Chief beefs up patrols; $10,000 reward offered

Why is everyone outraged? I'm surprised this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. Let's see, hmm, a crack head shot an old lady and stole her purse. Nope, can't say I'm surprised. THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A JOKE. Legalize the crap and make it free to the junkies and give it to them in a CONTROLLED environment (Drug treatment hospital). I guess that would put too many lawyers out of work.

Mayor Jay's 2010 plan for Youngstown sure is coming together - NOT!!!

The war on drugs is a bunch of B.S. ! Any such beast should be brought into a public square and shot! Not lynched, because I'm not a racist and not eloctrocuted or injected because I'm not a sadist or old school. I'm just a real American who grew up in Youngstown with this type of garbage in my neighborhood. I moved away into the wider world and realized that this type of vermin doesn't have to be accepted, it can and should be put down.

This horrific murder was bad enough, but for so-called community "leaders" to proclaim that nothing can really be done to stop murders like this is absolutely outrageous. Either there is not will or no vision in City Hall to stop the epidemic of homicide infesting Youngstown. Either way these officials should hang their head in shame. The mayor seems more willing to wine and dine with war criminals abroad that fight street criminals in Youngstown. The neighborhood around St. Dom's is a total wasteland and nothing has been done for decades to revitalize it. And what, dear Councilwoman did you mean, when you said on TV that "it could have been one of us"?!

When you elect incompetent leaders you get incompetent government. For instance:

Tarpley said, “Any act of violence feeds into the stereotype."

Sorry Mrs. Tarpley but Youngstown as the murder capital isn't a stereotype, it is fact based on......murders.

and this gem.

Councilman Paul Drennen, D-5th, said the murder is “shocking” and “appalling.” But it’s not a negative reflection on the city, he said.

What would he consider a negative reflection on the city?

Most of these people can't walk and chew gum and yet we rely on them for our safety in crime town USA.

http://www.mwkworks.com/onsheepwolves...

I'm really disappointed in the leaders of this city after the press conference yesterday. Instead of being sick and tired of crime, they side step it. They really need to do something to protect the hard working people of Youngstown, instead of these remarks:

“Unless there’s a police officer stationed on every square foot of the city, nothing can done to stop all murders,”
“Can you absolutely stop it with increased patrols and citizen involvement? The answer is probably no.
Unfortunately, it happens too many times in Youngstown, Ohio,” he added.
“This isn’t an example of someone who refused to comply” with a criminal’s demands.
“Generally speaking, around St. Dom’s Church, we have not had any reports of anything alarming. I believe this was absolutely a random event,” said Hughes.
But, like other city neighborhoods, that area has been deteriorating over the years, Williams said. “It’s seen crime and blight.”
“It gives us a bad shot in the arm,” said Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st. “We’re going to have to do better.”
Councilman Paul Drennen, D-5th, said the murder is “shocking” and “appalling.” But it’s not a negative reflection on the city, he said.

"Councilman Paul Drennen, D-5th, said the murder is “shocking” and “appalling.” But it’s not a negative reflection on the city, he said."

Not a negative reflection, oh really, then what would you call it. When you have twice as many people killed in a City of 80,000 then you do in an entire State of 1 million three hundred thousand, what then do you call it?
What Councilman, what the he!! do you call it. This is a shining example why there is no hope for Youngstown, when you can't even get an honest answer or comment from the Political leaders about the out of control crime in this town.
And then you have this comment from another Rocket Scientist "Hughes said the area surrounding the church has not been a hotbed of criminal activity."
, Well Chief protector Hughes tell us how many cars have been stolen from Church goers over the last ten years. How many members have come out of Church only to find that the car they came to Church in is now being used for a drug run to the east side or a driveby on the southside.Don't worry faithful followers you will get your car back, if not well I hope you had good insurance.
Apathy and low expectations is what is driving people from this town. When you have your leaders standing in front of a microphone and they tell you to your face that there really is no way of stoping this kind of madness, then the only sane recourse is to move away , as far away as you can go. For after all it is your life that could be at stake living in a town where they tell you that the murder rate is not a bad reflection on the area. If you live in Youngstown you are more then 300 times more likely to be killed then if you live in New Hampshire, but hey thats not a " NEGATIVE REFLECTION".

The denial shown by the elected officials of my city is astonishing.
Drive around and you see that we also allow people to throw garbage all over the streets. We don't enforce property maintenance standards. When these things aren't attended to the entire social fabric is shredded to the point where people are killed in church parking lots.
The district surrounding St. Dom's is known as "the dales" (Auburndale, Avondale) has some of the highest crime (burglaries, armed robberies) rates in Ohio.
Maybe we should think before we vote for the "prettiest" candidates in the future. When they say "nothing can be done to stop all the murders," then they should not be re-elected, we need people in office who will do what is necessary to stop the bleeding.

Apparently, these officials are not saying what you want them to say. Well, what do you want them to say? What do you think they should be doing? (Besides making drugs legal. That's outside the scope of what these officials can do) If you know the answers to these questions, why aren't you running for mayor or city council?

If the Councilman doesn't believe this isn't a negative reflection on Y-town, I would hate to see what he thought one was! This official should be removed from office immediately because he is part of the problem. Zero tolerance is what is needed for all crime, big and small. When my mother lived in my family's South Side home 20 years ago, she would complain to police about little things like parking on the front yards. The police pooh-poohed her as some sort of kook. But you would never get away withit in my city of Canfield! Take care of the little things so the people can have some hope.

An RRUT on landlords would be a good start, especially on the Section 8 units. I got rid of my rentals years ago in Youngstown as I could see it coming. They also have to start doing saturation patrols again. The people need to take back their streets themselves.

This in the US, not Vietnam. There are rules. Doesn't anybody follow the f***ing rules?

I can see it now...city blocks with residents parked at the end of the street with 50 caliber machine guns surrounded by sand bags.

