KEEP THE FIRE BURNING
IN REMEMBRANCE OF
UNSOLVED HOMICIDES VICTIMS!
In April of 2002 Calhoun County Prosecutor, along with local, area and state law enforcement agencies, announced that they were putting a Cold Case Task Force Team into operation. This is something that F.A.M.E. has relentlessly pursued for the past 4 years. We had been waiting for this announcement for along time; however, some of the satisfaction of this accomplishment was taken away when we found out that the initial case selection for the task force was not exactly what we had hoped for. Our mission has not yet been accomplished to our satisfaction. We obviously feel that all of the names that appear on our list of unsolved homicides are of great importance, but what is equally important to us is what inspired us to undertake this issue originally, and that was our son's case, Jermel Smith, and the fact that the majority of the names on the list of unsolved homicides are African American. That was the catalyst for our commitment to this issue. Based on that premise, we don't feel that it is unreasonable for us to want to see those particular cases given some priority. At this time it doesn't appear as if any of those cases are at the top of the priority list of cases to be reopened. Needless to say, we find this to be not only a big disappointment for our organization and the surviving family members of the victims in question, but it is also humiliating and very demoralizing based on the expectations that we had and the effort that we put forth to help make this happen.