Lower Valley residents march against gangs

SUNNYSIDE -- "Enough is Enough" were the lyrics sung by Grandview rapper David Haslam.

But they pretty much summed up the sentiment of at least 200 Lower Valley residents taking part in an anti-gang rally Saturday at Sunnyview Park. Residents of Grandview, Sunnyside and surrounding areas converged on the park between the two towns to vent their frustrations about a spike in gang violence that has their communities on edge.

"I'm just tired of it already," said Israel Yanez of Sunnyside, a father of five who has heard two drive-by shootings near his home on Victory Way. "I'm pretty sure everybody else is just tired of it, too."

He's right. Fed up was the way most participants described their feelings.

"People are just frustrated," said Brad Smith, president of Grandview United, the organization that staged the rally.

The rally culminated two marches, one from Grandview and other from Sunnyside, that joined at Sunnyview Park. There, both groups shared hot dogs and listened to live music, tearful poems and testimony from former gang members.

Betty Garza, a former drug addict and gang member in Texas and Grandview, told the crowd about her time in prison and how she wants better for her two sons, ages 12 and 15. "I don't want my kids to follow in my footsteps," she said.

She moved to Grandview in 2006.

Mary Reyes of Toppenish read a poem about her son, Ezequiel Reyes, shot to death in Toppenish on March 17, 2007.

"A million times I needed you, a million times I cried. If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died."

Police say the shooting probably wasn't gang-related, but she called the shooting "senseless," a sentiment that was met with nods of approval and applause.

The rally comes after a string of incidents in Grandview and Sunnyside, including a number of shootings.

The two cities, however, are far from unique. Gang problems are common throughout much of the Yakima Valley.

Saturday's marches and rally attracted families, teenagers, and city and school officials. People from Yakima and the Tri-Cities attended. So did two state legislators.

State representatives Dan Newhouse and Bruce Chandler, Lower Valley Republicans, said displays such as Saturday's help lawmakers hear what's important to people.

Chandler said it was testimony from community groups last year that helped push the lawmakers into passing laws that define gangs and create a state database for tracking members. Both legislators said they hope to continue next session by setting aside state funding to help cities tackle graffiti and other gang-related problems.

Both said they were proud to see Yakima Valley cities doing what they can in the form of rallies, new city ordinances and starting a countywide law enforcement task force.

"A lot of communities are kind of in denial," Newhouse said.

Some long-term efforts at curbing gang violence have taken root in the Lower Valley. Round 3 Boxing, a local nonprofit that reaches out to gang-prone kids, has started a new Grandview club. Some Lower Valley teens have started a student chapter of Barrios Unidos, a Yakima-based gang-intervention group. And several new neighborhood watches have started in Sunnyside and Grandview.

One of the most recent additions, said Grandview Police Sgt. Kal Fuller, is a group of Hillcrest Drive residents who live near the intersection of Fifth Avenue, the site of a Sept. 19 drive-by that disrupted a Friday night football game across the street.

"That was very scary," said Adela Ruiz of Grandview, who attended that game. Her son Alex plays football.

She and her husband Jose participated in the march to prove to young people in her town that adults want to help.

"To show them that we as adults care for them," she said.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.

Editor's note: This story was appended to correct erroneous information that appeared in the originally published version.

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