The seventh annual Crime Victim Survivors Memorial Service to remember homicide victims from the previous year and support their families is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday at New Community Church, 321 N. Birch St.
The Rev. David Morgan of Healing Place Ministries, which is co-sponsoring the event, said “every year, millions of innocent people become victims of crime, and they deserve our understanding, compassion and respect.”
Other sponsors include the Area Agency on Aging, the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Victim Witness Division of the 11th Judicial District West, which includes Jefferson and Lincoln counties.
As a part of the service, the names of homicide victims in Pine Bluff and Jefferson County will be read aloud and will be placed on a memorial wall to honor their memory, Morgan said.
“We are praying that family members, loved ones, co-workers and friends of the victims listed on the memorial wall will find this service beneficial,” Morgan said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The service is part of National Crime Victims Rights Week — April 22-28 — a time, Morgan said, “to reach out to victims/survivors and help them rebuild their lives.”
Homicide victims for 2011 that will be recognized during the service will be as follows:
• Jan. 22 — Timothy Reed, 20.
• March 9 — Jeremy Edward Ireland, 34.
• March 16 — Louis Swanson, 78.
• April 3 — Kenneth Goodwin, 39.
• April 9 — Kendrell Kirklin, 24.
• April 19 — Kadedra Washington, 16.
• May 27 — James Moten Jr., 30.
• June 26 — Vanessa Bearden, 21.
• July 27 — Brian K. Smith, 21.
• Aug. 4 — Jason Taggart, 29.
• Aug. 6 — Marcus McAfee, 17.
• Aug. 13 — Re’Shelle Smith, 23.
• Sept. 11 — Briand Harris, 31.
• Oct. 25 — Paul Fells Jr., 23.
• Oct. 28 — Willie B. Young, 53.
• Nov. 9 — Marcus Smith, 21.
• Nov. 13 — Walter Ashley Jr., 39.
• Dec. 3 — Michael Laron King, 27.
• Dec. 16 — Kenneth Davis, 46.
A second service is planned in Little Rock on April 24 at Philander Smith College.