Pubdate: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 Source: Herald-Dispatch, The (Huntington, WV) Copyright: 2006 The Herald-Dispatch Contact: http://www.hdonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1454 CITIES NEED FEDS' HELP TO FIGHT GANGS Cities across the country are seeing an increase in violent crime, in part because gangs from the East and West coasts are looking for new turf. This affects cities as large as St. Louis and as small as Huntington. While Huntington has focused more on the presence and activity of gangs from Detroit bringing crack cocaine to town, the city has been usually quiet in one regard. The city had six homicides in 2004 and 13 last year, but none so far this year, with the year almost half over. When we didn't pay attention to the problem, bad things happened. When we paid attention, things got better. But we have had a couple of close calls, and it's only a matter of time before another drug-related homicide or drive-by shooting brings us back to reality. Rather than building bridges to nowhere in Alaska and unnecessary rail lines along the Gulf Coast, the federal government should marshal all the resources available to help local communities fight this new problem. This new form of domestic terrorism is too big for the communities themselves to solve. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman