Latest news with #Wayland
CBS News
19-07-2025
- CBS News
Police search for 2 men who assaulted homeowner in Wayland, demanded money
A homeowner in Wayland, Massachusetts is recovering after he says he was attacked outside his back door by two masked men. It happened on Joyce Road at about 9:30 p.m. Friday night. The homeowner says he heard something in his backyard and that's when he encountered the armed duo, apparently trying to break-in. The homeowner said they demanded all his money and assaulted him, hitting him in the face with a handgun. The suspects fled through the front door. The homeowner suffered facial wounds. It's an assault that has neighbors in Wayland shocked and terrified. "The whole neighborhood kind of went red and blue with all the flashing lights, and it's usually a very quiet neighborhood, so to have all that chaos kind of happening next door was kind of unsettling," said Andrea Blesso. Blesso who lives a couple doors down from the victim, was home at the time of the incident and heard screaming from the assault. "Yeah, we came out to see, and there were three fire trucks and six or seven police cruisers," Blesso said. Police in Wayland say they are investigating the assault. That family tells WBZ that two men broke into their home, demanding all their money before eventually assaulting the homeowner. A pool of blood was left on their front porch. Authorities are still looking for the men responsible. "They did a very thorough job, they had search dogs, they had drones, they went all through the yards and the woods," Blesso said. Neighbors WBZ spoke to are still shaken up by the break-in, hopeful that police can find those responsible. "It really is a very quiet neighborhood so we're all just really shaken up that something like this could happen on our really peaceful, friendly street," Blesso said.
Forbes
09-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
After 26 Years, Front Porch Café Moves Beyond N.C.'s Outer Banks
After 26 years of only expanding in the Nags Head area of N.C., Front Porch Café is franchising and ... More heading toward Raleigh, N.C. this summer, with more to come. Pictured is its original café in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. Debuting in Kill Devil Hills in 1999 on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, known for its beautiful beaches and seaside areas, Front Porch Café grew to four coffeehouses all in proximity including Nags Head (2005), Manteo (2010) and Kitty Hawk (May 2025). But now owners Laura and Phil Wayland, who acquired it in 2021 from its original owners Paul Manning and Susanna Sakal who retired, are going beyond the Outer Banks when it starts franchising in Raleigh this summer. The Wayland's owned a wine and beer store next door to Front Porch's Kill Devil Hills location so they were well-versed with the business. They secured a commercial loan from a local bank to capitalize the purchase. After acquiring it, the couple didn't make any changes immediately, preferring to get to know the business from the inside. Once they did, they changed how its suppliers operated, preferring that they deliver directly to each location. It's a Feeling About the Front Porch Even its name Front Porch Café conveys something about its ethos and why it stayed rooted in the Outer Banks for over 25 years. Laura Wayland (all future quotes are from her) says its name Front Porch Café suggests 'where people gather, unwind and connect. That's the energy we bring into every cup of coffee we serve.' It's All About Proximity Its four coffeehouses are all a short drive away from each other, only separated by 5 to 10 miles apart. 'Staying local allows us to maintain quality, share resources and staff, and keep logistics lean,' Wayland notes. Moreover, she adds that coffee is a 'daily ritual and people won't drive far for it.' Now that it's expanding, Wayland notes that it's 'building our systems for scale which will allow us to grow into new areas while still utilizing our supply chain.' A Streamlined Menu Front Porch Café has always tried to keep its menu simple. It offers 'bagels, muffins and scones so the coffee can shine,' Wayland notes. 'It also allows us to stay efficient and focused on quality.' Adjust to Tech Changes Even though it kept its menu streamlined, it has continually updated its technology to keep pace. Wayland says, 'We modernized everything, from replacing an outdated Access-based POS (Point of Sale) system, redoing the website, to launching a custom-branded app and automating our roasting profiles for consistency and quality.' It offers 10 to 15 signature coffee blends and rotates 15 to 20 single origin coffees, which are produced at its Kill Devil Hills location. It also has several revenue streams including selling its coffee beans in its stores, online, in local Outer Banks grocery chains, and at restaurants. It also has a long day since all 4 locations are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 7 days a week. Wayland says that 90% of its revenue stems from the retail locations, and 5% from selling wholesale to restaurants, and 5% from shipping beans online. It started on a small scale. In fact, its original location in Kill Devil Hills occupied only 800 square feet, without any seating, and the coffee was roasted adjacent to the cash register. After a series of renovations, that location has expanded to 2,400 square feet and still serves as its roasting headquarters. After its first