Coming together
Yellow is not usually considered a fall color by the fashion-conscious, but wearing yellow will not make you look like a couture cretin if you don it next Saturday at Washington & Jefferson College or the surrounding area.
The campus will be the launching point for a “March Against Violence,” and participants are being encouraged to wear yellow apparel for the event. It is set to get under way at 10 a.m. at W&J’s Old Main building and will feature speakers and a march through some of the streets in the immediate vicinity.
It’s being organized by officials with both the city and college, and follows a similar march that happened last November in the wake of the Oct. 4, 2012, death of W&J football player Tim McNerney, who was attacked after he left a downtown Washington bar with a friend early that morning. Three men were arrested and charged in connection with the killing in August.
“It’s bringing people together to talk about some of the issues in the community and how we deal with those challenges,” said Steve Anderson, the associate dean of student life at W&J.
The march will start on College Street and proceed to the Highland-Ridge area and Main Street, with a stop at the garden near the Washington County Courthouse that remembers crime victims. The march will then continue on Main and go down East Wheeling Street before winding up back at the college.
Speakers will include Rebecca Kelley, the sister-in-law of Vincent Kelley, the 46-year-old Washington man who was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend a bank robber at the Giant Eagle grocery store in South Strabane Township in June; and Elwin Green, a Pittsburgh community activist who has been instrumental in helping to revitalize the city’s Homewood neighborhood.
In the months since McNerney’s death, leaders of the city, college and other groups have been meeting monthly to address concerns about crime and violence, and “we’ve had a lot of good discussions,” said Pam Kilgore, a member of the Washington School District’s safety and wellness committee and one of the march’s organizers. While the march will shine a spotlight on the victims of crime, it will also “focus on prevention and celebrate the community,” she said.
Additional information on the march is available by calling 724-223-4200, ext. 6.