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As long as the jails are social clubs, and as long as the liberal press caters too crooks, we will have this problem.
About 12 years ago we had the rape and murder of a small girl, in our county, I remember will how the liberal press, wanted this guy to be given two aspirin and turned loose. This guy was sentenced to die, his still alive thanks to the efforts of Tony Foriest and the liberals in Raleigh. Sad news is, he may be out on the streets at any time. In case you do not know the liberal press is supporting Tony for reelection. Show our frigged up we are, in Caswell County, we have a 11 million dollar bond issue for a new jail, seems our liberal leaders have decided the old jail is not comfortable enough for our jail birds.

Doug,
I can't say about Caswell County but in Greensboro the status quo is well funded by conservative business persons who only care about building.

Allen,
I have no doubt that every word you wrote is true but none of that changes the fact that GPD currently employees 1/2 the number of officers needed to keep our city safe.

The problem lies in the fact that "city leaders" prefer to fund PR rather than deal with actual problems but no amount of money spent on PR is going to lock up even 1 criminal.

As I've said thousands of times: Make Greensboro the safest city in America and the creative class will come here in droves.

And vote Billy for Mayor of Greensboro in 2009.

I worked in the convenience store industry for 14 years and was never robbed. And as district manager for a number of convenience store chains, I only had to respond to 5 robberies over a period of 10 years. Convenience stores do experience robberies but so do fast food restaurants, auto parts stores, hotels, and delivery drivers. The industry, as a whole,has done alot to reduce robberies. The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) has produced training materials and robbery deterrence kits for several years.

The main problem I saw was store owners being unwilling to invest any money to deter crime. Store owners, especially those owned by small oil jobbers, basically put a price on human life, refusing to spend money on quality video cameras, panic button alarm systems, or bullet proof safety "cages" to protect cashiers. They would spend about $500 or so for safety upgrades but after that, it seemed they would rather put their employees at risk than spend another dime to protect them. While their employees worked in varying levels of fear, putting their lives at risk to make $6 per hour, the store owners would be safely tucked away in their country club homes.

I would definitely support an ordinance requiring stores to comply with at least a basic level of robbery detterence measures.

C&C is "my" convenience store because I like the proprietors Sam and Che and because it's, well, convenient (although there are other options just as close.)

Nobody deserves to be robbed, but there are certainly small changes C&C could make to improve safety. Selling things that attract drug users is probably not helpful, although those seem to be available anywhere. Still, if C&C has a safety problem, they might discontinue those items as part of a solution. Need better parking lot lighting too.

Allen -
So your answer to the problem of armed robberies is to have the victims spend more money on employee training, expensive equipment, etc., have the police (taxpayers) spend more money, time and effort on patrols, etc and finally you say "The city needs to consider more-encompassing approaches to reducing convenience-store crime. "

Why aren't you making any suggestions for the people who are actually committing the armed robberies?? Call it racist if you want, but the fact is that the overwhelming majority of the crimes being committed are being committed by people in the black community.

Why isn't the Pulpit Forum, Skip & Earl, Deena Hayes, Major Johnson, Chief Bellamy, you and the other black people with a voice demanding action and calling out your community on this behavior which has become so common it's ridiculous.

The "black community" bonds together when you feel you've been wronged by whites, society, the police, history, whatever but as a group you either ignore or make excuses about your communities violent and criminal behavior and other major issues like education.

Start hammering the issues and get Bellamy Small, Wells and everyone else to start calling out the irresponsible within your community.

Stop writing about what the victims, police and the city should do and start writing about what the black community should do.
And start with your 70% birthrate with single mothers which is going to continue Stop and Robs for at least another couple of generations.

I didn't write the editorial, I just posted it. But as the political ads say, I approve the position it takes.
As for the comments of St. James, I approve of detering all youths from lives of crimes; that's why I consider it so important to have a strong educational system.
There is a problem with African American males in particular falling through the cracks, and winding up in the criminal justice system.
Wells, Yvonne Johnson, Skip Alston and others have been very active in addressing those issues.
As for the down side of unwed pregnancy, where we you when the issue came up some months ago on the campaign trail?

.

"There is a problem with African American males in particular falling through the cracks, and winding up in the criminal justice system."

"Winding up in the criminal justice system"?
Like there's some kind of mistake that they are where they are? They are exactly where they need to be as a result of their own criminal and violent decisions.

"Wells, Yvonne Johnson, Skip Alston and others have been very active in addressing those issues."

Really? Is Goldie still praying for everyone? How's that working out for all of us?

"As for the down side of unwed pregnancy, where we you when the issue came up some months ago on the campaign trail?"

Same place I am now - amazed that the black people that can make a difference, like you, continue to ignore some of the root causes of your communities major problems which hurt your own communities the worst but also hurt, and cost, all of us.
7 out of 10 black kids are still born to single parents which guarantees the next generation of uneducated, poor and criminal people.
And most of you are more worried about what Don Imus says, or building a Civil Rights Museum, or deciding that the n word shouldn't be used (which it shouldn't, of course...).
What a joke.
You're all just sitting on the sidelines complaining about things that don't really matter instead of going into your own communities and making a difference on education, crime, health, family structure, etc.

Believe me, we're all waiting for the day things improve for all people. It's just that some people aren't willing to do what it takes.

Dr. Wells has worked to begin an anti-gang prevention initiative in churches.
Skip Alston has begun a very promising mentoring program at Dudley High School.
Yvonne Johnson heads a program that works with ex-offenders.
A number of very dedicated white, black and brown people are working with projects such as the Guilford Education Initiative, the Community Dialogue on Education, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Communities in Schools.
I'd say that's doing more than agonizing over Imus or the Civil Rights Museum.

"Dr. Wells has worked to begin an anti-gang prevention initiative in churches.
Skip Alston has begun a very promising mentoring program at Dudley High School.
Yvonne Johnson heads a program that works with ex-offenders."

Whew. Thank goodness.
If it wasn't for them the C&C Market on Lawndale might have been robbed 5 times in 10 days instead of 3 times.

Let's face it.
The black community in this country and this city needs a complete overhaul to crawl off the bottom rung.
It needs to come from within and you and I (and everyone else) know that it's just not gonna happen.

Keep writing your silly editorials telling people the victims, the taxpayers and the city need to step it up to stop the thugs from doing what they're doing. LOL