Come to think of it...what's wrong with that?

Rules don't apply to barbarians, plus don't you know we owe them something so it's perfectly ok to act like uncivilized people, move in, ruin the neighborhood then complain they have no rights!

Maybe the time has come to return to the walking patrols with block police paid for by the taxes paid by the residents, rather than depend on city hall to protect us.

Does this mean we should return to individual little communities and abandon the city concept, which is proving it cannot protect us? Why should we contribute our hard earned tax dollars to a corrupt group of politicians sitting behind desks and telling us how hard they are working for us?

While I agree something needs to be done about the violent crimes in Youngstown; sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture. There has been a dramatic increase in violent crimes across the nation in cities big and small since the beginning of this depression; and the longer it lasts the more violent crime is increasing.

Here is an article from the LA Times that is getting virtually the same kind of comments from readers as we are making here in Youngstown.
http://projects.latimes.com/homicide/...

My point is that if the problem is happening everywhere and its corresponds to the economy than the solution is jobs!
Perhaps we should all contact our elected representatives and encourage them to submit a grant request from the jobs bill to employ as many citizens at $10 an hour part time with no benefits to be put to work cleaning up the city, planting community gardens, doing minor repair work on public buildings (ie. new gutters on Stambaugh Golf course).

Even if the drug dealers and users don't participate in the program, seeing hundreds of people on the street cleaning up the neighborhoods is going to greatly reduce the opportunity to commit crimes without being witnessed.

The justification for paying $10 is the encourage participation, part time is to make it easy for them to participate at their convenience and to prevent those that are on public assistance from losing their long term assistance, and no benefits is because this will a temporary program.

Lets be real people this is just Youngstown we don't have the power to fix the economy or make drugs legal on a national level (which is what it would take to get the benefits of reduced usage and reduced crime). We need to focus on the community level to address the problem and the whole reason we are having this increase in violent crime is due to a lack of money in the area.

city_resident
"Apparently, these officials are not saying what you want them to say. Well, what do you want them to say?"

That there going to do whatever is possible to fight this war on crime. That they would go to any means to protect the citizens of Youngstown and not let these low life animals take over the streets. If they have to bring in outside help to do it, then they will do it. To do whatever is necessary to stop the violence. What political people are suppose to do.

Mayor Frank Jackson Offers Aggressive' Plan to Fight Crime - Cleveland
Now, Jackson said, police will get in the faces of criminals in the neighborhoods. The targets are street gangs, corner dealers and anyone illegally carrying a gun.
"It's going to be very aggressive," he said. "They're going to be shaking up the trees and beating the bushes." …
Removing guns from the city will be a top priority, Jackson said.
The city also will team with federal agents to target gun trafficking and "straw purchasers," people who buy guns then sell them on the street, often to criminals prohibited from carrying firearms. Also, more guns used in crimes will be traced to figure out the sources, Jackson said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino - Boston
''We're looking at all our programs to see what maximum benefit we can get out of them," the mayor said in an interview. ''I can't have another incident like we had at the [John] Winthrop School this week."

Menino said he has summoned Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole and the city's human services chief, Larry Mayes, among other administration officials, to a meeting today where he expects answers on how to stop the surge of violence that has pushed the city's homicide count to 66 by last night, equaling a 10-year high. Menino said everyone's effort will be scrutinized and overhauled if necessary.

And what do our leaders say? Read the article!

To say that crimes like this can't be stopped is ridiculous. If you stop giving criminals 20 or 30 second chances and have them serve the time for each and every crime they commit they would be locked up and not on the streets.

I guarantee that when this person is caught and his previous arrest record is known the fact that he avoided serving the time for his crimes will be the reason for this woman's murder.

Slapping a huge tax on rental units will not lessen the desire of these thugs to rob and kill . It will only punish the workers at low paying jobs who can't afford to buy houses . Why punish them for the crimes of others ?

Let's generate low tech jobs manufacturing goods for export to the world . We need to generate some real money that only manufacturing can accomplish .

These thugs need to be forced to work for their food, shelter and medical care . The taxpayers are getting weary of keeping the thugs and getting robbed and killed in return .

Violent crime has not uniformly increased in cities everywhere since the economic downturn.

Rather, cities where things have gone unchecked and without implications for too long have finally started to see the statistics air out their dirty secrets.

From what I read in this article it's business as usual by the elected clowns running Youngstown.

Here's an idea, allocate crime fighting resources and start sweeping the Southside clean of the losers. Tear down, burn down, otherwise clear the abandoned eyesore houses that litter the city like fast food wrappers. How many of these houses are being used as crack houses, drug stash houses, prostitution hook up spaces, etc.

The mayor has no idea what allocating police on the streets aggressively will do for crime, because he's never tried it. I am sure his buddies involved in criminal enterprises won't like the police heat. Well Jay, tell them to move somewhere else.

You can put all the police in the world on the street; you can build all the prisons you want; you can execute all the criminals you want. These kinds of problems will continue.

Why does Youngstown have such a high crime rate? You have highly segregated communities, no jobs, and a proliferation of drugs. Until those problems are addressed, you will have the type of atmosphere where these kinds of crime will continue to occur.

this story is so sad and everyone is so good to be outraged, and my condolences to the family and st. dominic parish, but no one so far has dared to whisper anything about gun control. if we can't get the guns off the street because there are just too many, there are still some avenues of approach: for starters we can close the gun show loophole, then and better yet, we could outlaw the sale of handguns altogether, or if this is not politically possible at least we could outlaw the manufacture of handgun ammunition. it sounds extreme, i know, but we only need to contact our elected officials and demand it and not let up until we get it. nothing against hunters or trapshooters, but let the nra stand for national rifle association, not including handguns and automatic pistols, and not including assault weapons. enough is enough.

Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

These thugs would just as easily choke a senior citizen to death and certainly would gladly stab one to death.

Give up the cry baby inner city lazy excuses. It's segregation, it's drugs, it's unemployment, waa waa waa waa.

There are plenty of jobs and always have been. You think people with money want to bust their hind ends digging ditches, cleaning their dishes, cooking their lunch? There are plenty of examples of things people don't want to do for themselves. Most of these jobs make up the service sector which is 75% or more of the jobs in this region. Going to complain about that?

Morons within these cities can't get a job because 1) they have tattoos and piercings that look like Halloween 2) they have criminal records as long as my arm 3) they lack common literacy 4) they make a terrible impression.

Segregation isn't anyone's fault except the people self segregating. Blacks are free to move about the area and live wherever they want. This isn't 1950. You just have to afford to live in a better area or go live out in the country cheaply.
What do you want section 8 and projects in Beverly Hills? I bet you lazy trash bags do.

Drugs, I am beginning to think should come with a death penalty attached - like in other countries. We catch you selling drugs, we execute you. How about that for a deterrent?

None of these things cause people to decide today is a good day to go jack some honest person for their purse and leave them dead in the process. Cowardly people cause these things, lazy people and stupid people.

It's pretty apparent from what gets said here what's wrong with Youngstown. Folks in the city are stupid, borderline mentally retarded, can't form sentences, don't work and won't work. Most of the city residents are hopeless morons (or hopeless romantics) who didn't see the road signs for decades saying exit the highway danger ahead. Now they are full bore, pedal to the metal into this ferris wheel of crime, Groundhog day after Groundhog day.

I say bring in the Guard or the feds and let the blood of the criminals roll into the sewer.

could_it_be comments :

You truly do have vision .With home owners being armed there is always the possibility of a street thug getting wasted . They must be given a fair chance to solicit funds to maintain a certain level of drugs in their system .

paulb, you are funny, but why don't you tell us how you really feel? seriously, "Most of the city residents are hopeless morons"? sounds like an over-the-top comment to me. to say guns don't kill people is to be in denial. sure there are lots of other ways to kill, but why make it so easy for these miscreants? half of them would not even be organized well enough to kill without the aid of handguns. so let's reduce the number of these heinous crimes and quit waxing theoretical in defense of guns. can't you handle it without your .45?

Its heartbreaking.

This could have been anyone's relative.

I hope this monster is found and I pray his family is not protecting him.

Howard- no more government programs and get rid of most of what we have! Arrest the criminals and make them clean up the city! Everyone wants to blame the economy. These people wouldn't work if GM knocked on their door and asked them to please come work for them. Return to stigmas and quit making excuses for wrong behavior. There was crime during the great depression but old ladies were safe leaving church!

stan, you are funny, too, but you are smart and i'm sure you would be able to come up with some way to defend yourself at home as you dial 911 for assistance.

paulb, you see the situation pretty clearly. Y-town's problem stems from the fact there are a higher proportion of bad people on the the near south side and east side. How else do you explain the lack of killing and crime on the west side? Zero tolerance must be enforced. No second chances on violent crime arrests; prison time! You get caught using drugs, your choice should be jail or a treatment center. And start locking up the professional people for drug use. Doctors, lawyers, etc. The demand must be reduced because there will always be a supply.

could_it_be comments :

The street thug will have you killed by the time you think about dialling 911. Getting the drop on street thugs when they enter your home is politically incorrect . Political correctness is for you to be disarmed and give them what they want even if they want to kill you . The dialing of 911 is only to be done after the robbers and or killers have left if you are able to do so .

Racial segregation was enforced by bank lenders, community leaders, and real estate agents for decades in Youngstown. When the Civil Rights movement ended those practices, many whites simply up and moved to the suburbs to avoid living with blacks.

A far as jobs go... Numerous studies, including one I will quote here, have found whites are continually given preferential treatment in hiring. This quote is from a 2003 study which I will also provide a link to.

"Devah Pager, a sociologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., sent equally matched pairs of testers - two black and two white - to apply for low-skilled jobs at 350 places of employment in the Milwaukee area and found that white ex-offenders were more likely to be called back for an interview than black applicants who had no criminal record."

Similar studies have been conducted numerous times with similar results.

http://www.jobbankusa.com/News/Hiring...

The drug war operates on a similar parallel. Congress in 1986 adopted a federal sentencing policy that those who commit crimes involving “crack” cocaine are to be punished on a 100-to-1 ratio compared to those whose crimes involve cocaine in powder form. The effect of that ruling put far more blacks in prison than whites, since crack cocaine is notoriously associated with lower income, inner city residents. Is that equal justice under the law?

Blaming the NRA for gun violence is not the solution. The NRA defends the freedom to legally own a legal firearm. These hoods who use weapons cannot legally own a firearm, so they get them illegally on the street. Most of these firearms have been out on the street for many years and are circulated by way of theft and illegal activity. Some of the firearms come from teens stealing from parents, some from friends stealing from neighbors, some from breaking and enterings, some from straw purchases (which is illegal) and some even from police departments. Don't blame the NRA because we cannot control these stealing hoods.

The solution is strict enforcement and punishment, which we are unwilling to do because we are too liberal.

Ytownboy :

You are not very convincing . Our company hired blacks who came to work stoned or not at all . When they were terminated for this behavior whose fault was it ? When blacks were given loans for housing and the house was repoed for failure to pay whose fault was it ? When kids get out of high school and hang out on the streets without applying for jobs whose fault is it ? When whites go to work and their house is broken into constantly should they continue to live there ?

SO TELL ME ALL ABOUT EQUALITY .

The solution is strict enforcement and punishment, which we are unwilling to do because we are too liberal.

