Murder In River City!!

I'll be the first to admit that I don't read the local newspaper.  For one, it costs a whopping $200 a year for a subscription that gets you 4 pages of news from around the world and 6 pages of advertisement,.  They cover things like Abercrombie and Fitch's CEO retiring and Hong Kong Police shutting down a protest camp.  Most of the LOCAL news reported in our newspaper can't be trusted, so even if you read it there, don't take it to heart.  Lastly, I know murder and mayhem sells papers, but unless it's Christmas, that's about the only thing that's reportable.  Not that I stick my head in the sand, although many times that sounds like a good idea, but I'm tired of reading about the horrible state of our community.

This morning I decided to check out the local news, to find there were two more murders in our County on Sunday.  That brings us to a total of 31 this year.  That seems pretty crazy to me.  I remember the years when there was only one or NONE.  I'm pretty sure this is a result of the drug and gang culture, which is highly prevalent here.  Don't blame it on guns ... if guns were illegal, the only people that would have them would be the crooks and thugs.  If they didn't have guns, they would use knives.  The point is, they are going to continue their behavior regardless of what weapon they use.  The bad news is the Sheriff and Police Departments don't seem to be able to control the situation.  Is this happening just in my little area??

A 15 year old kid was shot and killed in a park at night, after meeting up with several other "kids".  Another guy standing outside a restaurant (although truth be told, it's a bar) was shot by a guy running through the parking lot.  When the first guy ran inside the bar and fell to the floor, the shooter following him INTO the bar and shot him again.  In other news, a 17 year old will survive a gunshot to the head a few days ago in a gang fight.

I suppose if you ask why this is going on, you would get the usual ... "we don't have enough police force to handle the situation".  Really??  You might have a bigger police force if the powers-that-be would quit spending taxpayers money on conferences in Disneyland and Hawaii.  Maybe you should drive yourself to the airport instead of taking that limousine.  Maybe instead of paying for a four lane road extension right next to a grammar school, you should contact other police departments and see how they are handling their drug and gang problems.  I could go on and on.

Vote you say??  Vote those people out of office and put someone in their place that has a little common sense??  We have tried and tried.  The thing I don't understand is how someone you voted for because of their views on issues,  could immediately turn into a money groveling idiot the day they are sworn in.  What happened to changing the world??  What happened to fiscal responsibility??  What happened to just changing our little slice of the pie into a better place to live??

Maybe it's like this everywhere, although I'm sure there are plenty of cities that are NOT on the worst place to live in America list.  In the meantime, you can't even read the local newspaper on the internet for free any more.  As I was trying to be a responsible citizen and keep up with the local news, I was rudely interrupted by a pop-up saying I had to become a MEMBER for a mere .99 charge to my credit card (how often, I didn't bother to check).  Apparently nothing's free any more ... I guess I'll go bury my head in the sand!!