News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Tuesday January 6th 2026
The Hidden Life of a Phillips Home: Lena Potts
242nd in a Series from Tales of Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery…
By SUE HUNTER WEIR
This started out to be a story about Lena Potts, a young African-American woman who died on March 13, 1905, from tuberculosis at age 23. It turned out that there is not a great deal of information to be found about her but the home where she died has an amazing history.
Rev. Matthew W. Withers
What is known about Lena is that she was the daughter of Charles and Martha Withers and was most likely born in Tennessee around 1882. If her story remains somewhat elusive, the same is not true of her brother, the Reverend Matthew W. Withers, who was pastor of Bethesda Baptist Church from 1900-1906. Lena lived with him and his family in the church’s parsonage at 2408 17th Avenue South, a house in Phillips that is still standing. But the parsonage was much more than that.
We Need Spirituality
from the series Peace House Community Journal…
By MARTI MALTBY
“Community is a form of spirituality.”
Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy, Oglala (Sioux) Lakota, Associate Pastor at All Nations Indian Church
When Kelly made that comment, I grabbed my pen to make sure I didn’t forget her words. I wasn’t the only one.
Kelly was opening a meeting of the Metro Urban Indian Directors subcommittee on homelessness and the opioid crisis in the Native American community. In keeping with Native culture, a respected member of the community was invited to open the meeting “in a good way,” meaning that they share words that focus our attention and edify the discussion.
As I’ve learned over the seven years I have been attending the meetings, the Native American community is far more tight knit than my own culture. Those on the streets are referred to (and treated) as relatives, regardless of tribal affiliation. While my culture defaults to individual rights and freedoms, Native culture is oriented around the community. More importantly, every aspect of life has a spiritual component. Where my culture debates whether God exists, many Native Americans see Creator infusing every part of life.
I think it’s pretty clear at this point in history what happens to a society that forgets the spiritual aspect of community.… Read the rest “We Need Spirituality”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
Minneapolis Encampments: A Stone Around The Neck
A call for more stringent social service screening
By DWIGHT HOBBES
I survived homelessness and can say first hand that since at ‘92, this city has dealt with it like a cat covering up its waste.
For instance, a couple years ago or so, the community welcomed Powderhorn Park’s tent city only to have cars vandalized and people trying to burglarize homes. So, Minneapolis took an “everybody out of the pool” approach and the disenfranchised, notably women with children simply trying to get by, were thrown out. Bad actors committing crimes, including assault and rape in the encampment proved a stone around their neck, endangering and ultimately costing decent, flat broke folk what little shelter they’d found as they desperately tried to get system assistance.
Now, we’ve seen a dozen shootings within days, to which the response amounts to useless hand wringing on one hand and a shut the whole thing down answer on the other. The ongoing crisis calls for stringent social services screening, not a basically one size fits all solution. You help those who want to help themselves instead of parasites who take handouts for granted and get high as a priority.
Misguided humanitarians indiscriminately bringing supplies to the downtrodden enable the bad and do little for the good who don’t need to make do in a tent city but deserve help getting the hell out.… Read the rest “Minneapolis Encampments: A Stone Around The Neck”