Friday, October 6, 2006

Citizens must take a stand against lawlessness


Not many years ago, people of the Wood River Valley proudly laid claim to their small communities in the mountains as being safe and secure from the horrors of urban crime and criminals.

That has changed, perhaps because a violent world has conditioned too many to be numb to worsening crime.

While not considered a crime wave in Detroit or Los Angeles, Blaine County nevertheless is afflicted by an unsettling breach of the peace and security by a lawlessness heretofore unheard of here.

A teenager with a shotgun allegedly holds up a downtown Ketchum convenience store for beer. Two men are accused of being professional marijuana growers tending a flourishing crop near Carey. Two men are reportedly stabbed in a post-midnight brawl behind a Hailey nightspot. Arrests for trafficking in and possession of meth are called epochal by local law enforcement.

The slaughter of Amish children in Pennsylvania has triggered a wave of concern among valley parents and school officials as to whether the bucolic laxity in campus security can wisely continue.

Maybe naïve, but one effective counterattack against any further erosion of the area's safety is a restatement—in words and deeds—that Blaine County is an unwelcome place for crime and criminals.

To that end, police and the sheriff need support. If their uniform ranks need expanding to increase patrols on streets and neighborhoods day and night, so be it.

The courts must be encouraged—even prodded by civic groups concerned about our reputation and security—to deal as harshly as the law allows in removing felons from the streets to avoid further lawlessness and to send a message to those who might erroneously believe the community is soft on crime.

Teenagers, often easily initiated into misdemeanor crimes, need strict monitoring by parents. And if parents are negligent, then the courts must penalize them as accessories to their children's illegal acts, unwitting as the parents might be.

Average citizens can be effective in anti-crime work, simply by keeping their eyes open and reporting acts and activities that have the signs of crime in the making.

And, finally, operators of restaurants and bars can make a major contribution simply by refusing to sell alcoholic drinks late in the evening to patrons who're either intoxicated or close to it. Too much alcohol seems to be the fuel that ignites fights that then escalate into criminal assaults, even serious injuries such as the recent alleged stabbings in Hailey.

Every citizen has a role in fighting crime and making Blaine County uncomfortable for criminal behavior. Take a stand, now.




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