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Thursday, August 25, 2005
Rev. A. Leon Lowery, civil rights leader, dies in Fla.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA—The Rev A. Leon
Lowry, a prominent local dvil
rights leader who once taught
Martin Luther King Jr. and
led the desegregation of pub
lic facilities in Tampa, has
died at 92.
Lowry died Saturday of con
gestive heart failure. He had
been admitted to St. Joseph’s
Hospital last week, said his
wife, Shirley
Lowry’s association with
the civil rights movement
dated to the 1940s when he
taught theology at Morehouse
College and King was one of
his students.
In the 1960s, he led peaceful
protests at Tampa lunch
counters and helped found
Tampa’s first biradal bank.
He became president of the
Florida NAACP and in 1976
was the first Afiican-Ameii-
can elected to the Hillsbor
ough Coimty School Board,
where he seived for 16 years.
The Florida Bar awarded him
a medal of honor for easing
radal tensions and promoting
sodal justice.
Until he was hospitalized,
Lowry had continued coiinsel-
ing jail inmates, commuting
by scooter because hip prob
lems provented driving.
“That was just his whole
life,” his wife said. “He always
wanted to help people”
Lawsuit accuses Texas tax appraisal district of racial discrimination
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WICHITA FALLS, Tfexas-
A lawsuit filed in state court
accuses the ^chita County
Appraisal District of denying
tax-exempt status to a pre
dominantly black church
while granting it to other
churdhes in similar circum
stances.
‘Tull Gospel Powerhouse
Church is suffering unequal
treatment,” said Hiram Sass
er, director of litigation for
Plano-based Liberty Legal
Institute. ‘Tt is shameful that
the appraisal district is trying
to tax this church out of exis
tence.”
Lisa Stephens-Musidt, the
district’s director of op)era-
tions, said she has not seen
tile lawsuit and could not
comment.
The "^chita Falls church
has been trying to rebuild
after a fire but has not had a
building on the property for
three years.
“Right when they had the
money to rebuild for them
selves, the tax collector
swooped down and grabbed
it,” Sasser said.
Other churches in the area
have not been penalized and
taxed for unused land in the
dty, Sasser said.
Liberty Legal Institute is a
legal organization committed
to the defense of rehgious
fi'eedoms.
On the Net:
iJberty Ijegal Institute, wwwMh-
erlylegalx)rg
Wichita County Appraisal Dis
trict . \\'\v\vM’adt.xx'om
Youths working on improving their future
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Miss.-For
many sdiool kids, Saturday
morning is a time for rest and
relaxation, sleeping in or just
hanging around in pajamas,
but not for young men with
plans to be future community
leaders.
The Rites of Passage group,
the Sons of Issachar, a group
of 50 plus young black men,
get together with mentors
fium Mssionary Union Bap
tist Church every Saturday
morning fium 8 to 10 and
work on self improvement
through mental, physical,
and spiritual ex^dses.
The group started in 1997
with only nine members, but
has steadily increased
through the years, with mem-
b«:3 ranging fix)m 8 to 18
years old.
“We’re trying to grow young
men into community leaders,
who know how to lead and
help meet the needs of the
community,” said the Rev.
Tbny Montgomery of Mission
ary Union Baptist Church.
During the six-month pro
gram, which runs fium May
to October, the young men
focus on Bible study commu
nity awareness and commu
nity service, family responsi
bility, schoolwork, and
African-American history
Montgomery believes all
portions of the progi'am are
beneficial, but the history
portion is stressed, because
traditional education does not
give young black men the
knowledge necessary to build
confidence fi-om historical
backgrounds.
“The history books of today
haven’t changed much since I
was in high school,” said
Montgomery “The brief
Afiican-American portion
still ends the same way Mar
tin Luth^ King did what was
ri^t and stood up for his
community, and he was
assassinated.
“This makes these young
men beheve that if they do
what is right and stay posi
tive and active, something
bad will happen to them,”
Montgomery continued.
“We just try to educate
them past the 60s and 70s
and 80s up until now to see
where they fit in the picture.
They need to know the truth
and look at the whole scope of
history”
Though the group started
out with young men finm the
church, Montgomery said he
hopes to get more members
who do not have church
homes to join.
‘T wish I could get the juve
nile court to sentence young
men to our program instead
of jail, s^ we could work with
them,” he said.
“Om* correctional system is
not working, but we have the
power to help our own. We
want to readi out be5^nd the
churdi community It makes
me happy to see that we have
grown and now we do have
people fiom all over and not
just the church. That was the
goal of the program.”
Group members are enthu-
sieistic about the Rites of Pas
sage program. “It teaches
kids about being a better
man,” said Tferrell Jones, 17,
in his first year as a group
member. Fellow first-year
member Bobby Jackson, 16,
agreed. ‘Tt gets us ready for
everything in the world,” he
said.
Eddie Guyton, 16, has been
involved with the group for
five years. He said it helped
him get over the death of his
brother, especially because it
provided him with a whole
new family
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“A lot of us don’t have broth-
^ or fathers,” he said. “But
we have a lot of fiiends that
are here for us. I really like
it.”
T>der Jackson, 12, has be^i
going to Rites of Passage
meetings for several months.
His favorite part about it, he
said, is the exercise and fit
ness training he receives.
Tfen-year-old Clayton Jor
dan said he likes learning
more about the Bible. His
fiiend Shaunase Stallings, 8,
enjoys the group field trips
Rites of Passage members
sometimes take.
The program lasts through
the summer months, which
in Montgomery’s opinion, are
most critical. “The summer is
when guys can get in a lot of
trouble and they need guid
ance,” said Montgomery
“Mom is at work and they’re
home by themselves. That’s
when a lot of them start get
ting involved with drugs, and
sex, getting girls pregnant,
just finding all kinds of things
to get into.
“The Sons of Issachar were
men fix)m a tribe that knew
what to help get the Israelites
out of trouble,” Montgomery
said.
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