Arts & EEntertainmentntertainment Entrepreneurs ‘‘TheThe GGibsonibson GGirl’irl’ reclaiming black hair aatt tthehe BBCACA pg. 14 care market ......pg. 18 FREE Thursday • March 13, 2008 FREE And he never made excuses for it,” acting just like the other kids in the said civil rights leader Al Sharpton, neighborhood. In 1999, Paterson Paterson may be first black, a longtime friend. “He’s the guy who completed the New York City Mara- has said, ‘I have been in a minority thon. group and a minority within a minor- After earning degrees from Co- ity group. And I can make it, so don’t lumbia University and Hofstra Law blind New York governor give me no excuses.’” School, he worked for the Queens Paterson, 53, is the son of district attorney’s office and was former state Sen. Basil Paterson, a elected to the state Senate in 1985 member of the storied “Harlem Club- at the age of 31. He built a reputation house” that includes fellow Demo- for working hard in a place where not crats U.S. Rep. everyone does. Charles Rangel Though he and former New can read for York City Mayor brief periods, David Dinkins. “He’s a guy who Paterson usually The elder Pater- had two handicaps: has aides read son was the first to him. He also in the family to his blindness and has developed run for lieuten- the ability to re- ant governor in his race. And he member entire 1970. He lost, speeches and but later became never made excuses policy arcana. New York’s first State Sen. Neil black secretary for it.” Breslin recalled of state. that he told Pa- David Pater- — Rev. Al Sharpton terson his cell son lost sight phone number in his left eye once and he and much of the memorized it. sight in his right eye after an infection “He has one of the finest memo- as an infant. Refusal to bow to his ries of anyone I’ve known,” Breslin handicap came early. When New York said. City schools refused to let him attend In sharp contrast to Spitzer, who New York Lt. Gov. David Paterson (left) is applauded by Russell in New York on Jan. 15. If New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigns Simmons (center) and New York state Attorney General Andrew as a result of his involvement in a prostitution scandal, Paterson mainstream classes, his parents es- can sound like a legal brief, Pater- Cuomo during the annual Martin Luther King Day observance at would become both the first black and the first blind governor of tablished residency on Long Island, son is known for dry wit and speak- the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network House of Justice New York. (AP photo/Richard Drew) where they found a school that would ing off the cuff. Sharpton recalled let him go to regular classes. Paterson’s arrest with his father at a Michael Hill Though his sight is limited, Lt. more apt to reach for an olive branch “He was in the plays and on the New York City protest over the 1999 Gov. David Paterson walks the halls than a baseball bat. stage, and required no assistance in police killing of Amadou Diallo, an un- ALBANY, N.Y. — The man poised of the Capitol unaided. He recognizes If Spitzer resigns after being maneuvering around stage and on armed African immigrant. to succeed Gov. Eliot Spitzer would people at conversational distance snared in a prostitution scandal, the the playground,” said Dr. Casmiro Paterson quipped: “I’m going to not only become the first black gov- and can memorize whole speeches. biggest changes in a Paterson ad- Liotta, Paterson’s former principal at tell the judge that I didn’t see where ernor of New York. He would also be He has played basketball, run a ministration would probably revolve the Fulton School. I was going.” the state’s first legally blind governor marathon, and survived 22 years in around style. Assemblyman Keith Wright, an That easy demeanor belies Pa- and its first disabled governor since the backbiting culture of the state “He’s a guy who had two handi- old Harlem friend, remembers Pater- terson’s record as a savvy political Franklin D. Roosevelt. Capitol with a reputation as a man caps: his blindness and his race. son playing basketball and generally Paterson, continued to page 23 something familiar. RCC had once been a major feeder of Division I pro- grams, but hadn’t fielded a women’s Activists bare teeth in team in four years due to lack of in- terest. Leszczyk saw one of the nation’s Ohio foreclosure fight best facilities in the sparkling Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. He Adam Geller an in-your-face activist group called saw an A.D., McDermott, committed the East Side Organizing Project to reinstating the program. And he CLEVELAND — Folks on Hum- (ESOP), with a paid staff then of just saw a challenge. phrey Hill Drive were still waking two, mobilized to battle Cleveland’s So he left Dean College, located up on the icy Saturday morning the mortgage “loan sharks.” Years in Franklin, Mass., where he had led shark hunters came to town. before the rest of the country was the Bulldogs to back-to-back National They rounded the suburban traffic rocked by the fallout from aggressive Junior College Athletic Association circle in a pair of rented school buses lending, their neighborhoods were al- (NJCAA) title games, and signed on after a half-hour ride from far more ready home to the nation’s highest Roxbury Community College’s Ashley Murchison (with ball) navigates through traffic with RCC. modest neighborhoods, rumbling to concentration of foreclosures — and during a December 2007 contest against Massasoit Community College. After a four- “People thought it was a hopeless a stop at the Garmone family’s drive- they were fed up. year absence due to lack of student interest, RCC’s Lady Tigers returned to the court case,” he said. “I tend to gravitate to- way. Forty-two caffeinated Cleveland- ESOP’s people are proudly loud with a vengeance this year, earning an 18-11 record. (Milton Samuels photo) wards those, I guess.” ers piled out, their leaders carrying and abrasive, and they’ve long rev- One girl showed up to his first bullhorns. eled in needling people with pull. But practice. When Leszczyk told her Their quarry, Mike Garmone — a could they get a distant behemoth to run a mile, she ran one lap and regional vice president at Country- like Countrywide to the table? then sat down. Two weeks ago, that wide Financial Corp., the nation’s On that morning in February The comeback player and five others played in the largest mortgage lender — didn’t 2006, ESOP executive director Mark RCC women back in the game after four-year hiatus Massachusetts junior college state answer his door. So they deployed, Seifert had his doubts. For starters, tournament, a capstone to a season ringing bells at the big homes with he wasn’t sure his group’s research that surprised everyone but the three-car garages, handing out accu- on Garmone even had the family’s Liz Hoffman won one game. The next year, they coach that took them there. satory fliers and lambasting Garmone correct address. went to the league playoffs. Last Sat- RCC went 18-11 in its first year and his company’s loans. Before de- Until two evenings later, when Mark Leszczyk has a thing for urday, six years after Leszczyk had back on the court and earned one of parting, they left their calling card Seifert checked his e-mail and found lost causes. moved on, they played for a Rhode four bids to the NJCAA state tourna- — thousands of two-and-a-half-inch a message from a top public rela- In 1999, he took the girl’s bas- Island state championship. ment. There, they lost to No. 1 seed plastic sharks — flung across Gar- tions executive at Countrywide’s Cali- ketball coaching job at Our Lady of And so when Leszczyk met with Holyoke, 67-49, on Feb. 23 in what mone’s frozen flowerbeds, up into fornia headquarters. Fatima High School in Providence, Keith McDermott, the athletic direc- Leszczyk called their best-played the gutters, littering the doorstep. We need to talk, it said. R.I., which hadn’t won a single game tor at Roxbury Community College game of the season. The commotion was the work of Foreclosure, continued to page 10 in four years. His first year, the team (RCC), last June, the coach saw RCC, continued to page 21 LLISTINGSISTINGS PPERSPECTIVEERSPECTIVE CCLASSIFIEDSLASSIFIEDS Whatʼs BUSINESS DIRECTORY . 20 EDITORIAL . 4 HELP WANTED . .25-27 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT . .14-16 CALENDAR . 19 OPINION . 5 LEGALS . 23 INSIDE BILLBOARD . 16 CHURCH GUIDE . 22 ROVING CAMERA . 5 REAL ESTATE . 24-25.