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30 Terrace Review. —— Wednesday. December 18, 1991

Oo Cri m e |=". Continued from page.3 :

Canadian province. We have the
highest divorce rate in the land.
We have many single parent or
dysfunctional family situations
that often breed violence and
contempt for the law. We have
an unenviable record of vandal-
ism, break and enter, theft, viol-
ence and a variety of other
crimes. And the problem is
getting worse.

This trend, though, can be
turned around, says Yeske. The
secret is for the law-abiding
majority to say they’ve had
enough and do something about
it: This doesn’t mean taking the
law into your own hands. It
means a greater understanding of
the nature and source of the
problem and learning how every
resident can help to improve the
situation by working with the
police. |

Laws need to be changed, says
Yeske, and potential offenders
need to be placed under close
public scrutiny. There are rough-
ly 18,000 pairs of eyes in this
community, and all 18,000 have
to come to bear on local
offenders. That alone acts as a
strong deterrent to would-be
criminals.

For a long term solution, how-
ever, we need to do much more.
We need to learn how to deal
with the problem of
dysfunctional families and
abused children and spouses in
our community. We have to
understand how poor housing
and a lack of appropriate recre-
ational programs can often steer
young people towards crime out
of despair and boredom. We
have to admit to the level of
alcohol and drug abuse in our
community... And then we have
to do something about it.

Vandalism to the Howe Creek
bridge built by a group of Grade
12 Caledonia students occurred
within a 100 feet of several
homes. Awareness and a sense
of pride in our community might
have prevented it. The same

_ goes for the destruction of three
trees in front of Caledonia Sen-
ior Secondary that were planted

“by grads between 1970 and

1974.

A solution. to these types of
crimes might be found in offer-
ing rewards. And that’s an idea
that Yeske likes. He points out
that a reward posted jointly by
the’ city and the Rotary Club led
to the arrest of a vandal who
damaged the arena hill within 10
days of it being announced. The

- Chamber of Commerce is cur-

rently exploring the idea of a

system for posting rewards for

information leading to the arrest
of vandals in the downtown
core. Perhaps this might lead to

a community-based Crime-

stoppers program that would

involve all types of crime any-
where in the city.

Violence and vandalism related
to many special events such as

_ Hallowe’en, New Years Eve and
grad night is more difficult to
deal with. The damage caused in
the downtown core last Hallow-
é’en is an example of how a few
éan lead a crowd of hundreds
into committing a criminal act.

eens
Coogi a ed

This type of behaviour by a
few will certainly affect the
innocent next Hallowe'en. All
teens might be branded as poten-
tial offenders and even the
mildest forms of "fun" may not
be tolerated. Taken to it’s
extreme, the type of behaviour
seen last Hallowe’en has resulted
in the cancellation of major
events.

There is no more Kelowna
Regatta. It’s been cancelled due
to the violent behaviour of a
few. The White Rock Sand
Castle Competition is history for
the same reason. And in jeop-
ardy is the Penticton Peach
Festival, an event enjoyed by
thousands for many years, These
celebrations have fallen victim
to a few who have no respect for
the rights of others.

The mob mentality that led to

the Hallowe’en incident is a very -

real threat to the lifestyle in our
own community... and if may not
be an isolated event. Most
recently, part of a group of 20
teens spoiled an evening event
for about 70 young children in
Skeena Mall.

It happened at about 9 p.m. on
Dec. 6 during Midnight Mad-
ness. A pifidta filled with candy
and crayons was the main attrac-
tion. One by one, children
between the ages of five and 10
were led into the roped off ring.
The older children were blind-
folded, the younger were not,
and all were allowed to take a
swing or two at the pifiata.

As it began to break open, and
the booty it contained began
falling to the floor, the teens
forcibly pushed young children
aside and stormed the pifiata.
They ripped it apart, pocketed
the candy, and broke packages
of unwanted crayons in half
before tossing them aside.

Mall security staff handled the —

situation, and no one was seri-
ously hurt, although a girl about
11 years old did have her glasses
knocked or pulled off and
thrown to the floor. They broke.

Following the incident, one
parent questioned whether it was
safe any more to take his
children downtown.

Yet another parent became

angry during the incident and
wanted to take the teenagers to
task. That would have been a
mistake, he now admits. He
would have been charged with

assault and the young offenders —

would likely have walked freely
away.
And this is an important point.

Violence is not the solution for. |.
preventing violence. This was | |.
proven during the incident last
Hallowe’en when about 200
youths went on a rampage ‘and
caused several thousand dollars
damage when they barricaded
Lakelse Avenue with shopping
carts and began smashing win-

dows with rocks.

The police, realizing 18 uni-
formed officers cannot forcibly
control an unruly mob of 200
They
observed from a distance and
made note of the description of
offenders while plain clothes

youths, -stayed back.

faekbr ares ppewee pate dere Rae a Pb eae

So, sw

officers wandered within the
crowd doing the same thing. The
situation soon cooled offand the |
crowd began to disperse. It was
then that police moved in and
arrests were made. One of those
youths appears in Terrace court
today. Two’ others will be in
court on Friday.

When weather conditions change, drivers in turn must adjust their
driving habits for those conditions. Black ice, snow, rain and fog,
for example, require drivers to reduce their speed, often below the
posted speed limits. .

Section 149(1)(c) of the Motor Vehicle Act states: A person shall
not drive a motor vehicle on a highway at a speed that is excessive
relative to the road, traffic, visibility or weather conditions.

In British Columbia IT’S THE LAW.

Next week: the justice system,
how it works and doesn’t work,
and how the average citizen can
work for change. —

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