Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter

THE SPANISH Town Ministers Fraternal and the Guild of Students at the University of the West Indies (UWI) are getting ready to summon a higher power to stop the murderous rampage of gunmen in the Old Capital.

For years Pastor Rowan Edwards, an executive member of the Fraternal watched quietly as his town crumbled in the hands of gunmen and order lost ground to mayhem. Just last week, 30-year-old Donovan 'Dave' Lee, and 16-year-old Shauna-Kaye Williams were slain along Morrison Street in the Town, continuing a ghastly trail of bloodshed. But no more.

"We believe that if there was ever a time that the church needs to speak out, it is now," says Edwards. "We have decided that we are going to take the initiative in crippling the crime and violence surrounding the community and it is our aim to pull out all the church folk."

PEOPLE OF FAITH

Come the end of this month, the Ministers are hoping to stage the largest gathering ever of people of faith in the Town, (some 30,000) to denounce criminality with a strong and united voice. Before that monumental move, however, they are also hoping to brace themselves with a serious prayer vigil.

"The gunmen are destroying Spanish Town and they are destroying the business community. The church is begging the Government to pay some attention to Spanish Town," says Edwards.

In the meantime, the UWI's Guild of Students is also appealing for support from the public, inviting others to take a stand with them as they march against crime in the town, commencing at 2:00 p.m. next Sunday.

"We are making a statement that we are not in support of the violence that is taking over the country and we are inviting all the citizens to join us," explains Damion Crawford, Guild president.

"The students are willing to support it. Some are fearful but we are working on that. We hope to have a crusade at the end of it... poor people shouldn't be fighting and killing each other over foolishness."

Just last week members of the St. Catherine Chamber of Commerce threatened to shut down Spanish Town tomorrow, if steps were not taken to curb the high level of crime, particularly murder, plaguing the town.

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