franchise opens, the two owners will be scouting for new locations in Virginia and along the N.C. coast. Besides Front Porch Café, the Wayland's also own four olive oil stores including Outer Banks Olive Oil. Wayland said she once merged the brands when she added a Front Porch coffee branch at one of its olive oil stores before they bought it. The couple owns Front Porch out right, without any partners or investors, a rarity these days. In running the business, Laura Wayland focuses on employees, brand growth, leadership and culture, and Ken Wayland serves as head of roasting and handles all technological issues. Timing Was Ripe to Franchise Wayland says the timing was right to franchise because it had 'strong systems in place, a loyal following and years of consistent growth.' Many customers who were tourists kept asking when were they going to expand to their area. Moreover, Raleigh is close enough, about 3.5 hours away, that it can still tap the same suppliers. The Wayland's also participated in The Blox, which is airing on Facebook through its app, which taught them some things about franchising and branding and got the word out about their franchising efforts. About franchising, they started with a franchising company, but now are doing it on their own. Wayland says 'franchising can be hard and expensive.' She points to a series costs including hiring a trademark attorney and franchise attorney, investing in legal documents, and hiring new staff to get franchise leads. A year from now, Wayland expects that it will have opened another Front Porch location, or maybe even two. 'We don't want to grow too quickly but not too slowly either,' she states. Asked the 3 keys to its continued success, Wayland replies: 1) Creating a community in each café, 2) Streamlining finances to ensure profitability, 3) Creating a positive culture where employees want to work. ___-
Arabian Post
09-07-2025
- Arabian Post
Blender 5.0 Brings HDR Viewport to Linux Wayland Users
Blender 5.0 is introducing experimental High Dynamic Range rendering support for Linux users working in a Wayland session with Vulkan acceleration. This enhancement aims to offer creators precise brightness, contrast, and colour fidelity in the viewport, mirroring the output of HDR‑enabled monitors. HDR viewport support in the alpha build of Blender 5.0 must be explicitly enabled under Developer > Experimental settings, requiring a Vulkan graphics backend on Wayland. Testers have successfully run the feature on GNOME and KDE Plasma environments across Ubuntu 25.04 and Fedora setups, demonstrating compatibility with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel GPUs using monitors such as the ASUS ROG PG27U and Samsung Odyssey OLED G8. Blender's Jeroen Bakker highlighted on DevTalk that this feature remains experimental due to limited system testing, and the development team is actively seeking feedback to determine readiness for stable inclusion in the final 5.0 release. Community testers corroborate this request; one user reported flawless performance on Arch Linux with AMD 7900XTX and a 32‑inch HDR monitor, while another observed UI inconsistencies such as bright region overlays conflicting with UI elements. ADVERTISEMENT Phoronix's assessment affirms the limited initial testing but confirms functional results in alpha stage across Vulkan‑on‑Wayland configurations. Wayland's HDR protocol—absent in X11—and Vulkan's floating‑point buffer support are essential prerequisites, making the feature inaccessible without those components. Professional and hobbyist artists stand to benefit from HDR's ability to display a broader dynamic range, ensuring views in the viewport better match final renders. Users on Reddit commented that the feature is highly anticipated and a compelling incentive to invest in HDR hardware. Some, however, caution that industry‑wide support for HDR remains uneven, with software ecosystems often lagging behind hardware capabilities. Support across GPU vendors appears robust: developer testing includes NVIDIA alongside AMD and Intel. This suggests mature driver compatibility within the Vulkan stack, though users have noted occasional driver‑specific anomalies. Discussions also emphasise that Windows support for the feature is not yet scheduled, sparking interest in extending HDR viewport to other platforms. To experiment with HDR, users should download the latest Blender 5.0 alpha, launch a Wayland session with HDR‑enabled display output, switch to Vulkan in Preferences → System, enable Developer Extras and turn on Vulkan HDR support under Experimental settings, then restart Blender. Within Scene Color Management, HDR must also be activated for accurate viewing. The developer's roadmap hinges on accumulating comprehensive user feedback to address UI integration issues—such as overlay visibility—and ensure stable behaviour across diverse hardware and compositors. If successful, HDR support will graduate from experimental to enabled by default in the 5.0 stable release. This HDR initiative arrives amid a broader shift, as major Linux distributions migrate desktops to Wayland to leverage modern graphics features, enhanced security, and performance improvements. Artists seeking more lifelike previews stand to gain from this update. Those with HDR‑capable displays and Wayland desktops are encouraged to test the feature and share experiences on Blender DevTalk, helping refine HDR delivery ahead of the official 5.0 rollout.
