After 18 years in Chandler, the annual Juneteenth celebration has been canceled.

June 14, 2004

The East Valley’s only Juneteenth celebration, an event commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, will be on Friday and Saturday in Chandler.

People gathered at Folley Park in Chandler Saturday to commemorate something not often taught in school. The Juneteenth celebration serves to remind people about June 19, 1865.

People gathered at Folley Park in Chandler Saturday to commemorate something not often taught in school. The Juneteenth celebration serves to remind people about June 19, 1865.

The event commemorates June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Galveston, Texas, finally heard about the Emancipation Proclamation — nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the order outlawing slavery.

The event commemorates June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Galveston, Texas, finally heard about the Emancipation Proclamation — nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the order outlawing slavery.

It was 15 years ago LaVon Woods decided Chandler and the East Valley needed its own Juneteenth celebration to mark the end of slavery in the United States.

Today, blacks across the country will celebrate another independence day — Juneteenth.

As the Mesa Martin Luther King Jr. Committee prepares for the annual 2013 Celebration of Dr. King’s life, Legacy and dreams this weekend, my thoughts are not only on Dr. King but also on President Abraham Lincoln.

Here’s one idea from Gov. Janet Napolitano that every state lawmaker should sign on to immediately — extend the deadline to file our state personal income taxes by one day to match the date that we have to deliver our federal tax returns to the post office.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Let’s get this straight. The White House Office of Management and Budget, the final arbiter of these matters, says the holiday is Washington’s Birthday, not Presidents’ Day, and it says so right there in section 6103(a) of Title 5 of the United States Code.

Sometime next year, Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Tucson seriously wounded by gunshot in January, will reveal whether she will run for re-election.

Maybe if Garrett Augustus Morgan had not been at that intersection on that summer day, his own crossroads would have been different, his path altered.

Students from several East Valley schools and their chaperons are in Washington D.C. taking part in Inauguration events. They update readers through text messages and e-mail on what they see and do during their sure-to-be memorable trips. Tune in frequently for latest updates.

By Jewell Parker Rhodes

African Americans have always believed in the power of the spirit. Believed that the spirit stirs and moves within us and, that when we die, the spirit lives on. Every goodbye ain't gone.