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By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer

A local ministry of former inmates is now without a permanent meeting place.

Tyler City Council members voted 6-1 on Wednesday to reject their zoning request that would have allowed them to remain in their building on Bellwood Road - across from a day care center.

"As we sit here today, I can't vote to overturn what planning and zoning did with a good conscience," Mayor Joey Seeber said.

Last year, the Live and Kicking Winners Circle of Tyler's board learned they were unable to hold their meetings in their Bellwood Road building unless it was zoned commercially. In February, the city's planning and zoning committee rejected the group's request for commercial zoning and Wednesday's City Council meeting was their one appeal.

Mike Suggs, an ex-offender and member of the Winners Circle purchased the building in June of 2006. At the time he thought it was zoned commercially. It was built in the 1960s as a night club called the "Orange Delight" and, over the years, has housed a barber shop, hair salon and, most recently, a boutique. And over the years, the original zoning documents were lost.

"We bought it thinking it was commercial. We even paid commercial electric rates," Suggs said.

For a solid year, the group held their meetings at the Bellwood Road building, and in the spring of 2007 a day care moved into the vacant building across the street.

"That's when the trouble began," Suggs said.

When the owner of the day care, Lakeshia Price, discovered the little blue building across the street was a meeting place for convicted felons, she started a petition to have them moved and then went to the City Council.

Alerted to the day care owner's concerns, councilman Donald Sanders paid a visit to the Winners Circle and attended one of their meetings.

"He did what anyone in the neighborhood can do - come sit in on our meetings, and see what we're all about," Suggs said. "He saw that the Winners Circle was more like an AA meeting than anything."

Ms. Price didn't see it that way: her concern was for the children. The Winners Circle is directly across from Kisha's Learning Academy #2 at 3108Bellwood Road, where a staff of five watches approximately 30 children from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Ms. Price told the council during their appeal that she will lose business if the Winners Circle is allowed to remain on Bellwood Road because parents will take their children elsewhere.

"If anything happens, planning and zoning and the city council will be held responsible," she said.

Suggs, like most of the Winners Circle members, believe it's the ex-convicts who are not attending the meetings the community should be concerned about.

"The Winners Circle is a great organization that serves a lot of people, but they needed to check their zoning," Seeber said. "I'm sorry that sounds harsh, but you've got to do that."

Not up to no good

The Winners Circle in Tyler was started in 1995 by a group of recovering ex-offenders who were released from prison and wanted to turn their lives around.

The Tyler program, based off the state program, started small and gradually grew.

Now, former inmates meet twice weekly for an hour where they talk about looking for employment, getting housing and easing into society with the help of their peer network.

Different from Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous, its members focus on breaking the criminal thinking element, which often catapults the former felon back into a life of crime, then prison.

"We made a mistake but we're not a mistake," Suggs said.

Members also work to make amends for their crimes through community restitution. The ministry has collected hundreds of teddy bears, which were donated to the Children's Advocacy Center, and collected toys each Christmas for the Kids of Incarcerated Parents program at the Gentry Parkway Youth Center.

As ex-convicts, the men and women of the Winners Circle understand their criminal pasts stir feelings of unease in the community.

"Every single person who spoke for or against us (at the council meeting) said we are a good thing and think we're doing a noble job, but it's a classic case of 'not in my back yard,'" Suggs said.

Councilman Nathaniel Moran asked the Winners Circle about its screening process for members. Winners Circle director Eric Brougton said new members are recommended to the program by the Tyler Parole Office, which screens out inmates with a history of sex crimes, but added that anyone is welcome to attend the meetings.

Moran said his biggest concern was there was not a screening process for people who just show up.

Other council members agreed that some of the fears surrounding the Winners Circle were exaggerated, but that the screening process was not strong enough to protect the children of the day care.

"We were disappointed with the rezoning process, but we will prevail," Broughton said. "We believe that without a spiritual change there can hardly be a long term success, that's the thing that keeps us gong."

Hope for Winners

All hope is not lost. Since Dec. 31, the group has held its meetings at the Tyler Parole Office; but, because of scheduling conflicts, the parole office has asked the Winners Circle's last meeting be this week.

"They have been very generous. It's hard for them to keep the building open after hours for us to have the meetings," Broughton said.

For now, the group will hold its meetings at the South Central Church of Christ annex building, until they can find a suitable replacement.

"Their pastor understood our plight," Broughton said.

The owner of Maddox Air Conditioning in Tyler was also sympathetic to their problem and has allowed the Winners Circle use of his boardroom for their monthly board meeting.

In the meantime, Broughton said, he and other Winners Circle members are waiting on the city of Tyler to help them find another location.

"We were denied our rezoning appeal, but they did come on board to help us find another location," he said.

City Council members told Broughton they will look at other city-owned buildings that may be appropriate for the Winners Circle's needs.

"It's going to have to be a swap out because we sure don't have any money," Broughton quipped. The Winners Circle is a nonprofit organization dependent entirely on donations.

"We believe the city will look out for us and play fair," he said. "We are hopeful and it's just a blessing that the city came across and came on board to help us."

Broughton added he hopes to hear the cities alternative suggestions with in the next two weeks. The Winners Circle is also a place where members encourage each other to live a life free from drugs, addictions and crime.

Staff Writer Cindy Mallette contributed to this report