FIGHTING VIOLENCE: COMMUNITY SUPPORT SOUGHT TO STOP URBAN KILLINGS

Debra Germany wiped a tear from her eye Sunday as she recalled the young
men who last summer filed past the casket of her son, Raymond, the victim
of an assassin's 11 bullets.

"I said, 'Baby, don't end up here,' " Germany told hundreds of people
packed into Central Baptist Church in the Hill District for the "Stop the
Violence, Heal the Hurting" prayer vigil. "And to the gentlemen here today,
I say don't trust people to coerce you into selling their drugs. They will
kill you."

Germany was one of more than 20 government, police, church and community
leaders who spoke during the vigil, which she and Valerie Dixon organized.
Between rousing gospel songs and fiery prayers from local clergy, members
of murder victims' families and local politicians spoke of the importance
of prayer and unity in the fight against violence.

Dixon, whose son, Robert, also was killed by a gunman last summer, said the
goal of the event was to begin rallying the community behind a concentrated
drive to end drug-related violence in the city.

"If we can come together like this - all these people - we can fight the
killings of our children," Dixon said before the vigil.

Raymond Germany, 23, of the Hill District, was killed near his home July 9
during a drug buy, police said. Robert Dixon, 22, a former high school
football star, died during a fight in Lincoln-Lemington on June 25. Police
said the fight was over drugs.

Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey told the crowd at the vigil that more
must be done to loosen the grip drugs have on urban neighborhoods.

"There is a war that we are losing, and it is the war on drugs," he said.
"But there is no will to do anything other than build more jails for those
convicted of drug charges."

Debra Germany begged mothers to keep their children away from the drug trade.

"If you stand there and let your children bring drugs into the house or do
drugs, you're cursing them and all of us," she said.

Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Maurita Bryant, who led the investigations into all
59 killings in the city last year, said events like yesterday's are
important because they get people involved in her work.

"There is a level of commitment necessary from the community to make a
difference," she said.

Germany and Dixon hope to get more people involved through their new group,
Divine Intervention Ministries, which will work to comfort families of
murder victims and educate the public about the causes of violence.

The group's first action was to erect billboards throughout the city
showing pictures of victims and phone numbers for law enforcement programs,
such as the gang task force, the witness protection program and narcotics
investigators. The billboards have since come down because of a lack of money.

But Roddey pledged $5,000 in county money yesterday to get the signs up
permanently.

"I hope more people and groups will come forward so that we can keep these
signs up where they are needed most," he said.

For more information about Divine Intervention Ministries, call (412) 621-0622.