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City girl will be in Obama's inaugural parade

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

CULVER, Ind. - A Michigan City area girl began practicing with her school's horse troop before school officials knew they would secure an invitation to the inaugural parade, before anyone knew who would succeed George W. Bush in the White House.

"We've been practicing since September," said Caitlin Juricic, a junior at Culver Academies and a member of the school's Equestriennes horse troop.

Her school knows how to get into inaugural parades, she said. "The school has an inaugural committee," added the graduate of Notre Dame Elementary School who is traveling to Washington, D.C., with Culver's boys and girls riding troops to ride in Barack Obama's inaugural parade.

The daughter of Jack and Chris Juricic, Caitlin said Culver's inaugural committee has been trying to get an invitation to the parade since last summer. In 2005, Caitlin's brother, Jonathan, rode in the parade as a member of Culver's male Black Horse Troop honoring President George W. Bush.

Culver has been going to inaugural parades since 1913 and 1917, for Woodrow Wilson's inaugurals. In both events, Culver's Black Horse Troop escorted Vice President Thomas Marshall, a former Indiana governor.

Both the Black Horse Troop and the Equestriennes, the girls horse troop, will participate in the Obama festivities.

Caitlin said 23 girls and 88 boys will be traveling by bus to Washington, D.C. In the parade, they will ride as one unit, but the boys and the girls will form two groups within the unit. Boys will dress in their blue military style uniforms while girls will wear dressage uniforms with black jackets and white riding breeches.

This inaugural parade will mark Culver's 15th appearance.

"It is an honor to represent Culver Academies, Michigan City, the state of Indiana," Caitlin said. The biggest honor, however, comes from "presenting myself for review in front of our president while my family watches."

Her life has been hectic this school year, Caitlin said. She attends equestrian practice four days a week at either 6:30 a.m. or 5:30 p.m. In addition, she plays polo and, naturally, she studies.

Yes, she keeps busy, but Caitlin believes she has made lifelong friends in the Equestriennes, "and I know this is a great privilege and I'm not taking one minute of it for granted."

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Steppers making trip to inauguration

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - They won't be marching in the inaugural parade, but 30 Soul Steppers from Michigan City and their 10 adult chaperones will be in the nation's capital for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

The Culver Academies Black Horse Troop is the only Indiana group in the parade, said Lyn Isbell, leader of the Soul Steppers.

Traveling on a chartered bus for about 11 hours, the Steppers will find themselves amid some of the tightest security in the world.

"We were told exactly where to park our bus and what time to get there," Isbell said. "The bus can only stay there for a half hour." After alighting from their bus, the Steppers and chaperones will be transported to a place from which they will get to the inauguration via shuttle bus.

Isbell hopes to get a tour of Congressman Joe Donnelly's office. Donnelly represents the second district.

And although the award-winning Soul Steppers will not be performing in the parade, "They will get a chance to perform," Isbell said. "They'll perform at Howard University, and they will have a tour of the school."

Isbell confesses she is nearly as excited about the trip as the youngsters are.

"This will be my first time in Washington, D.C.," she said.

The Soul Steppers are grateful to everyone who made donations to make the trip possible, she said. The former Grace Church, which has disbanded, made a $4,800 donation to help pay for the bus.

She said the group always needs money to travel to competitions and performances.

Anyone who wants to contribute can make a donation at Horizon Bank to the Soul Steppers account or call Isbell at 874-2607.

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Setting the stage to make things right
Local activist says election of Barack Obama is a miracle

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - To Arthur Payne, the election of Barack Obama is beyond historic.

"To me it's a miracle," said Payne, who spent part of the 1970s learning from Stokely Carmichael about black power. He also worked with the Black Panthers.

"In those days, they were about education, day care, being self-sufficient and building our own community," he said. "The Panthers believed what I believed."

Carmichael's talk about black power made some people nervous, Payne said. In fact, it scared Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he recalled.

He still sees himself as a revolutionary thinker and believes, "Racism is perpetrated by systems."

Nonetheless, he can hardly express his joy at Obama's election.

