Answers
to Prayer!
Updated November 17,
2003
OPERATION RESTORATION was
a prayer expedition (800 mile prayer walk) through Georgia and the
Carolinas
in the fall of 1996. Though the walking of OPERATION RESTORATION may be
over and done with, the Lord is still answering prayers, including
those
who have been praying for decades. In the last four years we have been
receiving answers to the prayers that were prayed during the OPERATION
RESTORATION prayer expedition. These notes are meant to give the Lord
glory
for answering prayer and to encourage you to keep on praying for
whatever
you need.
Click
through these headlines:
60- Hardeeville,
SC: Employment opportunities coming
59-
$5.1 Million ... in tobacco money for industrial development
58-
Yemassee (SC) $1.2M grant could open doors to development
57-
Savannah, Georgia, to erect slavery monument on the waterfront
56-
'Orangeburg Massacre' victims remembered: Hodges first Governor to
attend
commemoration
55-
Church arsons decline for third year in a row 1996-1999
54-
KKK Member pleads guilty to shooting 3 black SC teens on Oct 27, 1996
53-
Hardeeville, SC, church in four month revival
52-
South Carolina's jobless rate plummets to 40-year low
51-
Domestic homicides down in Durham, North Carolina
50-
West Columbia, SC, church overwhelmed by conversion growth
49-
Car theft and chop shop ring uncovered in Louisville, Georgia
48-
Corruption exposed in McColl,SC: Officials jailed for drugs, murder,
stolen
goods
47-
Masons gone from Greene County, Georgia, courthouse
46-
South Carolina 1997 job creation breaks record, Investments close behind
45-
Durham, North Carolina, slayings decline
44-
Crime declines in Lexington County, South Carolina
43-
Overall crime down in Savannah, Georgia, in first half of 1997
42-
Mayor says Savannah on the verge of greatness
41-
Georgia unemployment drops drastically in fall 1997
40-
North Carolina unemployment rate fell in October 1997
39-
North Carolina school violence down for first time
38-
Fire deaths in South Carolina down nearly a third in 1997
37-
South Carolina dropout rate on the decline
36-
Leaders speak out about healing race wounds in Fayetteville, NC
35-
Calling on God to help Fayetteville, NC: Residents pray about racism,
corruption
34-
Crime numbers in Fayetteville, NC, fall in first half of 1997
33-
Farm production up in South Carolina and Georgia
32-
South Carolina unemployment rate lowest in nearly seven years
31-
Sandersville, Georgia, masonic lodge may be forced to close
30-
Arrests made in Orangeburg, SC's, biggest drug bust
29-
Confederate soldiers get a proper burial -- After 135 years
28-
Ex-klansman sells KKK museum to black minister
27-
SC United Methodists seek resolution for confession of racial prejudice
26-
Mayor, Police chief ask for prayer for Macon, Georgia
25-
Four denominations confess racism in South Carolina
24-
Auction was start of downtown Durham's revival, business leaders hope
23-
Breaking a spirit of poverty? Beaufort, SC, woman uncovers trash in car
worth $1 million
22-
Orangeburg, SC, Prayer Blitz goes to the root
21-
Gays Hill Baptist Church, Millen, GA--Legacy of a gold chain
20-
SC State Supreme Court to honor nation's first black appellate judge
19-
Clinton regrets 'clearly racist' syphilis study
18-
Student revival at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Feb 1997)
17-
Two Imprisoned for South Carolina church burnings
16-
Increased prayer in North Carolina's Triangle
15-
NC County commisioner embarrasses Shriners on television
14-
Shriners float falls apart in South Carolina Christmas Parade
13-
Authorities have probed 429 Church incidents--Arrested 199
12-
$6 million grant will help rebuild churches 'burned by racists'
11-
"Four charged in church burning"
10-
Carolina Prayer Blitz enormously successful
9- Clinton's task force finds fall in attacks on churches
8- Freemasonry taking heat on widely-heard North Carolina AM
radio
station
7- 500 pastors en masse pray silently for South Carolina
6- Burned church gets $30,000 grant from National Council of
Churches
5- White church seeing Blacks saved in services in Macon, Georgia
4- Malignant brain tumor turns benign
3- Pastor shakes up religious status quo in Louisville,
Georgia
2- Macon, Georgia, prayer groups mushroom
1- Church has 60 days of 24 hours prayer in McDonough, Georgia
Return to
Return to 
1--CHURCH
HAS 60 DAYS OF 24 HOUR PRAYER IN MCDONOUGH, GEORGIA
J.
Polhill,
a student at Emory University Physician's Assistant school reports:
"Your
prayer walk sounds like it was amazing. And I don't know if you
have
heard anything about the towns along the walk but I have some
news.
One of my good brothers here at Emory University physicians assistant
school
is from McDonough, GA, (He was the choir director at the Church of God)
and the men of the church have just completed 30 straight days of
prayer
where 30 men prayed for 24 hours straight. The women of the church are
now doing the same, and God is doing amazing things in the lives of the
people in the church."
[Gene Brooks'
note:
That's 1,440 clock hours of prayer for McDonough, GA]
Source: ; Date: Fri,
9 May 1997 12:10:14 -0400 (EDT)
BACK
TO HEADLINES
2--MACON,
GEORGIA, PRAYER GROUPS MUSHROOM
The number of prayer
groups
around Macon, GA, have mushroomed in fall 1996, according to Henry
Redding
of downtown Juliette, and they are contacting Henry for more
information
because they say OR was the impetus to get them started. Henry has
referred
them to Steve Hawthorne and George Otis, and these new groups are
getting
the information they need to pray well. Source: Henry Redding
BACK
TO HEADLINES
3--
PASTOR SHAKES UP RELIGIOUS STATUS-QUO IN LOUISVILLE, GEORGIA
J.
Polhill,
Gene Brooks' college roommate reports: "My Associate Reformed
Presbyterian
church in Louisville, GA, has a new pastor, and I went home a month or
two ago to hear him. He gave a sermon that is not supposed to be
given in my stuffy church. At the end of the sermon (He was
scared
to death how the congregation was going to respond), he started to take
his suit off, and he had a t-shirt on that boldly exclaimed Jesus and
his
saving power. I just about fell out of my seat laughing because
everybody's
jaws were on the floor and their eyeballs almost fell out."
Source: James
Brown Polhill V; Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 12:10:14 -0400 (EDT)
BACK
TO HEADLINES
4--MALIGNANT
BRAIN TUMOR TURNS BENIGN
The
Sunday
after OR was over in Durham, NC, Henry Redding prayed for a woman with
a tumor in her brain with the prayer: "Be healed, get up and walk."
According
to reports from Marilyn Thomas and the Greenwolds of Durham, NC, the
tumor
has suddenly become benign at the surprise of doctors who have schedule
the woman for removal this week.
Source: Henry
Redding
BACK
TO HEADLINES
5--
WHITE CHURCH SEEING BLACKS SAVED IN SERVICES IN MACON, GEORGIA
Over
fifty African-Americans have been saved in Second Baptist Church in
Macon,
GA, since OR passed through. Second Baptist, an historically white
Southern
Baptist church pastored by Gary Folds, is the church which blessed OR
and
gave us a base of operation in Macon. The church, which has been
experiencing
renewal for a long time, saw an upsurge in conversions in the fall of
1996.
Source: Henry Redding
BACK
TO HEADLINES
6--BURNED
CHURCH GETS $30,000 GRANT FROM NCC
The St.
John Baptist Church of Dixiana, SC, just south of Columbia (where we
prayed
there on a dirt road that long day from Orangeburg to Cayce) since Nov
16 received a $30,000 grant from the National Council of Churches which
put them over the top to begin rebuilding.
Source: Greenville,
SC, News, December 26, 1996.
BACK
TO HEADLINES
7--
500 PASTORS EN MASSE PRAY SILENTLY FOR SOUTH CAROLINA
On January 21, 1997, in
Columbia, SC, 500+ pastors gathered at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
across
the street from the renovating State House and walked silently to the
Univ.
of SC building where the temporary quarters of the General Assembly is
meeting. Silently they circled the building. Silently they prayed for
the
state, the legislature, the governor, and the people of SC.
Source: Marilyn
Rej, Aglow Southeast
BACK
TO HEADLINES
8--FREEMASONRY
TAKING HEAT ON NORTH CAROLINA AM RADIO STATION
"In
December 1996, the purported corruption in the Durham, NC, Police Dept.
came to a head. The Chief re-assigned himself to a murder task force
and
other agencies are looking into all the complaints from the public,
officers,
and former drug enforcement team members. "One glaring problem:
Durham's
1996 murder rate skyrocketed to record numbers suddenly, compared to
previous
year's trend. Ironically, it falls into place with the drug enforcement
team being removed from the streets.
"A
local
radio station, WPTF 680-AM has dealt with the issue on many occasions
during
its afternoon follow-up to Rush Limbaugh, called the "Tom Joyner Show."
Many people were bringing up the thought on Joyner's call-in talk show,
"Is this maybe a Masonic brotherhood issue? Are the drugs allowedon the
streets, combined with the accompanying murders, so insiders can
gettheir
financial kickbacks and turn their head to it all? Some callers
thenexplained
about Masons. Others asked Tom Joyner if was he a Mason.
He said, "yes."
"The
issue of segregation in the Lodges came up later and Joyner
waschallenged
to deal with it. He said he was not an active attender but agreedto
look
into his lodge and said he would get out if this were true.
"Ever
since these December forums, many people from time to time, have
calledin
to cite various Scriptures to Joyner about the incompatibility
ofChristianity
with Freemasonry. You can tell he is on the hot-seat. He's squirming.
He says he's a Christian, but he's learning that pleading ignorance
to all the inconsistencies and evil intents of his oaths is runningout
of time.
"The
bottom line is this: WPTF has been around since the 1930's. It was
heardall
over the east coast before FM days. (50,000 watts) I've listened to
itfor
the 31 years I've been in Raleigh. Never can I remember a time
whencallers
were questioning the creeds and goals of freemasonry in a publicforum
like
I hear now, heard by thousands and thousands of listeners all
overeastern
NC and beyond.
