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- Worrisome, violent weekend hits the Yakima Valley
Worrisome, violent weekend hits the Yakima Valley
- By Fernando Aceves
- Published 09/11/2008
- Commentary
- Unrated
It’s been a violent weekend here in the Valley. Not necessarily in our particular neck of the woods, but just to south and north of the Review Independent’s circulation area.
Last Friday night a 16-year-old teen was gunned down in Sunnyside. He died after being taken to the local hospital.
Although police are investigating reports that the young man was shooting at houses on the same street just before he was shot, presumably at residences of rival gang members, it’s sad to see such a young life ended.
Just to the north of us in Yakima, a man was stabbed to death on Saturday night outside an apartment near a popular park just north of downtown. What reportedly began as a dispute over a woman led to a scuffle, before one man decided the issue was worth taking another man’s life.
In another part of the city, a 16-year-old was attacked by rival gang members and suffered multiple stab wounds.
Union Gap and Selah both saw men take their own lives after confrontations with local police officers. With the Union Gap case involving the man shooting at officers before turning the gun on himself.
Although none of these events occurred in our immediate area, people in our communities are not strangers to similar cases. Unfortunately, the Mid Valley has seen it’s fair share of violence this year. Including a couple of homicides in both Toppenish and Granger. Countywide, this past weekend’s events brought the 2008 homicide total to 13 in Yakima County.
Although often times it’s the victim’s own decisions that lead to their fate, these events are still a chilling reminder of what our youth can face growing up in the Valley. Nobody likes to see such young lives fall victim to violence. It’s a relatively small number of troublemakers in each of our towns, but their actions have the ability to impact us all…especially the younger generations.
With school already in session, it’s important for parents to support positive activities available for their kids. Keeping the kids busy and involved in school and community activities is the way to go!
Kids need to stay active. As we all know, they’re full on energy and need to use it up somewhere. So instead of using up that bent up energy on the streets, how about they use it on the football field? Or organizing events at their school?
It’s impossible to shield our kids from all the negative things going on around us. With weekends like the one we’ve just experienced, they’re bound to be exposed to it in some way…probably more often than we’d like. Still, the entire Yakima Valley boasts a variety of positive activities for kids and there’s plenty of good for our youth to be exposed to as well.
In the end, kids are going to do what they’re going to do. However, that’s no reason to not try our best in steering them in the right direction. Getting them started at a young age to participate in good, positive activities will hopefully instill them with the desires and will to make good choices in life.
Last Friday night a 16-year-old teen was gunned down in Sunnyside. He died after being taken to the local hospital.
Although police are investigating reports that the young man was shooting at houses on the same street just before he was shot, presumably at residences of rival gang members, it’s sad to see such a young life ended.
Just to the north of us in Yakima, a man was stabbed to death on Saturday night outside an apartment near a popular park just north of downtown. What reportedly began as a dispute over a woman led to a scuffle, before one man decided the issue was worth taking another man’s life.
In another part of the city, a 16-year-old was attacked by rival gang members and suffered multiple stab wounds.
Union Gap and Selah both saw men take their own lives after confrontations with local police officers. With the Union Gap case involving the man shooting at officers before turning the gun on himself.
Although none of these events occurred in our immediate area, people in our communities are not strangers to similar cases. Unfortunately, the Mid Valley has seen it’s fair share of violence this year. Including a couple of homicides in both Toppenish and Granger. Countywide, this past weekend’s events brought the 2008 homicide total to 13 in Yakima County.
Although often times it’s the victim’s own decisions that lead to their fate, these events are still a chilling reminder of what our youth can face growing up in the Valley. Nobody likes to see such young lives fall victim to violence. It’s a relatively small number of troublemakers in each of our towns, but their actions have the ability to impact us all…especially the younger generations.
With school already in session, it’s important for parents to support positive activities available for their kids. Keeping the kids busy and involved in school and community activities is the way to go!
Kids need to stay active. As we all know, they’re full on energy and need to use it up somewhere. So instead of using up that bent up energy on the streets, how about they use it on the football field? Or organizing events at their school?
It’s impossible to shield our kids from all the negative things going on around us. With weekends like the one we’ve just experienced, they’re bound to be exposed to it in some way…probably more often than we’d like. Still, the entire Yakima Valley boasts a variety of positive activities for kids and there’s plenty of good for our youth to be exposed to as well.
In the end, kids are going to do what they’re going to do. However, that’s no reason to not try our best in steering them in the right direction. Getting them started at a young age to participate in good, positive activities will hopefully instill them with the desires and will to make good choices in life.