Really? There are more people imprisoned in the United States than in any other country in the world. How liberal is that?

could_ it_ be

You stated,

"if we can't get the guns off the street because there are just too many, there are still some avenues of approach: for starters we can close the gun show loophole, then and better yet, we could outlaw the sale of handguns altogether,"

you then stated,

" to say guns don't kill people is to be in denial. sure there are lots of other ways to kill, but why make it so easy for these miscreants? half of them would not even be organized well enough to kill without the aid of handguns."

Talk about living in denial, my God are you naive! If you take away the guns from the law abiding people , what is to stop the law breakers from robbing you at GUNPOINT, a law maybe? Do you think that if you pass a law outlawing guns all of a sudden the lawbreakers will start to follow laws and hand in thier guns. Your simplistic narrow minded approach would kill society as we know it and would bring on Mad Max and the Thunder Dome era in America.Thank you but I will keep my gun.

Stan,

Please quote me some studies to back up your argument-your personal experiences are not enough.

Here is one for you

"The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 has been nearly twice that of white male college graduates — 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent.

Various academic studies have confirmed that black job seekers have a harder time than whites. A study published several years ago in The American Economic Review titled “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” found that applicants with black-sounding names received 50 percent fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names."

"A joint study out of the University of Miami and the University of California, Berkeley found that the race of a hiring manager affected who was hired racially-speaking, according to Science Daily. The study was done over 2 years at a large retail chain, and the findings were published in the Journal of Labor Economics.

[T]he study found that when a black manager in a typical store is replaced by a white, Asian or Hispanic manager, the share of newly hired blacks falls from 21 to 17 percent, and the share of whites hired rises from 60 to 64 percent. The effect is even stronger for stores located in the South, where the replacement of a black manager causes the share of newly hired blacks to fall from 29 to 21 percent."

http://www.career-line.com/job-search...

Ask yourself this for those that read the paper on a regular basis. How many times have you read the term " TRIPLE PROBATION " when reading about some thug that has had yet another run in with the law. It is usually followed by "Judge Douglass was unaware of " or "Judge Durkin was unaware of "or "Judge so and so ".
Now I have no inside info on this case but I bet that when this peice of s@!t is found you will read once again "double" or "triple probation", and a no comment from one of our local Judges.

Ytownboy :

Life is what you make of it . If you are of no value to a company they will not give you a check for just being there . If you jump from ho to ho and have most of your check taken for child support who is to blame ?

You fail to back up your shifting of the blame .

What value can you be to a company if they pass you over in the first place, even if you are qualified? That's something that numerous studies-including the ones I've mentioned here-back up.

Alright Ytownboy, I am back.

I'll address your comments head on. This is going to take a while, as my time today is somewhat limited.

You mentioned the 1986 federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine. As if to indicate the disparity in sentencing versus powder cocaine is somehow racist in nature.

There are more poor white people than poor black people in the population - even in Youngstown. Blacks still are a minority. There is no way 100% of blacks are impoverished vs. some small percentage of whites and others.

If we are talking about poor folks and drugs, cocaine is rather expensive. At least 20-30k per kilo I'd guess. Marijuana is far cheaper per kilo.

So if black drug dealers were so poor why do we find them peddling crack and heroin more often than marijuana which is much cheaper?

The mentality behind the crack cocaine sentencing had good intentions. Inner cities were being ravaged by crack cocaine at this point during the 1980's.

There is a reason why we have this term called crackhead to describe the zomby like crazy people who are addicted to crack cocaine. Many police have testified about the extreme danger of dealing with people strung out of crack. Crackheads have been known to perform superhuman feats, even withstanding gunfire noticeably unfazed.

That's one of your points addressed. I'll be back for the others in a bit.

silence_dogood,

no one said you had to turn in your gun, but let's not sell any more of them. plus it would probably be more effective to stop making bullets and then all the bad gun-toters would eventually run out of ammunition and you could then achieve your chosen poster name.

Crack cocaine is essentially an inner-city drug. African Americans are over represented in inner city environments. In 2007, according to Senate majority leader Dick Durbin, 82 percent of people convicted on crack possession charges were black, and 9 percent were white.

Crack cocaine is the only drug for which the first offense of simple possession can trigger a federal mandatory minimum sentence. Possession of 5 grams of crack will trigger a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence. "Simple possession of any quantity of any other substance by a first-time offender-including powder cocaine-is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of one year in prison." (21 U.S.C. 844.)
Source: US Sentencing Commission, Special Report to Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy (Washington DC: US Sentencing Commission, February 1995), p. iii.

Here is some more info for you on crack

The US Sentencing Commission found in its 1997 report that "nearly 90 percent of the offenders convicted in federal court for crack cocaine distribution are African-American while the majority of crack cocaine users is white. Thus, sentences appear to be harsher and more severe for racial minorities than others as a result of this law. The current penalty structure results in a perception of unfairness and inconsistency."
Source: US Sentencing Commission, Special Report to the Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy (Washington, DC: US Sentencing Commission, April 1997), p. 8.

Next point, racial segregation.

At some point circa 1950-1960 some lending by banks did indeed enable some whites to move from cities. The lending did disfavor blacks and has been since then deemed racially unfair.

It wasn't this lending that caused white to fly away far off to the suburbs.

White migration started with the decline of industry and job losses within cities. It started with integration of the schools during the 1950's, which many were against, albeit unfairly or just in fear. It also started with neighborhoods losing their ethnic identities (Italian, Polish, German, etc.).

The love affair with the car, massive adoption of car and increased spending on highways were the main enablers and reasons for migration out of cities. Who would want to live in a filthy polluted city when you could live in quiet rural and much cleaner suburbs?

Now here's the kicker. What really caused white out-migration was the ritual of summer rioting during the 1960's by blacks and about black issues. Black rioting then as now seemed to mean the destruction of neighborhoods and neighborhood businesses. These places had nothing to with the issues. In the end, the neighborhoods were left in ruins, the merchants moved to less volatile environments and what remains is obvious - decay and abandonment.