"Is
this
an answer to the prayers of the saints in Raleigh, combined with
thespecific
prayers and warfare by OR last fall? Is this part of the darknessbeing
forced to "show itself" for what it is, as cited from Isaiah 49:9?"
Source: Rick Blinson
BACK
TO HEADLINES
9--CLINTON'S
TASK FORCE FINDS FALL IN ATTACKS ON CHURCHES
New York (ENI). A
government
report on investigations into arson attacks on
churches
in the United States has indicated that the
number
of reported incidents declined sharply over the past six
months.
Source: [Ecumenical
News
International NI-97-0031, January 1997; 662 words]
BACK
TO HEADLINES
10--CAROLINA
PRAYER BLITZ ENORMOUSLY SUCCESSFUL
The Carolina Prayer Blitz
Jan 24-25, 1997, was enormously successful. Over 150 intercessors
joined
to pray in Columbia, SC, this past weekend in an event organized by
North
and South Carolina Aglow. They invited intercessors from the two states
to join them in the state capital of Columbia, SC, to pray for South
Carolina.
Mary Lance Sisk and Gene Brooks were the main speakers for a weekend of
prayer at strategic sites throughout Columbia.
Source: Gene
Brooks
BACK
TO HEADLINES
11--"FOUR
CHARGED IN CHURCH BURNING"
RALEIGH (AP)-- A white man
and three white juveniles were charged Thursday with hurling
gasoline-filled
beer bottles at a rural black church and setting it afire last
summer.The
indictment unsealed in federal court charges Matthew Neal Blackburn,
18,
of Stella, [NC], and the juveniles with conspiring to destroy the St.
James
AME Zion Church. "Today's indictment
shows that
we are continuing our commitment to vigorously pursuing arsons at our
nations'
houses of worship," said James E. Johnson, of the National Church Arson
Task Force.
Source: Greenville
(SC) News, Jan. 24, 1997, pg. 7A
BACK
TO HEADLINES
12-
$6 MILLION GRANT WILL HELP REBUILD CHURCHES 'BURNED BY RACISTS'
New York (ENI). A
prominent
United States foundation has made a US$6
million grant
to a coalition of eight black denominations to
assist
the rebuilding of churches that have been burned
in
what some believe is a racially motivated arson campaign.
Source: Ecumenical News
International [ENI-97-0045, 535 words]
BACK
TO HEADLINES
13-AUTHORITIES
HAVE PROBED 429 CHURCH INCIDENTS--ARRESTED 199
9 June 1997--Authorities
have investigated 429 incidents of arson, bombings and attempted
bombings
at churches -- mainly black houses of worship -- since January 1995, a
government report issued Sunday said. A special task force created in
June
1996 said in its first year's report that 199 persons were arrested.
Assistant
Treasury Secretary James Johnson said the number of fires that ravaged
churches has "fallen dramatically" since President Clinton established
the National Church Arson Task Force in June 1996. Source: Mercury
News
(Now Infobeat).This link may have been removed from the server.
For
the full text story, see http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3347967-60d
BACK
TO HEADLINES
14-
SHRINERS' FLOAT FALLS APART IN CHRISTMAS PARADE IN SOUTH CAROLINA
In the 1996 Christmas
parade
in Clinton, SC, where OR's home base was, the local Shriners put an
expensive
display into it as they do every year. This years' display were huge
12'
long WWI style toy airplanes in which the Shriners would sit, wave, and
toss candy to children along the street. These several planes were set
on a long bed pull-behind trailer. Suddenly and without warning during
the parade, the planes on the trailer broke off into pieces, dumping
the
occupants and their candies out! In dismay and embarrassment, the
dumped-out
Shriners finished the parade standing beside their unfortunate
wreckage.
Could the prayer of thousands for Georgia and the Carolinas during the
fall of 1996 have contributed to a manifestation in the natural of
things
possibly going on in the heavenly places? Source: Chris Brooks
BACK
TO HEADLINES
15-
NC COUNTY COMMISSIONER EMBARRASSES SHRINERS ON TELEVISION
"We've discovered another
high-ranking Shriner (mason) in Raleigh. And once again they were seen
in a negative light. Here is the context of a recent newspaper article
(Raleigh
News
and Observer, Jan. 25, 1997):
"'Wake
County Commissioner Leo Tew only has one vote on the board, but he
triedto
call on celestial help this week to rezone 14 acres for a shopping
centerin
the Falls Lake watershed. During the opening invocation at Tuesday's
commissioner
meeting, Tew prayed for forgiveness for those who opposed the Amran
Shriners
rezoning request.
"'"Heavenly
father...," Tew prayed, "I have had many calls from disbelievers who
really
did not know all the story. And I ask, father, that you forgive them.
Not
only forgive them, but cause them to want to come up to the Shriner's
property
and see for themselves that this project has been grossly
misrepresented.
And perhaps they would be stricken by some humanitarian purpose
and would encourage the Shriners to continue their humanitarian mission
that they have done so gallantly in the past and want to continue to do
in the future. For Christ's sake, amen."
"'Tew's
prayer offended homeowners, who criticized him during a public
hearing,and
embarrassed county officials. Fellow commissioners Vernon Malone and
Yevonne
Brannon, standing on either side of him with heads bowed, began edging
slowly away until neither could be seen on camera. When Commissioner
Betty
Lou Ward sat down afterward, she muttered, "Oh, Leo." (end of article)
Source: Rick Blinson
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 00:12:54 -0500 (EST)
Note:
About
the Shriners "humanitarian" work: Shriners Hospital were rated one of
the
poorest public charities in the US since less than 30% of their funds
went
to the actual program. Compare that to Campus Crusade, the #1 religious
charity and #4 overall, with a fund-to-program use rate of 86%.
(Source: Money
Magazine - Nov. 1996)
BACK
TO HEADLINES
16-
INCREASED PRAYER IN NORTH CAROLINA'S TRIANGLE
Joan
Stephenson of Durham, NC, recently sent in this information: "Our
prayer
walk on Sunday (2/9/97 to a parapsychology center at Duke) went very
well.
We had 10 people to go. I feel like we were a beginning of many times
of
prayer in our city. I taught your teaching on God's Nuclear Weapons
last
Wednesday. It was received very well. They were praising God for this
Truth."
Recently the intercessors of the Triangle gathered to get acquainted
and
share information.
Dr.
Kay Pyron of
Durham,
NC, added in May 1997, "We mark time by OPERATION RESTORATION here in
the
Triangle. When I lived in Mississippi, people marked time by
Hurricane
Camille: "That happened before Camille ... or She got married
just
after Camille, etc." Our newly acquainted intercessors in the
Triangle
area discuss things happening "before OR" and "since OR."
BACK
TO HEADLINES
17-TWO
IMPRISONED FOR SOUTH CAROLINA CHURCH BURNINGS
Two
former
Ku Klux Klan members were given 18- and 19-year prison sentences by a
federal
court Thursday for the 1995 burning of two black South Carolina
churches.
Gary Cox, 23, was sentenced to 19 years and six months without parole.
Timothy Welch, 24, was sentenced to 18 years without parole. Cox and
Welch
were arrested shortly after torching the churches in June 1995, when a
wave of burnings swept across the South at churches attended mainly by
blacks. The incidents continued through the summer of 1996. Source:
Mercury News (Now Infobeat).This link may have been removed from the
server.
For the full text story, see http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=1624674-128
More on this story:
TWO SENTENCED IN CHURCH
BURNINGS
CHARLESTON- The minister
of a rural black church forgave two former Ku Klux Klansmen Thursday
before
they were sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison for torching
his
church and one in a neighboring county.
"Forgiveness starts in the
heart," said the Rev. Terrance G. Mackey Sr., pastor of Mount Zion AME
Church in Greeleyville. "We have nothing against them or their families
or anyone else."
"I didn't have anything
against nobody. I didn't hate them," said Gary Christopher Cox, 23, who
was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison. Timothy Aldron Welch, 24,
sentenced
to 18 years, also apologized.
"What we did was
terrible,"
he said. "I can only hope that when I get out ... that I'll be able to
keep other people from making the same mistakes I made."
Source: Bruce Smith
(AP)
The
Greenville (SC) News State Edition (Feb 21, 1997) 1A
EX-KLANER SENTENCED
IN
SC CHURCH FIRES
CHARLESTON,
S.C. (AP) -- A former Ku Klux Klansman was sentenced to 21 1/2 years in
federal prison Friday for conspiring to burn a rural church with a
predominately
black congregation and a migrant labor camp.
"I am not
guilty
of the charges against me," said Arthur A. Haley, who has renounced his
guilty plea of conspiring to set the 1995 fires.
He pleaded
guilty in December, but later said he did so only because he was
promised
better medical treatment in federal prison than the local jail.
Haley suffers
from fear of open places, acute panic disorder, vertigo and occasional
blackouts. U.S. District Judge David Norton, after a hearing last
month,
concluded that Haley knew what he was doing when he entered the plea.
Gary Christopher Cox was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison and
Timothy
Adron Welch to 18 years in February for setting fire to the Macedonia
church
and to Mount Zion AME Church in Greeleyville.
Neither Haley
nor Rowell were charged with setting the Macedonia fire, but
prosecutors
said Haley provided flammable liquids and Rowell mixed them and told
Welch
and Cox how to apply them.
Rowell is to
be sentenced Aug. 25, 1997.
Source: By BRUCE
SMITH Associated Press Writer July 28, 1997.
BACK
TO HEADLINES
18-
STUDENT REVIVAL AT UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA-CHAPEL HILL (FEBRUARY
1997)
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The
following
account, according to Ron Campbell, is a direct answer to prayers that
were prayed on November 17, 1996, at UNC Chapel Hill's campus by a
group
of intercessors.]
Southern Baptist Dustin
Hedrick, 22, a youth evangelist from Stony Point, NC, reports on recent
events at UNC-Chapel Hill:
"It all
started when we had Christ Awareness Week on campus, (Feb. 10th-14th,
1997).
We had the different campus Christian organizations pull together to
show
that we are unified in Christ. And that we love Jesus more than
anything
and that He loves them.
"All
week we had speakers and singing in the central meeting place on the
campus.
