ANOTHER WEEKEND, ANOTHER SHOOTING

While at the bank this morning, another customer came into the bank and told us there had been a shooting at the Dimond Mall, across the street. We had heard the sirens. He said several shots had been fired, and that shoppers were diving for cover.

I am very very angry. We must not - repeat, must not - let our town and our state degenerate into another gangland. I thought I’d escaped that when I moved away from my boyhood home in East Los Angeles. When the Dimond Mall shooters are found, they need to be locked up, put on a bread and water diet, and the keys to their cells thrown away.

I know Anchorage Mayor Begich is organizing an Anti-Gang Task Force. I strongly support that effort. I know some have criticized the anti-gang task force and alleged it’s “political posturing” for partisan purposes. I’m not concerned about anybody’s alleged political one-upmanship or assigning motivations. What I am concerned about making it safe for my family to go to the mall, or drive down the street. I’ve already been shot at in Vietnam. I don’t need the same experience here in Anchorage.

My political analysis is that if some gang-banger attacks me or my family, he’s not going to ask our political party affiliation. Stopping gang violence should be one thing on which people of every political persuasion can agree. If we need more cops and troopers, let’s hire them. My family’s safety has a higher priority than niceties like trails, museums, and “one-percent” for the arts. When the next budget cycle comes around, I’ll support allocating extra bucks for bipartisan hardball actions that will get the evil of gang outrages under control. Let's expand the anti-gang task force to a partnership between the municipalities and the state.

The enemy isn't the other guy's political party, the enemies are out-of-control hoods - and it's long past time we act accordingly.