Grant County officials reverse plaque decision

MARION, IND. -- Grant County Commissioners on Monday reversed a decision that would have allowed the placement of a courthouse plaque as part of a "day of reconciliation" service at the site of a 1930 lynching.\nThe 3-0 vote by the commissioners came a week after they had voted to permit a group of ministers to put up the plaque during the service planned for Sunday. Monday's vote tables the issue until it can be discussed further.\n"I personally believe this is the wrong time to put up a plaque," said Commission President Karen Bostic Weaver, who voted against a plaque last week and made a motion Monday to reverse the decision allowing it.\nRelatives of the two black men killed in the lynching have argued against allowing the plaque, saying it was inappropriate and would not bring closure to their families.\nThomas Shipp, 18, and Smith, 19, were killed when a mob of whites dragged them from the county jail and hanged them from a tree outside the Grant County Courthouse. The lynchings occurred after the men had been accused of killing Claude Deeter, 23, and raping his female companion, both of whom were white.\nShipp and Smith's relatives brought petitions Monday signed by about 500 people against allowing the plaque, the wording of which did not have any direct references to the lynching.\nTyrone Cobb, 64, Smith's second cousin, told Deeter's 68-year-old nephew, Carl Deeter, on Monday that he harbored no ill feelings toward his family.\n"I don't hate you. I don't think you hate us. But I don't think we need a plaque to say that," said Cobb, of Marion. "And I hope things get better. And with prayer, they will."\nA group of ministers, from both predominantly black and white congregations, suggested the service and plaque as a way for the city about 40 miles southwest of Fort Wayne to overcome perceptions of racial problems.\nThe ministers still plan to hold the reconciliation service Sunday on the courthouse grounds.