"I came out of a time with the white drinking fountains and colored fountains, of not being able to use a rest room in a filling station, not being able to sit down at a lunch counter," said the 66-year-old Payne, who now works as a night supervisor at the A. K. Smith Area Career Center.

Obama didn't run on a racial platform. "He ran to represent the whole country," Payne said.

"(Obama) represents all areas of the country, blacks and whites and others. He's a unique person," Payne added. "He ran to represent America."

He names the Rev. Charles Doyle, the late Phil Sprague and the late Roger McKee as his political mentors. He knows Doyle is thrilled to see the election of Obama, but he says he is sorry Sprague and McKee did not live to see Obama in the White House.

He frequently chats about the election with his brother Vernon Payne, associate vice president of student affairs at Western Michigan University and a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and together they are amazed. To see this moment in history after coming from their childhood experiences in Michigan City is both amazing and thrilling for the brothers.

Payne believes the president-elect is putting together a solid and bright cabinet filled with original thinkers.

Like most of the country, Payne believes the administration first must address the stumbling economy. "People are struggling and suffering," he said.

Nonetheless, Payne added, "We have to be patient." Some issues will time and deliberate action.

Without preaching, Obama ran against racism and all that is contrary to the American vision.

But most importantly, Payne said, "he ran for the future. This sets the stage for everybody to do what is right. This changes history. It goes right along with (Martin Luther) King's dream. To me, it's the best thing I've ever seen."

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Mrs. Dunlap goes to Washington

Joseph Malan
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - There's only one reason 98-year-old Mattie Dunlap isn't excited to go to President-elect Barack Obama's Tuesday inauguration.

The temperature.

"Maybe if I got warm, then I'll get excited," she laughed.

Mattie's nephew, Larry, his wife, Jenice, and Mattie's sister-in-law, Ethel, 90, are all heading to Washington, D.C., to witness Obama's inauguration and first official day as U.S. president.

Mattie said Larry made all the arrangements for the trip to the nation's capital back in November.

When she heard about the impending trip, she was speechless.

"I was so surprised and happy," Mattie said, "and I really appreciate him thinking enough of me to take me along with his mother."

As for seeing the first black president in U.S. history, Dunlap is equally ecstatic.

"I really don't know how I can't express (my feelings)," she said. "I never thought I would live long enough to see this happen."

Mattie's family has a long history in Michigan City.

Her husband, Sel, owned a barber shop for a long time in the city and was one of a few black business owners in Michigan City. Her son, Sel, a community activist, ran for mayor 15 years ago. Their daughter, LaVerne Dunlap, was one of the two first female officers to work for the Michigan City Police Department. She worked on the motorcycle squad and did vice undercover work for other police departments in the area. She retired a few years ago.

Mattie, who will turn 99 on March 7, was born in Mississippi, where she grew up in a largely rural area. In the days of her youth, buggies were a common mode of transport, and real cars were a rare sight.

"That would be exciting, to see that car go by on the road," Mattie remembered.

When the Dunlap family moved to Michigan City in 1953, Mattie, at 48, founded the La Porte County NAACP. She also was a member of the Fair Share Organization of Michigan City and served as a secretary for the Kingsford Heights Elementary School PTA.

Jenice Golson-Dunlap, Mattie's nephew's husband, said the group will attend Monday's Indiana Society Ball in Washington, D.C., and will also attend parades following the inauguration.

If she got to speak to Barack Obama personally, Jenice said she would tell him how much she supported his campaign.

"We're here for him, we're praying for him, his family and his country," she said.

Mattie said she doesn't know if she would faint before she got to speak to the president-elect.

"I would congratulate him and give him whatever encouragement I could and tell him we're really proud of him," she said. "I hope he has the strength and courage to keep going."

[Roger Kaputnik]

wttw is carrying live coverage 10am to 1pm

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City pauses to witness history

Joseph Malan
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Brad Rose said he didn't think he would see a black president of the United States in his lifetime.

"I thought I would at least have a head full of gray hair," he said as he sat in a chair getting his hair cut.

