State of Emergency pt 2

Well the mayor and city council has voted to extend the state of emergency for 30 days. After finding out from the city that we as citizens are still allowed to do normal activity like driving to the grocery store, coming home from work, and anything else legal after 9pm and finding out that if you plan to gather more than two or three people together in a public place you need a permit, we found that the 9pm curfew does not negatively affect us. The city is definitely more quiet at night. I think that most residents are in favor of the curfew. However after 8 days of silence of gun fire, we have had 3 shootings since Sunday. The first left one person injured, the second was a man shot to death Sunday night, and just a few hours an officer was shot in the arm and one suspect is dead and two others are injured. Today I drove by the place where the man was found shot to death. As I got close I saw one of the ladies who I regularly meet with carrying a teddy bear to add to the make shift memorial. When I pulled up beside her she told me that the man who was shot was a good friend of hers. She was having a hard time dealing with this loss. It seemed like this was the first time that someone that close to her had been killed. I was at a loss for words to comfort her. Ultimately it is changed hearts that will change this community, God is working! He is here in this community. He loves the people of Chester. Pray for my dear friend and others who are grieving the loss of this friend. May God receive the glory from the changed lives that can be born out of tragedy.