Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up to the family of Carl Allen Williams III, for sponsoring a blood drive in his honor on Thursday. More than 60 people donated in his name. Williams was shot and killed April 13 while working as a security guard at a Blackstone Avenue motel. Williams was working two jobs to help his grandmother buy a better house, and he also was a volunteer and a blood donor.
His sister, Crystal Shirkey, who is pictured above giving blood, told The Bee’s Tim Sheehan: “He liked giving blood, he donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, he gave to Toys for Tots – he just loved doing things to help the community.”
Thumbs up to the National Parks Service and other groups celebrating Earth Day today with special events. Yosemite National Park will celebrate Earth Day, National Junior Ranger Day, Park Rx Day, and National Park Week. If you prefer to stick closer to home, consider the Water-Wise Plant Give & Take Event, 8 a.m. to noon, at the Fresno State Horticulture Nursery.
Art of Life Healing Garden in Woodward Park is holding a fundraiser at 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Art of Life Cancer Foundation in Woodward Park. There is also the Shinzen Friendship Garden, where the Spring Blossom Festival is planned 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to benefit the Clark Bonsai Collection.
Earth Day Fresno 2017 is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will run in conjunction with Fresno Art Museum’s FAMily Day at Radio Park.
Thumbs up to the Central Valley Community Foundation and other generous people for donating to the care and comfort of the surviviors of the recent murder of four Fresnans. Thousands have been raised from the GoFundMe accounts and the state’s Victims Services fund is providing for the family funerals and other expenses. The foundation donated $15,000 to Catholic Charities, with hopes the public will match it at at ccdof.org. Two GoFundMe accounts have been established for Zackary Randalls’ family.
Thumbs up to Lemoore’s Chris A. Liscomb for landing a role as a lawyer in two episodes of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” airing on Netflix. In the series, a teen looks for answers to why a classmate committed suicide.
The Bee’s Rick Bentley reports that the local actor he didn’t have to do a lot of extra research before stepping in front of the cameras for the production filmed in San Francisco. Before getting into acting, Liscomb worked in public relations and wrote press releases for Johnnie Cochran.
Thumbs up to Howard Hendrix of Shaver Lake, a professor with Fresno State’s Department of English and an award-winning author, who gave a TEDx Talk this month to a crowd of 400 people at the University of California, Riverside. Hendrix’ speech was titled “Saving Private Mind: Madness, Consciousness, Privacy.”
“It proposes a new theory of mind that suggests privacy precedes individual human consciousness and is crucial to its functioning,” Hendrix said. “The talk comes at this through my familiarity with the lives and works of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick and my brother Vincent John ‘Jay’ Hendrix, both of whom were arguably schizophrenics.” The speech will be available later for online viewing on YouTube.
Thumbs up to Ronald McDonald House Charities for providing a sweet way to raise money for housing families of patients at Valley Children’s Hospital. As a special fundraiser, 15 cents of every McFlurry sold between May 1 and Aug. 31 will go to the nonprofit.
Thumbs up to UnitedHealthcare employees for assembling and delivering 100 Easter baskets to children at the West Fresno Boys & Girls Clubs last week. The baskets were filled with snacks, treats, books, art supplies, toys and games.
This story was originally published April 21, 2017 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Thumbs up, thumbs down."