More crack cocaine whining....

"Crack cocaine is essentially an inner-city drug. African Americans are over represented in inner city environments. In 2007, according to Senate majority leader Dick Durbin, 82 percent of people convicted on crack possession charges were black, and 9 percent were white."

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Youngtown is 43% black. Should I extend this to say 82% of blacks in Youngstown sell crack while only 9% of whites do?

Perhaps white drug dealers aren't stupid enough to peddle crack? Or are you calling law enforcement racist also?

YtownBOY, you answered your own issue here about crack. Says so right here: (CAPITALIZED FOR EMPHASIS)

"...Thus, sentences APPEAR TO BE HARSHER and more severe for racial minorities than others as a result of this law. The current penalty structure results in a PERCEPTION OF UNFAIRNESS and inconsistency..."

The commission clearly said it's a non issue that the statistics are the statistics whether you like them or not. That it gives the perception of being something wrong when in fact nothing is.

Do note, crack cocaine IS NOT the same things as cocaine. It's chemically different, no matter how slight. The users of crack act much different than the users of cocaine.

Personally, I think we should execute the users and sellers of both. You are all anti-Americans and responsible for the destruction of lives, neighborhood and wealth that people have toiled long and hard for.

Ytownboy :
"What value can you be to a company if they pass you over in the first place."

First of all if you have a criminal record don't expect to be rewarded . If you are productive in a company they will not pass you over . Most companies look at their bottom line . What can you do for them and not what they can do for you .

Final point, employment discrimination.

Your study from Northwestern is convincing, but a little light in details area. I know many employers, many black folks and many white folks. A good black friend of mine shared his experience about being hired years ago, the result of affirmative action. He said it was an insult and demanded to be reinterviewed and hired normally - which they did and he was.

My friend will be the first black person to tell the other black folks the way it is. He regularly has unfavorable things to say about the black community and especially the lazy no good young black males. As he says, if being a sperm donor paid, they would all have jobs.

Back to the point though.

Dr. Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute found that only 20 percent of black students and 16 percent of Hispanic students leave high school with basic requirements.

...Minority under-representation in college is the direct result of the public schools' failure to prepare minority students. It is a failure that affirmative action does not remedy -- college-ready minorities already attend college just as often as their white counterparts.

...The reason that more minority students don't get college degrees has nothing to do with competitive admissions policies. The truth is that most minority students leave high school without the minimum credentials necessary to attend any four-year school, selective or not.

More of it here:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?p...

"First of all if you have a criminal record don't expect to be rewarded . If you are productive in a company they will not pass you over . Most companies look at their bottom line . What can you do for them and not what they can do for you ."

And what do you make of the fact that those studies I provided to you confirm that a white male with a criminal record has an equal-or better-chance of being hired than a black male with no criminal record?

My friend will be the first black person to tell the other black folks the way it is. He regularly has unfavorable things to say about the black community and especially the lazy no good young black males. As he says, if being a sperm donor paid, they would all have jobs.

Sure.. my "black friend said it, not me!" You Vindy racists never get enough, do you?

The last time I checked it was WHITE politicans who have ran this community into the ground.

It was WHITE organized crime elements that gave this city a reputation as a home form criminals.

Yet, you Vindy folk love to pin it all on the blacks. You keep blacks out of local swimming pools for decades; you redline sections of the city for whites; you try and keeps black out of unions for decades, and when you admit them, give them the worst jobs.

You elect criminals like Jim Traficant and then blame local criminality all on blacks!

Ytownboy, I will tell you exactly how I feel. I never hide reality behind neatly crafted words.

Racism is when you dislike someone due to their color. You can be black and still be a black racist.

I harbor no dislike for anyone due to skin color. We have all sorts of people in my family. We aren't mentally challenged hate mongers.

I do however have great disdain for urbanized criminal gangs who roam the streets of Youngstown like packs of vicious dogs. If white folks were committing these atrocities I would gladly call them the trash that they are and ask for them to be removed from the gene pool.

Last time I checked, and every other time I've checked the mass of idiotic and dangerous thugs in Youngstown is indeed black.

You are the racist and a big baby also. You claim the man is sticking it poor you, who I assume is a young black man. It's segregation's fault, it's the employer man's job, it's the drug war's fault, it's the sentencing commission fault.

See it's never your fault.

I'd advise changing your name to something less offensive like YtownMAN? Because you probably are going to complain when I just start calling you boy.

Ytownboy

Your little article is some reporter in Milwaukee. That doesn't prove anything. I have a felony and I use to have government jobs, but now, I can't get a job anywhere. I've been pounding the pavement trying. I got rejected for the Census Bureau because of my record, even though I aced the test. I finally received a job yesterday at a retail store. But I'm not complaining or blaming anyone else. I take responsibility for all my actions and try to be a better person every day instead of bickering or complaining about society. If you want to succeed you can. It's up to one person and all you have to do is look in the mirror. Quit blaming everyone else.

As far as your hiring issues, read these reports.
Table 1 - page 11
Table 2 - page 14
Table 3 - page 19
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/...

Others
http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UT...

http://www.adversity.net/fed_stats/OP...

Racism is when you dislike someone due to their color. You can be black and still be a black racist.

Racism is about power. White society has power over blacks; blacks do not have the power to harm the greater structure of white society; hence, a black person can be prejudice, but not racist.

The last time I checked blacks did not enslave whites; blacks didn't forcibly segregate themselves from whites; blacks didn't attack and kill people fighting for civil rights in the south; blacks haven't paraded onto this site in order to demonize all whites.

Who has really pushed racism historically in this country?

Your little article is some reporter in Milwaukee. That doesn't prove anything. I have a felony and I use to have government jobs, but now, I can't get a job anywhere. I've been pounding the pavement trying.

