LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — Lima’s Sixth Ward Councilman is urging the community to remember Bonita Haynes, nearly 30 years after her tragic death.
Councilman Derry Glenn wants residents to honor the memory of Haynes, who was a case manager at the Lima Correctional Institution and was brutally killed by two inmates on Aug. 6, 1996. Since her death, a scholarship program has been created in her name, and a memorial garden was established at the prison to honor both Haynes and other employees who died in the line of duty.
About 25 years ago, the Lima City Council designated Aug. 6 as Bonita Haynes Day in the city. Glenn is encouraging community members to commemorate the day by turning on their porch lights that evening.
“So, we're going to recognize this holiday on the sixth of August, and at 7 p.m., we ask for everyone to turn your porch lights on so we can let Bonita Haynes know that she is the light in our life. We still thinking about you over all these years, the work she did out there, being a caseworker Lima Correction at that time,” says Councilman Glenn.
Glenn is also asking residents who fly the American flag to lower it to half-staff on Aug. 6 in honor of Haynes.