Boston Globe
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Best of 2024-25 high school sports photojournalism
The best of those from the year are on display below. Of special note, members of the Globe's Photo and Sports departments chose 16 images as the Best of the Best for 2024-25. Those pictures were taken by the following high school student photographers (listed alphabetically): Mia Chavez (senior, Beverly), Katie Fonden (junior, Westford Academy), Sam Hesketh (senior, Nashoba Valley Tech), Quentin Higgins (senior, Buckingham, Browne & Nichols), Shlok Kudrimoti (senior, Lynnfield), Sasha Libenzon (senior, Wayland), Valentino Flores Milian (sophomore, Everett), Daniel Murphy (senior, Melrose), Emily Olcott (senior, St. Bernard's), Teddy Overtree (sophomore, Hampshire Regional), and Laura White (junior, Algonquin Regional). Advertisement Below that, contributions from another 40-plus students are showcased, selected from the weekly photo galleries published as a complement to the Globe's online high school sports coverage in 2024-25. Thank you for your readership and support of this program. We look forward to highlighting more great student work in September. BEST OF THE BEST OF 2024-25 A Holliston player takes a moment while the Melrose boys' hockey team celebrates its 3-2 overtime win in the first round of the MIAA Division 3 state tournament on Feb. 26, 2025, at Kasabuski Arena in Saugus. Daniel Murphy/Melrose High School Hampshire's Kalin Dubay keeps an eye on the ball during a 10-1 win over visiting Frontier in the MIAA Division 4 softball quarterfinals on June 8, 2025. Teddy Overtree/Hampshire Regional High School BB&N sophomore Jonathan White goes above the Austin Prep defense during a 72-41 home victory on Jan. 11, 2025. Quentin Higgins/Buckingham Browne & Nichols Beverly senior Tristan Gold gets tossed during a dual meet with visiting Salem High on Dec. 18, 2024. Mia Chavez/Beverly High School Senior captain Dylan Harrington suffered a broken bat on this swing, but it didn't stop him from getting on base during Melrose's 10-0 victory over visiting Burlington on April 15, 2025. Daniel Murphy/Melrose High Bowen Morrison (left) and Owen Finnegan (right) go after Lincoln-Sudbury's Dominic Docanto during Wayland's 28-7 road victory on Oct. 10, 2024. Sasha Libenzon/Wayland High School Runners take flight during the 110-meter hurdles during the Spartan Invitational at Hampshire Regional on May 2, 2025. Teddy Overtree/Hampshire Regional High School Everett's Emilia Maria-Babcock drives during the fourth quarter of a 59-32 win over visiting Chelsea on Jan. 2, 2025. Valentino Flores Milian/Everett High School Wayland's Jillian Mele prepares to shoot during a 16-9 win over visiting Nipmuc Regional on May 16, 2025. Sasha Libenzon/Wayland High School Brockton's Lucas Andrade at the finish line of the boys' 55-meet hurdles at the 2025 New England Track Championships held March 1, 2025, at the Reggie Lewis Track. Andrade won in 7.22 seconds bettering his own week-old state record and breaking the 34-year-old meet record. Daniel Murphy/Melrose High School Ryan Kyle of Westford Academy soars in the long jump during Day 1 of the MSTCA decathlon at Regis College on June 9, 2025. Sam Hesketh/Nashoba Valley Technical St. John's (Shrewsbury) senior Seta Tah attempts to control the ball during a 2-1 loss at Leominster on Sept. 7, 2024. Emily Olcott/Saint Bernard's High School Melrose's Sabine Wenzel soars for a kill over Burlington defenders during a 3-0 home victory on Sept. 16, 2024. Daniel Murphy/Melrose High School Algonquin senior Benoit Skilton misses his attempt at 14 feet in the pole vault at the Division 2 Track and Field Championships on May 29, 2025, at Merrimack College. Laura White/Algonquin High School Junior Nick Degennaro shows his form in the boys' 100-yard butterfly, winning the race in 58.76 seconds. Degennaro