Due to our current recession, you have an abnormal amount of people competing for jobs-whites included. So, obviously employers do not have to hire ex-felons when plenty of people with no criminal records are available. But you still have a better chance of finding a job then a black person with no criminal record, so don't feel too bad.

Fine racism is about power.

Be a racist and sell crack cocaine to your black community. Be a racist and riot in your black community.

I think you inner city black thugs should be charged with GENOCIDE. Do you know what means? How many blacks die from violence of other blacks in this country each year.

There are plenty of black racists. Exempting blacks by saying they can only be prejudice is some fairy tale.

Here we go again with slavery. Were you slave? Was I your master? NO.

Why can't you deal with reality. You are a free person along with your brothers. Instead of acting free you do dumb and dangerous things to jeopardize your freedom and life.

Blacks sold blacks into slavery. Remember that point. Also, whites did not have a monopoly on slavery. Enslaved people of all colors all over the world have existed throughout history.

Go back and contest some of my other points. This one isn't going to get you anywhere.

I think she knew the shooter, which is why he shot her. Probably a neighbor or someone she has helped before.

YPD... you fellas have your hands FULL! If Youngstown doesn't get under control soon, seems to me like there's going to be an all out CIVIL WAR!

Where is the outrage by our officials? This type of behavior cannot be allowed! We will never recapture what city of Youngstown was as long as people are afraid. Whatever it takes, this must be stopped! Spend all the money you want trying to make the city "better" but until we get a handle on this nothing will change. We are not idiots! We understand that you cannot prevent every crime but you sure can try! We can start by saying WE WILL AND WE CAN! I'm pretty sure Giuliani didn't set out to clean up NY by saying these murders don't reflect upon the city.

Ytownboy

If jobs your worried about for blacks, these website cater to black applicants only:

http://blackjobs.com/cgi-bin/blog.cgi...

http://www.blackplanet.com/jobs/

http://jobs.blacknews.com/

http://www.msoyonline.com/african-ame...

10 Tips For Black Job Seekers

http://www.blacknews.com/news/10_tips...

10) Be persistent. Success comes to those who don't give up. There are jobs out there. You will find one soon. Just don't quit.

I would doubt this crime was gang-related. Gangs are more or less business enterprises and a crime like this brings too much unwanted attention and disrupts business.

My guess is if this person was related to a gang he or she will be dealt with and punished internally for causing difficulties.

In all likelihood, it was probably some low level nobody who just needed a fix and the robbery went very wrong.

ytownpunk, they said there were no signs of struggle. I think she knew him and could ID him.

A lowlife drug addict wouldn't likely have a firearm.

A drug addict would sell the gun on street as such is in demand and would raise money for several days minimum.

This was an able bodied 15-25 year old who is involved in crime already. The person is surely known to police / has a record.

The person likely has some organized street crime affiliation - be it as a drug runner or just due to living in proximity of other criminals.

"YOUNGSTOWN — Police and city officials say they want the public to feel secure in the wake of the shooting death of an elderly woman on the South Side."

How secure are the people at the Covelli Centre feeling today ? Unless a sweep is done to show the thugs who is boss they will continue to rule the streets .

I was looking at the Vindy archives a bit ago.

The area near St. Doms - the Dales in particular have had some pretty extreme violence over the past 2 or so years.

The double homicide (people found dead in SUV) is the most striking.

Lots of gun violence, murders, car jackings, etc.

Claiming this area is safe or that there weren't issues is simply either not paying attention of lying to make the area seem better.

What's also startling is that St. Dom's has a larger steel / iron fence around the parking area that is motorized.

What sort of place requires a church to live within a fenced compound?

It's time to shutter this church before someone else dies there. The criminals in the area surely have the place on their radar now. It's just a matter of time before something else ends up in the news there.

Quite a shame, but this is the progress of cities.

Youngstown is hopeless. Only a fool would think they could improve the city at this point. Look for damning numbers from the upcoming 2010 census and long term migration of productive citizens totally away from Youngstown proper.

If this criminal element keeps edging into Boardman you are likely going to see civilian violence in response. I am certain Boardman will not let itself go the way Youngstown has.

How about we stop saying the answer is to just give the church and the area to the criminals and do something! Are we that weak?

Ytownboy, you're a felon; what do you expect? Would you hire someone, like you, a felon?

Paulb is right. America would be better off if the races were segregated; blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians and American Indians.

JustAThought :

"How about we stop saying the answer is to just give the church and the area to the criminals and do something! Are we that weak?"

The criminals control the area . Forest City Auto Parts left the area because they could take no more . The city wouldn't clean it up then and I don't believe that they have the will to do so now .

Then we need to get some people who DO HAVE THE WILL! Do we all really believe that Youngstown is so unique that other places have been able to fix their problems but we can't? Look at what Pittsburgh and Cleveland have done. Certainly they still have their share of problems, any grouping of people will, but where is our progress, where is the outrage? Who lives here and votes we just let everything just go to sh**?

Foxtrot, do you have a point? A site that people are complaining on, what does that mean? There are plenty of people that can see that what we can become. We can fix these problems. People who are not up for helping then just get out of the way.

I have said this before, until the black community says "enough is enough" and starts to turn in theses scumbags they will continue to be part of the problem. Same goes for the white community when it comes to white crime. Thought I would add that last statement to pacify those who might be offended.

The police can not solve these crimes when their efforts are undermined by the community. So until the community steps up, you get what you deserve..

JustaThought

....but where is our progress, where is the outrage? Who lives here and votes we just let everything just go to sh**?"

My sentiments exactly. It has to start with our elected officials to do whatever means are necessary to take back the streets. If it means bringing in others. Can't just say what they said at the press conference, they need to show some emotion and be outraged that is happening during there time in office. Have to show some toughness instead of saying "Unfortunately, it happens too many times in Youngstown, Ohio,” he added."

equip officers in the field with...
database for suspects and photographs
capable of providing on-the-spot-photo lineups
fingerprint scanner
electronic traffic ticket device

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local...

