HomeMy WebLinkAboutII (D) Ocoee/West Orange Reconciliation Committee Agenda 6-15-99
Item II D
J. Lester Dabbs
619 Caborca Court
Ocoee, Florida 34761
(407) 656-4332
MEMORANDUM
TO: Ellis Shapiro, City Manager
FROM: J. Lester Dabbs
DATE: June 8, 1999
RE: Ocoee/West Orange Reconciliation Committee Presentation
Please agenda the Ocoee/West Orange Reconciliation Committee for a
presentation/request to the City Commission at its meeting on June 15, 1999.
Your cooperation is earnestly solicited and deeply appreciated.
Respectfully submitted:
OCOEE/WEST ORANGE RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE
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Rev. Lew Arnold � �ti`1.,o LC.) 2 t>-kJ
Lester Dabbs
Rev. Freddie Filmore •
Rev. Jerry Girley
Betty Hager 'Ze Zr
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Harold Maguire P� -%/
Dr. Bryan Stamper r__)/ GCrve
Rev. Mike Yoakum
Frank Diaz
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WHEREAS the challenges of making a democratic society work for all of us remain with us
today, and
WHEREAS there remains with our society a large unresolved or unclear issues, the citizens
of Ocoee named below have been meeting with the common purpose of
explicitly defining the values and issues which are important to our citizens, our
city, and the West Orange Community at large.
We believe our citizens subscribe to the tenets anyone would generally ascribe
to a democratic society, but specifically the following:
a. each person possesses dignity, worth and human rights as a child of God -
regardless of race, religion, or national origin
b. each person is endowed by his/her creator with certain inalienable rights as
enunciated in the Declaration of Independence
c. each of us is charged by God, by whatever name Ile is called, to leave the
world in better shape because we lived
d. each of us is responsible for our individual acts and has a duty to support the
corporate body: i.e. family, school, workplace, city, etc.
e. each person is entitled to receive from others the treatment prescribed in the
Golden Rule
f. each person is entitled to fair and equitable treatment under the laws of the
community, state, or nation
FURTHER, it is our belief our City and the greater West Orange Community should be
defined by its citizens, its elected officials, by citizen and church groups, and
groups such as Chamber of Commerce and not by any outside group or agency.
For instance, we believe the sad and tragic events of election day 1920 should
not define for 1999 and beyond what our West Orange Community holds as its
values_ Our diversity speaks loudly to our West Orange Community's support
of the values and beliefs listed above, and it is in the spirit of brotherly love
under the Fatherhood of God that we ask the City Commission of the City of
Ocoee to embrace and bless our noble effort to wipe out any and all negative
images - real or perceived - that have been perpetuated over many years.
Specifically, I" we request your blessing of our effort because we believe the
social and economic interests of the City and the greater West Orange
Community are served by our effort to define clearly the values we hold dear.
2'", we request permission to hold future meetings in one of the public buildings
in the city as we consider specific ways to engender community-wide support
for our effort which could be patterned after the Wilmington, North Carolina
community effort which overcame the sordid memories of an event similar to
the one our community experienced in 1920.
Respectfully submitted this 8"' day of
June, 1999. •
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Rev. Lew Arnold rv"" €d„
Lester Dabbs '�r�
Frank Diaz �j7in� »ice
Rev. Freddie Filmore mot,
Rev. Jerry Girley _ _
Betty !lager
Ilarold Maguire it
Dr. Bryan Stamper 221 /V
Rev. Yoakum