On the last day, students from other college campuses even came in to
give
their testimonies, telling for the first time about things such as how
they had been raped or sins, such as premarital sex, and drugs. Some
even
gave testimonies on how they had been healed of different spiritual and
physical things.
"On
February
15, 1997, over 3000 people came into Carmichael auditorium on the
UNC-Chapel
Hill campus for Forest Fire 97[, an event] to promote unity and to see
revival.
"[Students]
attended from : Liberty University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte,
ECU,
Wake Forest University, Elon College, Duke University, NC State
University,
Meredith College, UNC- Greensboro, Appalachian State University,
University
of Georgia, Campbell University, and universities in AL, OK, IL, IN,
MD,
VA.
"When
our speaker Clayton King gave the invitation, over 250 people came
forward
to rededicate their lives to the Lord and to be saved! We are already
planning
ways that we can go into other schools and share our testimonies and
tell
people about Jesus and see that they get touched by the Lord so that
they
can take their schools."
Source: Dustin Hedrick;
DSHedrick@aol.com;
(919) 932.3045 Awakening-list Richard Riss (rriss@drew.edu)
UPDATE ON UNC-CHAPEL
HILL
STUDENT-LED RENEWAL MEETINGS
My
friend
Dave Aucremann, a pastoral intern and student at Reformed Theological
Seminary.
in Charlotte sent me this update on UNC-Chapel Hill: "Sue Ellen and I
got
a message from a former youth friend of ours who is in Chapel Hill. She
grew up in a legalistic Christian School background here in Charlotte.
In her first dose of freedom in college she found herself in more and
more
of the world (sounds familiar huh?). She went to the Forest Fire event
in Chapel Hill, and wrote to tell SE and I of the impact it had on her.
She made a rededication of her life to the Lord, and was profoundly
impacted
by the speaker." Source: Dave Aucremann dmsa@juno.com
BACK
TO HEADLINES
19-
CLINTON REGRETS 'CLEARLY RACIST' SYPHILIS STUDY
President
Clinton Friday apologized on behalf of the country to a group of poor
black
men whose syphilis went untreated for years as part of a government
study
he described as "shameful." At a ceremony in the White House East Room,
Clinton said the U.S. Public Health Service research project was
"clearly
racist" and an affront to every African-American. The study, which
began
in Tuskegee, Ala. in 1932 and continued until 1972, involved 399 poor
black
men who were left untreated for syphilis to let doctors track the
disease.
Source:
Mercury News (Now Infobeat).This link may have been removed from the
server.
For the full story, see http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2972793-c98
Tuskegee
study's legacy is mistrust among blacks, see http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2972506-aa4
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Making
amends for a shameful federal experiment, President Clinton today
apologized
to black men whose syphilis went untreated by government doctors.
``They
were betrayed,'' he said. ``Their lives were trampled
upon.''
With aged victims of the 1930s-era Tuskegee Syphilis Study seated in
the
East Room, the president said, ``What was done cannot be undone but we
can end the silence.''
``We
can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eyes and
finally
say on behalf of the American people: What the government did was
shameful
and I am sorry,'' Clinton said, his measured cadence placing emphasis
on
the final three words.
Introducing
the president, Tuskegee Syphilis Study victim Herman Shaw said the
ceremony
closed ``this very tragic and painful chapter in our
lives.''
Shaw turns 95 on Sunday. ``We were treated unfairly - to
some
extent like guinea pigs,'' he said in a strong, steady voice. ``We were
not pigs. We were not dancing boys.''
Clinton's
voice choked when he called the men a symbol of racial
healing.
``Your presence here shows us that you have chosen a better path than
your
government did so long ago,'' the president said. ``You have not
withheld
the power to forgive.''
Before that though, Clinton told Shaw, Carter Howard, 93; Charlie
Pollard,
91; Herman Shaw, 94; and Fred Simmons, 100, that the United States is
officially
sorry that it let them suffer so unfairly for so long during
theTuskegee
Syphilis Study. It was an apology that Simmons was anxious to
accept.
It helped make up for years of discomfort - and
that
scary month almost 50 years ago when he was bleeding from sores, unable
to walk or eat and nearly dead from starvation. ``I'm going
to go up there, shake the president's hand and tell him I'm doing all
right,''
Simmons said as he left for Washington on Thursday.
``They
thought he was going to die, but then one day he started getting
better,''
said Simmons' grandson, Michael Simmons. ``There was never any cure. We
just prayed a lot. That worked better than anything.''
Source: .c The
Associated
Press AP-NY-05-16-97 1455EDT
SURVIVORS OF
SYPHILIS
STUDY TO HEAR NATION APOLOGIZE FRIDAY
[Revealing secular
look at reconciliation issues.]
WASHINGTON-- Sometimes all
the penalties and payments in the world can't right a wrong. Something
more is needed: an apology.
So it
is for the eight surviving victims of the government's notorious
Tuskegee
syphilis study, who will receive a formal apology from President
Clinton
on Friday. Politicians and other public figures can be quick with
a mea culpa to get out of a jam, but it's not often that a nation
formally
says it's sorry. When a nation does apologize, the regrets tend to come
generations after the offense, when the wrongdoers have long passed
from
the scene. Clinton's apology comes 25 years after it was
disclosed
that the government promised 400 poor black men from Alabama free
medical
care and then denied them treatment of a disease they didn't know they
had.
It was
1988 before Congress passed a law apologizing to Japanese-Americans for
their internment during World War II and offering $20,000 payments to
survivors.
Then-Attorney General Dick Thornburgh dropped to his knees to deliver
the
first checks and letters of apology. Many recipients said the apology
was
more important than the money.
It took
five decades before East Germany took responsibility in 1990 for the
"humiliation,
expulsion and murder of Jewish women, men and children" during the
Holocaust.
It took a hundred years for Congress to own up to the US overthrow of
the
Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 and adopt a resolution offering regrets for
the
"deprivation of the rights of native Hawaiians to
self-determination."
Just last month, Walter Mondale, former US ambassador to Japan, chided
Japan for failing still to make a full apology for its actions in World
War II.
The
significance
of a sincere apology seems to lie in its validation of what the victim
has endured.
"It confirms the reality
of their experience," said Sanley Renshon, who teaches political
psychology
at City University of New York.
That's
the case with the Tuskegee study participants. The government
long
ago paid the victims and their heirs $10 million. But the survivors
have
long sought something more: a formal apology.
"It can
make these men feel better if there is, in fact, some recognition that
some wrong has been done," their attorney, Fred Gray, said last month.
Source:Nancy Benac, The
Associated Press Wed, 14 May 1997 11:03:03 PST
Source:
Associated
Press article from the Greenville (SC) News May 14, 1997, page 4
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20-
SC STATE SUPREME COURT TO HONOR NATION'S FIRST BLACK APPELLATE JUDGE
[Editor's Note:
This answer underscores South Carolina's redemptive gift of leadership
brought forth.]
COLUMBIA- He was the first
African American to serve as an appellate judge in the United States,
was
among South Carolina's first black senators and founded the state's
first
law school for blacks.
But
until
recently, Jonathan Jasper Wright's role in the state's history was
largely
unrecognized.
The
state
Supreme Court hopes that will change beginning Thursday, when the
justices
plan to honor Wright's memory.
The
court
will be presented an 1870 picture of Wright from Harper's Magazine,
unearthed
in a New York bookstore by a white Columbia lawyer. Plans are to use
the
picture to do a portrait of Wright that will hang in the state Supreme
Court building.
"The
contribution of blacks to the history of South Carolina has for too
long
been overlooked or ignored," said South Carolina Chief Justice Ernest
Finney,
who in 1994 became the first black elected to lead the court. "This man
obviously made an outstanding contribution. His successes are
momentous."
Source: Tim Smith The
Greenville (SC) News State Edition (Feb 20, 1997) 1D
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21-
GAYS HILL BAPTIST CHURCH, MILLEN, GA--LEGACY OF A GOLD CHAIN
Gays Hill Baptist Church
in Millen, GA, where only ashes and steps remained from a summer 1996
fire,
received a check from Promise Keepers Georgia for $10,000. With that,
they
are rebuilding. Promise Keepers' national task force to help
burned
churches rebuild is called Operation Restoration. Source: Henry
Redding
On
the
way back from Savannah in March 1997, Christian Bass and Gene Brooks
stopped
off at Gays Hill Baptist Church in Millen, GA, out of curiosity. We
were
surprised at what we found. A large group of whites from New Hampshire
were working on a new church building there. It has a concrete pad on
its
foundation, and black paper is up on the building. Drywalling would
begin
shortly, and the church's dedication is scheduled for April 1997, moved
up from August 1997 since work is going so fast.
When
we arrived, church members met us in the make-shift office that was
there
when we visited the site in October 1996. At that time, only the steps
and ashes remained of the church building. Christian and I thought the
two men who offered to take us on a tour were both church members, but
only one was. The other was the contractor. He, the contractor, told us
that he has seen what he never thought to see in his lifetime: white
and
black folks working together in perfect unity and harmony.
We told
them about OR, that our team members came from all over the US, and
that
we had prayed at the site of their church in mid-October 1996. They
became
more and more excited. As we stood looking at the building and the
grounds,
I mentioned that the day we were onsite, we had found a gold chain in
the
rubble. Since gold often represents God's glory in the Scriptures, we
then
planted the chain in the ground, asking the Lord to plant His glory in
that place, and cause the latter glory to be greater than the former
glory,
and that God's glory would fill that place. I added that to the best of
my remembrance, that chain was buried near the place under the spot
where
the pulpit will stand in the new church.
Standing
and listening, the contractor got a strange smile on his face and
motioned
back toward the front porch of the new church: "Come out here. There's
something I want to show you." As we emerged from the inside, the
contractor
pointed across to the opposite corner of the property: "See that stake
out there? That was the corner stake where the new building was
supposed
to be built, but because spot stayed so wet, we had to flip-flop the
building
plans over to this side of the property (nearer the portable office
that
was there in Oct 1996). And that pulpit is over that gold chain.
There's
one thing I've learned building this church building: God Gets His
Glory!"
Here is contact
information
on Gays Hill Baptist Church, Millen, GA:
Contact: Dr. Charles E.
