In a community such as Wellsville, Ohio, everyone knows everyone else's business and if you don't then you know someone that does. It happens in a small community. It's a way of life. All you have to do is ask around. Even if you don't want to ask around you can just keep your ears open and learn a lot. You won't find that in a big city.
Since writing Shooting in The Ville last Wednesday I have heard quite a few disturbing things related to what occurred last Tuesday night. Also some of the comments were disturbing. Instead of getting indignant one commenter said shootings occur all the time, not only in the ville, but in other communities too and we should just get over it. I hope that person is not one of our residents. What happened last Tuesday should never be accepted as a common everyday occurrence that we should just accept and move on.
Shootings do occur frequently in other communities. How many times do we turn on the t.v. news or pick up a newspaper from Youngstown or Pittsburgh and see stories related to illicit drug deals that result in guns being fired? Too often. It doesn't make it acceptable. There was an article in the USA Today a couple of weeks ago entitled Drugs replace steel in Rust Belt. It was a story about how the drug scene blossomed to big time in Aliquippa after the closing of J&L. It told of how some turned to dealing in drugs to support themselves and how lucrative it was compared to working at a minimum wage job. It's not too far fetched to say this is what has happened in the ville and other communities up and down the river. There seems to be no shortage of users who will beg, borrow or steal to support those that are dealing. It's easy money compared to working an honest job. It is not something that we have to tolerate or turn a blind eye to. Even though it may seem to be I don't think it is something our police are ignoring.
What is disturbing to me is that I'm beginning to believe that the characters involved in last Tuesday's shooting have been on the radar screen for some time now without anything being done about them. What is more disturbing was that there were three children "under the age of 18" in the house that was the target of the shooting. It was just by the graced of God that one of them didn't get hit. What is most disturbing to me is that the safety of our children and our community is being held in jeopardy because the WPD hands are tied preventing them to make any kind of arrests. After what I was told that I got the impression that I wasn't seeing the BIG Picture.
Contrary to other's opinions I don't think the officers of WPD are totally inept. They are not the "Keystone Cops" that some indicate they are. They have had problems that in the past year have been brought to light and that is being handled. Yes, there are many things that happen in the ville that we don't hear about or read in the local papers. I partially blame that on the lack of aggression on the part of some reporters. Aren't police logs public information? There might even be some dealing going on with promises of bigger stories yet to come. Who knows? Even if that is true there would be nothing on police logs if no arrests are made. Notes on on-going investigations are not a matter of public record until arrests are made and it goes to trial. Then it becomes a matter of public record and names of the perpetrators can be used in the forum of public opinion.
Last Tuesday's shooting is the second incident in the ville in the past few months that did make the news and to date no arrests have been made. In both cases there was probable cause to make an arrest. A guy shoots his wife and openly admits to police that he did is still on the streets. Fifty "hits" of suspected heroin is found in a house and no one is under lock & key. This kind of crap is what makes WPD the laughing stock of the area and the butt of a lot of scorn. It is extremely disturbing that the people of the ville have to live in fear because hands are tied. While various levels of law enforcement are trying to get their acts together on these matters things just continue to deteriorated in the ville.
It shouldn't have to be this way and we Wellsville tax payers are not shelling out our tax dollars trying to be considerate of others in law enforcement. Speaking for myself I am not paying to be in fear of driving through some areas in town. It's time things are handled differently by our police and we residents need to speak up. I don't know about you but I'm fed up. It's way past the time that things get turned around. Consideration is good to a point. I think that point has long been passed.
What can you do? At the very least call the Mayor's office and register a complaint. Call members of council. If you can fit it in your schedule go to the council meetings and speak up. Reporters from our local papers are there. Call the police if you witness any suspicious behavior in your neighborhood. It may look trivial but who knows?