Rose and several other people stopped at Brother's Barber Shop Tuesday to watch the presidential inauguration and see Barack Obama become the 44th president of the United States.

Like Rose, Ron Fryar said he didn't think America would ever elect a black president.

"Four years ago I just couldn't see it," Fryar said. Now, he said, he is proud of the changes America has made.

"It's a good movement," he said. He then pointed at his son, Ron Jr., and told him, "You can be president someday."

Little Ron seemed to agree, nodding his head when asked if he wanted to be president.

The inauguration of Obama was especially meaningful to Rose. Like Obama, he has a black father and white mother. Rose said he had experienced prejudice due to the different races of his parents. However, Obama, like many, gives him hope.

"It feels good to me to see that in person, him being accepted by everybody," he said. "[The election] was not an all-black thing and not an all-white thing."

Like Rose, Dennis Gooch, the owner of the barber shop, said he didn't think he would ever see a black president while he was alive. After Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary election, however, he said he was sure change would be coming to America soon.

"I knew whoever won the Democratic nomination would win," Gooch said. "Something historical would happen."

Because Obama was victorious, Gooch said, race relations are on a much better level than they ever have been. He now sees a greater level of love and respect between people of different skin colors than he did in the 1980s and 1990s.

Rose said the respect issue with regard to race relations depended on the age of the person you ask.

"The younger generation isn't too racist," he said. "It's more like the 50 and older people who have that."

As the new President Obama took the podium to speak to the American people, Gooch laughed and said Obama needed a hair cut.

By him, of course.

"I have to [cut his hair] one time, at least one time," he said.

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Students witness history

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - For Jasmine Crawford, the emotional response came early in the festivities.

"I'm going to start crying," she warned as Aretha Franklin sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

A student in Norm Bruemmer's honors U.S. history class for juniors, Jasmine sat watching President Barack Obama's inaugural ceremonies with more than 20 classmates.

Just before Franklin began to sing, Bruemmer wondered whether she might sing the song universally associated with her - "Respect."

Jasmine said her grandmother died a couple of years ago and thus did not live to see Obama take the oath of office. "And she was a huge Aretha Franklin fan," she added.

Students were for the most part quiet during the ceremonies, although a few of them, here and there, applauded respectfully.

Senior Garrett Webb, a guest in the history class, shot photos for the school yearbook. He had worked for the Obama campaign and admitted to being "very excited."

Bryce Campbell, a junior, worked on the Obama campaign. "I think he's a big inspiration, even to young children," Campbell said. "He's a big inspiration to move forward."

Classmate Kevin Cooper was with the Soul Steppers in Washington, D.C. Via cell phone held by Mike Smith, he reported the temperature there was "very cold." The Soul Steppers walked a long distance from the place at which their shuttle bus dropped them to the site from which they watched the inauguration, Kevin reported. They walked with "a big wave of people and that was amazing," he added.

Eric Williams, who is a member of the Junior ROTC at the high school, plans to enter the military.

"I think (Obama) has a lot to offer," Williams said and asked everyone to remember, "freedom isn't free."

One junior wore a shirt with an excerpt from the Gettysburg Address printed on the back - "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here but will never forget what we did here." Dominic Dornbrock, the Lincoln fan, said he was glad to hear Obama place emphasis "not on what we can destroy but on what we can create."

Teasing Grady Byrnes a bit, Bruemmer said he had something in common with one of the characters in the inauguration. "You went to the same elementary school that Chief Justice John Roberts attended," the teacher noted and Grady said yes, he and the chief justice had both attended Notre Dame Elementary School. "But not at the same time," Bruemmer quipped.

Alexis Merriweather was nearly speechless when Bruemmer asked for her comment on the historic event. Finally, she said, "It was exciting, very exciting."

Garrett hopes Obama inspires other young people to get involved in politics. "I think politics is very important," he added.

Bruemmer agreed. Thinking about Garrett, he recalled that former President Bill Clinton was inspired by John F. Kennedy. He can only wonder what might happen with the inspiration Garrett carries from the new president.