news-record.com

GREENSBORO - A cleanup day is planned March 21 to assist in efforts to rededicate a park for the city's youngest victim of an unsolved homicide.

From 10 a.m. to noon, the Warnersville Historical & Beautification Society is inviting the public to help clear Shalonda Poole memorial park, which once stood in the wooded area behind Jones Elementary School.

Poole, 7, went missing from her home on Ashe Street on July 21, 1990, and was found dead in the woods behind the school a day later.

She was sexually assaulted and strangled to death in one of the city's most notorious unsolved homicide cases.

A park was dedicated in 1991 in the area where her body was found, but fell victim to graffiti and neglect in the years afterward. A sign in the girl's memory also was stolen.

With the help of the City of Greensboro and Guilford County Schools, efforts got under way last summer to rebuild and rededicate the park. A rededication event is being planned for late April.

The Saturday clean up will involve picking up litter and clearing underbrush in the area. Work gloves are suggested.

Jones Elementary School is at 502 South St., off of South-Elm Eugene Street.

Anyone seeking further information is asked to call Angela Harris of the Warnersville Historical & Beautification Society at 508-7431.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com