The administration and police know that positive actions need to be taken. Let them know that it is at the least disturbing. Let them know we don't deserve this kind of treatment and we shouldn't have to tolerate it.
ole nib
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23 comments:
Good for you ole Nib. Reminds me of my favorite saying "To those that say it can't be done; please step out of the way, you are slowing down the people that are actually doing it" Let's get the town back.
If you want to get rid of the drug and crime problem in the "Ville", your going to have to give the local law enforcement some eyes on the streets of the village 24/7.
Strix Systems make an affordable "Mesh Network" that consist of nodes that can be place around the village on building, electric poles.
Well... just watch the video and see how other communities are dealing with crime on their streets.
Here's the link:
http://www.strixsystems.com/video/missioncritical.html
There are only two fixes for this problem. The Mesh-Network - - or - - Start having the police department put officers back to walking the beat.
Sparky Miller
Or you could and probably will elect the same people again...
nib, I don't think there were 50 hits of heroin "in the house" I thought the paper said the heroin was found on the ground outside the house. please clarify
Posted on Sunday but zero comments....Public interest seems to be more focused on sewage bills and "beautification". Its surprising that the violent crime in Wellsville is met with such indifference by the town and the town authorities....unless...one can only comes to other conclusions...
Very well said. This village is sliding into a cess-pool and we need strong leadership now.
I am the person to whose post you are referring and you have misinterpreted what I wrote. I didn't tell you and your villagers to "get over it," I said to "get over yourselves," meaning acting as though Wellsville is the only town in which these types of drive-by shootings happen. In other words, making it seem as though YOUR inept police department is the only one not making arrests in such cases.
That's not true, is what I was trying to get across. Your police dept. is no different than any other in such cases; drive-by shootings are hard to solve. That's all I was saying.
And I also was not suggesting anyone should turn a blind eye to such activity; police should do all they can to solve them, but it's rare that they do just due to the nature of the crime.
As for the man shooting his wife, I agree that situation has been going on far too long. SOME kind of resolution should have been made before now and, if I were a resident of your town, I would be livid about the lack of action on that.
As for going to council and complaining, do you put your money where your mouth is? Do YOU go to council and complain or do you just talk about it on your blog?
Just wondering...
Ole Nib:
You are right on. I think it has come down to a point, that people in Wellsville are going to have to demand that the PD get its act together. If we dont stand up and demand it, I truly believe it won't happen. Pressure on the Mayor and council is the only way. People walking away from crimes they commit is an all to often occurrence in the Ville. People could go to the Crime Watch meetings also, and make a fuss. Everybody better stand up and be counted.
It starts at the top. The Chief is a damn joke. The officers only do what he tells them to do. The Mayor let the Chief get him involved in his personel vendetta against Ed Wilson, the Chief controls the Mayor. When the Mayor gets some balls and gets rid of the Chief, maybe the taxpayers will get something out of their money.
Why don't you do some investigative reporting and find out why JC Amato has never been brought to justice , instead of telling us what we already know,
To clarify a couple of points: this article was dated for Sunday because that is when I started it. It was Monday afternoon before I wrapped it up & hit the publish button.
In the ER article Jeremy Lydic wrote "...and 50 dosage units of heroin were found at the scene...". Whether it was found in the house or outside was not clarified. Sorry if I confused the issue. Now I wonder if the packs were checked for finger prints.
I would love to attend the council and other open to the public meetings. Then I could come home and write about my observations and opinions before calling it a night. It would be in print before the papers come out the next morning. Unfortunately not being on the public dole, someone else's dependent or independently wealthy I have to work for a living. It happens to a lot of us. You can understand there are conflicts in schedules. When we hit the lottery that will change! Until then I have to rely on the local papers for most of my news.
ole nib
The drugs were found at the scene, not inside the house. There is no proof that the occupants inside the house had anything to do with the crime.
Also, don't blame the reporters about the news. You have a police department that makes very few of its reports available on a regular basis. Not every police report is a public record, under Ohio's Sunshine Law. All the cops have to do is say it's a matter "under investigation" and that is enough justification, under Ohio's worthless Sunshine Law, to allow them to keep it away from the public. Don't believe me? Look it up for yourself. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here.
