Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 3-18-16 Edition

Features
Tampa Bay Airfest To
Sylvia’s Soul Food Restaurant Facing Eviction
Honor Tuskegee Airmen
In excess of 200,000 visi- tors are expected to arrive at MacDill Air Force Base Satur- day and Sunday to watch the Thunderbirds at this year’s Tampa Bay Air Fest that will also celebrate the 75th an- niversary of the base.
The Fest will pay honor to the famed Tuskegee Airmen and First Lieutenant Joseph Helton, for whom the show is dedicated. Hel- ton was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad in 2009. He was only 24 years old.
The Tuskegee airmen were a group of African- American military pilots who fought in World War II. For- mally, they formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces.
They were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. During World War II, Black Americans in many U.S. states were still subject to the Jim Crow laws, and the American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal gov- ernment. The Tuskegee Air- men were subjected to discrimination, both within and outside the army. All black military pilots who trained in the United States
trained at Moton Field, the Tuskegee Army Air Field, and were educated at Tuskegee University, located near Tuskegee, Alabama. The group included five Haitians from the Haitian Air Force (Alix Pasquet, Ray- mond Cassagnol, Pelissier Nicolas, Lu- dovic Audant, and Eberle Guilbaud). There was also one pilot from Port of Spain, Trinidad, Eugene Theodore.
The event is free to the public, and the Thunderbirds will perform at 3 p.m. Satur- day and Sunday to close each day’s show.
Visitors can check out plenty of exhibits on the ground, including the new F- 35 jet fighter, an A-10 Warthog a World War II c-47 transports, and P-51 Mustang that was part of a traveling exhibit on the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. Also, a B-1 bomber is scheduled to take off about noon on Sunday.
Visitors are advised to bring sunscreen, hats, sun- glasses, comfortable shoes, cameras and folding chairs. No coolers are allowed except small ones for medicine or baby formula.
Vendors selling food, bot- tled water, soft drinks, and beer will set up on the tarmac.
THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN
Mrs. Sylvia Woods opened the first Sylvia’s Soul Food Restaurant in Harlem, New York in 1962. She passed away 4 years ago at the age of 86.
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
In 1962, Sylvia Woods, along with her husband, Herbert, opened Sylvia’s Soul Food Restaurant in Harlem, New York. The business later expanded to Sylvia’s Catering, Sylvia’s Food Products, a pair of cookbooks, and a real estate holding company.
The restaurant also opened other fran- chises, one in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 2013, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Now, city attorneys are preparing legal ac- tion to evict Larry and Bettye Newsome, who operate Urban Development Solutions, a non-profit that leased the ground floor of the city-owned Manhattan Casino for the restau- rant.
It was reported that the non-profit owes $60,264 in back rent, late fees and property taxes. Eviction proceedings were set to begin on December 29th.
According to sources, their lease agreement called for Sylvia’s to share 5% of monthly sales above $83,000, and taxpayers collected more than $2,000 early on. However, the city re-
SYLVIA’S RESTAURANT
ported that they hadn’t received payments since very early in 2014.
Mrs. Newsome said they do have an obli- gation that needs to be met with the city, and if they can’t meet that obligation, they will be shutting down.
“Nothing will be happening in the next 30 days.
“We have a lot of loyal customers who want us to stay open, and we’re grateful to the City of St. Petersburg.”
Mrs. Newsome said they aren’t closed, and they hope to be able to work out a settle- ment with the city.
LARRY NEWSOME BETTYE NEWSOME
FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-A