Overview

An Ohio Businessman's Journey, My Journey into Darkness captures the life--- the good, the bad, and the ugly--of Lawrence Larry D DeWitt Jones. Growing up on a tobacco farm in Durham in the late 1950s and 60s, LarryD was inspired by his parents' high levels of trust in and respect for all people, including those neighbors who were members of the Ku Klux Klan. His journey brought him in close associations with members of the Ku Klux Klan, an African American business associate, two African American medical doctors an African American attorney, an Ohio public official who was a purported member of the IRA, and a Republican county prosecutor who would later be appointed by President George W. Bush as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Why, then, would these African American businessmen Jones assisted financially show their appreciation by scamming and cheating him? Jones chalks it up to the negative effects of the Willie Lynch syndrome and the belief that no good deed goes unpunished. Years later Jones would regret the $115,000 he and his firm had been awarded in an out-of-court settlement against the Lorain County, Ohio prosecutor and commissioners in 1987. Jones would eventually face the harsh reality that trusting people is a very dangerous habit---a habit that would lead to his incarceration in a federal correction facility.

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Lawrence Larry D DeWitt Jones; born June 26, 1949. Number six of eight children to Willie Lee and Elsie Smith Jones. Attended segregated school system in Durham County, North Carolina. Maintained a B GPA and earned All-State honors in football and basketball. Attended Johnson C Smith University and maintained a B GPA and made Small College All-American in football during junior and senior years. Earned BS in Physical Education and a minor in biology. Signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 1971. In 1976 became the first African American to represent U.S. Steel Corporation as an outside sales engineer. Incorporated Erie Shores Computer in 1983. Firm grew to employ 35. Largest contract totalled $38,000,000. Awarded small business of the year in 1997. The first African American to serve on a board of directors of a regional bank in Lorain County, Ohio. Member of the Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow.

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