In 1955, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was a young pastor in Birmingham, Ala., preaching sermons on equality and working in his segregated city on the issues before him, such as adding street lights to African-American neighborhoods.

But after he petitioned the Birmingham City Council to hire African-American police officers, a larger calling took hold of him.

He saw his role as helping to lift African Americans – and the rest of his countrymen – from another sort of darkness: that of racial bigotry.

He became a restless, outspoken advocate for integration, a co-founder of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, and a leader of the Civil Rights movement.

His death Wednesday in Birmingham left a sense of national loss, strongly felt in Cincinnati, where he spent most of his adulthood and served as pastor of two churches.

In Birmingham and Cincinnati, the eloquent Rev. Shuttlesworth appealed to moral conscience and championed everyday causes. He sat at lunch counters with young protesters in Birmingham, held “wade-ins” at segregated beaches in St. Augustine, Fla., and later in life established the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation to help low-income Cincinnatians afford a home.

He was focused, undeterrable, bold. …

But instead of becoming a martyr, the Rev. Shuttlesworth lived to become one of the movement’s elder statesmen. …

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Coins simply won’t fly with the American public

Over the years, Americans have made clear how they feel about the idea of using dollar coins instead of paper bills — they don’t like it.

There have been a couple of attempts in past decades to get Americans to accept dollar coins, but they just languish in bank vaults. …

But the determination to switch never seems to die. Now an Arizona Republican congressman, Rep. David Schweikert, thinks he has found a way to make it happen: Don’t give Americans a choice.

In the past attempts, the dollar coins coexisted with paper dollar bills. That was a mistake, Schweikert says. You have to stop printing the bills and force people to turn in their beloved dollar bills if you want the coins to be accepted. …

But many folks find bills more convenient than coins. …

But don’t expect the dollar coins to just go away either. The U.S. Mint started taking orders Tuesday for the new Rutherford B. Hayes dollar coin. Hayes, the 19th president, was one of eight Ohioans who have served as president.

The whole issue of coins versus bills will likely be irrelevant anyway in the future as more and more people switch to electronic purchases with debit cards, something they are doing voluntarily because it is more convenient than carrying either coins or bills.

The Lima News