Cravey; Address: PO Box 750, Millen, GA 30442-0750; Phone:
(912) 982-1537; Mission Coordinators: Jim & Hilda Dutrow; Phone:
(888)
523-3690; FAX: (912) 489-3617; hidutrow@bulloch.com;
http://gbgm-umc.org/churches/millenga/
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22-
ORANGEBURG, SC, PRAYER BLITZ GOES TO THE ROOT
Orangeburg, SC, Aglow held
a "PrayerBlitz" the first week of May 1997. They did identificational
repentance
at the bowling alley, site of the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre of civil
rights
protesters. The OR team had led in prayer on that site in October
1996.
Black and white pastors are getting together for prayer and planning in
Orangeburg. Orangeburg leaders report a difference in the spiritual
climate
since O.R. passed through their city, the home of South Carolina State
University and other historically African-American educational
institutions.
Source: Fern
Noble
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23-
IS PRAYER BREAKING A SPIRIT OF POVERTY? Signs that maybe something
is going on.
BEAUFORT (SC) WOMAN
UNCOVERS
TRASH IN CAR WORTH $1-MILLION
The Associated Press
BEAUFORT-- Gloria Jean
Brown
found a million dollars while cleaning out her car.
That's
where the Beaufort woman found the rare Boardwalk game piece from the
McDonald's
Monopoly game--still attached to an empty box of french fries. "I
keep thinking that I've got to be interpreting this wrong," she said.
"I
would never have dreamed in a million years that this could happen to
me."
Brown,
39, bought the fries at a Hilton Head Island outlet on US 278, but
isn't
sure exactly when she made the million-dollar purchase. She
received official word about a week ago confirming her prize and on
Tuesday
was given a "super-sized" check and a reception at the same McDonald's
where she bought the fries. The prize is
awarded
in yearly $50,000 installments for 20 years. Brown, an unemployed
college
graduate, said she may use the money to start a business.
Source: The
Associated
Press
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TO HEADLINES
24-
AUCTION WAS START OF DOWNTOWN DURHAM'S REVIVAL, BUSINESS LEADERS HOPE
By Tom Foreman, Jr.The
Associated
Press
DURHAM, NC-- The
auctioneer's
call used to be a standard song in downtown Durham, when tobacco went
into
the warehouse and farmers came out with money in their pockets.
There
was a new call to buy Wednesday, one to save the city's downtown from
becoming
a shell of its former self.
Business
leaders persuaded property owners to offer 17 old buildings to the
highest
bidder. By the end of the two-hour sale at a renovated theater, 15 of
the
buildings were sold or had contracts pending. Three of the properties
were
sold prior to auction.
The
remaining
two buildings drew interest, but the potential buyers were not at the
auction
to make an offer.
"We're very happy with the
response that we had and the contracts that we've got in place at this
time," said Tim Dudley, vice president of Fox & Associates, a
Virginia
Beach, VA-based auction firm.
"It was
as much as I expected and more," said Dudley, who also was the
auctioneer
of the unique sale. "Now, you have taken downtown, you've put new
owners
into place at this time. Those new owners now become vested in the
downtown
area."
There
is little to bring people into the area, save for the minor league
Durham
Bulls, whose baseball stadium sits on the edge of downtown. There are a
handful of restaurants and a shopping arcade that was once a tobacco
warehouse.
In fact, warehouses still dominate the downtown view, but they are
slowly
emptying as the tobacco industry there continues to disappear in favor
of Durham's new slogan, the "City of Medicine."
Source: Greenville,
SC, News, May 15, 1997, page 5D
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TO HEADLINES
25-
FOUR DENOMINATIONS CONFESS RACISM IN SOUTH CAROLINA
"Religion Related and
Unprecedented:
The leaders of four major denominations in South Carolina, bishops of
the
Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and United Methodist Churches have
signed a statement publicly confessing the sin of racism and asking
forgiveness."
Source: Paul Harvey
News & Commentary, May 16, 1997
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -
The
bishops of the Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist
churches
in South Carolina issued a statement Friday confessing to the sin of
racism
and asking for forgiveness. The statement, signed after a
two-day
conference on racism, asks Christ to ``help us in our struggles to
overcome
the sin of racism, the powerful prejudice which pits one race against
the
other to the damage of all.'' The bishops also announced plans to
make a public confession at a service in Greenville in January 1998.
``This
is a very important step,'' said Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, the general
secretary of the National Council of Churches. ``It's a very local
reaction
from the church leaders in the state that had the greatest number of
churchburnings.''
At least 17 black churches have been burned in South Carolina since
1991.
The
bishops,
representing 466,000 church members, said if they deserve to be called
Christians, they must ``embrace each other totally and in the firm
belief
in one Lord, one baptism, one human family with equal liberty and
justice
for all.'' They also said ``no dogmas, no creeds, no
Christian
denominations divide us on these beliefs.''
The
statement
was signed by Bishop David A. Donges of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church,
Bishop Dorsey F. Henderson Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South
Carolina, Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey of the United Methodist Church,
Bishop Edward Salmon Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and
Bishop David Thompson of the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Charleston.
The bishops, whose group is known as LARCUM, have met in recent years
to
discuss matters of common concern. For example, the four denominations
agreed last year to a common baptismal certificate. Topics
at the two-day conference included the small number of blacks in local
and statewide church leadership positions and the past practice of
designating
rear pews or balconies for black worshipers.
Two
years
ago the nation's largest Protestant denomination, the 15.6
million-member
Southern Baptist Convention, took the same step on a nationwide basis,
approving a historic statement asking forgiveness for
racism. The denomination
was created in 1845 in a split between supporters and opponents of
slavery,
and was silent on or actively opposed civil rights for most of its
history.
Source: .c The
Associated
Press AP-NY-05-16-97 1955EDT
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TO HEADLINES
26-MAYOR,
POLICE CHIEF ASK FOR PRAYER FOR MACON, GEORGIA
On July 10, 1997, all four
Macon, GA, TV stations were covering an unusual meeting in Macon City
Chambers.
The mayor and police chief called a special meeting asking Christians
of
the city for help. They were asking for prayer. According
to
Henry Redding (912-477-6429), an OR team member who attended the called
meeting, the police chief requested prayer for the city until it turns
back to God. The mayor echoed the call for prayer for Macon,
saying
that as long as he was in office there would be an open call to pray
for
the city.
Several
months ago Debby Barnes, our team's Macon city coordinator during OR
and
a prayer leader at Second Baptist Church, had a vision in prayer of the
gates of Macon swinging open because of the faithful, fervent, secret
prayer
of intercessors through the years. Henry cried tears of joy on
the
phone with me as he thanked the Lord for answering his many years of
protracted
prayer for his beloved city.
Source: Henry Redding
UPDATE: 1
SEPTEMBER
1997: MACON, GEORGIA'S LEADERS URGE CITYWIDE PRAYER DAY
Leaders of a campaign
against
youth violence in Macon hope that September 1, 1997, will include a few
moments of prayer. During the "Citywide Day of Prayer" from 7am
to
7pm, leaders of the Youth Violence Prevention Task Force hope Bibb
County
residents visit their houses of worship to offer up prayers against
violence.
Source: Oby
Brown,
The
Macon Telegraph, September 1, 1997, page 4-A.
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27-
SC UNITED METHODISTS SEEK RESOLUTION FOR CONFESSION OF RACIAL PREJUDICE
Within the United Methodist Church, a mostly white denomination that
has
had a black bishop and is noted for cross-racial appointments of
ministers,
some feel there's still a need for a confession of racism.
That's the theme of
a resolution South Carolina United methodists will consider at their
212th
annual gathering at Wofford College in Spartanburg.
"We are calling for state officials, as well as church leaders, to
admit
that we have been a racist nation and state and announce that we are
repenting
of our past sins," said the Rev. Luonne Rouse, a black pastor at the
mostly
white Disciples United Methodist Church in Greenville, SC.
"We are asking that our leaders who are uncomfortable, even within
themselves,
of moving away from racist actions to politely resign in the name of
Jesus
Christ to show the sincerity of our efforts to move towards racial
harmony,"
he added.
Source: Ron
Barnett,
THE
GREENVILLE (SC) NEWS, May 25, 1997.
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TO HEADLINES
28-
EX-KLANSMAN SELLS KKK MUSEUM TO BLACK MINISTER
LAURENS,
SC--As little as a few months ago, Mike Burden was a Ku Klux Klan
member
prepared to take the life of a local black minister who threatened to
close
the KKK museum Burden had helped start.
Now, Burden says he has turned over a new leaf and also has turned over
ownership of the building that houses the museum to the Rev. David
Kennedy
and his predominantly black church.
Burden and his Klan mentor John Howard opened "The Redneck
Shop--World's
only KKK Museum" in March 1996 after Burden bought the building.
As head of the local Klan lodge, he was an Exalted Cyclops. As
state
organizer for the Keystone Klan, he was a Grand Dragon, and as Howard's
head of security, he was the Emperor's Night Hawk. He also
stockpiled
a small arsenal in the museum, formerly the old Echo Theater on the
town
square.
David Kennedy, on the other hand, was one of the shop's most vocal
critics,
leading rallies and marches, and Burden was prepared to kill him should
he threaten Howard.
Then he met Judy Harbeson. "Nobody cared how I felt. But
she
did," Burden said, "She told me, "I care.'" Within the next few
weeks,
Burden left Howard, the museum, and the Klan. "She re-ignited
emotions
in me. Now, to this day, I got a conscience. I care.
I care about other people," Burden said.
On April 22, 1997, Burden sold the Echo Theater to New Beginning
Missionary
Baptist Church for $10. Howard retains the right to use the
building
under a previous contract for the rest of his life.
"At some point in time," Kennedy said, "we are looking forward to
transform
that building from a building of hatred to a building of love."
Since then Burden has married Harbeson May 2, 1997, and joined New
Beginning
Church. "I'd like to tell the black community that I'm sorry for
what I done. As far as the white community: Don't fall
victim
to it. Don't be a fool. There ain't no reason to hate
nobody.
All it's gonna do is ruin your own life."
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Only
truth is stranger than fiction, that an African-American church would
own
a KKK museum, and all as a result of intercessors and their answered
prayers!]
