More Fun In Fort Wayne...


For those of you keeping score in the Summit City, we're up to TWELVE homicides so far this year (or is that 13 now?) with the recent shooting up on the NW side of town. Now that doesn't surprise me, as I think this city has adequate numbers of idiots to support higher homicide rates. My wager would be that we could do 25 murders this year. I just like that number, and if things continue as they have, it's an all-too-reachable statistic. Whether it's gun or a knife, we've got "what it takes" to keep the score rising. Illegal guns are still the number one problem. And since we're not about to do away with ALL weapons, we do have to get this under control. We can't take away scissors, box cutters, butter knives, forks, pencils, pens, keys, bottles, cans..well you get the idea. Many things we use daily without thinking twice can be turned into a weapon at the snap of a finger...all that's needed are three things: Creativity, Immediacy and Opportunity.

That being said, we're nowhere on par with Indianapolis (which it closing in on SIXTY homicides), but one always has to look at the reasons behind such occurrences.

One need only to look around the city to get an idea as to the criteria that comprises these murders. And if you notice, each item mentioned is nicely entwined with the others. They feed and support each other to no small degree.

1) Drugs:
We ain't talking Metamucil or Ibuprofen here people. We've got one serious problem (going as far back as the late 1980s) with the advent of crack cocaine into our fair city. Add to that the meth labs both here and (mostly) in surrounding counties, both static and mobile (yes, Virginia, you CAN cook meth in the back of that '79 Ford Country Squire, just don't drive over bumpy county roads in the process, OK?), and the burgeoning marijuana trade (both imported and home-grown), and you've got more reasons to kill your fellow human being than you can shake a blunt at.

2) Gangs/cliques:
Some might argue that although GANGS represent the "real" problem here, cliques are just harmless groups of young people. In some cases, that could be true. I wouldn't think a clique of CHESS-CLUB members would think of offing someone because they beat them in some tournament. But I believe that many of these cliques are nothing more than "proving grounds" for future inductees OF these gangs, both local and national. And we've got plenty of gangs to go around, thanks largely to our city's location. Think of it as the"Crossroads of Gangdom", as opposed to the "Crossroads of America". And right now, some of the worst gangs we have in Fort Wayne are the (up and coming) BOSNIAN gangs right here in "River City" (with a capital *B* and that rhymes with *G", and that stands for Gangs)...sorry, could resist. These people WILL kill you. The city has been working with federal agencies to address this issue and resource officers working with FWCS have talked to teachers about this as well, but you won't see much about this in the press, if anything, because even they don't even know about it yet.

3) Dense areas of ethnic peoples:
We tout our diversity in this city with over FIFTY groups of nationalities, but that alone can be a recipe for disaster. Culture clashes and misunderstandings regarding religions and the like add fuel to that fire all too easily. Since America has embraced "diversity" at the expense of it's OWN heritage, look to see more problems in the future, unless we return to to a more civil time.

4) Poverty:
I really detest using this as criteria, but I know there are those out there that believe this is the MAIN reason for murders. And they would be mostly wrong. While poverty is a CONTRIBUTING aspect to crime, I cannot fathom anyone with half a brain using poverty as an "excuse" for an inexcusable crime. He was just SO damn poor, that he shot and killed that man for his _______(insert item of apparent value here). We aren't THAT bad off that we need to shoot someone for their CLOTHES (blood-stained as they will become), their jewelry (gold-PLATED as it is), or any other item, unless we KNOW that we can get away with it and wallow in the "rush" of the act (and in many instances, these perps do initially). We used to WORK for what we wanted, taking pride in our ability to EARN what we had and valued...and if we couldn't afford it, maybe we didn't really "need" it all that much in the first place. It was known as LIFE PRIORITIES. Take a look around our city and you'll see that many folks today don't have a clue what the hell that is...or even care to know.

As to the solutions to halt this?
Your guess would be as good as mine.

The police are never going to be everywhere all the time, so that's out of the loop. Ditto to any form of GUN control (it's a people problem, as we ALL know). Stricter laws are good...WHEN they can be enforced. And more severe punishment can work if we can find the extra jail space and grow enough balls to start executing these murders, instead of letting them die of old age in some cell WE are paying for. Seems that the first best defense to combat growing homicide rates would be to "go on the offensive" to get to the YOUNG people...and the younger the better. Promoting civility and a sense of ETHICS to these youngsters, when they're still at that "impressionable age" would go a lot farther than a bunch of laws slapped down in their faces.
And if their parents need a refresher course or three in same...so be it.

The future is just as much in THEIR hands as it is in ours...even more so.