Roscoe Jenkins Funeral Home

Both have seen many changes in how people of different races interact in Coweta County. As a child of Newnan’s Chalk Level community, Carole Newell rarely saw white people.She was the daughter of a prominent black family headed by her father, Dan Moten, who for half a century served as a funeral director for black-owned Roscoe Jenkins Funeral Home.  A World War II veteran who’d been brought up during the Great Depression and educated in the same segregated Coweta school district his children attended, Moten worked hard to raise his children in safety and prosperity, according to his friends. Little Carole lived on Savannah Street and walked to Howard Warner School every day under the watchful eye of her neighbors. “The older people came out and made sure you got to school all right and got home OK,” Newell said. On her way home, they would ask about her day and whether she had gotten into any trouble. “My answer was yes, every day,” Newell said with a chuckle. “I got in trouble for talking every day.” While she was busy fretting over her less-than-desirable grades in conduct throughout her primary and high school years, Newell was blissfully unaware of the turmoil gripping the rest of the country during the 50s and 60s – talk of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and Jim Crow laws hardly touched her young ears. “I grew up in a time when everything was separated,” she said. “If that’s the way you live, you don’t know about what’s happening on the other side because it’s not a part of your life.” Newell earned her only A in conduct at the same time she received her diploma from Central High School. She and her fellow graduates celebrated at the new Fairmount School with a big party given in their honor by their former elementary school teachers. “Can you imagine that happening today?&r...

With the upcoming Neo-Nazi rally, several organizations that have events this weekend explain how Saturday’s rally and counter protests will impact them.Prior to the rally’s announcement, the Newnan Theatre Company was supposed to perform “Blackpool and Parrish” on April 12-15 and 19-22, with each show except for Sunday’s performances starting at 8 p.m. “When we got word of the rally, we decided that we did not want to put our patrons and our volunteers’ safety at risk. So we decided to not have a show that night,” said Mary Caroline Moore, managing director of Newnan Theatre Company. The white supremacist rally has a 3-5 p.m. time frame. The rallying group has also been told to park close by to the theater’s building. This has resulted in NTC canceling their Saturday night showing. The decision to cancel the Saturday show came early enough to avoid having to refund any money. According to Moore, the theater organization “would rather be safe than sorry." Abby’s Angels has decided to not let anything keep them from having their 5k Rainbow Run, in the fairgrounds, along with a family fun day to follow. “To my knowledge (the rally) is not impacting us at all,” said Monique Harris, Abby’s Angels board member. “In fact we’ve had a lot of people in the community approach us and be very thankful that they have an option to spread the message of kindness and love. It’s kind of the polar opposite and give people the chance to show what Newnan is really about.” According to Harris, the foundation is set to have their “best run yet”, with a projection of 1,000 runners of various ages and committee and board members volunteering. Champions for Children was also set to have a Superhero 5k run and walk, the non-profit has decided to cancel and reschedule for the fall of this year. “It’s very unfortunate that this has had to happen,” said Mellisa Cates, director of development ...