helped Lynnfield/Wakefield defeat North Reading/Wilmington, 95-67, on Dec. 29, 2024, at the Torigian Family YMCA in Peabody. Shlok Kudrimoti/Lynnfield High School HONORABLE MENTION: BEST OF 2024-25 Members of the Natick Youth Soccer League cheer for Natick senior Joel Duarte after he scored the decisive go-ahead goal late in a 2-1 victory over visiting Dover-Sherborn on Oct. 4, 2024. Faisal Betti/Natick High School Dennis-Yarmouth junior Bryson Garcia is head-over-heels excited for his team to play visiting Dover-Sherborn on Sept. 27, 2024. Maeve Dolan/Dennis-Yarmouth High School Algonquin Regional assistant coach Molly Callaghan gets pushed into the pool after a double win at Boroughs YMCA in Westborough on Jan. 5, 2025. The Algonquin girls' beat Westborough, 92-76, while the boys' team won, 92-77. Laura White/Algonquin High School St. Sebastian's sophomore Solis Blue soars for a dunk during a 80-71 loss to visiting Taft on Dec. 19, 2024. Andrew MacDougall/St. Sebastian's Nantucket juniors Noah Stringer (left) and Arann Hanlon are walking on air after a goal during an 8-5 victory over visiting Ipswich in the MIAA Division 4 boys' lacrosse quarterfinals on June 8, 2025. Andrew Lavin/Nantucket High School Wayland's Cordia Wang flies toward the finish during a home cross-country meet with Bedford and Waltham on Sept. 25, 2024. Sasha Libenzon/Wayland High School Fairhaven's Justin Marques, who holds the state record for touchdowns, takes a moment during the national anthem before the Blue Devils defeated Swampscott, 42-13, in the MIAA Division 6 state semifinal at Milford High on Nov. 23, 2024. Sullivan Blanchette/Fairhaven High School Wilmington senior captain Matt O'Brien gets ready for a faceoff during a 4-1 win over South Shore Tech in a MIAA Division 4 boys' hockey tournament game on Feb. 27, 2025, at Breakaway Ice Center in Tewksbury. Dennis Reppucci/Wilmington High School Quabbin Regional senior Jordan Blanchard consults with the first base coach after getting a hit during a 12-1 loss to visiting Gardner on May 26, 2025. Maddy Hardy/Quabbin High School Nantucket senior Donte Brimm plays defense during an 80-77 loss to visiting Dennis-Yarmouth on Jan. 16, 2025. Jacob Heneke/Nantucket High School Rayford Adam (11) waits to press on defense during Pioneer Charter's season opener, a 64-47 loss to Boston United on Dec. 12, 2024. Joseph Ha/Pioneer Charter School of Science II Boston Latin's Vanessa Vu returns a drop shot to her foe from visiting Westford Academy during their match April 30, 2025. Alex Le/Boston Latin School Easthampton sophomore Jae'vian Lopez prepares for a faceoff during a 7-7 draw against Taconic on Jan. 4, 2025, at Lossone Rink. Teddy Overtree/Hampshire Regional High School Junior Vivien Savoie is all smiles after scoring her second goal in what would end in a 7-1 victory for the Stoneham-Wilmington girls' hockey team over Wakefield on Feb. 8, 2025. Brooke Abbott/Stoneham High School Westborough's Bree Sawicki celebrates stealing third during the Mid-Wach All-Star softball game on June 12, 2025, at Coolidge Park in Fitchburg. Ryan Guiel/Maynard High School Neither the rain nor the score could dampen the spirits of Genevieve Chan (left) and Brandon Hiduchick from the Beverly High School marching band during the football team's 40-14 loss to visiting North Andover on Sept. 21, 2024. Mia Chavez/Beverly High School Algonquin junior Ava Guckian sings the national anthem before the start of the annual Thanksgiving football game with visiting Westborough on Nov. 28, 2024. Laura White/Algonquin High School Dover-Sherborn assistant coach Thom McGill speaks to the team at halftime of its 3-1 win over visiting Belchertown in the MIAA Division 3 field hockey tournament on Nov. 2, 2024. Faisal Betti/Natick High School Vincent Busa flexes after a rushing TD in the first quarter of Xaverian's 35-14 win over visiting Bishop