Hundreds rally against violence

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By Thomas Geyer | Thursday, August 24, 2006 3:10 PM CDT | () comments

Nick Loomis/QUAD-CITY TIMES Children gather around Mikey Medic, a radio-controlled, interactive ambulance that was parked next to the real thing, during the Night Out Against Crime event Wednesday night at Fejervary Park in Davenport.

About 300 people came Wednesday night for Davenport’s Night Out Against Crime at Fejervary Park pavilion.

But Jackie Bostic of United Neighbors Inc. was not impressed.

In the wake of a spate of violence, including the wounding a man at 5th and Gaines streets Aug. 17 and shooting death Saturday night of Vincelina Howard, 19, Bostic said it’s not unusual for people to attend crime-fighting events en masse.

“We do this every time,” she said, her voice rising with a touch of anger. “Everybody wants to meet and talk about it, and then in three weeks time, we forget about it; and nothing is done. Nothing is done.

“What we need is an example,” she said. “We need to send them away instead of going like this,” she added, and slapping her wrist to denote a minor punishment.

Davenport attorney Brenda Drew-Peeples could not hide the sadness in her voice.

“We’ve got so many of our children dying,” she said. “So many of these children are my clients. To solve this problem, we have to have an integrated approach that involves the children. It will involve adults sitting with the kids and finding out what needs to be done.”

The recent spate of shootings seemed to be foremost on the minds of everyone.

And many was talking about gangs.

“It’s time to re-educate the public on gangs,” said Alderman Jamie Howard, at large. “We need to gear up again and quickly. There’s no room to pause. Pausing too long can mean another life.

“And whether the violence is gang-related or not, it’s still unacceptable,” she said.

It is time to address the gang problem before it gets out of control, said Phil Yerington, a former Davenport mayor and police lieutenant.

“The public needs to be educated about what to look for,” he said. “Parents should know the warning signs in the behavior of their children and should know what the gang signs and graffiti mean.”

Police Chief Mike Bladel said that always, the community is the first line of defense against crime and violence. “We can’t do our job without community input,” he said.

Alderman Bill Lynn, 5th Ward, in whose ward Howard was killed, said the violence has to be gang-related. “It would scare me more if it wasn’t because that would mean it is random killing,” he said.

Eric McKinley of Rock Island was there to promote Positive Brothers United, an organization aimed at bringing the violence to an end.

“We would like to see both sides of the river get together to slow this down,” he said. Optimism about putting a complete end to it was not there, he said. “We need to help these kids. We need programs that give them some kind of hope, that there is more to life than the streets; because right now the streets are claiming them.

“It’s going to take a lot of us to get them to believe and trust,” he added. “We don’t want a war to start.”

McKinley wore a T-shirt with the pictures of nine men who were murdered in Rock Island over the years, including Juan Duarte who was shot to death in December, and Andrell Hearn who was killed in April. He hopes the family of Vincelina Howard will allow her picture on the shirt.

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.