the ordinary people's society

2010-08-06T00:24:00.001-05:00

Thank God for the drug reform bill President Obama signed reducing the disparity in federalmandatory sentences between crack cocaine and powder cocaine convictions.The 25 year-old law that Congress just changed subjected tens of thousands of blacks to longprison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient sentences to those,mainly whites, caught with the powder form.
Blacks serve almost as much time for drug offenses (58 months) as whites do for violentoffenses (61 months). Though this new law is a congressional compromise, it is a huge stepforward in reforming our overly harsh and wasteful drug laws.
The old 1986 law was enacted at a time when crack cocaine was considered a violent drug.However, in 2002, twenty-eight U.S. Court of Appeals judges and many District Court Judgeswho were formerly U.S. Attorneys, wrote the Sentencing Commission condemning the notion asnot scientifically accurate and recommended its repeal.
There’s still much work to be done as the law applies to only federal defendants, not state laws.Most drug arrests occur at the state level.
We started this journey for justice in 2001. Our many trips to Washington, DC were coveredby the Dothan Eagle, WTVY, WDHN, Southeast Gazette and Rickey Stokes News. Local andregional debates followed with law enforcement officials that wanted to keep the DraconianLaws. The door opens again for those who have not participated in reform to join in doingso now. Otherwise they will be looked upon as preserving a racial caste system that wasabolished with chattel slavery.
We must continue to locally address related issues like lack of family support, ministry andrehabilitation of those incarcerated because of repressive attitudes toward “lawbreakers”, evenafter being “punished”. How long will we allow local political culture to shape our local socialculture by discretionary drug enforcement practice here–the real morally and socially unjustbehavior that destroys lives?
Pastor Kenneth GlasgowFounder, Executive DirectorThe Ordinary People Society (TOPS)403 West Powell St. Dothan, AL 36303Office / Fax: 334-671-2882Cell: 334-791-2433
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2010-08-06T00:17:00.000-05:00

Pastor Kenneth Glasgow Writes About Drug Reform
Submitted by People of the Wiregrass on August 4, 2010 – 5:07 pmNo Comment

It’s hard to think of a more wasteful way to spend tax dollars than locking up marijuana users. But, in the midst of a budget crisis, this is exactly what Alabama is doing.
Your legislators could change that. Alabama is already taking a serious look at its sentencing practices — but they need some encouragement. So please, ask them to get their priorities straight and to support sentencing reform. Please urge legislators to introduce legislation to stop wasting money and ruining lives by incarcerating people for possessing marijuana.
There are clear harms entailed in the practice of putting lots of unenforceable or unenforced laws on the books and consigning a significant swathe of your population to the category of “lawbreakers”. On the one hand, this promotes contempt for the law. On the other hand, it allows police and government to lock up many people at will, since most people are always violating some law or another, and that’s a discretionary power that governments tend to abuse for repressive political purposes.
The government also derives extortionary power from its ability to lock people up at will, which leads to corruption. In autocratic countries across a wide spectrum of development, from Guinea to Russia, you tend to find all of these things occurring together: a broad range of normal economic and political behavior is criminalized, the citizens treat the law as an arbitrary set of irritating technicalities to be evaded, government uses police powers to repress political opposition, and police and government officials make their living by shaking people down.
Parts of this syndrome (criminalizing normal behavior, contempt for the law, shaking people down) also describe the way drug laws function in much of America. So the question arises of whether we should legalize pot. Sarah Palin recently said we shouldn’t, but that marijuana use isn’t much of a problem–and should be a low priority for law enforcement.
What I think what we’re seeing here is the wrong-headed notion that an appropriate way to express disapproval of a behavior is to simply make it illegal, but then wink and nod on enforcement as if this is some sort of middle ground.
If you don’t think a law should be enforced, you should support repeal of the law. All “compromise” accomplishes is granting police almost unfettered discretion. If smoking pot is still technically illegal, police can enforce the law when they choose, targeting certain people for arrest while turning a blind eye to others engaging in the exact same activity.
I’ve now learned in some of those foreign countries that are famously tolerant of drug use, it turns out that “tolerant” is the operative word. For example, while there are periodic calls in the Netherlands to move to complete legalization of soft drugs, that initiative never seems to get anywhere. But neither do calls for actual prosecution of marijuana possession and use.
So while the Netherlands, Denmark, and so forth are among the countries that court public contempt for the law and repressive police practices by keeping marijuana use illegal, they also keep the “lawbreakers” unpunished in practice. And yet these countries have failed to turn into Russia.
I think what we’re seeing in the United States is the impact of a national political culture shaping the practices of governance over other national social institutions when it comes to drug laws here. It would be nice if we could arrive at an ethically and logically consistent legal stance on drug use, but it may be that in practice that’s very hard to do, and not actually very important. Basically, while Sarah Palin’s position on this issue, as on many others, is semi-deliberately incoherent, it is in this case a semi-deliberate incoherence that has proven to be effective policy in many countries, and it might be the stance to begin on the issue in the United States.
Pastor Kenneth GlasgowFounder, Executive DirectorThe Ordinary People Society (TOPS)403 West Powell St. Dothan, AL 36303Office / Fax: 334-671-2882Cell: 334-791-2433

2010-06-10T00:26:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
T.O.P.S. (THE ORDINARY PEOPLE SOCIETY)CONTACT: REV. KENNETH GLASGOWADDRESS: 403 West Powell St. Dothan, AL 36303 Phone: 334-671-2882Website: www. http://www.wearetops.org
E-Mail: topssociety@yahoo.com
MISSISSIPPI INJUSTICE: A DOUBLE-LIFE SENTENCE FOR $11.00!
Dothan, Alabama —- In a trial fraught with legal malpractice and witness coercion, Mississippi Judge Marcus Gordon oversaw one of the most blatantly corrupt trials in history, culminating in the staggering over-sentencing of sisters Gladys and Jamie Scott to double-life each in an armed robbery where no one was murdered or harmed and transcripts state that the amount alleged to have been taken was a whopping $9.00 -$11.00.
Human rights activist, Dick Gregory, is urging everyone to support the June 21, 2010 Gray-Haired Witnesses Fast for Justice in Washington, DC. The upcoming day-long event will call attention and bring publicity to the shocking case of the Mississippi Scott Sisters, who have served 15 years 8 months of double life sentences each. The public fast, press conference and rally also calls attention to the entire system of justice which increasingly incarcerates and over-sentences.
The Ordinary People Society is in full endorsement of The Gray-Haired Witnesses for Justice National Day of Fast. T.O.P.S is headquartered in Dothan, Alabama and successfully operates as a nonprofit, faith-based organization that offers hope, without regard to race sex, creed, color or social status, to individuals and their families who suffer the effects of drug addiction, incarceration, homelessness, unemployment, hunger and illness, through comprehensive faith-based programs that provide a continuum of unconditional acceptance and care.
In addition to endorsing the Washington, DC Fast For Justice on June 21, 2010, T.O.P.S. is co-hosting The Scott Sisters Education Rally during the Juneteenth Celebration at Dalton Deer Park, 902 Dalton Street – Jackson Mississippi on June 19, 2010 from 11-am to 7pm. President and Founder Rev. Kenneth Glasgow feels that the Scott Sisters travesty of justice is an issue that should remain in the forefront globally. T.O.P.S. has chapters in the United States abroad. Rev. Glasgow has advised that all chapters support freedom for The Scott Sisters.
For more information about the Day of National Fast for the Scott Sisters
Gray-Haired Witnesses for Justice1- 866-968-1188, Ext. 2ghwitnesses@gmail.com http://www.grayhairedwitnesses.blogspot.com/
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2010-06-10T00:20:00.000-05:00

The Ordinary People’s Society is pleased to announce the second “People’s Family Reunion for Formally Incarcerated People our Friends, Family & Loved ones” will take place at the second US Social Forum in Detroit, MI. TOPS is based in Alabama and is dedicated to solving the injustices around formally incarcerated people locally, state-wide, regionally and nationally. During the first US Social Forum we worked with partner organizations to develop the idea of a People’s Family Reunion to take place during social forums. The goal of the Family Reunion is to develop a space to gather, share strategies, build relationships across organizations & communities that are working on issues related to the prison industrial complex. The first People’s Family Reunion brought together almost 2000 people in a local park in Atlanta with speakers, food, and tables of organizations doing work to end the injustices that formally incarcerated people face in our society. TOPS would like to thank the local leadership in Detroit for helping to organize and host this Family Reunion process because we know what it means to have so many people coming from around the country to your city and the need to respect local leaders who are doing the work every day to make another world possible. Together we can make another historic gathering happen and advance the movement for social change as it relates to the Prison Industrial Complex.

If you would like to be involved in this years People Family Reunion please contact Reverend Kenneth Glasgow at: topssociety@yahoo.com

Let My People Vote

2010-05-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

May 20, 2010
Advocate: Alabama prisoners still being disenfranchisedBy Markeshia Ricks
With just one day left to register for the June 1 primary, the issue of prisoner and felon voting is once again in the spotlight, and at least one community organizer is concerned that a lack of knowledge and confusion over the issue could disenfranchise thousands of people who are eligible to vote this year.
The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, a Dothan minister, said state and local officials continue to provide erroneous information about which felonies disqualify people to vote in the state and which ones don't.
He recently conducted a telephone survey of officials in county boards of registrars, city and county jails, and state prisons about inmates' voting rights.
"There is still a lot of confusion on who can vote and who cannot and what crimes involve moral turpitude and what crimes do not," he said. "We find ourselves doing a lot of damage control."
Under Alabama law, the only people who lose their voting rights are those who have been convicted of felonies that involve moral turpitude. Crimes such as murder, robbery, burglary, theft, or sale of a controlled substance are felonies that involve moral turpitude.
Those convicted of felonies that don't involve moral turpitude, such as driving under the influence, doing business without a license, speeding or possession of drugs without the intent to sell, do not lose their right to vote. In fact, people convicted of a possession charge can register to vote and vote by absentee ballot from the jail or prison where they are incarcerated.
People who have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes also do not lose their right to vote. Glasgow settled a lawsuit with the Alabama Department of Corrections two years ago after his efforts to register inmates to vote were shut down. The terms of the settlement allowed Glasgow to continue to tell prisoners about their voting rights and how to register but stopped short of allowing him to register inmates and turn in their forms. The Department of Corrections also agreed in the settlement to put up fliers, provided by Glasgow , on prison bulletin boards and in inmate law libraries about voting while incarcerated.
Glasgow said he was surprised when he discovered that many prison officials did not have the information about voting posted, didn't know whether the information was posted, or still believed that inmates are not allowed to vote.
He also found that there are boards of registrars that are telling people convicted of felony drug possession that they are ineligible to vote even though they aren't.
With more than 250,000 felons, Alabama had the third highest rate in the nation for disenfranchisement, according to a 2006 report. Glasgow said that has changed somewhat because court cases have clarified which felony convictions are disqualifying and which ones are not. But he said it hasn't changed enough because officials have dropped the ball when it comes to making sure that people understand the law.
Brian Corbett, spokesman with the Alabama Department of Corrections, said the state has not received new posters to put in prisons since the 2008 elections. Corbett said that the department would gladly put them up to comply with the agreement.
But Glasgow said the settlement does not require new posters each election cycle.
"The information hasn't changed since 2008," he said. "The agreement was that we would replace them if they are damaged, lost or destroyed."
But Glasgow said from what he can tell, some prisons never had them posted and no one is keeping track of whether the posters are being displayed according to the agreement.
"The state has an obligation to provide adequate information about the law and about this settlement," Glasgow said.
"Ignorance of the law is no excuse."
If people are having a problem with the issue, they're not calling the secretary of state or the attorney general's office about it.
Emily Thompson, chief of staff for Secretary of State Beth Chapman, said that the office had not had any questions, to her knowledge, about inmate and felon voting. She also said that she couldn't recall any guidance about the 2008 settlement and which inmates would be eligible to register to vote being provided to boards of registrars. Corbett said there also has been no ongoing effort to keep prisons current on the issue.
Ryan Haygood, co-director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., said that it's in the state's best interest to encourage all eligible people vote.
"It has been proven that those convicted of felonies are less likely to re-offend," said Haygood, one of the attorneys who worked on the Glasgow settlement.
Haygood, one of the attorneys who worked on the Glasgow settlement, said state and local officials should do whatever they can to make the process for eligible voters easier.
"It is in Alabama 's interest and interest of democracy to encourage everyone who is eligible to vote to register and then vote," he said.
"We shouldn't play keep away with people who are incarcerated about their rights, and keep them away from knowledge or actually voting," he said.
Glasgow said he along with organizations such as Drug Policy Alliance and the Equal Justice Initiative would keep pressing on the issue.