Feehan on Sept. 6, 2024. JJ PIERRE/BRIDGEWATER-RAYNHAM HIGH Junior Aiyande Dottin celebrates her hit that helped Natick take the second set in a 3-2 loss to visiting Newton South on Sept. 23, 2024. Faisal Betti/Natick High School Pembroke junior Kevin Murrin celebrates after scoring a last-second goal to force overtime in an eventual 3-3 tie against Whitman-Hanson at Hobomock Ice Arena. Martin Ward/Pembroke High School Freshman Shane Monaghan celebrates with his teammates close behind after netting his second goal of the game in Bishop Feehan's 5-0 victory over Dartmouth at New England Sports Village in Attleboro on Jan. 25, 2025. Paige Berry/Bishop Feehan High School Catholic Memorial players mob sophomore Jack McCourt after his third-period goal in a 1-0 win over Pope Francis in a MIAA Division 1 boys' hockey state semifinal on March 9, 2025, at Tsongas Center in Lowell. Aidan Moroney/Concord-Carlisle High School The Catholic Memorial hockey team celebrates with its fan section after scoring a goal during its 4-3 win over St. John's (Shrewsbury) at TD Garden for the MIAA Division 1 state title on March 16, 2025. Emily Olcott/St. Bernard's High School The referee and the crowd at Somerset Berkley Regional anticipate a 3-point shot from Colton Pacheco during an MIAA Division 2 boys' basketball tournament game on Feb. 28, 2025. The host Raiders defeated Minnechaug Regional, 84-58, to advance. Calder Troutman/Somerset Berkley High School Bishop Feehan senior Charlotte Adams-Lopez rises for a layup during a 64-38 victory over visiting King Philip in an MIAA Division 1 girls' basketball quarterfinal on March 7, 2025. Paige Berry/Bishop Feehan High School Dennis-Yarmouth's Kourtney David goes airborne for her shot during an 18-4 win against visiting Sturgis Charter East on May 14, 2025. Hanna Thornton/Dennis-Yarmouth High School Concord-Carlisle sophomore Joe Grasso catches a pitch during the home opener, an 8-4 loss to Cambridge Rindge and Latin on April 9, 2025. Aidan Moroney/Concord-Carlisle High School Senior Kate Sullivan (right) fights off a Holliston defender for a loose ball in the fourth quarter of host Westwood's 6-0 win on Sept. 5, 2024. Zac Ventola/Westwood High School Algonquin junior Preston Biamou is pulled down during a 64-5 loss at Hanover in the MIAA Division 2 boys' rugby state semifinals on June 6, 2025. Laura White/Algonquin High School Destanee Soba of Nashoba Valley Tech avoids defenders during a game against Greater Lowell Tech on May 15, 2025, in Tyngsboro. Sam Hesketh/Nashoba Valley Technical Medfield's Sophie Baker heads for home during a 12-6 win over visiting Ashland on April 16, 2025. Lauren Smolko/Medfield High School Woburn senior Anthony Ciasullo clears a hurdle during a home track meet on April 16, 2025. Billy LaTores/Woburn High School Groton-Dunstable senior captain Jackson Fraser races to the finish line during the MIAA alpine ski championships at Berkshire East in Charlemont, Mass., on Feb. 25, 2025, Alisa Plotkin/Groton-Dunstable High School Quabbin Regional junior Mia Ducos dribbles down the court during a game against visiting Hudson on Feb. 7, 2025. Maddy Hardy/Quabbin High School Senior Immy Roberts readies herself for a serve during the first point of Westwood's 3-0 home-opening win over Holliston on Sept. 5, 2024. Zac Ventola/Westwood High School Westwood sophomore Will Stuehler stands behind the Medfield goal, silhouetted by the sunset, during an 18-11 home loss on April 17, 2025. Owen Ziegler/Westwood High School Grace Marchand and the Newton North girls' soccer team grabbed a 3-2 victory over visiting Weymouth on Oct. 23, 2024. Sam Danis/Newton North High School Maeve Fitzgerald of Amherst Regional goes for a 3-pointer during a 39-27 loss to visiting Holyoke on Feb. 5, 2025. Sophie Ziomek/Amherst-Pelham Regional Emmanuella Edozien, a junior from Natick, prepares for a semifinal heat