Understanding history and the world is an evolutionary process. History is not cast in stone, an eternal monument to truth. When more is learned and understood, the accuracy of our perception of history improves. Perhaps when Woodrow Wilson Primary School…
Author Archive for Clare Howard
Clare Howard is the editor of the Community Word. She can be reached at communityword@yahoo.com
Legalizing marijuana is a social justice issue
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
Jason Spyres was sentenced to 30 years in prison after three marijuana convictions. Police found 37 pounds of marijuana sent to him via United Parcel Service by his mother in California. His mother served six months for her crime. He…
Heidelberg case: “miscarriage of justice”
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
Editor’s Note: Cleve Heidelberg was found dead in his apartment Saturday morning March 24. He was released from prison 10 months ago after spending 47 years behind bars for a crime he always insisted he did not commit. In a…
Editorial | Safe injection sites: sound public policy
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
“Data takes the emotion out.” The Rev. Marvin Hightower, president of the Peoria Chapter of the NAACP, said that in an article in the March issue of Community Word about clean syringe exchange programs. Research shows clean syringe exchange programs…
Cleve Heidelberg died a free man
by Clare Howard • • 5 Comments
Early Saturday morning, police and property management found Cleve Heidelberg dead in his Peoria apartment after a friend failed to reach him. No foul play is suspected. “He died a free man. I don’t care what legal technicalities are pending,…
March for Our Lives Peoria
by Clare Howard • • 13 Comments
Blasts of ice and sleet from a late spring blizzard did not deter more than 350 people on Saturday protesting gun violence and demanding action at a “March for Our Lives” rally in downtown Peoria. Across the country, there were…
Clean Syringe Exchange: “I stand with them”
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
Marvin Hightower, president of the Peoria NAACP, steers with a steady hand through scores of emotional and potentially contentious racial issues. During a discussion about a clinic location in Peoria to supply clean, safe syringes to addicts illegally using drugs,…
Editorial: Trump bullies and coerces women; attacks basic human right to reproductive freedom
by Clare Howard • • 1 Comment
Donald Trump, his administration and his judicial appointments are waging an all-out assault on legal access to abortion and contraception. Consider this case: A 17-year-old woman detained in a refugee center in Texas has been denied access to an abortion…
Circulation Problems Plague PJS
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
Subscribers to Peoria’s only daily newspaper go days without newspaper delivery, are treated rudely by delivery people and in one case, a female senior citizen called her carrier after four days without a paper and the response she was given…
Physician: Female, Minority, Immigrant, Muslim, Wife, Mother, Advocate, Role Model
by Clare Howard • • 3 Comments
Her passion is infectious – whether she is speaking at the Women’s March, at the Peoria City/County Health Department, with obstetrics residents at UnityPoint Health, with her patients or with newborn babies. For Dr. Rahmat O. Na’Allah, access to health…