Ann's Campaign Homepage

We are just days shy of the 10th anniversary of the early morning on which four guys went road raging and one of them fatally shot Ann Marie Harris.

Ann, 17, was an honor student, singer, athlete, and school leader who had gotten early admission to Purdue University in Indiana. She was organized, disciplined, kind, funny. More than 3,000 friends came to her funeral.

At that funeral Ann’s parents, Jean and Coleman Harris announced the formation of Ann’s Campaign for a Safer America. Its Web site, www. annscampaign.org, encourages young people to fight youth violence by following the example Ann set: “Smile More. Care More. Love More. Be More Understanding.”

The four young men in the car were still hiding when the Harris family launched Ann’s Campaign. Three weeks after the shooting, detectives tracked down Campbell Alefaio. He confessed, but before trial, he and his pals cooked up a plot to lie their way out of any convictions. It worked.

Inspired by Ann Marie’s parents’ dignified insistence on justice, investigators and prosecutors took an unusual step in the criminal court system: They went after the young men for perjury. They won, too, though higher courts later overturned one conviction and shortened all the sentences.

The process lasted eight and a half years and would have ground up most families. The Harrises stood strong. They supported and honored the people, including victim’s advocate Lew Cox, attorneys Gerry Horne, John Neeb and Lisa Wagner, and detective Brett Farrar, whom they considered warriors for peace and justice.

They were fighting not only for their daughter, the Harrises said, but for the safety of people here.

The thing that makes this remarkable is the fact that the Harris family is from Alexandria, Va.

They owed us nothing, yet they kept leading by example, by insistence.

They are the sort of people of whom we cannot be reminded too much, which is only part of the reason I am bringing up Ann’s anniversary.

Friday, Ann’s sisters, Sandy Kingma and Cindy Blakeley, and her brother, Greg Harris, asked if they could publicly thank the people of Tacoma and Pierce County. They also wished to thank their parents.

They had crafted a letter to the editor, but not all letters see publication. In the thorough Harris way, they wanted to make sure the thanks went out, so they asked if I might help. I was honored.

They came to the place where their sister had been killed, they said, and found it full of people who wanted to help them on their journey through grief to justice. They found kindness, prayers and support that are, they said, “engraved in our very existence.”

“We found out was there are really good people there, just like there are everywhere,” Greg said from his home in Indiana. “Those people rose up and supported us. It’s amazing how we got connected with so many good people so quickly. It’s been touching through the years to see all the different good people step forward to represent your community.”

Greg, Sandy and Cindy and their families will spend this anniversary week in Virginia with their parents. They will talk about Ann, and what a light she was. They will tell Coleman and Jean what their example has meant to them.

“To me, they have been The Lesson,” Greg said. “They didn’t have to say a word to me. It’s how they conducted themselves.”

All three of them, collaborating on the letter, put it this way: “Their strength, the very fiber that held them together through the pain of the past decade became, and still is our guiding light. They have always taught us to live our lives based on faith, compassion, integrity, responsibility and forgiveness.”

Coleman, Jean, as you face the anniversary of your darkest hour, please know that, like your children, we are better people because of the shining example you have set for us.

Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677

kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com

We greatly appreciate your continued support.
Jean and Coleman Harris (cjharris@starpower.net)