Paulb said: "If this criminal element keeps edging into Boardman you are likely going to see civilian violence in response. I am certain Boardman will not let itself go the way Youngstown has."

You're kidding, right? Many of the people in Boardman are those who gave up on Youngstown. (or are descended from those who did) Why wouldn't they just flee again?

And, even if I'm wrong about Boardman's demographics, sprawl is the American Way these days. "If where you live starts to change, and you don't like it, just move down the road to someplace new!"

Sorry foxtrot, didn't mean to offend you with my typo, "There are plenty of people that can see what we can become". I still pose the question to you, what is your point? As to your "education comment" I did not attend Youngstown City Schools, I attended one of the top schools in the area then went on to get my BS in Business in 3 years. Someone with your alleged education and attention to detail surely should not have forgotten that I asked a question. Do you live in this area? Why? I actually do own a business in this area and what we need is more people to care and less people like you who have thrown up their hands and said there is nothing we can do to improve our situation. We do not need quitters like you, we need people who have the guts to fight for something. This country was founded on tough people who worked hard and never gave up even when the going got tough, a lesson you apparently never learned. What are you doing to try to improve things, or do you just complain?

#73,
As I stated in another post, the black community will not give information to arrest or turn in any of their kind because they are racist and uneducated.
It's like that everywhere, and it happens nearly every night wherever blacks reside, no matter what city or country for that matter.
A good example is the number of blacks that harbored the criminal and lied to law enforcement following the killing of four police officers in the Seattle coffee shop.
Until blacks stop crying foul and following poverty pimps like Sharpton and Jackson, they will never make it in our society.
They need an honest, successful representative that leads by example. I actually thought Obama might have a positive effect on them, but I was wrong.
Don't blame it on the economy or lack of jobs, either. Read the recently published book about Youngstown called "The Great Depression" and you will see that times were far worse in the 30's with bank closings, high unemployment, and far less welfare.
Segregation might seem wrong to some, but during that era you had safer neighborhoods for everyone, especially blacks.

It seems time and time again we have this clear division between those who are business owners and those who now inhabit the city. Why? Because the city provides refuge for criminals and fails to protect the very people who build wealth, provide jobs and provide stability. Working and being an entrepreneur is probably racist also according to the minority cry-baby fringe around here.

There is a clear division also between those who have education attainment and those who have trouble with coloring books. Further education (beyond high school) is totally laggard in Youngstown. Bachelors and Doctorates especially and almost non existent among the population of Youngstown according to statistics. I wonder if we exempt whites from the statistics how much further the decline would be?

Urbanized black folks are a disgrace. Most black folks came here when share cropping became an issue in the south due to government subsidies. Their interest in the area was and remains purely economic. White people were here way before and things were going rather well in Youngstown and elsewhere.

You can say whites were / are racist all you want. Just look at what the cities have become since blacks have taken them over. I am beginning to think that white people were actually visionaries of what the cities would become with integration and a black majority. Find me a thriving black city.

Go look around Youngstown and find me a school where I'd want to send my children. A school that is competitive with the suburbs and the rest of the world. It doesn't exist in Youngstown and it downright hard to find in black urban area in this country. I know, as I've lived in many large well integrated cities. I even went to school where whites were the minority and that was decades ago.

It's time the black community takes a hard look at itself and stops trying to quickly and impulsively rap it's way out of the situation. Time to stop bitching, use those work boots for working and improve your lives continually - through education, giving and participating. If you believe someone is holding you back, there is medication for such paranoia - free and legally with welfare medical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztk7p0...

I have no problem with trying to find solutions to our problems. I have just grown tired of people saying there is nothing we can do. Nothing will ever improve if the prevailing thought is that we have lost. These thugs are not smarter or tougher than we are, we just need conviction from everybody! If we are committed to improving things there is no way it won't happen. Will it be easy? Of course not. But to all those who just want to sit around and tell everybody else there is nothing we can do, shut up! To all those who just want to sit around and say what a bad place we live in, shut up! To all those who have no faith in the determination of those who are really trying, shut up! We all have 3 choices, Lead, Follow or Get Out Of The Way! Demanding of our officials that they stop this is the first step. Finding out which ones are on board is the second, and replacing those that are not with capable people with a strong will and determination is the third step. There are far too many people on the right side of this issue for it not to improve if we all stick together. I am not here defending anyone, I am a republican, I believe in personal responsibility, and we are all responsible for making this pathetic attitude of apathy or even worse this constant need to beat down our area and each other disappear forever. I challenge everybody to make your voices heard, we will not let this stand! We will not give up! We will not give in!

Why is everyone outraged? I'm surprised this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. Let's see, hmm, a crack head shot an old lady and stole her purse. Nope, can't say I'm surprised. THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A JOKE. Legalize the crap and make it free to the junkies and give it to them in a CONTROLLED environment (Drug treatment hospital). I guess that would put too many lawyers out of work.
I don't want to hear crap about hanging this guy without a trial, he has the right to due process under the law, and if you don't like it, then move to another country

Justathought, I'm tired of jumping from article to article and posting what I've already posted on this story. WE'RE painted into a PC corner, we can't do anything but support these people. Go ahead call me a racist. It's not against the law yet, to be a racist. Who made me a racist? Black power being shoved down my throat is what pushed me from being tolerant to be p***** off. Why do we have to do something? Why don't the blacks change their ways? Have the young black girls quit pumping out babies like as if they're bubblegum machines. What deterrent is there for them to stop? How about this: 2 years from now all babies born to unmarried teenagers will no longer be supported by taxpayers. If you have a baby then you will live in a dorm with like others to be taken care of, you and the baby. You will be given food and medical care. You will be required to attend in house school, parenting classes and there will be no cell phones, tattoos, cigarettes and any other of life's non-nessities. Whenever you find a way to support you and your baby your free to go. If these girls can't do any of this then they can look their baby in the eye and tell them, sorry can't feed you today. Let them tell the baby that instead of the people like myself who are fed up. Onus on them, ball in their court.

