Published Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 Jack McGhee is not amused.
The 55-year-old Sharon man is the grandfather of Lisa Marie McGhee Dickson. A Mercer County Common Pleas Court jury convicted William C. Everhart of punching to death the 2 1/2-year-old girl on March 24, 1994, in her mother's Sharon home.
McGhee will be among about 25 members of the Mercer County chapter of Parents of Murdered Children who will be protesting the chamber's Mystery Dinner Theater.
The progressive dinner beginning at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Mehard Manor will take theatergoers to Magoffin Inn. Along the way, guests will be treated to a dinner theater version of the who-done-it game, Clue.
The protesters on Saturday evening will be moving up and down Pitt Street with the theater guests, McGhee said. They will be carrying signs, saying "Murder is not entertainment," and offering brochures if anyone wants them, he said. McGhee said they will not try to block anyone from attending the dinner theater.
Members of the Trumbull County Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children are expected to join the protest.
"We along with other members of the community feel that murder is not and should not be entertainment. Murder is a serious crime that should be thought of as a crime and not entertainment," McGhee said.
Mercer Area Chamber of Commerce is mystified as to why the protesters chose their dinner theater, when murder is prevalent in plots of TV shows and movies as well as other local Halloween events such as haunted houses, said Debbie Plant, chamber secretary. The proceeds from the event will help the chamber buy equipment for its new offices.
"We feel for what they feel about murder, but we do not intend to incite murder," Ms. Plant said.
McGhee acknowledges the mass media and local Halloween events are filled with murder. However, "you've got to start somewhere. If not, do you think child molestation will be entertainment? Is that next?" McGhee said.
After McGhee called the chamber offices last week, the chamber dropped the word "murder" from the title of the event, making it now the Mystery Dinner Theater instead of the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater, Ms. Plant said. However, the actors and actresses will be performing a murder mystery play.
The attempt to accommodate McGhee won't stave off the protest, McGhee said. "It's still laughing with murder," he said.
"No one knows the pain until it happens to them. We pray it never happens," McGhee said.
