Ministerial Alliance plans centers for families in need

By Javier Erik Olvera, Rocky Mountain News
July 28, 2003

Few people knew 15-year-old Paul Childs before a police officer's bullet ended his life when he wouldn't drop a knife inside his home.

Since the shooting, the boy's story - a developmental disability, a shaky family life and frequent 911 calls - has done what few others could do:

Prompt change.

From clergy to educators, police to regular folk, Childs' death has residents of all ethnic backgrounds studying what they can do to spot other families in despair.

Local black churches are taking the lead, with the Greater Metro Ministerial Alliance setting up spiritual-based centers to reach such families.

"If there are holes in the community that aren't being filled, we're going to fill them," said the Rev. Reginald Holmes, alliance president.

The centers, clearinghouses of information, including mental health and social services, will be set up this fall in eight neighborhoods with predominantly black populations.

The alliance is trying to raise $500,000 to hire 43 staff members to operate the centers, which will be housed in churches.

Holmes wants the centers to become central to each neighborhood, with residents taking ownership of them.

The Rev. Patrick Demmer of Graham Memorial Church is taking a similar approach. He is challenging his congregation to make friends with residents around the church.

The church is a few doors away from Childs' home - yet congregants, about 50 families, didn't know about the family's problems.

Had they known, they would have stepped in before Childs' sister called 911 on July 5 to inform police that her brother had threatened their mother with the knife.

That day, police officer James Turney entered the house, and when the boy wouldn't drop the knife, he fired his gun.

Turney was suspended from his job days later for an alleged threat to his former mother-in-law, and the shooting is still under investigation by the police department.

Demmer, an alliance board member, has since befriended Childs' family, a relationship he hopes will become a model across the city.

Growing up in north Denver, Demmer, a third-generation clergyman, remembers when neighbors would turn to churches for help and everyone knew one another.

He doesn't quite know when it happened, but over the last few decades, people stopped seeing churches as havens and folks stopped being neighborly.

That could have been a reason that Childs' family turned to 911 - nearly 50 times in the past 3 ½ years - for basic help, he said.

"This needs to be a wake-up call for us," said Demmer, adding that if he had one wish, he'd turn back the clock to a time when people cared about their neighbors.

"I think it would have made all the difference in the world," he said of Childs' death.

His church members are going to every house in the six-block area around the church to tell residents they are there for them.

Congregation members are also spending a few mornings at the Colorado Boulevard and Martin Luther King intersection where they hand bag lunches and church information to passersby.

Demmer recently went on a police ride-along to learn more about their jobs and found one theme: law enforcement officers are inundated with unnecessary calls.

Another solution could come this fall when the Mile High United Way unveils a 211-call center designed to give callers in the metro area information about health and human services.

Call-takers will refer callers to one of 3,500 agencies in a database that includes counselors, nonprofit groups and hospital services.

Planned for over a year, it will launch by October and operate between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., said United Way communications manager Stacy Haskell.

Similar services in other cities have significantly decreased the non-emergency calls to 911, said United Way's Chief Operating Officer Rich Audsley.

United Way and Denver 911 officials are also exploring whether to join forces, he said.

Alvertis Simmons, a long-time local civil rights activist, is organizing a series of community forums.

"I want change - that's the reason we're doing this. We not only want to stir change, we want to complete change."

Specifically, he wants local law enforcement's use of force policy reevaluated and for the civilian commission that reviews public safety to have enforcement power.

La-Shon Hall agrees.

She and her family became close to Paul Childs last summer when she moved in a couple of doors down the street.

She remembers her first encounter with him well. She was moving in and the boy was one of the only folks who came over to help.

After that, he became an addition to her family, which includes kids ages 13 and 10.

The boy always wore a smile, never sassed her, and more than anything, loved to drink milk, she recalled.

Her children were out of town the day he was shot, but she's been upfront with them about his death.

Last week, she told the forum the shooting has made her children fear police. She doesn't want to leave the city, though.

"I stand behind my community and will do whatever it takes to make it better," she said.

Olveraj@RockyMountainNews.com or (303)892-5113

Copyright 2003, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.