Mortgage program helps ‘underwater’homeowners By Sommer Brokaw hasn’t gotten a lot of attention call. can’t exceed 95 percent of the HARP 2 is an expanded pro- underwaterwithmortgagerates [email protected] is helping those who are “un- Grubbs, owner of Raleigh appraised value but certainly gram. Yanez originally tried his that we have today,” said Sheryl RALEIGH – George Yanez said derwater” on their homes. MortgageGroup,saidhisphone notover100percent,andHARP current lender, but they could- Merritt,programmanagerofThe he’s “done everything right.” “Because of the market being has been ringing off the hook will obviously let you go more n’t do it based on their current Homeownership Center, a fed- His credit is in excellent condi- hitI’vebeenstuck,”Yanezsaid. since the television interview. than 100.” policies. The HARP 2 program erally approved counseling tion; he has made his mortgage But thanks to HARP 2, he The program is providing an The Home Affordable allowed him to go to a different agency in Raleigh. “Mortgages paymentseverymonth,butthe found a way out. avenue for many of his cus- Refinance Program is a federal servicer. thatoriginatedbefore2009were appreciationvalueonhishome Yanez said he will save $100 tomerstolowertheirpayments. program designed to help mil- The program is available to typically higher than 6 percent was affected by the housing a month on his mortgage pay- HARP 2 offers more flexibili- lions of homeowners refinance borrowers with loans backed so this is to help people refi- meltdown. ments and $120,000 over the tythanstandardrefinancingop- theirmortgages.TheObamaad- by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac nance into more affordable Inthecurrenteconomy,many long term through accelerating tions for customers like Yanez ministration introduced it in who have loans that originated mortgage rates, and you have homeowners owe more than his mortgage five years. who have been making their April 2009. It allows homeown- on or before May 31, 2009. to be current on your mortgage their house is worth. Local in- Yanez saw a report on WRAL- payments on time. ers to benefit from lower rates “It’stohelpprimarilyborrow- payments in order to qualify.” dustry professionals say a re- TV about Brian Grubbs doing “The big one is the apprais- in order to help stimulate the ers who have higher interest For those interested in HARP designed federal program that HARP 2 loans and gave him a al,” he said. “Typically, they economy. rates or borrowers who may be See MORTGAGE/2A SPORTS Minor League’s Longball program ends third season. VOLUME 14 NO. 33 WEEKF OOF AUGU ST5,2012ST5,2012 $1.00 THE TRIANGLE’S CHOICE FOR THE BLACK VOICE Cousin WCPSS accused of violating Nelms balances rights of disabled students makes three wasnotincompliancewithstateandfed- quick erallawinanumberofareasandordered corrective actions. Following a second ‘careers’ ACS complaint, the DPI issued a second exit reportinJuly2011thatfoundtheWCPSS failed to implement adequate corrective By Sommer Brokaw By Reginald Stuart actions. DIVERSE ISSUES IN EDUCATION [email protected] The new complaint concludes with a The rapidly growing help want- request that the DPI do an investigation. ed list for college presidents and DURHAM - The Rev. Philip “A large part of filing this one is to rep- Cousin wears many hats. From chancellors expanded again with By Sommer Brokaw is much better, but he had fallen behind resent the individual students and also the surprise announcement from his role as a politician to civil while at Infinity. bring attention to the fact that despite [email protected] N.C. Central University that rights organi- R.P. is one of six disabled, long-term repeated requests and providing recom- zation leader ChancellorCharlesNelmswasretir- licia Neal claims her 12-year-old suspended students named in a com- mendations, they have failed to put in ing effective August 6. to a pastor, son was denied the right to an ed- plaint filed against the Wake County positiveinterventionsupportsratherthan public service Charles L. Becton, a veteran ucation. “You can’t sit a child in Public School System on behalf of dis- just suspending kids,” Story said. Durhamattorneyandformerjudge, is a balancing Afront of a computer that has a learning abled students. Named in the complaint However Lisa Grillo, assistant superin- act. will become interim chancellor, disability and think that he is going to are five black, low-income students and tendent for special education services, holdingapostonceoccupiedbyfor- County learn,” she said. “That’s what they did to one white disabled foster child. said the question about the school sys- commission- mer civil rights law colleague and my son.” The complaint alleges that the WCPSS tem having an adequate range of place- mentor Julius Chambers. ers officially Neal’s son, R.P., has been diagnosed violated the Individuals with Disabilities ments from an assessment mentioned welcomed Nelms, who turns 66 in with attention deficit hyperactive disor- Education Act and corresponding feder- in the complaint refers to all students