•
with hi c binet (from
v, E.L. Sf ch t
Dr. Mary O. Ro , president of the Women' Auxiliary of the National Bapti t Convention USA,
Inc., wa honored by the Council of 8apti t Pa tor at it annual banquet, long with Rev.
Aeriel G. McLain (left), Rev. Valmon D. Stott, chair; and Wolfe, a candidate for governor, were
.. honor d guest. .
ry
By ROBBIE CRUMP·McCOY
Sp!Cs., to tM Michigan Citizen
which has implemented the
w Grace Alcoholic program,
Alanon and Ala n programs,
catering to the total man. The
church has a clothing bank, a
nursery during worship hour,
and a scholarship fund to as­
simulate higher education. He
was honor d for Church Pro­
gram D v lopment.
of Michigan.
Rev. D. Norflette Mersier re­
cieved the "Social Achievement"
award. He is pastor of Christian
Temple Baptist Church and
board -mernber of OIC, the
YMCA (fisher branch), and w
employed with the Michigan
Consolidated Gas Company for
41 years ..
The only non-pastor honored
was Rev. Aaron D. Brown, assia­
tan to Dr. Roy Allen at Chapel
Hill Baptist Church. A graduate
of philosophy and music at the
U ni rsity of Detroit. He' also
corporate computer tr ining
o ultant.
Rev. Valmon D. Sto was
neral chairman for the ban­
qu t; Rev. Lawr nce C. Glass,
program dir ctor; Rev. Willie
Banks, Rev. Jack Ealy and Rev.
J. lark rv as committee
members. Rev. Jim Holley i
p ident; Rev. Edgar L. Vann,
Jr. ndRev. E.L. Branch are vice
pre id n ; R v. Oscar Carter
.and R v, Rayford Banks hold
he tarial positions.
The Council of Bapti t Pas­
tors of Detroit &. Vicinity drew
an overflow crowd to its ninth
nnual awards banquet , Friday
t the W tin Hotel. "A More
Excellent Ministry" was the
theme.
The banquet closed the an­
nual W.R. Haney Institute. This,
year' top honors went to Mayor
Col man A. Young, who gained
20-year upport from the council
which p ented him with the
Roy A. Allen award, founder of
the organization and pastor of
Cha I Hill p ist Church.
Th awarded by the council
also included Rev. J M. Mor­
man, pastor of the Christian
Tabernacl B ptis Church, who
ially giv tim and con­
cerns to th poor, th brok n-
hearted nd the homel in the
city. H eived the nomic
dev lopment ward.
Re . Juli Hope, p tor of
N w G ac Bapti t Church,
ouldp
BY AMY HARRINGTON
JACKSON, M . (AP)- The
lawyer for fired Wingfield High
School principal Bishop Knox
argued today that Jackson
school district officials never
told Knox not to let students
read prayers over the school in­
tercom.
-At the very worst there was
a breakdown in communica­
tion," attorney Nate Kellum told
a hearing officer.
Knox w fired Nov. 24, 15
d ys at: t en� d th 0
prayer on thr 'consecutive
days last month. He requested"
today's hearing as part of his
appeal to the school board.
School officials said they told
Knox in advance that the read­
ing of such prayers .was against
school policy and he could be
fired if he allowed them.
Knox was fired by Jackson
school superintendent Ben Can­
ada. Knox has claimed he did
nothing wrong because a major­
ity of students voted for the
prayers.
ORR becau
thi hurts BYU much more than it
hu rts me. This kind of -nn.ftCU)
hurts uden ' chan of ing into
graduate school. It damages the repu­
tation of th unive ity," Knowlton
THE FIRING OF Knox led
to demonstrations in Jackson
and other areas of the state in
support of school prayer. Stu­
dents at Wingfield were sus­
pended when they walked out in
protest of Knox's firing, but were
allowed to return to school with­
out the suspensions showing up
on their records.
two
b· hop e
an
ct d
TORONTO - Seventeen years
after the Anglican Church of
Canada began ordaining women
to the priesthood, it has elected
its first woman bishop.
The Rev. Victoria Matthews,
who serves a parish and is re­
gional dean in suburban
Toronto, was one of tWQ assis­
tant bishops elected Nov. 29 for
the Diocese of Toronto, the
church's largest.
She will be the fifth woman
bishop in the worldwide Angli­
can communion. Matthews
earned her Master of Divinity
degree at Yale University and
was ordained to the' priesthood
in 1980.
Supporters of Knox called
Monday for students through­
out Mississippi to cut classes {or
a ."pray-out" today. An early
check around the state showed
no walkouts.
"We believ in the accommo­
dation of people who do want to
pray," Bobby Clanton, founder
of Mis i ippi ns Entitled to Re­
spon ibl Government Political
Action Committ (MERGPAC),
s id Monday. _
. Clanton organized the group
afte� the Knox incident became
b 1,1 0 II" I'J l II II I�
pu IC.
"WHAT WE'RE trying to do
is redefine this issue from what
it's been in the last 30 years,"
Clanton said. "We do believe if
the students want to read a
prayer such as the one (student
body president) Kim Fails read,
we believe they should be able to
do that."
On Friday, student protests
over Knox's firing spread out­
side the Jackson area for the
first time. Hundreds of atudents
BISHOP KNOX
walked out of classes in Hatties­
burg, Ellisville, Meridian, New­
ton, Petal, Waynesboro and
other cities.
By ROBBIE CRUMP·McCOY
Specl., to the MichIgan Citizen
A memorial service was held
Saturday, Dec. 4, 1993, for
David J. Whitfield, 84, at the
People's Community Church,
8601 Woodward, Detroit. Rev.
Martin E. Bolton, pastor, gave
the eulogy.
DAVID WHITFIELD
sur n in
later promot
in B ltimor
Ru h, hi wif
With
Whitfield and his wife moved to
. Pittsburgh where he wa in­
ducted into the U.S. Army, erv­
ing in World War II. After being
discharged he relocated his fam­
ily to Detroit where he found
employment with North Caro­
lina Insurance until his retire­
ment.
An ardent supporter of the
NAACP, he had a savvy of sell­
ing many tables for the Free­
dom Fund Dinn r. While still
serving in the armed forces, he
old memberships to the solid­
era stationed in Paris, France.
HE WA LIFETIME
member of the NAACP, Alpha
Phi Alpha Fraternity" and the
Brotherhood of People's Com­
munity Church. His affiliations.
also included the PrAt Belmont
Block Club Henry Hitt Crane
Foundation, Boston-Edison As­
sociation, W t Virginia State
University Alumni; Booker T.
Washington Bu in Associa­
tion, Optimist Club and the
Birthday Club of People's Com­
munity Church.
In his remarks, Senator
J ckie Vaughn called him a
"casualty of involv m nt," and
former City Council member
Erma Henderson po, . Whi _
field' urvivcrs includ ni wife,
Ruth; a on, Joel H. of ?noenix;
d ughter-in-law, Val rie; two
grandchildren, Nicole and
Camill ; brother-in-law, Sidn y
Barthwell; on broth r, William
11 Whitfi ld of An
'.