Community comes together for Town Meeting and Panel Discussion

St. Paul's UMC hosted on Tuesday night a Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission sponsored event titled "Community Connections: Taking Ownership For Where We Live."

The Gazette article in the April 15, 2009 edition of the paper was titled About 250 gather to talk about race, police, violence. Link The Gazette story includes link to video replay of event.

The Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission web site provided the following highlights:

Over 250 people gathered to discuss social issues on April 14 at St. Paul's
United Methodist Church. The discussion included concerns about parenting,
absent landlords, and issues concerning the police and the people they serve.
Every person in Cedar Rapids needs to be responsible and help work
together to be able to solve these problems. Panelist, Lloyd, Smith summed this
up by stating "the solution is out there," indicating the audience. "Not up
here. It has to be worked out there."

Panelists included:

• Terry Bilsland, President of Wellington Heights, Neighborhood Association
• Dedric Doolin, Iowa/Nebraska NAACP State Conference Secretary
• Pastor Harlan Gillespie, Senior Pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church
• Greg Graham, Cedar Rapids Police Chief
• Dr. Dave Markward, Cedar Rapids Community School District Superintendent
• Lloyd Smith, Retired Juvenile Officer
• Dr. Ruth White, Executive Director of The Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success
  

Event moderated by:

• Beth Malicki, News anchor/reporter for KCRG TV Channel 9
• Dean Borg, Senior Correspondent for Iowa Public Radio and public affairs anchor for Iowa Public Television

Cedar Rapids Crime Stoppers

Other articles related to this story - various sources, Alleged attack on police spurs Cedar Rapids forum on race from DesMoinesRegister.com and Assault on Cedar Rapids officer raises fears from KPTM-TV (AP).