Source:
Associated
Press, THE GREENVILLE (SC) NEWS, May 25, 1997.
UPDATE:
HE SAYS LOVE MADE HIM
CHANGE HIS WAYS: EX-KLANSMAN FINDS ALLY AT BLACK CHURCH
The congregation at the nearly all-black New Beginning Missionary
Baptist
Church took up a collection last month for one of its needy members --
the former grand dragon of the South Carolina Ku Klux Klan.
The offering was the latest twist in a tale of hatred, redemption and
forgiveness
between the church's crusading black preacher, the Rev. David Kennedy,
and Michael Eugene Burden Jr., who brought notoriety to this small town
when he opened the Redneck Shop and Klan museum.
Source: SAN JOSE
(CA)
MERCURY NEWS , 1058 words. Published on 07/28/97
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29-
CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS GET A PROPER BURIAL--AFTER 135 YEARS
[EDITOR'S NOTE:
This story is an example of a positive change in the climate of North
and
South USA reconciliation issues, one of OR's primary prayer targets.]
NANCY,
KY-- For 135 years, the bodies of Sgt. William Thomas Wilson and scores
of his Confederate comrades lay unmarked in a mass grave on the
battlefield
where they fell at the site of the Battle of Mills Springs (Fishing
Creek),
KY. The battle is considered the North's first decisive victory
of
the Uncivil War. Just down the road, their Union foes lay buried
in a national cemetery beneath orderly rows of marble headstones.
On Memorial Day, 1997, descendants of the more than 140 Confederate
soldiers
came to dedicate the cemetery --and the rows of white headstones now
marking
their graves.
The Northerners were buried in Mills Springs National Cemetery, which
would
later become one of the first 12 national cemeteries created by
Congress.
The Southerners were left to the locals to bury.
Source: Allen G.
Breed, The Associated Press LEXINGTON (KY) HERALD-LEADER, May
27,
1997.
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30-
ARRESTS MADE IN ORANGEBURG, SC'S, BIGGEST DRUG BUST
ORANGEBURG-
An Orangeburg couple faces drug trafficking charges after authorities
seized
cocaine and crack with an estimated street value of more than $500,000.
"It's probably the biggest drug bust in the history of Orangeburg
County,"
Sheriff James Johnson said Wednesday.
Source: The
Associated
Press, THE GREENVILLE (SC) NEWS August 1, 1997.
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31-
SANDERSVILLE, GEORGIA, MASONIC LODGE MAY BE FORCED TO CLOSE
When Sherman passed
through
Sandersville, GA, in 1864, the masonic lodge built by slave labor as a
replica of the temple to Athena was the only "public" structure left
standing
in town. Now it looks like the OPERATION RESTORATION team's
passing
through the same town in the fall of 1996, may cause the masonic lodge
to be the one thing that does fall.
When
the OR team prayed in Sandersville, the Lodge's membership stood at
seventy-seven
men. When the lodge's worshipful master picked up a rent payment
at a shop in the lodge building last week, he bemoaned that the lodge's
membership in one year has dropped to only three men! He said
that
if the lodge doesn't soon recruit more members, it will have to
close.
Pray for it to close.
Source: Helen
Durden,
Ideal Beauty Shop, Sandersville, GA, via Henry Redding of Juliette,
GA.
September 10, 1997.
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32-
SOUTH CAROLINA UNEMPLOYMENT RATE LOWEST IN NEARLY SEVEN YEARS
South Carolina's unemployment rate fell sharply in April to 4.6
percent,
the lowest level in nearly seven years, but one economist warned
Tuesday
that manufacturing continues to be a weak spot.
``There's still only 1.6 percent job growth in South Carolina in the
last
year,'' said Mark Vitner, an economist with First Union Corp., the
Charlotte,
N.C.-based bank-holding company. ``We're continuing to lose jobs in the
textile and apparel industries.''
Source:
THE
SUN NEWS (Biloxi, MS), Published on 05/28/97, 540 words.
EARLIER
ARTICLE: JOBLESS RATE FLAT IN S.C.
South Carolina's unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5 percent in
February
as the state added 11,400 jobs.
"The fact that unemployment has remained unchanged is really good
news,"
University of South Carolina economist Susan Laury said. Major
revisions
in the unemployment rate in December had caused concerns about this
month's
report.
Source: THE
STATE, (Columbia, SC), Published on 03/28/97, 356 words.
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TO HEADLINES
33-
FARM PRODUCTION UP IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA
[Editor: Scripture tells us that as we see a restoration in farm
production in the land, we can view it as a manifestation of
restoration
in the spiritual realm. Here are some good indicators.]
SOUTH
CAROLINA FARM INCOME HITS RECORD, THOUGH PEACHES IN THE PITS
"South
Carolina's farm income hit a record $1.6 billion last year (1996),
Clemson
University's Extension Service says, but peach,
apple
and beef farmers didn't share in the wealth." [Ed.: Peaches
and
apples were harvested before the prayer walk.]
Source: THE
CHARLOTTE (NC) OBSERVER , Published on 01/28/97, 410 words.
IN
GEORGIA: PEANUT CROP EXPECTED TO BE UP 1% IN 1997
Source: THE MACON (GA) TELEGRAPH, Published on 08/30/97,
631
words.
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TO HEADLINES
34-
CRIME NUMBERS IN FAYETTEVILLE, NC, FALL IN FIRST HALF OF 1997
While Cumberland County, NC’s population continues to grow, its crime
rate
continues to drop according to numbers for the first six months of the
year.
Compared with the first six months of last year, crime is down 12
percent
for the first half of 1997, according to statistics supplied by the
Fayetteville,
Hope Mills and Spring Lake police departments and the Cumberland County
Sheriff’s Department. Violent crime declined by 1 percent, and property
crimes declined by 13 percent. Year-end numbers for 1996
showed
crime fell about 9 percent overall for Cumberland County.
Numbers from the sheriff’s department from January through June showed
the most marked decreases. Murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries,
larcenies
and car thefts fell in areas covered by sheriff’s deputies. The
largest
decreases were in reported rapes, which fell 56 percent, and car
thefts,
which fell 53 percent.
Violent crimes -- murder, rape, robbery and assault -- dropped 8
percent.
Property crimes -- burglary, larceny and auto theft -- reported
to
the sheriff’s department fell 30 percent.
Earlier this year, the Violent Crimes Task Force broke up a burglary
ring
that had operated in Hope Mills and Gray’s Creek. Twelve people
were
arrested and charged with nearly 300 counts of breaking and entering.
They
are accused of running a burglary ring and selling the loot to a fence.
In Fayetteville city, all violent crimes except robbery decreased in
Fayetteville.
Murders
were cut in half from the same period of 1996, from six to three.
Rape
dropped slightly, from 34 reported in the first half of 1996 to 33
through
June this year.
Unlike
the sheriff’s department, Fayetteville police reported a
substantial
decrease in assaults -- they fell 43 percent from the first six months
of last year.
Dr. Fran Haga, an assistant professor of criminal justice at
UNC-Pembroke,
said it’s hard to determine what caused the drop.
Source: Michelle
Brien, Fayetteville (NC) Observer-Times, Sunday, Aug. 3, 1997
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35-
CALLING ON GOD TO HELP FAYETTEVILLE, NC: RESIDENTS PRAY ABOUT
RACISM,
CORRUPTION
Pastor Michael Fletcher told a congregation of more than 200
Fayetteville
residents Tuesday night that the city is in
turmoil,
and it is time to ask God for help in doing something about it.
Pastors
from about 25 churches led the racially diverse congregation in prayers
for the city during a meeting at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
Mayor
J.L. Dawkins was there, as was Mayor Pro-tem Breeden Blackwell. But
they
weren’t there to guide the city; they
came
with their families to ask God for a new agenda.
“Lord, as you wept over the City of Jerusalem, you must be weeping over
the City of Fayetteville,” prayed Pastor
Lawrence
Johnson of the John Wesley United Methodist Church. “Remove
the walls that separate us and prevent us from moving forward. Use us
to
create a new environment for this
community.”Johnson
said human resources were not enough to overcome racism, violence and
corruption
in Fayetteville. It will take the Holy Spirit,
too.
He asked God to guide city officials and county commissioners as they
make
decisions. “Help them be faithful to the task to which they were
elected,”
he said.
The prayer meeting was sponsored by Unified 2000, a group of area
church
leaders who try to bring people from different
races
and denominations together by worshiping together. Speakers
made no references to specific events in the city. But the meeting took
place while a white, former Fort Bragg soldier
stands
trial in the shooting deaths of two black people. Also, the City
Council is divided over an investigation of hiring practices and
allegations
of racial discrimination within the Police
Department.
The congregation heard readings from the Bible and prayers for healing
the city. The theme of the service was
“Standing in
the Gap,” taken from the book Ezekiel, chapter 22, verse 30, in which
God
says he destroyed Jerusalem because no one
would defend
the city by praying for it. Fletcher said the
purpose
of the meeting was to stand in the gap and defend Fayetteville.
“We are here tonight because this statement cannot be said about our
city,”
he said. “Churches of Fayetteville are prepared
to
stand in the gap in prayer. Our city is once again in turmoil. It is
time
to answer the call again.”
Source: Sukey
Stephens,
Fayetteville
(NC) Observer-Times, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 1997
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36-
LEADERS SPEAK OUT ABOUT HEALING RACE WOUNDS IN FAYETTEVILLE, NC
Racism in the Fayetteville area shows that Martin Luther King Jr.’s
message
of equality is relevant, speakers at a prayer
breakfast
said Monday. Church and community leaders addressed a record
crowd
of 900 people who attended the fourth annual
prayer
breakfast in honor of King, the civil rights leader slain 28 years
ago.
In their plea for equality, two preachers alluded to allegations of
racism
that have touched the barracks of Fort Bragg,
the
city Police Department and the chambers of City
Council.
“This is very timely,” said Rev. John T. Johnson, pastor of Lewis
Chapel
Missionary Baptist Church, who is also
president of
the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Ministerial Council, which sponsored
the event. “You can see what’s happening
on
the City Council and what’s happening on the Police Department. I
seeChief
Hansen is here and the city officials are here, and hopefully this will
impart something on their minds,” Johnson said.