I think the MJ reported the heroin was outside on the ground.
steampunk said it right they are just concerned about they re sewage bills and water bills ,,,which by the way have chased away alot of people from this town ,,, i love it i sit back and watch the ville crumble lol i think its funny ,,, because the people had the chance to get these money grubbing fools out of office so they are getting what they get ,,, and these baard people hopefully are seeing all this drug activity and shootings and unsolved murders ,, and maybe they will just say hey we aint puttin no buisness in a place like that ,,, its ridiculous to sit and think of the murderers we have walking our streets and the crack houses ,crack heads ,everywhere ,and dont deny it ,, i see crack heads walking the streets everyday ,selling dealing ,doping ... but dont yu creep thru a stop sign buddy yur ass will be public enemy number 1 ,,,,oh well come sit back with me and enjoy the show of the ville crumbling lol ,,,also the tax money from liscense plates hmmm wonder where this money goes ,,, cause it damn sure has never went for the roads hahahah ...throwing a little black patch in a pot hole on a rainy day is not fixing the streets ,,, bring in a black top company and do it right dont say yu aint got the money ,,,cause we the tax payers pay for it everytime we buy our liscense plates ,,,oh well god help us
IT's your right not to post any comments you dont want to , but I like how you chose not to post mine , when the only possible reason could be that is was critical of your "Big Picture" story.
No swearing , nothing obnoxious or rude, no name calling . Just a criticism. Of course this wont be posted either,
Give No Slack - What comment are you referring to? There was a comment you made Tuesday - the 29th. It's posted above in addition to the one sent today.
Unless a comment is completely obscene or tends to be unfounded rumors I try to be fairly liberal allowing remarks made. Criticism made of me is not in that category. In fact that is how I chose my pen name. Someone on ORL called me a nib nose a while back. I don't take offense to comments aimed at me.
If I could find out how to edit some of the comments I reject a lot of those would be posted. I would just omit mostly people's names that are used. Unfounded rumors many times lean toward slander. I don't want to go there.
ole nib
Give no slack: watch the courts in February. The Amato case is about to be blown wide open, if the system even works half way!
"The Amato case to be blown open in Feb." You got to be kidding or very gullible. We were told in November that we would we some action within a month. I believe the month following November is December not February. This is just another comment to placate the bitchers and keep things calm until the case is forgotten and can be swept under the courthouse rug.
[Quote: Not every police report is a public record, under Ohio's Sunshine Law. All the cops have to do is say it's a matter "under investigation" and that is enough justification, under Ohio's worthless Sunshine Law, to allow them to keep it away from the public.]
You are not quite right on this. Just because a case is "under investigation" doesn't give a police dept. cart blanche to with hold all information on that case.
There is a specific definition of what is "investigative" and what isn't.
They can't withhold the basic information about a case just because it's being investigated. They can withhold some information that could hurt the investigation.
It's not as cut and dried as you seem to think and they are not allowed to just keep reports out of the public eye under the blanket of "it's under investigation."
What it takes, however, is a citizen or reporter with enough balls to fight for what's public.
Ohio has one of the more liberal open record laws, you should see how bad Pennsylvania's law is!
Anonymous -- don't know if the JC case will be "blown wide open", but some changes are a-comin' in early Feb, fo sho. Hopefully, scheduled events (wink, wink) won't be postponed.
outsider- what scheduled event would that be?
MJ has story this morning on grand jury meeting to hear Amato case.
Again, seems to be something 'different' being done in this case not usually done, letting the defense offer info to the grand jury. at least Tom Giambroni asked about it, like it was unusual.
Everybody face it. We need a new Mayor, Police Chief and policemen,
fire dept, city council etc. We need new from top to bottom. But how do you get it. The good ole boys club only want their own in office, and they dont do anything. Wellsville residents should come out of their stupor and support and elect some progressive people to move the town forward.
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