100 Armed Men From 7 States Prevent Eviction of Farm Family

More than 100 gun-toting farmers from seven states stood guard Friday at a family farm to prevent authorities from serving eviction papers, and the sheriff agreed to postpone the action until next week.

Farmers from Georgia, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Missouri and Florida--brandishing rifles, pistols and automatic weapons--guarded the farm of Oscar Lowrick, who had faced eviction.

“We are at Oscar’s farm to let authorities know we are not going to roll over,” farm activist Tommy Kersey said. “They are not going to take over his farm. If they evict him, Oscar and his family will have no place to go.”

A bank in Cochran foreclosed on the farm earlier this year, and Lowrick, 66, was ordered to leave the property by Friday or face eviction. The farm has belonged to Lowrick’s family for a century.

“Sheriff Ed Coley came to evict Oscar, but we asked him to postpone it until the first of the week,” said James Lingo, an officer of the local chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, who acted as a spokesman for Lowrick.

Lingo said that the farmers carried weapons, but he did not say whether they planned to use them. “Even though the farmers were armed, we had a peaceful meeting with the sheriff. He agreed to the postponement.”

“We will not leave until something is resolved,” said Kersey, who organized tractor motorcades to Washington in 1977 and 1978 and has since urged farmers to fight back against institutions that try to take their lands when they fall deeply in debt.

Lingo said that the protest stemmed from a lawsuit Lowrick filed in U.S. District Court in Macon after the bank foreclosed on his land. The suit alleges that the bank engaged in unlawful foreclosure procedures.

Judge Wilbert Owens considered the suit but later dismissed it because Lowrick did not have an attorney, Lingo said.

He said that Lowrick has since hired an attorney and will refile the suit Monday. The sheriff agreed to postpone the eviction until then.

The suit alleges that the bank confiscated $150,000 worth of farm equipment from Lowrick without proper foreclosure actions.