Our Right To Vote In Jeopardy

2010-04-11T23:45:00.000-05:00

It's Appalling to me that in 2010 people's Right To Vote is in jeopardy. Only this time it's not just black people it's whites as well.
In Alabama right now we have a bill going to the House of Representatives floor to question citizens of Alabama's Right to Vote.
I have always stood up for the right of the people, no matter the subject, the issue remained the same, The Right To Vote.
Alot of people are trying to turn this and other issues into a Moral Issue, not realizing that Jesus advocated for people's rights.
So therefore how can we go against the rights of people and call ourselves patriots. So all of the wars and fighting that we've had IN THE PAST and continue to have now, For people's rights is for nought!
We have an obligation as citizens to protect our rights, and that's what Democracy is all about.
Then there's the Elected Officials who we put in office, who are suppose to be Representatives of their constituency that voted them in, that they so-call represent, but they listen to those outside of their districts, and vote according to the powers that be.
Are we going back in time? Is history repeating itself? If so then we have'nt accomplished anything . We are not productive, therefore we are digressing not progressing.
That leads me to my next question " what are we the people going to do?
Election time is coming and we have alot of people seeking office. I beleive and stand firmly on the fact that we do not vote for anyone who does not vote for the people to have the right to vote. We have two Representatives ( Benjamin Lewis & Steve Clouse ) that need to vote, for the people to have the right to Vote. As well as our local officials supporting us locally.

PRODIGAL CHILD PROJECT

2010-02-25T21:10:00.003-06:00

It's time for us as the Experts By Experience to start addressing alot of these matters that seem to be going on in this thing we call the Justice System.
Ex- Felons is not politically correct anymore. We are PEOPLE, formerly incarcerated people, F.I.P.'s, Prodigal Children, sons & daughters, mothers & fathers, brothers & sisters.
We have paid our debt to society and yes we deserve our Right To Vote, Jobs, Housing, Food Assistance, Etc.
Why are we being discriminated against as though we are not people.
It has been nationally statistically proven that organizations ran and led by those who have been incarcerated have more success than any other organizations concerning re-entry, mentoring and formerly incarcerated people.
We are calling out to all Formerly Incarcerated People to join us March 6, 10:00 a.m. at the Capital in Montgomery Alabama ( the first red state in the country to get felons to vote out of jail and prison, because of a lawsuit won by a formerly incarcerated person.
People are People and all have made sinned and come short of the Glory of God.
We are PEOPLE and we have lost no value.
We are SERVING OUR COUNTRY AFTER SERVING OUR TIME!!!

Houston County Alabma Democratic Conference

2010-02-25T00:58:00.000-06:00

I would love to get the Houston County Alabama Democratic Conference to pick the lottery or the right card is what some would say after checking the record of the Houston County ADC.
For the past three elections the Houston County ADC has picked and endorsed the winning candidates for these three elections. For over 50 years they have been the voice of the people when it comes to the political arena. From drawing lines and political districts to picking and endorsing the winning candidates, ADC has been the political organization for the people.
Lead by it's Chairman Dr. Earl Jones this organization is definitely in the process of training and preparing those who will be working throughout the county and the whole Second Congressional District in which Dr. Jones is the Chairman of it to.
Many Elected Officials will tell you that the ADC has been very impactful on their elections into office and their careers.
The Second Congressional District and Houston County ADC both led by Chairman Dr. Earl Jones has asked all local leaders to come together to see the report cards, acts and reports of our elected officials.
Get with the winners, who pick and endorse the winners who represent you. I'm glad to be on the winning team, how about you!

2010-02-02T22:56:00.002-06:00

Rally In Montgomery at the Capital

Wednesday 12:00 noon at the State Capital

Rally on The Right To Vote.

Statewide call by Johnny Ford, Sen. Myron Penn

COME OUT ALL AND STAND UP FOR YOUR JOBS

AND VOTING RIGHTS.

Restoring The Family Dothan Al. Thanksgiving weekened

2009-12-03T13:06:00.003-06:00

Anita Dawkins, Rev. AL Rev. Al, Mayor Vickie Moore Daris, Rev. Al, Pas. Glasgow

This is Restoring the Family
Rev. Al Sharpton Jr.,
Pastor Kenneth Glasgow,
and Dr. Joy
Brothers and sister who haven't been together in 20 years.

Fantasy Ball Dec. 12, 2009 Dothan Al.

2009-12-03T12:57:00.002-06:00

T.O.P.S. Fantasy Ball

For Our Shining Stars

The Ordinary People Society Youth Dept. is in need of old, new, and/or used Prom & Pageant Gowns. SHOES!

We also need Tuxedos and Suits for young males.

A Christmas Moment to Remember.

We are asking all Churches, Schools, Organizations, and Businesses to please help

DONATE for this event.

This Event will take place two weeks before Christmas on Saturday Dec. 12th at Evergreen Plaza @ 7.00p.m. until

We would like to be prepared before that time.

Some of our youth cannot experience this type of Fantasy and Glamour, so as the National Youth Coordinator of T.O.P.S. I'm reaching out to the public to help donate and sponsor!

For all our surrounding youth!

Let's give them something to Remember!

All sizes are needed!!!
National Youth Coordinator Daris Johnson

334-791-2433

Restoring The Family Birmingham Ala.

2009-10-21T22:33:00.000-05:00

The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS) and
The International Justice Coalition presents
RESTORING THE FAMILY Guest speakers
Rev. Al Sharpton Sr., Dr. Kenneth Glasgow, Terry Lewis Sharpton,
Anthony Sharpton, Momma Tina Glasgow & Alan Sharpton
International Updates by Shelia Chughtai, Nisa Shabazz Aqtifa
Hosted by DJ Beware and Daris Johnson
Live Entertainment by The Bashaar Family, Zed/Stability, Blackfire,
Calvin X, Michael Richardson, Bonez, Mr. Fields and other’s.
Special math presentation by Karaam Ellis, Founder & CEO of the KALU Akademy
Economical updates by Bro. Maurice
Educational Updates by James Muhammad
Special award presentation to the Sharpton and Glasgow Families!
OCTOBER 24, 2009 — 4PM - 8PM
JCCEO CENTER, 300 8th Avenue West, Birmingham, AL 35204
*** Admission Free ***
Special thanks to Tops, Drug Policy Alliance & Equal Justice Initiative, International Justice
Coalition, Jabari Sekou Entertainment, The JCCEO Center,
Unlimited Joy, Khufu Nefertem and Clarence Muhammad.
For Info. or Vending Call 678-799-6460, 205-370-0597 & 334-791-2433
www.wearetops.org, revkennethglasgow.blogspot.com, wearetops.blogspot.com
Redeeming the Soul of America by Restoring The Family, Redeeming and Reconnecting
The Prodigal Children - Dr. Kenneth Glasgow
Hotep Wa Ahshug, Peace and Love Nisa 678-480-6555 / 404-798-5607 Thank You So Much!

RESTORING THE FAMILY TOUR

2009-09-29T21:36:00.001-05:00

The Restoring the Family Tour starts this weekened at the Capitol in Atlanta.

REDEEMING THE SOUL OF AMERICA

BY RESTORING THE FAMILY

AND RECEIVING OUR PRODIGAL CHILDREN!!!!!

Building Cohesiveness

2009-09-29T20:52:00.004-05:00

We want to publicly ask the Sherriff of Houston County Alabama to reconsider some of the new rules that prevent family members from visiting other family members in the county jail because they have previous convictions.
It has been nationally proven that family support and formerly incarcerated ran and led programs ( experts by experience ) have reduced recidivism, crime, and taxpayer's dollars.
( Crime has dropped 25% nationwide because of these type programs ) while increasing re-entry, harm reduction, productive citizens, and public safety.
We also ask that all Clergy be treated the same regardless of ideologies, religious doctrine, and practices that do not violate any rules or laws.
Our neighboring counties have even hired ex-felons on as staff and along with the nation, former sherriff's, active sherriff's, Elected Officials, Many Clergy, and concerned citizens we ask that these rules be reconsidered so that we move forward with the rest of the nation and neighboring counties, and not appear to be moving backward in Houston County.
We want to build a cohesiveness with our Law Enforcement and our Communities by helping our prodigal children, and building Public Safety for all.

National Justice Coalition

2009-07-28T23:12:00.003-05:00

The Ordinary People Society

National Convener Pastor Kenneth Glasgow - 334-791-2433 - Dothan Ala.
National Convener Assist. Mitch Jamerson - 352-680-1605 - Ocala Fla.
National Coordinator Nisa Shabazz - 678-480-6555 - Atlanta Ga.
National Coordinator Assist. Cynthia Carr - 352-553-5899 - Ocala Fl.
National Administrator - Sis Shielia Chughtai - 678-799-6460 - Atlanta Ga.
National Chairman of Economics - Maurice Spivey - 901-406-9053 - Memphis Tenn.
National Chairman of Education - James Muhammad – 904-318-1684 - Jacksonville Fla.
National Director of Investigations- Britt Mosley Sr. - 601-848-7447
( James Harvey & Jimmy Fancher Investigating Team )

With all of the injustice that is taking place in our country, you now have a coalition that will assist and fight for justice. We address several issues across the country and have made policy and legislative changes through- out the country.

Our topics/points that we focus on are:

The New Bottom Line National Criminal Justice Coalition - This Coalition consist of those who are working in different states on the criminal justice system and its effect on people in society.

There are 7 different points that we focus on, and they are:

1) Restoration; restoring people's lives with voting rights and treatment instead of incarceration for example.
2) Police Brutality - Injustice/Racial Profiling
3) Criminal Justice Reinvestment- prison reform, sentencing reform, drug policy reform.
4) School to Prison Pipeline - Juvenile Justice
5) Mentoring Program - bringing in our youth
6) Discrimination / Disparity
7) Harm Reduction

Our National Partners are: Drug Policy Alliance and Equal Justice Initiative.

We've grown from 5 states in the southern region to 15 states in the past 30 days and have a weekly conference call that keeps us informed of activities throughout the U.S.

For any National injustice, please contact:

Pastor Kenneth Glasgow
Founder, Executive Director
The Ordinary People Society (TOPS)
403 West Powell St.
Dothan, AL 36303
Office / Fax: 334-671-2882
Cell: 334-791-2433

For all others, contact the representative for your city.

Web addresses: http://www.wearetops.org/ or http://www.revkennethglasgow.blogspot.com/ or http://www.wearetops.blogspot.com/

A TRULY BLESSED DAY

2009-07-23T23:13:00.000-05:00

TRULY A BLESSED DAY

As for me and my family, we haven't had a joyous occasion in 1 year, 3 months and 18 days. However because of Gods grace on Saturday July 18, 2009; we had the opportunity to be in the midst of some very caring people from all walks of life. We were not limited to our church family. We are the parents of Teona Sterling. On March 28, 2008; she was accused of crimes she didn't commit. Someone had the intentions of ending our daughters life, that same someone had the intentions of doing harm to anyone in the path. The only thing my family and I have wanted since that day was a listening ear. Well this past Saturday was Truly A Blessed Day ! After lots of praying and guidance from an extraordinary society (T.O.P.S) Founder Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, we were able to bring for the second time, a Group of National Leaders to Dothan, Al. It was a very peaceful, spiritually grounded rally for my daughter Teona Sterling. There were prayers said, great speakers from the different organizations, live music and good food. I finally felt as if someone cared and we were being heard. They felt the pain that my family and I have had to endure for so long. Our family was embraced by so many people on Saturday, as well as the calls we recieve daily, offering their support and prayers. Thank You !! I am grateful to God that my daughter is alive, I am also grateful to God that the two Police Officers are alive. One of the many things that went wrong with this story is " Where was the JUSTICE (The quality of being fair) for my daughter Teona Sterling ? when she so desteratly needed help. We as a people must be very careful, we must NOT be so quick to judge. The scripture says: "Judge Not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again". (St. Matthew 7:1,2) the scripture also says "Let us go to Dothan" (Genesis 37:17)

Again thank you for your prayers and continued support of our Daughter, Sister, Granddaughter, and Niece,
Truly Grateful , the Family of Teona Sterling

Community Day

2009-07-14T22:42:00.005-05:00

WE WANT TO SUPPORT TEONA STERLING
JOHN TURNER
TOMMOROW BUSH, AND OFFICER KEARNEY

THANK YOU T.O.P.S.

2009-06-24T17:17:00.000-05:00

Would you please be sure that this makes the paper in Pastor Glasgow’s town? If there is anything else that we need to do, please call me and let me know.