Here are some ideas for the Youngstown crime cess pool:

Enforce curfew for minors.

Enforce noise violations (boom cars, loud mufflers, etc.)

Create a mandatory tenant registration and crack down on slumlords.

Institute a city-wide no-felon rental property policy. Force felons to buy homes or move elsewhere.

Zero tolerance drug laws.

Any offense with a gun present should be a mandatory minimum sentences of 5 years + enhancement.

Put the school board and teachers on probation.

Create standards that must be met in the schools or people get fired.

Any minor involved in crime results in the parents doing time along with their child.

No more plea bargains. Make criminals do 85% or more of their time like the feds do since they did away with the parole board nearly two decades ago.

Foxtrot,

Those videos Irisheyes is putting out are great.

People need to go out into the community where this crime was and document the decay and abandonment and share it too.

Time for housecleaning in Youngstown.

paulb
Actually that gentlemen made real sense. Good video thanks for posting that.

penguinbird
That is typical of what justathought posted. So it's ok a crack head murdered a elderly lady over chump change. Your not suprised? Well that just shows what kind of person you are, the "OH WELL, SH@3 HAPPENS, and it's fine and dandy with you. What if that was someone who you loved or loved? Why is everyone outraged? I can go on and on, but I'll keep it short, because the INNOCENT victims are the ones that suffer, you, me, and the elderly, the children, and everyone that works for a living and tries to make there life better and a future for the children. And like your attitude and our people in office, you just say OH WELL....Maybe you life has no meaning, but the people I care for and love mean a he@# of alot to me and I want them to be safe.

As far as your war on drugs and legalizing it and such, it has its pros and cons on both fronts, but you know that won't happen or maybe down the road it will. Do something productive if you feel that strong about it.

And on your hanging the guy without a trail, sure he'll have a trail, he'll get sentenced and he'll sit on death row for 15-20 years and people like you will feel bad for him and say he shouldn't get the death penalty and cry for him. Did the family of Angeline Fimognari have a chance to say goodbye to her family and friends?

PenguinBird, you should give up on your rant against the war on drugs. While there are some good points to the possibility of legalizing drugs, the problem of paying for them remains. No taxpayer will support providing "free crack" so that the local junkie can get his fix in a controlled environment. Will the crackhead then be required to stay at the facility until he has come down enough to act civilized. Wait, then it will be time for his next fix. Maybe we can just deliver the drugs to the addicts or house them permanently in another taxpayer funded facility. Talk about welfare! Free food, free health care and now the PenguinBird free drug program. All funded by ????? If the scum that robbed and killed this poor lady was in need of drug money, a methadone clinic wouldn't have prevented it. Even the ultra-liberal European countries don't supply free crack, coke and smack to the local subculture.

The drug war has been going since the early 1970s with very little progress. What exactly is the end game? We now have more people in prison than any other country in the world.

Some more interesting facts

Someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 17 seconds. Someone is arrested for violating a cannabis law every 38 seconds.

We spend about 600 dollars per second to fund the war on drugs. What have been the results?

"Ytownboy, you're a felon; what do you expect? Would you hire someone, like you, a felon?"

I'm not a felon. My response was to "lifes2Short" who claims to be a felon.

Ytownboy
I'am a felon. I'm not proud of the fact and regret it everyday. But email me and I'll show you the proof. I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to make up, I did the crime (dui's) and I done my sentence (15 months). So what reason would I have to lie. I don't lie. The truth and only the truth. Life is 2 short to lie.

Ytownboy

"The drug war has been going since the early 1970s with very little progress. What exactly is the end game?"

Don't do the drugs! Period.

A Youtube posting from a Youngstown Thug for the whole world to see . This jackazz idiot is not afraid to sing about the violence and murder that he loves so much. He is not afraid to show the world the drugs that he so proudly shows the world This is the problem within Youngstown with a higher concentration within the BLACK community.It is not a mystery what is wrong with this town all you have to do is watch this video and you will see why you would be NUTS to live around these people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjzaDx...

Another fine example of Youngstowns finest. A great testament to the Youngstown School System.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYx1cc...

The LADIES even get in on the action this video shows what your welfare money is going to. Just listen to the lyrics. This is YOUNGSTOWN there is no denying it, take a HARD LOOK at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48qnNz...

Ytownboy
"I'am a felon. I'm not proud of the fact and regret it everyday. But email me and I'll show you the proof. I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to make up, I did the crime (dui's) and I done my sentence (15 months). So what reason would I have to lie. I don't lie. The truth and only the truth. Life is 2 short to lie."

I believe you and appreciate your honesty. You paid your debt to society.

Police have arrested Jamar Antonio Houser, 18, of Youngstown, in the shooting death of 80-year-old Angeline Fimognari.

Just after 7 p.m. Friday, Mahoning County Task Force officers and its SWAT team surrounded a South Side home on Volney Road near Millcreek Park. Houser was not present, but police also executed a search warrant at the home.

He was later arrested at Market and Philadelphia. He goes by the alias "Mook."

Jamar Houser, 18, Volney Road, improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation and aggravated menacing.

That was back last year - an indictment with his name.

Why were all of foxtrot's comments removed, and the racist rants left posted? Is this a racist and possibly anti-semitic newspaper?

Your town is absolute garbage!
It is only fit for goy to live in:

http://foxtrot-youngstownsucks.blogsp...

It's not the black peoples' fault, it's all of these pork-eating goyim who rule this area's fault.