November, has been hinting about Cousin to the der and Cyclothymia, a relatively mild al regulations and state laws within the with learning disabilities, not just the boardataJuly retirementsincehisstateoftheuni- mood disorder compared to full-blown last year by failing to provide disabled long-term suspended. She added they versity speech at the start of the 23 meeting. bipolar disorder. studentswithafreeandappropriatepub- have implemented some steps to im- He was ap- 2011-12academicyear,saida high- He was suspended from Wake Forest- lic education in the least restrictive en- prove their programming for students er education official in North Cousin pointed to fill RolesvilleMiddleSchoolonFeb.14.After vironmentandtodevelopindividualized with disabilities. out the last sev- Carolina, hastening to add it is not his suspension, he was home-schooled educationprogramsbasedondiagnoses. “When we analyzed that data further, uncommon in that state for univer- enmonthsofanunexpiredterm foraboutaweekandthensenttoInfinity, “Forsuspendedkidswhohappentobe we saw that we had to serve that popu- of Joe Bowser, who resigned af- sity chiefs to start thinking retire- a computer-based program. There, he disabled, the school system is not pro- lation in a better way,” she said. “Since ment when they become vested in ter failing to get enough votes was supposed to be given 20 hours a vidingalternativemeaningfuleducation, October, we have developed in Wake for re-election inthe Democratic the state’s retirement system. week of instructional services, but Neal not even adequate education, and you County, and specifically in special edu- Nelms,whoispaid$315,000ayear, primary. said one of the teachers told her he only might think, or maybe the public thinks, cation services, a behavior initiative that Cousin was sworn in on July willremainattheuniversitythrough spent two hours a day on lessons and thatthesekidswhogetthemselveskicked focuses on the quality of programming AugusttoworkwithBectonto“help 9.Heisnotacandidateforaper- the rest of the time on social media sites. out, they’re not entitled to an education, we’re offering to students with disabili- manent seat in the general elec- ensure a smooth transition in lead- Nealsaidsherequestedtheyblockhim but the law says otherwise,” Attorney ties that have been placed on long-term ership,”auniversitystatementsaid. tion. “I see my role actually as from those sites but was told they did- Mark Trustin said. “If they don’t have the suspension, and this coming year we’re little more than a political place- NCCU Provost Debbie Thomas, n’t have the service to do that. She also time, if they don’t have the money, they making a few changes.” the most likely candidate for inter- holder,” he said. “I would like to asked for one-on-one services and was shouldbeatthelegislatureoratthecourt- Statistics show that disabled students keep the directives of the board im chancellor, has been on medical told they didn’t have the funding. house steps saying that we need this or are faring much worse than their non- leave from the university. prior to the election in place.” “My son had a mental illness, but he we can’t do our jobs.” disabled peers. They also point out that Cousinwaschosenfortheseat NCCU joins a long list of institu- loves going to school,” she said. “He felt Advocates for Children’s Services, a disabled black students are especially at tions, including more than a dozen even though the Durham like he was in jail. He didn’t have any- project of Legal Aid of North Carolina, risk of entering the school-to-prison Democratic Party recommend- HBCUs, in search of new chief exec- thing to do so he played on the comput- partnered with Trustin, who represents pipeline. utives. ed Fred Foster. But Foster faced er all day. They didn’t give him any in- one of the six students and “similarly sit- “Black students are disproportionate- controversy after the Durham Earlier this month Florida A&M struction on what he was supposed to uated students,” to file the July 19 com- ly pushed out and students with disabil- University hung out its help want- be doing.” plaint. He has represented students sus- ities are disproportionately pushed out ed sign after severing ties with See COUSIN/2A Neal also accused the teachers of in- pended from the school system in so they have these sort of dual forces PresidentJamesAmmons.Ammons flating his grades, changing them from Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill for 16 that are operating against them while left NCCU for FAMU. Among other F’s to C’s, to make it appear the program years. Attorneys Jason Langberg and they are in school - some form of racism HBCUs actively seeking chief exec- was providing him an “appropriate” ed- Jennifer Story, both of ACS, also signed andsomeformofablism,”Langbergsaid. utives are Tennessee State, African- ucation. “He got all C’s,” she said. “They the complaint. “That’swhereweseeabsolutelythegreat- MorehouseCollege,FiskUniversity, told me previously that he was on The complaint is the third in a series est disparities.” Bennett College and St.