Thanks Cynthia and Mitch

“The Community of Orange Lake, Florida would like to thank Pastor Glasgow and TOPS Organization for their support of our 40th Annual Homecoming event. In particular there were two incidents which proved to be an attack against the park and the event in which the allegations were false and fabricated, and TOPS and Pastor Glasgow made a personal appearance, assisted in addressing the issues and was the driving force for a mutual agreement. There is no doubt that without the assistance of Pastor Glasgow and TOPS, we would still be working towards a solution to clear the fabricated allegations.”
Sincerely,
Mitch Jamerson, President- Orange Lake Community Club
Cynthia Carr, Administrative Coordinator-Orange Lake Community Club

2009-06-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

Founders Day/Unity Banquet

2009-05-05T09:20:00.002-05:00

2009- T.O.P.S. Founders/Unity Day Celebration Banquet
“A Great Awakening”

“A truly spiritual event”, was the quote mentioned by one attendee in describing the banquet. The banquet was attended by national, state, city, and community leaders from across the nation. Guests were treated to an outstanding evening of musical entertainment capped off with a soul stirring rendition of “Jesus Loves the Little Children” sung by Bryan Williams.

Dr. Earl Jones led the way for a cadre of speakers who provided the audience with tons of golden nuggets of information highlighting the struggles being faced within our communities.
Cheryl Sable brought forth an eye opening report on the dismal dropout rate effecting today’s young people, especially in the African American community. She outlined the fact how this trend feeds the school to prison pipeline.
Sen. Harrie Ann Smith spoke of the importance of caring for our children and that all of us are responsible for nurturing these young citizens. She emphasized that we must work together across social barriers especially those of race, ethnicity, faith, and economic that cause us as a nation to lose the potential gifts and talents of our young people.

Gabriel Sayegh of the Drug Policy Alliance hit hard on the lack of justice for people caught up in the nation’s justice system. He illustrated how the so called “War on Drugs” has devastated communities of color and filled prisons with disproportionate numbers of black men, the majority of which are serving long sentences on drug charges. Mr. Sayegh presented a historical trend line of how soon after the abolition of slavery many states in the Deep South developed a justice system to imprison large numbers of black men and use them for free labor. His message asks all of us to make an effort to push for treatment and rehabilitation instead of incarceration for those around us suffering from drug addiction.

Dr. Bryon Clay, National President S C. L. C. spoke of the importance that the S. C. L. C. return to its legacy and work more closely with T. O. P. S. and other grassroot organizations. He identified key issues impacting young people including poor educational opportunities and dilapidated schools in African American communities. Dr. Clay noted that we must build strong relationships within our communities and become good neighbors towards one another. The S. C. L. C. President made it clear that strong neighborhoods can nurture our young people and wield political clout to make a change in policies that have negative impacts on the future of our children.

Rev. Al Sharpton was the capstone speaker and he spoke to the issue of healing old wounds and for unity. His words were both from a personal family perspective and to all us as people. For, example every family, every individual, and every community has its disagreements and fair share of pain and heartache. Rev. Sharpton emphasized that the only way to overcome such setbacks was “not to stay down when knocked down” but instead get up and do something to make a change. He challenged all to reconcile their differences, to forgive those that had hurt them, and to come together for the common good. Rev. Sharpton acknowledged and encouraged his brother Pastor Kenneth Glasgow to continue the great work of T.O.P.S. and its partners.

T.O.P.S. & E.J.I. in the Wiregrass

2009-05-01T23:56:00.007-05:00

Today it was made official that Equal Justice Initiative and The Ordinary People Society ( T.O.P.S. ) who have been partnering for the past five (5) years came together to strategize how they will address alot of different criminal justice issues in the wiregrass area.
Pastor Glasgow and Daris Johnson have been certified paralegals for the past year with Equal Justice Initiative and today the Executive Director of EJI Bryan Stevenson met with them and some of the citizens of Dothan to discuss future meetings to address alot of issues in the area.
Not only continuing thier partnering efforts abroad, but EJI actually joining T.O.P.S. locally with a daily presence!
Bryan Stevenson came the day before the big event with T.O.P.S. FOUNDERS/UNITY DAY and all of the National figures coming, to commend T.O.P.S. work and straegize the future efforts starting to take place as soon as the second week in May!

MAY 23RD BIG RALLY AND FILM SHOWING BY EJI!!!

805 NORTH LENA ST. EVERGREEN PLAZA ( T.O.P.S. )

1.00P.M. UNTIL-----------BE THERE

LEGAL ISSUES, ADVICE, MENTORING, HELP!!!

T.O.P.S. FOUNDERS / UNITY DAY

2009-04-25T21:38:00.005-05:00

LAST FEW DAYS TO GET YOUR TICKETS AND ADS IN, CALL 334 671-2882
Rooms at Holiday Inn $79.95 a night, just say reserving for T.O.P.S. event, call 334-794-8711May 2ND AND PERFORMANCE BY BRYAN WILLIAMS

334-671-2882
May 2nd 12:00 Kinney Park for gathering and Bar-B-Que
UNITY DAY/FOUNDER'S DAY

PASTOR Kenneth Glasgow

On May 2, 2009 @7P.M. Tickets $50.00( Dinner)

Dothan Holiday Inn Saving Our Children
2195 Ross Clark Circle S.E. Dothan, AL Through Unity and togetherness

Special Guest Speaker Rev. Al Sharpton Jr.

Momma Tina’s Mission House , Prodigal Child Project
Rev. Al Sharpton Sr., Dr. Byron Clay- National President of S.C.L.C.,

Gabriel Sayegh-State Organizing & Policy Project Director for Drug Policy Alliance

Bryan Stevenson- Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative – May 1st touring the Empowerment Ctr.

Senator Harrie Anne Smith

Dr. Earl Jones- ADC Second Congressional District Chairman

Rev. Robert Jones St. Mary’s District Moderator- North Highland Baptist Church

Ralph Hendrix- T.A.S.C.

John Beebe WMCA1560am- Jesus Brings Hope

NAACP Alabama State President Ed Vaughn

Project South- Stephanie Guilliam and Emery Wright,

Young People Society, National Criminal Justice Coalition, National Exhoodus Council, The New Bottom Line Coalition

National, State, County, City Elected Officials, Pastors, and Leaders

Entertainment of the Night

Selmount Church Choir of Selma Alabama –Pastor Perry

Bryan Williams of the Williams Bros of the Mississippi Mass Choir

Kenyetta Rich Glasgow aka K.Y. -Zeus Entertainment, Lil Glass

Endorsed by Congressman Danny K Davis

Special Thank you to Ron Wilson and the Dothan Convention Center

JUSTICE: If We All Come Together, We Can Change It Forever
1st Time In History to have National and Local Leaders Together In Dothan Ala.

SUNDAY: T.O.P.S. Church May 3rd 11.30 a.m.@ 805 N. Lena st. Evergreen Plaza Dr. Byron Clay, Brian Williams, Church service and Gospel Fest.

334-671-2882

Make Checks Payable to T.O.P.S- Paypal@ www.wearetops,blogspot.com

Felons' voting rights back on agenda

2009-03-02T21:42:00.002-06:00

Felons' voting rights back on agenda
By Markeshia Ricks • March 2, 2009

Two bills currently in the state Legislature could clear up the decades-old debate about whether felons should be allowed to vote, but advocates for felons' voting rights say the bills would be worse than the existing law.

The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, founder of The Ordinary People Society, which is based in
Dothan, said the bills would roll back gains made under the current law that gives felons who haven't committed crimes of "moral turpitude" a chance to vote. Last year Glasgow, with the backing of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, sued the state Department of Corrections so he could provide voter registration information to incarcerated people who were eligible to vote.

"Until 2003 when Dr. Yvonne Kennedy brought up the restoration bill no one ever wanted to pay this issue any attention," said Glasgow, a felon who had his voting rights restored in 2004. "For 105 years it wasn't even noted, quoted or talked about and now that we have a president who wants to bring about equality and change some people in the Alabama Legislature want to set us back in time."

"It appalls me now that at this particular time in history, after we have crossed so many barriers that anyone would want to put up anything that would cause another human being to have rights taken away."

The House Constitution and Election Committee advanced a bill during the second week of the session that would define moral turpitude and which crimes involve it.

The proposed bill would increase the number of crimes that involve moral turpitude from about 15 to more than 70 and revoke the voting rights of people who commit those crimes. The same committee also will decide the fate of a bill on Attorney General Troy King's agenda that would go even further than the moral turpitude bill, revoking the voting rights of anyone who commits a felony.

State Rep. Randy Wood, R-Anniston, the House sponsor for the King bill, said it would eliminate much of the confusion over moral turpitude by returning things to the way
they were before the state Legislature changed the law in 2003. Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, is the Senate sponsor of the bill.

Wood said felons who would lose their right to vote under the King bill would truly show that they are interested in being a part of society by applying to the state Pardons and Parole Board to have their rights restored.

"I'm not saying I don't want people to have the right to vote, but losing the right to vote is part of the punishment," he said. "This way, if you serve your time and paid your debts to society, you can apply to have your voting rights restored and go vote."

Though both bills would make the question of who loses their voting rights clearer, the bills could make it more difficult for felons to vote than it is for them under existing law.
The bills likely will face stiff opposition from members of the Black Caucus and others.
State Rep. Yvonne Kennedy, D-Mobile, sponsored the legislation that made it easier for certain felons to get their voting rights back. She said she would adamantly oppose any bill that would roll back the rights that the existing law now provides.

"I think the legislation that we worked on to give ex-felons the right to vote should stand," she said.

Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, was the Senate sponsor of the 2003 Kennedy bill and said he was unaware of legislation introduced this session that would change the law. He said he is drafting a bill that would do exactly the opposite of the King bill by giving felons who have completed their sentences automatic voter restoration.

He said he would be more inclined to support the bill that would define crimes of moral turpitude and a bill in the Senate that would specify that a felon only had to pay restitution associated with the disenfranchising crime to be eligible to have his or her rights restored. Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, is sponsoring the Senate versions of both of the bills Singleton mentioned.

"I haven't seen the bill so I can't offer a lot of comment, but based on what I've heard about the attorney general's bill I can't say that I would support it," he said. "But I'd be glad to get to the table with him and work on a compromise."

Though historians have claimed that the moral turpitude clause was used to disenfranchise poor whites and blacks in the 1901 Constitution, Glasgow is an advocate of the 21st century interpretations that do not revoke the voting rights of many felons and provides an avenue of restoration for others.

Glasgow said civic participation is a part of rehabilitation and if the state wants to reduce recidivism and overcrowding in prisons, it could start by allowing felons to vote. A bill that treats all felons equally by taking voting rights away is a step in the wrong direction, he added.

"Once they have their rights as a citizen they can start acting like a citizen," Glasgow said. "If the state would adhere to giving people their rights back, they would become productive citizens."

44TH Re-enactment Selma Ala. ( please RSVP )

2009-02-23T06:22:00.000-06:00

I want all of you to participate on Friday March 6th at our press conference and meeting/ rally ( see schedule )We also have two of T.O.P.S. members Daris Johnson and Kenyetta Rich who will be receiving awards at the banquet on Sat. March 7th at the Freedom Flame Awards.SEE SCHEDULE BELOW!!!
2009 Jubilee Schedule

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Saturday March 7, 2009

Welcome Reception

5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Selma Performing Arts Center

Special Guest: SCLC President Byron Clay

4th Annual Jubilee Golf Tournament
Breakfast and Registration: 6:30 a.m.
Sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Contact: Dr. Leroy Maxwell or Aubrey Larkin, Sr. at 334-872-2321.
Location: Valley Grande Golf Course

Mass Meeting
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Keynote speaker: Dr. Jeremiah Wright

The Original Freedom Singers will be in attendance

Tabernacle Baptist Church

Foot Soldier's Breakfast
8 a.m.- 10 a..m.
C.H.A.T. Academy

Jubilee Parade
Departing from Selma High School
9:00 a.m.- 11:00 a.m.
Selma Ave to Edmund Pettus Bridge

Induction into Hall of Resistance
10:30 am

Location: Slavery and Civil Rights Museum

Battle of the Bands
10:45 – 11:00

Location: School of Discovery Parking Lot

Miss Jubilee Pageant

Fee: $5

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Selma Performing Arts Center

Jubilee Festival
Gospel Stage- Headliner: TBA/Local Talent

Blues Stage - Marvin Sease

Hip Hop Stage- Mike Jones

11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Fee $10 (advance) / $15 gate

Location: Water Avenue

Economic Empowerment Summit
12:00 noon – 2:00 pm
Confirmed guests: Dr. Farrah Gray(Millionare before age of 25) /Dr. Ron Daniels/ T.I. and many more

Location- Performing Arts Center

Intergenerational Hip Hop Summit
Professor Griff of Public Enemy, Latosha Brown, T.I. and other various music artists – TBA

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Location: School of Discovery

