By Rupert Howell

STOP or Stop The Ongoing Problem group that formed following a week of gang-related violence in Panola County will meet again tomorrow morning at 9 at the Patton Lane Community Center with Sheriff Dennis Darby planning to attend.

The group selected retired teacher and former South Central Bell manager John C. Morris to chair the group. He said this week that the group wants to send the message, “One lost to violence is one too many.”
Morris said that the STOP group wants to appeal to the better good of the groups involved in the violence and that his group’s goal was to recommend a better way.

Last week STOP organized by electing leadership and asked one member with a knowledge of gang activity to advise and coordinate them. STOP members agreed to go to their churches the following Sunday and pray for peace while several agreed to fast while praying against the violence.

STOP’s advisor on Monday said groups involved were near a truce, a statement that he and others confirmed Tuesday.

Panola County sheriff’s deputy Albert Perkins told the group last week that the age range was seven to 18 years of age that needed to be reached as that is the ages targeted by recruiting gangs.

The advisor also suggested the group go about promoting peace in the same way Proposition 26, the abortion issue on the November 2011 ballot, was promoted with t-shirts and yard signs getting the message out and planting the seed that violence is not cool.

T-shirts with the wording, “Stray bullets have no targets-we live here too. Stop the violence, increase the peace,”  will be distributed by the group.

The Saturday meeting is open and those wishing to join and contribute their time, services or make financial contributions are all welcome according to Morris who noted that membership is open.