SARDIS –  For 29-year-old Justin Fletcher, fitting in with the guys and being cool led him in the wrong direction.

Now after serving 31 months behind bars, Fletcher  urged children and adults attending last Saturday’s peace rally and parade there is more to life than gangs, drugs, girls and clean cars.

Fletcher’s comments came during prayer, testimony and praise at the Sardis rally sponsored by STOP (Stop The Ongoing Problem).

STOP was organized earlier this year in response to incidences of gang-related violence in Panola that started with the January murder of a Batesville man.  STOP organizers have worked to penetrate the county,  and as chairman John Morris explained Saturday, “To provide a positive means for young men and women to express themselves.”

Meetings and rallies have been held in Batesville, Sardis, Como and Crenshaw, but Saturday’s meeting was held at the Hwy. 51 ballfield, just a block or two away from one hotspot for gang activities – Greenhill subdivision. Only two days earlier, a gang fight in the neighborhood sent a woman to the hospital. Just two hours after the rally, the neighborhood was the scene of a drive-by shooting (see story, page A1).

“Now you see what kind of pants I got on,” Fletcher  told the group.  Wearing the familiar green and white inmate pants, this  was Fletcher’s second time to testify about his mistakes and praise God publicly as part of the Tate County Jail ministry.

Fletcher, a native of Panola County, is serving a 15-year sentence for burglary of a dwelling and a five-year sentence for burglary of an automobile, but with God’s help, he told the crowd his life has changed.

“You need to pray, go to church, go to school and do something positive with yourself,” Fletcher told the group.

Although from a different perspective, his comments were echoed by a number of other speakers, including members of the Christian Motorcycle Association, pastors and concerned citizens who took the podium following the parade.