Friday March 6, 2007
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

FILM FESTIVAL
3:00 p.m.- 9 p.m.
Films: TBA

Location: Slavery and Civil War Museum

Invisible Giants Conference
Class of 64-65

9:00 am – 11:00am

Selma Performing Arts Center

Freedom Flame Award Dinner
Sponsored by the Selma Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Special Guest: Host Johnathon Slocumb

Honoring: Dr. Joseph Lowery

Location: Selma Convention Center

Tickets: $50.00

PLAY Presentation:
If Martin Luther King Jr. was alive today...What would he say?
by: Robert Haynes

12:00 noon -2:00 p.m.
Selma Performing Arts Center

Late Night Pow-Wow
Slavery Museum

10:00 pm – 12:00 am

Children’s Sojourn ($7)
Various Speakers and Presentations
9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Slavery Civil War Museum, Shiloh, Pickard Auditorium
Sunday, March 8, 2009
PRESS CONFERENCE:
American Slavery in the 20th Century: The Untold Story
11:00 a.m.
Dr. Ryan Walters-Director of African American Institute in Maryland
Antoinette Harrell-Geneologist/Peonage Reasearcher
Location: Slavery and Civil War Museum MLK Jr. & Corretta S. King Unity Breakfast - $25
Sponsored by the Selma Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Wallace Community College

7:30am – 9:30 am

Special Guest: Attorney General Eric Holder

PRESS CONFERENCE:
Ex-Felons Voting Rights/Reinstatement
12:00 noon

Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, T.I., Lady Freedom
T.O.P.S. Society

The New Bottom Line Coalition

Prodigal Child Project

Location: Freedom Park/Edmund Pettus Bridge
Sunday Morning Services:

10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Attorney General Eric Holder-Brown Chapel AME Church

Rev. Al Sharpton- Tabernacle Baptist Church

Shiloh Baptist Speaker: TBA

Various Movement Speakers

Various Movement Churches

Educational Symposium

Education, The Civil Rights Issue of the 21st Century-Our Challenges and Responsibilities

12:15 pm – 2:45 pm

Panelists Include:

State Superintendent Dr. Joseph Morton

Senator Hank Sanders

Dr. Adelaide Sanford- Former President of NY BOR

Dr. Iva Carruthers-Gen. Secretary for SDP Conference

LOCATION: School Of Discovery

Pre-March Rally

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Guest Speakers: TBA

Brown Chapel A. M. E. Church

410 Martin Luther King Street

Criminal Justice Summit
1:00 p.m.- 4:30 p.m.
T.O.P.S. Society/The New Bottom Line Coalition/ Prodigal Child Project
"From Second Class Citizens to Second Chance Citizens"
Location: Wallace College Hank Sanders Technology Center-Meeting Room 105

Bridge Crossing Re-Enactment
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Edmund Pettus Bridge

Revealing of Bloody Sunday Exhibit

Mock Trial
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Placing Education on Trial

Presiding Judge: TBA

Dallas County Court House
Museum Hall of Fame Inductions

Bridge Crossing Speakers
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Civil Rights Memorial Park

A Public Conversation
Confirmed Guest: Rev. Al Sharpton

Other guest co-hosts to attend: TBA

Wallace College Gymnasium

7:15 pm – 9:00 pm
YES WE DID! -
Z105.3 Commemoration Banquet
5:00 p.m.

Selma Convention Center

$15

"Stomp out to Vote" Step Show($10)

Special Guest: T.I.

7:00 p.m. - 9:00

Location: Pickard Auditorium

Monday, March 9, 2009

Slow Ride from Selma to Montgomery
9:00 am - 1pm
Foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge

Montgomery Re-Enactment Rally
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Montgomery, AL

Lobby Day March 3rd 2009 Alabama StateHouse

2009-02-22T09:01:00.000-06:00

We are having our Lobby Day at the Alabama State House on March 3rd starting about 10.00am until. We will be going there to talk to our Legislatures about our 3 bills which are: Treatment instead of Incarceration, Probation and Parole, and our Restoration of Voting Rights Bill.Please RSVP so we can have a count and set up appointments with Legislatures in your areas. We also need a count for food!!!

T.O.P.S. Empowerment Center ( thanks Ron Wilson )

2009-01-29T23:05:00.001-06:00

William Singer, left, is interviewed by Pastor Maurice Graham, right, Wednesday afternoon at the TOPS Community Empowerment Center in Dothan.
By Lance Griffin

Published: January 28, 2009

Debra Thomas walked Kenneth Glasgow from room to room in the old Evergreen Plaza on North Lena Street, breaking down a big vision into chunks of attainable goals.“OK, this is where the computer lab is going to be,” Thomas said, pointing into a room consisting of a few computer parts on carts.She continues pointing and walking.“Now, we’re going to have computers in the classroom, but I want the lab available for people who need to come in during the day and use the computers, or learn computer skills.”Not much has taken place at the old office buildings since WAGF Radio moved out several years ago. But Glasgow wants to change the mostly vacant structure into “an oasis of learning,” complete with GED training, life skills classes, spiritual counseling, mentoring, job skills training and a recording studio lab of sorts.He shakes his head in agreement as Thomas continues to walk down the hall, assigning purposes for every room.“Yes. Yes. Yes,” said Glasgow, founder of a local social activist group known as The Ordinary People Society (TOPS). “I want to have something going on day and night.”Glasgow said the place will be known as the TOPS Community Empowerment Center, a place where people can come to better themselves emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.GED training classes are already being held at the center, and a GED pre-test is scheduled for next week. But Thomas said it’s just the beginning.“There are good things going on in the community and we want to build on that,” said Thomas, the center’s development director. “We have the soup kitchens in town and that is a good thing, but what we want to do is teach people to feed themselves.”Wallace College is also exploring the possibility of offering adult education classes at the center, Wallace spokesperson Sally Buchanan said.Along with the plans for counseling, classes and mentoring, Glasgow said one of the offices could be turned into a recording studio to allow interested residents to explore recording, as well as the marketing side of the recording business.People interested in taking advantage of the services offered can come to the center and fill out an assessment form that will determine the person’s needs.Thomas said she is seeking donations of equipment such as computers and school desks as well as volunteers with electrical and plumbing experience.
THANKS TO RON WILSON WE CAN EMPOWER OUR PEOPLE!!!

ALOT MORE WORK TO BE DONE

2009-01-21T00:17:00.001-06:00

There’s more to be done!

Letters to the Editor
Published: November 19, 2008I don’t want anyone to get confused into thinking that since Barack Obama is the president-elect, everything is going to be all right. We have a lot of work to do, now more than ever. The racism and bias has and will become more prevalent. I just went through an ordeal yesterday continuing to fight for our voting rights. For some strange reason, even though a lot of us ex-felons voted, contributed and participated in gaining this monumental victory, we are still not treated or seated in a state of equality. I’m truly becoming convinced that our moral ethics and values have taken a dive in the wrong direction. We have no regard for fellow human beings and their rights. It’s amazing to me how we embrace a system that should’ve been set up to protect us and yet it has become our worst enemy. What have we become, and where do we go from here? Where are we when we have these progressive organizations that fight for human rights and ex-felons, but yet there’s not one of us who they supposedly represent on their boards to help in the decision making? They will hire us and give us a position, but not an equal seat at the table. Have we gotten to the point where we have become co-conspirators of our own oppression, or are we really ready to do what needs to be done? If so, then look at your own reservations and apprehensions when it comes to others. Look at your organizations or groups and see if they are really diverse. Look at your war chest and ask yourself have you really contributed all that you can to the issues you claim you’re fighting. Have you given all you can give to society and humanity? Most of all, have you been all that you can be in society, and allowed or given opportunity to others as much as you can so they can do the same? Because then and only then have you truly become a “humane being.” Kenneth Glasgow
Dothan

November 19, 2008 11:31 PM

Coming Together in the Wiregrass

2009-01-08T22:46:00.000-06:00

Maybe it's just me, but have anyone else noticed that the Wiregrass was always looked over or looked upon differently when it came to State issues and Funds. Now with issues that we've been pushing like ex-felon voting rights and Ron Gilley with Country Crossing, Dothan and the Wiregrass are being looked upon in a different light. When just approximately a year and a half ago we had to literally fight to get funds for Enterprise High School and had become the new Katrina ( on a small scale ).
It might just be time for all of us to use this opportunity to form some cohesiveness amongst ourselves and come together like we did for Enterprise and the children on Christmas Eve and realize that there's no big car dealerships and major corporations here like other places in Alabama.
So Country Crossing will open up doors of opportunity for ECONOMIC stability that I've never seen in the Wiregrass, how about you?
I met Ron Gilley some years ago when Katrina hit and him and his crew were helping the people down there while we were feeding folks. Then again when Enterprise got hit real hard and the poorest neighborhood was hurt. He rebuilded the houses and helped the people like the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible. It did'nt matter that it was a Samaritan or how he got the money ( legally ) did it? The act of doing for God's people was enough for God to make sure we know the story!

So let's take note Wiregrass, because of some of these issues and others like mostly all the African Americans voting THE SAME WAY for Bobby Bright ( that's the first time that's ever happened also, Thanks Dr. Earl Jones ). We now have a Convention Center, and Empowerment Center to go along with our Civic Center and other help agencies ( thank you to Ron Wilson ), so it's only befitting that we have Country Crossing which would bring alot of Tourist, Celeberties, Opportunities, and Revenue to the Wiregrass who's been looked over and passed by for years. Then we can buy our cars from our new Mayor, Mike Schmitz and be like everyone else in Alabama.
Question: Could that be why it's being fought against by those outside the Wiregrass Hmm! but they did go against Sen. Smith so I'm not surprised.
Let's Come Together Wiregrass!

Pastor Kenneth Glasgow

Founder, Executive Director

The Ordinary People Society (TOPS)

403 West Powell St.

Dothan, AL 36303

Office / Fax: 334-671-2882

2008-12-03T17:01:00.001-06:00

TOPS hoping to make holidays bright for needy children, elderly
Photo

Jay Hare / jhare@dothaneagle.com

Jacob Williams and Anna Reynolds talk after Williams receives some food at Mama Tina’s House on Tuesday night. T.O.P.S. which sponsors the orginization will be sponsoring a variety of Christmas drives for local residents, including a drive to collect toys for the children of incarcerated parnts.

Jim Cook

Published: December 2, 2008

The Ordinary People Society is gearing up for Christmas, sponsoring programs to help needy children and the elderly during the holiday season.

TOPS is putting up an angel tree with the names of children of incarcerated or deceased parents and those whose families are in dire financial situations. The organization is also making up food baskets for the elderly.

Tina Glasgow, head of Mama Tina’s Mission House, said hard times have put an increased burden on charitable organizations this year.

“Yes, we fed more people in the past months than before and find more people in need of clothes (and) hygiene than ever before, and the homeless population has grown,” Glasgow said in an e-mail interview. “We strive to serve to deter the need to steal or engage in harm to another individual to survive.”

Local residents who wish to donate to TOPS’ Christmas programs can do so by bringing food or gifts to Mama Tina’s Mission House at 605 North Alice St. The organization is also looking for volunteers to help feed the needy and sort donations during the Christmas season and throughout the year.

TOPS recently participated with Love In Action ministries during the Thanksgiving holiday to deliver more than 350 meals to needy residents and to serve more than 200 meals at the mission house, Glasgow said.

TOPS got its start in 2001 in the parking lot of Wiregrass Commons Mall. The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow handed out Dante’s Pizza leftovers from the back of his mother’s car at closing time while doing outreach. Today, TOPS and Glasgow are involved in a number of activities including holding Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, providing food, clothing and shelter to the homeless and other activities.

Glasgow has become a nationally-known advocate for the poor and disadvantaged, and helped lead a controversial effort during the 2008 election season to restore voting rights to convicted felons serving time in Alabama’s prisons.

She is putting up an angel tree with the names of children of incarcerated or deceased parents and those whose families are in dire financial situations. The organization is also making up food baskets for the elderly.
Tina Glasgow, head of Mama Tina’s Mission House, said hard times have put an increased burden on charitable organizations this year.

“Yes, we fed more people in the past months than before and find more people in need of clothes (and) hygiene than ever before, and the homeless population has grown,” Glasgow said in an e-mail interview. “We strive to serve to deter the need to steal or engage in harm to another individual to survive.”

Local residents who wish to donate to TOPS’ Christmas programs can do so by bringing food or gifts to Mama Tina’s Mission House at 605 North Alice St. The organization is also looking for volunteers to help feed the needy and sort donations during the Christmas season and throughout the year.

TOPS recently participated with Love In Action ministries during the Thanksgiving holiday to deliver more than 350 meals to needy residents and to serve more than 200 meals at the mission house, Glasgow said.

