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Get involved to prevent crime, gangs
Neighborhood Watch, other programs can help keep children safe
Law enforcement officers are still trying to sort out what happened in Mount Angel early Sunday morning. One thing is for sure: This is not the kind of place where one expects to wake to the news that several people have been stabbed and left in the street by assailants who still are at large.
At first, Mount Angel Police Chief Brent Earhart said the fight was possibly gang-related. By Tuesday he had softened that stand considerably. The city has experienced a small rise in graffiti, but even that has little connection to gangs, he said. Any gang problem in Mount Angel has involved “individuals from out of town.”
But residents of Mount Angel and Silverton should remember that gangs could gain a foothold, if people let them. No moat separates the East Valley from Salem, where gang members are becoming active once more. Interstate 5 is known as a drug-trafficking corridor. It’s foolish to hope that a few miles of rolling farmland can insulate the East Valley from the pressures that have built up elsewhere.
That’s why it’s so important for law-abiding people to come together for events such as National Night Out, the yearly crime-deterrent celebration. One of the strongest protections against crooks is people who learn one another’s names and care about their neighbors enough to keep an eye on them and their property.
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