Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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22 UCW FEBRUARY 19-25, 2014 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MARCH 1 LEGENDS PUB BREAST CANCER RUN First bike out at noon. Fun. Auction. Food. Call 867-2364 for more information. APRIL 12 • NC BUFFALO SOLDIERS OF FAYETTEVILLE 4TH ANNUAL PONY EXPRESS CHARITY RIDE at Cape Fear Harley-Davidson. Registration 9 a.m. Kickstands up at 10 a.m. Food, refreshments, door prizes. Call 494-4514 for information. All bikers are welcome APRIL 12 • 2ND ANNUAL ECKERD 2ND CHANCE RUN at Cape Fear Harley-Davidson. Registration 12 p.m., ride 12:30 p.m. Wine tasting/appetizers provided. Ride benefits Eckerd programs in N.C. Eckerd is a non-profit organization providing second chances to at-risk youth & families. Call 633-4864 for information. PATRIOT GUARD RIDERS The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse group of patriots from every state that come together to honor fallen soldiers at funeral services across the country. Visit www.patriotguard.org for more information about the group. Breast Cancer Run March 1st First bike out at noon. Fun • Auction • FOOD 4624 BRAGG BLVD. I started to write this article about a friend of mine that got ran over on his motorcycle by one of the victim's involved in the Mickey's Halloween night shooting. That night, that parking lot seemed like something from the O.K. Corral. However, as I write about it, I cannot talk about him without talking about how much crime there is in this town. The FBI considers violent crimes as murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, followed by the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. According to published reports, the 2012 FBI crime numbers show that when compared to other cities its size, Fayetteville has some of the highest crime rates in the country. The city is fifth overall in property crimes, sixth in burglaries, and eighth in larcenies. After the night of shootings on Halloween, Fayetteville has already surpassed the murder numbers of that of 2012. That is a lot crime, and to be honest a lot of citizens are afraid and rightfully so. Jokingly or not, Fayetteville is known as Fayettenam, and the current generation of veterans call it Fayettestan. I know that is not the image that the good people of Fayetteville want their city portrayed but until we can figure out how to make the community safer, then we are just kidding ourselves. I don't think our leaders, law enforcement and the people in high places get it. I don't think hiring more officers, putting up more cameras, gunfire detection systems or gentrification will do anything to curb the aggression in this town because we are missing the simple traits of patience, kindness and understanding. Mayor Rudy Giuliani went about cleaning up New York City by going after the basics. During his term as mayor, NYC dropped it's crime rate from 10 percent to 4 percent. He did this by basing his law enforcement policy on James Q. Wilson's "Broken Windows" approach. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as graffiti, turnstile jumping, cannabis possession, and aggressive panhandling by "squeegee men", on the theory that this would send a message that order would be maintained. It worked. A lot of motorcycle wrecks happen at intersections where people don't follow the basic rules of the road. Many cities have traffic cameras which only record what happens but they lose the respect that a real law enforcement officer brings. Traffic cameras, gunfire detection systems and other tricks of the trade are only good after an incident occurs. The policy of Mayor Giuliani is not that the "squeegee man" is causing the crime, but the "message that order would be maintained" manifests itself into other areas. That guy who just pushes through the yellow light and into the red, jeopardizes us all. When people do not obey the law, and in turn disrupts our day, we become frustrated and angry. By implementing the "Broken Windows" policy, we would make people be more careful and respectful of the law, thus less angry, aggressive and safer. A lot of people blame a lot of things on this being a military community, but I don't buy that. I go on and off the post every day. I will tell you, that the driving habits on post are completely different than off post. The reason, everyone knows that an MP will pull you over for just about anything. So for the most part, people obey the law. Motorcyclists can be aggressive because they feel that vehicles are dangerous to them. A motorcyclist has to decide whether or not to go around or stay behind someone who is dangerous. If safe, I will go around someone that is texting or not paying attention. I try my very best to stay out of the blind spots. I never cross a road after the light turns green until I look both ways. I try my best to never get caught on a yellow light. I don't ride my bike anywhere near what I consider dangerous roads unless I absolutely have to. I don't consider these things aggressive as much as a survival technique. As for my friend, he was caught in a bad situation. He was not some thug who was up to no good. He is a highly respected Sergeant Major. He was just sitting on his bike when all hell broke loose and one of the victims ran over him as he fled the parking lot after being struck by a bullet. The driver died somewhere down the road. My friend is trying to recover from a broken ankle, missing fingertip and ribs. If Fayetteville tried the "Broken Windows" approach, maybe our roads would be safer, we would be healthier and we would have less crime. Broken Glass by JIM JONES JIM JONES Contributing Writer. COM- MENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. Visit our website for food and drink specials! MacSpeedShop.com 4 8 2 N . M C P H E R S O N C H U RC H R D . 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