TOPS got its start in 2001 in the parking lot of Wiregrass Commons Mall. The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow handed out Dante’s Pizza leftovers from the back of his mother’s car at closing time while doing outreach. Today, TOPS and Glasgow are involved in a number of activities including holding Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, providing food, clothing and shelter to the homeless and other activities.

Glasgow has become a nationally-known advocate for the poor and disadvantaged, and helped lead a controversial effort during the 2008 election season to restore voting rights to convicted felons serving time in Alabama’s prisons.

Dothan Man Votes for First time since 1970

2008-11-18T21:21:00.001-06:00

Published: November 4, 2008

Ussery Knight strolled into the polling place at Doug Tew Recreation Center on Tuesday.

It was just before 5 p.m. and the lines were down. Knight grabbed his ballot, cast his vote for Barack Obama, and walked out. It marked the first time he had been able to vote in almost 40 years.

The last time Knight, 62, had the right to vote, gas was 36 cents per gallon, the Dow sat at 839, “Patton” was the big movie at the box office and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was beginning a seven-year run on television.

It was 1970. Knight doesn’t even remember who he voted for that year.

About two years later, Knight was convicted of manslaughter, a Class A felony. He said he only served probation, but the felony conviction meant he forfeited the right to vote.

“I didn’t think I would ever be able to vote again,” Knight said. “Funny thing is, I was just getting back from Vietnam, fighting for freedom.”

But recently, Knight was watching television when he saw the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, founder of The Ordinary People Society, talking about the restoration of voting rights for ex-felons. Glasgow has mounted a crusade throughout Alabama to help ex-felons regain the right to vote.

Knight followed up with Glasgow and filled out the necessary paperwork. A few weeks later, his right to vote had been restored.

“It was really easier than I thought it would be,” he said.

Knight said he voted for Obama because “I saw him on television and liked what he said.”

Now, Knight said he plans to vote every election.

“If you don’t have the right to vote and can get that right restored, you need to look into it,” he said.

We have alot of work to do!

2008-11-14T07:48:00.002-06:00

I don't want anyone to get confused since Obama is the president into thinking that now everything is going to be alright.
We have alot of work to do, now more than ever. The racism and biasness has and will become more prevalent. I just went through an ordeal yesterday continuing to fight for our voting rights and for some strange reason even though alot of us ex-felons voted, contributed and participated in gaining this monumental victory we are still not treated or seated in a state of equality. I'm truly becoming convinced that our moral ethics and values have taken a dive in the wrong direction. We have no regards for fellow human beings and their rights. It's amazing to me how we embrace a system that should've been set up to protect us and yet it has become our worst enemy. So I question you today what have we become and where do we go from here?
Whenever we can just take human life and call it the death penalty, but yet do not use all of our modern technology to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the person is guilty, what have we become? and don't you dare point the finger at someone else because we accept it as the norm, so what about us?
When we are supposedly moving in the right direction and don't open the doors for those who God has given the same rights as you and yet you still treat them as if they're not your equal, what have we become?
When we have these progressive organizations that fight for hauman rights, ex-felons, and etc. but yet there's not one of us who you supposedly represent on your board to help in the decision making. Oh you will hire us and give us a position but not an equal seat at the table.
When you have the funds to get alot of this progressive work done and know the groups and organizations out there who can get the job done and will not help or support them in order to enhance the process, I ask you again, what have we become?
When we allow those who we have put in office to tell us what we can get instead of telling them what we need and want, what have we become?
Have we gotten to the point where we have become co-conspiritors of our own oppression or are we really ready to do what needs to be done!
If you are, then look at your own reservations and apprehensions when it comes to others. Look at your organizations or groups and see are you really diverse. Look at your war chess and ask yourself have your really contributed all that you can to the issues you claim you're fighting. Have you given all you can give to society and humanity. And most of all have you been all that you can be in society, and allowed or given opportunity to others as much as you can so they can do the same?
Because then and only then have you truly become a HUMANE BEING!!!

Somebody Say Restore!!!

2008-10-21T20:09:00.000-05:00

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND SETTLES IMPORTANT VOTING RIGHTS CASE AND
ALLOWS VOTER EDUCATION EFFORT TO CONTINUE

(Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - New York, NY) Today, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) settled the lawsuit it filed against the Alabama Department of Corrections in federal court earlier this month on behalf of Reverend Kenneth Glasgow. Immediately after the lawsuit was filed, the parties began settlement discussions under which Reverend Glasgow last week resumed his non-partisan ministry to eligible voters currently incarcerated in the state’s correctional facilities.

The lawsuit was filed after the Alabama Department of Corrections cancelled Reverend Glasgow’s ministry following the Alabama Republican Party’s objection to his voter education activities.

“Now I can continue the ministry that God gave me: helping to give a voice to the voiceless by reaching out to people in Alabama’s correctional facilities who are eligible to vote,” said Reverend Glasgow. “The ministry is so critical because too many in Alabama’s correctional facilities who are eligible to vote don’t know it.”

While incarcerated six years ago, Reverend Glasgow joined a prison ministry that addressed the importance of personal and civic responsibility and restoration as personal virtues and as cornerstones for one’s community. He was struck by the prison ministry’s focus on exercising the right to vote as a means to restore an him to his community and vowed to give back by starting his own ministry. Upon his release in 2002, Reverend Glasgow founded The Ordinary People Society, a not-for-profit organization in Dothan, Alabama. In 2004, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole restored Reverend Glasgow’s voting rights.

“Today’s settlement ensures the result that we sought and that Alabama’s constitution and laws require — eligible people in correctional facilities will be able to participate in Reverend Glasgow’s ministry and learn about their voting rights prior to close of registration for the upcoming November 4 general election,” said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.

Ryan P. Haygood, Co-Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group at LDF who represented Reverend Glasgow added: “This significant development strengthens the integrity of Alabama’s democratic processes by guaranteeing that eligible voters who seek to vote will have their voices heard.”

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund was joined in the lawsuit by Herman Johnson, of Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis.

I'm not a Second Class Citizen, I'm a Second Chance Citizen

2008-10-13T22:54:00.002-05:00

I'm not a Second Class Citizen, I'm a Second Chance Citizen

As I sit here and reflect on this last month's activities I don't know whether to be happy or just cry. Because I've went through so much and had so many things and people exposed.
I listened to God and committed myself to this work by His calling and I've wanted to quit so many times, and believe it or not now is definitely one of those times.
The blatant biasness, racism, and disrespect for humanity that I've witnessed in this issue of restoring People's lives by restoring their rights just overwhelmed me.
Maybe people just don't understand that when a person loses their right to vote they lose so much more of their life necessities. We can't get public housing, public assistance, student loans or pell grants to better educate ourselves, a business license, and housing and jobs are few and scarce for an ex-felon.
My real challenge is that this is supposed to be a religious, spiritual society that loves humanity and their neighbors, but for some reason those who have made a mistake are not considered citizens, neighbors, and less than human I guess. Yet these are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters. People who we grew up with, and people we went to school with and know.
We are talking about fellow human beings who have made a mistake and committed a crime that does not involve Moral Turpitude.
This was a term used in slavery times in order to consider a person vile or defain, not a full citizen. Now here in 2008 over a hundred years later the underlying racism and biasness of those of us who call ourselves Christians, Muslims, Methodist, Baptist, etc. seeps out when we find out that a person that has made a mistake has the same rights we have if they have not committed a crime of Moral Turpitude
Yet we read the Bible, Quran and other religious books claiming that we love everybody and want to help restore people's lives, but now that the opportunity has come our prejudices come to the forefront.
Classism steps up and we say they shouldn't have the same rights that we have they made a mistake.
My question is" what if God was like that? What if He felt the same way? would any of us be here?
Have you ever ran a stop sign or red light? have you ever got sick and went to the hospital? Why do you think that God put in Matthew 25: 33-46 " have you visited those who are sick and in prison ". He put those two together, why?
Because he knew that those in prison were sick as well and needed ministering to.
When we went to the prisons we only targeted those with possession of drug charges only. Those who would be out in about a year or two anyway. It's cost effective to give a person treatment instead of incarceration. It cost taxpayers approximately $13,000 to $29,000 a year to house a person in prison, while it only cost us $4,300 to $8,000 a year to give them treatment depending on what state you live in, and cheaper than that for college.
We have 5.3 million people in the U.S. that are disenfranchised and in the State of Ala. we have 250,046 who have lost their rights!
If we are productive citizens then shouldn't we be producing productive citizens. Every seed produces of it's own kind so what's wrong with us.
Crimes not involving Moral Turpitude are non-violent victimless crimes that does not cause any hurt, harm, danger, and suffering to anyone else. ( as close of a definition we can come up with ).
These are people who have done things that hurt themselves.
If we truly wanted to diminish crime, diminish recidivism, diminish overcrowded prisons, and diminish parent less children, then we would start engaging those incarcerated into civic participation and transforming their mind before they get out of prison.
The renewing of the mind need to come before release from jail or prison, not after they are released with a bus ticket and $10. Because when they meet these obstacles and disappointments they have no structure or substance to hold on to.
Our children are dropping out of school at enormous rates and we spend more on prisons than on education, more on prisons than our elderly and our poor.
In 1901 when they wrote the Alabama Constitution they must've had a different perception of these crimes not involving Moral Turpitude than the people of today. Or did they have more respect for human life than we do now? But our forefathers seen this differently and most of them were Republicans, conservatives and devout men of God.Maybe we need to stop looking at human beings and look at HUMANITY!!!

After the Civil War in Oct 1864 the Sons of the Confederate went to Washington to get their rights restored and pardons for crimes of treason, and heinous acts committed to human beings ( Crimes of Moral Turpitude ), so why now when we talk about crimes not involving Moral Turpitude do we want to take people's rights hmmm!
There's always been some type of trick to keep us divided whether it was Jews and Gentiles, Black and White, and now Felon or Non Felon. When will the prejudices end or will they ever?
When an average citizen breaks the Law, they go to jail, but when those who suppose to uphold the Law break it, the people suffer and become the victims.
My cousin told me that I must realize that for 105 years anyone could have said something about this and a few did like; Dr. Rep. Yvonne Kennedy, Sen. Bobby Singleton, Ryan Haygood, Bryan Stevenson, Gabriel Sayegh, myself, and a few others. But most of those who could've didn't, so please don't get mad at those of us who do. This is a continuation of our struggle in this Civil Rights Movement and The Ministry of God.
If you're like me you have no choice but to fight for Fairness, and Equality no matter who or what the naysayers think or say!
However it is quite amusing to me when those who are against you and the work God gave you come out publicly like they were with you all the time, but wasn't anywhere around for the fight, and as a matter of fact tried to stop you and wouldn't help.
But I'm glad you see the light now, and God has opened your eyes and you're here now!

We've Came From The Back Of The Bus, To The Front Of The Prison,

The Struggle Continues!!!
and that proves to me that I'm not a

Second Class Citizen

but a

Second Chance Citizen!

What T.O.P.S. Really Is

2008-10-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

After talking to several people and taking our own little survey about our efforts of people's voting rights. Several of you informed me that some of those against it are not aware that this is our ministry, and we've been doing this since we started 7 years ago. Also that some have even went against those of us here who live in the Wiregrass who should've been supported. ( All Republicans don't agree ). Because our ministry is outreach oriented and we would dare be like others and use our clergical status for political gain here's a small synopsis of:

THE ORDINARY PEOPLE SOCIETY ( T.O.P.S. )

People must realize that every part of T.O.P.S. is ministry. There is a bad misconception that the ex-felon voting rights is for people who are criminals and not for the safety of victims, but it's exactly the opposite.
T.O.P.S. mission is to help those who have gotten on the wrong track in life by any and all circumstances that lead to an unproductive life.
Momma Tina's Mission House feeds the hungry and homeless who have no where to live or eat; on the surface, but there's a deeper meaning to this feeding: when you feed a person who's hungry or high on drugs, you diminish crime being committed by that hungry person. It says in the Bible do not fault a man if he steals cause he's hungry.
You see a person who's high when they eat, it curbs the high and causes them to come down off of the high, and usually they will result to sleeping or at least calming down enough to be ministered to and reasoned with. This starts the process of restoring a person's life. A mere introduction to a different way. Seeing someone who accepts them and that's willing to work with them even in their most despondant way.
Some of the most remarking things you could ever do to help a person get on the right path is to accept them just the way they are. For some it may be one of the first encounters of love and God that they've ever known.
Then there's the restoring of voting rights or should I say restoring of people's lives. Because alot of people don't know that when a person lose their voting rights there's a whole lot more that goes along with that. They cannot get public assistance, public housing, student loans ( to better educate themselves and do better ), business license, and not to mention a job, apartment, or house because of a felony conviction.
But when a person get their rights back there's a mental change that comes about. The Bible says that there must come a renewing of the mind and that's what happens when rights are restored ( Rom. 12: 1-3 ). A person who have never been a citizen or have been considered less than a citizen, now has a chance to be classified as, called a citizen, act like a citizen, and eventually becomes a productive citizen.
This too causes a person to relinquish acts of crime and consider themselves a part of society instead of an alien to society. So crime diminishes as well. In Galatians 6: 1 It says when a brother is taken away in a fault, we that are spiritual should restore such a one. Isaiah 61: 1 Feed the hungry, heal the broken hearted and set the captives free, and the opening of the prison to those that are bound. So we do this at T.O.P.S. by Rev. 12: 11 which says and they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. We go into the prisons to set the captives free and give our testimony IT'S OUR MINISTRY! and I'm so glad that all of you in this area ( theWIREGRASS) know that and understand it!
The Drug War became a war on people and we spend more on incarceration than on treatment. So therefore we spend more to produce criminals than citizens!
Then T.O.P.S. does intervention and prevention with youth, and help the elderly, closing the generation gap, and allowing society to come together and close the divide. Especially in poor and poverty stricken neighborhoods.
To sum all of this up, every act of T.O.P.S. is MINISTRY and HARM REDUCTION!!!

