Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 January 2003 — Page 1

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Volume 108

■ Number 4 ■ Since 1895 ■ FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2003 ■ www.indianapolisrecorder.com ■ Four Sections ■ 75C

u ■Herbert "Flighttime" Lane and mjne legendary Harlem Blobetrotters recently ■Appeared at Conseco HjBFietdhouse. See more photos on page B6.

BRIEFS

NESCO Congress Saturday The annual NESCO Congress will be Jan. 25 from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at Brookside Family Center, 3500 Brookside Parkway, S. Drive. Planned are two community forums, lunch, awards and information. Eugene Anderson, assistant deputy mayor of neighborhoods, will speak. At approximately 11 a.m. i. will be a presentation about the progress of the NESCO task force organized to address community development issues and at approximately 11:30 a.m. will be an informational program about the proposed construction project at IPS School 54. Frick to run for atlarge council seat Sean Frick, Indianapolis City-County Council member representing the 2nd District, has announced he is a candidate for an at-large seat. Frick, a Republican, has served on the council since November 2002, when he was elected by precinct committeemen to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of longtime Council President Dr. Beurt SerVaas. Prior to serving on the council, Frick held a seat on the Washington Township Board. Frick is director of financial analysis for American Trans Air (ATA), and lives with his wife Tracy on the Northside. Lottery game ■ i suggested to aid prescription-drug program A new state lottery game has been proposed in which half of the money for each ticket sold would go toward Indiana's prescription drug program. The $2 instant-win game would allocate $1 for each ticket sold to the HoosierRx program, which provides half- ► See BRIEFS, Page A3 Qot a hot nows Up? Want to bo hoard? If you would like to report any newt or thort your commonts, coll tho Recorder Newt Hotline at (917) 924-514J,

Radio One announces Indy's Music Channel on WDNI

Station wQl have music videos 20 hours daily Special to The Recorder Radio One Inc. announced

the creation of Indy’s Music Channel (“IMC”) on its television station WDNI-Channel 65.

IMC will showcase the top

pop, urban, hip-hop, and alternative rock music videos. IMC The channel will be available will devote up to 20 hours daily, to every television home in IndiaMonday through Saturday, pre- napolis and thousands of homes senting a variety of Indianapo- in surrounding counties. More lis’ favorite music videos. than 400,000 metro households

will receive IMC on local TV (WDNI-Channel 65), Comcast cable system (Channel 99), and Time Warner cable (Channel 20). “We wanted to create a television format that was different from any other station in the market,” said Alfred C. Liggins III, president and CEO of Radio One. “A TV station that allows us - through the radio stations we operate - to promote viewership effectively, while pre-

senting a product that is purely mass appeal for the young and young adult audiences. As Radio One’s first venture into local broadcast television, we want this TV station to allow the advertising community to work with our TV product and programming, much like the relationships we have in place with our radio stations.” IMC will target Indianapolis’s youth and young adults with a focus on the age group of 18-:34.

Besides showcasing the hottest of today’s music videos, IMC said it will reach out to Indianapolis through on-site participation in community events and he highly interactive in its programming and promotions. “IMC’s uniqueness will be contained in the station’s ability to present music videos specifically targeted to the local viewership," said Mary ► See WDNI, Page A3

An INFINITE designed advertisement.

“We decided to go ahead and merge because we knew we would be stronger together than separate." - Melvin Graham Jr.. INFINITE president.

Tysha Hardy-Sellers Melvin Graham Jr.

Merger of Black firms proved a success By SHANNON WILLIAMS Recorder Editor Oftentimes two is better than one and that is why a couple of Indiana’s premier minority-owned communication agencies joined forces last year to create one dynamic team. INFINITE is the result of the collaboration of Advantage Communications and Sellers Communications. Until last year, both firms were fairly established in their own rights. Sellers’ specialty was in public and media relations while Advantage’s area of expertise was in advertising and graphic designs. “Both of our agencies had the same goal - to communicate to diverse groups effectively and efficiently,” said Tysha Hardy-Sellers, INFINITE board chair. “In order to do that, we realized that we would be stronger and more efficient if we combined our talents and resources.” INFINITE is comprised of five multi-cultural marketing communications experts as well as a network of communication consultants. Multicultural marketing includes

