- An offshoot of the Bloods street gang (I think, for some reason, a whole bunch of people around here are enamored of the Bloods), called the Bounty Hunters, lured a member to a motel on Reisterstown Road. They then beat him, stabbed him til he stopped moving, then rolled him up into a rug. They carried him to a car and put him in the trunk. When they got to a little-used service road in Leakin Park, they took him out, and when he started to move, they beat him and stabbed some more till he stopped moving. Then they poured gasoline on him and set him afire--essentially burning him alive. And the VAST MAJORITY OF THE SUSPECTS ARRESTED FOR THIS ARE TEENAGE GIRLS! One of them, when she was arrested, had all kinds of red clothing on her. And one of the girls had been attending cooking school in Atlanta. [So much for the excuse that she was "forced" to join the gang because of the 'hood she lived in]. Sheesh.
- Your consultant then reads some of the comments of the readers of the new internet site investigative voice.com and is astonished to see how many thug/gang members read, comment/and justify/excuse/enable this behavior.
- Then we had the 17-year-old boy who "vacantly" testified that a couple of years ago, when he was 15, he shot and killed at point-blank range a person who had never done anything to him, in fact a person he had never met. All to carry out a "mission" ordered by his bunky, who was currently incarcerated at the time. Mission accomplished! This kid murdered a state's witness to a murder; now he is pleading guilty in federal court in exchange for his testimony getting him no more than 40 years. Well, I'm glad I won't be around when he gets out and starts thinking about his next mission. {And of course, the person who ordered would have done it himself instead of ordering an adolescent to do it---gutless coward!}
- And then he had the 14-year-old who shot and killed a pizza delivery driver--and to learn mom whine and complain that he is being held on no bail in an adult facility. One has compassion for mom, but he will actually be held in a wing with other adolescents. We wonder: after police questioned him several times, did she ever question him? Did she ask him about the cell phone, about where he was the night of the murder. Did she know he carried a gun? Did she search his room? Who knows?
- And then there was the report in the Baltimore Sun about the percentage of students in the state's high schools who have not passed the High School Assessments yet. When you scan the list of city schools, all but the city's selective high schools are at nearly 50%. And none of the surrounding counties have any schools even close to that. The school honchos say not to worry: there's be only a handful which won't pass and won't graduate. Buz hopes that is true, but: these test are only at the 10th grade level. And for the rest of their lives these kids will have to take some test to get into college, for some jobs, to get into the service, etc. Oh, but they can do a project instead--because they are kids who just have trouble taking tests. Well, I guess there are kids like that, but we have to wonder how rigorous these "projects" really are to prove they can master the material. But, hey, at least these kids are still in school. Look at some of the schools on the list and see how few seniors there are. It's generally believed that about 50% of kids entering as freshman drop out before their senior graduation in city public schools, and that number rises to about 75% for African-American males.
These are just some reasons I fear to the future of our fine city sometimes.