Everytime we interact with the children and have an event it curbs the influence of the life they see on the streets. It causes their senses to get intrigued of this difference they see in the neighborhood that has forgotten it's neighbor and just become the HOOD!
Because it has been said by a young Doctor that these young people suffer from the same thing a soldier suffers from when he's at war, and that is post traumatic stress. So it's so much for them to see unity across racial, generational, and geographical divides even in communities and neighborhoods in small cities.
So we have our M&M Program which is monitoring and mentoring!
Whenever others come to this poverty stricken area that they normally would have never come to if there wasn't a T.O.P.S. ( Momma Tina's ). That provides a safe place for them to come and minister to those who may be considered less fortunate materially,but yet it brings together those who have had a greater divide. It brings all of us together on a mission from God and gives us an opportunity to be vessels for God. And even though some of us may think that we're feeding people to be a blessing, we may be getting a blessing by doing what God has truly asked us to do, and being ministered to while we're there.
So it takes us to the realization that T.O.P.S. is definitely for the victim first and doing this ministry to cause HARM REDUCTION in all aspects.
So therefore when Evergreen Pres. Church comes to feed in this area and those who donate, contribute and participate in our endeavors at T.O.P.S. to do what God has told us to do REMEMBER THE VICTIM COMES FIRST!!!
If WE HELP RESTORE PEOPLE LIVES IT DIMINISHES,CRIME, BROKEN FAMILIES,
HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES, AND RESTORES OUR COMMUNITIES, CITIES, STATES, AND NATION.
In order for someone to come into our program they must first acknowledge and make ammends to their victims. Alot of people think that if a person hasn't committed a violent crime then there's no victim, but what about the mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, and significant other.? we all have victims who we've hurt in the past, have we made ammends?
Have we truly looked at ourselves and been all that we can be to everyone we can be?
Have we truly given to those in need by doing what Matthew 25: 33-46 says!
Have we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, took in strangers, visited the sick and in prison?
When we do this, then and only then will WE NO LONGER SEE OF NEIGHBOR AS OUR NEIGHBOR, BUT WE'LL SEE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES, AND BE JUST ORDINARY PEOPLE, DOING EXTRAORDINARY THINGS, BY THE POWER AND SPIRIT OF GOD,
NO WILL OF OUR OWN, ALL GLORY BELONGS TO HIM

Who's The Victim Now!!!

2008-10-06T07:54:00.002-05:00

Birmingham News Confusion reigns in Alabama over ex-felons' ability to vote
Monday, October 06, 2008
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - When James Solomon went to register to vote earlier this year, he said he was told he couldn't vote because of a past conviction for cocaine possession.

That was in direct contrast to advice given by the Secretary of State's Office that drug possession is not a crime that strips someone of their voting rights.

"I just wanted to vote. When you got a felony, they treat you like you're nobody," said Solomon, an Enterprise welder and the widowed father of seven.

Less than a month shy of a historic election expected to bring record turnout, there still is uncertainty over who is eligible to vote in Alabama. State officials have given boards of registrars conflicting lists of felony convictions that bar a person from voting.

And registrars, already swamped with new voter applications, have the difficult task of sorting out who is and who isn't eligible to vote.

"We don't want to be in a multiple choice situation. You want to know the answer," Montgomery County Elections Director Trey Granger said.

A statewide computer system for the past 11 months has been noting convictions for more than 400 crimes that Gov. Bob Riley's administration deemed to be felonies of moral turpitude - even though officials with the Administrative Office of Courts said they were assured by Riley's office only a shorter list of 70 felonies developed by the attorney general's office were being checked.

"I know there is confusion. The computer system is flagging people who ought to be able to vote," said Kenneth Glasgow, a former drug offender turned pastor who works to help former felons to register to vote.

Secretary of State Beth Chapman said she's been trying to sort out the confusion through a series of conference calls and memos with county registrars over the past several months.

"They must first go to the AG's opinion. If that doesn't answer their question, they should seek guidance from their county attorney, their district attorney or my attorney," Chapman said, describing the advice her office has given local boards.

How big the problem is depends upon whom you ask.

"We don't know if it's a big, widespread problem. We're looking at a potential problem," said Adam Thompson, who oversees compliance with federal voting laws for Chapman. Thompson said his office found out last month that the lists hadn't been swapped, but Thompson said there are safeguards in place to make sure people eligible to vote can register.

Chapman for months has told county registrars to hand-check any convictions flagged by the computer system. Thompson said people who are denied voter registration are told they can appeal the decision.

Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said he's concerned tens of thousands of would-be voters could have been affected.

"Absolutely, there has been confusion. I think a lot of damage has been done to a lot of people," Turnham said.

Turnham said he's also concerned people have been improperly purged from the voter rolls.

"We have less than three weeks now to find the people who have been disenfranchised and get them back on the rolls," Turnham said.

The dispute centers on the definition of a crime of "moral turpitude." The state constitution says people convicted of felony crimes of "moral turpitude" cannot vote until they get their rights restored, but it does not define the term.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King in a 2005 opinion named 28 felonies - which add up to about 70 crimes if each of the degrees of the offenses are counted - that have by statute or appellate decision been defined as crimes of moral turpitude.

Riley, serving as court-appointed chief of Alabama elections, in 2007 created a list of more than 400 disbarring felonies and gave it to Election Systems & Software, the company hired to create a voter registration database for the state. Riley's list includes crimes ranging from terrorism and homicide to starting a brush fire and drug possession.

AOC Legal Director Griffin Sikes Jr. said the governor had no legal authority to classify so many crimes as crimes of moral turpitude. Sikes said that, for months, the governor's office had assured the AOC that only the shorter list was being used, but Sikes found out last month those assurances were given "in error."

Riley Communications Director Jeff Emerson said the governor's office was forced to come up with its own list because the AOC initially refused to provide one.

Emerson said that, although the governor's office agreed to let the shorter list be used, it believes its own research is more comprehensive and accurate.

Emerson said that, until last month, crimes on both lists were being flagged by the computer system. Cost was a factor in not swapping the lists, he said.

"We were told to remove the larger list would be very, very expensive," Emerson said.

Emerson said new software is being added this month to make convictions clearer to the registrars. The change was planned and won't be a significant cost to the state, he said.

"If there is confusion out there, it will end it. It's designed to," said Emerson, who pointed out that local registrars had the ultimate authority in deciding who to deny registration, and those people were given the opportunity to appeal.

The disagreement over the felony lists isn't the only one of the state's voting procedures being challenged less than a month shy of the election. One lawsuit also has been filed on the behalf of three former inmates who weren't allowed to register to vote, and another has been filed on behalf of Glasgow's efforts to register inmates to vote absentee. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law also said last week that it wants to seek records about voter roll purges in Alabama and another dozen states.

Walker County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Terra Tidwell said there has been confusion over which felons to exclude from voting, but things have improved because of communication from Chapman's office.

Flagged by computer:

Tidwell said she hand-checks convictions flagged by the computer.

Jefferson County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Nell Hunter said she has the county attorney check criminal records after a person is flagged by the computer system. Jefferson County attorney Theo Lawson said he uses neither the governor's list nor the attorney general's, but relies on his own research which, he said, is more thorough than either list.

"I look at these on a case-by-case basis," Lawson said.

But Lawson said it would be preferable if there were a single definitive list.

"Oh my goodness, it would make life much easier," Lawson said.

Chapman and a spokesman for King said the best way to correct the problem is for the Alabama Legislature to set the rules for when former felons can vote.

" I don't make the law. The registrars don't make the law. We just abide by the law. And sometimes the law is very unclear," Chapman said.

Alabama Denies Vote Based on List Compiled by Governor's Staff

2008-10-03T18:56:00.002-05:00

FYI: from: National Organizational Coordinator

Ala. GOP governor's list bars vote to shopliftersBy JAY REEVES Associated Press Writer
Published: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 4:20 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 4:20 p.m.

A list of crimes compiled by the governor's office and used to disqualify Alabama voters includes hundreds of felonies - such as animal cruelty and shoplifting - not previously considered serious enough to cost convicted criminals their voting rights.
State court administrators say the list includes far too many offenses and has been wrongly used for months by county registrars to disqualify an undetermined number of state voters ahead of the Nov. 4 presidential election.
Republican Gov. Bob Riley's office said it did nothing wrong, but Democrats say the move may cost tens of thousands of qualified voters their right to cast a ballot next month - a number large enough to sway the outcome of some races.
The secretary of state's office said it is trying to determine the size of the problem and fix it before Election Day. Officials haven't been able to determine exactly how many voters may be affected because of how new the information is and the huge number of disqualifying crimes involved.
"It's a very fast-moving issue that we were just hit with," said state elections official Adam Thompson.
With Riley serving as a federal judge's court-appointed overseer of Alabama's election system, legal aides to Riley last year compiled a list of 444 felonies they considered to be convictions of moral turpitude, which state law says are the only crimes that disqualify citizens from voting. Riley's office released a list of the crimes to The Associated Press late Thursday.
The governor's list includes about 70 felonies that court administrators and state attorneys general previously have said involve moral turpitude, including violent crimes like murder, robbery, rape, drug trafficking and numerous sex-related offenses.
But the governor's legal aides also classified about 370 other crimes as involving moral turpitude, including attempted arson, breaking and entering a vehicle, attempted burglary, criminal mischief, possession of burglary tools and burning a U.S. flag or cross.
The list also includes absentee balloting fraud, cruelty to a dog or cat, domestic violence, forgery, killing livestock illegally, leaving the scene of an accident with an injury, disrupting a funeral, ethics violations and conspiring to set an illegal brush fire.
The Administrative Office of Courts said the governor's office has no legal authority to classify so many crimes as involving moral turpitude.
After months of denying that the long list was being used to prevent some people from registering to vote and to strike others from voting, the governor's office last week admitted its list had been used in error, said Griffin Sikes, AOC legal director.
The mistake surfaced as a federal judge ended Riley's role as special master in charge of developing a computerized system for voter registration.
Civil libertarians and some Democrats have accused Republicans in Alabama and other states of attempting to suppress voter registration, but Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson said it was "ridiculous" to suggest Riley's office was part of such an effort.
Alabama's elections system has been plagued by confusion and lawsuits over the hazy definition of which felonies are "crimes of moral turpitude." Emerson said the governor's office was forced to come up with its own list because court administrators failed to compile one.
While court administrators and the attorney general's office have identified a relatively small number of crimes as involving moral turpitude based on state law and court rulings, Emerson said the shorter list is incomplete.
"Our legal staff ... put in hundreds of hours into researching both case law and statutory law to come up with a comprehensive list of crimes of moral turpitude," he said.
Republican Secretary of State Beth Chapman's office was placed in charge of voter registration after a court ended Riley's oversight.
Thompson, who oversees compliance with federal voting law for the secretary of state, said staffers learned of potential problems with the governor's list only this week from the Administrative Office of Courts.
"It's our goal to see that every eligible voter can cast a ballot on Election Day," he said.

Fighting For The Ministry ( People's Rights )

2008-10-01T21:09:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - New York , NY ) The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed a lawsuit today in federal court on behalf of Reverend Kenneth Glasgow to allow him to resume registering eligible voters currently incarcerated in Alabama ’s correctional facilities.

With just 24 days remaining before voter registration closes to citizens seeking to participate in the November 4 elections, the lawsuit challenges the decision of Richard Allen, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, to rescind Reverend Glasgow’s access to incarcerated individuals who are eligible to vote under Alabama law.

