More scared than safe

Lately I’ve heard more and more people comment on how they wish the old days of security would return. Everyday we read or hear about some heinous crime and it’s not only in our national newspapers, TV and radio, but right here in Baytown.

The abduction and brutal murder of Shane Goodman one mile from my house has shook this feeling of anarchy to an extreme level. Daily reports of violence, armed robberies, identity theft and automobile burglaries while good people are enjoying a meal at one of our local restaurants is so common, we are learning to accept it.

The last time we Baytownians had this feeling, roving gangs of thugs were driving around town indiscriminately shooting bullets. It became known as ‘drive-bys’, like they were delivering the paper or something. It was scary times.

During those times I had a second job. I cleaned Marty’s carwash on Business 146 behind the Domino’s Pizza place and many a morning found me looking over my shoulder as a car rolled through with the headlights off. It wasn’t unusual for me to be there at 4am before I went to work and twice there was a drive-by within earshot while I was there.

Back then I was in quite good shape for a 40 year old man, being still active in martial arts and not willing to arm myself with a handgun, I played the odds. On top of that, I do not appear an easy victim, being a rather large man. I can conservatively say five years of anxiety passed without a serious incident and I thank every Baytown Police Officer who passed through the carwash while I was there.

It is comforting to see a police officer, if you are on the right side of the law, especially when criminals seemingly own the streets.

Thank God those days of gangs ruling the streets of Baytown are behind us, but now we face a more sinister threat, if that is possible. Young people plot and execute a plan to abduct and kill a man for his truck from a parking lot. Folks are accosted while pumping gas on a main thoroughfare in broad daylight. A paraplegic man is brutally beaten and dumped off in the country for a few measly dollars.

New York? Houston? No, my friend… Baytown, Texas.

I walked into my favorite convenience store last year and there instead of the friendly man with the eastern accent, was a fellow with black and blue marks on his face. I said “Car accident”? He said, “No, they tried to rob my store and I fought back. This store is all I have and I could not let them have it”. I like that man and I try to do my small item shopping there because I empathize with him.

I want my wife and children to enjoy a safe city. I want to stop and get gas on my way to work without wondering if I should slip my concealed handgun permitted .45 ACP into my pocket. Heck-fire, I don’t even want to carry that thing. I wish I didn’t feel the need to arm myself. I wish I never had to see a gun again the rest of my days.

A number of volunteer citizens in this town are quietly trying to figure out a way to help police and the city. It may be stronger neighborhood watches, or a tax increase to get more police on the street; we’re in the incipient stage. In reoccurring crime areas, we want to enlist the help of the apartment complexes, restaurants and stores in whose parking lots the crimes are taking place. We want them to insure our safety and the relative security of the parking lot while we shop, live or eat.

Baytown has long had a reputation of a bad town, high in crime, and a thug-town, Bubbaville. I don’t believe we need to let that continue, do you?

Friday, September 08, 2006