DECATUR - Paula Clark traveled to the cemetery and placed
flowers on her son's grave on Friday. She also placed flowers on
the graves of two little girls who were killed on Halloween in
1984.
Halloween brings back painful memories for Clark. But she
continues coming every year to a candlelight vigil in remembrance
of her son Terry "T.J." Lowery, 18, who was shot and killed at a
McDonald's restaurant on Eldorado Street on Halloween night in
1994.Ten years earlier, Sherry Gordon, 12, and Theresa Hall, 10,
were killed on Halloween night after walking home from a party. The
girls had been sexually assaulted and strangled in a vacant
Longview Place apartment. No one was ever charged for the murder of
the girls."It doesn't get any easier," Clark said. "I can stand
here tonight and be at peace with this because of my relationship
with the God."About 40 children and their parents stood around in a
circle on Friday and held a prayer vigil in the parking lot of the
Enrichment Center across from Main Street Church of the Living
God.Afterwards, children went around to the many cars parked in the
parking lot and went trunk or treating - where parents handed out
handfuls of candy from their trunks. They went inside the center
and ate chili dogs, played games and inspected their bags of
candy.Shauna Mays also participated in the event and passed out
candy from the trunk of her car. She said she was a very young girl
when Gordon and Hall where killed 19 years ago."I remember how
Halloween changed in Decatur and how parents became more aware
about sending their children out to trick or treat on Halloween,"
Mays said.Assistant Pastor Larry Young, who led the prayer vigil,
said Main Street Church is trying to offer alternative activities
on Halloween. "We don't want to see children become victims again,"
Young said.Anthony Corey Walker with Youth Empowerment Agency said
this was the first year the organization helped sponsor the
candlelight prayer vigil. "We are all about stopping the violence
and use this particular day, Halloween, to get the message out
about violence and what happened to the kids years ago," he
said.Sheila Smith can be reached at 421-7963.