“With less than a month before the close of voter registration in Alabama , the Commissioner is effectively denying the franchise to eligible voters. This is an egregious attempt to hamper the democratic process in the State of Alabama ,” said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.

Commissioner Allen initially provided enthusiastic support for Reverend Glasgow’s ministry of hope, reconciliation and redemption to Alabama’s inmates through activities that include voting, and established specific procedures by which non-partisan voter registration activities could be conducted safely and effectively. He not only directed the wardens of all Alabama correctional institutions to facilitate Reverend Glasgow’s entry, but provided a list to Reverend Glasgow of more than 6,000 inmates convicted only of simple drug possession crimes, offenses for which one does not lose his or her voting rights under Alabama ’s constitution and laws. Most on the list are unaware of their eligibility to register to vote.

However, as soon as news spread about the success of Reverend Glasgow’s ministry and his assistance helping eligible inmates register to vote, Commissioner Allen reversed course. While many applauded Reverend Glasgow’s attempt to minister to inmates and assist their rehabilitation through political participation, the Chair of the Alabama Republican Party wrote a letter to the Commissioner stating that it “was in full support of increasing the amount of registered voters in the state,” but not those “who have committed crimes and are currently incarcerated in the penal system,” even though some are eligible to register.

The Commissioner then swiftly prohibited Reverend Glasgow from continuing to conduct his non-partisan voter registration activities for incarcerated, but eligible, Alabamians. This course of action is a textbook case of viewpoint discrimination – excluding a speaker from a forum because of disagreement with his opinion or ideology – that violates the First Amendment.

“Unlike the Commissioner,” Rev. Glasgow responded, “my actions are not influenced by a political party’s agenda. My prison ministry is focused not on politics, but on restoring people’s lives. Since I have personally benefited from this type of ministry, it is my calling to help inmates with their re-entry back into society and their families.”

While incarcerated more than six years ago, Reverend Glasgow became involved in a prison ministry that addressed the importance of spirituality, personal responsibility, civic responsibility, forgiveness and restoration — both as personal virtues and as cornerstones for one’s community. Reverend Glasgow was particularly struck by the prison ministry’s focus on exercising the right to vote as a means to restore an offender to his community and vowed to give back by starting his own ministry. Upon his release in 2002, Rev. Glasgow remained true to his word and founded The Ordinary People Society, a faith-based ministry headquartered in Dothan , Alabama . In 2004, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole restored Rev. Glasgow’s voting rights.

“Reverend Glasgow’s ministry has carefully observed Alabama’s voting laws and every procedure established by the Commissioner to offer non-partisan assistance to eligible voters in Alabama’s penal system, most of whom do not know they have retained their voting rights,” said Ryan P. Haygood, Co-Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group. “The Commissioner’s decision to cancel this important effort is arbitrary and unconstitutional. The time to remedy these constitutional violations is now.”

###

ABOUT LDF

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is America 's legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarships and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all.

Glasgow defends Alabama Inmates

2008-09-22T08:11:00.002-05:00

Click here to listen...

Pastor Kenneth Glasgow speaks out about T.I.'s trail

2008-09-21T21:13:00.007-05:00

Click here to listen...

GOP opposes letting prisoners register to vote

2008-09-18T23:17:00.001-05:00

9/18/2008, 5:53 p.m. ET
By JAY REEVES
The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Republican Party opposes a drive to register inmates to vote so they can cast absentee ballots from inside state prisons, with the state GOP chief saying Thursday there needs to be safeguards against voter fraud.

State Rep. Mike Hubbard, chairman of the party, told Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen in a letter delivered by e-mail that the party supports the idea of registering more people to vote, but not when it comes to prisoners.

"Furthermore, I have concerns about potential issues with how this effort is being monitored to ensure no form of voter fraud occurs," Hubbard wrote. He asked Allen to outline the prison system's plans for preventing fraud.

Prison spokesman Brian Corbett said the commissioner was working on a response and declined further comment.

Hubbard's letter came two days after The Associated Press reported that a coalition of groups led by a community activist, the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, began registering inmates to vote in state lockups this week. Nearly 80 filled out registration forms in two days.

Glasgow, a Democrat from Dothan who served time for robbery and drug convictions, said no one with the state has told him to stop registering inmates. He plans to continue the effort with other members of the coalition, which he said includes Republicans and Democrats.

"I think they're more worried about me being a Democrat than anything," said Glasgow. "The chairman of the Republican Party and the chairman of the Democratic Party can go in there with me and monitor it to make sure it's nonpartisan."

Glasgow, a pastor, intends to turn in the registration forms and return to the lockups later to make sure inmates mail in absentee forms. He said the project is about human rights and preparing prisoners to return to society, not politics.

"We're just doing what the Bible says, visiting people in prison and ministering to them," he said.

About 3,000 people could be eligible to vote from inside Alabama prisons, Glasgow said, and he plans to register as many as possible in coming weeks.

Alabama law prohibits felons convicted of "crimes of moral turpitude" from voting unless they have had their rights restored. State law doesn't define such crimes, but court opinions have said they include major offenses like murder, robbery and rape plus some lesser offenses, like taking a stolen car across state lines.

Glasgow's drive is concentrating on registering prisoners who have been convicted only of drug possession, which an attorney general's opinion issued in 2005 did not define as a crime of moral turpitude.

Confusion over which crimes involve "moral turpitude" has led to litigation seeking the restoration of prisoners' voting rights.

State inmates register to vote in prison

2008-09-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

By Jay Reeves
The Associated Press
(photo by Jay Reeves)

BIRMINGHAM -- Alabama inmates are registering to vote from prison in a precedent-setting effort organized by activist groups with the blessing of state corrections officials.

Nearly 80 prisoners had filled out registration forms during drives at two lockups, and organizers plan to help them and hundreds more obtain absentee ballots in time to vote in the presidential election on Nov. 4.

Laura Schley, 34, has eight months left on a four-year sentence for illegal possession of prescription drugs. She had a hard time believing she was registering Tuesday at the Birmingham Work Release Center.

"It just blew my mind," said Schley, who was wearing prison whites. "My voting rights are very important to me and have been ever since I was 18."

The state attorney general's office issued an opinion seven years ago that inmates could vote from inside prison using absentee ballots. But confusion and lawsuits followed over which felons had that right because of a murky phrase in state law.

Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said no one previously had registered prisoners to vote in Alabama.

"It's something that we support and authorized for them to do," said Corbett.

The drive is led by Kenneth Glasgow of Dothan, who served 14 years on robbery and drug charges and is now a pastor. Glasgow said restoring voting rights is essential to returning felons to society.

"What we're interested in is not so much the politics but the restoration of people's lives," Glasgow said.

Glasgow is state coordinator of a coalition that includes the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates reforms including a move toward treatment rather than prison time for drug users.

Angela Wright, in the work-release center for cocaine possession, said she has to study before casting her vote for either Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama for president.

"I haven't really even been paying attention because I figured it was a lost cause," Wright said after filling out a registration form.

Studies have estimated that more than 250,000 Alabama residents are barred from voting because of criminal records.

State law says those convicted of crimes of "moral turpitude" can't vote unless they have their rights restored by the state. The law does not state exactly which crimes are bad enough to make that list. Turpitude is defined as "baseness, vileness, depravity."

The state attorney general's office has said those offenses include murder, rape, multiple sex and obscenity offenses, burglary, robbery, forgery, conspiracy to commit fraud, aggravated assault, drug sales, bigamy, impeachment, treason and transporting stolen vehicles out of state.

Others convicted of lesser crimes such as possession of small amounts of drugs, battery or attempted burglary are eligible to vote, even from inside prison.

Glasgow, who coordinates a coalition of eight prisoners rights groups, is registering inmates convicted only of drug possession. He previously registered hundreds in county jails across the state.

Many convicted on drug charges also were sentenced for other crimes. Prison system statistics don't indicate how many inmates are behind bars only for drug possession.

Glasgow believes about 3,000 people could be eligible to vote from inside Alabama prisons, and he plans to register as many as possible in coming weeks.

Completed voter registration forms will be sent to the secretary of state's office and volunteers will return to state lockups to make sure prisoners cast their absentee ballots.

A Jefferson County judge in 2006 ordered the state to let all convicted felons vote because the law failed to define offenses or moral turpitude, but the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the decision.

How Troy King helped expose the moral turpitude issue in Alabama

2008-09-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

If you want to know about Troy King's finding's on moral turpitude, check out the letter he wrote to Bill Segrest, Commissioner of the Board of Pardon's and Parole back in 2005. This ruling was later clarified by Judge Vance in a ruling on Gooden v. Worley.

Voting Rights Tour

2008-09-13T20:39:00.000-05:00

Contact: Rev. Ken Glasgow 334-791-2433
Gabriel Sayegh 646-335-2264

September 12, 2008

Advocates Launch Historic Drive to Register Eligible Alabama Voters, Including Those Convicted of Felony Drug Possession

Families, Formerly Incarcerated People, Religious Leaders, Treatment and Sentencing Experts Declare: Don’t Criminalize People with Drug Problems, Provide Treatment and Restoration

Voter Drive to Include Town Hall Events In Five Cities Across Alabama:
“Voter Disfranchisement and The War On Drugs:
What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”

In Alabama, nearly 250,000 people have been stripped their voting rights due to a felony conviction. But in a 2006 court ruling in Alabama, a judge found that only those persons convicted of felonies of “moral turpitude” lose their right to vote. The judge found that certain felonies—such as drug possession—do not constitute crimes of moral turpitude, and therefore individuals convicted of those crimes do not lose their right to vote, even during incarceration.

Alabama-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance estimate that over 50,000 people convicted of non-moral turpitude felonies in Alabama have been wrongly denied their right to vote, or believe they do not have that right due to a conviction. An additional 6 – 7,000 more people currently incarcerated in Alabama state prisons may also be eligible to vote.

Join Dothan-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance on their statewide tour to discuss Alabama’s drug war and its impact on democracy.

What: “Voter Disfranchisement and the War On Drugs: What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”

When: 9/15 – 9/19. Each event begins at 6 p.m .
Where: 9/15 in Huntsville; 9/16 in Birmingham; 9/17 in Mobile; 9/18 in Dothan; 9/19 in Montgomery. Each event begins at 6 p.m. Call for event locations.

Who: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow. Founder and Executive Director, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS). (Dothan, AL)
Daris Johnson. Director, TOPS Young People’s Project. (Enterprise, AL)
Gabriel Sayegh. Director, Organizing and Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance (New York, NY)
Alabama is facing a crisis. The state has the 6th highest rate of incarceration in the U.S. A prison system designed for 12,500 people now holds nearly 30,000. As a result of the drug war, non-violent drug offenses make up approximately 30% of all felony convictions in Alabama, and people convicted of non-violent drug and property offenses comprise nearly half of the state’s prison population. Nearly 50% of prisoners are serving prison time for a drug related crime. And over 250,000 people are barred from voting due to felony disfranchisement laws. A recent court ruling, however, found that people convicted of drug possession, among other offenses, do not lose their right to vote. This change could have an impact on nearly 70,000 Alabamians, including nearly 10,000 currently incarcerated in state prisons.

While drug use is equal across all racial groups, Black people are incarcerated for drug crimes at higher rates than whites. Blacks make up only 26% of Alabama’s population, but are nearly 60% of the prison population. And nearly every For every white person in an Alabama jail, there are about 4 Black people.

Alabama is spending millions to incarcerated people when treatment is more effective and far cheaper. The average cost to keep a person in prison in Alabama is almost $13,000 per year. The average cost of a full treatment program per client is approximately $4,300. Over time, the savings from treatment are significant: Studies by the RAND Corporation have show that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs.

“We’ve got to start restoring people’s lives, by providing treatment, by restoring the right to vote,” said Reverend Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of The Ordinary People’s Society and state coordinator of the New Bottom Line Campaign. “When a person get’s a felony conviction, they can lose more than their voting rights, they can lose public assistance, public housing, financial aid for school. The drug war became a war on people and we spend more on incarceration than on treatment. Why do we spend more on producing criminals than producing citizens? We need a new bottom line.”

In 2005, according to the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services, the substance abuse statistics for the state of Alabama stated:

Alcohol
• 246,000 people had alcohol dependency
• Total admissions for alcohol rehabilitation and treatment was 2,427
• Less than 1% (actually.009%) of Alabamians received treatment for alcohol

Other Drug Abuse
• 113,000 people had drug dependency other than alcohol
• Total admissions for drug rehabilitation and treatment was 12,645
• 11% of those needing treatment were provided with treatment

State's felon voting law still unclear

2008-08-14T09:01:00.000-05:00

State's felon voting law still unclear
(online link here)

By Markeshia Ricks

When Alabama made it easier for certain felons to regain the right to vote, it was hailed as a victory.

