were close enough to shoot the vehicle’s tires if they wanted to apprehend Ms. Carey alive and ensure the child's safety.


Another case that reeks of the use BY ANGELA JONES For African Americans from the


tender age of one to the amazing age of 107 years old, violence seems to be inescapable. Recently, the violence African Americans from every age group are facing is from an unexpected foe, law enforcement. Over the last month, two unbelievable stories of the youngest and oldest victims of the wrath of police officers in the pursuit of “Getting their man,” have been briefly mentioned in the mainstream media.


Most recently, one may have


heard about the incident where a 34-year-old licensed dental hygienist, Miriam Carey, bumped into a barricade outside the White House while driving with her 1-year-old daughter in the car. The Secret Service and Capital Police, who were standing close enough to the vehicle to determine who was inside, chased the vehicle and shot at it several times, killing the mother with the child still in the vehicle. Although the victim had identification on her person, police refused to release her name to the media for almost seven hours after the incident. By this time police had searched her residence in Stamford, Connecticut and some mainstream media outlets began reporting that Ms. Carey had "rammed" her vehicle into the White House gate, an impossible feat for even a dental hygienist.


Police reported that Ms. Carey


had been suffering from postpartum depression since the birth of her 1-year-old daughter. Even if police did believe she was a threat, she did nothing that should have been punishable by firing squad. And her


of excessive police force against one of our most fragile African Americans is that of 107-year-old Monroe Isadore. Mr. Isadore was at his residence when someone came by to help him move. Mr. Isadore, expressing his reluctance to relocate from the residence, locked himself in a bedroom. It is not unusual for many older Americans to want to remain in familiar surroundings. What is unusual is the way the standoff with police ended; it ended with a SWAT team shooting and killing the centenarian. Before police arrived on the scene, Mr. Isadore could only be found guilty of cheating death for 107 years by not succumbing to the ills of high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, heart disease or cancer.


Once again, some mainstream


media outlets only reported a portion of the story. These media outlets reported that Mr. Isadore assaulted two people in the home prior to the police being called. They did not mention that it was his residence and that he only allegedly displayed a gun to the person who came to move him out of his home and his granddaughter, which I do not believe is illegal to do in your own residence. And, once more, excessive force was used against someone who deserved to be preserved and protected. It is still unclear why police felt such a sense of urgency to remove a 107-year-old man from his residence that they had to subject him to gas, a “distraction device” and finally a barrage of gunfire.


The most tragic part of the stories


of a 1-year-old African American baby and a 107-year-old African American man, who were victims of excessive use of force by police, is that there is no public outrage. These stories were barely covered in the media. If the victims were not African American, would that be the case? If police officers sworn to protect and serve are placing the most helpless African Americans in harm’s way, one can only imagine the dangers that face the rest of us.


Volume 8 Number 2


Borrowing From Your Home The most popular reverse mortgage


FROM PAGE 1


program is the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, which is offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The HECM program allows a homeowner to draw upon the equity in a home through either a fixed monthly payment to the homeowner, a line of credit, or a combination of the two options. To be eligible for an HECM, homeowners must be at least 62 and own or nearly own a home that is their primary residence. There also are other requirements.


One criticism of the standard


HECM is the upfront cost related to insurance on the loan. In response, in 2010 HUD introduced a second type of reverse mortgage, called an “HECM Saver,” which features considerably lower upfront costs for people borrowing a smaller loan amount than the standard HECM allows. Otherwise, the eligibility requirements are the same for both programs.


Do your research and/or pursue


in-depth counseling before agreeing to any loan backed by your home. In fact, one of the requirements of both HECMs is that potential participants must first talk to a HUD-approved counselor. “The counselor should review, among other things, the implications of receiving a reverse mortgage, including repayment options, and alternatives to an HECM loan,” explained Cassandra Duhaney, an FDIC Senior Policy Analyst.


In addition to reverse mortgages,


there are other types of loans for which a home is the collateral. Some, called second mortgages, are loans for a fixed amount of money, for a fixed amount of time, and at a fixed rate of interest. Others, known as home equity lines, offer revolving lines of credit from which the homeowner can borrow some money (often at a variable interest rate), repay it over time, and then borrow again. No matter what kind of home-based loan you consider, experts generally recommend talking to financial advisors and qualified housing counselors.


“The pros and cons of borrowing against a home in retirement depend on


October 2013


several factors, including a person’s income, savings and short- or long-term


housing goals,” said Gimble.


“Determining whether a borrower can comfortably repay the loan according to its terms is a critically important question.”


There are numerous other


reasons to carefully research a reverse mortgage. For example, if you need to move into a retirement home, you will be required to either pay back the loan balance or sell your home. Also, interest charged on a reverse mortgage adds to the total loan balance, which may outstrip the equity in a home when it is sold, leaving few or no proceeds from the sale for the homeowner or heirs. In addition, be cautious if anyone approaches you about a major investment or purchase, especially something you previously didn’t think you needed, and puts pressure on you to get a reverse mortgage to pay for it. These kinds of concerns explain why the most popular reverse mortgage programs require counseling to ensure that potential borrowers understand how reverse mortgages work.


Experts also generally say that


homeowners who don’t plan to stay in a home more than five years should explore alternatives to reverse mortgage loans. “HECMs and other reverse mortgage loans typically come with upfront costs and fees making them less suitable for short-term borrowing,” concluded Duhaney. “Home equity loans and lines of credit, which often come with few or no costs or fees, may be more economical and prudent if a borrower only needs limited funds and can qualify.”


For more information on reverse


mortgages and other home equity loan products, search by topic at www. mymoney.gov. To find a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, call 1-800-569-4287 or go to www.hud. gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm.


Also, HUD recently made changes


to its reverse mortgage program that, starting January 13, 2014, could affect homeowners' decisions about participating. For more information from HUD about reverse mortgages in general and the new changes, start at hud.gov.


Adoption Rate Increases for Children in Foster Care


New data on adoption and foster


care suggests that while the number of children in foster care remains steady, the adoption rate continues to climb. According to statistics released by HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, approximately 13.1 percent of the children in foster care were adopted last year, an increase from 12.6 percent the previous year and 9.5 percent in 2003.


Established 2006 Angela Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Rae Willis, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer


PO Box 10414 ● Norfolk, VA 23513


Sales and Information 757-575-1863 info@hamptonroadsmessenger.com Copyright pertaining to contents of this edition. All rights reserved.


There were 399,546 children in


foster care last year. This was less than a one-half percent increase to the previous year’s total of approximately 398,000 after a nearly 25 percent decrease since 2002, when there were approximately 524,000 children in foster care.


“The data suggests states are


striking a balance between improving the quality of child welfare services and moving children to permanent families,” said Administration on Children, Youth and Families


Commissioner Bryan Samuels. “Our role will be to continue to help states find that right balance with limited resources moving forward.”


Adoption is not the goal for every


child in foster care. The majority of children who leave foster care are reunited with their parents or other relatives.


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