Dr. Bruce O. Martin, the white pastor of Village Baptist Church, the
keynote
speaker, called it a day of bridge building, “when we are going to
launch
into a new future for our city.” He
challenged audience members to heal the wound of racism in their own
neighborhoods.
“This
wound will heal in Fayetteville, and Fayetteville will rise to be an
example
for the whole country,” Martin said. Source:
Doug Miller, Fayetteville (NC) Observer-Times,
Tuesday, Jan. 21, 1997
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37-
SOUTH CAROLINA DROPOUT RATE ON THE DECLINE
[Editor's Note:
Our team prayed with a local Mennonite family for Barnwell County, SC's
students at Blackville-Hilda High School. The dropout rate in one
district in that county has gone from worst to first in the state!]
Four years ago, Barnwell District 29 had the highest dropout rate in
South
Carolina. Now it's the best, according to statistics released by
the state Department of Education. District 29 isn't alone. For
the
first time in years, South Carolina's high school dropout rate is on
the
decline, indicating that prevention measures finally may be paying off,
the state said.
The dropout rate for last school year was 2.9 percent, down from
3.1percent
the year before. The rate remained steady at 3 percent from 1993 to1994
but then edged up. H. Kenneth Dinkins,
superintendent
of Barnwell District 29 in Williston, saidstudents seem to be
responding
well. ``We're getting them into classes
that
will challenge them,'' he said ofpotential dropouts. Many students
prefer
the applied classes and computerwork, he said.
When Mr. Dinkins came to District 29 four years ago, Williston had a
dropout
rate of 10.8 percent. Now it's at 0.3 percent, with just one dropoutfor
1995-96, figures show. The district tied with Sumter District 2 for
thestate's
lowest rate, 0.3 percent. The other
two
districts in Barnwell County showed mixed results. Barnwell
District 19 was at 1.6 percent, while District 45 was higher than the
stateaverage,
with a rate of 3.1 percent.
Statewide, last year's rate improved across the board among boys,
girls,whites
and minorities. South Carolina's 2.9 percent dropout rate
represents
the number of students who quit school compared with the total
enrollment
for grades nine through 12. Source:
Augusta,
(GA) Chronicle Web posted Oct. 18, 1997, at 01:50 AM
Associated
Press
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38-
FIRE DEATHS IN SOUTH CAROLINA DOWN NEARLY A THIRD
COLUMBIA
--
Fewer people died in South Carolina fires last year [1997] than in
1996,
but fire officials want to increase the public's awareness to reduce
that
number even more. Ninety-three -- including three in Greenwood
County
-- died in fires during 1997, compared witthh 137 the previous year, the
state's fire marshal said Monday. January was the deadliest month
for fires with 24 people killed and Richland County [Columbia area] led
the state with a dozen deaths, state Fire Marshal Lewis Lee said.
Source: The
Greenville, (SC) News, Tuesday, January 13, 1998. D-1 The
Associated
Press.
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39-
NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL VIOLENCE DOWN FOR FIRST TIME
RALEIGH -- Reported
incidents of school violence declined during 1996-97, the first year
the
numbers have decreased since North Carolina began keeping records four
years ago. There were 8,141 reported incidents during the last
school
year, compared to 8,173 the previous year. The three most
frequent
violent acts last year were drug possession, possessing a weapon and
assault
on a school employee. All were down from the previous year.
There were 2,720 reports of drugs, down from 2,753; 2,690 weapons
incidents,
down from 2,751; and 1,375 assaults on school employees down from 1,443.
Source: Dennis
Patterson, The Associated Press. The Greenville (SC) News,
Tuesday, January 13, 1998.
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40-
NORTH CAROLINA UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FELL IN OCTOBER 1997
RALEIGH (AP) --
North
Carolina's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped slightly in
October
compared to the month earlier, the state Employment Security Commission
said. North Carolina's October rate was 3.4 percent, compared to 3.7
percent
in September, ESC chairman Parker Chesson said Friday. The unemployment
rate in October 1996 was 4.2 percent. The U.S. rate dropped to 4.7
percent
from 4.9 percent. ESC economists consider 5 percent near full
employment.
Source: The Daily
News of Jacksonville, NC; Saturday, November 22, 1997
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41-
GEORGIA UNEMPLOYMENT DROPS DRASTICALLY IN FALL 1997
The Augusta area in
November
had its lowest unemployment rate since December 1991, the Georgia Labor
Department said Wednesday. The 4.9-percent rate was down from a revised
5.6-percent rate for October, the department reported. For November
1996,
the rate was a revised 6.3 percent. Last year, economists said Augusta
was in a mild recession. Economists said this month that Augusta is in
a recovery mode. Georgia's unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in
November,
the state Labor Department said Wednesday, down from 4.1 percent a
month
earlier and the lowest since May 1973, when it was 3.6 percent.
Employment
reached a record high of about 3.8 million, Labor Commissioner David
Poythress
said, up more than 30,000 from the previous month.
Here are the November unemployment rates for Georgia's metropolitan
areas,
compared with the unemployment rate for October:
-- Albany, 5.8 percent, down from 6.3 ppercccent.
-- Athens, 2.4 percent, down from 2.8 ppercccent.
-- Atlanta, 3.0 percent, down from 3.4 perrccent.
-- Columbus, 4.7 percent, down from 5.33 peeercent.
-- Macon, 3.9 percent, down from 4.5 peerceeent.
-- Savannah, 3.8 percent, down from 4.22 peeercent.
Source: Donna W.
Rogers Business Editor The Augusta (GA) Chronicle Web posted
Dec.
25, 1997, at 12:15 AM
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42-
MAYOR SAYS SAVANNAH ON THE VERGE OF GREATNESS
Floyd Adams Jr. says
optimism
must be met by job creation and training, parental responsibility,
decent
housing and elimination of poverty. Cooperation among Savannah's
citizens
will help the city maintain and improve its vitality, MayorFloyd Adams
Jr. said Tuesday. ''We must come together, work together in
partnership
for a better Savannah,'' he told members of the Savannah Kiwanis Club
in
his annual ''state of the city'' speech. ''Savannah is on the threshold
of greatness.'' Despite racial and economic differences, ''we are
all one Savannah,'' he said. ''We must work toward improving the
quality
of life for everyone.''
A declining crime rate, decreased property tax
rates and a healthy, growing economy are the positive
effects
of what the mayor called the seeds of change initiated by his
inauguration
two years ago. But the emphasis has to be on the future, Adams
said.
Source: Richard
Fogaley / Savannah (GA) Morning News Januray 6, 1998
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43-
OVERALL CRIME DOWN IN SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, IN FIRST HALF OF 1997
Savannahians' overall
chances
of being victims of violent crime in the first six months of 1997
compared
to the same period in 1996 was 11.5 percent lower. Total
violent
crimes in the first six months of this year were 584, compared to 660
in
the same period in 1996, according to Savannah police crime
statistics.
Property crime -- which had a sharp increase in 1996 -- also slid in
the
first six months of this year to 5,755 incidents, compared to 6,169
last
year. The overall rosy picture, though, is tempered by crimes against
people
-- including 10 homicides as compared wwithhh five in the first six
months
last year. ''There is no explanation for homicides,'' said Lt. Dean
Fagerstrom
of the violent crimes unit. ''Last year we had six by the end of
August,
but still ended with 22,'' the lowest total since 1989.
Violent crimes that end in injuries -- aggravated assaults -- also
increased
from 219 in the first half of last year to 246 in six months this year.
Rapes increased from 27 to 38. But driving down the total number
of violent crimes was robbery's 29.3 percent drop, from 409 to 289.
Last year (1996), larcenies rose to their highest level in the
'90s.
Police responded by examining the problems and increasing patrols in
areas
hardest hit, talking with community groups, he said. For the
first
six months this year, larcenies are down, from 4,031 to 3,677. The
reports
of burglaries also decreased from 1,008 for the first half of 1996 to
946
by the end of June this year.
Source:
Keith
Paul / Savannah (GA) Morning News Web posted 7/23/97
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44-
CRIME DECLINES IN LEXINGTON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA
[Editor's Note:
The OR Team spent an unexpected half day praying in Lexington, SC, just
south of Columbia, at an Indian mound with several Natives, breaking
the
curse on the land that the Natives placed on the area when they were
forced
out during the colonial period.]
Violent and
property crimes decreased 3.5 percent last year in Lexington County,
reflecting
a national trend. Lexington County Sheriff James Metts released
preliminary
statistics Tuesday that show most violent crimes in the county declined
in 1997. In comparison with 1996, robberies decreased 20 percent, while
rapes fell 7 percent. An exception was aggravated assault, which
increased
9 percent from 1996.
Many of those assaults involved domestic violence, Metts said. A
2-year-old mandatory-arrest law for domestic violence, along with
increased
reporting of domestic abuse, account for the rise in aggravated
assaults,
Metts said.
In Lexington County, burglaries decreased 6 percent in 1997, compared
with
1996. Vehicle thefts fell 8 percent. The statistics released by
Metts
are only for unincorporated areas in Lexington County that the
Sheriff's
Department patrols. But the numbers offer a good measure of the overall
crime rate in the county because the Sheriff's Department investigates
about 60 percent of the reported incidents. Although Lexington is one
of
the state's fastest-growing counties, it had a larger percentage
decrease
in violent crime than South Carolina as a whole has experienced in
recent
years.
Source: John
Allard,
Staff Writer Published Wednesday, January 7, 1998, in The State.
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45-
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, SLAYINGS DECLINE
DURHAM -- The city
recorded
35 homicides in 1997, a grim figure but lower by eight than the record
toll of 1996, when 43 slayings made Durham the state's homicide
capital.
Homicides declined to 35 in 1997 -- tied with 1994 for the city's
second-deadliest
year on record. In 1997, no slayings occurred between the first
week
of April and the first week of June. Then, four occurred within six
days.
A similar spate left six people dead during the first three weeks of
November.