But the law designed to make it easier for them to regain their voting rights has caused confusion and lawsuits -- because only crimes involving "moral turpitude" include disenfranchisement as part of the penalty.

The state has no definitive list of which specific crimes cost a person their voting rights and which don't, and it's not likely to get one before the November elections.

Like most states, Alabama restricts the rights of felons to vote. The Sentencing Project estimates some 250,000 people in the state are ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction.

The new law was supposed to make it easier for felons who had done their time to regain their voting rights. Though an advocate for felon voting rights said the situation has improved since the law went into effect in 1993, the phone still rings off the hook every election year at the pardons and parole board with people asking questions.

Sarah Still, former manager of the state's Pardon Unit, said the state Board of Pardons and Paroles is flooded with felon-voting questions during every major election cycle, particularly after big voter registration drives.

More than 5,500 people have had their voting rights restored under the new process, and 220 had requests pending at the end of July. Another 327 received pardons between the beginning of the year and the end of July.

David Sadler, a national advocate and a felon who lost his voting rights for a drug-possession conviction when he was 18, said the Alabama bill that passed was watered down, "but it helped us get a foot through the door."

But many of the calls fielded by Pardons and Paroles officials come from felons who have had their voter registration rejected -- even though they never lost their right to vote. "Since we found out about the moral turpitude issue there has been a lot of confusion," Still said.

You say tomato

Under a 1996 amendment of the Alabama Constitution, felons convicted of crimes involving "moral turpitude" lost their voting rights until they were restored through the pardons process. Though the Alabama Supreme Court defined moral turpitude in 1916 as an act that is "immoral itself, regardless of the fact whether it is punishable by law," the state Legislature has never defined which crimes fall under this definition.

In 2003, the state passed a new law that allowed any person who lost their right to vote to use an expedited process to get their voting rights restored if they completed their sentence, paid all fines and had no pending felony charges. The new process takes 45 to 90 days to complete.

However, people who are convicted of murder, rape, sodomy and other sexual crimes can't use the new process to get their rights restored. Still said a person who commits these crimes would have to go through the more rigorous pardon process and that can take a year or more.

But what the law still leaves unresolved is which crimes are disenfranchising and which ones are not.

Attorney General Troy King said he tried to clear up some of the confusion by issuing an opinion that included a list of offenses that would disqualify felons from using the new process, and which ones wouldn't. King's lists, which add some crimes that the Legislature's list did not, are based on cases that involved moral turpitude, he said.

"That's been one of the most frustrating aspects of this whole thing," he said. "It wasn't me trying to keep people from voting, it was Nancy Worley who was going to keep all convicted felons from voting."

In 2005, then-Secretary of State Worley directed the boards of registrars in the state to treat every felony conviction as one involving moral turpitude, resulting in a lawsuit brought by the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund. The judge sided with the plaintiffs and declared the state's disenfranchisement law null and void until the Legislature defined the moral turpitude clause. But the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the judge's decision, saying that the case had nothing to do with the clause.

King's attempt to provide some clarity resulted in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Alabama against him and current Secretary of State Beth Chapman. The suit alleges that King's list of disqualifying felonies and Chapman's directive to boards of registrars to follow that list goes beyond what the law intends.

The ACLU believes that the crimes listed by the Legislature are the disenfranchising crimes, or those involving moral turpitude.

"We're arguing that the attorney general has the authority to interpret the law, not make it," said Sam Brooke, law fellow for the ACLU of Alabama. "The list that the attorney general produced goes beyond what the Legislature intended, and is not valid for registrars to rely on."

But the attorney general's list is being relied on. George Noblin, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars, said the board checks felon registrants against the attorney general's list, and notifies a person if they are disqualified according to that list.

"Of course it's not a complete list," he said. "I think it is something that the Legislature is eventually going to have to specify a more complete list."

Wait and see

While the efforts to sort it all out rage on, plenty of people like Karen Carr are moving through the system, hoping to get their rights back in time for the November election.

Carr was convicted of first-degree robbery more than 10 years ago, and she's been out of prison for more than four. While her crime is not on the list of crimes that the state Legislature said are ineligible for the speedier process, it is on the attorney general's list.

"When I was a young adult, no one explained to me the importance of your voice," she said. "But now that I've had the opportunity to grow and mature and learn the legislative process, I see the importance of having a vote.

"My thing is, what is it that makes you less of a person because you have a felony?"

Carr said what she found out when she got out of prison was that there are restrictions on where you could live, work and whether you can vote if you are a felon.

"Society says when you get out of prison, 'Do the right thing. Be a law abiding citizen,'" she said. "But you can't pay taxes if you don't work, you can't work if people won't hire you, and the only places you can afford to live are drug-infested neighborhoods where people don't care."

The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, a felon voting rights advocate, said folks like Carr who have turned their lives around are the reason why restoring voting rights is so important.

"When you restore the right to vote you are restoring peoples' lives," said Glasgow, who heads up a Dothan-based ministry called The Ordinary People Society. "In restoring their lives, we restore families, we restore the community and society as a whole. This is what humanity is all about."

Glasgow's ministry has gone into prisons to educate people about their voting rights and to make sure that they register to vote.

When he's not busy with his shuttle service business, David Sadler is doing the same thing.

After working with legislators to get the law passed five years ago, Sadler said he's doubtful that felon-voting rights will be taken up in the state Legislature again anytime soon.

He said education for everyone involved in the process from the person being released from prison to voter registrars is what's important now.

"We must change how we think about the process of re-entry into society," he said.

Wiregrass-Area Non-Profit Makes Social Advocacy a TOP Priority

2008-07-04T10:58:00.001-05:00

By Kelly Tabor

Published: July 4, 2008
online version here:

Perhaps the strongest weapon in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the endless cycle of poverty is the grassroots effort to put a face on social issues. Advocates Larry Bryant and Pastor Kenneth Glasgow want that face seen on a national level.

“We offer supportive services, housing, medical, HIV services,” Glasgow said. “We always give 100 percent back to the neighborhoods.”

Glasgow and his team of volunteers run the T.O.P.S. organization (The Ordinary People Society), a faith-based non-profit that focuses on mentoring and monitoring at-risk youth and serving underprivileged residents of the South. The group has 18 branches in Alabama and has been recognized by advocates in the country’s capitol.

“We have a soup kitchen, Momma Tina’s Mission House, and we feed 150 people a day,” said Daris Johnson, a volunteer with TOPS.

Larry Bryant, of the Washington, D.C. non-profit group Housing Works, said there is an epidemic in the South where people are homeless and hungry, low-income, addicted to drugs, and incarcerated parents leave behind neglected children. When mixed together they brew a society of dependence that’s uneducated.

“Alabama is one of the states that is ineffective in reaching the population,” said Bryant, who has been HIV positive for 22 years. “We’ve seen the epidemic change and grow, but the way people down here are treated has stayed the same.”

Bryant said he and others have set up town hall meetings across the state in an effort to stop what he said is a stigma and fear that prevents the education of people.

He recalled the story of a Mobile-area mother who took her family to an RV park in Silver Hill last Fourth of July. Her 2-year-old adopted son swam in a pool with other kids as the parents sat and chatted. When she mentioned that her son happened to be HIV positive, the other parents panicked and pulled their children out of the pool. Outraged, people from across the country organized a “Swim-In” in protest.

“We’re defending our lives and we shouldn’t have to do that,” Bryant said. “If we don’t act, it’s like we’re just waiting for the next epidemic.”

Bryant has planned for a coalition to attend the first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss.

“We need to demand that the next president have a comprehensive national plan,” Bryant said. “People with influence can make the most change.”

While many states still oppose needle exchange programs, and push for abstinence-only teaching, Bryant is optimistic about the progress that can be made when people stop rationalizing that if it doesn’t affect them, it is not their problem.

“There are many communities where ‘just say no’ is not an option,” Bryant said. “We hope people don’t stop fighting.”

2007-04-26T19:51:00.000-05:00

We no longer look at our neighbor as our neighbor, but we look at our neighbor as ourselves,We're just ordinary people, helping ordinary people, doing extraordinary things by the power and spirit of God, no will of our own all glory belongs to Him!
Preaching His gospel of His Kingdom!

The Ordinary People Society

2007-04-25T20:06:00.000-05:00

TOPS Background and Mission

2006-01-02T06:33:00.001-06:00

The goal of TOPS is to create, build, promote and maintain a better humanity by addressing needs of people in our society. We do this by caring for those in need and building a movement for justice.

Founded in 2001 by a former drug addict, TOPS is a faith-based organization that offers hope and creates comprehensive community programs that provide a continuum of unconditional acceptance and care to individuals and their families who suffer the effects of drug addiction, mass-incarceration, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, hunger and illness--—-without regard to race, sex, creed, color, religion, or social status. TOPS seeks to restore people wholly--spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally.

TOPS is also engages in grassroots organizing to address the needs of the community. We organize to develop productive community members (leaders) and build community power through increased community participation--through voting, education, service, and decision-making about life in our communities. TOPS organizes to help spark a social and political movement in Alabama and across the South for justice, fairness, and human rights. We develop advocacy strategies that create space for community members to address issues at the local and state level.

TOPS organizes everyone willing to work for a better community, including young people, elders, formerly incarcerated people, people who are addicted to drugs, the homeless, and more. We have a particular focus on working with former prisoners, through helping them to restore their rights and meet their responsibilities as citizens; and with young people, by working to end the schools-to-prison pipeline and develop leadership amongst ALL our youth.

Service Approach and Practice of TOPS

2006-01-01T12:00:00.001-06:00

The Ordinary Peoples Society (TOPS), headquartered in Dothan, Alabama, with Chapters in 15 Alabama cities. TOPS is dedicated to uplifting the lives of people who have otherwise been overlooked by society—ordinary people, many of whom are living in broken, inner city neighborhoods. We are an educational and charitable ministry recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization. TOPS seeks to address every facet of human needs, including physical needs, emotional needs, mental needs, and spiritual needs.

We take a progressive approach in our organization, starting with food, clothing and shelter—primary physical needs. Then, we address the emotional needs of our participants by helping them restore self-confidence, love, hope, patience, honor, respect and kindness. We do this by continually modeling these attributes throughout TOPS and building our platform on these principles. Next, we seek to mentally build a bridge between our participants and the rest of society by providing education and educational resources and by challenging our participants to surpass any boundaries they have set for themselves in regards to any knowledge base or learning process. And, finally, we meet the spiritual needs of our participants by holistically addressing that part of humankind that is invisible, but very present. We take this mission very seriously by seeking to connect every aspect of the human being. These spiritual needs we address are on an individual basis and help each person to discover, develop and express his or her own path.

TOPS Ministry-- Our Service and Development Programs

2006-01-01T10:51:00.001-06:00

Our service and development programs are separated into three (3) distinct areas serving the youth, pre-adults, and adults.

The youth development programs are focused on serving youth from infants to fifteen and helping them become successful in their endeavors from school to extracurricular activities. We seek to develop our youth to become ambassadors for the community and to instill in them loyalty, hope, faith and successful demeanors. We recognize and understand that these are our leaders of tomorrow and that there is nothing more important than furnishing them the tools and qualities that will last a lifetime.

Our second development program is geared towards pre-adults ages sixteen to twenty. We understand that this is a very important time period in the transition from youth to adulthood. Therefore, our program is focused on guidance and mentoring services. We pair these youth with individuals who can become shining examples and help them navigate through the problem areas of life such as drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, career planning, and self-image before they become problems in our youth’s lives.

Our adult programs are designed to help correct any challenges that adults may find themselves facing and to restore them to their natural, beautiful and loving selves. We desire that each of our adult participants embark on a journey of discovery that will allow them to make the crucial decisions freeing them from a life of suffering and misery. We are very patient and understanding with our participants because there are many in our organization who have been exactly where they are. We only ask that our new participants be willing participants in our programs and seek change for themselves.

About Volunteering with TOPS--Service and Organizing

2006-01-01T09:30:00.002-06:00

TOPS volunteers are the backbone of the organization. Volunteers will be identified through outreach, programmatic and advocacy efforts. Specifically, volunteers will be asked to help with assisting TOPS staff and board members in providing programmatic services and advocacy tasks in ways that will allow the volunteer to contribute to the work and mission of TOPS while gaining the skills and experiences to be future leaders. Some volunteer tasks will include: dishing food to guests of the food pantry, running errands to get food and condiments when needed for food pantry, typing names in database, write up brochures and materials, conduct outreach activities to the homeless and during organizing activities, become TOPS leaders in organizing groups across the state. Volunteers will be asked to participate in advocacy meetings, write minutes of those meetings, make phone calls, hand out flyers, and organize meetings.

We are a community--and together we can change our lives, our community, and the world.