Ticker Tape

Jet, July 10, 2000 by Simeon Booker

Confidential: The world-renowned Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra has traveled to many continents to gain an enviable reputation. However when orchestra leaders decided to visit various neighborhoods in their own city, they were amazed at the overwhelming reception. Conducting the musical group was a Black man, Andre Raphel Smith, who is listed in orchestra files as an assistant conductor ... When three New Jersey innercity youth made a vow to help one another graduate from medical school to become doctors, few took the event seriously. The pledge, however, became national news a decade later when the trio accomplished the goal. The 100 Black Men honored Drs. Hamek Hurt, Sampson Davis and George Jenkins for carrying out the mission and also inspiring a new generation of Blacks to cooperate with one another. Even today the doctors take time to counsel young people ... Black businesswomen wishing to travel on a Commerce trade mission to Egypt, Kenya and South Africa should contact Grace Wiggins at the department in Washington. She can be reached at 202-482-6482 ... Washington state's first Black federal judge, Jack Tanner, completed 32 years on the bench this month. He was lauded in the Congressional Record by Rep. Jim McDermott as one of the nation's "Great Native Sons" ... The Overseas Private Investment Corporation approved the agency's largest loan to a project in Africa--a $173 million guaranty for the construction and operation of a methanol plant in Equatorial Guinea. The plant is expected to improve the air quality by processing gas that would otherwise be flared.

Simeon Booker, Washington Bureau Chief