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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > May > 13
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Ohio voucher battle a year away?
Nationally, there’s been a lot of talk about the fate of Washington, D.C.’s voucher program, but don’t forget Ohio had the nation’s biggest statewide voucher program. What’s it’s fate? Well, questions about Ohio’s voucher could come to a head as early as next year. See my commentary about this at Get on the Bus, the DDN’s education blog.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Education, Scott Elliott
Editorial: Shooting near church is wake-up call
Talk to some black Daytonians about the shooting outside of a memorial service Monday and they say they’re scared and ashamed.
Scared that someone would be so brazen to try to kill a mourner, scared that this is the third shooting in eight months near a memorial service for a person who was murdered, scared that so many families are feeling threatened.
They’re also ashamed that more people aren’t willing to say, “Enough of this craziness.”
“They (the shooters) wouldn’t do this in Oakwood, Miamisburg or Centerville,” said Marlon Shackelford, who works with an anti-violence program in Dayton. “The (black) community has to say that we’re going to do something about this.”
Specifically, Mr. Shackelford, 47, complains that too often police don’t get the cooperation they need and deserve to solve crimes because of the historic animosity between blacks and law enforcement.
Speaking of the dozens of people leaving St. Paul Global Outreach Ministries on Germantown Street, he said, “There’s no way that nobody saw anything.” (Police arrested a suspect in the shooting on Tuesday.)
This coming Monday, the group Mr. Shackelford is part of — the Community Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence — is scheduled to have a press conference about the local trends with regard to reducing gun violence, which isn’t relegated to just black neighborhoods.
(Incidents are down a bit, year over year, which is good, but of little comfort to the people leaving Monday’s service).
In an effort started by Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl and that is important to communities throughout the area — criminals don’t care about city limits — the program orders known troublemakers to meetings.
There they’re told that if they go straight, they’ll get help with school or getting a job. Otherwise, the law will be all over them if they misstep. The message is a mix of “let us help you” and “don’t cross us.”
Sixty people have heard the talk, but there are 600 others to bring in, said Mr. Shackelford.
Meanwhile, keeping the promise of helping young men with limited educations — and maybe a prison record or a connection to drugs — is demanding work, especially in an economy that isn’t producing many jobs and in a community where many blue-collar jobs have disappeared.
Of course, no one is justified in turning to violence because he didn’t graduate, can’t get a job or has a drug habit. But an important way to ensure that people, and especially young people, aren’t attracted to crime is to make sure that they’re persuaded that hurting people and living in a way that can get you killed are stupid choices.
That’s not a message that police alone can preach. It takes families, teachers, pastors, neighbors, prosecutors, judges and the wider community insisting that violence, and especially gun violence, will not be excused or covered up and, in fact, will be punished severely.
People should be able to sit on their porches, go for walks and drive in their neighborhood and not have to worry that they might get caught in a crossfire between thugs or gang members settling scores. In some Dayton neighborhoods today, that’s not possible; that itself is a crime.
But when people can’t even grieve in peace and security, that’s beyond comprehension.
Anyone who thinks that more aggressive law enforcement is a sufficient response is missing something. Not all boundaries can be set by police.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Civil Rights, Editorials, Ellen Belcher, Law Enforcement and Public Safety, Religion and Faith