Source:
Amanda Garrett, agarrett@nando.com Staff Writer, Raleigh (NC) News
&
Observer January 1998
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46-
SOUTH CAROLINA 1997 JOB CREATION BREAKS RECORD, INVESTMENTS CLOSE BEHIND
Governor David Beasley
proclaimed
South Carolina "the economic development envy of the Southeast and the
nation" Thursday, unveiling record-breaking figures in job creation
(29,303
new jobs) and a near-record figures in capital investment ($5.501
billion)
in 1997, according to state Department of Commerce figures. [Half
the counties in SC which led in job creation are along Sherman's
path.] Click
here for the complete report from the SC Department of Commerce.
Source: Dan
Hoover,
The
Greenville (SC) News Friday, January 16, 1998.
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47-
MASONS GONE FROM GREENE COUNTY, GEORGIA, COURTHOUSE
Sherwin Finch, OR's
coordinator
in Greensboro, Georgia, wrote February 28, 1998, with the following
report:
"What a praise and answer
to prayer in Greensboro, GA! The [Masonic] Lodge, which occupied
the third floor of the Greene County (GA) Courthouse, has
moved...permanently.
[Although the local lodge had originally built and paid for the
construction
of the 19th century courthouse,] they sold the [third] floor back to
the
county. Even the light globes [with the masonic insignia inscribed] are
removed. This is a significant step for Greene County in that the third
floor of the courthouse is the highest building in the county. Now the
lodge has been lowered from their high perch in the community. Other
things
are looking up spiritually here. We have a new sheriff who is on fire
for
God and is making all kinds of drug raids and arrests in many areas. He
has asked me to clean up a heresy-infested jail chaplaincy.
Thank
you all so much for your prayers and support. The people at Wesley
Chapel
still talk about the Prayer Walk Team. Please send this to all the
team."
Source: February
28, 1998 Sherwin A Finch sherwinf@bigfoot.comhttp://www.integrityonline10.com/sherwinf
ATrueFriend
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48-
CORRUPTION EXPOSED IN MCCOLL, SOUTH CAROLINA:
MAYOR, POLICE CHIEF IN JAIL FOR
TRAFFICKING
IN DRUGS, MURDER, & STOLEN GOODS
McCOLL, S.C. -- For years,
rumors circulated about Kenny York, the chief of police in McColl.
People
said he sold crack and forced money out of motorists in exchange for
dismissing
tickets.
Last spring [1997], Marlboro County Sheriff William Simon decided
to find out if York was a crooked cop. He began an investigation
that law enforcement officers say has exposed a cesspool of corruption.
The investigation has led to the arrests of three McColl police
officers,
including York, and the town’s mayor. The investigation has reached
from
McColl to Fayetteville and
has involved drugs, burglary, robbery and murder. Besides the police
officers
and mayor, at least 12 others have been arrested in South Carolina and
North Carolina.
A South Carolina grand jury is still trying to untangle a web of
testimony
and evidence. “You start out with a small-town police department
and you end up with a quarter million dollars of marijuana,” said
Marlboro
Terry, a Marlboro County investigator. “There’s no way to say where it
ends.” Sheriff Simon took office in January 1997, but he
first
heard the rumors when he was a state trooper assigned to the area. He
had
known York for years and liked him. He assigned a team of
deputies
to the case in March. Five months later, Simon said, he had enough
evidence
to make an arrest.
On Aug. 23, York was working at the McColl Police Department when Simon
and several deputies paid him a visit. With York’s permission,
Simon
said, deputies searched his unmarked police car and found crack and
marijuana.
York said the drugs were contraband that had been seized as part of
legitimate
police work. York had a harder time explaining the drugs that
deputies said they found
in his home and the two drug deals Simon said York had arranged in the
previous month.
York was charged with distribution of crack and distribution of crack
near
a playground. Later, York was charged with accepting bribes. Two other
McColl police officers were charged with taking money and jewelry they
collected during arrests. Five Marlboro County residents with ties to
York
also were arrested -- some on drug charges, others on charges of
accepting
stolen goods. McColl Mayor Verd Odom was indicted by a state grand jury
on a charge of stealing money from the city. Thirteen days after
his arrest, York was released from the Marlboro County Jail without
having
to put up bond. A judge ordered him to live with his brother in Hamlet,
N.C., and to check in daily with the Marlboro sheriff’s office.
Two and a half months later, York was charged with murder in the
shooting
of a man in Laurel Hill -- just outside Laurinburg in Scotland County,
N.C. Authorities in Scotland County say the murder led to the arrests
of
six people and the seizure of 240 pounds of marijuana. York, who is now
being held without bond in the Scotland County Jail, declined to
comment.
His brothers also declined to comment.
McColl’s reputation
Carver Reese “Kenny” York, 37, was born and grew up in McColl, a town
known
for decades as a wild place. Residents say drunken street brawls remain
commonplace. Unemployment rates have been in double figures for at
least
three decades. A town of about 2,700 people, McColl sits
alongside
U.S. 15/401 about 10 miles south of North Carolina. McColl once had
three
prosperous cotton mills that supplied most of its residents with jobs.
Today, only one mill is in operation and it employs only about 60
people.
McColl, like some of its people, looks dejected.
Source: J. Kyle Foster,
"Rumors of corruption lead to probe" Fayetteville Observer
&
Times, Sunday, Feb. 15, 1998.
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49-
CAR THEFT & CHOP SHOP RING UNCOVERED IN LOUISVILLE, GEORGIA
Last May [1997], police got a break in several pickup-truck thefts when
the Jefferson County[, GA,] Sheriff's Department received a tip that
the
area had a chop shop. Working with the Richmond County Sheriff's
Department
and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, it found more than a dozen
stolen
GMC pickup trucks at some Jefferson County residences, said Jefferson
County
Sheriff Gary Hutchins.
``A ring of people was running a chop shop. They would steal the pickup
trucks from Richmond County, take them to Jefferson County, change the
parts to make the truck look like a Chevrolet truck so it couldn't be
identified
and sell the trucks or its parts,'' the sheriff said. ``In some cases
they
were selling the trucks for $13,000 or more.''
Eleven people have been arrested in the Jefferson County case, about
$100,000
worth of stolen property recovered and
more than $50,000 worth
of property seized from those arrested. More arrests are expected, said
Robert Chalker, the lead investigator in the case. ``Not only
were
people who ran the chop shop arrested, but people who purchased parts
were
also charged,'' Sheriff Hutchins said.
Source: Carmela
Thomas, The Augusta (GA) Chronicle Web posted January 26, 1998,
at 02:09 AM at http://augustachronicle.com/stories/012697/met_chopshop.html
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50-
WEST COLUMBIA, SC, CHURCH OVERWHELMED BY CONVERSION GROWTH
Northside
Baptist Church in West Columbia, South Carolina, sits on the high sand
hills south of the Congaree River near the spot from which Sherman's
artillery
bombed the city of Columbia in February of 1865. During OPERATION
RESTORATION this church blessed the prayer team with a base for
operations
in the Columbia area during Halloween 1996. According to
Stephanie
Cloud, daughter of Senior Pastor Steve Cloud, the church has seen a
surge
in conversion growth since the late fall of 1996. The church had
already been growing rapidly in the last thirteen years, but new
converts
began to overwhelm them by late 1997. First the church expanded
to
three Sunday services to accomodate the growth. Then they made
plans
for a daughter church in nearby Lexington in order to take some strain
off the parking facilities and the packed pews at Northside. Now,
with membership bulging past 3,000, the church has voted to buy
128
acres five miles away. Construction on larger facilities will
begin
soon and completion is expected by 2003. Although a telephone
conversation
with Steve Cloud indicated that the church had been growing rapidly
since
1993, and that church membership had plateaued in 1997 because of
"obvious
reasons" like the new church plant, we still consider this church's
growth
an answer to prayer.
Sources:
Stephanie
Cloud, daughter of Senior Pastor Steve Cloud; Todd Deaton, "Northside
Church,
West Columbia, to relocate in next five years," The (South
Carolina)
Baptist Courier, Vol. 130, No. 11, March 12, 1998.
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51-
DOMESTIC HOMICIDES DOWN IN DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
"For
years the traditional police approach to domestic violence was known as
'separate and mediate.' Officers separated the parties,
admonished
them to stop fighting and cleared the call. They only made
arrests
when someone was badly hurt. Domestic violence was considered a
family
problem, not a crime. "Domestic violence victims simply could
not,
due to the call level of uniform police, get the level of service they
needed," said Durham Police Sgt. Chris Allen, supervisor of the
department's
new Domestic Violence Unit.
In the
past year that has changed, due largely to the Domestic Violence
Unit.
Police officials say one measure of the new unit's success is that domestic
homicides in Durham dropped from seven in 1996 to one last year.
Officers have tried to spread the new philosophy by training all
officers
and recruits." One of the more difficult things is to try to convince
patrol
officers to change the way that they've always done things."
Luke
Henley adds: "These are results of O.R., the churches that
are
praying for the city, and our prayer on site at the police
headquaters."
Source: The
(Durham, NC) Herald Sun 3/15/98 via Luke Henley
<gatekeeperi1@juno.com>
on March 16, 1998.
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52-
SOUTH CAROLINA'S JOBLESS RATE PLUMMETS TO 40-YEAR LOW
South Carolina's
unemployment
rate dropped a full percentage point in March to a 40-year low of 2.4
percent.
The state's rate is third nationally, behind Nebraska at 2.2 percent
and
North Dakota at 2.3 percent. Greenville and Lexington counties
shared
the state's lowest jobless rate at 1.1 percent. [Lexington County
is on Sherman's trail.]
Source: Robert
W. Dalton, "State's jobless rate plummets to 40-year low" Spartanburg,
SC, Herald-Journal, Thursday, April 23, 1998.
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53-
HARDEEVILLE, SC, CHURCH IN 4 MONTH REVIVAL
Revival services held for
four months at a South Carolina church show no signs of letting up.
More
than 600 people a week have become Christians or rededicated their
lives
to God during twice-a-week services at Abundant Life Tabernacle in
Hardeeville,
a town of 2,000 people. Services are led by evangelist John Davis.
Those
making decisions include people of various ages, from a number of
denominations,
from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, Assemblies of God
News
Service said. There have been a number of reports of divine healings.
