Friday, March 23, 2007

March 23

Two teenagers were shot when they tried to rob an off-duty MTA cop.

Shardae Coles pleaded guilty yesterday to throwing a 16-month-old boy and killing him.

The Baltimore Algebra Project staged a die-in on North Ave. yesterday morning.

In the Blotter, a bunch of arrests, a bunch of shootings, and a whole bunch of robberies.

Perv of the day: Jeffrey Thompson, the former band director at Glen Burnie High School, couldn't keep his hands off his students or his vodka out of their Gatorade.

Paul Stella couldn't wait until they were dead to steal their money. And Theresa Antoinette Adams made a career of burglarizing retirement homes.

Some nice, classic fear reporting from WJZ on (cue scary music) How Your Attic Can Get You Killed.

Homeland Security: Giving traffic tickets in the name of American safety.

13 comments:

John Galt said...

O.K., here's a BIG part of the problem. From the story on Alegra Project's die-in:

“We have the second-highest murder rate in the country,” said Amani Love, a ConneXions Leadership Academy ninth-grader. “Where I live, so many people can’t read, can’t do math and really aren’t qualified to do anything. With no education, they can’t expect to get a decent job. What else are people supposed to do, but fall down in this system? That’s why we have the second-highest murder rate in the country.”

You need less algebra and more logic, dear. Plenty of people with far less education have managed to not pull a trigger in a liquor-store robbery. Generations of southern immigrants from lousy schools have become perfectly good citizens without any need for murder.

You cannot absolve these violent young hoodlums of responsibility for committing crime by merely citing all the advantages they haven't enjoyed. Good schools are a good idea. Bad schools are not a defense for felonious behavior.

Ever.

What are people supposed to do?

The right thing.



And the faith community needs to get in on this concept of right vs. wrong. Forgiveness may be Christian, but it also lends itself to recidivism.

John Galt said...

Congrats. Baltimore City has made Maryland the 4th most dangerous state in the nation.

Sean said...

Interesting - my friend was held up last weekend by three individuals wearing masks with a gun who jumped out of a van with handicap plates (assumption is it was stolen).

John Galt said...

Or maybe they were the Crips.

burgersub said...

John Galt said...

Congrats. Baltimore City has made Maryland the 4th most dangerous state in the nation.


pg county helped some too, no doubt.

also, i have to admit i loled at your crips joke.

John Galt said...

Now, regarding unsafe states, the leader is Nevada, which is Vegas-driven. But Vegas's population needs to be analytically revised upward to reflect its considerable steady-state visitor population.

Thge remaining three states, New Mexico, Arizona, and Maryland, are neck and neck.

What drives the ratings in NM and AZ is that they are quite sparsely populated outside of Albuquerque and, say, Phoenix, so the fairly moderate crime in those cities really moves the statewide average.

Baltimore, however, is the real deal, particularly with the momentum in shootings which has emerged in the past year.

John Galt said...

And slow, too.

Almond Smash said...

The highest in crime are border States w/ a lot of "undocumenteds" and the drug inlets. Next come the purely drug selling States, MD being one.

Gor said...

Don't forget Maryland (and Baltimore) has some of the best hospitals in the nation. Those others state don't have as many world class hospitals and the distance from one is much greater in those other states. The real indicator of how unsafe we are is the number of shootings.

Gor said...

I just quickly crunched some numbers. If the current rate of homicides continue, by the year's end the murder rate will be (for every 100,000 people):

Baltimore County 3.3
Anne Arundel County 4.3
Prince George's County 20.0
Baltimore City 44.6

Anonymous said...

We'll be number one! We'll be number one!

Serves us right for electing stooges and panderers who can't do something as simple as spend less on crappy slogans (Get in on it, anyone), and spend more on good cops.

Baltimore's sh!tty stance on crime: Get used to it.

Unknown said...

sean we may have the same friend, I posted a comment about my friend being robbed by guys jumping out of a van also. was it in Charles village or Remington area? the robbery of my friend was 26th st near maryland ave.

Sean said...

Sam's Lil Sis, this sounds like a trend or a spree! My friend was actually in Hamden when it happened!