of the girls' 60-meter hurdles at the New Balance Nationals held at the Track at New Balance in Brighton on March 15, 2025. Sam Hesketh/Nashoba Valley Technical Tewksbury's Emily Picher waits for the ball to cross midline during a 10-7 win over visiting Shawsheen on April 30, 2025. Khai Hieu/Tewksbury High School Senior captain Ana Sheedy stands before a tunnel of youth soccer players as she prepares to run out to meet her parents for Medway's senior night ceremony Oct. 22, 2024, prior to a 4-0 win over visiting Bellingham. Audrey Durgin/Medway High School Randolph's captains come out to midfield for the opening coin toss prior to a 28-12 victory over Nashoba Valley Tech in the MIAA Division 8 state semifinals on Nov. 23, 2024, at Wayland High School. Vanessa Taxiarchis/Wayland High School Natasha O'Brien receives flowers during Bishop Fenwick's Senior Day ceremony on May 17, 2025, before its game with visiting Peabody. Celia Lewis/Bishop Fenwick High School Players on the Medway bench cheer on their teammates during a 44-33 win over visiting Norton on Jan. 7, 2025. Katie Miller/Medway High School Griffin Weaver sneaks a peek over his shoulder during Beverly's 14-7 loss to visiting Peabody on Nov. 2, 2024, at Frank Forti Field. Mia Chavez/Beverly High School The Falmouth boys' lacrosse team took the field for a game against visiting Sandwich on May 21, 2025, just four days after classmate Ava Lodico was killed in a single-car accident following the school's prom. Kody Pokraka/Falmouth High School St. Sebastian's sophomore goalie Tommy Saulnier stands ready during what would be a 4-0 loss to visiting Northwood on Dec. 21, 2024. Andrew MacDougall/St. Sebastian's The Somerset Berkley basketball team poses with the Division 2 state championship trophy following its 65-44 victory over Malden Catholic on March 16, 2025, at Tsongas Center in Lowell. It was Somerset Berkley's first state title in 71 years. Bryson Cain/Somerset Berkley High School John Vitti can be reached at
The Guardian
28-06-2025
- The Guardian
‘His blood is in the soil': the Kentucky group honoring victims of lynchings
On 26 October 1924, Fred Shannon, a Black man, was lynched at age 28 by a mob of nearly 200 masked residents in Wayland, Kentucky. Shannon, a local musician, was falsely accused of killing a white man over a financial dispute. While was he being held at a local jail, the mob broke in, took him out in the street and shot him at least 18 times. For decades, Shannon's lynching and the murders of other Black men in the region went largely unnoticed, lost to history. But over the past four years the Eastern Kentucky Remembrance Project (EKRP), an interracial, intergenerational coalition of residents, has come together to memorialize their lives – and deaths. In May, the group successfully placed a remembrance marker for Shannon. EKRP managed to find a relative of Shannon, who will visit the site within the year. Research is already underway for more markers to honor those who were lynched in eastern Kentucky, carrying on the years-long tradition. Founded in 2021, the EKRP has worked to honor Black people who were lynched in the region with plaques and other markers. The group also cleans up a Black cemetery in the area as a part of its annual Decoration Day celebration. The project was first started during a Zoom meeting for the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Group, EKRP's parent organization. John and Jean Rosenberg, who founded the EKRP, had visited the Legacy Museum, run by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), based in Montgomery, Alabama, and learned of Shannon's lynching in Floyd county. The pair wanted to acknowledge the travesties that had taken place, according to members in the meeting. 