A community event against violence next week comes in the wake of an outcry over the deaths of two teenagers earlier this year.
But it wasn't planned that way.
When the Rev. Larry Fryer invited Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker to Augusta, it was back in 2009 and the grieving was for 18-year-old Shawndrel Horton, who was shot and killed in the Cherry Tree Crossing neighborhood in June.
Fryer started organizing an event to spread knowledge about resources for parents and troubled teens. Since Baker agreed to appear, two more teenagers, both Butler High students, have died by gunfire this year: Tykiah Palmer and Brandon Taylor, both 16.
On Thursday, Fryer and other leaders came together at the Carrie J. Mays Family Life Center at 1014 11th Ave. to give a preview of what next week's event will hold and to urge the public to attend.
Fryer said the violence leading up to the event only makes the need for it more urgent. "We didn't know how tragic this would be," he said.
The event, which will be held Thursday in the gymnasium of the community center, begins at 5:30 p.m. and, besides Baker, will feature an address from Bill Cain of the National Crime Prevention Task Force.
Parents and guardians who want a place for their children to go after school can get more information about recreation groups in the area. There will also be booths set up by representatives from local fraternities and sororities, educators, government and law enforcement.
The Richmond County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will give information on its classes about conflict resolution.
Mae Palmer, Tykiah's grandmother, said the purpose of the summit is to show parents constructive ways for their children to spend their free time.
"To stop the violence we have to put something else in its place," she said.
There is a major cultural problem that can't be addressed after a person becomes a teenager. There is a huge part of the population, produced by vote buying efforts, that doesn't recognize the "responsibility and accountability" part of life until students begin to form gangs and children start killing children and anyone else they wish to. New forms of entertainment and diversions (until the children reach this age) aren't going to solve the problems that have been developing since the mid-60's. Addressing the root problem will cost one of our major parties a lot of votes and deprive this entire culture of their right to be nannied. Look for the deaths to continue. More unintended consequences of social engineering. I think the Dems call it "justifiable collateral damage" whenever they're candid about the situation.
Father role models have been eliminated from poor families by the government's policy of handouts to unwed mothers. Before the welfare age traditional families with fathers and mothers were the norm. The men had power because they worked. Now the women drawing the checks do and they don't want to marry. The men are discouraged in all things.
Just enough education and counseling to justify a passing of the hat. Yeah man this will be a real "save the children" event that all the gang bangers in Augusta have already market their calendars and PDA's for. They should jhave a jolly old time and I am sure the conflict resolution classes are going to bring down violence to levels never seen before. I guess the gang beating dosen't qualify as violence for some reason. What is that reason and where is the outrage.
Waste of time and money! They play the victim role and do not want to give it up because that would mean responsibility. Treat gangs like terrorists...because they are! Eliminate them...and I mean use every source possible to eliminate them. We wouldn't allow Hamas to set up shop in our neighborhood (well, dictator Obama would...but most TRUE natural born Christian Americans would not)..so why do we allow gangs to flourish? Gangs are terrorist!
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