Anti-crime rally draws crowd

WALTERBORO -- More than 100 people gathered in unity and prayer Thursday evening to rally for an end to the violence that has plagued rural Colleton County and sparked fear in its residents.

Beneath a slate gray sky, local leaders pledged to root out the criminals responsible for the bloodshed and restore the area's reputation as a wholesome and safe place to live. The crowd gathered on the county courthouse lawn represented a broad swath of the community -- old and young, black and white, affluent and poor.

"We want to send a clear message to the thugs, thieves and robbers out there: Get out of our town!" State Rep. Bill Bowers shouted to the crowd.

"Say it again," someone yelled in reply.

"Get out of our town!" Bowers bellowed to sustained applause.

Organizers took heart in the turnout and the crowd's response after a weary couple of years in which the Walterboro area has struggled with drive-by shootings and gang violence. The event, which grew out of a recent conversation among merchants, aimed to show the area is still a good-hearted, solid community, albeit one with a cancerous element that has left fear, frustration and grief in its wake.

The most recent wave of violence began Nov. 9 with a drive-by shooting in Walterboro that killed two adults and a 20-month-old girl and left six others wounded on Gerideau Street. Several more shootings followed, prompting a state grand jury investigation into the violence.

The tit-for-tat shootings have trailed off of late, but the community was recently stunned again when a 14-year-old boy smashed a brick into the face of an elderly man in an apparent robbery attempt outside a downtown post office in broad daylight, authorities said.

Walterboro Mayor Bill Young said the city is committed to ending the bloodshed and will give police whatever help they need to accomplish that. He asked residents to be patient and understanding if they are inconvenienced by traffic stops or other tactics that may be necessary to weed out criminals. He said this doesn't signal a return to the racial intolerance and harassment of the 1960s, but rather a concerted effort to restore safety on the streets.

"We promise we will not rest until citizens are secure in the knowledge that Walterboro is still the wonderful town it has always been," he said.

Walterboro Police Chief Otis Rhodes and County Councilman Joe Flowers urged people to keep an eye out for trouble, work with law enforcement and share information that will help officers stamp out crime.

"We've had enough killings. We've had enough maimings," Flowers said. "It's time to put a stop to it."

Ruby Kittrell lost her granddaughter, her 21-year-old son and her brother in the November shooting in Walterboro. She showed up to the rally with other relatives and was pleased by what she heard. "It's nice to see people coming together as a community," she said. "I think change is finally gonna come."

Shaner Adams and Chris Kelbach hope so. They moved to town from Ohio last year searching for a safe, quiet place to raise their young children. Instead, Kelbach had to scoop up his 8-year-old daughter and her friends one afternoon when gunshots rang out on their street.

"When we moved here, we thought it was just a sleepy little town," Adams said. "We would like to stay here, but we'd like it to be a little more peaceful."

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com.