'It's important for us to face this history,' said John in a 2021 press release about the group's founding. Five years later, Shannon's memorial service took place. On 31 May, a historical marker provided by grants from the EJI was placed outside the former Wayland jail where Shannon was killed, now a neighborhood liquor store. Dirt from the site was collected for the EJI's Community Remembrance Project, which houses soil from various lynching sites across the country. Darryl 'Dee' Parker, an EKR member, participated in the ceremony, calling it 'bittersweet' to memorialize Shannon while also recognizing the immense violence done to him. 'It was just something about touching the soil,' Parker said, who is Black. 'Just started having this little flashback, [thinking how] Fred's blood is in the soil somewhere.' Parker, like many participants in the project, have personal connections to lynching that took place in the area. During a visit to EJI, Parker learned that several of his own family members had been lynched in Kentucky. Tom Brown, a male relative, had been lynched in Nicholasville, Kentucky, after being accused of speaking to a white woman. Another family member was lynched in Midway, Kentucky; Parker's family believes that he was working at a local distillery and was accused of stealing liquor. His grandmother later confirmed the news, figuring that Parker had already known. 'Nobody really talked about this in the family. If I didn't uncover that, then that would have been lost, because I wouldn't be able to tell my kids and grandkids and so forth,' Parker said. Beverly May, member of EKR and longtime eastern Kentucky resident, also has personal ties to Shannon's killing. May, who was on the initial Zoom call that sparked EKR's creation, was 'stunned' to learn about Shannon's lynching in the region. 'I was really horrified that the lynching, something that I thought just happened in the south, happened a few miles from my house.' Wayland's own mayor hadn't known Shannon's killing was a lynching, assuming that it was punishment for murder. May soon learned she had a connection to Shannon's lynching; she discovered that her great-grandfather was sheriff of the county when Shannon's murder occurred. During a family reunion in 2022, May asked her relatives if they had heard anything about Shannon's lynching, especially as hundreds of men had participated. 'They all shook their heads and said: 'No,'' said May, who is white. 'I don't know if they told me the truth or not, but I know that there was no further discussion except, 'No, I didn't know that,'' May added. The work remains as relevant as ever, said EKR members, especially as the Trump administration continues to attack the teaching and archiving of Black history. Trump has also pledged to bring back statues commemorating Confederate leaders, many of which were successfully removed during 2020. A handful of residents in eastern Kentucky have been unsupportive of EKRP's efforts, said Parker. 'Some people in the town were like, 'What about the white man who got killed? What about this? What about that?'' he said. But the majority of people have been in favor of EKRP's mission and unaware of such violence taking place in the community. 'There's other people that didn't even know this history at all. [They were] like, 'Thank you. I'm glad you all are doing this.'' The stone marker even got a 'blessing' from the liquor store owner, a quiet man named Bobby who gave EKRP full permission to memorialize Shannon on his land, said Parker. The memorial was another form of resistance, especially as racial justice progress nationwide swings backward. 'I have been in mourning since the election,' said May. 'I am more shocked by the depth and the comprehensiveness of the move toward autocracy, blatant racism and blatant misogyny.' She added: '[But] the Trump administration has no say so about it. It's these little steps of remembrance and reconciliation are more important than ever and will continue to be.'
