Please attend April 23 banquet - news about FBI investigation

After getting harassed in our local grocery store yesterday ~ Publix ~ by a bunch of teenage Bishop baseball players with the last name of Poynter for wearing a shirt with our President on it and then subsequently being told by a friend's 16 year old daughter with the worst frown on her face she could not be seen with me because of the same shirt and she joined the College Republicans - yes you Madison Hood - the need for education for and enlightening our Oconee, Walton and Clarke County youth is greater than ever. Please attend or at least donate to the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee banquet this Thursday.

From: "Rich Rusk" <richrusk@bellsouth.net>

Date: April 20, 2009 6:21:20 AM EDT

To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>

Subject: please attend April 23 banquet -  news about FBI investigation

 

Dear folks,

   Sometime today or tomorrow, many of you should receive a hard copy mailer inviting you to our Tenth Annual Moore's Ford Scholarship Banquet, set for this Thursday, April 23. We gather at 6:30 p.m. Weaver D's Delicous Fine Foods is catering; we will begin our meal at 7 p.m, with program to follow. 

   We had 45 applications this year; more than ever before. Kelly McInerney will emcee; Gwen O'Looney will introduce the finalists. Kendre'ah Perry and Connally Crowe, two performers from our last Tri-County Talent Show/MLK Celebration, will sing for us. It should be a great evening.

   That same letter is a fund raising appeal, which begins as follows:   

 

Dear friends,

 

With our tenth annual scholarship banquet only one week away, due to the economic downturn, growth in our scholarships program and our exceptionally busy Spring, we send this special appeal for donations. We also share uplifting news about the ongoing FBI investigation. If you have already given what you can, please accept our thanks!  

 

   Please attend this banquet. Awarding Moore's Ford Scholarships are the best thing we do. Please RSVP, but only if you are coming - we need a head count for Dexter.

   Directions: drive to downtown Watkinsville (8 miles south of Athens) on Hwy 441. At the light where Hwys 441 and 15 fork, turn north on Barnett Shoals Road. Go one block, the Sanctuary (13 Barnett Shoals) is on the left. It is a wood frame, historic church painted white. Additional parking is across the street at Gail's Restaurant. If lost, call 706-202-7802. Tickets are available at the door: $12 for adults, $6 students 18 and younger. 

   Please donate; we are awarding nearly $9,000 worth of scholarships that evening. Send your tax-exempt gift to: MFMC Scholarships, 480 Stanton Way, Athens, GA 30606. After this summer, our Moore's Ford address will be: MFMC, Box 1813, Watkinsville, GA 30677.  Either address will work.

   All the best from Janice and yours truly,

   Rich (Rusk), secretary

   Moore's Ford Memorial Committee

   706-354-0321; 706-202-7802 cell; richrusk@bellsouth.net

 

 

April 16, 2009

 

Dear friends,

 

With our tenth annual scholarship banquet only one week away, due to the economic downturn, growth in our scholarships program and our exceptionally busy Spring, we send this special appeal for donations. Wel also share uplifting news about the ongoing FBI investigation. If you have already given what you can, please accept our thanks!  

 

To sum up: our multiracial group of Georgians was formed in 1997 to memorialize two African American couples, George and Mae Murray Dorsey and Roger and Dorothy Malcom, killed by a lynch mob on July 25, 1946, at the Moore's Ford bridge forty miles east of Atlanta. We have worked hard to memorialize the Dorseys and Malcoms with cemetery restorations, gravemarkers, memorial services and a historic sign. 

 

Having focused on the sins of the past, we now focus on the promise of the future -  scholarships for area high school seniors.  At our first banquet in 2000, we awarded four $1,000 scholarships. Our program has now doubled. With the addition of  Morgan County High School this Spring, we received 45 applications. On April 23, we will award eight scholarships and eight $100 merit awards.  We are proud of these "living memorials" to the Dorseys and Malcoms, which are awarded annually to students interested in public service, social justice and racial reconciliation.

 

The MFMC continues to host annual Christmas parties, Tri-County Talent Show/MLK Celebrations, cemetery restorations and programs on current issues. We continue to join with other communities that have suffered racial violence. In  2001, 2005, and 2006, we gathered with grass roots memorial groups just like ours for mutual support across the country. But nothing is more important to us than scholarships for young people.

If you are troubled by the annual, July 25 reenactments of the Moore's Ford killings at the bridge, they trouble many of us as well. Please note that they are hosted by the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO), NOT the MFMC. In 2005, our group voted unanimously to oppose live reenactments with firearms. That remains our position.

 

Highlight of this past year was our March 28 film screening/public forum in Monroe. Over 200 persons attended as film maker Keith Beauchamp showed his documentary, Murder in Black and White, the premier screening for Walton County where the Moore's Ford murders occurred. Keith's documentary was shown nationally on TV One. Then top officials from President Obama's  FBI and Justice Dept. and the Georgia Bureau of

Investigation joined the panel and gave powerful testimony on the Moore's Ford case. They stated what we have long suspected: there have been good leads, strong suspects are still alive and older residents may have enough evidence to lead to prosecution, should they come forward. Ex-Klansman Elwin Wilson, who recently apologized to John Lewis for beating the Georgia congressman in 1961, gave powerful testimony as a panelist.

 

Savannah TV journalist Melissa Tune called March 28 a "thunderous and passionate call for justice." Both Oconee and Walton board of commission chairmen called for public support for the FBI investigation and demanded justice. We may be turning a corner, regarding public support for the investigation. Heightened federal interest in Moore's Ford flows from passage of the Emmett Till Bill, creating a special Justice Dept. task force to focus on unsolved, cold case, civil rights murders. We worked hard to promote congressional passage of this bill. Of 100 active cases, Moore's Ford tops the list.

 

Please remember, however, that in our eleven year the Moore's Ford effort is about more than putting a few old men in jail. We prefer a wider focus. The talent shows, scholarship awards, programs for schools and other communities, Christmas parties and different venues for bridging racial divides and bringing people together – this remains our work and our passion.

 

We remain light on cash, with over 90% of donations supporting the scholarships. We are reaching out to new donors and asking former donors to remember us once again. Recall that:

____ $25 pays for meals for a scholarship finalist and guest

____ $100 from ten people pays for a scholarship

____ $500 and up, donors are thanked at the banquet and listed in the program

____ $1000 scholarship is named for the donor, thanked at the banquet and listed. 

 

We will do our best to continue to earn your trust and support. The MFMC is a 501( c )3 non profit organization; all donations are tax exempt. If you wish inclusion in the banquet program, please call or email us ASAP with your pledge. We are also fundraising for 2009 Moore's Ford Memorial Scholarships. 

 

Please join us at our April 23 banquet as we showcase some exceptional young people. RSVP by phone or email, but only if you plan to attend. All the best from your Moore's Ford family,  

 

  Waymond Archie Mundy, Chairman                              Rich Rusk, Secretary