Meet Mr. Governor, Simon Hedgpeth

Like a number of other children who live in East End Newport News, Virginia, SIMON HEDGPETH is raised in an overcrowded Apartment Complex that is a haven for drugs and crime. His mother, a drug addict herself, is no help to Simon and his siblings Holly, age 7 and LeRoy, age 8. The three of them live together in the drug and crime infested MACON SHORES apartment complex, along with the mother's boyfriend, also a drug addict. It is Simon's determination to look after his sister and brother that force him to attend school rarely. Most of his time is spent in trying to raise money to feed his two siblings, Holly and LeRoy, as well as himself, and to protect them from the constant threats of violence that pervades their lives daily.

Like a number of other children who live in East End Newport News, Virginia, SIMON HEDGPETH is raised in an overcrowded Apartment Complex that is a haven for drugs and crime. His mother, a drug addict herself, is no help to Simon and his siblings Holly, age 7 and LeRoy, age 8. The three of them live together in the drug and crime infested MACON SHORES apartment complex, along with the mother's boyfriend, also a drug addict. It is Simon's determination to look after his sister and brother that force him to attend school rarely. Most of his time is spent in trying to raise money to feed his two siblings, Holly and LeRoy, as well as himself, and to protect them from the constant threats of violence that pervades their lives daily. Simon is constantly aware of the danger of drugs that takes the lives of young Black children on a daily basis. He is the leader of a very small band of young boys from his apartment complex, and though they commit felony crimes in order to survive, Simon will not permit them to "do drugs." Because of his strength and his leadership, they refer to him as MR. GOVERNOR, a title they give to him because the leader in the State of Virginia at the time is none other than Governor L. Douglas Wilder. As so frequently happens in real life East End Newport News, Virginia, tragedy strikes the life of Simon Hedgpeth. The mother's boyfriend rapes Simon's sister, Holly. Out of rage, Simon's younger brother, LeRoy, murders the mother's boyfriend. The magnitude of this horrible incident brings about an emotional catastrophe in the lives of the two siblings. Both are mute following the rape and murder, and they have to be committed to the PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN.

Dr. Robert Martin Screen was born in Augusta, Georgia and was among the last graduating class at Haines Institute. He went on to receive his bachelor's degree in English from Hampton Institute, his M. A. degree in Speech Pathology from New York University, and his Ph.D in Audiology and Speech Sciences from Michigan State University. His further study also included a one-year stay at the University Iowa's Writer's Workshop. It was this period in his training that launched Dr. Screen’s career in writing, and as a result, he has published three textbooks and three novels. Dr. Screen returned to his alma mater, Hampton Institute and founded the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, which he has shared since 1963. During this period of time the department also initiated a master's degree program, and this program has never failed to meet the standards for ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) accreditation. A major factor in Dr. Screen's tenure at Hampton has been his role as Head Tennis Coach since 1970. During this time at Hampton, he has won 37 Championships in 35 years. Since moving to Division 1 in the MEAC Conference he has won 13 Championships in 11 years (8 Men and 5 Women). Dr. Screen is the only African American Tennis Coach to have won a National Championship in Tennis, and he did this twice, in 1976 and 1989 when Hampton was still in Division II of the NCAA. As of this writing (Summer 2006), Dr. Screen has amassed 982 wins. He is the 3rd coach in tennis history to reach the mark of 1,000 victories. Dr. Screen is the only African American Coach to be recipient of the NCAA National Coach of the Year (1985). He has also won 23 Conference Coach of the year Awards, in both the CIAA and MEAC.