[Editor's Note: The
OR Team prayed right through downtown Hardeeville, SC. It is on
I-95
just north of Savannah, GA. Team member Barbara Gard visited that
church while on deputation in the US from Romania in summer 1999.
Church members told her a change began in their church in October 1996.]
Source:
C U R R E N T N E W S S U M M A R Y,
ReligionToday.com;
July 14, 1999
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54-
KKK MEMBER PLEADS GUILTY TO SHOOTING 3 BLACK SC TEENS
COLUMBIA, SC (CNN) -- A
21-year-old member of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan pleaded
guilty Monday to federal civil rights charges for the drive-by
shootings
of three black teenagers in South Carolina two years ago.
Joshua England of New
Holland,
South Carolina, pleaded guilty in federal court to three felony counts
for injuring the teen-agers because they were black and for using a
firearm
during the October 27, 1996, shooting. England fired a Chinese-made
semi-automatic
assault rifle into a crowd of African Americans outside a nightclub in
Pelion, South Carolina. The shooting victims survived their injuries.
England
told U.S. District Judge Joe Anderson that he targeted the crowd
because
of their race. "I wasn't raised that way," he said. "I guess I was
having
some problems and I got mixed up with a group." That group was the Klan.
England's plea
agreement
also calls for him to plead guilty in state court to three counts of
assault
and battery with intent to kill. England and a companion involved
in the incident, Clayton Spires Jr., are members of the same Klan group
whose members were prosecuted on federal firearms and civil rights
charges
two years ago following the investigation of a church fire near
Manning,
South Carolina.
[Editor's Note: Our
prayer team was not far from Pelion, SC, when the shooting occurred.]
Source: CNN.com
July 13, 1998 Web posted at: 9:01 p.m. EDT (0101 GMT) The
Associated
Press contributed to this report.
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55-
CHURCH ARSONS DECLINE FOR THIRD YEAR IN A ROW
Church arsons declined for
the third year in a row, the National Church Arson Task Force said.
More
than 100 churches were the targets of arsonists in 1999, down from 300
in 1996, when a surge in fires at predominantly black churches in the
South
prompted the formation of the task force, The Associated Press said.
...The
task force has seen "tremendous success," Acting Assistant Attorney
General
Bill Lann Lee said. It has resulted in the arrests of 364 people and
obtained
267 convictions, Lee said. Officials last year arrested Jay Scott
Ballinger,
who is charged with burning 33 churches in eight states, the most such
arsons associated with one individual.
Source: C U R R
E N T N E W S S U M M A R Y, by the Editors of
ReligionToday, February 15, 2000, www.crosswalk.com
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56-
'ORANGEBURG MASSACRE' VICTIMS REMEMBERED: HODGES FIRST GOVERNOR TO
ATTEND
COMMEMORATION
ORANGEBURG, S.C., 10:20
p.m. EST February 8, 2001 -- South Carolina State University marked the
33rd anniversary Thursday of what has become known as the Orangeburg
Massacre.
Gov. Jim Hodges became the first governor in South Carolina's
history
to attend ceremonies at South Carolina State University commemorating
the
night of racial violence.
His remarks focused on the
importance of education and the process of healing and reconciliation.
"We deeply regret what happened here on the night of Feb. 8, 1968,"
Hodges
said. "The Orangeburg Massacre was a great tragedy for our state. Even
today, the state of South Carolina bows its head, bends its knee, and
begins
the search for reconciliation."
Three students at the
school
were killed and 27 were hurt when highway patrolmen fired into a crowd
that was conducting a protest of racial segregation at the only bowling
alley in Orangeburg. That night students ignited a bonfire. When
firefighters came to put it out, the tension grew. It ignited when
state
troopers fired into the unarmed crowd. "I'll never forget that day,"
S.C.
State Alumnus Rodney Thompson told WYFF News 4's Sharon Johnson. "There
was a highway patrolman standing over a wounded or dead student with
his
gun drawn." Some of the 27 survivors attended their first
ceremony
commemorating the shootings. "That's part of my life I still have
problems with in the back of my mind about that incident that happened
that day," Thompson said. One man, who was a freshman student that
night,
is now the school's president. Leroy Davis told News 4 he remembers
that
day every day. "The administration building sits on the site the
students died," Davis said. "It's very difficult for me to forget these
students who died."
Source:
http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/gs/news/stories/news-45189220010208-070240.html
Copyright 2001 by
TheCarolinaChannel.
All rights reserved.
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57-
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA TO ERECT SLAVERY MONUMENT ON WATERFRONT
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Poet
Maya Angelou says she considers it a compliment that a proposed
African-American
monument on the city's riverfront would quote her qraphic description
of
slaves held in ships that once docked there. "The picture of it, it's
so
horrible. And yet if we can see how horrible it is, then we might treat
each other a little nicer," Angelou said in a telephone interview
Thursday.
The bronze sculpture would depict a black family embracing with broken
chains at its feet. The chosen site is on the Savannah riverfront,
where
the first slaves came into Georgia. It's also one of Savannah's most
popular
tourist sites, which has caused Mayor Floyd Adams and others to
question
whether the Angelou quote is appropriate. The passage reads in part:
"We
lay back to belly in the holds of the slave ships in each others'
excrement and urine together, sometimes died together, and our lifeless
bodies thrown overboard together." Angelou said she has used the
passage
in lectures for about 15 years, though it's never been published in a
book
or poem. Savannah's city council approved the monument last month, but
has yet to approve the quotation. City officials said they needed
Angelou's
permission first.
Source:
infobeat.com
February 16, 2001; http://www.infobeat.com/fullArticle?article=406174558
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58-
YEMASSEE (SC) GRANT COULD OPEN DOORS TO DEVELOPMENT
Published Thu, Jan
17, 2002
By JIM TATUM,
Beaufort
Gazette staff writer
The Town of Yemassee
will more than double the capacity of its wastewater treatment system,
using a $1.2 million grant from the S.C. Department of Commerce.
That will open
Yemassee's
doors to development and industry, Mayor J.L. Goodwin says.
"Right
now, we are permitted for a 240,000-gallon wastewater
capacity," he said.
"By going to 500,000 I can't think of an industry, or a number of them,
that it wouldn't serve. And with the industrial park at Early
Branch,
that capacity is vital." Jim McDill, executive director for the Hampton
County Development Commission, says the expansion will benefit the
whole
region.
"The award of this
grant certainly has regional economic benefits," McDill said. "We know
that as industry grows in the Lowcountry, it increases job opportunity.
This would certainly assist job opportunities for northern
Beaufort
County as well." The grant is funded through the S.C. Water and
Wastewater
Infrastructure Fund, which was created from tobacco settlement funds.
Yemassee,
which straddles the Beaufort-Hampton county line, serves the industrial
park 4.5 miles west of town, up S.C. 68 in Hampton County; an
industrial
park adjacent to the town in Beaufort County; Labs Inc.; and
surrounding
residential areas. The increase in sewerage capacity not only will help
attract industry to the area, it clears the way for significant
residential
development. "We would also like to see four-laning of
Highway
68 from Yemassee to the industrial park, about five miles of highway,"
McDill said. "We are optimistic that those funds will be identified and
released within the year, and we can begin construction on that
project."
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/story/1020187p-1071262c.html
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This
is a direct answer to our 1996 prayer that God would overcome the
poverty
of this area and bring development and investment to this little town
on
I-95. One year after the 1996 prayerwalk, we saw two gas
stations,
a hotel, and a restaurant open at that I-95 exit. Now $1.2
million
for development use. Hallelujah!]
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59-
$5.1 MILLION ... IN TOBACCO MONEY FOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
ALLENDALE -- Tri-County
Alliance received a $5.1 million grant from the state for its
industrial
parks in Allendale and Bamberg counties. Just last month,
the
Alliance bought 120 acres of land on U.S. Highway 278 between Allendale
and Fairfax that will be added to the 10-acre Pointe Salkehatchie
Regional
Industrial Park. Last week, the Alliance received $1.7 million
from
the state to upgrade the town of Allendale's sewer treatment plant
which
will service the industrial park.
Carl Gooding, vice
chairman
of the Alliance's board of directors, said the closing on Pointe
Salkehatchie
is a big day for economic development in Allendale County.
"Allendale
County has never had, until now, a truly viable industrial park to
attract
new jobs for our people," Gooding said two weeks ago when the
land
was bought. On Monday, he said, "It's big news. Now we have a
really
viable, professional industrial park in Allendale County.
"Allendale's
economy has been in the doldrums for generations," he said.
The Alliance is also in
the
process of buying 440-acres of land on U.S. Highway 301 South in
Bamberg
County where it will build Cross Rhodes regional industrial park. In
addition
to the two Alliance grants, the town of Williston and the Barnwell
County
Economic Development Commission will get $635,350 to provide water and
sewer to a 161 acre industrial park on U.S. Highway 78 to the west of
town.
With that project, Allendale, Bamberg and Barnwell counties received
$5.1
million from the $80 million the state handed out from the
tobacco
settlement.
Source: The (Barnwell)
People Sentinel January 16, 2002 http://www.thepeoplesentinel.com/
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60 - HARDEEVILLE, SC:
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES COMING
Power
plant, water treatment facility have started bringing in work crews,
but they'll need local help
Representatives
of four companies have hit town to begin laying the foundation for
building two of Jasper County's biggest-ever developments: a power
plant and a water treatment facility. Here's what they're doing:
*SCANA is
building a $450 million power plant and hopes to have it online by
mid-2004. About 800 construction workers are expected to be employed.
*BJWSA is
building a 10 million gallon water treatment facility next to the power
plant, and will treat all water leaving the plant's cooling towers
there. The water will again be treated at BJWSA's Chelsea plant.
"They're not
going to be here just overnight. They'll be here for years. Hardeeville
has got to get ready to deal with this. Jasper County has never seen
anything like this before."
Zenie Ingram,
Jasper County's Economic Development Board director, agreed that the
face of Jasper, especially southern Jasper, is changing forever.
Source: Mark
Kreuzwieser at Carolina Morning News, April 20, 2002 http://www.lowcountrynow.com
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Copyright 1997-2003 Gene
Brooks.
60- Hardeeville,
SC: Employment opportunities coming