messaging to groups defined by race, ethnic, gender, age/generation and shared beliefs. As a result of the merger of companies. INFINITE executives feel that their company is definitely in a league of its own. Newly appointed INFINITE President Melvin Graham Jr. explains. “Basically, nobody has the expertise in terms of our specialty in multi-cultural communications, so that’s really our niche. (Our) partners have a great deal of experience with the different cultures." Although INFINITE was conceived less than a year ago, the firm has quite an extensive clientele list. Some of its accounts include the Indianapolis Police Department minority recruitment campaign, the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators 26 ,h annual national caucus, Damien Center’s Woman to Woman HIV awareness campaign, and the

Governor’s Commission for Impaired Driving’s AfricanAmerican Seat Belt campaign. With such sweet success already, it seems only natural that INFINITE partners have a healthy working relationship. “We are hardly ever at odds or disagree,” said Graham. “The fact that we really respect one another’s craft allows us to work well with (each other).” Hardy-Sellers says that even with their recent accomplishments, there is still further work to be done and more goals to reach. “We are now building the business to go after larger opportunities and create successful partnerships on a wider scale. INFINITE will be the industry leader by providing the results of our clients’ need." For more information about INFINITE Inc.,call (31?) 9559456 or visit www. knownolimits.biz.

Proposed legislation targets predatory lending

State Representative Bill Crawford is pictured at a recent press conference with predatory lending victim Judy Hellinger. (Photo/E. Thompson)

By ERICKA P. THOMPSON Staff Writer Predatory lending often targets homeowners who are eq-uity-rich in order to offer them high-cost mortgages with their homes as security. They also target homeowners with low and moderate incomes, minorities, or elderly individuals. The loans are considered predatory because they prey and rely on borrowers’ inexperience and lack of information on loans to manipulate them into loans that they cannot afford to repay. They also exploit borrowers’ with terms that are significantly less beneficial than a loan that they are qualified to receive. Democratic State Rep. William Crawford from District 98 in Indianapolis held a news conference recently concerning predatory lending and the ill ef-

fect it has on people. One of the main points discussed during the news conference was the characteristics of the loans and how to recognize if it is predatory. A few of the characteristics are excessive fees, high interest rates, loan inllation, deceptive advertising. and enlarged appraisals. Judy Hcllminger, a victim of predatory lending, took part in the news conference and is pleased that the state Legislature is doing something about the problem. ' I’m glad Bill Crawford is doing this press conference because way too many people get hurt.’’ said Hcllminger. "People need to be aware because something has to he done." Hcllminger took out a 82.000 loan to pay oil furniture she had purchased and after the loan had ► See LENDING, Page A4

IUPUI students work to make special service day a reality

A little girl helps keep the legacy of Dr. Martin I uthci king Jr. alive by volunteering at the Indianapolis Senior ( iti/ens Center during lUPUj’s Ml k Servicc Dav

By BRANDON A. PERRY Staff Writer As America observed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 20, a group of Indianapolis college students became successful in the process of actually putting his legacy into action. During that Monday, as many people their age group were still “hugging the bed," more than 400 students from Indiana Univer-sity-Purdue University Indianapolis (1UPUI) served as volunteers for more than 20 community service agencies around the city. These volunteer efforts

were taking place during lUPUl’s fourth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day of Service, which contained a whole itinerary of events that culminated in morning and evening speeches by two prominent African-American women who have been on the frontline of the battle to preserve civil rights. During the welcome celebration from 9 to 9:30 a.m., Sandra Leek, executive dircc tor of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission appeared at Madame Walker Theatre Ball room to deliver remarks about fulfilling the aspect of Dr. King's dream that calls for ser-

vice to humanity. After her address, volunteers reported to the agencies where they performed various assignments a?, part of the observance of the King holiday as "A Day On. Not a Day Off." Volunteers read with children at the Indiana Heading Corp. s HKAD-Ol’T! at Glendale Mall; assisted clients and prepared food at the Indianapolis Senior Citizens Center; cleaned, painted, per formed and did office work at four local YMCA branches and tutored iiuliv iduals at In tertaith Hospitality Network, an emergency shelter forsingle ► See IUPUI, Page A3

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