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East Chattanooga churches take stand against area crime

By: Yolanda Putman
(Contact)

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Ron Cook

In an attempt to address and perhaps stem ongoing violence in East Chattanooga, at least a dozen churches in the area are planning outside worship services on Sunday.

“There’s been a lot of violence and shootings,” said Forestine Haynes, a member of Thankful Baptist Church, located at 980 N. Orchard Knob Ave. “We’re trying to get people engaged in this activity to understand that there is an ultimate judgment, and people need to think about that.”

Ms. Haynes, who grew up and works in East Chattanooga, is one of hundreds of people planning to participate Sunday in Church Outside the Walls. Churches will hold morning worship services on their front lawns or parking lots to show their desire to reconnect and be an integral part of the community, organizers said.

The event is scheduled only a few weeks after a homicide took place in East Chattanooga. On July 3, Jacquard Petty, 21, was shot to death after going to a night club on Milne Street. Police arrested Carl Moore, 26, in connection with that shooting.

In 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded the East Chattanooga community a $1 million Weed and Seed grant to help rid the neighborhood of crime. The community had five shootings in less than three weeks in the summer of 2007 when the grant was announced, according to police reports.

Homicides in East Chattanooga neighborhoods increased by 50 percent from 2004 to 2006, according to a 2007 news release from the Chattanooga Housing Authority, which helped get the federal grant. Auto thefts increased 27 percent, drug arrests increased 25 percent and aggravated assaults increased 16 percent, housing officials have said.

The Sunday event is part of an effort to make East Chattanooga churches more visible and to let the community know that the “church is still alive and active,” said the Rev. Oscar Lockhart, pastor of Thankful Baptist Church, which is spearheading the event.

“We want to awaken the community that we’re there for them,” Mr. Lockhart said.

Church Outside the Walls precedes a three-night Christian revival that will start at 7 p.m. Aug. 11-13 at the ballfield across from the Carver Center at 600 N. Orchard Knob.

“We’re not going to drive in on Sunday morning, have service and drive back out,” said the Rev. Ron Cook, pastor of Rock Island Baptist Church at 2106 Camden Street. “This community belongs to us and we’re willing to work hard to bring it up to acceptable levels.”

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