Help that's needed; a Dudley who did right

Tampa columnist HOOPER E-mail: Click here Archive

© St. Petersburg Times
published September 18, 2002

The bank robber didn't show a weapon or threaten any lives.

Still, the Monday holdup at the Bank of America branch on Hyde Park Avenue made me wonder: After such an emotional experience, do employees have to come back to work the next day?

Bank of America spokesman Mitch Lubitz said an employee assistance program goes into motion after a robbery. Counselors go out the same day and work closely with the branch manager and the associates. There are group and individual counseling sessions.

If someone needs time off they get it, though they are encouraged to see a counselor before returning.

That's good to hear. I don't think I would be able to jump right back in the saddle.

Public art will merge with public transportation when the trolley is up and running next month.

The city will celebrate the immigrant laborers who helped build Tampa with special projects at three stops in Ybor City and three stops in Channelside.

In Channelside, orange crates will be included to mark the importance of the citrus industry.

The stops in Ybor will replicate the chairs used by workers in cigar factories, which were personal to each laborer. To recall the famed lectors, selections of poetry written in Spanish, Italian and English will be engraved on each chair.

Here's the best news: One of the six chairs will be dedicated to the late Jan Abell, the architect who helped design the project, along with Ken Garcia. Like those early laborers, Abell lent her vibrancy to the city as a champion of revitalized buildings and neighborhoods.

"It's just kind of neat to think of it as Jan's chair," said Robin Nigh, administrator of the city's public art program.

Birthday roundup: Dick Greco is off celebrating in Europe after turning 69 on Saturday. Tax Collector Doug Belden celebrated his 48th birthday on Monday. WFLA-AM 970 morning co-host Jack Harris is a year older today, but I don't think he's saying how old.

I don't spend much time working on my coif because, well, little hair requires little time. I do use an occasional dab of Dudley's PC Moisturizer, but it wasn't until recently I learned Dudley is more than a name.

The life of Joe Dudley Sr. is an Horatio Alger story. If you don't believe me, ask the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, of which Dudley is a member. He grew up in a three-room farmhouse and was labeled mentally retarded in first grade because of a speech impediment.

Through the encouragement of his mother, Dudley persevered through school, attending North Carolina A&T and eventually getting a job selling Fuller products door-to-door. (Those of us who are old enough may remember the Fuller Brush man.)

In 1976, Dudley and his wife, Eunice, addressed a shortage of Fuller products by making their own products in their kitchen. Joe Dudley would go on to lead both Fuller and his own company.

Now his company, which includes hair care, cosmetics and a network of cosmetology schools, is one of the most successful in the nation, and Dudley is a household name in the black community.

Joe Dudley brings his story to town Thursday for a luncheon sponsored by the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa. The CDC is celebrating its 10th anniversary at the Downtown Hyatt and Dudley is the keynote speaker.

Call 232-1419 for more information.

Seen on a bumper sticker in Tampa: My kids drive me crazy, I drive them everywhere else.

I gotta get one of those.

That's all I'm saying.

-- Ernest Hooper can be reached at 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com.

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