Spring has just begun and already crime is rampant throughout Indiana as well as the rest of the nation:
A 30-year-old bank teller, pregnant with twins, was shot in the abdomen Tuesday morning during a robbery at Huntington bank on the Eastside of Indianapolis. Fortunately neither of her unborn twins were harmed and the victim Katherin Shuffield is also doing fine. The suspect is still at large.
Two Boone County couples were in a heated argument Tuesday evening when a gun discharged and hit Darla James, 32, in the head. She was later pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital and the shooter has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Last weekend 36 shootings took place in Chicago, resulting in nine deaths. At least 14 of the shootings were reported as gang-related. Officials suggest that the upsurge in violence is because several key gang leaders have recently been incarcerated and those still on the streets are “running their own game trying to one-up each other.”
Last Saturday Ryan Schallenberger, an 18-year-old South Carolina high school senior was arrested for allegedly planning to bomb his school. Schallenberger’s parents notified police when 10 pounds of bomb-making materials were delivered to their home. Upon inspection, police found the teen’s journal, which mentioned how he hated “rich boys with good looking girlfriends.” The journal also mentions how Schallenberger grieved for the two gunmen responsible for the deaths of 15 people during the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
Also last Saturday, in an apparent copycat posting, a group of Southern Indiana middle school girls videotaped the beating of their 12-year-old classmate, then posted it on the Internet. A similar attack involving Florida high school girls who beat their 16-year-old classmate then posted the beating on Youtube happened earlier this year.
All of these incidents took place within one week. Coincidentally, that week happened to be the warmest of the year, which provides a grim outlook of what the next months may be like. Studies show that as the temperature increases, so does crime. With warmer weather, people are more apt to be outside…in addition, they’re more likely to be irritated, which leads to volatile behavior.
In addition to the actual climate making people irritable, and in turn more vicious, the economy is also a culprit. At Recorder press time, the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.67. For an individual who makes the minimum wage rate of $5.85 or slightly more, most of their days’ pay will go in the gas tank. The cost of food is also increasing, which means that even more of a person’s salary is going towards the basic essentials needed in life. While there is no excuse for crime and violence, aside from laziness and simple ignorance, I can certainly see where the frustration stems from.
Considering the climate of today’s society — both locally and nationally — now more than ever, we’ve got to elect leaders who have the proven experience of effectiveness. Now is not the time to take a chance — we’ve done that nationally with President Bush, as well as on a local level with various elected officials. Now we have to really start thinking of the problems that everyday people are facing and we have to determine who will best represent us. It’s essential that we step outside of the irrelevant reasons of electing people and base this primary election (and those of the future) on what really counts: experience, work ethic, and compassion. It’s so easy to be deceived by people running for office, so I strongly encourage you to carefully examine all candidates — presidential and otherwise — to see which ones have proven themselves. Doing so really is the only way we’re going to combat the increasing crime and slumping economy.
