TIFTON — One county commissioner said she was recently ready to quit her efforts to clean up her community but has now been inspired to continue by several letters and telephone calls supporting her. She is encouraging others in Tifton and Tift County to help her and show up en masse at the next crime summit scheduled for 6 p.m. July 20 at the Neighborhood Service Center on South Central Avenue.
Melissa Chevers, who represents District 2 on the Tift County Board of Commissioners, said Monday that she recently received a call from someone who told her that if she didn’t “shut her mouth” that harm would come to her.
“It rattled me,” Chevers said. “I considered backing off.”
A few days later, Chevers got a letter from a man in Chula. The man wrote that he is disabled and spends the majority of his days in bed and that his wife is a paraprofessional at a local public school. He said he was sending a $10 check to help Chevers and that he appreciated her efforts to make her community safer.
“That right there fueled my energy,” Chevers said. “It really lifted me.”
Another unsigned letter to Chevers was also encouraging. The person who wrote the letter stated that they were afraid to sign their name but that they wanted to do more, they just didn’t know how.
The letter writer encouraged Chevers to continue to say the things that needed to be said.
“I do want to encourage you to continue this fight. Our town is worth saving and once again truly being the ‘friendly city,’” the person wrote.
Chevers said that members of the Tifton Police Department and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office, among others, attended the last “Crime Summit” held in May. She said eight people from the community attended the meeting and one law enforcement agent commented that he would believe the community was serious about cleaning up the community of crime and other problems when the meetings brought an overflow crowd from within the community.
“I just want people to know this isn’t a job I can do by myself,” Chevers said. “I need prayers and those who can to help me.”
Chevers said people in her community generally respect pastors and ministers and she believes there would be great strength shown by those pastors if they would attend the meetings and encourage their church members to do the same.
“Our pastors and ministers have so much influence in our community,” Chevers said. “We in the African-American community have lot of respect for them and we need them to step up.”
But, Chevers said, crime is not “just a black thing.”
“We have crime all over,” Chevers said. “I would like to see all races take part in the summit. A community doesn’t have boundaries.”
To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.
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