RSSGrandview kids say 'Stop it now!'
Students rally, call for an end to gang violenceYakima Herald-Republic
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GRANDVIEW -- Maybe people can ignore distant gunfire in the wee hours of the morning.
When it disrupts Friday night football, they notice.
On Monday morning, students gathered around Grandview High School's flagpole to decry a gang shooting that sent two teenagers to the hospital and prompted a lockdown of their football game Friday night.
"We are asking those around us and those in gangs to stop and see what they are doing," senior T.J. Hecker told the crowd.
The rally, attended by 65 or so students before classes started, is the second of its kind in as many weeks. Last week, residents of 15th Street in Sunnyside organized a block party to kick-start a neighborhood watch group after 16-year-old Juan Ramos was killed during a shootout there earlier this month. The crowd was estimated at 100 to 150 people.
"It comes home to these people once they experience it," said Sunnyside Mayor Paul Garcia.
The gang problem is in no way restricted to these two Lower Valley communities. Countywide, nearly half of the 13 homicides so far this year have been gang-related. And Seattle mayor Greg Nickels recently launched an ambitious, $9 million strategy to cut in half juvenile violent crime by 2010. It involves mentoring, job placement and posting police officers at middle schools.
No one died in the most recent Grandview shooting, which took place a few hundred yards from Rich Leenhouts Stadium, where hundreds were watching the Grandview Greyhounds face off against Selah.
The gunfire sounded somewhat like fireworks, but once the lockdown started, students and children were crying in confusion and fear, said Grandview High senior Jessica Poteet, who was working at the concession stand during Friday's game.
"There were teens crying and scared to go home," she said.
Two boys, ages 14 and 15, were taken to Sunnyside Community Hospital. The younger was treated and released a few hours later. The 15-year-old was transferred to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center before being released Sunday.
There have been no arrests so far, but police call the incident gang-related.
Students wearing peace signs and singing "Lean on Me" may not solve everything, said Alex Santillanes, director for Yakima Valley Barrios Unidos, a nationwide nonprofit community group working to reduce gang violence.
But it's a first step prompted by how close Friday's shooting hit home, he said.
"It takes a lot of guts for them to come forward in front of their peers," Santillanes said.
His comment was echoed by Socorro Garcia.
"I think the big word is parents," said Garcia, who has a son at Grandview High School and who attended Monday's rally.
"A lot of people, they're afraid to speak out," she said.
Across the Valley, efforts to fight gangs are mixed.
In Grandview, a high school junior formed a Lower Valley chapter of Barrios Unidos shortly after 16-year-old Isaac Hinojosa was shot and killed early on New Year's morning. Barrios Unidos is planning more meetings this week to enroll adults, Santillanes said.
Meanwhile, Santillanes canceled an upcoming Yakima youth summit due to a lack of advance registration. The summit would have discussed how former gang members can find jobs and other productive ways to contribute to society. He made his decision early last week, before the shooting. The conference may have generated more interest afterward.
"Sometimes, people will not react until after the fact," Santillanes said. In 2005, after a string of gang-related homicides, residents formed Citizens for Safer Yakima Valley Communities, which helped lobby for new state laws to define gangs and create a statewide database of members, according to Yakima Police Chief Sam Granato.
While a number of different Yakima Valley police agencies have banded together to fight drug trafficking with the formation of drug task force, no similar group has emerged to fight gang violence.
Yakima Valley police chiefs and the Yakima County Sheriff's office have been trying to organize a countywide gang task force, Granato said.
Grandview School District administrators gave students permission for Monday's rally but otherwise watched from a distance and made no comments. They understood the frustration, said Kevin Chase, superintendent.
"I think the silent majority is starting to speak up," Chase said.
Still, for all the students at the rally, even more stood on the sidelines and watched. Many didn't think it would solve anything.
"What they're doing is they're giving these gangsters more attention," said Chris Ramirez, a junior. "So far, it's gang-on-gang violence. It's not gang-on-civilian violence. So, why don't we just mind our own business?" and let the police handle it.
Hecker heard those criticisms all weekend as he organized the rally. But he didn't like the alternative.
"If you do nothing, nothing is going to change now," he said.
* Ross Courtney can be reached at 930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.
I commend these young people for taking a stand. Now if only the parents of all those involved in these senseless shooting would do the same. Children act out for various reasons but parents need to take control of the situation and be held responsible if their kids are breaking laws. I grew up in Sunnyside and CAN NOT believe what a different place the lower valley is now. It's heartbreaking and frustrating at the same time. Something needs to be done, we can all agree on that, but the solution needs to be effective. I will keep you all in my prayers.
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