The Travon Martin case is one that really has people in an uproar. Travon was a 17 year old who was unarmed and shot and killed in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012 by George Zimmerman, who was conducting a neighborhood watch.

The neighborhood where the fatality occurred was a gated community, and Travon was there visiting the house of his father’s fiancé. Travon Martin is from Miami, Florida.

Now I was not there, so I cannot tell you what happened. But after listening to the many accounts and versions of the story, I can say this: something terrible went wrong, and a young life was taken away.

George Zimmerman has been interviewed by the Sanford Police Department, but has not been arrested.

Dear Editor:

It wasn’t long ago that the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) could be relied on to rail against the inadequacies and inequities suffered by the state’s poorest school children.

But now there are lingering questions about who the union is actually fighting for these days.

I join in condemning the offensive attitude displayed by NJEA boss Vincent Giordano, who simply dismissed the critical needs of poor children in failing schools by saying “life’s not always fair” – the modern-day equivalent of “let them eat cake.”

With 60,000 students and faculty at six colleges and universities, Newark has the fifth highest concentration of higher education on the East Coast, after Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Yet most people in America, let alone New Jersey and maybe even in Newark, don’t think of the city as a “college town.” In fact, Newark was recently named in the top 10 of least desirable college towns in America by the Princeton Review.

With Gov. Chris Christie proposing major changes for UMDNJ and new leadership at Rutgers University-Newark, Essex County College and New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark has a historic opportunity to rethink how these institutions of higher education can enhance the quality of life for Newark residents and how the city can make life better for college students.

First, Barry Melrose made some insipid comments about Newark. He was the guy dropped by the Tampa Bay Lightning just a few games into his tenure as their head coach. Then, Conan O'Brien mouthed off, sparking a feud with Mayor Booker. O'Brien would eventually be dropped by NBC. Now, Earvin "Magic" Johnson has chimed in with an insult. 

During a pregame show on ESPN, the Hall of Fame point guard was giving his stance on the New York Knicks and their struggles. In those remarks, he would say something to the effect of: "If they keep playing like this, they should have to move to Newark." What?!

Now, why in the world would Magic Johnson - a respected African-American in the community - have to say something so asinine? You don't hear people from Newark cracking insults about Lansing, Michigan do you? You also don't hear people from Newark complaining about how bad "The Magic Hour" was, right? (Maybe the reason that people don't complain about it is because nobody bothered to watch that abstruse program.)